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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
"I'd've had to wait for Miles, probably. Or somebody would have coughed up the money, that'd've been a crying shame on principle and also taken longer."
unmarred
"Rabbiting. But maybe I'll see you again sometime."
He parks the groundcar directly in front of the embassy, hits the control to open the doors, gets out, and makes himself disappear.
He parks the groundcar directly in front of the embassy, hits the control to open the doors, gets out, and makes himself disappear.
middlingalong
And Ivan goes in to tell everyone that he is okay, tell them where the groundcar came from, and get them on finding the kidnappers.
unmarred
Mark watches from concealment to be sure Ivan gets in the building safely before he goes away again.
And... if he'd been watching Ivan in the first place, none of this ever would have happened.
Maybe he should just keep watching Ivan.
And... if he'd been watching Ivan in the first place, none of this ever would have happened.
Maybe he should just keep watching Ivan.
middlingalong
Ivan, once he's settled into a normal schedule following the apprehension by local law of the kidnappers, stays in the embassy during normal work hours, and in the evenings he goes out, mostly to go places with his girlfriend, her friends, and occasionally the embassy kitchen guy, who Ivan seems to think needs to get out more. When he and his girlfriend want privacy they go to her place, on the grounds that his is tiny. The girlfriend finds Ivan entertaining and likes his accent.
unmarred
Aww. He's so... Ivan.
(Mark does not watch closely when Ivan is at his girlfriend's place; he is more concerned with guarding them against outside threats.)
(Mark does not watch closely when Ivan is at his girlfriend's place; he is more concerned with guarding them against outside threats.)
middlingalong
Outside threats are few on the ground! Ivan is not kidnapped on anything like a routine basis.
But after this has been going on for a while, an aggressive panhandler gets into Ivan's girlfriend's personal space, and Ivan gets in the way, and 'aggressive panhandling' turns into 'altercation and attempted mugging'. Ivan would normally outclass the panhandler-cum-mugger but his girlfriend keeps incompetently getting in the way, which constrains Ivan a lot more than it does the mugger.
But after this has been going on for a while, an aggressive panhandler gets into Ivan's girlfriend's personal space, and Ivan gets in the way, and 'aggressive panhandling' turns into 'altercation and attempted mugging'. Ivan would normally outclass the panhandler-cum-mugger but his girlfriend keeps incompetently getting in the way, which constrains Ivan a lot more than it does the mugger.
unmarred
Until a carefully aimed stunner bolt catches the mugger in the back of the head. Pretty damn carefully aimed; by rights it ought to be nearly impossible to stun exactly one of three close combatants without either of the other two catching any stunner nimbus, and yet.
middlingalong
"What the -"
Ivan catches the falling mugger and lets him down to the ground gently.
"What was that?" exclaims Ivan's girlfriend.
"...Not sure. Have a guess, though. ...Mark?"
Ivan catches the falling mugger and lets him down to the ground gently.
"What was that?" exclaims Ivan's girlfriend.
"...Not sure. Have a guess, though. ...Mark?"
unmarred
Mark appears from close to the stunner bolt's point of origin. He is no longer visibly armed.
"Hello, Ivan."
unmarred
"You're welcome. Yes. Sorry. Well, not entirely sorry. It seems to have worked for the intended purpose."
middlingalong
"I could've taken him."
"Ivan?" says Ivan's girlfriend uncertainly.
"Right. Yes. Emily, this is m'cousin Mark, Mark, this is Emily, but I'm sure you know that because you've been stalking me."
"Ivan?" says Ivan's girlfriend uncertainly.
"Right. Yes. Emily, this is m'cousin Mark, Mark, this is Emily, but I'm sure you know that because you've been stalking me."
unmarred
"Hello, Emily." He glances at Ivan again and says, "I know you could have taken him, but you weren't. Someone might have gotten hurt."
middlingalong
"For God's sake, Mark, doesn't that seem a little like, one, an overreaction, two, something you might want to ask me about first?"
unmarred
"...well, I can see your point now that you bring that up... I don't agree that it's an overreaction, though. It seems perfectly proportionate to me."
middlingalong
"If I were in ongoing severe danger of some kind the embassy would've assigned me a bodyguard. They didn't. Everybody who kidnapped me was caught, they didn't have some larger and extremely popular agenda."
unmarred
"I know. But - it's not like I have anything better to do with my time. And if I'd been guarding you in the first place..." He shrugs. "So."
middlingalong
"Okay, I'm going to walk Emily home, and then I assume you've been unpersuaded that you shouldn't stalk me, so when she is home I will speak your name three times and you'll appear out of nowhere like some kind of deranged ghost and we'll talk, how's that?"