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June-July 2024 Test Drive Meme
June-July 2024 TDM
Introduction
Welcome to Folkmore's monthly Test Drive Meme! Please feel free to test drive any and all characters regardless of your intent to apply or whether you have an invite or not.
All TDMs are game canon and work like "mini-events". For new players and characters, you can choose to have your TDM thread be your introduction thread upon acceptance or start fresh. Current players are also allowed to have in-game characters post to the TDM so long as they mark their top levels ‘Current Character.’
TDM threads can be used for spoon spending at any time by characters accepted into the game.
Playing and interacting with the TDMs will allow characters to immediately obtain canon items from homes especially weapons or other things they may have had on their person when they were pulled from their worlds! There will always be a prompt that provides some sort of "reward" to characters who complete certain tasks.
🦊 New Star Children meet the Fox still in their worlds, and she brings them into the new realm of Folkmore. As you follow her, your body begins to change and new characteristics emerge. These may stay for a while, or perhaps they will hide away after. And during all of this, the Fox explains to you where you will be going: to Folkmore.
and then... you fall like a shooting star, falling to the land in a burst of starlight.
🦊 Experienced Star Children are already familiar with this time of the month. There are shooting stars all across the sky, and some fall to the land, which means the Fox has brought new arrivals. These newly arrived Star Children will face some tests, but Thirteen wants the more seasoned residents to participate as well.
Perhaps you follow the falling stars on your own, or perhaps the Fox simply teleports you there, but it appears you too will be part of this.
Content Warnings: Ghosts, Potential Violence, Potential Death
Summer has hit. It's hot, and nowhere is it hotter than Cruel Summer. Naturally, new Star Children arrive in Cruel Summer with no indication of which direction to go to escape, unless they're so lucky as to arrive near the Selkie River. The water provides a break, and a selkie skin will protect Star Children from the heat. Though beware the cruelty of leaving a selkie without their skin. Along with the heat, Star Children can hear whispers and the echoes of screams throughout Cruel Summer. There's no obvious source of the noises. Not the normal creatures. Not anything anyone can see.
Whether new or old Star Child, anyone lost, overheated, in need of a rest, or anything else will find a friendly spirit will find them in the sands, rock, or shores of Cruel Summer. They'll guide the way toward the huts found in Cruel Summer. These huts have changed; the huts are bigger and grow together, making them one interconnected twisting winding empty town. No one appears to live there. The wooden town is in disrepair, varying from building to building. Even so, they are cool inside, a welcome break from the summer heat.
No matter how one entered, even through the swinging doors to the saloon, that exit disappears behind Star Children. There's no turning back. The only way out is to explore the way through the buildings. This fact continues to be true building to building as exits continue to vanish. The abandoned town isn't as empty as it first seems. As Star Children explore the branching paths through the wooden structures, they see ghosts of spirits going through the paces of their lives. They're familiar to these spaces and interact with missing objects that sometimes shimmer in spirit energy.
Spirit Children may interrupt these routines to try to talk with the ghosts. Some ghostly spirits are friendly. They may interact with Star Children as though they're someone else, someone the spirits used to know. Others, like the bartender, may treat them like a new customer. Other ghosts are determined to stick to their routines and, should Star Children continue to interrupt, will attack those who disturb them.
These spirits may kill Star Children when they attack. Normal weapons won't hurt them. There are revolvers, shotguns, iron pokers, hunting knives, and other plain weapons around to grab in self-defense. Salt bullets and iron will dispel ghosts. These weapons may be grabbed at any time. However, doing so attracts the creatures in Cruel Summer. A blood red worm spitting yellow acid may break through the floor to eat or spray Star Children. An enormous coyote may leap through the window. Whether attracted by the use of weapons or passing by, any dangerous creature found in Cruel Summer seems agitated when they come near these structures and will attack them and anyone inside. They will focus especially on anyone with a stolen selkie skin.
Should Star Children die, whether to ghosts or creatures, they will not immediately return to life.Do not pass go. Instead they will haunt the ghost town for one week in the room where they were killed. Other Star Children may recognize them and work to snap them out of their routines. Yet nothing will free the Star Children's spirits before the week is through. At the end of the week, they'll come to, alive, in their bodies in the room they died in. Best get through and out of the ghost town before dying again!
