Jor and Lara didn't sleep for very long, it was just about two hours before they woke up and exited the bedroom fully dressed. Clark wasn't completely surprised they didn't sleep much, after all he didn't need a whole lot of sleep either. They were wearing Kryptonian garments again, but different than the ones they were wearing initially.
Each was wearing a skintight bodysuit that covered them from foot to neck which seemed to be the base for everything they wore. Over that Jor had what basically amounted to a blue overcoat that went down to his ankles with the red 'S' adorned on the center of his chest. While Lara wore a long sleeve dress that went all the way to the floor. Aside from the bright red, he thought it looked like a wedding dress. The sleeves and shoulders were partly made of a lace type material which showed the blue bodysuit she wore underneath. And right on her chest was a gold 'S' but smaller than the one Jor had.
"Good afternoon." Clark greeted, he was sitting in the kitchen eating a sandwich. "Wait, where did you get those clothes?"
"From the closet." Out of pure habit Jor answered in Kryptonian but switched back to English. "There was a piece of furniture in front of the door that I assume you placed there. It was the chest that holds your clothing. I regret to inform you but I may have damaged it."
"Closet? Behind the dresser?" Clark asked himself, "Show me?"
Jor and Lara led Clark back to the bedroom where his dresser had been moved, and had a crack across the wood most likely from Jor moving it without realizing his newly developing strength.
"Here." Jor touched a spot on the wall, that to Clark didn't look any different than the rest of the wall. But sure enough a pocket like door opened up and a rack full of clothes slid out, with about maybe 40 outfits hanging from it. Half for Lara and half for Jor.
Clark stood wide eyed, he thought he combed this room for any hidden secrets and had found none. He quickly humanized it and he and eventually Diana settled right in, but after thinking about it, he should be surprised about it. The fortress was probably full of secrets that he hadn't yet discovered. Jor and Lara would be able to teach him quite a bit about some of the technology.
"Would you look at that." Clark marveled, "I guess you learn something new every day."
Jor didn't get the sarcasm in Clark's statement, he took it literally and responded as such.
"That has always been my goal, to always progress, using the past as a guide to lead to something greater."
"Unfortunate that others did not see his vision. If it hadn't been for blindly holding onto the past Krypton may have survived. Are we the only ones left?" Lara asked from behind Clark.
He took a deep breath, not sure he was ready to speak about this. "As far as I know, yes. There are only those who have been Phantom Zone, and the few that I locked up."
"Who did you imprison? The Phantom Zone hadn't been used in years, not since we were children." Lara questioned.
"The followers of General Zod." Clark told them, then noticed the blank look on each of their faces. "You have no idea who that is do you? I thought that might be the case."
"Who was General Zod?" Lara asked, wondering why she hadn't known of a General from her military days.
"He and his followers were religious zealots, who were imprisoned for some sort of crime, he didn't tell me what. But the prison they were held in preceded the Phantom Zone, allowing them to survive the destruction of the planet. I inadvertently led them here, where we had a conflict ending in me placing the followers into the zone and being forced to kill Zod."
Jor raised an eyebrow, "It is illogical to kill the only known survivor of your race."
Clark now wished he hadn't said anything. Killing Zod was no easy task, it had taxed him mind and body, and haunted his soul ever since. Only Diana knew just how much. "I didn't have a choice, he would have killed me and everyone on this planet, I couldn't let that happen. In his eyes the people of earth saw me as a god, and any false idol or worshipper of a false idol must be destroyed."
Jor and Lara stood blankly, as if trying to process what he'd just said. Clark wondered if the language barrier was an issue. So he tried putting it another way, this time speaking Kryptonian hoping they'd understand better.
"I am your son, which means my body is Kryptonian, but in every way that matters, I am human. I may have powers that the people of this planet don't have, but I'm still one of them and I always will be. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Lara spoke first, then Jor. "Yes."
"What of your woman?" Lara asked.
Clark knew this conversation wasn't over, but he welcomed the change in subject matter for right now. "She's different, she's only part human."
"Descended from Greek Pantheon." Jor recalled, although he had no clue who the Greek Pantheon were.
