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#Krypton is still gone
proneterror204 · 2 months
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Dan-el god of death 2
Danny was so exited! Clockwork had sent him to an Alien planet! Well technically he was the alien, but he was on another planet! From the looks of it their culture had just entered its medieval era and was ending a massive war. Danny was sent to cleanup all the resentful undead and evil cults, but surly Clockwork wouldn't mind if he experienced some culture. Right?
Due to Clockworks amulet he could translate their language and his name came out as Dan-el. Which was close enough. Apparently alot of the people had seen his fights with the undead. He hung around and taught them somethings and learned about their culture, religion, and most important their stars. Till one day he looked around and had an "Oh Shit" moment when he discovered maybe he had gone to far and taught to much. He had to leave.
Clockwork sent him back to Krypton( Why did that sound so familiar?) multiple times. Each time Danny found himself in new era's. Then Danny noticed something. As the people, Kryptonians, thanked and praised him, he started to feel it. He started to notice that he was getting stronger in and out of time travel. He wondered why?
Clockwork told him. He told of how Krypton had dubed him the god of death. How they told the legend of his deeds on and off Krypton. His fights with Plasmius and Pariah Dark, his half death, and his powers. All went down as in Kryptonian mythology of Dan-el the god of death. Then he learned of Krypton's fate and the last Kryptonians. (Danny cried)
A week later as Danny lay in bed failing to go to sleep, he felt it. Someone still believed.
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natalievoncatte · 27 days
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On Krypton, vows had meaning. Proclamations were not made lightly, and promises were not given casually. Kara’s peers wouldn’t throw one out as a reassurance, or to settle an argument. They were a logical people. They didn’t deceive, didn’t speak words they didn’t know to be true, and didn’t give opinions that were not informed. Society was ordered and regimented, and everyone put the greater good before themselves. So if you made a promise, no matter how great or how small, you would do it.
Kara learned, later in life, that a lot of her birth culture was, to use an English word that had no equivalent in her language, bullshit. Kryptonians would, she thought, claim that they had no use for such a vulgar term for cavalier prevarication because they did not practice it. That would had been a lie.
Her parents bullshitted her. They bullshitted her about the society she was growing up in. Her world wasn’t a real of perfect logic and order, it was a hidebound, decaying ex-empire that put tradition so irrationally high on a pedestal that they let their world be destroyed and all but a handful of their people wiped out because tradition said that her uncle was wrong about the planetary core going unstable.
Nevertheless, when Kara made a promise, she meant it. When she said she’d vowed to protect her adoptive home with her life, she meant it. Those words all but signed her life away in service to the cause. She was this way in everything, from saving the world down to brining Cat Grant a precisely prepared cup of coffee. Her promises meant something.
That was why she filled herself with dread the instant a promise, given unthinkingly in the heat of the moment, tumbled out of her mouth.
I will always be your friend, and I will always protect you.
She’d dishonored herself with the promise, one broken as it was made. She held Lena tight, speaking with conviction, and promised to be a friend even as she lied, swore to protect even as she deceived. It was a promise that couldn’t be kept no matter what she did.
Kara had become human in so many ways, and it gnawed at her. Another English word that had no exact Kryptonian equivalent was freedom. A proper Kryptonian would be horrified at ideas that boiled down to “I can do what I want”; I can choose my career, my partner, my life. I can put fulfillment ahead of the role chosen for me by those who know better. Yet Kara had embraced it full throated, making choices whenever she could.
The one thing she would never give up was the value of an oath.
She was over the Pacific, thinking. She would come out here from time to time to think and clear her head when the city soundscape became overwhelming, and just let herself drift in the air. There were no texts to agonize over, no emails from Snapper, nothing but herself and the lapping of waves and the distant rumble of storms over the open ocean.
She’d been coming out here more and more of late, not to think but to avoid thinking.
Because Lena knew, and Kara knew something was wrong. She could be dense about human behavior sometimes, but she was no fool… and she had super senses. She could read Lena’s pulse and see infrared flush of her skin and spot micro-movements of her eyes. Kara wanted desperately to believe that nothing was wrong but her instincts said otherwise.
When Kara told her, Lena had gone stock still and stared at her with what Kara thought was hatred, bringing tears. She’d tried to tell her how sorry she was, but Lena had just walked right past her and only later returned to her usual self.
Almost.
Kara had thrown herself into it, going on a campaign of what Alex had called ‘peacocking’ for some reason, all but burying Lena with super-stunts like fetching fresh pastries from French patissiers. Lena had smiled and thanked her but there was something flat and distant in it, and Kara ignored it and insisted that all was well.
Out here, with just the storms and her secrets, she knew it wasn’t.
Kara fingered the crest on her chest, worrying her thumb over the crimson fabric of the El rune. This meant something. It meant both ‘hope’ and ‘stronger together’; the two ideas were inextricably linked but her cousin only understood one of the meanings, because Kryptonian pictographic language was complex, and he was not Kryptonian in any way that mattered.
That was another great failing, a promise that Kara made but didn’t keep. By her people’s standards, there was no shame in that; one did not bear the responsibility of a promise made under duress, or a promise that others demanded knowing that it couldn’t be kept.
The only one she’d kept Kryptonian was herself, deep in a secret corner of her soul that meant it if she said she’d be at your birthday party or bring you a donut. The part that treated promises like promises.
There was only one way to cleanse herself, and remove her shame. She knew what it was, but she was afraid. Kara had battled monsters and gods, faced death more than once, lost more than any person should have to lose in a dozen lifetimes, but there was one thing she feared above all others.
She feared that first honest look on Lena’s shocked face more than she feared an eternity without stars. She could live in the void between realities; a void without Lena would kill her more surely than any green poison.
Now. She had to do it now, before she lost her nerve. She flew back to the city, flew hard, slowing only to land on Lena’s balcony, softly. As she raised her hand to knock on the glass of the door, she hesitated, nearly turned back.
Lena opened it, and Kara let out a slow breath. Lena was wearing only a loose, flowing floral robe, with clearly nothing beneath it. Terror made her listen- if Lena had a guest in that state, Kara might just fling herself into the sun and be done with it.
She was alone. Lena shifted on her feet.
“Why are you all wet?”
Kara’s hair was damp with sea spray and she’d flown through a few clouds on her way back.
“I like to fly over the ocean and think.”
“Well, come in here already. Let me get you a towel. Do you want something to change into?”
Kara swallowed hard. No. She wanted the honor of her family on her chest right now. She needed it to make her brave, like her father said it would when he sent her into the void. She did take the towel.
Lena had been enjoying her tea and sad breakfast -toast with jam- before Kara arrived. She left it on the counter and sat on her couch, leaving Kara to pace.
“I can tell you’re upset,” said Lena. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“Everything,” said Kara. “I have a lot to say and I don’t know how to say it. I haven’t told you the full truth and I have to. I need to. It’s eating me alive inside.”
Lena swallowed hard, her heart racing.
“Please don’t tell me you’re Batman, too.”
“Lena, this is serious.”
Kara swept across the room and knelt in front of her, and Lena’s eyes shot open wide in surprise. Kara looked at the carpet in front of her, unable to look Lena in the eye.
“A long time ago, I promised you I’d always take care of you, and I didn’t. I was lying to you when I said it and I lied to you for years after.”
“Kara…”
“Please,” desperation choked her voice, “let me finish. I owe you the full truth. I promised, and promises are sacred to Kryptonians. My soul will be stained forever unless I fulfill the oath I made.”
“It wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“Yes it was,” said Kara. “It was to me. It was everything to me. Please.”
Lena cleared her throat. “Okay.”
“I told you I lied to you to protect you. That was another lie. That’s not why I did it. I lied because I was weak and I put my own feelings ahead of doing what was right. I was scared. I was scared that if you knew it would change how you saw me and it would change our relationship. You were the only person I could almost be myself with and I didn’t want that to change. You were a safe person I could go to without having to be Supergirl.”
Lena was studying her, a soft hint of skepticism in her expression.
Kara stood up and paced.
“I don’t know how to do this, Lena. I may act human and look human but I’m not. I grew up on another planet with another culture and so many things about this world are just totally different from how I was raised.”
Kara took a deep breath.
“On Krypton we didn’t have queerness. People didn’t value freedom of choice. You did what society told you to do. You joined the guild you were pledge to at birth and married the person you were told to marry and had the offspring you were told to have and raised them to do the same thing. The same fucking thing.”
Lena sat up at Kara’s sudden, vehement profanity.
