A reminder to not count your Earths before they've hatched.

[chiron_survivor]

It is not unusual to find Adia in the Plaza. She is there frequently enough, sitting in front of a Nexus terminal or fixing herself a cup of coffee. It is not even unusual to find her accompanied by pokémon. This time it's only one, a large bird that stands nearly as tall as she does. It stays close to her seat, keeping a watchful eye for suspicious characters.

What is unusual is the expression on her face.

Adia has come to the Nexus upset before, but this is different. All her nervous energy is gone, replaced with a washed-out, nearly lethargic appearance. She's holding a children's drawing in her hands, staring at it for long seconds before folding it along well-worn creases. She picks at a corner, staring into the distance, then unfolds it and starts the process all over again.

This goes on for several minutes until Bucky, wise bird that he is, gently nudges her with his beak. Coming back to herself, she blinks and looks around, remembering where she is.

"Something... something bad happened back home. A lot of people are... really upset. And losing hope. How do you come back from that?" She looks down at the picture and whispers, "How do you learn to hope again?"

Comments

[chiron_survivor]

She nods silently, biting her lip. The picture is just a folded up square again, but she stares ahead, still looking at it in her mind.

And then she gives him a heart-broken smile.

"I'm a microbiologist. So was Caspar. We were working aboard the Chiron, so when the Colonies were destroyed, we were unharmed. It was a confusing twenty-four hours... anyone who had made it to space was scattered all around the star system. We had to find Galactica and regroup before the Cylons attacked again."

The outline of one of the number fives is visible through the paper; she absently traces it with a finger. "His model was the first to be discovered as a Cylon. He, um... he held me hostage in one of our labs. He had turned on the failsafe so that it would take a while to open the doors. And then he... he killed himself. It was that or be captured. They would have shoved him out an airlock. If he was lucky."

It's a long moment before she speaks again.

"I learned later that Cylons can resurrect. They download themselves into a new body. I, um... I saw him again, when we were on New Caprica. He saved my life, but he wouldn't admit who he was... and now he's siding with the Ones. He's about as far away from me as he can get without being dying again."

[not_the_question]

What is this soap opera he's fallen into?

"Did you... fall in love with him before or after he held you hostage?"

Because that kind of matters. If it was before, well, okay, he can talk to that. If it was after, he might suggest massive amounts of therapy instead.

[chiron_survivor]

"Before," she says, giving him a strange look. Who the heck falls in love with someone after they've been taken hostage? "We were friends for three months. Best friends... a week before the Cylons attacked, he finally worked up the nerve to ask me out." She'll spare him the story of how he had flowers delivered to her quarters on her birthday. He doesn't seem like the sentimental type.

"He didn't hurt me when he dragged me into the lab..." Scared her sure, but it all happened so fast, she didn't have much time to react either way. "And he apologized immediately. I think he was running on auto-pilot when he did it."

[not_the_question]

Those who experience Stockholm Syndrome, that's who. He had to be sure. He nods as she tells her story.

"Good. That's good at lest. Might be better if you don't call it taken hostage in the future."

Because people who've experienced something like that, well, that means something very specific.

"Still, I can see how that would put a damper on the relationship."