(open) i know the sun will shine tomorrow

[thisisontherecord]

WHO: Take your pick of Lois Lane, Clark Kent, Jon Kent, Superman, or Superboy + you!
WHEN: End of August through to September Mission start.
WHERE: Etraya (various locations)
WHAT: A catch-all for running into the Kents, the Supers, or the singular Lane.
NOTES\WARNINGS: Specify which folks you're looking to run into in your subject line!

Do you run into one of them:

1. At the apartments near the Hospital? Find them on the top floor.

2. In the food stores (Kwik Trip, 7-11, Bangtang Market, the bot-run restaurants) scattered throughout Etraya? Snacks are at a premium for some of these guys.

3. On a rooftop somewhere in Etraya. Yes, even Lois.

4. Exploring the Daily Planet. It's the wrong one, but it's also what's here.

5. Down in the Catacombs. Why has part of Paris been recreated here, anyway?

6. Wildcard yourself anywhere in Etraya!

Comments

[newsbeat]

She peeks her head out and Clark tries to look friendly — which is pretty easy, since it's more or less his default state.

(He tones down the hearing. If they can have an actual face-to-face conversation, he doesn't need to be weird about it.)

"Something like that." He moves forward at a leisurely pace, chuckling a little at himself. "I'm new, so I've been exploring. Didn't realize at first that down here would be so...expansive."

[cache_coeur]

"Nor did I," she replies, and her pulse eases. Okay. He does not seem like a psychopath.

As comfortable as she is with the dark, it's much easier to be able to see properly. She flicks her hand, and an orb of light materializes, floating by her head like a tiny sun, having been apparently gathered from the light around them. In its warm glow, there's Sciel –– a long scar banded across her nose, her expression calm, dressed in dark combat pants and a crop top.

"Worst place to explore I've found yet, by a large margin."

[newsbeat]

Huh, how about that. He reaches what could be considered standard conversational range and nods in greeting, then looks at the glowing orb with interest. Magic — he assumes it's magic, or something like it — has always been fascinating to him, not that it's something he encounters often.

"It's not the worst place I've been, but it wouldn't make my top five," he says. "I'm not sure I understand why this place is a tourist attraction back on Earth."

[cache_coeur]

She watches his eyes follow the orb, but she doesn't remark on it. That last bit puts a flicker of polite curiosity on her face.

"A tourist attraction? What does that mean?"

[newsbeat]

Maybe she's not from France-France after all. Jeez, he should really know better than to generalize based only on the sound of an accent.

"This is a famous destination in Paris, a city from my world," he says. "It used to be solely functional, but a few centuries later it became a draw people interested in history." He pauses. "And those with ghoulish tastes, I suppose. They give guided tours now."

[cache_coeur]

How strange. Not unreasonable, she thinks, given some of the places she’d trodden through, but it certainly gives Etraya a particular colour.

“I suppose it can be done… respectfully,” she says, even if it doesn’t feel like the right word. “I just think it’s strange that it’s here at all. My ancestors laid these bodies to rest, and now they’ve been ripped from their time.”

[newsbeat]

"Mmm. I find that strange as well."

He turns a little toward the wall — such as it is — and raises a hand, almost but not quite touching the bones. "I keep wondering — were these taken from the city I remember, is there a hole there now? Or have they been copied somehow?"

It is honestly a little disturbing to imagine either way.

[cache_coeur]

Her gaze follows his hand, her expression calm, a little wry.

"Well, some of us are from worlds that have already faced destruction," she replies. "So maybe these places have been saved the same way the survivors have been. That's not so bad."

[newsbeat]

"Is that so?" Something shifts in his expression than, minute but undeniable. Like he's recognized someone or something he didn't expect to see.

"I'm very sorry to hear that. I know something of what that's like." He lowers his hand and turns back to her. "When you put it that way, I don't think I disagree."

[cache_coeur]

She cracks the smallest smile at that change in his face, her posture easing even as she folds her arms across her ribs.

"I'm sorry to hear about yours, too," she says. "At least we can win them back, hmm?"

[newsbeat]

"Not the one I'm thinking of." He shakes his head a little, but he's smiling now, too. Just a bit. Thinking of what can be gained, not just what's been lost. "But the one I came from before I was here, yes. Any of them. I don't want to see anyone die if I can make a difference."

[cache_coeur]

The smile broadens.

“Very kind of you, considering Aurora loves to drive home that they can’t all be saved,” she says. “Why is it that your first world can’t be saved?”

[newsbeat]

Yes, Aurora does say that, quite emphatically. The look in his eyes might indicate that he has some thoughts about that, but it's not quite the topic at hand.

"It was already gone a long time ago, when I was just a baby," he says. "It wasn't another world in the way most of us come from different worlds — it existed in the same plane of reality that I lived in before I came to Etraya. But I was born on one planet that faced imminent destruction, and my parents sent me to another to try to save my life."

Clearly, it worked. Funny how the story seems so simple when he tells it like this.

[cache_coeur]

It feels strange, sometimes, to be a person so calm in the face of annihilation, but Sciel appreciates an opportunity to speak to someone who isn’t nonplussed by the concept. Hard won lessons, she supposes.

“I’m sure they’d be proud that you’ve carried on their compassion,” she remarks. “Do you think Aurora is wrong?”

[newsbeat]

His expression doesn't change at all. No, they wouldn't be. But it is a nice thought.

"I think I don't have enough information to say for sure. But she could be, yes," he says. "Or someone could be lying. Any beings with the power and willingness to pull others across realities is going to have incentive to say what needs to be said to get us to act as they want. Even if that's the case, it doesn't mean I won't do what I can to help people who aren't here to speak for their worlds."

[cache_coeur]

No comment is enough of a response for Sciel. She nods.

“I have to wonder what the alternative is, if she isn’t telling the truth,” Sciel comments. “Or how exactly they benefit from doing it this way.”

Then there’s a pause, brief but comfortable.

“I didn’t get your name, by the way.”

[newsbeat]

There are a lot of different alternatives, Clark thinks, a lot of different ways to benefit. Problem is, they're all speculation, no reason for one to be more likely than the other based on the information he has now.

He pauses for a moment, considering, but then smiles. "I'm Clark. It's nice to meet you."