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]

[ If she presses very carefully, she can feel it give underneath her. She could spool it way from Miles, take it into herself over the link...

Miles himself has to stop closing as her own memory filters back to him. God, that - he obviously doesn't remember anything being that young, though having to go from his parents' care to the doctors is a familiar one. He'd railed against it as a child, the unfairness of it. In his darkest moments thought his parents were trying to push him away - obviously not true. ]

Not - as bad. It's background noise, I don't notice it. It's all right, Mother.

[keep_nothing]

How could that be all right ...

[ She pulls it to her now, as surely as she would have wanted to pull Miles to her breast those times, to quell his child rage—she pulls his pain to herself now too, barely conscious of it. ]

[dendarii]

[ And Miles, once again, feels the distinctive drain of his pain lessening, before fading away entirely. Given as they're on the topic he realizes what's happening midstream - tries to raise a shield, can't seem to cut off that vital part of himself. Dammit - dammit! His very real relief is tempered by rising alarm. ]

-- Not you too!

[keep_nothing]

[ She still has no idea she's doing it, assuming the pain she feels is still Miles'. She's startled by his outburst and alarm but it doesn't interrupt the drain. ]

What?

[dendarii]

[ It's all gone now - she can feel his blissful lightness too, damn it all, damn it all to hell - the relief is too strong for him to choke it back no matter how hard he tries. ]

You can't just - you've taken my bone aches away, Mother.

[keep_nothing]

Taken—?

[ So this is what her son will feel like for the rest of his life ... there's a roiling concoction of emotion with it, guilt at forcing her son to have to deal with her stubbornness, her refusal to let him die, joy at knowing he lives despite his pain— ]

[dendarii]

Mother!

[ Miles says, breaking into her train of thought. He gets it, his parents have a world of emotional baggage going on here. It's - a little heartbreaking to demand it back, all things considered. But this is his body, dammit. And he can carry his own burden. ]

Give it back. I'm fine.

[keep_nothing]

[ He does shock her out of her thoughts, at least but it somehow doesn't interrupt her drawing if his pain. ]

I couldn't even tell you how I took it in the first place. How on Earth would I give it back?

[dendarii]

Just - reverse whatever it is you did. I don't know. Gregor managed it, Father was a mess --

[keep_nothing]

Aral did this too?

[dendarii]

Yes. The exact same as you, except he took on my shoulders too, all the way up through the healers resetting them--!

[ He's so exasperated. ]

[keep_nothing]

[ He'll feel a sense of stubbornness rise from her, bleeding in from around the aches. ]

Well. Good.

[dendarii]

[ Parents. Somehow, he senses that his mother might be the more difficult of the two to convince. ]

Just give it back, or let me try to take it. Put this back to the way it should be.

[keep_nothing]

[ Wherever could he have gotten that idea from. ]

No, I think not. Not for now.

[dendarii]

[ Instinct, maybe. ]

Mother, please. This isn't your decision.

[keep_nothing]

It was my decision when I wouldn't let the soltoxin antidote take my child from me. It was my decision to let Vaagen cut you from my womb and transfer you to the replicator so late into the pregnancy, to doom you to a life of doctors and hospitals and forever brittle bones in a world that eats its sons. Let me pay for my decisions now.

[ Her voice started out hard at the beginning, using her anger at herself that had been brewing for weeks now, using it to hide the fact that it also shakes her to her core. As she continues, the fear and regret in her wins over the anger, causing her voice to tremble at the end, finally lowering it almost to a whisper. A simple plea: ]

... Please. Let me do this for you.

[dendarii]

[ Goddammit.

If he'd really wanted to prevent her from taking it, he should have slammed down his shield right away and not heard a word of this. And yet, he couldn't possibly have done that either - not to his mother, especially not his mother barely with a son at all, not having seen Miles struggle his way through twenty years of operations and pain and near misses. It may be his body - but it is their pain. All of theirs. His, his parents', even Gregor's.

His stubbornness wavers, dissolves. He can give this one poor gift back to his mother, who has given him so much in return. No argument or response, just ... a mute nod, to begin with. He's agreed, flat out. There's only one more point for him to negotiate on. ]

Then ... then let me lessen it a little. Without taking any back for myself. It's senseless just - enduring for no reason.

[keep_nothing]

[ She lets out a breath at his nod, releasing the last of her own tension. She'd surprised herself with that outburst, with her own guilt. ]

... How?

[dendarii]

[ Aha. There's the awkward bit ... But if he's too embarrassed to do this in front of his mother, then isn't he only trading physical pain for mental? Right. He has to be comfortable or it's shortchanging his deal.

Taking a deep breath (and deciding, ultimately, not to warn her), he makes sure there's at least a few inches of space between them before relaxing, allowing his power to kick in. From baseline to just under four feet in a few seconds, with an accompanying reduction of bone pain. (Not gone, but eased.) ]

[keep_nothing]

[ She gasps in surprise,jumping in her own seat when she realizes he's actually shrinking in front of her. By the time he stops, she had reached out, her hands hovering a little helplessly above him. ]

[dendarii]

[ He puts his hands out afterwards, in a surrendering sort of gesture. Apologetic over their link and in his expression. ]

Sorry, it's - hard to work up the nerve to do it. I thought I wouldn't manage it if I warned you first. It's one of my powers here.

[ More like he knew she might object. ]

[keep_nothing]

[ She sits uneasily back down on the couch, unaware that she had even started to stand. ]

What ... sort of power is it? And why does shrinking help ease the pain?

[dendarii]

[ Better. Smaller gap that way. ]

Size manipulation. I can go up or down, but - my bones are the primary factor either way. I'm too heavy for them if I'm taller, and comfortably light if smaller.

[keep_nothing]

[ She blinks a bit, piecing it together quickly. ]

So you can change your mass, just not your bone density?

[dendarii]

Something like that. I'm not sure if the math exactly works out - the powers here seem to be more magic than scientific.