(Im)balance
It's always fun to look at a story and say, "All right. I need to construct this in such a way as to bring out my MC's absolute worst coping mechanisms.
I'm working on a cluster of fics in Damaged People right now, hoping to actually get something accomplished in moving this damn thing forward. Considering that the thing I'm writing now is partial cleanup from Lights Move on a Chalk Line and Chains That Define, this is rather difficult.
For those of you who don't know the significance of this, I'll explain in a short-form dramatic presentation.
Damaged People pre-Lights Move/Chains:
Jack: I suspect you're attracted to me, but I also suspect that you have eight metric fucktons of repression keeping us both from acting on it.
Sam: I suspect you're an arse.
Lights Move/Chains:
Jack: You know what? I've changed my mind. Sex solves everything.
Sam: *dissociates the fuck out of everything. quite literally, in fact.*
...basically, the boys are well-adjusted.
Now, the wossit I'm working on now, (The World As) A Loaded Gun, has the unenviable task of stitching the two of them together to the point where they can actually move out of their nordic lodge and on with the plot. (The part coming up as Fran and Balthier. I think they're only being difficult to keep me from being able to write it.) But this is a lovely volatile moment in their relationship, because Sam's been kinda cracked wide open to the point where he actually has to start being honest about some things and Jack's had both barrels emptied at him and, you know, really? It's not quite enough.
:/
Rewatching Life On Mars, I keep picking up all sorts of lovely tics that come up when Sam is pushed a bit too hard. While he's perfectly capable of (and seems to prefer) playing the even-keeled inspector who knows the rules everything follows and can find anything with the right application of formula, if you scratch that surface just enough you find someone prone to fits of violent temper (even if not physical), convinced of his own infallibility, and willing to toss every rule, suggestion, injunction and procedure to the curb (kerb?) if it stands between him and the conclusion he's chasing. And that's not even getting into the epic fail in missing the point he has sometimes. ("...you got Ray blown up by an IRA bomb." "It wasn't the IRA!" "Sam, you decided there wasn't a bomb and got your coworker exploded." "But it wasn't the IRA!" "...you only actually hear, like, three out of every ten words people say to you, don't you?" "Did you miss the part where it wasn't the IRA?")
Basically, Sam is an obsessive crazyperson wearing a thin veneer of sanity, and the moment his convictions are threatened in a way he can't logic himself out of, he goes apeshit trying to salvage them. And the only reason people don't jump on him for being a bloody hypocrite more often is because in Gene's CID, the only person that adamant about jumping on everyone's hypocrisy is Sam himself. Who just... doesn't examine his own actions that closely.
And, you know... I really want to air that in Damaged People a bit.
I mean, Jack's role in Damaged People is kinda to take two steps, fall over, and then throw his all into a dramatic recovery, but Sam's been pretty solidly competent so long as you don't ask him to deal with any sort of emotion in a situation. And that's no fun. and I have a limited amount of time before I get them back to Earth and dump Sam in with the Torchwood crew, and then it's a whole new can of interpersonal dynamic worms. At the moment, the fics I have planned on the way back to Earth - and the fics comprising the cluster I'm actively working on - are: (The World As) A Loaded Gun, And All Roads Lead, Balance, Tranquility Base, Where The Frown On My Face, Copernicus, and Day Zero.
Shot summaries of the first three follow:
(The World As) A Loaded Gun:
Jack: Ookay. So maybe we should talk about how not to fuck each other up.
Sam: SO MAYBE WE SHOULD TALK ABOUT HOW YOU'RE AN ARSE.
Jack: ...Sam.
Sam: I hate everything.
Jack: Well, I guess that's a start.
And All Roads Lead
Balthier: We're noble time pirates.
Jack Sparrow: I'm just a pirate.
Jack: There's a shortcut back to Earth through this paradox!
Sam: The last two times I got stuck in a paradox, I almost got eaten by time dogs.
Jack: I'm sure there's nothing to worry about.
Sam: I kinda hate that you now everything about everything and I know nothing about anything. So far as time travel goes. You know. This is what they call a "power" "imbalance".
Jack: The air quotes weren't really necessary, you know.
Time Dogs: Aroooooooo....
Balance:
Balthier: Pit stop in the Avatar universe! The author does enjoy stretching to fit these fandoms in, doesn't se?
Probably Toph And Sokka: Hey, new people! Perhaps you can help us by solving this Mystery Yet To Be Determined.
Sam: FINALLY, SOMETHING I AM GOOD AT. THANK YOU, GOD I AM AGNOSTIC TOWARDS.
Moby: Oh baby, oh baby, then it fell apart, it fell apart...
Stuff: *happens*
...yeah.
I want to say that there's ripe ground there to do a parallel of the Avatar world as one struggling for political/economic balance and Jack and Sam trying to find an interpersonal balance, which they've been edging toward and backing away from for... most of DP now. And I kinda want them to have some sort of balance or understanding before I dump them into Torchwood and break the fuck out of all of their hard work. I also want that understanding to come out of/come after/be tied in with/relate to Sam just snapping and getting Crazy DI Time all over someone. Preferably Jack. Sokka if necessary.
