Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: In a Better Place 7 - I win! I win! I get the fdk folder!!

Though.. I'm terribly sorry... I'll have to come back for comments... workgrumblework.

Sara

Cheater!

I mean Sara, I think. Although it might apply to CC as well.

I just read parts 6 and 7, and even after reading two parts in sequence, not nearly enough. These parts are too SHORT!

So you either need to make them longer, or post them more often. Or both.

Wonderful! It even works 200 years after the fact! Wow, you like Andrus about as much as Hazel likes Wells! I always thought he was rather sweet . . . and looks really odd without glasses.

Such a talent for understatement!

The last scene is pure gold. Absolutely wonderful! And capped off with this *happy sigh*

I second Rivka ... Sara cheated.

And yeah, too short! You need to post more ... like the whole rest of the story ... right now!

No? Darn.

OK, then I guess I'll have to limit my comments to this part.

Loved getting another glimpse of Silas, and I'm wondering if L&C can go back to work now. Though Silas isn't there all the time, and if he didn't tell anyone about his encounter with them or that he learned they don't work there, no one else will likely realize they don't belong. Unless, of course, they run into Silas again ... with no way to just fly away ...

Andrus ... poor, sweet, incompetent Andrus. Can't even make a tart right, let alone keep tabs on a space criminal. Yet he was so good as Father Mulcahey ...

And Lois and Clark playing house in the attic. Too bad it's freaking Lois out. Or rather, she's trying to make it freak her out, but that soulmates bond thing is kicking in ... making it hard for her not to hug him and kiss him and get started on the happily ever-- er, um, sorry, got ahead of myself there. But in this S1 timeframe, holding hands and sleeping curled up together is *kind of* like HEA. Isn't it? Well, I'll take it.

Looking forward to part 8! Whenever CC wakes up from her mid-morning nap ... I mean, gets around to posting it.

Kathy

Awww, sleep well Lois..poor baby.

Slow drawn out torture is what this is reading it part by part..I'm going a little koo koo.

They are thoroughly convinced now that this is no hoax so they will need some major help figuring this out. Silas will be the one, right? CC? Uh..ok get back to me on that alright?

Loved the last scene in the attic, how Clark keeps on making comments and then waiting for Lois to react..lol. And his reaction to the gift shop, priceless. I also think it's sweet that Lois wants to stick together more than ever so that Clark doesn't face any of this alone *sigh*

So keep stringing us along CC it's what you do best after all!

~Liz

I just adored the idea that a descendant of Clark's would have an instinctive attraction to a Lois.

Hey CC...my inbox is feeling a tad lonely.

Sherry

Silas' thoughts on Clark:

Bingo. I've figured out why Clark not looking so recognizable bothered me and has been nagging at me. It's because he's probably nothing like the Clark people have gotten to know over the years, especially after he and Lois got married. The S1 Clark isn't exactly the most confident person I've ever met, especially since he's grappling with his new superhero creation and all the hoopla that it ends up causing. On top of that, he's dealing with a new job, new city, new faces...the kid is probably overwhelmed and going crazy internally. I think little things like confidence and self-esteem can change an entire outlook on a person. Granted, I'm not inside the museum with them, and I don't know what these other actors are like, but I bet the only Clark people have known for some time is this extraordinary person with a great wife and family and blah blah blah and so that's who they're trying to imitate, unless I'm way off base. To fill in Silas' thoughts for my own sanity, I think he's less Clark without Lois.

<snort>

LOL, such a great description.

Dun dun dun. I look forward to Thursday!! It'll be my break for studying for finals.

Edit:

Rivka said:
OMG, the number of conversations I've had with people who's names I can't remember...

Oh man I hope I still have access to the internet on Thursday. I'm just...I'm just so happy you're posting this here, cause I know for sure I can access this page at the library and this has been such awesome reading this far, and I'm so anticipating the next section and poor Andrus and his crappy tarts, and I'm worried that he's in on it with Tempus, but maybe he is just kinda fumbly and his rep saved Madge, whom we can't do without and now Silas will blow Lois and Clark's cover, but maybe he'll try to protect them cause you know they are mom and dad, generations removed and NEXT PART SOOOOOON!!!

