hexarchate_rpg | Move 11 (Chapter 1.11)

yhlee posting in

Year 361, Month Three, Day Sixteen (Sunday), evening
Station Moongray

On the Station, at The Bar on Level Three: Virmad

[

lleullawgyffes, it's up to you whether you want to say that Virmad gets caught up with Teo and/or matters on station overnight, or whether he will take care of matters with Teo quickly enough to join the others at the "Bumblebee" below.]

Per this thread, Teo has just greeted Virmad in the bar. To recap for your convenience:

The Bar on Level Three really is on Level Three. There are helpful directories pointing the way, but the fact that a number of people are heading there, and the cheerful clamor of people talking, and music, would have made it easy to find regardless.

The bartender is a trim woman with her hair hanging about her face in fantastic coils; the combs and hairpins look like they're about to escape. She's pouring a drink for a slouching Nirai technician when Virmad arrives. "You're new here," she says. "What can I get you?"

Kel Teo is sitting at a seat where he has a clear view of all exits. (Very Kel.) He's had a chance to change out of his uniform; he's wearing a sleek suit in shades of deep brown, and he's also embellished himself with gold-and-amber jewelry. He waves when he spots Virmad, smiling.

Teo adds that he's happy to pay for Virmad's drink--the first one, anyway, and some of the local grub. "I recommend the fried pork fritters with barbecue sauce," Teo says, "But maybe that's not ascetic enough fare for a Rahal?" (He's teasing.)

On the Station, on the "Bumblebee": Sulen, Sasha, Iawa, Alaric
Also probably: Ashari?, Mikodez?

Recap:
Remi has explained, at Sasha's insistence, that the baby moths were hatched in captivity from eggs stolen from the parents by a heptarchate expedition, and that the parents are likely dead. He claims that this all happened before he himself arrived on the station, and that he's been advocating for humane treatment of the baby moths.

Alaric has just explained that he discovered the Wasp's "moth" is a sentient starfaring being and has been communicating with it using pictures [Move 10].

Moving on:
Remi's response to this is to stare at Alaric in horror. "Do you seriously want me to believe that you were using a living being as your spaceship and didn't even check for sapience? I thought that was basic protocol...unless," and his expression sours, "it was convenient for people to hush it up?" He stares at Alaric. "Well, I can't blame it for wanting to adopt the young of its kind, but that's a high-security enclosure..."

[Remi might well be responsive to helping them kidnap the baby moths, assuming the whole conversation doesn't blow up in a completely different direction, but he's not going to offer unless someone else brings it up. There's plenty of opportunity for people to opine on what should be done about the baby moths, whether Alaric has been behaving appropriately, who Sasha should have notified, etc. If you need help brainstorming on your action, please let me know and I'll get back to you when I can; others players might also have thoughts.]

[GM suggests that Ashari and Mikodez could either have returned to the ship for the meeting with Remi, or else could teleconference in.

smokedetective: Ashari probably wants to be present in some form for the discussion, not least for possible/likely pending confrontation with Sasha per

zuhrovet's notes. If teleconferencing, Istradez will be happy to cover for them with any pesky people.

pengwern: If Mikodez prefers not to be involved in this discussion, he could plausibly be investigating the nonresponsiveness of the Kel at the moment after they helped Sulen stow Gerae, or assigned to keep an eye on Gerae, who might be feeling confessional while everyone else is occupied.]

Active in Move 10: Sulen, Virmad, Sasha, Iawa, Alaric, Mikodez, Ashari

Inactive: Yehan, Ankat, Kaliyan

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

yhlee

"What, all Rahal aren't identical?" Teo says with a wink. He calls out to the bartender and puts in a double order of pork fritters and a recommended beer [unless Virmad indicates that he wants something else to drink].

He thinks about Virmad's questions for a moment. "To be honest, most of my job would be extremely boring if I were a more action-oriented Kel. When there are rift visitors, I keep an eye on them--that's no secret. Our prior visitor, that ship that's been hanging around, is one example. Standoffish bunch, didn't like them much, but then it's not my job to handle first contact." He shrugs.

"On a daily basis, I oversee the people who keep an eye on the security feeds. And I read the research digests. I don't have the background to follow the gory details, of course, but I was reasonably good at science in academy--for a Kel, anyway." Teo grins.

"How about you? Has your day been productive? I heard you ran into our...local disgrace." He grimaces, clearly referring to Gerae.

From:

lleullawgyffes

[Virmad will have a beer, I think, but probably not more than one.]

“Oh, we have our share of differences,” Virmad says. “Some of us actually have lives outside of work. Some of us even have hobbies, shocking though that might seem to an ordinary citizen.”

[then, re Teo's description of his work:] “Sounds enthralling,” he says with a laugh. “I’ve never really had a head for the kind of higher math the Nirai — and even parts of my own faction — are always going on about. My work is usually a little more hands-on, in that it generally involves dealing directly with legal issues rather than calendrical mechanics.”

He pauses then, trying to figure out how much he should say about his work day — that is, how much it would be appropriate for him to comment on what is at least ostensibly an open investigation. “I’m not sure,” he says finally, “how productive or unproductive it was. We did encounter the esteemed former magistrate” — he uses an “honorific” indicating deprecation or irony — “and his pet. I probably shouldn’t say too much about an ongoing investigation, but I will say, I don’t think this one will be ongoing for much longer.”

He allows himself to grimace slightly. “You’d have a better sense than I would — how’s the local population handling the news?”

Then he checks himself. “No, never mind, forget I asked — the work day’s over. I prefer to try, at least, to maintain some kind of...what’s the phrase...‘work-life balance’, I think they call it. When I can. What do you do for fun? There can’t be too many diversions on a station this size — although with Nirai I suppose one never knows.”

