milliways_bar | (no subject)

Helen slides up behind him as quietly as possible and places her hands over his eyes. "Guess who!" she announces.

Guppy jumps and drops the flowers. He has a habit of doing that.

"Hello Helen" he says excitedly, coming out of his somewhat preoccupied state.

"I brought you some flowers." He grabs the wrong end and then quickly turns them the right way up again.

Helen grins. "Sorry, did I disturb you?"

She laughs as he hands her the flowers. "You didn't have to, but thank you. They'll light up my room." She grins. "How are you?"

He smiles. "I'm okay thanks."

He has thought about this. Being canon-punctured to him is like a contagious disease. If he starts talking about it, she might start thinking the same things if she hasn't been through this already. He puts his arm around her middle, and tries not to let his thoughts bother him.

"Come and sit down. I was going to make this a candlelit dinner but I put the candle in my pocket and it turned a weird shape. Shall I light it anyway?"

He pulls out a candle shaped more like a banana.

Helen grins. "If it still works, why not?" She kisses his cheek quickly, and takes a seat across from him. "Just okay?" she asks.

Guppy sticks the candle in the candle holder and lights it. It burns sideways. At the same time he reminds himself to let his housemate teach him how to tell people he is fine convincingly.

"It's not important. There's just stuff on my mind. I have a colleague at work who's really sick, and we're all a bit worried about her. But that's work, so we don't need to talk about it tonight."

This is true, even if it was number two on Guppy's 'things to worry about' list. Number one being that someone out there is actually killing his department off over a long period of time for entertainment.

"How have you been?" he asks, smiling, holding her hand across the table.

Helen smiles brightly, with a bit of a chuckle at the candle. "I hope she feels better. Give her my best wishes." She doesn't even think about how odd it would be for his colleague to recieve hergood wishes.

"I've been well. I went for a long ride today. Melina's missed me while I was sick." She smiles again.

The candle drips wax over the tablecloth. Guppy smiles.

"I will, thanks. Would you like a drink? And then we need to find a waitrat to order dinner. I'm afraid Gil's gone back to his world for a bit while you've been away, so I don't know what the food will be like."

So long as it is better than the charred black stuff I make.

Helen grins. "I would love a drink..." she thinks for second. "How about lemonade?" she raises her eyebrows. "Gil's gone home? That's a shame. But I'm sure the food will be fine. Always is here." She smiles warmly.

Guppy nips up to the bar to get the drinks, coming back with Helen's lemonade and an orange squash for himself. He then comes back.

"I've just spoken to one of the waitrats. He gave me a note saying they won't come to the table because I've got a kitten, and it makes them feel uncomfortable."

He pulls Scampi out of his pocket. "I don't know why really. They're almost the same size as him."

"Thanks!" Helen laughs at the note from the waitrats. "Do they get attacked often?" She muses aloud. She skritches the kitten's ears. "He's pretty small," she agrees.

"Maybe, there are many cats here. Although most of them seem to be humans in disguise. Still, it's instinct I suppose. Would you like to go and order first, and then you can hold the kitten and I'll order?"

Helen grins. "Certainly." and she's off to the bar to order. After a conversation with a waitrat, she orders a steak, and heads back to the table. "There are so many choices for food around here..." she muses. "Anyway, would you like to order now?" She holds out her arms for the kitten.

Guppy smiles and hands her the kitten, then orders a vegetable hot pot like Gil sometimes makes. He's not fussy about food, seeing his own cooking is appalling (unless he wants black burnt stuff, in which case it's quite good).

"Thanks. You can stroke him if you like. He's very gentle."

Helen pets the kitten's ears, as it purrs softly. "Sweet cat," she remarks when Guppy returns. "What did you order?"

"Vegetable hot pot. How about you?"

Scampi purrs like a miniature lawnmower.

"I got him about a week ago. He was abandoned by his owner. The guy tied him in a plastic bag and threw him in a pond."

[ooc: I have to go to work. Back just after 5pm your time]

"Some type of steak. Supposedly, it is good..."

She pets Scampi again. "That's terrible!" she replies. "How could you not like him?"

"I don't know. He's so cute. The police haven't been able to trace him unfortunately. I was too busy swimming to get a good description. I know kittens are hard work, but they could at least have turned him in to an animal shelter."

"Shelter?" Helen shrugs and lets the kitten curl up in a ball on her lap. "He HAS to be easier than taking care of a pegasus. Melina isn't exactly easy work..."