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]

-- 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?

[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.

[watch_me_burn]

I'm surprised. I would have believed more people to consider me weak for not ending my life sooner than it was dragged out. [A small part of her kind of wished she had too, but Kareen wasn't the type to dwell on regrets. At least, not most of the time.]

[dendarii]

... Well. That factors into it too, depending on who's telling the story.

[watch_me_burn]

[Kareen nods, accepting that.]

I don't blame them.

[dendarii]

I do. A little bit, anyway.

[watch_me_burn]

Why would you? You weren't even properly born then, Vorkosigan.

[dendarii]

Neither were they. For the most part.

[watch_me_burn]

Oh.

[For the most part, Kareen imagined people who talked down about her to be primarily of the older generation. She hadn't even considered what the younger ones would think after they got older and formed opinions about their country's political history.]

I imagine your parents have rather biased you in my favor. They seem to have a high opinion of me despite bringing so much destruction upon my own head.

[dendarii]

[ It's a mix, really, in MIles' experience, and more skewed towards the older population than he cares to let on. Even so. ]

My parents have a much better view of the truth, period.

[watch_me_burn]

Your parents are over-indulgent. But... I appreciate everything Lord and Lady Vorkosigan have done for me, and especially everything they've done for Gregor.

[dendarii]

[ Now that comment prompts the slightest twitch of a frown. ]

Indulgent? My parents?

[watch_me_burn]

Oh, you don't think so? Interesting.

[dendarii]

No, I don't think so at all. Da was Regent for most of my childhood.

[watch_me_burn]

Ah, yes. Of course. He couldn't very well show favoritism to his child during such a time. [Or he could have, but that wasn't Aral's style, which was why he was chosen for Regent in the first place.]

I'm afraid I never got to see that, but I did think them to be rather self-indulgent at times. Believing what they want, doing what they want despite... societal objections.

[dendarii]

Just so. He was very careful not to.

[ With all the benefits and drawbacks that entails. ]

... That's not self-indulgence, though. It's strength.

[watch_me_burn]

... An interesting perspective. But from that vantage point, I must seem particularly weak.

[dendarii]

[ Miles winces a bit at that. ]

That's not - there's different kinds of strength.

[watch_me_burn]

Oh, come now, Vorkosigan, I'm not scolding you. No, I know exactly where I stand, or rather, where I stood.

[She settles back in her chair and gazes at a wall, thinking back on Barrayar in that "sheltered" life of green.]

A woman in my place had no ability to do or say or think anything different than what was expected of her. For most of my life I was content to do just that. It was tolerable.

[dendarii]

[ Miles' jaw sets in a stubborn line, but he swallows the comment that comes to mind first. ]

And then Serg?