#winn is 0% surprised

[saiilorstars]

Ch.10: The Solar Hybrid

Story Masterlist ◦ Anais’ Masterlist ◦

Also on: Fanfic • Ao3

Pairing: Winn Schott x OFC

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag​​ @arrthurpendragon​​ @anotherunreadblog​​ @maaaaarveeeeel​​ @stareyedplanet​​ @foxesandmagic​​

If you’d like to be a part of this OC’s work/edits, let me know!

It was late at night when Anais got word that their unconscious man was not so conscious anymore. The man had woken up and attacked Kara and about half a dozen other DEO agents before making his escape into the city. When Anais sped into the place, things had already been done.

"Are you guys okay?" She rushed up to Kara and Alex.

Kara seemed relatively unharmed. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just a little shaken. Where is he?"

"He disappeared into the city," Alex said, having watched it with her own eyes.

"Which is just what I don't need," J'onn stopped beside the three, "A rogue Kryptonian on the loose just as the President is due for a visit."

"We haven't proved that he's a Kryptonian," Anais reminded them. "And — wait," she paused, "Did you just say that the President is coming here? Like, here, here?"

Even Kara was surprised at the news.

"Yeah," J'onn nodded, "she wants to tour the DEO while she's in National City to sign the Alien Amnesty Act."

"The Alien Amnesty act?" Anais felt way behind on the news. To be fair, she had not watched the news in a while.

Kara was very much up to speed on the matter. Her entire face lit up. "It's amazing, an executive order allowing aliens on Earth to come out of the shadows and live as full citizens. She's making history!"

"Not in my book, I think she's making a big mistake," J'onn's words pulled Kara down from her happy state.

Anais looked at the Martian curiously. "You don't think it's a good idea?"

J'onn shook his head. "It's been my hard experience that humans and aliens don't mix."

"What about us?" Kara made a gesture at all three of them, apart from Alex.

"What about us? We can look like them, we blend in, a lot of aliens can't. And people in this world don't have much tolerance for others who look different. I say that as an alien and as someone who's worn the face of a black man for 15 years."

"He's making some good points," Anais mumbled, earning a dumbfounded look from Kara. It didn't help when Alex joined in as well.

"J'onn's right. I can count the number of good aliens I know on one hand, with two fingers to spare."

Kara couldn't believe her ears. "Well, I'm just glad the President doesn't see things the way you three do."

"Hey, I haven't made my opinion up yet," Anais pointed out. "I see both sides and their validity. I had to hide, Kara, and the humans did kill my mother…because of my own human father."

Kara was smart enough not to argue with that detail.

"Well, you two better be on your best behaviors when you meet her," J'onn said, drawing both their attention.

"What?" They simultaneously blinked.

"She expects National City's highest-profiling aliens to greet her on the tarmac."

"I'm meeting the President?" Kara pointed at herself.

"No fucking way," Anais mumbled under her breath.

"Unless you're too nervous to do so," Alex teased the pair.

"Nervous? No!" Kara laughed, absolutely nervously.

"Yes!" Anais wasn't afraid to admit it. "This is the woman who signed my freedom! I-I get to meet her!?"

"You two will be representing this entire organization," J'onn continued sternly, "I expect you'll be professional."

"Yes!" Kara and Anais exclaimed dutifully, but still both giggling nervously.

"And for the record, she's the one who's lucky to meet you two," J'onn said with a wink.

"Should I get a blow out?" Kara suddenly asked, picking up a strand of her hair for a better look.

J'onn's pride waned at that moment. "Oh, dear God."

"Maybe I should cut my hair," Anais started debating. It started a whole discussion between her and Kara about their appearance for that day.

~0~

To start the day off at CatCo., James called an editorial meeting with everyone about the President's arrival and Amnesty Act. He leaned back on his desk, facing the crowd of employees around him, including Kara and Anais.

"Welcome, guys, to an editorial meeting for the history books," he smiled, "I truly believe, one day we'll stand in front of our kids and tell them where we were when the President stood up for all individuals' rights. Regardless of birth planet. So, we need a banner headline. Thoughts?"

"We're going to stand here and pitch headlines?" Snapper cut in, looking unsurprisingly grim.

"Well, that's kind of how it goes around here, Snapper," James replied.

"You don't come up with a headline first, Olsen. You go on the street first, find the news peg. The headline comes second."

"Well, Cat Grant—"

"Puff princess did it this way. Put the cart before the horse. You said that already. Are you gonna be a pale carbon copy of your former boss or are you gonna be a hard news man? Make your own mark."

James had not expected to be called out, and neither did Kara or Anais for that matter. Both blondes looked between the men anxiously. James had a lot to say but he felt saying them in front of the entire company wasn't his best move.

"Okay, um...let's take a pause on the headline then," he ultimately said, ignoring the smug look on Snapper's face. "Our first priority is to get an exclusive with the President. Everything else today is icing."

"I say everything else is bread and butter," Snapper once again cut in and practically tool over the meeting as he started handing out assignments, "Scope, call the AFL for a response to the bill. Do the unions fear legal aliens are gonna flood the labor market, lower wages? How does the American worker feel about competing for jobs with aliens?"

James would let it be in favor of keeping the atmosphere light. "Fine, great. So next meeting—"

"Addison, on the CDC. What bacteria and diseases are these aliens bringing from other planets? What medical protocols are in place? Morris, you do the human-interest piece. "Inter-planetary marriage." Get quotes from priests, rabbis, Mormons, Unitarians. As for the POTUS interview—"

"Danvers is on that," James managed to cut in.

"Danvers is a rookie," Snapper remarked, "We need someone hard-hitting."

"Believe me, she's hard-hitting."

Kara nodded fervently. "Trust me, I can pack a punch like you would not believe. Plus I may or may not be running into the President later."

Snapper didn't seem to have heard Kara when he handed out her assignment to someone else. "Parker, you get POTUS. Danvers, you get Lena Luthor. Her brother is infamous for his anti-alien sentiments. The desk needs all your copy by noon, and if you want to keep your credentials, it better be clean."

Anais glared after the man as he declared the meeting over and led the others out. "I really hate that guy," she bluntly said afterwards. "James, I can't do your job. I would've fired him already. Literally. I'm saying like into the sun." She has heard things about him from Kara but seeing it up close was another thing.

James only smiled at her. "It's fine."

No, it was not fine. Not at all.

~0~

Supergirl and Solar arrived at the scene on the airport track just as the President was supposed to emerge from her plane. There was already a huge crowd waiting for her. The two aliens landed in front of the crowd, beside a young girl holding out a sign for the president.

"It's pretty awesome, right?" Supergirl asked the little girl. It was hard to tell who the girl was more awed by: the President or Supergirl?

"Do you know her?" The girl asked.

"No, no, not yet, but...I'm pretty sure we'll be cool. You know? Right?"

Solar snorted and chuckled. "Here she comes!"

The crowd started cheering when the President finally stepped out of the plane. She waved at the crowd as her security guided her down the steps.

Out of nowhere, a fireball slammed into one of the security, engulfing him in flames.

"Oh, my God!" Someone cried in the crowd and the poor security man rolled down the stairs, burning alive.

Another fireball came striking down and hit another of the security.

"Go! Go! Go!" Solar yelled at the crowd, ushering them away from the sight.

Supergirl flew into the sky to scope out the flaming enemy. Solar zipped around the area getting those lingering civilians out of the way. More flames came directly for the President. One almost hit her as her security tried getting her into her car.

Solar had taken the security to the proper medics and returned in time to see another fireball coming straight to the President. She waved her arms in front of her like a windmill, creating enough air to blow it out.

Supergirl landed next to the President, ensuring she was okay. She met Solar's eye once the latter turned around — neither one had seen who was behind the attack.

~0~

In the aftermath of the attack, the DEO showed up to clear the area of civilians and start examining their crime scene. Alex came to speak with Sueprgirl and Solar and to share what they had found so far.

"So, where's the President now?" Anais asked as the three walked a bit away from the scene.

"They're taking her back to the DEO," Alex said, eyeing her sister curiously. Despite the situation, Kara had not stopped grinning.

"She was...she was so nice!" Kara giggled girlishly. "And grateful, and she called me Supergirl. And Solar!"

Alex raised an eyebrow at Kara then looked at Anais. The latter just shrugged — Alex was grateful that at least one of their superheroes wasn't completely sidetracked.

"That is your name," Alex soon reminded Kara.

"Yeah, I know that but…" Kara crossed and uncrossed her arms, still giggling, "When she says it, it just sounds better. 'Supergirl'! How did anyone even vote for that other guy?"

Alex grew tired and cut through Kara's excitement. "When you're done fawning over your new best friend...the burn pattern is consistent with a heat-vision signature.

Kara immediately frowned. "Our escaped Kryptonian's been awake six hours and the first thing he does is try and kill the President?"

"Woah, now wait a minute," Anais raised her hands in front of her, "We need to stop assuming things. Kryptonians are not the only ones with heat-vision. I have heat vision, so does Arun. So do a dozen other aliens."

Kara heard Anais and made a gesture that she was acknowledging Anais' opinions, but Anais knew better. Kara had already placed the blame on their guy.

"Winn's working on tracking him," Alex said, "In the meantime, let's gather whatever evidence we can find."

"I think I'll go back to the DEO," Anais said, "Make sure that everyone is being vetted the way they should be." She flashed Kara a knowing smile and sped off.

~ 0 ~

Anais had called in Arun to discuss the matters of the attack. While she had no suspicions about Arun, she wanted to check out his connections. Arun almost laughed in her face when she revealed her intentions.

"I don't have any other alien friends, Anais," Arun said, taking a seat at an empty desk chair.

"Like, nothing?" Anais brought her hands down on her hips. "You expect me to believe there isn't one single alien friend you know of? Acquaintance?"

"When I said I 'lay low', I fully mean it," Arun said, "I keep to myself. It's how I survive."

Anais curiously looked at Arun for a while, and he completely let her. From a distance, she saw the President walking into the bullpen with J'onn and Supergirl. "What do you think about the Amnesty Act?"

Arun looked at her like he was about to laugh. "Seriously? That's what you want to talk about? Not 'hey, when are we finally going to start training?'"

"I'm serious," Anais shrugged, "I've heard plenty of different opinions but…what do you think? You've lived as a human and this new law will allow you to come out to the world as who you really are."

Arun sized Anais for a moment then turned the tables on her by asking what she thought about the Act. Anais didn't have an answer, at least that's what she kept claiming.

"You want my opinion?" Arun asked, bringing his hands together on his lap and crossing his legs.

"Yeah," nodded Anais.

"I think it's a useless law," Arun said bluntly. "The world is not sunshine and rainbows. There are plenty of humans who fear people like us. Hell, even your own friends will fear you."

"What?" Anais scoffed. "My friends do not fear me."

"They might not know it," Arun said, shrugging, "But deep down, they always have a little fear. I mean, take your computer friend over there," he made a nod towards Winn working hard at his desk tracking their missing alleged Kryptonian, "You don't think if you went full-on Solista on him, he wouldn't be afraid of you?"

"That's completely irrelevant," Anais said, crossing her arms. "I would never do that to Winn or anyone else for that matter."

"Never say never," Arun wagged a finger at her. "I'm just saying that this Act won't benefit anyone. Sure, there are some humans who will accept us but for the most part, I don't see the humans respecting the new law."

"So…you wouldn't reveal yourself?" Anais asked.

Arun shook his head. "Not in this lifetime, no."

Anais lowered her head pensively. It didn't take long for Arun to ask her about her opinion again. "I'm not sure," she confessed. "My own father had my mother killed because she was an alien. If the DEO hadn't rescued me, he might have done away with me too."

"So it's fair to say that you have some resentment towards humans," Arun said.

Anais' eyes widened. "No! I…I know that not everyone's the same. I guess I could say that…I'm wary of the Act. I don't know what's going to happen, and I definitely don't know if I'll be revealing myself."

"Fair enough," Arun smiled at her.

Anais let out a sigh and looked towards the President and J'onn.

~ 0 ~

Kara was fuming again when she returned home from her interview with Lena Luthor. Anais was on the couch eating some strawberry shortcake ice cream from a bucket.

"Woah, what's got you all…like that?" Anais waved her spoon at Kara.

"Lena Luthor is completely xenophobic!" Kara dropped her bag on the kitchen aisle. "I mean, so much for wanting to change the perspective on the Luthors!"

"Woah, woah, woah, let's back it up and put some context into this, shall we?" Anais fixed her position on the couch to sit cross-legged. "Can we start from the beginning?"

Kara nodded but as she explained her interview with Lena, she paced back and forth just a tad strong enough to create a draft in the living room. "She's created this-this alien identifier!" She went on to explain how the device would work once it hit the market. "Isn't this horrific!?"

Anais' eyebrows raised as she considered the future with such a product on the shelves. "I mean…I think the world is very troubled, Kara. Yeah, maybe this device might actually do some harm but…if you're telling me the details correctly, wouldn't it only work on people who choose to stick their finger into that thing?"

Kara stopped pacing and flashed an incredulous glare at the Solista. "You support this thing!?"

"I did not say that," Anais said, "But you didn't answer my question either."

Kara groaned. "Okay, yeah! I suppose people would have to choose whether or not they want to stick their finger in but—" she raised a finger at Anais— "who's to say that restaurants or-or bars wouldn't have these posted on the entrances as requirements for customers to be able to go inside?"

"That's a good point," Anais acknowledged the new point, "So, yeah, it would be bad."

Kara groaned again. "Anais, just make up your mind already! Are you for or against this!?"

"I honestly don't know," Anais continued to answer calmly and perhaps that's what irritated Kara even more. Why was she so calm in a situation like this? "I think about it from every angle that I hear, being completely unbiased but…it's hard to make up my mind when I'm so divided. I mean, I'm even biologically divided in this matter. Half alien, half human."

