Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #111: Hard Sell (1/27/01)
Nick has just finished showering, and is pulling on his clothes.
Nick has not quite dared to brave the bath house again so soon, despite Riyyh's reassurances, for fear of having his assets appropriated.
Nick dries his assets carefully before pulling on his underwear and pants.
Nick picks up his shirt, and frowns as it catches on a splinter.
Nick extricates the shirt, and views the damages: a long thread dangling across the front.
Jeniard comes through the front door of their hov... house, closing it firmly against a large snowdrift.
Jeniard quickly strips off his snowy outer layers. He only has a few minutes free to decontaminate the house before Arat will be coming off of a shift.
Nick is, of course, unable to find a sharp implement to cut it in the bathroom.
Jeniard is looking pretty frazzled, as he has been up to his eyeballs in the investigation Arat asked for.
Nick hears the door open and close.
Nick: Jeniard, is that you?
Jeniard: Yes Nick. [calls back]
Jeniard carefully removes his boots, so as not to scatter slush all over the floor.
Jeniard then hurries to the cleaning supplies nook.
Nick: Don't you think its about time to replace the scissors in here?
Nick: I've got a loose thread, and I can't trim it.
Jeniard's mind races with thoughts of the rampant corruption and greed he has been discovering in the local food market.
Jeniard has so far been able to determine that the merchants have banded together to produce such high prices that Gens must spend their entire donation payments on food. The money is given to "associates" of the merchants, unemployed renSimes, in what may turn out to be a nasty protection racket.
Jeniard realizes what Nick just said.
Jeniard: Are you crazy?
Nick zlins just a bit ~~ peeved ~~, but not insane.
Nick: You can't keep him away from all sharp objects forever, you know. And he hasn't mentioned hair-cutting in weeks.
Jeniard: He didn't mention it the first time, either.
Jeniard: He just went to do it.
Jeniard seems to consider this a personal crime of the highest magnitude.
Jeniard moistens a mop to the precise level of dampness required for hair-and-lint collection and starts damp-mopping the main room floor.
Jeniard: If I hadn't been there... [shudders]
Nick: Well, that was when he'd just decided that he was stuck here for the long term. He's had some time to get used to it, now.
Nick actually considers that Arat's actions in making the hair-cutting attempt in Jeniard's presence proves that he didn't intend to actually cut it in the first place.
Jeniard considers Arat's hair to be his own personal possession. Arat doesn't have that many good points, after all, and a person can't live on "being needed" alone.
Jeniard rinses out the mop and puts it away, then prepares a moist cleaning rag.
Jeniard: That's what you say. But you haven't actually seen him with short hair.
Jeniard: Believe me, it's something to be avoided at all costs.
Nick: Hey, it can't be worse than Snake's mop.
Nick is actually of the opinion that the average mop is more aesthetic than Snake's hair, due to the lesser quantity of grease.
Jeniard doesn't see the comparison. Snake is a deranged criminal. Deranged criminals are allowed to look like they just used their heads to scrub a beehive's interior.
Jeniard: You say. Anyway, mornings are the only time we get to talk. If he could just run out the door the minute he woke up, I'd never see him except on breaks.
Jeniard is carefully wiping all ledges, table tops, and other small surfaces free of dust (or potential dust) as he speaks.
Nick: Even Arat has to wear clothes, in this weather.
Nick looks at his ruined uniform shirt and sighs.
Nick sets the shirt aside and rummages around for another.
Jeniard switches from the rag to a lint-comb and begins to carefully go over all the furniture for hair and such. He has the house-cleaning thing down to a science and can get through the basics while on break, with only a little augmenting.
Nick: Well, maybe the Narosian laundry service can trim that thread.
Nick is well aware that it will be a long time before he will be able to replace his meager supply of clothing.
Nick isn't nearly as much a peacock as his sire (or grandsire, for that matter), but he does prefer to look smart, when he can.
