InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "One thing leads to another"

Helena Wells has "disappeared" with the Astrolabe (ismellapples) wrote in wariscoming,
@ 2012-08-13 17:00:00

Entry tags:

andrea rojas, helena g. wells

Who: Andrea and Helena
What: Andrea is meeting H. G. Wells in the flesh.
When: This afternoon at tea time. Which, for those who don't know what time that is, is around 3 pm
Where: A quaint little tea cafe
Warnings: Excessive fangirling on Andrea's part, including, but not limited to, flailing and "silent" squealing. Should be fairly low, though.

It was another day. Helena had stayed in bed slightly longer than she'd intended to, but it was one of those mornings where she just wanted to stay in bed. But today was not a day she was going to give in to melancholy. So finally winning the battle with herself, she pulled herself from bed and went about what had become her routine. Emily at least seemed to sleep through the night now, which was a good thing. It had been touch and go for a while, especially when she'd been under Moriarty's gaze. Emily didn't like new surroundings and it took her some time to adjust, much as it had when she'd moved into her house here after Moriarty was dead and gone. And now Helena was settling into a daily routine, which would help keep her from falling too far into despair. Though routine itself was not enough, she'd had that before and she'd ended up losing herself. This time, the difference was having people around her that could help her and that she let help her.

So really, when Myka had suggested she reach out to people, Helena had really taken it to heart. Because when she wasn't insane, Helena listened to Myka. Helena was a naturally social creature, but if it hadn't been for Myka's presence, she wouldn't be so open to the concept of developing friendships. Yet here she was, both wanting and needing them. And really, Andrea had caught her attention, so she decided to go out on a limb and see if she wanted to meet her in person. It's what normal people did, wasn't it? Take chances and make connections?

Helena had been doing random things around the house, mostly some cleaning and picking up after Emily as she moved around. Helena was at the stage where she let Emily crawl around and explore for herself, with supervision obviously, but Helena wanted to let Emily discover things at her own speed, and so she could go about cleaning a room but always be aware of every movement Emily made. If she saw the little girl do anything that seemed anywhere in the vicinity of dangerous and or bad, Helena quickly intervened and would scoop the girl up in her arms and carry her around. The Victorian woman had sat down for a little bit before she was going to leave when she checked CNN's website to get an overview of world events she needed to be aware of. And that was when she'd read about yet another shooting in Texas. She quickly closed the browser and shut her laptop off, not needing to look at that. She still had bad reactions to people being shot, but she was justified in that manner.

Glancing at the clock, she picked Emily up and went to tell Myka she was going to leave, putting the girl under the younger agent's watchful eye while she was gone. There was a slight rigidness to her body language, but Helena was determined to go through with this meeting. Giving Emily a kiss to the top of her dark-haired head, Helena headed off, grabbing her purse on the way. The contents of her purse, aside from money, were her Farnsworth and Tesla. She also carried one of the Tesla bombs her and Claudia had put together. It was also big enough to house a book that she was currently reading. She made the walk to the cafe she'd told Andrea to meet her at.

The inventor arrived early, having wanted to enjoy the walk a bit. But when she arrived, she grabbed a table and pulled out the book and began reading. She would wait for Andrea to arrive to order. Despite being of the Victorian era, Helena was clad in skinny blue jeans, a light blue button down blouse that was neatly tucked into her jeans, and boots. The sleeves of her blouse were long, but rolled up above her elbows, and the first two buttons were undone. She did far prefer the freedom of clothing for women in this day and age. Though she undoubtedly looked every bit the bookworm as she had her nose currently buried in The Lord of the Rings. Really, she had a century of literature to catch up on!

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avengingwarrior
2012-08-25 06:04 pm UTC (link)

Andrea couldn't believe that she was doing this. Every aspect of what she was going to do was so strange that it was a wonder that her brain didn't simply shut down and that she didn't go into the Clean All the Things mode that she typically did to cope with frustrating or overwhelming matters. Not that this was frustrating, entirely. When one focused on the fact that she was going to have tea, with someone she had spoken the once with on the Internet, the situation was slightly odd but far from frustrating. It wasn't entirely, even, surprising. Andrea had come some way since she last left Chloe Sullivan on a roof-top, two years ago (not including the wacky year living in another dimension). She was more social, now. "Normalcy" was a concept that she still had trouble defining. Was normal accepting what she had become solely or was it attempting to fit in with 'regular' people? Andrea tried to do both. She failed. She did okay with it. She managed.

