[ 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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[ 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.]