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

[unwiseheart]

Oh. [ That's... well, he can empathize with that, at least. ] Uh. We do call it the Garou Nation, but we're more like a bunch of different factions across the world than all in one country.

[use_everything]

Both.

[vorbarra]

I'd much rather go to sleep for about three days than do any digging.

[komarran]

Transient then? Since it doesn't sound like you have a stake on any land.

[keep_nothing]

[ She huffs a breath through her nose, her lips curving upward. ] In your case, I think that would be well-earned.

[ In a bit more somber tone, ] ... And you can always tell me to go away, you know.

[vorbarra]

[ He huffs out a breath and scrubs at his face again before forcing himself to drop his hand. ]

I don't want you to go away, I just want... To pretend none of this had happened. It shouldn't have happened. I feel very childish, but this isn't something anyone ever told me I might have to endure.

[ Gregor is undeniably wrapped in cotton wool as much as ImpSec can get him to stand still for it. Even Metzov and Cavilo hadn't dared violence toward his person. And he's too important a political prisoner for anyone else to treat that way, either, even if he were captured; but Lucifer had no such concerns. Gregor was just a man, there. Emphatically... as human and able to be tortured as anyone else, with no protection at all... ]

[jacksonian]

[ A beat. ]

An opportunity. Unless it...was brutal enough.

[ He doesn't look thrilled about that possibility though. ]

[use_everything]

Possible, but not my preference or my first impulse. We'll have enough diplomatic issues with harboring and hiding anyone rescued.

[He didn't really even think of that as not an option of it. The idea that someone else's son or daughter was there...]

And it will be tracked... Something that messy will make it harder to sway the other Barons.

That part can be handled with good negotiation. What you need to do is to come up with how to make it stick.

[jacksonian]

[ Oh. How to make it stick... ]

If I were rich enough, I could...buy out the business and stop it that way... [ But - ] But there would still be a demand. Someone else would start it up.

[use_everything]

That's the side of it I'm blind to. [He rubs at his chin, considering. Increasing informants into Jackson's Whole isn't a bad idea anyway...]

Think about it. Get me a long term plan, and the rest can happen.

[jacksonian]

[ A hesitation. This is all deviating from the main point, which is: ]

So you don't dislike the idea of me doing that. Even though it could come back to you and to Barrayar.

[use_everything]

[The answer is simple, level. Aral meets Mark's eyes evenly.]

I don't.

[jacksonian]

[ Another little hesitation. ]

I, uh...That's the only real reason that I can...think of. To stay away from all of you.

[use_everything]

Then...

[How is this even done? Normally it would be the Count receiving, but by Mark's age Piotr would be gone (that was still boggling, patently unreal, for as much as his thoughts towards his father were still bitter and sour)]

When you are ready... It doesn't have to be now. I'll take your oath. It will not be like Gregor's. There's nothing binding you but your word and your honor, but they both have high value.

[ghemnotgem]

So you're the Barrayaran version of a grubber. ( tej declares, confident in this new additional detail to her limited view of barrayar. ) Normally fending for oneself where I come from involves a lot more backstabbing instead of chopping.

[jacksonian]

[ High value? Your word and your honor have high value... Do they? He's broken his word before, compromised his honor. Betrayed all of them in a vile way, a cruel way. Out of cowardice and fear. It's good that Gregor bound him in an oath he couldn't break. This is...more frightening. The thought that there is nothing to keep him to his word except for his own force of will. Can he do that? Is he equal to that? ]

If I don't do it now...will that delay me becoming - [ This sounds so stupid, he sounds so stupid - ] Part of the family?

[use_everything]

Not anymore likely than swearing would make everything smooth and perfect immediately. It is an important aspect of it to make it true in the eyes of Barrayar and is a code of conduct. Rules that make things work.

[There's a pause here, and an odd expression crosses into something... lighter than where it had been.]

Frankly, Cordelia and Miles have already called family and are ready to declare war on any world that doesn't acknowledge it.

[komarran]

A grubber? We prefer the term prole. [ Somehow, it sounds far less offensive. ] Barrayar works far differently, it's up to liege-lords to ensure those pledged to them are protected.

[jacksonian]

Is it some Betan thing?

[ That's intended to be something of a peace-offering, or an excuse-offering - it's all right if you don't feel the same way; you don't have that Betan sentimentality. But it comes out a little confused, a little dazed, half a request for information. He doesn't entirely know what he is - he's not Barrayaran, exactly, and not Komarran, and not exactly Jacksonian - but he's definitely not Betan. And the Countess' and Miles' enthusiasm towards him - their instant forgiveness and acceptance - it must be cultural, right? ]

[keep_nothing]

... You're too drugged for me to tell if that's an agreement or a disbelieving question.

[keep_nothing]

There's nothing childish about a natural reaction to a traumatic experience, love. And while pretending won't help you in the long run, there's no benefit to poking at and digging into an open wound either. You need time to heal first, literally and figuratively.

[use_everything]

[He mulls over that a moment. If just to feel at those lines and compare them to others he's met and had dealings with.]

No. It is very much the quality of their character. Being Betan merely gives them means to show it.

[use_everything]

More of the latter. I think it may be best simply.. left.

[keep_nothing]

[ She looks like she might argue that, but she hesitates a little too long, thinking through all the steps of it. ]

... Well. Maybe you're right.

[unwiseheart]

Some are? But most do have homelands, something they're tied to. We're more like, uh, something like... [ Word, word, word, he needs a good word, but he's coming up blank. ] We all come from very different backgrounds, but we are Garou because, well, we aren't human.

[ There's some hesitance before he admits as much, something he feels he'll never get used to telling a regular human, but it's already in the news. Duv would have figured it out eventually. ]