lena-in-a-red-dress

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In the Shadow of Giants

Summary: Three years after a devastating loss at the National City Shatterdome, a new pilot is recruited to help get a special Jaeger back in the fight. Supercorp Pacific Rim AU, updated weekly until completion.

[this fic is tagged with rape/non-con warning, but that content is limited to a single chapter, which can be skipped when reading-- a summary of that chapter will be available at the top of the following chapter for those who elect to skip]

LINK: https://archiveofourown.org/works/68703536

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Welp. One of the characters I adored just died. If Rebecca Soler wasn't the narrator, I probably wouldn't care as much, but she is, so here I am crying at my desk at work.

Finally giving Fourth Wing a try via audiobook. Fully prepared to not wholly enjoy it, and to being rolling my eyes a lot, BUT

Rebecca Soler is the audiobook narrator!

My fave narrator! It was a nice surprise. And it means I'll at least be able to say I gave the book as best a try I can possibly give it. Cuz if Rebecca Soler can't make it good, no one can.

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A little more than 70% thru Fourth Wing, and I don't hate it nearly as much as I thought I would. I mean, sure, I have some complaints and changes I would make if I were the one writing it, but overall? As a reader it's still pretty damn entertaining.

Except for Dane(sp?) Aetos. The squad leader ex best friend. That bitch needs to shut the fuck up. He is goddamn insufferable.

Also Mira is my soul mate.

Finally giving Fourth Wing a try via audiobook. Fully prepared to not wholly enjoy it, and to being rolling my eyes a lot, BUT

Rebecca Soler is the audiobook narrator!

My fave narrator! It was a nice surprise. And it means I'll at least be able to say I gave the book as best a try I can possibly give it. Cuz if Rebecca Soler can't make it good, no one can.

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Just realized that my understanding of Hashimoto's disease is completely incorrect. What I was thinking of was Hanahaki disease, which is the fanfiction trope of flowers growing in the lungs due to unrequited love. Horrible, tragic, love it.

Hashimoto's disease, on the other hand, is an actual real diagnosis in regards to the thyroid.

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My Oxford Year

SPOILERS

This broke my heart enough that I dunno if I can bear doing a Supercorp version, which was the entire purpose of me watching it in the first place.

This movie is so fucking charming, and heart wrenching, and also genuine and heart warming. I adore it.

10/10 do recommend

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Still haven't read all of the divorced supercorp fic by @agentxmas but that's what my mind jumped to when I saw this gif. They recently split, still in the angry phase of their separation. Kara is not happy to be there, and Lena is surprised she actually showed, and even more surprised her ex is letting her unhappiness show while she wears the cape. She'd have sooner assumed Kara would simply no-show rather than allow herself that.

What follows is a here-for-business convo with an ascerbic Lena and a frustrated Kara. The tension is thick, to the point no one else in the room can breathe comfortably.

It ends with a terse dismissal of mutual "fine"s between the two. Kara bails as soon as Kryptonianly possible, and Lena turns back to the room as though absolutely nothing has happened.

"Let's get to work, shall we?"

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Finally giving Fourth Wing a try via audiobook. Fully prepared to not wholly enjoy it, and to being rolling my eyes a lot, BUT

Rebecca Soler is the audiobook narrator!

My fave narrator! It was a nice surprise. And it means I'll at least be able to say I gave the book as best a try I can possibly give it. Cuz if Rebecca Soler can't make it good, no one can.

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What if the final gif had been the trial? The test of courage, to confess the feelings that have been building for years, nearly shattered by their schism, now nearly overflowing with hope that maybe their partnership can be salvaged.

Imagine that when Lena says "I believe in you", Kara had stared, a little shocked, and then breathed her confession "I'm in love with you."

And in the surprised--not quite shocked-- silence that follows, the totem appears in Kara's palm.

KARA & LENA | (6x13)

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I'm trying out a new word count tracker called trackbear. Haven't found one I liked since the one nanowrimo had, so we'll see how this goes. I wish it was a proper app and not a webpage.

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The re-watch of This Means War was not worth it. It loses its charm very quickly. Oh well....

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Dark John Wick Serial Killer AU Sequel?

Okay. But like... imagine John Wick stepping into the L-Corp lobby as Lena is walking through with Kara. She catches sight of him and draws to a stop, falling completely still. Kara immediately clocks the subject of her focus and bristles, moving to stand between Lena and this potential threat. But her friend's touch is gentle on her wrist when Lena halts her.

"It's all right," Lena says in a low voice, already moving towards the tall, besuited figure.

When she reaches John, Lena extends her hand, which he takes but lifts her hand to his lips instead of shaking it. Lena steps closer, moving to kiss his cheek.

"What's wrong?" she murmurs.