Nick's definition of "smartness" has changed a bit since he met Arat, too.
Jeniard sighs.
Jeniard: Look, it's not that difficult.
Jeniard puts down his cleaning supplies and goes through to where Nick is in the other room.
Jeniard opens a drawer or two, and locates his razor.
Jeniard: Where is the shirt?
Jeniard hadn't wanted to admit to Nick that any sharp objects existed anywhere in the house, but he has had it with the complaining.
Jeniard in fact has quite a number of interesting things hidden in the house. He's been trading on Arat's lack of curiosity about mundane things and the zlin-proofness of certain kinds of foil for years.
Nick gapes at the razor.
Jeniard: Or would you rather use yours?
Nick: You threw mine out the window, if you'll remember. Along with my good pair of scissors. I've been getting shaved down at the bath house.
Nick picks up the damaged shirt and tosses it towards Jeniard.
Nick is not happy at having been put to considerable inconvenience for the sake of Jeniard's aesthetic interest in Arat's hair, now that it appears that Jeniard himself has made no such sacrifice.
Jeniard had, in a moment of sanity, sent a couple of his aides to go retrieve the two items, at considerable expense. Not quite so considerable as importing new items from Gen Territory in this economy, however.
Jeniard: Look, Nick. I have all your stuff. I just didn't want it laying around where... the unthinkable could happen.
Jeniard isn't talking about hair either.
Jeniard carefully cuts the thread off at the base, and leaves the shirt on the bed.
Jeniard puts the razor back in its little case, and smoothes the foil back into place.
Nick: You've been hiding my scissors and razor from me for weeks?
Nick is starting to get really ~~ aggravated ~~
Jeniard returns the box to its hiding place and then prudently backs off.
Jeniard: Well, yes.
Nick holds out his hand.
Jeniard: They're in the main room. Behind the firewood bin.
Jeniard often uses firewood bins to hide things, as Arat can be counted upon to never investigate them too closely.
Jeniard: I'll go get them now.
Jeniard scurries out, so as to get away from Nick's nager.
Nick waits, foot tapping, for Jeniard's return.
Nick is pretty sure that he's never going to get a refund on the large deposit he paid for the importation of replacements.
Jeniard returns shortly with a wooden box made of a chip of log, complete with bark.
Nick has not gotten a bank statement for months, the weather being what it is, and has no idea of how trivial a dent in his bank account the deposit really is.
Jeniard places the box on the edge of the bed nearest him, that is to say farthest from Nick.
Nick stares at the box.
Nick: It's in there?
Nick: Where it's likely to get thrown on the fire at any moment?
Jeniard: No, behind the bin.
Jeniard shrugs.
Jeniard: So long as the bin is full, who's going to reach for what's wedged behind it?
Nick: That last storm, we came very close to having an empty bin.
Jeniard is not particularly moved. The steel wouldn't have been harmed by a brief immersion in fire.
Nick makes his way around the furniture towards the log-box.
Jeniard: I did what I had to do. And I'll do it again, if I have to.
Du Wie has been informed, at rather an exorbitant price, that Nick is in his quarters alone. Perhaps this time she can manage to talk to the man without his having some form of fit.
Jeniard: If Arat harms himself because of something I didn't do....
Jeniard places Nick's convenience dead last in that race.
Nick: The fatality rate during hair-trimming is extremely low, last time I checked the Tecton statistics.
Du Wie walks up to the door. Thinking that Nick is alone she knocks.
Jeniard thinks Nick is being unbelievably dense.
Jeniard gives him an exasperated look, and then goes to see who is at the door.
Jeniard opens the door.
Jeniard: Hello?
Nick mutters to himself as he tries to find the opening in the trick log.
Du Wie smiles her most gracious smile at Jeniard
Jeniard recognizes Du Wie from the Tecton mess tent. He remembers her trying to sell financial services to innocent Donors.
Jeniard looks a bit wary.
