vincit omnia veritas.

There’s a smile of delight forming on the boy’s face, looking at the woman as she swore. He makes the mental note that it was alright to do that sort of thing around her. “It does suck, hopefully I don’t have to experience it.” Conner  also worries that if anything would make him ill that it would be something SERIOUS. He heard about Kryptonite, never been close to it, but is scared of it.

This would be a lesson for him in feeling those human emotions. He wants to be good, and learning about the world means experiencing such negative things. “I’ll try not to, I just didn’t realize how hard it would be.” He leans into the hand ruffling his hair. “Do you think I’m good at being a HERO? I want to make my DADS happy — AND YOU.”

Warmth BLOSSOMS in Lois’ chest — she’s sure Conner’s not doing it intentionally, but to hear him pretty much put HER into the same category as his dads is flattering to say the last. She gives his head two gentle pats before pulling away, albeit a little reluctantly. “I’m sure you won’t have to experience Kryptonite if you’re being careful. But then again, I don’t think any of you Kryptonians know the meaning of the word ‘CAREFUL’.”

“nor should you - “ tony started with a smile as he started to head forward, “back down that is - a good story is always worth following, and i happen to find myself in the center of quite a few of them,“ his eccentricities always played out to the best of hands when it came to him and he was never sorry for them. “which is exactly why i trust you enough to go on this quest with me - i got a flash wiling to work with us too, in fact the very same one that was stuck with us when penguin did all his dirty deeds.” he added, giving a shrug and sipping at his own coffee. “maybe after all is said and done i’ll give you an exclusive about myself and the dead me and how i’m trying to live up to his legacy, that is if you want it - not really sure how valuable i am these days.”

    an eyebrow raised in obvious interest. “alright, i’m listening.” who would lois lane be if she didn’t go after not only one, but two clearly fascinating news stories? "it’ll be nice to work with some new partners for a change.” billionaires she’d worked with before, but not ex-dead ones. “you and me and the flash. it won’t be a boring investigation, i can tell you that.” she took a sip from her own coffee as well — just the right temperature. “i think i’ll take you up on that exclusive. even if it’s not interesting to new york city, it’ll be interesting to metropolis. and probably also gotham, if you still want anything to do with that city.”

“I hope not. I’ve never been sick. I heard it su—  “ The boy was about to swear, but nervously looking over at Lois because he doesn’t know if she would approve or not. He respects her too much to do something that would make her angry with him. “I heard it isn’t an enjoyable experience is all.” He should consider himself lucky to have such a good immune system.

“Thank you.” Conner replies as the boy takes the glass from her — and takes a sip of it. This was exactly what he needed. “It’s DEAD. I couldn’t help save it. MAYBE if I was stronger OR had more experience I could have actually made a difference.” His hand outs the glass of water down on a coaster, turning his green eyes to look over at Lois — always finding it easy to talk to her. He was thankful for that.

Lois’s lips quirk as she notices Conner catch himself swearing. It’s endearing, the way he watches herself around her, as if she would ever care about something as MINOR as bad language. “Okay, being sick is pretty shit,” she admits, a mischievous twinkle in her eye as she signals to him that she doesn’t mind. “Zero out of ten, would not recommend at ALL.”

Wally was everywhere all at once LITERALLY — while mainly focusing his time on protecting the civilians even if knowing Lois was a badass all on her own, and looking through some of the evidence. He wanted to be useful, and this is how he was putting himself to work so to speak. The speedster had been flipping through stacks of papers, hands vibrating so fast as he looks through them that it probably looks ridiculous to others. Wally stops, his masked gaze looking up when someone is talking to him. He was fortunate to have work his ring to the party that had his suit in it. “Nice work. Where’d you find him?” Wally asks as he looks over at Lois with a smile after. “You want to play GOOD COP — BAD COP with me?”

