Jen Ah you spoil us with an epilogue!
I'm so glad you see it like that because I wrote the ep as a chance for me to relive a day that holds so many wonderful memories.
Jen P Thank you - after 68 parts, that's something.
Elizabeth ride from start to finish.
They were a whole lot further apart than I thought when I started it!!
Bob IIRC, you were in Melbourne Dec-Feb. That is the height of the cricket season and although there would have been footy stories around, they wouldn't have been prominent. Also, the Sydney Olympics were coming and there was a lot of excitement about that. I'm not surprised you didn't notice footy.
Framework It was always my intention to borrow Clark - I never intended to take Superman from Metropolis.
Amy Multinational life is easier when you can fly!! However, I also wanted it that Lois and Clark continued to keep strong ties with Melbourne, even after moving to Metropolis.
DW I have about five fics I really want to write - and none of them are the sequel to AR. However, I am a slave to my muse, so if it suddenly decides AR Sequel is what we're working on, that's what I'll be writing.
Artemis Being able to write about Australia (beyond footy) was something I really enjoyed. I'm glad you did, too.
Joy A few have asked about Mayson.
The fic had two threads - footy (mainly the Hawthorn merger) and Superman/Mayson. I tried to tie them together with the LnC relationship. However, I felt that the epilogue had to focus on only one. I chose footy and GF Day '08. That made it really hard to tie up all the loose ends of the other thread.
It was hard to bring Mayson, Perry, even M&J into GF Day 08. Had Lois and Clark suddenly started discussing Mayson, I felt that would have been very out of place. Also, I wanted her to have become totally irrelevant in their lives.
So, I dropped a few hints and left it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions.
In part 67, where Perry was with the psychiatrist
"Are there any topics I should avoid?"
Dr Vandenberg sighed. "Many," she said. Ticking them off on her fingers, she listed, "Superman, Lex Luthor, Clark Kent, Ultra Woman, Nigel St John, Charlie, football reporters, libraries, Australia, gas leaks, green rock ..." Having run out of fingers, she lifted her hands in despair. "... and, as of this morning, Dan Scardino."
"Dan?"
"This morning she was convinced that Dan is leaving Australia to come to Metropolis to marry her."
In the epilogue ...
The 'junior' part of her status had dropped away when, during her stay in 1997, the team of Lane and Kent had finally gotten incontrovertible proof that Lex Luthor was the Boss - and that he was the one who had ordered the placement of the bomb that had changed Mayson Drake's life forever.
So, Mayson never went back to being a top reporter.
Lastly was the 'Dan and May' clue.
It was vague and probably felt like a loose end, but I didn't think Mayson deserved a neatly packaged ending. (The readers did, but that's another matter
)
Tank There are two reasons why I gave them children. Firstly, it gives greater meaning to the fight to save Hawthorn. In 1996, I was distraught at the possibility of losing Hawthorn, but what really, really hurt was that my children wouldn't be able to barrack for the Hawks. On GF Day 08, four of my kids came with me to the game. I loved the day, loved that we won, but the absolutely greatest treasure of the day was being able to share it with my kids.
Secondly, Clark wanted children and Lois seemed open to the idea. Had they not been able to have children, this would have opened up another aspect to the fic - and perhaps cast a sadness over what I wanted to be a perfectly happy ending. Therefore, I simply gave them two kids - no dramas, no incompatibility issues.
Laura It's up to you whether you want to think Dan and May ended up together. I think it's a fitting end for her, given how much she looked down on everything Australian!
Iolanthe I was not sure it would work - you were the one who kept assuring me it was working - thanks
2A2TV Yep, losing sucks. But the other side is that life must be pretty good if the result of a sports contest means so much.
Michael I don't mind the questions at all, Michael. If I've left plot holes, I'd like to know about them.
How did Clark manage to rake in several thousand fights to Melbourne over two years?
The 'thousands of times' was a reference to 12 years, not 2.
And how are they able to make five trips to Australia per year.
I'm not sure where you got the 5 trips a year from. My thinking was ... 12 years, 2 trips a year, 4 flights a year, 48 flights - rounded up to 50.
The trip now is about 24 hours from the east coast of the USA to Melbourne. I'm not sure how long it was in 1996 - but you're right, you wouldn't come for just a day!
Also, how are they able to afford three months off a year for Australia?
Perry and Browny worked out the 'logistics' - I figure they worked for the Herald Sun during their times in Oz.
I hope that makes more sense.
THANK YOU to everyone who shared this journey with me. I really appreciate your interest, encouragement, and lovely FDK.
'Trusting Me, Trusting You' is *very* different to/from ('to' is Australian, 'from' is American
) AR. I'm stoked at how many are looking forward to it being posted, but I did want to warn that, if you're thinking it will be at all like AR, you might be disappointed.
Corrina.
