when it's right [Closed/Complete]
Characters: H#1 & H#2
Date/Time: Yesterday afternoon
Location: Ice cream parlour/apartment complex
Rating: PG
Warnings: Kid!Helen? None.
Summary: City shenanigans and ice cream~
It was strange to be out with Helen like this. Normally she was very chatty and vivid, now she was so shy and quiet. It amazed him that she went from this serious child to well..Helen. Her time with Theseus must have been a part and a half. When the two of them arrived at the icecream parlor, he ordered them a couple of hot fudge sundaes. It didn't take too long for them to be made up and within a couple of minutes he was sitting down at the table with the sundaes in tow. "Here you go, turtle sundaes are my favorite."
Helen was normally a little bit more bubbly but ... ever since she had set eyes on Helenus, her stomach had done flips and her mind had just ... blanked. She felt all nervous and self-concious with him now and she nodded shyly when he placed the sundae on the table. "...Thank you." She muttered staring hard at the ice cream and then up at him timidly. "Really? They must be nice then."
"There's a lot of food in this era and culture that's quite a bit different than what you and I would be use to. There's so much flavor in everything, at times it's almost over stimulating." Helenus tried to stay away from the really salty and processed food, his time at the hospital had taught him that a modern diet was a very unhealthy diet. "I think you'll like it but if you don't, I can get you something else."
Helen shook her head quickly, almost comically, "No, it looks just fine, I'm sure I will like it!" She flailed a little and then dug her spoon before taking a large spoonful of it, she gagged a little at the extremely sweet taste and flailed.
Oh my Gods.
"Ah... sweet-"
Helenus couldn't help but grin and he chuckled very, very softly. He didn't want to embarrass her but the expression she made was adorable. Right now she reminded him a lot of his sister, who was also a child now. He was glad he still remembered how to interact with children, during the war he rarely got to see any of his nieces or nephews. "Very sweet, children here seem to love sweet things but that's because everything here is made of sugar. Would you like to try something a little less sweet?"
"No! It's fine, it is just different." Helen made a little face and then shook her head digging into the ice cream again with more determination. She didn't want to be called a child by him and so she tried to look grown-up and dignified by sitting up straight and eating without (well, almost without) flinching from the sweetness.
Helenus chuckled again and the smile on his face became more broad. It made him wonder what would have happened if he would have been turned into a child as well. Would he have developed a crush on her as well or would he have never left his sister's side? That was one of those questions that would never be answered. He scooped up some of the icecream and nommed away on it. "What do you think of this place so far? Are you adjusting well?"
Again the questions and Helen struggled to look dignified, though she wrinkled her nose a little. "I'm doing very well, thank you." She gave a comically nod, which was clearly meant to be taken seriously, "This is good, really, I can see why you like it so much."
Helenus smiled juuust a little more and then he put on a more serious expression since she was trying so hard to look dignified and regal. He did not want to hurt her feelings by letting her know that she looked more adorable than regal. "Excellent, I am glad to hear that you are adjusting well and that you are enjoying the dessert. I like a lot of things here, truth be told, I am starting to enjoy it more here than back home."
"Really?" Helen seemed genuinely taken off-guard and curious, "Why is that?" She was blushing a little again, "Is... it nice to have met me? I couldn't have met you otherwise, if we had not been here. Troy is so far away from Sparta and I'm getting married to Theseus and that's in Athens..." She stopped abruptly and blushed deeper.
"Back home..things are very different. People are different and I'm known as someone else. Here..we're all free to be who we want and start a new life for ourselves." He smiled at her again. "Yes, it is very nice to have met you. Don't dwell too much on what you think your future is going to be. This experience has taught me that the future is like a blank train ticket, we can take it in whatever direction we'd like."
Helen preened when he said that, it was a little compliment but she eat it right up, like her ice cream. This Helen was young, innocent, shy... and also attention starved and love. She took another bite of the chocolate, smearing it accidentally across her lips. "I like that you think that, Helenus."
"I think you'll like what the future has in store for you here. Like I said before, the two of us are good friends when you are older. We have a lot of fun together and you're the one who usually shows me around. When I first came here, I found this place to be very confusing." Helenus didn't elaborate on what some of their fun included since it was not at all child appropriate. It was better that she thought they were just good friends or else things would be rather awkward.
Helen seemed to brighten up a little a his words, "We are good friends? I'm glad to hear that!" Her words were perhaps a little more enthusiastic than appropriate but it seemed knowing he thought well of her had made her day. "What sort of things do we do? When I shown you around, what sort of places?"
