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Features Writer
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OP
Features Writer
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Posts: 966 |
As was probably apparent (but not too GLARINGLY apparent, I hope), I know absolutely nothing about cruise ships, how they work, what could go wrong so drastically, or how a super-powered being would go about saving everyone aboard one. But aside from that, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! 
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Dec 2012
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What? ? Second part???  But, wait... why, oh why do I have to find out that you posted it at this moment? It's 5:36 am and I really have to cook breakfast for my kids! ! And make the lunch for my husband! /sigh Anyway.... it looks like everyone is going to eat cold cereal today an burned.... err, "well cooked" eggs. ..
Clark: "So what are you saying? I should go crawling back on my hands and knees?"
Martha: "No, honey. Fly back. It's faster!!"
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Posts: 2,578 Likes: 10
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 2,578 Likes: 10 |
Conflicting emotions are all over the place... What a stormy (literally and figuratively) night! Hope at the ending of the night Lois can see Clark in a new light.  Andreia
"My wife's love is what unites Krypton and Earth in my heart. Without it, without her, I truly would be in hell."
~ Superman: Man of Tomorrow #15
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
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I feel like I've been blown around in the storms while reading this.
Still convinced that twice a week is not fast enough for this fic. So glad that this was a long chapter.
I do get the feeling that Lois watching Clark all through these rescues is not having the effect he is fearing. I think she is going to end the night hopelessly in love with him - with Clark!
KatherineKent/Victoria
Lois: "You put up with me for the same reason I put up with you. It's because I'm completely in love with you."
Clark: "And I love you ... Did we just make up?"
Lois: "I think so."
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Apr 2011
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Wow. You weren't kidding about liking to torture Clark. When he took off in the last part, I thought he had bolted into the sky. I hadn't realized that he had been slow enough for her to reach out and grab him, chancing for others to see this ordinary man move into the sky. “I’m Clark,” he repeated--a vow, a prayer, an impossible dream.
“No, you’re not!” Lois snapped, loosing an arm from his neck to wave toward the far-away ground. “You’re not Clark! And you’re not Superman. You’re…you’re a liar. I don’t know you at all. You’re just like the rest.” Ouch. Does she think that she's incapable of causing him pain just because he happens to be invulnerable? “Right,” he said derisively, striking out because there was nothing else for him to do, no hopeful goal, no beautiful dream of a future spent with her to keep his hurt and anger and despair from spilling out on the ground all around them. “Because *you’ve* never ran from anything in your life.” Good point. “Why are you mad at me?” she cried, releasing her grip on him and stepping back. Um... because she chose the fantasy over the ordinary man? Because she was going to accept Lex's offer over Clark's, even though she "loved" Superman? Because out of the two options she had remaining after Superman's rejection, she chose to be with wealthy man she wasn't sure she loved, instead of poor man whom she knew loved her? Because she wouldn't believe Clark or trust him until she had witnessed Lex's villainy with her own eyes, even after all the times she had asked him to trust her on faith? Because she had hurt him? Sounds like he had plenty of reasons to be mad at Lois. “I mean,” she looked away before tilting her chin defiantly and staring him straight in the eye, “I know why you’re mad about Lex. But *you’re* the one who lied to me! Why are *you* mad at me for believing the lies you told me?” Um... because out of all the people in the world, she was the only one he wanted see through the disguise to see the real him underneath and love him anyway, and she hadn't? “I’m not mad you believed I was two people. I’m not mad at all. I’m just…”
Hurt. And sad. And disappointed. And so terribly exhausted. And wholly, utterly destroyed. Because he knew she couldn’t have known Clark and Superman were the same man, but why couldn’t she have loved Clark as much as she idolized Superman? Why couldn’t she have given Clark the same chance she’d given Luthor--was seemingly *continuing* to give to Luthor? Why had she so easily been able to dismiss the real parts of him when he couldn’t, for the life of him, tear himself away from her? Exactly!  “Yes, I’ve been to *Superman* rescues,” she said, and her frigid tone made Clark imagine the cold night air was actually affecting him, pebbling his flesh and sliding icy drops down his spine. “But that was when I thought Superman was a selfless man who had chosen to devote his *whole* life to helping others. Now…” Wait a second, there, Lois. You're accusing Clark of not being the hero she thought he should be or was and trying to make him feel guilty about wanting a real life outside of being a hero. Yet, weren't you the one who only the night before asked the hero to *love* you and to have a relationship with you? Therefore, giving up part of his WHOLE life of rescuing others to be with you? You can't accuse him of being selfish for wanting a real life outside of rescuing people, when you selfishly asked him to do the same for you! Well, you can and you did, but you shouldn't! ![[Linked Image]](http://cosgan.de/images/midi/boese/a045.gif) Nothing save debilitating guilt and agonizing fear and familiar despair over the fragility of everyone around him and his own inability to ever, ever be *enough*.
