dovelike | OOM: Visiting Chloe, Part II

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OOM: Visiting Chloe, Part II

While the Smallville Mall looks deceptively tiny on the outside, it is packed with enough shops to make a sizeable dent in the cash Eirene has on hand, along with racking up charges on one of the credit cards that Eunomia was kind enough to provide for her use.

This is precisely the reason that Eirene, and Chloe, struggle through the rear entrance to the Talon, loaded down with enough bags to keep an entire orphanage in clothing and other items for a whole year. But the giggling, and the free makeovers at that one counter, and the sighing over lovely fabrics, and really, the bonding made it all worthwhile.

"Maybe we should have rented that cute guy at the arcade to carry this all in for us?" Because the slightly shorter blonde is convinced her arms will fall off at any second.

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Very carefully, indeed. Eirene glances at her bags again, then towards the stairs, determination flickering across her face. She can totally do this, yes. And, indeed, does -- through applied use of the banister, with a side helping of moving in deliberate bursts.

When she finally sets her bundle of bags on the landing in front of the apartment door, it is with an audible sigh of relief. "Yeah, we definitely should rent several pairs of hands if I ever get the urge to spend that much money again."

"And that?" Chloe says, echoing the sigh of relief as she drops her bags next to Eirene's. "Is why god invented boyfriends."

She flashes her a grin before digging into her purse for keys. "If Lois is home, at least we can bribe her with pizza to help carry things in."

Beat.

"You don't mind pizza for dinner, do you?"

"Ah. Yeah, them. Can I borrow yours for lugging purposes if we do this again?" Eirene can almost match that grin, though most of her attention is centered on rubbing feeling back into her arms. Probably.

"I think I can handle pizza."

Beat.

"Wait, isn't Lois your, ah, cousin? And what's your dad's name ... in case she asks."

"Riley totally excels when it comes to bag carrying. We'll just have to bring him along next time," she answers with a nod, not quite looking at Eirene. She knows the keys are in her purse somewhere. "It's Gabe. And mom's Moira and- aha!"

Smiling smugly, Chloe pulls out the key chain. Victory against the bottomless purse is hers.

Then, she puts the key into the slot and opens the door. She peaks her head through the slit. "Lois? You home?"

"Well, what about twelve thirty?" The tall brunette holds her index finger up toward the door where Chloe's voice emanated from, her cell phone cradles against her ear with the other. "One thirty? What do you mean... Do you know who I am?"

Then she holds the phone in front of her, giving it a glare, before turning to her cousin. "He hung up on me. Can you believe that?"

"Father is Gabe, mother is Moira," Eirene mumbles under her breathe, standing guard over the bags during Chloe's key search. "Will Riley willingly submit to playing bag carrier for both of us, though?"

She grins, quieting on hearing an unfamiliar voice. Oh boy. Showtime!

"Definitely."

Then, Chloe pushes the door open further so Lois can see Eirene and the numerous bags the two girls have between them. She shrugs innocently at her real cousin and smiles.

"Um, no Lois," Chloe lies. "I can't believe that at all. Although maybe you might want to hold off on the 'do you know who I am bit' until you have more of a reputation in the field."

"I am the Inquisitor's media darling," Lois mutters, flipping the phone closed and tossing it lightly on the couch. "Like Senator Burke can't spare ten minutes to answer a few simple questions."

She sighs and then finally really looks at her cousin, and the girl behind her. "Who's that?"

Eirene resists the urge to waggle her fingers and giggle, things she's seen other mortals do when being introduced to 'family' members they supposedly haven't seen in years.

"Hi. I'm Eirene."

Beat.

"Sullivan."

Chloe resists from insisting that the keyword in all of this is Inquisitor.

Instead, she moves aside so Eirene can step in and grins.

To Lois: "You know how reclusive Dad's side of the family is. One of them's finally come out of the wood work for a visit. So she's going to be staying with us for a few days, okay?

To Eirene: "Eirene, this is Lois Lane - the cousin I was telling you about this morning."