"We do all sorts of things together. Some times you're very silly." He smiled fondly at some of their memories, thinking of how she got paint all over him. "The first place you brought me to was a place called a mall. It's like a market place but it's indoors and it's very, very busy. I was overwhelmed by it at first but you were an expert. You helped me pick out some modern clothes, since a tunic and sandals aren't exactly ideal for this city."
"No, they're not." Helen smiled at his mention of her being silly, but she didn't mind being silly if it made him get that fond sort of look. "Wow, we must be really close, I don't think I'd like to act silly in front of people." She shifted in her seat and then took a napkin to clean her lips.
"Here people are free to behave however they'd like. No one is a god or a goddess any more. King or Queen. Prince or princess. We're all every day people. Right now you could run around and do a little dance and no one would even think twice about it." He grinned at her and wondered if she would do such a thing. In a way this reminded him of when he first arrived here and he was the prim and proper one and Helen was the one who knew all the secrets about this world.
Helen looked at him wide-eyed as if he had suggested something quite...wrong. She shifted in her seat, "Really? I can get up and dance and no one would care?" Helen couldn't quite believe it. She might just end up trying to be sure of it herself.
This was quite a role reversal, but Helen seemed happy to be taught something new.
"Yes, you can. In fact..if you do it, I'll dance with you." The icecream parlor had happy go lucky music going that was meant for families. Most people probably thought he was a father with his daughter so they would find it cute that he was dancing with her rather than ridiculous.
Helenus was something else, she had never met anyone like him before and someone who treated her as something precious- someone to be cherished. Like how Theseus taught her, but Helenus was- oh he was... cute. Helen felt colour rise to her cheeks for a moment and nodded, "Alright, let's dance- you can show me then."
It wasn't proper for her to offer her hand like this, but she did when she stood up, reaching out for Helenus with her small hand.
"Okay." Helenus finished off one last scoop of icecream before he rose to his feet. The song that was on right now was an up beat, catchy little song about cows. Some of the kids were dancing in their seats at near by tables. He reached over for her and guided her away from the table.
"My lady." He bowed his head to her and then he took her other hand and began to dance with her. It wasn't the formal dancing he had been brought up with, instead it was silly, fun little dancing that resembled swing dancing. He twirled her around a couple of times and swung their arms from side-to-side.
Helen was laughing, not a forced laugh but a pure, honest, childish laughter which was not often heard from her (not as a child anyway, but Helenus wouldn't know that). She clung to his hands and followed his directions, little twirls and steps and she couldn't help but feel like the most graceful thing ever.
It of course, did help that she was beautiful despite being young and people were beginning to stare. Not because of Helenus or anything like that, but because of Helen. Fortunately, she was too immersed with the dancing to care right then.
Spending time with little Helen and Cassie made him think about how much fun it would be to be a father. At some point he was a father though not with the woman he truly loved. In time he imagined, he did come to love Andromache but Helen would always be his true love. He had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't going to want to have children any time soon.
When the song came to an end, he bowed once again and several people clapped. Some of the little girls and even little boys were tugging at their father's and mothers hands, wanting to get up and do a dance as well.
It was then Helen seemed really shy and she clung to Helenus' waist, hiding a little behind him. Where Helen came from a lot of attention did not lead to good things, that would be outgrown in Athens and once she returned to Sparta, with Aethra she would be protected. Of course, she was devious enough to enjoy having her crushes attention on her as she clung.
"Helenus, people are staring, can we go, please?"
"We can." Helenus put an arm around her in a brotherly way, the same he would do if Cassie had joined them, and then he scooped up the remaining icecream contrainers with his free hand. It was probably best they not draw too much attention on themselves. If people knew they weren't related they would be suspicious. It would be difficult to explain that hey, she was really his fiance in the future and half of the people in his apartment had been turned into kids. Once they were outside, he looked down at her and smiled. "Would you like to go any where else?"
Helen, once outside, clung to his hand in a childish, innocent way. "No, I don't know really. I'm just very happy to spend time with you." Ah, had she said something so stupid? Helen blushed and shrunk a little, wanting to hide her face inside her coat. Just... she was such a silly child! Helenus wouldn't like a silly child like her.
"I'm happy to spend time with you as well. I'm glad I can repay the kindness you showed me when I first showed up here. As you can see, I'm a very silly man some time and without guidance I would be lost." He chuckled softly and to try to get her to feel like embarrassed, he began to swing their hands back and forth. "We should go to the huge Toys R Us store they have here. There are a lot of fun toys there that'll help keep you busy when we're forced to our rooms."
