five. [video]

[aunomdedieu]

[ Caprica is sitting on the couch in Gaius's living room - her living room, now, more or less, even if she still has difficulty acknowledging it. She's turned one of the table lamps on and tucked herself into the corner of the couch, dressed in a satiny nightgown and a loose robe, legs drawn up under her, a cup of hot tea between her hands. For a

Comments

[anunlockedheart]

[It's late, but Tifa often kept late nights at home, and she hasn't quite broken the habit. She's stacking glasses in the bar when the Vine shoots up, and turns to acknowledge Caprica.] Reading something dull seems to help. A few pages of an instruction manual, and I'm out like a light.

[She smiles, sympathetically. Tilts her head.] Are you all right?

[aunomdedieu]

[ She manages a thin little smile at that. ] You're probably right. I'm sure I could find something like that. [ Gaius's library has its fair share of dry texts, after all. ]

Oh - just a dream. I'll be fine. [ And she will be okay, if not fine, eventually, but right now her expression is not particularly convincing. ]

[anunlockedheart]

If you can find motorcycle repair books, that seems to help me the most. [Her smile is warm and a little wistful, but it shifts into a concerned look at the expression on Caprica's face.] A nightmare?

[aunomdedieu]

[ Caprica's expression goes a little curious at the warmth in Tifa's smile, but she lets it go a moment later at the question, and nods after a brief pause. ]

Something that happened a long time ago.

[ Only partly true, but it isn't as if she can go into details. She shifts a little on the couch, stretching her legs out, and takes a slow sip of her tea. ]

[thesamename]

[Jackie tends to think too much and tear herself down emotionally in lieu of sleep, barring that she finds something more distracting to do. Before Dominique it had been a long series of dangerous extramarital affairs, but that was really beside the point. There weren't any young, drunk, stupid men in the gardens in the first place.]

Talking to yourself?

[She calls idly from the kitchen table. She and her coffee and her book are situated as one might expect them to be. She had seen Caprica come in to get her tea, but had assumed her silence to be tired and that she would be going back to her bed. It seems she was wrong.]

[aunomdedieu]

[ Caprica had barely been paying attention, and so she hadn't exactly noticed Jackie sitting at the table. She's a little startled by the voice from the other side of the house, and glances up, as if seeing the other woman for the first time.

Eventually, she moves her hand to dismiss the Vine, uncurls from the corner of the couch and stands up, bringing her teacup with her to sit down with Jackie at the table. ]

Apparently the Vine decided it wanted me to talk.

[ It always does seem to appear at the least convenient times, as if it has some perverse sense of humor. Caprica has never had any trouble thinking of it as a sentient thing, but then, she is used to sentient ships in her own world. ]

[thesamename]

Hm.

[She doesn't immediately lift her eyes from her book. Is probably more comfortable than she should be in this house and with Caprica's periodic appearances in the night. Very soon she'll have been in the house for two months, why shouldn't she be?]

It does that. I imagine it's part of the Queen's regiment in encouraging lesbianism to blossom in all of us.

[She motions idly in the direction of the back deck as she reaches for her coffee.]

It gets in back there, maybe some rat traps will do the trick.

[aunomdedieu]

Rat traps.

[ She makes a soft sound that could almost be a dry laugh, but doesn't quite make it there. Caprica seems... distant, in a way she hasn't been with Jackie before. ]

I'm sure it would just come back.

[ It's not an idea she would seriously entertain, either, and Jackie probably knows that. Caprica takes a slow sip of her tea, and is quiet, eyes on the clear glass of the tabletop. ]

[lovelikelight]

[She doesn't need to sleep, though she can put herself in a sleeplike state, and she can relate to Caprica's question. Since she arrived here, the nights have been long.]

I think of my friends. I remember them.

[She's lucky, in a way, to have a few of them with her. Their memories. She can replay them at any time, and even though there is sadness there, they are not gone.]

Back home, I'd talk, if someone else was awake. Or I'd read. Or just sit and listen.

[aunomdedieu]

Your friends.

[ Caprica tries a small smile, and it probably reads a little false - certainly it's not as genuine as it could be, but it's also meant to encourage Epsilon to talk about her friends. Right now Caprica is not really in much of a mood to talk about herself. ]

[lovelikelight]

[She returns Caprica's smile, gently. Talking can help, and she's happy to provide conversation.

The people she thinks of as her friends now--not all of them would have returned the sentiment, but that's all right. She cares for them anyway.]

I used to spend most of my time with my family. I think of them, too.

You could say I was an unpopular person in my world, but I did have some friends. I keep their memories with me.

[Voice]

[spoonoffate]

[Sabrina's lying in a comfortable part of the garden, she'd rather sleep out in the open than take someone's charity. After all, it isn't as if she hadn't spent years in a much more hostile environment

Still. Doesn't mean that she feels like letting everyone know where she sleeps.]

I hypnotize myself, or get one of my pokemon to do it. I prefer to do it myself, however.

[Voice]

[aunomdedieu]

One of your what?

[ Her voice isn't abrupt, but there is genuine confusion. Caprica has no idea what a 'Pokemon' is. ]

Re: [Voice]

[spoonoffate]

Ah, I keep forgetting. How careless.

[She sounds more bored than ashamed, though.]

Pokemon. Pocket monsters. Consider them to be animals of immense power and you're on the right track. It's a tad difficult to explain to someone who hasn't grown up with the concept.

[Voice]

[aunomdedieu]

I see.

[ She... doesn't, really, but that's a feeling she's gotten used to in the Gardens. Animals in her world are just animals, nothing more. ]

Are they... pets?

[ 'Animals of immense power' don't sound like things you would keep as pets, but she doesn't have a better word. ]

[shanghaiworld]

Make dolls.

[A short, but easy enough question to answer.]

[aunomdedieu]

Dolls?

[ She tries a small smile. ]

What kind of dolls?

[shanghaiworld]

People dolls. I aim to make them as close to life as I can.