1406/Coffee Time

Coffee Time
Date of Scene:	27 April 2020
Location:	Bullpen - Daily Planet Building
Synopsis:	Kara brings Lois her coffee and accidently reveals some family secrets.
Cast of Characters:	Kara Danvers, Lois Lane

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Kara Danvers has posed:
There's a lot of coffee to get at the Daily Planet, and since she's been told in no uncertain terms that using her powers to do it would risk her secret identity, she's taken to doing things at human speed. Which, in Kara's case, is actually the even slower way. She's spent the last twenty minutes in the stairwell staring at her StarkPhone, watching video clips of the Avengers. She visibly brightens when Thor shows up on the screen, bouncing a little on the tips of her toes.

She then realises the coffee is cold. Drat.

Making sure nobody is looking, she slides her glasses down her nose and stares pointedly at the cup. Suddenly, a beam of red light shoots from her eyes and engulfs the cup. Enough to slowly bring it back to a nice heat, only for the cup to burst into flame when she keeps staring for just a little too long.

"Zhaaa!" she mutters in Kryptonese, blowing hard enough to immediately douse the flames and cover the cup in a half-inch of frost. Exasperated, she looks around again before throwing the burnt-frozen cup away on the landing and kicking it down the gap so it topples to the first floor far below.

A moment later she's at the door to Lois' office with the cup of coffee she didn't burn and managed to actually heat right, tapping on the glass politely with her knuckles.

"Hello, Ms. Lane. I have your coffee for you." Her accent is strange, no place Lois has ever been by the sound of it - Swedish, maybe? And she can't use a contraction to save herself. She's still picking up English, apparently.

Lois Lane has posed:
The perk of having interns is that you never have to get your own coffee. That's their valuable skill--the office wouldn't keep running without it. Lois beckons Kara in as soon as she sees her with the coffee. She's on the phone, but she holds up her finger in the universal 'I'll be just a second' motion.

"Well, this is the last time I'll ask you nicely for it. If I have to ask again I'm going to wonder if you've got something to hide too." A pause. "Wonderful, I'll look forward to your email."

She presses 'End Call' on her phone before setting it on her desk, offering Kara a smile. "Sorry about that. Politicians are tricky to work with sometimes, lawyers twice so, and lawyers working for politicians... oof." She gestures for her to drop off the coffee.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara leans out to daintily set Lois' coffee cup on the desk, gently moving aside a stack of papers to make a little patch of uncluttered desk for it to sit on. Once it's there she smiles broadly, folding her hands in front of herself with the look of the self-satisfied.

Her dark brown hair is done up in a plait and thrown over one shoulder, a few loose strands hanging down over her forehead. She's bereft of makeup and wears a pair of thick, black-rimmed glasses that magnify her eyes to an incredible degree. She wears a black hoodie over a white t-shirt bearing the famous photo of Albert Einstein with his tongue out, some artfully-torn genes and a pair of sneakers.

"Do you need anything else?" she asks tentatively, a hopeful expression on her face. Lois usually had the more interesting assignments and she's grateful she got here before Terry today.

Lois Lane has posed:
The coffee is taken and Lois sips quietly for a second before she seems to be thoughtfully considering the assignments she has. "I do need someone to look into this thing involving some warehouses suspiciously changing hands as soon as stock prices dropped. It's not really exciting... unless you go at night." There's some amusement there, but she's not altogether joking.

A moment of pause, and Lois observes Kara over the rim of her cup. "You're Clark's cousin, right? I don't feel like we've really gotten to talk. Especially not since he and I got together. Thankfully I've gotten pretty good at weird work and personal life overlap."

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Yes, that is me," Kara says with another smile, doing her best to put on that nerdy and withdrawn demeanor that her cousin can do so effortlessly. It isn't quite as effective for her yet, and some of the vivacious young woman beneath still manages to creep through at times, "We have not spoken, no. But you are both very busy and I am ... getting coffee."

"I will take the assignment," she adds eagerly, nodding her head so eagerly that a few more strands of dark hair come loose across her forehead, "I will even go at night if it will make a more interesting story?"

As she speaks, she is glancing across the collection of papers on the desk. It's then that she spots a magazine that bears a picture of Thor on the cover. She quickly picks it up, looking at it closely and smiling to herself as though she has some guilty secret.

"Are you finished reading your magazine, Ms. Lane?"

Lois Lane has posed:
"You might want backup if you go at night. I've found that hanging around areas you aren't technically wanted is safer if you've got someone to watch your back. Especially if they're capable." Lois is /clearly/ not referring to Clark. After all, he ran from danger! "Don't pull a Terry, either. He's worse than I am sometimes. Do you know how many times in the last month he's missed work because he's been in the hospital and he had the video evidence to prove why?"

She's shaking her head, then picks up the magazine and slides it over towards the woman. "Fan of the Avengers?"

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Oh, yes," Kara nods her head, unslinging one strap of her backpack and holding it out for Lois to see as she fishes inside, "I have the peppered spray. I am told it is good back-up." She pulls out the little can with the fluorescent orange cap, waggling it a bit before dropping it back into the recesses of her bag.

"I promise not to be a Terry."

The question about the magazine raises her eyebrows a little as she slowly drags her eyes away from the cover to look at Lois. Making a 'hmm?' face as though she didn't quite hear the question, then adding: "Oh, yes. They are very good. I especially like Thor. I met him - "

Her eyes widen and her mouth closes tight. She met him as Supergirl. She probably shouldn't have shared that.

