SGA: "Two Roads"
Jan. 18th, 2006 01:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chasingkerouacTitle: Two Roads
Rating/Genre: G, Gen
Fandom/Character: Stargate Atlantis, Elizabeth Weir
Length: 733 words
Exerpt: Elizabeth Weir has wondered many times what direction her life would've taken if she'd listened to her parents and majored in business instead of political studies.
Written for:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
15minuteficlets - Word #136 Challenge
Elizabeth Weir has wondered many times what direction her life would've taken if she'd listened to her parents and majored in business instead of political studies. Her parents had complained and regaled her with stories of people regretting a 'useless' polysci degree and being stuck as a low level bureaucrat who's only joy was being able to crush some guy's desire to renew his driver's license in a timely fashion, but oh dear, he forgot to bring a proof of residency. Denied.
They told her about the many options that would be opened to her if she'd study something useful like business. She'd learn how to deal with people under her. She'd learn how to deal with problems that arose. She'd learn how to fend for herself and how make a bucket load of money in the process. You never go hungry with a business degree, her father had told her over and over again. However, much to their chagrin, Elizabeth had been resolute in her desire to study politics. She loved the debate, the talking, the multiple answers to problems that were just waiting to be discovered if two groups would just talk long enough. She loved the analysis of problems of the past and determining better ways that the participants could have dealt with their problems. She loved the people involved. She wanted to work with people. And if that meant she'd end up being a paper pusher in the basement of some forgotten Washington office, then so be it.
But she didn't become a paper pusher. She didn't become one of the many forgotten employees of the federal bureaucracy, toiling day in and day out in the hopes of catching someone, somewhere doing something wrong. No, instead she'd opened her mouth in protest and was now light-years away in another galaxy. When she filled out her declaration of major form at the end of her sophomore year, she never imagined that POL would mean Pegasus Galaxy.
She never imagined that she'd be on the frontlines of an attack on an entirely new race of beings. She never imagined that all of the techniques and methods she'd perfected as part of her studies on diplomacy and politics would be deemed moot when the people, and she used that term loosely, she had to deal with saw you as nothing more than an afternoon snack. She never imagined that the mundane things in her life would be things like a lack of blue Jell-O in this galaxy across the universe. Or talks of how the power supply was going to run out at any minute and oh, by the way, they were doomed. Her ideas of mundane before she came here had never included the words 'imminent doom' but they surely did now. She never imagined that she'd be so far away from home without the option to return, and when the option finally arose again, she never imagined that she wouldn't want to go back.
Some days she wondered where life would have taken her if she'd taken her parents' advice. Would she be the leader of a multinational corporation instead of a galactic exploration? Would she be eating at the finest restaurants in Manhattan instead of looking forward to macaroni and cheese day in the mess? Would she be as married to the job there as she is here? Would she have a fabulous young, fit little thing to hang on her arm and drag to parties to keep up with the trophy wives the other executives brought along instead of forfeiting her romance for the chance of a lifetime?
If she'd taken another path, surely she wouldn't be running for her life every minute of every day. She wouldn't be concerned with power grids and experimentations. She wouldn't be concerned about the safety of those under her care, because death could very easily come from any of her commands. She wouldn't have a group of people around her, all from different walks of life, different temperaments, and vastly different worlds, she calls friends. She wouldn't have the knowledge that somehow, something she's doing will make a difference for those here and at home. She wouldn't be fulfilled.
Elizabeth Weir often wonders about what direction her life would have gone in had she chosen differently, but in the end it doesn’t matter. She knows she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Word 136: Resolute
Count: 733
Rating/Genre: G, Gen
Fandom/Character: Stargate Atlantis, Elizabeth Weir
Length: 733 words
Exerpt: Elizabeth Weir has wondered many times what direction her life would've taken if she'd listened to her parents and majored in business instead of political studies.
Written for:
15minuteficlets - Word #136 Challenge Elizabeth Weir has wondered many times what direction her life would've taken if she'd listened to her parents and majored in business instead of political studies. Her parents had complained and regaled her with stories of people regretting a 'useless' polysci degree and being stuck as a low level bureaucrat who's only joy was being able to crush some guy's desire to renew his driver's license in a timely fashion, but oh dear, he forgot to bring a proof of residency. Denied.
They told her about the many options that would be opened to her if she'd study something useful like business. She'd learn how to deal with people under her. She'd learn how to deal with problems that arose. She'd learn how to fend for herself and how make a bucket load of money in the process. You never go hungry with a business degree, her father had told her over and over again. However, much to their chagrin, Elizabeth had been resolute in her desire to study politics. She loved the debate, the talking, the multiple answers to problems that were just waiting to be discovered if two groups would just talk long enough. She loved the analysis of problems of the past and determining better ways that the participants could have dealt with their problems. She loved the people involved. She wanted to work with people. And if that meant she'd end up being a paper pusher in the basement of some forgotten Washington office, then so be it.
But she didn't become a paper pusher. She didn't become one of the many forgotten employees of the federal bureaucracy, toiling day in and day out in the hopes of catching someone, somewhere doing something wrong. No, instead she'd opened her mouth in protest and was now light-years away in another galaxy. When she filled out her declaration of major form at the end of her sophomore year, she never imagined that POL would mean Pegasus Galaxy.
She never imagined that she'd be on the frontlines of an attack on an entirely new race of beings. She never imagined that all of the techniques and methods she'd perfected as part of her studies on diplomacy and politics would be deemed moot when the people, and she used that term loosely, she had to deal with saw you as nothing more than an afternoon snack. She never imagined that the mundane things in her life would be things like a lack of blue Jell-O in this galaxy across the universe. Or talks of how the power supply was going to run out at any minute and oh, by the way, they were doomed. Her ideas of mundane before she came here had never included the words 'imminent doom' but they surely did now. She never imagined that she'd be so far away from home without the option to return, and when the option finally arose again, she never imagined that she wouldn't want to go back.
Some days she wondered where life would have taken her if she'd taken her parents' advice. Would she be the leader of a multinational corporation instead of a galactic exploration? Would she be eating at the finest restaurants in Manhattan instead of looking forward to macaroni and cheese day in the mess? Would she be as married to the job there as she is here? Would she have a fabulous young, fit little thing to hang on her arm and drag to parties to keep up with the trophy wives the other executives brought along instead of forfeiting her romance for the chance of a lifetime?
If she'd taken another path, surely she wouldn't be running for her life every minute of every day. She wouldn't be concerned with power grids and experimentations. She wouldn't be concerned about the safety of those under her care, because death could very easily come from any of her commands. She wouldn't have a group of people around her, all from different walks of life, different temperaments, and vastly different worlds, she calls friends. She wouldn't have the knowledge that somehow, something she's doing will make a difference for those here and at home. She wouldn't be fulfilled.
Elizabeth Weir often wonders about what direction her life would have gone in had she chosen differently, but in the end it doesn’t matter. She knows she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Word 136: Resolute
Count: 733
