Fic: Mathematics: Five Faces (6/10) (Second Half)

[kappamaki33]

Sam’s words rang in Felix’s ears as he shuffled down the street.  You don’t choose what you feel.  If anybody would understand how he’d felt about Gaius, it would be Sam Anders, Felix thought.  Starbuck certainly hadn’t slept around as much after her marriage as Felix knew Gaius had after they’d gotten together.  Even so, everyone knew about her

Comments

[lls_mutant]

Oh, this was an awesome chapter! And yes, YAY SAM!!!!! I LOVE Sam in this- that scene was the high point of the chapter for me. (Not that the other points were low.) But it was fantastic. (I also loved how Tom did walk in on him and Gaius once. Hee.)

I love how you're slowly but surely stretching poor Felix to the breaking point here. What a mess he's in. I feel for him. I also really like the trap that Doral set up for him. The fact that Gaius rescued him in a twisted way rings so true, as does the fact that there WERE other people trying to help from the inside. That was a touch I really enjoyed.

What a mess. The bleakness and hopeless of this situation just comes through so well, especially when Felix was arguing with Tyrol and realized that neither of them were looking to "win", just that they were both bone tired. Great stuff, and really looking forward to Chapter 7!

[kappamaki33]

Thanks! Yeah, no secret that I'm a fan of Sam. I think he really *would* be pretty understanding.

And I couldn't help myself on the part with Tom. ;)

Writing the trap was fun, too. It's even more frustrating for Felix because he can't be sure of anything--whether Gaius was actually trying to save him or whether it was just dumb luck (personally, I like to think he was--even if it was Gaius's version of rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship), whether the typists were spies or whether it was the information Felix dug out of the garbage can that led to them getting blamed (again, I like to think they were helping, too, but Felix has even more guilt he can pile on if he so chooses).

I'm glad you're sticking with this, even though it's getting pretty dark and depressing. I'm a firm believer in that people rarely run out of choices, but Felix--and pretty much everyone else, too--are running out of *good* choices.

[safenthecity]

I really like this series so much. I like the way Eight and Felix have found a comfortable rhythm with each other, even as they betray the other. I also like the way you have Eight play on his insecurities in getting him to believe that the people on the lists got out alive, they just don't want to see him. God, she's cunning and awful.

Zarek walking in on Felix and Baltar is such a cringeworthy moment of "ouch."

The interaction with Sam and Galen was so interesting and right, from the very first moment Felix was afraid Tyrol would think he was trying to pull rank when he called him Chief to their flinging of insults to Sam calming the situation down. I love Sam.

The thing that always makes my head spin about New Caprica is how fiercely Sam, Tigh and Tyrol fight the Cylons. I always forget that they are Final Five in those moments, and then it's always a jolt when I remember. That's exactly what happened here, and I love it.

Looking forward to more!

[kappamaki33]

Thank you! Yes, Eight is very smart. I can believe that Felix would block out the horror of what he'd done after it was too late, and that he'd want to believe in her so badly, but he's a pretty smart person himself; she'd have to be very clever to keep Felix reeled in for multiple lists.

I really enjoyed getting to play the irony of the Final Five's roles in the Resistance under Felix's conversation with Tyrol and Sam. At first, I was going to try to work a little hint of each of the Final Five, but this chapter was already way too long. And yes, I've said it many times, but--I love Sam, too. :D

[falafel_musings]

Another great chapter! This is shaping up to be a very rich and far reaching series. Of course, I love the Felix/Gaius interaction at the start. How Felix will say he loves the Eight in an attempt to get a reaction out of Gaius. Then how Gaius takes sick selfish comfort in the idea that Felix is becoming like him, in love with a cylon and embracing his own destruction.

I loved the interaction with Sam and how Felix wanted to offer him some comfort that Kara was still alive, even though he didn't care for Kara himself or know for sure if she was safe. It felt like Felix eating hope again! I love his desperate prison-break strategy. Seems like a prelude to the kind of action Felix will later take in the mutiny.

[kappamaki33]

Glad you liked it! Yes, Felix and Gauis do such a wonderful job of hurting each other, don't they? Pretty much all you have to do is put them in a room together, and ugly things happen.

I'm happy you liked the prison break idea, because I felt as I wrote it that I was stretching Felix's character about as far as it would go and was worried I might've gone a little too far. Felix always plans things out so well, so I felt like I was pushing him about as far as I could in getting him to just fly off the handle and argue for the prison break (though even then, he was planning it out with details). Hopefully the horrible day he'd had before that worked as sufficient justification to get him to that breaking point. I hadn't thought about the parallel with the mutiny, but I like that a lot.

[prophetkristy]

Oh, poor Felix! That dream probably *does* mean something. Awww, he has so much guilt. *pets him*

Yay, Sam! He always did have a level head.

Oh noes, he's starting to forget where he's seen people Eight supposedly "released"... *wibble*

Felix’s young, lithe body

Ohhhhhh yeahhhhh. :-D

*ahem*

SO THERE Kara, he DID try to get you out, bitch.

[kappamaki33]

Yay, Sam, indeed! And I do think, if anybody would understand train wreck relationships, it would be Sam.

I really wanted to lay the groundwork for Felix making himself believe the lists had been working. I think that things like these, people getting thrown *back* in detention after he gets them out the first time and the fear that escapees are hiding from Felix because he appears to be a collaborator, would make it much, much easier for anyone to convince themselves that people really were being freed.