“I didn’t know the word freedom until I arrived here. I had no concept of it. I had no idea how fragile and precious it is. Sure, I talked about it and wrote essays about it in school, but I didn’t get it. Not until I met you.”
Kara looked at Lena.
“You are my freedom. You’re the first thing I’ve ever chosen, really chosen, in my life, besides being Supergirl. It was you that made me look Cat Grant and Alex both in the eyes and say ‘no, this is what I want, this is how it’s going to be for me and it’s my choice, not yours.’ Back home I never, ever would have even thought what I’m about to say now.”
Kara swallowed, hard.
“I was afraid to tell you because I was afraid it would change our relationship. I was afraid you’d hate me because I kept the secret too long, but I was also afraid of what has to come after confessing my identity to you, Lena. The next part is even harder.”
“Kara,” Lena began.
“I have feelings for you.”
Lena went still, her eyes wide. “What did you say?”
“I want to be myself with you. My whole self, my real self. Not the person I think I have to be to please someone else. I want to tell you everything you want to know about my home and my people and my life and I want to know everything about you. I want to hear you laugh for me and see the look in your eyes when you’re happy to see me. I want to care for you when you’re sick and hold you when you’re sad and be the person that matters to you like you matter to me.”
Kara sucked in a deep breath.
“I used to think I was happy just being Kara with you. Not being Kara Danvers or Kara Zoe-El, just me… but I’m not me without both of those pieces and being without them isn’t good enough. I want you to know the real me. The girl from Krypton who went to high school in California.”
Lena stood up slowly, clearly forcing her breathing even. She adjusted her robe around herself, and looked at Kara for too long a time, silent.
“I hurt you when I promised I’d protect you and I’ll never forgive myself for that.”
“What do you want from me? To tell you it’s okay?” said Lena. “Is that what you want? Because it’s fucking not.”
Kara flinched. She opened her mouth, then closed it.
Lena had given her this courtesy and she’d give it in return.
“It wasn’t just you, Kara. I built my whole life around you and your friends and they became my friends. You gave me a normal world. I got to be a regular girl when I was with you and the others. Do you have any idea what that means to me? What you did to me when you ripped it away? Do you have any idea how you’ve torn me to shreds?”
Kara choked a little, and tried to hold back the tears, and failed.
“I killed Lex. I killed him and I hid his body, myself. I killed my brother for you. And the worst part is I’d do it again. If it was him or you I’d kill him again.”
Cold dread flooded through her.
“That was my fault. That was exactly the kind of thing that I should have protected you from, and I failed you." Kara's breath hitched as she bit back a sob. "I should go."
Lena moved quickly and grabbed her arm tight. "Don't you fucking dare leave. You can't just say those things to me and leave."
Kara's nostrils flared as she sucked in a big breath.
"Lex told me who you were as he was dying. He showed me."
Kara looked at her. "Oh."
"I started to hate you. I started to believe the things he said about you. And what happened then? You told me! You just blurted it out!"
Lena choked down a sob of her own, and something in Kara shattered. Tentatively, carefully, Kara pulled her into a gentle hug, and Lena let her.
"I don't know what to do anymore," Lena whispered into Kara's chest. "I've lost everything."
Kara held her closer, breathing the soft scent of her shower-damp hair.
"I don't know what to do either," Kara admitted. "I just knew I couldn't bear to lie to you again, even by omission. I'll go if you want."
"You're not leaving," said Lena. "I don't want you to go. Promise you won't leave me."
Kara shivered. "Lena…"
"Promise."
"I promise," Kara whispered.
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nitewrighter · 9 months
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Lois, leaning against the back of Superman's chair as he's poking at the computer in the Fortress of Solitude: I just--I know Professor Hamilton has gone over this a million times, but it's still so crazy to try and wrap my head around how statistically impossible it is that Kryptonians can look so much like us.
Superman, scrolling through Kryptonian archives: Mm-hmm.
Lois: Like I know on a physiological level you're different enough that the radiation of our sun gives you those powers, but still--like, ten fingers and ten toes! What are the odds!
Superman: Krypton has--well, had, dogs, too, if I'm reading this right.
Lois: What?! *jams her face in next to Superman's to look at the screen* How the hell do you have dogs?
Superman: Dog trees.
Lois: What?
Superman: The dogs grow on trees.
Lois: ...
Lois: I thought we agreed that you don't get to fuck with me now that I'm in on the whole secret identity thing.
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puppetmaster13u · 4 months
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Prompt 128
Everything was gone. But it had been gone for a long time. Cities crumbling to dust under the march of time and under the battering of the weakening sun. Everyone had long since passed into the realm of the dead, and he had long since retreated from the land of the living as he aged, growing larger amidst Time’s coils. 
He’d long since stopped being known as Danny to most, his true Name cradled in his core as it grew in power and importance with his own primordial ascendence. Others called him by just as many names as Clockwork, if not more as his planets grew life, his galaxies cultivating their own beings into existence. 
To some he was a creator, the bringer of life itself. To others he was destruction, the end of all. So many names, so many even coming close to his Name, each cradled gently by his core. 
He was Space, he was stardust, he was a blackhole, the far off galaxies, newborn stars forming in his hands and dying with a blink. Galaxies dancing in his hair, what was, what will be, splintering into planes amidst his strands of hair. 
He was Balance, chaos and order dancing together on a tightrope twisting through existence. He was Phantom, a name whispered amidst the Realms as a guardian, a protector, and yet a hunter, a destroyer at once. 
He was a Brother, a Father, an Uncle, a Son. He was many things, and that was fine with him, but even if hypothetically he should be impartial, he would freely admit he had favorites. Danielle, his little Moon, his first Daughter and her children of Krypton. Dan, his raging Sun, his Son and his little Laughing Magicians. Clockwork, his Father of Time, and his Speedsters who raced through timelines like giggling toddlers, not really understanding but loved all the same. 
His dear Sister’s children, her Ma'aleca'andrans and Atlanteans she tenderly cradled and protected as long as she could before sleep overtook her. His dear Tucker’s Champions, the children of Magic lost and alone. His dear Sam’s children of Lazarus, dancing with blades and between life and death. 
Their dear children that came from all of their blood. The Lords of Chaos, of Order, entire Cities brought to life by their magic, entire planets whose heartbeats pulsed with their own. 
Everything of what they had once been was gone. And it had been gone for a long time. But they were all still here. For Death was just as much a beginning, as it was the end. 
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mysterycitrus · 29 days
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European Dick Grayson could relate to immigrant story Superman probably
it’d be a super interesting parallel to both kara and clark — especially when dick ends up taking the nightwing mantle. like… u lose everything you’ve ever known, and everything there ever was, and u have to rebuild urself in an alien world that can be so unkind to u. i appreciate that a narrative through line for superman comics as a whole cause u see that with kon and chris as well. that’s crazy!!!
like…,, there’s a primary disconnection from ur culture as a result of violence (a mass extinction event in the case of krypton, and american bureaucracy with the graysons) but there’s also the reconnection. like, that kind of grief is profound. how do u mourn what’s gone if u don’t entirely know what was supposed to be there? how do u stop grieving a shared memory rather than just a place? that’s nuts. that connection is something u spend ur whole life rebuilding. the act of learning what you’ve lost and can’t return to is painful, and it never stops. it’s such a heavy burden to carry the weight of what came before u, and what u outlived. she still dreams of krypton!!
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cosmosrebellion · 7 months
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I want to talk about how much I love this.
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Here's the thing, I used to be into comics a lot, and a theme a lot of Superman comics went to was that Krypton was an evil, cold and corrupt society where every single person who isn't 't related to Superman deserved to die.
I hate that theme so much because the tragedy of an entire civilization dying should not be looked with indifference. One of the genius things about what motivates Clark is that that Krypton exploding despite being an extremely advanced society represents the universe screaming at him that life is fragile and can be gone in an instant. And usually also a environmental cautionary tale.
Saying that Superman and his extended family are the only good thing that came out of Krypton really irks me.
The reason it works in MAWS is first because it's used as character work for Clark. He is devastated at the thought that his people were violent conquerors and that they might have sent him to Earth as a weapon.
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And second, Zero Day is presented out of context. We still barely saw anything of what Krypton and its society looks like, and our only glimpses are a Superman-esque villain and a bunch of robots that have Brainiac's symbol on them. It's supposed to throw off the viewer and play with our expectations. Clark figuring out what Krypton actually was and how it will influence him is one of the shows plot points and I really hope they go out of their way to show Krypton in a nuanced way.