Jeniard: Can I help you?
Du Wie: Hello. I was hoping to see Sosu Reckage.
Jeniard: Do you have an appointment?
Jeniard always asks this first. It's an ingrained habit.
Du Wie: No. It is a bit difficult to catch him. I was hoping to see him for a moment.
Jeniard: All right. Wait here for a moment.
Jeniard leaves the door slightly ajar, nods to the member of Arat's bodyguard who is standing outside there too, then goes to the bedroom again.
Jeniard: There is someone here to see you.
Jeniard: The financial advisor.
Jeniard: Nick... [hesitates]
Nick had been removing his scissors and razor from the log's hidden compartment.
Jeniard wants to tell Nick not to do anything with his money without asking his or Arat's advice first, but he realizes that Nick may have no interest in his advice at this point.
Nick's aggravation disappears at the mention of Du, to be replaced by genuine ~~ alarm ~~.
Jeniard shakes his head and turns away. He is already late anyway.
Jeniard goes back to the door and opens it.
Nick: Not her!
Jeniard: Go ahead and wait in there. [points at the main area, which has couches and a low coffee table]
Jeniard: He'll be out in a minute.
Du Wie: Thank you.
Du Wie enters.
Jeniard might have paid more attention to Nick's alarm and denial if he'd realized it was about Du, and not about his noticing the damage his items had taken when they bounced down the stony cliff.
Jeniard starts pulling on his outerwear. He doesn't have any more time for cleaning.
Nick realizes that Jeniard has abandoned him to the mercies of the marriage-minded (or at least offspring-minded) "financial advisor".
Du Wie decides to sit on a couch and get comfort able. She removes her outer coat to reveal her most conservative business suit. Tailored of course.
Nick wonders if he can race through the main area of the hovel and make it to the front door without being caught and cornered.
Jeniard laces up his boots and begins donning his sweater, cloak, hat, scarf, etc.
Du Wie does have one money devouring vice. Clothes.
Jeniard spends so much time going between buildings that he may as well be working outdoors on the construction project.
Nick regretfully concludes that without the ability to augment, for both speed and heat, it is impossible to put on enough warm clothing to get out the door without a confrontation.
Jeniard leaves.
Du Wie: [But there were only a few things that she could bring with her so she has been very circumspect in her clothing choices.]
Nick puts his mangled scissors and chipped razor in his drawer, having concluded that he'd better not cancel his order for replacements, after all.
Du Wie hopes that her conservative attire will put her potential client at ease.
Nick decides his best bet is to make it as clear as possible that he does not have time for any asset-examination today. Or ever, for that matter.
Nick therefore picks up his sweater and drapes it over his arm, so that it hangs down and obscures said assets as much as possible.
Du Wie looks around the room. There is very little here to suggest the kind of wealth that the occupants can command.
Du Wie thinks this means that the money is not tied up in incidentals and therefore available for investment.
Nick finds his surroundings rather comfortable, all things considered, the recent absence of cutting tools aside.
Nick sidles into the room, hoping to make a quick getaway.
Du Wie rises to greet Nick.
Du Wie: Hello Sosu Reckage.
Du Wie: I am happy to be able to speak to you under less hectic circumstances.
Nick: Well, I really do have to get going. I'm on duty before long.
Nick actually had been planning on a nice breakfast and cup of tea before he reported in, but necessity is the mother of strange bedfellows, and all that.
Du Wie: Yes I do understand you are a very busy person. I merely wanted to get an agreement in place which will allow me to manage your assets to your best advantage.
Du Wie: I really am very good at what I do.
Nick's expression is rather alarmed at this insistence on an asset-management deal.
Nick: I'm sure you are, but I am not sure such an arrangement would be fair to either us or the, er, anticipated dividend.
Du Wie smiles to reassure Nick that she is sincere.
Du Wie: I don't know what you may have been hearing but I am always fair and honest with my clients. I never cheat them of the growth potential that their endowments can generate.
