(no subject)

[sythyry]

Aftermath [7 Thory 4385]

Not the Aftermath

The reactions to me coming back Orren-bouncing from Eigrach the other day include:

Kantele: Looks quite pleased with herself.

Umbers:"Really? I thought zie was impotent or frigid or whatever you call it with a Zi Ri."

Windigar:"Oh, no. Zie didn't." (and then explained to me in some detail why it was a rather bad idea, undignified, inappropriate, and generally wrong.)

Lithia:"Eewwww!"

Inconnu:"Finally!"

Jyondre:"That's Nupyup Pond for you." (To which several other wrongfolk nodded in assent -- there has been a distinct amount of fraternization between Eigrachters and liveried wrongfolk. One of Windigar's points is that my livery is, pretty much, a sign of begging for traff intimacies. Windigar did agree that this isn't my fault; indeed, Inconnu pretty much did it single-handedly.)

Grinwipey:"So, you went in for a morbid-and-grim, and came out with the bump lamp on your up-ramp? Tell you what, boss, some days it's just the ramparts to work for you, and other days I'd rather fesh under the coggles."

Everyone:"We do not understand the substance of Grinwipey's statement; nonetheless, we suspect we agree heartily!"

So, enough of that.

Also not the Aftermath

No carpenters and shipwrights have yet materialized to repair Strayway, and the first two polite hints about the matter haven't done anything. Perhaps the following letter will have some useful effect:

Dear lord mayor and other notables of Eigrach, greetings from the wizard Sythyry, the mighty Vaisessasilmin, and the notables of Strayway. It has not escaped our attention that three days have elapsed since the mystic sword Festina Lente was delivered to the guardsman Rehit, with greater power and subtletie than anyone in Eigrach could account for. We had agreed that the reconstruction of the skyboat would start immediately upon the delivery of the first artifact. The time has arrived. Perhaps sooner than you expected; perhaps you are not used to the techniques of Ketherian wizards. Please instruct your shipwrights to start the first aspects of the project quite soon, thereby keeping unanticipated consequences down to a minimum. -- Sythyry

The Aftermath

Grinwipey embraced Quendry and petted his head with two tentacles in the Grand Dining Hall, as I flew in from my workshop. Quendry snuffled and wiped his nose on Grinwipey's embroidered cravat. Grinwipey didn't complain, so the situation was obviously serious.

Being the extremely concerned patron, I asked Grinwipey about it later. (Later being that afternoon, over embroidery -- or, rather, while Grinwipey was embroidering a thorn bush whose thorns were thinner than the thread he was using, I think, and I was, um, supervising. By means of threading needles and holding patterns and doing other such things which any expert member of the Couturier's Guild can do nearly as well as Grinwipey.)

Me: "Grinwipey, what happened to Quendry?"

Grinwipey:"Nothing wrong with Quendry that a little squeaky chitin-mounting 'n raspy bug love won't cure."

Me:"Um ... I hope you're being metaphorical there. Quendry's a decade or two too young for that, even if he turns out to be traff."

Grinwipey:"About as metaphorical as a box of stocks on the dock by the lock." I started to say something, so he continued, "Not that Quendry gets the quick friction himself. The woof with the choof and the bug with the shrug, that's who."

Me:"Arfaen and Mellilot? Why?"

Grinwipey:"Mellilot's got splinters in her feelers about you sending Arfaen to play Mount-the-Count."

Me:"I beg your pardon?"

Grinwipey:"I'm a simple cissy-man floating over here, Sythyry. I don't know all these fancy manners about Orren who are really Zi Ri being all over Rassimels, or Cani who are married to Herethroy only not really being sent off to rub up Orrens and the Herethroy getting all upset, or any of it. I just pet the puppy when he's sad, is all."

Me:"Wait, what? Did you say I sent Arfaen off to be intimate with Totalie?"

Grinwipey:"If think she'd've done it again this quick if you hadn't said, your tail's threaded through your ears and out your arse."

Me:"Wait, what? Again?"

Grinwipey:"I figured you liked it so much when she did it the first time that you were softening him up for your own later rocking-in-formation, poke-creation, wreck-creation, and general dee-leck-tation."

