❤ "How come you never talk about your family, Caprica?"

The words of one of her peers had resonated in her mind long after the question had been asked. She hadn't responded, too caught up in her own thoughts to consider what to even say. It wasn't until she was given a quick nudge to the shoulder that she looked up, rosey eyes glinting as she coldly met the other's stare. It seemed as though the other student expected her to respond, but instead, Caprica found herself rising from her spot at the lunchroom table, lifting her tray in her grasp to carry it along with her as she made her way out of the cafeteria, instead finding a place by her lonesome beneath a tree.

It was a... complicated question, needless to say. Her family was anything but conventional. One of her parents seemed little like an actual parent most of the time, given his antics out in the world. Her other parent was certainly more attentive, but,... only to her physical needs. She was always fed and bathed and clothed, but never was she so much as asked 'How was your day at school?' by either parent.

Then there were the siblings. She'd long since given up on trying to remember how many there were. Most didn't live at home with them--thank the Nine. Their house was small enough as it was, and already there were too many children squished under one roof. Most of her siblings were noticeably unlike her--rambunctious, interactive, mischievous, and generally all around personable. Caprica was private, she had learned. She enjoyed the solitude that a closed door, a dim light, and a lengthy novel granted her. Though her family never acknowledged it, Caprica was smart as a whip--reading years above her level and showing up most other children in her class, even without having to always show up to class in the first place. She often found herself extending her solitude in a dark, quiet corner of the library near the dormitories, staring out the window at the housing campus almost longingly.

Even from a young age, Caprica wondered what it would be like to leave home and live on her own--in the dorms, mind you. Maybe if she were lucky, she could get a small room to herself, all on her own. She doubted her parents would even notice if she just packed up one night and disappeared.

As she sat beneath her tree, staring off at the sky above, the idea became more and more appealing.

With a brief glance towards the dorms, she let out a soft sigh. She only hoped it would be as easy as she believed.