Du Wie wonders if people at the camp have gotten her mixed up with her father Duwane Wie.
Du Wie knows that his reputation is far less than sterling.
Nick: Well, that's very kind of you, I'm sure, but as a Donor, you do realize that I travel a great deal? It can be rather hard to, er, properly enjoy the fruits of such growth potential, if one is always on the move.
Du Wie: Oh, that is no problem. The results of proper asset management can follow you wherever you go.
Nick blanches at this revelation.
Nick imagines being followed from Sime Center to Sime Center by Du and a growing collection of rug rats.
Du Wie sees Nick's obvious distress but can't figure out what is causing it. She has done everything that she can think of to allay his fears.
Nick: Truly, at the present moment, I feel that that sort of, um, outgrowth of my assets is unnecessary. You are aware that Sectuib Riyyh is my father, aren't you?
Du Wie: Yes. [a flash of pure lust rips through her. All that wonderful money]
Nick: With such previous efforts at, um, asset growth in the family, my contribution to the whole is of necessity insignificant.
Nick notes Du's heaving bosom with dread.
Du Wie: Oh, don't sell yourself short Sosu Reckage. Your assets have just as much potential as your father's I am sure.
Nick backs away slowly, visions of being assaulted by a lust-crazed Du, with resulting damage to his assets, flashing through his mind.
Nick: I hope not!
Nick's voice rises a good two octaves.
Du Wie steps back a bit at this pronouncement.
Du Wie has never encountered anyone who didn't want to increase their net worth at least a little.
Du Wie: But Nick, may I call you Nick? There is always a market for your kind of assets.
Nick really doesn't want over two hundred kids, duty to the Tecton be shenned.
Nick can't back up any further, as he is already coming dangerously close to splintering himself on the rustically unsanded logs of the wall.
Du Wie has been looking into what Donors of Nick's caliber get paid. It is enough to make Du's heart leap and her mind race with ideas for increase.
Du Wie: Please let us sit and talk for a moment. That is all I really want of you until you can see what I have to offer.
Nick looks at Du for signs of imminent disrobing.
Nick is well aware that he is on his own, here. No one would make such a blatant advance to Arat (or so Nick imagines)1, and it would never occur to Riyyh to turn down a proposition.
Du Wie moves back over to the couch and sits down patting the spot next to her in invitation.
Du Wie: I promise I won't bite.
Nick sidles over to sit on the couch opposite Du, and sits on the very edge of the couch.
Nick drapes the sweater over his lap to conceal his assets.
Nick: Look, don't you agree that any, er, asset growth I might engage in would be an unnecessary duplication of effort, as it were?
Nick: And counterproductive, considering the number of relatives I have?
Du Wie: Duplication can be a very good thing. I have found that making solid asset management decisions can only increase one's worth in the grand scheme of things.
Du Wie: Dependents can only benefit from your assets management decisions provided you have a good professional Assets Manager. Someone like me.
Du Wie: My services are professional and sought after. I have acquired most of my clientele by word of mouth.
Du Wie has been doing rather well at the dam site. She has also seen a good deal of opportunity for growth on both sides of the border. With the coming of spring things should really start rolling.
Nick: Forgive me from mentioning the obvious, but you are not a Donor. Are you aware of the significant risks involved in an association such as you propose, under the circumstances?
Nick: I am not a Farris, but still, it is no minor risk.
Du Wie: There is always some small risk involved when handling assets such as yours. But I have been doing this for a while despite my youthful appearance.
Du Wie: I will take every precaution to minimize the risk.
Nick views Du's figure with some skepticism.
Nick: Just how many Donors' assets have you "managed", anyway?
Du Wie: Currently here at the camp I am managing five. Only one has assets as great as your own. He was squandering them shamelessly before I came along.
Nick has never seen Du with a child, that he can recall.
