Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in Memory: First Year Summer Vacation

Posted by Captain Marceau Renault (Commanding Officer) in Memory: First Year Summer Vacation

Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in Memory: First Year Summer Vacation
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
The game was an all day thing. Marceau followed Torben and Edílon from souvenir shop to souvenir shop, and then they stopped by the litttle league training camp. Edílon got his autograph during the autograph time, and then it was time for warm ups. They had lunch at a restaurant in the area, and then watched the game. It was an all day thing and they weren’t home until after dinner.

~ Marceau

True to her word, Helena did show up before the game was over. Edílon was not happy. He had been pestering Marceau non-stop the whole day. The teams weren’t national or pro, but Edílon knew them all, and was really excited to share it all with Marceau. Her little brother liked Helena’s friend. Helena arrived at the arena after the last period had started. In fact the game was mostly over. She jogged across the lot to the entrance and grabbed a hot dog and a soda on her way to the box. The weather had stayed mostly warm, but now that it was late it was cooler, but not too bad. She stepped into the box with a cheeky, “I’m here, the party can start.” Edílon groaned and complained about sisters, but it was easy to see he was happy she was home, just not at the game. Torben chuckled.

Marceau had been able to keep up with Edílon’s pestering by explaining what he would and wouldn’t have done differently than the players in the game. Marceau, when he played for the Academy, played the team’s main goalie, so most of his comments had to do with that position. When he saw Helena though he lit up and smiled and waved her over, making a spot for her next to him.

Edílon loved it and soaked it up. He had enough manners to not audibly compare Marceau to Morgan, but in his head he was. At least Helena seemed to have regained her common sense since Christmas. He might have had to do something juvenile, like make Morgan’s life miserable if Helena had brought him back. Marceau’s reaction didn’t go unnoticed by Torben. He chuckled quietly to himself, those two were never going to stay ‘just friends’. The most amusing part was they were both oblivious.

Once they were in the car, Helena slid into the back seat with Marceau and her dad asked, glancing at her in the mirror, “Did you get paid?”

Helena nodded as she sank into a chair and propped her feet on the empty one in front of her. “Sure did. In fact I got over paid.” Her mom had food still warm on the stove for them when they got back.

Helena

“Was it an easy flight?” Marceau asked eagerly, trying not to ask what the payment was, as he guessed that had to do with the surprise. When they arrived back at Helena’s house, her mom had food ready. Marceau was hungry and ready to eat.

~ Marceau

Helena grinned, “Very easy. The passengers were great, no fuss, and we had a good strong tailwind. We made good time.” She knew what he was trying not to hint at and she just smirked at him. Helena grabbed bowls for them all and started filling them at the stove. Helena inhaled, “Mmmm mom’s homemade potato soup.” She gave everyone a bowl and her dad placed drinks on the table. Bread was on a tray on the table already. “Plan to sleep in tomorrow Marceau. We’ll be out late tomorrow.”

Helena

Marceau gave her a disappointed look, but then moved on. “What are we doing? How cold am I going to be?” Marceau asked, starting to eat from his soup. Everything Helena’s family made was delicious. “This is so good.”

~ Marceau

Helena grinned, “It’s a surprise. But it’s going to be very cold, and then get really hot. So moisture wicking layer, warm sweater, pants, jacket, thermal socks, gloves, hat, scarf. I’ll bring a bag to stuff the layers into.”

“Okay…” Marceau seemed unsure, but he trusted Helena. If he could trust her to fly, he could trust her in very cold… and then very hot, places.

Her laughter was light and her look was amused. “Trust me. It will be great. And if not I’ll take your KP for a month.”

“Thank you. I’m glad you like it. Dúnna will be glad you are enjoying it.” Torben got up and went into the other room and came back with several packs and put them on the table. “Here, toe and hand warmers. They work like emergency ice packs. They will help where you’re going.” He pointed a finger at Edílon, “Eat up, you have an early morning and have to work all day.” Her brother sighed. “I know I know. I promised it would be done the day after, and it’s my job to meet my deadline.” Edílon sighed, “But it’s not my fault we didn’t have the materials.” Her father nodded, “That’s right, but you procrastinated and so you would have known 2 weeks ago you didn’t have the materials if you hadn’t put it off. So now you’ll work all day tomorrow and get it done. Or you will finish and do it for free.”

Helena

Marceau grinned into his food at the situation between her father and brother, but stayed silent. It wasn’t his business. “Merci. I’m sure I will need them. I must get cold easily…” He smiled and shrugged. “Hey, Helena, if we have to sleep in maybe we can stay up a little tonight?”

~ Marceau

Torben smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “No, you just aren’t used to it. When I first came to Iceland I thought I would die. I was so cold all the time. It took me a couple of years to get used to it. I arrived in November,” Torben shivered at the memory. “Worst winter of my life.”

Laughter came from the hallway, “That’s only because you hadn’t met me yet, to show you how to stay warm.” Dúnna entered the kitchen after hanging her coat up. She walked up to Torben, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, his going around her waist and she kissed him. It was heavily romantic, but chaste. The look they shared though was the kind of thing romance novels wish they could accurately describe. Torben laughed, “Ah but if I hadn’t live through that frozen hell I wouldn’t know how lucky I am now.” He kissed her again and moved over to the stove, filling a bowl for her and setting it on the table.

Marceau smiled, too. It was what he wanted… And so vastly different from the relationships exampled during his childhood. He wasn’t sure he’d ever heard his mère and père do something so cute and affectionate. A life like that felt unreachable to him, especially with his relationship with Lucy. She was either needy and clingy, or standoffish, even when she wasn’t upset with him. He loved her though, just because she didn’t act like his dream partner didn’t change that. Maybe he’d bring it up when they were both back in San Francisco.

Helena grinned, but didn’t roll her eyes like Edílon did. Her parents closeness and open affection didn’t bother Helena in the least bit. She wanted something like that. Even after all the years they had been together, they were obviously still in love. Helena glanced at Marceau and shrugged. “Yeah we can. What do you have in mind?”

Helena

A thought jumped into Marceau’s head that made him both blush, and feel a little bad. But it had never been that way for Helena, so the thought made its way out of his mouth anyway: “Poker?”

~ Marceau

Helena grinned and paused, spoon halfway to her mouth. “That sounds like a great idea. Mom, where’s the cards and poker chips?”

Dúnna glanced around thinking as she finished the bite of soup. “Ummm…over there in the middle drawer are the cards, but the chips I let the community center borrow. You’ll have to use beans or clothes or coins or something else.”

Marceau’s face turned a shade darker, a fact he was trying to hide. Honestly, it wasn’t like he hadn’t played strip poker with Helena before, but her mother saying clothes like it was another regular option like beans? That was a little embarrassing.

“OH! Can I play? Pleeeeease? Helena!” Edílon looked up excitedly from his bowl. Both her parents in unison, “No.”

Helena

“We’ll, euhm, figure something out. Without Edílon, sorry.” Marceau commented awkwardly, looking desperately at Helena. This might be the weirdest conversation ever.

~ Marceau