❝ I’m sorry, ❞ Selene apologises immediately, blushing & chewing on his lip again. ❝ I can’t help it, though, I’m–––– ❞ he drops his gaze back down to the floor again, & maybe, just MAYBE, he edges the smallest bit closer to Helios. ❝ ––––I’m… really WORRIED about you. ❞
( He’s still holding on tight to Helios’ arm, as if he needs Helios to GROUND him. )
––––&& then Helios is STAMMERING AWAY again, but his words are so soft & so sweet, & Selene swallows thickly, throat suddenly tight with emotion. Beneath that analytical shell lies a gentle & guarded heart; this young scientist’s kryptonite, then, are those matters which pertain to it.
( He doesn’t even TRY to protest; Helios’ offer is met with the shyest of smiles, & rewarded by a darling, rosy blush blossoming up his Navigator’s cheeks. )
❝ אתה כל כך מתוק, ❞ Selene murmurs reverently, giving Helios’ arm a little squeeze––––& he giggles boyishly at the ‘check you out’ comment. Helios’ speech may be a bit AWKWARD, but it’s so ENDEARING to him. ❝ If you promise to let ME look YOU over afterwards, then you have a deal. You’re my Fighter, after all. ❞
❝ You don’t really have to, you know, ❞ HELIOS murmurs softly. He allows his pale gaze to track out to the side, staring at a corner of the wall panel that appears to have caught his interest. Not that it holds anything even remotely fascination or strikes a particular chord with his curiosity, but suddenly it has grown all that more difficult to look SELENE in the eye -- especially after hearing something like that admitted.
( Why should it, though? The two of them are partners, bound together by circumstance and assignment. Why shouldn’t they get along well? Why shouldn’t they harbor thoughts of concern, feelings of reservation, entertain both worry and possibility when it came to each other? )
HELIOS clears his throat with a sharp bark of a cough and brings himself to look at the Navigator once again.
❝ Y-Yeah... of course, SELENE. ❞ Thank the stars that the young man manages to bite his tongue ( literally, maybe ) before he continues with, Anything you want. One hand finds its way to the others forehead, brushing aside strands of soft hair ( is he surprised by that discovery? probably not goddammit ) so he might catch a better glimpse of the gauze beneath.
❝ They’re not too tight, are they? The bandages. ❞
Helios had made a mistake – one that he hadn’t made intentionally
obviously, but that little detail didn’t matter much to Cain. He’d
bumped into the fighter on a bad day – a really bad day, and the
Roma boy was already in a deadly foul mood. And turning a corner
and slamming into another person wasn’t the ideal way to end it.
Obsidian eyes are hard as he stumbles back a step, glaring up at
him with his jaw set in annoyance.
‘Excuse the fuck out of you.’
He spits bitterly, straightening up and fingers already curling into
fists at his sides, ready to offer a quick blow to that cut jawline in
case of any other comments from the new fighter.
HELIOS barely checks the impulse to peer over his shoulder and ascertain whether or not the rest of the crew is pulling some elaborate prank on him. Just when he had been hoping to avoid the other Fighter, CAIN goes and appears all on his own. Had HELIOS any idea what the television show Punk’d had been all about, maybe he would have gone searching between the panels for hidden cameras. Because really? No one’s luck should be as godawful as his seems to be.
Broad shoulders are quick to square themselves off as muscled arms cross over his chest. Pouring gasoline on a flame is never sound advice, but HELIOS be damned if he allows CAIN to always walk all over him. It’s time something stopped.
;; It might get a little long and will eventually entail some gently NSFW content, so I’m going to go ahead and tuck this under a cut!
HELIOS is gay with a moderate libido. I wouldn’t go so far as to say he is demisexual, especially considering he can definitely become sexually attracted to someone before he knows them better, but he doesn’t experience that sexual attraction TOO too often. This might be because he lived in the same colony around the same people for the better part of his life (and, if he wasn’t attracted to or fell out of attraction with those individuals, he might not exactly experience it again until he’s among a new crowd), so coming aboard the Kepler or even experiences on stations could have potentially changed that.
Even so, HELIOS actively resists emotional attachments, especially now that he’s deployed as a Fighter in the Federated Alliance. VALENTINA’s departure and his inability to follow her as soon as he would have liked hit him hard, and I like to imagine that shaped his other relationships as well.
