The Grimoire,

Finally have name possibilities for my vampire sister:
Mikkel
Michi
Miho
Miska
Misi
Misha
Meical
All of these are derivatives of Michael, the archangel of warriors. Just thought about it today, and it kind of fits, in a convoluted way.

A new character name: Black Alice

A character is loading bullets into a revolver, but instead of a primer on the rim of each bullet, there is a tiny alchemical circle

if you were to classify the holes in alma's body, they would anatomically be referred to as depressions

Necromancy that applies to wrecked vehicles, demolished technology, and dilapidated buildings as well as bodies

Personn with incredible talent and imagination for creating music, scenes, and whatnot. always talking about and creating things and playing songs for his best friend
loses hands in really bad accident
all the ideas start to build up because this person can't get them out
best friend becomes their hands, learning how to play music and act and write dramas and whatnot so they can make their friend's dreams a reality

So I have been reading the Lets Not Meet thread on reddit recently. Most all of them are really fucking creepy, but this one in particular actually caught my eye and made me feel kind of sad (especially because I am a psychology major)

http://www.reddit.com/r/LetsNotMeet/comments/2r5qgm/tiger_man/

It's called tiger man, and for whatever reason my brain took this story and modified it. I just hope I did okay, and didn't create something terrible and insensitive:

Tiger man is charging us
My friends are freaking out and starting to run across the street; I just stand there, waiting
He runs right up to me, just letting out this endless growl: grrraaaawwrrr!!!!
Finally he gets really close. My friends are across the street, yelling at me to run. Tiger man is only about 5 feet away from me now.
And that is when I let out the deepest, loudest, and downright ugliest snarl I could muster. It reverberated off the concrete and rattled the windows of the buildings and cars nearby.
And just like that, everything stopped. For about a block radius around us there was nothing but silence. My friends across the street were frozen, their jaws slackly open. People in the cars openly stared. Some of the storegoers and store owners looked out the windows.
And tiger man?
Tiger man had stopped just short of me and turned into a statue. His growl had gotten caught in his throat, and aside from his eyes twitching nervously he dared not move a muscle.
I held his gaze for several long moments, and then spoke, loudly and firmly
“Sit”
And like that, tiger man dropped like a rock. He sat down on the sidewalk as fast as he damn well could. I almost winced when I heard something (probably his coccyx) crack on the concrete, but I forced myself to keep staring him straight in the eye.
When I was satisfied that he was not going to make movements of his own accord, I spoke again
“Stand”
He snapped back to his feet as quickly as his muscles would allow him. He rocked unsteadily on his heels as he did so, but he got there and stayed there. His leg was starting to twitch, but it was involuntary on his part. He was well and truly scared of me.
I gave him another order
“Follow”
And with that, I turned on my heels and walked across the street. I didn’t even bother looking both ways for cars, much less behind me. People driving were all stopped by this point, so I was in no danger of being run over, and I wasn’t scared of tiger man. Sure enough, his shoes clopped after mine, only about 3 steps behind me.
We caught back up with my friends, who were still just standing there dumbstruck. I gave them a long-suffering look, and then kept walking. They caught up with me pretty fast, telling me in hushed tones that I was downright crazy, but I paid them no heed, and focused only on getting my shopping done.

….
….
….
Finally, they were all home, and it was just Chris and myself, with tiger man in tow. We made good time for being loaded down with bags, and were on my threshold inside of fifteen minutes. Chris walked inside, but I stopped on my doorstep, set down my bags, and turned to face tiger man.
He was still staring at me nervously. He had been quiet the entire time we were shopping, and the whole trip taking my friends home. And now he stood here, waiting for what I would do next.
So I reached down
Grabbed one of my bags
And pulled out a sandwich
I shoved the paper-wrapped package into his hands. He looked down, and then back up. Dumbstruck. I gave one final order
“Run along. Return to whatever hovel’s home to you- I’ll Call if I need you”
And with that imperative fresh in his mind, he turned quickly and took off back down the street, sandwich still clutched in his hands.
I finally let out the breath I’d been holding and swept up the rest of my bags, hauling them inside
Chris was waiting for me in the living room
‘you, miss’ she declared, ‘are well and truly insane. Just what the fuck were you thinking?!’
I set the bags down and glanced out the window in time to see tiger man disappear around the corner
“I don’t think he was going to hurt me to begin with. Besides, he’s not a bad sort. Not right in the head, most certainly, but not a bad man. We probably met a dozen people far worse than him on our rounds today. People just assume the worst from him because he doesn’t match their view of normal.”
‘and that made it okay to drag him around town all afternoon? Jesus Christ, Maddrie, the man thinks he’s a fucking TIGER!’
I looked her dead in the eye
“funny, he was human enough to listen to me, which is more than I can say for most people”

