#mine: brainy and nia

[forbescaroline]

235 FAVORITE SHIPS OF ALL TIME (ranked by my followers) 167. querl dox and nia nal - supergirl “You will always be with me, Nia Nal. No matter where I go.”

[trashpandato]

Kara

It starts innocently enough.

When Kara gets to the Tower one afternoon, she spots a large Tupperware container on the shared table in the middle of their break room. It’s full of cookies and cupcakes. But when Kara gets closer, she sees it: a large pink Post-It note that reads “Cookies are for the bake sale at Esme’s preschool. DO NOT EAT!”

Disappointed, Kara shrinks back from the container. She spends the afternoon distracted, thinking about baked treats, until Lena pulls her aside and asks her to go for a walk. The walk ends up being an excuse for Lena to buy Kara a coffee and three extra large cookies from the food truck at the edge of the park.

But then, it keeps happening.

Kara opens the communal fridge at the Tower a few days later and finds a couple of containers inside that are clearly labeled. One says “Nia’s lunch”, the other spells out that it contains an experimental energy gel that Brainy has been eating whenever he works overtime. 

Kara frowns. This is a new development. And sure, maybe she has a bit of a history of eating whatever is available, at times raiding the fridge and eating everyone’s leftovers. She can’t help that there are moments when a fight leaves her exhausted and hangry. But to think that her friends are starting to leave passive-aggressive notes on their food to keep her away? It stings a little.

Kara doesn’t confront them. Instead, she simply observes as more and more Post-It notes appear, warning her to stay out of boxes of donuts or a selection of cheeses, and even leftover noodles now have names attached to them.

It makes Kara grumpy.

It’s about two weeks later when Kara returns to the Tower after a particularly grueling fight with a Dominator. After a quick medical check, Alex tells her she’s free to go and leaves her to her own devices in the med bay.

Kara is about to slide off the bed she’s been sitting on when Lena touches her elbow to get her attention.

“You look spent. Why don’t we find you a little snack and then I’ll take you home?”

“It’s fine,” Kara grumbles. “I have food at home.”

“I know you do. But you look like you’re about to pass out. Come on.”

Before Kara can protest, Lena has pulled her into the lunch room.

“Lena, I, there’s nothing here for me.”

“What do you mean? Of course there is. It’s a fridge full of food. Look!”

Kara throws her arms up in the air and lets them fall back down. “But none of it is mine! It’s Nia’s lunch, or Kelly’s donuts, or, or, cookies that are meant for some special event.”

Kara is about to turn around and head out when Lena opens the fridge and Kara sees that it’s full to the brim with all kinds of different food. There are at least three boxes of pizza, a couple of paper bags that she knows are from her favourite Chinese restaurant, and then she spots an entire shelf of pastries. But the thing that stands out most is that each item features a bright green Post-It note and they all say “Kara”.

And maybe it’s the day’s exhaustion finally catching up with her, or maybe it’s the knowledge that Lena has made sure that all of her favourite foods are here, but when she looks back at Lena, her vision is blurry with tears.

“Thank you,” Kara manages to croak out.

“You’re welcome. Now come on. Let’s eat.”

[lgbtimelords]

a fanfic i'll never write, part 2:

scenes from the future and feelings from the past

Behind knowing everything ends up okay and that one should always be hopeful, there's something else Kara knows wholeheartedly: people always leave, eventually.

People leave like her grandfather did. One day he was telling her how excited he was to see her join the science guild and the next her parents were telling her he would not be making it to the ceremony.

People leave like her parents did. Or maybe she left. Still. Someone leaves. And she ends up alone again. And then came back, again. And leave, again.

Jeremiah left. Cat left. Mon-El left. Winn left. James left. Kenny left. Lucy left. Kal never showed up to begin with. They’re all a small missing piece inside her heart she had to take away so it’d stop hurting, leaving an empty void instead.

She hates the loneliness. Hates it more than darkness and villains and kale on her food. And yet, the feeling of being alone is the one thing that never seems to leave her.

Alex’s and Kelly’s car flies away. Up and away in their happily ever after. It brings tears to her eyes again and it warms her heart, that her sister got it all- everything she wanted, everything she deserves.

It all ends rather suddenly after that. The guests start to leave one by one- Kara doesn’t even know over half of them. Winn leaves, too- something about his wife and daughter and some weird movie franchise. Brainy and Nia leave together, rushed and with a tint of red already covering their cheeks.

“Are you coming with us, auntie Kara?” Esme says, two little arms circling her waist as bright eyes look up at her.

She smiles at the girl, throws a look to Eliza- receiving an understanding nod to her silent question.

“Sorry, bud. I have a thing,” she says, running her fingers through Esme’s hair, “but you’ll have so much fun with grandma.”

And so, Esme and Eliza leave, just for today- she wonders how long it’ll be before it’s permanent.

The waiters take everything down. The tables, the flowers, the chairs. They clean up every glass and every fork. They pick up every dirty napkin and mop spilled drinks from the dancefloor. All while Kara watches from the side, sitting below a tree in the corner of the property- light blue dress already filled with dirt.

“Hey, you,” a soft voice she knows so well calls out, “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Lena wastes no time before sitting down beside Kara. Her knees, still cladded in her sinful and gorgeous purple bodysuit, bump against Kara’s playfully. The action brings a small smile to her face. Knowing how much they’ve grown, how they went back to the playful and subtle touches again, the ones Kara had missed so so so much.