Me:"Wait, she did with him a first time? Why didn't Phaniet tell me?"

Grinwipey:"Dunno, boss. Maybe she thought you'd chack her whacker if she said anything in the dull chai about Totalie."

I shushed him up and looked at my diary. "Then we took him back to Glynubla House and Arfaen made sure he was on our side. I guess Phaniet was just being a bit nonspecific."

Grinwipey:"Y'need t'lissen t'the nice comprehensible shoggies what speak so clear like the blue-green beer and always make the great immense. We tells it like it is without bubbles or fizz!"

I stared at him for a while, as he unworriedly poked silk cloth with a bone needle, glancing at it occasionally with one eye out of his five, and producing a miniature embroidered tascernel flower with more realistic petals than a real one.

Me:"You're right, I should. So, tell me the rest of the story?"

Grinwipey:"Sure thing, boss. Mellilot weren't chirpy and keen after the first time of Arfaen and Totalie. 'Cause it weren't the first time, you see; she's got the hot spots for otts, same like you only she actually can catch 'em. Melly is sure a Melly-mel when it comes to her Arfaen. So they's had the big anger-and-spite about Inconnu, and another one about Totallie, and then another'nother about Totallie."

Me:"So ... Arfaen likes Orren and plays with them sometimes; Mellilot wants to act more married, and they're fighting about whether Arfaen can?"

Grinwipey:"That's what I said, boss, clear as the nose in the day. And then, Mellilot is all up in her brattles at you for letting, nay telling, nay enabling, nay encouraging, nay demanding, nay whoring Arfaen out to Arfie's happy little otter boy for your convenient convenientosity."

Me:"Oh, dear."

Grinwipey:"Oh, your dearie-dearie-dear! 'Not even indentured, Arfaen, and zie's sending you out to go soil yourself and a pile of quilts too!' is what Mellilot says. Got a point, too, she does, does Melly. If you sent me out for some squiggles-and-shrieks, better be a she-shoggy with the lolly-loggy. Who doesn't remind me of my former wife."

Me:"I wouldn't send you out for that -- or anyone! I didn't mean to send Arfaen for that." I looked at my diary for that day, where I was pretty sure I wasn't ordering any personal intimacies, but the way it came out, all I really got was that Este wouldn't couple with Totalie. "I can see how she might have misinterpreted it."

Grinwipey:"Boss, Arfaen's a Cani."

Me:"Yes...?"

Grinwipey:"Boss, Cani live and die for orders. Arfaen knows what you're asking for better'n you do. If she don't want to hear 'juice that otter-boy up and give him the slide-and-hide', then she don't hear it, and if she do, she do."

Me:"Right ... so ... it's not really my fault?" (Asking moral advice from a Khtsoyis is pretty much an admission of guilt, of course.)

Grinwipey:"Your fault it is, your fault it ain't, but Mellybug is stomping mad at you. And Quendry's in tears, too, doesn't want his mommies breaking up."

Me:"Oh dear."

The Call for Advice

I am sitting in my fireplace in a time-bubble, trying to figure out what to do about either (a) the shipwrights of Eigrach, or (b) Arfaen and Mellilot.

[Poll #1461604]

Comments

[mazlynn.livejournal.com]

I'd opt for sending Phaniet and Kantele to yell at the mayor, with part of that yelling including that if you don't see action within x hours, you will throw a sorcerous temper tantrum and then go to their rival town.

I have a feeling your employees will do a much better job of making that sound convincingly scary than you would - you are generally far too nice of a lizard to intimidate effectively.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

That seemed an uncommonly threateny letter. I'd probably go talk to the Mayor and see what's going on. You may well have delivered more rapidly than they expected, and they're still trying to muster their resources.

So far as Arfaen, that's what *I* thought she was being sent for. I'd say apologize to her and Mellilot both. If you take the blame for it, that will perhaps ease things between them.

[rowyn]

My real advice is "none of the above, and nothing anyone suggests to you, either". Because it will be DOOM all the way regardless!