Nick: Five at once?
Nick checks Du for a Narosian resemblance.
Nick: And you want to add another?
Du Wie: Oh yes. But that is just here at the dam site. I have many more scattered through out the Territory. I would love to add your assets to my business.
Nick: How can you possibly keep track of whose "dividend" is whose, under such circumstances?
Du Wie: I am a very careful manager, Nick, I never confuse my clients assets or mishandle them.
Du Wie: I invest quite a bit of time and care into each of my clients.
Du Wie thinks that none of her clients have required quite this much time and effort to convince though.
Du Wie does love a challenge! But not quite as much as she loves money.
Nick: Your clients, perhaps, but how can you possibly pay sufficient attention to the, er, dividends, when you are obviously managing them long-distance?
Du Wie: It does become challenging at times, but none of my clients have ever had any complaints about the dividends I have provided for them.
Du Wie: My labors are always fruitful and and the increase is always appreciated.
Du Wie: In fact if you allow me to manage your assets I can certainly see at least a fourfold increase for your investment.
Nick: Fourfold? That would take years!
Du Wie: Oh no. That can happen in just a few months time. I do make sure of these things you know.
Du Wie has a knack for her chosen profession. She really is quite good.
Nick thinks he is starting to understand: Du doesn't necessarily manage assets personally, she's a madam with a stable of hookers.
Nick: You must have quite a staff, to get that sort of increase.
Du Wie: I do have two assistants back at the main branch. But up here I haven't yet found anyone up to the caliber I require.
Du Wie: So I will be handling your assets personally.
Nick rethinks it again: it appears that Du manages a string of brothels, with subsidiary madams under her.
Du Wie: The personal touch is one thing I enjoy offering to my clients.
Nick puts a protective hand on his asset-covering sweater.
Nick: Look, I really prefer a less, um, formal and regimented approach to asset management.
Arat comes in the front door of the lodge, having just left a long work shift with Beni in the infirmary.
Nick: So your asset management services are not... Arat!
Nick: ~~ profound relief ~~
Du Wie looks up to see the Controller enter.
Du Wie: Good day Controller Farris.
Arat is not pleased to find a guest in his quarters. He is somewhat puzzled to see it is Du Wie.
Du Wie is still trying to figure out if there is some way to insinuate herself into the Controller's assets.
Arat had thought that Nick had sent Du Wie packing with the notion that he already had a financial advisor.
Arat nods to Du Wie.
Arat: Good Day.
Nick jumps to his feet, pathetically grateful for the interruption.
Arat doesn't bother to take off his winter cloak, since it appears Nick is willing to come help out.
Du Wie does have a very active fantasy life. The Audnes fortune would go a very long way to making those fantasies a reality.
Nick bustles over to fuss over Arat, hoping that Du will assume that he is now on duty.
Arat: I trust I have not interrupted anything of importance?
Nick figures that it's not much of a deception, at this point, because he will be on duty shortly.
Nick: Not at all.
Arat lets Nick envelop him in his nager and take his cloak. Nick is a good Donor and keeps getting better and better.
Arat's definition of a good Donor, aside from nager, might actually be summed up as the sort of person who would flee his own important financial business upon the instant of perceiving Arat's need for help, no matter how small the need -- and do it with such a feeling of relief.
Du Wie: Only me trying to get Nick to take a more active interest in his assets.
Nick takes Arat's cloak and hangs it on its peg.
Arat: I see.
Arat looks at Nick in question.
Arat can feel Du Wie's little financial-acquisitive tendrils groping eagerly in his direction, but he gets that a lot so he is able to ignore it.
Du Wie: I do have extensive experience in the field and am unreproachable in my dealings.
Nick: I have as much interest in my, er, assets as anyone, but I don't think our philosophies on how they should be managed are at all compatible.
Du Wie is becoming a bit exasperated as her efforts are not bearing any fruit.
