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Memory: First Year Summer Vacation

Posted Nov. 28, 2022, 3:19 p.m. by Captain Marceau Renault (Commanding Officer) (Lucas Foxley)

Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in Memory: First Year Summer Vacation

Posted by Captain Marceau Renault (Commanding Officer) in Memory: First Year Summer Vacation

Posted by Lieutenant Helena Laursen (Helm/Nagivation Officer) in Memory: First Year Summer Vacation
Posted by… suppressed (15) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Marceau and Lucy had talked about it before Marceau left for the training mission. Her family always went on vacation and this year they were going to a set of Carribbean islands, Saint Kitts and Nevis. They had discussed going to the botanical garden together and made plans. Presumably they’d be leaving almost right after Marceau’s last finals, because Lucy’s finals finished two days earlier than the Academy finals.

Now, she’d come to his dorm and dropped a bomb on him: He could go, but only if he paid his own way… Which they both knew he couldn’t do. So he couldn’t go. Not only that, since he couldn’t go anyway, Lucy was leaving two days before he finished school for the year, during the second to last day of finals. Lucy was dead set on seeing the gardens though, and she still desperately wanted to go. “We could stay here and watch movies or play games,” Marceau suggested. “Or, if you really want to go somewhere, we could drive to Mexico.” Lucy would have to drive though, Marceau had never learned how and had no desire to do so.

“But Marcyyy…” Lucy gave him that cute look, the one that meant she wanted him to agree with her, or let her do something. “I’ve wanted to see the botanical gardens forever! And my mom says it’s supposed to one of the prettiest places, we’ll get so many pictures.”

“Yes. Pictures they can show you when they get back.” Marceau sighed, “Lucy, you were upset about my Academy mission, I have barely been back three days, and you’re leaving?”

“That was different! You were gone longer.” The argument went on for a while. Finally, Marceau gave in, unhappily. He let out a French curse and then, “Lucy, fine! Vaz-y.” (Go on.) “Go and leave me for two weeks, when I finally have time to spend with you.”

“Yay! Merci!” Lucy did not yet know french, but she had looked up some beginner phrases. She hugged him and then gave him a kiss, both of which he returned. “Je t’aime,” he said softly, but tersely, and then shortly after Lucy headed out. She had packing to do after all.

The next day after their classes (all sitting tests that day), Marceau was with Helena. “Lucy visited last night.” Usually, at least since coming back from the mission, he had always been happy to talk about Lucy and spoke excitedly about her. Now he seemed frustrated and a little bummed. “Her parents won’t take me with them to the Carribbean,” he’d already told her about the trip, and that Lucy had promised he could go. “And she’s going without me.”

Maybe it was a little childish, but he’d just gotten back from a challenging training mission and he had really wanted to spend time with her. He’d never been anywhere in the Carribbean, so that would have been cool too, but the spending time with her part was more important than the destination. He was quite hurt she’d rather see a garden her parents would probably take her to see some other time, than spend time with him, and that would be clear to Helena.

~ Marceau

Helena put down her drink, “Marceau, I’m so sorry. I know you were really looking forward to going.” He didn’t say why her parents wouldn’t take him. She hoped it wasn’t because of his upbringing. Marceau was a good honest person and he shouldn’t be punished for his parents. “It’s two weeks right? It’s not that bad, and at least you can call her. It’s not like our training mission.

Marceau nodded and sighed. “They said we ‘aren’t serious enough’ for them to ‘shell out that much money’ on me.” He nodded again to answer her question. “Two weeks, and they’re going to be pretty busy.” That meant not a lot of time for phone calls.

Helena would have been bummed too. She knew Marceau had hoped to use the trip to make things up to Lucy. They had barely seen Marceau except for when they sat exams. There wasn’t much to be done about it. “Remember how you said you like it when she misses you? Well you can miss her, and after your exam today go tell her. Tell her how much you will miss her. Didn’t you say she always wanted to see that garden? It will be a great experience for her. Be excited for her even if you are sad she is going. Then come back. We still have exams.” Helena didn’t know Lucy was already gone.

Helena

“I did tell her I would miss her.” And he was excited she got to see the garden. He just wanted to see it with her. He looked at Helena, “She and her parents left this afternoon. I didn’t even get to see them off, they left during our last exam.”

~ Marceau

Helen reached across the table and squeezed his arm. “I’m sorry. I know you will miss her. Why don’t you leave her a message for when she gets off the plane?”

As people finished their exams more filled the mess hall and more left for study sessions or late exam periods. “Hey, that means you will be here for our end of year party!” They had all planned to go out after the last exam for pizza and there was going to be live music at Golden Gate Park. Then they all left the next day.

