Lois Joanne Lane (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
wherethestoryis) wrote2012-09-07 01:00 am
wherethestoryis) wrote2012-09-07 01:00 am
Entry tags:
Tu Shanshu application
Player Information:
Name: Lee
Age: 21+
Contact: PM; AIM/gmail: fractaldawn
Game Cast: N/A
Character Information:
Name: Lois Lane
Canon: DC Comics
Canon Point: New Krypton
Age: Disclaimer for the standard lack-of-rational-timeline-support in comics. Pre-Final Crisis continuity established that prior to the reboot it had been probably between twelve to fifteen years since Superman’s debut (when Lois was young and only recently a Big Name), and post-Final Crisis was never entirely clear. She’s probably approximately in her late thirties.
Reference: An intrepid reporter and her world
Setting:
So there’s this universe. Multiverse, actually, given all the parallel alternate histories (52 of them), some of which interact every so often. There are tons of planets all over all the galaxies with sentient life, thousands if not millions of species. It’s got light with magical properties, and some people made rings out of them. Notably, a group called the Guardians made green ones and created a kind of universal police force. There are dangerous forces of magic, including a perpetual cosmic battle between Order and Chaos. There are evil stars, there are creatures which go around bottling cities and destroying planets, galactic warlords, gods, New Gods and Apokoliptians, fairies, anthropomorphic personifications of abstract concepts like Death and Destiny, the whole nine yards.
And then there’s Earth. Earth is very much as it ever was, or used to be. There are some differences, of course: there are technological advances we can’t even dream of yet. (Beam weapons, teleportation technology, freaking giant space stations with artificial gravity and giant laser weapons, power suits capable of flight, computer tech just out of reasonable range, that kind of thing.) And, in a world-creators’ attempt to avoid directly addressing world problems, there are the occasional made-up countries or organizations. They’re placeholders for what’s going on in the real world—Bialya, Pokolistan, Qurac, and the rest.
Overall, though, it’s still Earth in all her blue, green, and white glory.
And on this planet like a marble is a bright, shining city. It’s full of sky-scrapers, towers of glass and steel, lights all around. It has its dark sides, of course: what’s called Suicide Slum, the more run down portion of town, where the most unlucky live; Hob’s Bay, with all the hold-overs from the classic age of the mafia and mob, a time now gone by to some degree… but not completely. It’s a city of booming businesses and research. S.T.A.R Labs, on the cutting edge of scientific development, has a major installation there. Even in this city of growth and progression, however, people were forgetting their optimism and sinking into cynicism, even if they’d never have the same grit and bleakness of nearby Gotham. And over all this, two buildings stand out. One is a recently built tower, sporting a large L, denoting its owner and the emblem of capitalistic growth. The other shows the signs of its decades, the glinting bronze globe proclaiming the institution which above all else drove for, as its editor used to have hanging in his office, ‘Truth, Justice, and the American Way.’ Metropolis, the City of Tomorrow : home of Lex Luthor and the Daily Planet, where people are slowly forgetting to look up.
Or at least, that’s how it used to be, nearly fifteen years ago.
Lois Lane was right along with the rest of the city, falling into cynicism and doubting in anything good. And then, one day, when Lois was in just the first of a long string of accidents with flying vehicles, falling, and near death experiences, the city and, indeed, the whole world changed. A flying man (in tights and cape, however dubious the fashion choice) appeared over the skies of Metropolis. With him came a renewed sense of hope, a change in the criminal activities of the city, and a new era for Earth.
Metropolis, the City of Tomorrow: home of Superman, where everyone knows to look up—and maybe you’ll see a blur of color, speeding to save the day.
Superman’s debut didn’t just kick off a new age of costumed superheroes. It also opened Earth’s eyes to the vastness of the universe, and those with superpowers began stepping forward. Whether metahumans, magicians, the occasional intergalactic supercop, aliens defending a world they chose to make their own, or pure humans whose determination and brains and toys made them far above average, they all made it into a new age.
With them, however, came the supervillains as well. As the home of arguably the most powerful being on Earth (if not more), Metropolis gets hit by quite a few of the major baddies. It is those villains, insidious plots, and danger which make up the bulk of Lois Lane’s life, for any number of reasons. On the one hand, her world is a little smaller and more relaxed than that of the many superheroes she comes into contact with. She isn’t out there saving planets in other galaxies, punching gods in the face, stopping evil sentient suns, or anything like that. For the most part, her world sticks to Metropolis, with a few exceptions. Even so, it’s plenty to keep her busy.
On the one hand, there’s the everyday crime, bureaucratic corruption—the usual kind of thing. Uncovering that, writing about it, trying to bring it down with a spotlight is where she got her start, and she still does it when she can. And then she covers a bunch of the Superman news, frequently when Clark can’t (cough). Somehow, a bunch of her investigations end in her being caught by some supervillain, running or about to die—and Superman turns up to save the day.
And then sometimes those investigations of corruption are unusual and dovetail with something much, much larger than she is. Frequently when that happens, it puts her at odds with one of two major entities: Intergang or Lex Luthor. The former is more a problem of Clark’s—her co-worker’s, that is—but she tangles with them too, sometimes.
As for Lex, well. She used to be involved with him, and while he makes her skin crawl, he still has some feelings for her. Her love for Clark has even protected him from Luthor once. He still looms fairly large in her world. Only Lex has ever manipulated her into compromising her integrity and ethics. And Lex can scare her as very few can: he’s far smarter than most of Superman’s enemies, and has a personal grudge that somehow runs more deeply and viciously than that of most of the villains running around. And sometimes, he has all the power on his side.