Helen smiled and followed him swinging their hands together, she seemed really happy at that moment, "I'm not a little girl." She complained, "I don't play with toys." She played by climbing trees... and flinging mud. Though acting like that in front of Helenus mortified her. She couldn't do that.
"I know you're not but wait until you see these toys. I enjoy several of them myself. There are board games and computer games and video games. All sorts of things." Now if he could find the store, they would be in business. With his free hand, he took out his cellphone and began to search for the store. Hoorah for having a built in GPS navigation system.
Helen didn't realize games could be so fun, and she had such a great time. She was actually exhausted from running about so much and was currently kinda sprawled in a childish manner against Helenus. She didn't want to be tired but she was.
"Mmm, you were right, that place was fun."
"I'm glad you had fun." They came back with a few board games and a couple of other random toys. It was growing later in the day and it wouldn't be long before their mandatory curfew would kick in. The car ride how was a quiet, peaceful one and Helenus let Helen use his shoulder for a pillow. By the time they arrived at the apartment complex, Helen looked exhausted so Helenus gave her a piggyback ride up to her room. "Which one is yours again?" He asked as he made his way up the staircase.
Helen was nodding off on his shoulder, "Can I just stay with you until curfew?" She sighed sleepily, "I don't want to go back to my room now. Orestes is scary, and I... pleaaaaase." She drew out the word in a sweet, pleading tone.
She didn't mind sleeping on his couch until curfew kicked in, then she'd be roughly woken up and unhappy but.
"Okay, I'll stay with you until you're transported back to your room." Helenus opened up the door once they arrived at his apartment and he brought her over to the couch. Normally he'd give her the bed but since there was only one, who knows if someone else was using it or if they'd suddenly appear in it. He lowered her down on the couch and then he went to collect a blanket and a couple of pillows for her.
Helen curled up on the couch and yawned, reluctantly letting go of Helenus' comfortable warmth for the couch. She would fall asleep soon like this, but she cracked one eye open to look at Helenus.
"Mmm.."
Helenus smiled down at her and leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead. "Good night and sweet dreams, Helen." Most of the lights in the living room were turned off except for one. He sat down in the arm chair and picked up a book he had left there. He had also made himself a cup of coffee. After he shifted a few times to get comfortable, he settled into the couch and spent the rest of the evening reading.
Date/Time: Yesterday afternoon
Location: Ice cream parlour/apartment complex
Rating: PG
Warnings: Kid!Helen? None.
Summary: City shenanigans and ice cream~
It was strange to be out with Helen like this. Normally she was very chatty and vivid, now she was so shy and quiet. It amazed him that she went from this serious child to well..Helen. Her time with Theseus must have been a part and a half. When the two of them arrived at the icecream parlor, he ordered them a couple of hot fudge sundaes. It didn't take too long for them to be made up and within a couple of minutes he was sitting down at the table with the sundaes in tow. "Here you go, turtle sundaes are my favorite."
Helen was normally a little bit more bubbly but ... ever since she had set eyes on Helenus, her stomach had done flips and her mind had just ... blanked. She felt all nervous and self-concious with him now and she nodded shyly when he placed the sundae on the table. "...Thank you." She muttered staring hard at the ice cream and then up at him timidly. "Really? They must be nice then."
"There's a lot of food in this era and culture that's quite a bit different than what you and I would be use to. There's so much flavor in everything, at times it's almost over stimulating." Helenus tried to stay away from the really salty and processed food, his time at the hospital had taught him that a modern diet was a very unhealthy diet. "I think you'll like it but if you don't, I can get you something else."
Helen shook her head quickly, almost comically, "No, it looks just fine, I'm sure I will like it!" She flailed a little and then dug her spoon before taking a large spoonful of it, she gagged a little at the extremely sweet taste and flailed.
Oh my Gods.
"Ah... sweet-"
Helenus couldn't help but grin and he chuckled very, very softly. He didn't want to embarrass her but the expression she made was adorable. Right now she reminded him a lot of his sister, who was also a child now. He was glad he still remembered how to interact with children, during the war he rarely got to see any of his nieces or nephews. "Very sweet, children here seem to love sweet things but that's because everything here is made of sugar. Would you like to try something a little less sweet?"
"No! It's fine, it is just different." Helen made a little face and then shook her head digging into the ice cream again with more determination. She didn't want to be called a child by him and so she tried to look grown-up and dignified by sitting up straight and eating without (well, almost without) flinching from the sweetness.