And somehow, something in the back of her mind, as she watches Lena’s knee move from side to side, always touching Kara’s when it moves to the left, tells her that Lena has already left, once, but Lena has always been the only one to ever come back.

“I’m tired,” she ends up confessing, even though perhaps they had already used up their emotional conversations quota of the day.

“Then let’s go home,” Lena whispers, care and warmness wrapping around Kara like a soft blanket. “I can make you some hot chocolate.”

“I mean… I’m tired of… everything. Everyone leaving”

Worry takes over Lena’s features. Kara has to look away in case it turns to pity, she doesn’t think she can deal with pity right now. “Alex isn’t gone,” she says, her hand taking Kara’s, “You know this.”

“I know. I know.” A tear rolls down her cheek anyway, “But she’s… Nevermind.”

“Hey, no, tell me,” Lena’s hand pulls, urging Kara to look into her eyes.

“It’s selfish,” she whispers.

“I don’t care,” Lena says back, “I won’t judge.”

“She’s no longer only mine,” she confesses, bites her lip in shame but she doesn’t find confusion in Lena's eyes, she doesn’t laugh at Kara’s words, she doesn’t tell her how selfish and ridiculous she’s being. She smiles sadly and squeezes her hand, asking her to keep going. “She’s no longer only my sister. She’s a wife. And a mom. And I love that, I do. But I’ve lost so much and now Alex can’t be my rock anymore, because if I drown Alex then I drown Kelly and Esme down with me, too. I can’t do that to her.”

“Just because Alex has new people to take care of, care for,” Lena says, “doesn’t mean she’ll stop taking care of you.”

“But I want her to stop taking care of me,” she exclaims, “I’ve held Alex back for so many years, Lena. So many. And I can’t be selfish enough to expect her to be there for me when she’s got so much good in her life now.”

“You are not a burden, Kara.”

“I know I’m not,” she sighs. “I know that if I ask for help, Alex will come running. But I don’t want to do that to her anymore. It’s just… It used to be us against the world. Alex was the first person I ever had since coming here. And I was the first person Alex ever truly confided in. And now that part of her has a new life, I realized… I don’t have anything that’s truly mine, now.”

She throws her head back against the tree. She wishes it could be full strength. Yet knows, full strength will break the tree in half. She plays with the ends of Lena’s fingers, tries to ground herself after letting out so many feelings.

“I understand what you mean by that,” Lena says softly. “I’ve never really had someone that’s truly mine either.”

[sssammich]

Dear Quizno's, if you would be so kind:

💖🍰🌝

hahah thank you for playing along!

💖 What do you like most about your own writing?

pffft um that because i've thankfully always stayed loyal to myself, they're exactly the types of fics i like to read, so their value actually increases over time. i read my own fics and i enjoy that i can do that and entertain myself as planned. especially when i forget what i've written and i go "wow! i wrote this! and it's exactly what i wanted to happen in the fic!"

in terms of perhaps style and technique, that they all somehow miraculously are paced well enough to feel organic and not rushed. considering the chaotic out-of-order style of writing that i do, this is really very much a miracle tbh

🍰 Name one of your fave comfort fics (doesn’t have to be your all time fave).

like mine? or like someone else's? well you get to have both

mine: don't touch me, touch me more that i wrote for a rare pair in revue starlight remains one of my most favorite "maya unclenching" fics that i take a lot of comfort in. i really said "let me pretend i invented physical intimacy"

also mine: rituals for swanqueen is an incomplete vignette style slowburn of a story that i have. it's incomplete because i don't actively write for it only when i feel the tenderness flowing extra but it's such a comfortable universe that i actually sit in it for a while even as i think about other swan queen fics

not mine: Something Borrowed by janewithawhy is probably one of the most tender and quiet and understated fics there are and i love it so much i just cradle it in my heart

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

um for supergirl i'd say probably sam or brainy, maybe nia. i've technically had them in small spots in existing fics but i'd like to center them a bit more. even sam in my rojarias fic is very much at the mercy of andrea's thoughts and emotions

i hope to have a sam-centered fic before the year ends but who knows (she's gonna be in a kind of supercorp triangle of sorts but i am not emotionally ready to write that fic just yet)

fanfic ask meme

[luthordamnvers]

🍒🍇

🍒 What’s your favorite character dynamic to write? (Can be romantic or platonic, specific or general!)

The obvious answer is Kara and Lena, as both romantic and platonic, because they are the ship that has me by the throat. But I also love writing Alex and Kara, I love their dynamic (and the more people hate on Alex the more I love her, I don't make the rules. But they did her, in particular, so dirty in that show...). And Lena and Kelly, (because is still bonkers to me how the show didn't use Azie and Katie's rapport. But then again, they didn't care about the interpersonal relationships in general). Which is why I also enjoy writing the superfriends just hanging out, not only in times of crisis. Those scenes are a true nightmare to plot out in a way that seems organic, and not forced. But the show always wasted their relationship as a group and I'll be damn if I don't at least try to fix it. I confess I do have MUCH difficulty writing both Nia and Brainy, as much as I love them. Because their personalities (and experiences) are so diametrically opposite to mine that I am always afraid of not making them justice and somehow being offensive. I do try, but they don't come as natural to me as the others.

