I know I have been off-and-on reading this fic, and I knew I started reading part 10, but I never finished it. It is a relatively long chapter, and most likely I found I had to go somewhere and didn't have time to finish reading. And then, as I usually do, I looked for fresh new chapters or fics the next time I checked the boards instead of going back and finishing stuff I had left only half-read.
Anyway, now I've read part 10. I can see that there is a lot here that I don't understand, and I really should go back and read all the previous parts, but I won't do that, sorry. So I'll have to judge Lois and Clark on what I can see in this chapter.
First, interestingly, their roles seem to be partly reversed. For example, this Lois is absolutely nowhere near as haughty and disdainful towards Clark as First Season Lois usually is - in fact, she isn't really haughty or disdainful at all:
Finally, she chuckled and declared, "Clark, you are the weirdest Kansas farmer I have ever met. Not that I've met many Kansas farmers. In fact you're the only one. But still, if I had met more, I'm sure you would be the most unique one I will ever meet. But I'm glad you're all right."
"Clark, you are the weirdest Kansas farmer I have ever met."? What happened to Farmboy Clark? Or Mr. Greenjeans?
Lois looked at him again like she was trying to figure him out completely. It was an unsettling feeling, like somehow she was going to discover who he really was just by looking at him. Which was ridiculous, of course.
Ludicrous.
Preposterous.
Wasn't it?
Suddenly he felt worried.
Clark, however, is worried about Lois's interest in him.
Clark began to think that he was letting her get too close, potentially jeopardizing his secret. He decided that he needed to keep her more at arm's length, before she found out things he was unwilling ever to share again.
Indeed, it is Clark who seems to assume the 'Don't-fall-for-me' attitude as a way of protecting himself.
Lois senses Clark's arms' length attidtude:
She got the impression that Clark, for all his obvious warmth and empathy, tended to keep people at arms' length. She was sure that there was some experience in his past that had made him that way.
Some past experience - yes, Lois, you're right:
After what had happened to Lena, he had often berated himself for not being able to be everywhere when trouble arose.
Lena. Lena. Do you know that for me as a long-time reader of the Superman comic books, 'Lena' in connection with Clark/Superman can mean only one person - Lena Thorul, Luthor's daughter? (Or was she his little sister?)
Somehow I find it a bit far-fetched that you would excavate Lena Thorul from the detritus of years and years of accumulated comic book history. So could it be that Lena is... Lana? Or a version of her?
Anyway, Clark got burned one way or another. Lois, interestingly enough, didn't:
She thought back to the people... men... who could have really messed with her life, if she had let them. Like Claude --
Now there was a piece of work. She had thought him interesting, and was always a sucker for a French accent. But something had struck her as phony about him, and he was much too sure she would just fall into bed with him if he gave her the chance. After she brushed off his advances, he proceeded to sleep through a large percentage of the female population in the newspaper business... those who would have him, that is. In the end, he got caught sleeping with the wife of one of the board members at the Daily Planet, and got his French butt canned on the spot. Later, it was discovered he had stolen every tidbit of information he could from those women that would further his career. She even heard a rumor that one of his big scoops was actually stolen from one of his 'girlfriends'. He didn't even acknowledge her "input' in his article. The stray thought made her snicker.
Claude did his sneaky and sleazy thing to other women, but not to Lois. Her judgement was better than that, so her heart remains unhurt. Now she doesn't distrust every male specimen of Homo Sapiens whose name is not Lex Luthor. Indeed, this Lois seems refreshingly, even adorably, unhurt and unscathed. This Lois has the natural curiosity and vitality that I remember from the Kurt Schaffenberger comics from the 1960s, which I found so likable and endearing.
But both Lois and Calrk have this sense of déjà vu:
"It's OK now. He can't hurt you anymore, Lois."
Clark's statement broke Lois out of her reverie. Once again, she felt a strange déjà vu feeling. Had she heard Clark say something like that to her before? She didn't think so, but somehow it was like he had said it to her before.
Lois may very well have met Clark before. The only question is, was it the same Clark that she is interacting with in this chapter, or was it someone else? For example, was it this Clark who saved her in the Congo?
Well, this is the second time you saved my life. The first time was in the Congo. Of course you weren't wearing that costume at the time."
"How do you know it was me who rescued you?"
"Come on, only a 'Superman' could have done what I saw that day. So why weren't you in costume that day?"
"Suit."
"What?"
"I refer to it as the 'Suit'."
"Fine, suit then. So why weren't you in it?"
"At the time I didn't want to be noticed. The suit tends to draw attention."
He doesn't protest when she says that he saved her before, so I guess it was him who did it. But it's strange that he, too recognizes Lois in a way he can't explain:
Clark's sentence trailed off as he once again experienced a small bout of déjà vu.
This is clearly another version of Clark than the one we are used to. His background is different. There is the 'Lena' business, for example. And there is this:
"Yes, I'm really from Smallville. What's so strange about that?"
"I don't know. I mean is it really... *small*? If it is, that wouldn't be a very creative name, would it?"
"Any more than calling the largest city in the world Metropolis?"
She contemplated that for a moment before answering. "Point taken. Still..."
"If you must know, Smallville is named after Nathaniel Small, the town's founder. I swear I have to explain that to every person I meet from a big... city."
Smallville is named after Nathaniel Small? That's a new one, to be sure. This Smallville isn't quite the same as the one we are used to. For example, it might be slightly bigger, more modern and more jaded than the version we know from canon.
All I can say is that this is very interesting, and I'm looking forward to seeing where you will be taking this Lois and this Clark!
Ann
