Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #101: A Fine Kettle of... Oh Dear (1/11/01)
Nick is in the process of getting out of a very soiled uniform.
Nick likes the sweetening effect winter injuries have on Farris channels, but an out-of-control sled filled with bags of cement smashing through a building being constructed at the new IDAS Gen detainment camp was a bit much, even for him.
Nick really prefers not to have to spend an entire shift covered in bloodstains, thank you very much.
Nick would have gone down to the bath house to soak them away, but he is too tired to make the trip, what with the snowfall that's threatening to turn into a nasty storm.
Sayward wanders up to Nick's digs, well Nick's, Arat's and Jeniard's anyway. She has a big pot of vegetable stew in one hand and a bunch of Tecton type paperwork in the other.
Nick has decided to use the old shower, and grab a bit of much-desired extra sleep as consolation for the primitive plumbing.
Sayward has never seen anyone as in love with paper as the Tecton. Now she knows why Arat's desk always looks like a paper dump.
Nick balls up shirt and pants, and tosses them into the laundry hamper.
Sayward reaches the door and gives a firm knock.
Nick was not expecting visitors.
Nick: Who's there?
Nick hopes it isn't a messenger calling him back because something has happened to Arat.
Sayward: Sayward Mullins.
Nick sighs in relief, then looks down and realizes that he is not dressed for company, by any but Narosian standards.
Nick might be 75% Narosian, but the other 25% is rather puritanical, in her own way.
Nick: Just a moment!
Sayward catches a few pages that are trying to slip out of her hand.
Sayward: Okay!
Nick looks frantically around for some clothing, and is forced to settle on a rather showy padded silk robe that Riyyh insisted on loaning him the last time he went to visit the bath house.
Sayward smiles at the smell of the stew. It was a lot like making stone soup trying to get enough dried vegetables and spices together to make it. Granny would be proud of her.
Nick therefore answers the door looking gaudier than a peacock, since there is a whole garden of flowers as well as two peacocks embroidered across his front.
Nick: Come in.
Sayward looks at the robe and Nick. These Tecton people are full of surprises. She steps inside.
Nick: I was just about to jump in the shower....
Nick grins a bit weakly.
Sayward: Oh, sorry about that but I thought you might like some of this. [holds out the stew pot]
Sayward: I was on my way to drop off some papers and I figured I'd bring this by.
Nick is a Gen, and therefore he steps back with alacrity to let Sayward enter, at the sight of dinner arriving.
Nick: It smells marvelous! What is it?
Sayward: Veggie stew. Well that's what we kids called it when Granny made it.
Sayward: I figured you might want to try and pour some down your Sime friends so there's more than plenty.
Nick's stomach rumbles loudly.
Sayward: And before you ask, it is Farris safe.
Nick: That's very thoughtful of you, to look up the ingredients for problems.
Nick isn't holding out much hope that Arat will eat the stuff, but it's the thought that counts.
Sayward: Hey, I probably know more about Farrises than anybody from my neck of the woods.
Sayward laughs to herself. That was no exaggeration. Cris had been a big help on that score.
Sayward: Didn't want to have anything around that would give him hives and cause you problems.
Nick wouldn't care to make book on any of the stew being left when Arat and Jeniard return.
Sayward: By the way does your friend Jeniard share the Controller's dislike of eating in public?
Nick: No, Jeniard's eating habits are pretty normal. Well, for a Sime.
Sayward doesn't know the depths of Nick's stomach but she guesses he probably needs all the food he can get.
Sayward: Well, feel free to share.
Sayward: By the way if you have a minute I could use a little help with something.
Nick: Oh? What's the problem?
Sayward: I usually get Cris to check these forms for me but she wasn't available. I just want to make sure that I have these injury forms filled out correctly.
Sayward: Simelan is a bear to read.
Nick: Well, I'll look it over, if you like.
Sayward: I normally use the English ones but I was out of them. I picked these up by mistake.
Nick eyes the thick stack of paper Sayward is carrying with some trepidation, but it is too late to retract the offer.
Sayward: Oh, not all of them just these three on top here.
Sayward: The rest are in English.
Nick sighs in ill-concealed relief.
Sayward laughs.
Nick reaches for the Simelan forms.
Sayward: I called myself being polite and tried to write the information in Simelan but I'm not sure it's right.
Nick scans the first form, noting a few minor spelling errors that he decides to let slide--after all, his own spelling isn't necessarily perfect, as Arat has pointed out on more than one occasion.
Nick then turns to the second page, and starts wading through the description of the injury.
Nick: Err, Sayward, I doubt that this disabling sprain really turned the guy's ankle into a grapefruit.
Sayward: What?! Oh no!
Sayward rubs her face.
Sayward: I meant it was the size of a grapefruit.
Nick: You might want to rephrase it a bit, then.
Sayward: Okay.
Sayward looks at the phrasing and can't tell where the problem is.
Sayward: What did I do wrong?
