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]

"How many times has he been lost and relocated since Earth?"

[as_i_remember]

"Fourteen, counting only times when he dropped off the radar for a solid week or more. Many more than that if you count him losing a tail or disposing of a tracking device only to be spotted again some number of hours later, which seems to be a daily occurence when someone does have him in their sights."

[isthisart]

"He's apparently being calmer about it than I would if someone I objected to following me were doing it anyway and they kept re-finding me that frequently. I'm impressed."

[as_i_remember]

"All things considered, so am I."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Me three. Slightly jealous, even."

[isthisart]

Linya kisses the top of her husband's head. 'Cause he's cute and right there.

[thisvorlunatic]

He grins at her.

[isthisart]

Good.

"I wonder what would happen if you politely invited Mark to get lunch with someone in your employ every now and again. If it didn't result in hysterical laughter and radio silence, it would give you a similar idea of how far away he is at any given time and be much less hostile, and I'm not remotely sure that he'd turn you down, especially if he got to control anything about the schedule or his lunchmate."

[as_i_remember]

"...I'll consider it."

[isthisart]

Linya smiles.

[thisvorlunatic]

"...Expect him to apply his sense of humour to the situation," volunteers Miles, "even if he agrees. I can't be any more specific, I just - have a feeling."

[as_i_remember]

"I have a similar feeling, yes. Bean stew," says Simon.

[isthisart]

"I can vividly picture the look on his face - I don't know if it's accurate, but it's very vivid - if he got lunch with the bean recipient. There would be beans in the lunch."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Likewise," says Miles. "Definitely beans."

[isthisart]

"And I imagine he'd be disappointed if this somehow went unnoticed."

[thisvorlunatic]

"He has a surprising amount of personality. For someone who also manages to contain all of mine, I mean."

[greatcomposure]

"A heartening amount," says Cordelia.

[isthisart]

"With any luck, enough to construct a fully functional non-Miles self out of."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I... believe it is. But time will tell, I guess."

[isthisart]

"If he isn't so thoroughly exasperated as to figure out how to permanently lose his tails and never update us on his progress, anyway."

[as_i_remember]

"I doubt that would be possible. ImpSec has more resources than he does."

[isthisart]

"I'm not prepared to entirely rule it out, but the balance of probability is likely with you, yes."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I can imagine farfetched solutions like moving to a hermitage on some backwater planet and eschewing any activity that might leave a data trail. But I can't quite imagine Mark taking them. Not permanently."

[isthisart]

"But long enough that by the time he's findable again he could have gotten to anywhere in the nexus?"

[as_i_remember]

"In order to get to anywhere in the nexus, he has to travel from place to place in jumpships. That's usually how we find him again after the long silences. Someone catches sight of him at a spaceport or station."