(no subject)

[jonathan_kent]

A young man sits on one of the many couches in the Forum, and sighs at a notebook in his hands. The page is full of scribbled-out text, pages and pages of it. The pages are dog-eared and a bit ragged, indicating he's been using this notebook for a while.

"How can it be this hard to think of a good name for a secret identity?"

Comments

[brave_heart_verity]

And yet, he's volunteering for the lifestyle. Did he ever really have a choice?

"Yeah. Honestly, I don't even know what his power is supposed to be. All I know is, headache city." They can move on to some nicer, newer pictures. Lots of sleek designs and no pouches. The Avengers could look pretty slick when they wanted to, and the X-Men offer some good ideas on how to do variations on a theme. Sometimes.

[jonathan_kent]

He looks at the next pictures with a lot more interest, now that they're moving past the weird stuff. "This looks a lot better. For the most part."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Mm. For the most part?" There's a severe lack of capes in the 616. Is that the problem?

[jonathan_kent]

"There are a lot of people not wearing masks," he explains. "Going maskless isn't always the worst move, but it's not an extremely popular one back home."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Ah. Well, after Registration, most of these people had to reveal their identities. No point in wearing a mask then. They did used to, most of them. What kind of mask would you want? Just around the eyes, or a full helmet?"

[jonathan_kent]

"I don't know. My dad goes maskless - he wears glasses when he's 'normal' - but I don't know if I could pull that off. The domino mask is a pretty popular choice but it doesn't hide much either. Then again, going barefaced means people might trust you more." He's put a lot of thought into this, and he's still just as conflicted about it as he was before.

[brave_heart_verity]

"I dunno, I think you'd be cute in the right glasses. But I'm biased when it comes to a good set of frames." And when it comes to people not wearing masks, but her issues are hardly something he should worry about when it comes to his heroing identity.

[jonathan_kent]

Jon smiles at the compliment. "Yeah, but then there's the problem where everyone I've interacted with in the last few years would see superhero-me and know who it is. Dad started planning his strategy years in advance, so he got a good excuse to start wearing glasses relatively early and kept with it long enough that most people don't remember how he looks without them anymore."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Hmm. Maybe you could do the reverse. Wear the glasses when you're superheroing, and grow a beard, and be Hipsterman!" This would be a very serious suggestion, except for the part here where she's smirking.

[jonathan_kent]

"Well I do own plaid flannel shirts..." Jon says, as straight-faced as he can, though he can't quite hide the grin. "I blame Dad. Again."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Your father must be a very stylish man."

Which begs the question... "What does his costume look like?"

[jonathan_kent]

"Only when Mom has a say in his wardrobe. She designs clothes for a living, among other things."

As it happens, Jon has a picture or two of Superman on his rather futuristic smartphone. Nothing incriminating of course, just in case the phone falls into the wrong hands, but they're good shots all the same. His favorite, which he shows to her, is of Superman standing on the roof of the Daily Planet looking out over the city. "He let them use this one for publicity stuff when he started letting people see him."

[brave_heart_verity]

"'Among other things'? I'm having a hard time understanding how she has time for that and raising superbabies." Motherhood is a daunting not-gonna-happen in Verity's life.

She leans over a bit to look at the picture. "Hmm. Very... primary. What if you reversed the red and blue?"

[jonathan_kent]

"Blue cape, mostly red body? It'd be a bit weird, but I think if the lines were a bit different, it'd work pretty well."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Would it be weird because it's weird, or because it's different than what you're used to seeing?"

[jonathan_kent]

"Because it's different," he clarifies. "Supergirl used the same color pattern Dad does. Superboy does his a bit different though. Same color on the chest, but all red legs and a black motorcycle jacket. Sometimes goggles, depending on the day."

I want to put him in a Samaritan cape. So much. bit.ly/1PcVjJ3

[brave_heart_verity]

"Ah. Yeah. It would take some getting used to. Maybe if you do something different with the cape?"

That looks cool but very impractical XD

[jonathan_kent]

He nods, looking thoughtful. "I can always ask Mom for ideas. Or my grandma. She's actually the one who made Dad's for him."

Astro City has amazing character designs. If you've never read it, I highly recommend it.

[brave_heart_verity]

Verity's quiet for a moment before she has to admit, "That's adorable. Yeah, you should ask them to do this, not randos like me."

[jonathan_kent]

Jon laughs, not embarrassed to be asking his mom and grandma to makes clothes for him. "Hey, it's almost never a bad idea to get some outside perspective."

[brave_heart_verity]

Her mom gave up on her a long time ago, and her grandmothers died when she was little. It's not a pleasure she's ever been able to indulge in, but she was being serious: it's adorable. "True, but I really don't want your mom showing up wondering who gave you crazy ideas. I mean, I have to live here, I wouldn't be able to hide from a telepath for long."

[jonathan_kent]

"Oh believe me, fashion advice isn't even close to the weirdest ideas I've brought home from the multiverse. LOLs kind of trump that anyway. Apparently I was wary of ducks for years." He's not making that up, either.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Ducks. Why ducks?" One good thing about her curse: she can spot the LOLs pretty quick. One bad thing bout the curse: when she can't, she's going to end up having a mental breakdown.

[jonathan_kent]

"I don't know. It was covered with genderswap fairy dust or something. I don't really remember, I was a toddler at the time."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Huh. Yeah, I'd probably have been scared of ducks too after something like that."