Log Date: 12/7/98 Log Cast: Neva, Tance Log Intro: The Passover is coming. For most Singers in the Guild, this means a desperate rush to get as much crystal cut as possible so that they can get safely off the planet. For Tance Vokrim, however, Passover means very little at the moment; he's desperate to cut, but only when his symbiont imposes increasing demands of hunger upon him does he register the time of the year as anything other than ordinary. Fallen into a robotic cycle of hunting for crystal and cutting it, bent on blanking Kesya's loss out of his mind, Tance doesn't even stop himself from cutting -- and thralling upon -- a green claim, even though it drives up his resonance and plays havoc with his memory... ---------- You walk into the lounge. Singer Common Lounge This is where Singers can meet and relax after a hard day of work. Chairs and sofas are scattered around in conversational groupings. Several bright stripes lead off to the various Singer accommodation quadrants. Contents: Tance, just standing there Shepherding Manual Online Terminal Shepherd Board Planetary Brochure Catering Unit Obvious Commands ("." for list): .wander .look .wait .pace .couch .pillows .table .catering unit Obvious Exits: Level 11 Level 10 Level 9 Neva comes in from the lift area. Neva has arrived. A dull pressure begins building up inside your mind, and your hands tingle. The symbiont is warning you of impending rain. At the moment, the Singer lounge seems to be fairly well unoccupied -- the lucky Singers having gotten off the planet already, the less fortunate perhaps all out scouting the Ranges or perhaps sleeping the sleep of the exhausted in their quarters. One Singer, though, is leaning awkwardly against the wall stripe leading down to Ocher Quadrant. Tance Vokrim huddles there with his arms wrapped about himself, his shoulders shivering and his head bowed. Neva steps into the lounge, heading towards the catering unit. She clenches and unclenches her fingers before finally ordering a cup of coffee. Cradling it in her hands, she turns around, and regards the other Singer. "So, you feel it, too? Somebody said rain. Feels like I have a storm building up in my skull. Very odd." Tance violently starts, his head swinging around in the direction of Neva's voice, his eyes blank. He's still shaking. "Wh-what?" You feel a harsh thrum in your bones, sliding along your nerves. "The ache? Don't you feel it?" Head tilted, Neva peers at him. "Are you okay?" The older Singer's brows wing down over his eyes, knitting together in consternation. "I... d-do I.. I know you?" he stutters. Apparently the shivers that have gripped his shoulders are also in command of his voice. "Neva--I'm Neva," offers the younger Singer, gesturing over towards the chairs. "You should sit down." "N-N-Neva," mutters Tance vaguely, his gaze jerking in small increments around to the chairs and couches, though he seems to regard them as though they're rather farther away than they actually are. "Y-yeah. Sit. T-t... tired." The pressure inside your skull is now a dull swirling pain along your bones as your symbiont reacts to the bad weather. It would be even worse if you were outside. "Is it the rain?" asks Neva cautiously. "Why don't you go sit down--do you want something to drink? You're shaking like a leaf." Nothing like stating the obvious, right? "Crystal," is Tance's blurted reply, as he stumbles across the room towards the nearest couch. A strange dreamy expression softens his lined features, and he croons huskily, "Green... f-f-found green..." Another cup of coffee is dialed, and Neva carries it over, thrusting it into his hands. "Here. Drink. Green? That's nice. Don't slip off on me, now." At least she /does/ remember the last time he did this. Tance half-falls down onto a couch, and then blinks owlishly at the young woman as the coffee is pressed into his hands. He peers down at it as if not quite grasping what's been given him, then he gulps down a large mouthful of the heated fragrant stuff. And promptly coughs. Neva looks at you for a moment. The pressure relaxes as the symbiont realizes the immediate danger is past. Depositing herself in a chair opposite, Neva says, "You don't look too well. How long were you out there?" She takes a long sip of her own drink, and then mms. "Seems to be passed, at least." "H-hours?" stammers Tance in hoarse tones, sounding not at all certain. "L-l-long time. Sun came up... on the green..." He trails off into a breathy sigh as the pressure on the symbiont eases off, though he's still ever so slightly quivering. The crystal resonance coursing through your body is constant and distracting. "You're resonating like a bell," Neva points out. "Must have been out awhile." Tance gulps down more swallows of coffee, eyes taking on a faint glimmer of alertness as the caffeine starts wrestling with the crystal in his system. "Gotta cut," he mutters. "P-P-Passover. Gotta cut s'more..." "You should get offplanet," Neva corrects. "Haven't you got enough to go anywhere yet?" Somehow, Tance manages to fix wide childlike brown eyes on Neva as he plaintively stammers, "B-b-broke. Can't go. No m-m-money. Gotta c-cut." "I hear Floridian's got good skiing this time of year. That's where I was thinking about," confides Neva. "Broke?" She frowns. "You could always borrow from someone. You know--a loan?" "D-don' w-w-wanna...." Tance puts forth a distracted, disturbed kind of frown, a hint of a blush crossing his face. "Can d-do it, I can do it..." A hint of pride, from this man? A little smile--Neva seems vaguely amused by this assertion. "I have no doubt that you can. But who would want to? Wouldn't it be nicer to be relaxing offworld?" The coffee drunk down, Tance still clutches the empty cup as he slumps backwards on the touch, his head tilting along its back. "D-don' wanna relax," he mumbles, his voice dropping down in volume. He might even sound almost scared. The smile is replaced by a perplexed peer; Neva finishes off her mug, at last, and studies the man across from her. "Whyever not? You'd rather stay down here and be sedated in a tub? I intend to leave tonight, if I can, and go enjoy the best the galaxy has to offer." The crystal resonance in your body is growing louder and harder for you to ignore. Tance grimaces, his eyes still closed, and he curls towards his right side on the couch. In the back of his mind, he understands the answer to Neva's question -- if he relaxes, he's free to think, and if he thinks, he remembers; if he remembers, he knows that Kesya is gone -- but what comes out of him is a whimper that modulates into "D-don'... wanna think. Cut green, d-don' hafta think..." "And you'll get yourself buzzing so high you'll not notice when Passover sweeps down over you?" asks Neva, critically. Tance doesn't answer that, but perhaps his expression is answer enough, as his eyes come open and he stares bleakly and dumbly out into the air. What is there to say to that? Neva watches for a long moment--several long moments. Maybe an eternity, or at least it feels like one. "No," she says softly. "Don't. I... tried it once. Or, well, not that way, but still. When you want it most, it never works." [Had to pause here as I had to log off and deal with a broken car.]