Ah...! ML, you do it to us again!
He stood there for a moment before heading for the door. She didn’t watch him go. She couldn’t. She knew they couldn’t have a future, but oh what she wouldn’t give for tonight.
What *she* wouldn't give? What about all the frustrated voyeurs in this dimension, fanning ourselves over our keyboards? Turn around, Clark!
I'm still loving this story. I love everything about it. You've set up an interesting premise, injected it with fun, funny, smart, eloquent and sizzling elements, and wrapped it all up in some powerfully good writing. And then there's that palm computer. I'm holding out hope for its continued survival.
If I were to quote what I like about the story I'd have to paste in the whole thing, but here are some of my favorite parts:
Still, his resulting smile indicated that he had all the answer he needed. Suddenly, all the blood seemed rush out of her head, leaving her struggling to retain her footing.
Wow! Finally! The smile she hadn't realized she'd been waiting for all her life. Or at least since David got her thinking about Superman.
Other Lois. Other Lois. Other Lois. Besides, she would be leaving here in early morning, day after tomorrow, never to come back again. This was not a good idea. “Okay,” she said, glancing up at him through her eyelashes.
Way to hold firm, there, Lois.
Loved the flying, the date, the dancing, and this:
Her gasped word brought them to an abrupt halt, hovering only feet above the treetops. They both stared down before meeting each other’s gaze in stunned disbelief.
And then there's:
She hesitated, years of repression warring with need. Need won.
Hot scene! I'm wondering about the source of this Lois's repression. If it's from feeling out of place, or something to do with having bounced around in a futuristic foster care system. The psychology of Lois is always fascinating, and it's interesting to have an alt-take.
It was just that suddenly, from somewhere deep inside, some part of her she pretty much despised at the moment, she had been unable to continue - not with so much being unsaid between them. “When I’ve finished what I have to say,” she began, her voice trembling slightly on the words, “I’m going to ask you to spend the night.”
Yee-owza!
You wrote in the part 5/6 feedback thread:
Glad you've being enjoying that, Lauren. It was fun to do. I wanted to start her as the complete skeptic. Of course, we all knew one sight of Superman in action would melt that reporter's skeptism and turn her into his number one fan. After all, how could she resist?
I loved that part too -- where she sees him taking off from the balcony. Resistance is futile.
I like thinking about what's behind her skepticism, even when the "proof" of a super man has probably been playing out in front of her eyes on video screens all her life. More Lois psychology, but also I think a statement about where we're headed with computer technology. As computer graphics get more realistic and the tools to create them more accessible, there's going to be some point in the future (and probably not too far off) where we stop trusting in news footage. Like cheesy tin-pan UFOs "caught on film," it'll all be too easily faked, yet obviously harder to peg as fake. (Just had an 80's flashback to the movie "Running Man," which uses faked video footage to frame Arnold Schwarzenegger's character.) So I can imagine this Lois casting a skeptical eye on a man in tights flying through the air and thinking, yeah, right. I mean, if a bit of "mysteriously preserved" film from the late 1800s turned up showing a giant lumberjack and his blue ox, I'd at least be a little suspicious.
Thanks for writing this story! Please keep writing. (And posting.)
-- Lauren
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