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fazedlight · 22 days
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Burn
Over. And over. And over again.
Kara stared at the screen as she watched the simulation of Argo’s destruction - the dancing lights of the wave erasing the small asteroid - as she relived the familiar sensation of becoming the last daughter of Krypton.
Kara swiped at the simulation, shifting to Earth-38. Her adopted planet, a culture that she had once found alien and strange. Her younger self could never have imagined the love she would have for this green and blue marble, for the people of the new strange city who would each become lights. Lights that had been extinguished.
For a second time, she watched as her home was wiped from stars.
The simulation showed again how Earth had been scattered into stardust, and she thought about her loved ones who had managed to survive, stuck on one of the multitude of ships in a haphazard fleet around her above Earth-1. She was desperate to get them all on the Waverider, to give Alex a hug, to beg Lena’s forgiveness, even to hear an encouraging word from Cat… if they had made it.
Paragon of Hope, she thought, ripping off her glasses to watch the simulation again. I’m not the paragon of anything.
“An entire universe wiped from existence,” came a familiar voice behind her, sending chills up her spine, “Distilled down to a computer graphic…”
Kara spun on her heel, eyes wide in disbelief. But the bald, smirking man in front of her was real - and amused. “Gotta say,” he said, “Missing that wow factor.”
“Lena killed you,” Kara growled, feeling the rush of adrenaline in her veins. She killed you and she lost me, Kara’s mind screamed. She killed you for me and now she can never forgive me.
“Only for a little while,” Lex winked back.
There were lines she didn’t cross on Earth. No death if she could help it, and certainly no cold-blooded murder. But as she marched forward - eyes burning red and still carrying the shredded pain of grief in her chest - her only thought was I lost Lena for you. The planets of both her Houses were gone, Lena despised her if she had even survived, and there was nothing left but incoherent rage. Lena killed you, Kara thought, and I will keep it that way.
“Everyone has a part to play,” came the fractured voice of the Monitor, like a cold wave washing her back from the edge. “Even Lex Luthor.” Kara halted, dimming her eyes. And though she argued back, feeling her distrust bubble over with rage of the unsaved humans and Oliver and the destruction that was yet to come, she also wrestled numbly. Both with what the Monitor had done…
And what she had been prepared to do.
------- If you want a different take on Crisis, I also wrote a supercorp version a while ago.
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jesncin · 4 months
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Coddling Colonizer Guilt
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"Performative diversity is when MAWS features a Native American variant of Lois Lane in the multiverse episode only to end the season on a Thanksgiving episode."
...is something I like to joke with my friends as a shorthand for referencing MAWS' squeamish approach to politics while still trying to reap the clout of "diverse representation". I want to get my thoughts out there and perhaps start a discussion over why this feels off.
Some disclaimers: Firstly, I'm not Native American. Understand this is an observation I'm making from an outsider perspective with no personal authority. I'm just a disappointed Asian Lois Lane fan. Secondly, I know the MAWS crew/creators had no malicious intent in any of these (what I consider) poor writing decisions. I'm simply here to challenge and analyze these narrative and visual choices.
MAWS takes a fairly controversial take on Superman mythos so far. Unlike Superman's historic roots as an allegory for Jewish immigrants with Clark coming from a Kryptonian socialist utopia (leading the imperfect people of Earth to a better tomorrow), MAWS chooses instead to reimagine Superman as a descendant from a planet of "alien invaders". If the leaked(?) concept art (warning potential spoilers for s2) is to be believed, Clark is the direct descendent of the leaders of the "Kryptonian Empire". Supposedly gone are the parents of Superman being scientists that warn of the destruction of their home planet- instead we have the "proud, loving, brilliant" "leaders of the Kryptonian Empire".
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While we don't know if this is the direction the show is going in, there are already cryptic hints of it being planted and thematic elements set up that point to it being a possibility. Clark had spent a majority of the season wondering what/who he is (being incapable of talking to Jor-El's hologram because of a language barrier) only to find out his supposed origins in episode 9. He's devastated learning that he's an alien invader and, once he regroups with his friends, angsts about believing he's a weapon sent from Krypton to invade Earth. Asian-Lois Lane and Black-Jimmy Olsen assure White-passing-alien-man Clark Kent that he's different and not like other colonizers. Clark ultimately saves the day, proving he's an exception. It's curious then that the season ends on Thanksgiving.
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As I've mentioned before, MAWS is exhaustively squeamish with getting political. Whatever happens in the show that resembles "themes" is quickly contradicted with very little consistent internal logic. One minute Superman is supposedly a threat that "wipes out good American jobs", should "go back to where he came from" and Lois makes a hope speech about how we shouldn't treat people who "are different" and "don't look like us" (??) with cruelty (so Clark's an immigrant going through xenophobia?) and the next he's a redeemed colonizer (a more prominent thematic arc). One minute Clark is "different" and scared of being othered- likened to a gay couple and allegorically closeted, and the next his friends call him out for being a lying liar for not disclosing his marginalized identity within a week (the narrative frames Lois and Jimmy as being in the right). This show's writing is non-committal with what it wants to say, and largely goes on vibes. That is to say I don't think the writers intended for the themes of colonizer guilt to accidentally tie into Thanksgiving as a set piece for their final episode.
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I'm sure the reason the writers chose Thanksgiving as their final episode is because it's "relateable". Half the episode is dedicated to slice of life family reunion shenanigans and the dang turkey still not being cooked through. But in choosing Thanksgiving, the writers told on themselves here with their biases. The existence of Thanksgiving implies the existence of genocide (of Native American people) by colonists in the MAWS universe. And yet Black Jimmy Olsen doesn't know what racism is (Mallah and the Brain give him a judgmental stare as Jimmy admits he can't relate to being violently marginalized) and Asian American Lois Lane doesn't understand immigration and xenophobia (constantly being entitled to Clark's immigrant identity, being incapable of comprehending why he would keep it a secret, because secrets are lies). The MAWS crew wanted a "relateable" set piece but in doing so ended up reinforcing the historical revisionism the holiday entails. A foreign colonizer sharing a meal with his friends of color on Earth, whose culture, history, and identity are all white washed.
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I would like to challenge this idea that Thanksgiving is somehow the "relateable" choice. Why pick this holiday? Why not celebrate Thanksgiving as a National Day of Mourning (as some Native Americans do)? Why not pick any Jewish holiday as a nod to Superman's creators (ignoring this version's colonizer interpretation for a second)? Why not pick Lunar New Year, a holiday celebrated by many people including Koreans (Seollal in South Korea)? It could've been another fun opportunity to showcase Lois' heritage, and create a fusion of cultures from Jimmy and Clark's families. At its most non-political and secular, why couldn't they pick any weekend? This is what happens when a show doesn't consider its world building and setting in a holistic way. MAWS will nod to xenophobic rhetoric, portray allegorical queer marginalization, and make the vaguest nods to systemic bigotry (Prof Ivo displaced a whole neighborhood! Yet we never hear from those figurative displaced people). But it does nothing to discuss any of that on a deeper level. Its characters of color don't know what racism is and Thanksgiving is just a fun family reunion, guys.
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All this and they had the audacity to sneak in a Native American Lois Lane in the multiverse episode?? Why is she, out of all the Lois Lanes in this screencap, the only one in full traditional wear? Why isn't she in a smart casual business fit like Black Lois and STAS white Lois? Would she not have been recognizably Native American to the non-Native audience otherwise? Isn't this tokenizing? Do you think she has a xenophobic dad in the military like Korean American Lois does?
But that fits MAWS' approach to diversity, doesn't it? Surface level cultural nods, maybe make Lois wear a hanbok one time, and let the audience eat it up. Never mind that both Korean American Lois and Native American Lois have been stripped of their culture and history in every other aspect.
I use the word "relateable" a lot here, but I think the important question to ask is "relateable for who?". 'Immigrant' is too charged a word, so MAWS universalizes Clark's marginalization to "being different". Superman isn't even an immigrant in this version, that was all a smokescreen for the twist that he's actually a descendent of colonizers! Being wracked with colonizer guilt is way more relateable to the white audience than being an immigrant, surely. Thanksgiving is more relateable than celebrating any culturally specific holiday our "diverse reimagining" could have represented. Characters of color being functionally white (in a way that doesn't threaten middle America) is way more relateable. MAWS is a show that doesn't want to delve into Native American history. It would rather put a Native American Lois hologram on a pedestal and call it a day.
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autisticlenaluthor · 6 months
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Earth
Krypton is gone. But fifteen years later, Kara is still breathing. 