Easily the most dramatic demonstration of this came when Lex Luthor bought the Daily Planet and fired basically everyone who worked there. After some time of this—and Lois being kept cooped up, unable to go out into the field—she made a devil’s bargain with him. He sold the paper back to Perry for the grand sum of one dollar, and she gave him the right to kill one story, any subject. He was subsequently elected president, and during his presidency came the Imperiex war. It killed Sam Lane (apparently, spoiler: he lived, and is about to screw over everything and everyone). However, a few chance comments led Lois to the conclusion that Lex must have known then when, where, and how of her father’s death. She spent weeks on the investigation, and when she got too close, he used his get-out-of-exposé-free card.
Unfortunately for Lex, Lois’ husband is also a reporter, and made no such deal. Together, they began working to take down the Luthor presidency—and Superman and Batman later finished it. And, really, that’s the kind of good work day Lois likes to see. (Except for the near-death aspects of it.)
Even though publicly Lois is married—incredibly happily—to Clark Kent, basically the entire city (and rogues gallery, and the country, possibly the planet or whole damned universe) knows that Superman had and probably still does harbor feelings for her. As a result, she is sometimes used for leverage against him. One of the worst times was when Manchester Black, having cracked Clark’s identity, tortured her a little and made Clark think she was dead. For all of that, usually she isn’t a helpless damsel in distress by some definitions of the word: most of her adventures come from her own investigations rather than being The Hero’s Gal. On the other side of the coin, it’s just as well known that Lois had and probably still does harbor feelings for Superman. It’s just as easy for people to use him—or Clark—against her as vice versa.
It doesn’t help that Lois’ little sister Lucy has told her that loving Superman more than General Sam Lane was what killed their father.
As far as current events in Lois’ life go, Metropolis nearly got bottled and stolen by Brainiac, which would have ended in the nuking of the Earth. Metropolis and Earth survived, and now there’s even a colony of Kandorians up north, near the Fortress. But in the aftermath Jonathan Kent had a fatal heart attack, and Lois is doing her best to remain Clark’s support.
Worse, though, Jimmy has told her there’s some secret project aimed at taking down Kryptonians—or rather, one specific Kryptonian. On the one hand, someone gunning for her husband is so old hat, she shouldn’t be so freaked out. But Superman is busy trying to get a bunch of Kandorians settled, leaving Lois and Jimmy to follow the younger photographer’s lead in good old-fashioned journalism. It’s already nearly killed him a couple times—and this time, it’s not just some villain. It’s a black bag military unit, complete with green-K and magic weapons.
More terrifying for her, they don’t know who’s behind it.
Personality:
Lois Lane is Lois Lane. Lois Lane is human.
On the surface, the first seems like a tautology, the second like a purely biological description. When you get right down to it, though, the former is an attempt to encompass all her contradictions into a single term, and the latter? The latter is fundamental to everything she is.
If there were an entry for ‘Lois Lane’ in the dictionary, the words determined, passionate, reckless, occasionally oblivious, confident to the point of arrogance, sometimes painfully tactless, silently somewhat insecure, with integrity, and constantly dynamic would be part of it. So would the words “Pulitzer prize-winning journalist.” She can be a mass of contradictions, all wrapped up in one frustratingly stubborn package. Once she latches onto an idea or a lead, she’ll run it into the ground. She is close to the proverbial ‘unstoppable force.’ Her exceptions are when doing so conflicts with her ethics or people she has a reason to protect. (Notably, when she was once led to the brink of unearthing Oracle’s identity, she told Barbara Gordon she wasn’t going to pursue it. It is probably a fairly common case of Lois Lane’s Deliberate Denial.)
On the subject of deliberate denial, Lois is highly skilled at it. While she seemed to be genuinely unaware of Clark’s identity before he told her, she also mentioned that she always sort of had a feeling, but dismissed it. She can be just as determined in subconsciously avoiding something as she can be determined in getting what she wants or holding to her ideals.
That determination drives much of her work. Journalism is her first love, and in many ways defines her. She will risk almost anything in the name of Getting the Story. Certainly her own life is on the table, and anyone who willingly accompanies her on her adventures. (This usually means Jimmy and Clark.) With the exception of certain eras of the Silver Age, Lois has consistently been portrayed as a ‘tough-as-nails’ reporter. While those risks and danger are rooted in her work, she is also just fundamentally courageous. She’s remained calm in the face of great danger and pain many times in the past. It helps her cope with a life already hectic, even before her marriage.
In fact, that courage goes a little further into something far more reckless. In many ways, she gets sheer thrills out of being out on an investigation, some as-yet-unearthed-truth tantalizing her. For all her bad associations and childhood trauma, Lois is still a military brat, and to some degree investigative journalism fits her own idea of a war. It’s a war of ideas, for one, and she can hold to what she feels is right and not some agenda she doesn’t have a say in. But the sheer adrenaline rush boosts her energy. Getting at the truth, the danger she goes through to get it: it fills some obscure, burning desire. So often she comes close to death, but she never loses her confidence in herself.
When she shows that confidence too brashly, it’s probably to cover some insecurity, but for the most part it is (as so much of her personality is) just what it looks like on the cover. She really is that sure of herself, and of her ability to survive. Sure, she gets scared sometimes, but she never really doubts herself, just a situation. Sometimes it’s too much, really. She’ll get tactless or say something entirely impolitic, heedless of the consequences simply because she doesn’t believe she can’t handle it. There have been a few humbling experiences as a result. (This has frequently been at the hands of Lex Luthor, in some fashion or other.)