🍇 Is there a particular scene/episode/book/etc that you want to just write a million fics about, over and over? Which one?

Answered here

Thanks for asking, C 💜

[Fruity ask game]

[wynetteslanding]

Why Dreamer is a true trans superhero.

What makes a superhero? Everyone has their own answer and mine comes down to three words: Selflessness. Hope. Courage. The first of what we know today as a superhero, Superman, was not created to fight supervillains or to save cities from falling meteors. Before there was a Lex Luthor, a General Zod, or a Brainiac, Superman used his spectacular powers to fight real world issues the readers of 1938 knew and readers of 2024 still know all too well. He selflessly prioritized aiding the downtrodden in any way he could, gave hope for a better tomorrow to the readers who saw their own experiences on the page, and most importantly gave them the courage to stand for what's right and do for others what their hero had done for them. For Trans Day of Visibility I would like to celebrate DC's Dreamer, a true trans superhero.

Nia Nal was created for the fourth season of CW’s Supergirl as a primary point of focus in a storyline featuring villain Ben Lockwood, who uses his website to spin transparently dishonest rhetoric that radicalizes his followers into violence against innocent people as his own personal army; The Sons of Liberty. In the second episode of the season when Brainy (an alien friend of Supergirl’s from the future) has his cloaking technology hacked and doesn’t look sufficiently “human” enough for the restaurant owner’s liking, Nia is the only one who places herself between the peaceful alien super genius and a metal bat, demanding the attacker to back off from his own patron. It’s after this encounter that Nia reveals to James Olsen (“Jimmy” to his best pal) that she is a transgender woman, and the two prepare to push back against Lockwood and inform the general public of the lies his grift is built upon.

Later in the season it’s revealed that Nia is precognizant, able to see cryptic visions of the future in her dreams, a power passed down by her mother, an alien from the planet Naltor. Nia visits her family troubled by the fact her mother’s power is only passed down to one daughter per generation, and she has to tell her sister, who has waited her whole life for it to manifest, that she inherited it instead. When her mother passes during the visit, her sister discovers the truth and is outraged, saying the power wasn’t hers to inherit because she “isn’t a real woman.” But her mother’s final message was clear; that inheriting the power is proof that she was always her daughter. And her father passes along one final gift from her mother; a supersuit.

As Dreamer, Nia becomes an ally to Supergirl and a part of her team as they uncover not only the truth behind Lockwood’s rise, but also that of the hand pulling the strings. It’s cathartic to see our heroes triumph and put an end to such a deadly wave of hatred, but any trans person can tell you that Ben’s methods, the harm they cause, and the active threats of violence presented to the main cast during their everyday lives throughout this season’s arc are not a work of fiction, they are a reflection. The fight for transgender acceptance, understanding, equality, and safety has been going on for longer than any of us have been alive. But if we stand between the innocents and their attackers, if we push back against the words that have been sharpened to weapons, and if we do it fearlessly as who we know we are against those who tell us we will never be, we can end this fight once and for all. But it’s going to take all of us. Every single one of us. Not just the Dreamers.

[chaotic-super]

Back To Krypton - Chapter 24

Read Back To Krypton on Ao3 here!

If they thought the heat was bad before, they were severely mistaken. It wasn’t anything even close to where they are at now and they still have a little while left to go before they will be able to see The Fire Falls.

The only upside to it is that the heat is preventing the growth of any of the plants from The Scarlett Jungle, making their trip a lot easier since they’ve left the ravine.

In some ways, they miss it, the simplicity of it, the mostly-even ground and the fact that they didn’t need to duck under branches every five minutes when they were walking. Still, being back out between the trees, feeling the drops of moisture that have gathered on the leaves brush off onto their skin, cooling them down as they walk and listen to the chirping of birds and creaking of bugs, both of which are eerily similar to those they would be likely to see on Earth from what little glances they’ve had at them, not at all like the monstrosities they came across before.

“Kara, please tell me we’re not going to be walking in this heat for much longer,” Nia complains to the blonde, oblivious to the sweat that is dripping down Kara’s forehead, the same amount that’s dripping down her own.

“I hate to say it, but that’s not all that soon, we have a couple of weeks before we even reach the falls properly and we have to go the long way around so we don’t run into any tourists and get asked questions we don’t have the answers to.” Kara answers, panting while they walk up a gentle incline, one that they have been making their way up for the past twenty minutes and hating every second of it.

Nia groans animatedly and it’s contagious because she gets a litany of groans in response, the conductor of the planet’s most annoyed orchestra.

Lena wants to groan too but holds back since she’s the only one in the group that has any restraint at this point in time. She isn’t enjoying the heated trek they’re on and absolutely despises the fact that she can’t even hold her girlfriend’s hand because the pool of sweat that sits between their palms makes her want to gag.

She isn’t complaining though, this is what she signed up for and complaining about it isn’t going to make her feel any better about where they are or what’s going on. Their path is clear and they just have to suck it up and follow it, put everything else aside and just deal with it.

“There is some good news, you know?” Kara turns to speak to the group behind her, walking up the back backwards and surprisingly, she’s actually finding it easier.

Lena perks up at that, whatever Kara is about to say, it might just get the others to stop moaning. “What is it?”

