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]

"There's an Inn and Pub in that direction," he gestures with his thumb towards his left, though the building would probably not be visible from the trees just yet. "There's a map there too. We've been working on putting it together with what we've discovered so far." Sam didn't argue with her about testing the fountain. He probably wouldn't have accepted someone telling him either, though he's watched enough people try by now to have given up on that particular exit.

"There's also a small village all around us, a lot of us have been putting a claim in on some of the dwellings since everything's been abandoned for the most part. So if you want something a little more private that would probably be the route to go."

He pauses and then adds, "I got nothing going on if you want me to show you around."

[notsocommon]

"A bit of a guide wouldn't go amiss," Helen said, flashing him a quick smile. Knowing where she was going was going to be half the battle in this place and it would give her a little while longer to talk to him and see if she could tease out further information.

"It's been a long time since I've been dropped on the ground without even so much as a map to get me by. I think I rather miss the creature comforts of home."

[notabirdcostume]

Sam nods and gestures for her to follow, "Then let's go."

He starts off in the direction of the inn, keeping his pace slow so that Helen can look around if she wants. There isn't much to see around the fountain though, at least not yet with all the trees. Probably the most interesting thing is the various paths leading away from the fountain that are in a clear state of disrepair.

"Well maps are the least of our worries. This place is technologically practically in the dark ages and we don't have much in the way of supplies either. Our map is made from charcoal drawings on some curtains we took out of one of the empty houses."

[notsocommon]

That was less than encouraging but Helen had worked with less. She could do so again, if necessary, and move forward from it. The place seemed to be isolated if nothing else; that could be both a good and bad thing.

"There's no native population, then? Just those of us who have come through that fountain?"

[notabirdcostume]

"Not that we've encountered. There's evidence that someone was here before...but how long they've been out of the picture is still a mystery," Sam says as they walk. By this point they're getting out of the trees and Helen would be able to see some of the buildings and houses from the path. Sam gestures to them as evidence of what he has just said, "The buildings have furniture and decorations and supplies...but everyone you meet around here came out of that same fountain."

[notsocommon]

"It's a mystery I'm going to have to explore after I've had some sleep and something to eat," Helen said. It was unfortunate, as she would have liked to immediately tackle the problem, but she did herself no favors by being exhausted.

"Is there some place I can get that ready made? Or am I going to have to catch something for myself?"

[notabirdcostume]

Sam nods, "We'd be glad to have a fresh pair of eyes. Never hurts." He didn't want to be negative or pessimistic towards someone new about what they'd be able to find.

"The pub has a daily lunch offering to help out -- might be able to find something for you." They had no method of storing food for long periods of time of course, but there would probably be something they could get Helen.