Random insomnia induced Grey's Anatomy/The Wilds crossover.
Two girls show up at Grey-Slown Memorial Hospital in Seattle. The blonde on is clearly in pain but also doesn't seem to want to be there at all while the brunette is very aggressively trying to both keep the blonde from just taking off and trying to get her medical attention.
They get addmited, some resident (not sure who would fit the time line, Jo, maybe?) examines the blond girl who gives a clearly fake name and claims to be eighteen which somehow seems doubtful.
The girls give off all the tale tale signs of being runaways, probably homeless, most likely underage (now that I think about it Jo would be perfect for this because she'd recognize the signs). Resident orders some tests and also pages Arizona for a consult.
Arizona checks the tests, clearly the girl has appendicitis, which Jo could have determined herself, so she asks why Jo called her for a patient who according to the chart is not pediatric. Jo explains her suspicions.
Arizona goes in the exam room and finds a brunette girl trying to calm down the blonde who seems to be in distress more so than in pain. She can see that they are clearly more than friends. She somehow convinces the brunette to go to the cafeteria and get some food "you are no good to her if you pass out from starvation".
Eventually Arizona coaxes enough from the patient to know that her name is Shelby, that she is definitely not 18, though she won't confirm or deny her actual age, and that she run away from her family in Texas because they were going to send her back to conversion therapy camp. She got as far as she could from Texas and ended up running into Toni the second she got off the bus in Seattle. They've been roughing it since.
Shelby gets her appendix removed and stuff and medically she is fine but Arizona can't in good conscious send her back to the streets so she convinces Callie to take them in just for a little while.
A little while turns into... a not so little while. And Toni is a surprisingly great babysitter.
*the reason why Toni was in Seattle is that she was looking for her mom. She'd been getting letters or postcards from her for years, until they stopped suddenly. The last one's return address was in Seattle...
Is Gretchen a Terf? Her experiment doesn't account for transgender subjects, which I find odd because she has certainly accounted for racial and socioeconomic diversity, as well as sexual orientation with her sample.
Ladies, gents, unicorns, little green aliens, non-binary folk, puppies and all else interested: I have a sort of sneak peek of my Shoni fic. Imma post it here real quick and if anyone could give me feedback it’d be mighty appreciated because I don’t know if I have the characters down yet. Just an opening scene between Toni and Marti for now.
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Toni Shalifoe spent the first week of her senior year at Hopewell Lake Highschool making a conscious effort to stand out as little as possible. Between dodging her ex-girlfriend in the halls, skirting Martha’s questions about her new foster parents, and just generally keeping a low profile to avoid giving her basketball coach reason to regret letting her back on the team, she barely had the headspace to register anything going on around her. All things considered, it’s really no surprise that it took until the second week of school for her to become aware of the existence of one Shelby Goodkind.
Now, Hopewell Lake was not a particularly liberal school district, no one would accuse the school of being inclusive or socially aware. However, the moment Toni heard that deep southern twang through the school’s PA system during homeroom on the second Monday of her senior year she realized they had reached a new low.
“Well hello y’all. My fellow firebirds, I hope y’all had a great first week of school and are excited and ready for the new week ahead of us. And let me tell you, what a week it is shaping up to be!”
Toni had not heard that voice before, an accent like that was not likely to go unnoticed in Hopewell Lake. Yet, for some reason, as she glanced around at the other students, she realized that no one seemed to be particularly surprised by the disembodied voice invading the classroom. Toni turned to Martha, who was doodling something in the first pages of her still spanking new notebook, apparently paying no mind to the announcer who was now listing the after-school clubs and activities which were looking for new members. As if sensing she was being watched, Martha stopped her doodling and turned to her friend.
Toni couldn’t find it in herself to actually ask a anything out loud, not while that foreign voice was still grating her ears, so she just stared at Martha, a several unasked questions in her eyes. Martha took a second to catch up, before finally shaking her head.
“Shelby Goodkind is doing morning announcements now. She started last Friday, but you weren’t here for homeroom.” Martha explained, as if that name should mean something to Toni. Toni had been late to school the previews Friday, for reasons she was not about to get into with her best friend, so she decided to ignore the question caught in between Martha’s words and keep the conversation on the topic of this new girl she was just finding out about.
“Shelby who?” Toni’s words had Martha shaking her head again, she did that a lot and Toni briefly wondered if she should take offense.
“Shelby Goodkind, the new girl from Texas.” Well, no surprise there, Toni could have figured that part out on her own. “You had no idea did you? Seriously Toni? She is all anyone is talking about”.