“The falls have been here for so long that the wildlife and the environment around them has adapted over time so there are awesome plants around that we can eat to have a bit more variety in our diets and there is also something else, something every last one of you is going to appreciate.”

“Kara, I couldn’t give a damn about your foraging right about now.” Alex huffs, moody from not only being hot and tired but also from carrying Esme, the little princess having been struggling to keep up on the uphill until she got picked up and then she promptly fell right asleep on her mom’s shoulder.

Holding her hands up in surrender, Kara keeps talking. “Ok, I’m sorry, I should have started with the good bit, I see that now.”

“What’s the good bit, Kara.”

“Natural hot springs.” Kara grins. “We just have to find them, there is a whole bunch of them about though, pretty much all of the bodies of water around will be warm though and the closer you get to the falls, the hotter they are, just another reason for us to stay away from getting to close though, we won’t get scalded by the water.”

Nia’s jaw drops. “Kara, I’m about to ruin your relationship because I want to kiss you right now.”

“Forget mine and Kara’s relationship, you would be ruining your own relationship because Brainy would be informed of what you did… when I tell him the reasoning behind why I murdered you.” Lena glares, at the younger woman, her frustration at their heinous walk coming out in the form of overprotective jealousy.

To everyone’s amusement, Nia looks genuinely concerned. “Lena, I appreciate the threat but we all know that I’m not interested in The Girl of Steel, she’s all yours. Please contain your jealousy, you’re making it weird.”

“You made it weird when you started talking about kissing my girlfriend,” Lena argues, eyebrows flinching like crazy in time with the words she’s spitting.

Kara rushes to intervene, standing between the arguing women. “Please stop, this is hard enough without any fighting, besides, if you guys get any louder, you’ll wake Esme up, contain yourselves.”

Reasonably admonished, they fall silent, and not just Nia and Lena but all of them. Kara doesn’t care though, she can handle a tough mission and a bad day, but she can’t handle her team taking cheap shots at each other and making their suffering worse needlessly.

“We’ll reach the crest of the hill soon, we’ll take a couple of hours to have a break instead of the usual hour, we have enough time that it won’t make much of a difference and I think we all need some time to unwind before we carry on. It’s coming up to midday and the sun isn’t helping with the heat, if we wait it out then it won’t be as bad of a walk.” Alex decides for them, keeping her tone hushed.

The offer of a break and some space from the others kicks them all into gear and they end up heading off up the hill at what is probably twice the pace they were going at before.

Their feet connect with the ground with light steps, their toes hitting the curve of the slope before their heels. It’s their intuition and their hypersensitivity to the heavier footsteps that they can suddenly hear that halts their progress, the deviation from the background noise they’ve gotten used to.  Then, all of them stop so they can be certain that the steps aren’t their own, and that they belong to someone that isn’t in the group.

It takes them back to before when the people from The Rebellion were after them and took them back to the accommodation with them, except it can’t be them this time, it just wouldn’t make sense, surely they would have been out here long ago to come and fetch them, weeks ago in fact, not when they are getting closer to being able to get them what they’ve asked for.

They just have to make it past the fire falls and then they can stop by The Scarlett Jungle to get the samples for Astra. They can’t show up without them because then Astra will face consequences that could change the timeline and they can’t let that happen.

“Quick, go, into the bushes.” Lena hisses at the group, trying her best to get them to go as quickly and as quietly as possible.

They rush off to where the bushes are thicker, diving into them and dropping low to the ground, eyes peeled and ears desperately clamouring to hear any signs of other people, hoping that they will see them before they see the group.

Alex holds onto Esme tight, resting her daughter on the ground and hovering over her, protecting her from whatever might happen now. Looking down at the little girl, she can see her eyes opening groggily but she doesn’t make a noise when she sees her mom above her with a finger to her lips, a signal to stay quiet.

Kelly is squished between Nia and Kara but her eyes keep flickering away from the track they were just walking on and the space where Alex, Esme and Lena are lying down.

They keep themselves hunched down as much as they are physically able to and they barely dare to breathe, terrified that they are giving themselves away every time a branch or a leaf moves because of the tiny puffs of air coming out of their mouths.

Their wait isn’t long, barely a couple of minutes, and they see exactly what they feared. There’s a small group of Kryptonians wandering through the forest, the only difference is that they are going downhill where they were going uphill.

There are four of them but that’s not the scariest part. Behind them, they have two creatures, two dragon-like animals that leave the Superfriends breathless in the beauty of them.

Lena’s mouth drops open at the sight of the H’Raka. She hadn’t fully believed Kara when she told them the story of how her uncle had one of these back in their first couple of weeks of the mission but here it is, one in the flesh, a dark forest green that is illuminated by its four burgundy wings and underbelly, great white claws attached to its feet that match the teeth that glitter in the sunlight when it opens its mouth to pant, not unlike the way a dog would.

They don’t move from their spots, watching from where they are as the group passes by talking in rapid Kryptonese.

In fact, they don’t move until they can no longer hear the group and they have long gone out of sight, moving slowly out from their hiding spots and keeping the voices low when they do talk.

“Kara, what were they saying?” Kelly questions.