She is still trying to remember how to twist her tongue around the native words that once flew right out of her. 
She is still learning to find a place for her grief. 
She is still angry. 
She is still suffocated by the hope that maybe one day she’ll wake up and she’ll be back in her childhood bedroom. Eleven years old again, before anything bad ever happened. 
She is still in love with the stars and how on Earth, they look so different. 
She is still hurting. 
Krypton is gone. But Kara lives. 
She lives because she looks forward to lunch dates with Lena too much to leave them behind 
She lives for the summers she spends in Midvale with Eliza and Alex 
She lives so that her culture won’t be lost entirely 
She lives for her people who didn’t get to.
Krypton is gone, but Kara is here; determined to find a place for herself.
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vox-ex · 5 months
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game
supercorptober 2023
“There is no sun without shadow, and it is essential to know the night.” ― Albert Camus
or Kara tells Lena about the stars in a different kind of way.
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Lena wakes to the soft brush of lips, the warmth of Kara's breath and the early morning sun on her bare back.
"We had constellations on Krypton —ehl giehrehd — star pathways."
Her voice is a low murmur against her shoulder. Lena can feel her thoughts drifting along with the gentle pressure against her skin.
Kara continues to speak, her words wrapping around Lena like the sheets pooled at her waist.
"But the stars are different here." Kara muses," and when I first got here, I'd try to make them fit. Redraw the lines, connect them together until I could almost imagine them the same."
Lena shifts slightly, folding her arms underneath her. The muscles on her back move with her, altering the landscape beneath Kara's fingers, which carefully follow.
"It became a game eventually," Kara continues, her voice soft and reminiscent. "Alex and I would sit together on the roof when I couldn't sleep. We would make up new constellations, new stories to go with them."
Lena pictures the night sky hidden behind the morning light rushing in. Imagines the two of them together, lying side by side in a different way.
Kara's fingers pause — become even more deliberate — move from the freckle at the base of her neck to the three along the border of her shoulder blade and then to the two that sit two in the hollow of her back.
Lena sighs, arching into the sensation. She feels weightless and grounded all at once. She glances over her shoulder, urges her to continue.
"What stories do I tell?"
Kara smiles, eyes dark blue despite the light amber hues of the bedroom, kisses the spot where her fingers just were.
"This one reminds me of one we had."
Her thumbs trace circles over the skin that sits just above the sheets.
"We had twin moons on Krypton. They had been together in the sky as long as there were people to look up at them. There were myths about them — how they were created together by Rao to never be apart."
Kara slides her hand back up along Lena's side to another freckle that rests between her ribs.
"But we had another moon, one that left Krypton's orbit before its destruction. They said it left to circle a yellow sun."
She stops. Hesitates. Fingertips hovering just above Lena's skin.
"When I was a child, I used to imagine how sad the moon must have been" — Kara's voice is barely above a whisper, gone for a moment somewhere else — "to be all alone."
Lena aches to keep her there with her.
"But now, I imagine the moon happy instead."
Knows she still is when lips press into her skin again.
"I imagine the moon did not leave to be alone, but to find the other half Rao created for it."
Lena turns in Kara's arms, rolls over onto her back to look at her.
"And you, do you imagine yourself happy too?"
Kara leans in, kissing the inside of Lena's wrist.
"I don't have to imagine a thing anymore."
Lena's hand grips the front of her shirt, pulls them down together along with gravity into the mattress beneath them, into the ground below them, right through to the stars on the other side.
"You know I don't believe in fate."
"I know."
Kara whispers, the words worn soft with use but laid out long with hope.
She cradles Kara's face, tracing the scar above her eyebrow, the freckles spread across her nose — constellations of her own to follow.
"But I believe in you."
----
read and follow along on Ao3 too
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Text
The sun was just rising in Metropolis' horizon, the beginning of a new day after a tough night of patrol, but Batman was apprehensive still. It had only been a week since... that happened.
What was wrong with him? How could he betray his best friend like that? He knew that the answer to said questions was simpler than he'd ever admit out loud — or even to himself.
The truth was that Bruce had a certain fondness of Superman. Of course he did, the guy was practically a demigod, but that wasn't all there was to him.
The little tweaks, the smallest details, everything came as an overwhelming wave of respect for the man that he couldn't keep buried no matter how much he tried to.
Much to his demise worked that fact, since he'd rather not go through such an experience again.
A week ago, when they had just finished defeating a team up between Joker and Luthor and dropped both at Arkham, they found themselves at the Batcave, as they'd do after an exhausting fight. To catch up, aid each other, finish mission reports, etc. But this time, Bruce wasn't having it.
Earlier, in the fight, Superman launched himself straight into a kryptonite cannon, almost having it explode in his face. If Batman hadn't rushed him out of the scene in time, the Man of Steel would be long gone. He couldn't bear to even think about such absurdity.
Resting under the yellow sun lamp, he looked pure and innocent, like Clark Kent. But also wise and powerful like Kal-el, Son of Krypton. Bruce loved that about him, how he could conjure up the best of both worlds, become the strong hero Metropolis needed while keeping his true self immaculate by the darkness that came along the life of a vigilante.
Batman, cowl off, marched up to the sapphire eyed man with a clear scowl on his face, already scolding him for going off the plan. That he had been an idiot, prepared to let his life be ended if it meant a greater good. Bruce knew that it didn't make Clark stupid, but he had to let that concern out, even if only as anger.
Why couldn't he understand it, that Bruce simply couldn't lose him? That Clark is way too important to be wasting his life on the field like a pawn on a chess board? That, without him, the world would be lost? His world would be lost. He finished his snarky comments ready to move onto the report, when Clark made a sound.
Oddly enough, there was a mocking scoff coming out of the other's mouth.
"So you're allowed to risk your life everyday, but I can't, just because I have powers?" a smug smile. He knew the man was kidding, but the joke felt somehow offensive to him.
"Yes. I'm more replaceable than you; if I went missing or dead, Dick would wear the cowl and keep--"
"But he wouldn't be you." His tone shifted, still soft, but to a seriousness. It was like patting thick wool: solid yet comforting. Eyes glistening with the yellow light; cuts and bruises on his skin fading away like clouds in the wind. "And I wouldn't be me.
A Superman without a Batman just isn't the same, B. I'd probably lose my mind if it weren't for you holding my head in place. Sometimes I get scared thinking of it but... I just wanna spend, all the time that I can making sure that I'll be there when you need me..."
And he could tell, Bruce could tell Clark wasn't sure what that meant himself. If these feelings ran any deeper than their friendship, or made it stronger, or somehow both. He knew the younger man was still speaking, but he crouched and let himself come closer as words flew in and out of his ears. Soon Clark was quiet, staring at the icy ebony eyes that pierced through his own with furrowed brows, but a warm smile, revealing his internal conflict.
The older hero took it as a sign and went in. That was the worst mistake of his life.
Clark stood completely still their lips touched, tensed up at the shoulders, the stubble from Bruce's face rubbed his chin once, then twice, then gave up as the Knight retreated slowly. Then abruptly turned his back on the other, counting his heartbeat down; cape swirling like the wish he had to hide from under that sweet glare.
"Bruce, I..."
"Forget this ever happened. It was just a... moment of weakness. I'll finish the report later."
He didn't look back as he climbed up the stairs up to the Manor; he had a feeling that Clark knew he expected the Cave to be empty when he returned.
As he watches the rays kiss the golden buildings, a blue streak comes alongside a gentle breeze. Clark has been trying to talk about that day ever since — probably to let his friend down slowly, Bruce thinks to himself with pain in his chest — however it wasn't easy to get the Dark Knight to openly discuss his feelings.
This time, he had nowhere to run. No excuse. He wasn't in his city now; he couldn't run to the gargoyle's shadows and disappear. Bruce just couldn't bear to feel this pain any longer, it messed with his brain, it became an obstacle that had to be overcome. He couldn't stand in Superman's way any longer.
As the floating figure made his way closer, slowly, both tried to look confident. It's a force of habit, of course, until Clark broke it by pulling his lips in a brief loop sided smile, greeting his companion. It was ridiculous how Bruce had always wanted to kiss it and, when he did, it was the end of their friendship as he knew.
He sighed internally and braced himself against inevitable rejection.
But it never came.
"Do you regret it?"
"What?" he tilted his head upwards.
"Do you regret it." Clark repeated in another mumble, although he knew the Bat had heard it perfectly.
"No." Bruce let his chin fall again to his chest, gaulets holding onto each knee. Clark sighed.
