17857/A Quiet Night Of Non-Heroing

A Quiet Night Of Non-Heroing
Date of Scene:	06 May 2024
Location:	Megan Morse's Apartment
Synopsis:	M'gann teaches Jon how to do laundry. They have a lovely meal together, then retire for the night. Super nights that follow super days.
Cast of Characters:	M'gann M'orzz, Jon Kent

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M'gann M'orzz has posed:
It's a rare quiet night. The police bands are strangely silent, there aren't any natural disasters of note, even the sounds around the city are a little muted, as if the population itself is taking the night off!

M'gann is busy in the kitchen, cooking up a storm as she is wont to do. Beef stew simmers along in a slow cooker. Fresh bread bakes in the oven, a nice french style loaf with a crackling crust and pillowy soft interior. Just beneath it, two dozen chocolate chunk and salted caramel cookies are plumping up nice, big and soft. An apple pie with cinnamon is cooling on a rack on the counter, while vanilla bean ice cream chills in the freezer.

Megan is dressed for comfort in trim yoga leggings, fuzzy slippers, an oversized shirt that leaves one shoulder bared, her hair up in a ponytail as she stirs some risotto in a large pan on the stovetop, sniffing at it to make sure the rice isn't overcooking. Chicken broth, with butter, yellow onion, white wine, and some freshly shredded parmesan, all sirled together with some lovely rice into a nice creamy dish.

Jon Kent has posed:
The last of the farm chores are finished. Jon puts some oats and hay in the horse stalls for them to munch on overnight. He starts to walk from the barn toward the house as his stomach growls with a fierce hunger. Then he stops and a look of panic comes over him. He just remembered that his grams, Ma Kent, drove into town to play bridge tonight. WHAT IS HE GOING TO DO FOR FOOD? People will eventually find his starved and desiccated body on the ground of the farm!

Closing his eyes, Jon starts to focus heavily. He has been training very hard to filter sounds, which is no easy feat for someone who can hear All The Sounds...literally all of them. Metropolis is rough because it's an enormous, thriving city. But what he is listening for is something dear to him: his girlfriend Megan. It takes a few minutes but he eventually finds her sounds. Clink. Stir. Pot lid. Scrape. SHE'S COOKING!

The sound of air snapping into the void that Jon's body once occupied is sharp and loud. He didn't even take the time to change into his Superboy uniform. He just rockets through the air at mind-boggling speeds the 1,200-some-odd miles from Smallville to Metropolis. Minutes later he is standing on Megan's balcony wearing dirty, probably a little smelly farm clothes. He clears his throat gently and knocks on the glass door with the gentleness of lamb. "Um, Megan?" he says. "It's me, Jon."

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
Turning at the cleared throat, Megan's face lights up at the sight of Jon on her balcony. Sure, he might smell a little... ripe.. but that isn't nearly enough to keep her from welcoming him inside, pulling the risotto from the heat to set while she goes to open the french door to the balcony and usher him inside. Leaning up, she offers a light kiss and a warm smile, "Well hello! You've picked an excellent night for an impromptu visit."

Stepping back, she winks at him, "You still have some sweats and t-shirts here. If you want to go jump in the shower, I'll toss your clothes into the wash, and dinner should be ready by the time you're all cleaned up." Megan offers another small kiss to the corner of his mouth before pulling back to head back to the kitchen, "There's cookies and apple pie and ice cream for dessert!"

Incentive! Dinner AND dessert AND time with Megan. Ma Kent might start going to bridge more often! She calls back over her shoulder, "Do you want something to drink? Milk, juice? Oh, I have some watermelon mint sparkling water!"

Jon Kent has posed:
Sometimes you don't know what you need until you get it. When Megan kisses him, Jon slides strong fingers around the back of her neck and kisses her back. His already warmer-than-human body temperature increases a notch or two. He grins and perhaps she can sense his thoughts that he is about to suggest that the shower is awfully big for just one person but then his stomach growls fiercely. He was hungry from a day of farm work and that was /before/ he flew 1,200 miles at high speed.

"Sure," he says warmly. "I'll hop in the shower real quick. Ma Kent went into town for bridge and she forgot to feed me. I'm gonna call child protective on her later." He /is/ a 20-year-old man. With super powers. And who can't even boil water.

He slips off his flannel as he walks toward the bathroom. "Watermelon mint sparkling water?" his voice calls out, echoing strangely off the bathroom tiles. "I don't even know what the means." The water turns on in the shower. "Do you have any Cherry Pepsi?" Jon is so simple.

