Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic comment: If At First You Don't Succeed

just thought I'd mention here that ML's fundraiser fic has been posted on the archive thhis week. I mention it here because I think many of the newer mbs posters will be unaware of this story and so are in for a treat.

c.

If At First You Don\'t Succeed

That link didn't work but this one should.

Off to read...

Thanks, Carol.

I've edited my post above and hope the link now works.

c.

Very nice, ML .

Except, of course, that it ended way too soon...

Looking forward to more from you ML - like say Lane and Kent's story [or anything else you deem fit to write ].

Carol

Wonderful story, ML!

Andreia (still waiting for Lane and Kent story, too)

Presently working myself through 1.3M of Erin-fic but this one's next on the list

Michael

I enjoyed it as usual with MLfic the first time through, but I'll do a worthy reread now.

Artemis

Can't wait to read this! It will be my celebration of the completion on year 2 law school! only 3 days left!!!!

Thanks for the feedback. Glad you guys enjoyed the story.

Well, Carol, I can solve that problem for you: if you simply were to read every sentence twice, the story would be twice as long

You really aren't giving up that idea, are you, Carol?

Actually, the reason it took me so long to post it is because I had an idea for a follow-up. Unfortunately, I've never gotten around to writing it.

Congrats. Of course, then there is the torture of waiting for your marks.

Finally got started on this one and here's FDK for the first half or so

Very nice to do a Groundhog Day / 12:01 adaption. Interesting to see Clark didn't go through with Lois but did kill Luthor once (BTW: loved it).

Something I was thinking just before Clark threw Luthor off his balcony. Clark retains his experiences from every turn in hamster wheel. And even if his actions don't have repercussions, don't they still define him. For instance, he *is* a murderer now. So what if say... Tempus ( ) sent Clark into a timeloop not to stop him, but to destroy his goodness one chip at a time?

And what if Lois starts to eventually remember bits of her repeated Clark-encounters?

Michael

Actually, no he isn't. Since he knows that Luthor won't be hurt by his actions, he doesn't possess the necessary mens rea to commit murder. He commits the actus reus, but the mens rea is lacking. (You know, I'm starting to wonder if I'm working too much lately )

ML

Hi ML. I enjoyed it more the second (or maybe third) time through. Although I agree on your point about throwing Luthor off the balcony, could you translate the Latin for us non-lawyers? I'm assuming he did the act, but he didn't have the intent to kill.
My favorite part of course was when Clark realized there was no consequences to pursuing Lois.

Artemis

You got it pretty much right, Artemis. Think of it this way:

A man has in his possession a baggy containing white power.

Scenario 1: Man believes the white powder is cocaine. Man is right. Man is guilty of possession of a controlled drug contrary to section 4(1) of the CDSA.

Scenario 2: Man believes the white powder is cocaine. Man is wrong. The white powder is baby powder. Man is not guilty because, although he believes he's in possession of coke, he hasn't committed the actus reus - in other words, the act.

Scenario 3: Man believes the white powder is baby powder. Man is wrong. The white powder is cocaine. Man is not guilty because, although he is in possession of a controlled substance, he does not have the mens rea necessary for the commission of the offence - in other words, the necessary mental element. Of course, he's going to have a heck of a time explaining to a judge or jury what the heck he was doing carrying around a baggy of what he thought was baby powder, and how it just 'happened' to turn out to be cocaine .

ML

That clears it up. Although it made me wonder if coke dealers ever thought of packaging their "product" in baby powder jars!

Artemis

Or if baby powder manufactures have ever considered selling their powder in plastic bags .

Hmm... I think I get it sort of. So if person A gave person B a 'fake' gun and person B would 'shoot' person C and a real bullet would pop out, nobody would be accountable. After all, person B didn't have any idea that the gun was a live one and person A didn't pull the trigger or order person B to fire.

On a happier note, I never saw Mxyzptlk coming. I actually thought, no, ML didn't do a Mxyfic since she's doing one right now. Talk about logic

Anyway, now that I'm about 3/4 through, this got reallllllllly hilarious once Mxy showed up. Poor Lois, now is both remembering some stuff ( ) and ended up naked in bed with Clark. And now she's all confused

Odd question: Didn't Mxy realize that Clark remembers between loops in Mxysmas?

BTW: Fairy? Is that some sort of Blue Oyster (*)) derivative?

Michael

*) see Police Academy, the gay bar in particular

It would depend on person A's intentions. If person A knew that they were giving person B a gun with a live bullet and they just pretended to person B that it was fake so that person B would shoot person C, then person A would be guilty. The actus reus in that case would not be pulling the trigger (since person A didn't do that); it would be giving person B the gun so that he would pull the trigger.

Now, if person A thought person B knew the gun was real and loaded and didn't intend for him to shoot the gun, then person A would be innocent since he wouldn't have been doing anything wrong in giving person B the gun - and thus would have lacked the mens rea. However, that might get less clear if he stood by and watched person B shoot the gun and still said nothing.

It would also get less clear if person A and person B were involved in a criminal activity together at the time - but that's a lesson for another day . And then there's the issue of manslaughter...

Does that make it clear as mud now?

ML

Keep reading. That question should be answered by the end of the story. Or at least, I think it is. It was a couple of years ago that I wrote the story, so I think I explained it. But if I didn't, let me know.

ML

Hi ML!

Yeah, you did answer the question in the end
That was hilarious.

And you sort of did clear up the question but now comes the next one: If you added a couple of indirections to this, couldn't you set up a shell corporation like system, where, say, a philanthropist could order a hit and nobody would be ultimately accountable in addition to the problem of it being untraceable? Of course, it might be easier to just order the hit and then kill the hitman.

But back to the story. LnC were adorable at the end and I do have one complaint: You didn't show us how they eventually resolved their memories. I mean, for all we know, Lois could have decided that the dreamories were to scary and that she's better off marrying Lex.

So, if at first you don't succeed... if at first you don't succeed... if at first you don't succeed... if at first you don't succeed... if at first you don't succeed... if at first you don't succeed... if at first you don't succeed... if at first you don't succeed...
*blink*
Now my head is hurting. ML, really, groundhogging a groundhog-day story, that's dangerous, you know?

So anyway, great story, ML. I really enjoyed it.

Michael, firmly being in the Lane/Kent camp. Well, after the Mxy-as-Beelzebub story