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septembercfawkes · 3 years

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Getting Passive Protagonists to Act

Many beginning writers struggle with protagonists who are too passive. The plot seems to constantly be happening to him or her, but the protagonist doesn’t take an action to make the plot happen.

Ideally, when an event happens to a protagonist, the protagonist responds by taking an action that influences the next event, which then influences the protagonist, which then influences an event—and on and on. But that can be easier said than done. Especially if you have a protagonist who prefers to live life passively.

This could all get confusing, though, because in story structure, almost all protagonists will more or less become more proactive. But for the sake of this post, I'm talking about protagonists who are characteristically passive. A protagonist who may want to kick up his feet in a hammock with a glass of lemonade and watch the world deal with its own problems. How do we write a story about that guy?

Many people will tell you that you can't--you must change the character.

But that is not wholly true.

It's true in a good story, we need the protagonist to act--especially at key moments--but that doesn't mean he innately yearns to act.

Often the best solution in dealing with a passive character is to strengthen the stakes. Let me explain.

Anyone will Act with the Right Stakes

The stakes are potential consequences; they are what are at risk in the story. We often think of them as negative things (someone's life may be at risk), but they can also be positive things (the opportunity to be taught by a professional in your ideal vocation).

Stakes are important because if there is nothing at risk, then what happens, doesn't really matter, which means what the protagonist does, doesn't really matter, because it doesn't change any outcomes. The story only matters insomuch as we understand potential outcomes. The protagonist's choices only matter if they affect the outcomes.

For example, we only care about Frodo destroying the Ring because we know doing so could rid Middle-earth of Sauron’s evil. If we didn't know that, what happened with the Ring wouldn't really matter. And what Frodo did wouldn't carry any weight. (You can learn more about stakes in my article "How to Write Stakes in Storytelling.")

When struggling with getting a passive protagonist to act, (almost) always look at the stakes.

No Stakes

Make sure that you’ve at least laid out stakes. Sometimes writers feel like the stakes are obvious, so they don't mention them. Just as bad, if not worse, the stakes may be too vague. And definitely worse: nonexistent.

If the protagonist doesn't have anything clearly to gain or lose, why would she act? If what happened to the Ring didn't change something, why would Frodo go to Mount Doom? Why would any of us do anything if it didn't make some kind of difference?

In a case like this, clear stakes need to be on the page.

Let's look at some examples of what one might consider passive people within the context of their stories.

Shrek wants nothing more than to live alone on his swamp. If there is nothing at risk, is he really going to go on an adventure to rescue a princess? Probably not.

In The Edge of Tomorrow, I think it could be argued that the protagonist, Bill Cage (played by Tom Cruise) is somewhat passive in relation to the main conflict. The story is about him fighting in a war against aliens, but he has absolutely no desire whatsoever to enter combat--in fact, he's a coward. You think he would sign up to be the first in combat out of the goodness of his heart? No way.

In Trigun by Yasuhiro Nightow, protagonist Vash would rather spend all day, every day eating donuts, playing with kids, and helping out the person down the street. He'd rather live life under an alias than face the fact he's the only one capable of standing up to the antagonist and saving the human race.

If none of these characters ever had anything at risk, then they would have never taken the actions they needed to, to move the story forward. They would have been forever passive.

In short, they only acted once there were stakes.

Wrong Stakes

If there are stakes on the page, and the character still isn't acting, then chances are they are either the wrong stakes (things she doesn’t care about) or the stakes are too small (the potential consequences don’t pose a real threat or a meaningful gain).

If they are the wrong stakes, you need to think about what the protagonist cares about and put it in jeopardy. We all care about something--whether that’s a reputation or a pet.

For a passive person, you might need to dig deeper and brainstorm longer to figure out what it is. And if you are having trouble, keep in mind that it's also possible the passive protagonist wants something for someone else or his environment. Maybe she's satisfied drinking lemonade and getting picked on, but she's not okay with her kid getting bullied--that's not something she can let happen.

Shrek mostly cares about living alone on his swamp. If his distant neighbor is at risk of dying in loneliness, Shrek's likely not going to do much about it. The best way to get him to act, is to put his home and lifestyle at risk. He will be willing to take action to save that.

Bill is afraid of dying (it's part of what makes him a coward). If he's put in a situation where he could die, he'll be forced to act.

Vash is obsessed with saving people. Children, friends, innocents, criminals. It doesn't matter who. He doesn't want anyone to die. If no one is at risk of dying, then it's unlikely he will be drawn to fight his antagonists. Almost always he is led to act because someone's life is at risk.

Small Stakes

If the stakes are too small, you need to make them bigger by making them broader or more personal.

Even the most passive person is unlikely to feel passive with a gun pointed at them. Unless they have a death wish, in which case, you could have the gun pointing at a loved one, or you could threaten torture. Even people who have a death wish don't want to be tortured. Almost all of us will act if the stakes get big enough.

Alternatively, you can promise an opportunity that is too good to pass up. If all I want is to live out my life on a hammock by the beach sipping lemonade, then maybe the best motivation is the promise of getting that. Maybe I'd be willing to act, if it ensured that.

It's bad enough for Shrek to have a few creatures come on his swamp, but the fact that countless numbers of them will be exiled to his swamp, is even worse. This is a big enough issue to get him to act--he decides he must visit Farquaad, which moves the story to the middle.

It's bad enough to die once, but it turns out for Bill, that he has to die over and over and over again. He also has to go on the battlefield over and over and over again, too. He keeps repeating the same events. This is enough to get him to try new tactics (and really, what other choice does he have?).

It's bad enough that Vash can't save everyone. But when it turns out the antagonists plan to destroy the whole human race, well, he can't live out life in donut-filled peace, playing cops and robbers with tykes. He has to act.

Inaction Stakes

If your passive character still really does not want to act, it's worth keeping in mind that inaction is an action--it just needs significant stakes. There needs to be negative ramifications for the protagonist not acting. Ideally, eventually these negative consequences get so big or so personal, that the protagonist has to do something about it.

For example, at one point, Vash decides to live under an alias and do nothing. He decides to be inactive. Unfortunately, this results in an entire town getting wiped out by the antagonist. Doing nothing has steep consequences. He needs to at least try to do something.

This can become a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation--where "damned if you do" at least carries a small chance of success over "damned if you don't."

At one point in Edge of Tomorrow, Bill decides to do nothing. He even goes to a bar to drink in the middle of the day. Guess what? He still has to repeatedly die. Whatever he does, he ends up dying, and having to repeat that time frame. He can either be endlessly in a tortuous loop where he dies, dies, and dies, or he can keep trying to fix the situation. On the surface, it seems like he has a lot of options, since he gets to make different choices each time he repeats the day, but 99% of them lead to the same outcome. So in reality, he has very few choices. Act and maybe die. Or don't act and keep dying.

Limit Options

Related to the last one, one way to push a passive character to act, is to limit her choices and the outcomes. In fact, if we want to take this to the real world, studies show that the more options people have, the less likely they are to make a choice--or even make a good choice.

Like Bill, when there aren't really any options, the protagonist will be pretty much forced to act. Either keep reliving the same torture or try to do something about it.

Add to it some kind of countdown or convergence, so that the protagonist has a very limited window to act, and she'll have to do something.

Stakes Reveal Character

How the protagonist acts when there are things at risk, will reveal what kind of person she is.

In this sense, one might argue, that by strengthening the stakes to get her to act, you are changing her character after all.

Or perhaps, it would be more accurate to say that you are now revealing who she truly is.

Whatever the case, it can become an argument of semantics.

Similar things can happen with the term "passive."

Just understand the concepts and the tools.