Helen

Marceau smiled, still bummed he was missing the trip. “Yes, I will get to go to the end of year party.” He tried to summon up a little more enthusiasm. “You wanted to see the bridge, didn’t you?” He thought he might remember her mentioning that after he had seen it with Lucy earlier that year.

~ Marceau

Helena nodded, “I do. I have been here all year and haven’t seen it except from a plane. How sad is that?”

Marceau grinned and then shrugged, “Academy was busy. I saw it over winter break.”

The whole squad went and everyone was thrilled Marceau was able to make it. They gorged on pizza and soda, danced and sang till they all collapsed and then watched classic sci-fi moves in the basement until they all fell asleep. They had enough fun, Marceau didn’t have time to miss Lucy.

Marceau had a lot of fun. He was glad to be there when Helena got to see the bridge, and sci-fi movies were always funny, to see what people thought space would be like before humans could even reliably leave atmosphere.

The next morning, Helena showed up at Marceau’s door. “Hey. Pack a bag. You’re coming with me. There is no way I am letting you spend the summer here alone. Come on hurry.”

Helena

It took a moment for Marceau to open the door and when he did it was clear her visit had woken him. He looked at her sleepily and confusedly. “Pack a bag? Où allons-nous?” The french sounded like ‘oo allonoo?’ and Marceau then translated, “Where are we going?” Then he stepped aside to let her in. “Come in.”

~ Marceau

Helena stepped in giving him a once over and then grinning. “Home. Specifically Garðabær, Iceland. You ate going home with me. It’s all set. My parents know you are coming and the extra room has been made. So, no arguments.” She sat down in his desk chair and made a rolling motion with her hand. “Hurry up we gotta be out of here in an hour.”

Helena

“Oh, Helena…” Marceau smiled and rubbed the back of his head, saying something in French, and then, “You and your family don’t have to do that.” He sighed and smiled again, “Merci beaucoup.”

Helena grinned, “De rien.” It sounded awful and if Marceau didn’t know the context it was doubtful he would be able to tell she was trying to say “you’re welcome” in French. It wasn’t that Helena didn’t try, it was that she had very poor pronunciation.

Marceau appreciated the effort, awful pronunciation or no. He always smiled one of those warm, nice smiles, even if it was the most Americanized french he ever heard.

Half an hour and one poorly packed suitcase later (he really hadn’t had time to be very organized about it) Marceau was dressed, packed and ready to go. “We are flying? Now?”

~ Marceau

Helena stood up and grinned, “Yep. We’re flying.” She stepped out the door and grabbed her bag where she had left it in the hall. “Here.” She reached into her pack and passed him a small travel bottle of Dramamine. “Commercial flight all the way with a change over in Boston.” It was an 11 hour trip with the change over. They passed through to their gate and were lucky. The plane started boarding shortly after they arrived. Helena had managed to make sure they had seats together. “Window or aisle?” She stored their bags in the over head compartment and then sat down next to him. “There is a movie on this flight. No idea what it is though.”

Helena

Marceau smiled, this time a little nervously. Then she was handing him a travel bottle of dramamine. She had come prepared. Soon they were boarding the plane, Marceau nervously holding her hand whenever he could while they got on. “Window.” Unlike Emilio, Marceau’s problem wasn’t the heights. He had no issue with cliffs or high rises or anything, just with planes and flying. Sometimes the view out the window gave him something to focus on.

~ Marceau

The flight was long and when Marceau fell asleep, Helena did too. She had opted for a commercial flight home because originally she was going alone and after their training trip and finals, she was exhausted and didn’t think she should fly.

They had a 3 hour layover in Boston and Helena took Marceau to the pilot’s lounge to eat. She swiped her license at the door and in they went. Helena knew several of the pilot’s there. The ones flying the commercial flights were strangers but the pilot’s for the smaller and private planes were familiar at least in passing. The lounge had a wide range of authentic foods from all over, including some French ones. “Don’t worry about the price. I have some credits built up and the prices are much better than what you get in the passenger area.” In truth her father had put enough money to cover both their meals in her account when they told her to bring Marceau home with her.

Helena

Marceau picked out a French cheese sandwich called a croque monsieur. It wasn’t the cheapest thing on the menu, so he didn’t order anything else besides a drink to go with the sandwich. Despite Helena’s assurances she had enough credits saved up to cover his meals he didn’t want to use up all her money. Then he sat down with her and started eating. “So… What is your family like?”

