slayers_desire | (no subject)

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When it came to dating, it was nice to have time alone with Clark. But really, they weren't able to socialize with other couples because in his world it would mean keeping too many secrets. So today April had an idea.

She arranged for a table for four at a nice diner that had a beautiful view of the Tiber River. And close by, there was an alleyway that would allow privacy for those with PINpoint to arrive for the lunch. After that was all arranged, April sent out two invitations.

To Kairos: Hey Kairos, I would like to invite you and Connor to a lunch with me and Clark. PINpoint coordinates are attached. It is a nice casual event. I hope you can attend.

Then to Clark: Hey sweetie. I thought it would be nice to spend some time with another couple who met in the Nexus. I have invited Kairos and Connor to lunch, and would love you at my side. PINpoint coordinates are attached. See you soon!

With that done, all that is left is to wait.

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Connor's unemployed too, but he's not about to volunteer for that job. He'd have to be around people.

"...You didn't tell me that, either." He looks just a little sheepish, because it strikes him anew how inexperienced she is next to him. How inexperienced all three of them are... Clark's looking awkward, and they haven't even really said anything dirty yet.
Belatedly, he pick up the question from April. "The visit went... better than I could have hoped." He smiles a little, but doesn't seem about to elaborate unless he's interrogated. He still has a brother in Duncan, and that's the best outcome he could dream of.

Taking Clark's hand, April smiles at him. "Its almost too bad that Clark is like the one-man working crew at his farm. There is some neat stuff around his place. It is such an amazing place."

Then she smiles at Connor. "Thats good. Sometimes things working out better than you hoped is all you can take away from a situation."

Poor Connor. He seems to be the most experienced at relationships out of the three of them. "There is nothing better than a first date. I still remember my first date ever... but then again it was just a month or so ago. With Clark."

He thinks back, but he can't recall ever meeting a John Hart. His future self has, but mistook him for Brainiac, who Clark hasn't met quite yet.

He gives April's hand a little grateful squeeze, and smiles back. "It's good, honest work. Mom's been making Dad let me do more of the chores, because of his heart. He doesn't like it, but he knows I can handle it."

And he tries not to look too embarrassed at talking relationships with other people. "I think it might be my first date where I haven't had to bail on a girl to go save someone."

Kairos isn't going to mention that most of the 'dates' she'd been on weren't of the innocent sort. It's pretty weird. She's incredibly young and naive in some ways, but not at all in others.

"But here we are, in Rome, with our favorite people. It's impressive."

"Heh. My Italian is probably rusty. Been a while since I've been here." He smiles weakly, and leans over a little, just enough so that his shoulder bumps against Kairos' shoulder. He knows just how not innocent she is in certain departments, since she's been the one making the first moves. Connor can't remember his own first date, but that's because they didn't really do dating, back when he met his first wife.

He takes a breath, and makes what's pretty obviously a forced effort at being sociable. "What kind of farm?"

"It is nice to have a quiet moment in Rome. And the language is so beautiful. I have been learning as much as I can. Improve my repetorie of languages known." April smiled. This Rome would feel a little different than the one that Connor might know. The Buffyverse has a slight disconcerting peace to it at times. This is one of them.

"But as much I love Rome... I enjoy spending time in Smallville."

"Oldest farm in Smallville," Clark answers with a proud smile. "We're one of the biggest mass producers of corn in Kansas, and Mom runs a side garden with organic vegetables that we sell at market. We also have dairy cows, although that hasn't been as profitable since we had to replace the herd a few years ago. Someone dumped toxic waste in the pasture and poisoned the entire herd." He's not sure how interesting farm life will be to the others, but he's happy talking about it if they ask. And, of course, he knows that April enjoys spending time in Smallville, which makes him even prouder of his hometown. The girlfriend stamp of approval is very important to him, and she's the first person he's dated who didn't grow up there.

Kai smiles down at Connor's hand, taking it in hers. She appreciates the effort he's putting into the date. "Getting out to see the different worlds is .. it's something else. I bet Smallville is lovely. I was in Louisiana for a bit, but .. I didn't get to see much. I like America." Usually when she was in New Orleans, she wasn't encouraged to look around, as there were dangers all over the place.

