Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Invite your friends to IJ!"

Username: 
Password:    
Remember Me
  • Create Account
  • IJ Login
  • OpenID Login
Search by : 
  • View
    • Create Account
    • IJ Login
    • OpenID Login
  • Journal
    • Post
    • Edit Entries
    • Customize Journal
    • Comment Settings
    • Recent Comments
    • Manage Tags
  • Account
    • Manage Account
    • Viewing Options
    • Manage Profile
    • Manage Notifications
    • Manage Pictures
    • Manage Schools
    • Account Status
  • Friends
    • Edit Friends
    • Edit Custom Groups
    • Friends Filter
    • Nudge Friends
    • Invite
    • Create RSS Feed
  • Asylums
    • Post
    • Asylum Invitations
    • Manage Asylums
    • Create Asylum
  • Site
    • Support
    • Upgrade Account
    • FAQs
    • Search By Location
    • Search By Interest
    • Search Randomly

Helena Wells-Quinzel is H.G. Wells ([info]indelibleink) wrote in [info]makebelievelog,
@ 2013-03-17 18:13:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:claudia donovan, h.g. wells

Who: Claudia and HG
What: HG is shopping for an engagement ring AKA a day of buying Claudia food, possibly a new pair of shoes, and teasing the flailing Victorian author.
When: Sunday afternoon
Where: Various jewelry shops about the city
Warnings: Should be low as the worst that could happen is occasional cursing.
Status: Closed/incomplete



This was most certainly not the first trip Helena had taken to jewelry shops in the city. She'd done so on several previous occasions. Between utilizing trips for things such as groceries and clothing, and leaving earlier for her shifts at work, she'd all ready had a list of possibilities for the ring she'd buy for Myka. Now, Helena knew what style she was looking for, that wasn't the issue. The issue was more that Helena found several potentials within the parameters she was working within, and Helena was having trouble narrowing down the one that would be perfect. There were days when Helena thought she'd found the ring, but there was always something that ended up being wrong or not good enough in her opinion. As if one could really go wrong with diamond rings, but Helena was certain one could go wrong with a diamond ring. Which was exactly why she'd asked for Claudia's eye to assist. Sometimes a second opinion helped matters. Not to mention Helena was probably looking too hard to find imperfections or holding standards far too high because this wasn't about the ring, it was about the love that she and Myka shared.

Even so, the Victorian woman was still incredibly picky and felt Myka deserved only the best. Though in an attempt to not be out the entire day, Helena had made note of a few of her top choices for rings to show to Claudia for her opinion. After meeting Claudia at the appointed hour, they set off into the city, Helena choosing on of the jewelry shops she'd all ready been in for their initial stop. On the way, she'd enlightened Claudia to the type of ring she was looking at, which was a diamond solitaire with a white gold band. At their initial stop, Helena had pointed out one possibility. While it was rather symbolic as to the Halloween costume Helena had chosen and later actually became, she ended up ruling it out almost as soon as she'd pointed it out to Claudia. It was too flashy for Myka's tastes. So that ring abandoned, Helena turned back to the rest of the selection of diamond solitaire rings available in the store, but she didn't see anything else there she liked. Which was possibly a good thing because Helena wanted her list of possible rings to get shorter not longer today. If Lady Luck was smiling on her today, she hoped to have the ring by day's end otherwise she would start to get more than a little antsy given the day she wished to propose on was fast approaching.

"All right, to another store. I at least narrowed the possibilities down instead of adding to them?" Helena said to Claudia. Though Helena didn't exactly fear adding to the list given she was perhaps over-analytical about rings and felt none were good enough for Myka. The rings she'd found so far were either too simple or too complex. There were, however, two other rings on her list that were close to the perfect ring, so showing them to Claudia would hopefully prove to be something of a help.



(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-03 01:37 am UTC (link)
Even with Claudia's response, Helena was suspicious of what plans were being thought of in that other woman's head. But she would let it go for the time being. There was no use in debating the topic any further than they had. No doubt such talk would only give Claudia more ideas, and that was not precisely something Helena needed in this instance.

