Alicornutopia

I actually posted that before re-checking if there was anything new in the relevant thread. I shouldn’t have done that, and I usually don’t, but this time I did. I hadn’t seen Ivan explain his theory yet. I was asserting that, whatever Ivan got out of the conversation, was probably correct.

I had my interpretation only because I noticed a specific face Gregor made during one of his silences in the meal. If I hadn’t noticed that, I don’t know what I would have thought. Probably that Ivan was attracted to somebody.

And, back to talking to the characters who usually don’t listen: Bella, don’t burn the jacket. For one thing, I doubt it would burn well, or cleanly (the magic might stick to the remains); if you need to destroy it, I think you need a different way. For another, you might be able to disenchant it and give it back to Scott. Remember, it’s an item of great emotional significance to him.

With the whole bar thing, and the resources available to the Barrayarans, it's starting to seem increasingly odd that they aren't planning to occupy the place permanently. It would be no trouble at all for any of the natives (but most appropriately Miles) to lean outside, ring up Simon, and before long have Imperial Security occupy the bar effectively forever, rotating guys through on a regular schedule while trade and scientific exchange with different possible universes is arranged. I think this was even mentioned before, though they never got so far as actually contacting Simon. So long as the bar is never completely empty of Barrayarans, the door would always effectively be open on their side, since it can be safely assumed that all bar-visitors would eventually return. This would also, incidentally, allow them to obviate any 'we don't own this house and it'd be rather awkward to dispossess the owner' related issues; they've got money and political influence, it's not even a problem by the standards of the problems they routinely handle. The same sorts of vetting issues that normally arise from access to extraplanar powers and magic arise, but that kind of thing is literally Simon's job, and he's rather competent, so it should be a thing that can happen.

Is there any particular reason why this isn't happening?

It hasn't been ruled out, but it's not really where we want to go with the sandbox.

As far as Miles is concerned, money and political influence don't make it not awkward to dispossess the house's owners. There is nothing in the bar he wants badly enough to cross that line.

Kappa wrote:As far as Miles is concerned, money and political influence don't make it not awkward to dispossess the house's owners. There is nothing in the bar he wants badly enough to cross that line.

Thanks, that's a much better answer than "good idea, but it messes up the planned plotline".

Also this is Ivan's girlfriend and her parents, not Random People, it makes it at least slightly more socially awkward if they just went all YIELD TO OUR POWER at Ivan's girlfriend...? Like, if my boyfriend let his cousin essentially throw me and my parents out of our house, I do not think money and political influence would get him out of trouble :P

The equivalent these days would be something along the lines of 'a matter of national security'. If your boyfriend's cousin worked for the CIA (or equivalent local org), and arranged for the director of the CIA to show up in person, vouch for the necessity of the strange-seeming action, apologize sincerely for the inconvenience, and hand you a check for enough to buy a new house outright (and then some), while arranging for your personal belongings to be delivered to you reasonably quickly, you'd certainly be confused and annoyed, but you'd still go with it. The situation is analogous.

It isn't a matter of national security, though. Miles alluded to this when he dismissed the idea of upgrading fake family emergency to fake bomb threat. If he called in Simon to throw Ivan's girlfriend out of her parents' house, he would be abusing his position of trust as an ImpSec agent. Not for personal gain exactly, granted, but he'd still be throwing around resources that are not his to throw around at will, and illegally seizing the property of people who aren't even on the planet to object. Barrayar would benefit, but Barrayar would also keep going just fine without it.

It would be different if there was some direct specific benefit that could be specifically weighed against the cost, as opposed to the generic chance at interworld trade, and it might be a harder choice if he knew for sure none of them would ever get a door again, but as it is, it would go against his principles. He does have some of those. XD

Well... there's clearly some implied reason why they aren't sending someone downstairs to say something along the lines of "There's an awesome magical portal in your bedroom, come see!" National security would be a good reason, since it'd be troublesome to let the knowledge of aliens and magic loose without some kind of plan, but there could be others. Sure, it's not unreasonable to decide against arbitrarily confiscating someone's house because of the existence of a magical portal. However, even if you decide against that, there's still other possibilities, including discreetly revealing the existence of the magical portal to the owner of the house and coming to some kind of arrangement regarding the use of it. The problem isn't particularly hard, so shrugging and giving up on it, and thus forfeiting all potential future gains, just seems uncharacteristically sloppy.

Also, the 'getting a door again' thing seems like a weird thing for them to be thinking about. Whatever your intentions as a writer regarding future availability of doors, given that none of them were aware of the existence of other universes at all before the incident, it'd be a more natural response to treat it as a once-in-a-lifetime event rather than something that can be expected to predictably reoccur under more convenient circumstances.

Regardless, however, it'd also be reasonable to defer any final decisions regarding bar-usage plans to later. After all, if they're planning on spending another week or so in the bar, and that's time that won't pass in their own world, then there's no actual rush, and things could well happen in the bar that'd make a difference to those plans. For instance, someone might inquire with Bar herself as to the possibility of setting up some kind of semi-permanent embassy on the premises, for use in facilitating interworld trade.