Kara walks back to where they were originally and looks down the slope in the direction the people went in. “They are environmentalists, it’s perfectly normal for them to be out and about around random places like this, they often use H’Rakas to get around and spend their time researching the animal populations and the plants around certain areas, it’s their job to figure out what parts of Krypton’s nature needs supplementing to get it back to good health and then doing just that. They weren’t talking about anything in particular, just a couple of books they’re reading at the minute, boring stuff.”

“Really? They get paid to go out into the middle of nowhere on the backs of dragons without someone micromanaging their every movement? Sounds like heaven.” Alex adds in, lifting Esme up over the top of the bushes and handing her over to Kelly.

“Pretty much, they can’t do anything too drastic without approval from higher level people within their guild, but essentially, yes. They are actually well known for making a mess of ecosystems by accidentally losing their H’Rakas and them then hunting endangered species. It’s always been a whole thing.”

Nia stumbles out from her own spot, standing on uneasy legs for a second before righting herself. “That’s cool, but can we keep going, I want that break.”

Lena sighs, ready to be the bearer of bad news. “We can’t take a break now.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because now we know there are people around that could accidentally stumble upon us at any moment. We don’t know if there are more of them and we can’t risk staying in one spot for long, especially not for two hours. Let’s keep walking and just try and stay on track, ok?”

Nia’s head drops and Kara wants to do the same, only one more piece of bad news away from becoming a moody gremlin for the rest of the day.

 Clicking her tongue, Kelly weighs in. “I want that break just as much as the rest of you but Lena’s right, we have to keep going.”

“We keep going then,” Alex says decidedly, marching off up the hill.

Rather than stand there and debate against carrying on, something that they all know is going to happen whether they like it or not, they keep going. The further away from the group they get, the faster they can take an actual break once they’re sure that they aren’t going to be running into any trouble.

And so they continue, stomping their way up the hill and then across the flat surface of the ground that comes after that. It does get easier the further along they get, their legs not as tired and since the path is less strenuous, they don’t feel quite as hot but it’s still not great.

Lena watches Kara out of the corner of her eye the whole time, worried because Kara has that look on her face that she gets whenever she’s thinking about something too hard and it’s worrying her.

Once they are far enough behind the others that they can talk in a hushed whisper that stops them from being able to overhear what they are saying to each other, Lena acknowledges her. “Hey, are you alright, darling? You’ve got that look about you.”

“I’m ok,” Kara replies. “Just caught up in my head thinking.”

“About?”

Sighing out a half-laugh, Kara smiles at her. “I can’t keep any secrets from you, can I?”

Lena shakes her head. “You can’t, even when you’re doing what you’re doing now and trying to avoid my questions.”

Kara rolls her eyes. “I know. There’s a couple of things on my mind and I’m not sure as though they are good things.”

Lena wipes off her sweaty palm on the leg of her pants before wrapping it around Kara’s elbow. “Well, in that case, you should try me.”

“The first thing isn’t bad. I was thinking about the book the other Kryptonians were talking about. It was one that was part of a series my father used to read, it just brought up some old memories, fond ones.” Kara begins, focusing on the good thing she was thinking of, shying away from telling Lena the other thing she was thinking about.

Lena rests her head on Kara’s shoulder for a brief moment, taking it away not long after because she realizes how uncomfortable it is to walk in that position but is grateful she could show her support to Kara in the movement anyway. “That sounds like a good memory.”

“It is.”

“And the other thought?” Lena presses gently, the same way one would tentatively press a single finger to a bruise just to see what results arise at the pressure.

Kara doesn’t want to share, too afraid that the idea she has is either so stupid that she’s judged for it or has it picked apart, or that it is outlandish enough that they try it and end up in deeper trouble than they have already found except this time they won’t have Astra there to dig them out of the pit they trap themselves in.

“Lena, it’s just an idea and it’s a bad one, not worth looking into.”

Lena isn’t buying that, if it’s just an idea and Kara isn’t genuinely considering it in some capacity then she would have no problem sharing, they often share fantasies of terrible plans and ideas in their tent at night to pass the time when they aren’t ready to sleep, Kara thinks this plan could work but doesn’t want to say, doesn’t want to take responsibility if it doesn’t work out. She’s just afraid.

She considers pressing it and she considers leaving it. She settles for a middle ground. “I won’t ask you to tell me. I just want you to know that I’m here and if you want to look into it, we can do that, and if you want to keep it to yourself and stay on the path we have, that’s alright too.”

“Thanks.” Kara hums, wrapping her own sweaty hand around Lena’s fingers on her arm, not caring about the heat anymore, just trapped in her own head while she weighs in her options.

The trek after that is quiet, Kara not really sharing anything and just staring off into space while she thinks and Lena giving her the space to do so. Alex and Nia are just talking about some movie they want to watch when they get back to Earth and Kelly is keeping Esme occupied, carrying her on her shoulders and letting her listen to an audiobook of The BFG.

It stays quiet until they are forced to stop for the night with the setting sun and their grumbling stomachs and it stays quiet when they go to sleep in their tents that they have camouflaged by setting up between some trees and covering them in branches.

It isn’t quiet when Lena is gently shaken awake in the middle of the night by Kara and has a few words whispered to her, the plan the blonde isn’t sure about but has finally decided to share because there’s a chance it could work, a chance that they could get the mission finished long before their expected date and get home to their normal lives, to being back in the city they love so much.

“Lena, wake up. Lena? It’s just me.”

“What’s happening?” Lena sits up in a panic.

