Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #24: Caught with Pants Down (8/5/00)
Nick enters Arat's room, looking definitely hangdog.
Nick: I'm sorry, Arat. She's cleaned out every stash I know about, of drugs and everything else. I didn't find so much as an old sock.
Nick carefully doesn't look at the finite supply of adulterated tea.
Arat's eyes flick over to it of their own accord.
Arat looks haunted, as he has ever since the news was broken to him.
Nick clenches his fists in carefully moderated ~ frustration and guilt ~
Arat: You could not have predicted this.
Nick: I should have let her cut off your hair.
Nick: At least that would have regrown.
Arat blinks at Nick.
Arat was not aware of the hair incident, of course. It happened while he was asleep.
Nick: And it might have satisfied her enough to prevent this.
Arat: No, you shouldn't have.
Arat: Then I would have lost you too.
Arat would have considered that as much of a disaster as this, given the isolation and the rustic conditions.
Nick: How could I ever have thought she'd limit herself to pranks?
Nick: Especially when the pranks were thwarted?
Arat: You know her better than I. [honestly]
Nick: She's always hit back twice as hard, when she's curbed.
Nick just hadn't thought that the hitting back would be in such a final fashion.
Arat: I had thought that this... this level of responsibility, this freedom, would....
Nick: So did I.
Nick: And for a while there, it seemed to be working.
Arat actually feels the fool for having thought so, since in retrospect nobody else thought so, at least nobody Tecton.
Arat: And then... what changed?
Arat would genuinely like to know, since Nick has been here the whole time.
Nick: I think....
Nick hesitates, not wanting to appear to blame Arat.
Nick thinks that Arat has suffered enough, and will suffer much worse for the rest of his life.
Arat's eyes meet Nick's.
Nick: I think perhaps she'd let herself hope that out here, where she feels at home, and has something valuable to contribute, you would finally treat her as family.
Arat's expressive Farris features take on an uncharacteristic look of total bewilderment.
Arat: But I have.
Arat means, he has treated her as one of his family, which is all he has ever known.
Arat: She has my name, my support, and I had taken her into my home.
Arat has never given all three things to any one person before in his life, and so to him it seems an advance into uncharted territory.
Nick is forcibly reminded that Arat's family alternately abused and ignored him, and basically considered him as a future genetic asset and current nuisance.
Nick: I think what she wanted was your unconditional love and affection.
Arat is always at a loss when people bring up the unconditional love and affection thing.
Arat looks at Nick, at a loss.
Nick: Her brother Sky gave her that, at least, even though he didn't do too well on the food, shelter and security bit.
Arat: I have attempted to locate him, to no avail.
Arat misses the point.
Arat: [habitually, in this matter]
Nick: It doesn't matter. Sky isn't a channel, and he isn't her father, however much he tried to be.
Arat can't think of anything to say to that. He rubs his face with his hands and tentacles.
Nick isn't sure himself whether Sky tried to be kind to Snake on purpose, or just because he treats most people more or less kindly.
Nick: You aren't the kind of father she'd dreamed about, growing up. I don't think anyone could be, really. Dreams are always more perfect than the reality.
Nick is willing to make an exception for his own paternal situation, or grand-paternal situation if you prefer, which he regards as a nightmare.
Arat removes his hands and looks at Nick, somewhat outraged.
Arat: [not very, though; he can't afford to lose Nick]
Arat is not used to thinking of himself as less than perfect. He knows his faults, but feels he is perfect.
Nick: And now she's punishing you for failing to live up to her expectations.
Arat looks old, when Nick says that.
Arat hasn't quite matched Nick's feat of aging 13 years in 13 seconds the day before, but has advanced more slowly, as the bad news really starts to sink in.
Nick: Unfortunately, she doesn't know any more about being a daughter to whom you could give unconditional love and affection, than you do about being the sort of father she wants.
Arat: She is a barbarian.
Arat: Resorting to something of this sort. It is appalling.
Arat clearly has no hope of viewing Snake as a daughter anymore, not after this.
Nick can't bring himself to argue with Arat's definition, much as he wishes he could.
Arat glowers at the bag of #3, his expression of hatred meant not for the bag, but for its creator.
Arat: She has struck at me, for her own gain. Whatever you say, her act was not an act of love, but of betrayal and destruction.
Arat's anger is at least as much at how stupid he is going to look when word of this finally gets out, as at what was actually done to him.
Nick tries to calculate how many days Arat has, before he has to either go to Snake or find a new supply of Xylexion.
Nick does not find his estimate encouraging.