To Kara, she had not heard anything useful. She declared she would go write her article about Lena to turn it in the next morning to Snapper. Anais wouldn't deter her.

~ 0 ~

Anais wasn't remotely surprised when, late in the afternoon, Kara had come to the DEO angrier than ever because Snapper had rejected her article. Anais did, however, know to keep her mouth shut and not future agitate Kara.

Perhaps it was a good thing that Alex came with the news that she had an idea where their missing Kryptonian had gone to hide in.

"How'd you figure it out?" Kara asked while the three women watched Winn pinpoint the location on his computer.

"Never mind that right now," Alex said quickly, "Winn?"

"Check it!" He exclaimed. "Deep space signal. Loud and clear."

"Where is it broadcasting from?"

"The Mount Pride Observatory. And that's where we'll find our alien John Doe."

"He must be trying to contact Krypton," Kara said. "He doesn't know it was destroyed."

"Actually, no. He did not dial Krypton," Winn said the more he looked into the scan.

"Where is the signal going to then?"

"Well, according to these very cool DEO star charts, he beamed a signal directly at a planet called...uh, Dac... Daxam?"

Kara's expression immediately dropped and was quickly replaced with disdain. She took off without saying a word to anyone.

"Um, is that supposed to be significant?" Anais said, completely lost. "Alex, what's the info on Daxam?"

"I-I don't know!" Alex exclaimed, just as confused about Kara's behavior.

Anais sighed and fled the room to catch up with Kara. Even with her speed, she still joined Kara in the observatory a tad late as the Kryptonian and their missing alien fought hand-in-hand.

"Supergirl — stop!" Solar called, but Kara kept going with an unusual aggressiveness in her punch.

"Stay down, Daxamite!" Kara said with an equal disdain in her voice after slamming the man on a table.

"You know where I'm from?" The man looked up at her, groggy yet still lucid enough to be confused.

"Yup!" Supergirl nodded. "And you should have stayed there." She went to grab him again when Solar swept across the room, ramming Supergirl down.

"ENOUGH!" Solar yelled at her and then quickly got up, speeding back beside the man, shooting Supergirl a daring look for her to try fighting again. She grabbed the man's hand and pulled him up, surprising him in the process with her strength and speed. "You, you have a lot of explaining to do," she warned him.

~ 0 ~

The DEO had locked the Daximite in a holding cell and were watching him from the security feed. Kara was absolutely livid with the mere presence of the man, and she was no less angry with Anais as well.

"So…our mystery alien is from Daxam…" J'onn curiously glanced at Kara. He, like everyone else, were trying to decide whether or not this was her most angriest moment.

"I've never heard of Daxam," Winn said, expecting to now hear a lot about it.

"It's a sister world to Krypton," J'onn explained, "Both capable of sustaining life, both orbiting the same sun."

Alex looked over at Kara. "You've never mentioned it before."

"Do the Hatfield's mention the McCoy's?" Kara retorted.

"I take it your planets didn't get along," Alex nodded.

"You don't say?" Anais sarcastically mumbled and ignored Kara's look.

Kara was happy to explain the situation for their understanding. "Hundreds of years ago, Krypton and Daxam fought a bloody war to a stalemate. Thousands of lives were lost on both sides because of a pointless war Daxam started."

"What were they fighting about?" asked Alex.

"Krypton was a democracy. A world of explorers, philosophers, scientists, and Daxam, was a monarchy. With kings and queens who ruled a population of hoodlums. We had a saying on Krypton for Daxamites, "May tex kolar Daxam.""

"And that means…?" Winn asked.

"Nothing I can repeat in English."

Winn wouldn't ask again. "So, if Daxamites are as bad as you just apparently said they were, then it's no wonder this guy is trying to kill the President, right?"

"We don't know that," Anais said again, "Because we haven't really looked into it. Other aliens have heat vision, guys."

"She may have a point," J'onn said, "His reasons for trying to kill the President are unclear."

"I'll ask him why," Kara said, taking off towards the holding cell.

"Uh, are we sure we want to let her do this?" Anais turned to the others, crossing her arms. "She hates the guy and we don't even know him."

"We don't know that he didn't do it," Alex reminded.

"We don't know that he did," Anais countered. "It's biased which, coincidentally, has been Kara's problem these past days." She turned back to the screen and watched as Kara walked into the holding cell. "Let me go in there, J'onn," she said a moment later, "I don't know a single thing about Daxam which means I'll think clearly."

J'onn wouldn't argue with that statement because, had it been another situation, he would have gladly let Anais go instead of Kara. "Let's wait to see how this pans out."

Anais rolled her eyes. She knew exactly how it was going to pan out. And when Kara stormed out of the holding cell, she looked at J'onn again. "I know I'm technically the youngest around here, but I do know my stuff sometimes."

She sped down the hall to the holding cell and then walked right in. The man was lying down on the long bench and didn't bother looking at her when she approached his cell.

"What, are you coming to yell at me too?"

"I don't know, should I?" Anais crossed her arms.

The man gave a sour smile and glanced in her direction. "Thanks for helping out back there. I take it you're not a Kryptonian."

"Careful what you say," Anais warned him, bringing her hands behind her back. "No, I'm not a Kryptonian and while my friend is very upset with me right now, I won't tolerate any slander against her."

The man chuckled lightly and pulled himself up to a sitting position. "She's already blamed me for this attack on a pres-pres — whatever that thing was called. What are you in here for? Proper arrest or something?"

"I'll let you know in a bit," Anais said, "Why don't we start with the basics. What's your name?"

The man tilted his head at her, his dark eyes squinting at her.

"Okay," Anais nodded, "I'll go first then. My name is Solar. I am from Solaris, if you happen to know about it."

The man seemed to recognize the name and even stood up. He looked at her from head to toe at least twice before he spoke. "I've never been to Solaris but we had trade with them. It's supposed to be a beautiful planet with beautiful people to match. The golden hair is a trademark of exquisite beauty."

"Thanks…" Anais said slowly, "But I'm not here to talk about beauty. "What's your name?"

The man smiled lightly. "Mon-El."

"Getting somewhere now," Anais smiled back, "So, Mon-El, you want to tell me why you attacked one of the human's most powerful, if not the most powerful, figure of authority on this planet?"

"I didn't," Mon-El said, "I mean…no offence but that guy didn't exactly seem like an all powerful authority figure. He seemed like a kid."

"Wait, are you talking about the guy from the observatory?"

Mon-El shrugged. "It's the only human I've come across and made contact with."

Anais looked back at the security camera up in the corner of the room. Bingo. He's not our guy. "Um, Mon-El, what…what exactly is it that you want to do now?"

"Well, clearly, it's to get home," Mon-El said, "I don't belong here."

Kara didn't tell him about Daxamite. "Um…"

"You seem to be more kind and, not angry at me," Mon-El said, "Do you think maybe you could talk to whoever is in charge of this place and get them to help me? All I want is to go home, I swear."

Anais let out a heavy sigh. "Let me…see what I can do. Just stay put."

Mon-El opened his arms to remind her of his current place. "I don't think I have much of a choice there."

Anais smiled lightly. She zipped out of the room afterwards.

~ 0 ~

"You're here late," Winn remarked as Anais dropped into the empty chair at the desk next over.

"So are you," she countered.

"I work here. And I'm keeping an eye on our Daxamite."

Anais rolled her eyes. "Yeah, okay, I'm avoiding Kara right now. She's not very happy that I interviewed Mon-El after her."

"Yeah, you do seem at opposing odds these days."

"I can't help it. I see things differently," Anais shrugged. "Is that wrong?"

"No," Winn shook his head, "But I think we also need to take into account everything Kara's been through lately. It must have been hard seeing a Daxamite here knowing their relationship from the past."

"I hear you," Anais said, "But then what am I supposed to do over here? I see things from a different perspective because I'm neither Kryptonian nor a Daxamite. I'm telling you, Winn, I don't feel like this is our guy. He didn't even know what a President is. And given what we know about Daxam and their monarchy, I'm sure this guy has zero clue what a democracy looks like."

"I hear you too," Winn assured her, "So how about we do this: let's let Kara cool down for the night and you and I can stay here and look through some aliens in our database with heat vision powers?"

A smile spread across Anais' face. "You are such a good friend, Winn." She sped her chair next to his, startling him, and very excitedly pushed her hair back. "Let's get started!"

~ 0 ~

The next morning, Anais and Winn had compiled a decent list to bring up to J'onn and Kara. While J'onn was willing to go through it, Kara resisted.

'It's him, guys,' she had reiterated. She was kind about it at least, giving the impression she had cooled down somewhat but not enough to truly listen to them.

Since the President was going to be signing the Amnesty Act that afternoon, both Solar and Supergirl needed to be present and totally not arguing with one another. One took the sky to patrol and the other the ground to speed around. Alex also helped to scope out the crowd gathering together.

"Does it all look okay?" She asked the two superheroes while still keeping her eyes peeled.

"All clear," Supergirl was happy to report. "With our wayward Daxamite locked up, I don't think we'll have any problems."

Solar walked through the crowd, unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "Even though it's not him?"

"It is," Supergirl said sternly. Solar said nothing else about it.

Shortly after, the President made her appearance on stage. "My fellow Americans. Over a century ago, this nation erected a monument in New York Harbor. A Statue of Liberty. That Statue looked down upon Ellis Island, where thousands of immigrants came to seek refuge, from a home country that didn't want them, that wouldn't have them. But America took them is our story. The American people today, stand as one with history. No longer will our alien visitors be strangers, committed to the shadows, forced to the fringes of a hostile and unwelcoming world. They will be granted the full rights and privileges of American citizens. The Statue of Liberty will stand for aliens, too. And now, if uh... if someone would just hand me a pen…"

The crowd, along with the President herself, shared a laugh together. One of her colleagues handed her a pen so she could sign.

"Here we go. History." Just as the President was about to sign, a fireball struck the Amnesty Act itself and turned it into flames.

Supergirl immediately looked down from the sky to see the culprit. Solar dashed towards the President, getting her off the stage in a snap.

"Madam President, are you alright?" She asked the woman.

"Yes, thank you," the President nodded shakily.

Solar took the President straight into her car, leaving her in the hands of the Secret Service, and returned to the scene of the fight. A woman in a leather black jacket and bright red hair was throwing constant flames everywhere.

Supergirl landed in front of the woman, warning her to stand down. "Put 'em out or I'll put you out."

The woman didn't listen and continued throwing flames. Supergirl landed a lunch before the woman grabbed her in a chokehold and burned the farmer's hand.

Anais zipped by and threw the woman across. "My turn." Her eyes flashed a bright gold. "And fair warning, we're samesies." Her hands lit up with golden energy and she started to throw one after the other towards the woman.

The woman growled angrily and enveloped herself in flames. Solar smirked with Supergirl, both knowing exactly what to do. Supergitl flew over the woman and started going in circles. Solar ran around the woman in circles as well until they eventually sucked out the oxygen.

The woman fell to her knees, her red curls hanging over her face. Just as Solar and Supergirl approached her, she burst into flames and threw them both back. She made a run for it and crashed into Alex and another woman. She threw Alex into the water fountain with a firey hand and grabbed the second woman in a chokehold. Flames circled around them until they were both gone.

Supergirl hurried to the fountain to pick Alex up and brought her safely to the ground. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," nodded Alex, her eyes sweeping over the leftover scene, "But where's Maggie?"

~0~

Kara couldn't be more miserable. She sunk down in a chair at the DEO, listening to J'onn confirm that Mon-El was not their culprit.

"We should probably let Mon-El go now," Anais said, hearing Kara's questioning 'hmm?' on the side. She looked at Kara with bemusement. "That's his name — Mon-El."

Kara's brows furrowed. "When did you learn his name?"

"When I asked him." At the answer, Kara grew even more confused so Anais explained. "I went in to interrogate him after you left. I found out his name and that he's just trying to get home."

Kara let out a frustrated noise and rubbed her face. "I'm awful. I am completely awful. If I hadn't been so blinded by how I felt about Daxam, we could have been out there searching for the real assassin. And then Detective Sawyer wouldn't be missing.

"Kara, everything will be fine," Anais said, "The important thing is that you saw the light and now we're getting back on track."

"I should have listened to you," Kara said, sinking further down in her chair. Her legs dangled out a great deal. "I'm supposed to be your mentor and you caught this before I did."

"Just because you're my mentor doesn't mean you have to get everything at all times," Anais said, "That would make you God."

"Thanks for not rubbing it in my face," Kara said, sighing.

"That's not what friends are for," Anais said, "So don't even worry about it. Let's just focus on catching this person."

"Alex said she may have a lead," Kara said, straightening up in her seat. "Let's give her a call."

Anais completely agreed.

~0~

Scorcher was their target's name and according to Alex, she had a preferred hideout — a hideous foundry. She had Maggie Sawyer chained up with her arms above her head when they arrived.

Solar decided to go first. She sped down the place, unhooking Maggie and returning her to safety. "Mind if we pick up where we left off?" She then asked Scorcher.

"If it's where I was winning then sure!" Scorcher threw a flame ball at her. Anais easily zipped to the other side, forcing Scorcher to spin around after her.

"From where I stood, it looked like you ran away," Solar remarked with a smirk. "Gonna do that again?"

Scorcher growled and drew her arms back to literally fore again when Supergirl flew down and slammed her foot on Scorcher's back.

"Well," Scorcher coughed and groaned from the ache on her back, "Why am I not surprised that the President's little pets came to her defense? You're both traitors to your people."

Supergirl landed a few feet beside Solar and looked at Scorcher. "It's not us against them."

