the only part that makes sense

[middlingalong]

Aunt Cordelia is going to be away for a while rescuing Miles's long-lost brother. She is concerned that in that time Miles will become so absorbed in his magic netsite that he will forget to eat, or something, which seems entirely plausible, insofar as anything about this situation seems plausible. She would like Ivan to come visit and make sure Miles is looked after. Ivan can do that. Mercifully no one is trying to get him to do any of the things involving this madness that he could not do. Also, conveniently, he doesn't want to be in his apartment for a while because a guy he hooked up with is deeply confused about how interested Ivan is in a long-term arrangement that involves flowers and cute little notes and is having trouble picking up on standard communication about that as anything other than Ivan being a closet case or something. So it's just as well.

Ivan drives up to Vorkosigan House with a suitcase and goes to check on Miles.

Comments

[thisvorlunatic]

Today Miles can be found at a different comconsole at a different desk, in the basement. Why is he in the basement? Perhaps it has something to do with the two and a half bathtub-sized crates of gold coins up against that wall, or the stacks of extremely old-fashioned books next to the coins. Probably there wasn't room anywhere else in the house for these mysterious objects.

Presently, Miles appears to be staring moodily at his magic netsite.

[middlingalong]

"Hullo, coz. And how are you today?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"The Empress of Cetaganda won't stop flirting with me," he complains.

[middlingalong]

"Well, that's worrying. What does she want?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"I don't know. Oh, don't read those books, by the way, they're magic and will give you magic." He waves a hand vaguely at the stacks of books. "It's quite possible that this," with a gesture at the display, "is what Lisbet considers friendly teasing."

[middlingalong]

Ivan looks suspiciously at the books, then peers at the display. "Ah," he concludes, "she finds it entertaining when you squirm. Which can be fun if she's going to change priorities eventually, but this one's a bit too far away to do that."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Well, thanks for that expert assessment," he snorts. "We've already established that she's not going to quit her job to run away with me."

[middlingalong]

"Bit of a tall order," agrees Ivan. "When was that, how many squirmy PMs have you been feeding her, you can't keep doing that forever."

[thisvorlunatic]

"...um. It wasn't," he says, in the tone of someone who regrets getting into this. "This was back on Cetaganda. Before she was Empress, although I strongly suspect she knew where that was heading."

[middlingalong]

"And you had to verbally establish, at that time, that she wasn't going to run away with you."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Well, I don't know to what extent she had to, but she did. Told me that it was blatantly obvious I had a crush on her, and that if she'd been a few decades younger and less invested in her career, she might have responded differently, because of my many charming personal qualities which she proceeded to list."

[middlingalong]

"Do you suppose she already had the magic netsite at the time."

[thisvorlunatic]

"As far as I can tell, it hasn't existed that long."

[middlingalong]

"Weird."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Thanks, Ivan," he says dryly.

[middlingalong]

"It is weird, though. Anyway. When was the last time you ate something with calories in it?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Uh... I have no idea," he admits.

[middlingalong]

"Up you get, then, come on, we're having lunch. The Empress of Cetaganda can wait."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Fine," he sighs. Up he gets.

[middlingalong]

They have lunch. "So just reading the books...?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"They're not exactly readable in the conventional sense, but if you open one up and try to read it, you learn a magic spell and something irreparable happens to the book - catches fire, disintegrates, becomes terribly waterlogged, whatever."

[middlingalong]

"That's disturbing."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Useful, though."

[middlingalong]

"Do I want to know?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"Probably not."