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[jacksonian]

[ voice / video / text / in-person ]

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[wizzardly]

Exactly.

[so relieved that someone else seems to get it.]

Look, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it makes up for the consequences I've suffered, but it's certainly more than the nothing I would have had. And that's your doing.

So - thank you.

[keep_nothing]

Need? No. Want to catch up with you? Of course.

[jacksonian]

I, uh...

[ What?? What do you do?? with someone saying thank you??? He shifts anxiously and uncertainty, and tries to figure out some graceful way to accept that - and, failing that, some rebuff. He doesn't have either. So instead, awkwardly, he mumbles: ]

Uh - what consequences?

[jacksonian]

With...

[ He looks over at her uncertainly. He doesn't know how she feels about him, and so he ventures, self-consciously: ]

With your accountant?

[wizzardly]

Oh, you know... ruin someone's plans and they think that means you've earned new management.

[light, vague, and tired.]

Anyway, this should mean I can vest with you now, doesn't it?

[jacksonian]

[ Automatically: ]

Invest.

[ And then a pause as he debates whether or not to say anything. Whether or not he should...Hesitantly, finally, he says: ]

So then - Lucifer is...trying to tell you what to do?

[keep_nothing]

I'd heard Gregor asked you. Should I congratulate you?

[jacksonian]

Oh. Uh, probably not.

[ He ducks his head a little. ]

I'm just doing it as a form of payment.

[keep_nothing]

[ She tilts her head down while looking at him as if she could glance under his ducked head to see his face. ]

Just that?

[wizzardly]

Invest, right.

[there's a pause on the line - just enough time for an inner debate which is perhaps a little late.]

..."Trying". Possibly. It's - complicated. [and completely awful.] I'd rather even that be kept between us, if you don't mind.

But, ah, the money? I can still take your offer?

[jacksonian]

[ He doesn't look up - just shrugs. ]

Yeah. Just that. Gregor wanted work instead of money in return for the Dendarii's services.

[jacksonian]

Yeah, uh...Yeah. You can. Minimum of five hundred dollars.

[ He swallows. Another one, then. Another one that Lucifer has claimed, just because of his connection to the Barrayarans. ]

How is it, uh...complicated, though?

[keep_nothing]

Really? How did that work out?

[jacksonian]

[ Another shrug. ]

Well, I'm good at my job. So it's working out okay.

[Voice]

[use_everything]

[He pauses at that, listening to the awkward, stuttering rush. There's quite a bit packed into that. How the conversation got there, and got him to agree without being offended at the implications... something Peter is used to or just a testament to Gregor's negotiating chops.

But why bring it up? What is it even validating?]

Would you have done it otherwise? [The question is even toned, but blunt.]

[wizzardly]

Differences in opinion. [a little tightly.] Sorry, this isn't exactly a favorite topic of mine. Anyway, I expect the whole thing to blow over.

And I was thinking eight thousand, actually. Would that be all right?

[keep_nothing]

I mean how did it happen in the first place, you and Gregor talking?

[Voice]

[jacksonian]

[ That's...a question. A question which actually takes a surprisingly short amount of time to answer. He'd thought that his capacity for hurting the Barrayarans and their allies was near-unchecked, but in truth he knows at once that: ]

No. I don't need to take money from all of you.

[Voice]

[use_everything]

Hm. [It wasn't the speed, or the answer that had the note of truth to his inner ear. But the reason. If he was a craftsman of this sort, no, he really wouldn't.]

That does explain why you would agree to such an oath. [A beat.] Send along a copy of what you report to Gregor. I should like to watch your work.

[Voice]

[jacksonian]

Uh -

[ He cringes internally, anticipating some anger or explosion, as he replies: ]

I'd have to clear that with Gregor first.

[jacksonian]

Oh. Well, uh...We met. In person. Actually. Not long after I got here. [ A little sourly: ] He thought I was Miles, so he worried about me.

[jacksonian]

...Yeah. I'll get you a good return on investment. You'll get rich before long. I'm going to invest in some restaurants - they're high-risk, but really high return, too.

[wizzardly]

Whatever you think best, I trust you.

I'll have it sent over. [once he figures out how to do that.]

[keep_nothing]

He'd worry even if you weren't Miles.

[jacksonian]

[ A snort. This is a pay-at-the-front sort of place, so he pulls out his wallet and hands over a stack of cash to the cashier. It's thrillingly subversive, knowing that he's getting access to as much food as he can possibly eat; he might not have the nerve for it, except that, well...Well. Cordelia had suggested it. And he guesses that being with her makes...Sometimes it makes things that ought to be frightening a little less so.

Anyway. ]

Seems unlikely.