"I wasn't exactly raised somewhere where people knew what sexualities were, B." he whispered, insecurity all over his usual bright voice.
"I've met your parents. They seem very accepting, in every way." that was their way of saying they adopted an alien they found in their yard, why would they mind if he liked to kiss men or women?
"And they are. That doesn't mean they knew it even existed." a small humoured smile faded in and out. "Folks at school were not that kind. They would bully and make fun of anyone slightly different, even if they had no idea what it meant. I only understood more about it when I was already old enough to drink."
Bruce frowned at the comparison, but kept on listening. The red boots touched the building he was perched on.
"Of course I'll treat anyone who feels that way with the same respect, I'm not a jerk. When it comes to me, though... I still don't know where I'm at in all that stuff."
"I see." Bruce stood up after a silent moment, white lenses showing no emotion. He willed his heartbeat down several times, but it was getting out of hand once again.
"I've been with guys before, I'm sure you've heard."
"Not from trustworthy sources." the disguised reporter grinned with an arched eyebrow. Bruce allowed a single giggle, which sounded more like a scoff to his own ears.
"I've slept with them, yeah." he sucked a breath through his teeth, then pursed his lips. "But I've never really dated any of them."
His heartbeat was out of control now and Clark could hear it, for sure. The way the shining eyes of his best friend reflect the light was breathtaking.
His whole figure was. Being bathed by the earliest sun rays, a golden statue of a god stood before him. The humblest god, he thinks to himself, and somehow said god had chosen to get with him out of anyone else.
"I don't deserve you." He whispers with furrowed eyebrows. He wasn't sure if Clark could see them, but he didn't have to. They can understand each other simply by their tone of voice, another thing he loved about their friendship.
"What? Don't say th--"
"It's true and you know it, Kal. It doesn't matter how much I want to pretend you're just the sweet guy I know, you're also Superman and you have a duty as such. I cannot stand in the way." the Knight's voice was steady and low, but pained. Why couldn't he be selfish for once?
Clark looked hurt, confused overall. Bruce's mumbling was back.
"You're just... Great. To me. And I'm not sure if I can also be great to you. I am... Scared."
His hands are then held by stronger ones. Even through the heavy leather gloves, he could feel the warmth of the whole Sun that is his Clark.
"B, look at me."
He does, and is not surprised to be met with the most compassionate look he knows. It was strong enough to move mountains and destroy planets, but it chose to aid weak souls and lift broken spirits.
Bruce held back an empty smile as Clark blinked, processing thoughts and words in only a way he could do.
That was why he loved the man. He'd been afraid to admit, but Clark was like a beacon of hope to him more than the actual symbol of Superman.
The way his eyelashes flutter when he's nervous, how considerate he is over anyone, how he gazes at the sky when he feels thoughtful or conflicted, as though he was searching for guidance among the stars.
Bruce had once been afraid he'd ever choose to leave Earth, but was glad that he had made it his home. A bit of a selfish desire, he was aware, but he was also aware that he was — unlike his beloved — only human. It is human to wish to be the only one who gets to see Clark's real smile, as he wakes up, before he drifts into a slumber, when he takes a bite of food that he enjoys.
"You think I'm so strong, but you can't see yourself." the voice was now low, chewing on his lower lip as Clark conjured up his next words. "You're amazing, Bruce. I respect you above everything and there's no way I wouldn't want to be with you."
The Dark Knight dared to approach, but held his face inches apart, hesitant. Then, it was Clark who moved forward.
Just as his lips were about to be sealed, the younger man tilted his head and frowned, his eyes focused somewhere else. Bruce was already beginning to think he'd messed up somehow, until his comm also started beeping, prompting him backwards, away from the smooth hands and into his ear.
A quick nod from both sides, and they dissolved; into a dark shadow between romanic buildings, and a confident figure amongst the clouds.
He felt butterflies in his stomach from watching such a noble man, the man he was madly in love with.
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jasontoddssuper · 6 months
Text
The Anomalies headcanons
This is Spiderverse x Pjo x DC crossover team i've been working on that consists of Miles,Percy and Jason.If you don't like that idea,please just scroll past-Being nice is free and easy
@honeypotsworld @jelmet @insomniac-jay @julieemarine @floof-ghostie @cottoncandyspikes @c0tt0n-c4ndy-sw1rlz @moonage-gaydream @desi-pluto @genderfluid-bat @ammomancer @edityrhometown @spnandmarvelrunmylife @someallpowerfulforce @prettyboybirdie @templarhalo @jellyjays
They're called 'The Anomalies' because they're 'not supposed to exist'.Miles gets called one by name,Poseidon wasn't meant to have kids anymore and Jason's ressurection wasn't planned by anyone good.They use the name as reclamation to those people who use their existence against them
Percy's dimension is Earth 27 and Jason's is Prime Earth
Percy and Jason are afro-caribbean like Miles,both being dominican and Percy half black-greek.They're also all autistic and trans,with Miles and Jason being trans guys and Percy a trans woman who's full name is Persephone,chosen by her as a thank you to the og for giving her what's basically ancient greek magic hrt-Metamorphose,food that's been blessed by Aphrodite to give the eater their dream apperance
Miles' design is the same other than a few scars he gains on their adventures(Because he's perfect as he is <3)but Jason has brown skin,shoulder length dreads with one being white from the Lazarus Pit and is fat in addition to his canonical muscle and Percy has the darkest skin out of all of them,kinky hip length hair that's naturally styled in a way that makes it look like waves and is curvy,busty and has some more muscle than in canon and her gray streak turned white instead of fading completely so she dyes it sea blue to blend in.She's also pastel punk,Jason is goth and Miles just kinda does his own thing,although he does have a love for cute like things like Sanrio which Percy helped him embrace so he wears merch from it
Miles ends up becoming a Blue Lantern thanks to befriending Kyle and earns Apollo's blessing by being truly and earnestly dedicated to his art,with Apollo sobbing like a baby when he gave it to him because of how amazed he was(Percy to resist the urge to slash him away from him)
The reason Sally has sea color changing eyes is that she has kryptonian dna thanks to interdimensional shenanigans from her great grandparents escaping Krypton before it's explosion and this is why Percy is even stronger than your average Big Three Kid.After being adopted by Clark,she's given the name Per-El but even before that,he acts as a fatherly mentor to her so similar to the Persephone thing,she dones the Superfam symbol on her costume as 'Hydro'.Her costume is black and sea blue and has a hood and a lower face mask like Stephanie's
She also ends up hosting Venom for a significant amount of time and actually made him more scared of her than she is of him.Many people still wonder how she managed that-The ones who don't know her personally that is
Jason's Lazarus Pit dna being exposed to Miles' Spiderperson kind for so long and so often turned him into a Spider Mutant similar to Miguel,only with werewolf-like traits instead.He was pissed about it at first,especially with Miles' distressed apologies making him feel guilty and Percy's teasing,but learned to accept it and went under 'Batspider' until he learned to control his newfound powers.His costume is moddled after Miles' but with his own gothic twists like his Spider Symbol being cracked("Girls,girls,contain yourselves,there's enough to go around!" "Percy,for fuck's sake-" "Jay,you look like black Emo Elmo" "......How would anyone be able to tell i'm black in this???" "Same way they do with me.It's about vibes")
They met post itsv but pre atsv,post hoo when Percy graduated high school but toa never happened and a few days after utrh(the movie version is the one were following since that's the best written one).Doc Ock had survived the crash and gone into hiding to make another dimension teleportation device,becoming much more unhinged in the process,and attacked the town square to plant it on Miles to get rid of him by giving him 'a fate worse than death' and Percy's defying of the gods went way farther than in canon so they asked Apollo to bring her to Olympus and banished her from their realm,both ending up on Prime Earth and literally crashing straight into Jason in his Red Hood gear as he rode out further than the outskirts Gotham on his motorcyle.Percy and Miles hit it off instantly and it was helped by reminding eachother of Gwen and Nico,Jason decided to make sure Miles survived because he saw his Robin self in him and Percy and Jason bickered eachother's heads off from the start
Team Mom Percy so true.She does her best to make sure they all eat good,sleep well,don't go out on missions with too bad of injuries,keep up with training and are reassured they're loved.Miles and Jason gladly return the favor(Though Jason's more subtle about it)
Percy and Jason=Miles defense and hype squad
Percy encourages Miles to embrace his inner kid and eventually tells that one of the reason's for it is her own extremely lonely childhood that she dosen't wanna see him go through.That was the first time he'd been her shoulder to cry on and they were closer than ever afterwards.He appreciates it a lot because he'd been getting at the age where it's considered 'inappropriate' for boys to be 'cutesy' and it was upsetting to him and she helped him own it
Jason regularly uses Miles as a head rest and has an arm slung around Percy's shoulder,both as affection but the latter also for protective reasons
Miles draws Percy and Jason instead of Gwen in his sketchbook(That scene was mad cute but i prefer found family angles over romances ones when it comes Miles for the most part)and they tease him about just like she did("Love you too,Girasolito." "Damn,you really look up to us huh?" "Where's the River Lethe when you need it?!")
