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Claudia is sitting in her favorite armchair in the bed’n’breakfast living area, her laptop open on her knees, currently tracking some governor’s flight while on another tab hacking a casino database, as one does, just for funsies.
By the table, Myka is clearing up some things from yesterday’s team dinner while Helena is putting clean things away and looking curiously through some of the items in the cabinets. Claudia has largely turned out their quiet talking and the clinking of whatever stuff they are moving around, until Helena’s voice pulls her away from her focused staring at the laptop screen.
“What on earth are these?”
“Huh?” Claudia looks up to see H.G. holding up a lone red twizzler, left to its own devices out of the packaging.
Ohh, twizzlers… Claudia is intrigued to see how this will go. Wouldn’t be the first time for H.G. to be completely baffled at something 21st-century-ish, nor even the first food item: especially unnaturally colored or flavoured things are like an intriguing mystery to her. Claudia would’ve thought the international food would be a kicker for her too, but apparently H.G. has travelled enough in the past that she knows more than just British fare… Either way, it’s always great to witness her learn something new. Of course with twizzlers, there’s the added interest of them being Myka’s all time favorite guilty pleasure or something.
H.G. is studying the sweet, holding it up between pointer and thumb like some might hold a slimy, dead worm. Or an artifact that hasn’t been properly neutralized yet when you didn’t have the time to put gloves on and are just holding it up with one used like a tissue. Claudia’s more familiar with that scenario than with worms.
Behind her, Myka already looks mightily offended! On the one hand, Claudia kind of wants to see how that plays out, but on the other she has seen Myka and Helena’s arguments one too many times already, they tend to end either in bloodshed or immediate make-up snogging, sometimes both. Well, it hasn’t been that extreme anymore lately, but she’s still rather not risk it.
“It’s a twizzler - super sweet and sticky,” Claudia explains, then adds with a grin, “You might not want to try the last one in the pack without asking Myka first, though!” Watching H.G. try new things is, in Claudia’s opinion, always a great show, because she tends to voice her thoughts quite loudly and in ways that show how she could’ve been a comedy writer on top of the sci-fi… but watching her steal Myka’s twizzler should prove to be even more entertaining.
Helena raises an eyebrow and gives Myka a considering look. “Oh, is that so? I would’ve expected this to belong to Pete, he always likes the things in awful artificial colors. And very sweet, you said?”
Myka crosses her arms, and Claudia suppresses a giggle. She isn’t sure where H.G. is going with this, but she’s clearly scheming something, and Myka can tell as well.
“Sweet… more or less sweet than milk chocolate, would you say?”
“Definitely more!” Claudia blurts out before Myka can say anything. Myka gives her a betrayed look. Oups?
“Definitely more? So these must be something really special then, if you’re willing to eat them but wanted nothing of the chocolate last night…”
“What’s going on here?” Steve leans down from where he’s standing behind the armchair to whisper to Claudia without being overheard by the other two. Claudia jumps a little, she hadn’t even noticed him come in.
“I’ve no idea, but I kind of want popcorn.”
“It wasn’t just that it was milk chocolate, it was the whole - oh, let’s not discuss that here. And I just don’t like most sweets!” Myka throws her hands up in frustration.
“Right… but you like these, yes? So I assume they must be very tasty…” Helena lifts the unpacked twizzler in the air, the end dangling close to her lips.
“Don’t you dare!” Myka yelps and pounces. Claudia isn’t sure whether Myka really cares about the twizzler so much or whether this is some bizarre kind of foreplay for them, but watching Myka try to get the twizzler away from H.G while the latter alternatively ducks her attacks, holding the twizzler out of reach, and hides behind furniture or Steve and Claudia to take bites of the twizzler is hilarious to watch.
“Helena! At least leave me half or something!”
“Oh, but you were forced to eat chocolate yesterday, I couldn’t force any more sugar on you! Besides, I think eating the whole thing is the true twizzler experience, so I’ll do just that and get you a new bag when I’m going grocery shopping next week…”
Steve snorts, indicating he’s caught Helena in a lie.
“Which part?“ Claudia hisses under her breath, too curious not to try and find out.
“She won’t eat the whole thing, and I something was off with the shopping trip too, I’d say the next week part’s a lie,” Steve replies just as quietly.
Claudia giggles. “That’s kinda sweet of H.G.”
Meanwhile, Myka has caught up with Helena again, and just when it looks like she’ll finally catch the twizzler (or what’s left of it, anyway), Helena distracts her by planting a kiss on her lips.
For a moment, Myka halts in her tracks, then she kisses Helena back passionately, her hands wandering over Helena’s body.
Just when Claudia is debating whether she ought to clear her throat or something to remind them of her and Steve’s continued presence, or just drag him out of the room with her, Myka snatches the remains of the twizzler from H.G.’s hand, backing away from her and holding the twizzler close to her chest.
“Hah! That’s mine now.”
H.G. laughs, Claudia kind of thinks she probably let Myka have it on purpose.
“Hey, H.G.? What’d you think of the twizzler, anyway? Or did you not get around to really tasting it with all the running around you did?”
Helena just grins, walks to Myka and throws an arm around her shoulder, not even attempting to take the twizzler back anymore. “Oh, they’re alright, a bit too strange for my tastes, but maybe I’ll get used to them… either way, Pete already showed introduced me to them last week. Might have also mentioned your partiality to them…”
After the last words and a quick kiss to Myka’s cheek, H.G. hurries over to hide behind Claudia while Myka’s brain seems to catch up with what H.G. just said, and she squeaks in outrage.
“Helena!”