Upon receiving her drink, Helena took a sip of the water. "There have been a couple instances with drunks, but nothing overly interesting." She looked at Claudia. "And do not let that get back to Myka. Nothing happened involving me, but I do not need her standing guard every time I work. Though it would be quite stimulating to see her in such a mode." Helena smirked a bit, entertaining that thought as she took another drink from her water, letting Claudia mull that image over. Or not.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]clauds
2013-04-03 05:41 am UTC (link)
Claudia made a face, trying to reflect the idea that she objected to the mental image H.G. had painted in her mind. She took a very long drink of her soda before sputtering out, "Sitting in silence it is. Or I can ramble about how the server overhaul at work has been going, since all of that would mean absolutely nothing to you."

But the truth was that, even if ribs took awhile, it wasn't going to take too long for the order. The barbecue place made enough ribs each day that they could just have orders ready to go at very quick notice and not fear the product going to waste.

And, thus, the challenge for H.G. to eat without making a mess was ominously and menacingly looming in the near future.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-03 07:00 am UTC (link)
"As positively fascinating as that would be, it would be largely meaningless to me, unfortunately. Which is something I should work on remedying." Sipping her water, she was debating taking courses at the university come the fall. Up until fairly recently, she hadn't known what she even wanted to study given her varied and very diverse interests. But she seemed to now be leaning more towards learning about electronics and the inner workings of machines. It would certainly help if she could learn such things so she didn't have to rely on Claudia or Anakin teaching her when she wanted to build robots and the like.

So it was sitting in silence and Helena was coming up with a battle plan. Because the meal she was about to embark upon was a battle. Anything as messy as what she'd seen transpire at other tables in the restaurant should be considered a battle. But Claudia's plan of distracting Helena from worrying too much over engagement ring choices was working. That was, for the moment, far from the forefront of her mind. Now in its place was mild worry and strategizing how to not make a mess of herself.

Though once their food came out, Helena actually stared at the ribs for a minute or two, her face contorted into a look that was somewhere between horrified and repulsed. But she was not to be defeated by this. No, she would somehow succeed in this endeavour if it killed her. Taking a napkin and setting it on her lap, Helena again hesitated, trying to decide whether to attack the food with silverware as civilized people were supposed to eat, or if she would stoop to the barbaric gesture of using her fingers.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]clauds
2013-04-03 08:23 pm UTC (link)
Claudia smirked and wrapped her hands around the small pork slider bun, letting sauce go onto her fingers as she raised the food to take a bite. The barbecue sauce didn't go past her fingers, really, but a small amount of it slid out of the bun and fell onto the plate below. It looked dramatic, it looked messy.

Claudia paused after she had chewed and swallowed to look at H.G. in a pointed manner. "Aren't you going to eat?" Of course, Claudia had dove into her food. It wasn't a question for her. It was all about the challenge to H.G.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-04 04:34 am UTC (link)
When Claudia just picked up the slider and dug in, Helena kind of watched in abject horror as the sauce dripped down. A slight shudder of horror ran through at the prospect of how utterly messy this food was. While she had a feeling of repulsion to it, it was a challenge and she wasn't going to surrender. No doubt Claudia would be disappointed if Helena just caved in then and there without even trying to eat.

"Yes, I'm going to eat, mother." Helena gave Claudia a returned pointed look. She'd called her mother for a very pointed reason, thus why she'd stressed the word. Claudia had, in that moment, sounded like Helena's mother once had. With thoughts of her mother now coming to mind, Helena set her jaw and didn't even attempt to pick up her silverware. No, she dove in with her hands, picking up one of the ribs and taking a bite of it. It was a somewhat careful bite as she was trying to avoid making a horrendous mess of herself, so she'd bent over her plate so that it would catch any extraneous sauce that trickled off of the rib.

She had not taken into account, however, the fact that she now had barbeque sauce around her mouth.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]clauds
2013-04-05 03:12 am UTC (link)
The smirk was very slow to appear, but it crept across Claudia's features none-the-less. Her hand first went for her napkin to wipe the sauce off, then for her pocket. It was only a few moments before her cellphone started to rise up.

"Smile." Yes, yes Claudia was intending to take a picture. And it was a public location, which meant that kenpo was out of the question.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-05 04:30 am UTC (link)
Had Helena not been wrapped up in trying to eat the rib as carefully as she could, she would have noticed the smirk on Claudia's face. But as it was, she was slowly taking another careful bite. She was not one to tear into it as though she were some ravenous beast. She was determined to come out of this with her dignity in tact.

At least until she heard Claudia say smile.

Turning her attention to the younger woman, Helena was going to question why she should smile when she saw the phone in Claudia's hand. Which initially confused her because why should she smile for a phone? But then a few seconds later she remembered these phones had cameras. At which point her eyes narrowed.

