the other hilarious side effect of the “Clark gives all of his closest friends and family Kryptonian names” thing is the admittedly unlikely but hilarious realization by one (1) Lex Luthor that Bruce Wayne has a personally-gifted Kryptonian name from Superman and not him.
How I felt being awake at 3 am last night pouring over Doyle's Kryptonian language guide to write something that will at most show up in the story twice and will be translated anyways for the normal reader
Also how tf does that fuckass dictionary not have the noun form of Dream? Head in hands you gotta do shit by yourself.
The first thing she noticed was that she was surrounded by large yellow things. They sat atop green stalks. Plants her brain helpfully supplied.
Strange, beautiful alien flowers.
They reminded her of a ring of gold, of a star swallowed by a black hole, of her mother’s eyes.
She hoped to the high council that they were not poisonous to touch. She crawled out of the shadow of her ship's burning wreckage. She stretched her hand out into the light of the foreign planet’s sun.
Oh, it was so warm.
this is a drawing from a fic I've written. its called Cracked Sunflowers.
I don't know Kara Zor-El that well as a character. but essentially the plot is that she arrives on earth on time.
fair warning, I deal with cultural misunderstandings, kryptonian culture and kryptonian biology.
I wanted to make them kind of weird aliens, I made them weird aliens. I have way to much fun worldbuilding.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
We happily blame the SBEW discord for helping me cook up the funniest ideas, one of which is Bruce is unwittingly getting called in by The Call to help other planets, one that happens to have a very handsome Kryptonian.
The fantastic art that comes with it! By @gh0stsh4rk! Their Kal comes with a beautiful tail and my favorite hc, Avian Kryptonians 🤩 so you can see why I had to do this. And Kal is just hiding his tail in the second image.
💬 0 🔁 5 ❤️ 48 · I’ve been contemplating Kryptonians as an avian species which is what has lead me to tails for stability and the idea that
Also as an extra treat! Kori with a tail from @longingforthecosmos. This was not done for the story, but I remembered this and went, ‘It’s perfect since Krypton and Tamaran are in the same galaxy!’
“She paid it no attention, her focus on the bright yellow rays that fell softly upon her. Lynn reached out, shielding her eyes from the blinding beams of light in the process, as if to catch them in her grasp. Her other hand laid above her stomach wound, staining her fingers a deep scarlet.
She took a shallow breath, her mind going fuzzy on the edges, and gave herself a moment to simply soak in the heat of the native sun, ignoring the pain for a short moment. She didn't have much time left, she could feel it. Her injuries were too numerous and too deep to be treated on a foreign planet.
Her eyes fluttered shut, once, twice, barely processing the sound of a distant shout before finally succumbing to the darkness.”
Or, A new Kryptonian appears out of the blue, crash landing on the Kent Farm in dire condition. What are her connections to the last Kryptonians? And why is she so familiar with the House of El?
Chapter 1: 17 Ullhah 9820 | Sketch
Chapter 2: Emergencies
Chapter 3: Confirmations and Conversations
Chapter 4: Homecoming
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
I love you, fanfic authors! You put so much effort and time into creating stories!! ...that I binge read in a fraction of the time it took you to write them.
But sometimes, there are things that take me out of a story...
And this is one of them.
Whenever Kara is written to say “Oh my Rao” ....it just sounds / reads wrong (to me).
Rao is not the Kryptonian translation of the word “God”.
If you want to take it as a literal translation, it actually “means” sun, or rather, it’s the name of Krypton’s sun. It is also the name of one of Krypton’s gods - Kryptonians have many gods (a polytheism).
Rao is just their equivalent of Zeus or Odin or Jupiter or Dagda... their main God.
Or like Roman’s mythology’s “Sol” who is the Sun-God, where we derive anything “solar” from.
So, Rao is a name. Like Jesus. So, where “Oh, Jesus!” be correct, “Oh, Rao!” would suffice as well. On that note, the exclamation “Holy Rao!” would be legitimate.
Or if you want a more every day language example:
If you talk about a person in their function or concept, you talk about “my girlfriend” but once you talk about them by name you wouldn’t add “my” (unless you are talking to someone who happens to have a presumably different girlfriend by the same name... or you are Lena in the comics).
