Under the bridge downtown (Reserved)

[Trillian]

Helena smiled beautifully at him before pointing at the chair nearby, that she was facing on a diagonal.

"Sit, sit," she ordered happily, then threw Isabella a pointed look once the blonde appeared in the kitchenette doorway.  Helena waited until Ransom had followed her polite demand - already growing used to his nervous obedience - and spoke.  "I want to discuss your opinion on a few settings I had in mind," she declared, leaning back in her chair and crossing her ankles together, tucking them beneath the seat.

Isabella entered the kitchenette once Ransom sat, giving her space to perform her task of making two beverages.  She checked the quantity of water in the jug before turning it on to boil, took two white pristine cups out of a cupboard and set them on the sink.  In one she placed a tea bag, looping the string around the cup\'s handle to keep it in place.  In the other she scooped a teaspoon full of coffee, then stared at the jug while it heated up, her back to Helena and Ransom.

"I have three locations; two inside, one outside.  One is in a personal library - not mine, but in a friend\'s mansion.  It is a room filled with books and high backed armchairs.  I would be seated with Isabella standing beside me.  The second idea I had is in the same mansion, in the conservatory, which has the most delightful colourful plants.  Once again I would be seated on one of the white iron garden chairs, with Isabella standing beside me.  The third location would be on the grounds, with nature\'s backdrop.  Isabella would be seated on the grass, with myself standing by her.  What do you think?  Did you want to inspect the locations?  I\'m open to your ideas, also, if you think mine are a bit... traditional."  She screwed up her nose indelicately, before beaming at him and awaiting his response.

The jug had yet to boil.

[skeggsismad]

He hovered over the seat without fully sitting down, throwing a glance over his shoulder to see that Isabella was preoccupied in the kitchen with her own devices before sitting down. He wasn’t fully comfortable with being seated and relaxed whilst someone else wasn’t, but he tried not to let that bother him as he looked back to Helena’s amiable expression. Ransom tried to sit up straight in the seat despite the vulnerability such good posture might lend him to any unseen cameras.

If I hear what she’s saying, then I won’t think about it.

“Um.” Ransom muttered, his eyes scanning Helena’s face before he worked up the nerve to continue his train of thought. He planted his elbows on the tables to get comfortable before second guessing his posture and then letting his rest to his side, hands on his knees.

“Uh, Isabella…” He turned and looked to Isabella briefly, almost as a sign of courtesy, before turning back to the primary pinnacle of his attention, Helena.

“…she said, uh, that it would be indoors. So. Um. I can do outdoors but um she said, the evening so…then I’d have to bring lights and uh,”

The options made him feel pressured. On one hand, he did have a preference as an artist and had been told specific things he could expect initially that didn\'t seem to be matching up. Indoors, quiet, good lighting, background colors in contrast to the clothing Helena and Isabella wore- that was really as far as his concern went. He didn’t want to speak too explicitly on his desires, for he worried Helena might have a preference and he didn’t want to suggest something that would work a reaction from the woman. The more he thought about it, the more he wavered on thinking she might react badly. Helena did seem much easier to talk to than Isabella.

So maybe I can say what I think. So maybe…

“I guess I would have to like…um…see them.” Ransom admitted, looking Helena steady in the eye with a sparkle of hesitation. He was ready to revoke his statement at any moment if the woman were to react badly. But it seemed, he felt the reception was going well enough that he had one more thing to say. As he remembered what Isabella and he had talked about before the question of the frame came to mind. He had an idea of what it was supposed to be like but the specifics hadn’t been worked out quite yet.

“And…the frame? Did you….want to do something about the frame? She never told me, uh…if you wanted to look after the painting or…before, or…I could bring samples…” He tried to gauge Helena’s demeanor, awaiting a response. It was hard for him to shift out of cautionary mode but the longer the conversation went the more relaxed he felt.

[Trillian]

Helena was nodding encouragingly as he spoke, smiling fixedly as though there were no awkward pauses and uncomfortable silences.  Isabella stood by the kitchenette counter, her hip pressed to it and her arms folded while she stared not at the two of them but through the doorway into the shop beyond, lost in her own thoughts and only half listening to the jug as it warmed up.

"Oh, absolutely," Helena remarked as Ransom made noise about wanting to see the locations.  "I\'m excited for you to see them, to be inspired by them," she said with a giggle, then clapped her hands quickly, looking like a dark version of a giddy schoolgirl.  She put her hands away, beneath the table, and glanced over at Isabella for a brief moment before focussing on Ransom as he began to speak again - about the frame.

"Oh, I wouldn\'t dare choose the frame without your input," she said, dropping her voice to an almost theatrical whisper, making her harder to hear over the jug\'s now boiling water.  She returned to her normal tone.  "The artist should always have a say what surrounds his art," she recited, as though this was something she\'d campaigned for her entire life.  "I would rather wait until the painting is complete before you choose the frame, if you don\'t mind," she said, landing on a decision that finally didn\'t need his opinion.  "Especially since we don\'t know the location as yet," she said, twitching as though she wished to move.  She had, in fact, stopped herself from lifting a hand in order to reach out and pat him.  The movement would not only be awkward, but she was sure was also unwelcome.

Isabella was pouring water into both cups, coffee and tea, and didn\'t ask if Ransom had wanted sugar or milk.  She placed the jug back on its stand, took hold of both cups and placed them down in front of him.  The teabag\'s string was still wrapped around the handle, keeping it in place.  As Ransom was left to ponder them, she grabbed the sugar bowl (which had a little spoon within it) and a small carton of full cream milk out of the fridge, and placed them in the centre of the table behind the cup of coffee and tea.