"Royal pain." It was the first thing she thought of that didn't involve cursing. And she most certainly wasn't smiling.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]clauds
2013-04-05 07:01 am UTC (link)
Claudia only grinned wider as there was a small clicking sound from her phone, then there was another click. She took one more to make sure that she had a photo that worked for her, snickering to herself, before quickly tucking the phone back into her pocket.

"Your majesty," Claudia pointed toward her own mouth and added, "You have a little something here." She moved her finger and wrapped it around most of her mouth area. She was, fully, enjoying this.

And H.G. hadn't once mentioned nerves or weddings or rings!

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-06 10:41 am UTC (link)
Upon hearing she had something around her mouth, Helena initially touched a couple fingers to the area. But given the fact those fingers had just been holding a rib smothered in barbeque sauce, she only succeeded in adding to the sauce that was around her mouth. "Oh bollocks," she muttered as she reached for her napkin to clean her mouth off. The normally primp and proper Victorian woman was not one who stooped to using curse words. She typically found them vulgar and base. However in times when she was exceptionally irritated or upset, she was known to curse.

"Who ever had the bright idea of thinking this food was fit for civilized people? I mean really." She kept the tone of her voice so only Claudia could clearly hear what she was saying. She wasn't going to make a scene, after all. That would just be even more vulgar and base of her, so she was just going to sit on it. For now, anyway.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]clauds
2013-04-06 11:22 pm UTC (link)
"The same people who thought that this tasted great. And don't pretend it's not." Claudia grinned and reached for her sandwich again to take a rather large bite. Once again, Claudia's hands were marked by a good deal of the crimson red sauce.

After she had swallowed (she was enjoying bothering H.G., but she knew not to push things so far as to show her already chewed food) and taken a drink of her soda, she spoke again. And it was to ask H.G. if she was admitting defeat. "Or do you want to get a to-go box for your ribs?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-07 07:59 am UTC (link)
Well, Claudia had her there. It did taste good. She didn't respond to the initial statement Claudia had made as she was busy wiping the sauce from around her mouth. When she had finished that, she looked at Claudia and understood the hidden meaning of the question. She was not admitting defeat.

"I do not require a box," she answered, lifting the rib and taking another careful bite out of it. This was an entirely messy way to eat and the Victorian woman was having issue seeing how people enjoyed eating like this. If anything it made her feel like she needed to shower and brought her closer to her primal origins than she ever cared to be.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]clauds
2013-04-08 02:08 am UTC (link)
Claudia finished eating her pork pullers and wiped her hands off, then used a wet wipe to get the last sticky traces off her fingers, She proceeded to sit there, wiping her ring with the wet wipe and sipping her pop through a straw. Waiting for H.G. to finish. Claudia still had french fries on her plate, but she wasn't in the mood for them. She'd stick them in a to-go box and heat them up in the castle kitchens later. Pete had bought a mini-fridge while he was there, so Claudia did have a place to store a few containers of food where it wouldn't be in anyone else's way or potentially be eaten or tossed by someone else.

"I think this qualifies as revenge for the Tripod." Claudia finally said, smirking. Really, Claudia had been smirking or grinning in one form or another for the entire meal. "Annnd - you're going to take the super long way now, aren't you?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-08 02:50 am UTC (link)
It took a while, but Helena did finally manage to finish off all of her food. Even with trying to eat carefully, she still had barbeque sauce all over her fingers and mouth despite all the repeated pauses to clean herself up before moving on. As such, she could feel Claudia watching her, and no doubt reveling in the sight, as she ate. But finally she set down the last rib bone and went about wiping her hands and mouth off first with napkins, then with those cunning little clean wipes. Really, Helena thought the clean wipes were more than a bit genius.

Looking at Claudia, Helena arched a brow. "I plant a Tripod in your room and you take me to eat barbeque. There is certainly something to be said there." The waiter came over then, taking Helena's empty plate and she asked for the check. "Yes, I do believe I am going to take the very long way. One must work off that meal."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]clauds
2013-04-08 05:27 am UTC (link)
Claudia started to load her french fries up into the box when the waiter returned with the check and the to-go box for Claudia. Claudia even went so far as to squirt a bit of ketchup over in a corner of the box, suddenly having the feeling that she might want to snack on it before the day was done.

