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Ivan is asleep when it happens, but the captain knocking on his door gets him up quick enough. "What? Where's the fire?" Ivan asks. This was supposed to be a quiet posting. Well, the posting on Earth was supposed to be quiet too, cultural, etcetera, but Xerxes is supposed to be downright boring. Ivan is not supposed to be awakened from his eight hours unexpectedly.
"Murder, not a fire. You're cousin to Lord Mark Vorkosigan, aren't you?" says the captain.
Ivan has to think for a second. "...Yes?"
"Security vid picked him up within radius of a murder. This is the first we knew of him being on the planet, but the locals want us to bring him in so they don't have to it themselves and risk mishandling a Vor lord. Seemed worth consulting you on him - the file on him's really something."
Ivan blinks. "You need to arrest Mark."
"Yes."
"...Sir. Uh, give me a while to try doing it myself. He's... I'm not positive I can succeed but I am pretty sure I can survive trying, and unless he's in a cooperative mood I'm very uncertain anybody else can say the same thing."
"He may have just killed a man."
"I'm aware. He likes me. He doesn't know you from a hole in the ground, or anybody else within fetching distance, sir. Give me his last location and a few hours? Please?"
"By yourself?"
"He wouldn't know anybody you could send with me from a hole in the ground."
The captain chews his lip. "None of your shenanigans, all right?"
"Sir, I'm not the shenanigans one, it's just contagious when m'co- my other cousin's around. I'll see if I can find him, if I find him I'll try to bring him back."
The captain eventually acquiesces. And that is why Ivan is tromping around downtown, debating whether or not to call "Mark? Mark?" like he's looking for a lost dog.
Ivan has to arrest Mark
middlingalong
middlingalong
"Captain's probably going to want a list of things that make you uncomfortable besides 'having a roommate who isn't me'."
unmarred
Follow, follow.
Mark is not the happiest he's ever been. Even with Ivan's presence to cheer him up.
Mark is not the happiest he's ever been. Even with Ivan's presence to cheer him up.
unmarred
"Alive. Unhappy. And yourself? How is... mm, I'm going to guess that cat hair on your sleeve arrived by means of a local girlfriend. That establishes a lower bound for how well your love life can be going."
middlingalong
"We're not using the 'girlfriend' label yet." Ivan brushes at his sleeve. "I've been all right. Usually it's quiet here, not so many used groundcar salesman murders."
unmarred
"A little of one, a little of the other. You probably won't be surprised to learn that I have trouble making friends."
middlingalong
"Well, if you don't want to interact with anybody except me while I'm around to be interacted with I don't think I can help you."
unmarred
"It would not go well if I tried to make friends with someone today. It never goes well, but it would go worse."
unmarred
"Yes. While I'm on the subject: it's a bad idea to startle me. In general, but particularly now."
middlingalong
"Mkay. Are you relatively conventional about what things're startling or do I need to - turn off the comconsole audio alerts or something?"
unmarred
"Finding things in my personal space that I didn't expect there is the heart of the problem. I'm mostly indifferent to noises."
middlingalong
"So if I need to wake you up unexpectedly I should not haul on your shoulder and throw a coffee bulb at your head?"