Log Date: 8/19/96, 8/21/96
Log Cast:
	Tance, Kayalina
Log Intro:
	Bitter and resentful over not only Medical's insistence that he
take recruit classes but also over the flak he's been getting from Singers
his age about the whole thing, Tance Vokrim has not been having a good life
lately. He's even tried to take on some of the menial tasks generally
assigned recruits, but after getting only five credits for a day's worth
of hard work at a weather station, he has lost the heart to do even that.
	And if matters weren't bad enough, he's unable to get into his
quarters, apparently because his new status as a "recruit" has convinced
the security systems that he is not welcome on the Singer levels.
	Accordingly, the old Singer flees outside the Guildhall, almost
tempted to just wander off into the Ranges and never come back, but
before he can do any such thing, he's followed....

----------
Path Around Complex, Eastern Side
The view of the Ranges here is quite spectacular. As you look far to the 
  east, the sharp ridges and deep crevices that give birth to the Crystal 
  break and fall in the scape before you. You can see the green-gray ground 
  cover that hides the precious substance from view, although you feel the 
  slight thrumming of its life as it is stroked by strong winds. The spicy 
  scent of the low bushes that are scattered here clears your head. A breeze 
  whispers by, and your symbiont tests the weather. The slope you stand on 
  rises to the west, so you are safe below the hangar mouth. An occasional 
  sled speeds out, carrying its Singer deep into the Ranges, to his coveted 
  claim.
 Scoria high above, you are glad of the almost endless wind. Out in the 
  ranges, you see flashes of light, as the sun shines on exposed crystal. The 
  grass cover is renewing itself, as the weather warms up. A soft breeze seems 
  to constantly be blowing. The bushes are growing new branches and leaves, 
  which are smaller and paler than the old ones, the new branches rather 
  bendable and glossy.
Obvious exits:
Path to Southern Side  Quiet Spot  Path to Northern Side

Kayalina appears from around the northern corner of the Facility.
Kayalina has arrived.

Tance, looking rather disheveled and quite grumpy, huddles against the wall 
  of the complex and stares mournfully out at the Ranges. His arms are wrapped 
  about one knee, and his grey-streaked hair hangs over one brown eye, making 
  him look strangely boyish.

Kayalina comes around the corner, and smiles warmly as soon as she sees 
  Tance. "Hi there Tance."

Tance jerks his head up, warily, and looks in all directions. "Not a karkin' 
  recruit, you... wha?" Finally spying the speaker, he edges back slightly. 
  "Who're you?"

Kayalina blinks, taken by surprise at his meory loss, "It's me, Kaya. I 
  suppose 'Don't you remember' would be useless..."

Tance's dark eyes narrow, and he huddles further back against the wall, as if 
  seeking protection. "What, it's not posted on everybody's terminal in the 
  Guild?" he barks, bitterly. "That I'm a crazy old badger who can't remember 
  squat?"

Kayalina sits down on the ground, "Hey, no offence. I just had promised that 
  I would talk to you after I finished moving into my room." She sends a warm, 
  but worried, smile towards Tance.

Tance frowns warily, still, fixing his gaze on the warmly smiling stranger, 
  but evidentally made uneasy by her. "What'd you go and promise a fool thing 
  like that for?"

Kayalina shrugs slightly, "Because I wanted to be your friend. And I didn't 
  want to just skip without saying somthing around those lines."

The man's scowl flickers. "Don't have friends."

Kayalina leans back, "But you might."

Tance smirks, looking grudgingly away, and growls, "Only friend I've got is 
  the Ranges."

Kayalina cocks an eye, "Then you lied. You DO have a friend."

Tance's smirk doesn't shift. "Some friend," he snorts, but his gaze is still 
  on the distant peaks.

Kayalina moves closer to the singer, "Why? What happened?"

Tance eyes the stranger sidelong, and demands, "What do you wanna know for?"

Kayalina shrugs again, "Curious. Its not a crime you know."

Tance huddles as though trying to make himself look as inconspicuous as 
  possible, while barking roughly, disbelievingly, "They never remember... or 
  do other things... no time for an old man, and they vanish, out of 
  memory..." His voice drops as he speaks, though.

Kayalina tilts her head, casting her glance out into the ranges, "But at 
  least they were here for you. At least you _had_ friends..." She blinks and 
  smiles again, "But don't worry, they're all still your friend. Even if the 
  both of you forget it. Life's tough."

Tance mutters dolefully, "Got nobody."
"Nobody... nothing... sucked out my memories, all my credits, and now my 
  pride... karkers..." The old Singer droops, scowls again, and shifts away, 
  disconsolate.

Kayalina looks down at her feet, "No parents, no friends, no life, no 
  nothing...,No credits." She gives a little half-hearted laugh and comes back 
  to herself, looking up she once again smilesat the old man, "Looks like 
  you've had a hard life. But you'll have to live with it. New credit can be 
  earned, same as new memories. Pride is in your own fault."