...if you're expecting this ramble to have a point or resolution, you're going to be pretty disappointed in 3, 2, 1...
I'm working on a cluster of fics in Damaged People right now, hoping to actually get something accomplished in moving this damn thing forward. Considering that the thing I'm writing now is partial cleanup from Lights Move on a Chalk Line and Chains That Define, this is rather difficult.
For those of you who don't know the significance of this, I'll explain in a short-form dramatic presentation.
Damaged People pre-Lights Move/Chains:
Jack: I suspect you're attracted to me, but I also suspect that you have eight metric fucktons of repression keeping us both from acting on it.
Sam: I suspect you're an arse.
Lights Move/Chains:
Jack: You know what? I've changed my mind. Sex solves everything.
Sam: *dissociates the fuck out of everything. quite literally, in fact.*
...basically, the boys are well-adjusted.
Now, the wossit I'm working on now, (The World As) A Loaded Gun, has the unenviable task of stitching the two of them together to the point where they can actually move out of their nordic lodge and on with the plot. (The part coming up as Fran and Balthier. I think they're only being difficult to keep me from being able to write it.) But this is a lovely volatile moment in their relationship, because Sam's been kinda cracked wide open to the point where he actually has to start being honest about some things and Jack's had both barrels emptied at him and, you know, really? It's not quite enough.
:/
Rewatching Life On Mars, I keep picking up all sorts of lovely tics that come up when Sam is pushed a bit too hard. While he's perfectly capable of (and seems to prefer) playing the even-keeled inspector who knows the rules everything follows and can find anything with the right application of formula, if you scratch that surface just enough you find someone prone to fits of violent temper (even if not physical), convinced of his own infallibility, and willing to toss every rule, suggestion, injunction and procedure to the curb (kerb?) if it stands between him and the conclusion he's chasing. And that's not even getting into the epic fail in missing the point he has sometimes. ("...you got Ray blown up by an IRA bomb." "It wasn't the IRA!" "Sam, you decided there wasn't a bomb and got your coworker exploded." "But it wasn't the IRA!" "...you only actually hear, like, three out of every ten words people say to you, don't you?" "Did you miss the part where it wasn't the IRA?")
Basically, Sam is an obsessive crazyperson wearing a thin veneer of sanity, and the moment his convictions are threatened in a way he can't logic himself out of, he goes apeshit trying to salvage them. And the only reason people don't jump on him for being a bloody hypocrite more often is because in Gene's CID, the only person that adamant about jumping on everyone's hypocrisy is Sam himself. Who just... doesn't examine his own actions that closely.
And, you know... I really want to air that in Damaged People a bit.
I mean, Jack's role in Damaged People is kinda to take two steps, fall over, and then throw his all into a dramatic recovery, but Sam's been pretty solidly competent so long as you don't ask him to deal with any sort of emotion in a situation. And that's no fun. and I have a limited amount of time before I get them back to Earth and dump Sam in with the Torchwood crew, and then it's a whole new can of interpersonal dynamic worms. At the moment, the fics I have planned on the way back to Earth - and the fics comprising the cluster I'm actively working on - are: (The World As) A Loaded Gun, And All Roads Lead, Balance, Tranquility Base, Where The Frown On My Face, Copernicus, and Day Zero.
Shot summaries of the first three follow:
(The World As) A Loaded Gun:
Jack: Ookay. So maybe we should talk about how not to fuck each other up.
Sam: SO MAYBE WE SHOULD TALK ABOUT HOW YOU'RE AN ARSE.
Jack: ...Sam.
Sam: I hate everything.
Jack: Well, I guess that's a start.
And All Roads Lead
Balthier: We're noble time pirates.
Jack Sparrow: I'm just a pirate.
Jack: There's a shortcut back to Earth through this paradox!
Sam: The last two times I got stuck in a paradox, I almost got eaten by time dogs.
Jack: I'm sure there's nothing to worry about.
Sam: I kinda hate that you now everything about everything and I know nothing about anything. So far as time travel goes. You know. This is what they call a "power" "imbalance".
Jack: The air quotes weren't really necessary, you know.
Time Dogs: Aroooooooo....
Balance:
Balthier: Pit stop in the Avatar universe! The author does enjoy stretching to fit these fandoms in, doesn't se?
Probably Toph And Sokka: Hey, new people! Perhaps you can help us by solving this Mystery Yet To Be Determined.
Sam: FINALLY, SOMETHING I AM GOOD AT. THANK YOU, GOD I AM AGNOSTIC TOWARDS.
Moby: Oh baby, oh baby, then it fell apart, it fell apart...
Stuff: *happens*
...yeah.
I want to say that there's ripe ground there to do a parallel of the Avatar world as one struggling for political/economic balance and Jack and Sam trying to find an interpersonal balance, which they've been edging toward and backing away from for... most of DP now. And I kinda want them to have some sort of balance or understanding before I dump them into Torchwood and break the fuck out of all of their hard work. I also want that understanding to come out of/come after/be tied in with/relate to Sam just snapping and getting Crazy DI Time all over someone. Preferably Jack. Sokka if necessary.
...if you're expecting this ramble to have a point or resolution, you're going to be pretty disappointed in 3, 2, 1...