Nika cannot immediately find parental units, but she can find Elena and Ivan, who successfully distract her from her quest. Elena being older than Nika and possessed of stronger opinions about things than Ivan, they wind up playing what Elena wants to play (space pirates), but Nika being well aware that space pirates is more interesting with three than with two she is able to bargain Elena up to "wizard space pirates". Nika and Ivan merrily wizard-space-pirate at Elena the heroic space captain. They have to pause briefly to adjudicate about whether certain mispronounced shipboard weapons ought to be able to penetrate a magical shield (Nika is of the opinion that they should not and that Elena will have to think of something cleverer to do to beat the pirates than just shoot at them).
They prove unable to settle this amongst themselves - Ivan tends to be all too eager to agree with whichever girl presented her case most recently - so they go looking for adult arbitration. The Vorkosigan parentals having proven difficult to find last Nika checked, and Bothari off with Miles at the doctor's office, they find Ivan's ma. Aunt Alys digests the dilemma, suggests that perhaps Elena will have to shoot several times at the wizard shield to break it, and then sends them off to play while she gets back to her obscure Aunt-Alys-type work. Off scurry pirates and heroic space captain. Elena successfully unshields Ivan and while about to capture his ship is vulnerable to sneak attack by Nika, who demonstrates this by jumping on her; the game presently devolves into giggly wrestling.
They prove unable to settle this amongst themselves - Ivan tends to be all too eager to agree with whichever girl presented her case most recently - so they go looking for adult arbitration. The Vorkosigan parentals having proven difficult to find last Nika checked, and Bothari off with Miles at the doctor's office, they find Ivan's ma. Aunt Alys digests the dilemma, suggests that perhaps Elena will have to shoot several times at the wizard shield to break it, and then sends them off to play while she gets back to her obscure Aunt-Alys-type work. Off scurry pirates and heroic space captain. Elena successfully unshields Ivan and while about to capture his ship is vulnerable to sneak attack by Nika, who demonstrates this by jumping on her; the game presently devolves into giggly wrestling.
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