“Whatever, she sounds real full of herself.” While Toni would be the first to admit that nothing interesting ever happened in Hopewell Lake, she didn’t find the arrival of some white girl from Texas particularly newsworthy. “What happened to Devon anyway?”
Devon Pierce was the president of the AV club and had very recently taken over morning announcements, Toni couldn’t imagine that he had given up his post willingly.
“He got caught making out in the AV room with that girl from the Mathleets, they both got suspended. How do you not know any of this?” Martha let out a quiet laugh, amused by her friend’s complete lack of awareness of the world around her. Meanwhile Shelby Goodkind wished her “fellow firebirds” an “extra awesome day”. Toni already hated her.
Martha smiled at the cheesy farewell. “Shelby is actually super nice, I have home-ec with her”.
“Figures,” Toni rolled her eyes “Little miss Texas is probably training to be a glorified housewife. Why you decided to take that class is beyond me, Marty. It’s like patriarchal indoctrination or something”.
“It’s an easy A.” Martha didn’t even bother arguing with Toni on the benefits of practical skills in the curriculum and how they were open to all students so it wasn’t really reinforcing gender roles. “And need I remind you that you took woodshop last year? Isn’t that like, surrendering to the stereotype?”
Toni shrugged.
“I just like doing things with my hands…” she finally replied with a smirk.
Haven’t watched the episode yet cause I’m not on the States but... NEWFOUNDLAND?! CANADA!? What the actual fudge brownie is this? Like... after Lex talked about the Irish song Lena’s mom sung him? After Lena translated the name of Nia’s hometown from Irish? Let’s talk about all the sense this doesn’t make...
My solution: Lena’s mom was in fact Irish, she was in Canada for... work? Met Lionel there, gave birth to Lena in Newfoundland, moved back to Ireland with Lena (maybe because Lionel wanted them somewhere further away to protect them/himself?).
I may or may not be working on the outline of a fic where Toni hates pageantqueen!Shelby who she goes to school with but has a massive crush on masc!Shelby who she runs into at an LGBTQ+ Community Center a couple towns over. How long should it take Toni to realize they are the same person? ‘cause I could drag that shit out for a whiiiiiile, but I don’t wanna suspend too much disbelieve.
Do we know what Hopewell High’s mascot is? The banner behind Toni has some sort of bird on it. I wanna say... eagle? Asking for a fic friend! asking for a... friend.
I read your nb!Toni one shots, and I love love love the concept. Kinda felt like throwing a prompt at you in case you find it interesting.
I have this idea that all of Shelby's clothes are chosen for her by her parents. So post island, Shelbald doesn't know what to wear because she has literally never chosen an outfit for herself. Sure she could pick between two sundresses, but only from the preaprooved choices. So maybe, now that she is finally free she just doesn't know what to do with that freedom and Toni tries to gently guide her and support her while she figures out who she is and what she wants to wear.
Doesn't have to be nb!Shelby (though I wouldn't be opposed) but I think it would be cool for Shelby to lean into a more masc look, showing a part of herself that she has always kept bottled up. Maybe stealing/borrowing Toni's clothes. And maybe she worries that Toni won't like her anymore because Toni fell for a "mostly indoor princess" and she doesn't feel like that look really fits her at all anymore, maybe it never did.
So... That was long... I'm sorry. But there you go :).
I was SO fucking invested in this I busted it out in like an hour. I could write masc!shelby all day. I hope you like it!
Shelby knows how to be stealthy. Sneaking out, lying to her parents on the spot, leaving her phone at the library so they thought she was studying while she was at a party, these are things that have taught her the art of hiding things.
And she doesn’t like hiding things from Toni, her beautiful, fantastic girlfriend who quite literally saved her life on an island, and whose life she saved as well.
But sometimes, when Toni’s gone for work or for a dinner with Martha, Shelby creeps into their walk-in closet (courtesy of Gretchen Klein) and puts on Toni’s biggest sweatshirt (which is still only a tiny bit bigger than Shelby) and baggiest jeans.
She’ll layer up on graphic tees and flannels and will even clip Toni’s wallet chain to her pants, walking around the house in Vans or beat-up converse, putting it all away before Toni gets home.
She remembers the first time she slipped on one of Toni’s jackets so clearly, unable to stop herself from turning every which way to see every angle of herself, breathing out a sigh of relief. Like she looked in the mirror, and for the first time, could say “Oh, there you are, Shelby.”
It’s not enough, though, the clothes don’t quite fit and there’s not enough, so she hides a bag of clothes in one of her suitcases that stays untouched in the back (they haven’t been itching to go on vacation, or a plane since the island).
