home again, naturally.

[notsocommon]

Helen had spent the last several months going back and forth between the new facilities and the strange pocket universe she'd found with Nikola which had proven particularly enlightening. There were any number of infinite paths from that crossroads and it was something she had not been able to get a handle on scientifically just as yet.

Then again, science that was yet unexplained was merely magic, was it not? She had thought so as a child, until her father had taught her otherwise. All she had to do was keep exploring, keep pushing through each and every door until she found the key to cracking the mystery behind how it all worked. Of course, the legwork on this was exhausting but at least she had Nikola she could implore for help.

One of the doors she'd found in her wanderings had been one that was her own London back in the late 1800s. She was blonde there, as she'd discovered by gazing into a very dingy looking glass, but other than that, none of the rest of the Five seemed to be there. Her life was established, her home in the same place, just the people weren't the same. It was curious, to say the least, and she wondered what might happen if she pulled Nikola through the same door.

To that end, she'd gone back to the Nexus to find him, poking around until she found the library. A likely choice; Nikola had ever loved to read with a nice glass of wine.

"Nikola! I've a project for you, if you care to come with me. Hmm? I'll make it worth your while, I promise."

Comments

[akhkharu]

He let her kiss him, then grinned at her. He could take the occasional kiss, even here in the Nexus. Although he was never good at affection, it was Helen. There was very little he wouldn't do for her. "I'm intrigued as to what you have found. Shall we?"

[notsocommon]

"Absolutely," she said, leading him back to the door. It conveniently opened into one of the back rooms of her father's house in 19th century London, which was good considering she did not want to make a scene.

"All right, so, I feel like you might have left a suit of clothes here at one point," Helen said, laughing. "So we can change and not cause an international incident."

[akhkharu]

"It wouldn't surprise. It's the kind of thing I would do," he admitted. "Oh I hope it fits. I was on a different diet back then." He twirled round. "Do you think it will fit?"

He was looking forward to this.

[notsocommon]

Helen smirked a bit. "I don't think things have changed all that much, Nikola, though I wonder what diet you were on in the 19th century that you're not on now."

So far as she was aware, he had never lived solely on blood. There had always been some sort of augment to that, some sort of supplement.

[akhkharu]

"Eat whenever I remembered to, mostly when I think about it. I got distracted far too easily."

The supplement was mostly wine, or whatever alcohol he could find. Blood on it's own was just too icky, if he were being honest.

Oh, maybe there was some food in there too. Mostly when in company.

[notsocommon]

"You weren't the only one getting distracted," Helen said, laughing a bit.

"Do you remember those nights we'd stay up arguing until dawn? Equations and equations and equations and James always hated your handwriting and John was sour to everyone except me and Nigel would just disappear? Things were good then, you know. We had a great deal of fun."

[akhkharu]

"Ah but it was fun," he pointed out, moving close to her, and wrapping his arms around her waist. "The ideas we had back then, the ways we vowed to change the world..." He grinned at her, his eyes bright. "Halcyon days indeed."

[notsocommon]

"You know, we could always pay a visit to my stable," Helen said, eyes glinting with a bit of mischief. It had been a good bit of luck that her house had room for stables, considering it was right in the thick of London, but it was an older house and the city had sort of grown up around them.

"I've had many a good afternoon in that hay. Some of them with you, even. Want to go? For old times' sake?"

[akhkharu]

"My, my, you have got a lot of nostalgia feelings today," he pointed out with a grin. "Though, just so I know, should I be jealous that not all of those stable afternoons were with me? Just checking?"

[notsocommon]

"Hmm, possibly a bit jealous," Helen said after a moment. "But you know well enough that I haven't been with anyone else in ages. I prefer being with someone I know already and don't have to hide myself with. So be just a little jealous?"

[akhkharu]

He narrowed his eyes at her a little. "I have to say, I do think you like it a little when I'm jealous. Just a little," he pointed out, but he was grinning. He didn't mind as much anymore, especially here. Just him and her, for a very long time? Some things just fell into place. "So... just a little jealous."