From:

yhlee

[Smart man, Virmad. *g* Teo has already had one but probably won't have more than two.]

"What kinds of hobbies do you have? Especially when you're traveling?" Teo says. "Doesn't look like a lot of room on that ship you came on."

[re: the investigation] "I won't say anything to prejudice you regarding the investigation," Teo says, "but I don't think it will matter one way or another if I tell you that Magistrate Gerae's attachment to that little lizardling is quite sincere."

He's clearly glad to leave the subject of Gerae and talk about something more fun. "As you might have guessed from Magistrate Gerae's example, there are a lot of pets. Or pet plants. Half the problem with the space slime molds..." Teo glances around, then lowers his voice conspiratorially. "The administrator allows it because her people get squirrely without things to do, but there are competing breeding programs to breed faster, hardier slime molds. Not because they're useful, but because of the local slime mold races. There's betting, too."

Teo shrugs. "Or if you're more of a traditionalist, we watch the dueling championships when they're broadcast, and the dramas. Or there's always the firing range"--his teeth flash--"but I don't know that everyone considers that fun." He regards Virmad speculatively. "I don't suppose you're a duelist...?"

From:

lleullawgyffes

[hobbies:] “No,” Virmad says with a slight grimace, “there’s not much room on the ship for hobbies. But I keep some poetry with me, and a few other books — physical books, I mean. I write some poetry of my own, too, although it’s nothing special, I know. I don’t suppose you’re familiar with the work of Kel Zem Rao?”

[investigation:] “It did seem to be,” Virmad says with a wry smile. “I wonder who will take care of it now.”

[Nirai hobbies:] “Slime mold? Nirai are truly something else. I’ve never really spent much time with them, at least outside of...work contexts,” Virmad says. “Do they...are they fast? I’m struggling to imagine ‘slime mold racing’ as a spectator sport. I’m sorry to say I’ve never even come close to a dueling ring, although I don’t mind watching now and again. There’s a kind of elegance to it, when the duelist is good enough, that lets me almost see the appeal — it’s the same kind of precision that always strikes me in Zem Rao’s poetry.”

He lets that thought go for the moment. “I’ve never been able to get into dramas the way so many people seem to; I always seem to get distracted. But maybe I’ve just never had someone to explain the appeal...”

[we're going to assume for my convenience that Zem Rao predates this period of heptarchate history. I'm happy to make up details about his work as necessary — making up literary traditions is my jam. as a starting point I would say ZR's poetry is probably very gay and also unusually formally innovative for a Kel, especially in this early period, + Virmad is attempting to use that as a way to gauge Teo's interest. which retroactively makes his earlier thought — finding a Kel to discuss ZR's poetry with — a slightly overwrought bit of innuendo, lol.

anyway, yes, Virmad is absolutely fishing for an invitation to Heptarchate Netflix + Chill.]

From:

yhlee

[I'm going to randomly make something up for Teo's knowledge of Kel Zem Rao, and you are free to have Virmad correct him or to accept it, your choice. I love poetry but am not a poet and I don't want to step on your vision for this literary tradition!]

[hobbies and poetry:] "Physical books," Teo says, a little reverently. "I only have one or two of my own, gifts from a cousin of a more literary bent. No volumes of poetry, although I've heard of Zem Rao. He was the one with the verses about the two swords that fit each others' scabbards, or am I confusing him with someone else?" His smile is wry. "I'm afraid it's been a while."

[Nirai hobbies:] "I don't know whose idea the slime mold breeding project was," Teo says. "Probably don't want to know. The station administrator certainly knows, but as long as it doesn't affect productivity she doesn't care. Slime molds...well, you know how a cat can get surprisingly far away from you at walking speed? Like that. They don't really sprint, though. Some of the slime molds are hopped up on drugs, too...they have doping tests and everything. It's bizarre."

Teo takes another sip of his drink. "As for dramas, it depends on the drama, doesn't it? One of my favorites is a romance, claims to depict the very first decades of the heptarchate's founding. I'm sure none of it is historically accurate, but the costumes are extremely pretty. I could show you after dinner, if you'd like."

At some point during this discussion, the pork fritters arrive. If Virmad tastes them, they are filling and hearty, and actually not too greasy.

From:

lleullawgyffes

[poetry:] “Yes, that’s him,” Virmad says, pleased that Teo knows it, even if only vaguely. “The poem is called ‘Twin swords’; it’s one of my favorites. He and Rahal Senjek are the two poets I always come back to, although there are others I enjoy. Zem Rao just has such a way with language — the economy of words that you expect from a Kel poet, but with a decidedly un-Kel willingness to break with traditional forms and styles. It’s refreshing. Plus” — he smiles slyly — “it’s not every day you find a Kel writing high art erotic poetry. Bawdy songs you expect from infantry, but ‘Twin swords’, ‘On this cold night’, and ‘Lost among the stars’ are...something else.”

[slime mold:] “Consider my curiosity piqued,” Virmad says. “It sounds like an experience. To see a bunch of Nirai cheering on literal slime molds, if nothing else. If there’s time while we’re here, perhaps I, or” — he looks at Teo, eyebrow raised — “we? Can find time to see one.”

[dramas:] “That certainly sounds entertaining, questions about historical accuracy notwithstanding.” Virmad steeples his fingers in front of his mouth and looks at Teo appraisingly for a moment, feigning a magistrate’s gravitas while preparing to deliver a judgment. Then he smiles and says, “I’d love to.”

[pork fritters:] “These are surprisingly decent,” Virmad says, taking another bite. Once he’s swalloed it, he adds, “I’ll admit my expectations were not high, but these have certainly surpassed them.”