But to top it off:
Kara keeps saying “Oh my God” in the show.
...a lot, and many a time when she doesn’t have to pretend to be average human-Kara.
...just a few examples.
I swear, there was once a supercut of Kara saying “oh my God” in the first couple of seasons on yt, but I can’t find it anymore... And, yes, she did once or twice exclaim “Rao!” in it / in the show.
And I believe, there is a general reason that may go beyond Kara trying to fit in and therefore using a common English phrase...
Kara spent the first 12 years (half of her life), her informative years on Krypton, where their religion and science played a major role in their society and culture.
Like Kara still hardly ever curses on Earth, even though she had spent over a decade here and got influenced by the American language and attitude to some degrees, something tells me, it is against her nature to use Rao’s name in vain (too much).
The thing is, we don’t really need to “kryptonize” anything or everything.
“Oh my God”, “Golly”, “Rao!”, “Holy pancakes!”, “Shit..ake mushroom!”, ... there is a long list of viable options that neither break canon nor have Kara go OOC.
Sooo... I am not asking anyone to go back into their already written stories or wips and change this to humor me.
But I hope this may make you reconsider the usage of the phrase moving forward. Or stick with it. Your choice. I’m not your mom.
I’m back! After that extremely disappointing ending of the show we all love so much, I decided to give life to this idea that I had been cooking in my mind for a while, I’m still not sure where it will take us but I’m loving the way it’s turning out. Hence, here it is part of the first chapter, you can read it whole in AO3, please please let me know your thoughts and share if you like it. And please don’t let me drop it.
Read in AO3
Then
When Kara was a child, she used to do many things.
She used to go to Rao’s Temple, learning her people’s ways and their prayers. They had several meditation techniques to master, each of them meant to help them throughout different situations in life. She also used to learn the Code of Honor, practicing it every day and showing Kryptonian values proudly. She understood the value of :zrhythrevium and how everything Krypton did was for Kryptonians and their wellbeing.
She used to accompany her ukr, Zor-El, to his lab in the Science Guild, seeing him design tools and chemical compounds she could only dream of. Or walk down the streets of Argo City with ieiu holding her hand, showing her the city and how to behave in Kryptonian society.
Being from the prestigious house of El and being the only daughter of the head scientist of the Science Guild, and Allura In-Ze, head Judicator, no less, she always had an incredible thirst for science and knowledge.
And her parents always made sure to satisfy her enquiries.
“What’s this, ukr?” big blue eyes staring intently, questions swirling in them.
“That’s part of the air purification system, inah”, he would say, eyes never leaving the project agile hands were currently working on.
He could spend hours explaining things to her, about the different animal and plant species present in Krypton, even though a lot of them were already extinct by the time she was born; how their culture had created tools and technology that was unthinkable in other parts of the universe, he would explain the physical principles and mathematics behind each discovery and each question she asked was in kind responded.
It was in his lab, when he was building a propulsor for new military spacecrafts when she fell, playing with one of the many tools ukr kept there, and hit her head, leaving a small ident in her horsehead, between her eyebrows.
“Where are we going, ieiu?”, nose smushed against the glass, blue eyes studying outside. Her toddler hands were leaving faint stains on the window, but she couldn’t care less.
“rroshes kryp w Starhaven bim, :zrhueiao. We are in space”, her mother, crouched behind her would answer, barely above a whisper. Showing her the vastness and immensity of space, the possibilities of new worlds and realms, seemingly unimaginable. (We are going to Starhaven, love)
“Here Kara, I’m about to explain you how matter behaves…”, five-year-old Kara perched on his knee while he bounced her softly, cerulean giant blue eyes stared at a book, while wise and glimmering with excitement darker blue ones looked at her.
She was thirteen when it all ended.
A few weeks prior to her official investment into the Science Guild as the youngest member ever. When the alerts that had been blaring nonstop for a few months finally silenced.
But not because of salvation. It was the only warning before doom finally took place.
