( closed )

[whatdidisay]

Who: ivan vorpatril & elizabeth dewitt
When: afternoon of dec. 9th, after this
Where: the library
What: ivan has a solution for elizabeth's tea problem
Warnings: none, probably


With no luck on the search for Miles and still no response on his MID, Ivan figures it's best to leave the details of 'what the fuck do we do now' to Bel and Gregor. They're both competent, smart people who don't need him to get involved in the formation of any plan, just the carrying out of it. They'll call him if they need him, or won't even do him the duty of asking him if he wants to be involved before dragging him in anyway. It'll happen and Ivan won't have a choice - might as well enjoy his small window of freedom while he can. Which is why Ivan spends the morning after his conversation with Elizabeth rummaging around the kitchen. He finds what he's looking for in a cupboard that's filled with God knows what - a thermos. Slightly dinged but still capable of keeping liquid warm, even in this cold. Or so he hopes.

Taking his prize, Ivan bundles himself up further - thermals, work uniform, undress greens over those, and his dress green jacket over it, because Gregor has their spare and Miles took his. And he didn't get it back, now that the door to Miles' office is locked. Which okay, is a little extreme for Miles in his foulest moods, but getting a captain to unlock it is probably Gregor's job. Anyway, once he's attempting to be a little bit warmer than before, he sets off for the library, flourishing the thermos at the lump of blankets at the desk that Ivan assumes is Elizabeth.

"One thermos, as ordered."

Despite the cold and the question of what the hell Miles has gotten himself into hanging over them, his voice is rich and warm; grin wide. He likes spending time with Elizabeth -- she's beautiful, obviously, but charming in a way that makes Ivan wonder if she knows exactly how charming she is. Smart, too. Well, Ivan muses to himself, that doesn't say much when he's thinking it. Still, spending time with her is nice, and he could use the company.

Comments

*GASP* I AM SO BETRAYED

[tearmeanewone]

"Flattery will always get you read to where I'm concerned, Ivan." She giggles, trying to ignore the fact that her cheeks are a little pink again, and curls her legs up for warmth.

"Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

"Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

"Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend and sole mourner. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain.

The mention of Marley's funeral brings me back to the point I started from. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate..."

Elizabeth reads with ease, as though she's read the text dozens of times and is perfectly comfortable relaying the printed words as though she were actually conversing with Ivan.

I'M SORRY THAT YOU HAD TO DISCOVER THIS NOW

[whatdidisay]

He's almost tempted to sleep, the sound of her voice at an even pace far more relaxing than he previously considered. But he pays attention, even if his eyes drift close and his breathing evens out. There's a huff of laughter when Scrooge chalks up the various ways his body could be making him see a ghost -- somehow it just strikes him as something his cousin would do if ever faced with anyone who might be a ghost.

The family drama with younger Scrooge and the image of his baby sister before her death makes his mind wander, thinking of Uncle Aral and whatever duty he felt he had towards Ivan -- the only child of his cousin, who in turn was the only other survivor of the massacre beyond Aral himself. But his uncle had never turned so miserly, as terrifying as he was to Ivan. He'd been kind, come to think of it, and had never made either Ivan or his mother -- as far as he could tell -- feel unwelcome in hims home or his life.

But it's the overview of the breaking of a betrothal that gets Ivan to stir from more than listening. "I thought betrothal when you're younger meant you didn't have to love each other." Arranged marriages had fallen out of favor with the Vor by his generation, although not completely. But his mother's marriage to his father had certainly been arraigned. And Uncle Aral with his first wife. Both by his great uncle, although Ivan thinks that perhaps he'd gotten it more right on the second attempt with his parents than the first.

Feel free to shush him and continue reading, Elizabeth, it's not important.

[tearmeanewone]

"But they do love each other-- yes, arranged marriages happened, but when this was published the idea that couples should be in love was becoming more and more popular. It's not at all strange that Belle and Ebeneezer are in love and so they became engaged.

"...you also have to remember that the life expectancy here was about forty years old, so you marry young for love or you don't marry at all," Elizabeth said with a wince.

