#theresurrectionist

PFFFFFT I FORGOT ABOUT THAT

I didn’t, but I plan to revisit it at some point for sure. I think Dan was smart enough to sense that something was going on with Bruce already, and it probably makes him feel good to know Lex has such a heavy hitter of an omega in his corner. He also has no problem submitting to pack leadership, so he wouldn’t be too disbelieving or disrespectful.

Yesssss! I miss serial killer Alfred a bunch. Hoping to get back to that fic once this installment of the CRU is complete. Writing him has become a good brain stretch for me. He’s not your typical Alfred, even if he seems like it.

Definitely! That series needs a third installment, no? 😏 I am very very proud of that massage one.

because, i have no clue how to reply. i feel like a huuuge jerk replying "um so actually, its (other thing) and not that, btw." or do i just ignore it because it's literally not that important and don't need to reply to everything? is there a secret third option?

The secret third option is evaluating how much their perception of the story matters to you personally. Are they incorrectly telling other people what your story is about? Are they rec’ing it as something it’s not? That would be less about emotion and more about ensuring your audience/readers aren’t misled.

If it’s limited mostly to them (and others aren’t falling into the same line of thought) then it again becomes a question of how much their perception matters to you. Will it affect your desire to write? Is it making you anxious? Are you worried the incorrect assumption is going to disappoint them later down the line?

I think what’s also important to consider is that art is often subjective. We as authors might have our minds set on what something means, but that doesn’t necessarily negate a competing theory.

I’ll give you an example: My fic “those who pale in your shadow” ends with Lex Luthor convinced he has figured out who is funneling money to the Justice League, and the implication is he’s about to try and unmask Bruce as that funder.

When I wrote that final scene, I intended for it to be ambiguous. There’s no way to know for sure if Lex figured it out, just like there’s no way to be certain Bruce was cautious and sneaky enough like he mentioned to evade Lex’s attention. There are hints for both endings, and given the story stops there, there’s no definitive answer. I liked that ambiguity so I left it that way.

When I posted that final chapter, I was surprised how quickly a large proportion of my readers immediately mentioned how Lex had figured it all out and Bruce was doomed. Similarly, there were some folks who were convinced no matter what Bruce had managed to keep himself hidden. No one clocked the ambiguity like I’d planned! Everyone wanted a definitive answer even if the story didn’t support it.

And I didn’t say a word either way, because you know what? Ultimately it didn’t matter to me. Both arguments were convincing and served as a bellwether for where the readers believed the story would proceed next. Their perception didn’t affect the core of the fic or their general understanding of the plot. It wasn’t what I’d planned or tried to show, but it still worked. It made a lot of sense. And it reminded me that my intentions for the story only go as far as what’s written; what people do with that content after ultimately isn’t up to me, and bar a few outlier cases, that’s okay. Fic writing is like art in a certain light. You can write a description and title on the little placards on the wall, but some people will look at the painting and fill in the blanks themselves. It’s how our brains work!

As for replying - if it makes you feel awkward and could potentially just cause more confusion, it might not be worth it. You don’t need to respond to comments and correct people out of some writer’s obligation. It’s okay to let them be. No one will be upset, and if they are, they need to take a breath.

Yeah the dad/mom stuff is from the newer “nuclear family” dynamics that replaced the pack system, or is currently replacing the pack system in the series.

I think they’ll have nicknames like “B” etc as all babies do, but since pack child rearing is so decentralized, I don’t think there’s as much fixation on one caregiver. Imagine raising a dozen pups in a pack and one cries out “Mama!” You’d have three omegas scrambling all at once trying to figure out if it was their kid, but then it wouldn’t even matter because everyone in the pack is mama or dad etc. It’s kind of like how Lex is helping to raise Jason as an omega alongside Bruce, Alfred, and Clark (and now with Dan too). You couldn’t strip those down easily to only two of them. Jason is Lex’s pup sometimes, it’s so obvious, even though no one has said it out loud yet.

Honestly, I’ve been trying to find alternatives, but my gut says they’d just use the names, like Jason already does. Bruce is Jason’s (adoptive) carrier, but he’s not mom or mama. He’s not dad anymore either. He’s just Bruce (his carrier) - the title/connection is what defines it, not necessarily the name (mom, mama, etc) itself.

My fear with the gendered parental titles is that the universe itself eschews those unless you’re abandoning the pack/traditional structure entirely. Similarly, it forces our own version of what we think gender is onto omegas/alphas who don’t see themselves the same way. Calling Bruce “mama” is for us, in a way. But it feminizes him and reduces his character as an omega to what we think a mom is, when, as we’ve learned, a carrier is way more than a mom, just as a sire is way more than a dad.

I think you should take it easy and spend some time disconnected with your family, friends, loved ones, etc. It’s okay to talk about it with them and it’s okay to have heavy or complex feelings right now. Fanfiction can be a great distraction, but when you put down the phone, you’re in the same place as before.

Now, that being said. When you’re done with that, I’d recommend integral, straight back, borderline, gratitude, Mizpah, eye in the sky, lo and beholden, hold on loosely, those who pale in your shadow, interlude, or eminence front.

Hmm, I’d need to do more thinking on that. I don’t know enough about her mother in canon to make an omegaverse parallel. In the context of the fic though, we can assume the carrier is dead/out of the picture and Ra’s probably didn’t view them in a romantic way (or if he did, not anymore) given how fixated he is on Bruce.