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

[thisvorlunatic]

Could go either way. And I can't easily take advantage of in-person emotional support because I don't want Little Miles thinking he grows up to be as pathetic as I currently feel.

[isthisart]

I'm loaning her a hairtie so her hair stays put over her ears, then, just in case. Try to avoid making her blush. You're not remotely pathetic; I'm thrown too. Does she look like us, or different like Lalita and Mark? Where did your alt's parents get her?

[thisvorlunatic]

Noticeably different. Not quite as different as Lalita from Mark, but definitely not the same. Apparently she showed up on the doorstep of the Imperial Residence in a basket, and they adopted her. I'm assuming it was Mother's idea. I'm also mildly worried that they apparently never found out where the basket came from.

[warpfairy]

Isabella comes down the stairs, ears hidden under discreetly ponytailed hair.

"I hear I have a new alt."

"Me! Are you Isabella or Linyabel?" asks Nika. "You don't look like me."

"I'm Isabella. Sometimes alts don't look that much alike," she says.

Having been presented with an alt, Nika doesn't seem to have any immediate idea of what to do with her.

[isthisart]

Bizarre, Linya writes back, meanwhile. I wonder if she has a set of Isabella-parents or some other sourcing. I gather the world is more like ours than like Isabella's or Stalas's? How much so?

[thisvorlunatic]

It seems to be perfectly congruent with ours, plus one doorstep baby.

[isthisart]

I imagine you would have said so if she were haut? Four would be old enough to, I think, take my existence reasonably calmly after an explanation - I can't speak for your own little one - if she were. Isabella's best guess for a non-haut one is six but we aren't sure how much Vulcan aging rates might be confounding her guess for an heirloom human.

[warpfairy]

Nika decides that what she does with an alt is introduce her to everyone. "This is my cousin Ivan, and that's my brother Miles, and those are their grownups, and that's Bothari," she tells Isabella. "I'm Nika!"

"That's a pretty name," says Isabella.

"Nika Madeline Vorkosigan," elaborates Nika.

"My full name is Isabella T'Mir."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Hi, grownup Nika," says Little Miles grumpily.

Less Little Miles writes to Linya: My little alt is probably going to take our marriage as further proof that I am some kind of degenerate. I think he's having a massive case of sour grapes over the fact that I get to walk around under my own power. He's still stuck in that bloody brace.

[isthisart]

Would have been a good idea to get a blood transfusion from Lalita to see if that worked before he disappeared upstairs, supposes Linya. Well, if you could get near him with more of the same, I suppose.

[warpfairy]

"Hi, Miles," Isabella replies to the small Miles.

"Where's our other one?" Nika asks Isabella.

"She's in the middle of something upstairs, but she said to tell you hello. Grownup Miles can send her a - holo, of you, if you want to let him take one, and then she'll know what you look like."

"But she looks like you?"

"Mostly, yes. She's taller and so on."

"Is she older than you?"

"No, younger. She's twenty-two and I'm almost thirty - standard."

[thisvorlunatic]

You know what, I am very tempted to go knock on Stalas's door and ask Lalita to donate some blood. Even knowing what I'm likely to find there. Maybe it'll redeem me in Little Miles's eyes. I'd have to talk my way past Bothari with it, but I don't think that'll be all that hard. Especially if he gets to watch me make the experiment first.

[isthisart]

I certainly think it would be a good idea to do this sometime before Little Miles leaves, but have little idea how long that's likely to take. How are Isabella and our little one doing?

[warpfairy]

"What's Linyabel in the middle of?" Nika asks Isabella.

"She's taking apart a piece of technology from my world so she can see how it works. She's an engineer."

"Ooh. What are you?"

"I used to be a deep space surveyor, but that was cover for bringing some technology to people on planets that didn't have it, so they'd get to join a big federated government we have in my world and use all its stuff. Then I got caught and now I can't do that anymore, so I'm a political activist."

"Ooooooh."

[thisvorlunatic]

They're talking. Seem to be getting on all right. Is there any reason whatsoever for me to delay getting Lalita's blood?

[isthisart]

The dim hope that he'll turn up of his own accord, I suppose. Also, I can be down there with my medical scanner to evaluate the effects once Isabella thinks that our little one - what is her name? - will be able to live with it. I'm not sure whether to worry more that she has Barrayaran prejudices about my origins or that she'll explode when she finds out we're married.

[warpfairy]

"My world is pretty different from yours. We have faster-than-light travel, instead of wormholes, and it's earlier, and there are other different technologies - that's why Linyabel is taking apart the PADD. So she can bring home books that are supposed to work with PADDS and read them at home."

"Ooooh. Next time I play pirates I want to play faster than light pirates."

Isabella winces.

"What?"

"Nothing, really. I ran into some people who were unpleasant but weren't pirates, once."

[thisvorlunatic]

I'm definitely worried about both. The enticing aspect of getting Lalita's blood, you see, is that it gets me out of this room. And maybe I can go cry in your lap a little bit while I'm up there.

[isthisart]

I'm in room 2109.

[warpfairy]

"So that's what me and Linyabel do. What do you do?"

"Me?"

"Yes, you. You're little but you must still do things, mustn't you?"

"I... read! I read. And I ride horses. Well, I have twice, but I'm going to do it more. And I play that I'm a magic fairy."

"Are you?"

"Probably not," shrugs Nika. "But it's fun."

"That's as good a reason as any."

[thisvorlunatic]

"She's a magic fairy because she came from a basket," explains Little Miles.

Less Little Miles goes over to Bar to acquire the proper equipment for extracting blood from Lalita.

[warpfairy]

Which Bar is happy to supply.

"Is that how fairies work?"

"There might not be any fairies," amends Nika.

"Well, you found a little magic today. I've never met a fairy, but if I was going to, it would probably be here."

"...That's true," says Nika, beaming.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Maybe we're all fairies," says Less Little Miles flippantly. "I'm going to go upstairs and get something; I'll be back soon."

"Whatcha gonna get?" challenges Little Miles.

"It's a surprise," says Less Little Miles, and off he trots. Heading up now, wish me luck.

[isthisart]

Luck. I love you.

[warpfairy]

"Do you know what he's gonna get?" Nika asks Isabella.

"No. He didn't tell me." Isabella hmmms, and judges that it is a reasonable time to introduce the relatively safe fact that she's not just some ordinary human. "And I always get permission before reading minds."

Nika gapes at her.