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

[brother_alone]

"Still?"

Jesus. Josh can't even fathom how bad the destruction must have been. Wasn't that stuff supposed to decay to less harmful shit over time? He's not a huge science buff so the implications go over his head aside from the fact that whatever happened to Adia's Earth was Fucking Bad.

"Holy shit..."

All that time spent looking, and now. What? what is there left to do?

"I'm so sorry." He hugs her again, a bit tighter this time. She's the one hurting, but Josh feels like he might cry suddenly.

[chiron_survivor]

"A human could probably survive for a couple of years before succumbing to radiation poisoning," she elaborates quietly. That's not much time to do anything of substance. "I don't know about Cylons. A Three... the last of her model. She decided to stay on Earth and, um... give up."

It bothers her, clearly, the idea of dying alone and without comfort. Adia is nowhere near giving up on her life, or those she cares about. But without any idea of what to do next, she's as much at a loss as Josh is.

She returns the hug tightly, ignoring Bucky's soft warble of unease. Her friend's sympathy is a welcome reminder that she's not alone. "I'm really worried about the rest of the Fleet," she admits. "I have the Nexus to fall back on. They don't have anything..." She sighs. "I think I need to stop keeping this place a secret. I don't know how much it'll help, though. There's 40,000 of us, we all can't relocate here, can we? Not without the Cylons finding out..."

[brother_alone]

"Look, I mean. You guys can trade and get supplies here if nothing else? Maybe tell a small group of people you trust to keep it a secret from the guys trying to hunt you down. Who knows, you might even find some books or tech to help fix things up."

Josh is rambling now. His mind grasping at straws to try and find something he can say or suggest that might improve Adia's situation even the smallest bit. The bird's intense stare is ignored for now. Normally Josh would be put off by such a thing but he can't just stand by and let Adia suffer like this without trying to help.

She's a friend and someone he looks up to.

"Fuckshit. I don't. I don't know what you should do."

[chiron_survivor]

The rambling does not go unnoticed; she's stressing him out, which is the last thing she wanted by coming here. "Josh." She pulls back so she can look at him. "It's okay. I'm not expecting you to. You're here, that's... that's enough."

She takes a deep breath and thinks over what he's said.

"I know someone who's high up in the military. I can... I should tell him. He'd know what to do."

She has to trust that the Nexus will do more good than harm for the Fleet. That it won't lead to another invasion.

The braviary grumbles, more at being ignored than anything. It brings something of a smile to her face. "Bucky, it's okay. You met Josh before, remember?" In case her human friend needs a reminder, she adds quietly, "That's one of the pokémon I was pet-sitting, but he was a lot smaller the last time you saw him."

[brother_alone]

"It's not okay."

There's a vehemence in Josh's voice. An edge to his gaze that hadn't been there before. This is the man who mentally tortured the people closest to him because he blamed them for the circumstances for his sisters' deaths. The twisted part of him that never forgives and never forgets wants desperately to lash out at Adia's enemies. Make them feel the same anguish and despair that she's feeling right now.

Maybe then they'll understand what monsters they are.

He doesn't know how to do that for her though. Can't exactly make the people of her Earth learn from their mistakes. They're all gone. What she needs now is a path forward and not misguided anger aimed at the past. Too bad Josh is only good at one of those things.

The bird seems loyal. Good. Adia needs loyal friends who will look out for her no matter what. That's good. Someone should be protecting her as much as possible. The human only wishes he could do more.

"Adia if there's anything you need. Anything.. If I can do it I will."

Whether it's a hug or a hit on someone. For those who Josh cares about there is nothing he won't do to protect them. He's a monster, after all. If someone needs to get their hands dirty it might as well be him.

[chiron_survivor]

She blinks up at him, startled by that sudden edge of anger in his voice. She doesn't know what to say at first; it reminds her of her friend Maggie, who has always been fiercely protective of her. But Josh's attitude seems darker, more vengeful.

As empathetic as she is, anger is an emotion she finds hard to understand, or respond to. Forgetting her own troubles, she struggles for something to say to make that hard look in his eyes disappear. "Sure... sure, Josh, I'll tell you." She hugs him, the comforter instead of the comforted. "It, um... it's not all bad news. The Cylons are having a civil war and the rebels joined our side. So... so we have their help. For whatever we decide to do."

[brother_alone]

"And you trusted them? The enemy of your enemy isn't your friend, Adia."

These are the same fucks who tried to have her captured and interrogated. That enslaved her people. And now just because of some infighting, they think they can turn around and pretend the humans will go along with them?

"What if they try to use you to fight their war? What if it's a trap? Who's protecting you back there?"

[chiron_survivor]

Okay, that wasn't the right thing to say. But at least she is on familiar ground again -- Josh is saying the same things that so many people in Fleet are saying, too.

Her position, at least, she knows how to defend.

"They took out their resurrection hub." She pulls back once more, so she can look him in the eyes. She tries not to flinch at the anger she sees. "That means that the Cylons -- even the enemy ones -- are mortal. Same as us. And they don't have the technology to make more clones, so that. That's it for them."

She gives him a moment to digest this fact before continuing her explanation. "It turns out there are another five Cylon models. The Ones wiped their memories and hid them in our Fleet, then tampered with the memories of the other models so they wouldn't remember them, either. The Twos, Sixes, and Eights rebelled, and came to us for help finding the Final Five.... Julia is a Six, Josh. She saved my life. And an Eight has always been a part of the Fleet, the first Cylon to ally with humans. I'm not saying they're innocent victims, but they aren't the models who did the interrogating or torturing on New Caprica."

[brother_alone]

"Yeah. Okay...Okay."

The tension doesn't leave Josh's shoulders any, but he loosens his grip on her shoulders and sighs after a long moment of contemplative quiet.

"I just...I don't want to see anyone I care about get hurt or killed again. I want you to be safe, Adia. You deserve some peace and quit after all you've been through."

[chiron_survivor]

She knows that he isn't entirely convinced, but that's okay. He doesn't have to trust the Cylons, he just needs to trust her. And considering that he's only looking out for her well-being, she can't blame him for being over-protective.

(Although she does make a mental note to not tell Josh about her stalker unless she absolutely has to, because yikes.)

"I know." She sighs and runs her hands along his arms, gently trying to loosen some of that tension. "I know, Josh. But I'll be safe, I promise. I always have my PINpoint on me, if things get really bad, I'll grab who I can and teleport here." It's a tired smile she gives him, one that barely reaches her eyes. "I'll get my peace and quiet one way or another. Please don't worry."