Lois Lane has posed:
There's a grin from Lois. "Pepper spray is very good, yes. Know when to run and hide and when to stand your ground and bluff your way through things. Just don't get yourself killed or anything." She does seem to approve of the preparedness!

Perhaps Lois hadn't noticed the slip-up, as she doesn't seem phased by it. "There's a couple of them I'm familiar with. Enough to the point I'd feel guilty picking a favorite. Guess it sounds like I've got someone to send on Avenger-related things, hm?"

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara nods her head eagerly at the thought, taking the magazine and tucking that into her backpack as well when there's no outright objection to her having it. Once it's secured, she slings the pack back around and tugs on the straps to center it.

"Yes, please," she nods energetically, "Especially Thor-related things. I like his story about throwing his brother at people." A pause. "Or a wall. I am not sure which it was."

"How is cousin Kal - " Kara quickly catches herself, turning the name 'Kal' into the first syllable of a weird, elongated version of his Earth name, "Cuhhhl-ark? Cousin Clark? We haven't spoken much since I moved here."

A pause, then she hastily adds.

"Moved here to Metropolis."

Lois Lane has posed:
There's immediate suspicion in Lois' gaze. It's not about Thor or what is obviously a crush on the Asgardian, it's more of the name she inadvertantly dropped. She sits back in her chair, tilting her head to the side. Clark had mentioned his /parents/ knew things, but never any other relatives. Had that been an honest slip up?

"He's doing really well, never seen him so happy and I feel entirely pleased to be a part of that whole process." She looks Kara over in an appraising manner. "How close were the two of you before you moved to Metropolis? I'd like to know more about him."

Kara Danvers has posed:
"I did not know him very well," Kara begins, her eyes darting with the telltale sign of someone making a story up on the spot, "I knew his parents. His father was my father's brother. We lived very far apart, though."

The story is true for the most part. Her father was the brother of Clark's father, albeit not the same father. There are little inconsistencies in the story that make it struggle under the weight of scrutiny, though. If her father is related to Clark's father, why do they have two different surnames? Why is Kara clearly from overseas if the Kents are from middle America and have been since the days of the Old West? And why the use of the past tense?

"We only reconnected a year or so ago. Before that I hadn't seen him since ... " A pause. "He was a baby."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois seems very interested. After all, she's getting to know her significant other from one of his relatives. "That's funny, I thought Clark was older than you." She tilts her head to the side, leaning her head on one hand as she observes the woman with curiosity and perhaps a hint of amusement.

Kara Danvers has posed:
"Oh," Kara throws back her head, laughing a little too forcefully for it to be genuine, "What did I say? I meant me. Since me ... I was a baby. I am still learning English. I make mistakes sometimes. It is very different. It puts the verb in the middle, but where I am from the verb goes at the start. It is different."

It's a strange thing. Kara never sweats. Even when the office heater is turned up to unbearable degrees, she always seems comfortable. Likewise she never really gets cold. It's like the temperature doesn't have much of an effect on her. So to see her sweating a little now - a bead running down from her hairline to her neck - is more than just a little unusual.

"I think I have to do more coffee," Kara adds hurriedly, looking around quickly and picking up the now-empty cardboard holder that Lois' lone coffee cup had come in, "Yes. I remember now. I was meant to get two coffees. Silly me. Will you remember me if you have Thor-things?"

Lois Lane has posed:
Ah, retreat in the face of difficult questioning. That is certainly a sight Lois has seen and basked in more than once. Kara's certainly trying to cover up any potential mistakes, but there's more than enough damning evidence for her to need to poke Clark.

"Oh, of course, coffee is far more important. Don't worry, I'll be sure to direct anything Thor-related your way." There's another pause. "We'll have to do lunch some time, Kara, chat about family and life and stuff. It'll be fun."

Kara Danvers has posed:
"I would like that very much," Kara says quickly, gathering up her things and moving towards the door. She is quick, almost unnaturally so. She's almost like a black and white blur moving through the office. "I will bring you the story about the warehouses! Do you want me to e-mail it to you? I will e-mail it to you. Goodbye, Lois - Ms. Lane!"

She's still speaking as she disappears out of the door to Lois' office. Through the window Lois can see her walk left in the wrong direction, disappearing out of view for a second. Then she hurries back quickly the opposite way, waving vibrantly to one of the staff reporters who doesn't so much as look up from his phone to nod at her. Then she passes out of sight again on another coffee run.

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois watches Kara's disappearance with a look of amusement. Perhaps the squirrely behavior would have once made her suspicious in perhaps a negative way, now it was more curiosity than anything. She watches the retreat in the other direction, then glances at her phone for a moment, typing out a text.

> Met your cousin Kara. She's nice. We should all have a chat sometime.

Kara Danvers has posed:
Kara hurries into the stairwell again, evading the elevators for the time being. Once the heavy fire door latches shut behind her she rests her back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling and huffing out a little breath.

After a moment she fetches her phone from her pocket, pulling up the little keyboard and pushing the image of a globe that changes the input language. The Kryptonese font she's developed for its use pops up, and she hammers out a message of her own to cousin Kal. A moment later it pings through in the angular, geometric fanciness of the Kryptonian language.

> I AM SORRY!