In it, she pulls out button ups that fit her just right, and slacks, because Shelby has never hated dress attire, she just hated the frilly dresses and high heels her mother and father stuffed her into from such a young age.
She has men’s jeans with rips in the knee and a dark grey jean jacket that widens her shoulders, and she loves it, she loves the way these clothes sit on her. She feels so good, and so attractive, which people have been telling her she is her entire life, but she’s never really seen it until now.
Her entire life, she was someone’s Barbie doll to dress up, someone’s marionette to puppet around, someone else’s face to cake makeup on.
Not here, not in her home. Here, she calls the shots and makes her own choices. It’s only two outfits, really, but it’s all she can fit in the suitcase, and it’s enough for now.
Her hair still hasn’t grown back, and she can’t get past that awkward phase so she often opts to shave it back down. Toni says it’s hot, but sometimes Shelby doesn’t believe her.
Sometimes Shelby’s afraid that this person she sees in the mirror, with her shaved head and button downs and steel-toed boots, isn’t who Toni wants. Toni fell for her when she was masquerading around with her long, blonde hair and jean shorts, her pink sports bra she hasn’t touched in months, and the rest of Fatin’s girly girl wardrobe, which was all Shelby had access to.
These moments are special to her, when she gets to look into their floor length mirror and appreciate who she’s become, and who she could be. Most importantly, these moments are just for her.
Until they’re not.
“Babe?” Toni calls from their closet, as Shelby lays in their shared bed, clicking through channels.
Shelby freezes. Something is off in Toni’s voice. “Yes?”
Toni slowly makes her way out of the closet, holding Shelby’s full suitcase. Toni’s throat bobs up and down as she swallows, her neck tense as she holds Shelby’s eye contact. “I don’t want to make any assumptions,” she starts, her eyes never leaving Shelby’s. She speaks slowly, choosing each word carefully. “But your suitcase is packed with clothes that don’t belong to either of us.”
So Shelby has become a little rusty in the “stealthy” department. To be fair, she didn’t ever think about if Toni needed to move the bag, what would happen then.
Shelby doesn’t know what’s running through Toni’s mind. Does she think Shelby is leaving her? Or cheating on her?
“They’re mine,” Shelby murmurs, pushing herself off of the bed.
“They’re yours?” Toni sounds more confused than skeptical.
Shelby nods, pulling out one of the jackets. She shrugs it on, slipping her arms through the sleeves, showing off how it fits her perfectly.
“I bought them.”
“And you keep them in a suitcase?” Toni sounds so soft and sad. “Why do you feel the need to hide them?” The ‘from me?’ goes unsaid, but Shelby hears it in the way her voice quakes.
Shelby shrugs, feeling the collar of the jacket brush against her neck. “I didn’t think you’d… Be into this version of me.”
“Are you kidding?” Toni huffs out a laugh, pulling out more clothes from the suitcase. “Shelby, you- have you seen yourself? I can imagine you in this stuff, and, wow,” She shakes her head, though, interrupting herself. “It shouldn’t be about me, Shelby. This is about you. You shouldn’t have to hide this.”
“I know,” she whispers.
Toni reaches over to their nightstand to check her phone, which reads 2:43 PM. “Look, forget the lazy Sunday afternoon. We’re going shopping.”
“We are?” Shelby asks, a small smile forming on her face.
“Yeah, Shelbs, c’mon. We’re gonna go get you more than two shirts.”
Shelby marvels at the way Toni struts down the men’s section of every store, searching through racks and racks of pants and jeans and khakis, or how she wraps a tie around Shelby’s neck to check the length without peeking around to see if anyone’s watching her put men’s clothes on her girlfriend.
It makes Shelby confident, when Toni shoves the clothes into her hands and tells her to go try them on in the changing room. Like this is the most normal thing in the world.
When she pops out of the changing room in a pair of Levi’s blue jeans that no longer remind her of her father, and a hooded jacket, not unlike the one she’s seen in old photos of Toni, Toni’s there “oohing” and “ahhing” and asking her to turn around, and looping her fingers through Shelby’s belt loops to pull her close.
They step into a shoe store, and Shelby doesn't even have to look at the painful reminders of her past before Toni drags her over to the high top converse and Nikes, pointing at the brands and telling her to pick whatever she wanted. Shelby isn't sure if colors work the same as they do with guys clothes, but she's drawn to red leather and blue suede.
When they go buy Shelby her first suit, a light grey three-piece, Toni buttons up Shelby’s vest herself just because she can. And when Shelby decides she likes the jacket better than the vest, it turns into a two-piece as Toni nods and agrees, running her fingers down the sleeves.
