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May. 24th, 2012 12:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thievingrumorsKasumi was most certainly bored, as was illustrated by her hanging off the sofa at an awkward angle in the recreational room. Her sock-clad feet were hanging over the back of one of the chairs and her head was dipping close to the floor. The woman’s eyes were firmly locked on the hand held mobile device in her hand.
Her eyes scanned the screen. She was looking for anything in the database that would be remotely helpful. Thus far she was coming up empty and her attempts to hack into the system were being met with mostly frustration. Every time she would get through one firewall, four more would pop up and then eventually she would be booted off the server and have to start all over again. It was almost as if the system was evolving to her attacks.
She sighed heavily as she flicked to another page in the cortex. She was definitely going to have to resort to stealing things again. Clearly there was nothing better to do on the ship and the largest source of her amusement thus far. That was sad.
“Well, I think it’s settled. I’m officially in hell,” this said as she tossed her communicator onto the coffee table.
Her eyes scanned the screen. She was looking for anything in the database that would be remotely helpful. Thus far she was coming up empty and her attempts to hack into the system were being met with mostly frustration. Every time she would get through one firewall, four more would pop up and then eventually she would be booted off the server and have to start all over again. It was almost as if the system was evolving to her attacks.
She sighed heavily as she flicked to another page in the cortex. She was definitely going to have to resort to stealing things again. Clearly there was nothing better to do on the ship and the largest source of her amusement thus far. That was sad.
“Well, I think it’s settled. I’m officially in hell,” this said as she tossed her communicator onto the coffee table.
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Date: 2012-05-24 12:53 pm (UTC)"I don't believe we've met before," he says, thankful for once that Six is not here to ruin whatever chances he may have of picking up a beautiful woman. "Gaius Baltar -- Dr. Gaius Baltar, actually." The whole thing comes out a bit smarmy, but his smarminess is a part of his charm.
"And you are?" he asks, looking down at her, lips curled up into what he hopes is a charming smile.
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Date: 2012-05-24 01:39 pm (UTC)Gaius Baltar, there’s someone she wasn’t expecting, or hoping to run into. Or hoping she wouldn’t run into him for at least a while. After a moment of internalized panic about the man who hated her but didn’t know he hated her she smiled brightly.
“Kasumi Goto,” she extended a hand, which was probably awkward from her upside-down position on the plush chair. It also sounded like he was trying to hit on her, which was probably a positive thing.
At least it was better than trying to strangle her or something. That was the typical response from gentleman she’d stolen things from and then antagonized.
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Date: 2012-05-24 01:50 pm (UTC)"Kasumi," Gaius repeats, as if savoring the taste of her name in his throat. "That's quite a lovely name, actually. When did you arrive here? Not long, I imagine; I couldn't have overlooked such a charming young woman for long."
He relinquishes his grasp on her hand.
"Do you--" He glances behind him at a nearby matching chair, before turning his eyes back to Kasumi. "Do you mind if I join you?"
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Date: 2012-05-24 02:10 pm (UTC)“I’ve been here about a week,” hopefully that misdirection about the blood sample didn’t tip him off that her arrival was around the time his notes went missing. She was thinking maybe it wasn’t appropriate to be hanging off of a chair upside down when conversing when other people. She pulled her legs over the arm and awkwardly pulled herself back into the chair so she was upright, if not a little dizzy from sitting upside down.
“And last I checked there was no monarchy in the rec room,” she offered a smile, “I think that means you can sit wherever you want.”
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Date: 2012-05-24 02:16 pm (UTC)"A week," Gaius repeats, happy with this answer. This is something he can take advantage of. "Have you had the opportunity to explore the rest of the station? I'd be quite happy to give you the grand tour if you haven't. It's actually quite easy for someone to get lost if they don't know what they're looking for."
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Date: 2012-05-24 03:04 pm (UTC)Granted, she probably knew the floor they were trapped on better than most at this point, Gaius didn’t need to know that, however. This was probably the perfect opportunity to steal the man’s communicator, “I’m sure there are places I haven’t seen yet.”
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Date: 2012-05-25 02:22 am (UTC)He rises from his seat, then offers her his hand to help her up -- if she'll take it.
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Date: 2012-05-25 07:34 am (UTC)“Thank you,” she raises an eyebrow, biting back a comment about how impressive it is that he’s found his way around the small space. “Where to first?” She motions around, “I’ve already pretty much seen the rec rooms. The other one has a dartboard though.” It struck her as odd that the two rooms would be different when so much of the station relied on symmetry. “Which doesn’t make any sense, why is there a dartboard there and not here?
