If you can’t beat them, love them.

A rather confused crocodile stands at a beach while being hugged by a colorful group of animals; fish, frog, birds, monkey, even a butterfly. 

First thing that comes to mind is Jay just being really stoked about his job, about the boss, his career, all of it. Unlike Ash and Bill, who have had a bit of a hard time recently, Jay is just a happy-go-lucky guy; just positive and enthusiastic about all of this.

Villains need love too! What would happen if your hero tried defeating their rival with kindness? Would they make a new friend, or might the gesture backfire and create an even greater foe?

Sometimes your hero is the crocodile, mean and solitary. How would your hero react to an overwhelming display of affection?

What if your hero’s “crocodile” is an embarrassing flaw? Can they learn to embrace this part of themselves?

Jay does have a rival in the story: Ash. Their relationship is defined as Work: Both want that promotion. Given that, I would have expected some level of animosity between the two. But now, trying to be inspired by this card, maybe that’s not the case. Maybe, just maybe, one of them realizes that working together to see this through is better than a pissing contest. But that would also mean that one of them is the “crocodile” that would push back at this idea. Question is, is it Jay who wants to make friends with Ash, or is Ash trying to show her aunt that she is cut out to be a leader? 

Or, going off the last line, what if Jay is so insecure about his place in this, doesn’t believe he belongs here, and needs to figure out a way to push past that?

Try This

In the classic fable, Androcles removes a thorn from a lion’s paw. What injury does your villain have, and how could your hero fix it?

If we assume Jay’s villain in this scene is Ash, maybe Jay actually feels bad for her. Maybe he knows a bit about what she had going on the last ten years, and he wants to help her fix it. Make this job work well for both of them. Have both of them move up together. Or, Jay realizes that Ash and Bill are still having feelings for each other and is trying to help reconnect or get over it—whether because he cares or because he needs them to stay focused on the job.

List three things the hero and villain agree on. Would this common ground surprise them?

1. Get the job done. Despite any differences, both know that their future depends on seeing this through. For better or worse, they need to work together.

2. It’s fair to say that all three of them share a past, and maybe both Ash and Jay still think back to those days fondly. Maybe they stayed friends even after Bill suddenly left—he was his best friend after all. So they have in common that Bill left them behind all those years ago.

3. Just to make their relationship a bit more human, personal, they both agree on this fast food place being awesome. It’s maybe a bit silly, given the stakes, but a table at a fast food joint is an important location for their relationship. Maybe they both worked at this place for a bit together and got fired the same day for smoking weed on their break or something. Maybe it was the last time they spoke.

I don’t really think they’d be surprised by their common grounds, only that they ended up working together, meeting for the first time in years in the restaurant they last saw each other in. I think that makes them very human in a way, setting their personal friendship and memories at odds with what’s at stake here (and the fiasco to come). 

How does your hero show affection? Is it through words, touch, or something else?

Jay’s all talk, right? He shares his excitement, his outlooks, his worries, all of it through direct actions. He says what he thinks, maybe even wearing his heart on his sleeve as it were. Maybe he’s even a good guy, who knows. He’s loyal, trusting—too much for his own good. 

Final Thoughts

There is a picture of Jay coming into focus that shows me someone who is outgoing, maybe even kind in the right circumstance with the right person. A good friend. Loyal. Initially, I thought of being reckless, crazy—the first scene with Bill showed that. But under all of that is a genuine good person. Too bad that he’s wrapped up with these two very broken, very desperate people. 

This scene is supposed to resolve well for Jay, so I have a feeling that his positive approach to the job and his partners/friends will actually bring the team together for now. Old friends coming together after a decade to make a difference in their lives.