Hello ~ I'm the author
Lex Luthor has been arrested for his involvement in the death of his sister (Toni Baines, THAT was a switch from canon and gave me a sour stomach thinking of their scenes from the Pilot),
I wasn't really thinking of their specific interactions in the canon pilot when I was writing this, more just the overall amorality of both of them, so it was fairly easy to write Toni in as Lex's sister. He still dismissed her awfully easily in the end.
There's a naivety and self-doubt about this Lois that canon Lois doesn't have, and I wonder if that's her Kryptonian side or the fact that she's never really let anyone know who she really is, so she doesn't understand people as well as canon Lois because she hasn't been hurt in the same ways.
It's more the fact that she's been so alone during her formative years - except for her time with Mama, and that ended so early in her life - that she does indeed not really understand people as well as canon Lois did.
I was on the edge of my seat, with my heart in my throat, the entire scene even though I knew that Lois technically couldn't be hurt by Claude, I certainly began to wonder if there was an exception to that rule.
I'm glad you liked that. I wanted to show that simply having all those abilities might not be enough if she did not know how to defend herself without using them. Realistically, an investigative reporter would potentially find him- or herself in dangerous situations during stakeouts or whatever. If your only weapons were abilities you
had to keep hidden at all costs, then your costs might be too high…
And I wanted Claude to be threatening and scary and ultimately, legally in much more trouble than simply stealing other people's work would get him…
I thought it was to show how exactly young Lois was when she lost her 'Mama' that she never really knew her real name or knew her outside of the relationship of the parent / child relationship.
I agree. That also would have been interesting twist, being raised by adoptive grandparents who weren't at all exactly thrilled at what their adoptive daughter had done (of course, Lois's "Mama" would have told them Lois was her own child).
Yes - Mama's real name was never really important to the story; instead, it was her character, what she taught Lois, that was important. And Lois lost her when she was barely six years old, so all of her memories were indeed tied to the parent/child relationship. There were parallels in "Mama's" life - she was abandoned such that she had nothing, not even her real name - she was given a name by those who found her, and she was alone all her short, young life until she found Lois. Hers was perhaps even the stronger character, ultimately, because she turned out to be a very good person at a still very young age (nineteen when she found Lois) without any influence from a parent or guardian.
Having "Mama" be the Lanes' adopted daughter wouldn't have worked. Lois's "Mama" was never pregnant with Lois, and didn't even know about Lois until she found her, so she couldn't even
pretend to be pregnant. So "Mama" had to live alone - and
be alone regularly, that is, not have close friends or family - or she'd never have been able to pull off Lois as her own baby. The Lanes, as doctors, would never have been fooled by "Mama" presenting the baby as her own if they'd known her prior to her finding Lois.
He's not even wary that he's using his powers at the office. Does anyone else think that he might have been exposed to Red K at the car wreck, but Lois and Clark didn't notice because they're already so into each other? That was a big chance kissing her until they hit the rafters, and it doesn't sound like something that a right-minded Clark would allow himself to do even with Lois.
What do you think? I don't know if it's a subtle thing or if it was intentionally left vague.
Huh. Actually, I never thought of that - it was more that I was trying to show that he'd simply lost control without having any real reason behind it other than that things were escalating with their relationship. It was
very risky to do that at the office.
But now that I think of it, red K would've been a good reason that he did actually lose control. After all, both of them had spent their lives exercising extreme control, so yes, it was a bit out of character. (Of course, if it was red K, then I'd have to find a way to write it in so that they discovered its existence…)
I remember when I first read about Trask holding the convention hostage and how much I love the imagery and how in character it was. [Clap] It kept me on the edge of my seat, then as it did now on re-reading it. Excellent scene. My kids even asked what I was reading and asked me to read it to them (so they got a reading of the beginning of the hostage scene). My son was hooked but my daughter was ready to move on to her princess book. [Laugh]
Wow! I'm amazed and flattered that you'd a) read it aloud and b) they like it.
Yeah, I
really wanted to show Trask as mentally unstable - and getting worse. I though the real, canon character was mentally unstable and I wanted to run with that. I tried to show this Trask as not just extremely xenophobic, but having utter disregard, ultimately, for any "collateral damage" when it came to achieving his goal. And I wanted to show that at least some of his men were originally simply soldiers following orders but gradually coming to realize that he was not someone they should be dutifully and unquestioningly following.
Does anyone know if Janet Owens wrote a follow-up to this story? I'd love to read more about Superman and Kinetic Girl! [Peep] [Lol] I love that whole Epilogue. I'm glad she's gotten to a point where she can laugh about living in such a sexist world, but I'm sure when she got back to the newsroom Perry got an earful from Mad Dog Lane!
I have not written a follow-up story…yet. I have bits and pieces of stuff that could
possibly be turned into a follow-up story, but that's not likely to happen soon. I'm not sure it ever will, although I guess I shouldn't rule it out completely. After all, shortly after I soundly assured Wendy that I'd never be a writer, only a reader, I found myself writing. So who knows? (Interestingly, one of the bits and pieces I have sitting in a dusty folder on my hard drive is an exploration of one of the other characters in the story, rather than Lois or Clark.)
LabRat is thoroughly responsible for that whole Kinetic Girl thing. She made a comment while beta'ing mentioning that it would be funny if everyone kept saying Kinetic
Girl instead of just Kinetic, and how Lois would react. That was all it took to just run with it, and the rest of the epilogue pretty much fell into place around that.
I imagine her trying to correct people when giving interviews after rescues and when writing articles about her as Lois Lane for the Daily Planet always using her "Proper Name" and making sure Clark did the same. Not giving up until people got her name right.
I don't know… I have a feeling she could correct people in both writing and in speaking until she was blue in the face, and some people would still use Kinetic Girl. I can even picture a short drabble where people argue about what her name is, without any input from her or Clark, either in or out of superhero uniform…
Hmmm…
So begins one of the best stories (in my humble opinion) in the archives.
Thank you!
You are always so good for my self esteem!
I love that introduction to Superman, though. How he gets this frightened look on his face, 'oh, no! Everyone is going to know who I am!' Priceless. I wish we could have had a little bit of the story from his POV, because I would have loved to see what was going on in his head at that point.
Well, shoot! You guys have me going back and reading my own story over again… and coming up with some ideas for spin-offs or epilogues or what-next stories… And I've got so much other Real Life stuff to do…
Seriously, I'm flattered to have made the Fanfic Club list and I'm
so glad you like my story. The first part of the story sat unfinished on my hard drive for such a long time that when I dragged it out and started to work on it, I wasn't sure initially that the very beginning was even my words. I put the first bit up on the boards asking if anyone recognized it, and got an overwhelming "Nope, but could you write more?" response.
Reading over it again today, I realize how much bits of me or my experiences are at least peripherally in the story. The Kents' farmhouse, for instance, is based at least a bit on my childhood home. Such little things as the superficial description of Eduardo - when I was writing that part I based him a bit on a sometimes-coworker I had at the time who lifted weights and had stepped in to defend another coworker from a threatening ex. (Nothing like Lois's situation with Claude, just a face-to-face "stop it, man" kind of talk.) Some of Jimmy's enthusiasm and knowledge and speech patterns are based partly on a couple of people I know. And so on.
Anyway, I'm glad you like it, and thank you all for the positive comments.
'Toc