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Date: 2012-05-25 02:45 pm (UTC)He leads them both out of the rec room -- she seems awfully familiar with this place anyway -- and down the hall. "The dart board was brought back by some of the Proserpina's other residents," he answers. "The station transported us to a place called Earth a few weeks ago. Some people brought things back with them; that dart board was one of those things."
He deliberates where to take her. The Wardrobe Room, perhaps? Zoe had seemed pleased when he had taken her there before. He glances over at Kasumi -- at what she's wearing. It's clear from the clothing she's wearing that she hasn't had the opportunity to go there yet.
He turns and begins to lead the way there.
"The only thing I brought back," he says, "was a mask. A picture of one flickered on the screen of our communicators near the beginning of our short tenure on Earth; it was only up for a few minutes. One of the things the station wanted us to return with. Those of us who returned with whatever it was the station wanted gained access to a special room."
And they're there. Gaius reaches into his back pocket and taps the communicator against a small panel next to the wall. The doors whirr open.
"The Wardrobe Room," Gaius says, smiling smugly. He steps inside and walks towards the console, slipping his communicator back into his pocket as he does so.
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Date: 2012-05-26 07:18 am (UTC)The fact that the ship was sending them on errands was a little ridiculous. “So the ship sends us all on personal errands and fetch quests,” a pause then she added sarcastically, “fantastic.” This was sounding more and more like a sick science experiment.
She eyed the room carefully as they entered, that familiar smile returning to her lips, “I assume the Wardrobe room doesn’t dole out crapes,” a beat, “unless it’s the most inaccurately named room on the ship.” She also made not that his communicator was buried in his back pocket. It wouldn’t be a difficult task at all to pick his pocket without him taking notice.
“It doesn’t look all that big. What makes this the Wardrobe room?”
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Date: 2012-05-26 02:51 pm (UTC)After they step into the room, Gaius leads her towards the console. The room is small, but the console didn't require much room to work with. "Tell it what you'd like to wear," he says. "Be as specific as possible."
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Date: 2012-05-28 06:25 am (UTC)He most certainly looked human.
“You are human, yeah?” He could be from one of the colonies, but even they had an idea of Earth and how to get there. She ignored the wardrobe console for the moment. This seemed far more interesting.
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Date: 2012-05-28 06:29 am (UTC)"As far as I know, yes," he answers, brows furrowed. And for once, the answer he supplies is completely honest. "We were looking for Earth because our own homeworlds were attacked by the Cylons. Earth is actually to be our new home."
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Date: 2012-05-28 03:53 pm (UTC)She finally moves away from him after studying his features for an awkward beat, “What’s a Cylon?” She maintained an open but curious demeanor as she moved toward the wardrobe console, “Were you at war with them or something?” Maybe ‘Cylon’ was just another word for ‘Reaper.’ Her fingers tapped carefully at the screen before she paused and looked over her shoulder, clearly waiting for an answer.
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Date: 2012-05-28 04:23 pm (UTC)"Cylon stands for Cybernetic Lifeform Node. They were a race of sentient machines we created. They rebelled against us when they gained self-awareness and we were at war with them for a time. An armistice was eventually declared and they retreated into space for fifty years until they attacked us again. Those of us who did manage to survive did so in a ragtag collection of ships."
Gaius gives a little shrug at that.
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Date: 2012-05-28 04:40 pm (UTC)He clearly wasn’t a Quarian. She opened her mouth so say something then turned back to the console. After a few awkward moments she spoke, “Where I’m from… Something similar happened with the Quarians,” a pause, he probably wouldn’t understand that, “Another spacefaring race. The whole society is confined to a fleet of ships, it’s a little…” She tapped the screen briefly, thinking of Tali. “Sad, actually.”
Her lips quirk up in a half smirk as she looks over her shoulder again, “And you’re sure you’re human? “ She’d never seen a Quarian under one of those helmets.
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Date: 2012-05-28 06:16 pm (UTC)"Our fleet is quite sad, actually," he says, watching as she taps the screen. "Though not quite as sad as our attempt at establishing a colony." He had accumulated a great number of regrets over the years and New Caprica was definitely one of them.
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Date: 2012-05-28 07:42 pm (UTC)“Why didn’t it work out?” This time she turns away from the console to face Gaius. She’s genuinely curious. The Quarian’s couldn’t start another colony because their entire systems shut down the minute they take that suit off.
Kind of sucked for them but they also probably shouldn’t have tried to mass murder the Geth the minute they asked an existential question. Kasumi was frankly torn on how she felt about the Geth so she settled on indifference.
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Date: 2012-05-28 11:55 pm (UTC)Somehow in this discussion, he neglects to mention the Cylons themselves and their part in the equation.