“Sitodh inah! kehpodh kryp w rrosh bim”, her ukr had woken her up in the middle of the night, the fear painted in his eyes was enough to spur Kara into action. Looking out the window she could see the sky painted the reddest color she had ever seen, pieces of the planet were raising into the air, as if pulled by zero gravity, before slamming back, tearing into pieces whatever was in their way, the beautiful forests and lakes were now covered in fires, lifting through cracks on the ground, making the tremors harder to sustain. (Wake up, inah! We have to go)
She ran down the stairs, pulled by her father, his hand grabbing her wrist in an iron-grip, if she hadn’t been utterly terrified, she would have complained from the pain.
She didn’t.
She followed her father blindly throughout the ruins of what once was an amazing-looking city, her home.
From the tall buildings with incredible technology, all that was left were scattered pieces. Having collapsed as a result from the constant tectonic movement that had been constantly increasing due to its core instability.
“There is no time, inah!”, her ukr’s yell pulled her from her new-found dreadful knowledge. He and her ieiu were crouched in front of her, eyes shimmering with unshed tears and lips trembling from fear.
“We are going to send you with Kal-El to a planet named Earth. Its yellow sun will give you incredible powers. Look after your cousin. ukiemodh kryp w rrip”, he rushed out, as fast as he could. Kara could barely make out the words before her parents were hugging her farewell. Allura slid her pendant around her inha’s neck, promising to accompany her always. (We love you)
There really wasn’t much she could do, was there?
The next moment they were watching Kal-El being launched in his pod, her aunt Lara and uncle Jor-El were clinging to each other, and she was trying to be brave, to keep her head up and show proudly the strong big girl her parents had raised. Her parents secured her in her own and then she was going.
When she turned around, after tense seconds of trying to will herself not to look, she knew what she would see; she could see her parents holding each other and waving. It lasted but a second and then the flames that had started erupting from the cracks on the ground became lava and just when she watched her cousin’s pod accelerate to the speed of light, Krypton vanished. All the drifting pieces of her homeplace suddenly stopped drifting away, before rapidly coming together into one last big explosion, taking away everything she ever knew, a memory she’ll be the only one capable of keeping alive.
Argo City and Kandor, those waterfalls and lakes her parents had taken her to so many times, gone. Those dreamland landscapes and the wide variety of species, history that existed only in her memories. It all turned into space ash and little else after an explosion that shook her pod off-course and into the Phantom Zone.
There were many theories as to how the Phantom Zone had come to be, either the collision of two massive blackholes, or an antimatter field that blocked outside matter to follow the flow of time. It didn’t really matter, she was stuck, seeing her parents’ crying faces as they said their farewells, the collapse of it all, and the explosion that ended her world, her people, over and over.
-----
Three-year-old Lena was very curious.
And Moma was always there to answer every question, and gifting her with kissies of course. Moma knew it all, or at least that’s what baby Lena thought, because whenever she had a question, she’d answer with certainty in those green eyes she also saw in the mirror, a tingle of amusement and love always present, the endless patience she gifted Lena.
“Why is the sky blue?”, forest green eyes were squinting at the beautiful blue of an Irish sunny summer, the breeze ruffling her jet-black hair and getting it into her big eyes. A small chubby hand trying to cover them from the blinding light.
“Because of the atmosphere. It has many gases that scatter the light and make it look blue”, she would answer, patiently, lovingly, darker green eyes also squinting at the sun while a slender hand squeezed her shoulder, a kiss was then pressed to her temple, the most tender smile she ever saw, painted in Moma’s face.
“What is the sun?”, this one was very common, and Lena’s curiosity was never sated, space, stars, planets, she always wanted to know more about things she could barely grasp at such young age, always eager to learn and discover, question after question that needed a deserving and clear answer.
“Is a star. Stars are big mases of gas that are constantly burning in its surface, that’s why we can see them”, it was the standard answer, because Lena was very very smart but she was still young and had so much to learn, and she still didn’t know it, but her Moma was proud of her, extremely proud, so much that she’d always talk proudly about her little girl whenever they went to the store or to the park, in that Irish accent she associated with home.
They had a simple life, it was just them, living adventures. Her mother would often take her outside and explore, doing small experiments with her and always inciting the young girl to ask, to know. She always found opportunities to teach the girl something, like why plants where green and why people said you had to sing to them.
“They are green because of chlorophyll, it’s a substance that allow plants to store solar energy. They convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, that’s why they are vital for life”, she had said, ripping a piece of grass and showing it to Lena under a home-made microscope, so she could appreciate the small brick-like cells in them.
