![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakFor ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nomadicwriter:
Five Thing Sydney Bristow Never Asked Arvin Sloane
1) “Why did you recruit me?” At various points of her life, she’s sure the answer would be that he thought she’d make a great agent, then that he wanted to control her father this way, then that he already had an inkling about her connection to Rambaldi. If she’s in a really bad mood, she thinks it was because Sloane knew she’d be gullible enough to be an excellent tool for six years without ever doubting him once. But the main reason why she never asks is that he’s bound to tell her something twisted and untrue. Something like “because you needed me to become all you could be, and I needed you; because I love you”. Something she might almost believe.
2) “Where did Alison leave Francie’s body?” She knows it’s not really Francie anymore, but she hates the idea of her best friend’s body rotting away somewhere. Sydney grew up with her mother’s empty grave as an important point of contact; it would be a chance to at least have the feeling of being able to talk to Francie. Most importantly, it would give her the opportunity to do one last thing for Francie after being the cause of her death, because Francie would be alive and well if she hadn’t lived in the same house Sydney did. But she’s not sure she’d get the words out without giving in to the temptation to choke Sloane to death. Even Danny’s death is easier to refer to than Francie’s, murdered for nothing more than surveillance tapes.
3) “When did you realize Dad and I were doubles?” She never asked because it was pointless, but the thing is, it still bothers her that Sark made her trade Sloane for Vaughn’s life, and she very much suspects that was when Sloane found out. She had always imagined the revelation of her spying on him as a righteous reckoning. Not through her delivering him to his supposed death not by government, but to a second rate player like Sark. Not in a way that made her feel guilty, as galling and horrible that was to admit. So if he knew before that point, it would really be a relief. But she never asked.
4) “Did you ever meet Julia?” That key might have been a set-up, but she can’t help but wonder, to this day. Whether some of her deliberately lost Julia memories contain Arvin Sloane, and whether, as Julia, she made some sort of alliance with him. Mostly she wonders because it would be like him to keep that sort of thing to himself and be smug over it, and also because he had that doctor and his memory retrieval available in no time flat. It might have been through Sloane that she found someone to erase her memories to begin with; she couldn’t have asked anyone else. But Sydney made a decision to leave all things Julia behind for the sake of her sanity, and once she has made a decision, she sticks to it. (That awful moment in her one attempt at retrieval when Vaughn turned into Sloane mid-kiss had nothing to do with it.)
5) “How did Nadia die?” She has given up making sense of it all, because it never does. Oh, she knows the technicalities – splinters of glass and all. And she knows it must be somehow Sloane’s fault, because if it hadn’t been, wouldn’t he have called her father and herself? But she doesn’t understand how he could have moved heaven and earth to save Nadia, how he did in fact chose what Nadia believed in over Rambaldi that night in Russia, how he tried to avenge what he believed to be Sydney’s own death even after Nadia was gone, how he could have done all this and still taken Nadia’s life. Sydney has no questions about the reasons for what happened in the aftermath, though. She looks at Isabelle, imagines what she’d do if Isabelle were dead and this was her own fault, and has no questions at all.
Forastrogirl2:
Five Times Benjamin Linus Did Something Nice For Someone
1) During his first weeks on the island, Ben was afraid that his father in his drunken disappointment would make his threats true and return rather than stay there as a workman. Which would have been the worst thing that could happen. Back where they came from, there was no bigger mystery than to wonder where the stains on the walls of increasingly shabbier apartments came from, and he had no friends; here, he had found Annie, and the island. So Ben tried to make his father popular among the Dharma Initiative, so they’d reconsider and promote him. He figured out who the highest ranking members were, cleaned up their houses before the regular shift, cut the grass on their lawns and made sure there were always fresh flowers on their tables, then said Roger had done it. He made an extra effort for his father, too, one night taking all the beer and whiskey away so his father would be forced to sober up and start a new life, the way it worked in the movies. This didn’t work. More to the point, Ben realized that Roger wouldn’t leave the island because Roger knew, deep down, there would be no more good jobs back in the US, either, and far less benefits. Roger would never take Ben away from the island, so being nice to people on his behalf really wasn’t worth it.
2) Merle Bailey, who left the island just week before the Purge together with her parents, always thought it was awfully nice of Ben the workman to give her a rabbit to take home with. She’d always wanted a pet. You couldn’t explain to rabbits that it was time to put on a gas mask, so Ben thought it was a good solution, all things considered.
3) Doing everything different from Roger was a good baseline when starting to raise a child, but it wasn’t enough, as Ben found out when Alex grew beyond the toddler state and started to ask questions. Roger had kept telling him that he had killed his mother, so the opposite would be not to mention a mother at all, except that obviously would leave Alex wondering, which wouldn’t do. Ben had always imagined his mother as an angel, then seen her and known she was, and had missed her every day of his life. He knew how painful it was. So in order for Alex not to miss her mother or want one at all, he made sure that all the fairy tales he read to her contained evil stepmothers, which wasn’t difficult; the Grimms were really helpful in this regard. One night, Alex said that with all the stepmothers in fairy tales being so evil, she was glad she didn’t have one, but a brother or sister would be nice, just in case she found herself alone in the wood. Ben thought about this, and promised her he’d make sure she’d always have other children to play with. And he did.