The Reluctant Hero

In most, if not all cases, a characteristically passive protagonist will create a reluctant hero. Shrek doesn't want to save Fiona. Bill doesn't want to win the war. Vash doesn't want to confront the antagonist. They just want something to not happen, more than they want to do The Thing™️.

In this sense, while the passive protagonist will ultimately still be acting within the plot (which is necessary to write a good story), he or she may still yearn for passivity.

Of course, the character's arc may possibly shift that yearning by the end.

And it should go without saying, that pretty much all these same tricks will work for passive side characters, as well--when you need to get them to act. For example, in The Office, Stanley is characteristically passive. He pretty much sits in silence and does crossword puzzles. But when pushed far enough, he will back talk his boss. And when he wants something bad enough (like a free pretzel on pretzel day), he'll actually act.

#Writing tips #writing tips and tricks #writeblr #writer problems #writing reference #protagonist #fanfic

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randomminer · 5 years

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HPHM MC X Preferred Ship Questions

Sorry this got a little long in places.

1) Who is your MC preferred significate other?

-Charlie Weasley [[MORE]]

2) When did they start developing feelings for each other?

-sloooowly

-Svari is aro/demi and the typical depictions of romance really make her uncomfortable

-Charlie is aro/ace and while he doesn't usually experience sexual or romantic urges, he does still feel strong connections with companions, in particular Svari

-Svari was the first to realize she may be drawn to Charlie in a way that's "more than friends", but where as many would become a blushing mess upon experiencing a first crush, Svari was terrified

-she didn't know what to do with these emotions and urges that just fell in her lap

-the only people she confided in were her Aunt Minerva, Penny, and Rowan

-at best, she was clumsy with her "flirting", much to her friends' amusement

-to make it worse, Charlie was completely oblivious to her attempts

-she tried shifting her affections to others, Barnaby Lee and Talbot Winger being examples, but her heart always seemed to pull her back to Charlie

-while Svari never lacked confidence in her skills and appearance, she didn't see herself as a worthy match for this young man she had become drawn to

-she had resolved herself to keeping her feelings secret and just being happy for Charlie with whoever he fell for and made him happy

-she tried to convince herself that that would be enough

3) Who confessed their feelings and where did it happen?

-Svari didn't actually voice her feelings to Charlie until well after Hogwarts

-it happened at the Burrow, at a small farewell party for Charlie, a few days before he would actually leave for Romania

-the two were sitting by themselves in the garden and Charlie was excitedly yammering on about dragons and his dream job, talking about a mile a minute

-Svari listened with a strained smile, feeling a bitter sweet ache building in her heart

-Charlie would be leaving and with every sentence, Svari could feel her resolve crumbling away

-midway through one of Charlie's rants, the dam finally burst and Svari basically regurgitated years of suppressed feelings into two minutes, a silent Charlie wide eyed and blindsided

-after much embarrassment, reassuring, and talk, the two decided to give it a shot and see where things would go

4) How long had they had those feelings?

-while Svari had been grappling with her feelings for years, Charlie just kinda stumbled into it and thought "eh, what the hell, could be fun"

-the relationship would be slow, mostly long distance, and little more than hand holding and cuddling when in person, but both were content with that

-Charlie would set his boundaries and Svari would respect them. If either wanted to try something more, it was always with consent from the other

5) Where was their first date to and how did it go?

-neither was very keen on the idea of flowers, chocolate, and dancing under the stars

-they just did what they would do as friends...only now they were more than that

-in this case, they were packing the last of Charlie's things and had lunch

-Svari felt the need to give Charlie a gift to take with him to Romania

-after their "date" she handed him woven leather bracelet similar to her own, but with a poorly made dragon picture burned into the side

-he'd laughed, but was touched

6) What was the most awkward moment they have shared?

-definitely the first kiss

-it was the first Christmas holiday that Charlie had been back since going to the sanctuary

-the remaining Weasley family members and some wizarding neighbors were gathered at a magical pub for a neighborhood Christmas Eve party

-and cheesey as it sounds, Charlie and Svari got caught under the magic mistletoe that had been floating around looking for victims

-Charlie had noticed it first and silently gestured at it with his head

-Svari didn't know where to look, what to do with her hands, was stumbling over her words

- their relationship was still so new, she didn't want to make Charlie uncomfortable, and at the same time was overwhelmed herself

-so imagine her complete surprise when he was the one to gently pull her in by the collar of her jacket, plant a quick but loving smooch on her lips, smile, then got back to the party like nothing had happened

7) When did the curse gang found out about them?

-Svari had talked about her feelings before with her Aunt Minerva, Penny, and Rowan

-Bill has eyes, has been around them all through Hogwarts, and isn't an idiot

-everyone else either found out at Charlie's farewell party or through gossip

8) Do they follow the same career path after Hogwarts or follow different choices?

-Charlie, of course, went to Romania and worked at the dragon sanctuary

-Svari, due to her half-breed status, found it hard to hold a job and mostly stuck around the UK

-she did become part of a group who aid and rehabilitate half breeds and turned humans (it was through this group that Svari met and befriended Remus Lupin) her volunteer work kept her busy and happy

-up until after the Second Wizarding War, they mostly kept in contact via owls, fireplaces, and holidays

-while they would have liked to be closer and seen each other more, each had their own calling.

9) What song(s) describes their relationship with one another?

-"Another Night on Mars" by The Maine

-"You're My Best Friend" by Queen

-"Head over Feet" by Alanis Morissette

10) Do they have any inside jokes with each other?

-the amount of times the two of them and Bill have snuck into the Prefect's Bathroom as a group has become something of a joke

-"going to the toilet, Charlie? Should I grab Bill? Just like old times?"

11) Have they worked together with finding the curse vaults or do they try to convince the other not to endanger themselves?

- To Svari, there isn't a Hogwarts story worth telling that doesn't begin with the words "Charlie and I"

- finding the vaults is no exception

12) When did they have their first kiss?

-see #6

13) Is either of them a member of the quidditch team? Do they root for their house or each other?

-at the current time in Hogwarts Mystery, Charlie is a seeker for Gryffindor and Svari is a beater for Ravenclaw

-they cheer for each other when they are up against other houses, but when it's Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw, they know loser wears winner's house colors the next day and winner buys loser butterbeer

14) Do they participate in any of the same clubs or made any of their own?

-between the vaults, Quidditch, and school? I don't see them being part of clubs anyway

15) Are they reserve about sharing affection or open about it?

-neither has a problem with public displays of affection, but their's are pretty tame in comparison to most of their friends

16) Have they ever had a fight? Was it small or big? How did they solve it?

-any couple who says they'll never have a fight isn't going to last

-fights are hard, but they help a couple grow

-Svari and Charlie are no exception

-one of their larger ones happened while Svari was in the hospital

-while trying to help a couple of half-breed teens who were quickly becoming involved in some bad stuff, Svari had gotten caught up in a battle between aurors and dark wizards

-she managed to get the two teens to safety, but had been hit with several spells and almost died

-she was in St. Mungo's for three weeks

-Charlie had come as soon as he could, but was very angry at the risks she was taking

-going into a dangerous neighborhood, that was a known dark wizard gang's territory, at night, with no back up, to try and talk sense into a pair of teens who probably wouldn't change anyway, was one of the stupidest things she had done

-they had tried to keep a civil conversation, but it esscalated into a loud back and forth about the dangers of both their jobs and the strain it put on both of them

-at one point, Svari felt her "other" form beginning to surface and in frustration threw a small vase of flowers at the wall by Charlie and told him to leave, which he did

-they didn't talk for several weeks, but both were hurting

-after Svari was released from the hospital, but not back to work yet, the two teens came to her for advice and options.

