video

[rathercommon]

Hullo everyone. It's Kitty.

[ Kitty looks a little more normal than she did the last time she made a post on the network, since the last time she made a post on the network she looked like a tiger. She's bright-eyed, cheerful, and has a pair of very elaborate and beautiful earrings. ]

So, I'm taking a class in journalistic methods at the local community college - it's a brilliant class, too, I'm having an excellent time, school really gets much more worthwhile when you get to the college level, doesn't it - and we've been given an assignment to conduct interviews. I know that some of you are willing and happy to help me out and submit to being interviewed. [ Her grin is confident. ] It's nothing too personal, I promise - just some stuff on your attitude towards the locals here, that sort of thing. It'll be fun.

[ This...is not one hundred percent truthful, since the assignment is to interview one person, not the whole community. But, hey, why not do some broad info-gathering, right? ]

Comments

[dendarii]

[ Miles does so. When he swings the door open, it's immediately apparent that he's wearing earrings of his own. More steel and silver than glitter, something more traditionally masculine in the Barrayaran sense. They read exactly the same as Kitty's had, except with masculine pronouns.

He's also holding a sheaf of papers in one hand. ]

Hello, Da.

[use_everything]

[There's a long look, curious, at Miles' earrings. But there was nothing there to honestly be surprised by, other than a style he'd not seen often.

He clears space on the small writing table between them for Miles.]

Evening, my boy. Lets see what you've gone down to.

[dendarii]

[ Miles waits a moment, to see if there'll be more of a reaction ... then subsides, a bit relieved to feel none. He settles down at the table, the loose sheaf of papers in hand.

"Aral Alexander" is at the top of the list, as is "Olivia Delia." But there are other names too, mixes of older Vorkosigans and Vorbarras and other members of the household. Some Lenas and Tauras, even a Konstantin. Serg has been crossed out repeatedly.

The last sheaf is just Miles writing "Prince-Consort Lord Captain Miles Naismith Vorkosigan Vorbarra " over and over again. As one does. ]

It's - not quite so settled as that. Just ideas. I've added a few since coming back here.

[use_everything]

[There's some .. honest warmth at seeing that first name. The harder part was disassociating the title...

His finger pauses as it slides along the page.]

Taura?

[dendarii]

[ Miles warms in turn at that. A brief - but arresting - image bleeds across. An absolutely enormous woman, faintly lupine, with wicked fangs and claws ... and a fondness for pink, feminine clothing. ]

One of my Dendarii. I'm very fond of her.

[ On multiple levels. ]

[use_everything]

[There's a moment. He really doesn't know how to process that ... Obviously a creation of genetic tinkering but good god she was impressive.]

She.. seems incredible. What... Where is she from?

[dendarii]

[ Miles's pride leaks over at that. Incredible is a good response for Taura. ]

Jackson's Whole, of course. The only surviving genetically engineered super-soldier. A scientist defecting to Barrayar asked me to retrieve certain genetic samples he'd inserted in her leg ... He did not inform me that she needed rescue as badly as anyone else.

[use_everything]

... Anyone would, out of that pit. I begin to wonder how many troubles lead back to there.

[dendarii]

Many, I'm sure of it. But I'm also glad Mark exists, even if his life can't have been an easy one.

[ He pauses, and adds "Mark" as a potential middle name. As well as "Peter" and "Michael," for good measure. ]

[use_everything]

[There's an echoing smile from that from Aral.]

No, it likely was not. Hopefully these children will break that Vorkosigan tendency.

[dendarii]

God, I hope so. You've already made significant improvements for mine. Perhaps Gregor and I can continue that trend, if Barrayar doesn't throw us out completely.

[ And he is terrified, desperately terrified that their marriage will come at the cost of a hideous civil war. But ... well, it's a complicated topic. His longing for it is not a clear note. But his desire to meet his children is. ]

[use_everything]

You'll need to be highly political in how you go about it, but it's possible enough.

[The thought that followed was heavy, sharp and uneven, hard to swallow or even hold. He lets out a breath.]

If it is not, you should both leave.

[dendarii]

[ Miles look up sharply at that. His own thoughts are similarly painful to hold. ]

No. I - I couldn't leave Barrayar forever. If there's any chance of it working, I want to take it.

[use_everything]

[At length, he nods.]

We'll do everything we can.

[dendarii]

[ Miles nods slowly. ]

I don't - I'm not sure I'm ready yet, anyway. I've only just started with the Dendarii.

[use_everything]

It would preclude a great deal of offworld time. It would also likely involve you more in politics than you've been prepared for.

[It might be worth preparing him now...]

[dendarii]

[ As he expected, then. There's a deep, dull ache in response. ]

So Admiral Naismith's career is over, isn't it.

[use_everything]

[He deeply wished there was a better, kinder answer to this, but there truly isn't.]

Yes. You'd be an incomparable political hostage.

[dendarii]

[ God. It seems unbearable, giving up that half of him. But turning away from Gregor is equally unbearable. He stares down at the list of baby names as his stomach churns. ]

Lord Vorkosigan isn't great. But Prince-Consort ...

[use_everything]

Might be something worth defining yourself by.

... I would not have minded Mr. Naismith over Lord Vorkosigan either.

[dendarii]

[ Miles looks up at that, not sure how to take that. He's warmed either way, but ... ]

You mean - if I'd left with the Dendarii permanently, you'd have been okay with that? Or that you'd have been tempted too?

[use_everything]

[It's not a simple question, or frankly, a simple answer. He hardly has even the beginnings of a picture of the circumstances around Miles' trip to Beta Colony that somehow ended with an Admiralty and a treason trial.

But even divesting it of its circumstances...]

I'd have been of a split mind and heart about it...

But I believe I would have understood and supported it, indeed.

[dendarii]

[ That warmth grows incrementally. However he may not want to leave Barrayar forever, it's nice to know that he would have support in whatever he chose.

He's quiet a long moment. ]

Well. Me leaving Barrayar forever isn't a risk. I was already thinking about marriage and going home. Eventually.

[use_everything]

... That Taura you'd mentioned?

[dendarii]

Of course. [ Utter warmth again, aimed in a different direction. ] It can't be, though. She only has ten years left, at most.