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Tweak says, "rocks don't taste like dispair"

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

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.

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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."

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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.

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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.

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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?"

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!"

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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.

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clauds
2013-04-16 08:54 am UTC (link)

Claudia laughed at the batteries and took them, tucking the package into one of her deeper jacket pockets. "Considering me with electronics, I should probably just buy in jumbo packs or something."

She continued to tinker with the toy, even pointing it at her own face at one point as she tried to examine the full amount of the toy's capabilities with the lights and noises as they walked. It was a very good way to keep Claudia's attention. She also started to go on about the basics of who - more or less just covering the Doctor's physical make-up. How many hearts, how many incarnations, and so forth.

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indelibleink
2013-04-16 09:31 am UTC (link)

"Now there is something to consider," Helena responded with a chuckle. With Claudia sufficiently distracted with her new toy and talking about the Doctor, the walk to the next jewelry shop didn't seem that long. Helena had taken the long round-about way of getting there as well, but it certainly didn't feel that way given the topic of discussion, which Helena did find positively intriguing. Humanoid alien with two hearts and the ability to regenerate to stave off death. Interesting concept there, and it was one that did tantalize Helena's mind.

Upon arrival at their destination, Helena glanced at Claudia. "My, now that journey did not seem to take overly long, did it?" Opening the door, Helena stepped inside and hoped that Claudia could put the sonic screwdriver aside long enough to give her opinion. Navigating around the cases, Helena found the one with the next ring on the short list. More accurately the last one on the short list. Though she was not revealing that this was the final ring on the list, she was waiting for Claudia's opinion. Even if Helena was largely certain this would be the ring, but a fresh pair of eyes never hurt anything. "Ah, there it is." Helena pointed the ring out to Claudia.

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clauds
2013-04-17 02:20 am UTC (link)

The first thing that struck Claudia was how different it was from the others. Of course, all of them had metal bands and all of them had a jewel or jewels. But the actual design and flow was simple and, yet, a hint complex due to the band itself. After a moment of staring at it, Claudia turned and looked at H.G. to look at H.G.'s response to it.

The look of the eyes, of the face, told her enough. Even if Claudia wasn't necessarily the best at socializing and reading people, she could tell in this. "Yep. There it is."

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indelibleink
2013-04-17 11:15 am UTC (link)

Looking at Claudia and hearing the confirmation, a warm smile crossed her face, causing her eyes to warm and soften. "This is precisely why I asked you for assistance. I was trying too hard." Despite what Claudia may think, Helena had not found this ring right away. This had been one of her later finds in her solo excursions to look. But there had always been something about it that drew her to it, that she could even picture Myka wearing it.

"Thank you, darling." At least now she could stop fretting over finding the ring. Now just came the part of fretting over proposing. After purchasing the ring, of course.

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