http://demonbloodsam.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] demonbloodsam.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] trans_92009-07-20 11:35 pm

Say What You Want [R for Cussing][Open]

Yes, Sam Winchester was still secure in his cell, sitting on his bed, still writing in John Winchester's journal as he had been for much of the time since he'd been locked up. A stack of uneaten slop trays sat outside his cell, a sign that he was still not eating. The only nourishment he would take came from the silver flask of water that sat on the floor near the head of the bed that he had refilled periodically by either Dean or whoever was in the Precinct at the time.

He'd had several visitors, many of them trying to convince him to back down, to start eating again. But each time he had refused, defiantly resisting any and all efforts to change his mind or sway him into thinking he was wrong. He wasn't wrong. He knew it.

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-21 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Cybil's Yeerk said he was just trying to avoid getting killed. He was a screw-up. He didn't even do his job right because he didn't want to be doing his 'job' hurting people. I'm not saying that gives him a free pass, but there's a difference between evil and what he did. He wasn't evil, he was stupid. And weak. Really, really weak. That's just as much a punishment as it was a crime," Jaime answers.

"And you're assuming a lot about it trying to hurt someone else again. Last I checked, you weren't one of the people on the ship that can read minds or see the future. Just because someone was made to be something bad, or programmed that way, or pressured into it out of fear doesn't mean they're evil."

[identity profile] thenameissam.livejournal.com 2009-07-21 06:43 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, yeah, Cybil's Yeerk. It always comes around to her, doesn't it. Well, did Cybil's Yeerk happen to mention just how long she was in there?" Sam asked. He was obviously going somewhere with this.

"Because I can tell you, it was a long ass time. Almost from the beginning. And she left us in there. She could have ended the whole thing months earlier by warning someone. And she didn't. No, she didn't act until she absolutely had to...not until the Yeerks were already getting their asses handed to them by the crew. So, if you're shootin for a character witness for this thing, I aim a little bit higher for someone--or something--a little more reliable than an accomplice."

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-21 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
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"Wow, I guess everyone's evil, huh. And irredeemable. Always. They can't make mistakes because they're afraid or because they want to make sure something goes right without someone getting hurt. If anyone every hurts anyone ever, they're evil and deserve to die. Is that how it goes?"



[identity profile] thenameissam.livejournal.com 2009-07-21 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
"Has the fact that you're taking the word of something that lied to you for months, tried to take over the ship and kill a lot of people not registered with you?" Sam countered. "We're not talkin about some random Yeerk that got left behind in the pool and didn't actually do anything. We're talking about a Yeerk that crawled into someone's head, took over their body, and used them to try to KILL PEOPLE. But, oh no, it surrendered. It's obviously telling the truth now. And Sam, yeah, he's just lying...or crazy...or both."

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-21 07:10 am (UTC)(link)
"Honestly? I think Cybil's Yeerk took so long because she was taking into account that the other Yeerks might do crazy things like, I don't know, shooting their hosts in the head," Jaime answers, sitting backwards on a chair.

"You're not lying, crazy, or either. You're ruthless. There's a difference," Jaime says. "Namely that it's a conscious choice. You've chosen to be this person. Maybe you had good reasons. You probably did, to protect people back where you're from. Maybe you even had to absolutely be this way or there would've been no chance at all you could do it. The problem is that you think you have to be this way, always, when we're not in the world we knew. Even I know that sometimes people here might have to kill, for everyone to be safe. I won't do it, but I understand it--I might even let it happen. I just disagree that this is one of those time. I also think you still haven't answered my question about why the Yeerk isn't just a bad person. People can do bad things and deserve death. You still haven't explained why the Yeerks aren't just really bad people."

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-21 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
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"It wasn't your fault. What bad people do to you--and because you can't stop them. It's never your fault."

For someone that Sam's geared himself up to think is a patronizing dickhead, he looks neither ashamed of getting this worked up, nor like he thinks Sam is a bad person.

"I just... look, I can understand you thinking a bad person deserves to die to keep people safe. I don't agree with it in this case, but I understand it. My dad was in the army. He's killed people to keep people safe. Doesn't make him evil for doing it. The part I had a problem with was that someone who, for all intents and purposes seemed like a good person just trying to protect people, was talking like people weren't people. Wanting to kill guys for doing bad things--that's not evil. That's not even crazy--everyone wants to do that sometimes, even if they don't want to admit it. Dehumanizing the enemy, though, turning them into things rather than people--that's just...where it gets scary. Maybe it's easier to deal with it all, but it's still scary."

