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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 966
Features Writer
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OP
Features Writer
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 966 |
Yay, some good old-fashioned L&C banter. Felt good to finally get to a write a bit of it! 
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 6,142 Likes: 2
Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 6,142 Likes: 2 |
Martha is out of intensive care, worrying others more simply because she will not stay still, will not stop trying to get up to go see Jonathan, rather than because she is not recovering. That's our Martha! And James wins the argument as simply as that, Ha! If any danger is to come to this small, struggling family, it will not be because of her. I think I just saw Lex raise his hand to volunteer. It shouldn’t be this hard to push in the code Jonathan showed her and then step inside the elevator, but then, it shouldn’t be possible for her to be in Clark’s home by invitation either, so clearly the world is full of impossibilities. Tending the garden, methinks (mehopes). “You’re Lois Lane,” she whispers to herself, Exactly! His gaze moves from one planter to another. As if he didn't already love her. “He hates when he loses crops.”  Lois thinks she will be the first person to actually spontaneously combust.  But then, as always, Superman is needed. Recharged though, in only the way that Lois and something normal, like gardening, can do.  Even after Trask, even after Smallville, even after Jonathan’s rising and falling voice in her ear, she has never realized (perhaps never let herself realize) just what fears a young Clark might have grown up with. Great point. “What about you, Lois? Aside from picking up farming, how many award-winning articles have you written today?” “But…sometimes I miss reading your articles. Miss getting to edit them over your shoulder.” Awww... “Stop forgiving me instead of hating me.”  She is not quite sure how, cannot really explain it, but he makes her feel as if she is appreciated, valued, respected. One word. Four letters. Begins with L. She cannot understand him, but she doesn’t need to understand him to love him. Aaaaaaaand....melt. Okay, now you have me crying with happiness. You're going to make me make a run to my local wholesale club for tissues! I'm so relieved to see them making some headway in returning to the people they once were - both still scarred in their own ways, but both reclaiming their lives.
Battle On,
Deadly Chakram
"Being with you is stronger than me alone." ~ Clark Kent
"One little spark of inspiration is at the heart of all creation." ~ Figment the Dragon
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 9,509
Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 9,509 |
I completely get Lois going stir-crazy, alone in that apartment, hoping, waiting for a glimpse of light under Clark's door. She's a doer not a waiter (i.e. someone who waits). I can see people finding Clark through his out-of-state subscription. Sneaky. How frustrating it must have been from James, who left the DP willingly behind, to kept being found because Clark couldn't let go of the paper, the woman, that outed him. I'm glad that Clark sees how much Lois's article broke her as it did him (not as much, but still some). Actually, I don't think it was the article, per se, but more Lois's betrayal of Clark and his friendship was what broke her and stole away her muse. I was worried when Lois went to the elevator that she might go down and be seen. Thankfully, she went up instead. Now, it is Lois who is tending the Kent farm, making sure that it grows and doesn't die. I like that Clark doesn't miss this aspect of her caring. If nothing else, this shows him where her heart truly lies. He does not look at her, but Lois cannot look at anything but him. Clark Kent. Glasses, flannel shirt, jeans, tousled hair, and wide-eyed, awed expression. It feels like a vicious kick to her stomach. It feels like a hand has just astonishingly let go of its fatal grasp on her throat and let her take a huge, life-giving gasp of air. It feels like a dagger in her heart and an infusion to her soul. It is a reminder of all she’s done wrong and a sense of homecoming so overwhelming she feels lightheaded, dizzy, his image wavering between the sparks in her vision. Yep. Clark Kent has that affect on all of us, not just you, Lois.  But surely this isn't the first time she's seen Clark Kent as Clark Kent since arriving at the apartment, is it? I know he wasn't wearing his glasses the first time she saw him, and most often she sees Superman, rather than Clark, but is this the first time she sees him as she used to? Maybe not as she's used to but as the ghost of Clark Kent he used to be. The last time she saw Clark as Clark (before the article) was in Smallville, which is really the only place she saw him in flannel and jeans in their short partnership. Aha! I get it now! Clark isn't a ghost in this rooftop scene. Lois sees that he's not dead, after all, but still alive -- that she hasn't killed him after all these months thinking that he was dead -- and that has to be shocker! It’s late enough, and she’s tired enough, that after eating a few bites of toast, She really needs to eat more than toast. Clark needs to see that she's starving (please, she can't cook, for heaven's sake!) and take her out of the apartment for some food. Even if it means bringing her to an out-of-the-way spot for a picnic. Because she forgot to pass along James’s message. Did James do that on purpose? The little cupid! Lex being investigated and put away (he was put away, wasn't he? That part wasn't clear.) was a definite surprise. I expected him to be your usual boogie-man. Although, technically, the bad-guy in this story is Lois. At least, unlike Luthor, she's sorry and wants to make amends. “I’m sorry,” Clark says again, but this time, he’s teasing her. “I’ll try to be more vindictive from now on.”
“Do that,” Lois agrees. She’s smiling (her lashes are still wet, but no longer heavy), and that almost makes her want to cry even harder (at how he can turn something so hurtful and damaging into a reason to smile). “I’d appreciate it.”
“Then I’ll work on it.”
