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SV "What If" Game
Edited to rename my game now that it is famous all over teh internets, since "an SV Game/Poll Thingy" doesn't scan quite as well.
I have one of those extremely tedious projects at work that require, for sanity, an lj break every half hour or so, so it seems like a good time to play a game.
So here's the premise: the SV fairy has appeared to you and offered you the opportunity to travel to the SV-verse, temporarily, to improve Smallville and/or the lives of the characters in any way you see fit. There are rules, however. You can either (1)have one conversation with one character (and only one character), time length up to one hour, at any point in the timeline OR (2) you can change one event, but not speak to anyone.
--If you choose the conversation, you can talk to anyone at any point in their timeline, but you have to be yourself (mysterious stranger); you can't, for example, be Clark to talk to Lex. You can, however, be a mysterious stranger who knows the future; you just can't hang around more than an hour to show that your predictions were accurate.
--If you choose changing an event, you have a fair amount of power--let's say the limit of your power is that of a meteor mutant--but you can only change one event, and you can't speak to anyone. So, for example, if your goal was to prevent Jodi from becoming a fat-sucker in "Craving," you could either magically prevent her father's greenhouse from being salted with kryptonite OR you could have a conversation warning her, but you couldn't do both. If you wanted to save Jonathan's life in "Reckoning," you could have a conversation with Clark or you could blow up the Fortress of Solitude (if you think that would help) OR you could puncture Jonathan's tires so he never has the encounter with Lionel, but you could only do ONE of those things, not all of them. If you want to redirect the meteors in the first meteor shower to squash Lana, you can do that, but you can't then talk to Clark to get him to wait on Loeb bridge so he saves Lex's life even though he no longer has Lana to moon over and so he may not end up there on his own.
SO:
What is your goal?
What are you going to do to accomplish it, given the constraints on your powers?
What do you think the effect of your change will be?
What might be the unintended consequences?
For example, here's mine.
What is your goal?
I want Lex NOT to become an evil monster whose sociopathy exceeds Lionel's. It turns out I want that even more than I want Clark and Lex to get together.
What are you going to do to accomplish it, given the constraints on your powers?
After much thought about this, I think what I would do is appear to Lillian a couple days before she kills Julian and HEAL HER with my magical kryptomutant powers.
What do you think the effect of your change will be?
Even though I don't get to talk to her, my hope is that healing her would cover both her post-partum psychosis (to which I am attributing her desire to kill Julian) AND her heart condition, so she would live and continue to be a countering influence on Lex. I think by the time Lex gets to Smallville it's really too late for him to really change; he's too fucked up already. My hope is that if Lillian is not sucked down into despair because of her mortal illness, she would actually be able to support Lex in not becoming like his dad. And Lex would still have a little brother, who he clearly loved a lot, so that would give him motivation to try to be a good person and set a good example.
What might be the unintended consequences?
Well, Lillian might already be so damaged that she would still kill Julian, and maybe this time Lionel would catch her and she'd go to prison or be locked in an asylum, which probably would NOT make things better for Lex. Or maybe she wouldn't be caught, but she'd live, and instead of being Lex's dead model of goodness, she'd be the psycho-mom he was protecting, and that could get ugly and he might go evil earlier. Or maybe none of that would happen but instead Lionel would succeed in molding Julian to be the heir he wanted Lex to be, and instead of Lex being the evil genius he'd be locked in an eternal struggle with his brother the evil genius.
So, does anyone else want to play, or did I make the rules too complicated?
I have one of those extremely tedious projects at work that require, for sanity, an lj break every half hour or so, so it seems like a good time to play a game.
So here's the premise: the SV fairy has appeared to you and offered you the opportunity to travel to the SV-verse, temporarily, to improve Smallville and/or the lives of the characters in any way you see fit. There are rules, however. You can either (1)have one conversation with one character (and only one character), time length up to one hour, at any point in the timeline OR (2) you can change one event, but not speak to anyone.
--If you choose the conversation, you can talk to anyone at any point in their timeline, but you have to be yourself (mysterious stranger); you can't, for example, be Clark to talk to Lex. You can, however, be a mysterious stranger who knows the future; you just can't hang around more than an hour to show that your predictions were accurate.
--If you choose changing an event, you have a fair amount of power--let's say the limit of your power is that of a meteor mutant--but you can only change one event, and you can't speak to anyone. So, for example, if your goal was to prevent Jodi from becoming a fat-sucker in "Craving," you could either magically prevent her father's greenhouse from being salted with kryptonite OR you could have a conversation warning her, but you couldn't do both. If you wanted to save Jonathan's life in "Reckoning," you could have a conversation with Clark or you could blow up the Fortress of Solitude (if you think that would help) OR you could puncture Jonathan's tires so he never has the encounter with Lionel, but you could only do ONE of those things, not all of them. If you want to redirect the meteors in the first meteor shower to squash Lana, you can do that, but you can't then talk to Clark to get him to wait on Loeb bridge so he saves Lex's life even though he no longer has Lana to moon over and so he may not end up there on his own.
SO:
What is your goal?
What are you going to do to accomplish it, given the constraints on your powers?
What do you think the effect of your change will be?
What might be the unintended consequences?
For example, here's mine.
What is your goal?