4) Monitoring Michael after he left the island with his son had just been a matter of precaution, at first. They could have lived happily ever after for all Ben cared, but he didn’t want them to run into Widmore and lead dear old Charles right back to the island, so it was better to keep an eye on them. Then Tom told him Michael had left the very son he fought so hard for at his grandmother and was living an increasingly suicidal life, and Ben was disgusted. It wasn’t hard to guess Michael must have told Walt about the nature of their deal. Burdening a child with the deaths of two people. It reminded him of Roger. Ben, by contrast, did not claim to be an ideal father, but he had always taken care to keep the weight of his deeds from Alex. Well, if Michael had failed his son so spectacularly and wished to die, one might as well give him the chance to do so in a useful way, thought Ben, and told Tom they didn’t need to look for someone else to infiltrate Widmore’s latest expedition anymore.
5) After John Locke returned from a mass grave, Ben accepted it would be useless to try and kill him again, and besides, John was the best ally he could have in this increasingly desperate situation. He did, however, expect to be asked for an explanation, for an excuse for these two shots, for an apology, and he had a couple of suitable sentences ready. But John never asked. Not about this; he asked about the cabin, the island, the smoke monster, all kind of things, but never “why did you try to kill me?”, and he never showed anger about this, either. He didn’t ask because he understood, Ben realized, because he truly understood, and that was an altogether new feeling. This didn’t stop Ben from parsing out information about Widmore and everything else in a way that he thought would be of most benefit, but there was one evening when John showed up where Ben didn’t say anything at all. Nothing about Widmore, nothing about the rest of the group to ensure John would remain just paranoid enough, and no hints at superior knowledge so John would have additional reason to keep Ben alive. No, Ben didn’t say anything. Instead, he played the piano, Für Elise. He gave John his silence, and it was the nicest thing he had ever done for anyone at all.
nomadicwriter: Five Thing Sydney Bristow Never Asked Arvin Sloane
1) “Why did you recruit me?” At various points of her life, she’s sure the answer would be that he thought she’d make a great agent, then that he wanted to control her father this way, then that he already had an inkling about her connection to Rambaldi. If she’s in a really bad mood, she thinks it was because Sloane knew she’d be gullible enough to be an excellent tool for six years without ever doubting him once. But the main reason why she never asks is that he’s bound to tell her something twisted and untrue. Something like “because you needed me to become all you could be, and I needed you; because I love you”. Something she might almost believe.
2) “Where did Alison leave Francie’s body?” She knows it’s not really Francie anymore, but she hates the idea of her best friend’s body rotting away somewhere. Sydney grew up with her mother’s empty grave as an important point of contact; it would be a chance to at least have the feeling of being able to talk to Francie. Most importantly, it would give her the opportunity to do one last thing for Francie after being the cause of her death, because Francie would be alive and well if she hadn’t lived in the same house Sydney did. But she’s not sure she’d get the words out without giving in to the temptation to choke Sloane to death. Even Danny’s death is easier to refer to than Francie’s, murdered for nothing more than surveillance tapes.
3) “When did you realize Dad and I were doubles?” She never asked because it was pointless, but the thing is, it still bothers her that Sark made her trade Sloane for Vaughn’s life, and she very much suspects that was when Sloane found out. She had always imagined the revelation of her spying on him as a righteous reckoning. Not through her delivering him to his supposed death not by government, but to a second rate player like Sark. Not in a way that made her feel guilty, as galling and horrible that was to admit. So if he knew before that point, it would really be a relief. But she never asked.
4) “Did you ever meet Julia?” That key might have been a set-up, but she can’t help but wonder, to this day. Whether some of her deliberately lost Julia memories contain Arvin Sloane, and whether, as Julia, she made some sort of alliance with him. Mostly she wonders because it would be like him to keep that sort of thing to himself and be smug over it, and also because he had that doctor and his memory retrieval available in no time flat. It might have been through Sloane that she found someone to erase her memories to begin with; she couldn’t have asked anyone else. But Sydney made a decision to leave all things Julia behind for the sake of her sanity, and once she has made a decision, she sticks to it. (That awful moment in her one attempt at retrieval when Vaughn turned into Sloane mid-kiss had nothing to do with it.)
5) “How did Nadia die?” She has given up making sense of it all, because it never does. Oh, she knows the technicalities – splinters of glass and all. And she knows it must be somehow Sloane’s fault, because if it hadn’t been, wouldn’t he have called her father and herself? But she doesn’t understand how he could have moved heaven and earth to save Nadia, how he did in fact chose what Nadia believed in over Rambaldi that night in Russia, how he tried to avenge what he believed to be Sydney’s own death even after Nadia was gone, how he could have done all this and still taken Nadia’s life. Sydney has no questions about the reasons for what happened in the aftermath, though. She looks at Isabelle, imagines what she’d do if Isabelle were dead and this was her own fault, and has no questions at all.