-feeling a wave of relief that these kids were going to be ok, Svari decided to ride the good vibes and go fix things with Charlie

-when she got to the Romanian sanctuary, Charlie was being treated for minor dragon related injuries (at this point I'm thinking it was what would eventually become the shiny burn mark on his arm, as described in the GoF when he first met Harry)

-their reversed positions was a good ice breaker

-they sat outside and just talked for hours

-they agreed that while the worry will always be there, it wasn't right for them to hold the other from following their path

-they would need to be more careful, because they both had someone who would be hurt if something happened to them

-after everything was said, Svari pressed her forehead to Charlie's and told him she loved him for the first time

17) Do they get jealous easy? And if so, who?

You tell me.

-Since Charlie wasn't one for dating, Svari never really had to battle with feelings of jealousy (except maybe with dragons)

-Charlie, on the other hand, would be supportive, but withdrawn

-this wasn't territory he was used to and he may not have entirely understood why he felt upset when Svari was romantically involved with someone else

-he wasn't feeling so much "hey, I love you, and want to be with you forever and always, that should be me with you"

-it was more like when your best friend or a sibling suddenly starts giving all their attention to a girlfriend/boyfriend and you feel left out, betrayed, and conflicted

18) Do they sneak into each other’s dorms without being found?

-not usually, there are much cooler places to hang out in a magical school

19) Have they broken rules to have fun?

-they have snuck into the Forbidden Forest so much that I think the prefects have given up trying to stop them

-"whatever, just don't lose us any house points...and bring a jacket"

20) Who is the most protective between them?

-they are both very protective of each other

-if the situation called for it, either of them would fight like hell for the other

#svari ride #hogwarts mystery #hphm #mc #charlie weasley

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travllingbunny · 5 years

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The 100 rewatch: 2x16 Blood Must Have Blood, Part Two

And here we are, at the best episode of the show. The only other time so far that the show has been this good were the last three episodes of season 4.

When I first binged the show, I predicted most of the season 1 finale, but this one was really surprising, shocking, emotional, mind-blowing. The 100 really does love mass murder as a plot point and has 2-3 on average each season, and it’s put its protagonists in situations where they have nothing but terrible choices, but I really didn’t expect the show to push them that far. On rewatch, the surprise factor is gone, but this episode still made me cry, again, more than once.

I’m only going to be doing short write-ups from now on, due to the lack of time, but I cannot not write a long and detailed post about this episode.

Rating: 10/10 (obviously)

All season we were supposed to think that the alliance and relationships with the Grounders were crucial to the main storyline. In the end, it all came down to our protagonists from the Ark, mostly the same characters we’ve followed since season 1, left on their own and having to save themselves , (except for Lincoln – the only Grounder billed as the main character at this point). I don’t know how there are fans who saw season 2, or at least the second part of it, and got confused as to who the protagonists of the show are.

I don’t care how many times it’s said that Clarke is all “Head” rather than “Heart”, or was before season 5, she certainly was not in this episode. She was acting out of pure desperation and determination to save her friends – getting into the underground garage and shooting at the door to try to get into Mount Weather, without having any plan. Even Octavia thought she was being too impulsive.

I have mixed feelings about Octavia again blaming Clarke for things: some of it is justified – that she didn’t warn people in Tondc about the bomb and let them, including Octavia, die; but blaming her because “you trusted Lexa” makes little sense. (The same goes for Bellamy blaming her for the alliance with Lexa in 3x05.) It’s not like Clarke gave up any advantage because Lexa convinced her to, or even got them into trouble, and her trusting Lexa wasn’t even the deciding factor at any point. They needed Lexa’s support. Clarke was the one trying to make the alliance happen from the start, and convinced first Anya, then Lexa, because that – in combination with having an inside man - was their best option to defeat the Mountain Men, and probably their only option to do it without killing every single person in Mount Weather. Which is what they were trying to avoid – Bellamy was insisting that “we need a plan that doesn’t kill everyone”, and of course Clarke wouldn’t want to kill those children or people who were helping them, either. And how exactly were they to do that without an alliance with the Grounders? Secondly, it’s not like anyone could have predicted that the Mountain Men would offer a deal to the Grounders (and that also wouldn’t have happened if Cage hadn’t asked Dante for advice), let alone that Lexa would accept it – especially knowing how much Grounders believe in “Blood must have blood” and were pumped to fight the Mountain Men. Not to mention, even after Lexa’s betrayal, they were no worse than they would have been without the alliance – they were just left to their own devices as they were to begin with. And finally, at least the truce with the Grounders still held, and without the truce that Clarke negotiated in 2x07, Trikru would have attacked them or they would have had to leave the territory around Mount Weather, and would never get the chance to save their people from Mount Weather.

But in a way, I like the fact that other characters are always blaming Clarke for stuff and calling her out, even though it’s sometimes fair but often really unfair, because it makes me like Clarke more: The 100 does the complete opposite of that thing where the protagonist is always excused by everyone, whatever they do (and there are lots of shows that do that). Whatever any viewer may say about her, she thinks much worse about herself, and there are always people telling her worse than she deserves. It makes her look so much more human and relatable when all she can do is desperately yell: “I’m doing the best I can!” But in the following seasons, I starting getting fed up with the fact that it’s usually only Clarke and Bellamy who feel guilty about anything or get called out on their actions, while some of the supporting characters, oddly enough, get excused and insta-forgiven.

So many feelings about the reunion that happens when the door open: hug between the Blake siblings, the silent look between Clarke and Bellamy (what are they thinking? She is probably feeling both relief that he’s alive, thinking back to when she told him to go and that the risk is worth it, feeling guilty about Tondc and lying about Octavia and what she did when she realized she couldn’t take the risk after all), Monty and Jasper hugging Clarke ат the same time, Clarke mouthing a silent “Thank you” to Maya.

Indra has had some real character development, as seen when she allows Lincoln go back to Mount Weather to help Octavia, if he wants so. They made it clear to him that he couldn’t go back to Trikru if he did– under the terms of the truce with the Mountain Men, lands around MW are forbidden for Grounders - so he knew full well he could be an exile and decided “I cannot let her die”. So this is why Lexa later issued a kill order on him, as we learn in season 3 - to show she can’t bear disobedience.

The group of Arkers who were caught trying to mount a rescue mission is brought for more bone marrow. How convenient that it was all the redshirts who died fighting with the MW guards, so the only non-Delinquent Arkers in danger in this episode are Abby, Kane, David Miller, Monroe, Raven and Wick.

The idyllic image of people happily dining in the mess hall on Level 5, while horrible things are happening right in the dorm right next to them - people being tied up, drilled and their bodies thrown out like trash after the ‘useful’ parts of their bodies were taken – sums up what the Mount Weather society was like. Other than the children, who were really innocent, the people in the mess hall knew what was going on, just as they were aware of the blood draining, they just were OK with it as long as they didn’t have to see it.

Poor Fox got saved a few episodes ago just to die early on in the finale, after all. The show had to kill off a Delinquent that we knew by face and name and had some level of investment in, and there aren’t that many of them. Miller and Harper were still to play roles in the show.

Kane yelling desperately at Cage and the other guards: “What is wrong with you people?!” is one of the most relatable moments.

Kane also gets to be the voice of reason in a place with no reason, again, telling Cage everyone could live and they could donate bone marrow, but Cage says that will never happen. Well, of course it won’t happen now – but it could have if they hadn’t been so awful and had tried to help the Arkers and cultivate a good relationship with them all. There are hundreds of Arkers, so they wouldn’t have to kill anyone for bone marrow. But their default MO was always to treat others as cattle rather than human beings.

Raven gets tortured the first, again. The only thing that saved her was that Cage stopped her drilling midway when he decided to start drilling Abby to get to Clarke.

I love the way we go right from the horrific scenes in the dorm to Goya’s painting of Saturn devouring his child, hanging on the wall of Dante’s room. The horror of the image is very fitting. But ultimately, it’s especially fitting because it’s the Mount Weather leadership that caused the destruction of their own people.