Bunch of terrible people- war criminals, mercenaries for hire, ax murderers- all live in the same apartment complex. they have an understanding with each other, and don't bring any of their work or hobbies home with them, and don't fuck with each other.
of course, if trouble comes to them, they kill it. they aren't too picky with how.
and, since it is their turf, they don't take too kindly to anyone giving anybody in the complex trouble, which extends to the normal people living in the place. They get...defensive. It leads to some interesting situations

Found a thing. it is a useful thing:

http://www.obsidianbookshelf.com/html/eyecolorlist.html

So, I recently remembered a black notebook that I have been writing story stuff in since I was in high school, and I thought to myself, hey, I'll transcribe that shit into the forum! maybe some of this stuff I forgot about can be made into some really good stories.

...yeah, well, I'll let you guys decide that. Here are some notes from it, and one of the major actual story concepts i came up with as a dumbass high-schooler:

That moment when I realize that I used one of my oldest story notebooks to take fucking physics notes *shudders*
Aaand chemistry


If this is reality I want to go back to fantasyland
What about you man?
What?
What are you gonna do when this mess is over?
…I’m going to pray for another mess to come my way

--because some of us are born to kill and bred to kill and that’s the only gods-damned thing we’re any good for
Cooking required so more or less skill than music. In fact, they are quite similar, in that they both require artistry, intuition, and knowing how to tailor it to suit a particular crowd.

Gemaline Olviveae Vrace
‘Hey, don’t look at me, I didn’t come up with it.’
She’s beautiful, she’s charming, she’s witty…
…too bad she’s a complete psychopath