Helenus chuckled again and the smile on his face became more broad. It made him wonder what would have happened if he would have been turned into a child as well. Would he have developed a crush on her as well or would he have never left his sister's side? That was one of those questions that would never be answered. He scooped up some of the icecream and nommed away on it. "What do you think of this place so far? Are you adjusting well?"
Again the questions and Helen struggled to look dignified, though she wrinkled her nose a little. "I'm doing very well, thank you." She gave a comically nod, which was clearly meant to be taken seriously, "This is good, really, I can see why you like it so much."
Helenus smiled juuust a little more and then he put on a more serious expression since she was trying so hard to look dignified and regal. He did not want to hurt her feelings by letting her know that she looked more adorable than regal. "Excellent, I am glad to hear that you are adjusting well and that you are enjoying the dessert. I like a lot of things here, truth be told, I am starting to enjoy it more here than back home."
"Really?" Helen seemed genuinely taken off-guard and curious, "Why is that?" She was blushing a little again, "Is... it nice to have met me? I couldn't have met you otherwise, if we had not been here. Troy is so far away from Sparta and I'm getting married to Theseus and that's in Athens..." She stopped abruptly and blushed deeper.
"Back home..things are very different. People are different and I'm known as someone else. Here..we're all free to be who we want and start a new life for ourselves." He smiled at her again. "Yes, it is very nice to have met you. Don't dwell too much on what you think your future is going to be. This experience has taught me that the future is like a blank train ticket, we can take it in whatever direction we'd like."
Helen preened when he said that, it was a little compliment but she eat it right up, like her ice cream. This Helen was young, innocent, shy... and also attention starved and love. She took another bite of the chocolate, smearing it accidentally across her lips. "I like that you think that, Helenus."
"I think you'll like what the future has in store for you here. Like I said before, the two of us are good friends when you are older. We have a lot of fun together and you're the one who usually shows me around. When I first came here, I found this place to be very confusing." Helenus didn't elaborate on what some of their fun included since it was not at all child appropriate. It was better that she thought they were just good friends or else things would be rather awkward.
Helen seemed to brighten up a little a his words, "We are good friends? I'm glad to hear that!" Her words were perhaps a little more enthusiastic than appropriate but it seemed knowing he thought well of her had made her day. "What sort of things do we do? When I shown you around, what sort of places?"
"We do all sorts of things together. Some times you're very silly." He smiled fondly at some of their memories, thinking of how she got paint all over him. "The first place you brought me to was a place called a mall. It's like a market place but it's indoors and it's very, very busy. I was overwhelmed by it at first but you were an expert. You helped me pick out some modern clothes, since a tunic and sandals aren't exactly ideal for this city."
"No, they're not." Helen smiled at his mention of her being silly, but she didn't mind being silly if it made him get that fond sort of look. "Wow, we must be really close, I don't think I'd like to act silly in front of people." She shifted in her seat and then took a napkin to clean her lips.
"Here people are free to behave however they'd like. No one is a god or a goddess any more. King or Queen. Prince or princess. We're all every day people. Right now you could run around and do a little dance and no one would even think twice about it." He grinned at her and wondered if she would do such a thing. In a way this reminded him of when he first arrived here and he was the prim and proper one and Helen was the one who knew all the secrets about this world.
Helen looked at him wide-eyed as if he had suggested something quite...wrong. She shifted in her seat, "Really? I can get up and dance and no one would care?" Helen couldn't quite believe it. She might just end up trying to be sure of it herself.
This was quite a role reversal, but Helen seemed happy to be taught something new.
"Yes, you can. In fact..if you do it, I'll dance with you." The icecream parlor had happy go lucky music going that was meant for families. Most people probably thought he was a father with his daughter so they would find it cute that he was dancing with her rather than ridiculous.
Helenus was something else, she had never met anyone like him before and someone who treated her as something precious- someone to be cherished. Like how Theseus taught her, but Helenus was- oh he was... cute. Helen felt colour rise to her cheeks for a moment and nodded, "Alright, let's dance- you can show me then."
It wasn't proper for her to offer her hand like this, but she did when she stood up, reaching out for Helenus with her small hand.
"Okay." Helenus finished off one last scoop of icecream before he rose to his feet. The song that was on right now was an up beat, catchy little song about cows. Some of the kids were dancing in their seats at near by tables. He reached over for her and guided her away from the table.
"My lady." He bowed his head to her and then he took her other hand and began to dance with her. It wasn't the formal dancing he had been brought up with, instead it was silly, fun little dancing that resembled swing dancing. He twirled her around a couple of times and swung their arms from side-to-side.
