"Oh, the funnest ones were on Beta Colony," Sonia says cheerfully. "Back then, Barrayar was barely on the radar. I mean, we were new, but for the most part nobody knew all that much about us. It gave me a very broad artistic license, let's say."
She rocks back and forth idly, chewing on a lock of hair. "Olivia was...oh, she was eighteen when the war started, so she was really in her dating years back on Beta. I almost feel a bit bad for trying so hard to ruin it for her. I was mostly jealous, you see. I wanted my sister all to myself. Some of them were almost disappointingly easy to scare off -- one of them got squeamish at the mere description of a body birth, although in truth we all came out of replicators. Not that he had the birth certificate to dispute it."
She grins crookedly at Byerly. "You know, it's funny. For all that we critcize Barrayar's obsession with mutations, some Betans will truly balk at the idea of someone who hasn't been gene-cleaned. Then again, they were all teenage boys. But I had to get more creative as they got older. Told them madness lurked in our genes, or -- ha, better yet -- one time Olivia had a boy over, and I walked into the room and instantly scolded my big sister for not taking her medications, insinuating that she'd be in big trouble with Da and Mama -- and then very straight-faced explained to the boy that my sister was quite mad, and she'd go rabid and frothing at the mouth if she didn't take all her pills on time. I think I somehow managed to convince him it might be contagious, because he excused himself shortly thereafter. Ooh, Livvy was furious over that one. And then there was that spectacularly stupid one, don't remember his name -- I told him that it was Barrayaran tradition for all young maidens to wear a chastity belt, that a little contraceptive implant didn't satisfy our feudal customs, and that he'd have to ask Da for the key. Although I think he may have just been too embarrassed to ask anyone else if it was really true."
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She rocks back and forth idly, chewing on a lock of hair. "Olivia was...oh, she was eighteen when the war started, so she was really in her dating years back on Beta. I almost feel a bit bad for trying so hard to ruin it for her. I was mostly jealous, you see. I wanted my sister all to myself. Some of them were almost disappointingly easy to scare off -- one of them got squeamish at the mere description of a body birth, although in truth we all came out of replicators. Not that he had the birth certificate to dispute it."
She grins crookedly at Byerly. "You know, it's funny. For all that we critcize Barrayar's obsession with mutations, some Betans will truly balk at the idea of someone who hasn't been gene-cleaned. Then again, they were all teenage boys. But I had to get more creative as they got older. Told them madness lurked in our genes, or -- ha, better yet -- one time Olivia had a boy over, and I walked into the room and instantly scolded my big sister for not taking her medications, insinuating that she'd be in big trouble with Da and Mama -- and then very straight-faced explained to the boy that my sister was quite mad, and she'd go rabid and frothing at the mouth if she didn't take all her pills on time. I think I somehow managed to convince him it might be contagious, because he excused himself shortly thereafter. Ooh, Livvy was furious over that one. And then there was that spectacularly stupid one, don't remember his name -- I told him that it was Barrayaran tradition for all young maidens to wear a chastity belt, that a little contraceptive implant didn't satisfy our feudal customs, and that he'd have to ask Da for the key. Although I think he may have just been too embarrassed to ask anyone else if it was really true."