[video] pull point plot - aged-down Newt & Hermann

[driftsintobuffetline]

[His hair still looks like he's just woken up from being passed out on someone else's sofa, but it's shorter, spikier. Instead of his usual perpetual five-o'clock-shadow, Newt now sports a beard with mustache, scruffy, not terribly well-groomed, like he's a college student. This younger version of Newton Geiszler is anywhere from 5-10 years younger by appearances. He's in better shape--if only because a body in its mid-twenties deals with a poor diet of too much caffeine and sugar differently than a body in its mid-thirties--and though his tattoo sleeves are complete, most of the rest of his tattoos have not yet even been conceived.

He holds the phone. Judging from the slight wobble of the camera, his foot is probably jiggling off screen, tapping with uncontained energy. Behind him are chalk-board walls with the remnants of what had once been a drawing/erasing war.]

Hey, so whoever did the rooming assignments? ...Can suck it. Anyone out there looking for a place to stay? --Because I'm about to kick out my roommate and so I've got an extra bedroom--

[The butt of a cane comes into view suddenly, cutting across the feed like it's capable of physically cancelling out the offer. A familiar British growl is audible moments before a much younger-looking Hermann Gottlieb (or is it Miles?) edges into view]

You most certainly do not. Obviously this apartment has been modified to my own specifications. Therefore, if either of us is getting kicked out, it's going to be you.

[He reclaims his cane and stands straighter, sniffing] Best of luck finding anyone else to put up with your awful habits.

Your speci- Just because there's obnoxiously dusty walls doesn't mean you get to call dibs. We've already established: that was MY handwriting.

[With a flip of the wrist, Newt raises his hand at Hermann but does not look at him. Talk to the hand. Then, to the camera:] So please forward any and all applications to Newt Geiszler-- [Pause, then with exaggerated saccharine and a mocking expression:] Hermann, be a dear and go find out what address we're at, hmmmm?

Sod off.

[Hermann looks at the camera, does a double-take and jerks back] You're recording this drivel? Unbelievable-

[He leans in, abruptly snatching the device] I am absolutely not going anywhere.

Like hell I'm living with yo-WHAT THE!!! [The feed ends.]

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video

[dendarii]

[ The resemblance isn't quite so obvious at this age, alas. But Miles is still the world's bittiest eight-year old. ]

Whoa! You live on your own? Where are you? How come you're kicking out your roommate? Do you not like him any more?

video

[mathemagier]

[Well hello strange-looking kid]

It's because he's an idiot, really. Nothing more to it than that.

[dendarii]

[ Hello, strange-looking adult. Something ... makes Miles look twice at that face. Memory bubbles uncertainly under the surface of his mind. ]

How come? He looks smarter'n you.

[mathemagier]

[RUDE MINI-ME. RUDE]

I'll forgive you that misconception due to ignorance. He is little more than a child attempting to pass as an adult.

[dendarii]

Kids're smart too. What makes you smarter'n him anyway?

[mathemagier]

Yes, they are. He is rather intelligent, he only has the unfortunate tendency not to act it.

[dendarii]

Doing what? Are you scientists? Engineers?

[mathemagier]

Scientists, yes. He's a biologist and I am the engineer.

[dendarii]

... Oh. Biologists are almost as bad as doctors. If you're an engineer you're definitely smarter.

[mathemagier]

[Children. So precious. But that's also a bit worrying.]

I quite agree. Have you had a lot of bad experiences with doctors?

[dendarii]

[ He nods a bit at that. ]

Lots of surgery. But I'd rather have surgery a million times than another week of PT.

[mathemagier]

[Oh no, it's empathy.]

Yes, physical therapy is rather awful. Why do you need surgery?

[dendarii]

'cause my bones aren't right. Osteogenesis imperfecta.

[ He pronounces it very clearly, if slowly. ]

[mathemagier]

What a terrible condition to have so young.

[Speaking as a semi-recently diagnosed MS patient, but this boy is so much younger to have to deal with that sort of thing]

Is anyone from your family here with you?

[dendarii]

[ That he shrugs off easily. ]

Oh, I've had it since I was born. It's - uh - teratogenic. [ Again said slowly but precisely. And then, with a stronger flash of heat: ] M'not a mutie or anything.

... Mother and Da an' Gregor an' my armswoman. And I'm Lord Auditor Vorkosigan today.

[mathemagier]

Of course you're not.

[He has no idea what that is, but it sounds like something he's heard before]

Well Lord Vorkosigan [also said slowly bc what?], I'm glad you have your family with you.

[dendarii]

[ Miles is pleased - but also grinning sheepishly. ]

Lord Miles. Or Lord Auditor. Not Lord Vorkosigan, that's my Da.

[driftsintobuffetline]

Hold up. Kid, I get it, you've been burned by the doctors stuff before, but I have more degrees than this plebeian and I'm WAY smarter than him.

[dendarii]

Prove it.

[driftsintobuffetline]

...Wha- How do you PROVE intelligence? Even tests are flawed and biased.

But trust me, kid, you don't want to hang out with stuffy old mathematicians. They smell like chalk, have the worst fashion, basically they look like grumpy old men.

Whereas biologists are cool. And smarter, because we study life. Which is infinitely more interesting and varied and less likely to follow in line with some order or system or set of rules than engineering and math. Biologists have to adapt, because our science doesn't play by the rules.

[dendarii]

What kinds of stuff do you gotta adapt to then? [ And then, a suddenly fierce frown. ] Mutated genes?

[driftsintobuffetline]

Well, some biologists do, yeah. In general, biologists study lifeforms, and you know that we're not all the same, so we have to take into consideration how we're different, how our bodies react differently to the same stimuli--and then when studying different species, how the different creatures function: there's not always a one-to-one ratio on anatomy to what we know.

Anyway, I study the aliens Hermann's telling you about. I did tissue replication before the war, but now I study the Kaiju. Each one so far appears drastically different in appearance and has very different abilities. They're made from different stuff than we are: we're carbon-based lifeforms, but they're silicon-based. They're highly toxic, but I think once we learn to combat that, there's a lot that understanding them may offer us in terms of medicinal, agricultural, or technological advances.

[dendarii]

[ Miles doesn't quite understand all that, but at least tries. ]

So you're gonna dissect 'em and make your homeworld better with it? Is it like terraforming?

[driftsintobuffetline]

Not like terraforming. Terraforming is like...altering the actual environment over time to be better suited to life. Although, hopefully, maybe we can do that, because we drastically have to reverse the shitty way we've treated the planet and reduce global warming, especially if we don't want them to come back-- [And how did Newt know that...? Where did that information come from?]

Anyway, yes, a bit of terraforming, maybe the cure for cancer or ms or als or something-- I know someone's going to try to rework them into bio-weapons, but I'd like science to at least get the chance to improve life first. When we win, we owe it to ourselves to make lemonade from this lemon.

[dendarii]

[ Miles catches that little shift instantly. ]

Come back? Where did they go? Did you stop them? I wanna meet one.