Log Date:
	12/8/98

Log Cast:
	Rosa Scardino, Tance Vokrim, Quinn Maloret

Log Intro:
	Passover time is swinging near again... but as far as Tance Vokrim
is concerned, it's merely a mild annoyance distracting him from the
desperately urgent business of cutting as much crystal as possible, to try
to blank his mind and get past the loss of his beloved Kesya. So far the
man has managed not to drive his resonance too high, but only by virtue
of his symbiont's increasingly loud demands to locate food... and the
periodic checks by Medical and his friends to make sure that he's still
around...

----------
Tance's Suite(#3189R$)
This large central suite seems comfortably airy, and by the stylish 
  decorations and sheer size of the area, it obviously belongs to a senior 
  Singer. The walls are a pleasant shade of forest green, the carpeting a 
  neutral beige shade that compliments the other nicely. Trim in rich polished 
  wood here and there -- in picture frames, railings and bits of furniture -- 
  give the place a more natural, fresh feel.
Though you can see several doors leading off into still more rooms, this one 
  has been split into multi-levels to allow for greater function. One side is 
  partitioned off by a low, polished wooden rail, one step leading into a 
  modest dining area. At the opposite side of the room, a dark green couch and 
  a few large, over-stuffed chairs of the same color rest in a circle, perfect 
  for friendly conversation. The art on the walls is all tastefully done, 
  mostly pen and inks and oil paintings of landscapes. Although the room is 
  currently spotless and comfortable, there are subtle indications -- to the 
  very observant -- that it may not always have been so. A few cheerful throw 
  rugs cover old stains on the floor, as do some oversized pillows that rest 
  against the wall here and there. 
Obvious exits:
Out  

Your wrist comm beeps with a message from Rosa: "Tance? Are you available? 
  It's Rosa."

You communicate to Rosa:  He answers, but only after several moments have 
  passed, and when his voice comes over the comm it sounds hoarse and startled 
  as if he's just been snapped out of a nap. "Wh... what? I'm here... here..."
Others nearby see:  Tance speaks softly into his wrist comm.  You can just 
  make out "... only... several... have... his voice... over... comm... 
  sounds... startled as if... out... nap.... I'm... here...""

Your wrist comm beeps with a message from Rosa:  "Tance, Bear and I have just 
  finished a batch of cookies. Would you mind if we dropped over for a bit?"

You communicate to Rosa:  Wh... what... I... I'm in my quarters....
Others nearby see:  Tance speaks softly into his wrist comm.  You can just 
  make out "Wh... what... I'm..."

Your wrist comm beeps with a message from Rosa:  "We'll be right up then!"

You hear a soft chime and an electronic voice announces that Rosa is in Ocher 
  Quadrant next to Tance's Suite.  You hear someone call out, "Tance? It's 
  Bear and Rosa!".

To Ocher Quadrant, Tance's door light is green, at least. It takes several 
  moments, though, before his voice comes through the door control in a hoarse 
  cough: "H-here..."

Rosa steps in from the hall.
Rosa has arrived.
Rosa enters, carrying a large tray, covered with a soft cloth. Riding atop the 
  cloth is her dapper little Bear. "Tance?" the little Singer calls, "We're 
  here...how're you doing?"

The sound of running water can be heard coming from Tance's bathing room; the 
  suite in general, though, looks in the same general state of dishevelment 
  that it had been in the last time Rosa and her companion visited.

Setting the tray, and Bear down onto a table, Rosa chuckles quietly. "Bear and 
  I will wait out here for you, Tance," she calls to the bathroom. Meanwhile, 
  she sets about tidying up just a little.

In a moment, Tance lurches out of the bathroom, leaning hard against the wall 
  beside him and staring out doumbfoundedly at the arrival. Or perhaps more 
  properly, pair of arrivals, depending on your point of view. His face is 
  damp, and so is his hair -- which has apparently been trimmed since Rosa 
  last saw the older Singer.

You can feel the crystal resonance hot in your blood.

"Gracious," Rosa says as she puts one of the larger pillows back into place, 
  "you look much better, Tance." She smiles. "Got a haircut too, looks like." 
  The little Bear, it seems, is on cookie-guarding duty today. He remains 
  silent and unmoving from his perch atop the covered tray.

