001; video;

[shoppingtrip]

[Cordelia's serene, almost regal bearing is a stark contrast against her wild hair, her singed dress, and the blood splatters across her face and torso. She clutches the top of a plastic bag so hard her knuckles show white.]

Hello. My name is Cordelia Naismith V-- [no. Best to leave that part out, until she can figure out who here wants Aral dead.] Cordelia Naismith.

[she leans in toward the camera. It's apparent now that she's shaking - not from fear, but from rage. When she speaks, it's deathly clear and quiet.]

Where is my son?

[she takes a shaky breath. She hasn't slept or eaten a real meal in days, and it shows.]

The last man who took my child can't tell you how poorly it ended for him. Bring me the replicator now and you won't find out. [as an afterthought she adds,] Please.

Comments

video

[scowls]

[ He probably shouldn't get involved. This isn't his business. But the woman appears to be in distress and Fenris can't exactly miss seeing all that blood on her.

His expression is calm, though alert. ]

Are you injured?

[ As he has no idea who her son is or who might have taken him, he decides to focus on the matter that seems most pressing. ]

video;

[shoppingtrip]

[it takes Cordelia a second to realize he means her. and then it takes her another few seconds to figure out how to answer.]

No, I-- it's not my blood.

[scowls]

[ Well, that's an improvement from what he'd first assumed. ]

Do you require assistance?

[ One dark eyebrow arches in inquiry. ]

I am new to this vessel and know few of those who live upon it. But if you give me a description of your son, I will look for him.

[shoppingtrip]

[Cordelia almost blurts out "yes," to the assistance, and then she just starts laughing. What would she even say? "Yes, please help me, my fetal son has been poisoned and kidnapped because my husband is one of the most powerful men on the planet, and now I'm on a bizarre ship and I don't know what to do?"

After a few seconds she manages to stop laughing, take a few deep breaths, and drag the back of her hand across her eyes. Luckily, the blood is dried and does not smear.]

Sorry. I'm terribly sorry, I'm not laughing at you. Just the, uh, absurdity of the situation. Thank you for your offer, that's very kind of you. My son is still in his replicator, which is like a silver sort of canister, about... [she gestures] Oh, about yea big.

What's your name?

[scowls]

[ Her laughter is unexpected. Fenris' brows knit, uncertain of the cause and alreasy halfway convinced she's laughing at him. He's gearing up to be offended when her laughter stops and she explains. Accepting it, his hardening expression soften. ]

I understand. I find these circumstances... [ He pauses, trying to find the word in any of the languages he knows. He can't. ] ...somewhat beyond comprehension.

I am Fenris. And I will look for this-- [ He takes a stab at the word. ] --replicator?

NOT HERE.

[whatdidisay]

( nope. absolutely not. he's leaving this one for miles and gregor.

hi, aunt cordelia. )

[shoppingtrip]

[ivan xav vorpatril you get back here THIS INSTANT]

[whatdidisay]

( you're not his real mom or his foster mom and he doesn't even do anything his actual mother wants him to do! )

text; 1/2

[forwardmomentum]

[ oh. oh. miles stares at the video post in total shock and incredulity, and plays it back a few more times before he has to stop and sit back. oh, shit. oh, shit.

he'd call bullshit, except it can't be. she's at least twenty years younger than he last saw her -- twenty-six, to be exact -- and given the fact that she's covered in blood, given what she's saying and everything miles has ever heard about the last night of vordarian's pretendership... somehow, the ingress made this happen. he's giving himself a headache thinking too hard about it, and his mother thinks her son is missing. thinks he's missing. the several seconds he's spent trying to get his head around this are already too long, and in a flight of mild panic he quickly types up a text reply. this will be so much easier to explain in person. ]

I know where your son is. If you meet me at the Personnel Office, I'll explain everything there.

2/2

[forwardmomentum]

[ upon sending that text he immediately realizes how ominous that sounds. fuck ]

He's safe.

[shoppingtrip]

[WELL cordelia just about had a heart attack at that first one. She has to stop herself from dropping everything and running to the Personnel Office, wherever that is. It could be a trap. It could be a lie. Don't run in there like a fool, Cordelia. Stay calm.]

Who are you and why should I believe anything you say?

[forwardmomentum]

[ god, how does he handle this? how does he even begin to handle this? blurting it out all over the network seems like the worst way, but he's totally botching this attempt. god dammit. ]

It'll be much easier to explain in person, I promise. This isn't a discussion best conducted over the network. If you'll just meet me, this will all make sense. But I give you my word as Vor that your son is safe. My word is all I can give you.

[ god, he hopes that's enough. ]

video;

[lets_see_what_happens]

[Gregor stares down at the communicator for a few uncharacteristically, utterly stunned moments, his heart slamming against his ribs and his brain ratcheting frantically through the information presented before he takes a slow, trembling breath, shifts his grip on the comm, and turns the video on.]

Cordelia. [Gregor's voice is low, deep and even, and his face is a man's now, pale and still and almost unrecognizable from that of the small boy she'd led with Bothari through the woods so long ago. But his wide, dark eyes, serious and only a little frightened and fixing on her like a compass needle swiveling helplessly north, are almost exactly the same.] Cordelia...

