riverviewlogs | (no subject)

[ she takes his hand without hesitation. she replies without it, too: ] However far we need. You probably know better than I do.

I have somewhere in mind.

[ He can fly far out and slowly make their way towards the city.

Clark pulls her close to him and smiles. ]

Ready for takeoff when you are, Miss Lane.

[ lois wonders if there'll ever come a time when her stomach doesn't swoop a little when he pulls her close, at the thought of flying with him.

she winds her arms around his neck, glancing up at him. ]

Let's go.

[ Lois has already seen the view over the city but Clark always slows down to let her have another look at it. He loves flying and he doesn't want to diminish all the beauty he can see from the bird's eye view by making it all seem normal.

They go faster over the forest until there's no lights from the city visible. Clark doesn't come this far out often; it's even deeper in the woods than the camp he built for Bucky.

The area is monster-infested. Clark pauses over the canopy and listens for a safe place where he can set her down. ]

Look, in the clearing.

[ The creature fills the clearing, nestled between several trees. It's asleep. ]

It can't reach us here.

[ it's a lovely view and lois would be lying if she said that she didn't enjoy flying with clark, his arms around her. at least when it isn't because she was falling to her death moments ago, really.

there might be a hitch in her breath, too low for a normal human to hear, the slightest intake of breath because she's impressed. ]

It's huge.

[ Clark felt the same the first time he saw this all the way out here. ]

Yeah.

[ There's no safe place to land. Clark comes to a stop over it and descends very slowly. ]

Do you want to take a photo? I can get us close. [ And out if needed. ]

Please.

[ she's already readying the camera. ]

[ Clark looks around. He can move without waking it. If they're this close they should make the most of it. ]

What angles do you need?

One that gets the whole of it, and I want a few close-ups of its head, maybe its claws.

[ Here goes.

Lois points and he moves, slowly, listening for anything else that might come along. ]

Did you get enough?

[ there are a few moments when lois stretches just so, dangling above the ground and trusting that clark will hold her up. he does, of course. he always does. ]

Yeah, I think I did. Are there more around?

[ He tugs her close soon enough for a comfortable flight away from it. ]

Only one of those that I've seen. [ This time, he stops above a herd of what look like rhinos, much bigger and slower. A calf is wandering away from its mother. ] Look.

There's a few of these herds around. This is a smaller one.

Which ones invaded the city?

[ you can bet she's snapping pictures of the calf, too. ]

Those are closer to the perimeter. [ He catches her eye to smile. ] Do you want video this time? They don't startle easily.

Videos and photographs. Can't really use videos in anything but online articles.

[ and she wants to write about this. of course she does. ]

[ He sets her down on the other side of the herd from the calf, so that the mother won't misinterpret what they're doing. Clark dutifully keeps watch as she snaps her pictures. ]

[ the creatures are huge, but they're slow and seem mostly harmless for now. lois snaps a few pictures, moving around a bit, always careful not to move too fast or to let herself get too close to one of them, though she has no doubt that clark would pull her out before anything bad could happen. he's proven himself very good at saving her life, hasn't he? but she'd rather not need saving.

there's a certain adrenaline rush that comes from this, not quite the same as facing down criminals or the us military, but close enough. it's maybe six minutes before she nods at clark, a smile on her face. ] All done.

[ There's no camera flash and no predators. The animals ignore the two of them and graze quietly.

Clark holds out his hand to her when they're done. ]

We'll be heading to the perimeter. Stay close, we might have to leave in a hurry.

[ lois curls her fingers around his, her smile satisfied. ]

Why's that?

There're a lot more predators.

[ There's also a variety of them. Clark can't be ambushed but he'd like to be careful anyway.

She's not invulnerable. ]

It's the ones that'll head for the fence we need to worry about.

[ lois isn't invulnerable, but she has a lot of faith in clark's ability to get her out of the line of fire, so to speak. besides: she's risked her life before knowing him for stories she deemed important, and so far she's always made it. ]

You think they'll attack us, or is it more of an accidentally getting trampled?

Both.

[ The big ones trample and attack and the little ones are equally vicious. ]

I know most of the species we'll be seeing. We can observe the more dangerous ones from above. What do you say?

Sounds good to me.

[ lois nods, grip on the camera firm but still relaxed. ] When you say you know them - from home, or because you've run into them here before?

I've had a lot of time to observe them here.

[ Clark doesn't think anything Kryptonian is going to come through the portal. If it did, he wouldn't recognise it. ]

[ that's a bit worrisome, isn't it? but if it happens, they'll handle it, one way or another. ]

Tell me about them.