[whatdidisay]

"Forty years?" He asks, slightly incredulous -- Barrayar might not be up to Beta Colony's one hundred and thirty, but even then that seems a bit excessive. "Right, marry young, arranged marriages but in love."

Seems simple enough.

"Continue, please." Ivan's coming to enjoy listening to the sound of her voice. Well, he already did, but this is slightly different than just having a conversation.

[tearmeanewone]

Elizabeth grins and pats his chest encouragingly. "You've got it. Alright, ah... Where was I? Oh, right, be happy in the life you've chosen, they parted--

""Spirit!" said Scrooge, "show me no more! Conduct me home. Why do you delight to torture me?"

"One shadow more!" exclaimed the Ghost.

"No more!" cried Scrooge! "No more, I don't wish to see it! Show me no more!"

But the relentless Ghost pinioned him in both his arms, and forced him to observe what happened next....'

[whatdidisay]

Ivan falls silent again, eyes drifting closed -- it's possible to think he's fallen asleep, except that occasionally he'll crack an eye open to watch Elizabeth or adjust his arm around her shoulders.

He tenses, however, when Tiny Tim is brought up. It's not like Miles at all, Ivan knows that, but at the same time he can't help but substitute his tiny cousin for the kid in his mind's eye. And had his limbs supported by an iron frame; Ivan's helped Miles with his braces before he got the synthetic substitutes often enough he can picture the whole contraption in his mind's eye.

And when it's mentioned that he won't live past a year -- his arm tightens around Elizabeth, eyes open and expression dark. "What?"

[tearmeanewone]

Elizabeth pauses, a little startled by how dark Ivan sounds, but she repeats the line anyway-- maybe he didn't quite understand it.

"'If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other of my race,' returned the Ghost, 'will find him here'," she repeats. "Tiny Tim's health has never been good, and the fact that his father doesn't make a lot of money means that he can't provide doctors or medicine for him."

[whatdidisay]

"Oh," he says, comforted at first because Miles had the best, of course he did, his father was Lord Regent of Barrayar. And people die all the time for not having money and access to medical care on Barrayar, although he's certain that's changing -- has been changing since the time he was born.

It's not perfect, but Gregor's trying.

"That's still-- it's just not right," he finishes lamely, although the conviction in his voice is true. Fixing it isn't his job. It's in the hands of far more capable people, of course, but he can still voice his dissatisfaction with it all. Fictional or not. "Continue, sorry."

He'll try harder not to interrupt next time, he swears.

[tearmeanewone]

"No, it's not," Elizabeth agrees. She saw Finkton, she saw people living in poverty because their employer refused to pay them enough to have a better life. She saw what happened when those people were given means to push back, too... "People are entitled to life. Whether or not you're rich shouldn't dictate if you live or die. It creates a culture of people who believe the poor are less than human and deserve to struggle or be in pain for not having money."

She smiles faintly, trying to brighten the mood a little. "Just wait until the end, though. Alright, where was I... Right-- '"--will find him here. What then? If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief...'"

[whatdidisay]

He can see a bit of his aunt in the morality of the story, of what Elizabeth is saying. And, by extension -- the rest of his family; as Barrayaran as they are it's impossible not to see where her morals and that of Uncle Aral's coincide, and therefore bleed into the individuals they surround themselves with. Even Ivan, in his own way, although he keeps himself away from the politicking his entire family does as best as he can.

Ivan smiles all through the scene with Scrooge's nephew -- including the parts where he appreciates the amount of detail given to the niece by marriage and her sisters. Because, well, he's Ivan. His arm tightens around Elizabeth, however, as he settles more comfortably in the bed and against her, eyes flickering shut again. This is nice.

There's no need to say much until the Spirit of Christmas Future shows up, and Ivan can see where this is a ghost story more than the previous appearance of Scrooge's partner. He winces at the images of Scrooge dead, with no one to burn a death offering for him -- a Barrayaran tradition, to be sure, but the idea was there. He doesn't say anything until it resolves itself, and then he can't help but burst out at the revelation that the spirit became his bedpost "Wait, it was just a dream?"