Scorcher pulled herself up. "Not yet. But I've been to half a dozen planets just like this one. You want to know what they all have in common? The locals lock away anything that they think is different. Out of prejudice, out of fear. There's a reason that you two hide your identities. And it's because the humans can't be trusted."

"No," Supergirl scrunched her face, "It's because criminals like you can't be trusted."

"I mean, let's be honest, this right here—" Solar motioned to the current predicament— "doesn't exactly speak well of you."

Scorcher looked at them with a strange smile. "I think highly of myself."

No one was surprised about that.

Scorcher acted fast and threw a series of flames towards the other women. Solar brought caught each of the flames in her hands, skidding back on her feet, and threw them back at Scorcher. Supergirl flew towards Scorcher then, punching her to the ground.

Scorcher grabbed Supergirl's arm and flipped her over, landing the Kryptonian behind her. Just as Scorcher got up to her feet, two familiar flame balls hit her square in the back, sending her toppling over a table. When she lifted her head, someone hit her with a broken pipeline across the back of the head, finally knocking her unconscious.

Maggie Sawyer kept the pipe piece drop on the ground and looked over at them, completely grinning from side to side. "You guys are fun."

~ 0 ~

The next day, CatCo. was buzzing with news for their readers. So many things had happened in the span of a few days that James had to call for another, almost emergency, editorial meeting. He had most of the reporters in his office, including Kara and Anais, taking notes.

James stood behind his desk, addressing the reporters with the final details of their upcoming issues. "Our banner will read, 'Supergirl and Solar defeat extremist alien, saving the day'," he said proudly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Snapper came stalking into the office, ignoring the looks of the other employees.

James more or less expected that kind of entrance and went along with it. "Dictating the headline after we went out and got the news peg. You got a problem with that?"

"Not that," Snapper slammed an article down on James' desk, "Did you tell someone to kill the first graph on my story?"

"No, I didn't tell someone to do that. I rewrote the piece myself."

Somehow, that seemed even worse to Snapper's ears. "What? You can't just rewrite my piece."

"Actually, Snapper, I can," James was happy to clarify the situation. "'Cause I'm your boss. Doesn't feel good to have somebody encroach on your job, does it?"

"This is outrageous," Snapper said, his voice deadly quiet, "I have complete control of editorial content."

"No. No, you don't. I do."

"Then I'll walk."

With what was one would describe a smug smile, James leaned forward on his desk, looking Snapper in the eyes. "Get to walking."

Anais and Kara exchanged glances with each other. Neither one knew how the other was keeping in their snickers.

Snapper stepped back from James' desk. "All right, Olsen. What do you want?"

"What I want, is a newsroom governed by respect. You stay out of my lane, I'll stay out of yours."

"Fair enough," Snapper muttered, turning away and walking out of the office altogether.

After that, James saw fit to end the meeting as well and sent the rest of the reporters out.

"Nicely done, boss!" Kara cheered for him.

"Yeah," Anais nodded, "That must have felt really good, huh?"

James wouldn't deny that it had.

"Um, okay, I gotta go," Kara started backtracking out of the office, "I have to go talk to the Daxamite — I mean—" she had winced at her own tone— "Mon-El."

Anais smiled at her. "Can't wait to hear how it goes."

"Anais, I'd like to show you something," James said before the Solista even thought about leaving too.

"Okay, yeah," Anais nodded and followed James out of the office. "Can I have a clue?"

James chuckled and led her through the bullpen down the hallway leading to the separate offices. "It's nothing new, really. I officially processed your promotion and so that means…" He stopped beside his old office and opened the door for them, "This is now your office."

Anais' eyes widened. "My office?"

"Yeah!"

"Like…my office?" Anais pointed a finger at herself.

James laughed again. "Yeah, come on in." He opened the door wider for them and motioned Anais to go inside first.

She stepped in and looked around. James had already taken down his personal things and left it bare and neutral for whoever would take it next. "I'm sorry, this just feels so surreal to me."

"Soak it in because the real work starts now," James said, "You can redecorate, of course."

"Ha…redecorate…" Anais felt her mind racing already.

"I'll let you get started…" James walked out of the office, closing the door behind him.

For a speedster, Anais sure felt like time was running slow around her because there were about a dozen things she thought of doing to the office but not enough time to actually do them by tonight.

It was only exactly one hour later when she got her first official visitor in her new office.

"Come in!" She giggled. That would take some getting used to. It helped when she saw just Winn coming in, carrying a laptop in his arms. "Hey! Can you believe it? I got my own office!"

Winn didn't look all that excited. In fact, he seemed kind of grim. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Anais watched him lock the door curiously. "Uuh, yeah…"

Winn hurried over to her new desk and set down his laptop. "I need to show you something."

"DEO related?" Anais asked, presuming it had to be given the privacy of the room.

"Technically," Winn nodded. "I intercepted a message for you."

"For me? I get mail at the DEO?"

"...something like that." Winn reached over to his laptop and brought up an audio file.

'For the girl who is neither nor, the Solar hybrid, we will ensure that you are only from one side, the right one. Cadmus will free and gift humans strong enough with power from you. You, Solar, will fuel the army that will wipe out the intruders on this world. Joining is not an option.'

The audio finished then, leaving a moment of silence as the message settled.

"This is…ridiculous!" Anais exclaimed. "Of course they can't do that! They can't — what? — give people my speed? My powers?" She expected to hear Winn agree with her but when she looked at him, it seemed like he was considering the factors. "Winn!"

"They gave Corben Kryptonite powers," Winn said, to his credit very calmly, "I'm sure CADMUS is not short of advanced technology."

"So? They can't just steal my powers."

"Anna, you're still new at this whole superhero thing. I have seen Supergirl fall sometimes — we both have. I can't imagine what would happen if someone got ahold of your powers. Faster than the speed of light. We have to do something. We have to tell—"

"We don't tell anyone!" Anais snapped. "I'm thankful you only showed this to me. Now do me the solid of keeping it to yourself.

"Anna—"

"Please?"

Winn recognized her puppy-eyed face and also knew that he was not strong enough to say no, however…

"Okay, I won't tell anyone," he said first, giving her a false hope.

"Oh, thanks—"

"But I will be modifying your suit and who knows how long that can take," he finished with a wide smirk.

Anais' eyes were wide in alarm. "What!? But you just finished modifying it!"

"It's my tinkering head," Winn said, grabbing his laptop off the desk. "It never stops working. Even when I'm asleep, it's still coming up with new ideas!" He side stepped Anais and headed to the door. "And these new ideas may take a while to add to the suit so you probably won't be going out for a while!"

"What — Winn!" Anais turned after him. "You can't bench me!"

"Bench?" Winn scoffed. "I'm not benching you. You're just waiting until I finish modifying the suit, that's all. And hey, if it keeps you safe, then it's a win-win. Ha, get it?" He laughed at his own joke and left the office, leaving behind a stunned Anais.

It took her several minutes for it to sink in and the implications it would mean for her future. "Winn!" She sped after him. This could not be.

[spocks-evil-godmother]

No one asked but I will rate out of 10 how much I would tolerate each pair:

Spock and McCoy, 7/10: I think I could cope with these two the best. Is McCoy whiny, yes. But this is balanced by the fact that if Spock shuts up and if *I* shut up, McCoy will just shout himself into a nap and then we will all have peace. And if something bad happens, they are obviously going to be great assets to my general survival. Overall survivable situation.

The EMH and Tom Paris, 6/10: This one is as much a surprise to me as it is to anyone, but honestly, I think people are letting their personal feelings get in the way. Is the EMH abrasive as fuck? You know it. Does Tom Paris personally offend me? Yes. But you know what, this is Starfleet! I don't need to like my crew mates, I just need to work with them. Having a crew mate I can turn off (with medical skills) and a crew mate whose worst sin will be rambling about cars (with mechanical skills) is certainly not the worst situation I could think of for myself.

Tuvok and Neelix, 6/10: Personally I think Tuvok would get a real kick out of me (which I am aware is a very thing to say). Neelix would drive me nuts, but would be so well-intentioned that I would spend the entire week feeling guilty and distressed while also bitchily texting everyone I know about the fact.

Seven of Nine and B'Elanna Torres, 5/10: the fact that I am working with two incredibly hot and competent women would likely be immediately overrun with the amount of raw passive aggression that would eventually just turn into unbridled conflict, which would make me miserable as hell. But you know, they might pull it together eventually.

Benjamin Sisko and Garak, 4/10: They're great characters, but my god. Have you ever seen two men more in need of a hobby? They would be perfect gentleman for about three days and then the lack of activity would drive them to have a pointed (and loud) crisis about morality and double standards or some shit. Ugh.

Odo and Quark, 4/10: I think the pro and the con here is that essentially it would be like I wasn't even on the shuttle at all.

Lwaxana and Deanna Troi, 2/10: Lwaxana being able to read my mind would make me moody and self-conscious the whole week. Of all the pairs mentioned here, I think this is the one where I personally stand to suffer the most in the fastest amount of time. Just about -20 damage to my emotions every day until we get home.

Ro Laren and William Riker, 2/10: I've had enough of listening to my housemates have sex, thanks. I also don't like conflict, as I have mentioned.

Kira Nerys and Kai Winn, 0/10: At this point, it might be kinder just to shoot me.

[corainne]

MID YEAR FREAKOUT BOOK TAG THINGY

Or whatever it is called I just saw a tik tok and felt like doing it even if exactly zero (0) persons are gonna care idc I'm sick so leave me alone

Number of books read this year so far: 55

1. Best book you've read so far in 2024

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai, first book to properly make me cry since A Monster Calls a decade ago. Beautiful, heartbreaking, 10/10

2. Best sequel you've read so far this year

On pure enjoyment I'd say City of Vengence by D. V. Bishop (I'll count it as a sequel even though it's book 1 because I read book 3 first), on a craft basis Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel and Winter of the World by Ken Follett.

Obligatory shoutout to the seven Gereon Rath books I've read this year, I could never choose a favourite because I read them all in a span of like two weeks and they've all clumped together in a blob of Nazis and misery. (If pressed I'd say Märzgefallene, followed by Die Akte Vaterland)

3. New release you haven't read yet, but want to

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Dust Child by Nguyên Phan Quê Mai

A Divine Fury by D. V. Bishop

Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson

Rath by Volker Kutscher

5. Biggest disappointment

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguru. Really didn’t like that one, especially the back third.

6. Biggest surprise

Augustus: From Revolutionary to Emperor by Adrian Goldsworthy. Not really the airport read I was expecting to pick up (granted, the only fiction book I had with me was The Name of the Rose and that’s not what I would consider light reading) but I enjoyed it a lot more than expected (tbh honest I thought it was going to spend the next decade or so on my shelf unread like most of my history books) and it really furthered my current love for history non-fiction.

7. Favourite new author (debut or new to you)

Colson Whitehead. I read The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys for the first time this year, and they were both masterful.

8. Newest fictional crush

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9. Newest favourite character

Empress Messalina, who is not a character but a historical figure. You go girl, sorry you had to die and had your name dragged through the mud by misogynistic men for millenia

10. Book that made you cry feel physically sick

Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder

11. A book that made you happy

Gwen & Art are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

12. Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

The 103 unread books on my tbr shelf

At the beginning of the year I set myself the goal of reading 12 classics (0/12), non-fiction (12/12), award-winning (8/12) and translated novels (3/12), so I'd like to finish that goal.

More specifically my priority tbr at the moment is:

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

Dust Child by Nguyên Phan Quê Mai

As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh

The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

Currently reading:

Dark Fire by C.J. Sansom

Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors by Adrian Goldsworthy

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Not going to tag anyone, but if you want to do this feel free to consider yourself tagged, I love to see what other people are reading

[wizardofahz]

Conservation of Mass

A/N: Basically a self-insert fic because I have Questions about Alex’s Martian weapon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Alex paces around the training room, running her left hand over the Hand of the Soldier on her right wrist.

Finally – technically right on time, but Alex has been waiting a while – J’onn arrives.

“Ready to get started?” he asks.

“Yeah, but,” Alex says, bounding over, “remember how I had a bunch of questions about your shapeshifting abilities, and you always said, ‘now’s not the time’ or whatever. Is now finally the time?”

J’onn gives her a wary look. Alex knows his wariness isn’t about the questions themselves. He’s been subjected to copious questions on that front from both her and her mother. He’s more worried Alex’s scientific curiosity will distract her from her training. He says, “We can talk about it if you think it’ll help your training.”

“Well, I mean, both forms of shapeshifting completely mess with the law of conservation of mass.” She smiles at him innocently, bobbing her right wrist in front of her. “And if I’m going to get the best out of this, then I should understand it, right?”

J’onn nods, conceding her point. “Okay. What would you like to ask?”

“Your shapeshifting, is it like...” Alex trails off as an epiphany hits. “Have you ever read Animorphs?”

“No.”

From J’onn’s expression, she can tell he’s never even heard of the series.

“Okay, well, there’s this alien race called the Andalites, who have have the power to morph into other species, and one of them gives this power to a group of human kids so that they can protect Earth. Anyway, the point is that when they morph into smaller animals, there’s still a conservation of mass because the rest of their bodies go into Z-space, whatever that is. Is there, like, a real life Z-space?”

J’onn opens his mouth to answer, but Alex is on a roll.

“No, wait, actually, one more question because I can’t remember them addressing this in the series: what happens when they turn into larger animals? Where does that extra mass come from? I think Z-space was specifically Zero-space, so is there a corresponding infinity space? I mean, this thing is pretty small. I’m probably going to spend more time turning it into bigger things.”

“I cannot speak to what happens in that book–”

“Series,” Alex corrects.

“–series,” J’onn amends, “but the intuition is not a million miles off.”

Alex goes slack-jawed. “Really?”

“In an analogous sense,” J’onn hedges.

That’s more what Alex expected. “What does that mean?”

