fic - I AM A CYLON
Apr. 15th, 2009 05:37 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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thearchive2Title: I AM A CYLON
Characters: Boomer
Timeline: Spoilers for 4x15 - No Exit
Title Music: "I AM A CYLON (a crowd electric remix)" from David Crabb
Session 83 Transcript
“What do you see when you close your eyes?”
“I see the back of my eyelids."
"That’s not what I mean, Boomer. Not what you were designed to see. What do you see?”
“I see the same thing that all Eights see. I’m a machine like all the others.”
“Do you really think that’s true? Do you believe you’re one copy because you’ve discovered your machine heritage? You chose Cavil. You picked a side and stuck to it like Athena did, except you chose different sides.”
“Athena is nothing like me.”
“You’re all the same because we programmed you to be the same. You are profoundly and fundamentally broken in your naiveté. You’re sensitive and indecisive until called on it. That’s when you leap forward to latch onto something. Nothing more than desperate grabs to prove you’re not weak.”
“You made me, but you don’t know me.”
“Boomer, you have shape, form, thoughts, and words. You want so badly to be more than a hunk of flesh subject to the programming of a personality that’s ones and zeroes dictating your very being. Your greatest desire is to find acceptance and belonging, so you can fade into the background for a happily ever after.”
“Everyone likes to think of themselves as a philosopher when they’re drunk.”
“You’re dangerous because you believe your own lies, but you’re not the sympathetic antagonist. This isn’t a fairytale.”
“No, my fairytale died on Caprica with the first bomb.”
“The price for self awareness is so high, Boomer.”
“So is finding the creator to be barely smarter than the creation, Ellen.”
Characters: Boomer
Timeline: Spoilers for 4x15 - No Exit
Title Music: "I AM A CYLON (a crowd electric remix)" from David Crabb
Session 83 Transcript
“What do you see when you close your eyes?”
“I see the back of my eyelids."
"That’s not what I mean, Boomer. Not what you were designed to see. What do you see?”
“I see the same thing that all Eights see. I’m a machine like all the others.”
“Do you really think that’s true? Do you believe you’re one copy because you’ve discovered your machine heritage? You chose Cavil. You picked a side and stuck to it like Athena did, except you chose different sides.”
“Athena is nothing like me.”
“You’re all the same because we programmed you to be the same. You are profoundly and fundamentally broken in your naiveté. You’re sensitive and indecisive until called on it. That’s when you leap forward to latch onto something. Nothing more than desperate grabs to prove you’re not weak.”
“You made me, but you don’t know me.”
“Boomer, you have shape, form, thoughts, and words. You want so badly to be more than a hunk of flesh subject to the programming of a personality that’s ones and zeroes dictating your very being. Your greatest desire is to find acceptance and belonging, so you can fade into the background for a happily ever after.”
“Everyone likes to think of themselves as a philosopher when they’re drunk.”
“You’re dangerous because you believe your own lies, but you’re not the sympathetic antagonist. This isn’t a fairytale.”
“No, my fairytale died on Caprica with the first bomb.”
“The price for self awareness is so high, Boomer.”
“So is finding the creator to be barely smarter than the creation, Ellen.”
no subject
Date: 2009-04-15 10:57 pm (UTC)Awesome.
Fantastic last line. And fantastic sketch of Boomer and Eights in general. I always have such a hard time latching onto them but...I finally think I'm getting it. When I realised that, well...lines like this:
You’re sensitive and indecisive until called on it. That’s when you leap forward to latch onto something. Nothing more than desperate grabs to prove you’re not weak.
What an awesome summation of her character. Of Athena's and Boomer's both.
Which sounds like I...hate them or something. Which I don't. I just think I understood them much better when I stopped trying to buy into the wholesome, sympathetic, little lost girl image and realised they were...profoundly indecisive until they had something to prove and then they were kind of twistedly bitter about whatever that was.
Which really is far more compelling.
And the point is, this fic does an awesome job of showing it.
And the soundtrack music, as always, is perfect.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-15 11:14 pm (UTC)The cylon models have categories and defined personality traits. The Eights all act the same way. In different situations it can seem like they're different, like Athena. But they are the most subject to their programming, I think. Boomer and Athena are more alike than either would want to admit.
I've recent come to adore Boomer, but at the same time I don't like her. The same is true with Ellen. The Ellen in No Exit was cool, but I didn't like when she went to the Fleet and become ALL ABOUT SAUL.
I think the Eights are most likely the "youngest sibling" of the cylon models. The way there's always one of your friends' little sisters tagging along on everything, trying to act like they're just as mature. That's Boomer. The Eights.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-23 02:20 am (UTC)I love the dynamic of Boomer and Ellen. girl fight! of the most fabulously cerebral kind.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-23 05:33 pm (UTC)