And that’s why she died
She didn’t go through hell, though; that honestly would have been too good for her. Her punishment for life had to be more severe
‘that’s funny. I don’t really feel all that different. In fact, I feel like I’m finally home.
She now resides in a town made up of the world’s truly worst freaks, socios, killers, sadists, as well as a few people who really don’t belong. The original idea was to give the world’s worst a chance to see themselves for what they truly are, and have them seek atonement. Instead, it became their playground. They are not safe from one another by any means- this is after all a concentration of the worst of the worst depraved killers, and it is likened by Gem herself to a den of spiders. Still, here they can play out their fantasies, fly their true colors, parade what they are, and not be shown revulsion. Many can’t adjust and are slaughtered by the others, but many, like Gemaline, feel a certain amount of camaraderie, and operate in a much-twisted reflection of ‘normal life’
Families have barbeques…cooking human body parts
Football games are a thing…as is making the playing field into a minefield
Kids still pull pranks…this time it’s with thermite and mustard gas
Gemaline, better known as Gem, is friendly with her neighbors, but not too friendly. She’s smarter than that.
Gem makes her ‘living’ preying on passers-through. The town exists a bit outside the realm of ‘here’ but it is still continuous. The town is big, but spread far, and encompasses a wide variety of climes. And while none of the residents can get out, outsiders can still come in. this provides plenty of supplies, vehicles, and people. The latter are Gem’s specialty- she poses as an escort, offering directions and services to people, singularly or in groups. She draws them in with her willingness to do anything for their pleasure- pleasure that turns to horror when they find out that anything means anything, and that this girl is by no means weak and frail. Gem’s favorite place is the train station, which is similar to Grand Central Station in KC
The concept of money and of many larger personal items has pretty much lost meaning, and has been replaced by a simple barter system of ‘do you have something I want’. If you want to drive a car, play an arcade game, or watch a movie, you do so
Food and property are the exceptions- if you want to eat, you work for it. You want a place to live, you have to stake a claim and hold onto it. Gem actually has two places: a townhouse and an apartment. The house is maintained by a maid who is a cannibal, and she does her tasks in exchange for the remains of Gem’s ‘dates’ there. The apartment’s landlord is a ratty man who takes care of maintenance in exchange for not getting killed by his tenants.
Gem also has connections with a man with connections, and with a deluded banker who thinks he can buy his way into heaven. She also has a ‘pet’- a hooker with a decent heart who really doesn’t belong here. Gem uses her, but also viciously protects her
The story is told in first person by Gem, who does so with wit, sarcasm, snark, and a smile, especially where one is not warranted. She is smart, seductive, and completely deranged. More than that, she is perfectly aware of her condition, and enjoys every second of it. She is a surprisingly talented combatant, which when coupled with her “insane strength” makes her a terror in a fight
Insane strength references a study done on some asylum inmates, where it was found that few people can truly fight with full strength, because we end up subconsciously pulling our punches. However, the inmates (like Gem) have no compunctions about killing their fellow humans or harming themselves in the process, and hit with full force, all the time.
“I’ve always wanted to try this…”
Gem is here for a reason: she is just as sick and sadistic as everyone else here. Rape, cannabilism, torture, pain, all these things are essentially meaningless to her; they are just parts of everyday life. Actually, she may be even more out there than her compatriots, as she illicits an unusual level of fear and wariness from them
Gem is a very creative torturer, and highly effective, because she engineers her style around the victim, not around a traditional method. Ex. To break a hardened mercenary who was used to many ‘normal’ tortures, Gem slowly injected him with minute amounts of BloodBuster. When he had finally given up everything and she allowed him to die, she went on to his cohort, a prostitute named Candy. Said girl thought she was ready for pain, but she was not ready for Gem to string her up over a giant vat of caramel and very slowly turning her into a giant candy apple (which she later gave to a couple of newlyweds as a housewarming present). This goes to show just how sick she is, but also displaying her wry, if twisted, sense of ironic poetry (yeah, I’m just making shit up as I go now)
‘I’ve always known what I am and where I am, so apparently I am being punish for not knowing I actually had to give a shit”
Gem fears nothing and no one, not a group of strong men, not a reality-defying alien, not even a deity. Part of this comes from the fact that she does not fear death and the other part is from the fact that.. well, she can’t die
Remember that demotivational poster about cigarette smokers? Half will eventually die and half will live forever? Well, apparently the universe has a sense of humor and breaks reality to compensate for it, because Gem’s particular brand of deathsticks do just that. Heads you win, tails you die. Gem is the only one she has ever met who has actually taken this bet and won, but fate is a capricious bitch.
Oh she will still ‘die’ per se, but that state will be extraordinarily fleeting

honestly, the quotes, while bland, are not actually that bad. But the story about Gem, in many ways, just wouldn't make sense.
I mean, unless you were talking about 'a special place in hell', but that still wouldn't account for how it is connected to the outside world, not to mention the death-defying cigarettes.
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh

What the fuck was I on five years ago?
...Jesus, was this ONLY five years ago?!?!?!
SHIT

On a dare, a girls goes into a car dealership and steals a small, high-handling car

With a family inside wanting to test-drive it

She proceeds to tear out of the dealership and pull all kinds of high-intensity, breakneck stunts: driving backwards down a busy street, U-turning backwards across the lanes, and then driving 40 mph over the speed limit going the wrong way.
Ends up doing a perfect backwards parking job in a mall parking lot. She puts the car in park, lowers the seat, turns backwards to the terrified passengers...
...and pretends this was all part of the dealership's presentation.
She pretends that she is a stunt driver in contract with the dealership to demonstrate to prospective buyers the handling capabilities of their cars.

She drives them back normally, all the while talking with the dealership guy about insurance and dealership policies
The couple actually did end up buying the car

She still got in trouble, though...

Found probably my original, serious story concept in my black notebook, and looking back on it now it was kind of shit.

Basic premise is you have a typical, teenage goth girl who, unbeknownst to her, is descended from a line of witches, and has an incredible capability for magic (which, before the storyline was completely unconscious). Conflict of the story arose from the fact that multiple factions around the globe had been searching for the descendent of this bloodline so that they can control her and use her connection to the world and to magic to turn the forces of nature against their enemies. Turns out that they all found and were watching her movements for a while. Shit hits the fan due to some religious wacko neighbors and everyone suddenly starts fighting, and the MC (whose name was Laura, by the dubs) ended up kidnapped and taken to distant testing facilities. Under climaxing stress, her magic takes hold and tears the place apart, killing everyone inside. She is picked up by the forces sent after her and returned home. The story goes on from there.