Going hand-in-hand with that physical fearlessness and confidence, she’s not afraid to tell anyone what she thinks, in terms impossible to misconstrue. She likes to tell the truth and she likes to know the truth; it’s part of what pushed her into investigative journalism. She does so without regard for an authority if she thinks the authority in question is wrong, or that something about them needs to be said. It drove a serious wedge between her and her father. She also doesn’t spare the people she loves from her opinions. This is a woman who will, in her future, tell her father point blank he’s a genocidal maniac. She’s called Superman out publicly and in print before, too. If she thinks it, she’ll say it—or write it.
Once, not too long ago, those observations and experiences had led to Lois gradually losing all sense of optimism. Perry White began observing that she couldn’t write a single completely positive article, and Lois defended herself by pointing out how utterly corrupt and generally screwed up the world was. Even today, she still retains a degree of her cynicism.
Even with her renewed optimism, Lois likes to present her far more sardonic façade. On the one hand, it’s a fairly honest representation of her. She really doesn’t have illusions about human nature—she sees the greed and corruption still existing and loathes it. For the most part, she still presents that more cynical façade. On the one hand, it’s still somewhat genuine—and anyway, it contributes to her reputation. On the other, she believes somewhat more strongly than she did, once upon a time, that things can change for the better. She doesn’t have much faith in people, but in hope for a future? That she does have. It may be a somewhat contradictory position, but Lois finds it easy to support. Then again, it may be partially the result of now having heroes to believe in.
When asked once what she would be goddess of, if she could, she answered ‘integrity.’ That answer neatly encapsulates her fundamental ethical code. She doesn’t always follow society’s morals, but Lois never compromises herself—almost. Only once has she done so, and that was making a deal with the devil: with Lex Luthor, to protect the Daily Planet. Even then, when finally driven to a point of no return—a story he could kill, but which she felt had to be written—she finally came clean with Clark.
As a rule, family is one of the most fundamental parts of Lois’ soul. She loves her effective adoptive family less deeply, perhaps, but at least with Perry, Jimmy, and her in-laws there is little or no emotional stress. Kara and Conner sometimes stress her out more, but nonetheless, there are no holdovers from years of dysfunction to color her affection. However, the other four dearest in her life involve far more complicated relationships.
Years of some distance from her mother and frequently being responsible for her younger sister Lucy somehow left Lois fixated firmly on the idea that she is not nurturing. The rest of her personality—driven, tactless, and stubborn—only hammered it in further. However, when she and Clark adopted a little, lost Kryptonian boy, she was the one who named him Christopher Kent. Amazingly even to everyone except possibly the other Kents, Lois turned out to be a loving and fiercely protective mother.
Her relationships with Sam and Lucy Lane are more complicated. She often feels she failed her little sister Lucy, somehow. They used to be quite close, but after too many snarls, they drifted. And yet, in recent years—especially since Sam’s death (to Lois’ knowledge), Lucy entered the military. It’s the life Sam always wanted, but more for Lois than Lucy. Lois has been—justifiably—concerned that Lucy’s doing it for Sam more than herself. In an obscure way she blames herself.
As for her father, Lois loved him fiercely and deeply, and despite it, from the time she was young they just never got along. She was too unbendingly independent. She left home in her teens, lied to Perry about her age to get a job, and ran to journalism rather explicitly to get away from her father. He couldn’t control her. No one’s really been able to, and it’s a part of her she holds to fiercely and proudly. Journalism and independence fed each other into growth, and it contributed to her job being her first love. She wouldn’t be Lois Lane without it.
And then Superman happened, and there was no turning back. Sam was (is) a rabid xenophobe, absolutely convinced that Superman would turn on the world. Lucy blames Lois for their father’s death, saying she loved Superman more than Sam, and it killed him.
Of course, she does. She just can’t tell either of them why.
From the day she met him, both the Clark and Superman parts of his life have filled hers, in their different ways. The one became her best friend, at her side and sharing the job that defines her. The other was her dazzling hero—the man behind both personas became the love of her life. There is very little she won’t do for him. She believes in him implicitly: as she can’t put her faith in people, she puts her faith in him. Probably most importantly, he was the reason she ever found it possible to see herself as more than her job, as a person with a life. Being with him melds her love for him and for her work beautifully, which helps her understand, cope with, and support Clark’s life. And for all that he rescues her so much, she takes special pride and delight in sometimes rescuing him, covering for him at work and making sure he knows she’s there to lean on.
At the end of the day, Lois is quintessentially contradictory, often irrational, screwed up at times, strongly ethical, frequently arrogant, idealistic and romantic despite her instinctive cynicism, determined, stubbornly persistent, good at heart, vibrant, and intensely passionate.
Lois Lane is human.
Lois Lane is Lois Lane.
BONUS ROUND:
Upon arriving in this world, Lois would be caught somewhere between worry, uncertainty, exasperation, and a little irritation. She hasn’t been through quite as many completely weird situations as some of the superheroes, but she’s had experience with alternate realities before, so it isn’t totally new to her. That said, with it not being a paradise, she’ll also be rather more nervous than she would ever want to let on. She’ll probably act a lot more snappish than she actual feels, just to cover her insecurities.
Oh yeah, and if there isn’t already a news bulletin, she will be starting one out of boredom and because journalism is her first love.
