New Fic: Battlestar Galactica
Feb. 10th, 2009 12:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grav_ityAN: I think my subconscious and I need to have a chat. Because…Leoben? REALLY?
Man, Hamlet has been ripped off by almost everyone! I had a quick look over the “To Be or Not To Be” speech to refresh my memory and it’s pretty much a string of episode titles! And also very fitting for this show.
Spoilers: Blood on the Scales
Rating: All in.
Characters: Roslin, Leoben
Disclaimer: Obviously, not mine.
Summary: He was, after all, her very first.
---
Be All My Sins Remember'd
Leoben is the only one who will meet her eyes. Leoben, who took their side and ran from Cavil and hasn’t fallen to pieces under the pressure. Leoben, who pushed Starbuck so far past her breaking point that she entered into supernova willingly. Leoben, who held her tightly in his arms and whispered that Bill Adama was a Cylon.
She’d never told him, Bill, about that. About how she was going to order Leoben shot, or maybe drawn and quartered, or maybe just let Kara decide, until he spoke the final quiet poison in her ear and she snapped. But things she’ll never tell Bill is a dangerous subject, and when she’s come back to herself, Leoben is still watching her.
She leaves, disgusted, and goes back to the Raptor, back to what might be the last piece of the Fleet she ever touches, to fiddle with dials and cast her voice into the stars in the hope that someone overhears.
She hears a step behind her and wonders if the pilot who is not quite Athena wants her Raptor back. When she turns, she sees that it is Leoben instead. He holds a large black box in his hands and his face speaks volumes as to the unsurety of his welcome.
“I wonder, sometimes, how much space there is between an idea of a thing and the acceptance of a thing,” he says, not quite conversationally.
“Space is big,” she replies without thinking. “But we found Earth.”
He laughs, pulling air through his teeth and she remembers serpents amongst the microphones and vipers spiraling through the black.
“You trust Sharon.” It is not quite a question.
“I trust Athena,” the answer comes quickly, “I didn’t understand at first, but the more of you I see, the more I see that she is different.”
“I’m the same one.” He meets her eyes again and she doesn’t flinch. “I fought Adama right after the worlds ended, and you threw me out an airlock. The things I did to Kara…”
“I wondered,” was all she said.
“Things have changed. We’ve all changed. And we weren’t supposed to. We had a plan, a mission from God, but the Hybrid was different and when I listened to her, things made more sense for a while.
“I wanted you to die,” he continued. “And now I want us to live.”
“That, Leoben, is something we have in common.” Laura smiled at him. “Please, come in.”
Leoben stepped off the ramp and joined her in the belly of the Raptor. He balanced the box upon his knee, and showed her how to get ideas through all the space between and into the ears of her people. They didn’t touch, and they didn’t speak of unpragmatic things until after Gaeta had finally succeeded in shutting them up again.
Then…
“Do you still believe?”
“More than ever.”
“Me too."
"That’s what scares me the most.”
---
fin
AN: Writing Laura is HARD because she communicates with all those gestures and facial expressions I just don’t have words for!
Gravity_Not_Included, February 10, 2009
+++
Also, a BSG fic rec. I still am not entirely pleased with the ending of BotS, but if it had been ANYTHING like this, I think my head might have exploded.
A Prayer for Felix Gaeta
I am reccing a BALTAR fic. That should tell you everything you need to know about how awesome it is.
Man, Hamlet has been ripped off by almost everyone! I had a quick look over the “To Be or Not To Be” speech to refresh my memory and it’s pretty much a string of episode titles! And also very fitting for this show.
Spoilers: Blood on the Scales
Rating: All in.
Characters: Roslin, Leoben
Disclaimer: Obviously, not mine.
Summary: He was, after all, her very first.
---
Be All My Sins Remember'd
Leoben is the only one who will meet her eyes. Leoben, who took their side and ran from Cavil and hasn’t fallen to pieces under the pressure. Leoben, who pushed Starbuck so far past her breaking point that she entered into supernova willingly. Leoben, who held her tightly in his arms and whispered that Bill Adama was a Cylon.
