alexis! (celebutante) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-07-02 13:12:00 |
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There really was only one word that Lois could use to describe Vallo: interesting. It seemed to encompass everything about the place--from the magic to the different species to how they all seemed to arrive at random to the world. It was difficult being away from her family though, and even though Lois knew that she was technically still back in Smallville and with her boys, it didn’t quite help them not being there with her. She’d been away from them before for stints here and there when she was working and they were older now at least, but she couldn’t quite shake her worry for them. So going to the beach and trying to relax and shut up the neverending conversations that her brain liked to play on repeat had seemed like a good idea. With the temperatures rising, bringing out the worse moods in some and a broken AC in the Gazette’s office, it really had been the perfect time to get away from the city. The cooler full of beer and wine coolers was an added bonus as she glanced over at Alexis. “I feel as though this should be a weekly occurrence.” Alexis loved the beach. Absolutely loved it - and some of the beaches in Vallo were kind of chilly and dreary, dark and dense with grassy bluffs, small stones and mixed gravel but others, the hidden gems, were on the more summery side. She set up beach chairs, a blanket, a cooler, and stocked up on plenty of food and adult beverages - oh, and don’t forget the sunscreen and the floppy hat that kept her delicate scalp from burning; her bikini was polka dotted and, currently, her toes curled under sand that felt like (what she imagined) flour on bread - skin dusted, watching the waves wash upon the shore with white lace. So soothing. Much relaxing. She’d taken Cullen a couple of weeks ago but she didn’t get tired of it. It was the right season for beach trips and she planned to take advantage. Weekly, even. “Totally,” she agreed, adjusting the hat and flashing a grin - her sunglasses slid down her sunblock-covered nose a little with the gesture. “I think it just helps to get outside and soak up vitamins, you know? Especially when your AC is broken. Are they going to fix that?” Lois had to been to a variety of beaches over her life--moving around as she had with her father making his way up the army ladder had meant new places to call home every other year or so. Sometimes the breaks between were even shorter and then she’d grabbed hold of her own career, angling more into investigative journalism that had her traveling to a variety of locations as well. It had mellowed some once the boys had been born, but she’d never been good at staying rooted to one place for too long. Clark might have been the one who could physically fly, but Lois was the real wanderer. She took one of the beers from the cooler, popping it open on the opener. “They said it should be done by tomorrow.” Did Lois think that would be the case? 50/50 on the outcome? It depended on where they were on the queue for it. Not that she needed to be in her office to do her job anyway. If it wasn’t fixed, she’d just hit the streets and follow some of the leads she had on the current piece she was working on. Hopefully she wouldn’t get the run around again like the last time. “I’m not holding my breath though.” So call her basic, but Alexis enjoyed herself a nice fruity (and refreshing) can of cider while she was lounging on the beach - hence why she rummaged for one of the cans striped with purple (the passion fruit flavor) and popped it open. All without breaking a nail, super impressive. “Ugh, hopefully,” she sighed. “This is the wrong time of year for the AC to go out but - I guess that figures. At least it’s kind of a normal problem and not like, all the furniture has turned into dollhouse furniture or something. Or Sharknado eats everyone in the city.” Yikes - that would be bad, wouldn’t it? Though she wouldn’t put it past Vallo to make that happen. She pressed the cold can to her face, appreciating the cool sensation on her sun-warmed cheeks. The salty sea breeze tickled and the ocean extended as far as they could see - these were the types of views and days she appreciated. “So how are things going with everything else?” she asked. A healthy work-life balance was important! Lois had nearly perfected the work-life balance back home. She’d needed to, but that gone completely out the window in Vallo. Without the boys around, she wasn’t as hurried to get home for dinners or take weekends or nights off like she had been. It was like being in her early twenties all over again, only with a lot more wrinkles and an aching back some days. Less hangovers though. “You put all of that out into the universe so I’m sure some of it will end up sticking.” Hopefully not the Sharknado one. Though the dollhouse furniture could be deadly in its own way. Hopefully not as painful as stepping barefoot on Legos though. “Getting to know the alternate version of my cousin-in-law and training a superdog not to use my shoes as a chew toy is going pretty well.” She just needed to figure out which treat was best to bribe Krypto with. “What about you? How are things?” Oh no. Alexis laughed a little. “Don’t listen to me, Vallo,” she implored the invisible forces that were at play here. “That’s so weird though - so your cousin-in-law is your cousin-in-law, but like...not?” She was having trouble wrapping her brain around that one because it seemed way too science fiction-ey for her to really compare to anything. None of her wild life stories prepared her for alternate versions of people but, to be fair, nothing really prepared her for what went on in Vallo on a regular basis anyway. “Let’s seeeee...” She tipped her face up, absorbing some sunlight. Just consider her a flower, a rose who thrived in warm weather. “Things are good. Still going strong with Cullen and like, now that the weather’s a lot nicer I can take my mermaid tail out for a spin and go swimming with Cleo.” That was always fun, whenever they got to do that - she was forever jelly of Cleo’s real merm tail, because it was so beautiful, but Alexis just had to accept the fact that she wasn’t born to be as fabulous. She could live out her merm dreams, however, either with the gifted tail or visiting Atlantis. “I’m also about to start recruiting for the speed dating event? Like, signing people up.” It went pretty well the last time. She hoped a whole new bunch of recruits would be interested in meeting new people this time. It was alright, Alexis, Lois didn’t always know how to wrap her head around it either. It wasn’t her first foray into the ridiculous though. She’d done alternate versions before during the whole Crisis mess, though sometimes that felt like a lifetime ago. Kara was Kara, but there were enough differences that it really was like getting to know her all over