Helena took another bite of her now-mutilated ice cream cone. The sharp mint rolled across her tongue. She caught a drip sliding down the cone with her knuckle, bringing it up to her mouth before it could escape. Mmmm.

"You can have the rest of mine if you want, when you're ready," she told him. Maybe that would cheer him up.

R.D. finally took a bite out of his ice cream while looking at the girl. "Nah, that's alright. Though it is weird to see you giving up food."

"If it makes you feel better..."

Helena looked out to the ocean. The nub of leftover sun stuck out behind the water. The way it reflected against the waves looked calming, and Helena let her shoulders hang, feeling part of the tension rinse away. Part of it because she was feeling guilty again.

"Don't worry about it," R.D. said, sitting up a bit. "I'm just not all that hungry right now. Thanks for the offer, though."

"Okay." She tilted her head back and opened her mouth, dangling the cone over her fangs. "Last chance," she said in a singsong voice.

Despite the pain in his head, R.D. gave a short chuckle. "Really, its okay. I already have my own."

Helena dropped it in her mouth and chewed. Loudly. Something caught in her throat, and she covered her mouth, coughing. "I need to stop eating so fast," she said with a gasp.

"Hey, I warned you once in the hospital," R.D. said. "Were you always this big an eater?"

Helena coughed roughly, and smacked her chest with the side of her fist. That should've cleared it up. She ran a napkin over her mouth to capture any loose strands of ice cream. "No," she said. "Only after I first turned into a dragon. I think it's because I need a lot of energy to transform, so I have to eat a lot to keep it up."

R.D. nodded before taking another bite out of his ice cream. Its kind of what he figured. Forcibly mutating your own body must take an incredible amount of energy. "That's kinda what I figured," he said after swallowing. "It makes sense. Still, though, you have to be careful with the way you eat. We don't need you choking to death on us."

"Definitely," Helena said. "I'll be more careful." She swung out her feet, letting her claws clack against the boardwalk. She knew what to do about R.D. now. The idea just came to her, and if it would help her feel less guilty, she'd take it. Plus R.D. needed to lighten up. Alasea could definitely handle that.

"I've got a question," Helena asked. "When are you and Alasea going to get together?"

The question had an immediate effect on R.D. as he bit down on his ice cream--his eyes widened in surprise and he immediately choked on his food. Some of it was spit out of his mouth at the action, and he quickly pounded on his chest a couple of times.

"W-What!?" he exclaimed, looking at Helena when he could talk again.

Uh oh, that wasn't very smart to say! "H-hey, I'm sorry!" Helena said. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to make you choke!"

R.D. had to cough a few more times before he could fully breathe again. He hit his chest once more just to make sure. "I think I'm fine now. That wasn't a nice joke, Helena."

Helena let her claws drift down on her lap. "That wasn't a joke, R.D.."

R.D. slowly turned his head to look at Helena. "You're... not joking?" he asked slowly, looking incredulous.

"No. I know you two really like each other. I haven't even been with the group long and it's easy to see." Helena leaned in, dropped her voice low. "And not just because you were checking her out, either."

R.D. sputtered at that. She'd caught him checking--!? "Agghh." He ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, so I was checking her out. You can't really blame me for that. But Alasea having a thing for me is news to me."

Helena leaned back. "Well, if you don't let her know, then you'll never know how it'll turn out. And trust me, R.D.. You need her. You're always so serious and brooding all the time, and I know Matt can be stupid, but at least he looks like he's enjoying himself. You know?" She clasped around his elbow. "You've got to lighten up and she'll help."

R.D. sighed. He was afraid Helena would say something like that. He didn't want to have to say this, but it looks like he wasn't getting out of it this time. "Yeah... nice as that idea is, I can't, Helena," he finally said.

"Why not?"

"Right now... its way too dangerous," he explained. "And its not just this whole mess with Magister. You... you saw what our world is like."

Absentmindedly, R.D. took a bite out of his ice cream and swallowed before continuing. "I have seriously pissed off the wrong people on my world. Ziatoch is after me because I have Lumiya. NightShade has some grudge against me for something I can't even fathom. And... you saw how the fight with Re-Tuul went."

Another bite and swallow. "Re-Tuul's got it out for me bad, and he won't hesitate to use people I care about to get at me. Malvettix already did the same to Alasea to get at me and Matt," he continued. "If they don't think I'm particularly attached to Alasea, she'll be in less risk."

He remained silent for a bit, until he finished off his ice cream cone, and flicked the crumbs off of his hands. "Besides, what business do I have looking towards a future when I can't even reconcile with a past I can't remember? I have to get over that before I look forward to anything."

He was right. Too many enemies wanted them dead. She'd seen the movies - using Alasea against R.D. would be the perfect tactic if they were a couple. But what about making him happy now?

"At least promise me this," Helena said. "Promise me that after all this is over, you'll clear up your past quickly so you can focus on the here and now, all right?"

R.D. looked at the weredragon for a few brief moments before nodding. "Yeah, I can do that," he said.

"Promise me," she urged. "No slacking off."

R.D. rolled his eyes at the girl's insistence. "Alright already," he said. "I promise I'll clear up my past as quick as I can."

"Thank you." Hopefully R.D. would take it seriously. Well, she could always remind him after this was over. It felt better to think about him now, without her conscience nagging her. At least, not so much.

R.D. rubbed his hands together a bit, wiping away the remaining crumbs of the ice cream cone from them. "Let's go find the others," he said, standing up. "We'll probably get going soon."

Helena stood and stretched, pushing out her chest and curling her back. Her wings unfurled for a moment before returning to their folded position. "Okay."

She looked out towards the water again. When she got back home, she had to ask about going to the summer home early this year.

It didn't take the two of them very long to reach their camp, where they found Alasea and Ileyna sitting down on the towels, staring out at the waters. Alasea looked over as they approached, and smiled. "Hey guys!" she greeted.

"Hey," R.D. said, looking around. "What's up? Wait... where's Hugo?"

"Um," Ileyna hummed, pointing out at the water. R.D. turned to follow the girl's hand, and then stopped dead.

"... you're kidding."