In annoyingly consistent fashion, J’onn deflects, “It’s probably sufficient for you to maintain that analogy when you think about the Hand of the Soldier.”

Unsatisfied with the answer, Alex presses, “With this, I can make anything I can imagine, right? But what if I can’t imagine something because it’s something I don’t think is possible given my understanding of physical principles?”

J’onn thinks for a moment. Then he says, “Alex, if Brainy sent you back to 16th century Europe, the Renaissance, a period of immense cultural development, to explain genetic engineering, how would you do it?”

Alex thinks about it. It would take a few centuries for Mendelian genetics to come along, but cross-breeding for traits existed in agriculture long before. She could work with that to jump start the field. But that’s just step one. So many traits and disease etiologies are not Mendelian but rather polygenic. Then there’s the additional layer of epigenetics with histone modification and nucleotide methylation.

And that’s just the genetics. For genetic engineering, where would she even start? The understanding of enzymes and promoter regions? Confirmation of successful edits with green fluorescent protein, which by the way we get from jellyfish and other sea creatures and stick into other species? Never mind CRISPR and optogenetics.

Alex grimaces. “Fine, I guess I see your point. But really? Five centuries back? Is that how you see us?”

J’onn places a conciliatory hand on her shoulder. “The... animal...”

“Animorphs,” Alex provides.

“–Animorphs example really isn’t bad.”

Alex looks down at the Hand of the Soldier. She didn’t get the answer she was hoping for but oh well. In her time at the DEO, she had seen many different weapons and types of technology. That in itself left her plenty to imagine.

“Okay, I’m ready to hit things.”

[this-is-my-brutality]

Game Night.

“It will be fun!!” Kara insisted ethunastically, placing several bags of groceries on her kitchen island. She had never hosted such a large group for game night and she wanted to make sure it went well. The last thing she wanted to do was run out of food. The food was the best part in her opinion.  “Of all games, Trivia Pursuit will definitely show everyone's true colors.” Alex smirked, popping a chip into her mouth as she leaned on the island. Her sarcasm was clear as day. Kara’s eyes rolled, “Real funny, Alex. Now, would you please help me instead of eating all the food before game night even begins!” Kara snapped. Alex threw a chip at Kara before following her little sister's demand.  A friendly game night with those that she loved. Just a group of friends enjoying a Friday night, especially with Alex, Talia, Susan, Winn and James in play. 

____

“I put all of the questions in a bowl!” A quick adjustment of her glasses assured that before she continued, “Of course the teams are: Alex and myself. Talia and Susan. Winn and James.” Kara spoke, “Are we ready?” 

Nods of heads allowed the game to begin. Kara grabbed a piece of paper out of the bowl, reading over it first before looking at Winn and James who won the draw to go first. “This sports team was the first to win three National Championships in football.” 

Winn looked at James expectantly. “You do not know this do you?” James questioned his friend who frantically shook his head, “I do not watch sports!” Winn panicked. James laughed before nodding, “Metropolis Meteors!” James answered immediately after hesitation. 

Kara raised a brow in surprise, “Correct!”

Winn excitedly bounced in his seat and gave James a high five. “Okay, Talia and Susan..” James spoke, letting them be the second ones to chime in, “At what temperature does water freeze?” He questioned them, his fingers tapped the paper in his hands. 

“Oh. oh, oh, oh!!” Winn raised his hand making Kara glare at him, “Dude, let them have a chance to answer.” Kara reprimanded the eager in him. Both Talia and Susan chuckled at Winn and Kara. Talia munches on a chip really quickly, then looks at Susan, 

“You want to say one and I say the other?” Talia asks Susan. Susan smiled and nodded, “Go for it,” she tells Talia.  

Talia looked at everyone, “Well, that answer will be 32 degrees fahrenheit,” she answers.  Then Susan clears her throat, “Or if we’re going the Metric system, that answer will be 0 degrees Celsius. Now if we were talking about other worlds Mar-”  Talia cuts her off. 

Kara’s eyes widened at the facts and she bit into the chip she held in her hands. Kara was impressive and also jealous of the facts Susan was currently spilling out into the playing field. The blonde's eyes narrowed competitively as she pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose.

“Susan, we’re talking about Earth, not Mars or Neptune or Tatooine. Okay?” Talia said. Susan smiled, “Sorry, couldn’t help it,” she says, then looks at everyone else before taking a bite of a chip. Talia nods then sticks her hand into the bowl and pulls out a question. “What month do people celebrate Halloween?” Talia asks. Susan smiled, “Ah Halloween…I love Halloween,” she says. Talia looks at Susan, “Just don’t get into the history of it…” “Don’t worry, I won't,”  Susan replied.

“October!!” Kara quickly shouted as she was eager to answer the question, but all eyes fell on her. Kara shrugged, taking a sip of her wine, “What? I love Halloween too.” She competitively teased with a smile.

© superfriend! & nightscene. - do not steal.

[kikiskeysgame]

For the second time this week, the Blackhawks got another overtime victory against the Dallas Stars in tonight's game as they defeated them 2-1 and swept the Stars in their two-game series this month. 

After tonight's victory, the Hawks have gotten 10 points in their last 11 games and are now 6-4-4 so far this year.

The Blackhawks didn't have an ideal start to their game in the first period after Roope Hintz scored the first goal of the game due to a turnover, giving the Stars a 1-0 lead going into the next period.

In the second period, it looked like the Stars had extended their lead, but the goal by Jamie Benn was disallowed due to goaltender interference.

Mattias Janmark tied up the game as he scored his 5th goal of the season against his old team with assists by Dominik Kubalik and Phillipp Kurashev.

The game remained tied between both teams during the third period which sent it to overtime where Pius Suter scored the game-winning goal with assists by Brandon Hagel and Kevin Lankinen.

I am very impressed with how well the Blackhawks have been playing lately after having a less than stellar start to the beginning of the season. They have been working hard, playing more productively, maintaining a strong work ethic and even the young guys have been playing on their "A" game lately.

I thought that Pius Suter really redeemed himself in overtime after struggling during the first period. 

Not only does Suter have five goals so far this season and scored his first overtime-winning goal, he has now moved past his teammate Kurashev and Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stützle for the most goals among NHL rookies.

Just like the last time he was the starting goaltender, Kevin Lankinen was definitely on his "A" game tonight. 

After allowing just one goal from the first shot he faced, he went on to stop 34 shots in a row, ending the night with 34 saves on 35 shots for a save percentage of .971 and his first NHL career point with an assist on Pius Suter's overtime-winnning goal (It's not every game you see a goaltender get an assist, especially one on a game-winning goal, so that was exciting to see).

Once again, the Blackhawks did a great job with their special teams; with the power play goal by Mattias Janmark, the Hawks' power play now has goals in 12 of their last 14 games and they have killed off 22 of their last 23 penalties.

I was surprised to hear that Connor Murphy wouldn’t be playing tonight due to a hip injury because he had been playing so well and the team losing him for quite some time leaves a big gap in the lineup. I hope that Murphy’s injury isn’t long-term and that he gets well soon.

With Murphy out of the lineup, Madison Bowey made his debut as a Blackhawk in tonight’s game. Although he had 10:28 of ice time in tonight’s game, it was hard to get a good vibe off him because he wasn’t quite as noticable as the other defensemen. 

With Bowey playing in his first game as a Blackhawk, it makes him eligible for the upcoming Seattle expansion draft which would allow the team to protect either Murphy or Calvin de Haan; however with Murphy unable to play, I wouldn’t be surprised he got another chance in the lineup, but you never know what’ll happen.

After tonight's game, the Blackhawks return to Chicago where they will face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday and Saturday night. 

I hope the Hawks can continue to keep up the good work on home ice and keep playing on their "A" game.

Until then, go Blackhawks!

[kassies-take]

Thorul Over Luthor (Part 5)

A/n: okay yeah sorry y’all. The season of giving is over I was suppose to update this during the holidays but I never got around to it.  Well actually I had a spontaneous idea that changed the course of the story.

Warning: Love, Sister Teasing

Lena Luthor x StepSister!Reader, Supercorp

Word Count: 1538

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5

You lounged on the couch as Lena ran around her loft looking for her notes.

“(Y/n/n), Alex is going to pick you up for D.E.O training. I’ll stop by at lunch. Did you want me to bring food to you guys, or go out for lunch? Just let me know later.” Lena walked around the counter to your spot on the couch and moved your feet off the glass coffee table. “Where are my notes!” Lena went back to trashing the apartment.

You sat up before you noticed you had your feet on the notes this whole time. You knocked on the glass to get her attention, when you had her attention you shifted to hide behind her notes. 

“My notes!” She gasped before leaping across the living room to grab her notes. “Where were they?” 

‘Under my feet.”

“Under your fee- now my notes smell like feet,” she teased. 

‘My feet don’t smell!’ You gasped in in silence.

“I think the whole National City say otherwise,” she continued. 

‘If that’s the case, then we better sacrifice someone to save the whole city!’ you grabbed the papers out of her hands, before chasing after her to make her smell her smelly notes. 

That continued till the bell rang at the entrance, Lena stopped in your path which caused you to bump into her with her notes in her face. Your triumphant smile brought a smile to Lena’s lips as she moved to open the door.  

“Hi Alex, (Y/n/n) is ready. Beware of her smelly feet.” She whispered the last part. 

You crossed your arms in disapproval with a glare before you smiled, hugged Lena and kiss her on the cheek. Alex wrapped an arm around you, having what seemed to be a conversation she was having to herself to the outside world. 

As any DEO agent, you were to begin training with hand-to-hand combat. There wasn’t that many crimes that went through National City, that led to more time training with Alex and Winn. It was nearly lunch when Kara decided to drop in. 

‘Hey Kara,” you waved. 

“Hey little one, beating Alex’s butt yet?” Kara hugged you.

“Very funny Kara,” Alex rolled her eyes. 

“Hey! Now, that Kara is here maybe we can run the experiment to see if she can control people’s powers when she intercepts.” Winn beamed holding a tablet in his hand. 

You jumped for joy at Winn’s suggestion, you clasped your hands together and pouted at Kara. 

“I’m fine with it.”

You jumped into Kara’s body leaving your body still. Your excitement took over and you began fangirl. 

“Oh my god! I’m Supergirl!” Using Kara’s arm you felt around her arms. You began to feel weightless, the feeling of your feet slowly leaving the ground took you off Kara’s arms. You flew into the air flying in a figure eight path, laughing. 

Alex and Winn looked in concern as you began flying higher and higher towards the ceiling. You didn’t have time to try Kara’s other powers when the training room door open at the same time you hit the ceiling. Kara felt heavier now, like something other than Earth’s gravity was pulling her toward Earth. No surprise that in the midst of trying to land, you tackled Lena still in Kara’s body. Then you felt a feeling you did not want to feel towards your sister so you left her body. 

Kara and Lena both blushed red. Neither of them wanted to leave the other’s embrace, but it also didn’t help that Lena couldn’t move till Kara did. Winn secretly gave you a high five as the two practically had heart eyes. 

‘What’s for lunch?’ You spoke through everyone’s minds. 

“Oh, um, uh.” You , Alex, and Winn raised your eyebrows at the stuttering mess of your sister. “If it’s alright if I take (Y/n) out for lunch? Bring her back after?” 

A unanimous yes echoed the room before it fell into silence once again. 

“Uh Kara,” Lena’s eyes quickly darted towards Kara’s strong arms. 

“Oh. Yeah! My bad,” Kara pushed herself off the ground and Lena found herself missing her touch. 

You and Lena left the training room, once the door shut behind you Alex began to tease her sister, like you did with Lena. 

“Way to make it more obvious, Kar.”

“I didn’t do anything. That was all (Y/n)!”

“You know (Y/n) can feel your emotions when she intercepts you.” Winn left that comment in the training room as he made his way back to his desk. 

Kara’s eye widen. “ALEX, THAT MEANS (Y/N) KNOWS. WHAT IF SHE TELLS LENA?” Kara panicked.

“Kar, (Y/n) didn’t have to intercept you to know you like Lena.” 

“Is it that obvious?”

“You might as well write ‘I like you, Lena’ in the sky.” Alex left the training room. 

Lena was still flustered, that was mainly due to the fact that you were teasing her. 

‘You are so in loveeeee’

“I am not. And Kara doesn’t feel the same way.” 

‘Who d’ ya think you’re kidding? She’s the Earth and heaven to you. Try to keep it hidden. Honey, we can see right through you. Girl, ya can’t conceal it. We know how you feel and who you’re thinking of.’ You sang still connected to Lena’s mind.

Lena stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to turn back towards you. “No chance, no way! I won’t say it. no no!” 

You smirked as Lena unconsciously finished the song. ‘You swoon, you sigh why deny it, uh-oh.’

Lena ignored you and continued walking towards Noonans. You continued skipping around Lena singing. 

‘At least out loud I won’t say I’m in love’ Lena thought before you jumped higher and wrapped her in a hug and a goofy grin. 

‘Oh my god! You’re in love!!!!!!!! When you and Kara get married I called maid of honor! And when you have kids, you don’t have to pay for a babysitter! Although if you ever think of having sex, please don’t do it at our place.’ 

“Get out of my head, now. N! O! W! Right NOW!” Lena’s blush deepened as you only kept skipping and shining your smile. 

‘Thorul 1, Luthor 0′ You said before the walk was quiet.

You had lasted the rest of the walk, waiting in line, ordering food, waiting for you food and till you took the first bite of your chicken burrito wrap - filled with avocado, tomato, black bean & corn salsa, cheddar cheese & zesty pepitas dressing , wrapped in a spinach tortilla. 

‘Lena, what is love?’ 

“Are you seriously asking that right now?”

