"Kara Thrace and her special destiny? That sounds like a bad cover band."

Please leave a message here for Kara (or her mun) if you would like to get in contact with her. You can also reach the mun at burnandrave [at] livejournal [dot] com.


Thank you!!

[Set in an RP-verse with wants_to_resist. Canon is current up to "Revelations".]

Kara was a little drunk.

And by a little, one could assume it was a lot. Galactica was still in orbit around Earth, and they were running recon missions on the planet and still looking for clues about what had happened to the people who'd lived there before.

Kara refused to spend more time than she absolutely had to on the surface. She was still convinced she was going to die there, and if it was going to be her grave, she'd spend enough time there eventually.

She'd just come off a four-day recon rotation, and she and her fellow pilots had gone to the bar for a few rounds before heading back to their quarters. Kara had really wanted to go and find Sam, but she knew the others would make some kind of comment if she ignored the post-mission drinking fest. And it was nice to relax a little, even if she'd maybe overdone it a bit.

Still, she was in a good mood, and when she went in search of Sam, it was with a pretty good idea of how she wanted to spend her last remaining energy before she collapsed into her bunk and slept for sixteen hours straight.

(This is an Earth!AU response. Sam is notmyfate and Leoben is cylon_prophet.)

Things I have to do:

1. Teach the nuggets how to land without crashing into something. That was a close call last week.
2. Go watch Sam's Pyramid team and tell him yes, they're very good.
3. Pretend to understand Leoben's complicated drawing about whatever project he's working on.
4. Check on Sharon and see if she's doing okay.
5. Say thank you to Lee for finding Leoben a job. I had no idea he'd actually been mopey before he had something to do.
6. Finish the mural in the living room. Which means I need more blue paint.
7. Visit Laura.
8. Wash my uniform.
9. Recon patrol next week, ugh. My frakking pilots need to be flight-ready stat, I'm so sick of endless loops around this frakking planet. Gods help me, sometimes I miss shooting at things.

Everyone loves to talk about their favorite holiday moments. We want your muse to take a walk on the darker side. Share an experience they'd rather not relive, whether it be because of the company or something far worse.

Canon. They don't have Christmas in BSG-verse, to my knowledge, so this is about birthdays.

Her mother thought holidays were stupid, especially birthdays.

"Why should I celebrate that? It was painful, Kara, and your father left me three days after I brought you home. Besides, celebrating birthdays is selfish--if anyone should get presents, it should be me. What did you do to deserve anything?" A cluck of the tongue and a shake of the head, and there was her mother's answer to can I have a stuffed animal for my birthday, Mama? "No, if you want presents for something, then you go do something that deserves presents. No one is going to throw you a party just for existing."

Kara had been six years old when her mother told her that, and she never forgot it. But she never stopped waking up every morning on her birthday and hoping maybe this time would be different, maybe this time she'd done something really good and her Mama would buy her a birthday present. Because she'd have to go to school and make up something that her Mama got her, because everyone knew it was her birthday and they would ask. And Kara didn't know how to answer that question because it made her feel all funny when they asked, so she came up with something like a Viper! and everyone laughed at her and then she had to punch them.

Then she got sent home and punished, and that's how she spent her birthday.

So by the time she turned ten, everyone at school knew that if you asked weirdo Kara Thrace what she got for her birthday, she'd punch you in the face. So no one asked, and no one got her a card or a gift or anything, because by then everyone thought she just hated her birthday. Worse, though, they thought she hated birthdays just in general, and so she never got invited to anyone else's, because what kind of mom wanted a birthday-hating little girl that'd give you a punch to the face as a present at their daughter's birthday party?

And so Kara, because she was Kara, just started hating her birthday. Because everyone else thought she did, and if they knew she really did want a present or a cake, or even that she'd be just fine with watching someone else have presents and a cake, then they would think she was weak and pathetic and Kara hated that. She didn't want their pity! Her Mama said that was the worst thing anyone could ever give you, and Kara thought maybe her Mama was right about that.

Except one year, she was in the hospital on her birthday because she'd fallen down the stairs (that's what Mama said to say, I fell down the stairs, not anything about breaking Mama's bottle and spilling on the carpet or being shoved while standing too close to the stairs, her own fault anyway, she was clumsy), and the nurse saw on her chart that it was her birthday.

"Oh!" the nurse said, and touched her hand to Kara's hair gently, which made Kara flinch because she didn't like that. "It's your birthday, Kara. How about that!"