Nick explains the error, and suggests a correction.
Sayward: Thanks Nick.
Sayward cringes inwardly as she waits for Nick to finish reading the forms.
Nick: And down here--it's fine to request two weeks of disability pay so the guy can recover, but I don't think that the labor authorities will accept your recommendation that he spend it in a brothel.
Nick looks somewhat apologetic.
Sayward tries not to blush but....
Sayward: Right no brothel. What would be the right word there?
Nick makes a less controversial recommendation.
Sayward is afraid to find out what else she said.
Nick moves on to the second form.
Nick blinks in astonishment.
Sayward: What?!
Sayward realizes that maybe she should have just waited for Cris. Or better yet gone and picked up the English forms.
Nick: You had three carpenters injured because they held an orgy for their team mates while constructing an office?
Sayward stares at Nick with her mouth open. She doesn't know what to say to that.
Sayward puts her hand over her open mouth.
Nick: I think the word you want is "work together", or "interact".
Riyyh signals at the door to Nick, Arat and Jeniard's home.
Riyyh is reasonably sure Arat is not in there, of course. He's after Nick.
Sayward: That was not what I meant at all.
Nick is glad for that.
Sayward: They were gang hauling a roof brace.
Nick is blushing: he's not used to gutter language on formal reports.
Sayward: Oh, yeah sure.
Nick: Err... I think I'd better answer the door.
Nick goes to the door with some relief and opens it.
Nick: Riyyh!
Nick: What brings you here?
Nick steps back to let Riyyh in before all the heat leaves.
Nick: Come in.
Riyyh: Oh! I had no idea you had company. I don't mean to intrude.
Sayward is very happy that her dark skin keeps her blush from showing. She forgets however that Simes can tell anyway.
Riyyh comes in, of course.
Riyyh zlins Sayward blushing like crazy and suspects he must have interrupted some hanky panky.
Riyyh: I will only be a moment. [promises]
Nick's flamboyant robe is no doubt adding to that misconception.
Riyyh brushes back his long, silvery hair, unconsciously responding to the sexual embarrassment in the ambient.
Nick: Sayward asked me to correct her Simelan on these injury forms.
Riyyh smiles kindly at Sayward.
Riyyh: I understand.
Riyyh misunderstands entirely.
Sayward: Actually, Sectuib Riyyh, I have decided that the mistakes are too numerous to fix and I will just redo them.
Sayward: Er, the forms not the mistakes I mean.
Riyyh zlins Sayward getting more and more flustered.
Sayward has some serious concerns about her written Simelan and intends to get Cris to teach her more correct forms.
Nick: It appears that Sayward has been picking up some non-standard Simelan from the work crews.
Nick offers the third form to Riyyh as an example.
Sayward is horrified as Nick passes the form to Riyyh.
Riyyh is rather surprised when Nick offers him the form, but of course he wouldn't dream of being so impolite as to show it.
Riyyh takes the form and reads it.
Sayward: Really it's okay, I will just take them back and fix them. You don't have to....
Riyyh: Oh, my.
Nick is, truth to tell, more than glad for the excuse not to break what he expects will be more bad news to Sayward about her Simelan.
Riyyh actually blushes himself.
Riyyh pauses to fan himself with the form.
Sayward takes a deep breath and tries to think calming thoughts. It ain't workin'.
Sayward's eyes are getting rounder and rounder as she sees Riyyh's reaction to what he has read.
Sayward: I'm afraid to even ask what I said on that one.
Riyyh: My dear, this makes perfect sense, although I am certain that Controller Arat would be more pleased by use of a technical term for the, er, body part in question, rather than [pauses to re-read exactly what was written]
Riyyh: "ten feet of cold cut iron girder swinging in the breeze".
Nick blushes.
Riyyh: Unless this part about restraining buttons firing across the work site with gatling gun like force was meant to read "restraining bolts"?
Sayward clears her throat uncomfortably.
Sayward: Uh, yes actually it was.
Riyyh: Ohhh. ~~comprehension~~
Riyyh: My apologies.
Sayward is now blushing so hard that her temperature is rising.
Sayward: No, Sectuib, my apologies!
Riyyh is relieved to hear that, although the idea of that much structural metal "busting loose like a stallion feeling his oats" sounds a bit dangerous.
Riyyh hands the sheet back to Nick.
Riyyh: It is always difficult to learn a new language. Why, we see it all the time at Naros. You are courageous to attempt it, at your age, and you have done admirably well.
Nick takes the sheet, and just to be thorough, checks through the rest of it.
Riyyh: Even the young people in First Year have a difficult time of the finer nuances.
Riyyh smiles at Sayward.
Sayward: I, uh, I think I should redo these in English.
Nick: You've done a commendable job, really.
Riyyh: I am sure you will learn gradually over time. And do keep asking Nick here for help, I am sure he will do a wonderful job of providing any assistance you might want.
Riyyh: By any chance, have any like these already been submitted to the Controller's Office?