‘I mean Alex has Maggie, James has Lucy, J’onn has M’gann, Winn has Lyra, heck you will probably have Kara.’ 

“Huh,” Lena paused before she placed her wrap down on her plate. “Think of it as a snow globe.”

‘Snow globe?’

“Yeah, to most people it’s just a round glass object that gives the allusion of fake snow. But if you really think about it, when a snow globe is customized it captures the perfect moment. It’s a perfect life, the glass makes you feel protected, safe from any danger.”  

‘Is that what you feel for Kara?’

“Not only Kara, love.” She held reached across the table to hold your hand. “I feel it with the best sister in the world.”

You smiled back, already planning to get a snow globe for Lena. And that was exactly what you did the moment Lena dropped you off at the DEO. Unfortunately, the DEO became busier at the moment as there was an alien attack downtown. You were excited to put your skills to the test but then disappointed when Lena didn’t let you. 

An angry Luthor was something to not mess with. 

‘Thorul 1 Luthor 1.” You mentally counted. 

You spent your DEO time customizing that snow globe you were going to get once it was finished . 

It was about a week when the snow globe came in. You were working on some tech with Winn when Alex stormed her way towards the two of you with a box in hand. 

“What is that?” Maggie asked. 

“I don’t know, delivered to (Y/n) Thorul. Next time you need something delivered, could you put your address and not the DEO’s we are still a secret organization.”

‘But I couldn’t put my address or Lena would know.’

“Some type of sex toy?” Maggie bluntly asked with a smirk. 

‘No, it’s a snow globe.’ 

“Snow globe?” Winn, Maggie and Alex questioned. 

‘Yup, for Lena. She said it makes her feel protected and safe. Can you give me a ride Maggie?’ 

“Sure, kiddo.” 

‘In the front this time?’ 

“No promises.” 

Lena had made it home before you. The apartment was a mess, but it was a good kind of mess. A mess that showed that it wasn’t just her living in the place, before you arrived it was all white, now it had color, and framed pictures. Lena decided to rest her eyes for a bit before she heard the door clicked open. 

“(Y/n). I’m glad you’re home, we’re having take out. I don’t feel like cooking.” She stood up and faced the entrance. 

BANG! 

[vampiremourning]

okay i DON’T think cat would fit as the fledgeling maybe bc she’s just. she’s a Grumpy Old Bitch at heart lmao. i mean i still may who tf knows but?? i’m also very enchanted by the idea of a decades themed outfit lineup. will probably not actually get around to drawing it, but the idea is very nice. i’m thinking her embrace would’ve been during the 1910s or 30s?? something Of That Era idk. 

(picrew)

still markets herself as a thief for hire because she’s good at being sneaky and talking her way into places she has 0 business being lmao. she’s definitely an independent as far as allegiances go but probably does more business with anarchs based on her personal morals. definitely has a soft spot for the underdog, the circumstances of her embrace were shitty & very predatory & thats definitely shaped her outlook on things. like if you manage to make a crack in the armour and get down to her core, you’ll be surprised at how sweet and legitimately tender she is. 

at the same time though she cant bring herself to commit 100% to anything, especially if she gets the sense that something is gonna go up in flames. while she can at times be persuaded to go against her better judgement, she’s infamously unmovable when her mind is made up and no amount of cash or threatening will make her back down. anyone who deals with her now assumes it’s just a ventrue thing but no, that attitude has always been something she carried. she can be a genuine fucking asshole and for some reason people are still surprised by this?? she generally likes to keep things cordial and remove her personal feelings when it comes to taking work, especially when it comes to the camarilla since they typically pay extremely well, but sometimes she can’t help but let someone know exactly what she thinks of them, and it’s usually not nice at all lmao. when it comes down to it, she’s not above burning certain bridges if pushed too far. 

cat is still definitely someone who enjoys the finer things in life. pre-embrace, she was barely considered working class but still had expensive tastes. it was an aspiration that led her to a very short-lived career in an escort-style position for wealthy businessmen, which was ultimately stopped after some serious manipulation and non-consensual situations, finalized by The Embrace. knowing what she knows now of how the abilities in her bloodline function, she has a sneaking suspicion that there may have been a bit more than standard mind games at play. she tries to avoid thinking about it & will avoid the subject at all costs. predictably, the relationship she has with her sire is also uh. bad lmao. to say she resents the man is an understatement, & while she hasn’t actually made a move because she doesn’t see the fallout being Worth It, she’s definitely fantasized about being the one to bring about his final death. as it stands, she has a vague idea of where he is in the world, but that’s purely to avoid crossing paths. she left him as soon as she could and honestly doesn’t trust herself not to just Snap if she saw his face after all these years. and aside from the fallout mentioned above, she’d also deeply prefer that no one saw her losing her cool like that. the ability to control her outside image is vital to her mental peace. 

i can’t see her having very many close friendships over the years, truthfully. business-wise, she’s extremely professional and mostly pleasant to work with (unless you’re trying to skip out on payment, which is not recommended). but she’s difficult to get to know on a personal level. she does have a deep fear of ultimately being rejected for the person she is beyond the outer layer, and doesn’t have a lot of instances she can think of where it paid off to trust someone completely. it’s safer to keep people at arm’s length and try to not get too attached. she’s also aware that as much as people have contempt for ventrue who hold power, the fact that she isn’t trying to climb the ladder of kindred politics isn’t winning her any favours either. those from her own bloodline would find someone who lives like her difficult to respect at best, and those outside of it won’t bother to separate their opinions of her from the rest of the ventrue they’ve run across. she knows that it works ultimately in her favour, but it does sting on some level. 

so like i said, still undecided whether she’s an older vampire or would take on the role of the fledgeling, but either way, she’s in LA for the events of bloodlines. 

first off, let me just say, i absolutely cannot see her liking lacroix in the slightest no matter what her background is. like, full stop, the man makes her angry just by looking at him. secretly she actually finds a LOT of other ventrue to be less than tolerable (and includes herself in that list, because honestly if she were someone else she probably wouldn’t like her either) but he’s just something special. i fully believe that she would allow herself to be hired by him for odd fetch quests here and there, because he does pay well, but on a personal level? i think they would both be content if the other one were to be staked and left to fry. she hasn’t outright told him to go fuck himself yet, but he’s definitely picked up on the energy and returns the attitude. that said, the snapping/back-and-forth/general one-upmanship that goes down whenever they’re in conversation? absolutely fucking hilarious for onlookers. 

i don’t think she’d have much of an opinion on therese, even if that’s probably who she’d be dealing with more of the two. they’re not gonna go hang out and have a girl’s night or anything, but there’s no animosity there either. i think she’d want to like jeanette more than she actually does, but i can see jeanette being the type to overstep some boundaries right from the jump of their first meeting and that’s gonna have cat’s hackles raised even if unintentional. i think that Eventually they could have something resembling a friendship? jeanette doesn’t strike me as someone who puts too much stock in where someone comes from for the most part, and if she ever managed to get cat to relax, could probably create enough of a pressure-free environment that they would both end up enjoying. basically yes, i have reason to believe cat would eventually like this woman--she’s fun & intelligent without taking herself too seriously, which would be refreshing--but there would definitely be some sort of adjustment period required. 

i can honestly picture her liking bertram tung a lot. in general, cat’s cool with & almost preemptively fond? of most nosferatu she meets. there’s no real reason for this, she just seems to have less negative experiences with them than others. i can see her keeping up some great banter with bertram & throughly enjoying it when he hires her out for something. they just seem like they’d get along man, i don’t know! gary golden, however, would appear behind her exactly One Time and like, grab her shoulder or something, and she is going to lowkey loathe him indefinitely after that. doesn’t find him funny and doesn’t enjoy being fucked with, which is bad because it’s so obvious that it irritates her, and that would only serve to fuel him more. the only thing i can see her ever agreeing with him on is his opinion of larcoix, because she too, has basically 0 respect for the man. 

this brings us to some of the anarchs. i’m not sure if damsel would like or dislike her explicitly, but they’d definitely chafe on each other quite a bit. they’ve both got prickly exteriors that manifest in very different ways, and damsel can’t claim that she’s camarilla (because she isn’t) but i have no doubt that she’d make digs about cat’s distant and (sometimes) mildly condescending front. they’d probably agree on a lot in principle, actually. the problems would arise when faced with the ‘how do we solve this?’ question, because the approach would be fundamentally different and neither of them seem the type to want to compromise. but i think she’d still have a grudging respect for her. as much as i think damsel would be frustrated at her lack of firm alliance, she’s also well aware that when cat gives her word & promises to deliver, that’s exactly what she does. she’s slippery, but far from the type to double cross you. 

jack is Jack. i think they’d have a fairly decent relationship but nothing deep or personal since i can’t see them having any real reason to interact beyond just crossing paths every now and then? but he’s another person who wouldn’t expect a whole lot from her, and that’s very comforting in a strange way. if she could still smoke, they’d probably be the duo who ducked out onto the back porch just to shoot the shit & have some drinks with their cigarettes. he probably finds her a little strange, though not in a bad way. 

nines is a whole other thing. see, he’s actually 100% Her Type (cat’s existed as many different versions of herself in multiple universes lmao). i have 0 reason to think that she wouldn’t flirt and/or pursue him if it came up. that’s a relationship i can’t see being stable, though, and that again goes back to her complete inability to definitively choose a side. they dance around each other a lot, come together sometimes and have a few good weeks, and then they’re back in the ‘off again’ stage of things. it’s almost always her getting cold feet and dipping before things get ‘too serious’ (which is already bullshit lmao). like with damsel, it’s not that she disagrees with him, it’s the methods she can’t seem to adopt for herself. her whole life has been structured around adapting as a lone entity and acting accordingly for her own self preservation, and she’s got a hard time seeing beyond that or wanting to sacrifice herself for a cause. and nines is a great guy, sure, but he knows exactly what buttons to push on her, and when he gets frustrated, sometimes pushes too hard. she might trust him, but gets twitchy when she feels her normally impeccable control being eroded. like i don’t think kindred are known, exactly, for relationship security, but honestly if they ever managed to overcome that repeated disagreement (fight?) they’d be extremely complimentary to one another. as it is though, she’s hard-pressed to even admit how much she cares about him (hint: it’s a lot) even though literally everyone around them at the same time is aware of it? he’ll usually play along, because the pursuit is pretty damn good sometimes, but other times i think the frustration of the push and pull reaches a peak and they’ll have another falling out. 

that majority of the other anarchs think this game is nothing short of ridiculous--if nines can’t keep it professional and it’s not going anywhere, just? end it for good? and sometimes he claims that he has, but they end up ‘accidentally’ crossing paths a lot (i doubt anyone involved in this is going to outright admit that the other party is missed and that they’re sorry for the dumb shit they said the last time) and that makes it. difficult to say the least. he’d very much like to break through her hard outer shell eventually. he’s seen too many glimpses of what’s underneath to completely give up on things. and she’s certainly not about to give up the one space she feels as though she can even begin to unravel around, even if it’s turbulent a lot of the time. 

[elstreem]

Book Collection

I had to dust down my bookshelf and it was a good opportunity to take some photos of my books! This is most of my collection, though some are up on my really high shelf and so were not included ^^; If I clean that I’ll just add a follow-up. (also long post and really bad photos I’m so sorry)

So first of all are my two most favorite series ever, the whole Septimus Heap series + the Pathfinder trilogy by Angie Sage, and the Mistmantle Chronicles by M.I. McAllister (I’m missing the last book though....). I love them too much that even after being taught to disembowel literature for my Creative Writing course, you can’t ask me for an objective critique. I suppose some people will disagree and say that you should look at your favorite things even more critically, but I just can’t. I’m not good at critiquing anyway.

Here are three of my favorite short novels. I lean towards fantasy most of the time, but these three were very well written fiction (Because of Winn-Dixie is realistic fiction, and both A Single Shard and Island of the Blue Dolphins are historical fiction, I think?) A Single Shard is really good, I want to look at Linda Sue Park’s other works.

After settling on comics as my thesis I ended up adding much more visual lit and art books to my collection. I rarely buy novels now, unless a really intriguing one catches my eye at a booksale.

So here’s my manga collection! With an obvious bias towards Akira Himekawa’s LoZ mangas (ironically I still haven’t bought the OoT one, which is the first of the Zelda mangas I think?) I wish I could buy the other volumes of Silver Spoon, it’s a really good read. The KH manga I was luck enough to catch at a booksale for only PhP 65, which is hardly above $1! The Zelda mangas I bought at Fully Booked (same goes for my art books) I wish there was a Fully Booked closer to me, the only other bookstores are National Book Sale (which are 70% school supplies and 30% books and usually don’t carry comics) and booksales.

Now for Filipino Komiks! The reason I got really interested in comics as an area of study is Rob Cham’s silent graphic novel, Light. Before that, me and my family have been reading whatever volumes of Pugad Baboy we could get, so the really ratty looking ones are the ones we’ve managed to keep up to the present time (I also have the giant copy of Pugad Baboy X but didn’t get to include it here). Thankfully, National Book Store stocks Light and Lost, but that is for usually for bigger malls (they used to have Pugad Baboy, but now I rarely see it there, but my copies of Kikomachine Komix are from there too). Dead Balagtas’s Tomo 1 (which is really gorgeous!) I was able to get at a comic event my college organization held at the university. However, Ella Arcangel, Elmer, 12 and 14 were bought at Komikon, which I was lucky enough to attend in 2018. Sadly, Komikon is probably the only best opportunity to buy most Filipino comic stuff, and I live too far from Manila to go every time. I wish I can go again. I was able to meet sir Pol Medina Jr. and sir Gerry Alanguilan at Komikon, I even got my copy of Elmer sighed. Rest in peace, sir Alanguilan :<

Maybe I’ll make another post detailing more Filipino komiks stuff? I really have a lot of feelings on this subject haha.