TEEEEEEJ

*whew* Back. Is it just me, or did today seem *much* longer?

Hmm... wonder why that is? Maybe it was the glasses? Fascinating how no one pays much mind to Clark and his resemblance. You say you have a theory, CC... well, let's have it!!

*snicker* I mean... awww!!!

*snicker*

Oops... need a period after "uncomfortable". And... /me gets the strange feeling that maybe Silas is the most recent incarnation of their souls... OH!! Idea!!! No... that doesn't track for the rest of the people... *sigh* Anyway... is this maybe why he doesn't pay much mind to Clark? And why... he's inexplicably attracted to his great-great-great (x however many) grandmother? Why he notices her more and not Clark?

Ooh! Nice sentence right there!

AWWWW!!! My poor Clark needs a hug!!!!

Sara (who maintains it was clearly not cheating... the story part sat there for a good hour with out a folder... and... lame excuse? Meh. I still win. )

Bad Silas! Get back here now!!
OH NO. Your childhood home is an amusement park!
Hm, gold fringe on a leopard print lamp. Did it come from my relatives?
I like the humor they are using to keep each others spirits up. Maybe there is hope for them as a couple.

Some very awesome lines in here -- my personal favorite is about them possibly buying the lamp when they were angry at each other <g>

There was some under-telling right at the beginning. One minute L&C are living in the DP, the next, they're touring the world. LOL at the line about smog and getting the smell out of your clothes.

Poor Andrus. I can totally see him as the lovable incompetent relative of the boss who just gets shuffled around... but at least he's taking the heat off Madge so she'll have a chance to fix this.

And wow, Thursday is tomorrow! Awesome!

PJ

Have to run, so I can't really say all the lovely things I'm thinking, but this is a FABULOUS part!

I guess Silas must be the black sheep of the family. I mean really! Wouldn't you want to know why to people were impersonating employees and hanging around after hours?

Loved the lamp comment! "bought it while drunk" indeed.

And Lois believes they're in the future! Yay!

---Mary, who from now on may have to rely on computer class for internet access, and so will not grumble about waiting for Thursday as long as CC posts well before 4:00.

Well I am not one to quote your whole story back to you but I will say I agree with everyone. This is very interesting and I am looking forward to more. Laura

Silas need to investigate!!

Jose

CC, I've loved your story so far, so much so that I've been pasting each new part into a word file as you post it, which I never do. However, I've been hesitating over posting this because my response isn't all appreciation and "this-is-wonderfuls." But you did say you wanted the bad as well as the good, so here goes. This was amusing--the whole Andrus-Madge interaction was. But it made me wonder if, in Utopian time, this was before or after the fumbled re-capture of Tempus in MJD. It'd be nice to have a hint so FoLC can place it. Awwww... I really liked this. LOL!! Oops, I mean, "poor Clark," of course. I liked the peek into her mind in this section; it was, in fact, very necessary for the reader to identify with Lois's behavior and choices. However, for the same reason, I still feel that we needed a brief section from her POV back when she made the huge about-face from believing she & Clark were in their future to believing that it was a mind trick. It was too big a change to handle off-stage, so to speak. Cute line, but it jarred me. Would Clark even think "drunk"? Speaking from personal experience, it isn't the sort of expression someone who has never been drunk would think to use. Crazy? Temporarily blind? Yes. Drunk? It just doesn't come to mind. You did an excellent job with this, CC. It just happens to be one of those things I hate about S1 Lois--she can't be satisfied. She gets upset because Clark is measuring his words, trying to avoid things that might upset her. And then when he doesn't measure his words, she goes still and makes it clear to him that she's upset again. Clark is damned no matter what he does--unless he turns into someone smooth and slick like Luthor who can hide all signs that he's guarding his thoughts and adapting his words to his audience. Pet peeve there. You're doing fine with it. I miss the fact that we aren't seeing them do any of that. Part of the fun of watching L&C is watching how they tackle problems: tossing ideas back and forth, squabbling like children, finishing each other's sentences, and energetically attacking the problem. Unfortunately for me, you're keeping most of that off-stage and only revealing it in introspection after the fact. I don't prefer that method of telling instead of showing because it distances me to hear about it later rather than experience it as it occurs. But I realize that is a personal preference.

