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Helena Wells has "disappeared" with the Astrolabe (ismellapples) wrote in wariscoming,
@ 2012-03-22 19:47:00

Entry tags:

helena g. wells, tony stark/iron man

Who: Tony Stark and Helena
What: Dinner. Main course: Flirting. Dessert: ...hell if I know!
When: Tonight?
Where: Wherever Tony's driver is taking Helena?
Warning: It's Tony, so horrendous epic flirting. Everything else is TBA.

The invitation to dinner was unexpected, and Helena didn't exactly know how to dress for the occasion. After all, the last time she'd been asked to dinner corsets and impeccable dresses were the fashion. The Victorian woman in her screamed to dress to the height of fashion, which in her definition was a dress from the late 19th Century. But she didn't have one of those on hand, nor did she really have someone to properly tie her into a corset. She could've asked Myka or Claudia, but she was fairly certain neither of them had tied a proper corset in their lives. However, considering she didn't have a corset on hand, she didn't need any help with that. Not that she would've worn a corset to dinner, those weren't exactly comfortable. So instead, she stood looking at the small wardrobe available to her. She also had no context for precisely how she should dress, if she should dress up or down, so she'd go for a toned down dressing up look. She had a pair of black dress pants, which she pulled out, and a white button up shirt. Changing into them and leaving the first two buttons of the shirt undone, Helena set about putting the finishing touches on herself. She put on the amulet to protect her from possession as well as the locket which contained a picture of her daughter. She slid her ring onto her right ring finger, and applied light make up to her eyes and lips. Brushing her hair out, she left it long, which was her usual style these days, and she rather liked it. It was far better than piling it all on the back of her head. While she wasn't exactly dressing to impress Tony Stark, she was dressing to make an impression. Helena Wells was nothing if she wasn't a well put together woman.

Though appearances were deceiving. While she was in a better state mentally since Myka had returned her locket to her, she was still feeling unsettled from being in yet another time and place that were not her own. But she found it easy to keep her troubles masked. She was English, she was used to hiding her unpleasant thoughts and feelings and carry on as though nothing had happened. Grabbing her coat, she made sure she had her Farnsworth and Tesla in the event she needed to be contacted or met some unsavory situation while being out. The knock on the door came shortly thereafter and she smiled. Just on time. She answered the door.

"Miss Wells?" The man asked.

"Yes?"

"I am here to take you to dinner with Mister Stark."

"Excellent, do lead the way." She said with a smile, tossing her hair a bit as she closed the door behind her. She followed the man to the waiting car, which caused to arch an eyebrow. Well, Tony certainly didn't spare any expense, did he? The driver held the door open for her, which made her smile. At least chivalry wasn't dead. She slipped into the car and could only wonder at where exactly they were going. Of course, to her the definition of being invited to dinner was not a date. It was simply dinner in her mind. Dating as it was defined in the 21st Century was something she didn't understand, not that she'd had the time to get to know that in the first place. So this was just going to be dinner and getting to know Tony better. She would, of course, thank him for his assistance in building the Farnsworths. It would be far easier now to make them, though Helena was a little saddened at not making them herself anymore. Though who knew how things would go hiring other people to make them. In the end, her and Claudia, and possibly Myka, may have to step in and make them anyways. But she wouldn't trouble herself with those thoughts now. No, she had something more interesting to focus on. Tony was no Myka or Irene, but no doubt this dinner would prove to be interesting.

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builtwithscraps
2012-03-26 11:57 pm UTC (link)

Tony Stark had a very interesting definition of the word dinner. Helena probably thought that they were going to sit down at some nice, local restaurant, where they would share a meal, talk business, and get to know one another. The plan was something like that, but it involved less hustle and bustle and more of that comfort, privacy, and show that did all the telling that Tony found he personally preferred. The car that picked Helena up didn't deliver her to some high class restaurant - or, at least, as high class of a restaurant one could find in Lawrence, Kansas. Instead, she was driven out to Stark Industries itself. It was there that Helena was then directed to the penthouse floor, where Tony had taken it upon himself to build his own personal restaurant, carried by one of the best cooking teams in the country. For now, anyway. Tony was looking to up that a tad by finding one of the best cooking teams in the world. One thing at a time. He was, after all, only just beginning to re-settle into the lifestyle that he had been so very used to back at home. With his business only just re-established, Tony was going to have to do a lot of legwork before he found himself fully content with the world that surrounded him.

