Hi Author!
Disclaimer: there’s guesses all throughout. If you haven’t guessed yourself yet, beware!
No Small Thing
Lois sat at her desk
No author note. That precludes KSaraSara. If it’s funny, it could be Queenie.
Lois sat at her desk, listening to the dull hum of the fans running all over the newsroom. The sound was almost calming—the white noise maybe more soothing than the cool air from their blades. The bare-bones night shift worked around her—writing and editing and layout and all the other day-to-day stuff they did to get the paper out in the morning. And their presence kind of made it feel like other people cared too, that she wasn’t the only one left in Metropolis who still believed in Superman, the only one who cared about proving that he wasn’t the cause of this heat wave after all. But deep down, she knew they were just doing their jobs.
Not Queenie.
. She was tired and heartbroken enough that it didn’t even startle her when Jimmy came up behind her. Then again, he was calling her name quietly, so maybe that was why his presence hadn’t come as a surprise.
Awww. It does not feel like the Saras or Evie. Bakasi, BlueOwl, or Toomi perhaps?
She looked up at him, and she could see from his expression—sympathetic and tentative—that he felt bad for having bothered her in the first place.
There’s dashes. A lot of dashes. Need to check who does a lot of dashes. I got an inkling though. This was so easy when the submission with the dead Jimmy and the bald Lois meant it was Tank doing the deed. /checks fics/ KSaraSara does many m-dashes. And Bakasi uses a different dash-style.
Heck, even Clark had disappeared, hadn’t even shown up at the courthouse to report on the verdict or to support Superman.
He’s out buying chocolate for Lois since he can now court her without Big Blue interrupting them.
report on the verdict or to support Superman. Maybe…maybe…
“Jimmy…”
A missing line break. Sometimes I find extra ones with KSaraSara. But a missing one… Hmm… /tries to remember/ (sorry, did not mean to beta, but it is a clue!)
The crowd reacted with surprise and relief. It was all over. […] They say the Man of Steel is invulnerable. I don’t think so.
Ooooh, I know who wrote this!
. Clark’s writing was evocative, emotional—it always had been, but this was…more.
There’s also a bunch of eclipses.
And she wasn’t going to let her partner sit at home and mope about it!
Fired up Lois!
I need to catalogue the section separators. /some time later, after reading story and checking styles/ okay, KSaraSara uses three or five, so it’s possible and not even a false trail.
What she hadn’t been expecting was for Martha Kent
That’s new, Martha being here, isn’t it?
She couldn’t see it from this angle, but she could see from his posture and tell from the fact he hadn’t even so much as looked up at her entrance that this thing with Superman was affecting him far more than the article had indicated.
Relatively long sentence structure. Perfectly fine, but another possible clue.
“Clark didn’t mention you’d be visiting.”
They wanted to enjoy a nice summer vacation!
Jonathan piped up behind Martha. “This close to Thanksgiving…and with the heat wave…Martha wanted to, ah, go shopping…the malls here are wonderful for—”
/points at earlier remark on ellipses dashing through the snow/
“So if you had anything you needed to talk to Clark about…work or whatever…or…” Martha said, her voice dropping to almost conspiratorial levels as she eyed Lois pointedly for reasons unknown.
Why does Martha think Lois knows?
LOIS: Knows what?
Also, ellipses without comma in speech, also matches KSaraSara’s application of the style manual.
“Yes!” Martha said loudly, startling Lois. “Clark should work! With you. To figure out why Superman isn’t responsible for this heat wave—he just can’t be. I refuse to believe it!”
Finally someone else who’s not afraid to go toe to toe with her son?
As she got closer, she realized what he was holding, and she gasped, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.
The Superman action figure.
Huh, now how did he get that doll from Superman...?
“I’m… He—he’s leaving Metropolis…”
MARTHA: The reason I need Lois to slap him over the head.
. “I’m—he’s a solar conductor, Lois
Now, if thermal radiation would just work like electric potentials, that would mean something. Those scientists probably won the Knobel Price for Physics for that insight into thermodynamics.
“He can’t, Lois!” Clark cried, his voice insistent, desperate as he looked at her. “Don’t you see? It’s not safe for him to stay…and it’s…killing him that he might be putting people at risk…people he cares very much about…” His voice was thready now and his eyes still watery, his eyes falling back to his hands clasped in front of him, and all of it cut at her heart. “He doesn’t have a choice.”
You’re doing great desperation!
And—oh! Oh…I-I…” She narrowed her eyes just a bit, tilting her head and looking at him differently. “Clark…are you…?”
His head jerked up, his eyes darting up to find hers and looking a bit wild or…fearful? “Am I…?”
Superman? Nicely done revelation
Both of them had been openly flirtatious with her, and neither of them seemed to be the type to be anything other than committed and honest…
Yes, one honest man taking an interest in her might be called sheer luck. Two honest men… that’s impossible! There’s also likely no two honest men in her age bracket in Metropolis.
“Lois?” The wild in his eyes had died down, and now he seemed more worried about her. “You kinda went from full babble-mode to…nothing…”
Even though he’d been the one almost inconsolable just minutes ago. But now she was upset and he was Clark so of course he’d now be worried about her instead of himself.
Awww
And she had no idea what that meant nor why her mind was on this wild tangent, thinking that he and Superman were lovers or something…
Okay, I really need to style check KSaraSara. Unless someone is being devious. Also, you guys do remember that I didn’t participate so adding all my tells isn’t gonna throw people off the trail. It does muddy the waters quite a bit, though. It could work against me. Hmm… sneaky author.
Feelings she’d never seen him exhibit toward Superman. In fact—
She hasn’t seen them together at all, really.
Clark’s brow furrowed as he seemed to pause and frown, looking at her closely. “Lois, you’re starting to worry me… Are you okay, really? Do you need me to make you some tea? I probably should have offered before. I have this great blend that I got when I was in China and—”
Alcohol. In a shot glass.
She flexed her fingers impatiently, indicating he should take her hand already.
She tried to sound open, curious, anything but mad and hurt and all of the other emotions that were running through her mind.
Awww… trying to be supportive!
Nope, right now she needed Clark Kent, investigative reporter—her partner—to help her figure out how she would get him to stay, to know that it wasn’t his fault.
She’s being a great not-a-girlfriend.
Because Metropolis needed him.
She needed him.
He needed her.
And she just had to get him to see that.
Gaaaawww… This was a beautiful story with a fun revelation that fits the not-a-revelation. Sneaky!
Miniaturized Clark/Superman (can be physically smaller or younger, how is up to you)
Oh that’s priceless!
Sorry I didn’t extra highlight that in the text. I did notice!
Excessive Pettiness (from either Lois or Clark)
oh that’s priceless!
Hmm…gut says the prompts might be Queenie. She doesn’t like Lex Leather and some of those prompts are written very snarky.
As for the author, I’m now convinced it’s
KSaraSaraEven though you did not have Clark tough Lois’s lower back even once as he guides her through a door. This and the lack of heartbeat-listening, you got around nicely by doing all from Lois’s POV. Which in and of itself should be another clue. And if this is the wrong guess, I guess I have just made a complete Jimmy out of myself
Michael
Edit: reading the other FDK, mine feels...lacking? I really need to start quoting more
Punch to the gut!
That's great! This is so delightfully, delicately done!