A constant through these scenes are the spirits' spoons, visible somewhere in each scene. The ghost spoons are whole. Once free of the ghost town, Star Children may choose to travel to the Shattered Spoon Shrine in Never Fade to search for the broken fragments of any of these spoons. They are in such small pieces, however, that no Star Child may feed them enough Lore alone to bring the spirit back. Two or more Star Children may spend time in the Shrine creating and feeding Lore toward the spoons to heal them. It just may be enough to bring someone back.
Summer has hit. It's hot, and nowhere is it hotter than Cruel Summer. Naturally, new Star Children arrive in Cruel Summer with no indication of which direction to go to escape, unless they're so lucky as to arrive near the Selkie River. The water provides a break, and a selkie skin will protect Star Children from the heat. Though beware the cruelty of leaving a selkie without their skin. Along with the heat, Star Children can hear whispers and the echoes of screams throughout Cruel Summer. There's no obvious source of the noises. Not the normal creatures. Not anything anyone can see.
Whether new or old Star Child, anyone lost, overheated, in need of a rest, or anything else will find a friendly spirit will find them in the sands, rock, or shores of Cruel Summer. They'll guide the way toward the huts found in Cruel Summer. These huts have changed; the huts are bigger and grow together, making them one interconnected twisting winding empty town. No one appears to live there. The wooden town is in disrepair, varying from building to building. Even so, they are cool inside, a welcome break from the summer heat.
No matter how one entered, even through the swinging doors to the saloon, that exit disappears behind Star Children. There's no turning back. The only way out is to explore the way through the buildings. This fact continues to be true building to building as exits continue to vanish. The abandoned town isn't as empty as it first seems. As Star Children explore the branching paths through the wooden structures, they see ghosts of spirits going through the paces of their lives. They're familiar to these spaces and interact with missing objects that sometimes shimmer in spirit energy.
Spirit Children may interrupt these routines to try to talk with the ghosts. Some ghostly spirits are friendly. They may interact with Star Children as though they're someone else, someone the spirits used to know. Others, like the bartender, may treat them like a new customer. Other ghosts are determined to stick to their routines and, should Star Children continue to interrupt, will attack those who disturb them.
These spirits may kill Star Children when they attack. Normal weapons won't hurt them. There are revolvers, shotguns, iron pokers, hunting knives, and other plain weapons around to grab in self-defense. Salt bullets and iron will dispel ghosts. These weapons may be grabbed at any time. However, doing so attracts the creatures in Cruel Summer. A blood red worm spitting yellow acid may break through the floor to eat or spray Star Children. An enormous coyote may leap through the window. Whether attracted by the use of weapons or passing by, any dangerous creature found in Cruel Summer seems agitated when they come near these structures and will attack them and anyone inside. They will focus especially on anyone with a stolen selkie skin.
Should Star Children die, whether to ghosts or creatures, they will not immediately return to life.
A constant through these scenes are the spirits' spoons, visible somewhere in each scene. The ghost spoons are whole. Once free of the ghost town, Star Children may choose to travel to the Shattered Spoon Shrine in Never Fade to search for the broken fragments of any of these spoons. They are in such small pieces, however, that no Star Child may feed them enough Lore alone to bring the spirit back. Two or more Star Children may spend time in the Shrine creating and feeding Lore toward the spoons to heal them. It just may be enough to bring someone back.
- Whispers, echoes of screams, etc become common throughout Cruel Summer
- Huts become bigger, interconnected, growing together. Anyone lost, overheated, in need of something in Cruel Summer gets a friendly spirit redirecting them to these buildings
- Buildings will still be in some state of disrepair, but like a whole twisting winding town
- Insides are a cool respite
supernatural ghost spirit air conditioning - Only way out is through, no turning back, as the exits disappear behind you
- Many are friendly, but some are not. One can attempt to talk to them, but how interactive they are varies
- Occasionally other creatures from Cruel Summer may burst in and attack
- If a Star Child dies, rather than return to life immediately, they stay a ghost for about a week, part of the tour
Content Warnings: Fire, Coerced Confessions
Fire! Fire across the realm! For the second half of June, wildfire burns everywhere. While it doesn’t hurt Star Children, it can reduce everything else to ash: homes, businesses, gardens, spirits. The local spirits will be in a panic and beg Star Children for help from small ice mice in Wintermute to fennec foxes in Cruel Summer. How can Star Children help? Confessions. Anything the person they are with doesn’t know. The more earnest and meaningful the better.
