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Joined: Jul 2006
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,883 |
oh wow, it's here... I am totally going to read it on work time. But real FDK will have to wait until later!
lisa in the sky with diamonds
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Columnist
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Columnist
Joined: Aug 2005
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Great part. Don't know how I will survive with only one part left.  Can't wait to read how you'll solve Clark and Lois problems. Great story.
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Joined: Jul 2006
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,687 |
I think this sums up the whole relationship pretty nice. *lol* Love it: He loved her... but boy, she was difficult. Can't wait to see what comes next. I can't believe you're going to wrap this up in just one part... I'm guessing there won't be a revelation in it, will there?  He won't get the nerve to tell her, cause I'll bet one little part isn't enough to deal with that, would take another 3 or 4, knowing Lois. *lol* 
Superman: Why is it that good villains never die?
Batman: Clark, what the hell are good villains?
=> Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,441 Likes: 1
Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,441 Likes: 1 |
Yay! another Stardust part! Simply superb  Loved the Perry-Clark confrontations.
If she had to move heaven and Earth, perhaps come back to haunt Perry and explain the story after they'd killed her, she would do it.
Waking a Miracle by Aria
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,846
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
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Hi, Great part! 
Maria D. Ferdez.
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Don't like Luthor, unfinished, untitled and crossover story, and people that promises and don't deliver. I'm getting choosy with age.
MAF
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Joined: Mar 2006
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 377 |
A completely awesome part Caroline not that I’m surprised. Clark’s anxiety about confiding in Lois is so real, he has something good going and he doesn’t know how Lois will jump once she knows. So waits for the perfect moment, avoiding the "road blocks of honesty". He wanted to believe that she’d protect him, even at the cost of a story, but she hadn’t exactly been predictable during the short time they’d known one another. And then, on the heels of that thought, came a tidal wave of guilt for doubting her. He loved her and he was fairly certain she loved him. I love his guilt for how doubting Lois love clashes with reality. Flight. That was the urge those feelings inspired. Flight, which for him was both a literal and figurative concept. Whenever someone got too close, Clark Kent flew away. Started over. Began again in a new country, a new town, a new paper. A few polite excuses, a few white lies, and he was off, never to be seen again. Starting over had become his specialty, but each flight diminished him. Each flight left him a little poorer, a little more out of step with humanity. He didn’t just leave places behind; he left people, people who might have had the potential to be real friends had they ever been allowed inside the heavily-guarded perimeter of his life. Instead he’d walked among them for a short time, taking care to leave no footprints, no marks, nothing that might be remembered. And when he left, he had a few new articles in his portfolio – articles about people he didn’t really know and hadn’t really touched. He’d observed, that’s all. He’d spent his life as an observer, his nose pressed to an invisible pane of glass, searching for a place where he could be more. A place where he could belong. This might be the best description of Clark’s pre-Metropolis years that I have read.  Invisible pane of glass indeed. And then we have Superman hovering over the city: He glanced back down at the Planet building. He was farther away from it now, but it was still in view, the venerable old globe seeming to keep watch over the busy Metropolis street. It would be so easy to go back, to wait on her to finish her story, to insist that they needed to talk. This is also a talent of yours to create space by describing objects and the characters relations to them. it’s not just Superman flew to Starlabs, you actually describe a man who can fly rather then mere locomotion. “Thanks, Chief,” she said. She was trying to play it cool, but Clark could tell that she was delighted with herself. She wasn’t actually saying, ‘I told you so,’ but she didn’t have to. Her ‘I told you so’ was splashed all over the front page of the paper. Lois Lane gracious in victory. :p And I must say that the renewed conflict with Lois, when she thinks he is humouring her by “his support” seems very natural, It’s exactly the kind of thing that I see Lois going through roof for. And he WAS humouring her after a fashion, and the fact that he didn’t mention this flying man the day before is the kind of mistake I would expect Clark to comitt it makes it look bad and believable bad, if you know what I mean. She closed the door behind them with a bang and whirled on him. “I’m a laughingstock!” she said, jabbing an accusing finger in his direction. “I broke the biggest story of the year this morning, and thanks to Jimmy and his big, fat mouth - and Cat and her bigger, fatter mouth - the whole newsroom is laughing at me.”