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Date: 2012-05-29 12:34 am (UTC)She turned back to the screen. The whole situation reminded her of Jacob's father. That was a disgusting situation and the thought of it left a bitter taste in the woman's mouth. "Did you have anyone leading the people?"
Ah, there we go. She found a short military style jacket in black with a blue stripe across the chest. The picture made it look like it had a white tank top and black, military style cargo pants. This seriously looked like something Ashley had in her closet. Perfect.
"And I just hit this button?" Why even bother asking the question, she didn't wait for Gaius to answer. Thankfully that wasn't the 'explode the ship' button.
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Date: 2012-05-29 12:56 am (UTC)"I was leading the people, actually," he says. "I was president at the time -- and vice-president before that."
Gaius opens his mouth to give the confirmation, but before he can, the button is pressed, and the selected outfit deposited.
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Date: 2012-05-29 01:22 am (UTC)"We can change the subject if you like," she offered him a small smile as she picked up the outfit. God she hoped Shepard didn't see her in this, she wouldn't hear the end of it. Or, rather if Shepard knew her better she wouldn't hear the end of it... This whole time and space thing was still giving her a headache.
The things she did to steal things.
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Date: 2012-05-29 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-29 01:53 am (UTC)“I was simply curious,” a beat, “I did say we could change the subject and I didn’t mean to offend you.” She offered him a smile, “If you wanted to poke and prod at my personal history, feel free.” Granted, Kasumi’s history would probably be filled with half-truths anyway, “I don’t have anything to hide really,” a pause, “except a string of murders and a black market gun-running operation.” She was of course, kidding. Mostly.
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Date: 2012-05-29 02:11 am (UTC)"Did you find something you liked, then?" he asks. "Shall we continue the tour?"
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Date: 2012-05-29 02:25 am (UTC)Once again, she grinned, "Lead the way to our next adventure."
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Date: 2012-05-29 05:10 am (UTC)He talks briefly about the various rooms they pass en route to the science labs; if he knows who is living where, he mentions it, though he's not entirely sure she's yet acquainted herself with the station's other denizens.
"Technically, I have a room for myself," he explains as they turn the corner towards the labs. "I don't use it, though. I spend most of my time in the labs anyway." The doors to the lab whir open at their approach and he steps inside.
"This is my workspace," he says gesturing a single arm to the area of the labs he's fenced off for his own personal use. "It's not much now, I know, but I'm hopeful that this will change with time."
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Date: 2012-05-29 06:11 am (UTC)“You don’t sleep?” that was impressive. She hadn’t resorted to breaking into his room yet but that bit of information did make annoying him that much easier, “I would think that’s a one way to narcolepsy town.”
She surveyed his work area carefully and immediately took note of his crumpled looking notes. “Were these particularly frustrating?” she motioned to the aforementioned notes.
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Date: 2012-05-29 06:29 am (UTC)Gaius turns as she gestures towards his notes. The notes someone had stolen from him. Thankfully, some of them had been returned -- but not all of them.
"Those," he says. "Were my notes. Are my notes, technically. I don't know if you saw the e-mail, but someone stole them from me. I still don't have all of them back in my possession."
He presses a hand against one of the sheets in an attempt to straighten out the crinkles, but they're hopelessly crumpled. No amount of straightening will iron them straight. "They were mostly covering my research on the blood samples Dr. Bashir and I collected. Nanites and all."
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Date: 2012-05-29 07:22 am (UTC)“I imagine it’s always easier to walk away from your work when you have someone to go home to.” This was definitely coming from personal experience. Her tone confirmed nothing either.
She eyed the notes curiously, “Oh, that’s terrible. I hope they didn’t cover anything too critical to your research.” And with a shake of her head she confirms that she didn’t see the e-mail, “I hadn’t seen your message. I think I was still recovering from the shock of everything.” Naturally, the words passing her lips were rather convincing lies.
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Date: 2012-05-29 02:35 pm (UTC)It's probably best now to know whether or not he has a chance; he's not the sort of man to continue pursuing a fruitless cause. He'd rather pool his resources elsewhere; there were plenty of other women who would no doubt crave his attention aboard the station.
"Nothing that I can't simply test again," he says. "It is frustrating, though. I was hopeful that I'd be able to figure out something that might be useful to the rest of the station. Maybe give us some idea of what else those nanites might have done to us. With my papers missing, that does set us back a bit."
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Date: 2012-05-29 03:08 pm (UTC)Mister Scientist was shameless, granted being a woman was something Kasumi would use in her favor here, “Had someone.” Her expression grows more serious but she maintains a mask on how much losing Keiji was still affecting her. Revenge did nothing to soothe that sting, “He died, actually.”