( HELIOS exists inside of the vacuum of Eclipse, but were he to exist in the comic’s universe/just the comic in general, I think his personality and role would have been different. Because think about it. Many of the leading characters from the comic behave a bit differently in Eclipse, and a lot of this can be accounted for by the constraints of the dating sim mechanic. HELIOS is the PCC, meant to pursue, and the other characters are often ‘types’ that are to be pursued. It wouldn’t be set up that way in the comic -- at least not necessarily. This is part of why I’m not as ship-happy on HELIOS -- despite my love of ships -- and why I think of him as being potentially more difficult to woo. So I guess think of my HELIOS as more how I’d see him if he were comic-verse and not game-verse, with a blend of traits from his role in the game. )
He watched as his sister (and possibly his only remaining family) left and enlisted, and then on top of that he fails the Navigator’s exam in his first attempt to follow after her. Colony life has already been shown to be rough enough, and then his beloved sister leaves him AND disappears afterwards. I just feel like that would be telling on how he’d approach others, you know? Maybe he’d be more guarded emotionally. Maybe it would be more difficult for him to open up. We already see how socially awkward he is around the rest of the crew and how he struggles to socialize depending on the choices you make on the different routes. Why couldn’t it be the same for him emotionally or even sexually?
And speaking of sexually~...
I definitely think HELIOS could be a huge lover of humor in the bedroom. It’s probably more because of how I play him or could potentially see him, but given some of the more playful banter and teasing between him and SELENE, I like to imagine that extends to sex, too. I know the game is really serious about this in pretty much every sexual encounter (which is fine if that’s your cup of tea), but realistically? When you’re with a partner for the first time, it can be way more awkward. You don’t always click right away. You wouldn’t necessarily be flawless and smooth in bed. Hell, you might not even work sexually even though you do emotionally. You have to learn each partner’s own separate set of needs, preferences, what gets them off, what turns them on, and their rhythm in bed. So that’s another reason why I tend to depart some from how the game portrays sex -- especially sex between partners who have never been together before.
( Plus, I think silly sex is more fun for me to write personally, just as I prefer humor in regular threads as opposed to being super srs all the time. )
Considering how playful he and SELENE can be in their route together, though, I take a lot of pleasure in imagining them laughing like hyenas during sex (one of them probably says something stupid in an attempt to come across sexy, and it’s probably HELIOS), maybe even to the point that they can’t even continue on and settle on cuddling or being stupid together instead. HELIOS can be dense, especially with social cues, and I don’t know that he can read subtle hints all too well. He’d struggle with being sultry -- though I imagine he would appreciate it if you could do so winkwink -- and might even be hella awkward as opposed to a casanova. He learns quickly, though, and would do his absolute best to make you as comfortable and pleasure you the way you want -- even if it took him some time to get it all right.
( These are the kinds of things I like to explore and write. I’m just slow working up to it all orz. )
Above all, HELIOS tries, and he would put in the effort necessary to make you feel good once you managed to crack his shell -- emotionally and sexually. He wouldn’t neglect one for the other because I think he would fight to have someone stay with him once he finally broke down and admitted to an attachment; he’s clumsy but dutiful, taking care of his partner while they’re sick or hurt and doing his best to cheer them up again.
HELIOS, once attached to someone, is in it for the long haul.
—- just a friendly fucking reminder; if you’re in a poly relationship doesn’t mean you’re in an open relationship. nor does it mean you want to fuck just anyone. usually it is limited to those within the relationship. poly =/= open. it means more than 1, not fucking everyone
BLESS HIS HEART, SELENE IS TRYING. He really & truly is t r y i n g, trying SO very hard not to burst into a fit of obnoxious giggles at the utterly exasperated look on Helios’ face, on how he insists that it’s the simulator, not him, having all these tsuris.
❝ You could learn, if you wanted. It’s a lot like GERMAN, but with a Jewish touch, ❞ he chokes out, once he’s certain he won’t SNORT with laughter; his cheeks are red with the effort required to refrain from giggling. The look he gives Helios is affectionate, though. ❝ Want me to take a look & see if I can sort out some of its tsuris, boychik ? I don’t like seeing you look so frustrated !! ❞
Pale eyes narrow as SELENE’s shoulders seem to shake from withholding a bout of laughter, and though the Fighter ought to be cross on account of the simulator’s affect on his mood, the corners of his mouth lift up slightly despite his valiant attempts to resist the smile. After all, he has to look appropriately serious in order for his scolding to be minded.
❝ Oh, go ahead. I know you want to laugh. ❞
HELIOS s i g h s and bumps into his companion’s side, nudging him gently a single time before moving to seat himself. If the machine won’t behave how he wishes, he’ll sit on its steps in silent protest as if sheer petulance will persuade it to work.
❝ No, no... just leave it. It’s not worth it. ❞ He glances up at SELENE. ❝ What’s up? You’re down here for a reason, right? ❞