Arat thinks Nick does need to manage his assets better, but he would only mention that in private, and only if he thought Nick would welcome the advice. Which he suspects he wouldn't.
Du Wie: Nick, I have yet to hear you tell me what you prefer to do with your assets.
Nick: It's none of your business!
Nick doesn't want his sexual preferences bruited about the Dam site.
Du Wie: No, not yet, but I would like to make it so.
Arat once again wonders what it is that links sex to money in Nick's emotions.
Arat can zlin that Nick is sexually embarrassed by this question.
Arat is not sure he really wants to know.
Arat thinks that as long as it does not interfere with Nick's work as Arat's Donor, his employment by the Tecton or the reputations of anybody involved, it shouldn't matter.
Arat: It is important, [to Du Wie] that a first time investor be comfortable with his first advisor.
Arat: If Nick does not feel comfortable around you, perhaps you are not a good first choice for him.
Nick is well aware that Arat knows he's not a virgin, but if that's what it takes to get this overeager madam off his neck, he's quite willing to go along with it.
Du Wie is feeling frustrated. This is not going at all as she planned.
Du Wie: I could not agree with you more about comfort. However Nick has not even given me a chance to show him what I can do for him.
Du Wie: I would only like the chance to lay it all out on the table for him.
Du Wie looks intently at the Donor she would love to know.
Nick does not want Du laid out on a table, any more than he wants her laid out in his private room in the bath house, or more to the point, in his bedroom.
Arat considers that.
Arat turns to Nick.
Arat: Nick, have you decided you are ready to begin investing your income rather than simply banking it?
Arat: As I said, I am prepared to provide you with introductions to the better financial management firms in Capitol.
Nick blinks at the apparent change of topic.
Arat: If you feel you are ready to invest, you should take the time to find an advisor you can work with.
Du Wie is not happy that the Controller is touting her competition.
Du Wie: Controller, I realize that I may not be well known but I am good and reputable.
Arat: Of course. [to Du Wie] However, Nick is relatively new to wealth and as the person who brought him to it I feel it is my duty to advise him in such ways as he will permit.
Du Wie can see her prospects of getting her hands on at least some of Arat's money fading fast.
Arat: And it is clear that he is not comfortable with you in any way.
Arat: He should know that he is not limited in his options.
Arat would rather not have gone into this in front of Du Wie, but Nick is appearing desperately and increasingly in need of guidance.
Du Wie suffers a bit of consternation at this. Not only has the Controller intimated that he would not invest with her he is trying to convince Nick not to as well.
Nick: Arat, I would value your advice on financial affairs.
Nick would value just about anything that provides an excuse to not reproduce on demand.
Arat: Very well. Then I would advise that you choose a financial advisor you feel you can work with comfortably, and politely decline the services of those you cannot do business with on concise and honest grounds.
Arat is well aware that Nick would have to have been stringing Du Wie along a little bit for her to still be here trying.
Du Wie: Controller, to be honest I can't understand why Nick is so uncomfortable. I only offered to help him invest his money and increase his income.
Arat: As I say, Nick is new to wealth. It will take him some time to become used to these concepts. It may be you have come too soon. In any case, if you wish to preserve your reputation you will respect his wishes regarding your services.
Du Wie looks pleadingly from the Controller to the Donor.
Du Wie: Controller, he hasn't even seen my offer let alone refused it.
Arat: He has refused to hear it, which should be enough.
Arat comes from a long line of people who wouldn't dream of investing with anyone who has to beg for the gig.
Nick wonders what financial investments have to do with mass procreation.
Arat is neither familiar with, nor particularly comfortable with, the middle class hustle-scramble method of doing business, nor would he want to be.
Nick decides after a bit of thought that a mass-reproduction expert like Du probably wants a bit more assurance than simply the Tecton's standard child support payments.
Notes:
1) This is probably in reference to the events of Kaas Baichtal's One Hundred Days of Hunting. [return]
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