Sime~Gen Roleplaying on IRC: Snake River Dam Scenario
Episode #145: Albert's Cookies (3/27/01)
Plum wanders through drifting banks of grey mist.
Plum has been wandering endlessly in circles. He wonders where he is.
Plum remembers wanting only to get escape from the Demon who was trying to break his will.
Albert smiles under his thick gray mustache. He adjusts his drab suit. It could be dark gray or maybe faded brown, hard to tell. He has gentle eyes and a head full of unruly hair. Some might call it Farris-like.
Plum tried to wedge himself into a dark crack that somehow led him to this foggy limbo.
Albert waves away the mist. There is another lost in it. He will help if he can.
Albert: Hello there. Are you lost?
Plum looks around. The grayness nothingness shifts and swirls. He can't feel anything beneath his feet, either, though he isn't falling.
Plum: Who's there!
Albert: Oh, don't be alarmed, it's just me Albert.
Albert chuckles softly.
Albert: It has been a long time since I have had company. Would you like to rest and talk for a bit?
Plum sees a man with a distinguished grey mustache emerge from the fog bank.
Plum examines the apparition carefully.
Plum: Albert.
Plum smiles.
Plum: I'm glad to see anyone, here.
Albert smiles back.
Plum: I've been lost.... I don't know how long.
Albert: It can be confusing all this mist.
Albert: Come this way. I have a table set right over there.
Plum: A table?
Plum wonders if the man has food, too. He doesn't feel hungry, although he should.
Albert waves gently at the mist again to reveal a table and two chairs with a tea pot and cups set on it.
Plum: To tell the truth, I don't know how I got here.
Plum: But I think I've been here a while.
Albert: Well then, high time for refreshments.
Plum smiles tentatively.
Albert: Come, sit.
Albert smiles and his eyes crinkle at the edges.
Plum takes a load off his feet. Though come to think of it, they don't hurt. And they should.
Plum: Thank you.
Plum: I've been doing a lot of walking.
Albert: You are most welcome. Now would you like one lump or two?
Plum thinks that his feet surely ached when Hajene Sylma chased him round and round in the transfer room.
Albert pours steaming hot tea into two beautifully rose-patterned tea cups.
Plum: One, please.
Plum would actually like two, but he has been chided before on his child-like love of sweets.
Albert sees that Plum would prefer two and gives him two.
Plum looks at his feet. He is wearing his favorite boots, which he thought he left back in Salmonton, and they don't look scuffed at all.
Plum looks at Albert again.
Albert: So my friend, what brings you to this place?
Albert knows the answer but he would rather know that Plum knows.
Plum: Well, I was trying to escape from some Demons who wanted to eat my soul.
Albert raises one bushy eyebrow at this.
Albert: Demons you say. Oh my.
Plum: They were holding me prisoner. I couldn't escape, so I prayed for a miracle.
Albert: And did you receive it?
Plum: I guess so.
Plum: This... space opened up.
Plum: I crawled in and the Demons couldn't follow.
Plum: And ever since then I've been just kind of wandering in this.... Where are we?
Albert: Well it appears that you have come here for a purpose. You are quite safe for the time being. We don't have Demons here.
Plum: Oh, thank Heaven!
Albert: Yes that would seem to be the case.
Plum picks up his cup and takes a sip of the warm sweet tea.
Plum: This tastes wonderful.
Albert: I am pleased you like it. Now could I interest you in some biscuits, or I think you would say cookies?
Albert waves the mist away from a side table to reveal a large plate of assorted cookies and pastries.
Plum thinks about the cold grits they served in the prison, which he was afraid to eat for fear of being drugged again.
Plum feels his mouth water.
Plum: That would be wonderful.
Plum is not actually hungry, though.
Plum considers Albert's dress and overall appearance. There is something odd about the man. But, never mind....
Plum takes a cookie. It is almond-flavored and dusted with sugar, the way his Granny used to make them.
Albert: Not as good as your Granny's I'm afraid.
Plum smiles.
Plum: Well, certainly better than what I've been used to lately.
Albert: Would you care to tell me about what you have been through?
Plum considers the cookie and wonders if he still has to worry about being drugged or poisoned. He decides to take Albert's word that he is safe here.
Plum: Well, I....
Albert: You do not have to if you prefer not to.
Albert: We wouldn't want to spoil the tea.
Plum wonders if Albert comes from in- or out-Territory. He certainly doesn't recognize his style of clothing; it looks like something out of a museum.
Albert turns at the sound of his phone ringing.
Plum: Where you are from, Albert?
Albert: One moment please.
Plum looks around for the source of the bell.
Albert answers the phone with a "Hello." And a "Yes he is here now." And finally "I will, I will! Goodbye."
Plum stares at the odd, shiny black "plastic" thing Albert is holding.
Plum: What's that?
Albert: Please forgive the interruption. Telephones have no manners I'm afraid.
Plum: A telephone?
Plum has read about these.
Plum: Does it work?
Albert: Oh, the telephone. I don't believe it has been reinvented in your time yet.
Albert: Yes, it works quite well. So long as you have someone to call.
Plum: [awed] Ancient technology.
Albert: Who would you call if you could, Josef?
Plum thinks about the recent past.
Plum: I don't think there's anybody, really.
Plum knows that his congregation and neighbors would shun him if they knew the details of what has been happening to him.
Albert: No one? Not even Annabelle?
Plum: Annabelle?
Plum feels tears start to his eyes.
