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[OOM: In Smallville, Clark isn't having much fun.]

Clark doesn't hang around the main bar very long when he enters - too loud today - and heads outside, walking along the lake shore. He can still hear just about everything that's going on, right down to the rustle of demon bunnies in the forest, but at least out here the conversations emanating from the bar overlap enough that it's more a background buzz.

It's preferable to a hundred mooing cows, at any rate.

He stops a fair distance away from the main building and picks up a few rocks, casually tossing them into the water. Occasionally, he actually puts a tiny bit of effort into it and a few land clear on the opposite shore.

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Clark laughs. "This is true, but I have flown. I mean, I can't run across water."

Pause.

"Well, not an ocean full of it."

"But you can across smaller bodies of water?" Riley laughs. "Man, you're like an alien Jesus!"

(This is, it should be said, delivered in a joking but 'that is so cool' tone of voice.)

"I wouldn't quite go that far. It's just the momentum," Clark explains, still laughing himself. "But it's Kansas, you know? There's not much water around."

"I'll have to take your word for it," Riley says, cheerfully enough. "Born and raised in Maryland; I hadn't really been anywhere but D.C. up til the last couple of weeks. Chloe showed me a little bit of Metropolis once, but that's the most face time with Kansas I've had."

"Well, you'll have to prepare yourself for the full Kent Farm experience for Thanksgiving. Rural Kansas at its best," Clark nods.

"We have corn and cows."

Riley looks cautiously leery. "--I don't know that I've ever seen a cow in person."

"Really?" Clark sounds genuinely surprised at this because... never seen a cow?

"I guess I won't let you milk them, then."

Riley snickers. "I can't decide who'll be more grateful for that: me or the cow."

"That would probably be a tough call."

"Probably the cow," he says ruefully. "I'm really more of a dog kind of a guy."

"We've got one of those, too. Kind of used to be a meteor freak, but he's not, anymore." Yes, Clark is being completely serious.

"... The dog was a meteor freak?"

"Sort of," he shrugs. "He was a lab animal, part of an experiment where they injected something made with the meteor rocks into him. Gave him superstrength. But it's worn off since we took him in."

Riley grimaces. "Yeah, okay, that's less cool. But he's okay now?"

"Yeah, he's just a regular dog now."

Clark pauses, "Did Chloe really explain the meteor rocks? I mean, do you know how they're connected to me?"

He shakes his head. "Not in great detail or anything."

Plus, he was kind of stuck on the whole 'he's an alien' part. He didn't hear a whole lot immediately following that.

"Okay, well, you might as well know everything, if you're going to know."

Clark takes a slightly deep breath before this, becuse it's pretty important. "They're from my planet, the meteor rocks, and they're radioactive. That's why they do things to people, but they also affect me. They make me sick."

Riley frowns in thought, listening closely, and dead serious for once. "How so?"

"There's different kinds, but the most common is green kryptonite. Depending on the amount and the length of time I'm exposed to it," another brief pause, "it can kill me."

... Shit. "But isn't Smallville full of the stuff?"

"Sort of?" Yes, Clark knows how that sounds. "The government cleared out a lot of it, but yeah, there are places I can't go without feeling sick."

"Shit," says Riley, out loud this time. "Shit, that's -- not good, huh?"

Beat.

"Wait, is there a government cover-up involved?"

"I know where to be careful by now," Clark shrugs slightly. "They did a study and as far as they're concerned, the stuff's harmless. In their defense, it doesn't effect everyone who comes into contact with it. I mean my parents and Chloe are fine, and it's not like I can tell the government what it does to me."

After a brief pause he adds, "It's people like Lex who worry me more."

Riley nods, considering (and a little disappointed that he can't apply any conspiracy theories).

"What's the deal with him?"

Oh, there's probably a conspiracy in there somewhere.

Clark hesitates before answering. "That's... a really long story. We used to be friends." He shrugs. "We're not anymore."