And when they go home that night, they systematically empty Shelby’s entire closet. A fourth of her clothes stay, half go to the charity, and another fourth would soon find their way into Fatin’s ever expanding closet.
At the next Unsinkable 8 reunion, Martha fawns over Shelby’s new wardrobe, telling Shelby with a wink that if Toni ever messes up, her bed is still wide open. It makes Shelby laugh and blush, and she hides her face in the plane white crewneck she has on.
(Later on, Martha will pull her aside and tell her, genuinely, that she has never seen Shelby so comfortable, and how it makes her heart swell. Shelby doesn't cry, just barely).
And it’s a beautiful feeling, feeling wanted and loved while comfortable in her own skin. She’s never had this before, it’s a remarkable feeling that sits over her like a warm hug.
But it’s also just a beautiful feeling to be. To not feel her clothes stick to her skin, or her jeans dig into her hips, to not spend every moment wondering if her hair is sitting right on her head or if her top has dipped too low.
Instead she barely feels the breeze under her bomber jacket, and her Nike high tops give her another inch, which allows her to see better over Toni’s head when she hugs her from behind.
She feels powerful and attractive, but most of all, she feels like herself, which is a feeling she’s been searching for forever.
Since my academic!Shelby headcanon was well recieved I thought I’d expand.
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The yearning to know more had been gnawing at her soul as far back as she could remmember. Shelby was a curious child, always asking ‘why?’, challenging and questioning everything that the adults around her said. Her daddy had, at first, been proud of such an inquisitive young mind. He gave her answers that came from the Lord, from the Word, from the Book. Well before her tenth birthday Shelby could parrot the very answers that he had ingrained on her. All would have been fine if she had stopped there, after all, the only answer she really needed, as far as her father was concerned, was a three letter word that started with a G, ended with a D, and should not be sponken in vain.
But Shelby was not satisfied. She looked for answers in the sermons at church on Sundays, looked for them in her illustrated children’s Bible, and even in the big one for the grownups. Why did the Lord flood the Earth? Why did He choose Moses? If Adam and Eve where the first man and woman, who did their sons marry? Why did Jesus have to die? If the Lord was so powerful, why couldn’t he save his own son? Or was it save Himself? How could one be the Lord, and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit all at once?
Eventually, her father grew tired of her questions and he added another answer to his repertory. Faith. You know that’s your middle name, right Shelly? Sometimes the Lord won’t give us the answer because we are meant to just have faith, just believe. This did not sit well with Shelby, but she learned to bite her toungue, lest her father lose his patience with her. Don’t ask too many questions, it’s not polite, don’t doubt, just have faith, just believe.
It wasn’t until after the island that she had the chance to go looking for answers again. She knew a little, about other religions, other branches of Christianity, about mythology, about history. She had never been a particularly good student, her grades average enough to not stand out for better or worse. Too much time at Church, too much time at pageants, did not leave a lot of time for academic pursuits. But once she was away from all of that, every unanswered question came rushing back.
It started with a google search and ended with a thesis.
Shelby never thought she would spend more than absolutly necessary in higher learning institutions. And yet, her bachelor’s in Philosophy lead to a Masters in Study of Religions which lead to a PhD in Anthropology and Sociology of Religion. And suddenly she wasn’t just Shelby Faith Goodkind, she wasn’t Miss Fort Travis, or Miss Teen Texas, she was Professor Goodkind, and she never grew tired of hearing her students ask ‘Why?’.
new tag game: the thing you most often pretended to be as a kid—whether it was a horse, a bride, a queen, a specific character, a knight, a lawyer, a baby, anything—is symbolically representative of you currently. what is it for you?
So... I headcannon Shelby as turning to academia to deal with her relationship with faith, religion and sexuality. Like I totally see her reading the Quran, the Torah, studying papers on Zorpastrianism, watching late night documentaries on Scientology. Her doctoral dissertation is on the oppression of female sexuality in first century Christianity.
I know a lot of peeps headcanon Shelby as kinda bimboish, I know there is some evidence to that effect ("How do you say thank you in native American?""Deus ex what?"), but I think that ignorance comes from lack of exposition to a lot of stuff because of her upbringing. When she is talking about religion, (not even just her own, remember the whole "Hot as hades" exchange?) which happens to be the subject she has been most exposed to, she is knowledgeable and passionate (if misguided because of, again, lack of exposition to other sources).
So yeah, I headcannon Shelby in thick rimmed glasses and a tweed jacket (which she is wearing unironically, unlike Leah), watching the stars with Toni while they exchange mythological stories about the constellations.
