《Raising a Mutant: A Young Superman (and friends) Hurt/Comfort Adoption Fic》Chapter 4: Anxiety
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The next morning, Mr. Kent took Lex out and showed him how to muck out the stables. Lex didn't mind—it was one of the chores they'd done out at the ranch in Montana. He lingered by the horse stalls, laughing as one picked up an apple from the flat of his hand.
Mr. Kent looked surprised when Lex already knew how to do the work. "Gotta say, Lex," he said, "I thought it would take you a couple months to get the hang of all this."
Lex's mouth went dry.
A couple months.
"My father's not staying in prison."
Mr. Kent's face reddened, then he said, softly, "Lex . . . he beat you."
"He's never beaten me." Well, once, when he'd really deserved it, but Lex didn't want to tell Mr. Kent about Julian.
"Then . . ." Mr. Kent's eyes wandered to the scrapes on Lex's head.
"It wasn't like that." His father had shaken him, and pushed him. It wasn't his fault that Lex had tripped into a display case. "It was an accident."
"The courts might not see it that way."
"But—but he can't stay in prison." Lex blinked back tears. "What about LuthorCorp?"
A split-second flash in Mr. Kent's eyes told Lex all he needed to know.
Mr. Kent was one of them. The people who hated his father.
Rage blurred the corners of his vision. "You want him to stay in prison!"
Mr. Kent's voice caught. "Lex—"
"No!" Lex stormed away and went over to sit on a hay bale, pulling his knees into his chest.
A few seconds later, the other side of the bale dipped slightly.
Lex buried his face in his knees. "Go away."
"I've met your father, Lex."
Lex pulled his legs in tighter. "You don't know anything."
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Mr. Kent let out a long, slow breath. "I know that not all pain is physical. I know your father isn't the type of man who would have to beat you in order to hurt you."
Lex didn't say anything. Some little part of him wondered if he was more scared to lose his father, or to have to return home. Lex was in for the worst punishment of his life when his father got out of prison, for screaming and alerting the neighbors when he fell. Maybe Lex could get out of being punished if his father really did stay in prison . . .
Lex winced. He couldn't think like that. His father was the only family he had left.
"Hey." Mr. Kent put a warm hand on his back. "You're gonna get to make a testimony. Just tell them the truth. Okay?"
"Okay." Lex slowly released his knees. Mr. Kent's hand moved to gently rub between his shoulder blades, the way Mrs. Kent had done the night before. The way his mother used to comfort him. Lex let his eyes fall closed.
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An invasion from another dimension is shut down by an Empire's traitor and the world has a scant few decades to build the strength to resist a multidimensional Empire. How will the world fair when no one even knows its doom is one barred gate away? Fortunately, the traitor has a plan. Maybe with a bit of luck and planning, he can build a force to defend the world without anyone realizing it. Author's Thoughts: What is litRPG (From wikipedia) - LitRPG, short for Literary Role Playing Game, is a literary genre combining the conventions of MMORPGs with science-fiction fantasy novels.[1] LitRPG is a literary genre where games or game-like challenges form an essential part of the story. A LitRPG work simultaneously narrates the story of characters inside and outside of the game-world. At least some of the characters in a LitRPG novel therefore understand that they are playing a game: they are 'meta-aware'. So, while Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is a fantasy novel, a book about people creating avatars and interacting in a Lord of the Rings MMORPG would be a LitRPG novel.Why do I read them? You know, I am not too sure. I love MMOs. I played them, quit them, joined up and repeated the cycle. They are fun! They are a massive waste of time but so are most games. Do I want to read about someone else playing them? Sort of?The advent of VR and the possibility of VR someday becoming so immersive that you can't tell them from reality sets the imagination on fire. What if this could be life? But most stories fall short. At the end of the day the protagonist hangs up his VR helmet and goes to have dinner with his mom and dad or other family and it becomes meaningless. It's like the story that ends because the main character woke up and nothing you read matters.There have been some books that explore the concept of the intersection of reality and total immersion VR. Enders Game is a classic. There were a few others that escape me but they exist, however, the cross between the game and reality is weak.So what if the game was real? The technology needed for total immersion VR is so advanced that by the time we reach that goal technology should have naturally evolved to include several items. You must have direct neural input. You simply can't have a total immersion (all senses and perfect presence) experience without this basic prerequisite. If you have direct neural access, you can probably do neat things like feed knowledge and skills directly to that person. You can undoubtedly do many horrible things as well. Muscles are controlled by the brain. If you control the brain why would you let the body just sit there and rot? A person that sits unmoving for 24 hours a day will have their body whither away just like a coma patient. However, if you control the brain you could control the muscles. On a basic level, this would be isometric impulses, working muscle group against muscle group to avoid atrophy. Taken to its logical conclusion you would be able to gain muscle mass and program muscle memory. The flip side is that you could remote control their body... but let's not go there. So what would people do if it were real? Well, they would probably limit and regulate it since the drawbacks are very obvious. Even if you look at the basic aspects of this you can see some negative possibilities. Look at the Sword Art Online anime. Personally, I think they missed the boat by putting a bomb in the VR helmet. Do you really need a bomb when you have direct access to the brain?So what kind of events would you need to have a situation where the obvious drawbacks haven't been explored? Maybe a society where the advancement of technology has so far outstripped the explorations of its applications that ignorance was truly bliss? Okay, so I had to put in an alien invasion to kickstart the premise, but that was just one of the possibilities.
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You can join my Discord here. Keynes Kid is gifted with a photographic memory and being several months away from receiving Level 1, and a Talent, he finds himself in the center of attention of people who want to shape his Talent. If they can get him an intelligence related Talent, they will hit a jackpot. The Talent Unlocking ceremony finally comes and Keynes Kid receives… Error… Anomaly (What?) His new talent is… useless. Why then does the World Government want Keynes so badly they will silence anyone who knows about his Talent? At the same time... Somewhere in the Universe, ancient beings stir from their slumber, awoken by the system alert and the wall of glaring red warnings. Their greatest fear just manifested and they are hell-bent on erasing it from existence. -------- It is a slow-development story, so you won't find the MC with super powers at the beginning. -------- It is a coming of age story and focuses on a Talent system (in the beginning) with several additions that bring to the table upgrading of a planet’s tier and such (a bit later). There will be quite an amount of rebuilding society as new, unknown resources enter the economy, and a lot of travelling, delving and naturally, unlocking the secrets of the Universe. As for the setting, the story starts in XXI century, which technology-wise isn't much different from what we have now, but it is enhanced by magic associated with Talents. This allowed the humankind to colonize the solar system, but the technology that allows for interstellar travel doesn't exist (yet). Because it’s my first attempt at LitRPG, please be forgiving but constructive. I hope you will enjoy the story! --- Cover by Daniel Gembus https://www.artstation.com/daniel_gembus instagram.com/danielgembus
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"how disrespectful of you""and?"...lust through the internet (this will contain sexual scenes)highest rank: #1 yugyeom#1 in jinyoung#2 in got7lowercase intended :)
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