hell of a party

[middlingalong]

Ivan must be drunker than he thought he was. He could have sworn he knew his way around Vivienne's parents' house, since she wanted to introduce him last week and showed him the place, but maybe they have a... secret... upstairs... bar? where Vivienne's room is supposed to be? And most certainly was last time he checked? He's never going to find the sweater she sent him up looking for here, anyway. Why is there a secret upstairs bar in Vivienne's parents' house?

Comments

[dream_me_up]

"Not that I'm not deeply charmed by the surprise, but would someone like to explain what is going on...?"

[isthisart]

"Sorry - this magic bar opens up to a wide variety of universes and sometimes there's several of somebody. I'm Linyabel, this is my husband Miles, that's his cousin Ivan, Miles's alt Stalas and clone Mark are upstairs."

[warpfairy]

"...I'm Isabella, and this is my husband, Lalita. And I'm not an elf, I'm a half-Vulcan half-human."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Stalas is a dwarf," says Miles. "As in the fantasy creature. Apparently his world has elves."

[dream_me_up]

"Well, Vulcans are not elves, although the comparison has been made," says Lalita.

[warpfairy]

"Vulcans are a humanoid species originally from the planet of the same name. Hybrids like me tend to mostly look like Vulcans to human observers, to the point where you'd be unlikely to tell the difference if a full Vulcan walked in next to me, but the same is nearly as true in reverse."

[isthisart]

"In our world humans are the only intelligent species we've found," says Linya. "Although to hear some people on the planet we live on tell it I don't count. What an interesting assortment."

[warpfairy]

"Why wouldn't you count?"

[isthisart]

"Barrayarans as a group are myopic about genetic engineering," says Linya, waving a hand.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Also," Miles adds, "her empire invaded our empire before either of us was born and there is some lingering ill will over it."

[dream_me_up]

"Myopic in what sense, specifically?" inquires Lalita.

[isthisart]

"The origins are in general paranoia about harmful mutations due to a population-wide dose of radiation that made them a serious concern during a period of low technological access, but it contaminates attitudes about positively unusual genetic backgrounds like mine and visible physical conditions that aren't genetic in origin, too."

[dream_me_up]

...He looks at Miles.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Yes," says Miles, "that last part was referring to me."

[middlingalong]

"You could pass for haut," Ivan remarks to Lalita. "If you dressed up like one."

[isthisart]

"'Haut' being the word for my kind of genetic engineering. And he's right, more or less - your phenotype wouldn't be particularly in vogue for your age group, but otherwise."

[dream_me_up]

"I've never been told I have an unfashionable phenotype before," he says, laughing. "And which age group would that be?"

[isthisart]

"If you were haut I'd guess you were forty-something."

[dream_me_up]

"Two hundred and eighty-something would be closer."

[isthisart]

"Is that normal human lifespan in your world? I don't want to make excess assumptions."

[warpfairy]

"It's not. I'm not going to live that long, and Vulcans can top two centuries."

[dream_me_up]

"I'm the only immortal human I know of. The only immortal person in general. I haven't aged in centuries."

[isthisart]

"How - I mean, is it genetic or have you got magic in your world too, like Stalas's...?"

[warpfairy]

"We don't really have - mmmm - Okay, if you only have humans, you might consider psi magic, but it's not conventional to refer to it that way. Some species, Vulcans included, have more or less telepathic abilities. Mine only works at touch range, although I can block scans from stronger users. But Lalita's modifications are nonpsychic in nature."

[dream_me_up]

"Genetic," he says, "yes. Deliberately so. And our society has some problems with that concept too. There were wars over it, around the time I was made."