When wildfire erupts and spreads, Star Children may stand in or in front of an area they want to protect and confess something to another Star Child who happens to be nearby. Their neighbor? Their partner? A stranger lost in a new land? These confessions simply need to be something the other person doesn’t know to protect structures and spirits. Memories related to the confession will show in the fire. The fire will fuel these memories until they run out of energy, dying down to embers. At least in that place at that time.
Should something start to burn before someone confesses, multiple confessions are necessary to catch the wildfire’s attention and distract it from the fuel source it is feeding on. Two or more Star Children will need to make confessions whose memories are shared in the flames. Water powers can also help quell the flames, but confessions are necessary in the end.
Once July hits, the wildfires are mostly gone, only sparking up here and there on occasion. In their stead are embers. They spark in the air like fireflies and fly around Folkmore, attracted to Star Children. These embers land on Star Children and make them glow. There’s no pain. In fact, the embers provide sparks of insight into memories, situations, and other emotional dilemmas that Star Children haven’t previously understood. Talking the issue over with another Star Children provides further emotional clarity.
Spirits are welcoming to both embers and Star Children. Confessionshelp Folkmore grow as well. Gardens bloom in beautiful displays. Crops grow healthy and joyful. It’s even possible to hear humming from some of the vegetables and fruits. The land grows with the Star Children. Anyone who lacks a green thumb can work their way around that with confessions! Save that dying plant and grow those tomatoes.
One time that a Star Child confesses, either to wildfire or to embers, they will find a jeweled box shaped like a flame. The peak of the flame comes off to reveal the insides. Within, there is an item from home. It may even be a weapon or magical item. Larger more meaningful confessions are more likely to receive weapons. These items may even be larger than should fit in the box or its entrance. Whether the box should only hold a single ring or fill the palm of one’s hand, these items fit. Star Children also can keep the jeweled box, and this one item from home can be stored within the box. Other items too large to fit the box will not enter it. Only the one from the box.
Fire! Fire across the realm! For the second half of June, wildfire burns everywhere. While it doesn’t hurt Star Children, it can reduce everything else to ash: homes, businesses, gardens, spirits. The local spirits will be in a panic and beg Star Children for help from small ice mice in Wintermute to fennec foxes in Cruel Summer. How can Star Children help? Confessions. Anything the person they are with doesn’t know. The more earnest and meaningful the better.
When wildfire erupts and spreads, Star Children may stand in or in front of an area they want to protect and confess something to another Star Child who happens to be nearby. Their neighbor? Their partner? A stranger lost in a new land? These confessions simply need to be something the other person doesn’t know to protect structures and spirits. Memories related to the confession will show in the fire. The fire will fuel these memories until they run out of energy, dying down to embers. At least in that place at that time.
Should something start to burn before someone confesses, multiple confessions are necessary to catch the wildfire’s attention and distract it from the fuel source it is feeding on. Two or more Star Children will need to make confessions whose memories are shared in the flames. Water powers can also help quell the flames, but confessions are necessary in the end.
Once July hits, the wildfires are mostly gone, only sparking up here and there on occasion. In their stead are embers. They spark in the air like fireflies and fly around Folkmore, attracted to Star Children. These embers land on Star Children and make them glow. There’s no pain. In fact, the embers provide sparks of insight into memories, situations, and other emotional dilemmas that Star Children haven’t previously understood. Talking the issue over with another Star Children provides further emotional clarity.
Spirits are welcoming to both embers and Star Children. Confessions
One time that a Star Child confesses, either to wildfire or to embers, they will find a jeweled box shaped like a flame. The peak of the flame comes off to reveal the insides. Within, there is an item from home. It may even be a weapon or magical item. Larger more meaningful confessions are more likely to receive weapons. These items may even be larger than should fit in the box or its entrance. Whether the box should only hold a single ring or fill the palm of one’s hand, these items fit. Star Children also can keep the jeweled box, and this one item from home can be stored within the box. Other items too large to fit the box will not enter it. Only the one from the box.
- Last two weeks of June, wildfire burns across Folkmore. After that, they are rare.
- Confessions can protect or rescue buildings, land areas, and spirits.
- Come July, embers spark across Folkmore like fireflies. They provide insight for Star Children. Talking helps.
- Confessions help the land grow.
- Confessions reveal a jeweled box containing an item from home.
no subject
He tells them they're going to be okay, helps them be, and something on his scalp itches, as the small, ear-like horns there shrink.
But when it's all done...]
Let's cut to the chase.
[His eyes flick to Clark's, then away. It might take multiple confessions -- he probably shouldn't start with the heavy one.]
Everyone, uh...
