Fic: Spring Thaw / Bad Day / Lessons
Reposting for posterity. I have a bunch of comments to leave for all of you other awesome people too!
All written for the bsg_epics 2014 Prompt War.
Title:Spring Thaw
Characters/Pairing:Laura and Maya and Isis
Rating: G
Wordcount: 361
The lake at the foot of the mountains north of the settlement froze over two weeks ago, but everyone has been warned off it until now, when Tyrol and a couple of his old deck crew had done enough tests on it to finally pronounce it safe. It's six months to the day after the groundbreaking ceremony, and while food is short and coughs and colds are rife, people are in the mood for some kind of celebration. Maya bundles Isis up against the cold, still wrapping her in a third layer of clothing when Laura comes to call, rapping her chapped knuckles against the pole next to the tent flap.
Together, they walk slowly through the snow, following the footprints made by dozens of others trudging the same path. They hear the crowd before they see it; whooping and squeals and the familiar laughter of New Caprica's children wobbling on makeshift skates across the ice or hurtling down the gentle slopes on homemade toboggans. It barely gets beyond twilight these days, morning or night, but the lake is surrounded by little lanterns, the snow beneath sparkling with the flickering lights.
Maya starts down the hill towards the bonfire where some of the older folks are huddled, but she only gets halfway down before she realises Laura is no longer following her. She turns, Isis wriggling in her arms, to see Laura at the top of the slope with her hands tucked into her pockets, just watching the scene below. They stand, for a few moments, before Laura shakes her head a little and follows Maya down the hill.
"Everything ok?" Maya asks, and Isis leans over, arms outstretched, for a cuddle from Laura, who takes her and presses a kiss to the child's reddened cheek.
Laura nods. "I was just thinking, this place is like that lake. We just needed to wait for things to become solid, and good, and for it to hold us safe." But Maya feels a chill unrelated to the cold run down her spine as she knows what Laura isn't saying; that soon enough, just like the frozen lake, she believes it'll all melt away.
Title: Bad Day
Characters/Pairing: Laura/Kara
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 182
Laura’s in the shower when she first feels it. She’s terribly late for work and Kara is banging around in the kitchen making breakfast and it’s two weeks before the anniversary of that and she can feel her whole body tensing up in anticipation of it. And she just can’t deal with this on top of everything else.
Her fingers probe the outside of her breast gently. It’s tiny, barely there, and it can’t be anything important. Just can’t. She doesn’t have the time or the energy for this to be serious, and she snatches her fingers away and reaches for the shampoo. She massages it into her scalp so vigorously it almost hurts, and when the bubbles get into her eyes as she rinses it out, she relishes it, the sting taking over her thoughts for a moment.
Kara looks a little worried when she walks into the kitchen, rubbing her hair with a towel.
“Your eyes are all red. Everything ok?”
And Laura plasters a bright smile on her face and only half lies. “Soap in my eyes. Everything’s fine."
Title: Lessons
Characters/Pairing: Laura and the Roslin family
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 505
She was born in the midst of an attack, she knows. Her father used to tell her how her mother went into labour an hour before the first raiders ripped through the sky, tearing a path through the clouds to rain fiery destruction upon the city. They hadn’t dared leave their small house on the outskirts of the old quarter, huddling in the basement rather than heading for the hospital. Laura had emerged from her mother’s body into her grandmother’s hands as a bomb fell from the sky and brought the local temple to Hestia to the ground.
Her earliest memories are of rubble, of playing in the broken garden for the first time after the Articles of Colonization were signed and the first battlestars began their long patrols through the stars.
It wasn't until she was older that she understood why, no matter how much she begged, the baby brother or sister she so desperately wanted didn't come. Her mother just stroked her hair and held her tight, while her father tried to stretch their rations that bit further.
When Sandra was born as Laura pushed into her teenage years, and the longed-for second child was showered in gifts and toys in this newfound safety, Laura couldn't help but resent the fact that this tiny girl would never have to learn to sleep underground, stuffy and hot, or know how much she could come to hate the taste of watery soup when she'd had nothing else to eat for days. The joy in her mother's eyes when she held Laura's sister was almost an ache in Laura's heart, replacing, as it did, the fear and worry and exhaustion that she was so used to seeing directed at her. She felt unwanted, awkward, a burden to her parents without whom they could have had an easier time, whereas Sandra was wanted and adored. When the child was thrust into her arms every day after school, Laura would whisper her hurt into Sandra's tiny ear, refusing to love her, refusing to care.
It's her history teacher, when she's sixteen, who says the words that change her heart. "All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again, but if we remember and learn from our mistakes, maybe we can change things enough to make a difference. The children who come after you will only know this from books and from vids, but you, you're the generation who lived through it, who grew up with it. You're the generation strong enough to make a change."
Laura goes home that night, and when her baby sister is slipped into her arms, she looks at her and thinks that her own experiences might make a difference. Maybe going through what she went through means she can change things for Sandra and others like her. Her sister's blue eyes lock on her own and for the first time, Laura doesn't hate her. Now she knows what she's here for. She'll be strong enough to change the world.
