life without end [open]

[notsocommon]

WHO: Dr. Helen Magnus
WHERE: The Fountain; the town
WHEN: 1 August
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: N/A
STATUS: Open

---

Helen had lived for an extraordinarily long time but there were still moments in which this life took her by surprise. This was one of those; her lungs burned and she twisted and pulled and clawed her way upward toward pale light in a vain hope that this was the way out. From what she could tell, it was some sort of narrow waterway. Stone, possibly, a cistern? A cave? Regardless, she wanted out and as quickly as possible. After narrowly missing the lip of the stone with her skull, she used the last of her strength to push herself out onto the ground and coughed loudly, trying her damndest to catch her breath again.

After all she'd seen and done, she didn't want so ignoble a death as a drowning and she glared back at the fountain with particular vitriol before hugging her knees to her chest and looking up at the sky. This wasn't her Sanctuary. This wasn't the old, rambling house she'd come to love over the last century in Old City and it certainly wasn't her new, state of the art facility beneath the ground. This was somewhere else entirely and she wasn't certain that she trusted it. Had she been teleported here? So far as she knew, John was dead, but it wouldn't be beyond him to teleport her some place where she had no frame of reference and leave her at his mercy.

She looked down at her waterlogged clothes and found that instead of the smart suit she'd been wearing earlier that day in the office, she was in dark blue scrubs instead. She had no surgeries on her schedule for the day but, again, those things weren't always planned. Neither was this jaunt, though it seemed she'd been pulled along on it anyway. Reaching for the edge of the fountain, she pushed herself upright and stood on shaky legs. She leaned over and peered into the fountain, trying to see where she'd come up from, but there was nothing but flat, clear water and her own bedraggled reflection that peered back at her. Oh.

"Bloody hell, I look dreadful," she said, quickly combing her fingers through her hair to try and repair the worst of the tangles. It could be dealt with later, yes, but it had been a long time since she'd looked quite this pathetic in public. Still, there were other, more important things than her appearance to be dealt with and she decided to simply pick a direction and start walking, start trying to make sense of the place she'd just wound up in.

"Well, Helen, now you've gone and managed to get yourself into a bind, haven't you? Nothing but the clothes on your back and...well, what's this?" There was a pack beside her, as well, and opening it revealed a few additional articles of clothing but no clues as to the origin of it or the identity of the place she found herself in. "You could have at least included a map," she muttered. "That would have been helpful."

She would persevere. She always had.

Comments

[notabirdcostume]

Sam had heard that more people would come through the Fountain periodically. It was one reason he'd picked a house close to it--so he could keep an eye on who or what came through. He could even try seeing if there was a pattern, but so far there didn't seem to be one and there was no where near that activity they'd seen on the day most of them had arrived.

It was hard to believe it had been a full month, that was for sure. And to test his theory about arrivals he was actually taking the time today to be near the fountain--just in case.

So when someone emerged from the fountain in the typical sputtering, near drowned status, he was ready. Of course, now that someone WAS there he wasn't quite sure what to say to them. He knew they'd be pretty disoriented and he certainly didn't want to come across as responsible for this mess. He waited a few minutes for them to at least get their bearings before approaching. The best he could figure to begin with was jumping off of the conversation they'd started with themselves, "We're still working on the map actually, though I don't think we could put it in the pack. Those kind of arrive with you. Somehow."

[notsocommon]

Helen tried to straighten her shoulders and affect a confident bearing even though she felt less than confident at the given moment. She had no idea where she was, she'd been divested of her clothes and she had no memory of how any of those things had happened. She'd been in similar states before, yes, but not recently and it was incredibly disconcerting.

Still, there was no sense in wibbling about it. Crying and hysterics served only to delay her quest for further knowledge about the current nonsense she had landed herself in and it wouldn't be productive. Instead, she looked to the man who had spoken to her and noted that he also wore scrubs. Curious.

"I feel a little like Alice in the proverbial rabbit hole. Is that about the way of it, you think?"

[notabirdcostume]

"Probably a more apt comparison than you realize," Sam replied. It was certainly easier being on this side of the fountain. Granted, he hardly knew much more by this point than the person freshly swimming out of the fountain. However, it was probably easier to be greeted by someone than just emerging with a bunch of other people who were equally lost, disoriented, and confused.

Sam would do his best to help, but he knew it was mostly going to be reassurances and little else.

"I'm Sam Wilson. This is," he blinks, realizing there's a problem, "..actually we haven't named this place yet, but it seems to like spitting people out of the fountain you just came out of."

