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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
"I might not be the right size unicorn," says Little Miles. "But if I am then yeah. Just not if you'd squash me. I want to not be a squashed unicorn."
"A noble aspiration," says Grownup Miles.
"I don't know what that means but shut up," says Little Miles.
"A noble aspiration," says Grownup Miles.
"I don't know what that means but shut up," says Little Miles.
"I wouldn't squash you. You would have to be about as big as Gumdrop," says Nika. "And then I could dance you and we could win all the horse dancing contests."
thisvorlunatic
"That doesn't seem fair though," ponders Little Miles. "If I'm a person learning to horse dance then you're not really doing anything except not falling off of me. And they might not let unicorns in the contests."
"They probably wouldn't," says Grownup Miles.
"They probably wouldn't," says Grownup Miles.
"Oh," says Nika, stymied by this quandary. "Well, we'll find lots more unicorns and have unicorn dancing contests then and win those!"
isthisart
"Yeah. That's what we'll do."
And she goes back to magic textbooks.
"Are all of your grownups besides Bothari somewhere you can't go?" wonders Linya. "We're sending you home with so much stuff..."
"They're at a," handwave, "thing. So's Gregor. There's servants? I guess?"
"Bothari satisfies the 'is an adult' criterion by himself; what I was hoping was that we could send you to fetch one of the people you're going to be explaining this to..."
Nika shrugs. "You could write them letters, too."
"I think I will. Here, we'll switch seats and Isabella will tell you the words you haven't learned yet while I do that."
There is reshuffling.
And she goes back to magic textbooks.
"Are all of your grownups besides Bothari somewhere you can't go?" wonders Linya. "We're sending you home with so much stuff..."
"They're at a," handwave, "thing. So's Gregor. There's servants? I guess?"
"Bothari satisfies the 'is an adult' criterion by himself; what I was hoping was that we could send you to fetch one of the people you're going to be explaining this to..."
Nika shrugs. "You could write them letters, too."
"I think I will. Here, we'll switch seats and Isabella will tell you the words you haven't learned yet while I do that."
There is reshuffling.
isthisart
"A summary of the... payload. Notes on myself and Isabella for Nika's later curiosity and that of anyone she cares to show. Isabella might want to add a bit on expected developmental timeline in case that's useful."
thisvorlunatic
"I don't feel the need to give my parents tips on parenting me," muses Grownup Miles.
"They do okay?" says Little Miles.
"Yeah."
"Well, they're Da and Mama, so that makes sense," says Little Miles.
"Yeah."
"They do okay?" says Little Miles.
"Yeah."
"Well, they're Da and Mama, so that makes sense," says Little Miles.
"Yeah."
isthisart
"My guess is that they won't need most of it - they are sensible people - but it might be nice to have written down."
isthisart
"And - Nika, did your mama and da name you or was that in your basket?"
"They did it."
"My name and Isabella's both have the sound 'bel' in them, and 'mir' in our second names. If you wanted to find your dragon birth parents that might be a hint that Simon couldn't have found on his own, if you used to have a different name with that sound."
"Huh. Okay. I like my name now just fine though."
"It's pretty."
"They did it."
"My name and Isabella's both have the sound 'bel' in them, and 'mir' in our second names. If you wanted to find your dragon birth parents that might be a hint that Simon couldn't have found on his own, if you used to have a different name with that sound."
"Huh. Okay. I like my name now just fine though."
"It's pretty."
middlingalong
Ivans have become tired of whirligig.
"Read me a story," Tiny Ivan says to his alt.
"Sure. What story do you want?"
"I dunno. Something good."
Ivan goes to the bar and borrows a copy of some adventure story he liked when he was seven, which tiny Ivan will not have read yet. He reads tiny Ivan the adventure story.
"Read me a story," Tiny Ivan says to his alt.
"Sure. What story do you want?"
"I dunno. Something good."
Ivan goes to the bar and borrows a copy of some adventure story he liked when he was seven, which tiny Ivan will not have read yet. He reads tiny Ivan the adventure story.
isthisart
Cetagandan Grownup Nika checks. "About halfway done," she reports. "It would probably be safe to take you out of the brace now, although I suspect you'd immediately try to run around at top speed, and while you probably wouldn't break anything if you walked you might still do if you slammed into a wall."
thisvorlunatic
"I don't even know how to run around," says Little Miles.
"That's not better," Grownup Miles points out. "That is in fact arguably worse."
"That's not better," Grownup Miles points out. "That is in fact arguably worse."
thisvorlunatic
"Yeah!" says Little Miles. "Ha, I win again, Grownup Me."
"Yes," sighs grownup him. "Yes you do."
"Ha."
"Yes," sighs grownup him. "Yes you do."
"Ha."
isthisart
Linya plunks a plate of Bar-recommended food in front of Little Miles.
When the food is gone, and his bones are done, and his sister has been informed by Bothari that she must wait to teach him to walk until it's clear that the results will persist beyond the magic bar, and various last-minute purchases for the little alts have been made and packed up for transportation, and Linya and Isabella have both picked up and hugged their little one and enclosed letters to her various grownups, and Tiny Ivan has had his hair ruffled and been advised against trying aged fish and in favor of being nice to Koudelka girls -
the small alts, and Bothari, and boxes upon boxes of stuff, go home.
When the food is gone, and his bones are done, and his sister has been informed by Bothari that she must wait to teach him to walk until it's clear that the results will persist beyond the magic bar, and various last-minute purchases for the little alts have been made and packed up for transportation, and Linya and Isabella have both picked up and hugged their little one and enclosed letters to her various grownups, and Tiny Ivan has had his hair ruffled and been advised against trying aged fish and in favor of being nice to Koudelka girls -
the small alts, and Bothari, and boxes upon boxes of stuff, go home.
dream-me-up
A little while later - long enough for Miles to have settled into reading his copy of Linya's magic books - the upstairs contingent comes back down.
Lalita is carrying Mark.
Lalita is carrying Mark.
isthisart
"Either you were up there a very long time, or your time dilation was behaving uncooperatively."