[Lincoln understands fear all too well. Fear is an aspect of survival. Fear has been instilled in him since he was a boy. And fear can make people do monstrous things. His people do a great deal of things out of fear, because they want to control their society and ensure their continued survival. Often, many of their choices are wrong and unfair, as they outcast people who are different because they don't want to have them muddle the bloodlines in their village. It's a harsh reality that often has little justification.
But he thinks that they won't benefit from fear here, even if he understands where Bellamy is coming from. The confirmation of circumstances seems right, but there is a good chance that the officials might ask for someone else to come. What would happen to the Mountain Men if they were given the ability to come outside? How long would it take for them to justify killing off his people (both sets of them) out of some need to protect themselves? Would the officials here see that ripple effect, and would they stop it?
He doesn't know. A few short days isn't enough to answer that question.]
Can we advise them against certain people? If we're here and contributing for a longer period of time, will we have that opportunity? [Lincoln is used to a world where people do things in opportunistic ways. He's asking because he's curious, but because of the world he's from, he assumes that the people running this city, even with their set rules and their ideals, will be just as opportunistic. They stop war because it benefits them. They make choice a thing because it benefits them. But it benefits everyone else, creating a reality that they can't ignore.]
[ bellamy shrugs, even though lincoln can't see it. he's used to being the person with all the answers — it's how mom had raised him, to be the one who would know how to fix things, how to guide o, how to do her job if she wasn't around to make sure her kids survived the nature of the ark. ]
I don't know. [ he feels like he does, though. what would he do, if he was a representative who needed people to come in and generate energy for his city? he'd take them all on board if they accepted his invitation. with the rules in place to ensure consent is at the forefront of everyone's mind, he really wonders if the representatives would be so naive as to think the mountain men and sky people could ever get along. ]
They need energy to keep this city afloat. Why would they cut themselves off from another source of it? [ bellamy knows he's a volatile citizen. take o away, and he'll follow. why would the representatives want to keep their end of a bargain in regards to who they invite to their own party if he's going to come and go as he pleases? ] We can leave when we want. If you make that deal and they agree, the moment you're out of here, who knows what the hell would happen.
So you believe them to be the types to only look our for their people in the end. Even if we have struck agreements with them. I'll keep that in mind. [Lincoln is used to that style of thinking. It's how the grounders live and thrive, and it's a system of ideals that he doesn't necessarily agree to. But he understands that this city does need their help, and he understands that what they're giving in return is worthwhile.]
I don't believe it would benefit them to bring someone in who could corrupt their system, but I can see where they may have no choice. In time, we might all have our incentives, and they'll need to look outside the more ... pliable individuals. [It's a type of mercenary thinking, but if their city needs it, they may have no choice.
Lincoln just hopes that it never comes to that, both for what they want out of this city, and what he wants, as well. He can see how easy it would be to idealize this place, and he'd prefer to keep it that way.]
[ at the end of the day, this city is just as fucked up and unsafe as the ground. bellamy knows, though, that he has the power to make this city something worthwhile. just like the ground, if he fights for what he wants, he'll get it eventually. it's the crux of the stories mom used to tell him and o — and it's what he wants to take from them, even if those heroes ended up turned to stone or dismembered because of it. ]
Do you expect anything else? [ though he sounds annoyed, it's not at lincoln. it's at how they're stuck between a rock and a hard place. regardless of what they do, looking out for their people comes at the price of ensuring the city representatives get what they want. lincoln's people, his first people, had stabbed them in the back for the sake of protecting their own skin. bellamy gets it more than he understands anything else about the grounders, but it doesn't make them less untrustworthy. people look out for their own. bellamy knows he'll go to the ends of the earth and open the floodgates to another mountain if it means his people are safe. ]
Trust them, don't trust them. At the end of the day, all we have is each other. [ it's how he's been able to survive for so long in this city without raising a little hell and being a complete idiot about it. to keep his head on straight, bellamy's relied upon clarke and raven and o. despite how irritated he feels at lincoln, he's included as one of the people bellamy trusts. ]
I don't expect anything else. But expecting one thing and acting on it are two different things. There was a time when "my people" was more rigidly defined than it is now, and I made the choices necessary to change that. What they've told me, and how they've already helped me, has made it clear that they are at least willing to say the right things. Whether they act on it is another matter altogether.
[That's why he said that he would keep Bellamy's perspective in mind, but Lincoln ultimately always decides for himself. He does believe Bellamy's experience is greater than his own. He has reason to believe that the administrators here could be no better than the false promises handed out to the individuals inside of Mount Weather.]
You are right, though. We have each other. [And Lincoln intends to secure that standing as much as he can.]
