The House of the Earth Part 2 (2/8): Falling and Getting Up Again

[jij]

Title: Chapter Two: Falling and Getting Up Again
Pairing/Characters: Kal-El, Bruce Wayne, Kara Zor-El
Notes: " The House of the Earth" is an AU in which a few thousand Kryptonians escaped the destruction of Krypton to flee to Earth and enslave its people.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2000
Summary: Kal practices walking, lying, and controlling his temper

Comments

[yamheads]

Bruce laughing in the sun! Oh gosh, what an image. :) Beautiful. Kal is so uppity though! Just calm down and wait it out, friend. Though, I guess, that's the whole point to his character, lol. Bruce is the one with the plan.

This is just a fly-by comment as I've just caught up and also wanted to say that I've had to play that two truths, one lie game a bunch of times since getting to New York! Hilarious!

[jij]

Just calm down and wait it out, friend. Though, I guess, that's the whole point to his character, lol. Bruce is the one with the plan.

It's interesting, I was thinking about that (which I think is a good assessment) and realized this AU is actually pretty close to the stereotype of Superman being the brawn and Batman being the brains. Not that Kal is stupid, but he's definitely not the one doing the planning...he's like a force that Bruce is trying to direct without getting himself hurt (in more ways than one, lol).

Is the truth/lie game called "Bullshit" there? Because taro_twist suggested I have them play that, and I was like, "I have no idea what that is," but I think I ended up following her advice without even meaning to...

[saavikam77]

Oh, Kal... *hugs him* He's got so much to learn! I thought for sure he was about to undo everything at dinner, good thing Kara's quick on the draw!

And gods, I felt so bad for him and Bruce both with the strawberries and petting and false smiles and Kal feeling sick. Oh, boys...

And what? Bruce a virgin!? O_O I'm completely intrigued by this development...

*applauds*

[jij]

Kal is getting a crash course in bluffing and deceit and isn't much of an apt pupil, is he? I bet he was a pain to have as a classmate in college, lol.

And what? Bruce a virgin!? O_O I'm completely intrigued by this development...

Well, he is merely posing as a sex slave--in reality he's never been actually enslaved. And this Bruce has been focused on the Mission (a slightly wider-scale Mission in this case) to the exclusion of much else...so yeah, he failed to get the, uh, potentially useful background experience before heading off on this deception... ;)

[ladymordecai]

I feel slightly dirty using this icon for this story.

BUT! I love this chapter. I love Kara being awesome and Alfred being awesome and basically everyone but poor confused Kal being awesome. Yay for awesomeness and this fic.

[jij]

Kal is...high on the "well-meaning," but has work to do on the "awesome." Still, with role models like the ones he has, I think he'll make progress eventually. ;) Glad you're enjoying!

[vespa331]

God, poor Kal. It reminds me of when I was in Costa Rica and SAS, we had maids/waiters and they actually got in trouble if we didn't let them do everything for us. It felt so wrong to have someone else clear my dishes and make my bed when I totally didn't need it made and such, it really bothered me. Even knowing it was the culture and that these people were getting paid and it was their job, I still felt like a bad person for having someone serve me, so I can only imagine how much this is hurting Kal. I love Bruce's approach to the whole thing.

Speaking of, I'm now a little confused about Bruce and Kara. I'd thought that Bruce was her sex slave and over time he revealed his true nature and she became involved in the cause, or maybe they found out about each other, but either way I figured there was an actual sex slave period first. Did they meet in the resistance and then Bruce became her fake slave?

[jij]

Kal's lucky he did so much of his growing up offworld, where he got out of the habit of being waited on. Otherwise it might be really hard to overcome the automatic assumption that it's humans' job to clean up after him and so on...

And your final surmise is right--Kara was accepted by the resistance and befriended Bruce there. Bruce has never truly been enslaved--he's spent his life evading the system and living "underground." Not many humans manage to get away with that, but there are enclaves here and there...

[jij]

Kal definitely does need to learn how to lie! And yes, I think he's well on his way to loving Bruce if not there already--I haven't been able to pin down in this series the exact moment he does fall in love, or the exact moment he realizes it...that seems appropriate, somehow....

I'm glad you're enjoying it!