And then…so quietly he would have feared he imagined it save he could intimately hear the respiratory system starting back up, could hear blood beginning to move so sluggishly through the tiny heart, the boy breathed, moved, tried to open fluttering eyes.
For an instant, Clark felt his every muscle turn as liquid as the waves around him…but he was still Superman, and so he straightened, and he shifted his shoulders to better settle the burden atop them and he hid all his pain and fear and overwhelming relief and he surveyed the orderly pandemonium filling this patch of ocean. Oh, poor Clark. What a horrible thing to have to deal with. I'm glad that the boy survived, because then Clark wouldn't have to second guess whether or not he would've been able to save the boy faster had Lois not insisted on coming with him and slowed him down. I hope SHE considers her impact on that boy's life though, but for some reason I doubt she will. I'm hanging on the edge of my seat, hoping all will turn out all right for Clark. At the moment, now, though, I'm furious at Lois for treating Clark so dismally and ordering him about because she can. Please tell me that she gets some kind of comeuppance for this behavior. He shouldn't have to shoulder all the burden of fault on his own.
VirginiaR.
"On the long road, take small steps." -- Jor-el, "The Foundling"
---
"clearly there is a lack of understanding between those two... he speaks Lunkheadanian and she Stubbornanian" -- chelo.
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 188 |
You've just delivered another powerful chapter. My favorite lines: [QUOTE] And then, as he always did, he fought against the cowardice, fought exhaustion, focused every ounce of your attention on the emergency situation before him - and became Superman. [/ Quote] Show us how it's Clark really human, and how to be Superman is not related at all with only his superpowers. I'm pretty sure what Clark failed to discern in the look of Lois at the end of the chapter, were understanding, sympathy and admiration ... instead of pity, as "lunkheadly" believed You got me hooked from the beginning! And really think that your twice-a-week-posting is definitely not enough 
Clark: "So what are you saying? I should go crawling back on my hands and knees?"
Martha: "No, honey. Fly back. It's faster!!"
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Sep 2013
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I echo the thought--post asap (please?!?  ), and you can't help but to be transported through all of the highs and lows of the emotions flowing so boldly throughout this story. It is a ride to read--and I mean that in a very positive way . A few of my favorite parts: “People need me.” The statement fell so effortlessly from his lips and yet it was the first time he could remember ever being able to speak it aloud. How many times had he needed to get out of the newsroom or a taxi or an interview or a quiet evening with a friend and been unable to tell anyone the true reason he was leaving? How many times had he uttered feeble excuses and hated lies in place of this simple sentence composed of only three words? It was, at once, incredibly liberating and terribly frightening to finally have the truth exposed to open air. So very true--such a simple statement, yet, really, it means and shows so much... “I’m Clark,” he said, and for all that it sounded inane, he so desperately wanted that to be the truth, so fiercely fought to ensure that that statement remained the honest-to-God truth at all times, no matter what he wore. He couldn’t imagine being anyone--anything--else, couldn’t imagine a day when he could no longer be the man his parents had raised him to be. Clark was a human, a man who belonged here, a man who could have friends and family, a regular, *ordinary* man who wasn’t feared for spectacular powers.
A man who put on an incredibly tight Suit to use those powers without sacrificing his life. A man who loved the woman now staring at him with an expression he dared not interpret. Very honest reality of 'where' Clark is (in his mentality), and of who Clark is. Great job! Hurt. And sad. And disappointed. And so terribly exhausted. And wholly, utterly destroyed. Because he knew she couldn’t have known Clark and Superman were the same man, but why couldn’t she have loved Clark as much as she idolized Superman? Why couldn’t she have given Clark the same chance she’d given Luthor--was seemingly *continuing* to give to Luthor? Why had she so easily been able to dismiss the real parts of him when he couldn’t, for the life of him, tear himself away from her?
“Clark.”
He almost collapsed then, almost lost all density and strength in every part of his body, almost turned incorporeal and ghosted away. She had called him Clark. Not Superman, not some amalgam of Superman and Clark, not liar, not any of the names she doubtless was thinking at him. Just Clark. And when he had only moments earlier given up all hope of ever being Clark to her again, this seemed a touch of grace he hadn’t even dared hope he’d be given. Amazing part--what saying 'Clark' really means. Before, every time he’d picked her up, he’d been intent on the sounds of whatever crime had been occurring, focused on deciphering which incident needed him first, distracted by trying to figure out where he could leave Lois so she wouldn’t get hurt, preoccupied in formulating his plan of action. But now, with no alarms to capture his attention, he had nothing to protect him from the feel of Lois in his arms, from the scent of her hair and skin so close to him, from the sound of her heart beating and her even breaths and her small shifts, from the sensation of her warmth seeping into him, threatening to melt that haze of numbness that cloaked him in what little protection it could offer. Now, with her in his arms, he had only a trip that stretched out an eternity between Metropolis and Kansas, with nothing at all to keep him safe from Lois’s soft proximity.