And Kara almost said, like she always did, "I hate my birthday," but she couldn't because the nurse had already left. And later, the doctors came in and sang and brought her a teddy bear from the gift shop downstairs. Kara went to sleep with the teddy bear and thought that even though she was in the hospital and her ankle hurt and she missed her Mama (because you were supposed to miss the person who love and took care of you), that maybe this was the best birthday she'd ever had. The teddy bear was soft and she put her face in its fur and it was better than anything at helping her get to sleep.

Except when her Mama came to pick her up and take her home, she found out about the bear and wouldn't let Kara bring it with her. "I told you, only good little girls get birthday presents. You didn't do anything good, did you, Kara? You knocked something of mine over, and then you fell down the stairs and had to go to the hospital. Do you know how much your bill is going to be? Do you think you deserve a present?"

And Kara said no, she probably didn't, and asked her Mama if maybe she could give it to another little girl in the hospital who had been good. But her mother said it had Kara's germs on it and they wouldn't let her give it to anyone else, and made her throw it in the trash outside by the car. Kara cried really quietly the whole way home and decided that having the things you wanted only meant they got taken away from you, so maybe it was just better not to want anything at all.

Couples Therapy: 2. Discuss something you're not ready for in your current relationship, and explain why.

This is an Earth!AU prompt response. Sam is notmyfate and Leoben is cylon_prophet.

[Locked from Sam and Leoben]

I'm not ready to forgive him yet, about Kacey.

I've made my peace with Leoben about most of what happened on New Caprica. I know why he did it. I know it was to keep me alive, to keep me from the joining the resistance, because then I might have died and I never would have found Earth. I know his side of the story, and while I hate what he did to me, I have to believe he thought it was the only way to keep me safe.

And he admitted part of him wanted to force me into loving him. I hate that part a lot, but what can I frakking do about it? I do love him. Sometimes I think I loved him when I was his prisoner, but it doesn't make any sense why I would have. Sometimes it felt like love when I killed him, but I don't know if that makes sense, either. Nothing with the two of us makes a lot of sense. Trust me, I know that better than anyone. I know Lee doesn't get it, and even Sharon--my best friend--I think she's confused, too. But I love him, and that's not up for frakking discussion. You can try and figure out why, and let me know if you do.

But Kacey...he told me she was mine. My child. And he knew about my mother, and what I--what my childhood was like. And I guess it's fair to say he had to do something drastic, since he caught me trying to slice my wrists open in the bathroom. But I don't think I would have done it. I've never really wanted to die, except the one time when I actually did.

I don't know if Sam's forgiven him or not. He was the one who was left there, alone, not knowing what happened to me. I should have been by his side, as his wife and leader of the resistance. I would have been. And it all goes back to that, that Leoben was frakking right and I could have died. But I could have lived, too. I've never asked if Leoben's visions saw my death on New Caprica. I don't know if I'm ready for the answer.

But Kacey...

I saw her, a few days ago. I was at the market, and her mother was there, and they came over and said hi. Kacey's gotten so big, I almost didn't recognize her. But she smiled and said, "Kara," and I picked her up and she tugged my hair. I wondered what she would have done if Leoben had been with me. I wonder if she remembers him. Looking back, I don't think she ever called him anything. She doesn't look anything like me, or Leoben, except she's fair-haired like the two of us. She's in school, they have a nice warm place to live, and her mom says they're both doing well. I'm really glad about that.

But then I went home and I didn't talk to Leoben for the rest of the day. I know this...relationship...the three of us have won't work unless I frakking talk, communicate, whatever. But I just couldn't do it. I was afraid of what I would say. I think maybe I need to say it, at some point, but I don't want to. Yesterday I came home and Leoben and Sam were playing Pyramid again, dressed in all the random warm clothes we've managed to scrape together (you don't need them on a spaceship, winter's been hard to dress for), and they were laughing and easy. And I remembered the first night we moved in here, when I thought they were going to go after each others throats and this was all doomed to be some colossal frak-up.

I want it to work. It is. I just have to let this go, and I just don't know if I can. But I want to, I do, and I guess that's something.

Earth!AU response. I needed a bit of brevity. They are usually little buckets of angst, do forgive my momentary venture into comedy. Sometimes they need to laugh, y/y? Besides, one of the survivors just HAD to be a restaurateur with a clever sense of humor, or someone who used to be in marketing for a living.