Tance is still looking away, but his voice is hard and bleak as he retorts, 
  "What makes you think I got anything to be proud over, girlie? Memories 
  don't stay in my head, I can't hang onto credits for the life of me 'cause I 
  keep finding fardling crap crystal, and now I'm so far in debt that I'll be 
  dust before I can eat anything but slop... whole karking recruit thing... 
  hah! Liking it, they are... keep an old man out of his quarters... won't 
  clean their sleds... want to make me crawl, do they? I've already crawled!" 
  His voice crescendoes in an angry screech, and he jabs a fist at the Ranges.
Tance just as abruptly wilts again, mumbling, "Got nothing... nothing but 
  half-dreams... can't even get drunk anymore... kark it..."

Kayalina turns her gaze at the man, no longer smiling. "Don't whine to me. 
  I've _tried_ to be nice and understanding. Well, enough is enough. No wonder 
  you lost your pride- you won't even ask for help anymore right? Crystal 
  Singers seem to forget what life is like before," she waves her hand to take 
  in the Ranges and the guild, "All this. Want to know what we recruits eat 
  all the time? Slop. Dirt tastes better then that stuff. But we've learned to 
  live with it. At least it'll keep up alive."

Tance, as Kayalina's tone turns angry, looks utterly unsurprised; if 
  anything, his eyes glint almost triumphantly, as if he'd just been 
  vindicated. Abruptly, he starts to laugh, a bitter, rasping cackle. "Alive, 
  hah, aye, girlie, long enough for them to herd you into the Ranges to dig up 
  their precious rock... till they break your heads... and you wind up a wreck 
  like me! Sorry if I burst your pretty bubble! They told you, though, aye, 
  they told you at the Disclosure, but were you smart enough to turn back? No! 
  Lured in by promise of wealth, fame... hah! Hah...." He remains turned away, 
  shoulders stiff, set in an uncompromising line. "Don't fret your pretty head 
  anymore, they'll lose me soon enough and you won't have to massage your 
  conscience by deigning to notice a crazy oldkarker... "

Kayalina glares, "Pretty? Pretty?! HA! And I don't have a conscience so don't 
  worry 'bout that." She huffs and looks away.

"Then you'll make a helluva Singer, won'tcha?" retorts Vokrim, in sardonic 
  glee. He cackles once more as if to punctuate his point, then the laugh 
  trails off and he huddles as if for protection against the wall. His head 
  bows; his eyes shut, as if the sight of the Ranges causes him pain.

Kayalina stands, her eyes icy, her words flat. "I'm...I'm sorry. You don't 
  understand me and nor I you. At least ONE of us will forget this 
  conversation. Both eventualy. And since your going to forget it anyway- ..oh 
  never mind. Why bother. I'll just mossy on away and leave you to your pity. 
  You make me sick- I've seen..been worse off then you and kept my head-and 
  lived. Sure I've never-yet-have had my memories taken away but they will. 
  With death or glory."

Tance Vokrim doesn't look up. Nor does he say anything past, "You'll fit in 
  just fine, then. I make everybody else in the Guild sick, too."

Kayalina pauses..."Self pity must be catching. Look. Even though you'll 
  forget it anyway, I make my self sick. Don't worry about these kind of 
  things. They only get in the way."
Kayalina glares at the man's silence and stomps away towards the guild
Kayalina disappears around the northern corner of the Facility.
Kayalina has left.

[Darkly heartened by the encounter for some reason he cannot identify, Tance
 almost considers coming back into the Guildhall... but depression closes in
 again, and he stubbornly continues camping out outside. He sneaks in only
 when the cramp of hunger demands it, and only then when he can do so to
 steal the subsistence-level food from the catering units that is all he
 can afford at the moment. But as it happens, that same recruit, perhaps
 worried about him, comes to check on him again....]

Tance is lying, curled up and quite disheveled-looking, against the wall; he 
  appears to be dozing, fretfully.

Kayalina walks in, her steps crunching in the dirt. She glances at the figure 
  and walks over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking him 
  gently, "Wake up Tance."

Tance's shoulder is damp. Has he been out here in the rain, or something? He 
  groans, thickly.

Kayalina notices the dampness and frowns worriedly, "Come on Tance, time to 
  wake up."

Tance's eyes slide open, and he mumbles, "I don't wanna get up yet, Meggie..."

Kayalina sighs and shakes him harder, "Get your senses. I'm not Meggie."

Tance's head jerks, once, then he blinks rapidly several times. "Wha... 
  g'way..."

Kayalina releases his shoulder now that he woke up. "Yeah, right. I come all 
  the way over here, and then go right back? Nope. Good morning Tance."

Tance rolls over, slightly stiffly, and glowers up at the face over him. "I 
  wanna sleep," he barks grudgingly, but without much volume.

Kayalina sits down next to him, "Later. You've been in the rain or somthing? 
  Not good for your health."

Tance snaps, "So what if I have?"

Kayalina glances at him, "You'd be cold I guess. I'm just worried 'bout you 
  spending the nights in the rain out here. Its not healthy."