Helen was laughing, not a forced laugh but a pure, honest, childish laughter which was not often heard from her (not as a child anyway, but Helenus wouldn't know that). She clung to his hands and followed his directions, little twirls and steps and she couldn't help but feel like the most graceful thing ever.
It of course, did help that she was beautiful despite being young and people were beginning to stare. Not because of Helenus or anything like that, but because of Helen. Fortunately, she was too immersed with the dancing to care right then.
Spending time with little Helen and Cassie made him think about how much fun it would be to be a father. At some point he was a father though not with the woman he truly loved. In time he imagined, he did come to love Andromache but Helen would always be his true love. He had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't going to want to have children any time soon.
When the song came to an end, he bowed once again and several people clapped. Some of the little girls and even little boys were tugging at their father's and mothers hands, wanting to get up and do a dance as well.
It was then Helen seemed really shy and she clung to Helenus' waist, hiding a little behind him. Where Helen came from a lot of attention did not lead to good things, that would be outgrown in Athens and once she returned to Sparta, with Aethra she would be protected. Of course, she was devious enough to enjoy having her crushes attention on her as she clung.
"Helenus, people are staring, can we go, please?"
"We can." Helenus put an arm around her in a brotherly way, the same he would do if Cassie had joined them, and then he scooped up the remaining icecream contrainers with his free hand. It was probably best they not draw too much attention on themselves. If people knew they weren't related they would be suspicious. It would be difficult to explain that hey, she was really his fiance in the future and half of the people in his apartment had been turned into kids. Once they were outside, he looked down at her and smiled. "Would you like to go any where else?"
Helen, once outside, clung to his hand in a childish, innocent way. "No, I don't know really. I'm just very happy to spend time with you." Ah, had she said something so stupid? Helen blushed and shrunk a little, wanting to hide her face inside her coat. Just... she was such a silly child! Helenus wouldn't like a silly child like her.
"I'm happy to spend time with you as well. I'm glad I can repay the kindness you showed me when I first showed up here. As you can see, I'm a very silly man some time and without guidance I would be lost." He chuckled softly and to try to get her to feel like embarrassed, he began to swing their hands back and forth. "We should go to the huge Toys R Us store they have here. There are a lot of fun toys there that'll help keep you busy when we're forced to our rooms."
Helen smiled and followed him swinging their hands together, she seemed really happy at that moment, "I'm not a little girl." She complained, "I don't play with toys." She played by climbing trees... and flinging mud. Though acting like that in front of Helenus mortified her. She couldn't do that.
"I know you're not but wait until you see these toys. I enjoy several of them myself. There are board games and computer games and video games. All sorts of things." Now if he could find the store, they would be in business. With his free hand, he took out his cellphone and began to search for the store. Hoorah for having a built in GPS navigation system.
Helen didn't realize games could be so fun, and she had such a great time. She was actually exhausted from running about so much and was currently kinda sprawled in a childish manner against Helenus. She didn't want to be tired but she was.
"Mmm, you were right, that place was fun."
"I'm glad you had fun." They came back with a few board games and a couple of other random toys. It was growing later in the day and it wouldn't be long before their mandatory curfew would kick in. The car ride how was a quiet, peaceful one and Helenus let Helen use his shoulder for a pillow. By the time they arrived at the apartment complex, Helen looked exhausted so Helenus gave her a piggyback ride up to her room. "Which one is yours again?" He asked as he made his way up the staircase.
Helen was nodding off on his shoulder, "Can I just stay with you until curfew?" She sighed sleepily, "I don't want to go back to my room now. Orestes is scary, and I... pleaaaaase." She drew out the word in a sweet, pleading tone.
She didn't mind sleeping on his couch until curfew kicked in, then she'd be roughly woken up and unhappy but.
"Okay, I'll stay with you until you're transported back to your room." Helenus opened up the door once they arrived at his apartment and he brought her over to the couch. Normally he'd give her the bed but since there was only one, who knows if someone else was using it or if they'd suddenly appear in it. He lowered her down on the couch and then he went to collect a blanket and a couple of pillows for her.
Helen curled up on the couch and yawned, reluctantly letting go of Helenus' comfortable warmth for the couch. She would fall asleep soon like this, but she cracked one eye open to look at Helenus.
"Mmm.."
Helenus smiled down at her and leaned forward to press a kiss to her forehead. "Good night and sweet dreams, Helen." Most of the lights in the living room were turned off except for one. He sat down in the arm chair and picked up a book he had left there. He had also made himself a cup of coffee. After he shifted a few times to get comfortable, he settled into the couch and spent the rest of the evening reading.