Appearance:
Lois is an attractive woman, no two ways about it. Though she sometimes holds herself to an unfair standard (namely, up against fairly divine beauty of Diana of Themyscira), she is still aware of her good looks and how to use them. About 5’7” and 120lbs, she has approximately an hour-glass figure. Notably, she has good legs, and they’re one of her better weapons—both to distract and to inflict damage. Her eyes are blue, and her hair is currently dyed black. A lot of her attractiveness comes more from her vibrant personality showing through, but she’s still quite pretty.
Abilities:
Lois Lane is no genius, she’s no warrior, she’s no superhero, nor a cutting-edge detective: she’s a reporter. That said, she’s the best investigative reporter at the Daily Planet—if not on the planet Earth. Though not a superpower, she has an instinct for a good story and for truth. Along with her investigative instincts goes a highly-developed flair for the written word. She’s a Pulitzer winner, determined, and not to be trifled with; Oracle has referred to her as one of the most dangerous people in Metropolis due to her tenacity and talent.
She is also well-trained in fighting: she knows how to handle guns and knives, and has a black belt in at least one form of martial arts. Added to this, she has the benefit of some self-defense lessons from Batman. Civilian she may be, but she’s still highly formidable.
Though she has no superhuman abilities officially, one could argue Lois’ trouble-magnet tendency verges on the superhuman, as does her abominable luck in never getting killed by it.
Inventory:
Just her clothes and the contents of purse and pocket. Her electronics are probably too water-damaged to use, but she’ll still have lock picks, keys, the normal-person basics. Notably, her engagement has an emergency signal built in, audible to super-hearing range (and which Bruce has been known to tap into).
Suite:
Earth sector, 3A or B, please. Earth Sector mostly because Lois isn’t really the type to reside in a really wealthy section of town, but neither would she fit in the part of town with the least crime (however much Clark might prefer her to). As for floor, higher is good for her because she likes to be higher up, plus it’s useful when she has a husband who flies. (Realistically, though, she’s married to Clark. I don’t know how this will/should work out housing-wise.)
In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
“…arter million into the development budget for the upcomi…”
Lois listened with half an ear, tapping her note-pad with her pen almost absently. She had a digital recorder these days, of course. It was handy: less likely to break or stall than her old tape recorder, data stored more accessibly (and save-ably—was that even a word?). But for one, sometimes more sensitive sources wouldn’t talk if they were recorded; and for another, for all the convenience, she still loved taking notes on paper. Plus, her notes held her immediate reactions, uncolored by perspective of time. Sometimes those gut instincts were crucial.
Who am I kidding? she thought with some amusement as the housing and urban development secretary droned on. It just reminds me of when I was still a kid, breaking the rules to impress Perry and get my job. The good old days—god, it makes me sound like an old fart. ‘Back in my day…’
Shaking her head a little, Lois jotted down a note or two on her pad. She knew she really ought to be paying more attention to this press conference—but it was going to be utterly banal. Or at least, it was for the most part.
As the thought occurred, she smiled slightly, in anticipation. One or two of her colleagues had a line of sight to her, and they clearly saw it. Even as she refocused her attention, she caught their suddenly apprehensive looks out of the corner of her eye. Good, she thought to herself. After all, it wouldn’t do for anyone to start forgetting what being Lois Lane entailed. And then—there it was. The signal she’d been waiting for.
“…providing aid in the reconstruction in Hob’s Bay after the recent…”
Her hand went up.
Sometimes the press room could feel like school all over again: raise your hand to ask a question, hope the teacher bothers to look, hope they want to answer the question. There were internal politics—who got to sit where, and god help them all if some snippy magazine reporter complained about being moved back when their paper didn’t have someone there every day. There were the idiot jocks, the society bees, the geeks and wall-flowers (and at that, Lois smiled to herself: one of those was anything but, and damn good thing he wasn’t here, this was her scoop), the too-serious over-achievers…
And there was her.
“…nding to plans for revitalization of the local businesses—yes, Ms. Lane?”
The advantage over high school: the lecturer could get a worse failing grade than she would (metaphorically), if she asked the supposedly impertinent question and got a snippy answer.
“One of the companies contracted for the rebuilding efforts are currently involved in lawsuits for damages due to use of substandard materials—particularly the recent case of several skyscrapers losing their windows.” There was some soft laughter, and she smirked. That story was one of hers, and they all knew it. “What measures is the city taking to prevent similar negligence, and what guarantees for restitution should carelessness have a detrimental effect on businesses and their patrons?”
The politician’s lips thinned, and internally Lois began to grin. Keeping the public informed of greedy companies, a scoop Perry was sure to love, and a promise from Clark to cook dinner, assuming a natural disaster or alien invasion didn’t interrupt—and almost certainly a flight after.
Some days she really pitied anyone who wasn’t Lois Lane.
Network:
[What is visible of the room is obviously in Earth Sector, both from the décor and from the view out of the large, open window over Lois’ shoulder. As for Lois herself, she’s still somewhat damp and visibly grumpy about it. Her sigh is explosive as she runs a hand through her hair.]
Kidnapping, fine. Another day in my life. Alternate universes? They’re not so much my thing. I try to leave that to the heroes. Murder and mayhem are plenty for headlines.
[Lois rolls her eyes as she says the latter. Despite the few sentences, she manages to convey even more information, even subconsciously: her face and tone are expressive. Exasperation, impatience, and the voice of experience shine through. So too does her underlying concern, though. She is absently twisting some hair around a finger. Her engagement and wedding rings glint as she does.]
Lois Lane, Daily Planet, if anyone’s heard of it.
The last time I ran into an alternate world, at least it was someone’s… misguided attempt at a paradise. Nice enough place, but even that ended in a fight. One day I’d like to get a freaking vacation with one of these things.