Sayward looks from Riyyh to Nick and back again.
Sayward: No.
Nick hopes that next time Sayward hands him such sexually explicit reading material, he will be fully dressed.
Riyyh: Well, I am sure he would be perfectly understanding.
Riyyh is sure Arat would be no such thing, so it's a good thing nobody will have to see that.
Nick is probably alone among the Narosian-bred to think along those lines.
Sayward has no actual sexual experience and the fact that she has written such inexcusable language is mortifying.
Nick: Well, he might have been concerned by the bit about the gang rape at the end there.
Sayward: Gang ---
Nick: But I'm sure he would have figured it out by the next paragraph, when you specified the rape victim as a soup kettle.
Sayward is feeling faint at this point. She has no intention of even letting Cris see these.
Riyyh places a consoling hand on Sayward's arm.
Riyyh: There, there. It is quite all right.
Nick is pretty sure that soup kettles aren't usually raped, even in Gen Territory.
Riyyh: No harm done, after all -- you can go fix it up and nobody will ever have to know.
Sayward: May I have those back please? [points at the offending and offensive forms]
Riyyh smiles kindly at Sayward, attempting to alleviate her upset.
Sayward looks at Riyyh's smile and tries not to become even more embarrassed.
Nick wonders if Sayward has any idea how many "nobodies" seem to know everything that any Narosian hears.
Riyyh's smile is one of bottomless warmth and intimacy. Well, fatherly intimacy.
Nick just hopes that the story won't have unintended consequences for Sayward, who really didn't mean to write such salacious stuff on Tecton accident forms, he is sure.
Sayward takes another deep breath and tries to think calming thoughts. It still ain't workin'.
Riyyh: Nick, do return them to her. [urges]
Nick: Oh, of course.
Nick hands the offending reports to Sayward.
Sayward takes them and crumples them so that there is no way she will get them mixed in with the other forms she still has to drop off.
Sayward would burn them but she has to have a reminder of what she needs to put on the English forms.
Riyyh takes Sayward's hand, since merely touching her arm doesn't seem to be providing the calming effect he usually can produce.
Riyyh: Truly, there is nothing to be ashamed of.
Riyyh: Why, many people would not even have attempted it.
Riyyh: Your courage is admirable.
Sayward: Thank you Nick for saving me the embarrassment of having this land on the Controller's desk.
Sayward thinks it would melt the finish on said desk.
Nick: You're welcome. Although truth to tell, Jeniard would probably have caught those forms before Arat saw them.
Sayward doesn't see where that would have been any better but Nick seems to think so. So....
Sayward remembers why she stopped by in the first place.
Sayward: Oh yes the stew. I didn't bring it as a trade, really I didn't. But it looks like small payment for a great favor.
Riyyh lets go of Sayward's hand, since she is flat out ignoring him.
Nick: Sayward has a thing about feeding Simes--she brought enough vegetable stew to feed all three of us.
Sayward is still too flustered to think straight. She has been more flustered in the last few months than in her entire life before coming to the dam site.
Nick is therefore anticipating having a few leftovers to eat tomorrow.
Riyyh: Why, how kind of her.
Riyyh is unable to zlin for sure, given how much Nick outrates him, but he is fairly certain Nick was pleased by the surprise.
Sayward: Well it's Nick I worry the most about. [is not thinking before speaking at all]
Nick blinks in astonishment.
Nick: Really?
Sayward: Well, yes actually.
Nick can't think why anyone would be more concerned about him than about, say Arat who has been poisoned, or Snake who's insane.
Sayward: The way Arat feels about food and the fact that you are with him almost all the time I didn't think you were getting enough to eat.
Sayward's brain has totally disconnected from her mouth.
Nick starts to deny this, but his stomach gurgles loudly.
Riyyh: My heavens, you mustn't worry on that account. Nick's grandmother has provided him with plenty of assertiveness after all.
Nick shudders at the mention of Prunida.
Riyyh chooses "assertiveness" instead of "greed and stubbornness".
Sayward suddenly realizes that there is a size nine boot in her mouth.
Nick: Fortunately, she hasn't provided me with her company, lately.
Riyyh: I suppose we should be thankful for small pass-closing related blessings.
Sayward: Well I should be going. [Before I do or say something else stupid.]
Nick: It was very kind of you to drop by.
Sayward: Yes well... Enjoy the stew.
Sayward picks up her correct forms and head for the door.
Nick: Believe me, I will! Just as soon as I finish my shower.
Nick tries not to blush: somehow the word "shower" takes on a new meaning, after Sayward's unexpectedly raunchy accident reports.
Sayward: Good day to you also Sectuib Riyyh.
Sayward opens the door and lets herself out into the welcome cold.
Nick looks at Riyyh and smiles weakly.
Riyyh manages to look innocent and turned on both at once. Well, he's had a lot of practice.
Go on to Episode #102: Kettle's Reprise
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