Now for miscellaneous English comics. I included Arzach though that book is a novelization of certain stories (it does have some illustrations though!) Hopefully I can buy an actual compilation of Arzach comics sometimes, it’s something I’m really interested in. That aside, most of these books were from the Big Bad Wolf Booksale (look, book sales are just my weakness, ok). I really enjoyed these two volumes of Flight and I hope to buy the others sometime. Vogelein I got from...surprise, a book sale! And I really love that one too. What’s not to like with fairies, even clockwork ones.

Now for the jewel of the collection...

The big and beautiful art books which I may or may not have deprived myself of a few lunches to be able to save up enough (also convenience store food dinners wooh! But please don’t copy me, eat healthily when you’re in college!!! >:0)

 I also have the Zelda Goddess Books and the BotW art book, which I I think I showed before in a Zelda collection post? But aside from that, here are the Art of Ghibli books which I thank Fully Booked for stocking. Howl’s Moving Castle was my first purchase because Howl, but man do I love the Nausicaa ad Ponyo art. I was also super, super lucky to get the art book for Kubo and the Two Strings at the Manila International Book Fair! That and a Japanese-only copy of Haikara Walker made my arm ache but I was so stoked to get them. (aand I forgot to include my Splatoon art book and Haikara Walker here. Oops.) I also have sky longing for memories/The Art of Makoto Shinkai up on the top.

I think that’s about it, but I very ready to discuss any of the books above if my rambling didn’t bore you ^^;

[superspoonie24]

Ranking of Kara's past and potential boyfriends

These are all my opinion, feel free to have your own somewhere else.

1) Adam Foster- you might be thinking "who the hell is adam?" and it isn't surprising why. He is Cat Grant's eldest son and was on for 2 episodes in season. His character was great and it could've gone further. But the actor is Melissa's ex Br*ce J*nn*r so that is a BIG no no. Character is like 6/10. Actor makes it 0/10

2) Winn Schott- this poor dude deserves the world. He was always nice to Kara and supported her. But she just didn't like him that way. But he got to go to the future so he is happy. Overall 5/10. They wouldn't have lasted long or really grown much but he is a good guy. They are better as friends and as sci-fi geeks.

3) James Olsen- Honestly it could've been good if they didn't stop it like 1 episode in. James cared about her and while he kinda didn't trust her abilities at first, he grew to have total faith in her. After the build up s1 gave them, having them fall apart in the first episode of s2 was really annoying. Overall 6/10 cause it could've been great and they could've pushed each other to be better. Also he hot.

4) M*n-*l- this "lying jackass" ignored Kara everytime she asked him for the simplest thing. He didn't show her any respect. Then whenever he pouted Kara would forgive him instantly. S3 m*n-*l pisses me off because he acts like everything is fine between them and it isn't. It was never healthy for either of them honestly. While I do believe Kara loved him, it was not at all healthy. He also reminds me of my ex who did practically the same things. Overall 2/10 cause he's hot and Kara loved him. But it was. Not. Healthy.

5) Willi*m D*y- there is just no chemistry. Like, nothing. They are only being pushed together cause he's a guy and she's a girl. They both deserve better than that. I want them to be friends, maybe even take over catco together along with Nia. But like, relationship wise? There's nothing there. No reason to ship them together. Overall 1/10. He's good and wouldn't be bad to Kara but they just don't have any romantic energy towards each other.

Now the one I've been building to

6) Lena Luthor- Lena noticed Kara first thing. She was the one to suggest Kara be a reporter. Lena literally just showed up to her house to talk to her after they'd known each other for maybe 2 months? Kara was literally Lena's only friend, so she invited her to a gala. Then they hung out all the time. Kara blushes around her. Lena is reduced to giggles. The lip thing they both do. Kara constantly looking at Lena's boobs. This continues on for 3 seasons. Then s5 the reveal kills Kara. She just wants her friend back. They have so much chemistry between each other. Kara flies around the world to get Lena her favorite foods. She breaks into a us fort to get lex's journals for Lena. Kara saves Lena the most out of anyone in the series (except maybe alex) which is Lois and Clark's whole thing. Bridal Carry. And then the kicker, which parallels Barry Allen and Iris West, the world's most perfect couple. "Supergirl may have saved me, but Kara Danvers you are my hero" Lena said that all the way back in s2e12. Overall 9/10. Based off what they already are to each other and how much they can grow from each other and push each other to be better.

In the end, the relationship is already there. Everyone can see Supercorp. Hell even the actors support it. Including Staz who plays Willi*m. Supercorp is the only relationship that makes sense to pursue and become canon. And with how they are marketing the season, if they don't make it canon it'll be one HELL of a queer-bait.

Bottom line, Supercorp canon.

❤💙❤💙❤💙❤💙❤💙❤💙❤

[graphicpolicy]

SDCC 2019: There's New Faces in National City and a New Suit for Supergirl

SDCC 2019: There's New Faces in National City and a New Suit for Supergirl #SDCC #SDCC19 #SDCC2019 #SDCC50 #Supergirl

Supergirl landed at San Diego Comic-Con with another superpowered panel filled with surprises and reveals about the eagerly awaited upcoming season. Perhaps most striking for fans is that the character of Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl (played by Melissa Benoist) will be sporting a new Kryptonian supersuit — the first revamp since her co-worker, friend, and confidante Winn Schott designed her iconic…

[morningsound15]

Supercorp Lena is an alien too AU OR two doctors at the same hospital AU

Supercorp two doctors at the same hospital AU

beep boop beep this is late but here ya go.

1.)

Lena spends every free minute that she isn’t with her patients working tirelessly on developing new tech for her experimental surgical recovery treatments (the most promising of which just entered its preliminary trial stage last month), innovating new designs for medical devices, and trying to streamline her surgical procedures while increasing her success rates. She doesn’t have time for distractions, or deviations from her strict schedule. She doesn’t have time to waste on secondary concerns like relaxation, vacations, dating, making new friends, broadening her social circle, or making changes to her personal life. She can’t afford to let anything get in the way of her aggressive long-term career goals. Not when she’s worked so hard to prove that she’s more than just a pretty face, more than just a privileged trust-fund baby who has had everything in life handed to her, more than just what her last name implies. Not when she’s worked so hard to get to where she is.

It’s cold, and a little ruthless, sure. But it’s what she’s always done — it’s what she’s always had to do. And it’s always the way she’s felt; consistently, without fail.

At least, that used to be true. That’s how she used to feel.

Until she met Kara, that is.

2.)

Lena’s known about Kara Danvers ever since she first showed up at National City General Hospital. She’s the sort of person who’s hard not to notice.

Lena first hears of her from James.

“Have you met the new girl?” he asks her one morning in the break room, completely (and unnecessarily, as far as she’s concerned) distracting her from her reading.

Lena arches an eyebrow in his direction. “You mean the new doctor?” James rolls his eyes. “I haven’t had the pleasure, no.”

“Well, you should. As soon as possible. She is…” his eyes seem to focus on something far-off, and he sighs almost without noticing— “something else.”

“Hmm,” Lena hums rather disinterestedly, flipping through a new patient’s chart. “Is she especially beautiful, or especially annoying?”

James starts, his attention back on her at once. “What?”

“You only have that reaction towards women who you find particularly beautiful or particularly tedious. Which one is she?”

James scoffs, but his attempt at acting insulted is half-hearted at best. When Lena merely looks at him, not saying anything further, he huffs. “Fine. She’s beautiful. And she seems perfectly charming, for the record.”

Lena’s smile has teeth. “Don’t they all?”

“You haven’t even met her yet.”

“I don’t need to. She wasn’t hired in my department, therefore she’s of no concern to me.”

“She’s Alex Danvers’ sister.”

That makes her pause. Lena knows Doctor Danvers — she’d even go so far as to say she rather likes Doctor Danvers (which is not an accolade she commonly distributes, for the record). Danvers is smart and accomplished and professional and good at her job — all qualities Lena greatly admires in a person. She hadn’t been aware Doctor Danvers had a sister. She’s not sure why that news is so surprising to learn.

But, eventually, she shakes herself. “Inconsequential,” she finally decides, turning back to her chart.

“I don’t know, Lena. You might have to give this one a chance.”

She doesn’t bother to look up from her reading. “We’ll see.”

.

.

.

.

When she sees Winn later that day in the break room, staring off into space with a dreamy smile on his face, she sighs, and asks, “Doctor Danvers, I’m guessing?”

“Yeah,” he sighs happily, still staring unseeing out the door, as if longing after something which is no longer there. He seems to understand her question only a few seconds later, and shakes himself a little, drawing back to her. “Er…” he says carefully as he sits up at once, with a slight frown on his face, “the new one, I mean. Not… don’t tell Alex I was acting like that about her. Not that she isn’t pretty! Or, er— beautiful, it’s just…” He swallows thickly. “She’s just so scary.”

“Don’t worry, Doctor Schott,” she reassures him. “Your secret’s safe with me.” And that’s mostly down to the fact that Lena has never been in a position to share more than a few words with the elder Doctor Danvers, and in all such situations their interactions were kept purely professional, but that’s besides the point. As a general rule of thumb, she doesn’t engage in frivolous gossip or rumor-mongering. She considers it beneath her.

Besides, she has no desire to antagonize Doctor Danvers. Doctor Danvers is severe, and serious — something Lena rather admires. The fact that she knows 0 information about her (except, as of this morning, that apparently she has a younger sister) is how she likes her relationships with her colleagues to be: no-nonsense, professional, and completely surface-level.

The lone exception to that rule is her friendship with Sam. And James, she supposes, sort of fits the bill as well. And, now that she’s thinking about it, she does actually know a few key personal details about her favorite surgical assistant, Jess. But that’s neither here nor there. She’s been friends with Sam since university; the fact that they ended up at the same hospital was through no fault of Lena’s own, and it seemed only natural to continue their relationship rather than to go out of her way to burn a bridge she does not have any reason to burn. And she has a rather friendly relationship with James because they went on a few ill-advised dates when she first moved to town; but as soon as Lena realized they would be working together, she ended things, and they’ve been nothing but friendly since. But that’s only because it seemed the most decent thing to do at the time. And as for Jess, well… it’s a good idea for Lena to be able to actually trust those few other people she requires to assist her in effectively doing her job. Jess is one of the few surgical assistants at this hospital that Lena doesn’t actively want to strangle, so knowing her birthday is in March and that she has a nephew she loves to spoil is hardly outside the sphere of appropriate, professional behavior.

The point is, she doesn’t want to know more about the people she works with. As long as they are competent in their work and do not actively interfere with her research, she couldn’t care less what they spend their free time doing.

The sooner everyone gets over this strange obsession they all seem to have with the New Doctor Danvers, frankly, the better Lena’s life is going to be.

3.)

They don’t get the opportunity to speak for real until 3 months after Kara begins working at National City General. At a party, of all things (Lena never goes to parties) — hosted by Sam, which explains why Lena’s been dragged here and also why Kara’s been dragged here. Like something straight out of a Shakespearean plot: Lena is acting as emotional/romantic support for Sam, who is currently on a mission to date Doctor Danvers (the elder Doctor Danvers), which explains why she brought along her own emotional/romantic support in the form of her sister, Kara.

(They don’t find this out until much later, of course. But neither of them is particularly surprised to learn the information.)

They’re left alone together very quickly when their companions decide that their energy is best spent focused on the sole task at hand (essentially: trying to get the other into bed) and Kara and Lena are left to fend for themselves, standing awkwardly across from one another and not knowing quite what to say.

Kara makes the first move.

She sticks out her hand with a wry, nervous grin as her other hand reaches up to adjust her glasses. “Hi,” she says, like they haven’t just been standing here looking at each other for nearly 30 seconds, “it’s Lena, right? I’m Kara. I work in Peds.”

And Lena knows that — of course she does — but it still doesn’t stop her from wanting to roll her eyes because of course this woman who practically radiates sunshine and rainbows would work in Pediatrics. She looks like the sort of woman who volunteers at animal shelters on the weekends, who goes out of her way to help little old ladies cross the street. She looks so wholesome, so good that she should probably be on the cover of some magazine somewhere. It makes Lena feels more than a little uncomfortable.

“Yes,” she says, shaking Kara’s hand firmly but withdrawing quickly, “I know who you are.”

Kara smiles, and if Lena’s not mistaken she almost looks a little relieved that Lena’s said something she can respond to neutrally. “And I mean, I know who you are, obviously. I just thought it might be nicer to officially introduce myself.”

Lena quirks an eyebrow. “Rumors travel fast, I see.”

“Rumors?” Kara frowns.

“That’s how you know who I am.” Because it’s obvious, to Lena. That’s how everyone knows who she is. After her brother was caught embezzling millions of dollars from their family hospital (and after he subsequently fled to some undisclosed foreign country, from which he has yet to emerge) the Luthor name — once so distinguished and influential in quite a few specific social spheres — had been almost completely blacklisted from all things related to the medical field. Everyone who was practicing medicine at the time heard about the scandal.

Lena is still dealing with the repercussions.

It’s not a question, really; more a statement of fact. Of course Kara knows who she is because of the scandal, because of the rumors that still follow her around (that she’s just like her brother, that she was secretly in on his scheme and just hadn’t been caught, that she’s secretly helping him evade detection by government officials). That’s how everyone knows her.

It’s not a question, not really, nut Kara is still quick to respond to it. Her eyes widen and she shakes her head very rapidly back-and-forth. “Oh, no! I… I read your paper on the, um… flexible micro-stapled surgical bandages you have in development?” Lena blinks, and hopes her shock is not evident on her face. Kara continues on like she doesn’t even notice the completely unexpected shift in Lena’s body language and attitude. “It’s super interesting stuff. I’d love to get my hands on a few, if you have any prototypes lying around. I’m always looking for ways to reduce my patients’ pain after operation.” She smiles, rather sheepishly, and Lena feels her heart rate pick up, unbidden. Even Sam doesn’t read her papers, and she’s Lena’s best friend in the entire world.