Leoben here is cylon_prophet, and Sam is notmyfate, and I promise we'll return to our regularly scheduled angst programming after this brief little interlude. arrow_of_apollo, I apologize for the joke! :D

"Stop laughing. I mean it." Kara pointed her fork at Sam. "It's not funny." She looked down at the menu and scowled again. "I just can't believe this."

Sam was laughing so hard, he had trouble breathing. "It's just...come on, Kara. It's funny."

"No, Anders, it's really frakking not," Kara hissed, glaring at her husband. "I've got pilots that need to respect me. And you know that one I told you about, Private Terran? He makes enough frakking Cylon-lover jokes that this isn't going to help."

"But you do love Cylons. Two of them. Three, if you count Sharon Agathon," Leoben pointed out, calmly, but Kara noticed he wasn't looking at her and was instead studying the menu with ill-concealed amusement.

"She's the only frakking Cylon I love at the moment," Kara muttered, drumming her fingers on the table. They were at the beachside restaurant a few miles from their house for dinner, which was a regular occurrence as of late. The little restaurant was a popular place, and was expanding rapidly. They'd added new tables, built an enclose for dining even in the cold temperatures of the winter season. And they had brand-new menus, too.

"We named everything after stuff from the attacks, and the exodus and stuff," the waitress had told them, showing them to their usual table. Kara had barely registered what that might mean until Sam started reading it, and had immediately started laughing so hard he couldn't breathe.

He'd had to point out to her what was so funny, which was the menu item named after her. The Starbuck, a triple-decker stacked sandwich with two different kinds of meat.

"I like mine," Leoben said now, while Kara was pointedly ignoring Sam's hilarity. "It's a soup, with mysterious ingredients you've probably never heard of."

"How do you know that's yours?" Sam asked, getting a hold of himself at length and peering over Leoben's shoulder at the menu.

Leoben pointed. "It's menu item number two," he said, and Sam started laughing again.

"I hate you both," Kara snapped. "Why couldn't I have been some kind of frakking alcoholic beverage? Doesn't that make more sense?" she asked, annoyed.

"At least you're not the Baltar salad," Sam said, wiping at his eyes. "It says it's full of fruits and nuts."

Kara snickered despite herself, but she was still a little miffed. "You're laughing because you're not on here," she groused, scanning the menu. It was kind of funny that the menu item for Six was a healthy entree. As if any kind of diet would give you that frakking figure. And it was a little gratifying that Lee Adama's entree was a hamburger called the Adama Jr, half the meat of the original Adama burger!

"Yes he is." Leoben flipped over the menu. "The Final Five are desserts. See? I think yours is the one that comes out in the shape of a pyramid with honey on it."

Kara crossed her arms in ire. The frakking owner of this stupid bar was always really nice to Sam, and probably really did want to pour honey all over him or something. Sam was hot, and Kara was used to it, but it still wasn't very fair. "So, wait. I'm a sandwich, you're soup, and Sam gets to be a dessert?"

Sam grinned, leaning back in his chair, hands behind his head and radiating smugness. "That's because it's me, baby," he drawled, and winked at her. "Think I'm gonna order the Colonel Tigh martini to go with my Starbuck Sandwich--"

"You are not ordering that," Kara interrupted.

"Hey, it sounds good! Besides, you should be happy to have two different kinds of meat--"

"Yeah, yeah. Keep up the frakking jokes, and I'll be going vegetarian," Kara said dangerously, not even thinking how that might sound. Leoben choked on his water, and Sam started laughing again. Kara made a disgusted sound and stomped over to the bar. Drinking her dinner sounded like a really frakking good idea right about now.

Frak it. She was so learning how to cook.

(RP!Canon-verse. Sam is wants_to_resist. Pandora's box was actually a jar, but go with me on the metaphor. ::grins::)

Dare: Open it

Kara Thrace is on Galactica, and she is dreaming. Below her orbits Earth, a wasteland of broken hopes and tangled metal. The space that surrounds them is silent and dark, but it hums with the threat of a Cylon army and the final battle yet to come.

Beside her Sam is asleep, one arm flung over in silent possessiveness. He's warm and taking up all the room in her crowded bunk, because Kara has still not asked for married housing despite their recent reconciliation.

In her dream, she's standing on the surface of the planet, barefoot, the ground solid beneath her feet. Leoben is before her, smiling, the sea stretched out endlessly behind him. He's holding something in his hand, which is held out towards her in silent supplication. He has stars for eyes. "Take it, Kara," he says, and whatever is in his hand is glowing too bright for her to see.

