Lomid is waiting for her assigned channel outside the Controller's office.
Lomid has never met this Hajene Katsura Farris ambrov Sat'htine, but she understands that there are likely to be some serious issues that have to be resolved before transfer. She wishes that there was more than a few days to work together before the transfer, but she's ~~ confident ~~ that her training is the best.
Katsura zlins the ~~ confidence ~~ as she opens the door to leave the Controller's office. An encouraging sign. She tries to think positive, not easy when she's in need after a very rough couple of months, and meeting her assignment, an unknown Donor.
Katsura: Good afternoon, Sosu Lomid.
Lomid smiles in ~~ greeting ~~.
Lomid: Hajene Farris. It's good to meet you.
Katsura zlins a good, solid, replete field, managed with impressive discipline.
Katsura: And it's good to meet you, too.
Katsura thinks this goes without saying, considering her state of need, and loss of her previous Donor.
Lomid is a little ~~ concerned ~~ about the circles under her new charge's eyes, a symptom that this rogue Donor she was running around with didn't take good care of her. She reaches a ~~ sympathetic ~~ hand out towards Kat's tentacles in greeting.
Katsura meets the hand and her tentacles wrap around it just a bit harder than she intended.
Katsura: Perhaps we can go somewhere well insulated and get to know each other?
Lomid: Of course. There's a private room just down the hall, with tea. Your file hasn't caught up with you yet, but I cleared it of the most common Farris allergens.
Katsura: Thank you. I don't have many allergies, and they're all to things we aren't likely to run into.
Katsura releases the Donor's hand and gestures, inviting her to lead the way.
Lomid does so, and shortly is opening the door to a quiet, well-insulated room with furniture upholstered in a not-too-horrendous institutional print.
Lomid: Here. The water's hot -- let me get the teapot steeping.
Katsura sits on a sofa and unobtrusively studies the Gen's nager.
Katsura: I've done almost no work the past month and entran has been a serious problem.
Katsura shivers a little and evaluates her vriamic node, hoping that talking about entran isn't going to trigger another episode.
Lomid: Do you want to do an outfunction while the tea steeps?
Lomid leaves the hot plate and comes to sit by her charge.
Katsura: If you don't mind.
Katsura believes in courtesy with the Gens.
Lomid: Of course I don't mind. Here.
Lomid offers hands and lips for the outfunction, and her nager assumes a textbook-perfect entran-outfunction configuration.
Katsura takes the Donor's arms.
Katsura: I should warn you that outfunctions have sometimes set off some bad vriamic cramps, so you should be ready to help me manage them.
Lomid nods ~~ gravely ~~.
Katsura rests her head on the Donor's shoulder and begins the outfunction, slowly and carefully.
Katsura: Thank you, Sosu. Your nager is nicely configured.
Lomid's nager holds in a Zeor-perfect configuration, but her relative lack of experience shows in the absence of most of the little nonstandard tricks Nick uses to maximize the benefit of the outfunction.
Katsura proceeds with the rhythm of an outfunction, missing that effortless assistance Nick's nager seems to make of its own accord, almost as if he can zlin her.
Katsura: I'm going to use a different method now. It helps in the long run, but this is when a bad reaction is more likely.
Lomid: All right. Is there any special way you want me to manage the vriamic cramps, if they happen?
Katsura thinks about it. Nick managed them in several different ways, all effective and often the best choice for the situation, just working from intuition.
Katsura: Use your best judgment, Sosu.
Lomid nods, mentally reviewing three Zeor techniques for vriamic cramps.
Katsura expresses faith in her assigned Donor, and hopes it's justified. She wishes she had someone she knows well, like Shorsh or Lusinka or Khelsar, her Companion in Konawa, if she can't have Nick. Oh, well.
Katsura takes a deep breath and pushes as much selyn from her secondary into her primary as she can, slightly stretching the primary, almost to the point of pain, then abruptly withdraws it into her secondary, with zlinnable force.
Katsura pants a little, and repeats.
Lomid holds ~~ steady ~~, watching for complications.
Katsura groans softly. This technique is rather like getting rid of a charley horse by standing on the affected leg. Nick suggested it to her, and it's very effective.
Lomid gets an even poorer opinion of the infamous Rogue Donor, if he's let a channel in his charge get into such a state.
Katsura's vriamic node seems more relaxed to her now. She releases the Donor, and fishes out a handkerchief to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead.
Katsura: Thank you, Sosu.
Katsura rests her elbows on her knees and leans forward, feeling a little sick and dizzy.
Lomid: That last thing you did... I didn't recognize it. Is it a Sat'htine technique?
Lomid offers Zeor-flavored ~~ support ~~.
Katsura responds to the support gratefully by leaning lightly on Lomid's field, testing its character.
Katsura: More of an ad hoc one. We seldom have an opportunity to develop a really bad case of entran. I was lucky to have Nick with me. He no doubt has more experience than anyone with a Farris channel who isn't working enough.
Lomid: So it is something he picked up from, well...
Lomid tries to find a tactful way to say, "insane, treasonous, much-less-nonjunct-than-they-ought-to-have-been Audnes channels".
Katsura: Wherever he got it, it's something I was glad to learn. It may have kept me alive.
Lomid is, however, young enough to still be flexible.