“Why does soap make bubbles?”, Lena was in the bath, shaking her hands in the water and making more and more bubbles, filling their bathroom with the colorful floating spheres. Her mother sunk one hand into the water and then blew a bubble using her fingers as mold.
“Superficial tension. There is water between soap molecules. And the circle is the simplest and most natural shape of all”, her answer was given in a serious voice, conspiratorially, and Lena laughed a full-belly laugh.
She didn’t laugh a lot after that.
A few days after the bubble experiment, it was successful according to Lena’s notes, her mother took her to the beach, in a lake, its blue-greenish waters were translucid and near the shore, small fishes could be spotted, swimming carelessly. It was a sunny summer day, they had a picnic with all of Lena’s favorites, there was apple juice and baguettes, grapes and pineapple. Her mother read her a story about a young man and a young woman, whose families hated each other but who still chose to be together, despite what others told them, their love was stronger, and she told Lena to never give up on her dreams, she’d always be with her.
They swam, built sandcastles and took sunbaths.
“Always put on sunscreen, UV rays can damage your cells”, she had said
It was perfect.
Until it wasn’t.
Moma said she would go for a short swim before packing up and returning to their house, Lena saw her go into the water, her pale skin glimmering with the sun, her slender figure disappearing into the small waves, but she didn’t worry, Moma was an excellent swimmer. Lena was designing a bigger door for her last sandcastle, very preoccupied with its architecture, and she waited.
And waited.
When the last sunrays hid in the horizon, the pink hues of the sky turning into deep oranges and reds, until finally stars appeared on the sky Lena knew that Moma wasn’t going to come back, she couldn’t do much but wait by the shore, her tiny body trembling with the small wind currents, a dreadful pain and fear settling deep into the pit of her stomach, making her small body heavier than ever.
Hours later someone found her and called the police. Rescuers came and a lot of questions were asked but, for the first time ever, she didn’t know the answer and her mother couldn’t provide them for her.
She didn’t even last a full day in the orphanage before an elegant-looking and clearly wealthy man came for her, he had strong features and cold blue eyes, but those seemed to warm up a little at the sight of her, with her teddy bear clutched into her tiny fist. She was taken in a Bentley to the airport and then to the United States in a private jet, she didn’t like the amount of luxury, it made her nervous and worried. The house she was taken to was huge and scary, but maybe her new family would be nice.
They weren’t, Lena realized quickly.
Lillian, her horrendous stepmother, hated her. At first, Lena thought it was because she was new and didn’t know the rules of the house, but she tried to behave properly, Moma had taught her manners after all. Nothing seemed to be enough, though. Lillian would criticize her and yell, those icy blue eyes became her worst nightmare and haunted her at nights, hidden under the blankets she’d crush her teddy bear and beg the universe for her Moma to come back and take her away from the punishments and fear Lillian made her go through. She didn’t usually hit her, but it didn’t make it better, she’d punish her by standing outside in the cold, or having to shower with cold water, and all those dreams of sunny days became further and further a memory.
And then, there was Lex.
Her older brother used to praise her and read her bedtime stories when she first arrived at the house, making her feel less lonely. That was, until she beat him in chess for the first time, at the age of six, after that, the mask fell and her brother showed his true colors. Whenever she’d do something and show him, seeking recognition, he’d mock her, or yell, telling her how dumb she was and how little she was destined to accomplish. Sometimes, he would even pull her hair or push her against walls. The worst part was that he always sided with Lillian helping her make her life a living hell.
It wasn’t entirely bad though; he had his good moments.
Like that time she was building her first propulsor, many books were open around her, covering every possible surface in her enormous bedroom, tools were scattered on the bed and the floor, pieces of equipment and components thrown over her desk, and in the middle the prototype sat. It was meant to be similar to a jet pack with the controls being easier to access and like to a neuronal network that didn’t rely on using her hands to control them. It was incredible and Lex told her so.
“Amazing, sis, I guess I was wrong about you and there is something worthy about you”, he had said, a wicked smile covering his face and she felt her tiny heart swell with affection at the well-deserved compliment, she wanted to impress her big brother, she wanted him to care for her the way he used to. But he was manipulative.
