Oh my love

[use_everything]

WHO: Any!
WHERE: De Chima, Heropa
WHEN: February
WHAT: Catch all log!
WARNINGS: None yet, but Vorkosigans...

((OOC: February catch all! A few specifically focused tags but otherwise ALL OPEN. Feel free to pp at YourOverlord))

Comments

[Aunt Cass and Lucky Cat Cafe Staff]

[use_everything]

[It's just before opening on an early February morning that a middle aged man knocks firmly on the service door to the Lucky Cat Cafe. He's a tall, stocky sort of man, dressed in a pressed, green military uniform. He looks distinctly out of place, and carrying paperwork for a government job assignment.

He looks mildly, and openly bewildered for a moment when the door is opened for him. He draws himself up.]

Vorkosigan, reporting for ... this assignment.

[enucleation]

[ kaneki always comes in early because he wakes up at inhuman hours to train, then have a quick shower, and after head to work. He is already inside, dressed in his uniform, and placing the chairs and tables in the right places with ease.

He hears the knock, and once he opens the door he... well, expects anything but a military guy claiming he is there for an assignment. ]

... do you mean working here?

[use_everything]

That... does seem to be the case.

Unless this establishment isn't the same.

[He offers his employment forms. The address and business name match.]

[lasthugs]

[Cass was already working long before Aral came in, but she had stepped out and only returns shortly after poor Kaneki had to greet the newcomer (sorry, Ken), loaded with bags full of washed tupperware, the morning paper (plus extra copies to set up in the store), a new delivery of tea for the store she had to go pick up, and probably some sort of paper telling her that she was getting a new employee. Thanks, government.

So her surprise is brief when she catches sight of the awkward looking man standing in the middle of the store as she comes out of the kitchen to set down the papers, blinking once, then a second time.]

... Oh! You must be Aral!

[use_everything]

Just so.

[There's a moment of indecision and he steps forward, looking to see if there's anywhere he can help with that small mountain of bags.]

You must be Miss Cass.

[Lucky Cat Cafe, Heropa]

[use_everything]

[Amazingly, Admiral Lord Aral Vorkosigan, Lord Regent of Barrayar had not quit after a few days of trying his hand at a civilian job. Had anyone in the household even been inclined to bet against it, they would have probably made a killing.

Perhaps it had been that air of expectation of failure. There is certainly nothing that gets Barrayaran's stubbornness keyed up to 20 faster. Perhaps it had been the glittering delight in Cordelia's eyes when they'd talked about it or her scalpel sharp analysis of why he balked at it, initially. Or maybe he was honestly starting to enjoy it. There was something soothing about the precise, repetitious work, and even the loudest, most hurried customer certainly didn't put him off. And frankly, there was an enormous amount of unguarded conversation.

No wonder ImpSec agents often kept service roles.

He doesn't call next, merely looks up and gestures to the waiting customer in line with a quick, perfunctory gesture.]

Your order?

[Even now he has a tone of dry humor.]

[failureisntachoice]

[ Since Maya had shown her the cafe and she met the owner, Cass, Tex has made an effort to visit. It's not like buying a cup of coffee every now and then would kill her and it'd be supporting a friend, something she seemed to have a lot more of here than she did back home.

When she enters, her helmet is tucked beneath her arm, but otherwise is wearing normal, civilian clothes. She had learned long ago that going everywhere in her armor drew too much attention and even the helmet is more for convenience and a lack of desire to buy an actual one for her motorcycle.

The man servicing the counter is new and looks very, very out of place. She raises a brow as she subtly looks him over, but it doesn't stop her from giving her order. ] Small coffee, light on the creamer.

[use_everything]

[The quick glance he gives her quickly turns into an evaluating one as he sets down the cup and gathers the carafe. The helmet looks quite similar to a commander's helm and his attention noticeably lingers there.]

Enlisted?

[It could be innocuous enough. Many places did offer a discount. Though at this range, his name tag is quite legible.]

[rathercommon]

[ Well, this is...

Awkward.

Kitty stares at the barista with her mouth open a long moment. And then a little bit of color comes into her cheeks, enough to turn her face quite red. And then she clears her throat. ]

Erm...Sure. A...soy milk mocha latte with an extra shot of espresso and a shot of mint syrup. Please. Lord Vorkosigan.

[use_everything]

[She's not alone. There's no color to his face, but there's the way he seems to freeze, stiffness starting at the shoulders and spreading from there.

This HAD been close to where they'd stopped for coffee. Or was it the same shop. Of course.]

That... is different than the last time.

[Still, he manages a nod, breaking that freeze, composure pulled back around him.]

Of course, Miss Jones.

+ Cordelia

[failureisntachoice]

[ Tex hasn't seen Aral since that unfortunate incident with Miles, but if Cordelia's reaction is any indication, she has nothing to worry about. The worst he can do is start some altercation and anyone willing to do that in Cass' business deserved their ass beat.

It's worth the risk with the promise of free coffee and food. She has Cordelia in tow as she parks outside the cafe and makes her way inside.

She side-eyes the other woman with a small smirk and murmurs loudly, ] You said you knew a guy. Is he here?

[keep_nothing]

[ She looks around for a moment, trying to see behind the counters. If the size of the grin that suddenly spreads on her face is any indication, this is going to be hilarious. ]

He is. Right over there, [ She catches Aral's eye with a small hand-wave when he's looking in their general direction. ]

[De Chima 007]

[use_everything]

[After all of the noise and commotion of those first tumultuous days, the easiest place after work (Aral continues to refer to it as his assignment), was the small library afforded by the townhouse. Each day, the piles of books, newspapers and disks began to accumulate. There were notes in Aral's cramped handwriting, detailing everything from the modern to ancient history of this world, tabs and notations sticking out of each.