"...Oh. I guess... farming's different than it used to be..." Connor's attempt at connecting stalls out when he realizes he has no idea how modern dairy farming works. He mostly had sheep. They were still shearing them with a big pair of scissors, back then, and the term 'mass producers' hadn't been invented.

"I've never been that far South." He adds to Kairos, but he looks a little like he's flailing, mentally. These are Nexus people, so he knows it's safe to admit to what he is, but he's still not good at conversation.

"I find Clark's world so peaceful. But of course I haven't been there when something weird was happening."

"Here is different. I can sense those who are good and who aren't, and things have been interesting since that new star arrived in the sky. It is even visible during the day at times," April gestures to the east, where there is some kind of dot in the sky.

"And I am grateful for the Nexus. The protection it gives to everyone who ends up there."

Clark, who has no idea how old Connor is, doesn't understand quite what he means. "It's still pretty much plowing, planting, waiting for stuff to grow, and harvesting. The corn fields are big enough that we need machinery, but the other veggies are all tended to by hand. We don't use machinery for milking the cows, either. Dad's always believed it's better for the cows to do it in person, and it's something he can still do, even with his heart condition."

He laughs a little at April's comment about his hometown. "Just wait. One of these days you'll come to visit and all hell will break loose. We haven't had any affected people in Smallville since, uh, Alicia." His smile wavers a little.

Kai scoots herself over closer to Connor. The way she's going she's going to end up in the poor guy's lap. "New Orleans is gorgeous, even after Katrina. Just lots of vampires." There's a sheepish smile. "No offense, April."

Connor follows April's gesture to the unfamiliar star, and looks distant and thoughtful while they talk, but he's not oblivious to the conversation. He's not oblivious to Kairos creeping lapwards, either, but he has the common sense to keep her from going too far in public.

"...Katrina...? That's... when there was the flood?" He's been pretty out of touch, for a while now. He got his news from discarded newspapers and TV's in storefront windows. It's hard to keep up current events when you're focused on scrounging up a way to eat something each day. Not that Connor's been good on keeping up with current events for a few decades, really.
He adds in a mutter, "The last time I had a farm was before the stock market crash..."

"In this world, Katrina had been caused by a Demon. And Buffy and the Scoobies had destroyed Sunnydale in their fight against the First Evil."

"I am not surprised that vampires hang out in New Orleans in your world, Kairos. They tend to do the same here too. My mother... had been there for quite some time."

Touching Clark's hand when his voice goes quiet, April reminds him. "No worries. You stood against Hell rescuing me. I will stand against any Hell that is raised in your world."

In Clark's world, it's currently the beginning of 2005, so his world hasn't yet experienced Hurricane Katrina. So he has no idea what they're talking about. "Um... what's Katrina?" He has that uncomfortable feeling that he gets when he's unintentionally left out of something.

He squeezes April's hand a little when she reassures him. "I know. I just wish there wasn't so much kryptonite. I get the feeling I'll be dealing with meteor freaks for decades, at least." He doesn't say centuries, but the thought is there in his mind.

He hears Connor's muttered comment about not having had a farm since before the Depression, and just blinks in surprise. What does one say to something like that?

Kairos was still in Pezenas when it happened, and didn't make it to New Orleans until around 2012, so her knowledge is sketchy. "In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina - which was natural as far as I've been told - hit the United States. The levee system in New Orleans failed, and much of the city was destroyed. When I was there, people were still homeless." Guess what she spent her time doing when she wasn't helping Savitar and his friends.

Pause. pause. pause. "..What a way to bring down the conversation, sorry."

2005 would be about when Connor woke up from his Watcher-controlled coma and things in his life went even worse. He'll have to be forgiven for being shaky on those events, he wasn't quite sane then.

Connor's expression closes up, and he fidgets with his beer bottle, and looks at the table for a long, quiet moment.

When he speaks again his voice cracks hoarsely. "Meteor freaks? Is that a euphemism for something?"