All written for the bsg_epics 2014 Prompt War.
Title:Spring Thaw
Characters/Pairing:Laura and Maya and Isis
Rating: G
Wordcount: 361
The lake at the foot of the mountains north of the settlement froze over two weeks ago, but everyone has been warned off it until now, when Tyrol and a couple of his old deck crew had done enough tests on it to finally pronounce it safe. It's six months to the day after the groundbreaking ceremony, and while food is short and coughs and colds are rife, people are in the mood for some kind of celebration. Maya bundles Isis up against the cold, still wrapping her in a third layer of clothing when Laura comes to call, rapping her chapped knuckles against the pole next to the tent flap.
Together, they walk slowly through the snow, following the footprints made by dozens of others trudging the same path. They hear the crowd before they see it; whooping and squeals and the familiar laughter of New Caprica's children wobbling on makeshift skates across the ice or hurtling down the gentle slopes on homemade toboggans. It barely gets beyond twilight these days, morning or night, but the lake is surrounded by little lanterns, the snow beneath sparkling with the flickering lights.
Maya starts down the hill towards the bonfire where some of the older folks are huddled, but she only gets halfway down before she realises Laura is no longer following her. She turns, Isis wriggling in her arms, to see Laura at the top of the slope with her hands tucked into her pockets, just watching the scene below. They stand, for a few moments, before Laura shakes her head a little and follows Maya down the hill.
"Everything ok?" Maya asks, and Isis leans over, arms outstretched, for a cuddle from Laura, who takes her and presses a kiss to the child's reddened cheek.
Laura nods. "I was just thinking, this place is like that lake. We just needed to wait for things to become solid, and good, and for it to hold us safe." But Maya feels a chill unrelated to the cold run down her spine as she knows what Laura isn't saying; that soon enough, just like the frozen lake, she believes it'll all melt away.
Title: Bad Day
Characters/Pairing: Laura/Kara
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 182
Laura’s in the shower when she first feels it. She’s terribly late for work and Kara is banging around in the kitchen making breakfast and it’s two weeks before the anniversary of that and she can feel her whole body tensing up in anticipation of it. And she just can’t deal with this on top of everything else.
Her fingers probe the outside of her breast gently. It’s tiny, barely there, and it can’t be anything important. Just can’t. She doesn’t have the time or the energy for this to be serious, and she snatches her fingers away and reaches for the shampoo. She massages it into her scalp so vigorously it almost hurts, and when the bubbles get into her eyes as she rinses it out, she relishes it, the sting taking over her thoughts for a moment.
Kara looks a little worried when she walks into the kitchen, rubbing her hair with a towel.
“Your eyes are all red. Everything ok?”
And Laura plasters a bright smile on her face and only half lies. “Soap in my eyes. Everything’s fine."
Title: Lessons
Characters/Pairing: Laura and the Roslin family
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 505
She was born in the midst of an attack, she knows. Her father used to tell her how her mother went into labour an hour before the first raiders ripped through the sky, tearing a path through the clouds to rain fiery destruction upon the city. They hadn’t dared leave their small house on the outskirts of the old quarter, huddling in the basement rather than heading for the hospital. Laura had emerged from her mother’s body into her grandmother’s hands as a bomb fell from the sky and brought the local temple to Hestia to the ground.
Her earliest memories are of rubble, of playing in the broken garden for the first time after the Articles of Colonization were signed and the first battlestars began their long patrols through the stars.
It wasn't until she was older that she understood why, no matter how much she begged, the baby brother or sister she so desperately wanted didn't come. Her mother just stroked her hair and held her tight, while her father tried to stretch their rations that bit further.
When Sandra was born as Laura pushed into her teenage years, and the longed-for second child was showered in gifts and toys in this newfound safety, Laura couldn't help but resent the fact that this tiny girl would never have to learn to sleep underground, stuffy and hot, or know how much she could come to hate the taste of watery soup when she'd had nothing else to eat for days. The joy in her mother's eyes when she held Laura's sister was almost an ache in Laura's heart, replacing, as it did, the fear and worry and exhaustion that she was so used to seeing directed at her. She felt unwanted, awkward, a burden to her parents without whom they could have had an easier time, whereas Sandra was wanted and adored. When the child was thrust into her arms every day after school, Laura would whisper her hurt into Sandra's tiny ear, refusing to love her, refusing to care.
It's her history teacher, when she's sixteen, who says the words that change her heart. "All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again, but if we remember and learn from our mistakes, maybe we can change things enough to make a difference. The children who come after you will only know this from books and from vids, but you, you're the generation who lived through it, who grew up with it. You're the generation strong enough to make a change."
Laura goes home that night, and when her baby sister is slipped into her arms, she looks at her and thinks that her own experiences might make a difference. Maybe going through what she went through means she can change things for Sandra and others like her. Her sister's blue eyes lock on her own and for the first time, Laura doesn't hate her. Now she knows what she's here for. She'll be strong enough to change the world.