jacksonian: (gun-wielding (neutral))
Mark Pierre Vorkosigan / "Peter Kane" ([personal profile] jacksonian) wrote in [community profile] barrayar2016-01-22 09:49 pm

I am junking up this beautiful community with this junk

All the other starters are so beautiful but instead I'm coming in and ruining everything with this useless post with this sad sack
Comment to this post and I will write you something
vorbarra: (ether-bunny05)

[personal profile] vorbarra 2016-01-23 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
Yes this is beautiful? ?
dendarii: (solpadeine106)

[personal profile] dendarii 2016-01-23 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ This has been a wild month. First showing up here, then Russia, then ... adjusting back from Russia, and everything else --

For now, though, things are quiet. He's even managed to overcome his reluctance to be anywhere away from Gregor to do a little grocery shopping for the two of them and the house in general. Still the two of them - though, had there been a message about someone else being dropped into their lodgings? He's not sure. If Gregor hasn't sent him an alarmed message about another Barrayaran turning up, then he's fine with not worrying just yet.

The key turns in the lock as he awkwardly pushes the door back open. Juggling the paper bag and trying not to drop the eggs ... ]
dendarii: (frakkingcylon 167)

[personal profile] dendarii 2016-01-23 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ Miles, meanwhile, has his thoughts entirely full of eggs and stir fry and not at all on possible interlopers. He mutters a bit under his breath as he drags the fragile bag to the kitchen -

And then drops it, all his careful effort gone to waste as the eggs crunch horribly against the floor. It's like looking into a mirror. Different, even from meeting Hermann - because they're the same height, with the same twisted spine, and nearly the same mannerisms, if Miles were in his Vorkosigan mode. Which he is not, in particular, having defaulted to Naismith for so long in the wake of Russia -

What the hell is going on? Alarm out to Gregor first as he stares at his - his clone, surely, except weren't his defects teratogenic? Then how - why - ]


My god. [ He breathes out the words, flat Betan accent snapping precisely into place. ] Who the hell are you?
dendarii: (OOPS)

[personal profile] dendarii 2016-01-23 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ Too late, is all Miles gets out before that stunner is firing, goddamnit, and it's a choice between unconsciousness and a broken bone. He chooses the latter - the blast crackling past his head as he launches himself bodily to the floor, feeling a bone crack under his weight. No time for that now. Instincts kick in immediately, and he's skirting around the breakfast bar to put a valuable wall between him and his duplicate. Not a permanent solution. Seconds, at best, to think.

Think then. What the hell should he do? What would Naismith do? That - that must be the solution. Naismith has fewer enemies, after all. Er. Well, so far.

He puts up a hand in surrender, the only part of him sticking out from behind the bar. His accent is even flatter, as Betan as he can possibly make the damn thing without becoming a caricature. ]


Hold on. You've made some grievous error, surely. Unless you are out for Admiral Naismith's blood?

[ He nearly holds his breath after, praying for the wild lie to hold. ]
Edited (ssssss) 2016-01-23 04:01 (UTC)
dendarii: (eidetics 111)

[personal profile] dendarii 2016-01-23 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ Miles' eyes widen at the accent. it's beyond bizarre, well into downright unsettling to hear a Barrayaran accent coming out of his mouth and yet not actually be his. He has a brief, wild image of there being an actual Lord Vorkosigan out there like his crazy cover story, from some alternate universe perhaps.

Is that possible? Should he consider it? He doesn't know which way to turn. So rather than trying to orient himself, he decides to move forward, in whatever direction that ends up being. What would Admiral Naismith think? He'd be concerned that this really was Lord Vorkosigan out to get him. With a stunner, to disable the body he'd come to claim. Yes. Naismith would be wary - terrified - but looking for a way to talk his way out of it. ]


I'd argue precisely the opposite. But - I've been rude.

[ He doesn't have to fake the small shiver of fear that goes through him. He manages a bow anyway, wincing as it jostles his freshly re-broken arm. ]

Admiral Miles Naismith, of the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet. [ A pause. ] If you've come to claim me, I'm sorry to say that your property is badly damaged.
dendarii: (frakkingcylon 005)

[personal profile] dendarii 2016-01-23 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
[ Fuck. This isn't working. In hindsight, he really wishes he'd chosen slightly less obvious cues - but he'd been running on the fumes of his own brilliance, spinning up anything that came to mind. He hadn't imagined it lasting this long, or having to be shoulders deep in it on a foreign world.

Right. Only way out of his is through. He takes one last desperate stab at the cover, trying to get this to stick dammit. His jaw clenches, eyes blazing with what he hopes is indignation. ]


Admiral Naismith. Do not - [ He looks the clone up and down for a moment. ] - use our progenitor's name here.

[ Because that's what this man is, right? A clone? Who else could he be? Obviously not Lord Vorkosigan. ]
dendarii: (frakkingcylon 001)

[personal profile] dendarii 2016-01-23 12:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He misinterpreted. He has never been so grateful to have misinterpreted in his whole life. Okay, good, work with that. He carefully keeps the relief off his face, instead slowly ratcheting up the horror. Miles Naismith, the clone, would be horrified if he were faced with the real Vorkosigan. He decides on the spot that his own "Lord Vorkosigan" was a bogeyman and that Naismith had never actually met the man.

He looks "Vorkosigan" up and down very intensely, curious for his own reasons. For starters, why isn't his clone tall? Healthy? This man looks just like him in height as well as everything else. He hadn't known that was possible, given how very many genetic tests he's had to prove that his genes are clean. Something else then. Something ... hideous to contemplate.