[Pause.]
So… are there any competent newspapers around this place?
[So much for wanting a vacation.]
Name: Lee
Age: 21+
Contact: PM; AIM/gmail: fractaldawn
Game Cast: N/A
Character Information:
Name: Lois Lane
Canon: DC Comics
Canon Point: New Krypton
Age: Disclaimer for the standard lack-of-rational-timeline-support in comics. Pre-Final Crisis continuity established that prior to the reboot it had been probably between twelve to fifteen years since Superman’s debut (when Lois was young and only recently a Big Name), and post-Final Crisis was never entirely clear. She’s probably approximately in her late thirties.
Reference: An intrepid reporter and her world
Setting:
So there’s this universe. Multiverse, actually, given all the parallel alternate histories (52 of them), some of which interact every so often. There are tons of planets all over all the galaxies with sentient life, thousands if not millions of species. It’s got light with magical properties, and some people made rings out of them. Notably, a group called the Guardians made green ones and created a kind of universal police force. There are dangerous forces of magic, including a perpetual cosmic battle between Order and Chaos. There are evil stars, there are creatures which go around bottling cities and destroying planets, galactic warlords, gods, New Gods and Apokoliptians, fairies, anthropomorphic personifications of abstract concepts like Death and Destiny, the whole nine yards.
And then there’s Earth. Earth is very much as it ever was, or used to be. There are some differences, of course: there are technological advances we can’t even dream of yet. (Beam weapons, teleportation technology, freaking giant space stations with artificial gravity and giant laser weapons, power suits capable of flight, computer tech just out of reasonable range, that kind of thing.) And, in a world-creators’ attempt to avoid directly addressing world problems, there are the occasional made-up countries or organizations. They’re placeholders for what’s going on in the real world—Bialya, Pokolistan, Qurac, and the rest.
Overall, though, it’s still Earth in all her blue, green, and white glory.
And on this planet like a marble is a bright, shining city. It’s full of sky-scrapers, towers of glass and steel, lights all around. It has its dark sides, of course: what’s called Suicide Slum, the more run down portion of town, where the most unlucky live; Hob’s Bay, with all the hold-overs from the classic age of the mafia and mob, a time now gone by to some degree… but not completely. It’s a city of booming businesses and research. S.T.A.R Labs, on the cutting edge of scientific development, has a major installation there. Even in this city of growth and progression, however, people were forgetting their optimism and sinking into cynicism, even if they’d never have the same grit and bleakness of nearby Gotham. And over all this, two buildings stand out. One is a recently built tower, sporting a large L, denoting its owner and the emblem of capitalistic growth. The other shows the signs of its decades, the glinting bronze globe proclaiming the institution which above all else drove for, as its editor used to have hanging in his office, ‘Truth, Justice, and the American Way.’ Metropolis, the City of Tomorrow : home of Lex Luthor and the Daily Planet, where people are slowly forgetting to look up.
Or at least, that’s how it used to be, nearly fifteen years ago.
Lois Lane was right along with the rest of the city, falling into cynicism and doubting in anything good. And then, one day, when Lois was in just the first of a long string of accidents with flying vehicles, falling, and near death experiences, the city and, indeed, the whole world changed. A flying man (in tights and cape, however dubious the fashion choice) appeared over the skies of Metropolis. With him came a renewed sense of hope, a change in the criminal activities of the city, and a new era for Earth.
Metropolis, the City of Tomorrow: home of Superman, where everyone knows to look up—and maybe you’ll see a blur of color, speeding to save the day.
Superman’s debut didn’t just kick off a new age of costumed superheroes. It also opened Earth’s eyes to the vastness of the universe, and those with superpowers began stepping forward. Whether metahumans, magicians, the occasional intergalactic supercop, aliens defending a world they chose to make their own, or pure humans whose determination and brains and toys made them far above average, they all made it into a new age.
With them, however, came the supervillains as well. As the home of arguably the most powerful being on Earth (if not more), Metropolis gets hit by quite a few of the major baddies. It is those villains, insidious plots, and danger which make up the bulk of Lois Lane’s life, for any number of reasons. On the one hand, her world is a little smaller and more relaxed than that of the many superheroes she comes into contact with. She isn’t out there saving planets in other galaxies, punching gods in the face, stopping evil sentient suns, or anything like that. For the most part, her world sticks to Metropolis, with a few exceptions. Even so, it’s plenty to keep her busy.
On the one hand, there’s the everyday crime, bureaucratic corruption—the usual kind of thing. Uncovering that, writing about it, trying to bring it down with a spotlight is where she got her start, and she still does it when she can. And then she covers a bunch of the Superman news, frequently when Clark can’t (cough). Somehow, a bunch of her investigations end in her being caught by some supervillain, running or about to die—and Superman turns up to save the day.
And then sometimes those investigations of corruption are unusual and dovetail with something much, much larger than she is. Frequently when that happens, it puts her at odds with one of two major entities: Intergang or Lex Luthor. The former is more a problem of Clark’s—her co-worker’s, that is—but she tangles with them too, sometimes.
As for Lex, well. She used to be involved with him, and while he makes her skin crawl, he still has some feelings for her. Her love for Clark has even protected him from Luthor once. He still looms fairly large in her world. Only Lex has ever manipulated her into compromising her integrity and ethics. And Lex can scare her as very few can: he’s far smarter than most of Superman’s enemies, and has a personal grudge that somehow runs more deeply and viciously than that of most of the villains running around. And sometimes, he has all the power on his side.