[ did the guys in mount weather hand out promises while he was hung upside down? bellamy can't recall. it's difficult for him to believe anyone isn't playing the political game. the representatives are saying the right things, doing the right things, smiling the right way — but for people like them, like bellamy and lincoln and all the other kids from the ground, it's a difficult pill to swallow. no one in space or on the actual earth itself has been this accommodating. ]
[ bellamy hesitates. showing weakness isn't a strength. if he lets lincoln know, by his tone, his choice of words, even in his pause, that he isn't so confident in his own belief the representatives are untrustworthy, he feels like he'll lose his own footing among his people and with himself. but lincoln's seen him at his most afraid — when he'd been torturing him and when he'd placed his trust in him to stick to a plan. ]
I don't know if they're going to say one thing and do another. [ he wishes it was as easy as that, as black and white as it has been for as long as he can remember. but he isn't so sure if he believes in it anymore. ] I've spoken to one of the representatives. I don't know how it works among the Grounders, but usually when you question someone in a position of power, they want to make an example of you. [ he expects kane would've. he thinks commander shumway tried to. he doesn't doubt lexa would make an example out of someone who thought to question her. but he pauses, his voice lowering, ] She didn't.
Power is power. Any challenge to that power can be seen as something that needs to be punished. [Though Bellamy had only truly seen this when Raven had been framed for attempting to poison the Commander, Lincoln had not been surprised by the treatment there. That had been a different situation altogether, where it was a shaky alliance that could easily be broken, but Gustus' actions there were born from a society that couldn't risk weakness.
Being challenged made someone weak.
Of course, this is just one of many things about the society he's from that he doesn't agree with. An outsider doesn't necessarily make them into an enemy, and people can and should risk trusting others, and doing right by them. It makes them better people, rather than giving in to their monstrous natures. (Because all can be monsters, even these administrators. With the power vested to them, they definitely can.)]
If they didn't mind the challenge you posed, it's promising. [He considers his previous thoughts, and after a moment, decides to share them.] For what they offer us, and what they're capable of, we know that they could be doing far worse here. Their city needs our help, but they aren't faced by the same limitations as Mount Weather.
[And they can simply have someone go home who doesn't comply, or doesn't want to be there. Like Octavia did.]
[ it's easier to think o had gone home the first time out of her desire to keep him safe and to ensure lincoln wasn't doing anything stupid. it's the way he's had to rationalise it — bellamy's safer in a city that has him held far, far away from trouble, while lincoln's with a group of people who simply don't get him. he wants to believe octavia had wanted to leave due to her own anxiety over lincoln than her desire to be far away from this city due to an uncomfortable feeling it may have given her. they didn't keep secrets from one another — he didn't want that tot be them anymore. ]
Your people ever think punishing someone who spoke up made you look even weaker? Makes you look like you have something to hide. [ in hindsight, that's how the situation with gustus had read to him. the alliance was already on shaky ground; the grounders inability to place their trust in the sky people had bellamy unwilling to cooperate as easily as clarke. ]
I guess it's a good thing these guys can walk on the grass without being poisoned. [ which means they'd be more difficult to disarm, if they're anything like cage wallace and his men. bellamy sighs. ] I think the secret underground lair these guys would have is for people who really like to hug. Shove all the freaks in one place.
I've made them look weaker. I should be dead. [It's a simple matter of fact. The only reason he lives is because of Clarke and her mother. To kill him after his return from being a reaper would be ill-advised, given what he stands for. The Sky People had protected him and given him shelter in the wake of everything, and he knows that he could just as easily still be killed for his numerous betrayals.
It is almost pure luck that he isn't dead now. And it's luck that keeps Bellamy from killing him for his different betrayal, though Lincoln still thinks he would be within his rights to do so. Time has passed for Bellamy, though, if this conversation tells him anything.]
If they did have a lair like that, it would only be out of desperation. But then again, perhaps there would still be willing participants, all hoping to help. [Which isn't to say he deems that a good thing. Cynicism is clear in his tone, as he knows that desperate measures means that what help is offered is still somewhat forced out of the person in question.]
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But he thinks that they won't benefit from fear here, even if he understands where Bellamy is coming from. The confirmation of circumstances seems right, but there is a good chance that the officials might ask for someone else to come. What would happen to the Mountain Men if they were given the ability to come outside? How long would it take for them to justify killing off his people (both sets of them) out of some need to protect themselves? Would the officials here see that ripple effect, and would they stop it?
He doesn't know. A few short days isn't enough to answer that question.]
Can we advise them against certain people? If we're here and contributing for a longer period of time, will we have that opportunity? [Lincoln is used to a world where people do things in opportunistic ways. He's asking because he's curious, but because of the world he's from, he assumes that the people running this city, even with their set rules and their ideals, will be just as opportunistic. They stop war because it benefits them. They make choice a thing because it benefits them. But it benefits everyone else, creating a reality that they can't ignore.]
