notsocommon | home again, naturally.

Entry tags:

ai,
nikola

home again, naturally.

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."

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"As much as I love cars, there's something about a carriage." Helen led him around to her stables and got the carriage and her driver; it took a few moments of catching up, of course, but the horses wanted a chance to get out and about and a ride around the park was just the thing.

Once she had settled inside the carriage, she turned her attention back to Nikola. "Ah, this is just the thing. I have missed this terribly, just relaxing and going at a slow pace. No hurry, no worries. Just us."

He was more than willing to sit back, let Helen take charge. If she wanted a carriage ride, he would be there. Truth was, the nostalgia was fun as well for him - in as much as he ever had fun. Besides, if Helen enjoyed it - he would.

"It is rare just to take the time to do something like this." Ah yes, nostalgia was a good thing.

"Oh yes. Been too long for me," she said, leaning in and cupping his face. "Of course, there's something to be said for making new memories and new choices even if we are reliving the past."

More and more it occurred to her that perhaps Nikola would have been the better choice all those years ago, not John.

Perhaps. Or perhaps Nikola was just too self-centered then. Maybe now, when the two of them were the only ones left was the right time to actually do something about it, which had led to this.

And he wouldn't have given her the time with Ashley, so perhaps that was meant to be. "Come on. I feel the urge to find out favourite restaurant and indulge somewhat," he said lightly, as ever shying away from actual emotion.

"Mmm, yes, let's indulge," Helen said, kissing him quickly before drawing away. She wanted to enjoy being herself for a while without the burden of her future and this seemed just the place to do it.

"Do you remember that tearoom I used to like? The one with the divine little watercress sandwiches?"

"I never quite understood the fascination with those sandwiches," he admitted, grinning at her. "But yes, I remember it well. Shall we go there?" To keep her happy, he would indulge her.

"Yes, we should," Helen said, grinning at him. "Because if you indulge me with sandwiches and tea, I might indulge you with something a little stronger later on? A little tit for tat?"

She could bargain with the best of them.

He pretended to be considering it, but grinned at her in the end. "Oh, go on then. I think I can manage some sandwiches and tea - on condition we find something more... indulgent later on."

A small price to pay.

"Yes, yes, we'll raid the wine cellar," Helen said, waving her hand dismissively. "Heaven forbid we didn't do that while we were here. I actually think my father might have something well over fifty years old down there. We haven't had that kind of vintage laying around in the modern era for decades. I think two vintage people should drink vintage wine."

He managed to produce a passable bow, and grinned at Helen. "If your father has that lying about, it's a miracle I wasn't raiding the cellar earlier." Though knowing Helen, she'd hidden it from him. "It seems oddly appropriate to me."

"Mm, yes, French, I think," Helen said, trying to rack her brain. "Bordeaux, if I remember precisely, and I think that sort of thing should be savored well and often, if you can get it. We'll get into it when we get home."

She gave him a mischievous look. "And other things, at that."

"Ah, your father did have exquisite taste," he said with a fond smile. Mostly for his wine cellar rather than anything else. "And I rather like the sound of an evening lounging about, doing whatever takes our fancy." Which would end up defiling many of the bedrooms, no doubt.

"There's always my private sitting room and bedroom," Helen said, smirking a bit. "I know you all wanted access to that back when I was still living at home like the prim and proper spinster that I was."

"Well. Now. There's a challenge that I shall have to undertake," he said, grinning in return. "We all tried so hard - some more than others." He tried especially hard.

Helen laughed and shook her head. "My father would never have allowed it, you know. If John hadn't been able to teleport, he wouldn't have been able to get in there at all. That's the only reason he succeeded when the rest of you failed. It was simply a matter of chance."

"Of course he did," Nikola said, shaking his head, but he wasn't too upset. In the long run... well, he'd won, hadn't he? He was here now, with her, with no thought of being disturbed by John. "Well, we'll just have to make up for lost time, won't we?"

"Oh, I certainly hope so. You know, I often wondered what it might be like if I'd become a vampire. I suppose there's no real way to sire them anymore, is there? Yours is only present because of how the Source blood manifested in your body. There'd be no way to make me one, would there?"

Helen often wondered about such things and here, in this place that was neither here nor there, she had ample time to muse upon them.

"Don't tempt me to try and find out." He was serious - if she encouraged him, he would do everything he could to find out a way to make her a vampire. He'd never thought about till now, and wouldn't unless she was utterly serious.

"Not a lot to lose, really," Helen said. At this point, the Sanctuary was something that could, in theory, run on its own long after she had passed. She had put in contingencies to allow for the fact that she might not make it through and that her longevity would eventually end. If there was ever a time to take a risk, it could be now.

"Everything's in place to run without me there, at this point."

"Not a lot to lose? Just your humanity," he pointed out. It sounded strange coming from him - a vampire pointing out that she could lose her humanity. "Would you risk it?"

"To experience something new? It would be worth it. Is it so different, being what you are? What do you miss about being human?" It had never occurred to Helen that Nikola could possibly regret his choice and regret being anything other than a vampire. Could she have been wrong all this time about him?

"Honestly? Nothing. Oh wait. Not being able to get drunk now and then. That's it." He loved being a vampire. What was not to love? Being immortal, having all the cool gifts? It was perfect - for him. Was it for Helen.

If she was ever a vampire, they could rule the world together. How awesome would that be? "Yes, you'd experience something new, but there is no going back from it."

"Do you even know how to sire a vampire? It occurs to me that I've never posed that particular question of you." It would be a problem, if he did not, and Helen imagined she did not want to endure another round with the Source blood - if that were even an option. They could find it now, of course, in the past but that might change the future.

"Of course I know," he said, almost offended, but then gave her a pained look. "Though problem is I'm not sure how well it will work, given I'm not technically a full vampire." At least, Afina didn't think he was.

"I'm willing to try if you are," Helen said softly. "I think it could be a new chapter for us, both of us, and it guarantees that I'll live forever. There's no guarantee with my longevity that it truly lasts forever."

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