“However…”, Lex waited for a couple dramatic seconds before lashing out with the full force of his hatred “it is completely useless” he slammed the prototype, making it fall into the ground and then gave her advice “if you really want to impress me, you might want to increase its potency, making it capable of turning fuel into energy”
And she did, only to have it taken from her so Lex could use it for God knew what, he showed some time later to yell at her for not being able of doing something more powerful, spit covering her tiny face, his smelly breath clouding her senses.
It was just the beginning; she just didn’t know.
Only Lionel ever showed her affection and it was only on rare occasions, whenever he wasn’t drinking his weight in alcohol or on a business trip. He showed her the only amount of affection she would receive for years, praising her brilliant mind, and always helping her accomplish more. Like her fifth birthday when he gifted her first chemistry set, and smuggled candy into her room. Albeit those moments were few and scarce in between, it made her feel human and loved, helping her cope with her new living conditions.
She was always his favorite. Maybe because she reminded him of her Irish love.
It only fueled Lillian’s hate.
“What do you think you’re doing with those clothes?”, she sneered. Icy-blue eyes staring her down, hate simmering in them like a snake at its pray. “You look like a homeless child, dress properly, you’re a Luthor now”, she waved her hand dismissively, not before throwing a scowl in her direction, disdain clear in her stone-cold mask.
“You have zero class, Lena, dear”, she would stand from the table and slap Lena’s cheek once before siting again and cleaning her hands as if nothing had happened, all regal and poised, sending her to her room without dinner or to help in the kitchen to ‘value what you’re given’. It were those nights when she could find relief and safety, the staff of the manor loved her, if not pitied her, and they were always eager to let her help, teaching her to cook and giving her some snacks here and there to make sure she ingested the amount of calories needed for her age. They would even let her listen to music and they were the only ones who gifted her birthday cake every terrible year she spent there.
Lillian, however, could go endlessly for hours, Lena often wondered how the woman didn’t run out of saliva.
And one day, after selling God-knows what idea to Lionel, she managed to convince him to send Lena to a public high school in the middle of Nowhere-land, so she could appreciate all that was being given to her, honestly, that excuse was starting to get old, in Lena’s opinion. In reality, it was just a low-blow attempt to temper her obviously bright mind, she had just beaten Lex for the nth time at chess last night and even outstand him with her prototypes and experiments, and Lillian, tired of seeing her boy lose and already hating the raven-haired girl her husband brought home, took the chance to get rid of her. Since Lena had just ended her middle-school studies, top of her class and two years ahead, it was the perfect timing for Lillian.
-----
Beep…beep…the constant sound of life-support, the only reason she breathed for years, numbing, endless as the space confinement she found herself in, the deafening silence driving her further and further away from reason and logic.
When her pod finally, finally, landed, everything was a bigger mess she could have imagined. At first her head ached and she was severely disoriented, the light was really bright and Rao! What are all those sounds? And the smell, it was like nothing she had ever smelled before, on Krypton, there were sweet smells and sour ones, somewhere bittersweet and everything was so green!
Before she could find out, though, the top of her pod was being covered by the shadow of a towering figure of a man in a red and blue suit with her house crest.
She didn’t recognize him, he had uncle Jor-El’s profile but his green eyes, those were Aunt Lara’s. She must’ve spent more time in the Phantom Zone than she thought. A lump formed in her throat. Fear and disappointment started building in her body, choking her, her hand clutching the necklace ieiu put on her neck, the only thing she had of rurrelahs, before her pod left the death remains of her world. Forgotten to everyone but her, the only true daughter of Krypton.
“Kal-El?”, she breathed, voice trembling, ocean blue eyes flashing with a whirlwind of emotions. She was smart but she didn’t want to understand the situation, she didn’t want to see Kal-El not needing her anymore, her whole purpose, lost.
“Kara?”, his green eyes widening comically, it definitely would have been in any other circumstances. She nodded. He didn’t seem to be able to place her entirely, he was only a baby the last time they saw each other.
“ta-nahn kryp?”, she croaked, it was desperate, she was relieved, but only just, she had seen her planet blow off, repeatedly for years and it had taken a toll on her. She still felt disoriented and so lost that it took her a while to notice that Kal-El was watching her questioningly. (Where are we?)