For
astrogirl2: Five Times Benjamin Linus Did Something Nice For Someone
1) During his first weeks on the island, Ben was afraid that his father in his drunken disappointment would make his threats true and return rather than stay there as a workman. Which would have been the worst thing that could happen. Back where they came from, there was no bigger mystery than to wonder where the stains on the walls of increasingly shabbier apartments came from, and he had no friends; here, he had found Annie, and the island. So Ben tried to make his father popular among the Dharma Initiative, so they’d reconsider and promote him. He figured out who the highest ranking members were, cleaned up their houses before the regular shift, cut the grass on their lawns and made sure there were always fresh flowers on their tables, then said Roger had done it. He made an extra effort for his father, too, one night taking all the beer and whiskey away so his father would be forced to sober up and start a new life, the way it worked in the movies. This didn’t work. More to the point, Ben realized that Roger wouldn’t leave the island because Roger knew, deep down, there would be no more good jobs back in the US, either, and far less benefits. Roger would never take Ben away from the island, so being nice to people on his behalf really wasn’t worth it.
2) Merle Bailey, who left the island just week before the Purge together with her parents, always thought it was awfully nice of Ben the workman to give her a rabbit to take home with. She’d always wanted a pet. You couldn’t explain to rabbits that it was time to put on a gas mask, so Ben thought it was a good solution, all things considered.
3) Doing everything different from Roger was a good baseline when starting to raise a child, but it wasn’t enough, as Ben found out when Alex grew beyond the toddler state and started to ask questions. Roger had kept telling him that he had killed his mother, so the opposite would be not to mention a mother at all, except that obviously would leave Alex wondering, which wouldn’t do. Ben had always imagined his mother as an angel, then seen her and known she was, and had missed her every day of his life. He knew how painful it was. So in order for Alex not to miss her mother or want one at all, he made sure that all the fairy tales he read to her contained evil stepmothers, which wasn’t difficult; the Grimms were really helpful in this regard. One night, Alex said that with all the stepmothers in fairy tales being so evil, she was glad she didn’t have one, but a brother or sister would be nice, just in case she found herself alone in the wood. Ben thought about this, and promised her he’d make sure she’d always have other children to play with. And he did.
4) Monitoring Michael after he left the island with his son had just been a matter of precaution, at first. They could have lived happily ever after for all Ben cared, but he didn’t want them to run into Widmore and lead dear old Charles right back to the island, so it was better to keep an eye on them. Then Tom told him Michael had left the very son he fought so hard for at his grandmother and was living an increasingly suicidal life, and Ben was disgusted. It wasn’t hard to guess Michael must have told Walt about the nature of their deal. Burdening a child with the deaths of two people. It reminded him of Roger. Ben, by contrast, did not claim to be an ideal father, but he had always taken care to keep the weight of his deeds from Alex. Well, if Michael had failed his son so spectacularly and wished to die, one might as well give him the chance to do so in a useful way, thought Ben, and told Tom they didn’t need to look for someone else to infiltrate Widmore’s latest expedition anymore.
5) After John Locke returned from a mass grave, Ben accepted it would be useless to try and kill him again, and besides, John was the best ally he could have in this increasingly desperate situation. He did, however, expect to be asked for an explanation, for an excuse for these two shots, for an apology, and he had a couple of suitable sentences ready. But John never asked. Not about this; he asked about the cabin, the island, the smoke monster, all kind of things, but never “why did you try to kill me?”, and he never showed anger about this, either. He didn’t ask because he understood, Ben realized, because he truly understood, and that was an altogether new feeling. This didn’t stop Ben from parsing out information about Widmore and everything else in a way that he thought would be of most benefit, but there was one evening when John showed up where Ben didn’t say anything at all. Nothing about Widmore, nothing about the rest of the group to ensure John would remain just paranoid enough, and no hints at superior knowledge so John would have additional reason to keep Ben alive. No, Ben didn’t say anything. Instead, he played the piano, Für Elise. He gave John his silence, and it was the nicest thing he had ever done for anyone at all.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 09:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 11:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 11:52 am (UTC)ROTFLMAO! We're re-watching Season 3 at home; I had completely forgotten about this moment and when it occurred, I nearly screamed the roof down.
Nothing to do with it whatsoever. Yeah, right. :D
no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 02:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 07:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 11:55 am (UTC)(Did you ever read Strange Collaborations by
And I love the fifth one, too. It's Sydney's usual brand of self-deluded to believe that she would have listened to Sloane if he'd tried to tell her Nadia's death was an accident, but I love her new perspective on his insanity now that she has a child of her own. I've often wondered if she found herself with more empathy for what the loss of Jacquelyn did to him after Isabelle was born.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 02:12 pm (UTC)Five: while she might have come around to believing Sloane in the end, it would probably have taken years (and him turning himself over to custody immediately after it happened). She'd think otherwise, though. (Jack, on the other hand, would have believed Sloane had Sloane called him, I think.) And yes, having a child would make a difference.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 01:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-14 03:57 pm (UTC)