1637/Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Date of Scene:	12 May 2020
Location:	Atmosphere Above Earth
Synopsis:	Power Girl and Superman speak about life lessons. Clark tells a joke which isn't funny. Status quo.
Cast of Characters:	Clark Kent, Karen Starr

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Clark Kent has posed:
It's funny, habits.

For three years, Clark has made a habit out of not responding to the constant storm of voices he hears begging for help. He's made a habit out of not seeking solitude in atmosphere where there's a quiet calm, that for a long time, only he really appreciated. Like a satelite resting in orbit, the Last Son of Krypton floats in the absent void of space. The red cape sitting stationary out behind him, the glow of Earth's sun bathing across his stoic features.

With his eyes closed, in listened. Listened to thousands of people celebrating his return as if he were someone divinely sent. A misnomer by his estimations, he hardly believed that hype, but he listened to it all the same.

The familiarity of his costume was like a worn glove fit on an old hand.

Habits, they really are a funy thing.

Karen Starr has posed:
    There isn't any noise to herald her approach. In one moment, Clark is alone with his thoughts- with the voices echoing over the surface of the planet. In the next, he isn't alone anymore. At this height, there's precious little air, just this thin concept of an atmosphere rather than the fully realized thing so many kilometers below.

    It's just enough, just -barely-, that when she speaks, it's audible. "You're back. Sorry about the shadows, I was out of town handling this... Kidnapping thing, and investigating this cube. There's... A lot to unpack."

    She's floating there, folding her arms. Her cape, lightly, fluttering in the space off to her right, floating as if in water with the occasional ripple to the fabric. Legs, locked together. There's only a momentary pause before she speaks.

    "Sure you're ready? You can take as much time as you need."

Clark Kent has posed:
There's no sound, but even the slightest shift is enough. Clark opens his eyes to stare upon his cousin, head tilting every so slightly towards his left shoulder as the smile materializes across his face. "Faster than a speeding bullet isn't teleportation." He points out in that same strained voice possibly only because of the strength of their lungs. "We can't be everywhere. I just happened to be there."

Some cries for help are entirely too loud to ignore.

At the mention of taking as much time as he needs, he turns blue eyes down to the world spread out below them like a 4K topographical map of the United States. Just within the atmosphere enough that the gentle tug of the circulation carries them along, there's no telling how long he's been up here.

"If I'm honest, I think I've been ready for years. I know 'why' ... but I'm still not sure I 'should' have left." The pause after grows long with pregnancy, "I appreciate your concern, though."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen lets that silence linger. There's a moment where she's just looking down at the world, as it turns just barely without them. There's a... Level of understanding that she's reached. It took a long time to get there- to understand that here they are, floating above the Earth, doing nothing for a time... And it continues to spin on.

    Perhaps its hubris, but the inability to accept that the world might just be able to continue on without them is what drives her forward. Maybe it can keep going if she's not there- it's something that Power Girl has -understood- since she was Supergirl, but still- It doesn't have to. She can help. Her Kal taught her that.

    "We all get to take a break. We all have to -accept- that we can't run forever, even if we run on the sun. If we don't pause to -enjoy- what we've done, to rest in the peaces we've made... And, perhaps, take a moment even in victory to have been a little overwhelmed, then we'll burn out. If stars can, we can. Even us." It's not her speech- they're not her words. An eidetic memory has just recounted syllable by syllable something that Kal-L of Earth-2 told her long ago, despite that nobody else can really know they're not hers, despite what she's explained.

    "Old habits, though. Those die hard, don't they?"

Clark Kent has posed:
Kal listens to those words, comfortable enough with the woman Karen is, even from across dimensions, that he need not be constantly behind the shields of his constructed identity. So few people get to see that side of him, though there really is not difference between them in the greater cosmic scales.

His gaze remains cast upon th Earth still spinning thousands of kilometers below. Carrying them in its pull, but only as objective additions to their world, their very reality. A substantial understanding reached some years prior when battling a foe great enough to kill the Superman, Kal nods to Karen's words spoken back at him as if said from a voice far away, but still his own.

He hadn't said them, but he'd thought them more than once. A grin creeps steadily upon his features, "And when do you take one?" Looking back up to her, his displaced relative from further away even than Earth Primes Krypton.

"Old habits. I've always tried... strove really... to set habits I wouldn't be ashamed of." His eyes roll upwards, an expression common to people searching for words, or just analysing what they're thinking. Those same eyes squint curiously, "The best laid plans of mice and men, I think is how the saying goes."