You made a similar narrative choice in the first part of this section: This explanation occurs almost 600 words after the scene began, for no reason that I can see. It's not like concealing this info increased the suspense. Putting it at the beginning of the scene would have given the reader a context in which to view what L&C discovered instead of struggling to figure out why the heck they were going on a world tour instead of trying to interview people in the city and find out what was going on. I think this gets tied back to not knowing why Lois changed her mind about their being in the future. Because we don't know why that happened, we don't see why L&C aren't trying to read newspapers, watch TV, get online, find a city hall and have Clark hover over it and listen to what people are saying inside to get a quick overview of what is going on. I see what you're getting at, but no. I can see a comment like, "if you were taller, or more muscular, or more imposing, you'd be a dead ringer for Clark Kent," but I can't see the Utopians either not noticing or saying that his resemblance to Clark Kent was subtle. They have photos. They have film footage, videotape--by God, if they've got a copy of Clark's childhood bed, then they have all the footage from the time, from every era of his life, including when he first started at the Planet--and that's footage of Clark, not just Superman. Sorry, but there's no way anyone could look at that face and say it isn't CK.

Just a bit of personal experience here: the first time I visited a set at Warner Brothers', I was getting a tour of the makeup trailer, and a guy walked in. It happened to be the same actor who played the bad guy's henchman in SLV during S4, except this was during his days on The Flash. When he walked in the door, I opened my mouth to greet him--because I recognized him so instantly that I thought he was someone I personally knew. It was only when I didn't have a name to call him that I realized I had been completely misled by the fact that I saw his face in my house on TV each week. And he was only a supporting character, a face on the screen.

So maybe the "people-not-recognizing-Clark" problem is mine, not anything to do with your story.

CC, I don't want to end this with your thinking that I didn't like this section. I liked much of it a great deal. I'm just a writing teacher and a would-be professional writer who can't help making suggestions to improve even very good work.

I think most of Sheila's comments are very insightful. But I disagree with the point about recognizing Clark.

I live in L.A., not far from Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Every year or two, I will happen to see someone or other famous -- at the mall, at the dentist, at the supermarket. (And I suspect that it's more often than that, but I don't always notice.)

There have certainly been some, "OMG! That's so-and-so and s/he looks exactly the same!" But there have also been a fair number of, "Hmm. They look so familiar! Who is that?" followed 20 minutes later by, "OH!!! I Can't believe I didn't recognize him/her! D'oh!"

Some people look very similar on film and in person. Some cannot be adequately captured by that medium. I guess Lois is among the former, and Clark among the latter.

Also, Clark avoids having pictures taken of him (as Clark) rather assiduously.

Mh, just wanted to mention that you've got another reader I just stumbled over this story and the storyline captured me instantly. Some minor Tempus plot with Lois and Clark in the real Utopia, wow! Actually this future Utopia was a place I always wanted to have experienced so your story is quite welcome. The fact that those two just met as Clark as well as in his Superman persona adds another twist to the story.

So far the storyline was great and it's nice to see how little 'progress' they make in finding ways to get back into their own time. Well, maybe they're nosy enough to go snooping around a bit more, I mean who wouldn't like to know about his own future?
Oh and by the way, Lois reacted on the knowledge of her future relationship with Clark pretty strange, this baffled me a bit at first. Then I took it as Lois' way of dealing with emotional emergencies. But I really hope that there's more to come, maybe some of her nosiness or her temper

I have a theory of when this takes place. I think it happens after Meet John Doe.

Here are my reasons.

1. In MJD, Andrus was solo.
2. In this story, Andrus is considered incompetent and incapable of going solo.
3. It would be just like Tempus to use the idea of replicants after having been exposed to them in MJD.

Love this story.

Looking forward to more, but if you could post early on Thursday, it would me nice.