"Cousin, huh?" Lois walks over to Eirene and looks her over, eyes narrowed. Then, after a moment of scrutiny. "Yeah, definitely Sullivan stock. Your side of the family," she continues, tilting her head toward Chloe, "is way too big to keep track of."

Then it's back to Eirene. "My dad and I can barely keep up my sister, but then I doubt there are any Sullivans gallivanting around Europe convincing rich, gullible schmucks into paying for swanky hotel rooms and airfare to yet another country ending in 'stan'."

Ahaha. Sullivan stock. Eirene doesn't think she's ever been prouder to be mistaken for someone else's relation. Chloe might be able to interpret the beaming smile that appears.

"Yeah, my dad Zeke is second or third cousin to Gabe. He's in Greece right now at a dig with my mom. It's nice to meet you."

And she extends a hand.

Chloe grins, dropping her purse by the couch. "Lucy still not back from her European tour yet?"

She turns around to head back out the door and start the transfer of bags inside the apartment, winking at Eirene as she passes by.

"And you call the Sullivan side of the family wild, Lois!" Chloe shouts from the hall. "At least Eirene can keep track of her siblings."

Lois eyes Eirene's outstretched hand skeptically. "You're in Lane territory now; we don't shake, we salute." Which Lois demonstrates, before sliding easily from all-too-serious into a lopsided grin. "But we'll go easy on you for now."

With that, she turns her attention to Chloe and the hallway. "You went shopping without me?"

"I'll remember that." Since she sort of has a brother in the military. Kinda. Still, it doesn't hurt to grin back at Lois, and then pivot around to follow Chloe's lead and start helping bring in bags.

Half of them are hers, after all.

"You weren't home, otherwise we'd totally have brought you," Chloe responds after dropping the first load of bags by the couch.

She lets out a sigh of relief (even a few steps, that was heavy) and flops down on the sofa.

"Sorry?"

"Yeah, lucky me was busy being turned down for an interview in person," Lois grouses, actually bothering to help out with a few bags.

"What'd you do, buy out the Metropolis Mile?"

"Smallville Mall," Eirene calls out from where she's trying to drag the rest of the bag in through the doorway, where they can remain parked until her arms stop hurting.

"I've seen enough big cities lately that something small and homey would be cool."

Chloe shrugs, reaching for Victoria's Secret bag.

"Did I forget to mention that Uncle Zeke's family is kind of rich?"

Lois unloads her armful near the kitchen island counter.

"You've been holding out on me when we've had a rich uncle all this time?" Yes, 'we'. "That's totally not fair."

Eirene snorts while dragging the last few bags in, and then shutting the door so she can slump back against it.

"We don't really like to mention that. I've got five older sisters, and you know how fortune hunters can be."

Beat.

"I could treat us to dinner though."

The 'we' earns a look before Chloe returns to digging through the bag.

"I kind of thought we'd do pizza tonight, Lo. We can do a nice dinner in Metropolis on a day when Eirene and I aren't exhausted from hours of shopping."

Again, Chloe looks up from her bag, eyes darting between one cousin to 'another'. "'Rene has yet to see anything past Metropolis Municipal, anyway."

"You suck as a tour guide," Lois teases, tossing a kitchen sponge Chloe's way on her way to flopping on the couch herself.

"Pizza's good though. I'm not much up for another long drive back into the city tonight. We'll have to stick to DVDs, though. Cable's on the fritz - again - and Smallville hasn't got his butt out here to fix it yet. He's so spacey these days."

Beat.

"More than usual. Anyway, think I should just call the cable guy?"

"No she doesn't. I've worked as a tour guide before," and that is the honest truth, "and Chloe hit all the major points of this delightful town. The Talon and the Mall."

Grin.

"Who is Smallville?"

And what in Tartarus is a 'cable guy'?

Lois just had to bring him up, didn't she?

Chloe manages to dodge the sponge (thank god Lois throws like a girl) and shakes her head.

"Maybe it's time we switch to a new provider." That's the easy response. The harder one is: "'Smallville' is Lois' name for my friend Clark. I think I've mentioned him to you before?"

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