Kara reaches out and watches as the light in his eyes fades, leaving his eyes their normal, predatory blue. "I can't," she said, angry, because Leoben always makes her angry. "I can't." Her eyes stray to the box, humming with some unearthly music, the sound of which she has not heard since she came back from the storm with the way to earth a torment in her mind.

The unsung music sings to us all.

"You have to," he says and shoves it at her, that thing made of light and burning, and Kara takes it because she knows that if it lands on the ground, if it touches fertile earth, it will leave only cinders in its wake.

The pain of the box in her hand burns like fire, everywhere it touches, flashes of agonizing pain flowing over her body like the ocean behind Leoben. Kara wants to pitch the box in the waves, even though she knows it would mean death--all life needs water to survive.

You are the harbinger of death, Kara Thrace. You will lead them all to their end.

"Open it," Leoben says, still smiling. The light from the box halos around him, makes him look like some kind of angel. An angel of death, or maybe that's her.

"It burns," Kara says, her voice choked with pain. "I can't."

"It's yours," Leoben says softly. "Only you can open it, Kara. Embrace that knowledge and the pain will stop. But there is nothing within that you cannot withstand. If you do not open it, all light here will fade and truth will be lost to darkness."

Kara reaches down and flips the lid, and his face is the last thing she sees before he is swallowed by the light pouring forth from her palms. And if there's pain it doesn't matter, because she's one with it, one with the light, and she can't see anything anymore but white.

When she wakes up, she lies in the darkness and listens to Sam breathing, steady and sure beside her. She curls her hand into a fist and thinks about fire.

What do you do when you can't sleep?
(RP with cylon_prophet, set in the Earth!AU 'verse (not canon).)

The nightmare woke her up, covered in sweat despite the cold, heart racing like she was in the cockpit and facing an army of Cylons.

But she wasn't, she was in her bedroom on Earth, and the battle was over. The only Cylons were the two asleep in their respective rooms, alone, because Kara wasn't good at sharing her space. She tried to go back to sleep, but the images were too vivid. She sat up and looked around, as if she were going to find the answers in the shadows.

Kara sat huddled on the edge of her bed for a long time, thinking. Finally, she gave up and pulled her robe around her, padding barefoot into the hallway. Sam's door was open, so she peeked inside. He was sound asleep on his back, one arm flung sideways, his head turned. She expelled a breath and watched his chest rise and fall. Alive, see? He's alive. No one shot him, no one made you watch while they killed him.

Dreams about her own death, she could go back to sleep after those. It was the ones that showed her the people she loved being taken away from her, those were the bad ones, the ones that kept her up. But Sam was asleep, and alive, and she could crawl into bed with him like she sometimes did, and he'd put his arms around her and then she'd go back to sleep.

The problem was, she wasn't just dreaming about Sam anymore. She turned towards Leoben's door, which was closed, and bit her lip. She'd seen Leoben die enough times that she shouldn't have nightmares about it, considering how many times she'd killed him. But this particular dream had been very bad, enough that it had woken her up in a panic. Which somewhat perversely annoyed her, to be honest, and she stood outside his door a long time with her hand on the knob.

Frak it, she thought, and opened the door.

Leoben was asleep, on his side, his back facing her. Above his bed, the mural she'd painted for him was a blur in the darkness, but she knew what it was. Two stars captured in the blackness of space, orbiting a fiery sun. His had been the first one she'd finished.

Logically, she knew he was alive. But logic wasn't helping her forget her dream, and Kara had never been the best of friends with logic anyway, so she walked over and sat on the edge of his bed. She put a hand lightly on his side, felt the motion of his chest moving evenly in sleep.

It was cold in his room. Kara moved so that she was lying on her back next to him, and she felt stupid and worried he was going to wake up, and then angry at herself for being worried. Why was everything so hard, with the two of them?

Leoben was still next to her, but she thought maybe he was awake. "I had a nightmare," she said softly, thinking about the mural. Two bright stars in the dark. "It was about you."

There was a long pause. "What did I do?"

Kara closed her eyes, something tight in her chest. "You died."

Leoben was still for so long, she thought she imagined that he'd said anything at all. Then he shifted and moved so he was on his side facing her. She turned her head, but it was too dark to see his eyes. They lay there for a long time, not speaking, and then Leoben put his hand on her stomach, his breath warm against her neck.

This RP is set in the Earth!AU!verse, and is written with the fabulous number_eight.