again. It was nice having her around though and Lois knew Clark had to enjoy having her there as well. She grinned at the mermaid bit. It had never been a fantasy of hers, but she could see the appeal of being able to swim more agiley in the water. Probably faster as well. She’d still prefer wings over a tail of any kind. “Speed dating?” That was something Lois hadn’t seen yet in Vallo, though she supposed it made a lot of sense. So many showed up without knowing anyone or only a handful of people. “I bet you have a good turn out for it. People need a way of meeting one another here.” The network only worked so well and tone was hard to read in messages that were sent back and forth. “Do you need help advertising it? I’m guessing you’re limiting it to Outlanders?” It was true, people needed help in the ‘meeting each other’ department sometimes - they had the Tag! app or whatever it is, but Alexis liked the idea of using her talents to put together fun little mixers as well. A themed something-or-other, to give the varied denizens of Vallo something to look forward to. That was why she’d jumped on the masquerade idea that Katherine proposed - it added an air of mystery and intrigue to the whole thing. “I threw one a few months ago - it was at the meadery and seemed to be pretty successful,” she said, sipping on her fruity cider (yummm, haters to the left). “There were five rounds and we had a lot of sign-ups - but like, a lot of people since then have left or started dating so there are new single people to try to hook up.” Her mission in life. Hooking all the people up - please, save your applause for later. “But I would love to have a little assist with advertising,” she brightened. “I’m not sure if it’s Gazette-worthy, but whatever or wherever you think. It’s also only limited to Outlanders, yeah. I plan to announce it on our network.” If it was for Outlanders only then the Gazette probably wouldn’t advertise it but that didn’t mean flyers and things couldn’t be put up in Outlander owned businesses. The network post would probably reach most but there were always some stragglers or those who just didn’t pay attention to the network. So maybe flyers or something like that would reach them. “Going to have it at the meadery again or showcase a different Outlander business for it?” Lois thought it was smart utlizing Outlander businesses for the endeveor. She liked the fact that most of the time people seemed to help one another out in the small community--that wasn’t that small really. It was nice to see. Ásynja Meadery had worked out really well for the first speed dating event, so Alexis was definitely considering it for the second. However. “I think it’d be neat to showcase a different Outlander business for it?” she said thoughtfully. “There are a couple bars and clubs I was looking at, and also maybe the community art center.” She was pretty sure that one was Outlander-owned-and-operated as well, and it seemed like a fun, airy space to bring in a bunch of people for an event. A bar would be nice because the alcohol was right there (it tended to loosen people up at fun little shindigs like this) and they wouldn’t have to work too hard to cater either, but - sometimes it was a little too cramped? She’d see. There was a lot to think about, when event planning - which was why Alexis was glad to have some help from her friends. “Have you been to Al’s Dive Bar yet?” she asked, because that was one of the places she thought about using - seeing if she could rent the back room for her speed dating. There definitely were plenty of options out there to choose from and it made sense to Lois to mix it up a bit and use somewhere different the second time around. She fished out the bag of chips from the bag by the cooler, needing something to munch on to go with her nearly finished beer. Chips seemed better than sandwiches, she swore those always tended to taste like sand at the beach, even if they never touched the stuff. It had a habit of getting into everything within seconds. “I didn’t even know that was a place,” Lois admitted. There were so many different kinds of businesses that the Outlanders had it could be hard to keep up with all of the openings and changes in ownership. “I think Alex owns it - your cousin-in-law’s sister? Or is she technically your cousin-in-law too? That’s so confusing,” Alexis groaned playfully, slumping back in her chair and letting her limbs go loose - she’d officially reached the lazy bones aspect of the beach trip. Now to just hope she didn’t fall asleep in the sun and wake up burnt to a crisp. But, well, Lois would rescue her in that case. After their stealing jaunt in ancient Vallo (and subsequently sticking together, picking out witch coven soap) she’d really come to like the other woman. Plus, Alexis just liked having friends who didn’t suck and wouldn’t leave her hanging out to dry the way her fake-ass loser chums from the old days would. For her snack, Alexis arsed herself to move (because food beckoned) and chose a plastic container of watermelon from the cooler - the pieces were cut into cubes and this would both taste good and be good at hydrating her. She only wished she had some feta crumbles to add to the mix. “You can come check it out with me if you want?” she suggested, as she munched. Lois grinned. Family relations were always complicated, especially when it was Clark’s side of the family. Add in the Kryptonian part and it only got more complex. Family was family though and she’d do a lot for them. Even her dad when she was annoyed by him and his choices. There were definitely some things they weren’t going to see eye to eye on but at least she didn’t need to deal with that mess in Vallo. Oh, right. That place. She felt like she’d heard Clark mention it. Or maybe it had been Alex, or even Kara before that version of her had left. “I’d love to come check it out with you.” What else were friends for? “Need to make sure it's big enough for this event that I’m sure will have plenty of people wanting to join.” Plenty of people - yes, that was the hope. It would probably be pretty disappointing if Alexis tried to put together a big event and like, no one showed up. But she’d see! Even if people weren’t interested in dating, they could always use the time to meet new people and just get conversations going face to face? This was helpful, especially if they were shy. “Cool,” she chirped, returning the grin. “We’ll consider it our next mission, then.” A lot less dangerous than stealing from a Roman empire bazaar or whatever (she went with the Game of Thrones references even though it was probably the wrong time period - whatever, she was a PR guru not a historian). But first, the beach. And watermelon. And she’d probably run some more ideas by Lois too, because she was eager to really begin to put things together - it always helped to keep busy here, especially when the Universe was merciful and actually let them have a life. |