[notsocommon]

"Really? How extraordinary," Helen said, looking back toward the fountain with a renewed curiosity. If she came through it, it stood to reason that she might be able to go back through it to home once again. It was always worth a shot, anyway, and further experimentation wouldn't go amiss.

She extended a hand to the man who'd greeted her, taking a moment to acknowledge him properly. It was only polite, after all, and while she suspected allowances could be made for having just been propelled through a transdimensional fountain, manners weren't something she should be slacking on.

"Helen Magnus," she offered. "I would say it's a pleasure but I haven't decided how I feel about this place yet."

[notabirdcostume]

Sam has a feeling he knows where her thought process is going. "I wouldn't recommend trying to go back that way. I've seen a few people try and it's usually resulted in nearly drowning more so than anything. As far as we've been able to tell there's not a way to get back out that way." He wishes it was really that simple, but if that were the case no one would have stuck around.

He accepts the handshake in the meantime. This place may not be the best, but as Peggy told him on that first day that didn't mean they had to "ignore manners." Apparently that is important to people other than her as well.

"Well the company here isn't bad...but the location definitely leaves a lot to be desired," he replies. It's his way of saying he's already made up his mind about this place. He doesn't like it. But at least there are probably worse people to be stuck with.

[seekingvinland]

Thorfinn had been out as he did daily, scouting the woods and hunting. These were the only things he really knew to do to contribute to Jo's home. Whenever he went up and through the woods he tended to head up through the fountain park, and make his way back the same way. It as his way of keeping track of where he went. Mentally mapping things himself.

He was returning from the woods with the water proof bag over his shoulder with the catch of the day inside and a small bundle of twigs under one arm. He was constant collecting wood and things that could be important for the winter since he lacked an axe to fell a tree.

He heard a noise as he approached the fountain park. It wasn't the first time he had heard something come from the park or seen someone soaked, it wasn't often, but it seemed to happen enough. He heard her speak as he came from the trees quietly, and awkwardly standing there. His lack of proper English was becoming a stressful thing. He hoped someone else had already spoken to the woman...

"Hallo... hello." he corrected himself speaking in his heavy accent. Jo had been teaching him. The last thing he wanted to do was scar a newcomer.

[notsocommon]

It took Helen a moment to place the accent and she'd landed somewhere in Scandinavia with it. Hallo was a good indication, as well, so she ventured in Norwegian for a moment to see if possibly that was a decent fit. If not, she'd try Danish and see if that was a bit closer to the mark.

"Hallo. Do you speak Norwegian? Is this easier?" she asked, hoping that would be a more intelligible language for him. It could be frustrating not to know the language of a place and it had happened to her more than once. It had only been because of the long years she'd been alive that she'd learned multiple languages; Japanese had taken her several decades to perfect, as beautiful and complicated a language as it was. Norwegian was much preferable.

She gave him a smile, trying to convey that she was willing to work with him. It wasn't her native tongue so obviously she was perfectly capable of going slowly in Norwegian just as she would understand if he needed to speak English slowly and haltingly.

[seekingvinland]

Thorfinn's eyes widened when the woman spoke. It was close, oh so close. The first question was close enough to his language for him to realize what she was asking. He shook his head some. The variation of Norse he used was closer to Danish than Norwegian, he had traveled with the Danish through younger years. Most of the band had been Danish. Danish came just as naturally as his own Icelandic variation.

"No, no." He came out in English, but his no's were hopeful. It was so close enough to fill him with hope. He lifted his empty hand to his chest. "Iceland." he spoke as he had to others, but how close the words were were digging at his brain, making him hopeful.

"Can you speak Danish?" He blurted out after a second. Askeladd would be so proud of him. Using that brain of his for once. Words had changed for the most part, but old Danish and new Danish were close enough.

[notsocommon]

When the young man spoke Danish, Helen nodded rapidly. That was at least a mutually intelligible language for them both and while it had been a while since she'd used it extensively, she still remembered enough to be able to carry on a conversation. She gave him a quick smile before greeting him properly.

"I speak Danish, yes. I'm Helen Magnus, she said, hoping that her name wouldn't be recognized by those here. She'd spent an awful long time trying to get underground and away from the public eye; it wouldn't do to have all that hard work undone. Still, she wanted to give a proper name if she was going to figure out where she was and how she got here. It was a calculated risk.

"Are we in Denmark? Is that where this place is? I don't recognize it at all."