“Lois....”
“And you! You just had to go and make up some stupid story about seeing the flying man. And I know you meant well, Clark, but that makes me look about ten times as pathetic. And it make you look pathetic. Us...it makes us look pathetic.”
He sighed. “We’re not pathetic.”
“We’re like some crazy couple who claims they were abducted by aliens or ran into Elvis at the grocery store. Except not really, because they all think I'm the crazy one and you're the lovestruck fool who's standing by my side no matter what.” The exchange with Cat was hilarious, I bet she wouldn’t show any mercy when the resident primadonna sees flying men with their underwear on the outside. 
I do know you, and I know you wouldn't lie... at least to me...most of the time...
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Oct 2003
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Caroline...I'm so glad you posted! I was hoping that this was not another abandoned great story. And I must say that this chapter was awesome! As usual... I have yet to see how you're gonna sum it all up in one more part. But I'm along for the ride. My favorite part was when Perry had Clark in his office. Even though Clark was in the hot seat he would still never betray Lois's trust. Clark stiffened. “I’ve never lied to you.”
“So when you told me you and Lois had never met...?”
“That was....” Clark licked his lips nervously. “That was a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding. You want to explain how you could misunderstand a thing like that?”
He thought about it for a moment. “No, sir,” he said finally. “I don’t.”
Perry huffed and leaned back in his chair. It creaked ominously in the silence of the room. “That’s the best you can do?”
“That’s all I’m going to say about it, sir.” He will protect her at all cost. Now time for him to tell her about Superman. Hurry back! I'll be waiting!
I'm a firm believer in the fact that God doesn't put any more on us than we can bear. He does however make us come to Jesus every so often.
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,883 |
I can close my eyes and see Clark floating against a black sky lit with faint stars. Beautiful descriptions. Did it really have to be this night, which had already been stressful enough for both them, when he told her that her new boyfriend was an alien?
Surely it didn’t. Surely he was only looking to assuage his own guilt. Surely you're just putting it off! She though her ‘hero’ had been killed, when in fact he was standing next to her, sipping coffee with cream and two sugars. These are the types of details that make your stories so great. “Listen, why don’t you come with me? I’ll interview the colonists, and you can work the crowd outside. We’ll write it up together.” Wow! She has really let her guard down. Clark, tell her quick! “I just remembered! He was wearing red underwear.”
Clark closed his eyes briefly in an agony of embarrassment – he was never going to speak to his mother again, he really wasn’t –  He loved her... but boy, she was difficult. Oooohhh boy, you don't even know yet, Clark. I really like the conversation with Perry. He was kind but to the point and not willing to take any crap. My kind of guy. Of course, it's too soon for him to know that CK isn't the type of guy to *give* him any crap. “Conference room,” she snapped, grabbing his arm and tugging in that direction.
“Wait just a minute,” he said, pulling his arm from her grasp. “Would you like to put that in the form of a question?” Good Clark. Don't let her walk all over you! Tell her, tell her, tell her, his mind chanted at him yes, tell her! about as approachable as a hedgehog <snort> One part??? How the heck are you going to wrap this up in one part, Caroline?! I can't imagine it. But that's why you are the writer, not me. And I can hardly wait to see it.
