Lots of Updates (and fic and icons and posters)
twelvecolonies update: I won a ficlet challenge!! I really, really loved the two characters who'd never spoken in canon challenge. I wrote two: a Hoshi-Billy ficlet (which lls_mutant and I shared a brain on--but hey, great minds, right? ;) ) and a Cavil-Zarek fic, which won first place.
Title: No Matter What the Future Brings
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Billy & Hoshi
Summary: Drowning their sorrows at the Starlight Lounge
Even though the Starlight Lounge was fairly empty-it was still pretty early-Billy sat down on a barstool with just one space between him and the other patron up at the bar. The man gave him an odd look, which Billy returned. Both retreated back into their private miseries.
Billy wanted to get drunk, but he couldn’t get too drunk, because he hadn’t brought enough money with him to afford a hotel room on Cloud 9. He had to be sober enough at 2300 to get back to the transport that stopped at Colonial One, no matter how much he’d like to drink himself into temporary oblivion.
The other man at the bar apparently wasn’t worried about staying sober enough to make it back to a shuttle. The four drinks he downed while Billy nursed his one also made him a lot friendlier.
“I bet my day sucked worse than yours did,” the man blurted.
Billy knocked back his drink and slammed it on the bar. He’d always wanted to do that. He had to work really hard not to cough and ruin the image. “Don’t think you want to make that bet with me today.”
“Try me.” He wore a military uniform with some kind of officer’s pips on the collar, but Billy didn’t recognize him. Probably from Pegasus, then.
Billy took a deep breath. “I proposed to my girlfriend today. Didn’t exactly get the answer I was hoping for.”
The man winced. “What’d she do?”
“Ran out of the room crying.”
The man nodded. “You win.” He bought Billy another drink. “So, did she break up with you, or was it a ‘maybe someday, we’re too young’ kind of deal?”
Billy blinked in surprise. “I’m not sure. She never said. She just said she couldn’t marry me.”
“Hey, maybe you’ve still got a shot.” He pointed a finger at Billy with the kind of assuredness that only comes with intoxication. “Maybe it’s marriage she doesn’t like, not you.”
Billy didn’t quite believe that, but he was taking any comfort he could get by that point. “What made your day so awful?” Billy asked.
The man heaved a sigh and stared at his glass. “I’m the Communications Officer on Pegasus. For weeks now, I’ve been talking to this guy over the wireless, an officer in Galactica’s CIC. Intelligent, funny, and has a voice that’s like sex even when he’s reading off jump calculations.” The man closed his eyes for a moment, then steeled himself with another sip of his drink before continuing. “Today, I saw him face-to-face for the first time.”
“A disappointment?” Billy ventured a guess.
“He’s hot,” the man whined, shoulders slumping.
That certainly wasn’t the response Billy had been expecting.
The man looked up and obviously understood Billy’s expression. “Yes, that’s normally a good thing, but there’s no way a guy like me has a shot with a guy like him. I mean, I thought I might be pushing it with someone a little young-sounding with a gorgeous voice and a great personality. I was really hoping for big ears, or a busted nose, or a little paunch-something. But Felix must be at least ten years younger than me, and if how his uniform fits him is any indication-”
“Wait. Are you talking about Felix Gaeta?”
The man paled. “You know him? Oh gods, please don’t tell him I said that. I was so tongue-tied I probably came off horribly anyway-he doesn’t need to think I’m a stalker on top of that.”
“No, don’t worry about that.” Billy didn’t pay enough attention to guys to know if Gaeta was hot or not, but he certainly understood feeling like you were way out of someone’s league. “He is single, though.”
“Really?”
An idea started to form in Billy’s mind. Dee had been on a “set Gaeta up with somebody nice so he quits pining after Baltar” campaign for the past month. Billy didn’t exactly know this guy well enough to vouch for his character, but he seemed nice enough, and less crazy than Baltar. Talking with Dee about Gaeta’s love life instead of theirs might be a good, low-key way to start a dialogue with her again.
“I could probably set you up on a date with him, as a friend of a friend,” Billy said fake-casually. “If you want. I hear he likes smart men. Older men, too.” Who knew listening to Dee’s rants about Baltar would ever come in so handy?
The man gaped at him. “Um…I’m probably a fool, but, what’ve I got to lose, right?” The man stood up, wobbling a little as he did. “I gotta go, but-thank you. If you ever need a favor-”
Billy smiled. “Don’t sweat it.” You’re doing me the favor, he wanted to say, but decided it was best not to try to explain. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”
The man looked surprised, then stuck out his hand. Billy shook it. “Louis Hoshi. If you need to get a hold of me, just call over to the Pegasus. I’ll get the message-I’ll probably be taking the message. Thanks again.”
