Fic - Vorkosigan 'verse - Paddy (gen, ivan-centric)

[askerian]

Characters: Ivan, Miles. No pairing.
Words: 2800
Notes: Written for the Psychic Wolves for Lupercalia challenge. An alternate universe based on A Companion to Wolves; take canon warrior culture, add semi-sentient telepathic wolves, shake, stir.
Summary: Miles is crazy about becoming a wolfbrother. Ivan, not so much.
Excerpt:

The second his mutie freak of a cousin was unilaterally uninvited from visiting the cubs, things were going to explode -- noisily, hostilely, and all over the place -- and if there was one place *ever* where Ivan did not want explosions, it was in a closed room with a nursing she-wolf.

"Paddy" on AO3.

Comments

[finnyb.livejournal.com]

Happy happy happy! I love both universes, so this works great for me!

[askerian]

:D thank you!

[kindigo.livejournal.com]

I just. Love you. When are you going to stop writing perfect things that make me squeak embarrassingly when I see them?

Ivan's POV is flawless! Of course lazy Ivan doesn't want a wolf, haha. You also renewed my poor-Ivan feels. Forswear the Vorpatril name Ivan, they suck balls and you're basically a Vorkosigan anyway!

Yesss the addition of Volk- prefix for the wolves, that's awesome. Makes me wonder if the high status of the wolf will allow it to keep a Volk- name when adopted by a non-Vor like this Francois Marcelin person. Is that wolf now Volkmarcelin or just Marcelin?

What does wolf space gear look like?? Or probably the Imperium doesn't give Pack-born or -Chosen off-world postings, yeah they'd want to keep them on Barrayar. Probably not even to Komarr, considering that undoubtedly the Komarrans have some lingering memories of the Butcher of Komarr's Vasily...

Ooh, wonder if/how the wolves affected the Cetagandan War. Ogosh so many delightful possibilities~~ Seriously I just reread the whole series this December I'm not going to reread it again--oh ffs I am aren't I.

<3!!

ALSO a wolf whose scent name is like, Forgotten Bear Trap That Looks Old and Rusted But Will Still Mess Your Leg The Fuck Up is pretty perfect for Ivan haha. Undoubtedly those fools who underestimate Ivan-Paddy will regret those hidden teeth when Team Patril, aha, come back to bite them in the ass!

(if Miles ever gets a wolf it would probably be scent-named something like Sudden Tree Falling Directly On Your Head)

[askerian]

♥!!

i'm so glad you approve of the ivan POV, he's not even my favorite character and i found him hard to handle XD then again my fave is miles and he'd be hideously complicated to write and balance properly, so. XD;

YES IVAN JOIN THE VOTKOSIGAN PACK >:O

Oh hey! i havent thought about the wolf "marrying" into prole issue. i think for armsmen families if they stay in the pack they keep the name of the pack they're joining, and she-wolves who bond outside the pack use both their birth pack and their new pack names. i don't know if they'd treat a male wolf and a female wolf who bonded outside of vor entirely differently, and how they'd treat them at all, it's a very interesting thing to ponder. I have no idea right now! XD;

wolf space gear is actually pretty well done XD a lot of wolves stay on world, or only get postings where they won't have to get into vacuum suits for fighting, and they're just trained to get into escape pods in case of atmosphere loss, but wolf-shaped suits exist. it's not ideal because a mask means a wolf can't bite or smell, which disturbs them and not all of them can handle it, but at the same time the telepathy thing and the mass and speed of a pouncing wolf can be REALLY useful in a fight. It depends on what the pair wants and needs, and it's a bit elite even amongst wolfbrothers, but it's possible.

I think they'd have wolves on komarr with the scary military guard types especially to look scary at potential terrorists, but also do quite a bit of outreach stuff with look at those adorable cubs and stick-chasing fun-having doggies propaganda. (there'd be a lot of internal conflict in the government about the image they send XD)

i was wondering if the wolves weren't of cetagandan origin/make and decided to side with the people who didn't treat them as amusing and decorative experiments, but it wouldn't be enough generations to enmesh them so thoroughly in the culture. So i guess they participated violently and bloodily, and in especially convenient ways during the guerilla parts of the war especially.

muahaha i'm glad you like the scent name, i was just... yeah, that's perfect. (miles, btw, is Lightning Strike. his wolf is a surprise XD)