Arat: I would have been better off facing Neptude's tender mercies, [mutters to himself]
Arat could have sentenced Snake to an enforced retirement, endured Neptude's abuse, and nursed a silent guilt for the rest of his life, and it would have been better than this.
Nick: It was death either way, and Neptude's was surer.
Arat: He would not have held that post forever.
Arat: I could have endured.
Arat: This is... is....
Arat makes a frustrated gesture.
Arat: An exercise in futility.
Arat: I will send two of my bodyguard [his voice took on an ironic twist for that last word] with a courier this morning.
Arat: I will learn what can be done, if nothing else.
Arat: And as for her....
Arat's dark eyes take on an unusual, for Arat, glint.
Nick wishes he still felt able to be Snake's advocate and protector, but can't bring himself to be either.
Nick remembers with some irony that he once thought learning about his parentage, and the reasons for it, as a loss of innocence.
Arat fully intends that the consequences for her shall prove immediately fatal, upon his being able to secure another source for the drug. With all his resources, it should only be a matter of time.
Arat has spent nearly twenty years wearing the Tecton yoke, but within him is the wrath of a ruler spited, and that is pure Audnes.
see note 1
Thureal and Gashnom, two of Arat's bodyguard chosen for their woodcraft skills, close in on their quarry.
Dramming slogs his way through the woods on the outskirts of his miserable camp, in search of a secluded spot which can substitute for the latrine he and his co-conspirators haven't yet gotten around to digging.
Thureal and Gashnom are a renSime and a Gen, respectively, and brothers. They are both skilled at hand-to-hand combat, and carry pistols, knives and other tools as well.
Thureal and Gashnom are very good at what they do, and they do it without asking a lot of questions of their clients, since that is how their employer likes it.
Dramming views digging latrines, and indeed all camp chores, as beneath someone of his exalted lineage.
Dramming's camp is thus significantly worse off, both comfort-wise and sanitation-wise, than the average squatter's.
Dramming finds a tree that's out of easy zlinning range of his compatriots, and prepares to rid himself of last night's porstan.
Dramming wishes the hangover were as easy to get rid of.
Thureal and Gashnom materialize out of the woods on either side of Dramming, but being polite jack-booted thugs, they wait for him to finish rather than speaking right away.
Thureal and Gashnom's employer prefers for them to be polite at all times, as the clients appreciate it. They have found it to be an asset indeed when dealing with their current client, particularly in the past two days.
Dramming is, of course, very busy blaming the intensity of the throbbing on the inferior quality of said porstan, and cursing the venders of potables for not accepting credit, and thus fails to notice the approaching jackboots as quickly as he might.
Thureal and Gashnom watch incuriously. Dramming's activity has nothing to do with their client's personal safety, so it is simply data.
Dramming gives a yelp as he notes the armed strangers at his elbows, and loses his grip.
Dramming's once-fine, but much patched, trousers head south.
Thureal speaks, now that they have Dramming's undivided ... well, half of his attention.
Thureal: Your presence is requested.
Dramming's hatred of the thuggish lower classes is exceeded only by Arat's, and is much more personal, after having been forced to live among them for decades.
Dramming: If you're looking for money, I don't have any.
Dramming's voice is a bit shrill.
Gashnom rolls his eyes surreptitiously.
Dramming rescues his pants hastily, and secures them, despite the unfortunate mud and wet patches.
Thureal overlooks Dramming's outburst with professional patience.
Thureal: It is a matter of some importance.
Thureal and Gashnom's uniforms are in significantly better repair than Dramming's outfit, of course.
Thureal and Gashnom's employer insists upon a crisp appearance in even the most ghastly conditions.
Thureal and Gashnom, and coworkers, are probably the only people looking crisp in a hundred mile radius.
Dramming has recovered enough, well, not dignity, exactly, that's a lost cause... enough composure, then, to recognize that Thureal and Gashnom aren't the ordinary run of camp thieves, despite their armament.
Dramming: Who desires my presence?
Thureal was told it should be obvious to Dramming who he represented.
Thureal: Should I tell him you are unwilling?
Thureal hopes not, it will surely involve a return trip and some unpleasantness.
Thureal prefers uneventful assignments; it shows he is doing his job.
Gashnom: Please, don't make this any more difficult than it has to be.
Gashnom actually enjoys a scrap, and isn't as conscientious about his record as Thureal.
Gashnom finds the "any more difficult" line can be used to flush the borderline-violent out of their facades of calmness.
Gashnom, being a Gen, is unaware of just how unlikely Dramming zlins to break out in violence.