After the Unsinkable 8 come back to civilization, Shelby basically drops of the face of the Earth. No one can reach her, her social media goes silent, eventually her phone is disconnected.
Toni knows that something went wrong, Shelby wouldn't have just cut her off like that, no explanation, no goodbye. The girls all try to track her down but, one by one they give up. Dot and Fatin get caught up in life in LA, Leah is busy working on her first novel, Rachel has her own issues. Even Martha eventually stops staring at Shelby's Instagram nightly waiting for something, anything. Toni is the last one to give up. She is in college now, and has to deal with a full course load plus integrating into the basketball team.
Life moves on. Toni makes it big in collegiate basketball, gets drafted (shortest player in WNBA history and proud of it), buys her first apartment. She is featured in the cover of sports magazines, goes on late night talks shows, she is successful and out and proud.
She meets Brooke during Pride in Minneapolis. She is blonde, and bubbly and intense and her eyes are just the wrong shade of green. Toni pretends she doesn't remind her of Shelby, she hasn't thought about Shelby in years (she lies to herself). They get married.
A year later, they divorce. During a particularly nasty fight Brooke tells Toni that she is tired of competing with Shelby's ghost.
Toni is still successful, still out and proud, still a fucking superstar. But Shelby's ghost haunts her now more than ever. No one really notices anything has changed, except maybe Marty, she trains, she plays, she goes partying. But she sees Shelby's ghost everywhere, at the grocery store, in the stands during an away game in Texas, on the car next to hers at an intersection. But she is never there.
Toni is leaving a club after one of her teammate's awkward bachelorette party when she notices a couple arguing. Toni is no where near as unhinged as she used to be as a teenager but the shady guy is pushing a skinny blonde girl half his size and Toni has to get involved. It only takes some yelling, and the dude walks away with a "You still owe me Shelby!" Toni turns around and comes face first with a ghost.
Shelby looks almost nothing like Toni remembers. She is so thin she looks almost sunken in and her eyes are just the right shade of green but they look through her, not at her. And Toni spent enough of her childhood with her own mother to see the signs as they slap her in the face. Shelby is high as a kite and it is not a one time thing.
So I’ve been thinking about that Supercorp AU where Kara and Lena raise Kon-El...
Anyway, I’m moving forward on that happy Supercorp + Kon au I have that I was repressing for so long because I was convinced no one would care but you know what. This is for me. Welcome to my self indulgence where I work through things via giving this pseudo clone child a good home and Kara and Lena the domestic life they deserve.
Y’all out here trying to power through the final season of Supergirl (rip your patience and sanity, you brave souls) because I gave up on it like 2? years ago knowing where they weren’t going because of the queerbaiting. I can’t withstand watching the end first hand. So I’m peacefully writing an AU where Kara and Lena adopt and raise Kon-El (ie Superboy/Conner Kent Luthor my sweet 90′s punk styled boi) together and get married somewhere in the process because I love their dynamic and I want them to be happy and I might as well give them Kon so he can be properly raised by somebody. I’m always so sad seeing him sidelined in the family by Clark in the comics and Kon doesn’t feel like he really fits into the Kent family. I might as well fuse these two concepts I’m passionate into one thing.
Think about it: Kara and Lena being cute domestic wives and getting to share everything they have with each other and a child who is not only tied to both of them by blood, but wasn’t wanted or immediately accepted by his biological parents (I’m keeping him as being made from Superman and Lex Luthor’s DNA because I think that assists in the storytelling more. and also he’s so ashamed of his ties to Lex in canon and that he was born “wrong” that i feel like changing him to having different bio parents goes against the spirit of his story. He should be loved for who he is not who he’s made from). They get to adopt the kid and give him a place where he is wanted and loved which helps them overcome their own childhood traumas. THAT’S THE GOOD SHIT
I already made a meme to convey my passion for this idea
I would die for this AU (that I need to give it a name at some point) and I have no one I know who likes Supercorp to share it with. I have so many sketches and little bits of writing for this that I never posted. Please let me know if anyone is interested in this.
Just... so much YES, Kon-el has been my favourite since I was seven and saw an action figure of Superboy at the grocery store. I begged my mom for weeks until she relented and I still have him. He deserves everything.
Where do the anti-supercorp people get the idea from that Lena Luthor is xenophobic?
Are we watching the same show?
I can see how one does not like Lena.
I can see how some of Lena’s actions can be considered irredeemable.
I can see that her family was/is xenophobic.
I can agree she made some horrible mistakes in judgement.
Canon told us:
Lena was fired by Lex from LuthorCorp because he thought her naive about her pro-alien stance. The same brother who analysed Lena since she was four.
