person man, person man, hit on the head with a frying pan

[jacksonian]

WHO: Mark and whoever
WHERE: Everywhere!! But mostly De Chima and Maurtia Falls
WHEN: Throughout November
WHAT: Catch-all for November with stuff. Hit me up!! Please!!! Open prompts below; PM me if you want something that isn't these things.
WARNINGS: Mark's life sucks; I'll edit this header if any particular suckiness comes up.


1. dog dog dog dog dog dog dog; De Chima/Maurtia Falls
[ In De Chima or in Maurtia Falls, you might find a rather strange sight: a small stocky man walking an enormous stocky dog. This is Mark walking his dog Captain, a scarred and warlike pit bull that pulls at the leash and constantly wags his tail. Mark's expression is still a forbidding glower, but Captain's doggy face is open and bright-eyed and happy; there's no one he doesn't want to make friends with.

And Mark, unfortunately, doesn't know good leash technique, and also (in spite of his own roundness) doesn't outweigh his dog by that much. And so when Captain wants to make friends, Mark is dragged along behind him. And that is why, if you're walking around, you might be approached by a dog trailing a very sour-looking little man who's hissing - ]

No, don't - stop - heel -

2. come make $$$$; Maurtia Falls
[ PKE, LLC, up in Maurtia Falls, is beyond luxurious. The office is appointed with a sort of brushed-steel-and-pine classiness, like it's furnished from the expensive part of Ikea; the receptionist out front is attractive and aloof, and people who are waiting get offered mineral water from glass bottles.

There are any number of reasons that you might have ended up here: you might have received an advertisement in the mail, or a random notification on your phone, or you might have seen the advertising that targets imPorts. All of this advertising will have offered help in investing, getting rich, or opening a new business - generous funding to get everyone a little bit wealthier.

Mark, sitting at his desk, smiles a smile that can generously be described as oily when you're shown in. And he purrs - ]

Please, sit down. Tell me about how you'd like to make money.

3. kicking some grass; De Chima
[ Mark doesn't like to practice where he can be seen. Definitely not. So when he's worked up and anxious, he goes out far away from his family, far away from the people who know him, out into the forests of De Chima. On the unlikely off-chance that your character happens to wander by, they'll be treated to a very strange sight: a small fat man vigorously practicing a judo kata, face miserable, before punching a tree. He turns as soon as he hears them, though, eyes flashing with anger as he snarls - ]

What the hell are you doing here? Go away.

4. fuck it; anywhere
[ Mark's eating ice cream. Come have ice cream. ]

Comments

[helpline]

Meaning she got old and died. [ said...with a little confusion. Meaning what, meaning she's dead, what other meaning is there? ] That's what people do, you know.

[jacksonian]

[ Mark grunts and looks away, displeased. ]

Oh. Great. Yeah. That's great to hear. She lived a nice long life of murder and then died of natural causes, rather than having to pay for what she did. [ Scowling at the wall: ] I'm guessing you just don't have the brain-transplant technology? Since I bet she'd have gone for it if you did.

[helpline]

Did you miss the part where I said she regretted her actions? Cause she did--got me on the case to help sort things out and make it right.

That doesn't erase what she did, of course. But it's a much better ending than some.

[jacksonian]

Yeah?

Did she un-murder her clones?

[helpline]

I'm not forgiving her for that, you know. You can be proud someone acknowledged their mistakes while still disparaging the mistakes in the process.

[jacksonian]

Yeah. I'm sure that's a great fucking comfort to the people she burned.

[ There's a real anger in his face, a fury that lights up his eyes. A slight tremble in his chin that makes his jowls wobble just a little. ]

I wish she'd been burned alive herself. I'd do it myself if I had the chance. You should have done it.

[helpline]

[ The Doctor shook his head, looking over at Mark. ]

I couldn't have done that. I'm not that sort of man.

[ he can't be that sort of man. He's not going to let that happen again. ]

And I'm not sure you're that sort of man either.

[jacksonian]

[ His response is an unsurprisingly hostile: ]

You don't know what sort of man I am. What, don't you think she'd have it coming?

[helpline]

I know what sort of man I'd like you to be, [ the Doctor calmly responds, with a little shrug. ]

And no, I don't think she had it coming. Everything dies but nobody deserves to get murdered.

[jacksonian]

Murderers do.

And I don't care what you want me to be. Do you think I owe you shit? I'm going to be what I want to be, not what someone else decides.

[helpline]

And you want to be a murderer? You're making a wonderful first impression, by the way.

[ said ohhhh so sarcastically. ]

[jacksonian]

Oh, yeah, also, what I want to be is none of your business.

[helpline]

That's not going to happen. Everybody's my business.

[jacksonian]

I'm not.

[ His chin jerks up aggressively. ]

I'm my own person. I'm not answerable to anyone here. And even if I were, there are a hell of a lot of things I could be that are worse than a murderer.

[helpline]

I never said you weren't your own person or answerable to me in the first place, [ the Doctor responds, with a roll of his eyes. ]

You're just part of my business because everyone here's part of my business. It's really simple, what aren't you getting?

[jacksonian]

I know how this works.

[ He sneers that at the Doctor, even as he feels dizzy with despair and fury. I know so well. What it's like, being controlled - ]

So what would you do? If I went out there and killed someone. Right now. I could. I know how.

[helpline]

Well to start with, I'd be horrible disappointed. [ said as if it's the most obvious answer in the world. ] Then I'd make sure you were arrested and we'd do things properly, get you in the system we've got.

[ He can't help but smile a little, tiny smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. ]

I'd probably lobby to be your parole officer as well, since this conversation's going so well already. But again, you're not going to do that. What high-profile business executive publicly kills someone? It'd be rubbish for your stocks.

[jacksonian]

[ He snaps back, ill-tempered: ]

Who gives a shit about stocks?

[ Which is not the best answer. Not exactly congruent with the persona he's trying to portray. His jaw snaps shut, and he looks mulish. ]

[helpline]

I'd think that the clients of PKE, LLC give a shit about stocks. And you give a shit about your clients.

[ you are trying, buddy. And hey, A for effort. ]

[jacksonian]

[ Prudence wars with defiance. Defiance (as it does far too often with Mark Vorkosigan, frustrated teenager) wins. ]

I also give a shit about not letting you think you're the boss of me. Because you do, don't you? I'm just a clone, so you think you have the right to boss me around.

[helpline]

You do know that I was bossing you around before the clone reveal, right?

[ wow does this conversation remind him of dealing with his granddaughter when she was a teenager, why on Earth is that happening ]

[jacksonian]

[ ...Point. Well - ]

You got worse since then.

[helpline]

That's probably because you've gotten to know me better. You learn more of a person's flaws the more you talk with them.

[jacksonian]

Fine. Then because I'm a mutie.

[helpline]

First you think it's because you're a clone, now you think it's because you're a mutie, whatever that is, has anybody ever told you that you've got a bit of a persecution complex? We've just met and it's already fairly obvious.