maskormenacelogs | October Catch-All

[ Oh, god. He's not sure which hurts more: the relief showing through Aral's composure or the fact that his father thinks Miles handled this well. If nothing else, Gregor has opened his eyes to the fact that this is not an example of Miles actually going about this correctly. Or even approaching correctly. Does he disabuse his father now - disrupt that relief? - or just go on? ]

Because Gregor rightfully required me to do so. Don't attribute too much to my sense. [ That seems a good balance. An opening for Aral to press or subside as he prefers. Meanwhile, Miles approaches slowly, until he's standing on Aral's side of the desk. ] But I'm all right. And this won't become another Lucifer.

[There's a cloud that passes at that. The very logical realignment of perspective that the 'requests and requires' spins it back into. There's data missing, potentially swaths of it.

But at this very moment, it washes in another bald moment of "oh thank God." at the reassurance that it wasn't another Lucifer. Only time would tell, certainly, and if it became more, there was little that could be done now...

It was enough that he puts a palm to the top of his desk to lever himself up and wrap his son in a hardly Barrayaran embrace. (All looks of it be damned, there was no point in life without the humanity. THAT he learned early on.)]

I find my priorities rather singular here. [That being family, specifically. A wry pitch takes his tone.] A luxury I'm fond of. Whatever it is, we can manage it between all of us.

[ Miles will never really tire of that. No matter what the circumstances, no matter why his father is embracing him - joy still bubbles up from his side of the link, tinged with rose gold love. He slips one frail arm around Aral in turn. ]

I know that we can. That's precisely why I'm determined we won't have to.

Fair enough. The most successful tactic is the one without a single shot. [Without the alcohol fuzzing it all, it was clearer this time. As uplifting as it was humbling.]

I'll trust you to it.

... Though I'd still like a full debriefing.

[ That warms him nearly as much as the hug does. I'll trust you to it. Even Miles doesn't quite trust himself that much; it makes him desperate to live up to Aral's expectation in this matter. ]

If we are going to do that, I recommend a bottle of wine to go with it.

[ He says, nodding lightly at his phone. ]

[He stops, considering what they still have in the cabinets and refrigerator. There's no question of why, it's probably for the both of them.]

Hm. A moment, then. [He lets go and fetches a half decent red. It had been a matter of necessity and trial and error, finding the good years and vineyards of this world.]

[ Miles certainly brightens at Aral's selection. Perfectly good for this kind of conversation. ]

Good choice.

It seemed about right.

[The wine was uncorked and decanted, generously in two glasses. Aral scoops one up and settles back at his desk.]

At your leisure, then.

[ Miles takes a good long sip of his own glass first. Not that he's going to get tipsy instantly, even with his small body, but it marks the beginning. Everything said after this point falls under the sacred Vorish contract of being drunk. ]

Ah, well ... the first encounter was entirely my fault. She claimed to have powers; I disbelieved. So I paid her a couple hundred dollars and a smoothie for a demonstration.

[Oh there are things that could be SAID here. For one, that kind of doubt here. But casting doubt is more often the youngest expression of curiosity. He swallows it with the wine.]

A smoothie.

[ Absolutely. And for Miles, curiosity is better bait than anything purposeful that could be set. ]

Yes. Her requirement. A pomegranate smoothie for Persephone.

[ It seemed appropriate. ]

Pomegranate. [There's a moment of illumination as the vague familiarity clicks into the half remembered myth. As much as he'd heard "Let her out already," from the drunk and tired on the everwinter base...]

She the real deal?

[ The mythological note was not lost on Miles either. ]

It's strange. In some aspects, she is very much a teenage girl. But her powers are quite real.

[ He takes a long sip. ]

She caused me to relive one of my worst memories. Repeatedly.

[Trapped in one's own worst moment... Aral follows suit, taking a long pull of the wine. That, at least, had a pleasant flavor.]

What kept Tex from shooting her?

She certainly threatened it. But the effect ended when Persephone stopped singing and fled, so we decided a drink was preferable to pursuit.

[He couldn't argue that... If Tex hadn't applied for that bonus yet, he'd have to see to it getting cleared.]

That wasn't the end of it though.

[ Miles already set Mark to giving her one out of Miles' personal funds. But surely Tex will not argue with a second bonus from the family funds. ]

... No. After that initial encounter, she texted me. Annoyed that I hadn't liked her music. I was, well, combative in turn. And then she sent me the file.

[No, definitely not. And there's really no deeper, truer way to say thank you to Tex than that.

Mark, however, may disagree.]

Hm. [He makes a motion to see Miles' phone again.]

[ Reluctantly, Miles offers it. The conversation with Persephone is close to the top. The time is very late, when the rest of the house would have been asleep. Between that and Miles shuttering the links, it would explain why no one got any psychic feedback.

Or ... maybe it explains an odd nightmare that night. ]

I tried to reach out to her. I thought perhaps we could manage a sort of friendship.

[Holy crap he can't even read half of that.

On the other hand, what he does piece with context and some diligence. He rubs the bridge of his nose.]

You weren't kidding when you said she was young.

I told you. A teenaged girl. Which is part of why I'm not convinced it was a murder attempt. Perhaps it would not even have had the effect it did on someone with less history.

Edited 2016-10-15 15:08 (UTC)

More like a teenage boy.

[He has a hard time wrapping his head around the blend of that behavior with femininity.

But then, he'd spent most of HIS teenage years in a highly segregated military...]

Still, there's reason to assume she could gather history from the first song. [Then again, she didn't seem to realize that was a panic attack if one would believe the text. Or perhaps that it wasn't enough of a deterrent.]

[ Miles just shrugs. He has seen too much of the Koudelka sisters and Elena, okay. He knows better than to underestimate. ]

Mmm, it's possible. She did observe that I'd reacted badly. Even so ...

[ He quiets a moment, looking down at his phone. ]

Well, anyway. I put on headphones and I listened to it. Shut it off once I realized what it was doing to me.

[ Said very simply, as if that hadn't been ridiculously difficult in the moment. As if the images hadn't wrecked him, sent him to seek out a bottle and go to bed insensate. ]

Edited 2016-10-15 17:23 (UTC)

[Very, very simply. Aral didn't push. He already knew what he'd find anyway.]

But didn't destroy it?

[ Miles shakes his head. ]

Given all we've faced ... I thought there might come a time when I would need it.

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