She’d never told him, Bill, about that. About how she was going to order Leoben shot, or maybe drawn and quartered, or maybe just let Kara decide, until he spoke the final quiet poison in her ear and she snapped. But things she’ll never tell Bill is a dangerous subject, and when she’s come back to herself, Leoben is still watching her.
She leaves, disgusted, and goes back to the Raptor, back to what might be the last piece of the Fleet she ever touches, to fiddle with dials and cast her voice into the stars in the hope that someone overhears.
She hears a step behind her and wonders if the pilot who is not quite Athena wants her Raptor back. When she turns, she sees that it is Leoben instead. He holds a large black box in his hands and his face speaks volumes as to the unsurety of his welcome.
“I wonder, sometimes, how much space there is between an idea of a thing and the acceptance of a thing,” he says, not quite conversationally.
“Space is big,” she replies without thinking. “But we found Earth.”
He laughs, pulling air through his teeth and she remembers serpents amongst the microphones and vipers spiraling through the black.
“You trust Sharon.” It is not quite a question.
“I trust Athena,” the answer comes quickly, “I didn’t understand at first, but the more of you I see, the more I see that she is different.”
“I’m the same one.” He meets her eyes again and she doesn’t flinch. “I fought Adama right after the worlds ended, and you threw me out an airlock. The things I did to Kara…”
“I wondered,” was all she said.
“Things have changed. We’ve all changed. And we weren’t supposed to. We had a plan, a mission from God, but the Hybrid was different and when I listened to her, things made more sense for a while.
“I wanted you to die,” he continued. “And now I want us to live.”
“That, Leoben, is something we have in common.” Laura smiled at him. “Please, come in.”
Leoben stepped off the ramp and joined her in the belly of the Raptor. He balanced the box upon his knee, and showed her how to get ideas through all the space between and into the ears of her people. They didn’t touch, and they didn’t speak of unpragmatic things until after Gaeta had finally succeeded in shutting them up again.
Then…
“Do you still believe?”
“More than ever.”
“Me too."
"That’s what scares me the most.”
---
fin
AN: Writing Laura is HARD because she communicates with all those gestures and facial expressions I just don’t have words for!
Gravity_Not_Included, February 10, 2009
+++
Also, a BSG fic rec. I still am not entirely pleased with the ending of BotS, but if it had been ANYTHING like this, I think my head might have exploded.
A Prayer for Felix Gaeta
I am reccing a BALTAR fic. That should tell you everything you need to know about how awesome it is.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 06:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 06:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 06:09 pm (UTC)Thanks for the lightning beta!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 06:21 pm (UTC)Welcome. It wasn't exactly a hardship to read and I figure that cheerleading of any description is a good thing. *bounces a bit in anticipation* Are we hoping for a later slot in the whole summer story roster?
no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 06:21 pm (UTC)I really do plan to write it.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-19 01:20 am (UTC)if I were to use "And Nothing But" (or perhaps just "Nothing But") as a title for a little story about truth, would that make sense or is it too obscure?
Also, not so random: ARE YOU WRITING, YOUNG LADY? ;)
no subject
Date: 2009-02-19 01:26 am (UTC)And...no. Planning! But not writing. Although I will be fairly sedentary for the forseeable future, so there's HOPE.
(I also plan to learn to vid, so I figure either I'll get frustrated and write or I'll love it and not write. Everyone's a winner! Or something...)
no subject
Date: 2009-02-19 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 07:09 pm (UTC)I know exactly what you mean about how much Laura communicates through gestures and expressions, but I recognised her here. I think you did a good job of conveying her understated...complexity.
And you did really well with Leoben and his spiritual half-non-sequitors. I mean, I've always loved the dude, but frak me if I ever really understood him. But his behaviour here makes sense.
Great chilling exchange to end on.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 07:13 pm (UTC)Great chilling exchange to end on.