The older Singer just stares bemusedly at the younger, seeming to have a bit 
  of a problem comprehending her presence. Despite her gentle claim, the man's 
  eyes are a touch wild, and he blurts out in disoriented tones, "A.... 
  'nother girlie... cut it... I remember... " He comes staggering out into the 
  main room, one hand shoving up through his trimmed graying locks, still 
  seeming as if he's just woken from slumber.

"Well,' Rosa says with a bright smile, "it was very nice of her. Was it one 
  of the other Singers?" she asks, before looking toward Bear and nodding 
  slightly. "Bear asks me to convey his greetings and suggests some hot coffee 
  to go along with the cookies."

"Coffee..." The thought halts Tance, and he turns to stare off distractedly 
  into his kitchen area. "Yeah... gotta... wake up, I gotta go, i gotta cut..."

Ambling over to the catering unit, Rosa punches up two cups of coffee. 
  "Cutting? Why? Why not take a day off and relax?" She smiles. "That's what 
  I'm doing. Got one good claim out there - I'm waiting for a better market."

[symbiont] Something seems to be going on. For some odd reason, your senses, 
  particularly hearing and sight, seem to be dulled, as if you were peering 
  through a heavy fogbank.

[symbiont] Ravenous is not the word for it. It's too tame. Food. You need food 
  inside you. Your stomach is so empty that it feels like an abyss with no 
  bottom. Food. And not no salad either. Steak. Hell, you could eat a whole 
  cow right now. In fact, it sounds like a good idea -- eating a whole cow, 
  that is.

Tance frowns vaguely, torn between aiming himself at that coffee and searching 
  the suite for his cutter. The former impulse wins out, though a small groan 
  escapes him. "P-P-Passover," he mutters, "b-b-broke.... need a new claim... 
  finished..." He pauses then, a look of profound yearning flooding his 
  weathered features.

Rosa sets the coffee cups down and pauses, looking at her stomach. "Y'know," 
  she murmurs, "I think a steak or two'd be good right now too. Whaddya say, 
  Tance? Want one?" She pauses. "You a little low on credits, Tance?" she 
  asks. "Is that why you're so eager to get out?"

Tance whirls, then, pouncing upon the nearest source of food: the cookies. 
  Never mind steak, the snacks are right here, and if there was ever a Singer 
  in the grip of Passover hunger, that Singer is Tance Vokrim. He grabs a 
  handful of cookies, breaking a couple of them in the process, and tries to 
  shove the whole handful into his mouth. Rosa makes him start, though, and he 
  blinks bemusedly at her over the top of his hand.

Popping a cookie into her own mouth, Rosa grins. "Sorta creeps up on you, 
  doesn't it?" she asks before hurriedly punching up an order for steak. "Sure 
  hope catering hurries," she says, reaching for another handful of cookies.

Tance swallows down cookie fragments, coughing a bit with the effort, and then 
  just keeps staring at his visitor, perhaps startled at the notion of the 
  catering unit in his room actually providing better than subsistence-level 
  food. "Broke," he repeats raggedly. "I-I-I gotta go cut s'more..."

"Aside from the credits, Tance," Rosa says, whipping the steaks off the 
  catering unit as soon as they appear, "do you really /feel/ like you need to 
  go cut? How's your resonance?" She slides two steaks in his direction before 
  digging into her own.

"Wh-what?" The woman is asking him to think, when there's _food_ in front of 
  him? Tance leaps upon the provided dish, accepting the simple fact that it 
  is _here_ and not worrying, at least at the moment, about whether it took 
  another bite out of his credit rating. Confused brown eyes return their gaze 
  to Rosa only after he's inhaled a good half of the first steak.

The crystal resonance in your body is growing louder and harder for you to 
  ignore.

Unfortunately, the symbiont-inspired munchies have gotten to Rosa too. She's 
  too busy inhaling her own steaks to look up at the moment. "Catering's done 
  a decent enough job," she mutters between mouthfuls. "Then again, right now 
  I'm so hungry I could eat a dozen orders of mystery meat."

Not normally much of a conversationalist to begin with, Tance lets Rosa's 
  voice distract him for only a moment before he resumes putting the food 
  before him out of its misery and into him. It doesn't take very long at all, 
  and in no time flat, Tance is sitting there with empty food containers 
  before him and a slightly plaintive look to his face, as if he half-hopes 
  there's more to come.

