synthneon | · CALL ME OUT (AUTUMN) ·

And someone who hadn't been a close student of her and how she did business since the reign of Queen Victoria might have believed that, but not him.

"You being so prone to seasonal changes," he replied, beginning to walk. "And in a conveniently public place - should I be looking for your backup?"

She laughed at his question. "No. Everyone else is preoccupied at the moment. Dates, business, time off. No rest for the weary, I'm afraid. Not even during the upcoming holidays."

Helen glanced at him with a smile taking her face. "Not that either of us truly understand the meaning of a holiday in any sense."

"Of course," he replied, "especially in my case - no rest for the wicked."

He took another sip, looking around as they walked.

"Just that...you were never one for personal visits, even in the old days. None of us were. And you've been...especially aloof since taking on your new world. Not that I blame you for it. Just that we left things on...well, inconclusive terms."

Her eyebrows raised knowingly. Oh, yes, certainly. Wicked. Was there a better way to ever describe Nikola Tesla?

"Yes, well..." Helen trailed off for a moment. "Things needed to happen at a rather alarming pace. Although, it might of been a tad dramatic, I suppose. Even for me."

"And despite that, played with absolute perfection - the only way you could have pulled it off is, impossibly, time travel. In any event, an absolute act of genius."

He kept looking ahead as he spoke, considering the cup in his hand.

"Your lack of sharing the details with me. It did say a lot. About just how trustworthy I am."

It may be an assumption on his part, but it's one he's been thinking about. Fairly constantly. Because, like it or not, she had changed him, in the past few years. Or perhaps it had been a number of things.

"So. This is me, changing things. Thinking ahead. I've started...a new project. One I think you'll approve of. I'm working on finding the next Five."

Edited 2021-11-15 00:55 (UTC)

There was a nervous laugh. "I've only traveled through time once, Nikola. I aim to keep it that way."

It was hard enough to live through things she knew would happen and allow them to happen. The World Wars, terrorist acts, crimes against humanity enlarge. All of that was before the fact she could share certain information with the younger versions of people she knew and cared for--she couldn't tell them how to care for certain abrnormals to save them. Although she may have found a way to shuffle money in Nikola's direction once or twice. Anonymous donations. She doubted he'd ever notice.

"I couldn't risk anything going wrong. You've no idea how hard it was to keep secrets from all of you. Especially when I knew what might happen." She shook her head, sending her brown curls bouncing. "Is that truly wise, Nikola? Given what happened to us -- all of us and the ones we knew afterwards."

"It would be incredibly foolish if it involved the Source Blood," he responded. "But we have to learn from previous experiments."

He was quiet for a moment after that.

"We wanted to change the world so badly, didn't we? So recklessly. And in the end, the amount of change we could do was actually limited by the measures we took to make it happen. With such powers, we couldn't risk capture - couldn't risk others figuring out how to replicate our abilities, weaponize them. All of us became shadow creatures, in our way."

He turned the cup in his hands, look distant.

"But the idea, free of...interference...get the right minds together, support them so they can work...the concept is still sound."

He turned his head to look at her.

"I'm going to earn your trust back. With whatever time I've got left before, well, you're the last one left."

"You have a point. How else will we further what we know if we don't continue the work a bit wiser than we were?" Helen gave a one-shoulder shrug to show that she conceded the point.

"One could argue we changed the world in a larger way than intended." She shook her head slightly. "If nothing else by the ripples that we caused by how we changed. Some were for the better... some not."

The memories of the fall out of the Five certainly seemed to reverb through history, no matter what they did. John was one set of issues in his own. Ashley was another. Nikola's own experiments was one more. They had even lost the granddaughter of dear Nigel. That hardly even brought about the troubles caused by Adam by their neglect of the man.

"You may want to find a Greek name for your new Five. It sounds rather reminiscent of Socrates." Helen gave him a smile. "Oh, Nikola. I trust you immensely. I simply know how your ideas tend to get away from you."

"They'll find their own way," he replies. "I'm setting it up and then...that's that. That's my role."

He leaves much unsaid with that, really - though she'll be able to put it together. He's not at all sure he'll last long enough for a decisive role, so why take one? Given the rate of attrition, it makes sense - and he, unlike her, works without a team.

"Sitting back and allowing the young minds to think over new ideas? That is very new for you." Her eyebrows raise. "I would have thought you would want to be involved in it at any level you could be."

Although, guiding young minds towards a better future is certainly one of his least underhanded ways of doing things. A perfect way to use his good nature of the best of things, quite honestly. She's rather proud of him.

"Would funding need to go to this new group of The Five?"

"You are dead, remember? There is no Sanctuary network. I won't have you risk that. Besides, I've got enough old facilities and accounts hidden away from over the decades. Things left to accumulate interest. Don't numbers just get...old to you, that way? Ugh, finance," he ends, shaking his head.

"And I do want to be involved, but...it requires my absence, not my presence. I will, however, accept help in...selecting candidates."

"Well, one can always make a new identity." Helen gives a playful response. "One Helen Bancroft can at least be a mysterious benefactor for your new endeavors. However, you bring a fair point. At least for now as the dust settles."

Thankfully the tracking software of the modern day is far easier to trick than one might think.

"So, they may never know who picks them or brings them together. It is a breeding ground for conspiracies. Certainly theatrics."

"It can be managed. A bequest, administered by, oh, someone who looks like me. Or possibly Will," he replied, airily.

He sipped at the tea, looking thoughtful.

"In any event, I'm moving on it. Time and tide and a plethora of enemies, and all that."

Helen can't help but smile. "You and Will working on a project without the bitter? I'd rather enjoy seeing that."

Some parties simply do not mix well. She rather thinks that Nikola and Henry get along far better than her protege and her oldest remaining friend. Ah, well. There are bound to be differences and clashes of personality in a work as long and old such as theirs.

"And do you have a very stunning and self-inspired name for this?"

"Nobody would see it coming," he replied, with a smile.

"And no, nothing of the sort. Something...innocuous. Dull. That nobody will even think twice about."

He paused, looking over at her.

"I know I haven't always proven...reliable. But I will, I promise you."

Helen gave a small laugh and a nod, glancing down. It would certainly be something to see. There was a humorous shake of her head before she turned her attention briefly back to her drink.

"I rather doubt you could stand for a dull name. Perhaps something that is an anagram? A test, just to see who might catch onto you?" She looked back up at him and raised her drink as if to make her point. "Well, I was rather unlike myself the last year or so. Then again, living a hundred years over once more does cause one to have a different perspective."

"Oh, tests, absolutely, top to bottom - but...no. It can't be like how I've operated in the past. It has to be something new."

His hand went in his jacket pocket, turning the tea in the other.

"I couldn't have done what you did. Too many temptations to make too many changes. Imagine how much less hassle Edison could have given us, for a start."

· CALL ME OUT (AUTUMN) ·

🎃 AUTUMN

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

/like 2000 years later cause of the holidays

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject