A Story To Be Told (Croo short stories)

Awkward Encounter

[Continuation from 'Of swords and diamonds', from chapter 34 of Alitia]
[yes it's helena x rune again sh, spoilers for everything before chapter 34]
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Annelise sat at the bed Zylphia had given her - right next to Jesper. Everyone had cleared off to give her some air. She needed it after that crying fit in front of Zylphia. But it was all sorted now.

She glanced over to Jesper and frowned. "Oh, dear... my parents aren't going to like this... what am I going to tell them about you, hmm...?"

Her worrying was interrupted by a knock at the door. Anneliese perked up when she saw it was Helena, visiting on her own rather than with the rest of the girls.

Helena approached her cautiously; her face was already the same colour as her hair. "Um... y-you gave me quite a shock when you were revealed to be Rune... I don't know why I didn't guess it before, to be honest. I even saw your face!"

Anneliese beamed and patted the space next to her. Helena sat down and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Yeah, I don't get it either," Anneliese replied, "You even saw my great-grandmother's necklace! What sort of Rune would have his darling's necklace?"

The necklace was still hanging around her neck. Helena took a closer look at it, now that she wasn't actively hiding it. Sure enough, the inscription read 'Lena Tiabeanie', Anneliese's great-grandmother.

"She wanted someone to wear it, rather than it just sitting there on display," shrugged Anneliese, "Since I have green hair, like my great-grandfather, my parents gave it to me to wear. There's... there's probably an actual reason, though, rather than because of my hair."

"I'm sure your great-grandfather would've loved the fact that you disguised yourself as him," smirked Helena, "Even though Iris mentioned that it's frowned upon in Loduke. But... that's not what I came here to talk about."

Annelise tilted her head. "Oh. Don't tell me... you think things will be awkward between us because you kissed me, right? One could argue that I even took you on a date as Rune... do you..."

"Anneliese, I'm not like Carys. Of course I still like you under that mask," Helena insisted, chuckling to herself. "I'm pansexual, so your gender doesn't make a difference to me. If anything, you just got prettier..."

Her flirt earned a squeal from Anneliese. Her face turned into a bright red colour. "H-Helena-! I never took you for the flirtatious type!"

"When you're around Carys a lot, you pick up a thing or two," she explained, "Anyway, I'm serious. Whilst things have calmed down, maybe we should go on a proper date... what about that new restaurant Tanith was telling me about? I'll see if I can find a menu online."

"That sounds amazing! It'll definitely be different to what food I'm used to in Loduke. Ah, but," Anneliese hesitated, "I'll have to come up with another disguise... I can't use Rune anymore. I mean, I can't use a mask in such a place, anyway."

Helena thought for a moment. "I... what about wearing a wig? You can't really wear big sunglasses indoors, but you could also wear contacts to hide your eye colour... I doubt they let you wear casual clothes in that palace of yours. You'd be unrecognisable if you wear something like that."

"Yes!" Anneliese cried, "I'll have Jesper get to work on it as soon as he... oh, this is supposed to be between us... I'll work on my disguise as soon as I get out of here. Also, I think Jesper deserves a rest, don't you?"

Jesper was still sleeping. Helena turned to him and frowned. "If you need help, I'll see if Carys has any ideas on what to wear... she's more into that stuff than me. I'll just say I'm looking for some new outfits."

"Then it's a date! Literally," she grinned, "I'll pay. Considering I knocked you out and tried to take you to that horrible man, I owe you... your poor head...!"

"I-It's fine, really," Helena smiled at her, "Um. I wasn't awake for most of it. Carys did say I stank afterwards, though. But I'm sure that's just Carys."

Anneliese chuckled nervously. It totally wasn't because Helena had been placed near some trash bags at one point. "Yeah... Carys is sooooo rude, huh?" she said, eager to move away from the topic. Perhaps she could enquire more about that restaurant...

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sowwy this is short,
- hatty