SUMMARY: She's not Wonder Woman. She's just a girl visiting Smallville.
DISCLAIMER: These characters don't belong to me. Unfortunately. They belong to people like DC comics, the WB, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
NOTES: Azar wanted pre-Wonder Woman Diana, possibly visiting Smallville. It happens to be her birthday and she needed to be cheered up, so I obliged. Thanks to Medie for the beta.
It had seemed like a good idea at the time: See the world outside Themyscira, learn about the things she'd only heard about from others, come to a better understanding of why the Amazons hid themselves. It had sounded entirely logical when Diana explained it to Hippolyta, but somehow that logic seemed naïve in the face of a crowded coffee shop in a town called Smallville.
Everyone seemed to be staring at her, and she wasn't certain if she was doing something wrong or if they simply stared at everyone they didn't recognize. She fidgeted and tried to decide what to do.
The colored lights made everyone's skin look diseased, she thought, looking down into her coffee. That prompted a small chuckle as she wondered if there was a way to arrange coffee imports to Themyscira, as that was one of the few things she'd come to love about the outside world.
Movement nearby made her look up as a motherly woman with kind eyes stopped at her table. "Hi, I'm Martha Kent, manager of the Talon. I couldn't help but notice you seemed uncomfortable. Is something wrong?"
Something about the woman's manner made Diana feel better, although she was unlike her own mother. "I'm just new in town and I...don't know anyone yet."
The woman smiled at her. "Is that all? We can fix that easily." Turning, she waved at a table of teenagers in the corner.
A tall teenager with dark hair looked up and nodded, poking the blonde next to him with his elbow. The two of them wended their way between the tables, holding their coffee up high to avoid spilling anything. Diana frowned to herself as she watched the boy move--there was something odd about him, as if he were deliberately making himself appear more clumsy than he was.
She shook her head to clear it of such imagination.
"What's up, Mom?" the boy asked when he reached them.
Martha smiled down at Diana. "This is my son, Clark, and his friend Chloe. Between them, they know almost everyone in Smallville and I'm sure they'd be happy to help."
"Hello," Diana said. "My name is Diana. I'm pleased to meet you." She was proud that she remembered to hold out her hand.
"Hi," Clark and Chloe said together, shaking her hand somewhat awkwardly.
Martha beamed at the three of them and went back to the counter. "Let me know if there's anything else you need, dear."
"So," Chloe said, sliding into a seat, "are you moving here? Will you be attending Smallville High? Where are you from?"
"Give her a chance to answer something, would you?" Clark smacked Chloe's shoulder as he sat down. He was politer than most of the men she'd met, looking at her face rather than her chest.
"I'm just visiting, passing through town for a few days," Diana said carefully. "I've been...sheltered, I'm told, so I'm traveling to see the world outside my home."
"Wow." Clark's eyes widened. "Your parents let you travel by yourself?"
"I'm a little older than you think," Diana said, smiling. "My mother wasn't pleased with my decision, but she didn't stop me."
Chloe's eyes narrowed. "Where are you from anyway?"
"Oh, it's a little island. You wouldn't have heard of it."
"So why Smallville?" Clark asked.
"Yeah," Chloe said, "if you want to see things, I'd think you'd go somewhere like New York or LA."
"I went to New York." Diana shivered. It had been a decidedly unpleasant experience and after she'd rescued the third woman from being attacked, she decided she had to get out of town. "But New York was so busy that I didn't know where to start. I think I need to start small. I really wanted to see places that were quiet. Normal places."
Clark jerked his hand and nearly knocked over his coffee, while Chloe developed a coughing fit and covered her face.
"Is something wrong?" Diana asked, looking at them.
Clark and Chloe exchanged glances.
"If you're looking for normal," Clark said, wiping coffee off the table without meeting her eyes, "Smallville's probably not the best choice."
"What do you mean?" Diana looked around at the crowd. It certainly seemed normal to her. There were men and women engaged in the strange mating dances she'd observed elsewhere, people eating pastries, drinking coffee, and doing crossword puzzles.
Clark fumbled with the wadded up napkins. "Uh." He blinked at her. "It's kind of hard to explain."
"A lot of strange stuff happens here, that's all." Chloe nodded firmly.
"Strange?" Diana shook her head. These adolescents weren't entirely comprehensible to her, but she suspected their ideas of strange were decidedly tamer than hers. "Well, I'm certain I can survive strange. Perhaps you can show me around your town at some point?"
Clark flushed and Diana sighed. Why did men always assume she was implying something sexual? She would never get used to that.
Chloe grinned at Clark before turning to Diana. "Sure, we'd be happy to show you around. We're not responsible for anything strange that happens, though."
Diana left Smallville a week later with a new appreciation of the word 'strange.' Really, she'd assumed they meant lesbians or perhaps an eccentric recluse or two.
There was no way she could have expected the 10-foot-long neon green snakes, was there? Obviously not.
And she had a great deal more respect for farm country if they could breed boys like Clark. Although it was a bit odd that a woman as bright as Chloe had somehow failed to notice that Clark had superpowers. As, apparently, had everyone else.
Perhaps people in farm country weren't as smart as she thought.
end--