Jason and Percy are queerplatonic partners.Autism 2 Autism Red-coded 2 Blue-coded Transmasc 2 Transfem Bat 2 Super Communcation
They all big white bloob eyes in their costumes,including Jason with his helmet!!Also,in superhero dimensions,masks and helmets move with the wearers facial expression
Jason teaches Miles to channel his anger in useful ways and Miles helps Jason's rage calm itself
CHAOTIC ASF EVEN OFF DUTY.McSupers trips at odd hours,saying the weirdest shit because they're just that open with eachother,fucking around with their powers and even more!!Their love language is being sweet freaks together
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mindshelter · 2 years
Text
Under yellow sunlight, Kon is a near-perfect solar battery.
Kryptonite radiation disrupts the energy transformation process; cells lose massive amounts of heat, giving rise to extreme pain. The few thousand survivors of Krypton’s initial collapse succumbed to the poison gradually—as their ceaseless fevers burned their bodies alive, their cells began to eat themselves. Organs and blood vessels fell apart. After months of illness, the last fragments of their civilisation died with chattering teeth.
The excess energy Kryptonians store outside of red star systems accelerates the process to hours.
—on. Kon. Can you—me?
Something warm and damp brushes across his chilled skin. The world blends into light; indistinct globs and streaks. Kon tries to breathe. His lips are numb when he purses them together and takes the harshest exhale of air through his nostrils. The air smells like iron.
Can you hear me?  
He nods.
Good. It’s done, alright? They’re gone. I’m so proud of you.
Kal’s lessons about Kryptonite hadn’t warned Kon of just how quiet its effects were. His blood roars, and everything about him is desperate, hungry, aflame—but the world finally becomes so, so still. For a few precious moments, everything is blessedly silent. It hurts—it hurts, and Kon wants everything to stop, but when the spasms in his legs forces him onto his knees, he remembers, with relief—
Something could kill him so easily, leave him so weak. He almost feels human.
It feels like peace.
There’s a steady hand laid across his cheek, holding his head in place. There’s the press of cloth to his face, swiping over his mouth, under his nose.
Kon tries to make use of his tenuous connection to his arms, reaching out to the source of the sound. His vision splits and wobbles. As the image recoalesces, Tim takes his hand.
The world saturates with noise. He hears the hum of the ground below him, the thunder of approaching aircraft, and the conversations of people who have gone about their days none the wiser, thousands of miles away. Kon narrows his focus towards the fibres of Tim’s leather gloves, and the steady tempo of his pulse underneath.
“Hi,” he croaks. The sound is noiseless to his own ears, but he thinks Tim smiles. It’s a faint, soft thing, peeking through Kon’s haze like daybreak.
It colours his words, too. “Hey, Conner,” Tim says back.
Kon smacks his lips, tasting metal and acid. It hurts. There’s rust between his teeth, painted onto his gums, and he needs every dredge of energy to speak. “Y’re… here.”
Tim adjusts his hold on Kon’s hand, a gloved thumb brushing over his aching knuckles. His hair begins to flutter—languid at first, and then with frenetic rhythm as the whir of a motor overhead grows louder.
“…hold on?” Kon asks, now loud enough to pass for a whisper, as a younger version of Tim’s voice echoes in his mind. You’ve got one job, Conner. Hold on. Nothing else. He’s so tired, but if Tim makes him promise—he’ll try.
“No need this time. Everyone is safe, and so are you.” Tim replies kindly, squeezing Kon’s fingers. “We’ll take care of you, okay? You can rest.”
The last thing Kon is aware of before he gives in is the wildness of Tim’s hair, and the way it flies in all directions even as the helicopter rotor gradually slows to a stop.
_____
 The blade had forced its way into the flesh of Kon’s back and created an exit wound. Its trajectory had shattered part of Kon’s shoulder blade, and moments later, the tip had re-emerged just leftwards of his sternum. It was meant to be a killing strike—a blow straight through the heart. Surely even a God would have dropped dead.
Kon’s heart beats steadily under the flimsy linen overtop of his chest, between his lungs, tilted to the right side of his breastbone. The room is alit with sunshine and lamplight alike, casting a delicate glow over the outline of his knees, the metal bedframe, and the dark of Tim’s hair. Perhaps he shouldn’t be flattered that, in their haste to defeat their monster, they made the fatal mistake of overestimating how human he was.
“They think I’m,” Kon mumbles, “I’m some sort of… vampire, or something.”
Tim blinks down at him. He looks ragged.
His face remains carefully neutral, but his eyes are bloodshot—red-rimmed and swollen in a way Kon understands are from a long bout of tears, rather than too few hours of rest. He knows Tim is hoping Kon will give him the courtesy of ignoring it, but Kon isn’t sure he should.
It’s never for his own benefit, Kon knows; when Tim keeps his voice steady, his heartbeat grounded, and his temper even, he means: you will be alright. Things are under control. Everything is going to be okay. I want you to be comfortable. I want you to feel safe.
It’s not cowardice; it’s pure courage. But the very last place Tim needs to be brave is when it’s just the two of them.
“Like,” Kon adds. He mimics a stabbing motion, jabbing the imaginary weapon into chest. “Stakes. To kill me.” His body stiffens before going limp, weight sinking further into the flimsy mattress, and lets his eyes slide shut for good measure.
In his periphery, Tim scoffs.
“If you’re trying to cheer me up right now, knock it off.”
Kon cracks one eye open. “Who says I am? Not everything is about you, man.”
Tim blinks down at him, clearly aiming for unimpressed, but the nascent glare slips when Kon meets it with a smile—it wavers, loses balance, and slips away. Kon can’t quite figure out what’s left, bared on Tim’s face; he’s not sure what the subtle twitch of Tim’s jaw means, nor the restlessness of his hands, tucked close to his body, fingers drumming against his knees.
Each deep breath makes his insides prickle. “Were you here all night?”
Outside, the sun is directly overhead. Kon had only woken up and been accosted by a flurry of well-wishers an hour earlier. Tim had lingered in the background while Kon wore his best grin and said his brightest hellos, and lingered again, by the doorway, as the others cleared out, one by one. After glancing at Tim’s fidgeting stance, and his cape draped over the single chair at his bedside, Kon had waved him over to come sit back down.
Predictably, Tim bristles. “Well,” he starts, body growing animated, “I. Do you… want me to leave? If you’re tired, or you really need a nap, I can—”
That’s not a no; Kon will take it. He begins to laugh, but a flare of pain quickly cuts it short. Through a wince and a single thump of his fist against his chest, he says, “Dude, I asked you to come back over and sit with me. What do you think, idiot?”
Said idiot’s brow furrows as he, with complete seriousness, mulls the question over. It’s fucking ridiculous; Kon can’t conceive of a single instance where he wouldn’t want Tim to stay.
In that inopportune moment, something clicks.
Everything else is dwarfed by the knowledge, the joy, that Tim had chosen to be with him, seated on a rickety chair until the sun rose, waiting for Kon to stir. That he had given Kon his company and their tangled hands as they had waited for help to arrive, and the thousands of fragments of himself he had offered over the years to Kon without asking for much in return.
This gravity—this pull—Kon thinks it must have been there for nearly his whole lifetime. Contracting, growing denser until the heft of it became impossible to ignore. At some point, the light inside of him must have swelled. And swelled, and burst outwards. It rests at the core of him, now, vibrant. Roaring with life.
Oh.
Tim seems to be finished thinking when he serves Kon with his best, most frightening glower—frowny face number sixteen—as he says, “Don’t call me an idiot, idiot.”
“I’ll follow your lead,” Kon shoots back easily. He times the silence by counting to three. “Idiot. But seriously, Tim, I don’t mind. I’m…”
Thankfully, Tim doesn’t push for Kon to finish that thought, throwing him one last crotchety grunt before his attention returns to his lap.
They sit in companionable silence before Tim says, “Does your chest hurt?”