Tance sits up stiffly, glowering. If he's cold, he's doing his best to conceal 
  it, as he retorts, "Little weather won't hurt me, and it's not like anybody 
  cares where I am anyway, left me no choice, the karkers..." His eyes flicker 
  between angry coherence and absent distraction. "Ground's softer'n' the 
  floor..."

Kayalina takes off her jacket and tosses it to him, "I care. And there are 
  other palces to sleep other then the ground or floor."

Tance blinks at the tossed jacket, at first startledly, then distrustfully, as 
  if not certain of the motive behind the offering. He cackles, then, once. 
  "Don't got a sled no more, girlie, can't sleep in the sled...!"

Kayalina leans back against the wall, "And you don't have a room no more. 
  Yes-yes. But there's the lounge. And other places, I imagine."

Tance scowls. "How'd you know I didn't have a room?" he demands.

Kayalina smiles warmly, "You told me."

Tance's scowl deepens, making deep furrows between his eyebrows. "Don't 
  remember," he snaps. "Can't get to the Singer lounge either anyway, so who 
  cares..."

Kayalina sighs, "You never remeber." she shakes her head then continues, 
  "There's the Guild Den, umm..the recruit lounge?"

Tance cringes -- cringes? -- a little, muttergrowling, "No..."

Kayalina puts her hand on Tance's shoulder, "Why? You will take only something 
  singer-ish or nothing? Isn't The Den or the other lounges better then this?" 
  With her free hand she waves it to encompass the whole area.

Again, the man seems to cringe slightly. That might actually even be a blush 
  under his weathered tan -- tough to say. He looks away with an effort, and 
  mumbles, "Nobody out here..."

Kayalina tilts her head, pondering if it was a wish or a complaint.."I'm out 
  here."

Tance blinks, several times, then finally mumbles, again not looking at you, 
  "You'll go away. Always do. All of 'em."

Kayalina shakes her head quickly, "Don't judge me by others. And I promiss 
  you, I won't go away."

If the flash of wary fear in the old man's dark eyes is any indication, he 
  doesn't quite believe it. But he frowns, absently, something of the scowl 
  leaving him, and drops his gaze to the jacket you'd tossed to him.

Kayalina, with a quick smile at the old man, releases her hand that was still 
  on his shoudler and leans back again on the wall, she opens her mouth to say 
  somthing, then thinks better of it.

Tance finally mutters, "Just get it wet," and eyes the jacket balefully.

Kayalina shrugs, "It won't matter. I can go dry it every once in awhile. It's 
  leather so it does pretty good repeling the water."

Tance trails off, looks down at the garment, and lifts it to drape over 
  himself, warily. He doesn't look at you.

Kayalina smiles, knowing she won in a way to get him to put on the jacket.

Tance paws at the jacket with one awkward hand, face vacillating between scowl 
  and frown.

Kayalina watches him.."What's wrong?"

"I'll... forget this," he mutters.

Kayalina pauses, glancing down at her feet she ponders, "Well, I guess that 
  there's nothing to do about it. But it dosen't matter, at least you'll have 
  it."

Tance suddenly barks, "Can't take it," and thrusts the jacket back at you.

Kayalina falls down on her back at your sudden movement. Blinking a couple of 
  times, not bothering to get up, she replys, "Why?"

Tance looks out at the Ranges, then, huddling over his own damp knees. "It'll 
  make me stay," he mumbles. "Can't stay. Hurts."

Kayalina picks herself up and tosses the jacket on the ground before him, 
  "Take it with you. Just take it- for me okay?" She pauses, pondering the 
  second part, "What hurts? If there is anything -anything- I can do, I'll try 
  my best."

Tance's odd hangdog look doesn't vanish. He mumbles more or less at the 
  ground, "Can't help, memory won't come back, I'll keep forgetting, keep 
  crashing, breaking things, finding worthless rock, wasting medics' time... 
  can't remember what I need to remember, forget what I need to forget... 
  crazy old man..." He hugs his arms to himself, all at once, and shivers.

Kayalina pauses her face softing. After a moment she slides over to him and 
  wraps her arms around him, hugging the old man she whispers, "You're not 
  crazy."

Tance, hugged, freezes, eyes going round for once in his face rather than 
  narrowly squinting, and making it actually easy to tell their brown color. 
  "I..." His voice comes out in a startled rasp, as he tries to protest, "... 
  'mso..."

Kayalina shakes her head, "Confused, just confused."

Tance blurts again, as if thunderstruck, "I..." He stares at you, dauntedly 
  now, as you pull out of the brief hug.

Kayalina, having pulled out of the hug, picks up the jacket by his feet and 
  hands it to you, "Please?"

Tance shivers again, perhaps from chill, perhaps something else. His face 
  turns oddly helpless as he looks at the jacket once more, but the expression 
  wavers, as though he's trying hard to steel it. "Can't... do anything in 
  return," he mutters. "No money."

Kayalina places her hand on your shoulder, "Wearing it is what you can do in 
  return."

[And with that, the recruit leaves him.... end log.]