And with her so silent, with her face so near to his, with her arms so trustingly looped around his neck, with her expression quiet and relaxed…well, suddenly he was having a hard time remembering that the anger hidden beneath his invulnerable surface had been ignited by her, that the very real pain lodged like concrete in his chest had been inflicted by her, that the multitude of memories starting with capital letters and boiling within him had become off-limits to his own recollection because of her part in them. Beautifully written, emotionally felt. 
"Where's Clark?" "Right here."
...two simple sentences--with so much meaning.
~Lois and Clark in 'House of Luthor'~
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Apr 2013
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Wow. Just… wow. Like everyone, I'm finding the interactions between Clark and Lois to be wonderful, but THIS is the part that's really going to stay with me. For a moment, he felt the familiar panic with his own frailties and limitations, the gaps in his knowledge and the very real knowledge of his own weakness, the things he couldn’t do and the burden of all that depended on him. For a moment, he felt the familiar urge to curl up into a tight ball and shut out the jagged, harsh, painful pleas for his help, to go back to his apartment in Metropolis or his parents’ farmhouse in Smallville and pretend, for just an hour, a day, a week, that he didn’t hold such breathtaking, soul-crushing responsibility on his shoulders.
And then, as he always did, he fought off the cowardice, fought off the exhaustion, focused his every ounce of attention on the emergency before him--and he became Superman. It's just SO powerful, and goes right to the core of who he is and how he lives his life. Think I'm probably going to reread this section a few times to really catch all the wonderful nuance!
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Aug 2012
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Originally posted by ColleenMA: Wow. Just… wow. Like everyone, I'm finding the interactions between Clark and Lois to be wonderful, but THIS is the part that's really going to stay with me.
For a moment, he felt the familiar panic with his own frailties and limitations, the gaps in his knowledge and the very real knowledge of his own weakness, the things he couldn’t do and the burden of all that depended on him. For a moment, he felt the familiar urge to curl up into a tight ball and shut out the jagged, harsh, painful pleas for his help, to go back to his apartment in Metropolis or his parents’ farmhouse in Smallville and pretend, for just an hour, a day, a week, that he didn’t hold such breathtaking, soul-crushing responsibility on his shoulders.
And then, as he always did, he fought off the cowardice, fought off the exhaustion, focused his every ounce of attention on the emergency before him--and he became Superman. Yeah, I'm right there with ya. Wow.
"It's the mythology of a sun god who wished he was a man because he saw something so great in us. It's the story of a hero who could move whole worlds and see through stars and hear a whisper on the other side of the planet... ...and who fell in love with a storyteller." - ashmaht (x)
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
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Hi AK:
This is a really interesting take on L&C's relationship. As an old cruise ship veteran, I can attest that you got it pretty much right. The thing is that modern cruise ships hold about 2,000 or more passengers and a large crew. I did get a touch confused about who was doing what to whom. There was a rescue boat, right? And Superman was talking to the Captain of the rescue boat. Because the Captain of the cruise ship would be the last off the ship. And there are life boats for all the passengers and crew.
Oh, by the way, there are ships holding 5,000 passengers and larger ships on the way. Supes will have his hands full in the future!
Keep the story coming!
regards
Artemis
History is easy once you've lived it. - Duncan MacLeod
Writing history is easy once you've lived it. - Artemis
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
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With stories I am particularly enjoying, I often spend my time between posts imagining what the next part might bring. Here, it seemed natural to me that Lois would not let the conversation end as it did. What would she do? I imagined her tracking him down at his apartment to talk with him there. I imagined him flying off to Smallville, and Lois calling to give him what-for on the phone. I imagined Lois searching for him, but not finding him - getting angrier the longer she searched. But I have to admit, I never imagined her just reaching up and grabbing his ankle to prevent him getting away in the first place. Well played, Lois. Some of my favorite lines, phrases and passages: The visual of Lois, tugging on his pants leg "until he accommodated her and dropped downward." Clark stubbornly keeping the soles of his feet an inch off the ground, "unwilling to concede defeat so easily." "A sense of urgency overtook him--because she was thinking this through right now" - and Clark knowing he that if he wants to protect what's left of his heart he needs leave before she finally accepts the truth (and lashes out at him) Clark feeling the entire world pausing on the "threshold between his truth and her reaction" Lois stepping up into this arms and when he doesn't move, raising her eyebrows impatiently, so that "and under the weight of her expectation, he found himself lifting up into the air" Clark’s heart sinking "even deeper into his chest cavity, carving out a black hole that threatened to turn everything inside him into a vacuum" Clark's "golden fantasy" of Lois one day knowing the truth turning into "dross" Anger flooding Clark "like outreaching waves from that ocean of emotion within him" because Lois had never looked past his facade the way he'd seen past hers. OK, enough. I could go on and on, but you get the point. I love the way you write. Looking forward to reading the next part...