Jasper tells her “I love you” after their second kiss

Maya didn’t believe in good prospects for her future even if she survived. She obviously didn’t want to tell it to Jasper, but she did to Octavia, when they talked about how she could live, with Octavia trying to encourage her, telling her she could live in a cell with oxygen– which wasn’t much of a comfort. But I don’t know why neither of them thought of the option that some of the Arkers could actually donate bone marrow to her. I’m sure they would have done it for her and others who have helped them, and the children, probably.

I’m glad the show didn’t try to make Dante a good guy and that he was again an enemy here, telling Cage to not waver, even when Clarke was using him as a hostage and threatening his life. When Dante refuses to help them and defends his decisions, claiming his people wouldn’t survive if the Arkers got their people out, Clarke yells “Unlike you, we are the good guys!” But by the end of this finale, she doesn’t believe that anymore and tells her mother “I tried to be the good guy”. This is where she starts believing on some level that Dante’s (and Lexa’s) philosophy that it’s all about leaders doing everything “for their people” and that they’re all the same and, therefore, they’re all justified in what they do, and she’s just like them.

It’s interesting that “I bear it so they don’t have to” will become Clarke’s mantra – a line she heard from Dante (not long before she killed him).

Clarke killing Dante was not a good move – they lost a bargaining chip that way, and Cage was also acting in an increasingly unhinged way. But she was acting out of desperation and thought she had to prove to Cage she was not bluffing when she threatened to irradiate Level 5 and kill everyone. And Bellamy, who was being more rational, wasn’t able to come up with anything else when she was desperately asking him to tell her a better plan.

I forgot that Emerson was at the door of the Command Center and about to blow them up to kill them. Another reason why they felt the time was running out and they were about to lose their only way to save their friends and family. The image of everyone they care about there in the dorm about to be killed, on top of it the fact Clarke’s mother being drilled, all of it pushed her to make her decision. Bellamy was unsure about it until the moment he saw Octavia in the dorm. “My sister, my responsibility”.

The first time Bellamy and Clarke say “Together”. Iconic moment, with his hands on hers on the lever, their hands moving from the light into the dark. I cannot imagine what having to commit mass murder together to save your loved ones and yourselves does to a relationship. I was wondering at this point if they can ever be OK again, with so much baggage.

The picture of everyone dead in the mess hall is one of those visuals you can’t forget. We don’t see the dead children, but we do see a football.

Maya’s death made me cry all over again. She is such an underrated character. In a show full of people justifying their actions by claiming it’s for their people, she went against the society she grew up in to do what is right. Few people have done that. Lincoln is another. “None of us is innocent” is one of the most memorable lines in the show. (How can the writing on this show be so good as this… and then be as bad as it gets at other point in the show?) She’s both right, and not right. It’s complicated! I don’t believe in holding entire groups of people collectively responsible for crimes, that’s a disturbing way of thought that leads to bad things, but most of the people in Mount Weather were kind of complicit in everything because they were there doing their normal things even though they knew people were being tortured and killed, and they never tried to do anything. They’re not guilty in legal sense, but morally, it’s a different issue. But people like Maya, who fought against what their regime and society was doing, while treated as “traitors” and at the risk of being murdered by their people, definitely did not deserve punishment, let alone death. Of course, it makes her an even bigger person to acknowledge the culpability.

Jasper in tears, looking at his best friend Monty and asking him how he could do this, is heartbreaking. But his hopes of ending everything by killing Cage were never realistic – even if he had, as Bellamy pointed out, the others were not going to stop just because of their president’s death.

Another little Marper moment you notice on rewatch: when everyone is reuniting – while Nate Miler’s dad hugs him, Wick hugs Raven, Monty goes to see if Harper is fine.

Lincoln killing Cage – the guy who personally tortured him and turned him into a Reaper - is the most satisfying death in the entire show, especially with the way it happened – Cage hoping to control Lincoln again through the tone generator and the drug, and Lincoln killing him by injecting it instead and throwing back at him the same line Cage said “The first dose is the worst”. I’m not someone who’s into fictional revenge-killings all the time… but this one was really good.

Emerson runs away to return next season and become even more annoying.

“I tried to be a good guy” -“Maybe there are no good guys” – this is such a good scene. But it’s also kind of true and kind of not true. I do like the moral ambiguity, when understood correctly – trying to see things from various perspectives, having empathy, trying to grow and be better; I don’t like the way it’s often misinterpreted by fans and used by many of the characters on the show, and arguably by the narrative in some cases, to excuse people doing all sorts of awful crap for questionable or bad reasons with the argument that “well everyone has their reasons!” “Clarke/Bellamy killed a lot of people too and therefore they are as bad!” - so if everyone is bad, no one is bad and anyone can do whatever they like and get away with it, right? No. I’m fed up with moral relativism and false parallels. But I don’t think this is what this episode was trying to say, at all. But it’s great that there was a callback to that in season 4, where Abby made sure to reverse her statement to: “There are good guys” and tell Clarke she is one, even if Clarke had stopped believing that.

Is there such a thing as genocide in self-defense? There should be just for the purposes of The 100, because that’s what happens in this episode. Yes, I’ll say it: what Clarke, Bellamy and Monty ended up doing in this episode is terrible, but a justifiable mass murder, weird as that sounds. Anyone who disagrees has to answer the question: what was their other choice? The only other choice was: let Mount Weather win and kill all of them and their loved ones. The two sides in this conflict can never be equated. Even if there are no good guys in the world of The 100, there sure as hell are bad guys, and Cage, Dante, Tsing, Emerson and their society as a whole were definitely those.

The return to Camp Jaha – one of the saddest post-victory scenes in TV shows ever. Clarke leaving because she is broken and hates herself and can’t bear to look at any of the people she cares about, thinking about the awful things she did for them, made me think of the original “hero saves the day and then walks away to live anonymously because she can’t take what she did to win” season ending, Buffy season 2 finale, but I might like this even more (and that’s saying a lot, because Buffy is my favorite show and I adore Becoming part 2).

Another iconic moment and callback to 1x08: “If you want forgiveness, I’ll give that to you”. Bellamy and Clarke never ask each other for forgiveness, but offer it freely to the other. (A contrast to Finn, who asked Clarke for forgiveness for killing people “for” her, but she couldn’t give it to him.) But this doesn’t mean that Bellamy doesn’t hold any grudges, as we see in 3x05. He was hoping to do the same thing for her she did for him in Day Trip, when she helped him, supported him and made him stay with the group. But Clarke feels she can only deal with issues and self-hatred on her own, isolating herself from everyone. Maybe she feels she would just be a burden. In any case, I can see why Bellamy found that hard to understand and, in season 3, felt hurt that she left anyway, but I don’t like when people criticize Clarke for leaving and call her selfish. People have the right to deal with their trauma and depression any way they feel they can.

Bellamy trying to share the responsibility for Mount Weather and Clarke insisting that she will be the only one to bear it, is something that comes up in season 3 again. There’s so much to unpack here, so I’ll leave it for when it comes up in season 3.

I never noticed before that this is when Raven gave Jasper back his goggles. Did he ever wear them again?

Oh yes, there was another storyline in this episode. The Jaha/Murphy plot was really well done, too. Pretty much every time there’s some really comfortable place the protagonists find, it ends up being awful. This happens when Murphy finds the bunker and thinks he’s in paradise with all the food, drink, music, comfort, and then the doors close and he finds himself imprisoned. ALIE is far from my favorite plot, but it was actually really well done here. It’s an effective ending to the season: the revelation from the old video that ALIE caused the nuclear apocalypse, and her creepy introduction, greeting Jaha and thanking him for his “gift” – the missile he brought down from the Ark. A digital or artificial woman in red dress in a SciFi show is never good news.

