25 - You can't be a Queen, you know, till you've passed the proper examination

[notdreaming]

[ Video ]

[ Kara is as chipper as the day she left, though the sigh of relief that escapes her suggests that this is a recent change. Kryptonians do get headaches, it turns out. Especially when they argue with their own Council. ]

Hello again, barge! I can see I've only been gone a few days in this timeline. It's been more like a year and a half, in mine. Superman says hello, and so does Mother. They practically insisted I take Krypto with me.

[ Hearing his name, the big white dog barks cheerfully from his place at his mistress' side. She smiles and reaches down to scratch his ears, which quiets him down. ]

I brought some... interesting souvenirs. [ She snickers, glancing off-screen to look at the small pile. ] See, everyone on Earth is really excited about Krypton, and everyone on Krypton is really excited about Earth. And I get free merchandise, because everyone wants an endorsement. A lot of it has pictures of places the artist has only seen from other pictures, and the result is... well, like I said, interesting.

Who wants a volcano snow globe, or a cat light chime?

[ She holds up one of each: A snow globe depicting a very shiny gilded gold mountain with red "lava" snow, and what looks like a Hello Kitty wind chime in orange, but instead of metal bars something that looks like tiny lines of light. These are in fact very small metal bars. They reflect rainbows all over the place, it's great. ]

Comments

[babyfacedkiller]

Yeah, I've been sort of getting that impression.

[ It's not real sarcastic, just faintly wry, and his smile matches. ]

I'm Lloyd. Nice to meetcha, Kara from Krypton.

[notdreaming]

You, too. How long have you been here?

[babyfacedkiller]

Couple of days.

Got caught in a big goddam' explosion, and ended up here.

[notdreaming]

[ An inmate, then. ]

I'm sorry. Are you settling in alright? Do you need anything?

[babyfacedkiller]

Thanks.

I'm doing okay. Can't really think of anything I need, except maybe directions on how to get one of those deals you guys have.

[ It's clear from the offhand way he says it that he's not really being serious. He knows it's not going to happen. But he sure could use one. ]

[notdreaming]

[ She smiles sympathetically. ]

You'll have to figure graduating out on your own, for now.

[babyfacedkiller]

Yeah, I guess so.

[ It just happens to be a pretty tall order, asking him to figure out something that big. He has no idea where to even start.

Instead of dwelling on it, he tries to brighten things up a bit, by changing the subject: ]

So what's Krypton like?

[notdreaming]

Oh, Krypton is wonderful! People say its more colorful the earth, but really it just doesn't have so much green and blue. Our technology is a lot more advanced than yours, too. We're still working on collaboration agreements.

[babyfacedkiller]

It sounds nice. I kind of pictured it with a lot of silver, white and purple. [ He doesn't know where he's getting those colors from. Maybe from a movie. Or maybe that's just how imagines a science fiction planet. ] Collaboration agreements, you mean with Earth?

[notdreaming]

[ She has to wonder why he'd think anything like that, but she moves on quickly. ]

Yes, with regards to scientific research.