"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution" - Daniel Webster
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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I like Lois insisting Clark take her with him. I didn't expect her to be able to stop his fleeing at all. Insisting he bring her along is a 100% Lois move.
This is high emotional stuff. I was really afraid it was Lois who had somehow managed to get in the path of the fire for a bit.
I hope Lois is not too mad about Clark running off to Indonesia without her. I also hope he makes his way back.
John Pack Lambert
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Features Writer
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OP
Features Writer
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 966 |
Thanks for making me laugh, chelo! I'm sorry your family had to endure well-cooked breakfasts, but on the other hand, overjoyed you like the story so much! And twice-weekly posting is going to have to be how it is because though my betas are AWESOME and got my second-to-last chapter back to me right away, I am having a hard time finishing the last one -- because there's SO much that needs to go in it. I hope you like them long because...it's going to be an epic. I sure hope Lois & Clark come through it all right in the end, Ultra Woman -- I'll let you know when I get to that ending point!  Thanks, KatharineKent! So glad you're enjoying -- and I certainly hope Lois is softening too! Writing our favorite couple arguing is one of the hardest things I've ever written, quite emotionally exhausting! Umm...yeah, I really wasn't kidding, Virginia. Poor Clark probably wishes I had never watched L&C, because all I've done since is make terrible things happen to him -- it's all because he's my favorite character! My favorite characters always go through the worst things!  Thanks for verbalizing all the things I was inwardly ranting at Lois while writing these scenes! Aww, thanks, LMA. I always hope my writing comes off as poetic, instead of as long-winded with tons of run-on sentences and too much character introspection!  I am REALLY glad you're enjoying it! Actually, ColleenMA and Kismatt, I love that you drew that paragraph out. This story kind of started out as me trying to show all the reasons Clark couldn't have told Lois the truth at this stage of the game, but it didn't stay that way for very long. Instead, it pretty much turned into an exploration of Clark and Superman and the line between them and how each of those personas ties defines and limits the other one -- couldn't put all that in the description, though! Writing the parts with the cruise ship and others were hard, but incredibly illuminating, and I'm glad that they came out that way for other readers, too! Hey, thank you, Artemis!! So glad that that scene came through all right -- I was pretty worried about it. And yes, actually when I went to research cruise ships and read how many people were usually on each one, I couldn't believe it so I lowered the number in the story thinking no one else would believe it either. 5000 sounds like WAYYY too many! And yes, Superman stopped to talk to the rescue boat come to help the life boats that were floundering in the chaos. I'm always so glad to see your posts, Vicki, and to hear that you don't stop thinking about the story once you're done reading it. Some of the lines you pulled were my favorites too -- particularly Clark keeping his feet just slightly off the ground, which seemed to me such a perfect representation of the give-and-pull of their relationship in those early days -- and I'm just so thrilled that anyone likes my writing well enough to remember turns of phrases! Thanks, John! this story turned into pretty much one of the most up-front emotional things I've ever written! And I, too, hope Lois isn't angry at Clark for very long -- I never like it too much when she's mad at him! Thank you to everyone who's read and enjoyed, and a special thanks to those who review and let me know what they think of it!
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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“So you say,” she scoffed. “But I can’t believe anything you say, can I? Or Jonathan and Martha, apparently, because they lied too!”
“You’re right,” Clark said, and now the chill of the air, climbing up from his spine to enter his throat, had taken root in his voice, freezing it and turning it bleak and barren. “I guess lying is only acceptable when you do it.” Wow. Wow. This exchange, after you'd built up to it, just hit me hard. The truth is out there between them now, but there's a whole lot of bitterness. You're capturing everything wonderfully. Excellent. Outstanding. /running out of adjectives here/ Post more soon!
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Features Writer
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OP
Features Writer
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 966 |
Thanks, Iolanthe! That quote you pulled was actually one of my favorites, though in a harsh kind of way. Writing Lois and Clark arguing is not one of my favorite things, and I had a lot of trouble getting this exchange perfect -- but I watched Tempus Fugitive, and that line is something I wanted Clark to tell Lois so bad that I had to put it here. And yeah, lots of bitterness!  Hopefully, everything will come out right int he end, though!
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