Kara presses a gentle hand over her mouth, keeping her quiet so she doesn’t wake the others up. “The H’Rakas, we can take them. They will think they got loose. We can take them and get the samples and be in Kandor by the end of the week. We can get Esme out of this damned place and back to where she can be safe. We just have to be the ones to go and steal them, we have to do that part alone because if we get caught, it’s all over.”

Lena ‘s eyes have barely adjusted to being open and she’s registering everything Kara’s saying at an extremely slow pace but it does make sense and if Kara’s plan works, they are going to be home soon. It’s risky but not as risky as their current plan. They can pull it off.

“Say no more, I’m in.”

Read more chapters early on Patreon here!

[owl-with-a-pen]

i’ve been listening to this song nonstop and it just SCREAMS brainia i cant!

https://open.spotify.com/track/0RPD5sbsSLnKWYOJ5iPPMm?si=QolU81bMQxeIHXPIhKWB4g

[Never Love An Anchor - The Crane Wives]

Ooo, this is my first time hearing this song, but for me it really does capture that early season 5 vibe of their relationship.

That these hands of mine were clumsy, not clever

And I tried to do the best that I could

But try as I might, I couldn't bring myself to hold you

&

And you'll never see the reasons I had

For keeping my claws away when they were close enough to hurt you

^^ These lyrics especially make me think of when Brainy was trying to distance himself from Nia when they first started officially dating because he was afraid of hurting her after he was realigned. The song also works really well to capture their strained relationship when Brainy was working for Lex. How he feared he must have appeared to her when he couldn't tell her the truth. It's got the perfect level of angst to match those emotions nicely.

Also, I really like this line:

There is love that doesn't have a place to rest

But it would have buried you if it had settled on your shoulders

It just makes me think a lot about Brainy's earlier tendency to go 100% on everything. 😅

Thank you for sharing x

[myucornerorg]

Thanks @real-life-senshi for the tag!

The Rules: Tag (9) people you want to know better and/or catch up with, then answer the following:

Four Ships:

Oh boy. TBH I'm not that into shipping really. I guess I have a few though.

Brainy x Nia (CW Supergirl): Definitely the beta couple of the last couple seasons of the show. I do kinda wonder how their relationship would've developed had Season 5 played out as planned (the ending of the season got kinda messed up due to COVID lockdowns, which is why the "beat Leviathan" plot got carried over to the beginning of Season 6). They got a fair amount of focus in Season 6, as they dealt with how Brainy's actions in Season 5 affected them (also they had to write Kara out for most of the season because her actress was on maternity leave, forcing them to instead focus episodes on the rest of Supergirl's team). I felt it was a strong ship, with two goofy, geeky people - one an alien genius who's not very used to having emotions period and the other a half-human, half-alien girl with dream-related powers - who both clearly like each other but don't know how to spit it out. The "Prom!" two-parter, where they go back in time to get DNA to help track down Kara, had them try to fit in in late-90s small town America, which was hilarious. Also, in general, even with all the hype over Nia being the first transgender superhero ever (she's also played by a real-life trans rights hero, Nicole Maines), aside from a little focus when she was first introduced, they haven't made it her sole defining trait, and have developed her beyond that, which I appreciate. I'm not sure their relationship had its full time to develop - towards the end it seemed doomed to fail since at some point Brainy was going to have to go back to the future time he came from. But in the finale he decided to "screw destiny" and came back for her, so they still have a chance!

Pokéshipping (Ash x Misty): From Pokémon, obviously. This is Pokémon's oldest ship and I have stood by it for years (to be fair, I haven't seen enough of the anime to justify the other Ash ships anyway). But then I'm biased, since Misty has long been a favorite character of mine from Pokémon. It's been cool seeing her come back in more recent seasons and still have a dynamic with Ash. It started with him accidentally frying her bike with Pikachu, and her tagging along to make him pay her back, but they ultimately developed a strong friendship, which I think is only rivaled by his friendship with Dawn probably. Of course, since I ship them, I wish there could be more - and there are songs showing Misty has feelings for him ("Misty's Song," "He Drives Me Crazy," "I've Got a Secret" from Pokémon Live). The second movie also teased the idea, though Misty strongly denied it. As for Ash, we have no idea how he feels. But let's be fair, he barely acknowledged Serena's feelings, and hers as far as I can tell were WAY more obvious than Misty's (Serena pretty much started traveling with Ash cause she had a crush on him). So I'm guessing he's just completely oblivious. He'd have to grow up a lot to realize how Misty feels. And now Ash's time in the anime is basically over. Though, they did leave things pretty open-ended with him, so...

Yowzah (Doctor x River Song): This is basically my main ship from Doctor Who (though I do also support Tenrose). For this ship, I usually define it as Eleven x River specifically, since they interact the most. Though their relationship is crazy complicated, their banter is always fun to see when they do meet. Because I didn't watch Doctor Who quite in order when catching up on old seasons, I actually saw their romance in basically chronological order - starting with Series 5-7 and ending with 4, where Ten meets her but she ends up dying - which somehow made it even more poignant. I did appreciate that before Steven Moffat left, he resolved their whole thing by having Twelve finally take River to Darillium (the last place River saw "her" Doctor before traveling to the Library and meeting Ten), and having Twelve come to terms with her being gone. While there are still Big Finish audios coming out to flesh out River's personal canon, I consider her timeline with The Doctor finished, and I don't expect her to show up again (although, they brought back Jack Harkness, so I guess no one's safe). I don't feel like there's any sort of future they could give them - "The Name of the Doctor" already showed River post-death. I suppose they could delve into their past still, especially if they keep the Timeless Child plotline when Russell T. Davies takes over again. I'd kinda love for River to meet the Fugitive Doctor. I feel like they would be BFFs in a heartbeat. At any rate, River is a fun character, and for now I've been indulging my interest in this ship via the Eleventh Doctor fanfic I've been working on for years (I have an idea for a ship fic with them too).

