[ 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

[vorbratta]

"Oh, no, I wasn't making that part up," she says brightly. It's probably not the best sense to be throwing that around, considering where they are, but that little spot of joint improv had gotten her out of trouble, and she can't exactly take it back anyway. She listens raptly as Drift talks about Spectralism, though, her brown eyes going wide with interest.

"Color symbolism? That sounds...very beautiful." Interpreting the light spectrum -- it does sound a little far out, but it's fascinating nonetheless. She laughs a little. "It just means someone who believes in God, or gods in general. So that would make you a theist, if Primus is your god."

[alwaysadrift]

"And that title carries elite social status for your people?" he asks, holding himself a little straighter, a touch more dignified, suddenly quiet aware that he could use a thorough trip through a washrack and something more than slapdash maintenance. He veers away from the narrower alleyways and seedier areas, trying to head to more hospitable sections of the spaceport, intensely aware of the looks he's getting.

"A theist indeed, then. Though there is some debatable proof of Primus's existence, but I think that depends a great deal on one's perspective. Not that my faith requires proof. Unlike certain other people I know." Namely Ratchet. Thought of the medic twists his spark in his chest, the last kind hand he experienced before leaving the Lost Light forever.

[vorbratta]

"Well, yes," Sonia says, blinking, because someone being foreign to the idea of hereditary rule is just as foreign to her. "I'm related to the leader of our planet, and Vor besides -- a military caste, but it might as well be an aristocracy. It's not a very fair system, though. I think Mama is right -- Barrayar needs a constitution or something. But we don't really have time for that sort of thing lately."

She gives Drift a smile. She's not much of a theist herself, too many years spent on Barrayar eroding away at a nondenominational faith, but she believes in the soul, the willpower of people. "Faith doesn't need proof. That's the whole point of faith, isn't it?"

[alwaysadrift]

"Related? As in...by birth?" Drift's head tilts; hopefully he's choosing the right words there. Hereditary anything is foreign to Drift. Sure there were houses and names with affluence before the war, but those affiliations were determined in different way, and even then it was a whole other world compared to his own in the gutters. "Sadly, unfair systems seem to be more common than not. It's what started our war in the beginning and the reason it's waged for so long. I only ever saw one place, one people, who seemed to have it figured out...."

A hitch of old grief steals into his eyes, but they flicker as he puts a smile on his face to cover it. "That's right. I say if the logic doesn't contradict itself, who is to say it's invalid? It can't be unproven any more than it can be proven, and I'd rather believe in something rather than nothing at all."

[vorbratta]

"Yes, by birth," Sonia says, looking mildly bemused. It hadn't occurred to her that the idea of blood relations and inheritance might be opaque to a robot. "We're a fairly large family, us Vorbarras. The planet itself is named for us. I'd like to say it keeps the politics predictable, but on Barrayar, they're anything but. But it's true. If you don't believe in anything...it's easy to lose sight of what you're fighting for."

She smiles a little more brightly and cocks her head at him, her hair falling over one shoulder. "And what place was that? Your home, perchance?"

[alwaysadrift]

"Okay then," Drift both proud that he's remembered his details on organics and a little awkward at handling the subject period. "Sorry, I'm a little shaky on organic--er--reproductive processes, keeping them straight is sometimes a challenge. Ours is understandably different. But goodness, a whole planet named after your house, that sounds fancy."

Drift is steadily getting the notion that this is a very fancy lady he's managed to befriend in an extremely dicey spaceport. It makes him walk a little taller, and wish that he'd maybe buffed out some of the 'adventure souvenirs' on his supposedly white armor.

"Crystal City," he answers, optics dimming a little. "It could have been my home...but no. It was the home of my mentor though. He loved it...quite a lot."

[vorbratta]

"It's quite fancy," Sonia says, allowing herself to preen just a little. But the smile she gives him is more girlish and sunny than it is regal, because unless this is all a cover for some reason -- and she, admittedly, can be a little trusting -- then she's really lucked out on the mysterious savior lottery. Drift seems...very pleasant a rescuer. She's sure she could do much worse.

"Oh?" Sonia's expression echoes his melancholy, and she tilts her head, looking up at him. His face is...not quite as intuitive to read as a human's, but she's Barrayaran. She can appreciate a good tragedy. "What happened? If I may ask, that is."

[alwaysadrift]

Drift's relationship with fancy things has always been complicated, wanting them for the sake of envy during his less-fortunate start in life while also despising everything such extravagance stood for. Since then, he's found a love for certain things of elegance or refinement that have meaning or symbolism beyond simple material wealth. Textiles are one such, drapes having greater meaning in spectralist ceremonies than any instance where a similar garment would be pure embellishment for a position of power.

"Do you find yourself just as fancy?" he asks with a little mirth. "Or as you on the contrary side?" Either would be fine, but this little lady does not strike Drift as the haughty type, unless she's playing him marvelously well.

He sighs a little, not in the mood to walk down that dark memory lane but he finds himself oddly willing to please his current company. he is vastly lacking in friends of late.

"Many unfortunate things. Suffice it to say I made some mistakes. I was coming out of a time of great darkness and didn't see the folly of my choices until it was nearly too late. I've done everything I can to atone for that, but as it is in life, costs must still be paid."

[vorbratta]

"I'd like to think I'm a little bit of both," Sonia says with a rich smile, brushing her hair over her shoulder. But her expression becomes a little more subdued as she listens to Drift's tale, looking at him with her face upturned.

It sounds like something out of a holodrama, if she's honest, but he sounds painfully sincere.

"You seem to me a man of honor, Drift," she says gravely, placing her small hand against his. "Or -- er -- I suppose you aren't really a man, are you?"

[alwaysadrift]

"A good compromise, it suits you, I think." Drift has only just met this little lady, but she seems oddly easy to talk to, a slice of regal without the haughtiness that seemed to come with it. Maybe towering over her physically makes it hard to feel below her socially...but Drift suspects it has more to do with her personable attitude than anything difference in stature.

In that light, it's easy to chuckle softly at her correction, the little bit of levity welcome and the small hand on his armor oddly warm.

"Well no, not technically by organic standards but I appreciate the sentiment. And I do, try at least, to be honorable."

[vorbratta]

Sonia flashes him a smile and gives him an exaggerated little toss of her hair with a little laugh. She barely knows Drift, but he did save her life, and there's just something about him -- something she finds comforting. Her sister always questioned her judgment of character, but Drift seems like someone she can trust.

"So...we're in a spaceport. How do we find out where we are?" Sonia glances around them as Drift quickly walks them through the unfriendly corridors. She can't identify half the things they're peddling, but she's certain they'd made her stomach churn if she could. "Where do we go from here?"

She doesn't even know where to begin to find out how to get home from here, but sticking with Drift seems like the best idea.