[open!]

[falsesmile]

Who: Ves (falsesmile) and general!
When: Day 6, afternoon
Where: The Ruined Hull
What: General exploration post!

[ The Ruined Hull has been unlocked! The go-team has been in the area for a while, the stay-team members who are so inclined have probably meandered over here somehow by now -- time to go exploring, but keep an eye on those suit power levels ♥ ]

Comments

[ceruleo]

Uh, castle-ship. And we're seven! Five of us Paladins, plus Allura and Coran.

[ He counts on his fingers, then gestures at the very spare room around them. ] Ours looked basically like this, just a bit bigger, and we each get a bathroom.

[dendarii]

Ah. A castle-ship. That's much more reasonable.

[ Holy ship, Lance. He's pretty sure that's still unusual. ]

[ceruleo]

[ Lance isn't sure what the gap is between what he finds normal and what Miles finds normal--and since he's only discussed this stuff in any depth with Ahsoka, whose 'normal' involves like, trans-galactic communication, he tends to assume other people won't be surprised by the whole castle-ship thing. ]

I dunno, Allura talked about it like it was nothing. It lands upright and then shifts its whole internal gravity while it's flying, like, whatever, no big deal! [ Using his hand as a prop, he mimics the castle taking off vertically, then flying horizontally. It he hadn't lived though it, he'd probably find it weirder than it is. ] You had--er, ran, or something [ he's so good with details ] your own ship, right?

[ 'Or something', indeed. ]

[dendarii]

[ Miles has seen all kinds of space ships, okay. That still sounds weird. And possibly Cetagandan. ]

I ran a mercenary fleet. So I've seen all kinds, yes. And no castles.

[ceruleo]

A mercenary fleet?

[ Whoa. Lance looks past Miles' physical appearance, considering. ]

How'd you do that? [ A beat. ] Like, take over, I mean. How big of a fleet are we talking?

[dendarii]

[ Miles can't help but grin a bit at that. He is not exactly the romantic ideal for a mercenary captain. Or anything at all. ]

Approximately three thousand people and thirty capital ships. And I took it over by asking nicely.

1/3

[ceruleo]

[ There's a long pause as Lance digests this, his mouth gaping wider as the seconds pass. ]

2/3

[ceruleo]

[ Rebooting............. ]

3/3

[ceruleo]

[ Then he breathes out, reverent: ]

Holy crow.

[ Which is immediately followed by: ]

Miles, you gotta tell me everything!

[dendarii]

[ Well. That is a reaction Miles likes. Why doesn't he get that kind of reaction at home? He puffs up a bit accordingly, his face alight with pride and joy. ]

Are you sure? It's quite a long story?

[ceruleo]

[ Lance grins, falling into a looser stance. ]

Hey, not like we got much else to do. I'm all ears.

[ Well, they do have to check things out. But he can do that and listen, right? ]

[dendarii]

[ Miles is happy to multitask, certainly. Now to decide on when to start.... ]

Well, you see, I'd failed out of the service academy when I was seventeen. Went off to Beta Colony to figure out something else to do and found a pilot jamming up the docks. I mortgaged some property to buy the ship, and then had to get into smuggling to pay the bill without losing the mortgage.

[ceruleo]

Okay, whoa, roll back. What's the 'service academy'? Like military, you mean? [ He's guessing something like the Royal Academy??? ] And how'd you get the property to mortgage in the first place?

[dendarii]

Military, yes. I'm ... not entirely sure where, but I'm sure I was there. Broke both my legs doing that. And ...

[ He frowns. This is the part of the story that's most tangled for him, given how his cryorevival scrambled his memories. ]

Er. You're not going to believe this part.

[ceruleo]

Can't be any harder to believe than 'I just had some valuable real estate hanging around to gamble with'.

[ Did your dad give you a small loan of a million dollars, Miles? ]

[dendarii]

[ No, but he's a Russian space prince. And so is Miles, though he doesn't quite remember that clearly. ]

I'm a clone of the son of a very important man. Former regent of the Barrayaran Imperium, second in line to the throne after the Emperor himself. Which technically makes me fourth in line, I think. So I tricked them into thinking I had an actual inheritance to trade.

[ In truth, it's really his. Miles does have a clone, but Mark is ... an entirely different case. ]

1/2

[ceruleo]

[ ...................................................... ]

2/2

[ceruleo]

That's.

[ ............... ]

Not the weirdest thing I've ever heard, but it comes pretty close.

[dendarii]

[ Really, Lance? Are you sure about that? ]

Oh? I'd love to hear what beats that.

[ceruleo]

Well, it must seem pretty old hat to you, but, uh. [ he ticks off his fingers ] I kinda found out aliens were real and also evil, then got picked to pilot a ten thousand-year-old cat-shaped war machine—the best and most beautiful one, obviously—who like, started talking in my mind? [ gesturing to his head, but his expression is quite fond ] And then we went into space, through a wormhole, [ making PSSSHHHHOOO noises to indicate flying, natch ] where we met more, nice aliens, found more cat-shaped war machines and then put them together to make a giant robot so we could, you know, fight the bad aliens.

[ A beat. ]

In like, about twenty-four hours...?

[ WHAT HE'S TRYING TO SAY IS, HIS LIFE IS WEIRD SO HE HAS NO PLACE TO JUDGE. ]

[dendarii]

[ Congrats, Lance, Miles just stares. Kind of slack-jawed, in fact. ]

Do you mean to imply you pilot an alien war machine? Shaped like a cat?

[ceruleo]

Yeah! Didn't I tell you I pilot the Blue Lion? [ He grins, crookedly, obviously proud. ] Well, she's actually a lion. Get it?

[dendarii]

I thought it was a title. Or the name of a ship. Not a literal - thing.

[ceruleo]

Well, she's about the size of a football field, but the point stands. Definitely a lion. [ Guess which colour. ]

[dendarii]

[ Gee, he wonders. ]

And you're the sole pilot? Of something that large? No other crew?