June 2012, Geneva, Swizerland

[damncompass]

The morning sun is breaking through Joshua's windows, reflecting even more off of the five feet of snow that's starting to melt in the June heat.

Inside, Joshua is snuggled up to the woman beside him, sleeping with a smile on his face.

Comments

[timelessinventor]

"I assure you, darling, you would know if I took umbrage with you." Helena grins in a way she doesn't think she has in over a century. "Tell me, do you greet all of your favorite authors like that, or am I just special?"

[damncompass]

"Oh, you're special alright." Joshua takes a deep breath and grins right back at her. It's a comfortable, truly happy grin that hasn't shown itself very much since Claudia was about seven.

[timelessinventor]

"Oh, good. I do so like being special."

[damncompass]

"You are." Joshua smiles again, and reaches up and brushes some of her hair out of her face. "What is your name? I highly doubt it's actually Herbert." Is he teasing? Probably. "Who was Mister Mustache anyway?

[timelessinventor]

"Helena. Our dear friend with the mustache was my brother Charles." She makes a rather undignified face. "He agreed to provide a face for my efforts after I ran into difficulty submitting my work on my own... and then he inserted himself rather too much into the revision process and the fame went to his head." (His head, when she was the one doing all the actual bloody work.)

[damncompass]

"Wait, so I wasn't being disloyal when I thought the socialism was a bit pasted on in Time Machine?" He's actually possibly more relieved than he should be about that. "And really, I've always wonder why Victorians had such sticks up their asses, present company excepted, of course."

[timelessinventor]

Oh, Joshua, you're adorable! "Hardly, darling. I was going for the divide between the haves and the have-nots, but not quite on those lines. and don't even get me started on the stuff he attempted to cobble together from my notes after I was bronzed." Not that she'd written much in a couple of years at that point anyway (it got difficult, after Christina...), but the point stands, in her eyes.

[damncompass]

"I always did wonder why it got shittier as time went on. I never did like the later stuff. I guess I'm vindicated now in disliking it." He smiles, blushing. "So, I have to ask, have you ever considered writing more?" Yes, that's a fanboy right there.

[timelessinventor]

"I have, but..." Helena sighs. "I rather suspect my writing style isn't quite in tune with what the modern reading public expects from a book, between the sparkling vampires that stalk you in your sleep and the implausible, frightening and simply bad bondage pornography that is in fact a thinly disguised fan fiction about the sparkling stalker vampires." There's that undignified face again. "And really, when I can say the bondage pornography is implausible and I've been out of touch with the scene since 1896 or so..."

[damncompass]

There are a series of faces that Joshua makes, from amused to intrigued, and then back to amused. At the end, he laughs quite a lot. "Well, um, more on that later, but there is totally a market for books in the style of their original authors."

[timelessinventor]

"Yes, and zombies." She rolls her eyes. "I've already got time travel and Martians and vivisection; the last thing I need to do is add zombies to the mix."

[damncompass]

Joshua just snorts. "Zombie, zombie, zombie". He's mimicking her accent, rather poorly.

[timelessinventor]

Helena just stares at him for a moment, then laughs, far more genuinely than she has in ages. "What on earth?"

[damncompass]

He cracks up as well. "Well, it's just a silly word, and your accent made it even funnier." He's beaming and laughing like he hasn't in ages either.

[timelessinventor]

"If you say so." It's a few moments before she really manages to stop laughing, but she's still smiling. "Thank you, darling. I don't think I've laughed like that since the 1890s."

[damncompass]

Joshua just grins. "I'm glad I could help." He laughs a bit. "But in all seriousness, Pride and Prejudice has a billion sequels and sidequels and everything."

[timelessinventor]

"Including, I feel honor-bound to point out at this stage in the discussion, the one with the zombies." She might giggle a little as she says that.

[damncompass]

Joshua giggles. Possibly more than he should. "Well, yes, but that's not the point. There has to be some character that you wanted to write more about."

[timelessinventor]

"...There is something to that." Helena smiles. "A few characters I never truly got a chance to bring into the sun." And she could publish under her own name and everything! Now there's an idea.

[damncompass]

"Exactly." Joshua grins, leaning over and sneaking a tiny kiss. "And, well, you could publish under your name, and everyone would just think you're being cute."

[timelessinventor]

"Ah, but I would know better." Helena smiles. "It's certainly something to consider."

[damncompass]

"I would totally read anything you wrote." That's more than the fanboy talking.

[timelessinventor]

"That could perhaps be arranged, if you're very nice."

[damncompass]

"I can be very nice." Joshua grins at her. That might be a flirt, but he probably doesn't realize he's doing it.

[timelessinventor]

"I'm sure you can." Helena smirks. "But first I'm going to have to write something."