|
Post by Amy81 on Sept 22, 2005 11:25:23 GMT -6
Amy sat in silence, unsure what to say. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Lords of Kobol, Brie" Amy said finally, "I... don't know what to say. Do you know who it was that attacked you?"
Brie nodded. "Oh yeah."
"And Ange was there?"
Brie nodded again.
"I don't understand why he didn't help you." Amy shook her head. "Guys are such daggits. Even here, light years from anywhere, for some it's just business as usual. You'd think people would come together, not hurt each other. I don't know what I'd do if that ever happened to me."
"You were victimized too" Brie reminded her.
"I was?" Amy asked, unsure of what Brie meant.
"Adrian and his bunch."
"Yeah. Thank the lords it wasn't that kind of attack though. They could have done anything I was so outnumbered. Brie, I am so sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for, it wasn't you that did it."
Amy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but I still wish it had never happened. If I could, I'd change it. Prevent it from happening. Be there for you like you've been there for me. Things would be different then."
|
|
|
Post by Brie on Sept 22, 2005 13:53:54 GMT -6
Brie shook her head. “I wouldn’t change it. There are things that if I could go back, darn right I’d change them. Things like my parents’ deaths, or Turner’s. Some missions or assignments I would change. Some of the mistakes that I made that led up to Pierce’s takeover attempt. But this? Although I’ll never forgive him and the crime was horrible, the outcome was worth it.”
“Worth it how?” Amy asked. “What outcome?”
Brie was tempted to tell Amy the entire story, but she couldn’t. She flashbacked momentarily to a conversation with Abby after Amy had been assigned to Gold Squadron. She promised that she would never tell Amy the truth about her conception. Brie assumed that promises were made to be kept, even here. It was going to be hard, though. More than anything she wanted to tell Amy the whole truth. “I became a different person,” Brie replied at last. “Stronger. More determined than ever to prove myself. The attack caused me to build those walls I mentioned before. I think the walls made me more interesting to Turner, so maybe we got together indirectly because of it.”
“You two were made for each other,” Amy said. “You would have found your way to each other.”
“Maybe,” Brie replied. “Of course if it hadn’t been for Turner the whole Pierce thing never would have happened, and I wouldn’t be here. And then there’s you.” Brie immediately regretted the words.
“Me?” Amy asked.
“Yeah,” Brie said, trying to cover for the umpteenth time. “My attack caused me to be more careful, less trusting. You’re TOO trusting. So I started to keep an eye on you. I think that, in turn, caused us to be better friends. Friends, you know, people who make an effort to stay close, no matter which ship in the fleet they might happen to live on. Amy, I never would have told you any of this if I didn’t think of you as a friend. Frack, Charybdis and Turner were best friends, and Charybdis and I pretended we were close for yahrens after Turner died, and I never told Charybdis. Outside of medical or high-ranking military personnel, you’re the only person I’ve told except for Turner.”
|
|
|
Post by Amy81 on Sept 25, 2005 6:50:11 GMT -6
"Thank you for confiding in me" Amy said, a mixture of feelings washing over her. "But still there's better ways to grow as a person. I'd hate to have to live with something like what happened to you. But it does explain why you are so wary of Ange. I understand now."
"Just be careful around him is all I'm saying."
"Well, not that it's excuseable at all that he didn't help you, but it's not like he's the one that did it."
Brie stayed silent, turning away.
"I'm sorry. Maybe we should change the subject."
Brie turned back. "Don't trust him, Amy."
"Brie, I've known Ange a lot longer than you. I can't believe he didn't help you. I'll never understand that. But I can't be like you, building walls and not trusting others. Why bother to live at all? I might be a little backwards or whatever, but maybe it's cause I do trust others that I seem to draw boyfriends like... like daggits to a plate of mushies." Even she had to smile at that comparison. "With everyone so guarded, somebody with my attitude must be like a breath of fresh air."
"Amy, all I'm..."
"Please. I know I'm just the kid from the farming ship. Y'all are the worldly ones. But don't tell me what my personal values should be."
"I'm not." Brie insisted.
Amy sighed deeply. "I know" she said at last. "But a lot of people have looked down at me like that. The farmer girl trying to be a warrior..." She shook her head. "But I have to be trusting, it's who I am. Even if it gets me hurt emotionally... or even physically I guess. And if that ever happened, I wouldn't want to live in a fleet like that, that's for sure."
|
|
|
Post by Brie on Sept 26, 2005 14:03:18 GMT -6
“Just use your intuition, my friend,” Brie suggested. “Yeah, it’s definitely a man’s universe that we live in, but I’ve eventually learned that my woman’s intuition gives me an edge that the men will never understand. Surely you must have inherited some of it.”
“Why would I have inherited something from you?” Amy asked, curious.
“From your mother,” Brie said quickly. “Abby, she’s a strong woman.”