Now normally, the little redheaded Singer is pretty well-mannered unless she's 
  arguing with her pink companion. Now, however, is an exception to the rule. 
  After finishing the second steak not long after Tance finishes his, she lets 
  out a belch not at all in keeping with her small stature. She smiles 
  apologetically. "Not bad, was it?" she asks. "Hey, want something else?"

"'Mhungry," mumbles Tance in doleful tones.

"Me too," Rosa mutters as she punches up more steak - and stew and hamburgers 
  - on the catering unit. "Don't remember the munchies being this bad." She 
  pauses a moment and starts moving food onto the table.

Seeing Rosa at work with this task, Tance gazes upon her with a look 
  tantamount to pure worship. He falls upon the food with a surprising amount 
  of vigor given his usual shy demeanor, pausing only long enough to gulp down 
  coffee in between swallows. His gaze goes distant in the midst of all, 
  though, and once or twice his hands shake... either with the effort of 
  trying to tuck away all these wondrous sources of protein, or with something 
  else entirely. Which, it might be hard to tell.

Rosa isn't dawdling either, as she shovels away food like there's no tomorrow. 
  Quite without regard for table manners, she's shoving food into her mouth as 
  quickly as she can manage it. Somewhere along the way, she mutters something 
  about good food.

Tance doesn't even mutter that. At last, the storm of Passover hunger blows 
  over -- for the time being -- and he slumps over at the table, his arms and 
  head just missing cleared dishes.

After another belch, Rosa leans back in her chair. "Now that's much better," 
  she says with a smile. "So...we were talking about you going back out, 
  Tance?"

The crystal resonance coursing through your body is constant and distracting.

He lifts his head, just enough to show half-absent brown eyes over the curl of 
  his arm. "Out..." Tance repeats, like a man in a dream. "I gotta cut..."

Rosa frowns a little. "Why?" she asks. "Are you worried about credits, Tance?"

"It's... Passover," Tance blurts, as if this explains everything. Should he 
  not be worried about credits, at Passover? He lurches up out of his chair, 
  muttering half to himself, "Gotta f-f-find my cutter... finish the cut..." 
  And for a moment, a pang of yearning traverses his features again. "Find the 
  green..."

"Oh, shards," Rosa says softly, hand going to her mouth. "Did you find green 
  out there on your own, Tance? Is that why you want to go back out?"

He turns, seeming to not quite register Rosa's presence, though he murmurs 
  huskily, "'Spretty... light green... like... her hair..."

Rosa smiles sadly. "Yes, she had very lovely hair," she murmurs. "Are you okay 
  cutting the green on your own? Or would you like Bear and I to come with 
  you? Remember, Kesya didn't like you cutting green on your own. Because of 
  thrall."

"K-Kesya?" echoes Tance then, his head turning a trifle jerkily back in Rosa's 
  direction. The older Singer seems suddenly shaken.

Rosa nods. "Kesya," she repeats earnestly. "Remember, Tance? She didn't like 
  you cutting green on your own. She worried about it." She smiles. "If it's 
  just money that you're worried about, I could loan you some. Fardles knows I 
  certainly have credits enough to spare."

Tance's expression turns torn, grief warring it out in his dark eyes with 
  something that might be... pride? He turns half away again, his shoulders 
  and arms subtly trembling, even as he blurts roughly, "I-I-I can do it. 
  C-cut. I-I-I-I can cut..."

"Of course you /can/," Rosa says with a laugh. "I've seen you cut myself, 
  Tance." Her smile turns gentle. "I just worry that you might go out to cut 
  some green on your own this close to Passover. And I couldn't possibly spend 
  the credits I already have, so I wouldn't miss the money. You could make up 
  a payment schedule ot repay me if you'd feel better about it."

The older Singer's hand comes up to push through his hair again, in nervous 
  reflex. His gaze darts restlessly around the room, unable to stay anywhere 
  for long, still seeking his cutter. "G-g-gotta cut," he maintains, but his 
  voice sounds strangely desperate, frightened. "Don't wanna relax!"

The crystal resonance coursing through your body is constant and distracting.

