Lucifer vs. Vor master post

[vorbarra]

WHO: Lucifer + the whole damn cast + a bunch of unfortunate victims of circumstance.
WHERE: Various.
WHEN: Starting 5/27 and onward.
WHAT: Lucifer has Mark kidnap Gregor. Shit hits the fan.
WARNINGS: There is definitely going to be torture and violence. Will update with specifics.


Table of Contents (roughly chronological)
Initial kidnapping -- Gregor, Mark, Lucifer
So honey, I haven't told you... -- Aral, Cordelia
Secondary kidnapping -- Lucy, Mark, Kel
Hawke vs. Vorhouse -- Hawke, Miles, Aral, Tex, Jim, Spock, Kel
Miles at the hospital -- Miles, Kitty, Tex, Ed, Jim, Bucky, Ken, Kareen, Mark, Newt, Kel
Location: rubble -- Winry, Miles, Ed, Tex
Ruined date and getting voluntold -- Duv, Kasumi, Aral
Torture log -- Lucifer, Dean, Gregor
Assignment -- Lucifer, Mark
Telepathy -- Aral, Tex, Gregor
Wagon circling -- Miles, Winry, Roy, Ed, Yuri
Requests -- Aral, Jim
Rescue -- Lucifer, Miles, Kitty, Hermann, Mark
Hellhounds -- Lucifer, Roy, Ed, Hawke, Mark, Aral
Main fight -- Lucifer, Aral, Hawke
Swamp mingle -- Tex, Hawke, Ed, Winry, Roy, Jim
Post-rescue at hospital -- Gregor, Miles, Kitty, Duv, Cordelia
Following the trail of burger wrappers and tears -- Duv, Nicolas
Hospital threads part three -- Miles, Cordelia
End of the line -- Duv, Mark
Family reunion & oath swearing -- Mark, Gregor, Aral, Tej, Duv, Miles, Tex, Winry, Ed, Simon
Recovery OTA -- Aral, Miles, Duv, Cordelia, Ed, Winry

Comments

[dendarii]

[ Miles is wearing such a shit-eating grin right now. ]

She's immune, Bucky.

[overemotionally]

[Jim's already walking ahead of him by now and so doesn't catch the look.]

When we figure out where the hell we are, we'll get you to a healer.

She's a mechanic...where'd she learn how to do that?

[jacksonian]

[ Mark frowns, and looks away. Miles isn't...getting it, is he? So, rather grumpily: ]

Never mind.

[dendarii]

[ He really, really isn't. ]

You're the second son. So unless our parents chose otherwise, that would be your name. I was supposed to be Piotr Miles.

[watch_me_burn]

[She's quiet for a moment, considering this. What must it have been like for Gregor to see the woman he once thought he'd never see again show up in his life, especially after all those years? Did he even remember her face? Was it like talking to a stranger? In a sense he was a stranger to her, too, but so much about him as a child was still evident in him as an adult, like how subdued he was and how gentle.]

... In the same way, I am grateful to see him grown to be such a fine young man. As I'm sure your own parents are to have gotten to know you.

[dendarii]

I ... hope so. Yes. They seem pleased enough.

[ It's a constant fear of his, not measuring up. ]

[fullmetalbrat]

[Sharply:] Winry patched it up already. I don't need another healer.

[He falls into step behind Jim as he talks.]

She's an automail mechanic. Doing the installation surgeries is part of that job. Her clients are all her patients too.

[overemotionally]

There has to be someone. Even a maniac like that needs allies to maneuver in a place like this.

[dendarii]

One would think. But we are dealing with literal Satan here.

[vorbarra]

I was surprised myself. But he is... very conscientious not to trample me.

[ Whoops, that affection is getting more overt. ]

[vorbarra]

[ Dolefully, but not stopping his petting this time, ] I'm a poor excuse for a commanding officer. Though I am. Two years at the nav com while everyone tries to stop calling me sire does not qualify me.

But you're right-- he's not Barrayaran. That's the whole problem. If anyone truly questioned his loyalty, they'd be clamoring to have him shot. At least discharged. So I... understand.

[ He's just not happy about it. ]

[failureisntachoice]

[ She follows close behind, ready to catch him in case he slips. ]

I try though I wish I had done more to prevent this bullshit from happening.

