Whew! I feel so relieved knowing it's all in your capable hands, ML
Of course, you're right - we the writers are in charge, and we could kill either of them any time we wanted, assuming we wanted to make ourselves and our readers miserable. (And sometimes we do
) But we're in Lois's boat - aware of our own mortality. We know that we have, at best, about a hundred years to live, and in most cases less than that. We know that we can be hurt. We can be killed. We can get sick. We know what it's like to be Lois Lane, at least in that regard.
But what Clark has is something different from that. Invulnerability. Enormously increased life span - though just how much we don't really know since canon was rather vague on that point. But it's something we won't ever experience first hand, and I think that makes it something that holds some appeal to writers as an avenue of exploration. What would it be like to outlive everyone you love? What would it be like to stay young and healthy while the woman you love ages? What would it be like to have to move on, even when you might not really want to? (I'm reading
Tuck Everlasting to my kids right now, incidentally, which may be why my thoughts are rambling down this road). So if there are more Clark moving on fics, I kind of think it's because we find the idea of an invulnerable man being forced to move on somewhat more interesting than if it were someone just like us. And as you say, we're the writers and we're in charge, so if we find something interesting, we're free to pursue it
Sorry if this veered off-topic, Carol! I know that Clark's potentially long life-span wasn't really what you had in mind when you phrased your original question, but I *do* think it's relevant when considering Clark-moving-on fics.
Interesting topic all the way around.
Caroline
