A Chance Run-In
Annabeth, Helena, and Henri
Before the skip
When they were done, Helena brushed as much of the dust off of her from the training grounds as she could summon the care for. She knew that it was in her hair, she knew that it was on her clothes everywhere. She’d done alright, she knew. But Athalus was still better. He had years of being better at it than her. And while her dad had trained her decently for self defense, offense wasn’t her strong point.
She was heading back to the main part of the school when she noticed the that not too far in front of her was some one rather familiar. “Annabeth!” she called, picking up her step until she’d almost caught up with the other girl. “I thought that was you I’d seen on the other side of the training grounds.” She’d been rather focused so she’d only sorta seen the others around them. Which was probably for the best because she would have been distracted otherwise if she was paying too much attention to Annabeth.
Annabeth was deep in through when she heard someone call out to her.
“Helena?” Sure enough it was Helena. Annabeth waved and walked towards her. Helena seemed to have just finished training.
“I was thinking about it, but Colette and Keri caught me first. We lost track of time so I hurried out here. Did you just finish training?” Annabeth looked up and down Helena. She suddenly felt a hint a lust but shook it off. Annabeth needs to focus on training, not pleasure. And as much as she liked Helena, Annabeth needed to focus.
Helena smiled at her, glancing down at her dusty, slightly sweaty self. “Yeah, Athalus just got done kicking my ass,” she chuckled, rubbing at the back of her neck in a bit of embarrassment. “I'd offer my services for sparing with you, especially since he said it'd be of benefit to us both, but I don't think I've got the energy for at the moment.”
“Ah. Yeah that’s fine. Even though I’m dressed like this I’m not entirely sure if I could give it my all either. Still sore from our mission and… Other stuff.” Though in truth Annabeth really did want to do some sparing. He body was sluggish sure but that was because only parts of her felt sore and tired. If she let least went all out perhaps she’d feel better. Or so she thought.
“Oh, but you were training with Athalus? Learn anything from it?”She noticed the slight hesitation that Annabeth had, tilting her head to the side slightly as she considered what she's say next. “Oh I didn't wear you out
that much did I?” she laughed, starting to walk again and gesturing her along with her. “If you're willing to wait, say an hour, give me some time to get my stamina back up, maybe see if we can sneak some rolls from the kitchen, I'll have a go with you.” She had no problems training with her, she just knew she physically couldn't right now. And she enjoyed spending time with her anyways.
“Maybe in something a little less armor heavy though. And no, that is not an excuse to undress you. At least not totally.” She laughed a little wickedly at that, giving Annabeth a flirty wink. “You don't have to come with me, of course, if you want to go get ready, I'll meet you back here and we can do whatever you want.”
Scoffing playfully Annabeth tagged along with Helena, rolling her eyes at the girl’s flirting.
“Honestly, what am I going to do with you girls. Always wanting a piece of me!” Annabeth tapped Helena on the shoulder with an armored fist, nudging her forward.
“I may as well tag along with you for now. Not like I have anywhere else to be. As for the armor… Well I suppose I do need something more flexible. A heavy coat of plate is nice and all, but it’s rather stuffy.”As Annabeth and Helena walked on, the psychomancer considered what she should be doing with Helena, training wise. Frankly Annabeth felt that she needed to fight someone more monstrous to fight the monsters Annabeth thought about, but her skills against a regular person could use work too. More so with a sneaky rogue type; Annabeth could dueled a knight easily, but someone who relies more on cunning tricks rather than careful tactics wasn’t an opponent Annabeth typically trained against. By against the cravens and cutthroats who’ll she likely face in rougher parts of the world.
Helena smirked playfully. “Well you are hard to resist,” she replied, nudging the other girl gently on the shoulder. Not because she was afraid of hurting Annabeth, she was worried about hurting herself. “Well then, let's go.”
As they walked Helena prattled on about what she'd been doing with Athalus. Making herself sound a bit better than she'd actually been, but not too terribly much. She wasn't that much of a show off.
Although it was true that Henri asked the gargoyle to take him trough the longest path to the library, the gargoyle was really taking the longest one it could possibly think about. While he appreciated knowing more about the college, it was extremely boring. After all, the gargoyle didn't talk and he was basically alone with absolutely nothing to do, so it was only natural that Henri got distracted rather quickly, starting to juggle his knifes in the air rather than pay actual attention on the path that the gargoyle was leading him. In truth, Henri was already lost. He was simply following the gargoyle, waiting for it to take him to his final destination, the library.
"Not too much of a talker, are you?" Henri said, catching one of the four daggers that he was juggling and tapping its handle on the gargoyle's head, throwing it up again afterwards.
Luckily for Henri, he wasn't the only one walking through that corridors at that moment... As soon as he and the gargoyle walked around the corner of a corridor, they met two beautiful ladies talking with each other only a few meters away from Henri.
"Oh, pardon me. I wasn't expecting to find anyone around here. Especially not two stunning beauties like yourselves." Henri said with a surprised expression, catching all the daggers between his fingers at the same time, before swiftly hiding them somewhere on his armor and belts in an agile movement that made it quite hard to track where did he hide them.
"Henri Larue, at your disposal." He said, with a flourished bow, taking a moment to discreetly analyze the two girls in front of him.