So, it wasn't going out with tea part that was strange (all right, at least relative on the strangest scale). It was a bit odd that she was excited about this. Meeting a person she only knew by reputation. None of her typical paranoia pinging. She was simply looking forward to this. Andrea, a person typical wary at best, always had a sense of caution that - marred, to be heavy-handed about it, most of her outlook of a situation. It wasn't something that ever truly ruined a situation. She simply was usually guarded. Guarded of people she didn't know, vigilant of a new area, that sort of thing. It was a constant suspiciousness that increased when she started dating and began balancing a social life with the fact that she was still the Angel of Vengeance. Yet, other than checking over the location where she was going - both out of habit and instructions on how to get there on time - she was rather calm.

What really put things in a loop was who she was going to have tea with. It wasn't so much that it was a woman that she was just recently acquianted with that was odd. It was that this woman was H.G. Wells. H.G. Wells. WELLS! WELLS! How would that not boggle anyone's mind? H.G. Wells was a woman. H.G. Wells was an attrac - Andrea stopped that train of thought, even though H.G. was. It wasn't that H.G. being a woman diminished Andrea's appreciation. The woman could have been a spider monkey, and while that still would have taken Andrea's mind a long while to settle on, didn't change the fact that her books were so much to Andrea. The science fiction that Andrea so thoroughly adored was nothing without this woman. It would be like a comic book fan meeting Jack Kirby. Billy Idol might have been a young Andrea's version of Santa Claus (awesome, awesome, and more awesome), H.G. Wells was her - well, if it wouldn't make her abuela roll in her grave - even another reality away - there would be some blasphemy going on. The only thing that would top this would be meeting Mary Shelley.

The oddity of the situation was further culminated by the fact that this was all happening in Lawrence. She was still adjusting to this place. It was taking longer than she would have liked. For her this place was someplace that had showed up in her nightmares and, sometimes, her dreams. It was a little bit jarring that this -- beyond imaginings meeting was happening, here of all places. Yet as far as she knew there was no where else it could feasibly take place.

Andrea arrived early as well but definitely not earlier than H.G., which was unfair, because maybe if she had, the little 'meep' of excitement at seeing H.G. reading what she was reading would have been able to be controlled. However, it caught her off guard (she needed to work on that, again. She'd gotten so good at controlling her fangirling - publicly - the first time in Lawrence). Andrea cleared her throat. "Hi." She mentally cursed the slightly breathy, excited, quality to her voice but was relieved that her smile was of normal levels.

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ismellapples
2012-08-26 06:45 am UTC (link)

Helena was completely aware that once she told people her name, her reputation far preceeded her. Not only that, but people generally had difficulty with the whole "H.G. Wells is actually woman" thing. She was used to it though, and took it in stride. Though she was rather let down by this universe where H.G. Wells was actually a man, but no matter. She was still very much H.G. Wells, and the ideas all belonged to her. Helena was a woman born decades ahead of her time. Having been restrained partially by Victorian society and partially by her mother, her brother had been who everyone thought was H.G. Wells, and she had to simply sit by and watch him get all the credit for her ideas. Well, now that she was in the 21st Century, she was going to damn well take her credit where she was due it. Within reason, obviously, because not everyone would believe she was who she said she was.

But Helena didn't dwell on such topics too much. It only served to aggravate her, and right now, she was going to meet a new acquaintance. Meeting people and making acquaintances had never been an issue for the Victorian woman. She had quite the charisma about her. And, of course, her looks helped as well, but she knew how to talk to people. Where she struggled was forming friendships. Helena had refused to let people get even remotely close to her after Christina's death. At least until she'd met Myka and the other agent had somehow worked her way past all of Helena's defenses without her even realizing it until it was too late. Or rather almost too late. Myka had stopped her, but even then the damage had been done. So really, the friendships she'd been making in this world were more or less the first friends she'd really had in well over a century.