Mamoru x Hina (PGSM): So not sure this is even a ship but decided to add it anyway. When it comes to Sailor Moon, I'm typically in the Usagi x Mamoru camp pretty strongly. Especially in the manga, where their relationship really gets some deep development (it gets development in the anime too, but not in the same way I feel like). But the live-action series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon just didn't do their relationship justice. I get that they had limited episodes to work with, but they could've done better. They also tried to make things more dramatic by revealing Mamoru was engaged, right at the point of the show when Usagi was starting to think maybe he wasn't so bad after all. And then try to twist the knife even more by making Usagi realize that "OMG this guy's girlfriend is actually NICE." Hina, meanwhile, didn't get much development beyond being the "other woman" who clearly loved Mamoru more than he did her. That she was the "childhood friend" in this scenario probably didn't help either (anyone who's watched/read enough shoujo knows that the "childhood friend" rarely wins in a love triangle). She did at least respect that Mamoru had a lost past he was trying to find clues to, and tried to be supportive as much as she could. And when Mamoru got cut off from a call with her when Kunzite attacked him, she seemed genuinely upset. (She also got upset when she found Usagi's handkerchief in Mamoru's dresser, but that's more like a "OMG are you cheating on me?" kind of upset). Ultimately she saw the writing on the wall and broke up with Mamoru. I mean, sure, if the show was going to follow the original Sailor Moon plot, Mamoru and Usagi were going to have to end up together somehow. But instead of trying to create a genuine love triangle with actual drama attached, they had Mamoru in a relationship he didn't really care about and Usagi, as much as it pained her, willing to honor that relationship. Thus they started to kinda reluctantly become just friends instead. But while it can be argued they did develop some feelings for each other eventually, their whole romance seems to be based on the fact that they loved each other in their past lives, and fate is doing its darnedest to bring them together again. Except that in the past that caused the destruction of the Earth, a fact that initially no one remembers except Sailor Venus, Zoisite, and Kunzite, which is why those three are pretty strongly against Usagi and Mamoru getting together (Beryl also tries to split them up later, either personally or through her "shadow" Mio, since the Beryl/Serenity/Endymion love triangle is also still a thing). Then they get separated since Mamoru goes to study abroad in England, and then later lets Beryl capture him to save the Shitennou, causing all this angst where Usagi tries really hard not to make the Silver Crystal activate, as this would not only make her hardcore "I don't care about anything but my prince" Princess Sailor Moon side come out, but it also inadvertently powers Queen Metallia, neither of which is good for the safety of the Earth. Even once Beryl is defeated and Usagi and Mamoru are *finally* set to get married, it's clear Mamoru is not that enthusiastic about it, which is what leads to Usagi breaking things off and Mio showing up and being like "I'M BAAACK" and kidnapping Mamoru to be her groom in her circus-inspired base. So...anyway, it's just hard for me to ship Usagi x Mamoru in PGSM for these reasons, so I lean more toward shipping Hina with Mamoru. After all, the short "Hina Afterward" made it clear that she still thought about him after they broke up.

Last Song: Not a song per se, but...the Suzume soundtrack on Spotify. It's actually quite a good soundtrack. Sadly, they didn't include the songs Serizawa plays in his car during the road trip part of the movie (probably for copyright reasons), but I found a couple Spotify playlists people made of the songs he plays: this one and this one. One of them is "Rouge no Dengon," the opening song to Kiki's Delivery Service, which I recognized immediately when I first heard it as that's my favorite Ghibli film.

Currently Reading: This translation of Virgil's The Aeneid, translated by David Ferry. It was the one recommended by Blue of the YouTube channel Overly Sarcastic Productions in his Virgil video, so I figured it had to be good. Now, being a mythology buff, I knew something about the Aeneid going into this (I also watched OSP's video covering it), but I'd never read it in verse before now. And it is actually quite good. Sure there are boring lists of people at times, and Virgil spends like 10 stanzas describing the decorations on Aeneas's shield in great detail, which I could care less about. While I definitely had to consult the list of names in the back a few times to know what stuff was, the text was otherwise quite understandable as is, which isn't easy with old texts like this as far as I can tell. Ferry does a good job making it readable but not TOO modern. Would recommend.

Last Movie: The anime movie Suzume, directed by Makoto Shinkai, who did Your Name and Weathering With You. As I mentioned in this post, it's REALLY GOOD.