Her fingers traced the folds in the paper a moment, she knew full well that all of those notes were not on the nanites, “Well, I do hope you get them back.”
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Date: 2012-05-30 03:53 am (UTC)Except Caprica didn't die. She did, but she came back. So the situations weren't entirely the same. But at the time, he thought she had died. Really died. Because he didn't know about Cylon resurrection.
"I hope so too," he says quietly. "We should, um, probably try and find something more interesting. I'm sure this is just boring you, really."
He drums a few fingers on the counter for a second, then suddenly turns around and stops in place, as if thinking. Really, there weren't really any other fascinating places on the station.
"Have you been to the Observation Deck?" he asks, turning around again suddenly.
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Date: 2012-05-30 04:41 am (UTC)“I’m sure it would be more interesting if you had more tools to work with. A microscope and some slides aren’t much,” on a scale of one to generous it was actually pretty damn frugal.
His question on the observation deck seems sudden, “Briefly but I didn’t stay long.” That was an outright lie. She had a conversation with that Katniss girl there. “Is there something particularly fascinating about the Observation Deck?”
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Date: 2012-05-30 05:12 am (UTC)There's irritation there. Clearly, he's not happy about the limited resources at his disposal himself. In fact, he's quite frustrated. Even Galactica had more for him to work with than this.
Mentioning Caprica probably didn't much to improve his mood, either.
He leads the way out of the Science Labs and towards the Observation Deck. "It's the only place on the station that feels anything like home," he says. "Or what's left of it, anyway." He didn't frequently get out of the labs at Galactica, but occasionally he'd make it out to the observation deck. It was at strange hours because most of his work aboard the ship was done at strange hours and really, strange hours were the only hours he could avoid the couples kissing in the seating area.
The same could be said for Proserpina. Minus the couples anyway. He had his doubts anyone here would ever get romantically involved. They were all holding out hope that someday they'd be returned home, probably. No use getting involved in a relationship that would unceremoniously end without warning one day.
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Date: 2012-05-30 05:45 am (UTC)She fell into walking beside him on the way to the Observation Deck, “My quarters were actually in the Port observation deck on the Normandy.” It was actually a pretty nice gig if you ignored everyone coming in to get drunk. She kind of felt her room was meant to be a poker den that they’d just plopped a bed into because they had to put her somewhere. Funny that’s exactly what the alliance turned it into after they’d taken the ship.
That’s fine, she’d taken all of her books and a few of Shep’s toys before the ship had been commandeered. At least the Alliance had let them all get their belongings before evicting them all.
Thanks for saving the universe, now get the hell out.
“I don’t think anyone from a non-spacefaring home can say the same.” The whole space thing seemed to unnerve a fair number of people.
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Date: 2012-05-30 06:00 am (UTC)His thoughts immediately flicker to Erik.
"It's probably not surprising, but the closest thing I had to quarters aboard Galactica were the science labs there," he says. "I spent most of my time there even when I was vice-president, looking at blood samples. A friend of mine used to tell me often that all of this has happened before and that all of this would happen again. I never thought much of it at the time, but now I'm wondering if maybe I should have taken her a bit more seriously."
He stops in front of the door to the Observation Deck long enough for it to whir open, then steps inside. He doesn't stop until he's a good half-foot away from the windows.
"I come out here to look out for familiar star systems," he says, shifting his hands into his jacket pockets. "I studied astrometrics at the University of Caprica, along with computer programming and biology. I haven't seen anything familiar yet."
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Date: 2012-05-30 02:22 pm (UTC)Because that wasn’t a chilling thought or anything.
“Huh,” it sounded like a cryptic prophecy about the Reapers and it was also a great distraction from the terrifying little nano-bugs floating through their bloodstream. “I can’t say I haven’t heard something similar,” Except no one ever believed things like that. No one wanted to admit that things were far from perfect in the universe and that alone was both amusing and frustrating.
Kasumi follows Gaius into the room, dropping the outfit from the wardrobe onto one of the benches. She moved over to the window to look outside, she wasn’t a navigator or a pilot so stars looked like stars to her. Looking at the stars was always somewhat relaxing, so quiet and vast.
“Stars aren't generally my thing and I never finished my degree in computer sciences,” surprisingly an honest statement. She had dropped out of college in her last year. The whole system was boring and she wasn’t actually learning anything. She was simply showing everyone else how brilliant she was and that wasn’t what she wanted. She learned more from Keiji than she ever had in university, granted, any school that was willing to teach how to bypass advanced security systems would probably lose their galactic accreditation.
