A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words for millari

[lls_mutant]

Title: A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
Characters: Sweet!Eight, with appearances by Caprica Six and Boomer
Rating: PG
Summary: Something's off in the administration, but the Eight doesn't know exactly what.
Original Story: Sketches from the Journal of a Dead Man by millari

Comments

[millari]

This is great! Totally not one I ever expected to get remixed either, it was such a small thing when I wrote it. It was such an awesome surprise to see, especially because it was all about Sweet Eight, who I don't write about much, but whose motives intrigues me more and more as the years after the webisodes pass. I love this glimpse into how she got started on her cruel gaslighting game with him. I love that she sees these things going on that don't add up just like everyone else, but that she's the only one paying enough attention to connect the dots. What I especially enjoy about it is how you show that all the other Cylons are too distracted by their own biases, problems and agendas to notice two plus two adding to four. And I like the implication here that Sweet Eight notices that things don't make sense because she is a blank slate, just taking in information without personal history to distract or motivate her, although her one bias - that the humans stink - was a fascinating one. I like the metaphorical quality of it here - that the problem in the administration Sweet Eight can sense, no matter what any of her sisters and brothers tell her otherwise, is like the stink of humans she can smell, but the other Cylons can't.

Boomer's implied attempts to protect Gaeta throughout this story were so palpably concerned. I really enjoyed the way we got to see exactly what she was thinking, all through Sweet Eight's perspective. I especially liked the description of Boomer rolling up one of Gaeta's notes in a tight little ball. That said so much about her fear for what would happen to Gaeta.

I really enjoyed too the way Eight works through her initial misconceptions of what's going on with Gaeta - how she first senses tension between Gaeta and Baltar, then finally gets an "explanation" for it from Caprica, which throws her off for a while, but then trusts her instincts and keeps asking questions. And it's a small thing, but my head canon absolutely adored the little observation Sweet Eight makes about how Gaeta doesn't just hate Baltar, but that he pretends Caprica isn't even there, and how that's a whole different ball of wax that just Gaeta having previous personal issues with Baltar. That is so my head canon too - that Gaeta as much as possible ignored Caprica, a passive-aggressive expression of how much rage he held towards her for both what she had done to humanity and out of jealousy he probably couldn't even admit to himself, because it would feel so frakked up.

Really, this fic had so many elements that I so enjoy in fic about New Caprica - Cylon tension in Colonial One, Caprica and her helplessness about Baltar, about the human project on New Caprica, and Boomer's inability to let go her connections to the humans, that she still wants to help them where she can. And there are so many little elements in here that remind me of my own head canon, I feel like you've read all the comments I've ever made about BSG, remixer! I know that remixes are not technically "for" the original writer, but this feels like it was written as a gift for me anyway. So, thank you, for taking such care and thought with what I know was a pinch hit story done with little time. This was wonderful to read. I will look at it many times over to come. :)