Early August 2012: The Warehouse/Annapolis, MD

[damncompass]

It's a fairly boring day in the Warehouse. Joshua is on his laptop working on some paperwork, and Helena is finishing up a couple case reports at a table.

It's probably just about time for something to happen.

Comments

[claudiometer]

Ping, goes the ping tracking program; Claudia pauses what she's working on and goes over to check.
"Huh. We got something in Annapolis, looks like."

[damncompass]

"What's up?" Joshua gets up, and puts his laptop on his chair, leaning over Claud's shoulder.

Helena's attention is piqued, but she doesn't actually get up.

[claudiometer]

"Political writer pretty much came out of nowhere this past session. They've got a special session coming up this week and she's been the darling of the coverage on it."
By itself that's not so weird, but it pinged. She just reports what the computer says.

[damncompass]

"Huh. I mean, I'm pretty sure that political writers can come out of nowhere, but... if it wants investigating, perhaps someone should go." He leans against the desk. "Where even is everyone?"

[claudiometer]

"Leena roped Artie and Pete into helping unpack Warehouse 2 crap."
She's keeping HG away from the ovoid until she finds a home for the damn shawl, and Claudia begged out so that someone could trawl for pings.

[damncompass]

"Perhaps they should stay there. Don't want to pull them out of important work." And, well. Keeping Artie and Pete far away from politics is probably the best. "Besides, we do have a resident writer here."

Helena perks up with a grin. It's been a while since she was actually out on a case.

[claudiometer]

Claudia nods. "That we do. You wanna go with her? I can stay back and research-fu it up."
(And defuse Artie if he grumps about HG going on a case. Lady's gotta get out of the Warehouse every now and then, right? Right.)

[damncompass]

"Works for me." Joshua grins. "Helena, I guess we're going on our first case together." He goes over and kisses her cheek.

[claudiometer]

"awwwww, the happy couple's first case together." Hey, she has sisterly duties to fulfill here.
"I'll get some case files ready for ya and run 'em over when they're done. You figure out the transit, though."

[timelessinventor]

"Give it time, darling, and I'm sure Dr. Fargo will invite himself on a case sooner or later." Helena has yet to meet the man in person, but she's heard stories.

[damncompass]

Joshua laughs. "Or you'll just have to save his ass again." He pauses, grabbing his laptop again to get tickets. "What is it with you, Claud, and saving the asses of the men in your life?"

[claudiometer]

"Hey, your ass better be grateful for that, or you're on your own next time."
Have we mentioned lately that her brother is a bit of a Strong Female Character?

[damncompass]

"Oh, shut up, you." Joshua rolls his eyes, finishing the tickets and sending the information to the printer. It spits out a couple boarding passes. "Alright, Helena, we've got tickets for three hours from now. We should pack and get going." He ruffles Claud's hair as he goes to grab the printouts.

[timelessinventor]

Helena grins (as though Claudia could truly leave her brother stranded somewhere). "Brilliant. Shall we, then?"

[claudiometer]

Claudia just swats her brother's hand away and gets to work on the case files.

[damncompass]

Joshua grins at Helena. "We shall."

With that, they're off, back to the B&B, packing for, well, a couple days. Joshua always thinks that it's better to overpack for a ping than underpack. You never know what you'll end up needing.

[timelessinventor]

If anything, Helena's prone to overpacking even more than Joshua; part of her's still used to the days of boat travel (if it takes you weeks to get to your destination, you need rather more). But she's learning.

When they're on the plane, Helena's a bit less tense than the last time they flew together, for reasons that can't simply be attributed to not facing a Regent meeting that determines her future at their destination.

[damncompass]

At first, Joshua doesn't notice. While their plane from Rapid City is pretty empty, the flight out of Minneapolis is packed. He's beginning to think he should have upgraded them to first class, just so that he wouldn't have to sit by some random person.

However, after the third time the guy has tried to talk to Joshua about what he does (the man seems to be some sort of business man who is over-proud of himself), Joshua finally notices Helena's zen.

"Hey, you're usually much more nervous than this." At least if he's talking to her, he won't start having his own problems.

[timelessinventor]

"Howard took me flying. I'm sure after a few more lessons I'll be an old hand at this." And then she might follow through in this world on that idea of getting a pilot's license (surely it'll save them some time if they can provide their own transit). "Are you all right, darling? I don't recall you being this bad last time." But to be fair, she was a bit lost in her own thoughts.

[damncompass]

"Who's Howard?" Joshua isn't jealous, just confused. "Is he a Milliways person?"

"I..." He shakes his head. "I'll be alright."

[timelessinventor]

"He is. I first met him before." She doesn't specify before what, but she's sure Joshua would know (and in this close of quarters, she'd really rather not say it aloud). "Will it help you to talk about it?"

[damncompass]

"Ah. I didn't realize you came to Milliways before." He shrugs. "Alright, then. What does he do other than fly planes?"

Joshua pauses, closing his eyes for a moment. "It's... well, nonsense residue."

The guy next to him is a bit nosy, so he's trying to be a bit cagy in his responses.

[timelessinventor]

"He owns... I believe it's an aviation company." Something like that, at the very least (heaven knows what he's branched into after the war, in his world, but that's a discussion for another time). "Doing quite well for himself at the moment, actually."

She nods. "We can discuss it later, if you'd like."

[damncompass]

"Huh. Alright, then. I mean, if it got you over your flying nerves, it has to be good, right?" He smiles, but it fades quickly as the man on the other side of him shifts around in his seat.

"It's... it's not a big deal."

[timelessinventor]

"Honestly, I think I'd be better off if I were flying this thing myself, but I'm well aware I don't have the qualifications." One can't have everything in this world (not without a bit of work, anyway). "I suspect it's a larger deal than you're making it out to be, darling, and I would know from not discussing things that need it."

Oh, would she ever.