Not that one could ever be fully content with the world that surrounded themselves when there was an apocalypse annoyingly banging at one's door, but Tony would do the best that he could. If nothing else, an apocalypse amounted to war, which made the need for his serves all the more desperate.

That didn't mean Tony had to like it, but there it was.

When Helena arrived, she was escorted over to a comfortable table set out by a series of tall windows that easily overlooked the city. The spacious room, obviously designed for privacy, had a dozen carefully placed candles spread throughout it's interior, meshing well with the lighting. The table was lined with expensive eating utensils, which were placed on top of an even more expensive tablecloth. The chair that was pulled out for Helena was made of leather and trimmed with a design that made it look as though it were made in the very room that it was currently placed within. Then there was the thin, touch-screen remote control that was placed along the opposite side of the table, where Tony was to be seated. If there was one thing to be assumed about that remote, it was the simple fact that - because it belonged to Tony Stark - it was likely connected to something highly technical and impressive.

And for the record? It was.

A few minutes after her entrance, Tony strode into the penthouse dressed in one of his many fancy suits. He greeted one of the servers with a smile, walked over to the table, and raised a hand when yet another server attempted to pull his seat out for him. For all the trouble that Tony went through to get this place up to class, there were still some things that Tony preferred to do for himself. Sitting down on his own was one of them. Rather than plopping down right away, however, Tony circled the table and offered Helena his hand. "Miss Wells. I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long."

That was a half truth. More often than not, Tony left people waiting for him far longer than he should have just because he could. Fortunately for Helena (and probably her appetite), Tony liked Helena and had nothing more heavy than usual on his plate, so his timing was only slightly off. And this time? It was only halfway on purpose.

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ismellapples
2012-03-28 07:13 pm UTC (link)

Being the highly intuitive and observant woman Helena was, when the car took her to Stark Industries instead of a restaurant, she merely quirked a brow and smirked. Of course, she should have expected no less. She had done her homework on one Tony Stark before she'd asked for his assistance. She never was one to go into something not knowing who she was dealing with, and that went for anyone, not just business associates. If this had taken place a year earlier in her own timeline, doing her research on Tony would've also meant learning about things she could potentially use against him or use to manipulate him. But she wasn't that person anymore. Or rather the more accurate statement was she wasn't losing her mind to rage and grief anymore.

As she arrived and exited the car, Helena looked up at the building, the little smirk still on her face. When she entered the building, she was directed to the penthouse floor. Again, Tony was certainly one to show off. It was something Helena didn't mind, but she didn't give in to those that showed off. Oh she had an incredible weak spot for intelligence, but if someone blatantly showed off, it tended to turn her off. But needless to say, she was still impressed by the decoration once she arrived in the restaurant and was taken to the table that was set-up. Smiling and giving her thanks as her chair was pulled out for her, she sat down, after first taking her coat off, which was promptly taken from her and hung up. She glanced around, taking in the decor. It was expensive and luxurious. Though out of everything in the room that could have attracted her attention, what did catch it was that remote.

Instead of spending the time completely admiring the surroundings, she spent it looking at the remote and pondering what it could possibly control. Yes, she had a mechanical and scientific brain and she was always one to be distracted by technology of all sorts. No doubt Tony would be using the remote at some point. Or at least she hoped that would be the case. He couldn't possibly be horrid enough to just leave something so tantalizing to her sitting there without being used. That would be much like dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit but never letting the rabbit eat it.

