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Cam is out flying. There's a decent cloud of atmosphere around the gold plane, now, millenia of demons making air around themselves for comfort and not sealing it up because why would you bother. There's a small forest, here - the effect is kind of ruined by the lamps it has to grow under, but it's still pretty.
He feels an open summons and lets it grab him -
Cam on Barrayar
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from_scratch
thisvorlunatic
"Thank you for your helpful advice," he adds, about 85% sarcasm, and then he goes back to his cabin.
thisvorlunatic
Miles... sits in front of a mirror and thinks about Cam.
He plays the violin, for fuck's sake. He has a tail. A tail which he has been known to wag. He is adorably enthusiastic about public works projects.
And... wow, that's definitely a face Miles is making at this mirror. Okay. Tone it down, Miles. Professionalism is key. Think about the upcoming consultations with Komarran terraforming experts. Lots and lots of probably boring scientists who must be queried about their probably boring science. Definitely nothing to get excited about. And engineers, too, for the soletta array. Scientists and engineers. Engineers and scientists. None of whom have any magical powers.
There, the face is mostly under control. But now Miles feels bored and petulant. He remembers his Legos.
Lego is oddly compelling.
He plays the violin, for fuck's sake. He has a tail. A tail which he has been known to wag. He is adorably enthusiastic about public works projects.
And... wow, that's definitely a face Miles is making at this mirror. Okay. Tone it down, Miles. Professionalism is key. Think about the upcoming consultations with Komarran terraforming experts. Lots and lots of probably boring scientists who must be queried about their probably boring science. Definitely nothing to get excited about. And engineers, too, for the soletta array. Scientists and engineers. Engineers and scientists. None of whom have any magical powers.
There, the face is mostly under control. But now Miles feels bored and petulant. He remembers his Legos.
Lego is oddly compelling.
from_scratch
Cam continues to reliably produce meals. He also supplements Miles's Lego collection on request; he seems to find this request funny.
middlingalong
Ivan decides to skirt the risk of Miles's displeasure by suggesting that Cam demonstrate the playing of the violin.
from_scratch
Cam doesn't mind.
He seems extremely, irrepressibly entertained by his choice of song, and for some reason his violin is covered in gold.
He seems extremely, irrepressibly entertained by his choice of song, and for some reason his violin is covered in gold.
thisvorlunatic
Miles is going to have an entire extra luggage case full of Legos by the time this trip is over. That's fine. He packed light to begin with.
When Ivan incites Cam to play the violin, Miles spends the entire duration of the song in a fierce internal battle between inappropriate feelings, the urge to throttle Ivan, and an overwhelming desire to be let in on the joke.
At least the third one can be permitted an outlet once the song is over.
"What is so funny?"
When Ivan incites Cam to play the violin, Miles spends the entire duration of the song in a fierce internal battle between inappropriate feelings, the urge to throttle Ivan, and an overwhelming desire to be let in on the joke.
At least the third one can be permitted an outlet once the song is over.
"What is so funny?"
from_scratch
"This song is why I learned to play the violin in particular. I will sing it for you, although I have not practiced singing nearly as much as I have practiced violining." And he starts over, now with added lyrics:
"The Devil went down to Georgia. He was lookin' for a soul to steal.
He was in a bind 'cause he was way behind. He was willing to make a deal
When he came across this young man sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot.
And the Devil jumped upon a hickory stump and said 'Boy, let me tell you what.'..."
"The Devil went down to Georgia. He was lookin' for a soul to steal.
He was in a bind 'cause he was way behind. He was willing to make a deal
When he came across this young man sawin' on a fiddle and playin' it hot.
And the Devil jumped upon a hickory stump and said 'Boy, let me tell you what.'..."
from_scratch
But Cam also knows other songs on the violin, when he is done explaining the joke on that one. Fiddle fiddle.
from_scratch
Probably specifically to annoy Miles. There could be no other reason.
thisvorlunatic
Miles flicks Ivan a very brief and very discreet look, and tones it down rather more successfully from that point forward.
from_scratch
If Cam notices this interplay he doesn't comment.
He continues being his devilishly attractive self the entire way to Komarr.
It occurs to him to ask after the second jump: "I don't actually know what jumps are like for people who don't have jump potential. Is it a sharp and obvious division or is there a thirty-question quiz I should be taking about my experiences?"
He continues being his devilishly attractive self the entire way to Komarr.
It occurs to him to ask after the second jump: "I don't actually know what jumps are like for people who don't have jump potential. Is it a sharp and obvious division or is there a thirty-question quiz I should be taking about my experiences?"
thisvorlunatic
"For people with no potential, it isn't an experience at all. Blip, you're somewhere else, optionally with added nausea. That's how it is for me. If you have the potential, I've heard of things like feeling a sense of time passing during the jump or seeing greenish outlines around everything for a while afterward, but I don't know how accurate the rumours are to the actual phenomenon."
thisvorlunatic
"Lucky you," Miles agrees. "We'll see about getting you the goodies when we get back to Barrayar."
thisvorlunatic
"Seeing music. I'll remember that one next time someone asks me what jumps feel like to someone with pilot potential."
from_scratch
"For all I know it varies. I will inquire of my peers in jump pilot school, shall I?"
from_scratch
The remainder of the trip elapses. Cam keeps supplementing the Lego supply. And being devilishly attractive. And making tasty food. And playing the violin to pass the time, and also reading.
And here is Komarr!
Cam does not seem bored by the prospect of interacting with engineers and suchlike about their soletta-related recommendations.
thisvorlunatic
That's good.
Miles procures terraforming experts, and engineers, and subsequent experts in narrower and narrower fields. Expanding the soletta array is reasonably trivial, and they get the plans for that nailed down in only a couple of days - the chief engineer is very excited about it all - but the question of how best to improve the planet itself is somewhat thornier. Miles has to break up a heated argument about algae.
Miles procures terraforming experts, and engineers, and subsequent experts in narrower and narrower fields. Expanding the soletta array is reasonably trivial, and they get the plans for that nailed down in only a couple of days - the chief engineer is very excited about it all - but the question of how best to improve the planet itself is somewhat thornier. Miles has to break up a heated argument about algae.