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Date: 2012-05-31 05:48 am (UTC)He folds his arms over his chest, eyes scanning the skies for something familiar. He finds nothing. No stars he remembers from staring up at the skies of Aerilon as a child. None that he remembers from looking at endless star charts aboard the Galactica. None of this is familiar to him, though if this galaxy is as endless as his own, it should be no surprise.
"There's very little I actually learned at the University of Caprica that I wouldn't have been able to learn independently," he says, and for once, it sounds like he's not bragging. "If it weren't for the diploma, I would have saved me the eight years and spent it doing something more useful."
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Date: 2012-05-31 06:34 am (UTC)The woman has to bite back a comment about teaching the damn class. “Degrees are just useless pieces of paper anyway,” she offered a small wave of her hand, “Or rather they’re expensive pieces of paper.”
Kasumi leaned forward, resting the palms of her hands on the lip of the window. “So, you were just a scientist before the Cylons attacked your homeworld?” She was assuming he was either a rich scientist or a rich playboy with time on his hands. No one ended up with 3 degrees and a doctorate without one or both of those options.
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Date: 2012-05-31 06:51 am (UTC)"Programmer, actually," he answers, still gazing out of the window. "I was lead defense systems developer working for the Colonial Ministry of Defense. I had finished programming the Command Navigation Program for the military shortly before the Cylon attack."
He turns to look at Kasumi. "And you? What did you do before coming here?"
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Date: 2012-05-31 02:13 pm (UTC)Actually, that would have been hilarious. Who was she trying to kid?
Ah, and now she had to decide if she wanted to outright lie to the man or if she wanted to shroud her occupation in a series of cleverly veiled phrases. Both would probably be acceptable.
“I worked in infiltration and acquisitions for the military. My main focus was technology,” not entirely false and pointing to spy, not thief, “Before coming here I was working on a weapon to help stop the end of the universe.”
She looked out at the stars before continuing, “Kind of hoping that worked out in my favor.” If she was dead she was going to find a way to kill Shepard. Or seriously annoy her by moving all of her things with creepy ghost powers or something.
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Date: 2012-05-31 02:22 pm (UTC)Still, it's easy enough to see her as a spy. A shame, though, that her universe was coming to an end just as his was.
"If you don't mind me asking," he begins, "what was causing the end of your universe?"
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Date: 2012-05-31 02:36 pm (UTC)His next question gives her pause. How did one simply explain the Reapers? Giant world ending death machines didn’t quite get the point across in a specific manner.
“A synthetic race called the Reapers are bent on destroying all organic life in the galaxy to start some intergalactic, age-old extinction cycle over again,” she mentioned it with such a casual tone it almost sounded like she was joking. “They’re kind of the most terrifying thing I’ve ever encountered.”
The collector ship still gave her nightmares. All of it actually still gave her nightmares. The collectors, the Husks, the Harvesting… It all made her shudder. This was the precise reason she wouldn’t go with Shep on another suicide mission. She wasn’t a warrior, she was a thief.
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Date: 2012-05-31 02:48 pm (UTC)Then slowly, he turns his eyes back towards the stars because he doesn't think he can look someone in the eye and say this and still keep his composure.
"I don't think I was ever more terrified than the moment I watched the bombs rain down on Caprica," he says. "But what I realized then, with all these people around me dying, was that despite everything, I still wanted to live and I was willing to fight for it. So I let myself be scared. There was no fighting that. But I let that terror propel me forward. And I'm alive today because of it."
He turns to face her again.
"If there's anything I can do, let me know," he says. "I know it's probably little consolation, but whatever we learn here might prove useful in our own worlds when we return."
Gaius was hoping for that much.
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Date: 2012-05-31 09:10 pm (UTC)Obviously not bad enough to stop her from stealing from him, but that was beside the point.
She pushed herself away from the window and close enough to him to stand on her tiptoes and lay a very light kiss on his left cheek. This was of course, a misdirection, a distraction so he wouldn’t notice her fingers plucking the communicator from his back pocket. “Thank you,” a pause, “for your concern, I mean.”
A small smile lightly touched her lips as she started to walk away. The communicator was now nestled safely in her own front pocket, “I’m sorry about Caprica.” This said over her shoulder as she leaned against the door frame. Her form was silhouetted by the light pouring in from the hallway. “And thanks again for the tour. It was most enlightening.”
With that she started down the hall. The man had made stealing his communicator almost too easy. Kasumi just hoped he didn’t notice it missing for a few hours. Surely she could sneak it back into his room or the lab before he noticed it was gone. Her small smile turned into a smirk, signifying that she was most pleased with herself.
Now she just had to figure out what she and Shepard were going to be wearing.