[tearmeanewone]

Elizabeth is charmed by the fact that Ivan is listening to the story, even pausing on occasion to see if he's fallen asleep and smiling and resuming when she confirms he's still listening. It's very nice, being held and kept warm.

She hadn't expected that particular outburst though. Elizabeth raises her eyebrows when Ivan objects to the spirit's disappearance, looks back at the book, then back and him and smirks.

"What, you don't think a spirit can turn into a bedpost if it wants to?"

[whatdidisay]

"I dunno, it just doesn't seem--" Real? He'd just finished listening to a book about ghosts, or is in the process and near the tail end of the tale. A frown crosses his handsome face as he realizes this, and gestures for her to continue.

"Just seems awfully convenient." There'd be bloodshed if this was on Barrayar -- that's why they all liked Shakespeare so much.

[tearmeanewone]

"That the spirit doesn't strike him dead right then and there, but instead returns him to his bed a changed man?" Elizabeth isn't at all annoyed by his questions or objections, she actually is enjoying discussing the story with him at these intervals. This one is a little more debate-worthy than the previous interjections, too-- he's learning!

She grins and finds her spot again, and resumes. He'd get it once the theme of the story came out. "Yes! and the bedpost was his own. The bed was his own, the room was his own. Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make amends in!

'I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!' Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. 'The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. Oh Jacob Marley! Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this. I say it on my knees, old Jacob, on my knees!'

He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions, that his broken voice would scarcely answer to his call. He had been sobbing violently in his conflict with the Spirit, and his face was wet with tears...."

[whatdidisay]

"That it could disappear so easily and bring him back just in time. But that too," Ivan mutters, but settles to let her finish. He's silent after the last God bless us everyone for a moment, considering the tale as a whole. "So it's a story telling people to be generous, or else they'll die alone and be miserable?"

It's not a bad moral for a story, all things considered. Better than most of Barrayar's. Ivan tucks her head under his chin, frowning. "It's a bit misleading to describe it as a ghost story, isn't it?"

[tearmeanewone]

Elizabeth laughs. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it-- but, to me, it's a story with a lot of messages. The importance of human connection over material gain, for example. How fleeting life is, and how it can pass you by if you don't take hold of the experiences it offers. And how it's never too late to change your ways and find happiness."

Elizabeth's expression becomes a little distant, but fortunately Ivan can't see it given he's settling her forehead against his neck. "Is there anything more scary than being made to realize you're alone in the world? And nobody knows you well enough to care if you die?"

[whatdidisay]

He can't argue with the last bit, though, because that is a fate he doesn't like entertaining. For all that he keeps himself out of the line of fire, he wants his family to have at least some shred of common sense that keeps them from it too. It's not going to happen, and it's not the moral of the story she's referring to, but he understands it on some level.

"I don't know, facing your own mortality is sobering enough," he says, voice low and surprisingly serious. He still remembers being trapped in the damp dark, beating his fists against the metal walls until his hands bled. Yelling until he couldn't anymore, until he was sure he would drown alone -- not forgotten, no. But certainly alone. "I'm glad he gets it right in the end."

[tearmeanewone]

Elizabeth half-closes the book and tries to look back at Ivan's face when she hears that uncharacteristic serious note in his voice. But given how they're laying next to one another, it's nigh impossible. Still--

"I'm glad too," Elizabeth says, closing the book and wrapping her arm across Ivan's chest and turning until her body was pulled against his side.

[whatdidisay]

He wraps an arm around her in return, holding her there but not constricting in case she wants to leave. "It's a good story." It is -- engaging enough even without the adventure and the bloodshed. "I guess that's the real gift he was given -- a second chance." To do it better, to avoid whatever fate had in store. Cryorevival only lets people who die young get something like that, and Ivan hopes to avoid knowing what that's like for his entire life.

Ivan still finds it within himself to grin, tone becoming more affable. "You're not going to kick me out if I fall asleep, right?" It's a real threat -- he's tired and comfortable like this.