(no subject)

[greenygal]

Yeah, so caia_comica and I were talking about the sometimes complicated relationship of Hal Jordan and his Silver Age sidekick Tom Kalmaku. And I committed ficlet.

***

Tegra Kalmaku knows that her husband loves her. He shows it constantly--in the warm, sleepy smiles he gives her over the breakfast table, the way he runs his fingers through her ruthlessly plain hair, the hours he works to give her all the things he thinks she ought to have. He cares for her as much, as deeply, as she does for him; there's never been a moment when he's made her believe otherwise.

But when she sees him with his friend, his pilot, his hero--it's hard. Hard watching the shining light in his face, the way his every look and movement is oriented towards the other man. She'll quietly absent herself from the room, with only the barest of acknowledgments from her distracted husband. She has no part in what's between them.

Tegra knows her husband loves her. But she knows, too, who it is he worships.

Comments

[caia-comica.livejournal.com]

Yay! You posted!

Still like this. Even deslashed. :)

[greenygal.livejournal.com]

And look at the attention it appears to be attracting...

(Gee. What's going to happen if I do write slash?)

[askollieandhal.livejournal.com]

Oh, god. Did you write slash about Hal and Tom?

Oh, that's just disturbing.

[askollieandhal.livejournal.com]

I don't understand. A story about us fighting a serial killer?

[askollieandhal.livejournal.com]

Yes, Hal. That's exactly right. This person wrote a slasher about you and Tom.

You just keep thinking that. It'll be better that way for everyone.

[greenygal.livejournal.com]

Me? No, I wrote about the emotional relationship of a sidekick to his hero, and how his wife feels about it. You're free to read into it whatever you please--do you have some reason for picking that interpretation, based on what you know about them? Hmm? *smiles brightly*

(Really, when I slash them, you'll know.)

[askollieandhal.livejournal.com]

No, no... I may be a bit defensive as a result of some of the other stuff I've seen between Hal and me online. Somewhere, people have neglected to notice that I like the ladies. A lot.

(So does Hal... but he's not as completely obvious about it as I am.)

[greenygal.livejournal.com]

I think he might have had more girlfriends than you, actually. Though I'd have to sit down and count to be sure--you do have more of a tendency to have random women inserted into your backstory.

And I'm aware that you like women, Ollie. I've spent plenty of time in your bedroom making that observation. I would never dream of portraying you as gay (except in that one AU, but you don't want to hear about that). A repressed bisexual, on the other hand...well, it's certainly a thought now, isn't it? *smiles even more brightly*

[askollieandhal.livejournal.com]

Not really.

I prefer to save my energy for women. If I was with a man... even if that sort of thing revved my engines, so to speak... I'd have that much less energy to go wrestle women with.

[greenygal.livejournal.com]

Riiiight, because you've been doing so much in that area lately. ;) What with your girlfriend who lives on the other side of the country and has now broken up with you, and your single solitary attempt to hook up with someone else, which didn't exactly end well, now did it? Honestly, if you just want sex you really might do better to take up with Hal when he gets resurrected--he's probably not going to die again anytime soon, the travel time wouldn't be an issue, and he'll apparently forgive you anything, up to and including trying to kill him. Admittedly you'd have to convince him of the idea, but hey, isn't that what your relationship's all about? *g*

[illmantrim.livejournal.com]

veryyyyy cool!

[greenygal.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[kerithwyn.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, nice. :)

*wonders, abstractly, if Molly or Joan ever feels this way*

[greenygal.livejournal.com]

In the general, maybe, if not the specifics. It isn't so much another actual person as a whole part of their husband's life that excludes them--but then, that's an issue for any super-hero/civilian pairing, and actually I think it's more likely to trouble Wendi Tyler than Joan and Molly. (Or poor Inza Nelson, who half the time really is married to someone else entirely.) Tegra's also got the problem that her husband really is keeping a big secret from her, and--in this interpretation of her--she's picking up on that. The JSA spouses at least know about the superhero thing. And Jay in particular does his best to tell Joan everything he can.

(Side note: I just read the original issues where Barry tells Iris about his identity. I noticed two things: one, that revelation was brought on by encouragement from Joan and Jay--and more Joan than Jay. Two, Iris is so wonderfully undisturbed about the whole thing. "Oh, that? Yes, I knew all along, but it seemed so important to you to keep it a secret, so I just played along...")

[badficwriter.livejournal.com]

I thought the revelation was much more layered in Mark Waid's rewrite of it for 'The Life Story of the Flash'.

::bitter that she does not have the original issues to compare::

Really, really think Iris was doing the passive-aggressive thing there though.

Good ficlet/ficbit/dribble/drabble/driblet!

[greenygal.livejournal.com]

I thought the revelation was much more layered in Mark Waid's rewrite of it for 'The Life Story of the Flash'.

Oh, yeah--Mark threw in everything but the kitchen sink to try and make that sound more plausible. Barry still doesn't come off looking wonderful, but at least he's got reasons.

::bitter that she does not have the original issues to compare::

Here (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v124/Greenygal/Flash174-27.jpg) is the relevant scene.

Good ficlet/ficbit/dribble/drabble/driblet!

Thanks!

[samy.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't call that a ficlet. That's merely your view/opinion, described. It's closer to an essay or academic paper than a story; you're disserting what you think of the relationship; it comes off as if you're just talking to a friend and are describing to them what you think of Pie and Tegra's relationship, and nothing more.

I'd call this an essaylet.

I'm not sure I agree with the portrayal though. I could see this situation between Bruce, Dick and Barbara, yes. But Hal and Tom's relationship in my eyes at least has never been that close. I don't think I've ever really seen anything that suggests Tom *worships* Hal, they've had more of a buddy relationship IMO -- more akin to something that Rick Jones has had with Bruce Banner or the two Captains. Not something I'd call worship.

But I'll cheerfully admit to not having read every Pie story out there.

[samy.livejournal.com]

Amend: Banner and Captain Marvel, at least. With Captain America, Rick did start to verge a little into the worship territory.

[greenygal.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't call that a ficlet.

*blinks* Well...then I think we'll have to agree to disagree. It's a vignette written from Tegra's viewpoint in third-person present-tense, in which she describes how she sees her relationship with Tom and Tom's relationship with Hal. I don't see where it's not a ficlet--I was avoiding the word "drabble" in a fit of literal-mindedness about word count--because it doesn't have plot or dialogue. If I'd meant it to be an essay I would have written it differently. (And would have spent rather less time hunting for the right phrases...)

I could see this situation between Bruce, Dick and Barbara, yes.

I wouldn't use the word "worship" with that relationship--at least, not at a point when Dick would be of an age for Babs to be interested--but yes, I know what you mean there, and somebody probably has written that one.

But Hal and Tom's relationship in my eyes at least has never been that close. I don't think I've ever really seen anything that suggests Tom *worships* Hal, they've had more of a buddy relationship IMO -- more akin to something that Rick Jones has had with Bruce Banner or the two Captains. Not something I'd call worship.

Possibly I ought to put a timing note at the top, because it actually does make a difference in my head that this is very early Ferris Aviation-era Tom (it's before the birth of the kids, for one thing, which I assume would make a shift in the priorities of both Kalmakus). Tom mostly grew out of "Green Lantern is just so amazing" and the relationship adjusted accordingly, but you can still see bits of that later on, and it's all over the place in LEGACY. (Which is really a Tegra viewpoint that needs telling...)