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
M'gann winks at him, already knowing the direction his thoughts were heading as she offers, "I have to make sure the food finishes cooking, but you're welcome to stay the night." She is entirely unashamed to have him over, even sweetening the pot, "I'll make breakfast in the morning. Omelets with all the trimmings, bacon, roasted potatoes..."

Yes, she knows very well how to keep her boyfriend happy and content. With love and support! And large homecooked meals! It's a good thing Megan delights in the little domestic tasks like cooking, having taken to heart that cooking is good for the soul and brings people together.

While Jon is making use of the shower, Megan finishes the risotto, pulls the bread and the cookies from the oven, setting both to cool while she stirs the stew and inhales. Perfect. The brown gravy is nice and thick, the scents of thyme and rosemary and marjoram are fragrant, the beef is pull apart tender. It's going to be delicious! And since Jon is still in the shower, Megan makes a quick and silent flight to the corner store for a six-pack of cherry Pepsi! It will be chilling in the fridge by the time he emerges!

Jon Kent has posed:
Finally Jon emerges from the bathroom clean and damp, the odors of the farm washed away. He grabbed a pair of boxer briefs and a snug white T-shirt from his stash of clothes here, and he emerges from the bathroom carrying a bundle of his dirty clothes. "By RAO that smells like heaven!" Jon says as he heads over to Megan's laundry machines. "I'm gonna wash these, is that okay, hon?" he calls out. He tugs open...the dryer, and tosses his clothes in. Yeah. He is domestically /helpless/. "How many of these laundry pods do I put in here?" he calls. "Wait, what do I set this on? Is this the water temperature dial?" It's the DRYING temperature dial.

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
"It's ready for plating up and eating!" Megan calls back, stepping out of the kitchen in time to watch him put his clothes in the dryer. Laughing silently to herself, she heads over, slipping her arms around his waist and giving a squeeze, smiling at him. "Would you like me to show you?"

Providing he answers in the affirmative, she teaches as she shows him, "The machine that opens at the top is the washer, before you put the clothes in, you add one laundry pod, then the clothes. It looks like there's a stain on the t-shirt, so we should use the stain spray on that before it goes into the washer. Close the lid and then the dials. You start from the left and work your way right. This is a small load, just one outfit, so we set it to small. There are colors in the clothes, so we set the temperature to warm. They're farm clothes, so we set the cleaning setting to heavy. Then you just press the start button!" She finishes the lesson with a kiss to his cheek and a smile for him.

"Now. Lets go get you fed so your stomach stops making noises like an angry lion. We can eat at the table, maybe cuddle on the couch after with a movie and some dessert?" Winking at him, she draws back, catching his hand in hers and tugging him along with her, smiling up at him.

Jon Kent has posed:
Jon stands /very/ close behind Megan, pressing up against her as she tutors him on how to wash clothes...you know, something that your average middle school student could manage. He holds the back of her hands so he can move along with the motions as he rests his face against the side of her head. It's all potentially quite distracting.

"So, just like that, huh?" he murmurs with a slight grin on his face. "You make it look so easy." He reaches out and taps the start button after Megan already starts the machine up. He just wants to feel like he's part of the process. "There. Started." He intertwines his fingers with hers and heads back to the kitchen. "Thank you," he intones gently. "You spoil me and I don't deserve it." He grabs a piece of pepper from a salad and pops it into his mouth. "What can I do? Put me to work!"

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
Oh, Jon is very, very distracting. She didn't even MENTION the fabric softener or the enzymatics that can be added to help remove the worn in farm scents! Didn't even enter her head. NOt when she had Jon pressed all close against her, moving along with her, her cheek tilting towards his. He smells good, clean. He's so warm. Feels so perfect.

"You know, I could get to like chores more if we're doing them together like that," Megan chuckles softly and leads him into the kitchen. He sneaks a piece of pepper from the salad and she laughs softly, "Set the table while I get everything into serving dishes? Then you can help carry the dishes to the dining room." She reaches up to cup his cheek, pulling him in for a quick kiss, then nods to the cabinet, "Bowls and plates are right in front of you, spoons and forks are in the drawer under it. And I have your cherry pepsi in the fridge."

Then she's moving to pull a large platter from under the cabinet, along with some large serving bowls, and a plate to hold the bread. The stew goes into the largest tureen, the risotto into another, the salad bowl added to the tray, the bread sliced up fresh and put onto a plate and added to the tray. All ready to be carried out to the table! Megan pulls the glasses from the cabinet to set on a smaller tray, cherry pepsi for him, and the watermelon mint sparkling water for her.