Lena was horrified when Lex tied her to a chair and made her watch his attempt to kill Superman by turning the sun red
Lena came to National City in hopes to work with Supergirl (an alien)
Lena actively re-branded LutherCorp to LCorp to get rid of the anti-alien stuff and everything else people connected with the Luthor name
Yes, Lena created an alien-detector, but her intention was one out of ignorance (of the backlash this could cause), not of hate - when Kara much later explains the potential bad the item could cause, Lena is very much listening
Lena helps Kara on several occasions, using her intel and providing it to Kara, so Kara can investigate and write articles to dismantle anti-alien organisations (e.g. Veronica Sinclair’s fight club, Cadmus)
Lena helps Supergirl on several occasions, using her intel and providing it to Supergirl, so Supergirl can dismantle anti-alien organisations
Lena actively seeks to dismantle Cadmus - the anti-alien group - even before Lena started suspecting Lillian to be involved
Lena schemes against Lillian to use Medusa to kill all aliens on Earth
Lena testified both against her alien-hating mother and brother
As soon Lillian told Lena about Lex’ former facilities, she starts looking into them - they are well hidden, so it does take her a while (and by this date in the show, she may still not have unearthed all of them) - and dismantles many of them / continues to give Kara/Supergirl information about them (e.g. when Kara asks Lena for tech to find missing aliens, Lena offers to look into L-Corp (= former LutherCorp) database to search for anything useful for that particular cause
Lena encourages Kara strongly to find a way to warn all aliens about the alien registration manifest being leaked - she inspired Kara to “blob”
When Lillian finds out Lena is pro-alien and helping find the abducted aliens, she has her goons try to scare her off (“nothing permanent” - the goons accidentally threw Lena off her balcony…) - even her own family sees how non-xenophobic Lena is
Lena sacrifices Jack (her former boyfriend and still potential romantically involved one) to save Supergirl (the alien) - and (rightfully) blames the human woman, who controlled Jack, for it
When Lena suspects and confirms Rhea to be an alien, she cuts ties with her - because Rhea lied to her, not because she’s an alien
Lena starts working with Rhea (confirmed alien) again - to help aliens who “weren’t as lucky” as Rhea’s people and to further and better Earth technologies; reduce environmental damages by infrastructure / good transports / traffic…. only to be betrayed by Rhea.
Lena learns Mon-El, Kara’s boyfriend, was Daxamite and has zero issues about it
Lena has no issue with Sam being half-alien, but with the Reign-half being a huge menace to Earth, so tries to stop her and save Sam
The DEO kept Kryptonite in case any of the Supers went rogue - like Batman and Oliver Queen kept theirs - Lena kept and created Kryptonite and Harun-El to …cure cancer; to fight against sicknesses, to use as a clean energy-source, to… do good things
…yes, she lied about it. But, her not-so-wrong reasoning was “if I tell, they will take it away. If they take it away, I won’t be able to do good with it.”
Lena rather had Supergirl drop her than chemicals that could have harmed thousands (human and alien)
Lena becomes quick allies and friends with Brainy (admitably, in many ways he’s more AI than alien…) and befriends Nia later on, too
What else does Lena do with her stash of Kryptonite and the knowledge she gained from it? When Mercy & Otis Graves irradiate Earth’s atmosphere with Kryptonite, Lena already has created an anti-Kryptonite suit for Supergirl and the fact it’s already at hand saves Supergirl’s life!
That’s only up to season four…
Yes, Lena did shitty stuff in season five. Arguably, for the right reasons, but ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’…
But were any of those things xenophobic?
The problem she has with Kara in season five is NOT because she’s an alien - but because she felt betrayed, personally.
Rightfully so? Eeeeeeeh…. while it surely must have hurt to learn your best friend lied to you and played two personalities, at times taking advantage of it, too - which, let’s be honest, Kara did - Kara did have her reasons (initially), it IS selfish for Lena to assume the worst and take the fact itself so personally.
But, everybody lives in their own world, I am sure - dear few readers, who took it upon yourselves to read this monster of a post - we can agree, that we all judge the world and others based on our own perceived reality, based on our own experiences, emotions and circumstance, whether we try to be better than that or not…
I’d even make the argument, Lena is more upset with her intimate friend “Kara” (whom she shared her most intimate thoughts and feelings with) having lied to her, than with “Supergirl” taking advantage of her. Being played, Lena can deal with, but trusting and seeing that trust shattered… low blow.
