sometimes, life's coincidences are quite amusing. i was randomly surfing for Superman Returns on Saturday and today, the story i'd stopped at in Stephen Baxter's anthology Traces, was a Superman story. it made me smile, as i read, crowded in as i was by the evening mrt rush. exclusive world of delight.

i'm not a Superman fan as i am a Batman fan. but ever since watching the movie trailer in the delicious, magical darkness of the cinema, i haven't been able to shake that one shot of Superman, hovering, suspended in the golden silence of Earth's atmosphere as the sun set or rose, which, it really doesn't matter. it was beautiful, magical, a little wistful, elegiac and lonely. superman, alien to this world, estranged and forever exiled from his own, forced to forge a life on Earth amongst strangers, strangers whom he'd decided was his duty to protect. why? what was in it for him?

Baxter's story Good News reinforces all that. Clark Kent's editor (in this story) having discovered his identity exposes him and Superman is caught and put on trial--the judgement of an alien

'Well, it's over He's submitting himself to the due processes of the law.' 'He doesn't have to.' Falco heard his own voice crack... 'He could bust out, be a hundred miles away in a second.' 'Of course, But he won't, will he?' Not him'... 'That's why we love him, I suppose.' The word startled Falco. 'What?' 'Oh, you mustn't be ashamed. We all feel the same, about him.' 'He's never done us any harm, damn it.' 'He may have intended no harm.' Reader sighed... 'That's what makes this so painful.' ... Falco snarled. 'Why prosecute him? Why do you want to play Judas?" ... 'You figured out his secret identity; you led the police here. You're his editor, damn it. You're the Judas.'

when little animals get sick, they deteriorate quickly.. too rapidly for us to react and save.. she was gone so fast..

and i can't mourn her yet because i have to concentrate on the living and will them to live. i hope all of them pull through..

K A Z E の M A C H I E-- FictionJunction KEIKO

Take me away across time to the town of wind Grant the dream of my white flower Take me by the hand with your gentle fingers, I want you to guide me To a far-off place, to be by your side. On this afternoon, though their voices could not sing clearly Two lovers awake to become one For the first time, they'll learn the meaning of happiness. Take me away... With a painful, echoing voice, They sing out with all of their hearts Without knowing the meaning of happiness, sleeping in darkness [Choir] Take me to a dream I've never seen before, far away We'll go together... to the town of wind.

for all its romantic soppiness and fluff, Tsubasa Chronicles is so sad. depressingly, bitter-sweetly, beautifully, achingly so. but sometimes it's refreshing and renewing to let youself be drawn into and swept away by a love that deep, that pure, even if it's just a story..