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[dendarii]

"This is - Emperor Vorkosigan. Leave a message and We will return it at Our earliest convenience."

Comments

[dendarii]

Clumsy and frail and all those things ...

[ Also, completely magicless. So. Any kind of magic feels amazing to him. ]

I shall, gladly.

[flashystyle]

A terrible combination, you know. Let me think...

[Dorian hums, declining to answer for a moment. He has something of a hunch that he's significantly lacking any magic, so eventually, speaks up with his suggestion.]

I'm going to be releasing some will-o-wisps sometime after I finish some of my arrangements upstairs. I could bring it along then, if you'd like to come.

[dendarii]

[ Bribing him with a show of more magic, eh? It works perfectly. ]

That sounds delightful. Where will you be doing that?

[flashystyle]

The westward forest, on the way to Edrathe. I believe you passed by them when you made your journey here.

[dendarii]

I was a bit distracted by breaking an arm and nearly drowning. But yes, I remember.

[flashystyle]

It happens to all of us. [Unfortunately.] I don't want you to break your arm on the way there. Should I meet you in the city?

[dendarii]

[ Miles mutters something under his breath. He's not that clumsy, jeez. ]

I would like that, yes. May as well.

[flashystyle]

[Sounds... fake. Clearly, he's tripping over himself everywhere he goes.]

Excellent. You'll want to bring your butter knife.

[dendarii]

My heirloom butter knife, you mean.

[ It's killed quite a few people okay. ]

[flashystyle]

Oh, yes, your heirloom butter knife. I'm sure it's stabbed into many loaves of bread.

[dendarii]

Mm, some of that. My grandfather used it to scalp enemy soldiers during his guerrilla war with the Cetagandan Empire.

[flashystyle]

Scalping? How exciting. What did the Cetagandan Empire ever do to you all? Exist?

[dendarii]

[ Dryly: ]

They descended upon my planet with weaponry centuries ahead of ours, intending to conquer it.

[flashystyle]

So a minor offense, really. Nothing you don't already do to yourselves.

[dendarii]

[ A snort at that. ]

Of course we did it to ourselves. But when an outsider comes along - well. That's worse.

[flashystyle]

Better to rule yourselves terribly than let anyone else do it for you! I can understand that. What of your father? Aral?

[dendarii]

Ah, he was too young to fight in that particular war. But he has his own bloody history.

[ That ... is admittedly an exaggeration. Sort of. He's known as the Butcher of Komarr for a reason, but that reason is mostly political and a lot shitty. ]

[flashystyle]

I've heard of it. Your families have a rather delicious history of backstabbing one another.

[dendarii]

[ Oh. There's another long pause, this one decidedly icier. ]

You've been listening to Byerly, I see.

[ Aral's name should have tipped him off, but Miles is so used to people knowing about Aral that he'd forgotten. ]

[flashystyle]

To be fair, he retold it after I asked very nicely.

[Probably isn't all that fair anyway.]

Your father killed his aunt, her lovers, and... also murdered the brother-in-law, Ges. Then became regent? Or was he regent during all of it?

[dendarii]

[ Miles' tone is getting downright frigid. ]

His account was quite the inaccurate one, I see. Father was married to Byerly's aunt. And while he did kill the man she cheated on him with, he did not kill her. Nor Ges, for that matter, though the bastard would have deserved it.

[flashystyle]

[Dorian raises his brows, choosing to drop his blithe tone to remain appropriate.]

No? They did die though, didn't they?

cw: discussion of rape

[dendarii]

[ Probably for the best; Miles gets pretty worked up about this topic. Also pretend that "man" was "men" in that previous comment. Aral sure did kill two dudes, plural. ]

She committed suicide. And my mother killed Ges during his attempt to rape her.

i'm gonna steer away from ges to avoid tagging about assault!! just so you know

[flashystyle]

[After a stretch of silence, his tone drops to downright solemn.]

How is your mother, now?

thumbs up

[dendarii]

[ Miles' own tone relaxes a bit at that; Dorian taking him seriously does much to soothe his ruffled feathers. ]

Better for having outlived him. [ A beat. ] Da became Regent shortly after my conception. It was never something he wanted, though, and he gave it up gladly upon Gregor's majority.