Hoshi left the bar, and Billy ordered another drink. He didn’t feel like washing his cares away with booze anymore, though. In fact, he felt hopeful for the first time today since Dee had pressed the ring back into his palm. Maybe, if they were really lucky, two love stories might start down the path towards a happy ending tonight.
Title: Confession is Good for the Soul
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Zarek & Cavil
Summary: Absolution comes from an unusual source.
Galactica sent a priest over with the first shipment of food and medical supplies the Astral Queen had requested. Tom had to give Madam President credit. It was a smart move. Not only would his men lose any sympathy they’d built up in the Fleet if they did anything to a man of the Gods, but a lot of them were religious and hadn’t seen a chaplain in a long time.
The brother had offered to give blessings and take confessions. Tom didn’t exactly have any faith in organized religion-just one more way to anesthetize the masses, convince them that their hardships were the work of the divine and not the convenience of the aristocracy. But Tom needed the support of the men now more than anything, so he set the brother up in a storage room and let those who wanted to come to him.
When Gibbons told Tom that the priest asked to see him specially, the only reason Tom could come up with was that the priest was acting as a messenger of not just the Zeus of Olympus but the Zeus on Galactica as well.
“No,” the brother said when Tom asked him about such a message, “I just thought you might feel a need to confess your sins.”
Tom smiled. “Oh, come now, Brother, you know that I haven’t had the opportunity to sin for twenty years under the watchful eye and tender rehabilitory care of the Colonial Correctional System.”
The brother laughed and rolled his eyes. “Of course not. Maybe something earlier, then? I hear you have a fondness for blowing people up.”
All the pleasantness of their banter faded. “Repentance is necessary to confession, isn’t it? I don’t repent of what I did. It was necessary.”
“Oh, no, you’re right,” the brother said, folding his hands. “I completely agree that ugly acts are often necessary to bring about true change. The ruling class always argues that, oh, we can change the worlds by sitting in a circle and holding hands and discussing how we feel about being a marginalized underclass. That's a load of crap. But don’t you feel any regret for the fact that, in killing those people in that government building to make a statement, you may have killed people who never lifted a finger against you along with your oppressors?”
Tom threw a hand in the air. “There is no perfect way to make a statement that will also make a difference. Like you said, if we waited around for the perfect, completely bloodless and justified opportunity, we’d have to limit our protests to singing 'Kumbaya,' and we'd accomplish no more than giving our oppressors a little entertainment.”
The brother narrowed his eyes at Tom for a moment, then nodded and stood up. “Thank you. Best of luck to you.”
Tom furrowed his brow. “Thank me? What for? I thought you wanted to confess me.”
The brother donned his hat and called over his shoulder as he shambled out of the storage room, “No, you’ve proved to me that’s not necessary. In fact, you just granted me absolution. As I said, best of luck to you.”
Not too many things could unsettle Tom anymore, but the smirk on the brother’s face as he looked back at him sent a chill up Tom’s spine.
Keep an eye out on your f'list as more people re-post their fics. There were a lot of really, really awesome ones. I'm still giggling over puszysty 's Doral-Hoshi one, and I still need to go back and comment on a lot of them that I enjoyed, now that I have reliable internet again.
I did another icon challenge. This one was to make an icon of a BSG actor from a non-BSG screencap or photo. Icons are still not my favorite thing to make. I'm not really a visual arts person anyway, and the small space makes making a readable quip tricky. I did have fun making icons for some actors who don't get as much iconing as they deserve:
I also made motivational posters. This was an absolute blast. ;)
Fic Update: I've written a little bit more of "Sanctuary" and a little bit more of "Picture Perfect," which is my lgbtfest plus now second big bang fic. I really should focus on "Sanctuary" right now, but my brain is sort of in "Picture Perfect" gear...but of all the problems I could have, this is a good one. I'm super excited that nicole_anell picked Sanctuary to do art for. :) Any artists on my f'list, there are some awesome fics still available, and I think they'd let willing artists sign up late.
Random question: My mom is watching BSG on DVD. She's starting Season 4.0 right now, and I think it would be easier and simpler for her if I could give her the "Face of the Enemy" webisodes on a DVD rather than trying to explain how to find them online. My question is, is there a way to burn those to DVD? I normally don't do illegal downloading/copying because I just don't, but I'm making an exception for this because I'd buy it if it were available, but NBC-Universal isn't making them available mostly because the bigwigs felt like screwing over the writers and actors. Anyway, I downloaded the webisodes from iTunes back when they were available there, and I know they're still available to view at Syfy.com. I'm not a big fan of torrents, mostly because I don't trust them not to be virus-ridden. Any ideas?