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It's a new term, and the end of the break between terms most students have been enjoying. But time marches ever on, and so at 1:00 PM, just after lunch, twenty-six students all around the age of fifteen are finding seats in an obnoxiously decorated classroom. It's one of those classrooms that tries very hard to be peppy and inspirational, and only succeeds at being very out of touch, and kind of creepy.
Soon it will be time to read about things long-dead people wrote.
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...
Yvette snickers.
"Actually that was the point of coming here, aside from - galactic education. I have been systematically ripping out all of the nasty things out of my head that I do not want to be. So - you're welcome! And thank you, I'm glad it's working!"
Yvette snickers.
"Actually that was the point of coming here, aside from - galactic education. I have been systematically ripping out all of the nasty things out of my head that I do not want to be. So - you're welcome! And thank you, I'm glad it's working!"
thisvorlunatic
He smiles slightly when she laughs. (It's... a good thing that she's doing, sort of, he thinks, but something about her laughing right then just hit him wrong. It's fine, she didn't mean anything by it.)
"Sorry," she says after a pause and noticing the flash of expression on his face. "I don't mean to - demean anything there. You're welcome, really. And seriously, thank you. That - is - sort of the first time anyone's noticed that I try not to be terrible, I am happy about it."
thisvorlunatic
He smiles a little more. "Well, congratulations on your lack of terribleness. Good job. Keep it up."
thisvorlunatic
He checks the time.
"And now that we've made our best effort at getting Frank to cry, I should probably go home. See you tomorrow?"
"And now that we've made our best effort at getting Frank to cry, I should probably go home. See you tomorrow?"
Damn it he makes it look so fucking easy! She was internally conflicted about how to end this social meeting! Internally conflicted! And he just goes and bam, there, done. She is incredibly jealous.
"Yeah," she agrees, smiling.
So incredibly jealous.
"Yeah," she agrees, smiling.
So incredibly jealous.
"Bye!"
And then she goes home, flops face first into her pillow, and makes various sounds of dismay. Damn it she decided not to attempt to date the cute well spoken Vor. She agrees with her reasoning, and it still stands, but augh. He is so cute!
The next day:
There is an Yvette, on a bench, near the science museum. She has ice cream, and is working towards no longer having ice cream. She's purposefully pretty easy to spot, so she doesn't have to worry about looking very hard for her shiny new best friend instead of eating ice cream. Nom.
She'll look around anyway, but that's more recreational than searching desperately through a crowd for Miles.
And then she goes home, flops face first into her pillow, and makes various sounds of dismay. Damn it she decided not to attempt to date the cute well spoken Vor. She agrees with her reasoning, and it still stands, but augh. He is so cute!
The next day:
There is an Yvette, on a bench, near the science museum. She has ice cream, and is working towards no longer having ice cream. She's purposefully pretty easy to spot, so she doesn't have to worry about looking very hard for her shiny new best friend instead of eating ice cream. Nom.
She'll look around anyway, but that's more recreational than searching desperately through a crowd for Miles.
washed-in-blood
No one of Miles's size is easily visible at a distance in the crowded corridors and atria near a major Betan spaceport.
On the other hand, given that Miles is the son of the former Regent and grandson of a ruling Count, perhaps that looming figure approaching through the crowd has something to do with him. He's dressed in nominally civilian clothes, but carries himself very much like a soldier. The sort of man that an important person might assign as the bodyguard of their small troublesome relative.
On the other hand, given that Miles is the son of the former Regent and grandson of a ruling Count, perhaps that looming figure approaching through the crowd has something to do with him. He's dressed in nominally civilian clothes, but carries himself very much like a soldier. The sort of man that an important person might assign as the bodyguard of their small troublesome relative.
...
Hm. Miles is definitely worthy of a bodyguard, though it hadn't occurred to her before now. Let's just watch the soldier in civilian clothing and see what he does, or if there is a Miles present.
Hm. Miles is definitely worthy of a bodyguard, though it hadn't occurred to her before now. Let's just watch the soldier in civilian clothing and see what he does, or if there is a Miles present.
washed-in-blood
He looks at her, confers with a shorter and less visible person next to him, and heads in her direction.
thisvorlunatic
The shorter and less visible person proves to be Miles! When the crowd is finally thin enough between him and Yvette for him to see her, he grins and waves.