“Sorry,” Kara says when a few seconds tick by and Lena has yet to respond. She rubs at the back of her neck, “Sorry, I have a tendency to babble, sometimes. And I don’t mean to awkwardly fangirl around you. I just… I’ve been following your work for a while, and I think you’re really brilliant. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to practice here. Well… my sister’s here, which was the bigger reason, but also because… who wouldn’t jump at the chance to work with Lena Luthor, y’know?”

Lena doesn’t, in fact, know at all what Kara means.

She can’t help but be impossibly flattered either way. (She’s never pretended to be above vanity.)

It’s only when she arrives home, many happy hours later — after a bit too much wine and a breathless and blushing Kara scribbling her phone number on a spare sheet of scrap paper so that Lena can call to schedule an appointment to discuss how Kara’s research may intersect with her own — that Lena begins to realize she may be in more than a little trouble, here; more than she initially realized.

This is not in line with her plans at all.

4.)

Still, she somehow winds up calling her. And one meeting turns into two, and then two meetings turn into a meeting over morning coffee, which then turns into simply getting coffee, which then turns into lunches and occasional dinners and Lena having an open invitation to Kara’s weekly Game Night (in which she, much to Lena’s surprise, invites almost exclusively the people from work who Lena can semi-tolerate. As if she’s curated this event simply for Lena’s enjoyment).

And somehow, quite without meaning to (and quite against her better judgment), she becomes friends with Kara Danvers. Not work-friends (like Jess) or professionally-respectful-colleagues (like Alex), but full-on friends. Lena comes to expect Kara’s presence in her life more than Sam’s, even (which seems to work out well for all parties involved, since Sam’s attention more and more seems to be diverted by Kara’s sister). She spends more nights out than she has since college, more time drinking with the people she’s worked with for the past several years but never bothered getting to know, more time idly chit-chatting over meals rather than spending her time doing what she used to do (craming down any food she possibly could while reading/researching/writing/answering emails).

Bizarrely, she almost doesn’t mind. She barely even thinks about it, really; barely even registers any amount of anxiety or discomfort when she thinks about the work she’s missing (she really expected this whole situation to make her so much more anxious, knowing all the opportunities she’s missing to get ahead on her research or experiment with new designs).

That’s how she finds herself in the Pediatric Ward one day, late into the Fall, about four months after that fateful day she met Kara Danvers and seemingly simultaneously flipped her life on its head.

Lena doesn’t have much occasion to be down in this end of the hospital. Since children aren’t her specialty, she’s rarely called on to treat them, and since most everyone in the hospital understands her general discomfort when faced with anyone who cannot hold an intellectual conversation for an extended period of time, she’s rarely called on to even consult for other doctors in the Peds department. This doesn’t bother her, generally; she doesn’t dislike children, not by any stretch of the imagination, she just doesn’t particularly understand them, and she feels nothing but relief whenever she’s allowed to avoid embarrassing herself around them.

But she’s meant to be meeting Kara for lunch, and it’s now nearing 12:30 and Kara still hasn’t made an appearance. Lena only goes down to check on her, to make sure that Kara hasn’t gotten tied up in some impossible case or some extraordinarily-demanding patient. (She absolutely does not come down because she has this burning curiosity to see Kara in action — something she has not been able to do, not in the few months of their friendship. That is absolutely not the reason.)

So imagine her surprise when she enters the Pediatric Ward and is immediately confronted by one Kara Danvers, standing in front of a gaggle of screaming children, decked out head-to-toe in the most shockingly well-made superhero outfit Lena has ever seen.

She stops immediately, one hand on the door, and she has to blink a few times to make sure she isn’t seeing things.

But no, her eyes are not playing a trick on her — that’s Kara, up there, with her hair uncharacteristically down and her glasses uncharacteristically off her face. Her outfit is a mix of royal blue and red and yellow, the top long-sleeved and laying tight across Kara’s torso, the bottom a red skirt that falls down to just above her knees. A pair of bright red boots (Good Lord, Lena thinks as she feels her heart stutter in her chest) lie snug around her calves. A red cape is attached to her shoulders, and it blows out behind her every time she turns or steps, like it has a mind of its own.

There’s a red-and-yellow “S” embossed on her chest. Lena wants to run her fingers over that letter, trail her fingertips along the stitching. She wants to know what that suit feels like under the pads of her fingers, wants to know what Kara might do if she were to grab her by the neck of it and pull her in and—

Kara has been picking her way across the room over the course of the last few minutes, waving to children and parents alike and hugging the little bodies that crush up against her legs, her stomach. She’s drifted right next to where Lena is standing, leaning against the wall and trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible so as to achieve the full, un-distracted effect of Kara Danvers In Action.

But she’s so close now, that Lena finds she can’t can’t help herself. She clears her throat, rather loudly. “Nice costume.”

“Lena!” Kara straightens at once. She clearly hadn’t noticed her before. “Hi! What are you… what are you doing here?”

“We were meant to get lunch. I was worried when you didn’t show.”

Kara groans and slaps her forehead. “Oh no, was that today? I’m so sorry. I forgot I double-booked.”

“Yes, I can see that.” Lena runs her eyes up and down Kara’s body, and tries very hard to hide the fact that she’s only just shy of openly-leering. “You look nice.”

“The kids don’t know it’s me,” Kara explains haltingly, looking a little flustered. “They can’t recognize me in this getup. So once a month I put it on and… come down here to entertain them.”

Lena has to laugh at that. “What, you take down your hair and take off your glasses and you’re suddenly a new person?”

Kara shrugs, but one side of her mouth is pulled higher than the other, and her cheeks seem a little pink. Lena almost can’t believe this woman is real. “It works in the movies.”

Just then, a little hand tugs on Kara’s cape (God, she’s wearing a cape. Lena might just swoon). At once, it’s like Kara becomes someone else. Her face sets and her eyes soften and she bends down at once, bringing herself face-to-face with a young girl — no more than 5 or 6 — who’s dressed in a set of pajamas and slippers, a small IV poking out of her hand.

“Hi, sweetie,” Kara says to her softly, and Lena feels her knees actually go weak at the kindness in her voice. “What can I do for you?”

The girl simply stares at Kara wide-eyed, sucking on her thumb frantically.

“Sorry,” the girl’s mother explains, “she just loves you. One of the nurses told her you can fly, and she can’t stop talking about it. But she’s a little shy.” She puts her hand on top of her daughter’s head. Kara doesn’t take her eyes off of the little girl, smiling that million-dollar smile the entire time. “Would you mind if I got a picture? It would really make her day.”

“Of course.” Kara immediately turns so that she’s kneeling next to the girl. She puts her arm around the girl’s shoulders, and she immediately beams. “What’s your name, sweetheart?” Kara whispers conspiratorially.

“Lily,” the girl whispers back, and Kara’s smile gets impossibly wider.

“You’re a very brave girl, Lily. Just like a superhero.”

The girl’s eyes grow wide and glassy, and she beams at Kara. Lily’s mother takes a few pictures of them in various poses, before thanking Kara profusely and leading her daughter away by the hand. Kara waves at her the entire way down the hallway, before seeming to remember that Lena is standing there waiting for her.

Not that Lena minds, of course. She doesn’t mind in the slightest.

Kara pulls an apologetic face. “Sorry about all that.”

Lena shakes her head. “Don’t apologize. You’re quite the hero around here, aren’t you, Supergirl?”

Kara flushes. “I think you mean Superwoman.”

“I like ‘Supergirl’ more.”

“Why?”

Lena shrugs. She brings her hand up to twist one strand of Kara’s hair around her finger. She’s never seen it down before. It’s mesmerizing. “Fits more with the persona, I think.”

Kara laughs and crosses her arms over her chest, clutching her biceps tightly like she’s a little embarrassed for Lena to see her like this. God, her muscles. Does she live at the gym? “You know… the kids get a kick out of it,” she says, and Lena’s not sure if she’s purposefully ignoring the way Lena’s eyes are fixed on her shoulders, like she can’t pull them away, or if she legitimately doesn’t notice.

Knowing Kara, probably the latter.

Kara clears her throat, but she doesn’t back away from her, which is promising. “Um… I’m sorry about missing lunch. If you’ve still got some time…?” Lena nods. “Okay, great. Just let me get changed out of— just let me get changed. I can be ready in 10.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

5.)

“Would you like to get dinner?” Kara asks her one day, out of the blue, and it takes Lena far longer than it should for her to realize what, exactly, Kara is asking her.

At first, she simply smiles. “Sure. My shift ends at 8. Shall I invite Sam and James, too?”

“Oh, I…” Kara clears her throat and shifts on her feet. She’s wearing a pair of bright purple scrubs today, which Lena finds helplessly endearing. The fact that she’s shifting in front of Lena, clearly nervous, only adds to that feeling. “I was sort of hoping it could be just the two of us.”

Lena’s smile slips into a frown. “Is something wrong? Something you need to talk about?”

“No!” Kara is quick to reassure. “No, nothing’s wrong. I just… I meant it more as a, um, date… thing.”

“A… date-thing?”

“If you want?”

Lena has to bite her lip to stop herself from full-on beaming. “Yes,” she demures, her chin tilted down towards her chest, her heart beating so quickly in her chest it threatens to beat straight out of it, “I’d like that.”

Kara exhales, a tiny puff of air she seems unaware she was holding. “Yeah?”

“Yes, Kara,” Lena says with a laugh, “I’d like that very much.”

Send me an AU and I’ll give you 5 headcanons for it

[thesportsepiphany]

⏱ Minute Matchup: #DallasCowboys ✭ D Line vs #NewEnglandPatriots 🇺🇸 O Line Randy Gregory, Carlos Watkins, Brent Urban, Osa Odighizuwa and Terrell Basham/Chauncy Golston/Micah Parsons line up for #Dallas Isaiah Winn, Mike Onwenu, David Andrews, Shaq Mason and Justin Herron line up for #NewEngland Advantage Boys ✭ Reason: They get immense pressure on the QB so far no matter what O Line they go against. They’ve been a pleasantly surprising unit, even with Tank Lawrence being out #Cowboys ✭ are WINNING (1-0) on minute matchups for the week #howboutthemcowboys #CowboysNation #week6 #nflnews #nflseason #LFG #revengeszn😤 #MacJones https://www.instagram.com/p/CU-0OhYJwGc/?utm_medium=tumblr

[thatsjustsupergirl]

S2 Talk Time wrap-up

As something of a well-known post might have told you, the middle of Season 2 definitely lost its way -- by both subjective evaluation of content and also by looking at its statistics.

Contrary to popular belief, the powers that be *were* paying attention to everyone’s displeasure, because 2C veered sharply into recovery mode, racking up an average for female talk time that exceeded 2A and gave us the only talk time outlier -- a high one! -- once the whole season was accounted for.

Quick & Dirty S2 Stats:

A single episode averaged about 41 minutes of airtime.

Speaking took up an average of 28 minutes and 12 seconds per episode.

Of this, women spoke for an average of 17 minutes, 26 seconds per episode– 61.8% of the time.

Men spoke for an average of 10 minutes, 47 seconds per episode– 38.2% of the time.

Average talk time for men didn’t change much between the midpoint of the season and the end, but the average time for women dropped by over a minute.

Season 2 splits for additional analysis:

2A = episodes 1-8

2B = episodes 9-17

2C = episodes 18-22

Other notes:

MIA regulars & recurring characters

Maggie -- 18 total episodes

James -- 16 total episodes

Lena Luthor -- 12 total episodes

Lillian Luthor -- 8 total episodes

Snapper Carr -- 8 total episodes

M’gann M’orzz -- 7 total episodes

Cat Grant -- 4 total episodes

Gender distribution of background voices They came so close to doing well:

2A: 1 female : 1.67 male voices

2B: 1 female : 1.64 male voices

2C: 1 female : 4.00 male voices

Other interesting thing that happened: talk times across the whole season spawned a normal distribution curve.

Here’s how the episodes were distributed:

40-49.9% women speaking -- 4 episodes (2A - 0; 2B - 3; 2C - 1)

50-59.9% women speaking -- 6 episodes (2A - 1; 2B - 4; 2C - 1)

60-69.9% women speaking -- 7 episodes (2A - 5; 2B - 1; 2C - 1)

70-79.9% women speaking -- 4 episodes (2A - 2; 2B - 1; 2C - 1)

80-89.9% women speaking -- 1 episode   (2A - 0; 2B - 0; 2C - 1)

Basically: 2A had a narrower, but still normal distribution, 2B skewed low (7/9 episodes at 59.9% or less), and 2C was evenly distributed across the whole range.

This will make a lot more sense when you see it spread out:

The top graph uses the metric I started with, Median Absolute Deviation -- which was a better threshold marker while the season was in progress and the dataset was incomplete. The bottom graph uses mean +/- two standard deviations, which became a more useful metric upon completing the season.

[Click here to see graphs in better detail & to get subsection averages]

The lowest episodes for women lost their outlier status as the season progressed because there ended up being so many of them. Interestingly enough, the only episode that was billed as male-centric (2x20, which was James/Winn/J’onn-focused) was NOT the one with the lowest amount of female talk time.

That honor remains with 2x14, which somehow, despite theoretically being about Kara and Alex finding their father, was dominated by men. Some of that was due to guest star presence, yes, and some of it was due to the fact that Alex’s biggest scenes at the end had virtually no dialogue, but the vast majority of the problem with 2x14 was that neither Kara nor Alex was driving the the plot.

