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]

You're talking to a bird.

[jacksonian]

I'm insane.

[dendarii]

Or maybe there's something crazier at stake. I'm telling the truth.

[ He hops back a bit, if just because he needs a little space for this. In the next split second, he's sitting on the floor as a person again. ]

[jacksonian]

[ He flinches just a bit. Once Miles is a person again, he shakes his head and then covers his face with his hands. ]

I don't - understand.

[ A beat. ]

It just...feels...familiar.

[dendarii]

[ Somthing brightens in Miles' expression at that. ]

Yeah? Almost like a dream?

[jacksonian]

Yeah. Which means I'm crazy.

[dendarii]

No, it means you're close. You might even have remembered something.

[jacksonian]

No. I don't - I don't remember that. I don't remember anything.

[dendarii]

Nothing at all?

... Why Mark, then?

[jacksonian]

[ He looks down. And he shrugs. ]

I needed...some name. And they only ever called me Miles.

[dendarii]

Well, right. I understand that.

But I knew you as Mark on Earth too.

[jacksonian]

[ He draws away, swallows. He's alarmed. ]

[dendarii]

... I think it's possible to remember bits and pieces ahead of time. I occasionally had something pop back before everything did.

And you might have your powers already. Like I said, mine came in when I was eight.

[jacksonian]

I don't have any powers.

[ He swallows again. ]

I'm - I don't have - anything. I don't have any gifts.

[dendarii]

That's not true. Whether or not you have your superpowers or not. You ran financials for the whole family on Earth. Taught me a lot.

[jacksonian]

The whole family?

[ He looks up, uncertain. ]

For the...Vorkosigans?

[dendarii]

And Gregor. All the Vor on Earth at the time, really.

[jacksonian]

[ He shakes his head. ]

No one would trust me with that.

[dendarii]

Gregor did. All two million marks' worth.

[jacksonian]

[ Two million...? ]

And did I - was it...okay?

[dendarii]

Better than okay. It was fantastic. You financed a mercenary operation, your own investments, bought us a house in the country ...

[jacksonian]

But I don't...I've never been trusted with money. I've never even been allowed to have money.

[dendarii]

Would you like to be?

[jacksonian]

[ A long pause - and then, warily: ]

Yeah...

[dendarii]

Good. You can help me with mine, then. In addition to your own.