James

Thanks for the encouragement about my comments, Rivka. I almost didn't post because I was worried that my comments would be breaking an unspoken board rule or that CC would be hurt rather than helped. I understand your point here, which is why I said the problem may be mine rather than the story's. However (I always have a however, don't I?), the footage and photos I was thinking of were the personal ones, like the ones Lois has scattered around her apartment and on her desk. The problem is that we've seen those, and every one of them looks just like Clark. And those candid shots are the ones the family would keep and the museum supervisors would have studied.

OTOH, maybe most people don't study old family photos to watch family members change in the photos through the years and to identify the distinguishing characteristics that show up in an individual from early childhood to old age. If I'm just weird that way, that's also why it may be my problem rather than the story's.

James, I think you're right about the setting being after the events of MJD. In fact, that's what I'd been figuring. I just wanted to have something in the story that said our guess was right or not.

Just a remark that I do agree with Sheilah's point here:
OTOH, I've been so fascinated with the twists and turns and uniqueness of the plot that it has slipped in importance to me. It was the same with your "When The World Finds Out."

Artemis
Can't wait til Thursday.

CC,

I really shouldn't even be here - I've been AWOL for a few weeks, and I've only today come back to the boards and all things L&C. To compound matters, I'm GE for a fanfic which I honestly thought I'd be able to get to this weekend, and which is still waiting my attention.

But, before I do anything else, I wanted to post here. Actually, you already know my views on this, but I'll post them here, for the heck of it.

I know this is a matter of personal preference, so this is not meant to contradict what anyone else has said, but I honestly think I prefer this 'understated' storytelling technique.

I like that I get to figure things out for myself. I see Lois tell Clark they are in the future. I see Lois enter the HEA room. I see Lois tell Clark they can't possibly be in the future. I laugh, because I know exactly why Lois has done an about-face, without being told. (Well, I see Clark's reaction to Lois' about-face, and I'm not laughing any more - but that's a different story.)

Yes, I know Lois told Clark they were married, indicating she had accepted that, as Clark says, "this is real". But if you read between the lines, you can see by her 'anniversary gifts' joke and her comment about needing to sit down, that she hasn't completely digested (or accepted) this yet. So, her final conclusion does not come as a complete surprise to me.

Or the statement that Lois, upon seeing Clark's shoulders sag, realizes she has won the argument, but that her victory is an empty one. My goodness, that sentence alone speaks volumes. (Yes, I know that was from Part 6, not Part 7, but it makes my point, and, as I didn't post Fdk to Part 6, I'll mention it here. <g>)

As for not recognizing Clark, I had to laugh, because I am so entirely opposite to Sheila. I cannot count how many times I have told someone "nice to meet you", only to have my husband inform me that this is someone we have known for years. ("Vicki, that my sister's next door neighbor. She's come to every Christmas party my sister's held for the past 10 years!")

(Oh, that reminds me of a funny story. One day my husband was showing his pictures of Viet Nam. He was commenting, "The guy on the left was from my home town", etc. One picture came up, and he said, "Oh, this guy was one of my best friends. We hung out together all the time." I looked at the picture for a moment and said, "That's *you*!" ROTFL! It was a picture of my husband, and he didn't recognize himself.)

Why would people not recognize Clark? I can think of quite a few factors which, added together, make this quite believable.

First, there is canon. Clark has made a habit of not being noticed. Lois could look at Superman, and 2 minutes later, look at Clark, and not recognize him as the same person.

Second, as Shadow has mentioned, Clark's demeanor in season 1 (and in this story) is markedly different from that later in the series. This "season one demeanor" is certainly not what the Utopians think of when they think of Superman/Clark Kent. Lois Lane, on the other hand, has "presence". Lois gets noticed. Clark blends in.

Last, there are the hints dropped within the story itself. These people are, as Lois said, "Superman crazy". They idolize him to the point of idolatry. Silas concludes that this 'look-alike' is shorter than the original, that his resemblance is more "subtle". LOL. Utopia's Superman is bigger than life. Can anyone, including our very own Clark Kent, live up to the image they have of Superman?

- Vicki (who is very happy that it is Wednesday evening already, and Thursday is just around the corner...)

PS: LOL. Oh, yes, I *meant* to be redundant. For emphasis, don't you know.