[vorbarra]

[ Gregor, meanwhile, had been encouraged to question absolutely everything he was told; he had to rely on his instinct for being authoritative to carry off most telepathic mechanisms, that and his sense of obligation at getting it right, given that as liege-lord he sees it as his responsibility to manage his links. No matter how damn many of them he has now.

He shakes his head once like you'd shake your hand after having it caught in a door, but then recovers, reorienting himself to the physical spectrum. ]

Well done, [ he says in clear approval. His eyes flick back to Aral once, ensuring he's still there, patiently waiting like a sentinel throughout this mental foray. ] Do you have any lingering questions about anything? There's only one final matter to resolve.

[dendarii]

... As do I. Hindsight is too clear, however.

[keep_nothing]

[ And her smile keeps growing with it, full of fondness and more than a little amusement. ]

He loves you very much.

[watch_me_burn]

[His hesitation seems odd to her. Certainly, she hasn't talked much with Miles in comparison to Gregor or his parents but the liveliness he was always bursting with wasn't present and that was telling enough. Some could be attributed to his hospital stay, but the rest...]

Tell me, Vorkosigan, are your parents quite different from the time you're from? Have Lord and Lady Vorkosigan changed over time?

[dendarii]

-- No, no. Not considerably. They're older, of course, and more sure of themselves.

[ A beat. ]

Here they're more like people than parents.

[watch_me_burn]

[She allows herself a wry smile.] People become parents, and perhaps then they seem infallible to their children. Or immortal, in some cases. With war heroes such as Lord and Lady Vorkosigan, I suppose you might think they are something more than just people. And I can hardly imagine everything they have done since I've been gone from home.

[Kareen looks down at her lap, the thumb and index fingers of one hand playing idly with the edge of her long sleeves.] But understand, no one is perfect even those of us who are expected to pose as such. Mistakes are made. People die. None of us are gods, especially those of us born Vor. All we are, and all we can ever be, are just people.

[dendarii]

They ... are especially intimidating, yes. Given their history. Things they don't even remember yet.

[ He goes quiet for a moment, thinking. ]

I understand that in principle. Quite a different thing to be confronted with it in reality.

[watch_me_burn]

[Aral and Cordelia were certainly something, but even so Kareen knew they couldn't be perfect either. It must have been hard on a kid like Miles, having so much to live up to.]

Most people would rather look away from the bare truth of reality. I find it better to embrace it, whatever ugliness or beauty if might hold.

Understand, Vorkosigan, no one expects perfection of you. However, in my experience the best way to handle imperfections is to never let your mask slip. [She pulls her hand away from where it was fidgeting with her sleeve, smoothing the long skirt over her lap.] You would be surprised what a little concealer can manage.

[dendarii]

[ Miles snorts faintly at that. Not derisively, oh no. He completely sympathizes, given what "Admiral Naismith" actually works out to be. ]

I know. Person like me gets torn to shreds - or worse, pitied. You ... were you much the same, then?

[watch_me_burn]

[So he understood his place in Barrayaran society quite well. It must have been at such odds, considering he was also a Vorkosigan.]

Me, mother of the Emperor, pitied? Hardly. Now, torn to shreds... well, one would hardly know just looking at me. [Her eyelids slid shut just a brief moment, then slowly rose so she gazed back at Miles through the shade of her lashes.] I wonder, do they paint me as some tragic figure back home, or as nothing more than a weak-willed woman that allowed any man to lead her along like a political puppet?

[komarran]

[ There's only a slight sigh when Duv realizes where there headed. He can't imagine anything being useful here, but at least the porter building is within easy reach. ]

I didn't take you for a fan of the classics. Were you chasing questionable suspects at least? [ Or were they the suspects in question, given where he found Nicolas. ]

[ghemnotgem]

He's done quite well with my initial investment.

( ah, well. )

I hadn't met any of Ivan Xav's extended family before arriving here. Just his friend, Byerly.

[dendarii]

[ Miles flinches at that. Of course he's heard variations on both versions of her, depending on the context and the teller. Only his parents seemed to have a different story entirely to tell... ]

More the tragic figure. Held by Vordarian, rescued too late by my mother.