Problems I have looking back at this story:

• It features a love story. I am not saying that all love stories are bad, but I see them so often in stories, especially paranormal stories, that it is cliché and boring. Not only that, but this particular love interest was kind of…out there. Premise was that this guy (macho, popular jock) was a bully to Laura. Come to find out he was actually enamoured with her, because she has absolutely no interest in him (and calls him out on his shit), but is afraid to say anything (because peer pressure). Awhile later after Laura’s house is stormed and some of her ‘enchanted’ drawings find their way to his house, his inhibitions and reservations get erased, allowing his ‘true desires’ to make their way to the fore, and he does everything to try and make things work between the two of them, without giving a shit what his peers think. Honestly, I did this because I wanted to and at the time I thought it would be interesting (because I have always been interested in what people hide from their peers), but this was taking it a bit far. Just…bluh
• It sets up the MC as the only person who can use ‘real’ magic. This was primarily due to ignorance on my part. The idea was that Mother Nature has taken this bloodline as her Chosen, and allows them to use the energies of the earth and the elements to wield magic, while also being incredibly defensive of them. Also gave her a stupid range of magical capabilities, most of which were unconscious (like the magic she worked through her drawings via emotion). All in all, kind of a Mary Sue as far as magic went
• Despite the above statement, the world had all kinds of paranormal nonsense, from ghosts to curses, so on and so forth. Really kind of nonconforming ideas.
• There are demons, and many demonic realms, but they can’t enter our world because ‘the magic of nature is like poison to them.’ Really, I was making up an excuse to have her kidnapped to the demon realms. It was dumb.
• I said that there was magic in words, mainly because all languages are descended from an original language, where everything had a proper name, allowing for its commandment via magic. The reason our languages that we regularly speak today don’t really have much effect on the world (visibly, anyway) is because they are far too diluted from the original to be worth much of anything. Despite this, it was explained to Laura by her many-great grandmother (who came with the house- long story, don’t feel like explaining right now), language still has an influence on people, else how would you explain societies? Or speeches? The simplest words can build us up or tear us down; there is magic in language child, it is simply that we are too short-sighted to see it. Blah blah blah. I was trying to be wise and mystical and deep, but it honestly sounds really fucking stupid now.
I could probably go on, but I’ll stop.

Yeah, this was kind of a trainwreck as far as world-building and design went.

All that being said, I still kind of like this story. It was actually halfway original, I had plans for all the characters, it attempted (but did not succeed) to cover some very deep topics. This was the first actual series I actually had a plan for- I had a plot that would have taken somewhere around 4-7 books to cover everything, and each one would have actually managed to be a complete story. This series had a character I really liked and kind of related to, who was also capable of experiencing things I knew I never would.
All in all, probably never fleshing this one out any further, but at least it has a few fond memories, and looking through the rest of my notebook it was hardly the worst idea I ever came up with.

*Puts back on shelf with the rest of my high school nonsense*

Here's a new one

I honestly get annoyed that Literally every modern story involving vampires includes romance, but here is something I would be okay with seeing:

instead of the vampire being the more dominant partner (which is the norm) have the human be the dominant, more disciplined one

I'd pay to see it.

Holy shit
Just realized a problem with my M___ story

I know that the girls born to this bloodline are genetically weak and frail, so oftentimes M will end up switching charges when the girl is still very young, and has occasionally had to raise some of her charges herself because the mother died at childbirth

But I realized
where the fuck are the fathers in all this?
Like, this is supposed to be a story about M___ and her existence protecting this family, and really only focuses on one charge at a time

but still
very rarely would the fathers in this long family be the kind of assholes to just drop the child as soon as the mother died
M___ would have killed them long before if they were. So, what???

I guess it's possible that M___ could just perceive them as a threat at some point and pick them up and move off, but at the same time that couldn't ALWAYS be the case.
And hell, if they were the kind of person M___ wouldn't kill for dating one charge, I doubt she would be opposed to them raising the children

Unless circumstances arose that required her to move the child

Sooo, yeah...

*Sees parallels between Meical and Jean the Hatchet*

*smirks*

So this kid goes to a middle school, and one day his older cousin shows up outside the gates to walk him home.

