two. [video]

[aunomdedieu.livejournal.com]

[ Caprica has been avoiding Gaius's house ever since she accidentally conjured it from her memories. Once she considered trying to burn it down, but eventually decided she couldn't bear it. The original is already ash and splinters because of her; she doesn't want to repeat that.

But inevitably, she's back there again, sitting on the balcony, where a tendril of the Vine has crept its way up the side of the house — it's becoming part of this place. She has a cocktail glass of something a dull green color — ambrosia and rum, almost unbearably sweet, but she likes it that way — and she's staring off past the mirror, watching the lake as the sun begins to set over it.

When she speaks, her tone is idly curious, or seems that way. She still doesn't look at the mirror. ]

What do all of you miss? From home.

Comments

[aunomdedieu.livejournal.com]

[ That draws Caprica's attention to the mirror, to Rosalina. For an instant something flickers through her eyes, some complicated mix of longing and jealousy that she has to suppress. Jealousy is a sin.

There's a sort of gentleness in her tone when she speaks again. ] You have children?

[celestialmama.livejournal.com]

[ She's startled for a moment. It barely shows on her face--a slight widening of her eyes, perhaps, but they soften, showing nothing more than a mother's gentle love. A role she's been comfortable playing for years. ]

In a manner of speaking. We chose each other, the Luma and I. They had lost their mother and I had lost mine; so we decided to form our own family. One that would always be together.

[ Another emotion flickers and fades across her face. The irony of her last comment is not lost n her. ]

[aunomdedieu.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you were separated from them.

[ She means this. Caprica is sure that if she had a child and had come to this place without them, she wouldn't be able to bear it. ]

[celestialmama.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[ She looks briefly uncomfortable. It's one thing to simply speak of her children to strangers, to simply state that she misses them, as any mother would. It's quite another to open her heart to a stranger and say exactly how much she misses them. ]

I know I'll see them again. However long that may take...

What is it that you miss, if you don't mind my asking?

[aunomdedieu.livejournal.com]

I hope so.

[ The question makes her pause, and she takes a sip of her drink before answering. She does not miss New Caprica at all by now, but there are other things — living on a basestar, most definitely. And her sister Sixes, not that she can talk about them. Rosalina is still supposed to believe she's human. ]

There's someone... Someone I'm very close to, back home. [ A faint, slightly bitter smile touches one corner of her mouth, and she glances around her briefly. ] This was his house, actually.

[ Her feelings for Gaius have gotten incredibly complicated, but she still loves him and she can't help but miss him. ]

[celestialmama.livejournal.com]

Oh.

[ She isn't familiar with that kind of love. Not personally. She recognizes it in others, encourages it as best she can, but she has never experienced it, nor has she ever been the one who could help untangle its complications with sound advice. Her concept of love is still very naive: something that endures, something eternal. Only death could truly separate one from someone special.

The consequences of living so far from humans: she can observe the nature of the universe, but not the complications of love. ]

This house must have been conjured by mistake, then.

[aunomdedieu.livejournal.com]

[ She makes a soft sound, a stifled little laugh, and not a humorous one. ]

Yes, it was.

But... in some ways, it's nice to see it again. [ Caprica shouldn't be admitting to that, either, but she is. ]

[celestialmama.livejournal.com]

[ Rosalina smiles softly. This all is still going over her head, but it's nice, at least, to know the woman's received some comfort from the house. ]

Will...will you use it as a place to live, if it doesn't move like the other houses here?

[aunomdedieu.livejournal.com]

[ That... is a very good question. Caprica's eyes lower a moment, and she takes another sip of her drink. ]

I don't know. I may.

[ So many ghosts of old memories the place brings up... but, for the most part, they're happy ones. And she's clinging to that right now. ]

[celestialmama.livejournal.com]

[ Rosalina falls silent for a moment, her gaze drifting to nowhere in particular. Lost in thought.

When she speaks, it's as if she's speaking to herself. ]

I've heard...matter from the wild places... Even if it isn't quite home, it's more than what we've been given.