...almost everyone I've ever loved is gone. Dead, or -- somewhere far away from me, and better off that way. The whole operation is -- it's just me and an old man who's too loyal for his own good.
[And then pictures start to appear in the flames, and Bruce's eyes go wide.]
Shit. Son of a bitch--!
[But it's too late now, too late to keep the fire from showing him the faces of the people he just mentioned. The fires show Thomas and Martha Wayne, of course, on either side of a boy of seven, leaving a movie theater together. There's a kid, too, thirteen or fourteen maybe, backflipping off of a railing in an enormous mansion foyer, landing lightly on his feet in a crouch, then striking a goofy, cheeky pose. Then, a woman in a black catsuit, wiry and graceful with a mask of her own, flicking a whip over a fire escape with a wink and swarming up it and away into the night.
That old man appears, too, carrying a pot of tea down a flight of stairs -- past a glass case that houses a desecrated uniform a teenager might wear, more of an open wound than a memorial, an angry grieving reminder -- into a concrete room too big for the fires to really show.
They're shrinking, though, their energy going into forming the images, drained, siphoned off -- this is working. Just, you know, with the sick, revealing, personal twist of making Bruce look at all of the people he misses most, look at Dick, for the first time in....
...god. Bruce regrets this already.]
...maybe we should let it burn down. Put it back with Lore.
no subject
He doesn't recognize the couple, but knows they must be the Waynes. Is the kid a younger version of Bruce? No, that doesn't seem right. Another family member? The Bruce in his world is a player who has a different model on his arm every week, but this Bruce apparently had at least one woman who meant a lot to him, one seemingly in the same line of work. The old man is some kind of employee - a butler? - but he has a kindly demeanor like he cares for Bruce in more than just a professional manner.]
It's working. It's a lot to start with, but it is working.
[What could he even say to match that? So much of Clark's past is a mystery, and he feels no attachment to the planet where he was born, so he can't even muster up sorrow for its demise. Clark still has his parents, his childhood home, his friends, his girlfriend. What confessions are there? Except...]
My, uh, my powers manifested when I was 8. I stopped a car that was about to crash into a tree... with my bare hands.
[His memories project onto the flames, replacing Bruce's with images of a younger Clark, saving the woman and her baby. Then, it shifts to him floating for the first time, then flying, then soaring up into the clouds.]
It was the first time I realized I was different. My parents didn't make me feel like an outsider, but they told me other people wouldn't understand. I needed to learn to hide it.
[The memory switches to the same young Clark, watching other children practicing on a baseball field from the other side of a chain-link fence and then turning away from them.
Next, a version of himself a few years older, in a school hallway, shoulders hunched to appear smaller as groups of friends pushed past him.
Yet again, a few years after that, Clark in a cap and gown with other members of his graduating class. When the other students gathered to throw their caps into the air in celebration, Clark took his gingerly by two fingertips and made a motion to throw, keeping a grip on it the entire time. He was smiling, but it didn't look natural.]
Always hiding. Always being gentle. Never getting mad. If no one notices you, they'll never find out.
[The flames are lowering in both height and intensity, but he doesn't notice.]
no subject
It helps him push his own flame-pictures back down from right behind his eyes into somewhere deeper, safer, less exposed. Dick had been -- Bruce doesn't even look at old tapes, he -- he feels like his heart's just been drawn over something serrated, but Clark is talking, and it's a lifeline.
It's -- more than interesting enough to pull Bruce out of the worst of it, out of himself. He hadn't given all that much thought to how Superman grew up -- at first, it hadn't been important, and later, he hadn't gone to pry around Smallville for the same reason he didn't watch those old tapes.
Was it like that for every Superman, every Clark Kent, who grew up in Kansas? Were all of them -- isolated, because they had to hide part of who they were, a part that could slip at any time, if they made a single mistake?
Somewhere in Bruce, he'd thought it had been as effortless as everything else Superman did. He's not sure what his feelings are doing, finding out he's wrong, but it's twisting, and kind of painful, and it just might be sympathy. The real thing -- not just comprehension, understanding, or pity, but actually just feeling, uncalculated and too intense to control.
The kind he last remembers feeling, when....
...when a kid, hot tears in his eyes, had told him what Tony Zucco did, and how he'd make him pay.
He puts a hand on Clark's shoulder.]
Had to have been lonely, [Bruce says, and it's not kid-gloved, not made softer than it is, but it's quiet, and it's not unkind.] You're doing great. We're almost there.