Easily the most dramatic demonstration of this came when Lex Luthor bought the Daily Planet and fired basically everyone who worked there. After some time of this—and Lois being kept cooped up, unable to go out into the field—she made a devil’s bargain with him. He sold the paper back to Perry for the grand sum of one dollar, and she gave him the right to kill one story, any subject. He was subsequently elected president, and during his presidency came the Imperiex war. It killed Sam Lane (apparently, spoiler: he lived, and is about to screw over everything and everyone). However, a few chance comments led Lois to the conclusion that Lex must have known then when, where, and how of her father’s death. She spent weeks on the investigation, and when she got too close, he used his get-out-of-exposé-free card.
Unfortunately for Lex, Lois’ husband is also a reporter, and made no such deal. Together, they began working to take down the Luthor presidency—and Superman and Batman later finished it. And, really, that’s the kind of good work day Lois likes to see. (Except for the near-death aspects of it.)
Even though publicly Lois is married—incredibly happily—to Clark Kent, basically the entire city (and rogues gallery, and the country, possibly the planet or whole damned universe) knows that Superman had and probably still does harbor feelings for her. As a result, she is sometimes used for leverage against him. One of the worst times was when Manchester Black, having cracked Clark’s identity, tortured her a little and made Clark think she was dead. For all of that, usually she isn’t a helpless damsel in distress by some definitions of the word: most of her adventures come from her own investigations rather than being The Hero’s Gal. On the other side of the coin, it’s just as well known that Lois had and probably still does harbor feelings for Superman. It’s just as easy for people to use him—or Clark—against her as vice versa.
It doesn’t help that Lois’ little sister Lucy has told her that loving Superman more than General Sam Lane was what killed their father.
As far as current events in Lois’ life go, Metropolis nearly got bottled and stolen by Brainiac, which would have ended in the nuking of the Earth. Metropolis and Earth survived, and now there’s even a colony of Kandorians up north, near the Fortress. But in the aftermath Jonathan Kent had a fatal heart attack, and Lois is doing her best to remain Clark’s support.
Worse, though, Jimmy has told her there’s some secret project aimed at taking down Kryptonians—or rather, one specific Kryptonian. On the one hand, someone gunning for her husband is so old hat, she shouldn’t be so freaked out. But Superman is busy trying to get a bunch of Kandorians settled, leaving Lois and Jimmy to follow the younger photographer’s lead in good old-fashioned journalism. It’s already nearly killed him a couple times—and this time, it’s not just some villain. It’s a black bag military unit, complete with green-K and magic weapons.
More terrifying for her, they don’t know who’s behind it.
Personality:
Lois Lane is Lois Lane. Lois Lane is human.
On the surface, the first seems like a tautology, the second like a purely biological description. When you get right down to it, though, the former is an attempt to encompass all her contradictions into a single term, and the latter? The latter is fundamental to everything she is.
If there were an entry for ‘Lois Lane’ in the dictionary, the words determined, passionate, reckless, occasionally oblivious, confident to the point of arrogance, sometimes painfully tactless, silently somewhat insecure, with integrity, and constantly dynamic would be part of it. So would the words “Pulitzer prize-winning journalist.” She can be a mass of contradictions, all wrapped up in one frustratingly stubborn package. Once she latches onto an idea or a lead, she’ll run it into the ground. She is close to the proverbial ‘unstoppable force.’ Her exceptions are when doing so conflicts with her ethics or people she has a reason to protect. (Notably, when she was once led to the brink of unearthing Oracle’s identity, she told Barbara Gordon she wasn’t going to pursue it. It is probably a fairly common case of Lois Lane’s Deliberate Denial.)
On the subject of deliberate denial, Lois is highly skilled at it. While she seemed to be genuinely unaware of Clark’s identity before he told her, she also mentioned that she always sort of had a feeling, but dismissed it. She can be just as determined in subconsciously avoiding something as she can be determined in getting what she wants or holding to her ideals.
That determination drives much of her work. Journalism is her first love, and in many ways defines her. She will risk almost anything in the name of Getting the Story. Certainly her own life is on the table, and anyone who willingly accompanies her on her adventures. (This usually means Jimmy and Clark.) With the exception of certain eras of the Silver Age, Lois has consistently been portrayed as a ‘tough-as-nails’ reporter. While those risks and danger are rooted in her work, she is also just fundamentally courageous. She’s remained calm in the face of great danger and pain many times in the past. It helps her cope with a life already hectic, even before her marriage.
In fact, that courage goes a little further into something far more reckless. In many ways, she gets sheer thrills out of being out on an investigation, some as-yet-unearthed-truth tantalizing her. For all her bad associations and childhood trauma, Lois is still a military brat, and to some degree investigative journalism fits her own idea of a war. It’s a war of ideas, for one, and she can hold to what she feels is right and not some agenda she doesn’t have a say in. But the sheer adrenaline rush boosts her energy. Getting at the truth, the danger she goes through to get it: it fills some obscure, burning desire. So often she comes close to death, but she never loses her confidence in herself.
When she shows that confidence too brashly, it’s probably to cover some insecurity, but for the most part it is (as so much of her personality is) just what it looks like on the cover. She really is that sure of herself, and of her ability to survive. Sure, she gets scared sometimes, but she never really doubts herself, just a situation. Sometimes it’s too much, really. She’ll get tactless or say something entirely impolitic, heedless of the consequences simply because she doesn’t believe she can’t handle it. There have been a few humbling experiences as a result. (This has frequently been at the hands of Lex Luthor, in some fashion or other.)