John's reply comes with a kiss to Lena's other cheek.

"You're in danger."

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Kara’s muscular back appreciation post

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I have a very dark idea. Not sure if I'll do anything with it besides daydream. John Wick universe, where an assassin is also a serial killer who murders women outside of contracts. Dark themes below the cut.

Said killer targets a college aged Lena Luthor, but his efforts are interrupted. He transports an unconscious Lena to the Continental, tucked into a rolling duffel bag. He tries to continue his process in his hotel room, but he's called away by something, leaving Lena bound and gagged in the room.

Lena isn't one to wait helplessly though. The door is locked and the windows don't open, but she finds a large vent that she's able to open and wriggle herself through. She ends up in another room, but before she can escape, its occupant returns-- John Wick himself.

He deftly disarms Lena of her improvised weapon-- a pen-- and immediately clocks something is wrong. Her hands are still cruelly bound, she's been beaten, and she's plainly, palpably terrified. That terror only escalates when an unexpected knock comes at the door.

John Wick isn't an idiot. He knows the clientele of the Continental, and knows that not all of them are above board when it comes to their kills. He may not put it all together in that moment, but he puts together enough to know Lena needs his help. He shoves her into a closet and opens the door. It's the serial killer, looking for his "guest". John opens the door wide enough for the man to scan the room and find nothing, but doesn't allow him entrance-- that would be strange for folk like them.

The killer leaves, and John sits Lena down for answers. But Lena's voice doesn't work-- the killer sprayed something in her face that paralyzed her vocal cords. And her fingers don't work well, so writing her answers is painful. They settle for yes/no questions, and a sort of improvised sign language.

When he asks for Lena's name, she hesitates. John Wick realizes her apprehension, and maybe chuckles to himself. Smart choice, given her circumstances. Then he notices the necklace around her neck, a delicate chain from which dangles a single letter "L".

He settles on calling her Elle.

His first task is getting Lena out of the hotel. Its purpose is twofold-- put distance between her and the killer, and lure the killer onto the streets where the Continental's rules against murdering fellow assassins don't apply. Dire shenanigans ensue, because the killer is almost as skilled an assassin as John is-- with a different skillset. John is close quarters combat; our killer works with poison and drugs to incapacitate his target before silently execute them in a more intimate setting.

The killer stalks them patiently, driven by dark urges to reclaim Lena and finish his ritual. When he catches up to them, he drugs and paralyzes both of them, letting John watch him drag Lena away. When John recovers, he manages to track them down using his connections and collected favors to get details on the killer and his favorite haunts. Lena is barely conscious, bleeding and weak. Her would be killer faces off with John, angry that he has once again been interrupted.

As they fight they're neck and neck, before the killer manages to knick John with a poisoned knifepoint. Just as the killer is about to end John, whose body betrays him, Lena takes up her own murder weapon and takes the killer out herself, slashing his jugular wide open.

The story ends with a beaten John and Lena supporting each other back to the Continental, their haven rising imperiously above them... or does it?

Cut to current Supercorp era, with Lena now grown and a CEO, a force to be reckoned with. In a quiet moment, Lena opens a drawer and withdraws a large locket. Flipping open its face, we see bloody fingerprint stamped within.

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I'm watching this today. May have further thoughts.

I'm tempted to day dream about a This Means War supercorp au (based on the Reese Witherspoon movie). Two best friends try to woo the same woman and almost destroy their relationship over it. I don't remember how it ends (I doubt it was the obvious throuple solution), but what if Lena comes to town with both Kara and Alex falling for her?

This would obviously ALSO preclude the obvious throuple solution, since Kara and Alex are sisters. Maybe it would end when Lena's friend Sam comes to town? Which would lead Alex to realize falling in love with Sam is different from falling in lust with Lena?

Hmmm... thoughts?

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Hunting Wives AU Thoughts

I finished the season of Hunting Wives, and tbh it kinda went off the rails. I liked the mystery, and some of the twists were enjoyable. But what took me out (in a bad way) is that Margo and Sophie turned on each other, when what I really needed was them two to be mutually ride or die.

With everything so twisty and turny, I really wanted them to be my rock, the eye of the storm. I wanted it to be them against the world, and it wasn't. My poor heart.

So in *my* version that's what Kara and Lena will be. Just two ladies living in an aggressively male-dominated part of the country wanting to love each other and helping to solve a murder along the way.

Lena would be the queen bee, obviously. I don't know if I would want them both to be married at this point. It would make sense for Kara to be married to a weenie named Mike, but Lena would have to be married to either Morgan Edge or Maxwell Lord to be Margo's true parallel, and I dont love that for her.

Maybe Lena can be caught in a tough spot where her family is the movers and shakers in the community, and they're keen to engage her to one of those men. Not great for her, but would give us some tension on her side where she's trying to please her family while also trying to dodge a betrothal/marriage that would destroy her.