Do you know me?

video;

[shoppingtrip]

What? No, of course--

[but she takes another look, brows furrowed. His face is familiar, but she doesn't recognize it. His eyes... no. It's impossible. Then again, being pulled through some kind of tiny wormhole and appearing on a spaceship is impossible. And he has Kareen's mouth.]

Gregor.

video;

[lets_see_what_happens]

[Those eyes slip closed and for a brief, awful instant he looks like he might weep with relief. The sudden lines of tension ease from his face almost as quickly as they appeared, though, and when he opens his eyes to look at her again a rare, real smile breaks over his face, a half-laugh puffing from his lips.]

Yes. ...yes. Miles is here, he's safe. Ivan, too--Ivan Vorpatril. You--God. What's the last thing you remember? [His eyes finally fix on the Siegling's bag in her hand and go very, very wide, his voice suddenly smaller.] ...is that what I think it is?

Re: video;

[shoppingtrip]

[oh God. Oh, her heart. It takes her a moment to even process what he's saying, and she just stares at him for a minute. When she speaks, her voice is also very small.]

It's, um. [he sure looks grown up now, but last week he was five years old and she was carrying him through the mountains. Cordelia can't really bring herself to say "it's the severed head of the man who tried to kill you," so she just sort of blinks at him. She's very tired.] It's not- don't worry about it.

[is Ivan Vorpatril all grown up? is Miles? Did she miss Gregor's whole childhood? Did Aral raise Miles all alone? Did Alys ever make it out? Did she just disappear? And without Vordarian's head, did the war ever end? Somehow she can't get those questions past her lips, and she just keeps staring at Gregor's face on the vid feed. How much time has she lost?]

audio

[a_shadow]

Was the last time you saw him before or after you were brought here?

audio, about an hour later

[shoppingtrip]

Before, but I think it's somewhat resolved now. I'm more confused now than ever, but I'm beginning to get my bearings.

audio

[a_shadow]

Well, confusion is one thing this place has plenty to offer of. I'm glad it's resolved, though. Nothing could be worse than feeling like your child was taken from you.

audio

[shoppingtrip]

[Cordelia almost explains that he was taken from her - twice, actually - but she bites her tongue.]

Indeed. Are you new here as well?

[video]

[soldiergenes]

[ Immediately obvious here is that this woman looks as if she just stepped off of a battlefield. The Ingress isn't necessarily kind in terms of what time it plucks people from, Snake having just wrapped up one hell of a conflict when he'd ended up here.

This Cordelia isn't at all concerned with herself, though. She's on a mission, and that mission is to find her child. Snake can't imagine that she'll have any luck with that, at least not until she says the word replicator. He's seen that word here before, in a text message sent to him by one Miles Vorkosigan.

Given how he'd described his mother, this woman certainly fits the bill.

He broadcasts from his room on Mero Deck. ] I think your son is here, but a name would help. [ Snake doesn't want to pull her hopes too high if it turns out he's wrong, but she's going to have a lot on her plate if it turns out to be true, seeing how Miles is very much not in a replicator anymore.

The Ingress really enjoys yanking them from wildly different times, doesn't it? ]

video;

[shoppingtrip]

[Snake won't get a response for a few hours - Gregor and Miles have been catching her up on her own life. When she finally does reply Cordelia has cleaned herself up a bit, though she's still every bit as sleep deprived.]

It would seem so. I take it you mean Miles?

["a lot on her plate" is putting it pretty mildly. Although it could be worse, honestly. The boys seem to have turned out sensible enough, at least.]

video;

[soldiergenes]

That's the one. So he found you.

[ Not that Snake had expected it to take that long. He doesn't have a mother (or a father, really), but if he did, and if one of them showed up here, he'd probably want to track them down as soon as possible.

He wonders who this is stranger for, Miles or Cordelia. ]

This place likes to screw with time. A younger version of someone I know is here. Not sure if they do it on purpose or not, but either way, it's a lot to take in.

video;

[shoppingtrip]

Honestly, this is unlike anything I've ever experienced. They told us it was possible, in Survey training, but it was always one of those things people joked about because as far as we knew it had never happened. Or a story you tell in the field when you're all gathered around a lamp - a lost Survey crew who wound up in the far future, or deep in the past.

[she shakes her head as if to clear it.]

All told, it could have been worse. It looks like I'm only about twenty years late to the party. The last time I saw Ivan he was being born. It feels like yesterday because it was actually yesterday.

video, private

[hellsbel]

[rumors of more unrest on Emiri had led Bel to stay on the planet that day, trying to find out... well, anything. it's a couple of hours before there's a chance to check the network.

the face in the video, immediately recognizable, has Bel pulling back from the screen in shock -- and, after a moment, a grin of incredulous delight.]

Captain Naismith? My name's Bel Thorne. Been on this rig for a couple of months.

[possibly only another Betan could detect any wear in the broad accent -- it's been over twenty years for Bel -- though the clear, flat alto and sharp, ambiguous features make their minority demographic obvious.]

If you haven't found your son yet -- [has he found you? in the first five minutes, most likely. what Bel wouldn't have given to see--] I know someone who might be able to help.