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I don't know. [ he feels like he does, though. what would he do, if he was a representative who needed people to come in and generate energy for his city? he'd take them all on board if they accepted his invitation. with the rules in place to ensure consent is at the forefront of everyone's mind, he really wonders if the representatives would be so naive as to think the mountain men and sky people could ever get along. ]
They need energy to keep this city afloat. Why would they cut themselves off from another source of it? [ bellamy knows he's a volatile citizen. take o away, and he'll follow. why would the representatives want to keep their end of a bargain in regards to who they invite to their own party if he's going to come and go as he pleases? ] We can leave when we want. If you make that deal and they agree, the moment you're out of here, who knows what the hell would happen.
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I don't believe it would benefit them to bring someone in who could corrupt their system, but I can see where they may have no choice. In time, we might all have our incentives, and they'll need to look outside the more ... pliable individuals. [It's a type of mercenary thinking, but if their city needs it, they may have no choice.
Lincoln just hopes that it never comes to that, both for what they want out of this city, and what he wants, as well. He can see how easy it would be to idealize this place, and he'd prefer to keep it that way.]
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Do you expect anything else? [ though he sounds annoyed, it's not at lincoln. it's at how they're stuck between a rock and a hard place. regardless of what they do, looking out for their people comes at the price of ensuring the city representatives get what they want. lincoln's people, his first people, had stabbed them in the back for the sake of protecting their own skin. bellamy gets it more than he understands anything else about the grounders, but it doesn't make them less untrustworthy. people look out for their own. bellamy knows he'll go to the ends of the earth and open the floodgates to another mountain if it means his people are safe. ]
Trust them, don't trust them. At the end of the day, all we have is each other. [ it's how he's been able to survive for so long in this city without raising a little hell and being a complete idiot about it. to keep his head on straight, bellamy's relied upon clarke and raven and o. despite how irritated he feels at lincoln, he's included as one of the people bellamy trusts. ]
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[That's why he said that he would keep Bellamy's perspective in mind, but Lincoln ultimately always decides for himself. He does believe Bellamy's experience is greater than his own. He has reason to believe that the administrators here could be no better than the false promises handed out to the individuals inside of Mount Weather.]
You are right, though. We have each other. [And Lincoln intends to secure that standing as much as he can.]
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[ bellamy hesitates. showing weakness isn't a strength. if he lets lincoln know, by his tone, his choice of words, even in his pause, that he isn't so confident in his own belief the representatives are untrustworthy, he feels like he'll lose his own footing among his people and with himself. but lincoln's seen him at his most afraid — when he'd been torturing him and when he'd placed his trust in him to stick to a plan. ]
I don't know if they're going to say one thing and do another. [ he wishes it was as easy as that, as black and white as it has been for as long as he can remember. but he isn't so sure if he believes in it anymore. ] I've spoken to one of the representatives. I don't know how it works among the Grounders, but usually when you question someone in a position of power, they want to make an example of you. [ he expects kane would've. he thinks commander shumway tried to. he doesn't doubt lexa would make an example out of someone who thought to question her. but he pauses, his voice lowering, ] She didn't.
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Being challenged made someone weak.
Of course, this is just one of many things about the society he's from that he doesn't agree with. An outsider doesn't necessarily make them into an enemy, and people can and should risk trusting others, and doing right by them. It makes them better people, rather than giving in to their monstrous natures. (Because all can be monsters, even these administrators. With the power vested to them, they definitely can.)]
If they didn't mind the challenge you posed, it's promising. [He considers his previous thoughts, and after a moment, decides to share them.] For what they offer us, and what they're capable of, we know that they could be doing far worse here. Their city needs our help, but they aren't faced by the same limitations as Mount Weather.
[And they can simply have someone go home who doesn't comply, or doesn't want to be there. Like Octavia did.]
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Your people ever think punishing someone who spoke up made you look even weaker? Makes you look like you have something to hide. [ in hindsight, that's how the situation with gustus had read to him. the alliance was already on shaky ground; the grounders inability to place their trust in the sky people had bellamy unwilling to cooperate as easily as clarke. ]
I guess it's a good thing these guys can walk on the grass without being poisoned. [ which means they'd be more difficult to disarm, if they're anything like cage wallace and his men. bellamy sighs. ] I think the secret underground lair these guys would have is for people who really like to hug. Shove all the freaks in one place.
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It is almost pure luck that he isn't dead now. And it's luck that keeps Bellamy from killing him for his different betrayal, though Lincoln still thinks he would be within his rights to do so. Time has passed for Bellamy, though, if this conversation tells him anything.]
If they did have a lair like that, it would only be out of desperation. But then again, perhaps there would still be willing participants, all hoping to help. [Which isn't to say he deems that a good thing. Cynicism is clear in his tone, as he knows that desperate measures means that what help is offered is still somewhat forced out of the person in question.]