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Ivan must be drunker than he thought he was. He could have sworn he knew his way around Vivienne's parents' house, since she wanted to introduce him last week and showed him the place, but maybe they have a... secret... upstairs... bar? where Vivienne's room is supposed to be? And most certainly was last time he checked? He's never going to find the sweater she sent him up looking for here, anyway. Why is there a secret upstairs bar in Vivienne's parents' house?
thisvorlunatic
On reflection, he's not going to tell her that he's never particularly felt the lack.
"I do all right," he says instead, hoping this strikes the right balance of reassuring without insulting.
"I do all right," he says instead, hoping this strikes the right balance of reassuring without insulting.
"Besides me and Miles and Ivan who you already found there's, um, there's Gregor, and there's Elena sometimes - and Mama and Da - and Bothari, and Droushie, and Kou, and there's Aunt Alys. And Grandda. And horses."
"No-o, I've only been to see Grandda twice. But maybe next time. Your one of Grandda met you? I haven't convinced mine, yet."
"I want a horse and I'm going to name my horse Magic because it's going to be the best horse and I'm going to dance the horse," Nika says. "Fat Ninny is a silly name."
thisvorlunatic
"Yes," says Miles. "It is a silly name. Grandda is a little complicated about me. I guess you know that already, if you've been trying to convince him to see your brother."
"I didn't say about it when I visited but I called him up on the console and said that Miles could probably ride a horse because it's sitting and he can sit," says Nika. "Mama says he'll meet me because I can run around but I can't even do that very well and horses is sitting so it's very silly."
thisvorlunatic
"It's not exactly the running around," he says. "It's more like... he's very, very disappointed that I didn't turn out the way he wanted, so he doesn't want to have anything to do with me. But he'll get better about it later. He still gave my horse a silly name, though."
thisvorlunatic
"Well, it was Grandda, and he was giving me a horse. I wasn't going to make a fuss about the name."
"Well my horse is going to be named Magic, anyway, when I have a dancing horse, instead of borrowing Gumdrop." Nika taps her foot. "But your everybody else is the same?"
thisvorlunatic
"Yeah," he says. "Da and Mother and Grandda and Gregor and Ivan and Bothari and Elena and Kou and Drou and Aunt Alys. And Uncle Simon - do you have one of those?"
If she didn't have an Illyan, that might explain the continuing mystery of the basket...
If she didn't have an Illyan, that might explain the continuing mystery of the basket...
thisvorlunatic
All right then, she has one, he's just falling down on the job. Shame on you, Alternate Illyan.
"Sounds like just about everybody," he says. "Well, everybody I knew when I was five. I've met some more people since."
"Sounds like just about everybody," he says. "Well, everybody I knew when I was five. I've met some more people since."
thisvorlunatic
"Plenty! For example," is he going to say this? he's totally going to say this, "I had a secret little brother. So secret I didn't even know about him until a couple of years ago. Neither did my parents."
thisvorlunatic
"Nope. He's a clone," Miles explains. "A secret clone somebody made because they wanted him to sneak into the family and pretend he was me and cause all kinds of trouble. But Mark didn't like doing that, so I told him he could be a part of the family as himself instead. My six-years-delayed twin brother. He took a while to think about it, but I think he's going to come home with me very soon."
There, that's just about the maximum kid-friendliness he can inject into that story.
There, that's just about the maximum kid-friendliness he can inject into that story.