“You’ve said that already.”
“Yeah, I guess I have.” Brie paused. “There’s got to be a happy medium between being too trusting and too guarded. And you know, it’s not just the attack that’s made me this way. Part of it is my position. Being a woman who is a heck of a lot better than most men at what I do, being a woman in a position of authority, but I never became a warrior for any of that. I became a warrior because I was told to become a warrior. You don’t know how lucky you are, that you were offered a choice.”
“You don’t know how many times I’ve doubted that choice,” Amy replied.
Brie smiled. “Hey, this is me. I’m the one who refused to file your resignation, remember? In some ways nothing would have made me happier than for you to return to the Agro Ship, but I knew it wasn’t the right thing for you.”
“You wanted me to go home?”
“No,” Brie replied. “I wanted you to be safe, instead of having the most dangerous job in the fleet.”
|
|
|
Post by Amy81 on Sept 26, 2005 15:25:15 GMT -6
"Well now you are sounding like my mom" Amy said. "We had this same conversation about my career choice, and by conversation I mean yelling." She smiled slightly. "It didn't really feel like I had a choice. It was stay a farmer, or ruin hundreds of yahrens of family tree."
"She put it to you that way?" Brie asked.
"More or less. Her point of view was made clear enough. For my dad, what I did was downright betrayal."
Brie shook her head slowly, but said nothing.
"There's no safe place in the fleet" Amy continued. "You should know that better than anyone. And look at how safe the agroship turned out to be. You nearly died there."
"Yeah, it wasn't too safe at that" Brie admitted. "But at the time, I thought it was the safest place for you to be. I didn't know I'd be wrong about it."
"Well, I didn't go, and it turns out you were right. I should have, if I wanted to live a longer life." Amy shrugged. "But you were right to reject my resignation. I'd have gone crazy on the agroship, especially after getting a taste of life as a warrior. I guess you could say both you and Ange were the guiding lights of my life. Without both of you, I'd have been nothing."
|
|
|
Post by Brie on Sept 26, 2005 18:10:14 GMT -6
“Ain’t that the truth,” Brie mumbled.
“What?” Amy asked.
“Nothing,” Brie replied. “When I almost died back on that agroship of yours, Turner was allowed to show me what a difference I had made in people’s lives. He showed me what would have happened if I had died right after he did.”
“And?”
Brie smiled. “You were tending bar. Making a lot of tips because of a certain red dress, if I recall correctly. Pierce had a thing for you, but fortunately you used your INTUITION and didn’t give him what he was looking for.”
“So would I still be alive now?” Amy asked.
“No,” Brie replied. “It’s a little bit hazy, but I think Pierce killed you.”
“Oh.”
“Turner also showed me what it would have been like if I had never been born,” Brie continued. “The Cylons were in control, and Charybdis, Skyler, Justin and some others were working in a mine that they called Hell. It was weird, Turner was still alive, but he told me not to blame myself.”
“Where was I during that one?” Amy asked.
Brie thought quickly. If she had never been born, than neither had Amy. “He didn’t show me any of the women. Just the guys.”
“I guess we all wonder about that sometimes,” Amy pondered. “What things would be like if we had never existed.”
“My life wouldn’t be nearly as worthwhile without you in it,” Brie said sincerely. “That’s why you’ve got to find a way back.”
|
|
|
Post by Amy81 on Sept 28, 2005 10:44:25 GMT -6
"It doesn't sound like I do too well no matter what the scenario. Murdered bartender, maybe a slave miner or worse, and in the only reality I know anything about, I got mindwiped and killed by cylons..." Amy shook her head. "I really have got to wonder why I was born. I've been jinxed from the start."
"We all have difficulties to work through" Brie replied. "No one has an easy time in the fleet."
"I guess" Amy shrugged. "Bartender huh? I wonder where that came from? Who guided me onto that career path I wonder. I don't feel the calling, that's for sure. But I think I know what dress you are talking about, cause I have a red one. Now that's spooky. Turner must have been on the level with the things he showed you."
"Was the dress sort of short" Brie asked, "tight around the..."
"Oh yeah" Amy replied smiling.
"How did you ever, I mean, it's not exactly overalls."
"Hand me down" Amy explained. "Aunt Em gave it to me. She said it didn't fit anymore. I tried it on, but never had an occasion to wear it."
"Oh."
"Yeah, Aunt Em said she was wearing it after her and Uncle Jeb broke up, and that it helped her meet someone, and that it led to all sorts of very interesting things. The things she saw and did she said she wouldn't have wanted to miss for the universe." Amy shrugged. "Why she wanted me to have it, who knows. But she really wanted me to have it."
"Did she say what 'things' those were?"
