landscape

[isthisart]

Linya avoids haring off to do things much while Miles's arms are unusable. Once he can feed himself comfortably enough to prefer to do so, though, she makes plans with Ekaterin to go with her and little Nikki on a hike in some nice woods of mixed-origin fauna. She packs a picnic and takes the lightflyer and flies out to pick up the relevant subset of Vorsoissons.

Comments

[isthisart]

"She thought it seemed backwards and that pictures don't substitute for the real thing."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Sensible of her."

[isthisart]

"If you say so."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Of the possible reasons, I think those are sensible ones."

[isthisart]

"Are they yours? I don't think I have an understanding of yours?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"I... don't think you have an understanding of mine either," he sighs. "It's complicated."

[isthisart]

Pet pet. "Do you want to try to explain or is it not worth the trouble?"

[thisvorlunatic]

"I'm not sure."

[isthisart]

"Then I will probably languish in confusion for a bit longer." Pet, pet.

[thisvorlunatic]

Snuggle.

[isthisart]

Snuggle. "I love you."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I love you too."

[isthisart]

And a little kiss, mwah. Even if he does not have sensible reasons for not wishing to see baby pictures in advance of baby.




The next time she and Cordelia are alone in a room together (the library in the evening with tea) Linya says, "Do you by any chance want to see advance baby pictures of Little Aral Adri?"

[greatcomposure]

"Your emphasis implies that there's someone who doesn't. Miles?" she guesses.

[isthisart]

"Well, Ekaterin didn't either, but principally Miles, yes."

[greatcomposure]

"Did he say why?"

[isthisart]

"He implied that his reasons may not be sensible and is unsure that he wishes to attempt to explain them, last time it came up in conversation."

[greatcomposure]

"I could hazard a guess," says Cordelia.

[isthisart]

"Could you? What would it be?"

[greatcomposure]

"These genome extrapolations - you could run them for anyone, couldn't you? If you ran them for me, you'd get a picture of me. If you ran them for Aral, you'd get a picture of Aral. If you ran them for Miles, you would not get a picture of Miles - definitely not one accurate below the neck, anyway."

[isthisart]

"Right. He asked about that when I first brought up that I could produce the pictures. I think I'd want to know in his position but I can somewhat understand not - it makes less sense to me for Aral Adri, who is overwhelmingly unlikely to encounter similar issues."

[greatcomposure]

"I think, for Miles... he has a very immediate understanding of how bad it would be for him, if pictures of the Miles who might have been existed anywhere. If Aral and I had seen them - if General Piotr had seen them, God forbid. So when he thinks about looking at advance pictures of his own children, that's what comes to mind first. It's an emotional response, not mediated by probability calculations. He can't discount the possibility, because it looms too large for him."

[isthisart]

"I don't think I do understand how bad it would have been. What would the pictures have done? If you'd seen them?"

[greatcomposure]

"He already subconsciously compares himself to the imaginary unimpaired Miles - very subconsciously, for the most part. If there were pictures, I think he would be... haunted is the word I would use. Haunted by them. The comparison would become a conscious one, and obsessive, and unpleasant. I think he might give himself too little credit for resilience... but I know I'm never going to ask to see pictures of his extrapolated phenotype. Not until well after he does, if he ever does."

[isthisart]

"Well, he hasn't asked. I haven't even looked and I have the sample sequenced so as to be able to extract the eye color..."