Going hand-in-hand with that physical fearlessness and confidence, she’s not afraid to tell anyone what she thinks, in terms impossible to misconstrue. She likes to tell the truth and she likes to know the truth; it’s part of what pushed her into investigative journalism. She does so without regard for an authority if she thinks the authority in question is wrong, or that something about them needs to be said. It drove a serious wedge between her and her father. She also doesn’t spare the people she loves from her opinions. This is a woman who will, in her future, tell her father point blank he’s a genocidal maniac. She’s called Superman out publicly and in print before, too. If she thinks it, she’ll say it—or write it.
Once, not too long ago, those observations and experiences had led to Lois gradually losing all sense of optimism. Perry White began observing that she couldn’t write a single completely positive article, and Lois defended herself by pointing out how utterly corrupt and generally screwed up the world was. Even today, she still retains a degree of her cynicism.
Even with her renewed optimism, Lois likes to present her far more sardonic façade. On the one hand, it’s a fairly honest representation of her. She really doesn’t have illusions about human nature—she sees the greed and corruption still existing and loathes it. For the most part, she still presents that more cynical façade. On the one hand, it’s still somewhat genuine—and anyway, it contributes to her reputation. On the other, she believes somewhat more strongly than she did, once upon a time, that things can change for the better. She doesn’t have much faith in people, but in hope for a future? That she does have. It may be a somewhat contradictory position, but Lois finds it easy to support. Then again, it may be partially the result of now having heroes to believe in.
When asked once what she would be goddess of, if she could, she answered ‘integrity.’ That answer neatly encapsulates her fundamental ethical code. She doesn’t always follow society’s morals, but Lois never compromises herself—almost. Only once has she done so, and that was making a deal with the devil: with Lex Luthor, to protect the Daily Planet. Even then, when finally driven to a point of no return—a story he could kill, but which she felt had to be written—she finally came clean with Clark.
As a rule, family is one of the most fundamental parts of Lois’ soul. She loves her effective adoptive family less deeply, perhaps, but at least with Perry, Jimmy, and her in-laws there is little or no emotional stress. Kara and Conner sometimes stress her out more, but nonetheless, there are no holdovers from years of dysfunction to color her affection. However, the other four dearest in her life involve far more complicated relationships.
Years of some distance from her mother and frequently being responsible for her younger sister Lucy somehow left Lois fixated firmly on the idea that she is not nurturing. The rest of her personality—driven, tactless, and stubborn—only hammered it in further. However, when she and Clark adopted a little, lost Kryptonian boy, she was the one who named him Christopher Kent. Amazingly even to everyone except possibly the other Kents, Lois turned out to be a loving and fiercely protective mother.
Her relationships with Sam and Lucy Lane are more complicated. She often feels she failed her little sister Lucy, somehow. They used to be quite close, but after too many snarls, they drifted. And yet, in recent years—especially since Sam’s death (to Lois’ knowledge), Lucy entered the military. It’s the life Sam always wanted, but more for Lois than Lucy. Lois has been—justifiably—concerned that Lucy’s doing it for Sam more than herself. In an obscure way she blames herself.
As for her father, Lois loved him fiercely and deeply, and despite it, from the time she was young they just never got along. She was too unbendingly independent. She left home in her teens, lied to Perry about her age to get a job, and ran to journalism rather explicitly to get away from her father. He couldn’t control her. No one’s really been able to, and it’s a part of her she holds to fiercely and proudly. Journalism and independence fed each other into growth, and it contributed to her job being her first love. She wouldn’t be Lois Lane without it.
And then Superman happened, and there was no turning back. Sam was (is) a rabid xenophobe, absolutely convinced that Superman would turn on the world. Lucy blames Lois for their father’s death, saying she loved Superman more than Sam, and it killed him.
Of course, she does. She just can’t tell either of them why.
From the day she met him, both the Clark and Superman parts of his life have filled hers, in their different ways. The one became her best friend, at her side and sharing the job that defines her. The other was her dazzling hero—the man behind both personas became the love of her life. There is very little she won’t do for him. She believes in him implicitly: as she can’t put her faith in people, she puts her faith in him. Probably most importantly, he was the reason she ever found it possible to see herself as more than her job, as a person with a life. Being with him melds her love for him and for her work beautifully, which helps her understand, cope with, and support Clark’s life. And for all that he rescues her so much, she takes special pride and delight in sometimes rescuing him, covering for him at work and making sure he knows she’s there to lean on.
At the end of the day, Lois is quintessentially contradictory, often irrational, screwed up at times, strongly ethical, frequently arrogant, idealistic and romantic despite her instinctive cynicism, determined, stubbornly persistent, good at heart, vibrant, and intensely passionate.
Lois Lane is human.
Lois Lane is Lois Lane.
BONUS ROUND:
Upon arriving in this world, Lois would be caught somewhere between worry, uncertainty, exasperation, and a little irritation. She hasn’t been through quite as many completely weird situations as some of the superheroes, but she’s had experience with alternate realities before, so it isn’t totally new to her. That said, with it not being a paradise, she’ll also be rather more nervous than she would ever want to let on. She’ll probably act a lot more snappish than she actual feels, just to cover her insecurities.
Oh yeah, and if there isn’t already a news bulletin, she will be starting one out of boredom and because journalism is her first love.
Appearance:
Lois is an attractive woman, no two ways about it. Though she sometimes holds herself to an unfair standard (namely, up against fairly divine beauty of Diana of Themyscira), she is still aware of her good looks and how to use them. About 5’7” and 120lbs, she has approximately an hour-glass figure. Notably, she has good legs, and they’re one of her better weapons—both to distract and to inflict damage. Her eyes are blue, and her hair is currently dyed black. A lot of her attractiveness comes more from her vibrant personality showing through, but she’s still quite pretty.