Pleased with herself, she stood back, waiting to see which one he\'d select first - if any.  Both Helena and Isabella were watching him.

[skeggsismad]

It was hard for Ransom not to allow his eyes widen a bit when Helena moved around. She seemed to vibrant and lively with her hand gestures that it almost counteracted the comforting nods that had been gradually prying the young man out of his shell.

As Helena insisted she wanted him to be inspired by the settings, a hand came to his face to push a curl that was already tucked behind his ear further back. It wasn’t that he hadn’t had enthusiastic customers before but more he hadn\'t had one for a long time.

 Most of the people he encountered who wanted him to do a painting for them were the upper class high society type that wanted to talk in extensive detail about the sorts of paintings they had bought before and often shoved their art collection on him. Perhaps in their mind they were doing him a favor by offering a young and forthcoming artist the chance to paint for somebody who was somebody.

Helena didn’t strike him as having the same attitude, but he couldn’t completely overrule that she didn’t fit in the same economic class as the others had. She had offered a mansion for him to work within, so that seemed to suggest to Ransom that the woman was connected higher up with someone. Not that it mattered, really. She was nice, and he liked that.

“No, um…that’s good, that’s good.” Ransom replied to Helena’s suggestion regarding framing after the portrait was complete. He was glad that Helena was being reasonable, so much so that after a moment of thought he decided to add a little bit more thought onto his original statement to clarify what he had meant.

“Because uh, sometimes if the painting is in darker tones and the frame is light it can uh…not look…good. Or if it’s decorated really well...the frame kind of takes away from the painting. So a good frame is…really important.”

It wasn’t as problematic for him to spit this out as it had been before since he already knew Helena’s position on the matter and so Ransom didn’t feel like he was walking on eggshells expressing this particular opinion. When Isabella returned however, nerves crept back into him visibly to the point that he had hardly noticed Helena’s own twitchiness.

The two cups sat there in front of him steaming and he looked to Isabella’s face and then to Helena’s, trying to detect if their facial cues indicated he was supposed to preference one beverage over the other. When he didn’t seem to make out a clear preference, Ransom grasped for the handle of the cup of coffee carefully. He didn’t normally drink coffee but the string coming out of the cup of what he assumed was tea made him imagine a variety of ways he could improperly drink the beverage. Bringing the cups to his lips, Ransom swallowed a tiny portion of the coffee, trying not to slurp it up to the best of his abilities. His face twisted at the inherent bitterness of the drink before he sat it down on the table with a soft clank, eyes swimming around the room for a moment as is hands returned to his knees.

“Thank you,” He said as he looked to Isabella, turning his gaze to Helena soon after to imply the thank you had been intended for the both of them. Now that Isabella wasn’t busy in the kitchen he felt obligated to give up her seat to her, but he struggled with it thinking that maybe it wasn’t what he was supposed to do.

[Trillian]

Helena listened attentively to Ransom\'s explanation of frames and why he believed her idea to wait until after the painting was complete was a good one.

"Absolutely," she agreed, knowing he needed confirmation of his words before he loosened up with her.  She had insight of his character enough to know he would likely never loosen up around her completely, but she was determined to have him relax in her presence as much as possible.  She was peripherally aware of Isabella staring at the ceiling and knew what her familiar was thinking - that Helena didn\'t need such things explained to her because she was an art dealer and had been one for many centuries.  Helena, however, had more patience for the young mortal, for as far as he knew, she was merely an owner of a quite eclectic shop.

When Ransom turned to face Isabella in order to thank her, she was already looking at him, her eyes off the ceiling.  She nodded her welcome but said nothing.

"Shall we go now, then?" she requested.  "Isabella, fetch the car please," she ordered, and so Isabella left the kitchen immediately, without further ado.  Helena had assumed Ransom wouldn\'t argue against her, for she believed him too feeble to make such an attempt, though she looked at him with a smile and her eyebrows raised, in case he wished to make a protest.  "This way, you know what you\'re dealing with, and the next time we meet, it can be for the sitting."

[skeggsismad]

As was to be expected, Ransom hadn’t caught wind of Isabella’s irritation. Once Helena had agreed with him he had nodded his head, looking to the drinks in front of him and nervously back to the woman, waiting for anything else. He wasn’t sure what he was expected of him now.

Upon Helena’s request, Ransom looked to her silently for a moment. The cogs were turning in his head.  There was only that moment of hesitation before Ransom nodded his head to the request, agreeing quickly as Helena had predicted he would.

“Yeah, alright. That’s….that’ll be great,” He responded, at about the same time that Isabella was leaving, thus allowing his tone of voice to come out a bit stronger and more confident than it would have in the other female’s presence.

He gave a polite smile back and stood up from his seat, not moving further however, lingering to wait and see where Helena would go. To his knowledge there was only one way to go, and that was back to the front of the door and out the entrance, but he was antsy and he wanted to be sure he didn’t mess this up.

The coffee on the table had only had a sip, and he felt guilty that he hadn’t consumed more. Yet, he didn’t grip the mug, even if he would have thought it to be nice to take the free drink even if it was something he didn’t particularly favor. Once glance down at it and back to Helena was the only indication of this. Ransom  stood there like a dog on its Master’s commands.

[Trillian]

Helena led the way out of the shop, back to the front door as Ransom had expected, and out to the street where they stood for a couple of minutes before Isabella pulled up in a dark blue Bentley Continental.

continued at Take Me All The Way