lisa in the sky with diamonds
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Posts: 5,797
Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797 |
Caroline, are you going to wrap up your brilliant story in just one more post? There are so many things I want to see happen here. I want Lois to know that Clark is the flying man who saved her. I would prefer it if he tells her so himself, because that way she'll know that she can trust him. On the other hand, I would also like it if she can actually figure it out on her own, indeed, if she can actually see it, if she can recognize Clark in her flying hero, because I would like her to be a bit more perceptive regarding Clark than she usually is. But I would also like them to become comfortable about their relationship, including the fact that Clark is Superman. Can you really accomplish that in just one more post? Arawn has already quoted my favorite part from this chapter, but I'll have to quote it again: The very thought, however, inspired old feelings of fear – feelings so deeply ingrained that he wondered if he’d ever shake them. Flight. That was the urge those feelings inspired. Flight, which for him was both a literal and figurative concept. Whenever someone got too close, Clark Kent flew away. Started over. Began again in a new country, a new town, a new paper. A few polite excuses, a few white lies, and he was off, never to be seen again. Starting over had become his specialty, but each flight diminished him. Each flight left him a little poorer, a little more out of step with humanity. He didn’t just leave places behind; he left people, people who might have had the potential to be real friends had they ever been allowed inside the heavily-guarded perimeter of his life. Instead he’d walked among them for a short time, taking care to leave no footprints, no marks, nothing that might be remembered. And when he left, he had a few new articles in his portfolio – articles about people he didn’t really know and hadn’t really touched. He’d observed, that’s all. He’d spent his life as an observer, his nose pressed to an invisible pane of glass, searching for a place where he could be more. A place where he could belong. Such a perfect, poignant description of the magnificent, skittish stag that is Clark Kent. But Metropolis was different. He had a feeling that if he left this time, he’d be giving up every dream he’d ever had of a normal life. Because this was the place and the life he’d been searching for. He’d known it since he first stepped off that bus and onto a busy Metropolis Street. He’d known it since he walked into the Daily Planet newsroom for the first time. He’d known it since the first moment he held Wanda Detroit in his arms. It had seemed confusing and contradictory at first, but this was the life he was meant to live. So while every instinct cried out for flight, his heart was keeping him pinned to that piece of sky just over Metropolis. His heart was telling him that his life was down there, and if he left it, if he ran away from it, there would be no starting over again for Clark Kent. There would only be an alien in a blue suit with a mysterious S on his chest – a person he wasn’t sure he even knew how to be. And when you add this paragraph about how Clark Kent's life is inseparably fused with Metropolis, the Daily Planet and Lois Lane, the description of Clark's need to flee and his need to stay, is, like Arawn said, possibly the best summing-up ever of the contradiction and mystery that is Clark Kent. He had to tell her the truth. But did it have to be right now? Did it really have to be this night, which had already been stressful enough for both them, when he told her that her new boyfriend was an alien? But I don't like this. Clark is always looking for, and finding, reasons not to tell Lois about his secret right now. He'll tell her later. And so he'll keep postponing it and postponing it, and when he's finally telling her, or when she's figuring out on her own, he's always been lying to her, deceiving her, for much too long. “Sounds like a fine idea to me,” Perry boomed, clapping him on the back. “I always did think the two of you would make a good team.”
Clark smiled to himself, remembering perfectly well that Perry hadn’t thought Clark Kent would last two weeks. But it didn’t matter now. “Thanks, Chief,” he said, giving Lois a significant look. “I’ve always thought so, too.”
Lois rolled her eyes at him, but he was sure he saw the slightest tinge of a blush on her cheek. Perry laughed and shot him a wink and seemed on the verge of saying something else when Cat Grant insinuated herself into their little group. This is so sweet. I love Lois's blush. “Conference room,” she snapped, grabbing his arm and tugging in that direction.
“Wait just a minute,” he said, pulling his arm from her grasp. “Would you like to put that in the form of a question?”
“A question? A question?” Her eyes widened. “As in,” she changed her voice to a grating simper, “Clarkie-poo, would you pwetty-pwease come with me to the conference room? You mean that kind of question?” Lois is dripping vitriol here, but I thought it was very funny. Tell her, tell her, tell her, his mind chanted at him, but the words stuck in his throat. It wasn’t an easy thing to tell, and it especially wasn’t easy when she was angry and hostile and about as approachable as a hedgehog. It wasn’t a thing he could say under the fluorescent conference room lights, with their colleagues sneaking peeks through the windows. All right, wrong place to tell her. But I, too, must join that chant. Tell her, Clark! Tell her! Why not tonight? Ahhh, Caroline! How on Earth will you be able to wrap up your brilliant story in just one more post? Ann
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