Post MoM AU, general post

[use_everything]

And then one day, it was over.

The memory of how it happened was hazy. Perhaps it was as simple as being ported out, perhaps there was a great experiment, bringing together physicists, chemists, alchemists and scientists to get something WORKING. But like the memories of that time, that other dimension, singular events come and go, like a dream, or an age past.

From the very start, however, there were changes.

Comments

[dendarii]

[ Good. He'll just keep these pastries in reach and go snag the next dish. A plate of various cured meats. ]

You're right. He wouldn't. But I would if I thought I had a chance of rescuing my brother.

[jacksonian]

[ Oh. He fidgets - ]

You buy into that crap, too, then?

[dendarii]

What's crap about it?

[jacksonian]

I'm not anybody's brother. Or son.

[ He fidgets a little harder, then reaches out and grabs at a bit of salami. ]

I'm just a clone.

[dendarii]

That's crap. You're my brother no matter how you feel about being a Vorkosigan.

[jacksonian]

Says who?

[dendarii]

Says me. Isn't that worth something?

[jacksonian]

[ A shrug. ]

Not really.

[dendarii]

That's rude.

[ He steals another pastry. ]

[jacksonian]

[ His brow furrows. ]

It's just the truth. You have Barrayaran authority, yeah, but you're not a Count yet, so you can't actually make things into law. And you definitely don't have enough personal wealth to enforce your worldview. So unless you have a lot more hidden power I don't know about, what you say won't necessarily go.

[ Ah, Jacksonians. ]

[dendarii]

[ He could say something to that last comment, but ... ]

Then it's a damn good thing my father agrees with me. And Gregor too.

[jacksonian]

Gregor? You mean - Emperor Gregor? He - has opinions about this...?

[ What a stupid thing to ask... ]

Anyway, it's, uh - That wasn't the question you asked.

[dendarii]

Of course he does. He'd have to approve.

[ And even if not immediately, then he will. Miles is sure of it. Besides, surely his father must have told him in order to carry out the operation to begin with...]

What question was that?

[jacksonian]

You know. Why doesn't it matter what you say. That's about what they say.

[dendarii]

[ Oh. Miles blinks for a moment at him. ]

I say you're my brother. That's my opinion.

[jacksonian]

I tried to kill you a few days ago.

[dendarii]

You didn't even get close. Trust me, I've had much worse.

[jacksonian]

[ His lips tighten, and he looks away. Far from being a comfort, that hurts his pride. An untrustworthy assassin, but at least you were incompetent. Sure... ]

[dendarii]

[ Did he miscalculate? It seems so. He tries to sound comforting. ]

Even if you had gotten close, I have other tricks up my sleeve. And Bothari.

[jacksonian]

[ Still not helpful. ]

That's not the point.

[dendarii]

No? What's the point, then?

[jacksonian]

A brother doesn't try to kill a brother.

[ A shrug. ]

Fucking it up - being a fuck-up - doesn't make that any better. And I'm not even - this isn't what a brother is. Do you know how I was made? Why? Where I grew up? What I am?

[dendarii]

[ A reasonable amount of all of the above, thanks to Aral's briefing and his own memories. ]

Galen commissioned you, right? To try and replace me.

[jacksonian]

[ He clenches his jaw and nods. ]

Yeah. I was supposed to kill you and take your place. And then I'd kill your father and the Emperor. I'm a Bharaputran creation, made in a lab and pulled out of a uterine replicator. I don't have a mother or a father. I'm just some tissue sample cut out of you that they forced to grow. Not even really human. That's not a brother.

[dendarii]

[ There's no surprise in his expression, though he tries to at least remember to widen his eyes a little. ]

Do you want to do that now?