I want Lex NOT to become an evil monster whose sociopathy exceeds Lionel's. It turns out I want that even more than I want Clark and Lex to get together.
What are you going to do to accomplish it, given the constraints on your powers?
After much thought about this, I think what I would do is appear to Lillian a couple days before she kills Julian and HEAL HER with my magical kryptomutant powers.
What do you think the effect of your change will be?
Even though I don't get to talk to her, my hope is that healing her would cover both her post-partum psychosis (to which I am attributing her desire to kill Julian) AND her heart condition, so she would live and continue to be a countering influence on Lex. I think by the time Lex gets to Smallville it's really too late for him to really change; he's too fucked up already. My hope is that if Lillian is not sucked down into despair because of her mortal illness, she would actually be able to support Lex in not becoming like his dad. And Lex would still have a little brother, who he clearly loved a lot, so that would give him motivation to try to be a good person and set a good example.
What might be the unintended consequences?
Well, Lillian might already be so damaged that she would still kill Julian, and maybe this time Lionel would catch her and she'd go to prison or be locked in an asylum, which probably would NOT make things better for Lex. Or maybe she wouldn't be caught, but she'd live, and instead of being Lex's dead model of goodness, she'd be the psycho-mom he was protecting, and that could get ugly and he might go evil earlier. Or maybe none of that would happen but instead Lionel would succeed in molding Julian to be the heir he wanted Lex to be, and instead of Lex being the evil genius he'd be locked in an eternal struggle with his brother the evil genius.
So, does anyone else want to play, or did I make the rules too complicated?
no subject
But I can't decide what I want to do! I can't even decide what my goal is! I mean, Lex not going evil would be ideal, but so would Lex and Clark staying friends (or ever becoming real, trusting friends in the first place.) Since I can't decide, I'll give you three scenarios, all of which are not entirely serious (esp. S2)...
What is your goal?
Wrecking havoc on SV continuity, hopefully with good consquences.
What are you going to do to accomplish it, given the constraints on your powers?
Scenario1) I'm going back to the day of the first meteor shower! With my sparkly mutant powers, I give Lex a different krypto-power, one that isn't inherently dangerous to others, like super-speed or telekinesis or whatever.
S2)I go back to a time after the meteor shower, but before Julian was born. With my gun, I shoot Lionel and Lillian in a dark back alley while Lex watches.
S3)I go back to Season 4, and with my cool kryptonian crystal powers, I make it so that Lex becomes Jor-El's vessel instead of Lionel.
What do you think the effect of your change will be?
Well, let's say what I hope it will be, okay?
S1) Given that Lex survives until he meets Clark, and given that he meets him, a more active power will make it more likely that he reveals it to Clark and that Clark trusts him with his own powers like he did with Alicia. Aditionally, if Lex had, say, super-speed, he might have been able to rescue Julian, earning Lionel's respect.
S2)Traumatized by his parent's death, Lex decides to fight crime! Raised by his nurse Pamela , he trains hard and travels the world until he is ready to become a vigilante. Because criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot, he disguises himself as
Warrior AngelAlexander the Greata Bat! One night young run-away alien Clark (who, since Lex never came to SV, had a much harder time with the scarecrowing and Lana and everything else) tries to steal his tires and Lex catches him in the act! They fight crime. (Um, sorry. My "creativity" ran away with me...)S3) Well, first of all, Lionel might be *quite* interested in why Lex is suddenly catatontic and white-eyed, but whatever horrible thing he did to Lex, Lex would probably break out once the events of "Hidden" happened. (and he wouldn't have broken up with Clark because "Mortal" never happened). Clark and Lex would have to deal with the fact that Lex is possessed by Jor-El, Lex would find out the truth, and working together, they might not be as easily tricked by Brainiac.
What might be the unintended consequences?
S1) Lex becomes overconfident and gets in trouble. Or Lionel puts him into some lab. Or Lex uses his powers for personal gain and Clark fights him the first time they meet. It's also possible that Lex might not have survived until meeting Clark if he hadn't had his healing powers.
S2) Need I say anything? Everything would go wrong.
S3) Lionel would probably do a lot worse to Lex if Lex was possessed than just putting him into Belle Reve. There might be invasive testing. There's also no telling of what havoc an evil Lionel might wreak in S5 (since he was arguably not evil in that season in canon.) Lex might not cooperate with Clark once he finds out - he might even blame Clark. Someone else might end up vessel for Zod. (Lana! *sporfle*)
Okay, you probably wanted more constructive answers, but my mind is only capable of crack right now.
no subject
I LOVE your Batman Lex scenario very, very much. And you might be right that losing both parents would be better for Lex--it worked for Oliver Queen. Maybe being a complete orphan, under Pam's tutelage, is better than any of the alternative.
I also kind of like Lex being possessed by Jor-El, though I fear that he would feel invaded and blame Clark, and I definitely think Lionel would do bad things to him while he was possessed.
no subject
Warrior Angel Alexander the Greata Bat! One night young run-away alien Clark (who, since Lex never came to SV, had a much harder time with the scarecrowing and Lana and everything else) tries to steal his tires and Lex catches him in the act! They fight crime.*DEAD* Oh my god, you made Clark into Jason. This scenario just wins at everything, ever.
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