"You need to relax, Tance," Rosa says softly, persuasively. "And you need to 
  get offplanet for Passover. Why not wait out the rest of the day, and cut 
  out your green tomorrow or the next day? Then we could talk about going to 
  Shoralynn or Maxim's or even Marki for Passover."

Tance's arms wrap about his thin frame, further rumpling the white shirt 
  hanging loosely upon it. His head bows, and he might be noted to shudder 
  more visibly. "Don't wanna," he mumbles, and then abruptly he darts to the 
  closet in the corridor leading off to the rest of the rooms, throwing the 
  door open. Perhaps the cutter is in there! Not daring to look at Rosa, he 
  adds raggedly, "I gotta work. I... I g-gotta..."

Rosa watches with growing concern. "Tance, while work is good for you, you've 
  also got to take care of yourself...when was the last time you soaked in a 
  tub? Are you buzzing at all?"

"F-f-f-fine," is Tance's immediately barked reply. He still doesn't look at 
  the younger Singer, though, and his shoulders keep shaking as he sags for a 
  moment against the closet door.

Rosa frowns and marches over toward Tance. "Bear's right," she mutters. 
  "You're not fine if you're shaking like that." She reaches one hand out, to 
  touch Tance's arm.

The contact to his arm doesn't deliver a shock, not to a Singer whose own 
  dainty frame carries more than a little resonance... but still, Tance's arm 
  shakes. And he staggers back a step, involuntarily making the closet door 
  swing back closed again. Up close, it might be noted that the man's features 
  are drawn; perhaps weariness and grief, as much as anything else, are 
  responsible for Tance's trembling? "'Mfine," he groans.

Rosa frowns. "You don't look fine to me," she says. "Not in the slightest. 
  You're shaking like a leaf." She takes a step back and holds up her hand, 
  activating her wristcomm.
Rosa speaks softly into her wrist comm. You can just make out "... D'you... 
  a... here."

"N-no... don't, don't girlie, I-I-I gotta go, I gotta go out," Tance cries 
  hoarsely, lunging to try to catch the girl, but she's quicker. He opts then 
  to dive back into his closet, desperate to find that cutter, to get up to 
  his sled, out to the Ranges, out where the crystal is and he doesn't have to 
  think or remember.

Rosa's wristunit beeps and she listens to it carefully. You can just make out 
  "... the..."
Rosa speaks softly into her wrist comm. You can just make out "... tell... 
  sure,... resonance... go... to the ranges..."
Rosa's wristunit beeps and she listens to it carefully.  You can just make out 
  "..."
Rosa says "Tance, I'm talking to Quinn. You need help right now from medical."
Rosa speaks softly into her wrist comm. You can just make out "... his... for 
  something... another."
Rosa's wristunit beeps and she listens to it carefully.  You can just make out 
  "..."

His cutter! Tance hauls it up out of the depths of his closet, though he 
  doesn't activate it, clutching it instead to his chest. At Rosa's 
  declaration he shakes his head vehemently, his eyes going wide. "_No,_" he 
  barks again, hurtling himself towards the door. "'Mfine! I just... gotta 
  cut, fine, don't need no medics...!"

Rosa dives toward the door. "Tance, no!" she exclaims. "No! You don't need to 
  go out. Not like this. Please!"

You hear a soft chime and an electronic voice announces that Quinn is in Ocher 
  Quadrant and is knocking on Tance's Suite.
Quinn steps in from the hall.
Quinn has arrived.
Quinn steps into the room, waiting a moment for his eyes to adjust.

The resonance rushing through your ears is constantly distracting you.

Rosa is in the process of running toward the door. As Quinn enters, she barely 
  manages to sidestep, falling flat on her face.

Still hanging onto his cutter for dear life, as though it were some kind of 
  precious talisman, Tance bolts for the door -- only to have it open an 
  instant before he reaches it. The sight of Quinn there makes him utter a 
  strangled little noise of startlement, and the Singer very narrowly avoids 
  colliding with the younger man... or with Rosa behind him. Tance staggers 
  sideways instead.

Quinn's response is only to watch and wait. He doesn't even flinch at being 
  nearly run over. "Problems?"

The crystal resonance coursing through your body is constant and distracting.
Non-singers around you see: Being around Tance is disconcerting from the 
  static coming off him.

[Log cuts off here, as Rosa had to go.]