[ @suitedviolet​ ]

Lois gave a mock bow at Wally’s suggestion, unable to keep a grin off her face. “It would be my pleasure.” Not for the first time she’d felt a little envious of Wally’s speed-reading, and she was itching to get some action anyway after seeing her fellow teammates at work. Plus, she always found talking to real people much more EXCITING than going through pages and pages of stuff. More… lively, though she had to say that literally playing good cop, bad cop was something that she rarely got to do — she didn’t want a reputation as a hard-ass journalist, after all. With that, she walked right up to the upside down thug, hands on her hips. “So? How does that sound? Think you’re gonna co-operate, or should my FRIEND over here get to have a little fun too?”

[ @wallacwest​ && @ofwcndergirl​ ]

Clark smiled, nodding his head appreciatively. “Thanks, thank you Lois. That guy he…boy, he’s a pretty scary fella, even if he is one of the good guys.” He said, before taking her hand and letting her lead him outside. Once they were away from the prying eyes and ears of everyone in the party, Clark’s demeanor shifted to one that was much more natural, and a small chuckle escaped his throat as he shook his head. “Sorry about that back there Lois. But it’s especially important that I play up the bumbling and clumsy side of Clark Kent tonight in case something happens and Superman has to show up.” He explained with a nod of his head his expression turning slightly more serious. “Bruce seems quite convinced that Cobblepot is up to something, and he’s usually right about these kinds of things, especially in his own playground of Gotham.” Sighing, he shook his head, before a smile returned to his face. “But we can come back to that in a minute. It’s good to see you Lois. And you really are looking…swell.” A smirk found it’s way to his lips as he repeated the word he’d used earlier, his eyes taking in the sight of her, before he cleared his throat. “So uh, how are things? How are you adjusting to life here on this different Earth?” He asked with interest. “I’m sure it’s been quite a struggle to adjust to a world where most people don’t even know that you’re a Pulitzer Prize Winner.” He added teasingly.

Lois laughed at Clark’s words, not even bothering to hide her smile behind her hand. “Surely you don’t think my ego is all that big,” she retorted, no real heat behind her words. “I’m a big girl, Clark. I’ll live knowing someone else got my Pulitzer Prize in another world.” She nudged him with her elbow at that. “I still can’t believe you’re still using words like swell. I don’t even think people on this different Earth use it anymore. Though I guess that’s a good thing — no one will ever know you’re Superman if they don’t even know Clark Kent exists.” She shook her head, an amused but slightly rueful smile on her face. “It’s still strange that I’ll mention things and everyone will look at me like I’m nuts. I was talking to someone the other day and I ended up having to explain who Batman is for half an hour.” Things she’d taken for granted had needed so much explaining for the first week or so that it was almost frustrating, but the experience was also great practice for her to be concise in her explanations.

“Speaking of him — Bruce does seem to know everything sometimes,” Lois mused, half to herself. “He’s probably right. It’s also why I’m here — you know I can’t stay away once I smell a good story. There’s been a lot to cover, what with a new Earth and all, but I gotta say I do like working on something more familiar. Even if it is Gotham and not Metropolis.”

LOIS LANE attends the halloween party at the iceberg lounge as HOLLY GOLIGHTLY from BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S.

“I’ll take some ice, why not?” Conner jokes as feeling REFRESHED sounds like what he could use right now. It usually doesn’t take anything out of him, but wrapping a force field around something that massive was a FIRST. He could probably use rest in the form of a brief nap, but no time for THAT.

Someday the boy would need to do something nice for Lois to pay back for all those times she was there for him. Where would Conner be without her? “Why is ICE WATER unhealthy? I don’t get it.” He asks as the confusion sets in, eyes glancing over to where the woman is.

Lois looks at him and shrugs. “Good question,” she says at last. “I know it’s bad for you if you’re ill or something, but that’s probably not going to be a problem for you. ‘Sides, it’s just NICE sometimes — so I’m not going to stop you.” Huh. Where did she get that idea from, anyway?