Timeline: It starts right after Part One, and most of the action happens during the same night. They come back to Camp Jaha the next day. At this point, by my count, they’ve been on the ground for about 40 days or a little more.

Body count: Two Delinquents, which means that 46 remain; two other Arkers (who were with Jaha), and all of the Mountain Men except Emerson.

Chronologically and by location, people who died in Mount Weather:

Fox and another Delinquent died from bone marrow harvesting

Two guards were killed by Octavia

Dante was shot by Clarke

Maya, Lee (the guard who was helping the Arkers) and about 300* other Mountain Men, including children like the Lovejoy boy, killed by the radiation in Level 5 when Clarke and Bellamy pulled the lever after Monty had made it possible to happen (*There were 352 left after 2x14. When you deduce everyone that we know died since, it’s probably about 300.)

Cage, killed by Lincoln

Outside of Mount Weather:

Richards and Craig, two guys who were in Jaha’s party, were killed by a sea creature, But Craig was actually murdered by Jaha, who simply threw him to the creature as an acceptable loss for their mission, justifying that by misinterpreting Spock’s quote from The Wrath of Khan about the needs of the many being more important than the needs of the few. People, that quote does not sound the same when you’re talking about sacrificing yourself and when you’re justifying sacrificing someone else! (Agents of SHIELD also had a character use a quote that way, in its season 2 finale, but I found that really annoying because we were supposed to agree with that character. But on The 100, we clearly aren’t supposed to agree with Jaha – even Murphy was shocked and creeped out by what he did. Then again, it’s Jaha, who used to execute people for all sorts of things and did the culling, so why the surprise?)

I’m not sure if it counts, but a 97 years old suicide was recorded on the video Murphy watched – Chris, the guy who made the video to tell people about ALIE before shooting himself.

And last but not least, Jasper’s mental health, a big piece of Clarke’s and Bellamy’s souls, and all of Clarke’s moral certainly, also all died in this episode.

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minijenn · 6 years

Text

ONE MORE Crystal Falls Preview Thingy

AND THEN I’M FUCKING DONE GIVING AWAY PARTS OF THIS BECAUSE FUCK THIS SHIT IS HURTING ME TO WRITE LIKE I AM GETTING HEAVY JAILBREAK/SOCK OPERA FLASHBACKS RN ONLY THIS IS WAY FUCKING WORSE AND AUGH DAMMIT WHY DID I DECIDE TO WRITE THIS THING IT IS KILLING ME IN ALL THE WORST WAYS FUUUUUUUCCCCKKKK ENJOY ALL THE ANGUISH AUGHGHGHGHGHG

“Well, well, well… looks like things just got a lot more interesting…”

Dipper gasped as he found that the very first thing he was met with upon pulling himself out of the crashed ship’s wreckage was the pitchy voice of the demon who held domain over the entire Earth and all its vast empire. The very demon he had risked life and limb to escape from during his flight from that chaoitc planet, who should have been back on Earth seeing as how he had merely just sent two of his cronies to do his work for him. Yet now, Pacifica was nowhere to be found while Gideon simply stood by, fuming at how Bill was apparently ignoring his proposal to make a deal to take out the Pines family, as well as Steven and Lapis, who had been unfortunate enough to get caught up in all this. But instead, the demon’s singular eye now held focus on Dipper, who couldn’t deny the flash of terror that struck him as that imposing triangular form cast an oppressive shadow over him.

“Hey there, Pine Tree! I was wondering where you ran off to. Guess my hunch about you crawling back to this boring ol’ hunk of rock was right, huh?” Bill began quite effervescently, though as he noticed Dipper attempting to back away, he was quick to reposition himself right behind the boy in a flash. “Whoa, not so fast, kid! You don’t wanna miss out on what could very well be the best deal you’ll ever make, do ya?”

“W-what?” Dipper asked, not having the context to really know what the demon was talking about.

“Hey!” Gideon shouted in sudden outrage as he sent Bill an appalled glare. “I was the one who summoned you here, Bill! I thought you were gonna make a deal with me!”

“Oh, yeah, I was gonna do that,” Bill shrugged nonchalantly. “Until a much better alternative came along.” The demon’s tone dropped low and sinister as he pointed his cane over at Dipper, who was still completely lost amidst this unknown turn of events. “So… see ya, Gideon!” With another flick of his cane, Bill managed to completely take control of Gideon’s amulet, resulting in his own telekinesis being used against him to fling him far away from the Kindergarten crash site and freeing the demon up to get back to business. “Now, Pine Tree, where were we…?”

“L-Leave him alone!” Mabel shouted as Bill started circling her brother almost threateningly. The only reason she hadn’t ran over to pull Dipper away herself was because of the steady hold Stan had on her arm, keeping her held back just as much as she had been held back the first time he had been stolen away from her seven years ago. Only now, with a threat so much more dangerous and unpredictable as Bill Cipher, her complete inability to do anything to help Dipper felt so, so much worse.

“So listen up, Pine Tree, cause I don’t like to repeat myself,” Bill said as casually as ever, ignoring Mabel’s fearful cry. “You may not know this since you’ve been all blind and buried for so many years, but back on Earth, I’m pretty much the most powerful guy around. Time manipulation, the ability to change anything and anyone with a blink of an eye, endless amounts of magic your feeble human brain couldn’t even hope to comprehend, you know, the works! But here on silly old Homeworld, things are a bit… different. This planet’s outta my hands, which is something I plan on changing pretty soon, but for now, to even interact with this place physically at all without a vessel. So I need a little… help, if ya catch my drift…” s on edge as he already was by the dream demon’s mere presence alone, Dipper slowly shook his head, finally realizing just how fast his heart was pounding as he tried his hardest to reconcile his complete and utter terror. Still, Bill simply sighed in exasperation and rolling his eye before he explained. “My drift is this: you let me possess you, let me take the reins and sit in your control seat for a while, so I can finally get rid of what’s left of your stupid, annoying family! Heck, since you’re so un-Pines compared to all the rest of them, I’ll even let you walk away with your life when it’s all said and done as my way of saying thanks! Sounds like a pretty good plan, doesn’t it, kid?”

For a moment there were no words that Dipper could find to describe just how absolutely appalled he was by this incredibly gruesome idea. The fact that Bill Cipher, of all the beings in the universe, wanted to use him as a tool to destroy his own family, that he wanted him to agree to let such a thing happen? It was beyond twisted and cruel. In fact, he was so shocked by it that he couldn’t even properly express anything but absolute dumbfoundment at it when he finally did manage to respond to it. “I… I don’t understand…” he choked, shaking his head once more. “W-why… what makes you think I would ever say yes to something like that?”

“Why wouldn’t you say yes to something like that?” Bill retorted calmly. “Think about this for a sec, Pine Tree. These three?” he threw a hand out towards Mabel, Stan, and Ford. “They let a bunch of Earth squares steal you away when you were only 5 years old. And then what did they do? What did they do while you were beaten and battered almost constantly for weeks on end? What did they do when someone ran a knife over your eyes until you were completely totally blind? What did they do when you were left for dead in that empty cell for seven years with nothing but a bunch of dumb old rocks and your own pathetic, unfulfilled dreams to keep you company? Oh, that’s right! They did nothing!”

Dipper shuddered at this, hating to admit that every single thing the demon was saying was true but knowing in his heart that it was. He had languished, suffered, hoped in vain for so long that they would come for him, but they never did until after all the hope he had left in him had long since died. And even then, they had only managed to stumble upon him on accident. Stan and Ford had even said so themselves that they had stopped looking for him only a year after his disappearance. This was something he had thought about frequently, ever since he had been set free, and every time he did, it only made him ache with the belief that his own family had cared so very little about him that they had just given up on him completely. And really, it was a large part of the reason he had already given up on them.

