You’ve mentioned how Helia tends to shut down when he’s upset and give people the silent treatment and how Flora deals with it in a mature way by slowly getting him to open up…I kinda want to know more about how you think Helia deals with Flora when she’s upset because while she may not shut down, she surely doesn’t communicate very well (the krystal situation).
Well, tbh it kind of depends! Helia doesn't always shut down when he's upset. He tends to only do that when he feels like the problem at hand is his fault (partially or entirely). For instance, when he leaves RF in the comics to become an artist, he left because he made a mistake and fealt like he wasn't good enough to be a specialist. On the other hand, if the situation was caused by someone else (like the time when Helia yells at Riven in S3), he has no issue with expressing that he's upset.
Flora is very similar in that regard! The way she handles being upset is very dependent on why she's upset, specifically who she's upset with. I.. could write an entire meta on the Krystal situation (though I don't think anyone would be interested just cause it's later seasons 😔) but I'll try to be short here aljdghjlad. Flora was avoiding Helia because the situation involved him directly and indirectly. She didn't feel comfortable going to him because her feelings and what happened involved him. Meanwhile, in a situation where it doesn't involve him, she feels comfortable talking to him about it!
When Flora isn't communicating with Helia, he tends to do a weird mix of seeking her out and giving her time alone. He usually recognizes when the situation is also about him (since that's the only reason she would avoid him) so he doesn't often know exactly how to "fix" it. He tries to initiate conversations that don't deal with why she's upset to let her know that she can bring it up when she wants to while also avoiding her a little so she knows she doesn't have to be around him if she doesn't want to be. This approach could be useful with other characters (and it is with some of the specialists) but with Flora, it tends to not be because it's usually better to just talk to her than to avoid the situation.
Helia gets very conscious about not wanting to push the situation or make Flora feel pressured to talk about it so he tends to go about it in a very roundabout way. He lets her know that she can talk to him if she wants and that she can avoid him if she needs to. This does occasionally work but it really depends on why she's upset! The Krystal situation was,, unique to say the least but not as ooc as people think it was.