My favourite part of that is that typically when I trot out that trick, I know who's talking, but I leave it deliberately ambiguous. THIS time, however, it was on the paper and I have NO IDEA who is talking!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 09:54 pm (UTC)I don't know why; I guess I just felt that was in keeping with where their characters were at that point. But you're right, you can flip it around and it still totally works. Awesome.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 10:03 pm (UTC)ETA: Question. If it was:
"Do you still believe?"
"More than ever."
"Me too."
"That's what scares me the most."
Do you think it would be better? Less ambiguous? Would it at all change your read of the sitch?
no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 08:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 08:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 05:50 am (UTC)I adore that last exchange, I read it the first time as Leoben asking Laura if she believes, but I like it the other way too. :D
no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 02:25 pm (UTC)Usually when I write these things, I have some sort of idea who is talking, but this time? No clue.
Thanks for the review!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 11:16 am (UTC)I'm hoping for an extensive and meaningful scene between these characters in the episodes to come. Something that acknowledges the moments of tension they've shared between Seer and Prophet.
Really loved this.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 02:28 pm (UTC)There are a lot of overlooked relationships on this show, which is probably inevitable when you have a large cast and 20 episodes to get stuff done! Which is why we have fic. :)
Thanks for reading!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 02:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 02:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 02:28 pm (UTC)Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-15 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-12 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-15 05:49 pm (UTC)Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-13 02:57 am (UTC)I love Laura and Leoben together, I want more, dammit, show!
The complexity of their relationship--I just. They are both believers in their causes, and they're both people who try to take the long view, and he's better at manipulation, but that's because she's not as sneaky, and, ARGH.
I love this.
<3 <3 <3
no subject
Date: 2009-02-15 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-13 03:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-15 05:50 pm (UTC)Thanks for the review.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-13 08:24 pm (UTC)I think this is absolutely lovely, and I particularly love the end. This is another one of those parallel relationships on this show, where they're in each other's orbits, vaguely, yet so rarely interact.
And the line that just screams Laura to me is this one: But things she’ll never tell Bill is a dangerous subject. Just...*flappy hands* That's the Laura I know and love, and I continue to steadfastly believe that she has a long list of things she'll never tell Bill.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-15 05:51 pm (UTC)The thing I liked about "Things she'll never tell Bill" is that I could imply both "I am a crazy, crazy person sometimes" and "OMG HE MIGHT DIE!!!" without actually coming out and saying either. It's the sort of subtlety I used to like about their relationship...
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Date: 2011-01-21 11:00 pm (UTC)First, you've captured one of my favorite moments of this episode wonderfully, filled in the spaces with context AND the non-contextual (talk about bridging the gaps in between minds), and these two. It just worked splendidly (who'd have guessed?), and the end is a killer.
By the time we as viewers reached the helter-kelter of this half season, it was so easy to forget all that came before, but obviously doesn't work this way (as the mutiny arc itself proved) - for us or for these characters. You can't forget entirely, but it's almost impossible to remember completely. The fact that I can imagine this interaction as you've written it, hear the words exchanged. I love it. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-01-21 11:03 pm (UTC)I am not sure why Leoben moved into my head towards the end of my BSG fic writing kick, but I actually liked it more than I thought I would. He has a lot of great moments, and since we get to make a lot of them up, it's even better. :) Plus, Laura's always fun.
My question, then, and this is the question I asked everyone, is who do you think said what at the end of the fic?
no subject
Date: 2011-01-21 11:10 pm (UTC)My reasoning for this is the fact that in the fic (and scene, if I remember correctly), he seems to tend to be the initiator of all their interactions - approaching her with the box, with the conversation... And she reciprocates by not rejecting (and that's the other thing that fascinates me and really just drives in how much has changed).
Oh! And of note, I agree with
no subject
Date: 2011-01-21 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-21 11:17 pm (UTC)Have you ever read "The Lady, or the Tiger"? I think after that experience (and I actually liked it), I'm pretty zen. XD
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Date: 2011-01-21 11:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-21 11:25 pm (UTC)http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Frank_R_Stockton/The_Lady_or_the_Tiger/The_Lady_or_the_Tiger_p1.html
no subject
Date: 2011-01-22 02:06 am (UTC)I watch too much TV.