Amy shook her head. "She just said the dress brought her a lot of happiness. She had me try it on, and I've never seen her smile so much when she saw me in it. Must have been cause it fit so well. But like I said I haven't had an occasion to wear it yet. And I might never wear it cause Em is such a jerk. But, weird that it would show up in Turner's vision."
|
|
|
Post by Brie on Sept 28, 2005 12:09:16 GMT -6
“Maybe it’s not the same dress,” Brie remarked. “Or maybe Turner just knows everything, or at least thinks he does. He always acted like he did when he was alive.” Brie laughed. “You said before that Turner must have been on the level. The words ‘Turner’ and ‘on the level’ have hardly ever been used in the same sentence. He was a practical joker. I remember one time when he and Charybdis...” She stopped.
“What?” Amy asked.
“Nothing,” Brie replied. “I just almost had a good memory of Charybdis. I can’t let that happen, I’m too mad at him.”
“You can’t blame all your problems on Charybdis,” Amy told her.
“Sure I can, you just watch me.” Brie was silent for several microns. “Wait a centon, did you say Uncle Jeb?”
“Yeah,” Amy replied. “He was married to Aunt Em until I was, I don’t know, seven or eight maybe. Why, do you have something against him too?”
“No,” Brie replied, shaking her head. “Not really. But I think that he was in the group that tried to kill me. They blamed me for what had happened to you, you’re being here.”
“That wasn’t your fault,” Amy replied.
“I know,” Brie said. “But it was their logical conclusion after the tribunal. They thought that I had escaped and was working with...I wonder where Pierce and his followers went. I’m sure he can’t be here, there’s got to be a totally different place for someone like him. But his followers? It wasn’t all their fault, he preyed on their weaknesses and talked them into doing whatever he wanted.”
“Some of it was pretty bad,” Amy said. “There have been a couple Agro workers here, killed by his people.”
“By his orders,” Brie added. “Who’s accountable for something like that? And who decides what their next step should be? And what’s the difference between taking orders from a madman like Pierce, and us taking orders from the Commander? It makes me glad that I’m not one of the Lords of Kobol!”
“Believe me, Brie,” Amy said with a grin, “anyone who knows you is glad you’re not one of the Lords of Kobol!”
Brie returned the smile. “Thanks,” she said sarcastically. “I love you too.”
|
|
|
Post by Amy81 on Sept 28, 2005 20:54:55 GMT -6
Amy laughed. "Now you see? We're back to being friends again."
"We never stopped being friends, Amy" Brie replied.
"I know that" Amy said, "but the Warrior part was forgotten for a few microns. It's always there though. When it comes back, the friends part takes a back seat."
"You know what I think?" Brie asked.
"Dying to know" Amy laughed in reply.
"Ouch" Brie laughed back. "Dying huh?"
"Just a little beyond the heavens humor" Amy grinned.
"Humor?" Brie asked, "You mean the little decorations on the Colonial flag?"
"Stop it! Don't remind me..." Amy said before she burst into some heavy laughter. "You'll have me rolling on the floor..." They both laughed hard at the silly bad puns, and the memories of back when they roomed together in Brie's quarters. Something had happened to Brie's flag, and Amy never did reveal what had happened to those decorations.
When she had her breath again, Brie grew serious. "I won't be able to stand it if you don't come back, you know."
Amy grew serious too. "Then go back and talk to my mom. I can't function very well with half my organs harvested."
"So I go first and you'll be right behind me?" Brie asked, shaking her head. "I'm not falling for that one. Maybe we should go back together."
"Don't trust me?" Amy asked, smiling.
"It's not that. It's just that you have a way of getting sidetracked."
"Me?" Amy said, her expression one of shock. "Oh relax, I don't have any boyfriends up here."
|
|
|
Post by Brie on Sept 29, 2005 14:54:38 GMT -6
“Yet,” Brie added with a smile. “I’m sure there are plenty of single guys around here. Even if they weren’t single, a sealing is only ‘til death do us part.’”
“Okay, let’s change the subject,” Amy suggested. “Nice weather we’re having...”
“What would you know about weather?” Brie teased. “You’ve only been on a planet a couple of times.”
“Yeah, remember the ice planet?” Amy replied. “I quickly learned to appreciate controlled temperatures, normal gravity and NO precipitation. Although one time when I was a kid the irrigation system messed up and it started to rain, well, sort of.”
“I always thought that planets were overrated,” Brie commented. “Even though I was born way before the holocaust, I’ve never lived on one. And now we’re spending our lives looking for some planet that may or may not exist. Do you believe that Earth is real?”
“I want to,” Amy replied noncommittally.
“I don’t think it is,” Brie said sadly. “I never have. I hate thinking about all the time we’ve wasted when we could have stopped and settled somewhere.”
“We’ve never been strong enough to stop,” Amy pointed out.
“Maybe,” was Brie’s reply. “But still, sometimes I can’t help but wonder...listen to me, I sound like one of Pierce’s followers!”
|
|