[ open post: sonia ]

[vorbratta]

Sonia Vorbarra Vorpatril

every Sonia under the sun

your choice of:

wartime: "canon" Sonia during the 20-year-long Cetagandan occupation

for barrayar: 4b AU Sonia, post-game

wine mom: post-massacre single wine mom Sonia, now Lady Vorpatril, raising her baby boy Padma

alignment swap: bad end AU where Padma dies in the massacre and Sonia goes on a heinous revenge quest after the civil war

visualosities 4b bio kink list

credit: photosynthesis

Comments

wine mom sonia open prompt

[vorbratta]

Ten years after the end of Mad Yuri's War, life finally no longer feels like a war zone. When the last shocks and pains finally wore away, when Sonia's grief for her husband progressed into deeply cherished, if aching, memory, when Vorbarr Sultana finally began to rapidly rebuild itself -- when it was over, Sonia almost didn't know what to do with herself. She'd spent more than half her life entrenched in one war or another, even if she never was too close to the gritty truth of it -- until Mad Yuri's War. The Massacre changed her, the Dismemberment changed her -- she remembers that fraught and furious argument with Piotr over her insistence on participating -- but her dear late sister's work was not all undone. When the dust settled, she was still Sonia Vorbarra Vorpatril, and some things never change.

She had vowed, long ago, never to let loneliness take hold of her and crush her so desperately as it had in her youth. Her late husband, dear, sweet Ivan, had never wished anything but happiness on her, and God, he had brought it in droves. But he is ten years passed now, and Sonia has allowed herself to move on, his memory never far from her mind. She will never remarry -- that honor belonged to Ivan Vorpatril alone -- but Sonia never was in the habit of depriving herself of much-needed company.

The memories of her youth in the war have never quite faded, not as much as the photographs she's kept all these years. She remembers them all, remembers the fantasy of a Barrayar she could fit into that always seemed just out of reach. There are still parts of her that don't fit here, things that sometimes make her wonder if she and Padma would be better off on Beta Colony, but she can't bear to part with what family she has left. And so Sonia finds her own element in the Vorbarr Sultana social scene, not just becoming a part of it but shaping it, because the Lady Princess is a hell of a lot more cosmopolitan than most of her Vor lady peers. It's well known that Lady Sonia Vorpatril, cousin and oddly close friend to Emperor Ezar, throws the best damned parties in the District.

a. party at the imperial residence
Sonia is in her mid-forties now, though she's impossible not to recognize from her youth, her half-Betan genes aging her much more gracefully. She still has that bright light in her eyes, that sunny smile and that wicked look, that same long, tumbling mass of dark curls down her back. But she looks different now, no longer in war-worn village clothes, now dressed in the height of Vorbarr Sultana fashion, as immodestly cut as social graces will permit her, because she lives to challenge every social norm in her sphere of influence. She wears jewelry now that, in retrospect, would have seemed oddly missing on her younger self, and her hair is adorned in fresh flowers.

Whatever the occasion the party is for, it isn't clear, but the Imperial Residence's banquet hall is full of people, talking, socializing, dancing. Sonia seems to be everywhere at once, chatting, laughing, a glass of wine always in hand.

b. city strolls
Sonia loves Vorbarr Sultana. She had hardly seen it for a decade, and it was ravaged by war for so long. Now that it's rebuilding itself, steadily and surely, she spends as much time as she can soaking it in, never tiring of it. They had fought hard for it, and she will bask in their spoils.

She can often be seen walking through the city on idle errands, with or without her son Padma in tow, or visiting her brother-in-law and nephew at Vorkosigan House. She favors the view from the Star Bridge, the bustling city center, the quiet beauty of the Royal Gardens. Really, it isn't hard to find Sonia in Vorbarr Sultana at all, these days.

c. wildcard
go ahead, just fuck me right up

option a with AU Betan Bull?? also i'm making shit up

[justoutside]

The strange looks are almost getting old. Almost, except they're still kind of hilarious. Krem doesn't get a second look, which. Is nice. He knows how hard Barrayar still goes for gender shit. He looks good tonight, the soft greys of the Betan Survey team complimenting his military cut hair and straight posture. He's confusing the fuck out of some of these General-Lords who think they should be looking at a civilian and Bull's getting a kick watching.

Barrayar doesn't know what to do with someone like Bull. He is big, easily as tall, if not taller than many of the men in their fine military formal and built like a truck. Sitting off to the side, lounging almost on one of the elegant sofas does nothing to diminish the sheer size of the man. He's a good counter point to Krem: uniform a little bit rumpled, a little disarrayed, dark skin even darker against the grey while his scars stand out starkly. The eyepatch gets some looks, but the insignia on his uniform gets a double take which is gratifying. Captain Bull Irons of the Charger is not here to make Barrayaran Lords comfortable. He's here to make sure Skinner doesn't kill anybody and Rocky doesn't blow anything up and drink on the Emperor's dime.

And maybe even enjoy watching the woman, gorgeous and done up and only a little older than he is, playing the crowd like she was born for it.

betan bull hell yes a++

[vorbratta]

Sonia knows exactly who all of the Emperor's guests are, and she's just as amused at the reactions the Betan scientists are getting from the Barrayarans in attendance. They don't really understand the concept of paramilitary very well, it seems, but then again, it's been a long time since a Betan Survey officer was a guest of the Barrayaran Emperor.

She finally makes it over to the Survey officers -- well, that one stand-out officer in particular with captain's tabs on his collar and nearly a full head of height over most men in the room. Impressive on Barrayar. She does wonder what they're putting in the water on Beta Colony these days -- and where he got that eyepatch. Not the sort of thing you usually pick up in Survey.

"Captain," she greets him with a flash of a sunny smile at him and his crew, her eyes bright. Her wine glass is only half-full, and she reaches out with her free hand to offer it to him -- a Barrayaran-style kiss on the hand or a more galactic handshake, it's up to him. She's curious to see what he'll do. "I do apologize for making my greetings so late. I trust you're enjoying the party?"

[justoutside]

His guys don't pay her much mind than a rowdy cheer of greeting. The booze is high price and free flowing and the Chargers' crew have never been ones to abstain. Bull feels more than sees the subtle shift of Krem moving to sit in his blindside. It gives him more than enough assurance to smile up at the beautiful woman, giving her the bulk of his focus.

"Ah, don't sweat it," Bull tells her, taking her hand carefully in his. He does his duty, a quick light kiss to her knuckles and a slight seated bow. He's not for titles, but he knows who he's talking to. "Emperor throws a hell of a party."

[vorbratta]

"Mm." Sonia sips at her wine and smiles brilliantly at him, tickled by his adhesion to Barrayaran customs rather than Betan. Her own Barrayaran accent isn't nearly as thick as most of the other attendees and state officials, a few traces of that Betan twang still lingering here and there in her voice.

"He certainly hosts one," she concedes, her smile tilted as she brushes her hair over her shoulder. "But I'm afraid my cousin isn't much of a party planner. HIs idea of entertainment is, hmm...not especially well-suited to state affairs." She looks amused more than anything, and offers a slight bow of her head. "I took the liberty of handling the details. Ah, but forgive me for not properly introducing myself -- Lady Sonia Vorpatril."