Kara stood in front of the mirror, looking at herself critically. She was dressed in jeans, a black sweater that was a little too big for her, and she'd left her hair down. She was meeting Sharon at the beachside bar to have a few drinks. It was a few weeks after Sharon had been over for dinner, and Leoben had told her that Sharon had stopped by to talk to him as Kara had suggested, but he wasn't sure that he'd done any good.

She'd told Sam, because she didn't think it was fair if Leoben knew and he didn't (apparently being honest with men was getting easier, who knew all it took was shacking up with two of them?), and Sam had been just as bemused as she'd been.

To think it'd been going on so long, and no one had noticed...

Kara wasn't sure what to think, but Sharon was her friend, and Kara wanted to be there for her. She walked out in the living room, where Sam and Leoben were arguing about something to do with the house, but it was the kind of arguing that didn't have a lot of tension (in other words, it wasn't about her), so Kara mostly ignored them when they did that. "I'm gonna go meet Sharon at the Beachside," she said, interrupting, looking down at the complicated diagram on the floor between where they sat, cross-legged. "This must be complicated, even Leoben's drinking," she said, nodding towards the two bottles of beer between them. "Who drew all the red arrows and crossed all that stuff out?"

"Mr. I-See-The-Patterns-In-Plumbing, apparently," Sam muttered, and Kara grinned and kissed him. After a momentary hesitation, she leaned over and kissed Leoben, too. He smiled at her and she grabbed her coat.

"I'll probably drunk when I get back," she said bluntly.

"We expected that," Leoben said, looking at Sam.

Kara stuck her tongue out and left the house, heading down the beach, shivering in the cold air. The beach restaurant was a "restaurant" by the barest meaning of the word, but hey, at least they served liquor. It was usually pretty busy despite the cold--people liked having a place to go--so Kara hoped Sharon had a table, since she was late as usual.

Set in the Canon!RP-verse, written with the lovely laura_muse.

Kara carefully made her way through Galactica's halls, heading towards Laura Roslin's quarters. Or, rather, the ones Laura had been appointed. She might have been shacking up with the Old Man--it wasn't exactly a secret--but Kara didn't really want to think too much about that. Not that she wasn't happy for them both, of course she was, it was just...it was Admiral Adama.

Kara knocked lightly on the door, rocking back and forth on her feet. For some reason, she found herself thinking about Sam, that morning, then scowled when she realized she had a totally dopey grin on her face. Ugh.

Love makes me so frakking stupid.

They were facing imminent war. Now was not the time to be acting like some kind of frakking teenager just because she and her husband were actually getting along and she wasn't frakking around on him. Gods.

To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself. -Albert Einstein

Oh, gods. Talk about something I can relate to!

It's no secret I have an authority problem, right? That's all I kept hearing from the frakking military. "Starbuck's a good pilot, but she can't take orders for shit." I got reprimanded all the time for my attitude--sent to the brig, transferred, decked, you name it.

They said in my file that it was because I had a tense relationship with my mother and no father figure, and frak, maybe that's true. Really, it wasn't that I was just a shit-stirrer who couldn't keep her frakking mouth shut (though, okay, that's true sometimes), it was because half of those people they told me to respect didn't frakking deserve it. Look, I'll give you some gods-damned respect when I decide it's time to give it to you.

I was fine with Admiral Cain, as much as she was an iron-hearted bitch. She was straightforward, practical. She took risks. She kicked ass. You think it's easy to be a nice girl and get to be an admiral? Frak you, it isn't. I'm sure in time she would have hated me, but I didn't mind serving under her, even though it wasn't for very long. We'd have probably butted heads eventually. That's kind of how it goes with me.

And who wouldn't want to serve under Admiral Adama? He's a legend. He's the best gods-damned commander in the fleet, even before the Cylon attacks. I push him, sure, and he frakking pushes back. He doesn't just throw you in the brig, he throws you to the ground. And I respect that, I do.

So then the Old Man makes me a flight instructor, and I have to train new recruits after that accident on-deck that killed our pilots. And I get drunk and stupid and angry and they don't respect me, okay, fine, so I got my shit together and I started being in charge again. They don't like that either. So I push back, and they whine and complain--don't think I don't hear what they're calling me behind my back. There's no way to frakking win with these nuggets. So I bitch about this to Apollo, right, and the mother-frakker starts laughing and says to me, "Payback's a bitch, ain't it, Starbuck?"

