On the news that he's being apped to Luceti at his canon point. Canon is the Vorkosigan Saga.

[vor]

...I'm not smiling.

[He's totally smiling.  It's just hard to tell with Gregor.]

Comments

[herotypical]

...Oh. Bliss. Another narrates-everything-they're-not-doing type.

[vor]

Mm. You didn't hear the first part of the conversation.

[herotypical]

Oh. [ her tone remains dry. ] Even blissier. The has-conversations-with-voices-in-his-head type.

[vor]

[That tiniest hint of a smile? Gone.]

Wrong Vorbarra. [He glances up at the sky as if indicating his mun.]

[herotypical]

Wrong Yogi Berra what now?

[vor]

Interesting. [He sounds extremely mild, but not at all intimidated.] So I talk to voices that aren't there...and you feel compelled to prove yourself wittier than everyone else.

[herotypical]

[ normally? he would be right. he's just not right this time. that was a legit classic buffy-doesn't-understand-your-words-and-or-language flub. generally, it reveals her ignorance to the world.

but in this case? damn, is she ever gonna ride this wave: ] Compelled? To prove it? Nah. I just already know it.

[vor]

[A faint smile. Friendly, not condescending.]

If you did, you wouldn't have to prove it.

[herotypical]

Aha! [ she concedes to his smile with a slight half-smirk of her own. if her pride were at all tender, she would argue more forcefully.

as it is? she's in it for the game. ] Maybe you're mistaking proving it with simply sharing my vast wealth of wit with the world at large.

[vor]

Except you were impatient about it. Impatient enough to jump to a conclusion about my sanity.

[Which he questions often enough anyway.]

[herotypical]

If it's any consolation? I'm sorta like the Olympic gold medalist when it comes to jumping to conclusions.

Oh damn. Another one of my characters thinks Buffy's cute.

[vor]

[That almost-smile again.]

I like your self-awareness.

she needs to stop accidentally insulting people. clearly.

[herotypical]

I'm aware that my self is likable. Or so I hear.

[ a beat. ] You're gonna be joining us? [ she hikes a thumb back at her red wings. ]

[stillplaying]

[Of course he's not. Because anyone smiling over being sent to a game is either a Career or insane.]

It's not news anyone should smile over.

[vor]

[Smile fades.] No, I guess not.

[stillplaying]

You realize what's happening, right? What it means, where you're going?

[vor]

Cetagandans? It's crossed my mind.

[stillplaying]

No. Luceti.

[vor]

Of course. I mean to say it sounds like Cetagandan work, whether the Malnosso realize that's who they're working for or not.

[Very gently spoken, even warmly.]

[stillplaying]

[She shakes her head a little. The word Cetagandan is foreign to her. It had sounded more like a place than... a kind of people, maybe?]

I don't know. I just know that they're dangerous. Not to be trusted.

[vor]

That's the case everywhere, isn't it?

[He didn't mean it to be an actual question. He actually seems somewhat hesitant about the idea all of a sudden. He's been guarded so securely all his life he's started to think it's no wonder Mad Emperor Yuri was paranoid, if this is the way Barrayar treats all its Emperors.]

[stillplaying]

[It's true. Even her forest sanctuary had it's wild dogs and bears. But there's a difference between the danger you know and the danger you cannot expect.]

Some places more than others.

[vor]

What makes this one more than others?

[stillplaying]

The experiments.

[And even if she has yet to experience one yet, they sound too much like something the Gamemakers would do to be happy with the idea at all.]

[vor]

[A beat.]

Could you be specific?