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sraun's prompt of "Barrayar's reaction to a Ferin trick-or-treater "
"Forgive me, Miles, but this does lack a certain amount spontaneity," Ekaterine noted,watching the line of children in front of them raise their arms to be scanned by the Imperial Residence's ImpSec guards. Beside them, Nikki straitened the sword of his Captain Vortalon uniform and hopped up briefly over the heads of Aral Alexander and his sister to see how much further they had to go.
"It's traditional," Miles drawled. "Anyway, blame Mother. She's started the Hallow's Eve celebration at the Imperial Residence during the Regency when she and Da were on the outs with Grandfather. One of the few Betan imports that the Conservatives approved of."
"Any excuse to drink hard cider is a good one?" Ekaterine asked, stepping forward to the ImpSec guard and raising her arms.
"Precisely," he said. "Illyan accused her of trying to thin his hair faster. All those fake weapons on the costumes y'see."
"I can imagine," she laughed. She moved forward carefully in her century old riding dress, conscious of the history behind it, even if Miles had thought it was a wonderful idea that she wear something originally owned by his great-grandmother. Miles, the cheat, was simply wearing his old Dendarii admiral's uniform, which fit him nicely after the jacket had been let out a bit.
Finally they made it through the security check and made their way down the stairs into the main ballroom, its normally bright and spacious dance floor now rendered gloomy and spooky with appropriately dark lighting, fog generators, and the occasional holographic ghost. No doubt with ImpSec monitors watching over the proceedings with low-light scanners.
Nikki immediately led his siblings in the direction of a gathering of children, who were being led by a zombified adult in a rousing game of Scalping Yuri. Ekaterine, arm in arm with Miles, left him to it and headed towards the buffet table.
She stopped short as they came to the head of the table. The server behind encouraged that sort of reaction. It was a young woman dressed as a Residence maid, but that's where any semblance of normality ended. Aside from being short, barely even Mile's height, she had gray skin set off by short, curly hair the color of the sky and equally blue eyes. Emerging from her curls were a pair of thin horns or spurs, and peeking from the skirt of her dress was a tail half again as long her body, curling into an amused bow that only emphasized the large spade on the end of it.
"Hello, milord, milady," the young woman greeted, curtseying slightly. "What may I get you this evening?"
"Roast beef I think," Miles said after a moment's pause. "And an explanation of how you got here."
"You're the same race as that young man we met last year," Ekaterine noted.
"Quite right, milords," the maidservant said, smiling. "A little further down the timeline though. My home universe seems to move a bit faster than yours."
"How much faster?" Miles demanded.
"Quite a bit, as it turns out," a voice said behind them. Ekaterine and Miles turned as one to see another one of the same race as the serving girl standing behind them. While she was perhaps in her late teens at worst, this other alien looked to be well into his latter decades, his blue-black hair shot through with gray, crows feet at his eyes, and nowhere near enough laugh lines at his mouth. For a costume, as if he needed one, he wore an ancient tuxedo.
"Terinu?" Ekaterine exclaimed.
"You can still call me that, just to keep things simple," he said.
"How the hell did you get into this party past Chief Allegre's security cordon?" Miles demanded. "How many more of your people are at this party?"
"That's for me to know and you not t' worry about, Vorkosigan." Terinu smiled ironically. "Believe me, we've got bigger problems."
"Such as what?" Ekaterine asked.
Terinu's smile faded. "You seen a human looking guy with pointy ears and no shirt wandering around here yet?"
sraun's prompt of "Barrayar's reaction to a Ferin trick-or-treater ""Forgive me, Miles, but this does lack a certain amount spontaneity," Ekaterine noted,watching the line of children in front of them raise their arms to be scanned by the Imperial Residence's ImpSec guards. Beside them, Nikki straitened the sword of his Captain Vortalon uniform and hopped up briefly over the heads of Aral Alexander and his sister to see how much further they had to go.
"It's traditional," Miles drawled. "Anyway, blame Mother. She's started the Hallow's Eve celebration at the Imperial Residence during the Regency when she and Da were on the outs with Grandfather. One of the few Betan imports that the Conservatives approved of."
"Any excuse to drink hard cider is a good one?" Ekaterine asked, stepping forward to the ImpSec guard and raising her arms.
"Precisely," he said. "Illyan accused her of trying to thin his hair faster. All those fake weapons on the costumes y'see."
"I can imagine," she laughed. She moved forward carefully in her century old riding dress, conscious of the history behind it, even if Miles had thought it was a wonderful idea that she wear something originally owned by his great-grandmother. Miles, the cheat, was simply wearing his old Dendarii admiral's uniform, which fit him nicely after the jacket had been let out a bit.
Finally they made it through the security check and made their way down the stairs into the main ballroom, its normally bright and spacious dance floor now rendered gloomy and spooky with appropriately dark lighting, fog generators, and the occasional holographic ghost. No doubt with ImpSec monitors watching over the proceedings with low-light scanners.
Nikki immediately led his siblings in the direction of a gathering of children, who were being led by a zombified adult in a rousing game of Scalping Yuri. Ekaterine, arm in arm with Miles, left him to it and headed towards the buffet table.
She stopped short as they came to the head of the table. The server behind encouraged that sort of reaction. It was a young woman dressed as a Residence maid, but that's where any semblance of normality ended. Aside from being short, barely even Mile's height, she had gray skin set off by short, curly hair the color of the sky and equally blue eyes. Emerging from her curls were a pair of thin horns or spurs, and peeking from the skirt of her dress was a tail half again as long her body, curling into an amused bow that only emphasized the large spade on the end of it.
"Hello, milord, milady," the young woman greeted, curtseying slightly. "What may I get you this evening?"
"Roast beef I think," Miles said after a moment's pause. "And an explanation of how you got here."
"You're the same race as that young man we met last year," Ekaterine noted.
"Quite right, milords," the maidservant said, smiling. "A little further down the timeline though. My home universe seems to move a bit faster than yours."
"How much faster?" Miles demanded.
"Quite a bit, as it turns out," a voice said behind them. Ekaterine and Miles turned as one to see another one of the same race as the serving girl standing behind them. While she was perhaps in her late teens at worst, this other alien looked to be well into his latter decades, his blue-black hair shot through with gray, crows feet at his eyes, and nowhere near enough laugh lines at his mouth. For a costume, as if he needed one, he wore an ancient tuxedo.
"Terinu?" Ekaterine exclaimed.
"You can still call me that, just to keep things simple," he said.
"How the hell did you get into this party past Chief Allegre's security cordon?" Miles demanded. "How many more of your people are at this party?"
"That's for me to know and you not t' worry about, Vorkosigan." Terinu smiled ironically. "Believe me, we've got bigger problems."
"Such as what?" Ekaterine asked.
Terinu's smile faded. "You seen a human looking guy with pointy ears and no shirt wandering around here yet?"