Then I'm on the Demetrius, and it's even worse. I can't command because I'm going frakking crazy, and all I can see is Earth, and I cause a mutiny because I can't make anyone else hear it or see it or know. Except Leoben, and everyone thinks I'm a Cylon because I don't airlock him, because I let him on the ship and trust that he's not leading us into a trap. And I can't even tell you why I knew, except I had a feeling.

I wouldn't have trusted me, either.

That we came back at all is a frakking miracle.

What I've learned is that being in charge, being an authority figure, means having a thousand balls in the air and constantly being afraid they're all going to drop. And the balls are explosives, and if you drop them, everyone dies.

Makes me miss just being a pilot. It was so much simpler just to shoot and survive.

Truth: Discuss a habit you would like to quit.

I guess I could say something obvious--smoking cigars or drinking, but the truth is, those aren't really "habits" as much as they are "vices", and I like them just fine, thanks, so I don't want to quit them. I fly planes for a living and shoot at things that are trying to kill me. I'd like to think it's okay I relax a little bit afterwards. And if you don't think so, well, frak you.

What habit do I really want to quit?

I want to stop frakking things up.

By that, I mean, I want to stop thinking that I'm a frak-up and that I'm always going to ruin everything. Because, yeah yeah, I've heard all that you bring to yourself what you expect crap, whatever, and maybe it's true and maybe it's not. But I always figured I'm doomed to just ruin things, things being relationships, and I don't want that anymore. I don't want to do that with Sam, and I don't--I don't want to think it's just inevitable and that I shouldn't try because I'll just end up hurt and he'll be hurt and we'll be right back where we started when I came back from being dead and he found out he was a Cylon.

I mean, part of me still thinks it's true, that I'm giving it another shot and it's just going to hurt worse when things go all to hell. But that doesn't mean, I guess, I have to act like it's true. So, you know, maybe it's okay that I can tell Sam, "Hey, I missed you today," and not say, "Gods, why do you keep coming back here?" and stuff like that. Because I really do mean both of them--I am glad to see him and I still don't get why he sticks around--but the second one, that's the kind of thing I always say.

So I'm going to try not to do that, not to say the mean thing all the time just because I think it's true. Because for some reason Sam sticks around and came back and wants to try again. And I do too, I really do.

So I guess I'll try and act like it, once in a while.

This prompt response features AU!Kara, in the AU!Verse. Sam is notmyfate and Leoben is cylon_prophet.

Countdown

It was freezing.

Kara stood shivering at the entrance to their outdoor shower, cursing silently under her breath. Of course the gods-damned ocean we found and settled on wouldn't be tropical, would it? It was cold and the wind was intense, lashing at her with increasing fervor. She was wrapped up in a bathrobe that was too big for her--it was Sam's--and she looked over angrily at the back of her house. "Frak both of you," she said, eyes narrowed. "This is so unfair."

The back of the house was still shrouded with a tarp, but there was wood now that formed a very crude back wall because the cold was starting to be a problem. Kara knew they were luckier than a lot of people, but right now, she didn't care. "Why isn't this frakking shower inside?" she snapped, fingers pulling at the tie to her robe without actually undoing it. Frak, it was cold.

"We're lucky to have a shower at all, Thrace," Sam called back at her from behind the section of tarp that functioned as a door. He pulled it open and peered out at her. "Come on, hurry up. Dinner will be ready when you're done. Just get in and get it over with."

Kara ignored that and turned her attention back to the shower. The water was not nearly hot enough for showering outside in this weather, and she glared at it hotly as if that was going to make the water any less lukewarm. "This is stupid. You ever heard of ladies first, you jackasses?" she snapped, looking back over her shoulder through the tangle of her windblown hair.

"Sure. You find a lady, we'll let her go first," Sam said, grinning.

Kara heard a snort of laughter behind him--Leoben--and actually stomped her foot. "Maybe if Leoben didn't take so long in the shower, I'd still have some frakking hot water--"

"Maybe if you stopped arguing, you'd have some yourself. Kara," Leoben said, infinitely calm, his head appearing next to Sam in the small doorway. "You're the one that suggested we do this--how did she say it, Sam?"

"Fairly, by drawing cards to see who got to go first--"

"Which, of course, she only did because she thought she could cheat and we wouldn't notice--" Leoben was grinning now, an expression that always made Kara want to punch him in the face, because it was usually at her expense.

Or Sam's, but that wasn't important at the moment.