Craving: I'm looking forward to the game Hogwarts Legacy. The Switch version got delayed till July and it bugs me a lot. Also, this game called Sea of Stars is finally coming out soon that I backed on Kickstarter. I've never backed a video game on there before, so that's exciting! Besides that...I bought a TON of 3DS and DS games in my pursuit to get the games I wanted before the 3DS eShop shut down a couple months ago, so looking forward to those. In the process, I found out my DS Lite can still read GBA cartridges, allowing me to replay old favorites like Kim Possible 2: Draaken's Demise and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as well as games I missed (like all of the Gen 3 Pokémon games - if I can track them down - and Tales of Phantasia, which I just recently found out even HAD a GBA version).

As for non-gaming things...I haven't been to Disneyland in years, despite living less than 2 hours away from it. Sure, as an autistic person, theme parks can be kind of a nightmare, but I really love Disney movies. Also, I haven't been there since before the Star Wars land was completed, so I really want to go there and see that, as I'm also a big Star Wars fan.

Also I do miss doing covers on my YouTube channel, I'll admit. I'd also like to do more collabs, but the SeraMyu cover community seems kinda dead now, especially since our sort of Fearless Leader (and the one who encouraged me to join in the first place) @sailorzakuro seems to have moved on.

Tagging: @ainomessage, @fyeahsailormoon, @glitzyglee, @galaxia-gorgeous, @gracemyhearto, @kosmosinusa, @katieban-kaiteiban, @love-boat, @sailormoonsub

[hitchell-mope]

(The Reunion)

Carter: are you okay?

Alex: I’m fine.

Carter: are you? Because you’ve been sour, dour and somber ever since we got Mon El back.

Alex: Carter. I’m telling you. I’m fine.

Lucy: no you’re not. Ever since we got Mon El back-

Alex: I know! Sour, dour and somber! Carter already told me!

(She looks uneasily at Kara and Mon El talking to Zor El)

Lucy: oh for fucks sake. I thought you got over this.

Alex: I am over it!

Lucy: really? Cause you look like you’re jealous of Kara’s biological father.

Alex: I’m not jealous. Jealousy is when you’re worried something you have will be taken away from you. And that can’t happen when what you had is already gone. I’m envious. Okay? Happy now? I said it.

Lucy: Jeremiah. Oh my god. I’m so sorry Alex. I didn’t think.

Alex: well that’s because I didn’t want to tell anyone. It’s Kara and Mon El’s night. Not mine.

Kelly: is everything okay here?

Carter: Alex is envious because Kara got her dad back ang Jeremiah’s dead.

Alex: thanks Carter(?)

Carter (genuinely): you’re welcome.

Alex: he’s right though.

Kelly: I understand. I’d give anything to have my dad back.

Alex: I can’t say anything about it because Kara is just so happy right now I don’t want to ruin for her.

Kelly: that’s why we have each other.

Alex: yeah.

Carter: you know what? I don’t think anyone here has an even number of parents. Except Mon El, J’onn and Brainy. Both their parents are dead. An even zero. Grandma Katherine might as well be dead though. As well as Mr Rojas. And General Lane. Funny that isn’t it?

Kelly: yes Carter it’s very funny. Could you help Nia bring in the cake please?

Carter (brightly): okay!

Kara: hey Alex! I want you to meet someone. Well. You know. Properly. You’ve already met but oh just c’mon.

Alex: hi sir.

Zor El: please call me Zor. Thank you for taking care of my daughter all these years.

Alex: it’s an honour. It always is.

Kara: I was just telling him about Clark, Lois, Jonathan and Jordan.

Alex: oh yeah. It must so strange for you to learn that your daughter’s younger than your nephew now.

Zor El: it will take some getting used to I’ll admit. But it’s a relief to know that Krypton lives on. And that Kara has found someone like Mon El. He was a very great help to me in the Phantom Zone.

Mon El: I try.

Zor El: you succeeded. And then some.

Nia: cale time!

Kara: whew. That’s a good looking cake. Now this is just for Mon El and my dad. The rest of us will just have to make do with what’s left.

Mon El (laughing affectionately): c’mon Kara.

Kara: okay, okay. Everyone tuck in!

(End of The Reunion)

[oetravia]

Brainia + Face Touches

[emotional-synth-music]

okay supercorp this and supercorp that, but the sleeper hit moment of 5x01 was when brainy was confirmed as canonically slutty

[thebreakfastgod]

If the super friends played dnd, what classes would they choose?

this is such a good question i had to sit on it and get @mike-wachowski ‘s help figuring it out

I think that Kara would play a half-orc fighter. Mike said Kara wouldn’t want to play anything too difficult and always wants to protect her friends so fighter is perfect. I also think that Kara as Supergirl can never just punch somebody and deal a non-lethal amount of damage so she’d enjoy the actual fighting mechanics

i think Lena plays a human barbarian. Lena is small and never gets to fight things, she would go absolutely apeshit as a player. let her punch

Alex would be a human wizard cause in the show Alex is very strategic but i think she would apply that in a use-of-spells way rather than a martial way

Kelly would play a dwarf cleric cause that Guardian instinct is just that strong bro. Also someone has to keep the rest of them alive

Nia would play a half elf bard! she would get to sing songs and be funny and flirt with any NPCs

and i think Brainy would DM. He would go all out and be very happy to flirt with his bard gf

[dancedance-resolution]

tag what you’re majoring in/intend on majoring in

[strxnged]

brainy and nia are in love and the best couple in Supergirl except for supercorp thank you

[ijustthinkevilunoisneat]

These aren't mine but they are all so freaking cute that I had to share