When Tony made his entrance, Helena turned her attention from the remote to him. Upon seeing his suit, she approved of it. And it only made her inner Victorian scream at her again for not having an appropriate dress for the occasion. One of these days Helena would fully retrain that Victorian woman that women had emancipated themselves from that kind of lifestyle. And really? Helena far preferred pants to dresses and skirts these days. It made life so much easier. As Tony extended his hand, she smiled warmly at him, taking his hand in hers. "Oh no, you haven't. You certainly do have magnificent taste, Mister Stark."

Now she did know she could call him Tony. It was just more the fact that he'd greeted her properly that manners dictated she do the same. That was another thing she would never lose no matter how many years she lived in the 21st Century. Her manners were impeccable regardless of circumstance.

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builtwithscraps
2012-03-29 02:50 am UTC (link)

She seemed pleasant. That was a good thing. More often than not, Tony found himself stuck at dinner with arrogant women who had more attitude than they knew what to do with. Admittedly, that was probably because those were the women that Tony chose to spend his time with - ditching them shortly afterward was a lot easier to do when he simply didn't care about them - but that didn't mean that Tony didn't enjoy the sight of a friendly face. Felicia was distracted and evasive right now, whereas Pepper was currently buried elbow deep in her work. To say that Tony could have used a positive dose of company was more than an understatement. High class women with unrealistic expectations and snotty, unfortunate outlooks on life bored him. Tony needed real company. Someone that he could actually, to a certain extent, talk to. Helena seemed like an intelligent woman, which already made her a thousand times more interesting than anyone else he had spent time lately. Tony found he had high hopes for their little exchange here, even if it ended with dinner and dinner alone.

After giving Helena's hand a shake, Tony took a seat in the chair opposite her. As if on cue (fun fact: it was), one of the waiters whisked over to the table with a bottle of wine and began pouring a healthy dose of the finely aged drink into their glasses. At this point, small talk was probably the expected approach. Tony didn't really like small talk. It was boring. Plus, awkward. And who wanted to be stuck with awkward small talk when there were plenty of other things to discuss? Rather than asking Helena how she was taking to Lawrence, mentioning how nice the weather was, yada, yada, yada, Tony picked up his glass, took a sip, and jumped to what was on his mind instead.

"You don't look like an H.G. Wells to me. Are you sure that's your real name?" He was pretty sure that was her real name. Still, Tony couldn't help but poke fun at her. The H.G. Wells in front of him now looked nothing like the version he had pictured in his head long before he met Helena here.

For all her curiosity about the remote that was sitting on the table, Tony didn't seem to all that interested in it. He planned on using it later on to give Helena a visual tour of the area that he had reserved for her and the team of people she would be working with, but Tony hadn't gotten there yet. Currently, he was far more intrigued with the woman sitting in front of him. He'd talk business later.

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ismellapples
2012-03-29 03:29 am UTC (link)

While Helena could be arrogant, it wasn't something she usually was. Typically, she was only arrogant when she was showing off her inventions. Then again in those instances it was warranted, but right now she wasn't showing off, she was a guest, an intellectual equal to Tony. Yes, she believed herself his equal even if he didn't see her that way. Helena had always considered herself equal to men. It hadn't gotten her much of anywhere in the Victorian era, but here? She expected people to take her seriously when she put forth ideas and inventions. She had a feeling Tony was not the kind of man to rebuke her for having a brain, but instead embrace it, thus she also had high hopes for this evening's events.

As Tony bypassed idle chit chat and moved straight to what was on his mind, Helena was relieved. Oh she could navigate through the small talk, but she'd much rather not. She didn't like dancing around more important things if she could help it. So she very much appreciated that he got straight to a point of which they could actually discuss. Chuckling softly, Helena took a sip of her own wine, then looked at Tony.

"Helena G. Wells is my name, so sorry to disappoint. My brother Charles didn't exactly have the H. G. initials. He was the writer history knows, but the ideas he wrote were all mine." Well, at least until 1900 and the H. G. Wells stories took an abrupt turn away from science fiction. There was a reason for that, but Helena would rather not get into the unsavory topic of why that had been. It would turn the conversation very sour. "I have no doubt I have caused you great shock that I am far more female than history would have you believe. But I am an unconventional woman who was far ahead of her time." She smiled, looking at him across the table.