Making these connections was strange to Helena, but she found she couldn't stop making them. There were so many interesting people in this place. Of course, not all of them went well as her relationship with Irene had ended in disaster with the other woman's death at the hands of Moriarty. But for the most part, she'd made some really good friends, and she hoped she could count Andrea among them when they got to know each other better. Truthfully, Helena wasn't completely sure what about Andrea had caught her attention, but she didn't always know why she was drawn to people until later on.

When she heard the greeting, Helena looked up, simultaneously marking her place in her book and setting it aside. She smiled warmly, standing up to properly greet Andrea. "Hello, Andrea, it is a pleasure to meet you." Helena held her hand out in proper greeting. Her manners were, of course, impeccable. She was not only Victorian, she was British.

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avengingwarrior
2012-08-26 04:29 pm UTC (link)

[ooc: sorry for the html fail fest]
Andrea couldn't help but think again how fantastic it was the H.G. Wells was reading The Lord of the Rings. Personally, Andrea knew more about the movies. However, she enjoyed the characters, people, well and a part of her couldn't help but ping joyfully at the sight. The only way what she had walked upon could have been more perfect would have been if it'd been a Harry Potter book. She didn't even want to think about how she would have reacted if it'd been Frankenstein or Fahrenheit 451 (a Ray Bradbury book that she actually read and sincerely wished never came to be in this reality). It likely would have been mortifying. And ended with cardiac arrest.

She took Helena's outstretched hand and gave it a firm yet cautious shake. Andrea had learned how to give a proper handshake. It had been a concern when she had first received her powers. She hadn't wanted to hurt certain people and because of various reasons - the place she'd lived growing up, her gymnastic coach, her previous career path - she was all too aware how a weak handshake could be viewed. It'd been one of those seemingly insignificant details, to most people, that Andrea had obsessed about. It had all been a matter of control. For someone who compulsively, and freely admitted that they, liked to hit things and was horrid fangirl, she wasn't bad on the self-control. Focusing will scrubbing pots helped with that.

"Hello!" Andrea answered. She could, through sheer luck likely, manage her smile but her tone was impossibly bright. It was atypically cheery. Andrea's manner was sarcastic, deadpan, quippy, and bossy. Cheery wasn't the usual shade for her voice but today was an exception. A big one. A huge one. " It's re - really nice to meet you too." She almost stopped herself from an enthusiastic 'really' but decided to go with with it, unless she sound stranger than she likely did. She decided to tack on a nice rather than that 'great'.

Andrea resisted tucking in a loose strand of slightly wave of hair. She thought it would make her seem too twitchy. Instead the hair swung by her ear. Nervously, she was betting.

"I'm glad that you mentioned this place. I've never been. Thank you for inviting me." She studiously didn't mentally check over those three sentences.

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ismellapples
2012-08-27 06:11 am UTC (link)

Helena also had a firm handshake. It had developed naturally, tying into her self-confidence. And even in times when she didn't have much self-confidence on a personal level, such as was the case currently, her handshake was never one to falter. She was extremely skilled in keeping up appearances. After all, she was English. She knew how to hold her chin high and carry on despite whatever she was feeling inside. And to 99% of the world, they accepted this as being true. But to the 1% that knew her, knew the depths of her heart and soul, they would be able to see through it. Still, she wasn't acting currently. Helena had a knack for keeping her pain and the more unsavory parts of herself hidden and expressing the more positive ones. So the smile she wore wasn't faked, it was genuine, reflecting her excitement for this meeting.

And really, it wasn't difficult to see Andrea's own excitement for this encounter as well. Helena could hear it in her voice, even as she tried to control it. She was flattered, but didn't make any comments on the tone of voice Andrea had. Helena enjoyed hearing it, and was glad that Andrea seemed so excited.

"You are most welcome. Please, do sit and make yourself comfortable," Helena said, motioning to the other seat for Andrea to sit. Helena took her seat once again, slipping her book back into her purse. After all, it was quite rude to not give one's guest their undivided attention. So once the book was out of distraction's way, Helena looked at Andrea with a smile. "I was shown this place quite soon after I arrived in this place. I was more than surprised to find a place that specializes in imported teas where I could get decent British tea when I wanted. I do hope you like it, it is quite the quaint little place. Perfect for reading and people-watching." And, of course, the smile widened slightly. "And for making lovely new acquaintances."