But Arfaen's sleeping with Totallie is definitely not your fault. I guess you could try making it clear to your whole crew that if they think you are asking them to prostitute themselves, they are mistaken. I can't imagine it working, though.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Well, it's like Grinwipey said -- even if zie doesn't order them to, if they theink zie wants them to they'll feel pressured to do it because they feel indebted. Same reason zie can't sleep with 'em basically.

My Answer...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

1) ... and tell them that if they don't immediately commence repairs, you will not only go to the rival city, but will encourage said rivals to use your name as an endorsement of their services and will furthermore condemn the competence of Eigrach shipwrights, forever.

2) Pull Arfaen and Mellilot into a parlor and quietly explain to them that you didn't intend such an order, and have no desire ever to intend such an order if anyone later thinks you have on some future occasion. Apologize for not keeping better in mind that Arfaen is Cani, who sometimes over-interpret orders. Remind them both that you are Zi Ri and not inclined to over-interpret orders in the manner of a Cani. Apologize for the general misunderstanding and hope they can straighten things out.

Spend a cley on Quendry for something that will make him happy. Or you could just buy a big bag of whatever sweets he likes. He got caught in the middle of someone else's mishap and that's never fun for puppies of any species.

[rowyn]

Sythyry is so scrupulous about sexual matters that zie will not sleep with members of zir household even if they are obviously eager to do so -- much less order them to do it. Why on wood would they assume zie would be less scrupulous about ordering them off to sleep with anyone else? O.o

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Start considering enchanting tools that can repair the ship in the hands of such people as Quendry. (Don't put the puppy to work, but aim for his skill level). Stop working on city enchantments and when they come and ask, show them your tools and say that making them takes too much time out of your day, and since the city has decided to neglect your needs, you are taking the time to do it yourself. It's not like it's YOUR war, anyway.

That should remind them they are paying for a service, and not merely taking advantage of a enchanter who seems to be stuck.

What not to do:

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Build a proper city wall around the village they gave you when they gave you Totalie, and start fighting duel-wars with them over their current territory. Make Vae the duke.

Re: What not to do:

[xolo.livejournal.com]

That would be COOL!

[xolo.livejournal.com]

You're right. I'd been considering it from my own, rather less scrupulous, point of view.

Re: What not to do:

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

Now that's thinking like an adventurer, right there.

Re: What not to do:

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

... village? They gave me no village; they gave me a house in the city.

Re: What not to do:

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought! But I read the journal entry you referred to, and Phaniet said Totalie said the Mayor said you were getting his house and his old domain both.

Anyhow, after the trial, he was told that you were going to get Glynubla House and his former domain.

Or was that the monster-infested property they were going to give to Vae that she refused?

Re: What not to do:

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why the mayor told Totalie that. The mayor never mentioned the domain to Phaniet when she was shaking him down negotiating on my behalf.

[Bard: "Hmm... curious! What could it mean?"]

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

Oh, I like this one!

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Enchanters can only work on one project at a time, so it's not even an issue of it taking too much in a day. Enchantments must(except for some specifics that have been hinted at with the spellbreaker) start precisely at dawn - beginning even a moment too late can ruin the week's worth.

Which makes this an even stronger case, is what I mean to say.

The city isn't working on the ship, and said work is the agreed-upon payment. As it stands, they are actually in default, and certainly aren't owed any more work, so Sythyry would be free to start zir own work. And something to at least assist with the repairs would be quite apt indeed.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Regarding the first - although I wouldn't lean on Thenel, it may be worth seeing if he has any contacts with the shipwrights, to make talking to them a little easier.

For that matter, maybe the shipwrights could themselves be paid in enchanted tools?

Re: the second - although you didn't intend this mess, Mellilot is upset with you, so you ARE involved, period; it's too late to stay out of that dispute. Bring in a mediator, by all means - but you may want to be involved in resolving at least your part of it. Kantele might be able to help make clear to Arfaen what you did and did not intend.

Also: Aside from the remark in the first section, Grinwipey seems to be remarkably clear-spoken today! For Grinwipey.

Re: My Answer...

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't do #1 without first making sure the shipwrights are the problem. If they haven't been instructed to do the work, it's not fair to them.