Really, she didn't mind spending a day with H.G. and wandering around the city. If she had, she would have driven her car. Claudia really liked the idea of spending some time with the Victorian woman. She liked bonding time, needed it. "That we're not normal by any standards? This isn't saying anything new. We're friends with Anakin Skywalker, we live in a castle, and - oh, let's see, everything about the Warehouse... ever..."

Claudia picked her crumbled up straw wrapper up off the table, rolled it into a ball, and threw it in the general direction of H.G.'s nose. "Ready to go, or do you need to wait for change? And I think I'll eat french fries on the way there."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-08 07:11 am UTC (link)
While Claudia took care of putting her fries in her to-go box, Helena took care of paying the check. Even she had to admit, mostly to herself, that even with the revenge for the Tripod this had been an excellent diversion. Helena had managed to unwind from the stress of picking out an engagement ring and forget about all of that anxiety.

Helena did enjoy spending time with Claudia. A couple months previous she'd had a nagging thought that they could've been closer had she not done the whole vengeance-upon-the-world-betray-the-Warehouse thing, but they seemed to have moved on from that. Or at least Claudia never seemed to hold any of that against her. But of course, Helena was not going to bring the topic up, it was not one she wished to pursue today. Instead, she was enjoying the company, spending time with her. "I think we are normal by our standards."

Helena had been distracted putting her wallet back into her purse that she hadn't noticed the bit of balled up paper that Claudia was balling up. The intended target was not the one that was hit. Instead, it bounced off Helena's cheekbone as she looked back at Claudia just in time for the paper ball to hit her. She flinched slightly, looking down at the paper ball that had come to rest on the table. "Throwing paper balls now? Someone must be antsy to walk." Helena smirked a bit, mentally tacking on even more distance to their next destination. "No, I do not need change. So we may proceed."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]clauds
2013-04-10 03:37 am UTC (link)
"I think our standards are super high. I mean, really, if 'weird' was alcohol then we would both have really high alcohol tolerance... or caffeine tolerance, maybe, would be better." Claudia trailed off for a few moments, mockingly, contemplating this detail despite it being well-known that she had high caffeine tolerance. H.G. especially knew that.

"If you walk me too far, I might go for a cheap office chair with wheels instead of new shoes. Then you can just wheel me the rest of the way." Claudia joked back, sticking her tongue out (briefly) before slipping out of the booth to follow after H.G.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-10 11:54 pm UTC (link)
"How about we say really high caffeine tolerance?" Helena responded with an arching of her brow. She was well aware of Claudia's caffeine tolerance, and the Victorian herself had one when it came to tea. Well, it was perhaps a tea addiction more than anything, but she was English, tea was a love of hers.

"And what would stop me from accidentally sending you rolling down a steep hill?" Helena replied in that mocking tone that could also pass for being serious. Though the glint in her eyes alone would let Claudia know she was only teasing. Heading out of the restaurant, Helena took a moment to get her bearings on where they were in the city and where they needed to go. After a moment, she headed off in the rather long and round-about way of getting to where they were heading to next.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]clauds
2013-04-11 02:31 am UTC (link)
"I think I could have an IV drip of caffeine and it would feel normal. And - probably you and Steve could both do the same with tea, but I won't get into that. I know better than to get between a Brit or a Buddhist and their tea." Claudia popped the to-go container open, once they were outside, and started slowly munching at her french fries as they walked along.

"You wouldn't have anyone to give you opinions on rings." Claudia responded after a beat, grinning. It was all teasing in good fun, really, though Claudia suspected she would (eventually) get it back for the barbecue. "And what would you do then?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-11 08:21 pm UTC (link)
"You have learned well, my dear," Helena quipped with a chuckle. To come between Helena and tea was a sure fire way to get hurt. In the short while she'd had the chance to get to know Steve, she'd found him to have the same love of tea she had. She did miss having someone to talk to about tea in such a manner.

"Touché. I would no doubt resort back to my original state of having an inability to choose." Barbeque food aside, Helena was enjoying the time with Claudia. Shopping rather seemed to be becoming their tradition. Not that Helena would complain, she did enjoy shopping, and it was even more enjoyable when the company was good. Which was also part of the reason she was taking the ultra long way to the next jeweler. It gave her more time with Claudia.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]clauds
2013-04-12 06:03 am UTC (link)
"It's the same idea as getting between Pete and cookies." Claudia knew the only one who could really do that was Artie, when grabbing the cookies and shoving Pete out the door to go on a bag and tag. She didn't bring that up; the topic of Artie seemed to be one of those avoidable ones until the show restarted and some of their collective future was known. Claudia almost wished she hadn't told the others about that show, in some way.