[womanofvalue]

Peggy wishes that she didn't feel disappointment when she saw people emerge from the fountain, now. And yet, every time she does, it's a reminder twofold. The first being that it's not someone that she knows, but the second is the one that sits with her and that's the feeling that she's absolutely stuck here and people only come in, never out. That door seems to swing only one way and she can't understand it.

She also can't seem to find anyone who might have set off the alarms.

And then she had thought that perhaps it means they're hiding amongst them. It's all mad and a bit of a conspiracy, but she's not going to take action unless she's got proof. And until then, she's going to make sure that she fills her time. "I'm afraid no one's gotten around to cartography," she says, having overheard the last snippets of speech. "And I'm rubbish at drawing."

[notsocommon]

"Cartography has never been a strong suit of mine either," Helen said, working on wringing out her hair as best she could manage. It was not salvageable and she knew that but damned if she wouldn't try. She gave the other woman a quick smile.

"So, I wouldn't suppose we're in England, are we? I noticed you're also English and at least that would be home even if it isn't my current residence."

England, at least, would be familiar territory. She could find her way around in England.

[womanofvalue]

"If we are in England, it's not a part of it that I've ever seen before," Peggy confesses, because the white cliffs are hardly the same as the canyon of this strange village they're sitting in. It's lovely to hear the familiar accent, but she hates to be the bearer of bad news seeing as they really aren't close to home.

"I've met just as many Americans as other Brits," Peggy confesses. "But I think we're in more of a no man's land situation."

[notsocommon]

"It wouldn't be the first time I've found myself far afield but I was really hoping for something closer to home. The topography doesn't look like anywhere in England that I recognize, either."

Helen didn't think it was England but hearing it confirmed from another Englishwoman dampened her spirits a bit. "What do you know about this place?"

[thekittenqueen]

Having come from the fountain herself only a few week prior, it wasn't that shocking to see someone walking about in a similar state. Without needing to figure out why a person was soaking wet, she now automatically assumed that the person was new.

It was enough of a shock to be in this world and to appear in a fountain, that it often came as a relief to have someone approach and seek to help. Remembering how grateful she had been for that when she arrived, Margaery didn't hesitate to walk towards the woman muttering to herself.

"It isn't the nicest of welcomes, is it?" She said, trying to offer her a bit of humor amidst the confusion. "You at least are safe now." For the most part, as far as she could tell. "Do you need some help finding shelter?"

[notsocommon]

What Helen truly wanted was a chance to get back into that fountain and figure out how it worked but for the moment, she needed to rest and possibly eat. The fountain would still be there when she'd had some rest so she reluctantly nodded. Shelter would be a good idea until she got her bearings.

"Yes, absolutely. I'm quite disoriented and I want to know how the hell that thing works but I think those concerns are going to have to wait until more immediate ones are addressed."

The woman before her was young and pretty and her accent was similar to Helen's own. Were they in England, somehow?

[thekittenqueen]

"When I arrived, a man dove into the fountain in an effort to find a way out. From what I saw, as soon as we arrive, whatever it is that happens disappears. I don't think there is a way back through the fountain." It was grim tidings, but she deserved some honesty to their situation. It was better than false hope.

She smiled, "There is an inn that offers housing and meals, but there are also several unclaimed homes that others have chosen for themselves and claimed as their residence." She being among them. "I suppose it depends on if you want to be around others or in your own space."

It was pleasant to hear someone who sounded similar in terms of accent, but it seemed unlikely that she was from Westeros. "I'm Margaery Tyrell."

[notsocommon]

"It's a pleasure, Margaery," Helen said, offering her hand to the other woman to shake. "I'm Helen Magnus." She peered wistfully at the fountain before looking back at Margaery and shook her head a bit.

"Well, it was too much to hope that I could just go back through the rabbit hole and go back home, wasn't it? That would have been entirely too simple and not befitting my strange life."

~a million years later

[lastofthekellys]

There's a desk at the foyer of the inn. It's an inn, all proper. A nice one, Kate would say, except that it's empty of proprietor and some very, very basic supplies. Such as string. Such as rope. So Kate is at the desk in the foyer area, experiment with plaiting strips of sheets together.

Why here?

She's trying to force herself to be sociable, and saying hello when people walk in is a start. If any newcomers are directed, she can provide a friendly face and that will be something useful rather than strangling in solitude and barely surviving.

The desk also is the one with the heaviest drawers and she's hoping if she can get it to hold her strips of sheet as she twists and plaits them, she might be able to make some thin rope.