"Uh. Yes." The Olympians were far from Gods in Clark's eyes, and most of the time Diana's too but he decided to leave that alone for now. Instead he moved on to the broken dresser that had to be weighing on the mind of whoever broke it. "So which one of broke that?"
Jor watched as Kal pointed directly at the where he had grabbed the chest and accidently broke it. "I did, although it was not intentional. The material was softer than I anticipated. It is unlike anything I have seen before, what is it?"
In the back of Clark's mind he almost wished they have denied it like they were little kids. But the seriousness of Jor's face let him know just how silly a thought that really was. "It's made of wood."
"Wood, the hard fibrous material that forms the main substance of the trunk or branches of a tree or shrub." Jor recalled the definition exactly. "Or an area of land, smaller than a forest, covered with growing trees. I suppose context explains which this is."
"Yes. All these words with multiple definitions as you learn it will become clear which one it is."
"But why would a hard fibrous material break so easily under his hand?" Lara asked.
"Because you're getting stronger. Every second that you spend on this planet you get stronger, tougher, faster."
"The yellow sun." Lara observed.
"Yes. And you haven't even been exposed to direct rays yet." Clark explained.
"What exactly will happen?" Jor asked.
"I don't know exactly, but I think your powers will manifest themselves differently than mine did. I was young when I got here, it took time for my powers to develop. The others who came were adults, and gained some power immediately, but weren't much of a match for me. Except Zod, he learned to use his powers quickly, within a few days." Clark trailed off, and he shook his head trying not to remember. "It's lunch time are you hungry?"
"I am not." Jor answered.
"Nor am I." Lara concurred. "Where is Diana?"
"She is out shopping, getting clothes for the two of you."
"We have clothes." Jor said obviously.
"Yes, but she's getting you earth clothes. So that when you leave here you can blend in a little bit." Clark turned his head slightly, hearing the mechanism of one of the entrances to the fortress. "And speaking of Diana, she has just returned."
"She has? How can you tell?" Jor wondered.
Clark tapped his ear. "I can hear her. Once you leave this fortress, you'll have to sort out a lot of different sounds at once. That might be difficult for you." Clark's super hearing was something he always had, as far as he was concerned it was normal. He could hear like everyone else, just from further away. A lot further. But for his parents, they might have trouble adjusting to the extra sounds that they didn't hear before.
"I've got clothes." Diana announced, walking into the room with both arms full of shopping bags. "Lots and lots of clothes."
Clark stared wide eyed at the sheer amount of stuff Diana had. "You do realize we have a limited budget right?"
"Of course. Being Wonder Woman has it's perks, I got a lot of it from our clothing drives. I had to guess on the size but I'm pretty sure I've got it."
As Wonder Woman, Diana was involved with numerous charitable endeavors, and since she was so closely linked with Superman, they'd become his endeavors as well. There had been situations where they'd used the clothes for visitors from other planets and such, so this was no different.
"Lara, I have a few special things for you that I'd like to show you."
"Of course." Lara was being polite, she didn't agree with Diana's fashion sense.
After sorting through everything Clark and Jor went away while Diana and Lara stayed in the bedroom, if they were dealing with clothing and such they figured it would be easier to divide by gender.
"Surely you do not expect me to dress as you do?" Lara asked.
Diana looked at herself, she was wearing a black tank top, blue jean shorts and flat sandals that made her about as close to barefoot as possible. It was warm outside (in Metropolis anyway), and while the heat didn't matter to her, she dressed as a young woman would in 90 degree weather. "You don't have to. I found you some tasteful items."
"Tasteful? Why would one eat clothing?" Lara looked at Diana like she'd gone mad.
"No." Diana laughed. "In this context tasteful means acceptable."
"Very well. Is it acceptable for someone to dress like you?"
"Of course. We dress for the weather, now if you walked outside now all you'd see is snow for miles but in the city where Clark and I live it's very warm, most of the women dress this way." Diana almost told her how the women dress, or rather don't dress on Themyscira but elected not to for now.
Lara took several trips back and forth to the bathroom trying on different outfits, some of them were perfectly acceptable others she wasn't sure of. Showing the amount of skin Diana did was definitely out, however she left herself open to potentially wearing short sleeves.