[notsocommon]

"Oh, yes, gets my blood going," Helen admitted easily enough. She was too old to be coy about these things anymore and Nikola knew her too well. Even if she chose to lie (which she didn't at this particular juncture) she felt like Nikola would see through it, more or less.

Then again, he hadn't seen through her subterfuge regarding the implosion of her Sanctuary, had he? Hmm. Something to ponder. Helen pushed it out of her mind for the time being and decided to focus on the present. It was something she often didn't have the luxury of doing.

"You get all possessive and needy. I do like it."

[akhkharu]

Oh he'd see through it, to a certain point at least. He knew her, too well sometimes.

He may miss some things, but about Helen's personality? Not really. Especially given how much closer they'd become over the last five or so years.

"Good," he said, smirking as her as he opened a door to let her through. She could lead the way.

[notsocommon]

"I did have a thing for you back then. I was waiting for you to say something," Helen admitted, heading out the back door to the garden, "But John got there first, unfortunately. So if you had feelings for me, I never knew about them."

Or James, until later. It seemed only Nigel had no interest in her in that way.

[akhkharu]

"Ah, back then the science was everything." At least, by the time he'd decided to act on his feelings, she'd fallen for John and he didn't stand a chance. "I did, I loved you from the very beginning, but back then I was the shy Serbian, remember?"

[notsocommon]

"Right, I've forgotten you were ever shy," Helen scoffed. Thinking back on it, there was truth in it. Nikola had not been as he was now at first; the Source blood had changed his personality somewhat along with the years.

"I was shy too, once. A woman amongst all those men? I hardly knew what to say or do. I was afraid you'd all laugh at me. I got over it, eventually, but it took a little while."

[akhkharu]

Ah, those were the days. So aware of being the different one, the one with the accent, the fastidious ways the ridiculous moustache, it had affected his personality. It was only really after taking the Source blood, when different was not a bad thing, that he became the wonderful person he was today.

"I don't think any of us noticed. All we cared about was the fact that you were in our midst, and who could gain your attention." They were so shallow.

[notsocommon]

"Well, I was the best looking, even if James fussed over himself more than any woman might," Helen said, grinning a bit at the memory. It was perhaps unfair to tease James when he couldn't defend himself but Helen had never entirely been fair.

"We were all different, in our way, and different again once the Blood came into play. And now we find ourselves somewhere new entirely, you and I. Back home in our era with all the knowledge that comes later. It's tempting to stay and change it, isn't it?"

Slight html failure...

[akhkharu]

He pulled a face, then nodded in agreement. "Other than myself, of course." Vanity, thy name is Nikola.

"We could rule the world, you and I," he pointed out, his eyes narrowing at the thought. He could destroy Edison before he started. The World Wars would never take place. Humanity wouldn't fall time and time again into their endless cycle of destruction.

Re: Slight html failure...

[notsocommon]

"That's dangerous thinking, Nikola. Should we really be meddling? Really and truly?" Helen had meant her comment only in passing, a what if. What Nikola was possibly suggesting could alter the entire timeline. Ashley might never be born. The world could collapse in some other catastrophic way.

"Neither of us was gifted with prescience."

[akhkharu]

"Put a chance to destroy Edison before he starts in front of me, and I'm going to take it," he warned Helen with a grumble. "I'd suggest keeping me well away from America."

[notsocommon]

"Yes, well, let's not go to America, then," Helen said, laughing cautiously. If Nikola truly did kill Edison, they'd have a huge mess on their hands. "Besides, you can just compete with him from over here. You're a vampire and he isn't. You've got more hours in the day."

Unless there was something she didn't know about Edison.

[akhkharu]

Nothing about Edison would surprise Nikola anymore. He pouted a little. "Fine we'll stick to London." For now, at least. "Just... don't expect me not to fiddle with things. Just a little."

[notsocommon]

"Only inconsequential things, Nikola. I mean it. If you end up stepping on a butterfly and seeing that my daughter isn't born, I'll kill you in this life and the next," Helen said firmly.

"I'm not even jesting with you. I mean it."

[akhkharu]

"Fine. No butterflies." Boring, but he'd stick to it. For now. He knew when Helen meant business. "General inconsequentialities. I promise."