Her lips twitch again, and she relaxes back into the couch, suddenly aware of how tired and sore she is from her unaccustomed physical labor. She doesn’t want to look at him (in case he looks into her eyes and remembers, or learns, how to be vindictive after all), so she keeps her eyes shut. “Liar,” she whispers, and is glad she did when the sound of his chuckle resonates through the room. Love this! He’s inexplicable. He’s incomprehensible. He’s unknowable. Soot-stained, salt-marked, blood-touched, but still smelling of sky and wind and rain, as if he is composed of the elements themselves. Wounded and worried and weary, but still emanating only strength and compassion and gentleness. Man of steel, but when her fingertips wrap around the curve of his neck (when she nuzzles her nose closer into him), he shivers, a sound soft and delicate and unbelievably invigorating. Beautiful description. Very fitting for Clark. Usually, when Clark carries Lois memories of Superman carrying Lois are alluded to, but here it's as if Lois has forgotten (almost) that CK=SM. She cannot understand him, but she doesn’t need to understand him to love him.
(And a deep foreboding hums through her like distant cannon fire, like heavy drums, at the confession, the admission, the realization that this, after all, is why she came all this way to find him.) Oh, dear. She's figured it out. For a second there Clark considered kissing her and then did so!  Okay, maybe not in the way his heart wanted to, but it was so much more than a brush of hands. I, too, enjoyed the banter. Bring it on! Maybe after this, you should try your hand at a romantic-comedy.  Ooooh. I bet it'd be good.
VirginiaR.
"On the long road, take small steps." -- Jor-el, "The Foundling"
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"clearly there is a lack of understanding between those two... he speaks Lunkheadanian and she Stubbornanian" -- chelo.
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 4,393 Likes: 1
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 4,393 Likes: 1 |
Awww... What a lovely chapter. But since we are only three fifths of the way through the story, I fear it may just be the calm before another storm. (Sometimes it is nice to be proven wrong; this would be such a time.)
Joy,
Lynn
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Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 911 Likes: 2
Features Writer
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Features Writer
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 911 Likes: 2 |
Delightful chapter, and much needed respite.  Loved the banter. Hoping for more banter soon.
Cuidadora
"Honey, we didn't care if you were a Russian or a Martian... You were ours... and we weren't giving you to anybody." ~ Martha in Strange Visitor
"A love that risks nothing is worth nothing." ~ Jonathan in Big Girls Don't Fly
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,685 Likes: 1
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,685 Likes: 1 |
I was so touched by Lois tending Jonathan's garden - aw!
Great to see Clark and Lois connecting more.
Joan
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Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 2,082
Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 2,082 |
It's wonderful to have the connection between Lois and Clark in this chapter - after so much darkness, it's nice to have some light. WAFF!
You can find my stories as Groobie on the nfic archives and Susan Young on the gfic archives. In other words, you know me as Groobie.
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 966
Features Writer
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OP
Features Writer
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 966 |
Hey, DC, I'm glad I was finally able to provoke some happy tears instead of sad ones! Glad you saw the garden twist coming! Thanks, Virginia! Lois's strong suit definitely isn't patience, and so to me, it seemed like a lot of her self-imposed penance here is being fulfilled simply BY waiting behind for them, stopping herself from doing anything that might backfire for this family. Loved getting to see your thought process on her view of Clark there on the rooftop -- and exactly right! He's in his element here, as unhindered as he was only in Smallville, which she ignored, so it takes her aback, because he is so REAL here to her. I don't know that I could ever do a romantic comedy -- though I thank you for the vote of confidence! -- because comedy is HARD. I definitely admire people like you who can pull it off for more than a conversation or page! Tsk, tsk, Lynn, looking at how much of the story is left. That doesn't really help me with lulling you into a false sense of security. Glad you enjoyed the banter, cuidadora! It actually flowed very smoothly, perhaps because I've never gone so far writing L&C without a few snarky comments scattered about. Thanks, scifiJoan! I loved the bits with the garden -- even though I personally know nothing about them! Glad you enjoyed, groobie! (And thanks for your patience concerning those last few chapters I'm supposed to be sending to you!  ) Thank you, everyone! Hope you all enjoy the next chapter!
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,466
Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,466 |
Wow...it feels so good to have Lois and Clark connecting again    . And I love how they find the road that leads them back towards each other through their friendship. The teasing. The back and forth. It's what was there from the beginning--it's what got Clark 'through' to Lois, help break down her initial walls--and now it's what is helping them to connect again. How they relate--and in that way that neither had experienced before--was so strong, so apparent, at the start of the show. I love that it's bringing them back together now... I really was impressed by all the ups, and then all the downs, in their conversations in this chapter. How they both second guessed what they were feeling/relating, felt the pain they themselves (but also the other) has experienced. How love came through in little bursts, but also, by crashing into their continuousness. How they walked that line between knowing what to say/do towards the other, but then also, how they felt lost, doubting themselves. It was real, in every way, every detail, you wrote  . Love this, Anti-K Laura
Last edited by LMA; 08/19/15 04:30 AM.
"Where's Clark?" "Right here."
...two simple sentences--with so much meaning.
~Lois and Clark in 'House of Luthor'~
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