"It might help if you weren't wearing that blue jumpsuit." Diana noted.
Lara looked at herself, she was wearing only that now. "It is the basis for all clothing on Krypton. It is to be worn underneath."
"Yes I see that, but here that won't always work. We wear things under our clothing here too, only it's much less." Diana picked up a Victoria Secret bag and pulled several items out, she figured this part would be difficult.
In another room Clark was helping Jor button up a dress shirt in preparation to put on a full business suit. Jor had been uncomfortable getting rid of his blue jumpsuit, but felt better the more layers went on. Clark gave a basic explanation about when to wear suits. At work, formal functions, and places of worship, Jor had understood and accepted it. Everything felt loose, but he figured he would adjust.
"You look more human all the time." Clark smiled.
"Is this a good thing?" Jor asked.
"Yeah. I don't plan to keep you locked up here forever. But dressing like a Kryptonian, I'm not sure that's a good idea right now."
Jor wondered what that meant, he wasn't sure about the idea that he'd have to abandon who he had been his whole life but decided not to say anything for now. Kal had reasoning for what he was doing, and when it was revealed he'd make a choice either to follow Kal or do what he thought was best.
Back in the bedroom, Diana had shown Lara how to put on a bra and pantie set, and was waiting impatiently for Lara to exit the bathroom. To try to make the situation smoother Diana had gone down to her underthings as well and was sitting on the bed.
"I couldn't possibly be seen wearing this." Lara called.
"There's no one here but us. Please just let me see if you did it right." Diana was quite confident she put everything on correctly, she had ulterior motives. But she couldn't put them into action if Lara didn't leave the bathroom.
"Very well." Lara sighed, and slowly opened the door.
"Wow." Diana said softly. Lara was stunningly beautiful, with a tight curvy body and pristine skin. Diana suddenly had much more confidence about her plans.
"Did I hook the straps correctly?" Lara turned to show Diana the hooks at the back of her bra, barely getting over her discomfort with being so exposed.
"Yes you did."
"I do not like these items, at least no one is to see me like this."
Diana purposely didn't hand Lara another cover garment, in fact she was sitting on the rest of the clothes. "I wouldn't say no one. Jor might like this."
"Jor? I am mere stitches away from being naked why would Jor see me like this?"
"He's your husband isn't he? Why shouldn't he be able to see you?"
"Does Kal look upon you dressed this way?"
"All the time. He likes it." Diana said nonchalantly.
Lara simply didn't understand that, and didn't know what to say. When she first saw Diana she wore only Kal's cloak, and now she was even more confused.
"How long have you and Jor been married?"
"We have been married for 1 year 4 months 12 days." Lara backtracked, "Or rather we had been the day we sealed ourselves in the alphahedron."
"Wow. How old are you, or how old were you when you left Krypton?"
"I am 21 years old, 1 month 19 days. Jor is 21 years old, 1 month 21 days."
"Oh." That part shocked even Diana, her in laws were younger than she was. "Well, why did you marry him?"
"We were assigned to be married by the Kryptonian Registry of Citizens. Based on age, occupation, and personality traits. No Kryptonian, male or female is meant to be alone, and each is assigned a partner of the opposite gender. We may only part in death."
"An arranged marriage?" Diana shouldn't have been surprised, but she was glad that wasn't the case with her. She couldn't imagine the thought of not choosing her mate.
"Yes, the registry makes no mistakes. Where Jor is weak I am strong, and where I am weak Jor is strong. He is my mate for life, under no circumstance will I ever leave his side, nor he mine." Then Lara started thinking. "You say that you and Kal are not married, how can you be together then?"
"That's easy. We're together because we're in love with each other."
"Love. a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone." Lara repeated the definition. "I recall the words but do not understand their meaning. We have nothing of the sort on Krypton. What is romantic and sexual?"
Diana could read that Lara's question was more scientific than born from actual curiosity, but that didn't matter at this point. Her plans were set in motion, and Lara's statement about her lifetime commitment to Jor certainly helped.
Jor and Lara have no idea what's about to hit them.