“Really, kid, it only makes sense,” Bill continued, fighting rationality upon seeing that his manipulation was seemingly working. “I mean, you don’t even wanna be part of their family anymore anyway, so why not just do yourself a favor and lighten this whole ‘rebellious legacy’ load off your shoulders? At least then, you wouldn’t have to keep running away all the time.”

“Dipper! Don’t listen to him! Please” Mabel cried once again, pulling against Stan’s grip, though it held fest, lest she break free and throw herself into the same danger her brother was in.

“Seriously, kid, he’s lying to you!” Stan shouted adamantly, wanting to believe that, despite all of the abuse he had been through in his young life, that his nephew was smarter than this. “You really think he won’t off you the second he’s through with all of us?! Because that’s not how that psychopath works, believe us.”

“Stanley’s right,” Ford agreed, the immense worry in his otherwise tight expression. “Dipper, you can’t trust him, he only wants to-”

“Hey, how about you three butt out for a sec and let Pine Tree decide here?” Bill cut their pleas off sharply before turning back to Dipper. “See what I mean, kid? The only thing they care about is saving their own hides. That’s exactly why they never bothered to look even ten minutes outside their own backyard for your. Guess they just didn’t think you were worth the effort.”

“No, we did think you were worth it, Dipper!” Mabel protested fiercely, though she kept at it as Dipper finally glanced over at her, clear conflict filling his expression. “I never wanted to stop looking for you! I always hoped that you were still alive and out there somewhere and I was right. A-and I know you’re mad at us for taking so long to find you, but you can’t do this. Please, Dipper… I-I can’t lose you again, not like this…”

Dipper could still scarcely even think of what to say amidst being pressed on all sides, but for what seemed like ages he kept his frightened, anxious, uncertain gaze on Mabel, who could only meet it with tears after she finished her appeal. She desperately hoped that it would be enough to sway him against such an awful deal, that he’d staunchly turn Bill down and finally come to stand with his family once more. Yet… it really didn’t seem to be enough, for instead of keeping his sights on her, he gradually glanced over to Lapis, who had simply been standing along with Steven in tense silence this entire time, neither of them having the faintest clue about what to do to stop this. As Dipper made eye contact with her, the most the blue Gem could do was softly shake her head, her eyes wide with unabridged terror at the thought of losing the boy she had just grown so close to like this. And yet, it was only as Dipper saw that terror that he realized what would happen if he said no to the demon’s twisted aspirations. Even if he refused, then Bill would always be able to find someone else, someone much more willing even, to carry out his sadistic plans. And then, none of them, no one on Homeworld at all, would be safe, including his family, including Mabel, including Steven, including Lapis. No one would be able to stop the insane demon from doing whatever violent, demented thing he wanted, including destroying anything and anyone who stood in his path of conquest and chaos. If he said no, then there would be no telling what might happen.

Which was exactly why he had to say yes.

“So, kid, have you made up your mind yet?” Bill asked with faux boredom. “Because I’m a very busy demon, what with ruling my own intergalactic empire and everything, and I haven’t got all-”

“I’ll do it,” Dipper spoke up, squaring his shoulders and putting on his bravest face as he thought about exactly what this would entail for him. Even so, he had a plan, one that was only really tentative at best and one that would only really lead him to even more suffering than he had already known, but at least this time, it would all be on his own terms.

Needless to say that the reaction to his staunch agreement was intense. Mabel was the first to lash out, finally pulling herself out of Stan’s hold as a loud scream of protest tore from her. Lapis wasn’t far behind, her wings summoned as she rushed forward, tears forming in her eyes as she hurried to try and stop this deal from going through by any means necessary. Unfortunately, while Bill didn’t have much power on Homeworld, he did have enough to erect a blue fiery barrier, one that easily barred Mabel, Lapis, and anyone else from breaking this arrangement while still giving them a front row seat to it all.

“Yeesh, so much drama with you rebels!” Bill rolled his eye caustically. “I gotta admit, I’ll kinda miss that about you chumps… but not for long! So, Pine Tree, are you finally ready to get even for all those long years of abuse and abandonment? Cause if you are, then all it takes is just one simple handshake…” At this, the demon held his hand out, blue flames sparking over it as he presented it to Dipper, who simply looked between it and Bill himself with cold acceptance. He was ready for this, whatever it was, he told himself. He had spent seven years in blinded emptiness, how could this be much worse than that?

And yet, he still looked over at the pair who had rushed forth in vain to try and save him, both of them looking to him tearfully and still begging him not to go through with this. His resolve nearly crumbled upon meeting Mabel’s miserable expression, but it came back to him when he saw Lapis’. For seven years he had dreamed of nothing but freedom, and now, he was going to give that freedom up, more than likely forever, just to save the two people he was still absolutely certain he cared about.

It was probably the most worthy sacrifice he could think of, if he was perfectly honest with himself.

So, with a deep breath and closed eyes, he took the demon’s hand, allowing his own to be pulled down in shake that locked everything in place. And from there, everything seemed to happen all at once.

#AUGH RIP MY SOUL OUT #IT HURTS #ITS ONLY GONNA GET WORSE CAUSE THIS BIT AINT DONE YET HAHAHAHAH OH NO #I THINK WE ALL KNOW WHAT COMES NEXT ITS CALLED EVEN MORE FUCKING PAIN #DAMN #jen writes #universe falls #crystal falls

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topazshadowwolf · 7 years

Text

The Start of Adventure

Campfire Talk

by:Topaz Shadowwolf inspired by: @poisondilu sketch in the Soriel discord group, which then turned into a collaboration, this is the drawing she did. Make sure to check it out!

This is an Undertale fanfic Undertale is owned by Toby Fox

AO3

It was like him to be late, but Toriel did not mind. She set up a campfire and placed a couple of fish on skewers to cook. The rest of the meal consisted of fruits and vegetables that she found earlier in the day, while traveling to this spot. Toriel stood at the campsite, admiring her work, and expected her friend would soon be here. It is typical of him to show up after, and only after, all the preparation was done. As angry as some would be at this, she didn't really mind. It was just what she had to pay for having him around. She felt it was a worthwhile price for Sans's company.

She had found the odd, and short, skeletal wizard one day while near the Ruins. He had been telling knock-knock jokes to himself while scavenging for random loot, which he would sell for more than it was worth later in town. When she replied to his "knock knock," then laughed at the joke, that was the start of their friendship. The two joked for hours till they were holding their sides from laughing. It was still curious to her that a skeleton could have stitches in his side without muscles, but his discomfort seemed as genuine as hers. They made camp together, shared food and talked most of the night, getting to know one another.

By talking to him, she learned he was mainly out that way because he had been contracted to keep watch for humans. He called the job boring, but had to admit it paid the bills. This concerned her though, as she was also keeping an eye out for humans, but for a different reason. Not wanting to lose this newly made friendship, she decided to get to know him more. When he agreed to work together, she found this an opportunity to strength that friendship and hopefully get him to see things her way.

The first few times he used magic, she was amused by his fun, all be it, unique form of spell casting. If she had to pick a word to describe it, she would say 'punderful.' There was not a single spell he had caste without using some bad, yet hilarious, pun. Her own quick wit allows her to reply to them, turning the few battles they shared into part time comedy acts. Also, no matter how lazy, laid back, and unreliable he may seem, she has learned she could always depend on him to be there when she needs him.

Over time, she found she was enjoying his company more than anyone else she has partnered with in a long time. He did seem set on keeping some secrets though, no matter how hard she tried. Still, they were getting to know each other more and more, and it was clear they were best friends, if not perhaps more.

It would be nice for it to be more. Then again, there were things about herself that perhaps he should know before that could occur. Things that, she feared, could result in him losing interest in herself, that is, if he had interest to begin with.

