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Valerie Bell is lounging around in front of the Cooper house, waiting for someone who looks vaguely in charge to wander by.

Until then, she's shamelessly showing off her mutant powers by juggling innumerable chunks of dirt with twelve glowing white tentacles.

Hey, it's an excercise in coordination! Right. Yep. Uh-huh.

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Clark nods. "You, too. I'll keep an eye out for him."

There's a brief pause. "Like I said before, though, if you want to do ... whatever it was you were doing, you're better off out back. Less noticeable."

She feels for a moment very much like a scolded child.

"Yeah," comes the uncomfortable reply. "Uh. Sorry."

Clark, too, is oddly reminiscent of someone else. One or two people, even.

"No worries," he shrugs, but he's obviously relieved that she's agreed. "I just think we draw enough attention as it is."

"Yeah, like how? Besides having a boat out back, which is pretty weird, but it's probably modern art or some shit."

"The boat isn't enough?"

"Seen weirder," Val says dismissively. "Way, way weirder."

"So've I and there's enough of it in this house," Clark replies. "Keeping it relatively contained isn't easy."

The thing with Valerie is that she doesn't ask why he wants to hide it.

She just scratches the back of her head and offers, "Look, the key's knowing what you want to hide. Give up on the boat. It's there to stay. Don't act like it's fucked up, or people will notice. It's like how nobody'll pay attention to the guy with the knife when he's standing beside the guy with the rocket launcher, right? The boat's your rocket launcher guy."

Clark eyes her.

"Yeah, I've already come to terms with the boat." It wasn't easy, but he did. "It's the rest I'm still clinging to trying to hide, but deep down, I know it's a losing battle."

"Hey, you won it with me." Val grins. "And trust me, that's tough. Just ask Mar. Y'don't need to give up hope just yet."

"That makes you one of the smart ones, then," Clark tells her. "Attracting attention doesn't always go so well for people around here."

"Was much the same way where I came from," Val admits.

Not that that stopped her showing off. But still.

He nods. "then you've got practice. But you don't really have to listen to me; I'm not in charge. Just some advice."

"D'you know who is?"

"In charge?" Clark raises an eyebrow. "Whatever state government we've got left, I guess. They'd be in Topeka, or Metropolis, depending on how intact Topeka is."

"I was thinking more in a 'who owns the house' way, but that works too."

"Oh. That'd be Lucy. Short girl with black hair. Sometimes a dragon," Clark offers. "I wouldn't exactly say she's in charge so much as it's her house and it's up to her who gets to stay."

"...sometimes a dragon," says Val, raising her eyebrows. "Right. Think I saw her. Does pointing at the bunkers and saying 'that way' count as permission to stay? If so, I'm golden."

Clark smiles slightly. "If she didn't want you here, you'd know it."

"I'll take your word for it," says Val with an amiable shrug.

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