Jon Kent has posed:
"On it!" Jon says as he starts getting the accoutrements of eating from the various cabinets and cupboards. /Finally/ something he can actually do. Setting the table and washing dishes are his standard dinner chores on the farm, though he had to practically wrestle the latter from Ma Kent who is so accustomed to doing everything. He sets the table at completely normal speed. Being here with his girl, away from the needs of the world, it's just nice to casually do things like a normal person might. Soon enough the table is set. He pulls out a chair for Megan with a certain old world charm...surely the influence of whichever version of Clark Kent raised Jon in some unknowable instance of the infinite universes where he was born.

He sits once Megan is comfortable. "This is incredible. How do you know how to /do/ all this stuff, Meg?" he asks as he piles food high and deep. He's not shy in front of Megan, she knows how much he eats. He's not a glutton, he just burns a lot of calories. He watches her with his sparkling, crystal blue eyes.

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
There's something that's really comforting and enjoyable about sharing the space with him, both of them working together to put dinner on the table. Something they can then enjoy together! She smiles up at him when he holds her chair out for her, kissing his cheek as she takes her seat. Then ladling out stew, risotto, getting some of the fresh bread. She doesn't eat nearly as much as Jon does, but she also doesn't burn calories in the same way. Martian physiology is strange, though useful!

Looking across the table, chuckling, she offers, "A lot of the broadcasts that I received were from the 50s and 60s. There was always a lot of teaching about how to meal prep, how to cook, baking tips. And then as technology started to evolve, a lot of the commercials would explain how these 'new' appliances functioned and operated. And then after I was here, I would actually watch people cook, and clean, figuring out which techniques were the most efficient, or that made the most favorable meals. Then I started trying it for myself, and I found that I truly enjoy the delight on peoples' faces when you offer them something tasty to eat." Megan smiles at him, "I decided then and there that I wanted to get better at it because I enjoyed making people smile. Seeing them relax and enjoy themselves, and knowing that I played a small part in that."

She shrugs lightly and meets his gaze with her own amber eyes, "With you.. I enjoy the feeling that I get when you enjoy something I've made. The look you give me when you think I've performed some sort of domestic wizardry. Like how you're looking at me now. It's both warming and empowering and it makes me want to do it more often in the hopes of seeing it again."

Jon Kent has posed:
Although it isn't particularly romantic, Jon eats with zeal and gusto as he listens to Megan talk. He has been waiting all evening to wait and almost had a full-on panic attack when he realized that Ma Kent had gone out. He washes down several mouthfuls of food with a big drink of his beverage of choice: Cherry Pepsi. Then a burp from the carbonation slips out. His eyes go wide and his cheeks flush as red as Superboy's cape. "Oh Rao, I can't believe I did that! Excuse me!" Then he breaks into some small laughs.

"Just think, you had to receive Earth transmissions and come all the way to this planet, and I had to accidentally slip into this one Earth among all the infinite Earths, just for us to be together," Jon intones solemnly, peer at Megan warmly. "And then we had to meet and get together and then go our separate ways and then get back together after we learned that you were neighbors with my mom. I mean, what are the odds?" He shrugs as he wipes his mouth with a napkin. "It's a miracle, really." Those crystal blue eyes shift to Megan. Jon smiles with warmth and affection.

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
She watches him eat with a smile, pleased that he's enjoying the food she prepared. The burp has Megan laughing along with him before shaking her head with a smile, "You're excused. Clearly you were hungry! It's to be expected." Her own food disappears at a more moderate rate, but given the smaller portion, it's keeping pace with his own eating.

Listening to him, she gives a small nod and offers, "I count myself lucky to have met you at all, Jon. Moreso to have gained your friendship. And even more to get your affection. Being with you, both before and now, you've helped me in ways I don't think you even realize. And I don't mean to imply that we're together simply because we help one another. But we... understand each other. And share a sort of connection that I haven't managed with anyone else. And I think that's special." Megan smiles at him, returning that warmth and affection, "I agree that the odds were definitely against us ever meeting, but I'm so very, very glad we beat them."

Jon Kent has posed:
Jon will finish his meal and chat with Megan genuinely. Afterwards, he will try to insist that he do all of the clean-up, though no doubt Megan will want to be involved so she doesn't end up with leftovers in plastic baggies and pots and pans all put away in the wrong places. Then he'll switch his clothes to the dryer and get a field lesson in how to set the machine. He doesn't /want/ to be helpless. He's very earnestly trying to learn.

Afterwards, Jon will take Megan's hand and pull her close. "Would it be...be okay if I stayed?" he asks in the gentlest tones, his voice somehow at once both velvet soft and laced with potential power. He grins a little. "It's a long flight home." If she green lights him, Jon will wrap his arms around her and lead her into the bedroom...