Please, correct me if I’m wrong, but to my knowledge, the only time Lena uses Kara being an alien against her, is when she uses and reworks the Fortress of Solitude’s already existing settings to trap Kara in there for long enough for herself to get a head-start on getting Myriad to work (how else was she supposed to achieve that?).
Myriad, which she wanted to use to STOP hate, including racism (xeno-cism?). Brainwashing everyone is most certainly a veeeeeeery misguided approach, but the premise of ending all hate and the resulting pain is very much like the notion of “praying for world peace” - just that Lena got sick of praying and decided to actually go ahead and do something about it ((again: notion good; (attempted) execution horrifying)).
Even Lena trapping Malefic was to that very end. She trapped Eve (human) as well on that line of thought. At the least, she offered Malefic a deal to his liking as payment…? Eve on the other hand….
If anything, Lena is people-phobic.
She has a hard time trusting anyone, remains suspicious to a fault.
…she did effectively kill Eve on Earth-38, though, by over-writing her with Hope.
Kara forgave her aunt, who came just as close, wanting to use Myriad for very similar purposes - and then forgave Lena, eventually, just as much. The difference being, Astra died. We never got to see if Astra would have actually stopped her plan, convinced Non, and/or would have aimed / worked hard to redeem herself…
In the same episode, where Lena’s attempts with Myriad failed (and Hope took the fall) Malefic, who had tried to murder multiple people as part of his revenge against his brother (and had targeted Kelly for a while, too) was set free by J'onn and sent to Mars to do good there.
The whole of National City forgave Supergirl (and her potential for going bad and for her causing actual destruction) only a week after the redK incident…
All that said:
1) Lena lied to Kara and played her. Sure, Lena felt betrayed and from her point of view, with her set of experiences and her own preexisting many traumas and (very bad) coping mechanisms, it was… well, understandable… or at least traceable. But, forgivable? That’s ultimately up for her victim (Kara) to decide. And, apparently, she does forgive her. Not easily. But she does; understands both sides, evaluates, listens to others, observes the remorse, and makes her own decision / judgement… which is (initially, tentative) forgiveness.
2) The show is REALLY BAD at dealing with characters’ actions’ or events’ consequences. Period. There is no real consistency, ‘cept that things don’t have real repercussions. That is how the writers decided to write the show from season one on. If the writers think Kara forgives Lena and show it, then that’s that.
3) Every time I read the notion that Lena was/is xenophobic, I can’t help but wonder if anyone who claims such even watched the show.
4) Lena is not her brother. She’s flawed. She makes mistakes. But for once, Lena and her character are suffering the consequences. That may not enough for the liking of Lena Luthor haters, or anti-Supercorp taggers, but it is what it is - and it is much more than most any actual bad guy had to suffer through. Bad guys with evil intentions, (mass) murderers, people (alien and human) that rationally caused lasting harm and/or trauma to their victims.
So, here’s my pitch for a Midvale show. It’s not a prequel, more of a retelling, because if the writters don’t care about the time space continuum, then neither do I.
Setting: Midvale (shocking, I know), a relatively small California-esque University town which has inadvertedly become the home of a Kryptonian.
Characters:
Kara Danvers: To the outside world, Kara is just a shy and awkward Junior at Midvale High. She’s sort of a mystery to most of the people of Midvale, she showed up one day, apparently out of nowhere, after being adopted by the Danvers. She has few friends and average grades, though she has come to excel in her English and Literature classes. Most of her fellow student’s just think of her as Alex Danver’s weird adoptive little sister.
Alex Danvers: A senior at Midvale High, she is smart, attractive and athletic. The teachers love her, she seems to be friends with almost everybody. She has a protective streak where it comes to Kara, but deep down still resents her for intruding on her life.
Eliza Danvers: Dr. Eliza Danvers is a very well respected member of the community, she works in bio-chemical research and is also a profesor at Midvale University. Her relationship with Alex has been strained for some time, specially since her husband Dr. Jeremiah Danverse, went missing a few years back.
Kenny Li: Kara’s best friend, he is an awkward nerd who found a kindred spirit in Kara. They spend most of their time together both in school and after class. He know’s there’s something different about Kara, but hasn’t quite put his finger on what it is yet. What he does know is that he is in love with his best friend and would go to the ends of the earth for her.
Lena Luthor: Lena was quietly asked to leave the prestigious catholic girls school she had been attending overseas after engaging in inmoral behaviour (she got caught making out with her friend Andrea in the washroom). Her mother, Lillian Luthor, managed to keep the situation quiet. Despite having taken college level clases already no prestigious higher learning institution will admit her without an actual High School Diploma. Testing out wasn’t an option, because that would just look terrible as far a s Lillian is concerned. She is enrolled as a senior in Midvale High under an alias (say, Tess Mercer? Lena Mercer? Anything but Thorul, really), despite being only 15, in order to complete her credits and graduate. She lives with an “aunt” on an old Luthor property in the outskirts of Midvale and mostly keeps to herself.