Tim has never asked him to be brave. Neither does Kon, and he can only wish that Tim knows as much. It’s unfamiliar territory, watching the subtle twitch of Tim’s jaw, the restlessness of his hands, tucked closed to his body. Looking at what’s left, bared on Tim’s face, after the charade of exasperation fades—and seeing undisguised concern.
Perhaps this is courage, too.
“Yeah.” He swallows. “It still hurts a lot.”
Maybe Tim hadn’t expected Kon to be so straightforward, because he stiffens at the answer before he says, so quietly, “Oh.”
Then, his left hand lifts from his thigh to swipe under his cheek in one hasty motion.
The twitch of his jaw turns into a quiver, and then his head lifts: Tim’s expression is red and wet and alarmed. It's horrible, and Kon can't help but liken it some sort of kicked puppy with a pollen allergy. After a long, dreadful moment, Tim must finally register the fresh tears, because he hurriedly shoves his face into his hands, curling into himself.
“Oh, hell,” Kon says. Painstakingly, he pushes himself upright, and opens up his arms. “Just… c’mere.”
“‘m already here.”
Kon snorts. “Don’t be dense,” he says, aiming for nonchalant and landing, rather inelegantly, on fond. “Dude, look at me.”
Muffled into his hands, “No.”
Suit yourself, Kon thinks, and extends his TTK down his bed, to the floor, until it creeps up Tim’s legs and nudges him forward, the force of it just enough to topple Tim forward. He smiles when Tim wraps his arms around Kon’s neck in an instant.
Kon settles his hands over the small of Tim’s back, grip loose. Tim’s hold is gentle, too, as if he’s afraid too much force would hurt Kon further. It’s almost eerie, how silent Tim is when he cries; the fabric over his shoulder dampens, but there are no hiccups, no sobs—only shaky intakes of breath.
“I just need a bit longer,” Kon says. “A bit more time in the sun and I’ll be good as new.”
Over his shoulder, Tim lets out a long exhale while his fingers begin to skim the groove of his spine, pausing over healed-over flesh. It should be barely more than a raised, pink scar, now.
“Does this hurt too?” Tim asks, words soft.
Kon shakes his head.
This little touchpoint to mortality will blend and flatten to match his skin in the days that follow. Tim traces the edges of it over Kon’s thin shirt, like he knows exactly where the blade had entered.
Does he?
As if on cue, Tim says, “I found you first. I don’t know long you were there, but your lips were turning blue.”
Kon remembers. They were alone, he thinks, under that dark, cloudless sky. He pulls Tim closer, and he responds in kind, pressing his face against the crook of Kon’s neck.
“You were lying there on your side… there were burns all over your palms, so I guess you tried to pull it out yourself—and…” He hears Tim swallow, feels his hold tighten, and his voice cracks once he adds, “You weren’t moving, or answering. I put my boot against your back, grabbed the hilt, and the more I pulled, the more you screamed.”
Hell. “Tim,” is all Kon can say.
“No, I’m glad I did it. I’m glad I made it on time. I haven’t always.”
One day, Kon will challenge that argument and win. For now, he tells him, “I’m sorry I scared you.”
Tim buries himself further. His tears are hot. “Don’t be. If you were screaming, it meant you were alive, Kon—I was relieved. It’s worse when… you’re you, you know? Even after everything, I always had it in my head you’d be the last one standing. Out of all of us.”
But I did scare you, didn’t I? “Okay,” Kon says. “You know I would never let that happen, right?”
If the price was his life for this horrid, wonderful world they lived in, Kon would hold his back straight, stand at his full height, and keep walking forward. If he could promise tomorrow would come, that tomorrow would be better, he would do anything. Over, and over, and over.
“Yeah,” Tim concedes. “I know. I hate that about you.”
“You don’t,” Kon rebuts.
No response.
“You love me,” Kon says. And I love you.
Tim shifts, but he does not move away. Those dovetailed truths, so incontestable, sweep over him, bleeding their way into his bones, his chest, his heart. The burning core of him.
It feels like something new. He feels human.
It feels like peace.
__
for @misspickman, who asked for a “take on how he falls in love/realizes he has a crush on tim, or likes men”! the interpretation is kind of loose, but i’d like to think i addressed the prompt. thank you again for the request! :heart: 
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itzyourgirlnat · 7 months
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The ending chapter and the first one of a new life
part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4 part 5
You did it, you defeated the aliens, you got rid of the bomb, you played your role of the Knight of Krypton. You protected everyone, you did your job and now its over. That was not expected, you reached the top, did everything everyone was expecting and more, you had it all and now it is over. After the battle and everything that happened with the aliens you celebrated with your family, you rested and then, you moved on. Wow that was unexpected, you were sure that fight was going to be your awakening just like Kara had with the plane. But it wasn't, the urge, the need, the purpose you felt those days to save your family to play your role, they had all disappeared. That feeling was gone, like if you had completed everything you were meant to do even if for you it felt like the beginning not the end. 
One evening, after a long day of school and training, cause even if two weeks ago you were the hero you were still a teenager who had to finish her last year of highschool, you got home. You were tired and hungry and ready to take a shower, but instead of going quickly to your room you stayed there. On the front door,  it was today, it had to be. 
For the last two weeks Kara had been offering you to join her whenever a situation came up and you were grateful about it. It was hard for her to assume that you were no longer a kid. But you somehow still wanted to be one, or at least while you could. After a lot of over thinking you got to the conclusion, you don't want to quit everything to be the next superhero, you just want to have that door open for when you are ready. You want to be able to do so and to protect your loved ones, but you also want to keep your life. So you've been making excuses to not go with your mother, but it was time to tell the truth.
‘Hey Y/N, how was your day?´said Kara while opening the oven. (Since she and Lena got together she's been trying to surprise her with a cake made by herself but she always ended up burning it) ‘Do you think it's edible?’ she asked trying to be positive
‘It does not look like it’
‘Is everything okay? You seem a bit off’ She asked, she probably heard your heartbeat, which was going faster by the second
‘Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something, I-’
Before you could continue Lena walked through the door, if she was a cartoon you would be able to see the smoke coming out of her ears.
‘I swear this job is gonna end me some day," she said while throwing her purse and coat to a chair. That only meant one thing, she had a really intense day, or else she would hang them up perfectly and make you do the same with your stuff.
Kara then threw the ‘cake’ she had ‘cooked’ and by just seeing that Lena smiled, even if she never got to taste one because they all ended up burnt, just the gesture was enough to make her heart melt. After it she went towards Lena who had grabbed a bottle of wine and was about to serve herself when Kara from behind grabbed the bottle and kissed her cheek. Lena looked at her raising her eyebrows,
 ‘Save it for dinner love’ Kara said, kissing her face once more, Lena then laughed and kissed her softly.
You were on the other side of the kitchen watching them. You used to think seeing them kiss was gross, and you still do sometimes, but you have to admit, they are so in love it's awfully cute. While they were in their own world you picked your things and gave them some space.
You took the long awaited shower and once you were in comfortable clothes you went back only to find your moms still acting like lovebirds while setting the table. You knew that all that had happened had affected them both and as a couple it was a hard time as well so it was nice to see them going back to their fluffy selves around each other.
During dinner Lena complained for 15 minutes about everything that had bothered her and Kara talked about this new story she was researching, you thought she had forgotten the conversation you both had until.
‘So Y/N what was it you wanted to talk to me about?’
‘Well, I have been thinking and I don’t think I want to be a hero, at least not for now’ you said, going straight to the point. Kara stopped eating and Lena looked at you encouraging you to continue.
‘I know I gave you a hard time because I wanted to fight and to fulfill my role as the Knight of Krypton, but I don't think I want to do it on a daily basis or at least not publicly’
‘Okay’ Lena simply said. Kara didn’t say anything and was still looking at you.
‘It’s just that when the invasion happened and we all were in danger it’s like if the knight took control of me and I felt this need to fight, but it was as if I didn’t have any control over it really and I don’t want that part of me to take control of the rest of me. I know I have to deal with it and figure a lot out and that it is a part of me I can't deny I just I don't want to be out to the world yet, I’m not ready’
You looked at Kara expecting a response, a tear slipped down her face, she got up and embraced you in her arms.
‘I am so proud of you’
‘Really?’
‘For a long time I kept forcing myself to be Supergirl for the world while I was struggling with it and I didn’t understand much, but you little one, you are aware enough to put yourself first. I’m so proud of you, and we will help you as much as we can to help you digest this new side of yourself’
That same night Lena knocked on your door. She entered and sat on your bed, patting it so you would sit next to her. Without saying anything she placed her head on your shoulder.