[The fires are getting low, but they're not burnt out quite yet. Bruce draws a breath, then lets it out. He probably doesn't need anything big or flashy. They've both explained complicated, painful truths. So, Bruce goes:]
Okay.
...
I'm afraid of bats.
[In the flames, almost too small to see, a boy falls dangerously through a shaft in the ground, and disturbs a whole cave full of shrieking, fanged, winged animals.]
no subject
It wasn't so bad when I was home. Ma and Pa, they never made me feel unloved or unwanted. It was just... every place else.
[And then the bats come, squeaking and flapping all around a terrified young boy in the flames.]
Is that why you named yourself after them? To scare bad guys?
[It sort of made sense. Turn your worst fears into an asset. Clark had never stumbled into a cave full of bats himself, but he could imagine how scary it would be. All those beady eyes...]
no subject
[Damn, Clark picked that up fast. Good job, kid.]
I wasn't much more than an urban legend for two decades. Only the kinds of criminals who were already most of the way to delusional ever got a good look -- the kinds of people whose word is already hard to believe.
[He shrugs.]
It worked for a long time. Easier to be scary if you feel scary.
[The fire shows a pretty standard fight against ordinary hired guns. A smoke bomb goes off, and there's panic, gunfire -- and a shape in the choking dust, not much more than an outline of a cape and a bat-eared cowl, moves among them like smoke. Down they go, one by one -- still breathing, just stunned or incapacitated, there's a broken wrist or two as the guns are wrenched away -- but when they shoot at their attacker, the shots go wide, their hands shaky.
This is from...earlier years.]
no subject
[Though technically, Lois named him. And he's used to it now, but it was uncomfortable at first, to feel like he was bragging about being 'super.']
Looks like you've had a lot of training. Martial arts?
[Another reminder that he needs to learn how to really fight, instead of being a punching bag during all of his battles. He does notice that Batman doesn't kill any of his enemies, which is a relief. He also notices that the fires have subsided to almost nothing. One more confession ought to do it, even if it feels like Bruce is doing way more of the heavy lifting.]
So, I guess I'll wrap it up, then. Back home, I have a girlfriend. That's not the confession, but... I think I love her more than I've ever loved anyone before and that scares me.
[Because the fire is apparently a clip show editor in its spare time, several moments appear in the flames, showing Clark and his girlfriend, who Bruce can probably name, being affectionate with one another. Clark looks away from the overload of PDA, more embarrassed now, but he has to continue.]
It actually scares me a lot, because I've never dated anyone who knew what I could do. And even though she's understanding, I am terrified to get too close to her because.. what if she gets hurt? What if she gets caught up in this hero stuff? What if she dies and it's all my fault?
[The flames give one last little glimpse into those moments before they go out completely, and Clark takes a deep breath. Did Bruce think it was a stupid thing to confess? Just a childish fear that ultimately meant nothing in the grand scheme?]
cw some....some existential terror. sorry
Believe it or not, some humans manage to get caught up in "hero stuff" or wind up in danger without any help at all from Superman.
Sure, she might get killed because of something that was looking for you -- or she might get caught in an earthquake, or catch a disease, or God knows what else.
[Alien terraforming. Acts of God. Poisoned water. A man with a gun, in an alley. There's so many ways to go, and so few of them have any meaning at all.
Bruce puts his hands in his pockets and gives a shrug. There were a lot of ways he could answer this, given how he's lost someone deeply important to him because of involvement in the vigilante thing, but...
But Dick was always going to do something about Zucco. Not bringing Dick on might have saved his life, or it might have broken him. If it didn't get him killed at ten instead of seventeen.]
Being human means coping with the fact that there are a million things that could kill you at any moment. How she deals with that is up to her -- her decision, not yours. And if what she decides is to stick close to you, then...honestly, she has better odds against earthquakes than most.
[He shrugs. God knows there are plenty of people in Gotham who don't know Batman, but who got hurt anyway.]
Distance isn't a guarantee of safety. Take it from me. It just means you're last to know when there's trouble.
no subject
[Before he'd even become a hero, Lois had been willing to risk her life (and Clark's and Jimmy's) for the sake of a story. It was part of her headstrong nature.]
I don't want to have to distance myself. It feels a little obsessive, but I can't stop thinking about her. I want to give her the moon, as cheesy as it sounds, and make sure no one ever hurts her. I mean...
[He sighs, dragging a hand across his face.]