The pizza arrives at a good time it seems. Somewhere in the back of her mind, April figures that if Katrina occurs in Clark's world, he will do what he can to protect those that require it.

"There are humans in Clark's world who receive special powers or abilities because of their exposure to Kryptonite. The remaining pieces of his home world," She explains to Connor softly. It won't be her detailing what else the Kryptonite does to her boyfriend, that is his decision.

"Clark has an unique destiny," and catching Clark's confused expression she adds, "And Connor has an unique past."

((ooc: another night commitment calls. be back in two hours. sorry. feel free to skip me a round or two))))

"It's not a nice term for them," Clark admits with a wince. "But it's what stuck, since most of them are... not mentally stable. The radiation does something to them, giving them powers, and it's my theory that it affects their minds too because so many turn homicidal." He hesitates a moment, then decides that maybe if he shares his biggest weakness, maybe Connor will be a little less wary of him. He's under no delusions that it's a magical trust coupon, but it could help a little. "It also completely incapacitates me. It's... really painful. And takes away my powers for as long as I'm near it. The meteor shower that concealed my ship's arrival dumped several tons of it all over the county where I live."

He grabs a piece of pizza and stuffs it into his mouth to cover his uneasiness.

One hand reaches up to knead at the back of Connor's neck.

She blinks and stops kneading momentarily. "That's.. horrible. Is it easily identifiable?" Surely not everyone was susceptible to the stuff.

In a rare display of her abilities, Kairos makes sure no one outside the table is watching (just in case!)before using the currents of air to bring plates and pizza. This way she could get their food and keep her hands on him.

She knows his tension spot already. Connor melts just a little under the touch, but finishes off his beer before he takes a slice of pizza. He's looking about as awkward as Clark is, and he recognizes and appreciates the show of trust, but he's not about to tell the other man that cutting off his head is the way to finish him off.

"It's not that unique a past. Just... long." He mutters, and nibbles at a slice of pizza, hoping the waitstaff will bring him another beer. Hopefully not while Kairos is blowing things around magically. That could be inconvenient.

Clark isn't expecting reciprocation, except in that maybe Connor will see him as less of a threat if he knows how to take him down. Not that he'd probably know where to find kryptonite, necessarily, although someone in the Nexus could probably hook him up. Including April, if he asked.

"Kryptonite's pretty easy to tell apart from normal rock," he nods at Kairos's question. "It looks like a rough green gemstone - well, usually - and it glows whenever I'm near it. Unfortunately most people don't think of it as dangerous, and virtually everyone has been exposed at some point because it's so common. I've seen people use chunks as doorstops, or made jewelry out of it. What's worse is the people who find out what it can do and experiment on purpose. We don't know why it affects some people and not others, but the more you handle it, the more at risk you seem to be of developing... side-effects."

Clark hesitates a moment. "How long are we talking? If you don't mind me asking."

Kai blushes when he mentions the bit about making jewelry from it, because that was totally what she was thinking. She can't help it, that's just how she was wired. "Oh. I see. And there's no way of deactivating it?"

And she'll go ahead and dig into a slice of pizza herself. It's a good thing April ordered the extra large, because she's ravenous.

Kairos can have some of Connor's slices, because he's just nibbling, distracted. He doesn't look up when he answers Clark, and he does mind, but he also can't really blame him for wondering. "Less than five hundred. I guess you couldn't just collect it all and stick it in a lead-lined warehouse..."

He takes Connor's answer in stride, chewing his pizza thoughtfully. "That's a lot." No wonder his comments about farming were... well, what they were.

"My ship used to be able to neutralize kryptonite and change it to a clear, harmless form, but it, ah, blew up." A little guilt on his face spells out who exactly was responsible for that. "It can also be destroyed at extremely high temperatures, but we're talking volcanic. It could be possible to round most of it up, although it'd take a very long time and be labor-intensive, but it's been sitting around embedded in a few thousand square miles for about fifteen years and a lot of it is just tiny fragments, and that's just as dangerous as the boulder-sized stuff." Not to mention he's the only one who can reliably detect its presence, and he has to be right next to it, and it cripples him with pain.