"I...actually have no idea if my powers will work on you or not, so let's find out." As she did both other times, Life waved her hand over Malin's back, watching carefully for any change--there was some, though it only seemed slight. She looked to his face for any sort of reaction. "Did that help at all? I haven't done this in...well, centuries, so I'm a bit rusty."
She frowned, glancing over at the doctor. "If you're in so much pain, then I'm sure the doctor can help. And if Death has taught me anything over the years, 'fine' is a very deceiving word."
Niven fought off a shudder, scowling. "When are you ever not creepy?"
Of course, his father's lack of sympathy was both surprising and completely unsurprising. It was hard to remember why he bothered associating with any of them in the first place--and why he didn't try and condemn them to lives of eternal pain centuries ago. "And that's not even a deal, it's just an outright threat. You're worse than Aunt Bennie."
A moment or two passed--he frowned, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Besides, I'll just put you in so much pain you'll have to tell Ingris to reverse it."
I'm not going to give you any power over me. That's not how this works. With the family Niven had, he couldn't afford to show any weakness. And he already had a lot of weakness. It was almost surprising that, after all the time Alfonso had spent as Niven's terrible father, he thought Niven was going to lie down and take any of his crap. ...Unless, of course, he already knew this and had some kind of contingency plan. Then that would make more sense.
...Crap.