(no subject)

[dovelike]

The Door opens onto the terrain at the base of Olympus, as always, but this second visit is slightly different than the first. They won't be hiking up the sacred mountain, not unless Clark wants to see it again, and the landscape is ordinary. Aside from being gorgeous and Mediterranean, anyway.

"Come on, my house isn't too far from here."

Eirene's smile isn't quite as blissful now, and the totally euphoric feeling has -- actually not disappeared, just lessened slightly.

Comments

[eirenikos]

"Do you want to? While you're here, I mean." She's already mentally figuring out whether to take him to an actual zoo, or the wilds of Africa, or somewhere on the Indian subcontinent if he actually says yes.

If not, it's a moot point, and they're getting closer to her home anyway.

[hero_farmboy]

Clark probably should have expected the offer. But he didn't, so Eirene will get a look.

"I'm not sure we'l have time. We need to get your house set up." There's a brief pause before he adds, "Next time, though."

[eirenikos]

"Okay." She smiles easily (always has) and leads the way back to her home. The door is standing open, which may or may not mean anything, and it's not until they get inside that the reason stares them in the face.

Almost literally.

There's a gift basket on the counter and a kitchen full of dishes and cups and everything that she was planning on shopping around for in the morning.

The basket is, thankfully, only full of golden apples, and a note from her mother. Which turns her cheeks red and is stuffed into a jeans pocket.

"Well," Eirene sighs after a moment. "At least thats one thing off the list."

[hero_farmboy]

Clark sets the packages he's carrying on the counter and gives her a small smile.

"Guess that just goes to show no matter how old you get, we're all still kids to someone."

[eirenikos]

Eirene follows suit with the couple she hadn't put down yet, and casts a glance towards the ceiling.

"This? Is very true. Why don't you take out what you want for dinner tonight and then I'll put the rest away."

[hero_farmboy]

He rummages through the packages for a few minutes and then pulls out some pork chops and setting them aside. Then he'll open the fridge and eyes it thoughtfully. "Do you have a specific order or place where all this has to go?" Some people do, he knows.

[eirenikos]

That takes Eirene completely by surprise. "Uh, no? I think the fruit is supposed to go in the draw labeled 'crisper', but everything else should be fair game. Don't worry about it, I'll put everything away in a minute."

After some consideration, she sets mushrooms and an onion next to the pork, and then starts loading everything else into the fridge in a neat, albeit slightly haphazard, way.

[hero_farmboy]

Clark wants to be helpful - that's what he's here for, after all, so he passes her items to be put away where she wants them. At least it makes him feel like he's doing something useful.

When they're finished, and all the packages are away, he turns the little elephant figure over in his hands. "So, what's next?"

[eirenikos]

"I try and figure out how to cook this without using magic so you don't freak out?"

She's ... not actually kidding, either, by the sheepish expression on her face.

[hero_farmboy]

Clark looks over at her. "I can teach you, if you want."

[eirenikos]

Stare.

"You know how to cook?"

[hero_farmboy]

"Uh, yeah?" Clark thought that was a given. "I mean, I'm no gourmet, but I can fend for myself. Mom made sure I could."

[eirenikos]

It wasn't, though it probably should have been. Eirene blinks after a few moments, and grins up at him. "That's very groovy, Clark. Yeah. I'd like that. This meal, anyway."

She extracted the elephant from his fingers shortly afterwards and carries it over to the fireplace in the living room, to a place of importance on the mantle.

[hero_farmboy]

He follows, eyeing the mantle. "I'm not going to come back next time and find a real one in the backyard, am I?"

[eirenikos]

There's a brief hesitation before Eirene shakes her head, that might suggest she was, in fact, wondering if it was possible to host a fully grown African elephant in a goddess's back yard. In Greece.

"No. I'll just get my fix the next time I'm in Africa." You know. Where the genocide and the bullets are.

[hero_farmboy]

Don't think Clark didn't notice that hesitation.

"Well, at least I know what to get you for your birthday." Something elephant related, he means.

Beat.

"Do you even have a birthday?"

[eirenikos]

And a second hesitation, this one more embarassed than shifty.

"I .. don't actually know how old I am, Clark." Small smile.

"Birthdays aren't much of a consideration?"

[hero_farmboy]

He offers a sympathetic smile. "That makes two of us."

[eirenikos]

"You forgot somewhere around the year ten thousand, too?" She's teasing, Clark. Hip nudge. "Besides, you don't need an excuse to give a present to someone."

As has already been proven. Or will be, with a ninja!kiss. "Come on. Show me how not to burn pork."

[hero_farmboy]

"No, I've just never known when my birthday actually is. Makes it hard to keep track." The ninja!kiss is returned, however.

"You mentioned a barbecue?"

[eirenikos]

"Awe. Do you get presents yearly, or completely ignore it," Like she does. Gods get offerings, not birthday presents.

"Yeah, it's outside. That little kiosk you saw has a barbeque and table set up. It came with the property. Very manly setup, I might add."

Grin.

[hero_farmboy]

"My parents picked a day when they adopted me, so they always acknowledged it, but it was never a big deal."

Clark nods. "Okay, well, we can do the meat out there and throw together some rice and vegetables in the kitchen. It's really easy."

[eirenikos]

"Well, if you ever want a present, just let me know." Eirene ninja!hugs him as well, before moving back into the kitchen and rifling around for the pots and pans and -- that's the oddest looking wine opener she's ever seen -- and anything she can think of that they might need.

Which actually isn't much. "Ok, now what?" She'll listen carefully to his instructions and then bungle it up the first two times anyway.

[hero_farmboy]

He'll never do that. You just don't ask for presents. But he knows she means well, so he smiles again and follows her into the kitchen.

"Well, if you want to chop up some veggies while I get the meat started, that would be a big help. Onions, mushrooms, maybe some zucchini." Clark will grab the pork, then, and start toward the back door.

[eirenikos]

"Aye, aye, boss." Eirene salutes him jauntily with a large knive, and sets about mangling the first few things she attempts cutting, but by the time Clark returns from doing manly stuff outside involving meat and fire, the veggies will be cut up into mostly recognizable piles.

And Eirene will have all fingers intact.