OOM: June 2012, Geneva, Switzerland

[timelessinventor]

Helena disconnects Joshua's phone (to the faint sounds of Claudia swearing on the other end; she does hope she's not too put out) and weighs her options. She's probably best off tying him to the bed, just to be sure; she wouldn't want him taking off before she gets a chance to explain herself, after all. That decided, she makes short work of doing so (...what in the world is this... stuffed thing? Ah, well, it can just - rest on his chest, then).

When she's done, she settles in on the other side of his bed and waits for him to wake up.

Comments

[damncompass]

"Ugh. Could at least buy a guy dinner first." He rubs his wrists and sits up.

[timelessinventor]

"Perhaps I will afterward. You never can tell." This is Helena's innocent face!

[damncompass]

"Uh. More on that later." Joshua eyes her for a moment, then shakes his head. "Anyway...."

Before he can say anything else, there's a vibrating coming from his desk across the room, then a fairly loud thunk. His Artifact Detector has rolled off of its little nest on his desk and fallen onto the floor.

"What the hell?" Joshua stands up, and in the process, looks out his window to see five feet of snow. He stops, just as he's about to pick up the ball. "I repeat, what the hell?"

[timelessinventor]

Helena doesn't follow his gaze; that ball on the floor is quite captivating, as it happens (is it pointing at her? No, that's ridiculous; why would it be pointing at her?). "What on earth is that thing?"

[damncompass]

"Artifact detector." He picks it up, and it calms down. "I didn't think it had much range.... but it's snowing cats and dogs out there. That has to be Artifacty." Joshua is sincerely confused.

[timelessinventor]

"Fascinating. Did you make it?" But before she can wait for an answer, she does look out the window, and suddenly she's fighting a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach (no, no, it can't be because... but what if it is?). "Oh my."

[damncompass]

"Sort of, I wish I could take more credit for it...." He trails off as he notices her emotion. "What?"

[timelessinventor]

"I." Helena takes a deep breath (it's shaky when she exhales). "I don't suppose you have any static bags here, do you? And gloves, of course." They don't need him being affected by whatever it is she's picked up.

[damncompass]

"Yeah, I do, actually." He puts the ball down on the desk, and gets gloves and a bag. "You have something, don't you?" He pauses. "Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen Lara Croft in a shawl."

[timelessinventor]

"Wouldn't know about that, but I dare say you're right." She unties the shawl from around her waist (she can't remember picking it up, not that she's been thinking all that clearly since the Medusa) and holds it out to him without meeting his eyes, trying to brace herself for what's coming.

[damncompass]

Joshua takes the shawl and stuffs it into the bag, for once remembering to duck. The resultant light show is fairly spectacular.

He closes the bag, then puts it on his desk, taking off the gloves.

[timelessinventor]

Helena doesn't see the light show. She's too preoccupied with sobbing.

[damncompass]

"Hey!" Joshua goes back to his bed, climbs in and without really thinking, wraps his arms around her. "Hey. Hey. What is it?"

[timelessinventor]

It's a while before Helena manages to say anything, but she doesn't pull away (she has, after all, been rather touch-starved of late; it's nice to actually have that contact with someone). Eventually, she says, "Fourth time I've lost her."

[damncompass]

Joshua's actually a bit surprised that she doesn't pull away, people usually don't seek out his touch, but he doesn't pull away either. "What happened?" He'll stay here and hold her as long as long as he needs to.

[timelessinventor]

"A Warehouse is no place to raise a child," she starts (understatement of the century, that). "I had her stay with cousins for the most part, already didn't see enough of her - some men came to rob the house she was staying in. I believe these days she'd be called collateral damage.

"When I say I've tried everything I can think of, I built a time machine of my own." When Joshua makes an intrigued comment, she shakes her head slightly. "It only works on your mind, and - and all that meant was I had to watch it happen." She'd wanted so much to save her Christina, and yet she'd found herself powerless.

"We just had a... bit of a faff in Egypt. An archaeology dig stumbled across what was left of Warehouse 2 and woke it up; we had to go and shut it down before it overwhelmed Mrs. Frederic. I - those must have been failsafes against intruders, if I had to do anything like that just to go to work every day, I'd lose my bloody mind... And the last one." She nearly sobs again. "The last one, I thought I had her back, I really believed it. Of course, if I'd gone on believing it the floor would have fallen out from under me..."

(Not that she's yet convinced that would have been such a bad thing.)

Helena sighs. "And now this."

[damncompass]

"Oh." Joshua just winces as she tells her stories. "Oh. I'm so sorry. I... I'm not usually in the bursting people's bubbles business." He falls silent, just holding her, and letting her cry. God knows, he wishes he'd had a safe space to cry.

[timelessinventor]

"Hardly your fault." After all, it's unlikely his grandparents were alive when all this started, and she's the one who didn't let herself heal for a century.

Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring BANANAPHONE.

That, at least, is enough to startle Helena out of her melancholy. "Banana... phone?"

[damncompass]

"It's... an internet thing, I think. Claud's fond of quoting it when anyone's phone rings. She got a hold of my phone at some point, and changed all of my ringtones to that." He rolls his eyes, but pulls away and reaches for the phone. "Hey."

[claudiometer]

"Hey! You okay?"
Because, really, when you hear your brother get Tesla'd and you can't get to him? Panic-worthy.

[damncompass]

"Yeah, 'm fine. Those things pack one hell of a punch." He rubs his chest a bit subconsciously.

[claudiometer]

"Well, that is what they were designed to do. Did you get whatever was whammying her?"

[damncompass]

"Yeah. I bagged it. I think it probably needs some goo, but the bag's holding for now. It's a shawl, that's all I know."

[claudiometer]

"Well, as long as the snow stopped, you should be good until we can get it back here. Or I can bring you some goo or something. We're thinking Demeter because of course that would call to the grieving mother, how could that possibly go wrong."
Murphy's Law applies in force when it comes to Artifacts.

[damncompass]

"Hey, did the snow stop?" Joshua's voice is a bit far away for a second, and a murmur responds. "Yeah, the snow's stopped. We're ok. We'll figure out what the shit's going on in the morning." Without thinking, he reaches over and holds Helena's hand.