Some of their puns, jokes and pranks have been nearly, or completely, flirtatious. Though, neither seemed to take them seriously; so, it was hard to say if he did have feelings for her or not. As much as a part of her wished he did, another knew it was more sensible if he didn't. Right now, she really shouldn't be looking to get into a relationship.

And, right now, she needs to stop thinking about that, and focus on something else till he gets here.

To pass the time she thought about making sure her sword was well sharpened and oiled. While she was decided on that, Sans finally made his appearance. As usual, he marked his arrival by knocking twice on a tree next to him.

“knock, knock,” he said in time with the knocks.

“Who’s there?” Toriel replied without looking.

“gnoll”

“Gnoll who?”

“mind sharing some gnolledge on what it is we will be doing?”

With a laugh, she turned to looked at him, “I may, if you let me know why you were so late. Avoiding w-orc again?” She smiled at her friend.

The skeleton wizard shrugged, “i was planning on being here sooner, but i got held up.”

“Is that so? Getting another round at Grillby’s pub, were you?” She teased. Using the log near the fire as a bench, she sat down, ready to hear what he had to say. To tease him, she exaggerated her interest by leaning forward to rest her elbow on her knee and chin in her hand.

“tori, i’m hurt that you would think that,” Sans feigned injury before shuffling over. He sat next to her, but on the ground, making him seem even shorter than he already was. He was half turned to her, allowing for him to face her as he spoke, “naw, actually there was a meeting concerning paladin training that paps wanted me to join him at. it ended up running longer than expected, and he wanted to introduce me to undyne.”

“Undyne?” Toriel hadn’t heard that name before.

“she’s a fish, or mermonster, that will soon be my bro’s teacher,” He then pointed at the skewers, “think those are done yet?”

“That's wonderful to hear, and yes,” Toriel replied, and without being asked, Sans moved to grab the food.

“well, it is actually quite the honor really, considering that undyne is the head of the order.”

“Oh!” Toriel smiled, taking the food offered to her, “He must be very excited about that.”

"i think that is an understatement, but yea, he's excited," Sans grinned. Then the skeleton winked and shrugged, "guess you can say, he talked my ears off about it."

The play on words caused Toriel to howl with laughter. She then patted him on the shoulder, "I bet you didn't have the guts to ask him to stop, did you?"

There was a snort followed by a deep chuckle, "aw, you know me too well, it's like you can see right through me."

The two then sat and laughed before falling silent to eat. Sans gave her complements and thanks for the meal once done, then leaned back against the log. Toriel drew her sword and used her whetstone to sharpen the edge. As she worked she said, "Before we met, I used to spend most of my time in the Ruins. I was hoping you'd join me when I go back to exploring it again."

"in the ruins?" Sans looked back, in the direction they would be going if he agreed. His face hardly ever changes, making reading his thoughts very difficult to those who don't know him. Over time she had gotten better at it, but currently she hadn't a clue what he was thinking. She had to admit though, that skill of his was useful for the few times they gambled at the local pub.

After a moment, he reached into his robe sleeve and pulled out a pipe, "yeah, sure, we can do that." He placed his pipe in his wide grin, and somehow it stayed, "looking for something?"

"In a way, yes. Something I honestly hope to not find," Toriel sighed.

"well, that's not cryptic at all," Sans chuckled.

"Sans, I have a," Toriel paused, nervous about how her friend will react to what she is about to say. Looking down at him, she can see he was looking over her face, brow furrowed. She didn't mean to worry him, but after all they've been through, she feared this could end what they have. This close, perhaps too close to still really be just best friends, friendship.

With a sigh, she finally decided to try again, set on learning what he will do. Still, her fear was reflected in her tone, "Sans, what do you think of humans?"

"humans?" The skeleton blinked, then tilted his head to the side in thought, "can't say i've thought much about them. well, the king wants them captured and executed. but, beyond that? i have to admit, i don't know much about them. well, except, they typically have less magic than we do, being made of more physical matter compared to monsters."

Toriel frowned, looking away, "Would you? Capture a human, that is?"

Sans sighed, taking his pipe out, or away, from his mouth for a moment, "well, it is one of my jobs, watching for them and capturing them." He fiddled with his pipe for a moment, watching Toriel before placing it back. "i'm guessing there is a reason you brought this up?" he asked.

"Would you, instead, protect and keep an eye on a human, if you see one? For me?" She asked. She felt silly for being too nervous to look at him, but she was honestly scared. Instead, she focused on the sword, and watched him indirectly from his reflection in the blade.

"oh, boy, tori, that's no small task you're asking for," he looked away, thinking. Finally, he looked back and winked, "kind of hard to keep an eye on something without eyes; but, i'll see what I can do."

That made Toriel smile and turn her head back to him. A part of her felt she should have known he'd react that way, the other still assumed the worst. For now, she settled on being happy with his answer and she nodded, "Thank you."

"welcome. besides, hard to say 'no' to a woman with a sword, and could easily beat me up if she wanted to," he chuckled.

With a snort, Toriel struggled not to laugh, "Is that so. I should make sure my sword is in hand anytime I'm asking you for something."

"heh, might lose its affect after a while," Sans said with a lazy shrug.

"Is that so?" Toriel mused.

Glancing from her to the sword, then back again, he seemed to be debating something. With a wink he said, "well, it does get the point across; but, i think we're friends enough that you wouldn't hurt me with it."

Toriel hummed, as if thinking, "You are pretty sharp." She sheathed the weapon and set it to the side before grinning at him, "You're right, I wouldn't hurt you like that. Though, what about the other thing you said?"

"other thing?" he looked puzzled, glancing to the side, as he recalled what he’d said. His grin grew a little sheepish and he shrugged, "oh, that, yeah… i mean, i'm well aware you're stronger, tori."

"But, does that mean I would beat you up?" As she asked, she reached over and took Sans's hat off his skull. She didn't want to risk damaging it, despite it's already rumpled condition.

Sans was starting the sweat a little, "uh, tori, what are you doing?"

She set the hat to the side, watching Sans as she did. His eye lights were trained on his hat, wondering what she was planning on doing with it, she figured. This distraction gave her time to surprise him, and she leaned closer. "Well?" she asked.

Turning his eye lights back to her, his pressed his back against the log as he was surprised to see her face so close to his. There was more sweat appearing, as he glanced away, "i, uh, i'm sure you could."

Toriel hummed again and leaned a little closer, "I'm sure I could too, but I think I asked if I would."

The chuckle Sans made sounded nervous and he kept switching between looking at her and finding an escape route. Finally, his eye lights settled on her, "no?"

Without warning she jumped from her spot and pounced on him. Sans had started to move away but she was too close and he was unprepared. Once she was on him, he surrendered and let himself be pinned. Her snout wrinkled and lips struggling not to curl as she tried to avoid laughing. "You lazybones, you're not even going to try fighting back?" she asked while lightly bumping her head against his.

His face had a light shade of blue on it as he grinned weakly up at her, "see no reason to, uh, fight the inevitable."

Toriel laughed before sitting back and helping him up. He was laughing too, and his face was looking relaxed and happy again, but still rather blue. That light blue color on his cheeks was adding to her already growing feelings for him, as she couldn't help but find it adorable.

Picking up his hat she placed it back on his head and smiled at him, "Well, you were right. No, I wouldn't do that. Though, prank, tease, and other various non-harmful means of punishment I may consider."

"i'll bare that in mind," he chuckled. "don't say 'no' to tori, or i'll end up in the pungeon."

With a laugh and shake of her head, Toriel tapped him in the nasal bone, "You defiantly would, though, I'm sure you'll just teleport out."

"depends," he said, glancing away again, "if the foods better than my bro's cooking, i may be tempted to stay."