Abilities:
Lois Lane is no genius, she’s no warrior, she’s no superhero, nor a cutting-edge detective: she’s a reporter. That said, she’s the best investigative reporter at the Daily Planet—if not on the planet Earth. Though not a superpower, she has an instinct for a good story and for truth. Along with her investigative instincts goes a highly-developed flair for the written word. She’s a Pulitzer winner, determined, and not to be trifled with; Oracle has referred to her as one of the most dangerous people in Metropolis due to her tenacity and talent.
She is also well-trained in fighting: she knows how to handle guns and knives, and has a black belt in at least one form of martial arts. Added to this, she has the benefit of some self-defense lessons from Batman. Civilian she may be, but she’s still highly formidable.
Though she has no superhuman abilities officially, one could argue Lois’ trouble-magnet tendency verges on the superhuman, as does her abominable luck in never getting killed by it.
Inventory:
Just her clothes and the contents of purse and pocket. Her electronics are probably too water-damaged to use, but she’ll still have lock picks, keys, the normal-person basics. Notably, her engagement has an emergency signal built in, audible to super-hearing range (and which Bruce has been known to tap into).
Suite:
Earth sector, 3A or B, please. Earth Sector mostly because Lois isn’t really the type to reside in a really wealthy section of town, but neither would she fit in the part of town with the least crime (however much Clark might prefer her to). As for floor, higher is good for her because she likes to be higher up, plus it’s useful when she has a husband who flies. (Realistically, though, she’s married to Clark. I don’t know how this will/should work out housing-wise.)
In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
“…arter million into the development budget for the upcomi…”
Lois listened with half an ear, tapping her note-pad with her pen almost absently. She had a digital recorder these days, of course. It was handy: less likely to break or stall than her old tape recorder, data stored more accessibly (and save-ably—was that even a word?). But for one, sometimes more sensitive sources wouldn’t talk if they were recorded; and for another, for all the convenience, she still loved taking notes on paper. Plus, her notes held her immediate reactions, uncolored by perspective of time. Sometimes those gut instincts were crucial.
Who am I kidding? she thought with some amusement as the housing and urban development secretary droned on. It just reminds me of when I was still a kid, breaking the rules to impress Perry and get my job. The good old days—god, it makes me sound like an old fart. ‘Back in my day…’
Shaking her head a little, Lois jotted down a note or two on her pad. She knew she really ought to be paying more attention to this press conference—but it was going to be utterly banal. Or at least, it was for the most part.
As the thought occurred, she smiled slightly, in anticipation. One or two of her colleagues had a line of sight to her, and they clearly saw it. Even as she refocused her attention, she caught their suddenly apprehensive looks out of the corner of her eye. Good, she thought to herself. After all, it wouldn’t do for anyone to start forgetting what being Lois Lane entailed. And then—there it was. The signal she’d been waiting for.
“…providing aid in the reconstruction in Hob’s Bay after the recent…”
Her hand went up.
Sometimes the press room could feel like school all over again: raise your hand to ask a question, hope the teacher bothers to look, hope they want to answer the question. There were internal politics—who got to sit where, and god help them all if some snippy magazine reporter complained about being moved back when their paper didn’t have someone there every day. There were the idiot jocks, the society bees, the geeks and wall-flowers (and at that, Lois smiled to herself: one of those was anything but, and damn good thing he wasn’t here, this was her scoop), the too-serious over-achievers…
And there was her.
“…nding to plans for revitalization of the local businesses—yes, Ms. Lane?”
The advantage over high school: the lecturer could get a worse failing grade than she would (metaphorically), if she asked the supposedly impertinent question and got a snippy answer.
“One of the companies contracted for the rebuilding efforts are currently involved in lawsuits for damages due to use of substandard materials—particularly the recent case of several skyscrapers losing their windows.” There was some soft laughter, and she smirked. That story was one of hers, and they all knew it. “What measures is the city taking to prevent similar negligence, and what guarantees for restitution should carelessness have a detrimental effect on businesses and their patrons?”
The politician’s lips thinned, and internally Lois began to grin. Keeping the public informed of greedy companies, a scoop Perry was sure to love, and a promise from Clark to cook dinner, assuming a natural disaster or alien invasion didn’t interrupt—and almost certainly a flight after.
Some days she really pitied anyone who wasn’t Lois Lane.
Network:
[What is visible of the room is obviously in Earth Sector, both from the décor and from the view out of the large, open window over Lois’ shoulder. As for Lois herself, she’s still somewhat damp and visibly grumpy about it. Her sigh is explosive as she runs a hand through her hair.]
Kidnapping, fine. Another day in my life. Alternate universes? They’re not so much my thing. I try to leave that to the heroes. Murder and mayhem are plenty for headlines.
[Lois rolls her eyes as she says the latter. Despite the few sentences, she manages to convey even more information, even subconsciously: her face and tone are expressive. Exasperation, impatience, and the voice of experience shine through. So too does her underlying concern, though. She is absently twisting some hair around a finger. Her engagement and wedding rings glint as she does.]
Lois Lane, Daily Planet, if anyone’s heard of it.
The last time I ran into an alternate world, at least it was someone’s… misguided attempt at a paradise. Nice enough place, but even that ended in a fight. One day I’d like to get a freaking vacation with one of these things.
[Pause.]
So… are there any competent newspapers around this place?
[So much for wanting a vacation.]