Albert: That is your wife's name is it not?
Plum: Yes, but she's dead.
Albert: All things are relative my dear boy.
Plum thinks that Annabelle would love him no matter what.
Albert: If you wish to, you may call her on this telephone.
Plum looks around at the mist and wonders if he is dead himself.
Plum thinks that would explain a lot.
Plum: Thank you.
Plum: May I?
Albert: Of course. One moment and I will dial the number for you.
Plum reaches out a hand for the receiver.
Plum watches with curiosity as Albert's fingers swirl the little numbered dial around and around.
Albert hands Plum the receiver.
Albert can hear the ringing of the other phone even without the handset.
Albert: Just a moment and she will answer.
Annabelle: [tinny far-away voice] Josef?
Plum: Annabelle! Is that you?
Plum grips the plastic receiver with both hands.
Annabelle: Oh, it's good to hear your voice. I've been so worried.
Plum: I missed you so much. It's been hard.
Annabelle: I know.
Plum: Do you know... what happened to me?
Plum: Am I dead?
Plum knows that Annabelle is in heaven, but he doesn't figure he will be allowed in, given recent events.
Plum thinks that celestial telephones are quite as marvelous an invention as the earthly version.
Annabelle: No, dear.
Annabelle: But sometimes it's possible to get a message through.
Annabelle: Albert can explain it better than I can.
Albert unobtrusively clears away the used plates, cups and saucers as the lovebirds chat away.
Plum: Where are you? I want to see you.
Annabelle: [voice quavering as static intrudes on the connection] It's still quite a long way.
Annabelle: Take good care of yourself, my dear.
Plum peers into the receiver as the phone goes dead.
Albert clears his throat quietly.
Albert: I'll take that Josef.
Plum: Annabelle? Annabelle?
Plum grips the receiver possessively.
Plum: How can I go to her?
Albert smiles a gentle sad smile and holds out his had for the receiver.
Albert: You have a long way to go to get to her.
Plum looks at the out-stretched hand and reluctantly give up the telephone.
Albert: The question remains, how badly do you wish to get to her?
Plum knows that he won't be getting any other messages unless Albert is willing to dial the connection.
Albert hangs up the phone.
Plum tries not to sob.
Albert pats Plum's shoulder consolingly.
Plum: She said I wasn't dead?
Albert: No, you are not.
Plum: But my life is in ruins. My memories of her are the one good true thing left to me.
Albert: Yes. She is good and true and she still loves you.
Plum: But I am no longer worthy of her love. I have failed.
Albert: Have you? In what way?
Plum: I failed to keep her alive, for one thing. And our children.
Plum remembers the horrible days burying bodies during the epidemic.
Albert: How would you have stopped a plague?
Plum: I couldn't. But it was my responsibility.
Plum: And my punishment was to go on without her.
Albert: How was this your responsibility?
Plum: Because I was her husband. I promised to protect her.
Albert: What could you have done to save her?
Plum: I don't know. If I knew, I would have done it.
Albert: Exactly! There was nothing within your power to do to save her.
Albert: You are a man of flesh and blood just as other men. They could not save their loved ones and you could not save yours. It was not yours to do.
Albert: It is rather a prideful thing to think otherwise, wouldn't you say?
Plum: We human beings are weak and full of flaws.
Plum does not necessarily include Albert in this description. He is not quite sure what he is dealing with here.
Plum: But when we act in accord with the will of Heaven, miracles are possible.
Plum: There was nothing I could do to escape from the Demons, yet I am here.
Plum: Though I am not quite sure where here is.
Plum hopes it isn't Hell, though the cookies tasted too good for that to be likely.
Albert: Miracles do happen but it is not the will of men that makes them.
Plum bows his head in agreement.
Albert: If it were they would become rather common place and ordinary.
Albert: There is a far grander scheme than most people ever get to see.
Albert: You have a place in it if you will take it.
Plum: Do I?
Plum has worried ever since he was captured about the state of his soul.
Albert: Yes, Joseph. I am here to help you see what that place is.
Albert smiles and crinkles his eyes and wrinkles his nose above his thick mustache.
Plum: I have tried to do what was right, but so often it wasn't enough.
Albert: Josef, can you fly?
Plum: Not usually.
Albert: Well let us deal with the usual for the time being.
Plum scuffs his boot-tip against the odd crumbly grey surface underfoot. He's not quite sure if this is really solid ground he's on.
Plum: No, sir.
Albert: Is there anything that you could do to make yourself fly?
Plum: Nothing that wasn't witchcraft. Though I've heard that the Ancients knew ways....
Plum glances around for the mysterious telephone, but it has vanished.
Plum wonders what else Alfred can conjure out of the mists.
Albert: [chuckles] So you cannot fly. And no matter how hard you try you still will not be able to fly. Correct?
Plum: Yes, sir. Can you fly?
Plum would not be surprised if the answer was yes.
Albert: The question is for you my boy. Don't change the subject. [smiling]
Plum: Well, I still haven't figured out how I got here.
Plum stands and flaps his arms a bit to see if he rises at all.
Albert tries not to laugh at the sight of a grown man standing and flapping his arms like an injured bird.
Albert: Well, what is your conclusion?
Plum: Escaping from that locked room was impossible. But here I am.
Plum: So I must say that right now I don't know how to fly, or else I am not meant to.
Albert: Exactly!
Albert: No matter how hard you try, you can not do a thing you were not meant to do.
Go on to Episode #146: Water Hazard
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