She huffed, "You're not supposed to enjoy being captured, you know."

"hey, if i'm getting tasty food, an excuse not to go anywhere, and a chance to be around you, why shouldn't i?"

"I suggest not finding out," She giggled, then stood and stretched. "We should rest and get ready for tomorrow."

"sure, i can take first watch," Sans said.

Toriel sighed, "Sans, with how safe it is here?"

"sounds like famous last words to me," Sans winked.

A snort escaped Toriel despite her attempts to hold back a chuckle, "And how quickly you fall asleep? You seem as useful for the task as a deaf watchdog."

"i'll be fine till you wake. i'm, uh, currently wide awake, and i have spells that can help me keep watch, even if i do drift off."

"I know, you've never failed before," she sighed, "Fine, well, I'll see you in a few hours, my friend."

"till then," Sans replied.

Toriel prepared to sleep and started to get into her bed roll. Glancing back at Sans, she saw him watching the fire, looking deep in thought. She wondered if he was thinking about his brother, the Ruins, or... humans. Settling in, she looked up at the stars and sighed.

"sleep well, tori," he whispered.

"Thank you, see you in a few hours," she whispered back. Rolling to her side, she turned her back to him to avoid staring. She was sure by the time she will wake he would have fallen asleep, but still, she felt safe. As safe as she could hope some human might be under his care.

Closing thoughts: There, my part done. I’d like to visit this world again eventually. But for now, I have many other things to write or edit.

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maxwellyjordan · 6 years

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Before lecture on war powers, Gorsuch laments public’s lack of knowledge of the judiciary

On Wednesday night, the Supreme Court Historical Society hosted a lecture by Professor Matthew Waxman on Charles Evans Hughes’ evolving thoughts on the flexibility of constitutional restrictions on government during wartime and peacetime. As is typical of these events, a sitting justice introduced the lecturer. This time it was Justice Neil Gorsuch, the first time he has spoken at a historical society event. Generally, the justices speak briefly. They usually thank the society for hosting the lecture, praise the speaker for her work and perhaps crack a memorable joke. But Gorsuch used his time to deliver an impassioned defense of the judiciary and civility, while criticizing the American public’s ignorance of the structure of our government.

Gorsuch said he has been astonished to learn that “a lot of people in America just don’t understand the role of an independent judge. They don’t know the difference between judges and politicians. They assume judges make campaign promises, and should… And that judges are just politicians in robes.” He ascribed these feelings to a general lack of civic knowledge among the general public. He cited an Annenberg study showing that one third of Americans cannot name any branch of government. Gorsuch pointed to another study and said, “Almost nobody knows that James Madison wrote the Constitution, they all think it was Thomas Jefferson … and he was in France!” The justice noted that even law clerks who come to his office fail to recognize a portrait of Madison hanging above a fireplace.

Gorsuch spoke passionately about the benefits and importance of an independent judiciary. He said, “as difficult as our times sometimes seem, we are very blessed.” He asked rhetorically, “how many places in the world can you go where you can rest assured that you can have an independent judge decide your case?” Gorsuch singled out North Korea for having an expansive bill of rights that promises its citizens a right to free education, free medical and relaxation. He joked that he would enjoy a right to relaxation, but he argued that those North Korean rights are “not worth the parchment they’re written on because you don’t have judges to enforce them.”

Gorsuch then moved on to the second concern he has noticed during his time as a judge. He listed civility, human decency and kindness as “under assault in our society right now, and in our profession.” He criticized civil litigation specifically for its lack of civility and expressed concerns about civility becoming a bad word or passé. He wrapped up his point by stressing to the audience that people they may disagree with “love this country as much as you do.”

Gorsuch’s remarks were not all negative. He began with praise for the historical society and reflected positively on his first year and a half on the court. He admitted that he was surprised by how little the court has changed since he clerked for Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy 25 years ago. He joked that he was excited to have recently received his first email from one of his colleagues. It was not even work related: “[H]e was asking for directions to my house for dinner.” He was also excited to introduce Waxman, whom he described as “one of my very favorite people in the world.”

Waxman’s lecture focused on Justice Charles Evans Hughes. Hughes served two stints on the court: as an an associate justice from 1910 to 1916 and as chief justice from 1930 to 1941. Waxman focused, not on any rulings Hughes made on the court, but rather on a 1917 speech in which Hughes, speaking as a private lawyer five months after the United States entered World War I, introduced what Waxman defined as Hughes’ war powers axiom: “that the power to wage war is the power to wage war successfully.” In other words, Hughes argued that to achieve success in an overseas, industrial-scale war, constitutional restrictions on the federal government should be loosened during wartime. Hughes was a private citizen when he made this speech, but it had a significant impact nonetheless. He had just run for president as a Republican against President Woodrow Wilson, but he presented an analysis of why Wilson and the Democratic Congress were justified in pursuing expanded powers during wartime. The New York Times covered the speech on its front page, while many other newspapers printed the speech in full. Waxman said that Hughes’ influence was enhanced by the fact that, as Justice Robert Jackson once said, “Hughes looked like God and talked like God.”

According to Waxman, Hughes was specifically arguing that Congress should be allowed to take two controversial actions during wartime. First, it should be allowed to institute a selective service draft. At the time, Waxman pointed out, it was not settled law that the federal government could conscript citizens to join the army. Second, Congress should be allowed to regulate the national economy to fit the needs of the war effort. This was the height of the Lochner era, and any restrictions on economic freedoms were looked upon with skepticism by the courts. Hughes argued that the “necessary and proper” clause in Article I of the Constitution required that congressional powers must expand during wartime. Waxman noted that this theory of elasticity in constitutional powers during wartime eventually won out and has since been accepted by all three branches of government.

Hughes’ theory requires that there be clear lines between wartime and peacetime and that the expanded constitutional powers granted to the government are retracted once the war ends. As it turned out, Hughes began to speak out against the expanded rights of the federal government just a few years after he had advocated for those expanded powers. A November 1918 armistice effectively ended the fighting in Europe; to Hughes, this meant that the war was over and that normal constitutional restrictions on the federal government must return. But for Wilson, who in his request for a declaration of war defined his goals as “[preventing] the recurrence of war and to make the world safe for democracy,” the war was not over just because fighting had stopped. Waxman noted that Hughes was anxious over the continued use of wartime powers, saying that the country risked “losing its soul” if wartime powers were exercised in peacetime. Hughes even litigated against the government for seizing undersea cables operated by private companies after the armistice, arguing that the war was over and so the government should not have been allowed to seize the cables. Not only did Hughes lose, but the judge in the case even used Hughes’ own axiom, that “the power to wage war was the power to wage war successfully,” against him.

Later in his career Hughes’ thoughts evolved yet again. He “curiously seems to have backed off these worries” about wartime powers extending into peacetime, Waxman said. As Chief Justice, Hughes even quoted his war powers axiom in a seemingly unrelated case about state mortgage regulation during the Great Depression. Waxman theorized that Hughes may have reverted to his original position in part out of political expediency. Hughes served as secretary of state for President Warren Harding, who pledged a “return to normalcy,” and Hughes even negotiated the peace treaty that formally ended the war. To Waxman, it remains somewhat of a mystery how Hughes reconciled his theory of expansive wartime powers with his concerns about those powers extending into peacetime.

Waxman concluded by saying that World War I was the moment when “the differential between the federal government’s war powers and its peacetime powers reached its apex.” Although war powers provided the initial basis for Congress’ expanded power to regulate the economy, such regulation is justified now under a broader reading of the commerce clause. While war has grown more and more complex, “legislative war powers have not had to keep up, in part because other constitutional powers no do so much work,” Waxman said. Ultimately Waxman argued that there is no longer a large set of legislative powers for war to open up today, though a few do remain.

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