‘I know there is not much I can do to help you right now, I’m not kryptonian and I know your mom gets this stuff better than I do cause she went through it as well’
You caressed her hair. ‘That’s not true’
‘It is I can’t really add anything right now, but I want you to know that I’m here and that I wanna listen to you and I want to be here for you. So please don’t shut down. I know you have been having a hard tine for a couple of weeks and I dont want you to hide it. Believe me keeping this kind of things to yourself is not always the right thing’
‘How did you know?’
‘I may not be kryptonian, but I am your mom’
‘I love you’
‘I love you too, now go to bed, you have class tomorrow’ and with that she kissed your hair and got up to leave you to sleep.
‘Can I go out tomorrow by the way?’ Before you could explain the situation your mom raised her eyebrows. ‘I'm still grounded right?’
‘Yes you are, and tomorrow we actually have something planned so don’t take too long to get home’’
‘Yes ma’am’ you said, making her chuckle.
Once in her room Lena laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling and took a deep breath. This past weeks everything had change, she looked at her phone, there were no new messages, or at least not from Lori, who had left again for college.They sadly didn't end on the best terms, the working with Lex situation had messed Lena up more than she thought and she was now terrified Lori would talk to him again. Right when she was about to call again Kara opened the bathroom door connected to their bedroom. 
‘Are you sure you’re only overwhelmed because of work?’ she asked Lena, already knowing the answer.
‘ She hasn’t replied to any of my texts, did she text you?’ Lena said, throwing her phone away and sitting up in the bed.
Kara sat behind her and held her.
‘She hasn’t, but you know how she is, she probably needs space to process everything’
‘So you are not worried about it?’
‘Oh no, I’m terrified, I’ve checked her heartbeat at least four times today’
Lena chuckled softly letting Kara’s arms embrace her.
‘Do you remember when she was just a little girl, she wouldn’t leave our side’ Lena said out of the blue
‘Yeah she slept in this bed every night no matter how hard we tried to get her to sleep in hers, in the morning she was always here’ Kara replied. ‘I used to know everything about her’
A text popped up on Lena’s phone screen. She was going to ignore it when Kara grabbed it, letting go of her wife.
‘Lee, it’s her’
Lena turned and took the phone from Kara’s hands.
I know I messed up, I’m sorry I couldn’t explain it at the moment, but it is all solved now. Love you
They both looked at each other, something was off. Lori sometimes needed time on her own to process everything, she would sit aside and clear her mind before opening up about anything, but when she did it was a full developed description of her feelings, something they were both very proud of since once she cleared her mind she was not afraid to speak and stand up for herself. So, it was easy to say that this was not common.
‘I could make a quick flight. See if she is really okay’ Kara suggested.
‘Where are you going?’ Kara asked as Lena started changing out of her pijamas
‘Look I may not know much about Krypton and what Y/N is going through, but I do know Lex. So I’m going to figure out where he is and what he is doing’. She went to grab her phone when Kara’s hand grabbed hers.
‘Kara please I need to so something’
Kara didn’t let go.
‘I know, but don’t let this take control of you. It’s 3 am and as much as we want to burst in there  and take her home it is not gonna work.’
‘Can you hear her heartbeat?’
‘She is sleeping’
Kara then got up and started to take Lena’s clothes off and dressed her up in her pjs again. They laid in their bed, holding each other, unaware of how everything was about to change for them in a few hours, but that would be a fight for another day. In that moment all that mattered to them was each other.
************************************************************************
I'm back, sorry for the long wait, also, if you are interested in stories about supercorp before having their kids, let me know cause I've been thinking on publishing about it but idk if anyone cares lol.
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story-weavr · 5 months
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In the far past, Kryptonians were a race that was enslaved and genetically modified by the more technologically advanced interplanetary invaders, the Coluans.
The Kryptonians fought and won their freedom and planet back. The tech left behind by the Coluans was used and improved on by the Kryptonians.
In one portion of their rich history, the Kryptonians themselves would go on to be planetary conquerors and settlers akin to Earth’s Roman empire.
In order to have a firm hold of their planet, Kryptonians introduced a mutagen into their DNA that would allow a member of their species to be able to reproduce with an alien sapient species.
The method by which to activate it would be for the Kryptonian to have had enough intercourse with a being that induces feelings akin to love (lust, respect, protectiveness, etc.).
Thus such people’s as the Daxamites came into being.
Later on, the Krypton’s leading government would become replaced by the Science guild. Eventually Krypton’s colonies would become independent civilizations.
Krypton eventually would become more and more closed off.
The mutagen, however, would continue to exist among the Kryptonian populace and at times be activated if only among the lower classes where traditional reproduction still continues as opposed to the Birthing Matrix among the upper echelons.
Lara Lor-Van, whose natural birth caused a scandal within the traditional House of Van, knew of the ancient mutagen that is dormant among Kryptonians.
Not wanting her son to be forever alone on a strange planet, she made sure to activate the gene so that Kal El would be able to father children with the Earthling he chooses.
More than a Earth decade later, a young Clark Kent had left Smallville to travel the world. In part, trying to find purpose again after losing his lover and best friend, Lex, to amnesia caused by an experiment on Krypton tech gone wrong. In another, fleeing from Lex’s father Lionel who was powerful enough to blackmail and threaten Clark to stay away from Lex.
In addition to his heart pain, he was losing his powers and was becoming weaker every day.
He had to rely more and more on Krypto, a dog who was mutated by the green meteorite of Smallville, & Lori Lemaris, a friend he made at the college he used to secretly visit Lex at.
It was only after he was examined by another friend (Immortal Man) he made on his travels that he found out what was happening.
Apparently, pregnant male Kryptonians would lose muscle mass and become more aggressive if they felt threatened. Instead of their stomach distending, their organs would rearrange for the growing baby. This was so that male Kryptonians would be unencumbered if they needed to flee from danger that their mate/family/allies would deal with. It would also discourage the pregnant male from engaging in stressful activities and focus on his well-being.
After an intense labor that eventually lead to Clark just cutting himself open, Conner Julian Kent was born. (Julian was from Lionel’s estranged brother Jules, a lawyer living in Smallville whom both boys loved and respected).
From then on, Clark swore to keep his child safe and to be a strong person Conner could look to as an example.
For that reason, Clark didn’t dare go back home until after Lionel died. In the meantime, he’d learn everything he could: about the world, humanity, & his and Conner’s heritage.
When he could finally return home, Clark decided to take the job offer he got from an editor at the Daily Planet. Because to do the most good, Metropolis, Delaware was the best place. Plus it was the city closest to Smallville aka “little Kansas”.
From there, he would be confronted by the so called philanthropist and man of tomorrow, Lex Luthor.
Having already grieved, Clark saw Luthor for what he really was: an immoral Machiavellian narcissist criminal who hated and looked down on humanity. Who would do anything and use anyone to get what he wanted: being the top of the food chain.
Clark was determined not only to stop him, but to never let him near Conner.
This began a war between a “meddling alien who is a threat to human progress” & “a man who could have done so much good if only he’d choose to do so”.
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scribbling-punk · 11 months
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Betrothed
The palace of the house of El has always been a peaceful place for Lena, a safe space that allows her to avoid her own family. The King and Queen treat her as their own, the servants always sneaking her extra treats from the kitchens since she was only as high as their knees, the Princess her best friend on the whole of Krypton and the first—and only—person that Lena has truly trusted.
It’s where she is welcomed no matter what drama is going on, no matter how busy the people within the walls are, no matter how bruised and battered the guards are from defending their territory.
Lena’s parents, whilst high on the social ladder, have no say here, no authority on how their daughter speaks or acts. They threw that right away when Lena was merely a soft bundle in their arms, arranging her marriage to the heir of the House of El throne several days before her future mate was even born.
Queen Alura had gone against the norm of their people, had preferred not to find out if they were expecting a son or a daughter before Kara was born from the matrix, and Lena can only imagine the look on her own mother’s face when she had realized that she had promised her daughter to a girl.
Lex had promised her that it was, indeed, a spectacle once they were safely back in their own home, but Lillian had hidden it well in public; too drunk on power to truly admit to her concerns about the implications of the future marriage.
If only he was still here, hadn’t died protecting Prince Clark from the Daxamite invasion a decade ago, but if Lex isn’t able to protect Lena from their horrific mother, then at least she knows her future wife will do so—that Kara would die before seeing harm come to her beloved.
Read Betrothed early on Patreon.
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