Oh she could spend hours discussing the Suffragette Movement and having actually lived on both ends of it, but she restrained herself. If Tony asked on the topic, she'd offer her opinion. But so far, she was intrigued as to where he would go with this, and no doubt he had questions. Helena would let him ask and satisfy his curiosity. After all, there would certainly be no peace to the conversation if Tony's curiosity was not satisfied.

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builtwithscraps
2012-03-31 09:51 pm UTC (link)

Far more female that history would believe. Well, yes. That much was a given. "It's the attractive female part that surprises me," Tony commented, the beginnings of a smirk forming at the corners of his mouth, "but I'm sure you already knew that part, too." It didn't hurt that she was also intelligent. Good looks and intelligence went a long, long way in his book. Though, now that they were on the subject of her and her brother, Tony couldn't help but ask her about the details behind their little secret arrangement. "If those were your ideas, why didn't you use them yourself? Why give them to your brother?" Because times were different back then? So what?

At his question, a waiter appeared with a large plate of shrimp accompanied with various dipping sauces. Ah, appetizers. That was good. After spending the entire day holed up in his personal work space, Tony was starving. He piled a few of the shrimps onto his plate, happy that he had something to munch on while he waited for the main course.

"The Farnsworth. Is that the only product that you have plans on producing?" Tony was working on a few things himself, like a Devil's trap that appeared in any designated location at the click of a button, but he wasn't against having a few more bright minds working with them to improve their odds of survival. If Helena had more ideas that she wanted to put into a testing phase, Tony wouldn't protest them. He had the money. He had the resources. It wouldn't hurt to give a few new things a try. It'd be a more meaningful thing to fund than his private entrance for when he went into Iron Man mode.

...no, wait. It wouldn't be. But it'd be pretty darn close.

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ismellapples
2012-03-31 11:22 pm UTC (link)

There came the flattery. Oh Helena loved it. "Just because I may know it does not mean I do not like hearing it," she responded with a little smirk of her own. "And might I say the company is no less handsome?" Certainly this evening would live up to her expectations, and how could she not enjoy herself when she was in the company of such a charming, handsome man? And one that was intelligent. She was extremely thankful for that last trait. Now if she could just avoid the possibility of Tony eventually becoming an adversary to her, it would be even better. Helena didn't exactly have the best of luck with men in her life, be they friend, lover or adversary. Then came the magic question of why she hadn't just published them herself. That stirred up old resentments and anger, but it was something she could talk about without getting upset.

Helena was going to respond when the appetizer was delivered, so she waited until they were again alone before answering. "My mother was the ones who forced me to give my ideas to Charles. I had all ready angered her by being an unwed mother at seventeen, and she would not allow for two writers in the family, let alone of them being a woman." Picking one of the shrimp and dipping it in one of the sauces, Helena took a bite, enjoying the appetizer for some moments before she turned her attention back to Tony. "My mother was a devout Protestant, my father was a free-thinker, but it was my mother who ruled the household." She rolled her eyes a bit at that. "My mother and I never got on well. I take after my father in many aspects, though he too wished me to be married instead of pursuing a writing career. So Charles said he'd write my ideas down, but he would use my initials instead of his own name. We were not always at each other's throats."

As Tony asked about producing other products, Helena looked at him with a little smile. "Oh I have a great many other ideas. I was actually looking to see if an idea I had would be feasible as an actual thing. I use a Tesla, which is a kind of stun gun, if you will, but I was curious if I could build a gun but have different settings on it. Such as it being able to shoot holy water as well as having a functioning stun gun setting. Sort of a Jack-of-all-trades in one, it would save people from having to carry various devices and weapons on them everywhere they go. But of course the issue is how to make it practical, but obviously I cannot properly judge that without a prototype to see where the issues lay."

Oh yes, Helena had many ideas. She was going to privately remake some of her own devices, such as her Grappler, but she also had ideas that could potentially help them fight the evil they had in this world. And she always did love bouncing ideas off of someone else. It helped in discerning which ideas would ultimately work and which wouldn't.

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