Veronica would be one of Lena's inner circle, and her friend with benefits-- who gets jealous when Lena dumps her the minute Kara comes to town. Sam would be another of the inner circle-- maybe also a fwb, but way more casual about it than Veronica is, and is the first to support Lena in going for it with Kara.

Maggie could be the sheriff's deputy who's investigating the disappearance of the local girl, and the eventual murder of another girl. She's got a good instinct and knows when something smells fishy. She's basically the only thing keeping the sheriff's office honest.

I think I would do away with the age-inappropriate romance. It just wouldnt be necessary here. The sex that Kara stumbles across would be between Lena and Sam, with Sam being thrilled that she helped play a role in helping Kara realize her sexuality-- and her lust for Lena. Because she knows how hot Lena is when she comes, and there's no way Kara won't be thinking about it later in bed.

That does of course make the role of the pastor's wife a little more difficult to cast and navigate. Without the age-inappropriate romance, Lena's motive in the murder is nil. And she will need to be implicated at some point, for sure. For the drama.

I like the idea that Kara and Lena would unintentionally implicate each other in protesting their own innocence. Which would create friction until Lena has to be like "I had no idea, I'm so sorry pls believe me."

The ultimate murderer would be Veronica. Regardless of who we cast as the murder victim, I think it'd be easy enough for the motive to be "I thought I was shooting Kara", because she's too possessive of Lena and wasn't about to be thrown aside without a fight. Remove the obstacle, and things would go back to the way they were.

But it would be Lena and Kara working together who puts the pieces together. I like the thought of a showdown between Lena and Veronica, where Veronica confesses the crime while holding Lena at gunpoint. In an echo of the confrontation with the pastor's wife, Kara would shoot Veronica to protect Lena.

Oooo... what if the Luthor family muddies the water a little bit. Like... Lena has just enough of a connection to the murder victim to make them worry that she may actually be culpable, so they try to make it disappear, which only makes her more guilty.

Tbh, murder-mysteries are not my strong suit, both in watching and writing them. I always over anticipate extra twists. For example, in this show, I was ready for Callie to be the murderer. Like, the boots were the reveal of whodunnit, but I was fully expecting Callie to have either gotten the same pair of boots as Margo to copy her, or else steal the boots in a sort of "i can become you" type of obsession.

So, needless to say, I'm not sure how the murder would actually play out in this au, nor what the intricacies of everyone's various motives may be. But the relationship stuff? I can do that in my sleep, and I adore what I'm imagining.

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I apologize for the "chill" comment. That wasn't cool of me.

You're likely not the only one who was hoping for something concrete, like a book. Which certainly would have been exciting-- for you and me both, let me tell you.

I *am* working on a way to make my original short stories available to purchase without folks needing to buy the whole anthology they were published in, but that too is a work in progress, as I wouldn't feel comfortable using something as easy--and predatory-- as amazon to do it.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a little more of myself and my experience with the world. And I wanted to share it here first, because this has my sort of become a safe space for me.

I've tried to keep my blog a positive and inclusive space in return, but I guess if this is your first assumption as to the kind of person I am, maybe I haven't done as good a job at that as I thought. I apologize for that too.

All this to say-- nothing here will be affected (good luck trying to get me to shut up about all the supercorp floating around in my brain). The patreon is just bonus stuff for folks interested in a different kind of community.

Thanks for reading!

An announcement that I was looking forward to thinking it's a story and it's another author trying to bleed the fandom dry when we're all struggling. Thanks alot for this.

Yo, hey.... please chill. This project is on top of everything that's happening here. No one's losing anything. And absolutely no one has to join if they dont want to or are unable to.

I'm sorry you're disappointed, and that the announcement is not what you were hoping for. Others may also feel the same, and I'm sorry for them too. But I don't feel the antagonism in my inbox is warranted.

It's something new and exciting for me. Something different, and a way for me to kind of do for others what others have done for me over the years, while also leaning into my original works a little bit. It may be successful, it may not be. We'll just see how it goes.

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An announcement that I was looking forward to thinking it's a story and it's another author trying to bleed the fandom dry when we're all struggling. Thanks alot for this.

Yo, hey.... please chill. This project is on top of everything that's happening here. No one's losing anything. And absolutely no one has to join if they dont want to or are unable to.

I'm sorry you're disappointed, and that the announcement is not what you were hoping for. Others may also feel the same, and I'm sorry for them too. But I don't feel the antagonism in my inbox is warranted.

It's something new and exciting for me. Something different, and a way for me to kind of do for others what others have done for me over the years, while also leaning into my original works a little bit. It may be successful, it may not be. We'll just see how it goes.