City-states might generally take a dim view of foreigners, but you want to be awfully careful of that when you're dealing with parallel guilds. One of the shipwrights next door might just be friendly with the ones in Eigrach...

No, if it's the administration's fault, the administration needs to take the blame.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Not zir fault, perhaps. But willfully or not, zie is totally involved now. The action you suggest may be a good start.

Inaction, however, would be a bad idea - so I second the suggestion of setting the matter straight.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Thus the need to make it explicitly clear that zie doesn't expect it of them. Perhaps with a codicil that if they DO want to get involved with the Eigrachters, it's their personal choice - but zie will not expect it of them.

If they continue to believe zie does when zie's clearly said zie doesn't, well... you can't force people to accept the truth. But you can at least show it to them.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

I'd very strongly advise against that sorcerous temper tantrum. Mind that such displays of sorcery are (semi-)often acts of stylized war on the World Tree.

Having those ambassadors suggest what potent weapons Sythyry might be able to craft for Heleshario, however... possibly with a surrounding note of "Well, since YOU obviously don't want it, judging by the lack of agreed-upon work..." or similar.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Re: Eigarch. If they don't pay, take the sword back until they do.

Re: Arfaen. Once again Arfaen has deliberately misconstrued your orders, exceeded her authority, and then left you holding the bag when it blew up in her face. The crew is going to keep doing this until you put a boot up someone's ass for it.

Re: Melliot. Needs to be reminded that she works for you, not the other way around. It's not your job to manage the interpersonal relationships of your servants. Dealing with her marriage is her responsibility. And even if it was your responsibility, she's expected to voice her concerns to you in a manner appropriate for dealing with her boss. If she doesn't like that, she needs to find another patron.

Re: You. Stop being a putz! ;P

[rowyn]

I can't imagine how zie could actually set the matter straight, though. Sythyry's whole world tree is highly prone to misinterpretation of even the clearest of messages (cf the responses to zir missives regarding Lost-Eyes and Dorze). Just telling zir household "I will never order any of you to have sexual relations with anyone" would doubtless get read between the lines and wind up including in their minds 'so you should figure out who it would be useful to have sex with on your own and make sure I don't find out that you're only doing it because you know it's what I REALLY want but am too embarrassed/subtle to request outright.'

Re: What not to do:

[rowyn]

The timing is awfully suspicious, too, innit? If they told this to Totalie right after the trial, wouldn't that mean they were planning to give the manor to Sythyry even before they attacked zir and Vae? They came back with the offered manor awfully quickly after the shakedown.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

Regarding the delay...

Someone, on some level, has obviously tied relevant hands for those who would otherwise be getting to work on the ship. I would send some of your folk on a fact finding mission. After all, there are only so many levels of power possible between the actual shipyard workers and the mayor (or the people behind the visible power in the city, as it were.) I would send them off to ask relevant and somewhat embarrassing questions regarding if these people have or haven't been given instructions to immediately get to work.

Regarding your workers...

I would start sending for basically everyone, one at a time, to come talk to you in your office, where you explain that you very very much don't want to ask, act like asking, seem to need or want, any of them to do anything unethical, illegal, irresponsible, or otherwise doomful without making triply sure that such an action is exactly what you are asking for -- and even if they DO make sure, you want to give everyone the right to be a, uh, conscientious objector, and decline to participate in that act without any fear of punishment or ostracizing or anything like that. Say that this moral viewpoint is why, for example, you never ask any of them to sleep with you, and why you would never want any of them to feel obligated to sleep with any particular being because you said or implied so.

[calamitous-cani.livejournal.com]

See, this would be much easier with judicious use of, oh, Creoc Spiridor Mentador..

[terrana.livejournal.com]

Except primes are a bit funny about Mentador, even when used in the most harmless way with the best of intentions. Personally, I'm not sure I'd be able to resist tinkering with it.

[terrana.livejournal.com]

So... you put up with Inconnu why, exactly? He seems to have this thing for giving the rest of the wrongfolk a bad name.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

An accurate name, perhaps. He is one of the most determinedly and devoutly traff people I know. Also, he is very cute. (Unfortunately he knows quite well how to use cuteness.)