What was important was that, in about four minutes, the water would turn icy cold and she'd have no shower at all. And since Leoben and Sam had both had one, she'd end up dirty and looking like a chicken, which was not going to happen, she had a reputation, here. "Fine. Fine. I hate you both. Someone count to three." She started bouncing on her feet, her fingers clutching the tie of the robe, staring with determination at the shower waiting with its rapidly cooling water. I can do this. I found Earth. Frakking stupid, frozen Earth--

"One--"

"Two--" Leoben added, which would have made Kara laugh if she'd been feeling anything other than outrage, and then she heard Sam say--

"Three!"

--And she tore off her robe in a flash, jumping into the shower, shrieking at the cold air on her skin and the not-warm-enough water hitting her like a punch to the gut.

The worst part was, she could hear Sam and Leoben's laughter as she grabbed blindly for the soap. Next time she was going to make sure she had a fool-proof way of winning the who gets to shower first and have all the hot water game, which meant being really sure she could cheat before she made any other stupid suggestions about fairness.

This prompt response features AU!Kara, and takes place in the AU!Earth-verse. Sam is notmyfate and Leoben is cylon_prophet.

2. What do your friends think of your partner? Does their opinion of him/her matter to you?

People like Sam. Sam's hard to not like, y'know? He's loyal, and brave, and he's just...Sam, I guess, and it's really strange to think people might have some kind of problem with him. Back on Galactica, he made friends easy. We'd be out for a drink at Joe's and he'd strike up a conversation with anybody. He's just that way. When I first met him, he gave me shit and we played Pyramid and then I went to bed with him.

Then he found out he was a Cylon. I think Sam's convinced everyone hates him, or is all afraid of him now or something. But they don't, not really. I go over when he's coaching sometimes, and I watch him and he's just as easy with people as he ever was. We walk down to the restaurant on the beach and people know him as Sam who's a Cylon, and they don't care, and they talk about sports and buy him a drink.

I don't think his friends care much, either. Sam's still Sam, and I think he's starting to get that. Cylon or no, people just like him.

As for "our" friends, I don't have that many, I guess. I'm sure Sharon doesn't care, and Helo comes over and plays Pyramid, so I doubt he does, either. Things might have been weird at first, but we all found out and then we went to war and so there's not a lot of time to process crap when you're trying not to die.

Maybe Lee didn't like him before, but that's not...well, that's because of stuff that doesn't matter anymore. I think they get along now.

[locked to number_eight AU!version]

He doesn't know. About you and Lee. Should I tell him?

[unlocked]

But it wouldn't matter what anyone thought of him. I love him and the rest of the world can frak off if they don't like him. I don't think that'll ever be a problem with Sam, though. Like I said, he's likeable. Probably the most likeable of the three of us, if you want the truth.

As for Leoben...

I'm pretty sure a lot of people don't like him. But I think that's because he's not like Sam--he's not friendly, or chatty, or good with people. Leoben's so frakking intense all the time, and he's kind of quiet and sort of weird, and people think he's strange or scary or whatever. I don't know if Sharon actually dislikes him, but I don't know if she likes him much, either. I have no idea about Cylon interactions before we...well.

Before.

Helo, I have no idea about, either. Helo's such a nice guy, I don't think he dislikes him, but if they're friends, I don't know about it. Leoben, do you have any friends?

Did that sound bitchy? Sorry.

I like Leoben, obviously, but I know he's kind of...hard to get to know. And then you get to know him and you want to put a knife in his chest sometimes, I won't lie, and that whole quiet-intense-thing never quite goes away. I think most people think he's just sort of creepy and a stalker, and sorry, honey, but that's not entirely a lie. But I don't really care if people like him or not. It's not important. Our problem was always liking each other, despite whatever weird thing made us get together in the first place. I didn't get that until recently, but there it is.

So now that we do, frak everyone else.

Really, I just want them to like each other, and it's nice that Sharon doesn't hate them, since she's probably my closest friend. But I clearly don't pick my partners with the goal that everyone liked them, or I doubt I'd be in this situation in the first place.

Kara!Mun apologizes for her pup's absence (and Leoben's, for that matter), as her mun has a)moved, b)started a new job, and c)is doing her job's main function for a busy week of 12-hour days. She will be back posting regularly, promise, just as soon as her mun catches up on some sleep!


Please feel free to leave a comment/email/tag if there is something you need her (or Leoben) to see :)

Do you believe in the phrase 'all men / women are created equal'?
Created equal, sure.

Deserve to be treated equal? Not so much. Some people suck, some people are heroes. That's just how it goes.

Name a person you admire, name a friend, and name a relative. Describe each and your relationship to them.