CJ Grant: Resently divorced and stumpted by Loise Lane’s rising star at the Daily Planet, she has temporarily relocated to Midvale in order to uncover the scoop of the century. The sudden drop in crimerates in this small town is way to reminicent of the happenings in Smallvile for such an astute reporter to not realize that there is more to Midvale than meets the eye.
The Plot:
Basically, Kara is put in situations that force her to use her powers in order to help those around her, CJ is constantly on her trail but has trouble finding and keeping evidence of the existance of a second Kryptonian. Kenny becomes aware of Kara’s powers and encourages her to do more with them. Alex is the very panicked voice of reason no one listens to. Kara is asked to tutor Lena on American History but Lena end’s up being the one filling in the blanks on Kara’s complete lack of knowledge on some very basic information. Sparks fly and we get a sorta will they won’t they thing while Kara juggles her life as a highscholl student with her activities as a secret vigilante.
For the longest time, Lena's life has been about structure, boundaries and rules. The freedoms of childhood stopped applying to her the moment she first arrived at Luthor manor, holding on to her stuffed bear like he was her last lifeline. There where rooms she was not allowed into, vases she wasn't supposed to touch, schedules and a particular order in which cutlery must be used and "do not interrupt father while he is in his study". Lilian expected her to know all this things, but she never had the patience to explain any of them, so Lena made mistakes. She used the wrong fork and engaged in conversation with the help. Once she even dared run up to father, who had just arrived home after a week long business trip, hoping to be picked up.
In a way, Lex became her guide in the maze that was the Luthor household. As a child, she would defer to him whenever she wasn't sure what the proper protocol was in any specific situation. He proved reliable, most of the time. He would kneel in front of her and in hushed tones instruct her on the names of her fathers associates, tell her who to address first, remind her to respectfully reject desert even if mother insisted. And yet, as an adult, Lena has become painfully aware of all the times her brother purposefully led her astray, dismissing her tears after being chastised by Lilian "well, now you know better".
School brought more rules, more schedules, more rigidity to her life. Lena thrived in that environment, she found comfort in knowing what to expect. School gave way to college, and Lena's array of rules and structures became mostly self-imposed, urged on by a mix of voices in her head which sometimes sounded like Lillian and sometimes sounded like the nuns from Sacred Heart, and even sometimes had the vague condescending tone that could only be attributed to Lex.
Jack, at least back when they started Spheerical Industries, was laid back enough to let her set make the rules. They worked, because Jack complied. Rules gave her structure, and structure allowed her to keep her boundaries in place; and though Jack would sometimes laugh at Lena's instructions to be at the lab at 8 am sharp or shake his head when she spent forty five minutes organising samples in alphanumerical order, he still woke up at the crack of dawn in order to be at work on time and stuck to the systems Lena set up. "Love, you do realise we are the only two employees of the company right? Do we really need an evacuation protocol in the event of catastrophic failure during testing?"
Turning Luthorcorp into L-Corp gave her a chance to do it all over again, this time in a company with considerably more than two employees. Rules and structure and boundaries, and she knew what to expect and when, until a certain reporter stepped into her office and defied all expectations.
Lena tried to fit Kara into her rules and her schedule and the structures she felt she needed to survive. "Did you notice it's the fourth time i a row we've had lunch at your office at 1:30 on a Friday?" But Kara couldn't really be restricted, she shone light and broke rules she had no idea she was breaking. "Never let anyone have full access to your office, sis". Lena let her, because she couldn't not let her in, she couldn't turn away from the sun.
As Lena left her office (Lex's office, really) for what she presumed would be the final time she had no idea, for the first time in god knows how long, what tomorrow would look like. The adrenaline that had motivated her through her confrontation with her brother was wearing down, and doubt began to seep in as the elevator reached Luthorcorp's lobby. She needed to get home, but did she even have a home to get back to? She couldn't remember if the deed to her penthouse was in her name or in the company's name or if, perhaps, in this clusterfuck of a post-crisis timeline, even in Lex's name.
Deep down inside she knew what she needed, she knew who she needed, but she couldn't let herself need it. She didn't know what was going to happen now, didn't know where to go, who to turn to, or what tomorrow would bring. Kara was... away. But Kara was the sun, and even in the face of the greatest of uncertainties one thing was, most definitely certain, the sun always rises tomorrow. "I'll get her back".
