Voice Testing Post

[use_everything]

Canon

A.

[You may find yourself facing large, heavy gates. Behind the bars, you can easily see the enormous, austere residence spread both tall and wide against a backdrop of a lake, stables and a small, private cemetery. The unbridled horse grazing, unhitched beside a carriage, by a liveried servant is in direct opposition to an obviously futuristic lightflier not far from it.

Even the guard that narrows to nervous attention holds both a sword and a strange, small device.]

And you are?

[The voice comes from behind.

Aral, for his part, neither looks, nor feels the part of the lord. Having taken the long way, treacherous and unmonitored paths and foothills back to the residence, he smells of sap, a chemical tinge of smoke and the exertion it took to get back. His green dress uniform had survived in all but the pressed edges, looking as if he'd intended the slight look of disarray and set jaw.

He lifts a hand, stilling the guard from comment on him, and focuses all of his attention on this newcomer.]

B.

[The Counts and Minsters poured out of the building first. The debates of the evening being traded in words so sharp that they might as well have been blows. Aral followed much more sedately, having taken a bit of time to brief his intelligence officer and leave orders for the evening.

It's by chance he stumbled across a stranger, enough out of place to inspire both caution and curiosity in equal measures.]

You seem lost.

Mask or Menace

C.

[It helped to liken the city to a space station. It had the bustle of a large hub.. the rowdy clash and wild fusion of fashions and cultures that defied any easy identification of a trend or perhaps some anthropological hint as to the people - and species... intelligent and alien, the very thought sent his mind into fits of fantasy and planning at once. It was like water, as far as he could tell. Formless, impossible to grip, but could fill the air around you and sweep one far away should he let it. There were colors and layers fitting the ghem Cetagandan... lack of modesty known to the Betans... the maliable gathering of anything adorned by a Jacksonian mindset...

And yet, nothing that fit anything else.

There was only one way to begin. Diplomatically.]

Might I ask a question?

OTHER

[Pick your poison, or let me know and I'll cater a starter to you.]

Comments

[dendarii]

[ It's refreshing to feel that; he could just about drown himself in it. ]

I can tell you good stories too. Ridiculous ones. Not just messes.

[keep_nothing]

All of them. I'd want to hear all of it. Because that's life, isn't it? No point in shielding it from me.

[dendarii]

... All right. All of it then. [ He laughs a bit. ] I just don't know where to start.

[keep_nothing]

Doesn't matter where so long as I get to hear you tell it.

[dendarii]

[ He really has to think. There's just so much ... He feels he should start somewhere relatively light. ]

Well - I'm in ImpSec now. God help both Gregor and Simon Illyan.

[keep_nothing]

[ She relaxes again, letting her hands slide from Miles' face. She rearranges herself to tuck up one leg onto the cough to better face him, wincing only a little at the ache that produces. Though she does take his hand if she can, not wanting to let go of him entirely just yet. ]

That seems sensible, at least. Do you work directly under Illyan?

[dendarii]

[ He allows it gladly, setting himself up comfortably as well. ]

Basically. They tried giving me a regular post to teach me proper subordination ... Didn't really work out. Illyan was the only one that would take me after that.

[keep_nothing]

[ She smirks a bit. It sounds like a very Betan trait to her. ]

Trouble with subordination, huh? It can't be good for a military career if no one will work with you.

[dendarii]

Poison, in fact. I primarily serve as ImpSec's liaison to the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet.

[ He's grinning rather widely at that - there's a hell of a story. ]

[keep_nothing]

[ She blinks, both at the name as well as his grin. ]

The what now?

[dendarii]

A mercenary fleet. 3000 personnel, about 13 capital ships. I ... er, accidentally created them.

[keep_nothing]

[ She's getting a better approximation of The Look now. ]

... "Accidentally".

[dendarii]

Yes. I - well - it all escalated very quickly, but it started with this jump pilot named Arde Mayhew.

[keep_nothing]

One pilot to 3000?

[ Now The Look starts to shift into a barely concealed smile. She's reminded heavily of how Aral squirms whenever she catches him out of sorts over some personal matter. ]

[dendarii]

Yes. He was drunk and refusing to come out of the ship, so I bought it. And swore him in as an armsman. Which - required me to mortgage some radioactive land back on Barrayar, so I took a very risky supply run to pay it off, which turned out to be a weapons smuggling deal, which ended with us taking over and suborning the mercenaries that caught our ship, and we used them to take over the capital ship, and then the station, and then ... eventually, the entire fleet.

[keep_nothing]

[ She listens to him going on and on ... and on ... gradually tilting her chin down and her eyes widening at the scope it grows to. Escalated, indeed. ]

That sure is a big accident, Miles.

[ Which is the exact same thing she said when he told her the first time, after getting back home and the whole treason charge was over and done with and she could finally see her boy. The tone is slightly different, and maybe the exasperation his mother the Countess had is absent from the mother in front of him, but ... it's good to know they still think the same, isn't it? ]

[dendarii]

[ Gosh. That's - deeply comforting, in fact. She surprises a relieved laugh out of him. ]

That's exactly what you said. After - after I'd gotten back to Barrayar, finally. And the whole treason thing was done with.

[keep_nothing]

Treason? What for?

[dendarii]

[ Ah. That's ... complicated. His link muddies a bit as he tries to think through it. ]

For the Dendarii. I was supposedly amassing an armor against Gregor.

[keep_nothing]

[ She's not used to this link business yet, frowning and becoming lightly confused at his thinking through it. She shakes her head lightly as if to clear it. Which was a bad idea because ow. ]

Was ... Aral still Regent at the time?

[dendarii]

[ Miles shakes his head. ]

Recently achieved majority. You'd approved my trip to Beta Colony half to get me out of the way of things, I think. But instead I made my own trouble.

[keep_nothing]

[ She's suddenly fighting a smile again, almost laughing. ]

... Oops?

[dendarii]

An excellent word for the whole ordeal.

[ Something ... clouds him, though, even as he tries to push it away. In many ways it hadn't been just a collection of hijinks at all. ]

[keep_nothing]

[ It dampens her amusement over this happening on Beta Colony of all places (Aral's going to kill me), causing her to look at him more closely. ]

... What else? What aren't you saying?

[dendarii]

[ Better get this over with. ]

Sergeant Bothari is dead.

[ Even three years away from the event, the loss is a shard of ice direct to the heart. ]