He frowns.

"I just--"

He shakes his head.

"I don't like thinking someone who I thought was a good person is that far gone." He looks back up at him. "We may not be on the same side on this one, but I still see us as on the same side."

Because they are.

"We're people that don't want to see other people get hurt. It's just we disagree about how to do it or who deserves a second chance."

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-21 08:11 am (UTC)(link)
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"Look, Sam, I understand the sentiment. Believe me, I do. I've been in that place, where it was--where stuff went out of control, and I tried my hardest and it wasn't good enough. People died. More than one."

Vista Verde. The hurricane.

"And I--"

Another deep breath.

"I really wanted to kill the person responsible," he admits. It's something he didn't even say to his dad. "I thought about what would happen if I didn't. And maybe it will be on my head if he breaks out of prison someday. It probably will be. But there is such thing as an overactive sense of guilt."

He shakes his head.

"And it's very easy to paint a species with a broad brush. There is no doubt in my mind that the Yeerk is guilty of conspiracy, of being complicit in a lot of crimes. But there's also no doubt in my mind that between a ton of superheroes, a freakton of geniuses, and a bunch of other smart people that we can't think of some way to make sure it's imprisoned a long-ass time. There's jettisoning from the ship in stasis, there's pocket dimensions, there's lots of freakish things we can figure out how to do that are way more surefire than just locking the thing up in a box. Why won't you let people at least try them? This goes beyond not trusting the Yeerk and not trusting our situation into not trusting the rest of the crew, too."

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-21 08:22 am (UTC)(link)
"For the record, space is really, really big."

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-21 08:32 am (UTC)(link)
"Then there's the fact we're not even in normal space... We're in the Bleed. Which is bigger. As in endless. Even more vast than space because it holds all space, in every universe, everywhere."

He seems to know something about this.

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-22 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
"Sam, what happens if someone else does something like this? Do we kill them too?"

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-22 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
"What if they do it under duress? Or while trying to figure out a way to save everyone and keep themselves from getting killed? Or because something happened to make them mentally ill or--see, the problem here is absolutes. For all your talking like superheroes are big on them--and yeah, we sometimes are--at the very least some of them recognize that not everything is black and white."

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-22 06:03 am (UTC)(link)
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"Where I stand on this doesn't mean that I don't believe you--which by the way, would be somewhat reasonable because you are so beyond messed up right now in a way you aren't even seeing--or that I don't think it could be a threat. The key word here is 'could.' Not 'will.'"

How the hell does he explain this.

"It's not just about you. It's not even just about the Yeerk. At least not for me--I can't speak for everyone else. It's not about being naive or sob stories. When it comes to killing, or letting someone be killed, I have to at least be skeptical that it's the right thing to do, and I can't ever kill anyone myself. That's just what I have to do."

The imperative question here would be "why?" given that it's sometimes right to kill someone to protect people. Especially since he doesn't follow the "we don't kill" code entirely blindly.

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-22 06:21 am (UTC)(link)
"So you think we should all be arbiters of who should live or die for the safety of the crew?"

That is basically what he's advocating.

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-22 06:32 am (UTC)(link)
"Are you sure someone like me should be an arbiter of who lives or dies?"

Jaime's eyes flash.

Image

He doesn't armor up completely, just enough to show him a few things.

"I need to show you a few things. So you understand something. And rather than just be stubborn and not listen, you need to. Okay?"

[identity profile] el-escarabajo.livejournal.com 2009-07-22 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
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"The scary part is even though I'd rather you not be, and I'm not trying to intimidate you, you should be scared."

With the scarab's help, black armor slides over his one arm, and he forms a weapon there, with a glowing tip.

"This one is called population suppression. It shuts down the nervous systems of mass groups of people. Not permanently, but I don't like to use it too much since I don't know what the long term effects of repeated use would be."

He shifts his arm and forms another one, this one with three very frightening-looking prongs.

"This one is made for shifting the gravity of stellar objects--like causing a moon or asteroids to collide with, say, a planet."

He shifts again. The armor of his arm lengthens and there's a large, nasty-looking glowing light at the end, held in by a little spherical field.

"This one can create enough ionizing radiation to kill every person on this ship in under five minutes."

Another shift and there's one with a glowing red light on the end. It looks like it's meant to detach.

"I'm not sure what this one is called, but apparently it can ignite the hydrogen in the air and cause a very nasty chain reaction..."