Dramming's mind puts two and two together, despite the hangover.
Dramming looks down at his mud-bespattered pants with dismay--that's not appropriate attire with which to address an Audnes, and well he knows it.
Dramming: Of course. Might I change first, however? It will only take a moment.
Thureal and Gashnom exchange glances, and then nod.
Dramming is thrown a bit off balance by the bodyguard bit; he'd expected Arat to be more clandestine, if he contacted the group at all.
Dramming: If you would wait here? Your presence would raise questions, and cause delays.
Thureal: Very well. But be quick about it. He is waiting.
Dramming nods and rushes off for his tent, hoping that his best outfit has finally managed to dry off by the fire.
Arat paces nervously in a small clearing sheltered by craggy rocks.
Arat is hiding the nervousness nagerically, of course.
Arat's body language makes it abundantly clear, though. That, and a barely controlled fury.
Arat has been getting more and more furious as the shock begins to wear off.
Arat feels rather exposed and out of his element here in the woods and alone, but he won't meet with the Audnes sympathizers under any other conditions, for obvious reasons.
Arat's guards have made sure nobody is near enough to zlin or overhear, if voices are kept low.
Arat spins around as a crackling of leaves announces Dramming's approach flanked by Thureal and Gashnom.
Arat is looking as beleaguered, hard-used and stressed out as his parents did the last time Dramming would have seen them.
Dramming hurries towards the Audnes nager, almost outdistancing the bodyguards.
Dramming thinks Arat looks exactly as he should: full of imperial temper.
Arat signals for the bodyguard to stay back, and they allow Dramming to approach Arat alone.
Arat zlins about carefully for observers, being too paranoid to trust any but his own senses.
Dramming: Tuib Audnes. Dramming Yornst, at your service.
Dramming bows with an old-fashioned flourish.
Arat: What is this I hear of your approaching Wise Snake Farris? [snaps]
Arat: I will not have it. You must desist immediately.
Arat doesn't have to work too hard to imitate the stereotypical Audnes manner; it is essentially what he always acts like, but with less self control.
Arat: You will have no part of her.
Arat: Do you understand?
Arat is privately appalled at how much like his own father he sounds, but it is imperative that this particular resource be plucked from Snake's grasp before she uses it, too, against him.
Arat will have to face the Tecton consequences when the time comes. For now, it is Snake that is the immediate danger.
Dramming is a bit taken aback by the vehemence of this declaration.
Dramming's astonishment turns to ~~ delight ~~ as an explanation occurs to him.
Dramming: Does this mean that you have changed your position? That you will work with us?
Dramming much prefers Arat to Snake, who is more than a little intimidating.
Arat's fury threatens to ignite full force at the ignominy of Dramming's bald faced question.
Dramming finds Arat intimidating, too, but in a nicely noble style, not in a rampant insane criminal style.
Arat allows his nager to do something he hasn't allowed it to do in almost two decades: show the stress-ripple characteristic of his family.
Arat: Don't be ridiculous.
Arat: You are a washed up, beggarly rabble, scarcely capable of serving yourselves much less serving me.
Arat: Look at how you live!
Arat: Have you no pride?
Dramming gasps at the zlin of the ripples, as if he has seen a long-dreamed-of battle flag.
Dramming: It is a disgrace, what we have been reduced to.
Dramming: We seek to reverse our fortunes.
Arat: You must show yourself worthy of my help.
Arat: Shake off this, this animalistic squalor, and behave as befits you.
Arat: And do not approach Wise Snake again, or I will hunt you down and disperse you myself!
Dramming straightens to almost military attention at the challenge Arat issues, but is momentarily confused about the last admonition.
Dramming then draws a perfectly logical, if totally erroneous, conclusion.
Dramming: Of course, Tuib Audnes. We would never risk your heir.
Dramming might be mistaken about Arat's motives, but at least he is sincere about not bringing Snake into his conspiracy.
Arat suppresses a very powerful urge to slap Dramming silly. Barely.
Arat: Now go, and do not disappoint me further.
Dramming: We won't, Tuib Audnes. We will prove ourselves worthy!
Arat's nager holds a bitterness as much to do with having to take on the Audnes role as it has to do with anything Dramming has done.
Arat waits until Dramming is well out of easy zlinning range before sagging against a tree, wondering at what a nightmare this has become - even above and beyond the nightmare of the construction project and the selyn shortage.
Notes:
1) Some time passes between these two scenes. [return]
Go on to Episode #25: A Monkey Could Do It
Return to the Index of Episodes