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 would have dragged her back to Barrayar himself if he'd thought it would make Taura happier. But this suits. ]

Quite a group of them by now. Tung is the real brains of the operation. A real war history fanatic, idolizes you completely. His mouth about hit the floor when he met you during the Hegen Hub conflict. Bel Thorne is a captain and a Betan hermaphrodite. They're one of my best, very clever and intelligent. Elli Quinn is essentially my second in command, though. Dangerous, brave woman - a lot like Tex really. And then Elena Bothari, of course.

[use_everything]

[There's an image, briefly, as Aral thinks of Bothari's reaction to his precious daughter in a mercenary crew... Both bemused and fondness colors the memory of Bothari holding a tiny child in his enormous hands, staring down at her with awe, love and squalid terror.]

That certainly answers whether I get the chance to meet them. Studied Komarr, I imagine.

[dendarii]

[ Warmth wars with guilt at that mental image. After all, Bothari didn't live long enough to see Elena join up with the mercenaries in time... ]

Just so. I'm not sure if he knows I'm your son. Or what he would do if he did.

[ Another hollow stab to the gut. ]

I'm going to miss them terribly.

[use_everything]

You could always suborn them. Barrayar could always use talent.

And a bit of a broader mind.

[dendarii]

[ The thought arrests him. The Dendarii, made an arm of the Emperor in truth? What a thought ... ]

To anyone who's willing. Which wouldn't be all, but ...

[use_everything]

But some, a stable, loyal force unfettered by traditional politicking and the usual chains of command.

[dendarii]

Just so. An unusual but useful force. Even if we can't go liberating any more POW camps without starting a war with Cetaganda. And I'd still be barred from field missions ...

[ A gray, foggy side of him thinks that might not be such a bad thing. ]

[use_everything]

Well, off planet ones. There is... room to maneuver, perhaps, on planet.

[dendarii]

[ That sparks a light behind his eyes. ]

Political and domestic strategy rather than military?

[use_everything]

If you don't think it's every much as fraught and complicated as anything in the Nexus, you've not been paying attention.

[And Miles certainly has.]

[dendarii]

[ He absolutely has. ]

Oh, yes. With as high stakes as anything I could possibly get into with the Dendarii. And my very first item would be preparing for my marriage to Gregor.

[ Laid out like that, the hole isn't quite as hollow. ]

[use_everything]

That will be an ungodly nest of snakes right there.

[Contrary to the gruff rumble, there's a pleased tone over the link.]

I'd recommend Alys Vorpatril to you, for simple sanity.

[dendarii]

Aunt Alys, eh ...

[ He doesn't doubt her prowess or her necessity. Not in the slightest. But he doesn't think that the sheer fear of her bleeding over the link is misplaced. ]

If she doesn't murder me flat out.

[use_everything]

[Not at all. Even in his era, she's a social and political force to be feared, and VERY interested by survival and necessity in the political lines.]

I'd suggest starting with androgenesis and then work into the proposal.

[dendarii]

She'll sniff me out immediately. [ A beat. ] But it will give her time to be prepared, I suppose.

[use_everything]

And she's hardly one you wish to surprise. Then again, Padma tended to be hyperbolic in his cups.

[dendarii]

[ He smiles a little at that. ]

He and Ivan have the same tendency, then. Or perhaps she really would strangle them ...

[use_everything]

[There's a wry quirk of the lips that answers that.]

I have my doubts. For one, tradition and good manners recommends a seal crested knife for that kind of job.

[dendarii]

Ah, yes. How could I forget? Nothing less than an artful placement between the third and fourth ribs.

[use_everything]

One wouldn't want more than a decorative splash of blood, after all.

[dendarii]

And too much of a struggle makes for an unlovely corpse.

... Her on my side first, certainly.

[ Though, the wheels are turning further. He needs time to prepare as well. As much time as he can afford himself, given the circumstances ... ]

[use_everything]

[Time is the one thing that they may have an abundance or a matter of minutes.]

The Centralists would need all of us working on it. As long as we swing a majority, we'll have a smoother run politically.

[dendarii]

So I'll need to be up to my neck in it. And have as much experience in it as I can possibly hold.

[use_everything]

[He nods, thinking rapidly. He'll need to be razor sharp, know each of the Counts and how to approach.]

You'll be fighting old prejudices even in the most progressive. We wont be able to change minds... not initially, but we can frame it as better than the alternatives.

[dendarii]

The alternatives being ... what, a lack of heirs? More Vordarians?