Gamora heard the woman coming before she began speaking. With her enhanced hearing, it was a challenge to sneak up on her. She turned and saw the Terran knowing that she hadn’t exactly been being discreet about her knife practice in the alleyway. “Do warriors not practice their skills on this planet?” she asked wondering why she was confused about what she was doing. She nodded her head in thanks at the compliment not used to receiving them regarding her skills. “I take it you’re not a warrior yourself,” she said looking over the woman. Gamora kept her guard up still she knew appearances could be deceiving and she hated loosing and falling for anyone’s tricks.

“Not in an alley, but hey, whatever works.” Lois shrugged. She knew better than to question people’s weapons of choice, having met many of the superhero (and supervillains for that matter) community with less than conventional weaponry. That being said, most of them had their own secret lairs to train in, or in the Hall of Justice. “I’ve been told I’m a warrior with a pen?” Which was technically true. As a reporter she fought for ‘truth and justice’, as Clark liked to put it. “And I know whatever bit of martial arts my dad taught me. But no, I wouldn’t really classify myself as a warrior. I fight with my words, not really my fists.” 

    there was something about that job that really amused eddie. he didn’t know if it was the thrill of taking people’s stories and turning it into something much bigger than themselves, or the nervousness of that big  ‘what if’  that surrounded his occupation. it didn’t matter, anyway. the important thing at the moment was cracking this word plays and getting a first page for his new article, so there he was, drinking his fifth large cup of coffee that day.

    a familiar voice got him out of his bubble of thoughts as he looked around to see who it was, meeting the other’s gaze. it hadn’t been long since he first met lois lane, maybe a few weeks after the whole reality thing? but they had the same job and same passion, as it seemed.  “ms lane.”  he offered a warm smile as he waved.  “i guess we must have the same regular coffee shop.”  he stood up, offering the other seat for her to sit before he would do so himself again.  “-also, i’m trying to get a nice title for my new article.”

    lois slipped into the seat with a grateful nod. “and now i’m here, fraternising with the enemy.” she shot him a mischievous smile. “not to worry, i’m not here to steal your scoop. i’ve got a story of my own to work on, but the words just aren’t—” she made a gesture to convey her frustration. “you know?” 

    she fished out her notebook and two pens from her bag and placed them on the table. just at that moment, a waiter came by with her coffee (a double shot cappuccino, yes she was that desperate), and lois thanked him before turning back to eddie. “so? do i get a sneak peek of your article so i can throw out some ideas for your title? maybe that’ll help inspire me too.” 

It takes a few minutes, but Conner eventually manages to get enough energy to sit up at least. His eyes focusing onto Lois who was always so NICE to him. He realizes in this moment just how often his visits have become as if the apartment was another home. He wouldn’t ever overstep some sort of boundary by making one of his messes in the apartment, but Conner felt safe here. He would always come here first because going to a hospital meant that his father LEX would get notified. He doesn’t need to deal with the drama following THAT. 

“Thank you. I always do.” There’s a smile spreading over his face though looking up at Lois as she ruffles his hair. “I’d love some water if you have it.” What kind of stupid response was that? OF COURSE she would have water, but maybe that’s his exhaustion talking. He stands up finally to make his way inside, plopping down on her couch — MUCH BETTER. 

Lois turns away to hide a smile. Sure, it’s no fun seeing Conner so utterly exhausted, but she can’t help but be a little AMUSED at his antics — especially when he’s acting like a normal teenager. Well, as normal a teenager as he would ever be. For a split second she can imagine him having come home from a long day at school or from a gruelling session of soccer practice, instead of having attempted to defeat some gigantic blob. 

Investigative journalism was a tough business. For one, it was hard on your wallet, especially if you relied on your daily caffeine fix to get you through your day. Which was why Lois found herself at a coffee shop at 5pm (no she was not planning on sleeping tonight, thank you very much, Smallville, I have deadlines), waiting in line for her order when she spotted a familiar face.

“Well, if it isn’t Mr Brock.” She raised her hand in a greeting as she walked closer. In the short time they’d been acquainted, they’d bonded over their jobs, though the rivalry between The Daily Planet and The Daily Globe that had developed was another story altogether. “What brings you to my regular coffee shop?