FANPORT OVERFLOW LOG

[maskormods]

WHO: ImPorts!
WHERE: Heropa's Convention Centre.
WHEN: April 14-16, from 9 AM - 12 AM every day.
WHAT: Registration is in motion alongside FanPort, the most popular imPort convention around! Come on in and see imPort-led panels, the artist's alley, cosplayers, and more! If you have any questions, or wish to amend the way we have written up your characters' panels, let us know here! The original log can be found HERE.
WARNINGS: None anticipated; please let us know if this should be changed.

Comments

[vorbarra]

You have sticky explosives?

[protects_the_small]

Blaze balm is the only one I know of...It's a controlled substance of course.

[vorbarra]

Interesting.

[ They seem to have run the course of this conversation, so after a moment's pause, he says, ] Have you been enjoying the convention?

[protects_the_small]

[Kel grimaces at the crowds around her]

It's like.... Nothing back home... Except perhaps the religious festivals, and I'm not sure I would like that comparison.

[vorbarra]

Not a fan? I can't say I am either. Though it's been productive; we've had some results from our panel.

[protects_the_small]

Recruiting more mercenaries, are you?

[She's grinning, it's probably a Joke]

[vorbarra]

One, and a new client. [ Dryly, accepting the ribbing but sending it back, ] Though we still aren't mercenaries.

... Actually, I can tell you the truth of that now that our covers have been blown.

[protects_the_small]

Miles told me some of it. It sounds more like, hmm, you use the word differently than I do.

[vorbarra]

I'm not so sure of that, actually. Did he explain that they're sworn to my service?

[protects_the_small]

Yes, that did get rather confusing.

[vorbarra]

Essentially, almost all of them are unaware of this, but since Miles is sworn to me and to Barrayar, he relinquished them to be part of the Emperor's own forces. So they're under Our command, making them not very mercenary at all.

[protects_the_small]

But you needn't have such subterfuge here. [Said as a statement, but curls as a question]

[vorbarra]

Not in that respect, no. We're truly not much more than a business enterprise. [ With some ruefulness, ] I'd prefer to act on behalf of the Imperium as little as possible while I'm here.

[protects_the_small]

I hadn't noticed.

[What with the insisting on incorrect terms of address]

You don't seem to be too worried about it in general.

[vorbarra]

Worried about what? The Imperium?

[protects_the_small]

Yes, you aren't worried about it falling apart in your absence?

[She's heard that no time passes once or twice, but she isn't altogether convinced]

[vorbarra]

[ Gregor is much more convinced, given the variety of time points his castmates are from. ]

Oh-- no. Haven't you heard that time doesn't pass at home for us? My regent is here from when I was a five year old, and I don't recall him ever disappearing, so it must be true.

[protects_the_small]

[Kel closes her eyes and breathes out slowly.]

It seemed too neat. I wasn't sure I believed it.

[The relief is palpable. She couldn't ask Peachblossom, naturally, and the thought that her people couldn't get attacked (again) without her there (again) took away a weight she'd forgot she was carrying.]

[vorbarra]

Was that worrying you? You haven't abandoned any of your duties by being here, I promise.

[protects_the_small]

A bit. I'd hate to lose my first posting by mysteriously deserting without meaning to.

[That and she already used up her 'get out of treason free' card]

[vorbarra]

[ She might be surprised to learn that Gregor's had to lean on the technicality that the Emperor can't commit treason before. ]

God, you aren't kidding. The hardest part of my cover as Vorthys was that I had to pretend to be a deserter. I did leave, but I went back of my own volition. [ Which he has been trying to convince himself is enough to make up for said departure. But Kitty's words about not expecting himself to be inhuman dug deep and found a home somewhere... How else could he be expected to react to news like that? ]

[protects_the_small]

[Kel is quiet for a while, it seems like an off-hand remark and probably does not require a confession in return, and yet-

Somehow, she very much trusts Gregor. And this is, perhaps, something he should know if they are to be friends]

[Quietly:] I did. Desert once. Or something enough like it that it shouldn't have made a difference.

[vorbarra]

[ Gregor goes still and reserved. Desertion is tantamount to treason, absolutely as serious a crime as one might expect on Barrayar. In some circumstances that's still punished by exposure in the public square, if one is Vor.

But he knows Kel well enough by now to suspect there is more behind this story, just as there is more behind his.

Just as quietly, ] But like me, you went back. You must have.

[protects_the_small]

[Flatly:]
There was an attack while I was delivering messages to my commanding officer. They slaughtered my soldiers and took my people to be sold as slaves and their children to have their souls enslaved for the Scanrans' killing devices.

My lord ordered me back to his fort after I'd finished burying the dead.

[She does not blame Lord Wyldon, of course, not after what Owen had told her. But he had still been wrong.]

I did go back, but not until I had them all. I couldn't have abandoned them at the border.

[vorbarra]

[ He lets out a breath in sympathy. He can see both sides of this, but... ]

No Barrayaran would expect you to obey an order like that, if it helps. Anyone who'd abandon their sworn duty to their people would be brought up on charges much worse than insubordination.