And, as both critics and fans have pointed out repeatedly, the majority of episodes where female talking time suffered were Mon-El centric -- he had a major presence in 3 out of 4 episodes where women spoke less than half the time (2x13 - Mr. Mxyzptlk, 2x14 - Homecoming, & 2x16 - Distant Sun). Of the 11 episodes that fell short of the season average, he’s the main focus of 8 of them -- again, 73% of ALL episodes that fall short of average do so specifically because of him, and these episodes account for a third of the entire season. (The remaining three low episodes are 2x15 - Exodus, low due to Jeremiah Danvers, Hank Henshaw, and several long action sequences for Kara & Alex that had no talking; 2x18 - Ace Reporter, low due to Jack Spheer and Snapper Carr; and 2x20 - City of Lost Children, low due to James, Winn, J’onn, and guest star Marcus having the main plot.)

But on the bright side... we had ONE episode that broke the outlier thresholds, and it was in favor of women!

Episode 2x21 (Resist) had a surprising 87% of its speaking time taken up by women. I’m kidding, this actually isn’t surprising when you look at the cast list for the episode -- there were three big-name female guest stars (Cat, Rhea, and President Marsdin) in addition to three female regulars and three female recurring cast members, and they all interacted with each other! Repeatedly!

It was like a breath of fresh air.

As I’ve said before, the show floundered worst when it did not find female scene partners for Kara. Cat’s loss as a day-to-day mentor was noticeable, and while the show attempted to patchwork in three or four other recurring ladies to fill her shoes, they weren’t successful. The separation of Alex’s storylines from Kara’s exacerbated the problem. Lack of a central narrative going forward from 2x08 also caused issues, and led to meandering, wasted episodes in the middle. (Specifically 2x13. You could skip it entirely and not notice a difference.)

And, because it’s worth repeating: 2C was 100% a damage control phase.

2x18 wrapped up a number of dangling character beats from 2B, 2x19 & 2x20 were pretty much apology episodes for the regulars who had been slighted all season long, and 2x21 & 2x22 were not only heavy on female presence but also an attempt to push most of the storylines into a reset position for Season 3.

So. Someone *is* attempting to learn from their mistakes. Whether it’s for intrinsic or extrinsic reasons I don’t really care, as long as it means that there will be better accountability going forward.

(fyi I *am* working on S1 for comparison, but I have a couple other things to round out S2 on deck first.)

[selfshipstuff]

Hi Winn! What would be the perfect date for you and Cal? -selfshippingwitch

:0 !!!! thanks for the ask!! <3 @selfshippingwitch

Winn says: “Hi! Okay, so actually, this is something I’ve been putting a lot of thought into lately-- don’t tell them, but I’m planning on surprising them with an attempt at sophisticated romance. Here’s hoping that for once we aren’t interrupted by some crazy assholes hellbent on Earth’s destruction. 

So, I was thinking, wow, Cal is so awesome and sweet and deserves the world, how can I show them that? And then I got to thinking about the perfect date, right? So here’s what I’ve got-- keep in mind this is a work in progress, and I’m totally open to suggestions-- I want to make this perfect. 

First, we take a day off. The day rolls around, and I've made sure our alarms are turned off, so when they wake up they’re well-rested and very thoroughly cuddled. After lounging in bed together for a while (and a lot of pillow talk) we get up and make breakfast together; I’m thinking pancakes and scrambled eggs? Anyway, we talk throughout the process, and we eat our delicious creations, and then we go out for a day on the town. This part we’ll mostly play by ear because they tend to like a certain measure of spontaneity, but we will go to the movies at some point and there will be dinner at a restaurant. Probably sci-fi and Italian. If everything goes well, there’ll be kisses and laughter interspersed throughout the whole thing.

Of course, if we are interrupted by poorly-timed bad guys, we could always rent a movie or two and just cuddle on the couch. I’m cool with anything, honestly, as long as Cal’s involved.”

[cornvest1-blog]

Hoerner, Giambrone power Mesa's offense

Here's a team-by-team breakdown of how all 30 teams' prospects fared in Arizona Fall League action on Saturday:

• Gameday: Scottsdale 5, Glendale 3 | Peoria 7, Surprise 4 | Mesa 7, Salt River 2

AL East

Blue Jays (Surprise) Blue Jays No. 22 prospect Santiago Espinal went 0-for-4 with a walk and a run scored, while Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (No. 1 overall) was out of the lineup and had the day off. Shawn Morimando got the start for the Saguaros and took the loss, falling to 0-2 in the Fall League. Morimando allowed two earned runs in four innings, giving up three hits, walking two and striking out three.

Orioles (Glendale) Jay Flaa and Tyler Erwin each pitched a scoreless inning of relief. Flaa allowed two hits, while Erwin worked a 1-2-3 inning and notched a strikeout. Martin Cervenka started at catcher and went 0-for-3.

Rays (Peoria) Matt Krook got the start for the Javelinas and allowed one earned run in two innings. The left-hander gave up two hits, walked three and struck out four. Right-hander Brandon Lawson followed Krook and pitched three innings of scoreless relief, notching the win and improving to 2-1 in the AFL. Lawson allowed one hit and struck out two. Phoenix Sanders pitched two innings of scoreless relief, allowing one hit, walking one and striking out three.

Red Sox (Mesa) Red Sox No. 9 prospect Mike Shawaryn walked one and threw 13 of his 22 pitches for strikes across two scoreless frames to open the game. Josh Ockimey (No. 10), meanwhile, provided the offense as he went 1-for-3 with a two-run double. Esteban Quiroz was 0-for-1 at the plate, but drew a trio of walks. More >>

Video: Ockimey talks about his performance in Fall League

Yankees (Glendale) Kyle Zurak pitched a perfect inning of relief, posting his second straight scoreless outing to lower his Fall League ERA to 14.09. Steven Sensley went 1-for-3 with a single and two strikeouts.

AL Central

Indians (Glendale) Indians No. 6 prospect Yu Chang hit his fourth home run of the Fall League season, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Chang raised his AFL average to .346. Connor Marabell went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Jared Robinson pitched a perfect inning of relief, striking out one.

Royals (Surprise) Royals No. 2 prospect Khalil Lee went 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.

Tigers (Mesa) Daniel Woodrow boosted his AFL average to .370 with a 3-for-4 performance, while Daniel Pinero went 1-for-4 at the plate.

Video: MSS@SRR: Woodrow hustles to earn infield RBi single

Twins (Salt River) Twins No. 16 prospect Travis Blankenhorn went 0-for-3, but also made a nice diving catch out in left field.

Video: MSS@SRR: Blankenhorn lays out for fantastic grab

White Sox (Glendale) It was a quiet day for White Sox prospects as Luis Robert (Chicago's No. 4), Luis Alexander Basabe (No. 9) and Laz Rivera (No. 28) combined to go 0-for-11 with each striking out once. Rivera, who started at shortstop, also committed his second error of the AFL season.

AL West

A's (Mesa) Skye Bolt, the Athletics' No. 30 prospect, and Luis Barrera each contributed to Mesa's win. Bolt went 1-for-5 with an RBI double and a run scored, while Barrera went 2-for-5 and also drove in a run. Jake Bray walked a pair, but worked his way out of the jam and didn't give up a run in his lone inning on the mound. Angel Duno also threw a scoreless frame for Mesa, yielding just one hit.

Video: MSS@SRR: Bolt laces an RBI double to center field

Angels (Mesa) Daniel Procopio, Brett Hanewich and Ryan Clark threw the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, yielding a total of two runs (one earned). Hanewich gave up one run on one hit, while Procopio walked two and was charged with an unearned run.

Astros (Scottsdale) Astros No. 21 prospect Abraham Toro hit his second homer of the Fall League season while going 2-for-4 out of the leadoff spot. Toro drove in two runs and scored a pair. Ronnie Dawson batted cleanup and went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. More »

Video: Toro discusses his homer, 2-hit game in Fall League

Mariners (Peoria) Chris Mariscal went 2-for-5 with a pair of singles and a strikeout, while Mariners No. 20 prospect Ian Miller went 0-for-3 with a pair of walks and a run scored. Matt Walker gave up two earned runs in an inning of relief, allowing three hits, including a home run, and striking out one.

Rangers (Surprise) Yanio Perez and Charles Leblanc combined to go 0-for-8 with three strikeouts, but Perez reached once via walk. Demarcus Evans pitched a hitless inning of relief, walking two and striking out one.

NL East

Braves (Peoria) Izzy Wilson belted his second home run of the Fall League season, going 1-for-4 with a pair of RBIs and a walk. Braxton Davidson raised his AFL average to .255 with a 2-for-4 performance, as he doubled, walked and drove in two runs. Ray-Patrick Didder went 0-for-5 with a strikeout.

Marlins (Salt River) Marlins No. 12 prospect Brian Miller went 0-for-4 at the plate, while Bryson Brigman (No. 27) went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Video: MSS@SRR: Brigman reaches for fine grab in 2nd

Phillies (Scottsdale) Darick Hall led Phillies prospects with a pair of hits, going 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Austin Listi went 1-for-4 with an RBI, while Luke Williams also went 1-for-4 with a run scored. Phillies No. 11 prospect Arquimedes Gamboa went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.

Nationals (Salt River) Nationals No. 2 prospect Carter Kieboom went 1-for-5 and is hitting .284 in the AFL. Tres Barrera (No. 15) went 0-for-4. Jordan Mills and Taylor Guilbeau combined to throw three scoreless innings. Mills threw two innings and struck out three.

Mets (Scottsdale) Mets No. 2 prospect Peter Alonso went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, lowering his AFL average to .221. Matt Blackham pitched two innings of relief, allowing one earned run on one hit with three strikeouts.

NL Central

Brewers (Peoria) Brewers No. 1 prospect Keston Hiura (No. 30 overall) continued his impressive Fall League campaign by going 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and two runs scored. Weston Wilson went 2-for-5 with a pair of singles, an RBI and two runs scored, while Trent Grisham (Milwaukee's No. 19) went 0-for-5 from the bottom of the order. Jon Olczak pitched an inning of relief, allowing one earned run on one hit and one walk.

Cardinals (Surprise) Andy Young went 1-for-4 with a single from the bottom of the Saguaros' lineup. Cardinals No. 30 prospect Connor Jones pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing one hit and striking out two. Will Latcham tossed a scoreless frame in relief, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Cubs (Mesa) Cubs No. 6 prospect Nico Hoerner and Trent Giambrone (No. 29) jump-started the Mesa offense as Hoerner tripled in the first and scored on Giambrone's RBI groundout. Hoerner finished 1-for-5, but Giambrone collected a trio of hits in the later innings and concluded his evening 3-for-5. Bailey Clark also threw well in relief as he put up a pair of zeros. Clark did give up four hits and issue a walk, but managed to keep runs off the board, reducing his AFL ERA to 2.45. P.J. Higgins went 0-for-4.

Video: MSS@SRR: Hoerner triples, scores on groundout

Pirates (Surprise) Pirates No. 5 prospect Cole Tucker stayed hot, going 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored. Will Craig (No. 16) went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Bryan Reynolds (No. 8) went 0-for-4 with a walk. Blake Weiman and Geoff Hartlieb both had rough relief appearances. Weiman allowed two earned runs in two-thirds of an inning, giving up two hits and walking two. Hartlieb gave up three earned runs in an inning, allowing three hits, walking one and striking out two.

Reds (Scottsdale) Reds No. 2 prospect Taylor Trammell went 1-for-4 with a single. Austin Orewiler got the start for the Scorpions and notched his first Fall League win. Orewiler allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits in five innings, walking one and striking out six.

NL West

D-backs (Salt River) D-backs No. 3 prospect Jazz Chisholm had a quiet day at the plate, finishing just 1-for-4, but impressed with a few nice defensive plays. Bo Takahashi got the start for the Rafters, but struggled and was unable to get through three innings and gave up three runs on three hits in 2 2/3 frames. Tyler Mark didn't fare any better, giving up three runs in two-thirds of an inning. Kevin Ginkel was the most successful of the D-backs' pitchers as he gave up one hit and spun a scoreless frame. Playing for Surprise, Renae Martinez started at catcher and went 3-for-3 with a home run, two RBIs and a walk. Martinez's two-run homer was his second long ball of the AFL season.

Video: MSS@SRR: Chisolm handles tough hop with ease

Dodgers (Glendale) Dodgers No. 20 prospect Errol Robinson and Cody Thomas combined to go 0-for-6 with five strikeouts, but Thomas reached base once via a walk. Ben Holmes started for the Desert Dogs and fell to 1-2 in the Fall League, allowing five earned runs in three innings. Holmes gave up six hits, walked three and struck out one. Nolan Long pitched a perfect inning of relief, striking out two.

Giants (Scottsdale) Matt Winn went 1-for-3 with a triple, a walk, an RBI and a run scored. It was Winn's first three-bagger of the Fall League. Chase Johnson pitched a perfect eighth inning, striking out one. Sam Wolff worked a perfect ninth to record his second save of the AFL season. Wolff hasn't allowed a run in nine innings pitched in the Fall League.

Padres (Peoria) Padres No. 25 prospect Austin Allen batted cleanup and went 1-for-3 with two RBIs, two walks and a run scored. Allen had a two-run single and raised his Fall League average to .245.

Rockies (Salt River) Rockies No. 11 prospect Tyler Nevin is hitting .420 in the Fall League after his 2-for-3 performance. Josh Fuentes also picked up a hit and is batting .307 after going 1-for-4. Sam Hilliard (No. 9) went 0-for-3, but worked a pair of walks. Justin Lawrence (No. 17) and Mitch Horacek each pitched in relief. Horacek gave up a run in two-thirds of an inning while Lawrence spun a scoreless ninth.

Source: https://www.mlb.com/news/arizona-fall-league-roundup-for-november-10/c-300542384