galactic-pirates asked:
Fic author never have I ever – have you done “there was only one bed” yet?
Oh! We should go through the romance trope brackets lol. “Mistaken identity” my beloved. How about that one?
I don’t think I’ve done either!
“Only one bed” for Bering and Wells – I can see Myka being all gentle-womanly (for want of a better term) about it, offering it to Helena because that is what one does. And I can see Helena simply taking Myka up on the offer, all “thank you, so kind”, while Myka full-on goggles, because she was *not* prepared for that. I can see Helena doing so both because I think she can be a bit selfish at times (and maybe she’s really really tired and really wants to sleep in the bed), and also as a way to show Myka that this kind of communication isn’t universal, that when you offer something to someone, there *is* always that chance that the other person will take you up on your offer, so you better had made your offer sincerely, you know what I mean?
And then Helena gets ready for bed and shuffles to one side and is all like “bed’s big enough, come on in, I slept in the same bed with peol all the time when I was young” and Myka chokes on air again; yet another difference between them, and again Helena is probably doing that with some kind of agenda (and not just the “getting Myka into bed with her” agenda). Kind of “please don’t make a big deal of it but also please don’t forget that I’m not from here”, you know? Like, no matter how much Helena usually fits in, and maybe wants to fit in, she is also very different, has experiences that nobody else has, and sometimes you want to forget them and sometimes you want to cling to them, kind of style.
I don’t know if I could do “Mistaken Identity” justice. I am a very straightforward, what-you-see-is-what-you-get person, and I don’t write well things that are so far outside of my way of being, if that makes sense? Miscommunication, mistaken identity – I always want to clear that up ASAP, and drawing it out for the sake of the story… I’m not sure I could do that well. How would you go about it?
(Thank you for asking, and sorry for answering this late; it’s been a busy few days)
Oh I love this! Especially Helena’s “don’t offer if not sincere” thing. As an autistic who takes everything literally this is a big pet peeve of mine that there are these unspoken rules about what people ‘really mean’. Like just say it and then everyone knows.
Anyway, ahem.
For Mistaken Identity… oh man there are so many options but sticking very close to canon, off the top of my head say they went a bit longer than they did in Episode 1 before Myka knew Helena was HG?
Like they are hunting for HG Wells (who Myka thought was Charles until Artie called) and they find Helena getting into the secret compartment where the Impercepter Vest was. She said that she was sent to secure the artifact and they’d just been introduced to the whole concept of regents and they think she’s an agent. Which of course Helena rolls with and she can talk the talk (I mean she was an agent!)
So Helena is helping them with their search for HG Wells 🤣 and obviously talking to Myka, and showing off her brilliance a bit. And Myka likes her, thinks they work well together, wonders why she isn’t an agent agent at the Warehouse. Helena doesn’t lie but is specifically careful about the truth. Like “I used to work there but then my daughter died. I hope to work there again one day” (more in character phrasing than that but you get the idea).
I’m not too sure how this scenario could last more than a day or so at best, before Artie says HG Wells is a woman and Myka realises. But by then it’s too late. She has seen “Helena, fellow agent” and can’t just see her as “HG Wells, bronzed (presumed) bad guy”. Myka wonders what the truth is. How much of what Helena told her was a lie? How much was the truth? And Helena’s answer would probably be “rather more than I expected. You have a way of making me want to be honest” or something like that. Like Helena was more herself pretending to be a regent agent, than she was with her villain ‘mask’.
Now a scenario that’s a little more AU would be easier to play out over a longer time, and delve more deeply into the masks and yearning for acceptance and to be seen/loved for who they really are, which is what draws me so strongly to the trope. But going a little more AU means the sky is the limit and there’s too many options for me to conjure something without another kind of prompt to get my brain chewing.
