Also, a thread of random bits and pieces from the SPL/Vorkosigan AU because they've been kicking around my head for the last few weeks - Shen Yi and Gu Yun are second cousins - their great-grandmothers were sisters
- Shen Yi is a year or two older than Gu Yun, but they were the same year in military academy because Shen Yi dropped out of the engineering program he was in to join him - Both Gu Yun's parents were military - his mother was one of the first or second groups of women enlisted
- Mom was an extremely skilled jump-pilot, and taught Gu Yun both how to drive and how to fly. He actually wanted to be a pilot as well but the jump-pilot implants were too high-risk given his other medical issues at that point
so he is just a terrifyingly competent normal space pilot (and a somewhat daredevil driver) instead. - Gu Yun is a lefty! Who taught himself how to be ambidexterous in boredom after breaking his wrist falling from somewhere he wasn't supposed to be as a kid
- the currently-unnamed toxin (or it's reaction products with cryofreeze chemicals, haven't decided yet) was severely ototoxic, so Gu Yun has cochlear implants in both ears. Because this is The Future, they've got better dynamic range than currently-available tech and
can be used without any external components (though the audio quality is better with an external mic + processing unit instead of just the internal ones). Gu Yun at the start of things has some hang-ups around appearing visibly disabled, and doesn't use external units
- Shen Yi has reverse-engineered the firmware for the implants and as a result has learned far more about both digital and biological audio processing than he ever thought he needed to know. He has also submitted security fixes to the manufacturer.
(Chang Geng is gonna work on the self-esteem thing, and possibly also design external components that are as much jewelry as they are medical devices)