Now, this girl is about 5'10 in her bare feet, wearing combat boots, lots of black and torn clothing, spiked jacket, and other punk accouterments. she is lighting up a cigarette as the boy comes outside with one of his friends.

This friend takes one look at her and, thinking he is funny, flips her the bird

In the next heartbeat the boy is pinned up against the fence, and the girl has one hand clawing into his eye socket while he is unable to escape.

'you think you're funny, do ya? think you're cool? think flipping off some punk chick makes you some kind of fucking tough guy?'
"n-no"
'NO WHAT!?'
"NO, MA'AM"
'BITCH DO NOT TALK TO ME LIKE A FUCKING LADY, THAT IS NOT WHO YOU DECIDED TO FUCK WITH! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!?'
"YES!"
'YES WHAT?!'
"YES I UNDERSTAND YOU!!!"
'Good! Now what was it that you just tried to fucking pull on me?'
"I flipped you off"
'I'm sorry, I couldn't quite catch that. speak up'
"I flipped you off!"
'Bitch I said Speak Up! They should hear you Across The Street!'
"I FLIPPED YOU OFF!"
'And how might that action be taken? HMM?!'
"W-what?"
'How. Might. I. Take. That. Action? THE Action Was Blank! Fill In The Blank! Looking for an adjective here!'
"MEAN! IT WAS MEAN"
'Mother Fucker I AM MEAN. You are Rude. Are you going to make rude gestures again?!'
"No"
'SPEAK UP, The Fuckers inside with headphones on should hear you!'
"NO"
'NO WHAAAT?!'
"NO, I WILL NOT MAKE RUDE GESTURES AGAIN!!!"
'Damn straight you won't, because the next time you get smart around me I am going to rip off your hand and Fucking FEED IT TO YOU'

She shoves the terrified boy to the sidewalk, where he lays facedown, waiting for the terror to pass
She walks back to her young cousin, taking a drag from her cig. She exhales in a deep sigh before saying
'Jeremy, you have Got to find a better class of friend. This guy is an asshole'

Just something I though up while reading the 'i hate kids' tumblr tag

Oooooohhh, shit

I just realized:
In Meical's family, the average lifespan is only about 35, and some can die a lot sooner than that. Meical was supposed to be that one in a thousand who was actually healthy and could live to the age of, i don't know, 85.

BUT

because she underwent the ritual and turned herself into a vampire, she died at the age of about 26

Meaning
of course
that with some rare exceptions, her genetically weaker sister and MOST of her genetically weaker nieces lived longer than she did

Also, on a related note, i decided to be a biblical asshole
So the total number of generations Meical serves her family is 1,000

this could pretty accurately describe a dynamic in Meical's family circles
on another note, does anyone know what anime/manga/game this is actually from?




EDIT: Word of Lord Charon is that it is Fate/Stay Night

another note while i am thinking about it

Meical, due to her loyalty and pledge, doesn't have the ability to have relationships

In all her time in existence, she has had few people she could actually call friends, and most of them are familiars

One, however, is a vampire just like her. don't have a name for her yet, but this vampire was a girl who was about to die at a very early age and was like, NO, I haven't LIVED yet! I need more time!

She is a generally fun and affable individual, but her idea of fun is kind of extreme, and all she really wants to do is find people to have fun with her

(note: she is probably going to draw at least some parallels with the Ghede loa from voudun, so keep eyes open for details)

The scene where their relationship starts is actually supposed to be really tense, set up like a Joker scene from DC's Batman. entertaining, but really dark. She wants Meical to spend time with her and have fun with her, and Meical tells her point blank that she has a job to do.
Meical then gets sent on a mission. when she returns, the vampire is sitting there with her charge, and she says,
Okay, look: i know you're busy, so i'll make this really easy. I want to play a game *brings out Monopoly box or something similar* If you *looks at charge* either of you win, you continue doing whatever the hell you like, no problems from me ever. If I win, you have to do what I say, forever. What d'ya say?
And Meical really doesn't want to do this, but her charge insists, and the vampire doesn't pose any immediate threat
so they play
and eventually it looks like the vampire is going to win
it comes to Meical's turn
She looks at the board, looks at the vampire, looks back down at the board

and sets the board on fire.

