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Finnah's just arrived at work to open the store for the morning shift; she has her apron on but hasn't put her hair up yet. She lets in the customer who always takes half an angle to determine that he wants four buttercreams, again, and then nips into the back to tend to her hair and check the overnight progress of the rock candy.
This isn't the back.
But that -
No, he's too tall to be Mial, if this is a Mial prank it's a stupidly elaborate one.
"Okay, I give up," she says, "what the hell?"
unmarred
"I'm trying to rate Mial's - Milesness," he says. "I suspected it might be higher than baseline, and I think I'm right."
unmarred
"There are some relevant things Mial has obviously got more of than Miles. Things like the weight and applicability of 'shren' versus 'mutie'. And, I don't know... there are certain kinds of, of personal intensity that I'm reading higher on him than Miles or Stalas. Maybe it won't make sense to someone who isn't an expert in Miles, I don't know."
unmarred
"It wasn't by my choice. Someone wanted Miles replaced with a substitute who could mimic him well enough to get past relevant security measures, kill a lot of his relatives, and become emperor of his planet, hopefully sparking a nasty civil war in the process. So this person created me and put me through intensive study in the subjects of Miles and murder until he could set up the switch. I didn't like him very much, and I ditched his plan as soon as I could."
middlingalong
"We... don't have one of those, do we?" says Aurin.
"Uh, probably not," says Ivan. "Impersonating Mial wouldn't be much of a political act, I'm guessing? And also you probably don't have cloning."
"Not publicly. If somebody's cooked it up privately in Oridaan we wouldn't know about it," says Aurin.
"Oridaan?"
"Uh, sort of a country, more of a confederation of really rich people in the southwest corner who back each other's right to do whatever the fuck they want as long as they own the land they do it on and aren't stealing from the others."
"...So, Magic Jackson's Whole."
"Uh, probably not," says Ivan. "Impersonating Mial wouldn't be much of a political act, I'm guessing? And also you probably don't have cloning."
"Not publicly. If somebody's cooked it up privately in Oridaan we wouldn't know about it," says Aurin.
"Oridaan?"
"Uh, sort of a country, more of a confederation of really rich people in the southwest corner who back each other's right to do whatever the fuck they want as long as they own the land they do it on and aren't stealing from the others."
"...So, Magic Jackson's Whole."
unmarred
"If you do have one of me, I bet he's from Oridaan, then," says Mark. "But no conquest of Komarr, no Solstice Massacre, no embittered David Galen with a laser-targeted grudge against the Vorkosigans - I think you're safe."
greatcomposure
The scanner estimates her age significantly lower than before, although there aren't any obvious outward signs yet.
isthisart
Linya doesn't consider this exciting enough to interrupt the conversation Koridaar is having with Avar.
thisvorlunatic
Mial is the first to be eliminated from the pegs game. He glowers at his alts and mutters nasty things under his breath.
A mere few turns afterward, Miles beats Stalas. "Ha! I win, you bastards!"
"Bastard yourself," growls Stalas. "My grandfather never tried to kill me."
"No, but your brother did," Miles retorts.
"I win 'no attempted murder by relatives'," Mial cuts in.
They set up for another game immediately.
A mere few turns afterward, Miles beats Stalas. "Ha! I win, you bastards!"
"Bastard yourself," growls Stalas. "My grandfather never tried to kill me."
"No, but your brother did," Miles retorts.
"I win 'no attempted murder by relatives'," Mial cuts in.
They set up for another game immediately.
unmarred
Mark watches this in fascination.
"I think I might have started something I won't be able to stop," he says. "Also, if anyone was wondering, any non-Miles trying to take sides at this point would be an extraordinarily bad idea."
"I think I might have started something I won't be able to stop," he says. "Also, if anyone was wondering, any non-Miles trying to take sides at this point would be an extraordinarily bad idea."
unmarred
"They've escalated to unforgivable sniping. Well, 'unforgivable' might be a little strong. Very nasty sniping, anyway. Which they allow each other by virtue of being alts, but any outsider stepping into that crossfire disturbs the balance and makes it all hurt again."
Finnah decides to stop being on Mial. She flies away and shifts midair, feet on the ground. "Weird," she says.
unmarred
"Yeah. That part might stabilize out, though. Even the other thing might, given enough time. You may have noticed that when a Miles is pushed he tends to push back."