"Have you met yourself yet?" Turning those very same eyes fully upon 'Kara Zor-El'.

Karen Starr has posed:
    The woman formerly known- perhaps even formerly named- Kara Zor-L stares pointedly again at the world, but this time it's more... Through it. The silence doesn't last long. "I take little ones. I run a company." That's not really a break. "And there's this girl. Keeps sneaking into my apartment when I'm not there. Shouldn't have showed her that I keep the balcony door open, but I admire that she makes the trip from New York." There's... Affection there, in her tone. Even, certainly, this little smile.

    "No plan survives contact with the enemy. That's the more common one nowadays, but I'm not really partial to it."

    Then, a sigh. Karen's face twists somewhat, and she seems to consider what she's going to say. "No, not since the last time we talked. I... Probably should. I just don't know if either of us is ready. Or will be ready." Her arms unfurl from one another, and her legs uncross to take a slightly more comfortable position. "I don't suppose we'll ever really be ready. I think I ought to just... Do it."

Clark Kent has posed:
Kal reverse nods to, at least some, of what Karen says of taking a break. A knowing expression of mirth crossing his face in that breath of time she muscles through his observations of her vacation plans to affectionate displays for strange cat burglers. "I'm kind of impressed she can climb that high." Teasing. It's 2020, what's he going to do, bat an eyelash at her smiling over a girl? Heck, he even looks pleased by the news. "It's good that you're finding something to ground you, no matter how infinitely small those things might be. Companies might not be exactly what I meant by taking a break, any more than relationships are, but they give you perspective."

He joins her in looking down on Earth from high above. Searching it in a way only Kryptonians can, until satisfied by whatever it is he looks for. "Otherwise we're just tourist. I don't have to tell you how important it is for us to have vested interests in the safety of the world we've adopted.. so I wont bore you with it. Suffice to say, and I mean this, I'm happy for you. So long as you are happy for you."

Which changes little when she admits to having not spoken to Kara. There's only an understanding, even accepting, nod. "That's not my cross to bare and I certainly wouldn't tell you how much it weighs, but I think you're not giving either of you enough credit. Our existance.. our lives here.. it's.. tumultuous, putting it lightly. We've each lost something, you more than any of us perhaps, so... consider it. Take a leap a faith and hope for the best. Because we can sit up in here in orbit as symbols, but if we, ourselves, never look to the sky wishing for the best, it seems hollow."

A small smirk plays across his face, "But.. a wise woman once said to me: You can take as much time as you need."

Karen Starr has posed:
    It's a confession she'd never made to her Kal. It's not that he was cut from some different cloth- that he was somehow any different from this one, aside from age. It's just that he grew up in an era that was different- that there was the faintest hint of doubt in her mind. She couldn't have handled, perhaps even -can't- have handled, any sort of disappointment from him. There's only so much strength one person can have, emotionally and physically.

    "It's an interesting perspective. I'll tell you more about it later." she offers- even managing this soft little chuckle.

    The last portion she somewhat invited- she even knew it was coming before he said it. They're so -very- similar. "Yes. Winding, like a river. I know." Her statements aren't hollow, and she's not exasperated, but this is a speech she's heard before- quite literally word for word. The last comment does elicit a roll of her eyes, though.

    "I'm not sure about the wise part, but I'll... Introduce myself. Not sure what I'm going to do if she punches me."

Clark Kent has posed:
The only thing that seperates two people is experiences, especially if those two people are the same. Kal is accepting, and he possibly knows how important it is for Karen to have told him... even though he is not her original Kal, so he feels, and even shows, a great deal of reverence towards that. Because he's like that. Smiling to his cousin from another dimension and nodding agreement that she need not tell him the details immediately.

Pushy he is not.

Patience is a virtue.

"If she punches you, and that's a strong if, do you think it will hurt?" Again tilting his head, the question is largely rhetorical, however. He knows it .. well it might, but it certainly wont kill her anymore than the reverse is true. "I don't think she will, though. It's interesting times we all live in, for us... for you.. who have lost.. everything.. finding what amounts to a sister?" He bobs a little shrug.

"I wont keep selling a sold horse. I think you'll be surprisingly pleased."

"Or know whether it hurts if she punches you.. but you learned something either way, right?" Even Clark can joke? Just badly. Always very badly.