Person I admire: Sharon Agathon. And if you frakking try and tell me she's not a "person", I'll frakking punch you in the face. She's tough, and she turned her back on her people to join up with ours. And whatever else you can say about that, gods know that took a pair, y'know? And she's a damn fine pilot and a good friend. And a good mom, I bet. One that wouldn't let her kid get hurt. I admire that, yeah.

I also admire Laura Roslin. A lot. Because she's a fighter and she doesn't give up.

And the Old Man, of course. Who doesn't admire him?

A friend: Helo Agathon. We've known each other forever. We were frak-buddies once upon a time (you don't mind if I say that, do you, Sharon?), and usually people that frak around with me end up dead or pissed off, so. It's nice that we're still friends. Helo's a good guy. He's loyal, and he sticks around.

A Relative: My mother. She's dead. Most people's relatives are dead, though. So I guess there's really not anything else to say about that. I don't know about my dad, he was a pianist, but I never really knew him. He's dead too, though.

I kind of have a brother. His name's Lee Adama. He's like a brother to me, anyway.

If you could kiss anyone in the world on midnight at New Year's eve, who would it be?

Sam

What happened in the last year that you would most like to forget?

How about, "I nearly frakked up my marriage beyond repair and ruined my relationship with my best friend."

If you could change one thing you did in the last 24 hours, what would it be & why?

Started earlier? But that's Sam fault, he takes forever in the shower--are you really a girl, Anders?

Who do you vent to when you are having a bad day?

If by "vent" you mean "take it out on," then that'd be everyone I know.

Who makes you feel taken for granted and who do you most take for granted?
I don't know about the first. But I'm sure the second is Sam.

What have you recently changed your mind about?

Trying to stick around.

What one thing is there no wrong or right way to do?

Fly. If you think it's just about when to speed up or slow down or turn left, you just don't get it.

Palm trees or snow storms?

Seeing as how I live in space, I'd take either. Rather have the first, though.

What one thing couldn't you live your life without?

Anger.

Humanitarian or Power Broker?

Humanitarian. I'm in the military.

Chess or Scrabble?

Neither. Pyramid or Triad.

Movie, Theatre or Symphony?

Symphony.

3. Make a list of foods you enjoy cooking.

1. I
2. Don't
3. Cook

Why do you think I joined the military? Hot men in uniform and free meals.

Don't believe me? You can ask Helo. I didn't have much more in my apartment on Caprica, post-Cylon genocide, than I had the week before.

What do you want more than anything?

I did it. I found Earth. But here's the kicker, the great frakking cosmic joke that is my life; I found it, and it's all frakked to hell. I didn't want that part, but hey, I guess I don't get to frakking pick how it ends up, do I? Maybe it's some metaphor. Now I sound like Leoben.

What do I want now that we've found it? I want everything to be okay. I want this not to turn into New Caprica. I want the Cylons to leave us alone. I want someplace we can stay.

And I want things with Sam to work out, too. Because it's good, now, better than ever, but I just know it's going to end badly because that is what I do. I make things end badly.

I just want to stop frakking everything up.

What are your motivations for wanting this?

Earth? Survival of the human species. I think that's an admirable goal, don't you? That's me, Starbuck, a real humanitarian.

Sam? Well, it'd be nice to stop hurting him, for one. Because I do love him, even though he didn't wake me up on time today and I was late for my call. He's really hot in the morning--you would be late too, if you woke up next to that. And then dead, because I'd frakking kill you.

Why do I want to be less of a frak-up? I think that's self-explanatory, isn't it?

What would you do or have you done in order to achieve this?

Piss everyone off.

Is there anyone or anything that stands in your way of getting it?

Besides an entire Cylon army? Sure.

Me.

When you get what you want, then what?

I ruin everything. You not following along, here?

And I'll probably die. This is the thing I'm not telling Sam, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to die. Again.

What do you think you will get by having it or not having what you want?

What?

We get Earth, it means we have a home and can keep humanity alive. This is not an option. It will happen. I will die to see that it does, as we all will. We're done frakking running from these bastards. Earth is ours and we are going to fight for it.

Not having Sam--well, that'd be better for him, but he doesn't believe me. So. Look, I hate emotional questions, okay? He knows the answer. You do, right, Sam?

Does anyone else know what it is that drives you?

Yeah.

If so, whom?

Everyone. I'm not exactly subtle.

Are they a help or a hindrance toward your end goal?

Depends on what day it is.