As it happens, she hears the door open and someone come in just as she's crouched behind the desk, trying to find the knife she'd just dropped. So, of course, she springs up to greet the person.

"Ah, good day. Lookin' for a room?" the pretty Australian asks cheerfully, before her face drops. It's just a flicker of a drop, but she is holding a knife. Putting her stage-face back on, she smiles and carefully puts the knife back on the desk.

Moving on and forwards, "We have a choice of views. There's the strange fountain you arrived in, or the overgrown wilderness."

[notsocommon]

Helen couldn't help but laugh. The idea that someone was genuinely trying to play bellhop in this strange place was amusing and brought some much-needed levity to her afternoon. Her clothes were still damp, her hair curling every which way and now there was a girl at a desk who was plaiting fabric and offering her a room.

"Well, I came here to see if there was anyone else about but I've been told there's houses, too. Have you seen any of those? Are they mostly vacant or have they been occupied?"

[lastofthekellys]

Kate smiles at the laughter. As much as she knows her stage career has been prompted more by the needs of money and the needs to escape, it does make her genuinely happy to cheer people. To bring them some laughter and a smile.

And here, they all need some of that.

Besides, if the woman is laughing, than maybe she hasn't gotten spooked by the knife Kate had inadvertently been holding.

"I've seen them," Kate says. "Two, we've been takin' things from. Supplies and the like, to repurpose. There's a bit over a fifty houses, a bit over twenty of us. So you can really take your pick. But you're gonna have to freshen everythin' out in the place, and clean the gutters and etcetera."

[notsocommon]

"I've never been afraid of a bit of hard work," Helen said, giving the girl another smile. It was actually something she'd grown used to when she was trapped in Carentan and she had no issues with having to do it again. It was a matter of survival.

She drew up closer and offered her hand to shake. "I'm Helen Magnus. It's a pleasure."

In the Inn & Pub

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo can be found here, a lot. She's been working at pulling all the ideas people had together. Working with people to figure out color dyes for the map, for the grid-maping later. Working on a log book that will reflect all the people's names (and colors), the houses taken (or flood damanged), the animals (found and captured), the day counts. Which is what she's working on right now. It's not a book yet, but it will be soon enough.

There's no paper and no pencils, no pens and no chalk, but she's making do like she always does and has since getting to this place. Better than Hell. It's become her motto whenever she wants to whine about what she doesn't have. To remember The Apocalypse or Medietas. It's still better than the worst she's seen and there are so many supplies on hand to make things work if she stretches her mind.

None of them have been there, and most of them already have no clue how to handle here.


She hasn't figured out the binding, but she's counted out the blank, rough cut, curtain, sheets now and they are in stacked piles on one table, but she isn't looking at them at the moment. She's looking toward the entrance way and the very English voice of a woman who must be new again. Waiting in her process, just a few more seconds to see if she'll make it past Kate and further in.

Re: In the Inn & Pub

[notsocommon]

Helen came into the room and saw the other girl working on...some sort of project involving curtains. It wasn't exactly obvious what she was doing and Helen's natural curiosity decided it simply had to find out.

"You look hard at work," she said, slightly cheeky. "What are you doing? Is there something I could do to help, possibly?"

Re: In the Inn & Pub

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo hadn't quite gone back to work, but enough that she'd looked down, like she wasn't just sitting in here waiting to see if she was going to get interrupted. If she hadn't wanted that she'd be doing this on the floor of her living room or bedroom where it wasn't an option. She learned more staying in this room than she learned being anywhere else inside her own house for house.

The woman's face seemed nice enough, for whatever that could mean.

Aside from that the fountain was still fucking tossing people out of itself.

"It's a log book in process. The supplies aren't the best, but the idea is that having our hands on more of everything we know and have, and where people have been and where they are currently or are going next, is better than continuing to let everyone walk around with only 1 or 2 percent of an idea of the puzzle only." They still might only have like 20 percent of this place all together, but it was better than only have 1 or 2 apart.

Beat. Before she adds, too. "I'm Jo."

Re: In the Inn & Pub

[notsocommon]

"Helen," she offered in kind, extending a hand out to shake hers. "And, truly, that's not a terrible idea. It seems like the sort of thing that I might do if you hadn't thought of it first."

Helen was of the opinion that a collaborative effort on the problem of this place might be the best approach. All of their minds working in concert? It could be beneficial.

"How much progress have you made with it?"