"And exactly! What would you do then? Huh?" Claudia wasn't going to hide her trump card, in this case, even if it all was hypothetical and silly situations. "You'll just have to keep me around. And entertain me on the walk there." Obviously.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-13 01:35 am UTC (link)
"Or just Pete and food in general." While Helena still might not know Pete, Artie and Steve as well as she knew Claudia and Myka, she had seen enough to know Pete did have a love of food. Watching the show was strange, but for Helena it did feel largely like she was on the outside looking in, like when she was watching Star Trek or whatever else on television. She was not as involved in the show as the others were, which made sense to her, but it also did allow her to remain neutral on the subject of it. Though she had to say, the show did fill in a few blanks for her.

Chuckling, Helena could only smile. "I suppose I can entertain you, though I did not prepare any sort of magic tricks. So you will simply have to settle for plain old conversation." Nonchalantly, Helena slipped her hand into her purse. "Though I may have something you may be interested by." When she pulled her hand out, she held this out to Claudia. "Something told me you might enjoy this, even if it is merely a toy. Though the science behind it is rather fascinating, I must admit." Helena had admittedly looked up Doctor Who after Claudia had made mention of it. It hadn't taken long before Helena was intrigued by the science at play in the show. And who knew, perhaps her and Claudia could build a sonic screwdriver on their own.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]clauds
2013-04-13 05:01 am UTC (link)
"True. Unless it's something weird that not even Pete would eat. And those are really specific and few..." Claudia was utterly distracted after that point, turning and staring at what was in H.G.'s hands with wide eyes.

It was Eleven's screwdriver. Yes, a toy, but a sonic screwdriver! It touched the depths of her nerdy, dorky, geeky heart. And Claudia was very interested in it. She wanted it! "It's Eleven's sonic screwdriver. Eee!" Claudia made grabby hands for it, wanting the toy much like any kid who had just had a fun toy put in front of them. She wasn't acting her age at all and was just fine with that.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-14 05:06 am UTC (link)
Upon seeing Claudia's reaction, Helena grinned a bit. When the other woman made grabby hands for it, she handed it over, allowing Claudia to play with it as she saw fit. "It would seem the inkling I had was correct in this matter." The fact that Claudia was not acting her age was intensely amusing to the Victorian woman. Had she known that she would get such a reaction from the gesture and known that Claudia liked the show it was from before, this may have been done quite a bit before.

"Just try not to harm people with it. A toy it may be, but being over-zealous with it can still cause injury." Though she was fairly certain Claudia wasn't even listening to her anymore, instead focused on her precious new toy. So she continued walking along, watching Claudia and remaining amused by the display.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]clauds
2013-04-15 06:23 pm UTC (link)
"Uh, yeah. It's kind of hard to argue with the awesomeness of a sonic screwdriver." Claudia paused only briefly at H.G.'s warning not to be overzealous with it and hurt someone. She wasn't sure how it could hurt someone, short of her poking an eye out with it. It didn't seem pointy enough to do that.

She pointed it at H.G. before pressing the button, jumping as green lights went off and a toy chime went off with noise. That, of course, captivated Claudia yet again. "It makes noise and is flashy!"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)


[info]indelibleink
2013-04-16 04:11 am UTC (link)
When Claudia pointed the screwdriver at her, Helena quirked a brow and could barely contain a laugh as Claudia was captivated by the sound and the lights on it. "You're welcome, darling." She didn't need an audible word of thanks from Claudia, the obvious glee and excitement was more than enough. And besides, it was a thank you to Claudia in the first place.

"Oh and you may be in need of these as well." Again reaching into her purse, Helena pulled out a small package of batteries and handed them over. "I felt giving you a supply of batteries might be good as well so you don't have to go running to a store to get new ones when those ones get worn out." And knowing Claudia, the toy would be well-used and she'd be in need of new batteries before long.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

(no subject) - [info]clauds, 2013-04-16 08:54 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]indelibleink, 2013-04-16 09:31 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]clauds, 2013-04-17 02:20 am UTC
(no subject) - [info]indelibleink, 2013-04-17 11:15 am UTC

(Read comments) -


Home | Site Map | Manage Account | TOS | Privacy | Support | FAQs