[IC] [Mask or Menace] Contact Post

[dendarii]

"This is Miles. Leave a message and I'll respond to you at my earliest convenience."

The line has gone silent; any messages sent to this name only return an error.

Comments

[jacksonian]

[ He wants to laugh. Of course. Of course Vorkosigan has already made his life worse. Of course the clone is reaping the fruit of his bad decisions. Sure. ]

And what if he sees me on the street? What then? Go and contact him and tell him I have nothing to do with you.

[dendarii]

That would be unwise. I'd draw attention to you, to start with.

[jacksonian]

[ Panic starts to rise in him. ]

So I'm supposed to just wait for Lucifer to spot me on the street and torture me to death instead?

[dendarii]

No. God, no. I don't think he'd do that anyway - he's more about the chase. Call me and I'll stall him, at least. I can move quickly if I have to, and at last make him safe to you for a while.

[jacksonian]

Are you joking? You can't even protect yourself.

[dendarii]

I have certain safety precautions in place. And he's been quiet lately.

[jacksonian]

What a load of shit. I'm going to get killed and it's going to be because of you.

[ Ha. Ha. Yeah. That's exactly what's going to happen. ]

[dendarii]

I have it handled. You'll be fine, just ... don't approach him.

[jacksonian]

Like hell you do. I'd sooner strike some sort of deal with him.

[dendarii]

[ Oh god. Miles goes cold straight to the pit of his stomach just thinking about it. ]

He's the literal devil. You don't make deals with him.

[jacksonian]

We don't exactly study ancient religions where I'm from, but I'm pretty sure that's exactly what you do.

[dendarii]

It's an extremely bad idea. You have to fight him instead if you must encounter him. Did the Porter give you any decent powers?

[jacksonian]

I know whether or not a business is going to succeed. I'm not fighting him. Are you insane?

[dendarii]

... That's ... extremely non-useful in this case. Don't you have anything else?

[jacksonian]

[ His other power...He doesn't...He doesn't want Miles Vorkosigan to know about. ]

Sorry. Do you want to write a letter to the Porter? Ask it to give me something more suited to your purposes? It'd probably listen to some Vor Lord, right?

[dendarii]

I wish. I'd replace both of mine if I could.

[jacksonian]

[ Curious in spite of how dire the situation is - ]

Why? What do you have?

[dendarii]

[ Miles hesitates. Eh ... embarrassment over a real tactical disadvantage. There's no need to tell this man about his telepathy yet. ]

Teleportation via pipe fixtures and shrinking.

[ A testament to his new oath with Gregor that he doesn't even bother implying he could get taller than his baseline. ]

[jacksonian]

[ Ever blunt when he's not lying: ]

That's stupid.

[dendarii]

[ Oh Mark. ]

Better in combat than your business sense.

[jacksonian]

My business sense makes money. Money hires bodyguards. So I'd say mine is better in combat.

[dendarii]

You're running and hiding. Mine would do just fine for both.

[jacksonian]

Yeah, if you can find a faucet.

[dendarii]

Pipes, dammit. Pipes are everywhere.

[jacksonian]

And do you come out smelling like shit, too?