Lomid: I suppose it could be useful, although as you say Firsts seldom go without working long enough to get into severe trouble.
Katsura: In the past month, I've done substantially less work than I would in a single shift under normal conditions.
Lomid pales.
Katsura smiles wryly.
Katsura: Amazing I'm not dead, eh, Sosu?
Lomid: How did you survive it? Did you get into dormancy, as if you were retired?
Katsura: Nick is very very good under very very bad, very unusual, conditions. As for dormancy, I expected to be back in civilization soon enough. I thought trying to initiate dormancy would do more harm than good. It's a long process, after all.
Lomid: Yes, it is.
Lomid fetches the tea, and hands Kat a steaming cup.
Katsura wraps hands and tentacles around the cup, nods her thanks, and sips.
Lomid: So what's Nick Reckage like, anyway? One hears such stories.
Lomid is frankly ~~ curious ~~, now that Katsura seems stable.
Katsura: He has remarkable intuitive skill. Sometimes it's almost as if he can zlin my nageric state. He's a good man, very well-intentioned.
Katsura sips her tea again.
Lomid: I've been told he's walking trouble, totally unpredictable, and not at all loyal to the Tecton.
Lomid repeats the most common rumors without prejudice.
Katsura: He does have a tendency to get into difficult situations, and sometimes his methods of getting himself and his channel out of them can have repercussions, but like I said, he's well-intentioned, even if his foresight and judgment aren't perfect. Of course, few people have perfect foresight and judgment, eh?
Lomid: Well, a lot of people think the Sectuib in Zeor comes close. I suppose history will be the judge, there.
Katsura smiles.
Katsura: Even Saint Klyd had his faults and made his mistakes.
Lomid: True. It's just that nobody is sure which actions were mistakes, and which were so revolutionary that nobody can understand them. Or that's what I was told when I studied at Zeor.
Lomid shrugs to indicate her own skepticism.
Katsura is enjoying Lomid's steady disciplined support, even though it's rather rigid and bland, compared to that of more experienced Donors. It was hard to give up Nick without knowing what she was going to get in exchange.
Lomid's field might not be as flexible as Nick's, but it is strong enough to be a good match, which Nick isn't.
Katsura: There are a lot of different opinions about those days, and the effects of Klyd's decisions. They'll still be arguing them long after we're gone.
Lomid: No doubt. It's ironic, isn't it, that the final judgment on Zeor's greatest hero will probably be made by some renSime in Frihill or Kimber?
Katsura: Who knows? Maybe some Wild Gen, from a truly outside perspective, will really see it all objectively.
Lomid: From what I've seen, they'll come up with a different interpretation, anyway.
Katsura: I suppose so. It's been quite an experience, working and traveling among the Wild Gens these past two months.
Lomid: It must have been terrible, to be a fugitive.
Katsura: It was pretty stressful, that's for sure. People out here don't seem to be much different from those in-T, except for their attitudes towards Simes, though.
Lomid: That's not exactly a minor thing.
Katsura laughs ruefully.
Katsura: Oh, most definitely.
Katsura stretches, unkinking her back, arms and tentacles.
Katsura: I'm feeling better, Sosu. It was hard, giving up Nick, without having met you.
Lomid: To tell the truth, I'm glad that I got a good match this month, after all. I hope I don't disappoint you.
Katsura: Do you expect to?
Katsura smiles to take the sting out of that.
Lomid shrugs.
Katsura: I'm sure it will work out. It will be good to take transfer from a good match. Let me know what you like, so I can make it as good for you, too.
Lomid smiles.
Lomid: I'm still young enough that any transfer's a treat. I suppose I'll get jaded eventually, but I hope not for a long time.
Katsura: I don't think I've ever met a Donor who was jaded with transfer. Tired of bad transfers, yes, but never jaded. But I'm not all that old myself.
Katsura wonders how much older she looks than she is, these days. It's been a hard two months, and she's approaching hard need.
Lomid accepts that statement with the politeness of a kid barely out of training, albeit advanced training.
Katsura: I'll want to get in as much work as I can as soon as possible. I want to get this entran under control. So it's good that you're young and can stay up late. I shouldn't need much support for routine work, but this close to transfer, I'll feel a lot better with you there.
Lomid: You've got a Collectorium shift this evening. I should be all right for it; I took a nap this afternoon. We should work together as much as possible, since we've only got a few days to get used to each other.
Katsura nods.
Lomid: We've got some time before we're due there. Would you like for me to give you the guided tour, or do you want to go back to your room and freshen up?
Katsura: I think I'd better rest for a little while, and try to eat something. I can use your help for both of those.
Lomid: Of course.
Katsura: And please feel free to ask questions and suggest things. We should try to get to know each other as best we can before our transfer.
Katsura realizes that she's feeling fairly confident of Lomid's basic competence and good will. She's feeling much relieved from her need-related pessimism.
Lomid's skills are quite good, and much more standardized than Nick's.
Katsura reaches out and strokes the Donor's hand with a few tentacles.
Katsura: You zlin like a good Donor, Sosu. I'm happy to have you as my assignment.
Lomid captures one tentacle and gives it a Companionable squeeze.
Lomid: I'm glad you think so. I'm looking forward to working with you.
Katsura smiles a less strained smile than previous ones.
Lomid notes the improvement with ~~ satisfaction ~~, and takes one last sip of her tea.