She confronted me about being Superman, and called my bluff by literally jumping off of a building, knowing that I'd catch her. So who knows if there's even a difference in danger levels if I'm there or not?
cw flashback to murder/dismemberment, codependent relationships, grief
He remembers what happened to Lois Lane, Pulitzer-winning reporter, after Superman's death. The grief had hit her very, very hard. She'd been going to the Metropolis memorial every day, still, the last Bruce had looked in on her, and -- Clark's been gone for months. There's no schedule grief runs on, Bruce knows that better than anyone, but...it was obvious to anyone, everyone, that she was still hurting.
He remembers a dream, too, so clear and so real -- a Kryptonian with red, glowing eyes, stalking down a hallway as Bruce's arms sang with agony over his shoulders, as the captives beside him were sliced open with laser vision, until --
"She was my world."
And when one person is your whole world, then...losing them is its own kind of harm.
Whew. Jeez. Bruce is the worst person to give advice on grief, or coping, or avoiding obsession. But...]
A little obsessive...might be right. Look, you're young. You're head over heels, and it's only to be expected that you two are going to have tunnel vision on each other for a while.
I think she's safer with you around than not. She doesn't sound like the kind of woman who plays it safe. Just -- I hope you both have... [how does he put this.] ...other friends.
[He manages a smile -- a little weak, considering everything, but he means it.]
You don't have to be more distant, or care any less. But it's its own kind of danger, when one person feels like they're your whole world. Make sure it's a little wider for the both of you, huh?
no subject
[He manages to keep himself from visibly cringing, but he's doing it internally all the same. It stings a little to hear it all attributed to youth, but it was also a convenient excuse. He'd just have to wait a while and he'd settle down. He'd stop running on hormones and add some logic to the whole thing.
Unless Kryptonians never got over that phase. Then, he might be in trouble.]
And it's not like she's the only person in my world. I have my parents and my best friend, too.
[Okay, Kent, that sounds pretty pathetic when said out loud. 'I don't only have one person in my life! I have four!']
no subject
The surprise shows on Bruce's face as he opens his mouth. Not that a one week anniversary would be any less remarkable for him -- it's just, it would be for the opposite reason.
For Clark, Lois is the first girl outside his immediate family to have that kind of trust, that openness.
The guy is terribly lonely.
Bruce's expression softens into something gentle on purpose, a smile, as his hand finds Clark's shoulder again to give it a light clap.]
That's a good start.
[After all, he'd just told Clark that all he had was Alfred.]
Tell me more about this best friend.
[Because that's new information, and Bruce wants to hear it. He'll nudge Clark into a walk if he can, suggesting without words that they don't hang around the scene of a problem they've already solved. There might be other fires, and even if there aren't, they can head back in the direction of the train station.]
no subject
His name is Jimmy. Jimmy Olsen. We work together at the Planet. We met in college when we were put together as roommates. Then, after we graduated, we got an apartment together.
[Clark thinks about all of the things that he's experienced since coming here, and how much Jimmy would get along with all of the other conspiracy theorists.]
Some of his ideas are... a little out there, but he's a good friend. Loyal and honest, and he holds me accountable.
no subject
If he'd been at the funeral, Bruce feels he would have at least heard the name.
....it's good that this one has a best friend.]
He's in the know.
[More of a clarifying statement than a question. Sounds like it, from the mention of accountability.]
no subject
Yeah, for longer than I thought, it turns out. When I finally told him who I was, he said he'd known the whole time. I guess I'm not very good at keeping secrets.
Did your... Alfred know all along? Or did you keep it from everybody?
no subject
More immediately, though--]
He knew.
...I couldn't have made it happen without him. The operation, it isn't...the sort of thing only one man can keep running. He was the only partner I had for a long time.
[Until Luthor had made that monster, and they'd had to --
....no. No, that wasn't quite true, was it? Even before the monster, when it was just Lex and whatever he was doing, when Superman needed to be in two places at once to confront Luthor and to save his mother --
-- well. No good wondering about that now. Doesn't matter.]
no subject
[Bruce seems like a person who shouldn't be alone. Like he would just stew and stew until it was all darkness and depression. Clark didn't like that thought.]
So what do you think? Should we go finding other fires? Or does the problem seem mostly covered in this area?
no subject
[He puts a hand on Clark's shoulder, reassuring and encouraging.] You can cover more ground without me. Go.
[Makes more sense for Clark to go on and search for other troubled areas himself, without a human slowing him down.]
Wrap
[And he's off with a whoosh and a blur, ready to assist wherever he was needed.]