If there was one thing Helena could never quite keep in check, it was her flirtatious side. She had a terrible habit of flirting with most everyone she spoke to. It was simply who she was, when she wasn't in the throes of insanity anyway. She was a natural flirt and she did not hold back any such comments or gestures. At least not unless someone pointedly asked her not to, or if she herself wasn't feeling particularly flirtatious. But right now? She would see how that particular aspect would play out.

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avengingwarrior
2012-09-12 02:01 am UTC (link)

Comfortable wasn't exactly something Andrea could be with all entirety. The way that excitement and other emotions - like awe - scratched at her throat, along the corners of her mouth that wanted to twitch in a face splitting grin, made that near impossible. The smile Andrea returned to H.G. definitely seemed more anxious than Andrea honestly was. She wasn't anxious, well maybe a little bit - or understandably a lot ... but not in a bad way!, it was only that ... did she have to say?! It was H.G.! It was the bubbling glee and the attempt to keep herself composed. She usually succeeded far better than this. While her fangirlishness did manage to get the better of even her self-control, she usually managed to keep it together until the person wasn't looking at her.

If Andrea wasn't so dark it was likely that it would have been obvious that she blushed. When was the last time she blushed? Okay to be fair last month ago with Kyle - but regularly, she did not blush.
"I'm sure that I will. I've been getting my tea from the little baggies lately." She didn't expand that back home, for a while, that had been all she could afford. Without a job, moving back to the Slums, anything better was gotten from a kindly elderly neighbor. "I'm sure this will be amazing by comparison. Doubly if it's from Britain." She added with a much more relaxed smile. "New acquaintances can be a big plus." Andrea admitted and tried not to grin like an idiot at the thought of: H.G. Wells considered her an acquaintance! Her mind didn't stay long on the lovely.

"Is there anything in particular you recommend?" She queried; not to rush the conversation, hopefully it didn't seem that way. However, to keep it flowing. Also to keep her from thinking about blushing. Anyway, she was curious about this place and what there was to it. She was certainly curious about the woman sitting across from her. A good way to begin settling some of that curiosity was to ask questions.

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ismellapples
2012-09-12 04:40 am UTC (link)

It wasn't exactly hard to tell that Andrea was anxious. Helena could see traces of it in her body language. She didn't think much of it, though. After all, Andrea obviously knew exactly who she was, so that was undoubtedly behind it. As such, Helena sat back in her seat, keeping herself calm and cool and hoping that it would help Andrea relax a little. Of course, if Andrea went into a fangirlish state, Helena wouldn't mind. She didn't get that much, if at all, and it would just serve to boost her ego. Though her ego really didn't need to be boosted as she all ready had quite the high ego that was probably approaching an unhealthy level of being inflated.

At hearing what kind of tea Andrea had been consuming lately, Helena was inwardly shocked. But she was British and was therefore skeptical of tea coming from bags. Still, she'd been in America long enough to know what passed for tea here, so she didn't say anything on the matter. "They have many teas from Britain. They also have other teas from Asia." Helena smiled warmly, her eyes sparkling a bit as a result. "I do enjoy meeting new people. So I am glad that you agreed to meet with me. And I do hope this is the start of a wonderful friendship." Helena could truly use friends. She'd made many since she'd been in Lawrence, but she didn't always have the best judgement when it came to people. Or she had questionable judgement. Still, there were times when it worked well because she had friends like Svetlana here. Hopefully she could count Andrea among them.

"I am particularly fond of the Earl Grey, if you like a lighter tea." Helena also made a couple other suggestions that would cover the spectrum as she didn't exactly know where Andrea's taste in teas fell. "I hope you do not mind if I order some cake. It is tea time, after all." Helena still very much observed tea time. When she was home, she'd go all out for tea time. Typically she made it for herself, but sometimes Claudia or Myka would join her. "If you would like some, I can also make recommendations."

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