~ Marceau

Helena ordered a Fenway Frank - hot dog that was boiled and grilled and topped with onions relish and mustard. Boston was known for it and since she was going home Helena wasn’t worried for a taste of home. She would have it soon enough. She grabbed a drink and sat down across from him. “My dad is from Holland. He’s a carpenter. Took a job helping to rebuild some historic sites and fell in love. With Iceland and my mom, and he stayed. He is very proud of his craft. He built everything in the house himself. He won’t say so though unless you ask about a specific piece. He will go on and on about his projects in his workshop, and offer to show you and even let you make something of your own. My mom is an artist. She teaches art during the school year and offers one session art classes for tourists in the summer. My brother is still in school, but he loves working with my dad. He’s a pain. Always getting into my stuff, bugging me, following me around. Used to make me take him to the pools all the time.” Helena grinned, obviously not the least bit put out by her brother. “He was the first person who flew with me after I got my full pilot’s license. Wanted me to fly him all the way to England for a football game.”

Helena

Marceau smiled, noting mentally to make sure to ask about at least one of the pieces. “They sound lovely.” He commented. The sandwich wasn’t as good as one from home would have been, but it was certainly acceptable. Marceau had grown used to Americanized French food over the year. It was usually far sweeter than the original. Or greasier. He grinned, “He must have been excited to get to go.”

~ Marceau

Helena grinned, “He did. He plays hand ball, but follows football. He lived getting to attend the game and stay out late. We got to fly into the Northern lights on tbe way home. He won’t admit it, but that was his favorite part. I think my mom aged 5 years that night with worry. Letting the two of us go alone and so far.”

“She must worry a lot with you in space.” Marceau commented.

Helena took a drink before answering. “Well we haven’t been to space yet, but yeah I think she will worry a lot. She got better the more times I went out, but space is…a lot bigger and farther away.”

They were able to take their time to eat and still get to the gate for their connector flight. This would be a much shorter flight. “Just a few hours. My mom will try to feed us as soon as we get in the door. It’s fine to say no if you would rather go to bed. She will save you a plate.”

Helena

Marceau nodded. He hated all this flying. He doubted he would be hungry right away. He’d spent too much time with his stomach in knots over the flights. “I’ll take the window again…” A shorter flight meant a smaller plane, usually. He clenched a fist without realizing he was doing it. Maybe the sandwich was a mistake after all. But no… Helena was nice enough to take him with her. He had to do this. Just like flying back from the mission.

~ Marceau

“Take another Dramamine if you need it.” Helena didn’t know if he could or not but it seemed to help. The plane was smaller but still quite large co.pared to the Cessna the squad took a week ago. She held his hand and let him squeeze hers if he needed to. The flight wasn’t as long. Helena didn’t sleep, she was excited to go home. She had been home over the winter break, but she was still excited. This trip would be better than the last.

Marceau checked the directions on the bottle, determined it had been long enough, and then took another one. He didn’t fall asleep this time, either, so he kept hold of Helena’s hand. There was a pocket of turbulence that made Marceau gasp and squeeze her hand, but the rest of the flight was smooth.

The plane landed in Keflavík Airport and they disembarked. Grabbing g their bags they stepped through the boarding tunnel into the airport propper. Helena let out a sudden grunt and stepped back into Marceau as she was almost knocked over by a young man. “HELENA! Þú ert kominn heim! Ég saknaði þín svo mikið! Færðirðu mér eitthvað? Þú komst ekki með fávitann Morgan aftur? (You’re home! I missed you so much! Did you bring me anything? You didn’t bring that idiot Morgan back did you?)”

Marceau gave a soft “oof!” as he tried to step back to avoid a collision with Helena.

Helena grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him back. “Edílon, I missed you too.” She hugged him again. “English please for our guest,” she steered him away from the crowd and out of the way. “Edílon, this is my very good friend, Marceau Renault. Marceau this is my brother, Edílon.” An older man walked up and grabbed Helena by the hand and tugged her into a huge bear hug. He was slightly taller than Helena and broad in a very muscular sense. Helena laughed and hugged him back before turning back to Marceau. “Marceau this is my father, Torben Laursen. Pabbi (daddy), this is my friend Marceau.”

Marceau smiled a warm and friendly, if shy smile. He was reminded of meeting friend’s parents as a child. “Erhm… ‘ello.” He said, his French accent a little thicker, causing the H to drop off the word ‘hello’.

Torben had a wide welcoming smile, and held out a big beefy hand to shake Marceau’s. “Welcome, welcome. We are very happy to have one of Helena’s friends visit with us. Come, come. The car is waiting. Edílon, be useful and grab their bags.”

Helena

Marceau cautiously reached out a hand and shook with Torben. “Thank you. I am excited to stay. It’s very nice of you to let me come with Helena.” He was in full politeness mode, though he did mean it. “Oh, that’s okay. I can carry my own bag.” He said, but it seemed his bag had already been scooped up.

~ Marceau


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