Yvette grins and waves back, with the hand that is not holding ice cream.
When he is within speaking distance, "You know I didn't realize until I got home, but 'afternoon' is not actually a very specific time," she says, amused.
When he is within speaking distance, "You know I didn't realize until I got home, but 'afternoon' is not actually a very specific time," she says, amused.
thisvorlunatic
"It worked, didn't it? Here we both are, at the museum, in the afternoon."
"This is true."
She inclines her head to the bodyguard. Hello, you exist, I respect your job and acknowledge your existence as a person. She'd talk to him, if she expected him to want to converse, but that's pretty unlikely, she thinks. A Barrayaran bodyguard that's this professional would likely want to do his job as well as possible, and this involves minimizing distractions.
"Well, ready to go?"
She inclines her head to the bodyguard. Hello, you exist, I respect your job and acknowledge your existence as a person. She'd talk to him, if she expected him to want to converse, but that's pretty unlikely, she thinks. A Barrayaran bodyguard that's this professional would likely want to do his job as well as possible, and this involves minimizing distractions.
"Well, ready to go?"
thisvorlunatic
"Yeah."
To the science museum!
The promotional materials displayed in the entryway promise exhibits every bit as exciting as Miles implied. There's one about lasers, one about magnets, one about molecular biology, one that purports to explain wormhole physics on a level a child could understand—
"Okay, I know just enough to know that's a huge oversimplification," says Miles, gesturing at the holo display advertising the wormhole exhibit, "but it's a very pretty oversimplification, I will admit."
To the science museum!
The promotional materials displayed in the entryway promise exhibits every bit as exciting as Miles implied. There's one about lasers, one about magnets, one about molecular biology, one that purports to explain wormhole physics on a level a child could understand—
"Okay, I know just enough to know that's a huge oversimplification," says Miles, gesturing at the holo display advertising the wormhole exhibit, "but it's a very pretty oversimplification, I will admit."
"Excellent."
On, to the wormhole exhibit! They have pretty oversimplifications to see!
On, to the wormhole exhibit! They have pretty oversimplifications to see!
thisvorlunatic
The oversimplifications are so oversimplified, and so pretty. Miles is delighted.
At the end of the winding path through beautiful and mildly informative displays, there is a huge unmarked holomap of the wormhole nexus, surrounded by smaller displays that identify particular planets of interest - Beta Colony, of course, and Eta Ceta (with the other planets of the Cetagandan Empire lined up underneath), and Earth and Escobar and Tau Ceti. Barrayar isn't among the chosen few, but it is present on the larger map - Miles squints up at the detailed image to see if he can spot the Dendarii Mountains.
At the end of the winding path through beautiful and mildly informative displays, there is a huge unmarked holomap of the wormhole nexus, surrounded by smaller displays that identify particular planets of interest - Beta Colony, of course, and Eta Ceta (with the other planets of the Cetagandan Empire lined up underneath), and Earth and Escobar and Tau Ceti. Barrayar isn't among the chosen few, but it is present on the larger map - Miles squints up at the detailed image to see if he can spot the Dendarii Mountains.
"Looking for something in particular?" she wonders. "Or are you just gazing at the majesty that is our home planet?"
thisvorlunatic
"Yes. Very majestic. But not majestic enough for the Betans, apparently. Oh, there they are!" A mountain range is just rotating into view on the northern continent. "The Dendarii Mountains."
"Ah-ha," says Yvette, and she doesn't add that she thinks that looking for his family's mountains is terribly cute. Now it is obviously her turn to find where she's from, though she doesn't have a mountain range of her very own.
She squints up at it and waits for the holo to turn a bit more before pointing and saying, "Well, I live near that huge blue watery part, up in the northeast. Vorpatril's district, if you're curious."
She squints up at it and waits for the holo to turn a bit more before pointing and saying, "Well, I live near that huge blue watery part, up in the northeast. Vorpatril's district, if you're curious."
thisvorlunatic
"I have a cousin who's a Vorpatril but he's nowhere near the Countship. Is it nice on the coast? I've never been."