He lets that muted horror fuel his features as he takes a step back. And then another. His expression still fierce, though, as if defying this Vor lord to come after him. ]


You are - how do you not know? If you are Lord Vorkosigan, didn't you commission me?
Edited (LAST EDIT I SWEAR) 2016-01-23 12:57 (UTC)
dendarii: (frakkingcylon 105)

[personal profile] dendarii 2016-01-23 01:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The gesture makes Miles ill to watch. It's his all right, or so damned close to it that he could doubt himself for the faint differences he sees. Not only is there a clone - alternate? he hasn't ruled that out yet - but clearly they've studied him. Were prepared to take his name from him immediately, even in this place where there could surely be little reason to do so. So an instinct, well-worn, much like his own Naismith persona.

A clone intended to take his place, then. For - god knows what reason. Well. It's not as though he was using this name, right? And Gregor knows the truth. Gregor knowing the truth is the only solid thing in this whole dizzying merry-go-round. He mustn't get lost in his own lies, no matter how bewildering the man in front of him may be.

He lets his face go through a range of expressions - again, not hard, since discomfort and terror rise easily to the top of his mind - before settling on wary compliance. Feeling out this Lord Vorkosigan, his supposed progenitor. A demon feared for so long, and now turning up directly on his doorstep, in his house. ]


House Bharaputra. Life extension, except something went hideously wrong with the cloning process. I - I was never actually told you commissioned me but - well, the conclusion is obvious, isn't it? Why else?
dendarii: (solpadeine05)

[personal profile] dendarii 2016-01-23 01:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The trouble is, he doesn't know how much this clone knows. Except, perhaps, that surely an actual clone would probably know quite a bit more about the whole process than Miles himself would. His story is cobbled together from what details he had known before coming here - no specific research, after all - and wound together with enough bullshit to choke an elephant. It makes a pretty smooth tale to tell to outsiders, who know nothing about his world to begin with. Not so here.

He sucks in a breath, a flicker of uncertainty showing in his face. The fact of the matter is that he has no details to give. Better feign suspicion and ignorance. This is "Lord Vorkosigan" he's talking to, after all. Why should he tell the man a damn thing? He shifts, uncomfortably, onto his own too-short leg. ]


Why? Why do you care? I'm a threat, aren't I? Your damn Barrayaran lackeys sure thought so. I haven't had a moment's peace since I escaped.
Edited 2016-01-23 13:40 (UTC)
dendarii: (frakkingcylon 138)

[personal profile] dendarii 2016-01-23 01:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Huh. That's kind of infuriating. He feels a sudden, deep sympathy for Simon Illyan and everyone else who's been forced to put up with Miles' bullshit over the years. Though, he must admit that whoever this clone is, they're doing a bang-up job of imitating him. It's surreal. He's alarmed. He's fascinated.

What is the worst outcome of letting this play out? Giving up his own identity as Miles Vorkosigan? He'd already done that for the public eye when he took up the Naismith mantle instead - and it's not as though Gregor would be fooled. One telepathic prod would be the only thing needed. So ... let it play out. After all, one should never interrupt an enemy when they're making a mistake.

(If it's a mistake. Maybe he's the one making the mistake. God, what a mess he's made already.)

Regardless, he eyes "Vorkosigan" with the wariness he deserves after a comment like that. And says the first thing that pops into his head: ]


Oh, god. Don't tell me you wanted me for sex. Were you really that desperate?
Edited (hmmm this is better) 2016-01-23 13:55 (UTC)
dendarii: (eidetics 84)

[personal profile] dendarii 2016-01-23 02:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Ha. Score one point for him. Miles himself hadn't been fully aware of that distinction - he'd known Bharaputra had been in the life extension business, and that clones made for that purpose did exist (as he'd been taunted with a few key times previously), but not which house. Ryoval. Got it.

He suspects that he can fill in the technical details of his own story if he goads "Vorkosigan" at just the right moments. Better do that rather than get himself caught in a tangle that he can't explain his way out of. ]


Who, then? I was hardly told anything. Only that I was supposed to be a copy of this Vor lord, and that escape would mean he would be after me just as hard.
dendarii: (eidetics 42)

[personal profile] dendarii 2016-01-23 02:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It all hangs together. After all, any clone takes a certain minimum number of years to be raised to adulthood, no matter what measures may be taken to age them sooner. Miles would have been a baby, surely. There couldn't be a plot against him specifically ... right? No, not with the body that Miles - that this clone - had ended up with. A potential replacement for himself must needs be a healthy one. That would be the fastest way to dislodge his own claim to the Vorkosigan countship.

So ... something else. Another sort of replacement. A plot against this father does make more sense. He begins to pace a bit, the gesture a singularly Naismith one that he had picked up during his adventures. (Well. Not completely. But more pronounced, nowadays.) ]


I assure you, I have no such intentions. I'd much rather stay far away. As far away as possible.
Edited 2016-01-23 14:30 (UTC)
dendarii: (frakkingcylon 236)

[personal profile] dendarii 2016-01-23 02:41 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Passwords, eh. Miles knows there are no such things - all Illyan would need to do was recite something word-for-word and expect complete comprehension. He still suppresses a very real shudder at the thought of discussing this sort of thing with Simon Illyan. ]

Ha. As if you could get me that close to Simon Illyan. I'm not a complete idiot, you know. I wouldn't come back from that encounter intact.

Page 1 of 18