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]

"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.

[damncompass]

"Maybe we should get ourselves a plane." Joshua ponders for a moment. "It would save a lot of time and energy and money. Then again, we'd probably need another pilot other than just you."

He's ignoring the rest for now.

[timelessinventor]

"That we would, and I won't be ready to fly a bloody thing by myself any time soon. I doubt I even had the controls for five minutes." Also, that was a 1946-standards plane; she has no doubt the standards have changed a bit since then.

She just raises an eyebrow at his avoidance, but doesn't push for now.

[damncompass]

"Well, we'll see. I've actually been thinking about that for a while. I'll do some math and see what the return would be and how much upkeep would be, etcetera." Joshua shrugs, especially at her reactions.

[timelessinventor]

It's not quite Donovan speak, but it'll do in a pinch.

"Claudia would likely be the easiest to talk into it, of everyone. Unless you'd like to take a crack at it?"

[damncompass]

"That would possibly be a bad idea." With his anxieties, he wouldn't want to panic in the middle of doing something. "Claud would likely be better suited to fly."

[timelessinventor]

"I would have thought me flying a plane was a bad idea before I tried it, darling. One never knows." She won't push him into it, of course, but she thinks that's worth pointing out. "We'll get it sorted once I actually know what I'm doing."

[damncompass]

"Yeah. That would be better." Joshua leans back in his seat a bit and closes his eyes. Stupid planes. Stupid flying. Stupid too many people.

[timelessinventor]

The man to Joshua's other side leans round to make another comment, but before he can open his mouth, Helena fixes him with a glare. "I think you've bothered us quite enough for one flight, sir. Now if you don't mind, my friend is clearly distressed, and I've no interest in talking to you. Kindly leave us be." Honestly, he reminds her more than a bit of Charles.

"Get out your headphones, darling," she says to Joshua. "You have means to relax, I've seen you use them before. I'll let you know when we're landing."

[damncompass]

Joshua sighs, leaning a bit on Helena as he pulls his phone and headphones out of his bag. Under his breath, he mutters. "It's times like these that I really wish Claud would let me use that damn compass."

Eventually, though, he closes his eyes, losing himself in music from his phone. It's better than paying attention to what's going on in the plane.

[timelessinventor]

"You know as well as I that she has her reasons," Helena replies in kind.

Once Joshua's settled, Helena gets out a book (Time Machine, as if she's going to properly follow through with her writing ideas, she needs to refresh herself on what she wrote back in the day) and sets about ignoring the horrid man in the aisle seat. (She's got the window shade down. Just because she's more comfortable with flying doesn't mean she wants to stare at the tops of clouds all afternoon.)

[damncompass]

Joshua loses himself in a musical that he hasn't heard in ages, quietly humming to himself until the plane lands, and they get out, the annoying man going his own way.

Eventually, they pick up their bags, and Joshua rents a (somewhat sensible this time) car. Before long, they're in Annapolis, and in a nice hotel room.

"Alright, it's already after five, and I'm not about to harass a poor hapless reporter in her own home, so I think we should just chill for the night. What is there to do here anyway?"