Plotting question about character death

Aug 15, 2012 22:25

From an upcoming story chapter I'm working on:

spoilers )

writing

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Comments 49

cindergal August 16 2012, 05:54:19 UTC
I like the suicide spell option, even though it might seem a tad too convenient. It makes sense to me that Watchers might know something like this for just such a scenario, to avoid giving up important information to the enemy.

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rahirah August 16 2012, 14:50:36 UTC
The one thing that makes a spell seem less out of the blue is that I've already set up that if Crowly dies, it's a dead man's switch to turn off the implanted pump that's feeding Doximal into Angel's system and keeping him in Angelus mode. So it's not unthinkable that Crowley would have a way to throw that switch deliberately.

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readerjane August 17 2012, 00:43:58 UTC
Sorry, but... can't Angelus just buy or steal his own supply of Doximal?

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rahirah August 17 2012, 02:30:30 UTC
He can (and will probably have to shortly) but he hasn't had the need to up until now. (Also since it's a made-up drug, I can make it as arbitrarily difficult to get hold of as I like.)

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dwyld August 16 2012, 06:39:30 UTC
As a Watcher I would believe he had received combat training and thus would know numerous ways to kill himself using just a sharp nail or fragment of glass etc. Just stamping on a plastic button can produce something sharp enough to kill yourself if you are determined enough. This would be more believable and less conveniently trite than having a suicide spell or having managed to get some weapon past his guards.

If vamps were so easy to taunt into a kill, they would never have survived and Angelus would certainly not be letting them anywhere near valuable prisoners. Assuming the bucket is for what one would imagine, practically nobody would have the strength of mind to drown themselves in it - and anybody who did probably isn't afraid of torture.

I would question why Angelus has not left him better guarded. If the watcher belief system extends to suicide being permissible to avoid torture, Angelus would know it and have him on suicide watch.

It's hard to say much more without knowing the character or circumstances.

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rahirah August 16 2012, 14:55:56 UTC
Well, that was what I was thinking with him managing to snag something in the previous chapter - if he got hold of a sharp piece of glass or metal or something, he could punch it through his ear or similar.

It's not torture Crowley's afraid of - it's Drusilla hypnotizing him as she did Giles (she's already done it to him once, and he doesn't want to risk it again), and/or the possibility that Angelus will think of turning him into a vampire so he'd give up the information willingly. They do have the cell under observation, so the death method has to be fairly quick - I was being somewhat facetious with the blood poisoning.

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dwyld August 17 2012, 04:52:35 UTC
It's not torture Crowley's afraid of - it's Drusilla hypnotizing himI would suggest that is the root of your plotting problem then ( ... )

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rahirah August 17 2012, 15:34:28 UTC
Vamp thrall, especially when practised by Dru, is essentially a sexual seduction. It's a moot point because that part's already written and published last chapter, so it can't be changed in any substantial way. Dru was playing on his guilt over getting his adopted son killed, but she was being her usual self, so there was certainly a sexual component. I have no objection to a thrall/interrogation scene being icky, and I write sex scenes between middle-aged and even geriatric characters with cheerful abandon. The possibility that Crowley has a boner for Dru isn't a problem ( ... )

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fenderlove August 16 2012, 07:03:17 UTC
I would vote for slitting wrists using the old strong box edges... Also, if they're really old, they might be rusty... blood poisoning takes over anyway... or just tetanus.

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rahirah August 16 2012, 14:56:32 UTC
I can't really take the time for in to die of tetanus, unfortunately! :D

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readerjane August 17 2012, 00:46:47 UTC
If Crowley's desperate & determined enough, I guess he could bite his own wrist?

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beer_good_foamy August 16 2012, 07:13:46 UTC
I'm pretty sure that drowning yourself in a bucket without any sort of restraints is, if not impossible, pretty difficult; you'd pass out and tip the bucket, as opposed to kicking it, before you died. I like the "bash his head against the wall" option, though that's partly because I imagine the narration going "Contrary to what some younger watchers think, a short sharp blow to the head is quite frequently lethal."

What about the good old "swallowed his tongue"? I'm not sure if that one's actually as realistic as some stories make it seem, but if he's a Watcher he might have mastered all sorts of secret techniques...

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rahirah August 16 2012, 18:15:18 UTC
I can't imagine how one would swallow one's own tongue (outside of having a seizure or something), but I have a very strong gag reflex. :P

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beer_good_foamy August 16 2012, 20:18:26 UTC
Well, apparently it's almost impossible IRL; the tongue simply doesn't bend back that far unless it's been severed. But I've seen it happen in quite a few movies (I want to say that some Bond villain does it at some point, but I'm not sure) and a lot of people are convinced that epileptics do it on a regular basis, so it's probably something you could get away with if you're OK with playing as fast and loose with actual medicine as, say, the show did. Just say he learned the technique while training with Indian mystics in his youth or something?

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zanthinegirl August 16 2012, 07:55:13 UTC
I vote for "Strangles self somehow with handcuffs", but the secret watch spell of death would probably work well.

Though I'm just excited that this poll means that there may be Moar Parliment! someday!

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rahirah August 16 2012, 18:15:37 UTC
Knock wood!

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