Tonight isn't any different, the light from the comm mixes a bit unflatteringly with the light of the holo display of one of the datacubes he'd brought with him.]

Come in.

[vorbarra]

[ Gregor had knocked lightly on the open door, then waited for permission to enter, still silently reveling just a little in the turnabout of that. It would probably take him ages to get over it. The link with Aral is firmly closed, but he's more than aware that he has a duty to discharge with that; at the very least he needs to ask him about his preferences regarding it, and teach him something about shielding.

He gets diverted immediately by the gleam of that holo display. ]

You came with datacubes? What's on them?

[ Instantly, he wonders if they can sell these to Tony Stark, too... Though he'd already seemed to have holo displays. Would he be interested? ]

[use_everything]

[He reaches - out of habit - to shut it down. It's left on.]

On this, nothing. I was looking to see if I could get the comm to interface. The other has the plans for the rebuild of the Imperial Residence. I was supposed to give my approval... yesterday.

[dendarii]

[ Assignment, god. Miles had stopped by the café out of sheer curiosity - and walked straight back out, trying not to die of laughter. He knows that café. Of course his father would get assigned there, of all places ... He wonders if he ought to offer him a place in the proto-Dendarii instead.

Not tonight. It hasn't been long since Aral's arrival, definitely before Miles' second encounter with Lucifer. There are things the two of them need to discuss without Gregor there, a much as Miles desperately trusts his Emperor. He quietly shutters the link - All is well, I just want to talk with Da - and steps in.

That ... is a lot of paper. And research. A stab of inadequacy over their link at that as Miles mentally compares what he's done with the month he's had here. (He can blame at least two weeks of that on Russia and the aftermath, though.) ]

... You really don't stop, do you.

[use_everything]

[He looks up as Miles enters, expression turning warm a moment, and then chased with a slight frown at the note of inadequacy. He closed the data cube and the comm, and gestured to the other chair in the room.]

Slowing down has always struck me as a bit... permanent.

[Lost]

[use_everything]

[The military uniform he'd been ported in with was about as conspicuous in this political climate as his guttural, near Russian accent. For lack of being able to completely discard the latter, the former would have to do. The answer was a tailor, clearly.

But as most American infrastructure planning goes, the road he's looking for terminated some miles west and restarted here, as a similar, but not quite the same road. Troubling, mostly, for its acute lack of not being anywhere near where he wants to be.

It unfortunately, was one of those areas that completely baffled the mapping devices on the comm units. Without much other option, he flags a passerby.]

Excuse me.

Hello.

[illuminescent]

[De Chima is not precisely an easy city to map out anyway. Perhaps he doesn't recognize her at first because he catches her from the back, and not at all from the front, and because she's going to her job and she dresses in skirts to go to this one (as opposed to scrubs for the other one) or perhaps he's just so lost that he doesn't think to look at her properly, but she turns and sees him and there's a smile there.

She seems, at least, unbothered.]

I hope you have not been seeking my care again, my lord Admiral's father.

[She didn't get his name.]

Gosh! GOOD!

[use_everything]

[The surprise on his face warms to a welcome.]

Admiral Count Aral Vorkosigan, my Lady. [He supplies, politely, sketching a simple bow.]

Fortunately, everyone is well. This is chance.

please lord let this be the only log thread I do all month

[bestsword]

[It's morning. He made that horrible decision to start a running routine in the mornings before Felix got ported out and now he can't fucking stop waking up at the ass crack of dawn, so he may as well do something with it.

But he'll gladly take any excuse to stop once he's started so he gets flagged down and jogs to a stop.]

Yeah? What's up?

This can only be amazing.

[use_everything]

[He looks up at the young man, a brief smile here and gone as acknowledgement of this favor.

He gives an address, simply.]

I don't suppose you've happened past it.

Cordelia - 2/14

[use_everything]

[There was, in Aral Vorkosigan's opinion, strictly two reasons for rituals. One was governance. The other was to serve as an excuse.

So, when the network had it's particular PSA about Valentines Day, he had no problem, after a little research, requisitioning it for his own uses. The first clues were hardly subtle. Aral was often up earlier, morning exercises done and day started at unreasonable hours.

So Cordelia finds a simple, single red Earth rose on her blankets when she awakens. (They are ridiculously cheaper than any pricing he'd ever dealt with.) Downstairs, she'll find her plate at the table a simple affair, four red strawberries, slices of melon... with the lack of vat protein here, he could at least provide fruits that were rare for both of their worlds.]

[keep_nothing]

[ Even after being on Barrayar for almost two years—god, has it really been that long?—she's still unused to the seemingly wanton use of vegetation to convey a message, even if said vegetation was aesthetically pleasing. She still remembers that conversation, or rather, lecture from Alys about what it meant when she overheard some of the guards talking about giving their prospective lovers a bouquet of flowers. To be fair, she did apologize to the poor guard later for her behavior.

As such, she's not quite sure what the rose (she thinks that's what they're called, there had certainly been enough advertising around of them lately) she finds next to her means. It seems a shame that it's not in some sort of hydroponic container so she sets out to find something. She heads downstairs with the stem immersed in water collected from the glass she found in a bathroom.

The fruit is a pleasant surprise though, and she digs in, pleased. ]

[use_everything]

[Hearing the sound from the kitchen, Aral wanders back out of the library, leaning in the doorframe a moment to gauge how well phase one of the battle plans have gone.]

I'd considered oatmeal. I couldn't make myself do it.