Fair skinned, freckled and bespectacled, the shorter woman had a charm of her own with her beautiful face, athletic body and skin adorned by tattoos and a good number of piercings. She had a wild, untamed charm, that caught Henri's attention as soon as he put his eyes on her. It was rather clear that she had just finished training due to her sweaty body.
The other girl though, had a completely different charm. With a face as delicate as a porcelain doll, it was almost as it was sculpted to perfection. Beautiful, pure and delicate, or at least that is what one would assume based only on her looks. But under that pretty face, there was something more. Henri couldn't know exactly what, but he felt that that girl hided more than just what her appearance suggested.
"I was supposed to meet someone on the library, but I made the mistake to ask the gargoyle to take the long path. It seems it is indeed taking the longest path it can think of..." Henri said, rolling his eyes as he pointed to the gargoyle.
"Would you girls mind if I joined you at least until I'm close to the library? I'm certain that it would be much more entertaining and easier to pay attention and remember the way if I was being guided by you two." Henri said, with a mischievous smile.
"Oh! If you don't mind..." Henri said, looking towards the girl with the piercings almost if he had remembered something.
"I couldn't help but to notice that you just finished training. Could you tell me where the training grounds are? I would love to have somewhere to move myself freely and pass the time." Henri said with a mischievous expression, this time deliberately looking at the girl with the piercings up and down, without trying to hide his curiosity, just to see her reaction.
Annabeth has been listening to Helena recollection of training with Athalus. She considered talking to him too; he seemed just as experienced fighting monsters as she was. Perhaps they could learn together. Admittedly however, Annabeth didn’t really interact with him much in the past due to his relationship with Mar. Mar, frankly, scares Annabeth so she’s been keeping her distance. Honestly Mar and many of her friends and family could be considered… Monstrous. Even sweet little Lyn still had bags blood in her. But Annabeth shouldn’t be so harsh with them. Besides she needs to learn how to handle them anyways.
As the two girls were walking a newcomer joined them. Annabeth didn’t recognize this person though from his opening statement he was a flirt. Annabeth was fairly used to his type working at Underhaven and her family’s tavern, so she just dismissed his flirtation. Politely of course.
“I suppose I don’t mind if my friend here doesn’t. Annabeth Gulch, psychomancy student. I haven’t seen you around before, you must be a new student.”Helena looked Henri over as he looked her over, not at all that sercative about it, though she wasn’t trying to make it obvious either. He was a rogue, in the more sensual sense of the word, if she had ever seen one. And a bit of a show off to boot. “I don’t mind at all,” she said with a little laugh, pushing her glasses up her nose a little bit before she resumed their walk.
“Helena Axford,” she said by way of introduction, letting him look her over without any sort of complaint. “Is it that obvious?” she asked, almost inviting him to keep looking, smirking when she looked back up at him. “I can certainly show you later if you like. Annabeth and I are headed back that way in not too long. Getting a snack and giving myself some time to cool down before we head back to it.”
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Helena, Annabeth." Henri said, formally greeting them.
It was rather fortunate for Henri to have met them, since he was actually lost at that moment, and he didn't know how much more time the gargoyle would keep walking around the college before taking him to the library.
Hearing their answers to Henri's introduction, he got even more interested. Annabeth, just as he had previously suspected, was nothing like her appearance suggested. He thought she would be embarrassed and flustered by his words, but instead, she dismissed them in a very experient way, greeting him in a formal and rather distant tone. He couldn't help but let out a disappointed expression.
"It is precisely as you said, Annabeth. I have just arrived on the college. It is my first time here, so I am a bit lost. Especially because my impish friend over there seemed to take my words too literally when I said him to take the long way to the library..."he said, rolling his eyes as he pointed to the gargoyle that was already walking away on the distance.
Helena on the other hand, was exactly as her appearance suggested. Not even a bit fazed by Henri's stare, it was almost like if she was provoking him back, doing exactly what Henri was doing with her with a smirk. Henri quickly took a liking to her. Even though it was the first time he met her, he could say that she was rather similar to him in some aspects.
"Well... Just a bit obvious." Henri said with a chuckle, turning to Helena and answering her question.
"But don't worry, I don't mind a bit of sweat." he said, with a mischievous smirk.
"I always had a quite strict training routine when I used to live on the Larue circus. It became almost a habit for me to do so." Henri said, explaining why she was interested on the training grounds. Just as he said, if one looked at his body with a bit of attention, they would quickly notice that it was very well trained, a perfect balance between agility and strength.
"Well... There is also the fact that I did lose one of my many knives when I was helping Lyn..." Henri said jokingly, seeing as he was juggling four other daggers when he met the girls.
She was very pleased when he said her name right and her smile reflected that. “Oh well that’s good to hear, because I run a bit hot anyways,” she chuckled, her own smile a little mischievous. She looked over to Annabeth and flushed the slightest bit at her openly flirting in front of her like that, but she and Annabeth weren’t anything serious, just casual and friends.
The other girl was more likely to be possessive over Lyn than Helena anyways. Because everyone was protective of that girl it seemed. Though some not as obvious as others. “I might be able to help with that as well,” she said, pulling out a knife of her own from her belt. “Maybe we can talk about blades over drinks tonight in town?”
Regardless of his answer she slide her blade away in her belt again and guided them on to the kitchen’s by way of the library with promises at least on her end that she’d see Henri again. And soon.
