Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related What would you think of?

Let's say you were an orphan, alone in the world. You had lots of really weird abilities and nobody to discuss them with.

The abilities developed gradually as you grew, and you gained control of them by practicing when you were alone and unobserved. By the time you graduated from high school, you had super vision and hearing, gradually increasing strength, and speed. And you could hold your breath for 20 minutes, start fires with your eyes, and freeze things with your breath.

Let's say the invulnerability thing happened gradually but later in your teens, so that you reached full invulnerability around the age of 20.

Now, you've discovered that an unexpected side effect of complete invulnerability is that you can't cut your nails or your hair.

Realistically, as a bewildered young college student, with no one you can discuss this with, how would you solve this? You've never had the luxury of being able to discuss any of your abilities with anyone, and have had to cope with these things all alone. Would you immediately come up with the heat vision technique, or would you contemplate other possibilities first?

What sort of things might you consider?

~Toc

Some options I might think of before taking the proverbial flame to the straw...

Hmm... well... wouldn't work for the hair, but what about biting the nails? Invulnerable nails... invulnerable teeth... He doesn't need to worry about germs or anything.

Not the most attractive option, but since he's got superspeed and an amazingly high tolerance for pain... maybe he can pluck the hairs like he did in Chip Off The Old Clark.

Imagine... SuperBaldMan.

Dave (Note the fullstop before the graemlin? <bg>)

I think this partly depends on where you're heading with this story. If you're going for comedy, the hero (Clark? ) could try a plethora of every weird method you could come up with

If that's not the point of the story, though, I think your best shot would be showing the hero's frustration for a bit, then have him contemplate what's the hardest/strongest material on the world, possibly trying to cut his nails with a diamond, if there's one available, and then deciding he's the only one who can hurt himself. I think that, after he's realized that, thinking of the heat vision technique would only be a matter of time.

Just a couple of ideas. In any case I think there are several ways to go from here. It's certainly an interesting thought!
Hope I've helped
AnnaBtG.

Now, this may sound very unintelligent, but your question gave ME a question.

If Clark is invulnerable and we assume your premise wherein he cannot cut his nails or hair by any normal means, would that also mean that he would be INCAPABLE of being a nail-biter? Huh?

Yes, that was as dumb as it seemed, but it had to be asked. I could not help myself. :rolleyes:

Well, going back to Anna's answser, I think they assign a "hardness number" to substances. I'm sure there's some scientific name for this hardness number. Anyway, if diamonds are the hardest substance, and their number is, say, 10, then Clark's nails could be an 11 and his teeth a 12, thus making nail-biting possible.

(Maybe if his hair got long enough, he could bite that off, too. Ugh. Bad idea. :rolleyes: )

And, not to hijack Toc's thread, but today is Halloween. Any chance of a new post to your story today, Capes?

- Vicki

I would prolly just tie my hair back. Guys can have long hair. Of course, maybe that's just me. *shrug*

As for the nails, tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the human body. Biting is possible. Or maybe he could tentatively try cutting them with his laser-vision, just to see what would happen.

I saw in a fanfic somewhere the speculation that he wasn't invulnerable to himself. He was able to pull a hair out for gene testing in CoToC (and in the backstory to Vatman), which I doubt anyone else would be able to do. And then there's the ambiguous scene in Seasons Greetings where Martha drags him by the ear and he acts like it hurts... the theory I've heard about that one is that what makes him invulnerable is his aura, which is a psychic phenomena, which can be breached by those he trusts deeply, like his mother.

Now, how he would figure all this out in college... the only thing I could think of was that when he was younger, sometimes he'd fool around and manage to hurt himself/cut off his hair whilst still learning his powers. Actually, that could be funny -- tell the story of how a teenaged Clark, not quite yet in control of his heat vision, singed half the hair off his head That'd be about the time scissors would lose their effectiveness, I think, so they'd need an alternative.

PJ

Again it kind of depends on what kind of story you are going for. If it is to be comedic you could have young Clark playing around with his heat vision practicing testing diffent level of strenght. Well anyway he is playing around using his heat vision on sticks he's holding at arms length and some noise startles him and he burns his hand with the heat vision. So when he is confronted with the problem it takes him maybe a couple of nerve racked days to remember the burn he gave himself to decide and try that.

Actually, I've always felt that the introduction of Clark's invulnerable aura easily answered the questions of his grooming habits.

It was stated in the show that the aura extends a 'few millimeters' out from his body which is why his suit is protected. This also explains the large number of tattered and destroyed capes in both the comics and intimated in the show. The capes, extending farther out from his body, were not protected by the aura.

Since his daily bread growth would be within a few millimeters of his skin he would need some method like using his heat vision to burn the hairs off.

But... his the hair on his head could grow beyond the few millimeters and as such be subject to being vulnerable past that point. Therefore, if he doesn't cut if shorter than those few millimeters he is fine. He can use conventional means.

Of course this brings up the question of the capes again. If Superman has to fly into a fire or some such nasty environment, which could destroy his cape, why wouldn't it also singe his hair down to that few millimeters.

A similar example of this actual paradox was illustrated (but not explained) is the recent run of Wonder Woman comics. A while back, when she was hiding out from some vengeful god who was after her, Wonder Woman had a young woman cut her hair short as a disguise. Her hair was cut by a conventional pair of scissors, so we can conclude that her hair is not invulnerable.

In a recent issue, Diana was forced into a pool of molten rock by her foe. She rises from the pool apparently no more worse for wear than being discomforted by the extreme heat. So, why wasn't her hair singed off if in fact, as we have seen previously, it can be cut by a mere scissors.

The answer... convenience of the story.

Whatever the writer needs for their story is what the character can, and will do, and/or be.

So, since you are going to be the writer of this story, you will be the sole arbitor of how Clark's hair will, or will not, react to whatever it is subjected to.

Tank (who thinks that after all his ramblings, he hasn't offered up a worthwhile opinion about the question that was presented)

You are talking about the Mohr scale . I like the notion that Clark's nails and teeth are harder than diamond. But then can be the same hardness and still have one cut the other. The only thing that can cut a diamond is another diamond.

Don't forget that with a man of 20, shaving has been an issue for 5 years. And the shaving issue is much more critical than the hair issue since most facial hair grows faster than head hair and looks shaggier and scruffier much faster.

And with some men, maybe as early as 13...

However, if the invulnerablity thing was slow in coming on, that wouldn't be an issue until he started using two razors a day.

James

Beautiful! You've learned well.

Hmmm. Superbaldman, huh? Even taking into consideration plucking at superspeed, how long would it take to... er, style one's hair using this method?

Anna - I was considering incorporating a diamond as the hardest substance in the world, but your comments triggered another idea which works really well in what I'm aiming for. So thank you very much for jumpstarting my muse!



I like the ideas about being non-invulnerable to yourself; that works to explain the possibility of nailbiting. It'll probably be one of the things considered, maybe tested, but then ultimately discarded as not practical...

Hmmmm. Yes. Good point.

Two razors a day... you know, that could be a good way to add a little humor to this situation. Those multi-pack disposable razor blades... you start with one razor and you know you have a problem when you get to "a pack a day".

Thank you all for your help - I've got some good ideas on how I want to work this. Hopefully you'll enjoy it once I've finished it and post it.

~Toc