And the vampire just fucking laughs. turns out that that was Exactly what she predicted Meical would do, and did it just for fun.
And she's like, Okay, I don't understand why you do this- I really don't. But I get that it is important to you, and I can respect that

And so she just turns up every once in a while like, HEYYY, you remember me? You remember me! Let's go to the festival!
And takes Meical and her charge out to the fair or the movies and stuff like that

I feel like i should write this down really quick, if only because i'll forget it otherwise:

From what I have written thus far, how I've described her, Meical probably sounds like she is asexual, but the thing is, she's not
or rather, she wasn't
Back when she was still human, she was not incredibly social, but she still had sexual interest and urges, like most people do
HowEver
when her conflict over her disinterest in people, her sexual feelings, and her devotion to defending her sister came to a head when she was about 19 (an event that almost Cost her her sister) she decided enough was enough, made her decision to focus on protecting her sister
and towards that end, cut out her sexual organs with an obsidian knife.

wrapped up the wounds, burned her flesh to ashes, scattered them to the winds, and carried on with her life.

As to what sexual orientation she identified as
I'm actually not going to say
Going to leave that one up to debate and people's imagination
A. because I'm lazy and
B. because she, as a person, doesn't think much of it


Note: i am thinking of moving this story to it's own topic, because it is all over the place, and probably has as much if not more information than Mausoleum Mansion

Meical, after getting hit with a nuclear missile, walking in a shower of radioactive black rain


- brilliant mathematician, like stephen hawking is bound to a wheelchair. fell in love with one of Meical's charges prior to his body degrading. requested to become one of Meical's familiars in order to contribute to his daughter's life

- the healthy twin who decided to run off to another town for a party. almost cost her sister her life, as Meical had to split time between them (fairly early generation, before Meical could spawn shadow versions of herself). broke down crying, cleaned up her act. had Meical train her so that she could help protect her sister. Upon her sister's death, she requested Meical turn her into a familiar.

'I'm gonna be so good at huggin'
-bodybuilder who just loves hugging people. one of the few people outside the family to show physical affection for Meical.
it confuses her, but she doesn't shake him off




Note: one more post. One more goddamn post and this story is getting it's own fucking topic

Guy is using a rubber band to shoot things at another boy in class.

in retaliation, the boy gets up, grabs a handful of needles out of his bag, forces them into the guy's mouth, and punches him in the jaw a few times to make sure they are stuck

boy got some serious reprimand, but nobody ever wanted to fuck with him again

relating back to the punk girl short a few posts back, I could see the chick having tattoos like this

Okay, wow
what the fuck brain

in reference to the thought:
All my badass, combat-oriented OCs were trained by Meical at some point, and that is why they are so strong

Really, brain?

Careful not to make that char too overpowered.

The power Creep is a thing, though. Unfortunately, "I have made a well balanced character with clear limitations." -4 months later- "Well now that character is able to cloak an entire nation in impenetrable darkness and summon small black holes... The incremental power increases all seemed so small at first but they just kept pilling up." That happens, sometimes. Not to mention superman used to just be really strong and able to jump high, and pretty fast, which are al parts of being just super strong.

eeeehh
the thing is, meical was actively designed to to be the strongest character i have ever created, and be capable of killing anything that posed a threat to her family.
I am not kidding. Anything.
Meical has canonically killed gods- in fact, she killed an entire race of them.
If anyone has ever read Dreams of Gods and Monsters there is a race of star creatures that can tear through the barriers between dimensions and devour all life on the worlds they encounter.
At one point, Meical was on a world where she heard about these things coming. Now, she could have just jumped to another world, but she knew that that could just follow. So, she left her familiars in charge of her niece and vanished for an undetermined timespan of several months to a couple of years (the longest period in the series, by the dubs) and only returned after having hunted down every last one of them.

... actually, now that i think about it, that is where she got a major power boost, because she also consumed each and every one of them, as opposed to normal mortals that she only devours some of the people she kills in combat.

sighs

okay, here's the thing though:
Yes, Meical is OP as goddamn shit, but she is supposed to be. Thing is though, the only time she is going to fight you is IF you present a threat to her niece at the time. Honestly, you could start a gang war in the middle of downtown, and as long as none of the bullets stray in her niece's direction, she is just going to walk right on by.

So the question isn't 'Can she kill Superman'
It's a question of 'Is Superman going to give her a Reason to kill him?'