InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Have I taught you nothing?"

helen magnus, m.d. d.t.c.x.b. (lifelines) wrote in marinanova,
@ 2013-07-03 17:07:00

Entry tags:

dirk strider, euphemia li britannia, helen magnus, martha jones, nikola tesla, rose, tieria erde

day 226 video; / action;
I was thinking back to the handful of days I've spent here and how I've been spending them. It got me to wondering. I've been keeping track of the days, how long I've spent here and I wanted to know if there's anyone else here who keeps track of the day it would be back home. This is, of course, assuming that the way the wardens keep track of time is the exact same as in your home worlds.

[ She looks thoughtful. ] This place seems to operate on exactly the same number of hours and minutes, though the days don't seem to be much different. No weekends off, for instance. [ That's a joke, people. ] I was simply curious if anyone else had thought about it or if I was simply the odd man out. Today would be November 5 for me. Rather odd, having Christmas in November, though I suppose it could always be worse. We could be moved to a new location on Halloween.

[ For the record, that totally happened. They were moved to Squall on the day that would have been Halloween in her world. The irony was not lost on her.

Action: Today she'll be spending time in various places. The clinic will see her the most, but she will also take a little time to wander around the snow-covered lanes to see if she can find a handful of people among the drifts. Everyone she's met in-person will receive a small card with various good wishes written on the inside in her neat, precise handwriting. For some, she has more:

Euphemia li Britannia - "I do hope the holiday, whatever it means to you, is a good one. Perhaps in the future, you and I can become better acquainted. Until then, I should hope you remain well. Yours, as ever, Helen Magnus"

Jean-Luc Picard - "I've enjoyed our conversations so far. Perhaps the future will hold more. Helen"

Martha Jones - "Take the day off, if you weren't already planning to. Dr. Magnus"

Rebekah - A light blue scarf that will go well with her hair and a note: "I hope all is well with you. Helen"

Rose (TVD) - "The answer to your question is, 'It's a genetic mutation: longevity.' Any other questions?"

It occurs to her that she doesn't know where most of them are, but that's never deterred her before. ]

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

justexisting
2013-08-04 08:21 am UTC (link)

[ rose smiles a little, making herself more comfortable. nikola had told her a few details about his life and she knows what he was and what had happened to him. she would need to return the favour and tell him some more about her own. ]

It doesn't surprise me that you went to Oxford. [ she probably didn't feel good about it. ] So it took you a while to get used to him, yeah? You know him better than I do after all. [a beat. ] Was it just the two of you?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lifelines
2013-08-05 01:45 am UTC (link)

[ she studies rose for a moment. nikola told her he was trying to pass himself off as having the same abnormality that she has, but she needs to know what rose knows in order to fully answer that question. from the sound of it, she might know more than helen suspects. ]

What has he told you about all of that?

[ if she's "in the know," as it were, rose would understand that helen wants to know how much of the source blood experiment she knows and whether or not she's aware that nikola is a vampire. ]

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	justexisting 2013-08-06 02:26 pm UTC (link)
	I know what he is and about the experiments that were conducted a long time ago. Nothing more than that. [ she pauses for a moment before continuing. it was time for Helen to know the truth about her. ] The reason why he told me is because of what I told him about myself. I'm a vampire. Have been for over five hundred years and only a handful of people know it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lifelines
2013-08-06 09:26 pm UTC (link)

So he told you about the Source Blood. [ iiinteresting. even more so that rose is a vampire as well. that explains that. and suddenly helen is looking at her in a new light. that doesn't change their friendship. if anything, helen looks more interested now than she was previously. ]

There were five of us involved. I was the first to test the serum once it was ready. That's how my longevity became active. I helped him deal with transitioning and adapting to his vampirism.

[ it's nice to be able to talk so freely about this. usually she'd get strange looks if she admitted to being a part of human experimentation just for the sake of science. ]

We were young, curious to see what would happen.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

justexisting
2013-08-09 03:56 pm UTC (link)

He did. [ she nods, hoping that it was all right for Nikola to even disclose it in the first place, but Helen didn't seem to protest it so perhaps it was fine. ]

But you're not a vampire though. Nikola explained about his genetics and how the experiment had activated that part of him.

[ rose feels glad that she was able to trust her with such personal and private information about herself. ]

Understandable. Plenty of people experiment when they're young. Although, probably not in the same way that you all did.

[A pause.] Do you have any regrets?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lifelines
2013-08-09 06:42 pm UTC (link)

[ she would only mind if she managed to out his secret, but it seems he did that himself. ]

Then you now know how my longevity was activated. I am human; I simply have extended life.

[ being a vampire isn't automatically a sentence of distrust. after all, one of her closest friends is half-vampire and helen herself knows better than to judge based on what someone is. what matters is the character of the individual and so far rose has given helen no reason not to trust her.

the question catches her off-guard and she shifts as she thinks about it. does she have regrets? who doesn't? that's the nature of being human. but helen's life is quite different and she knows it.

when she was 38, she lost her fiance to a mania that would never leave and he became a killer notorious even through the change of two centuries, a man she would never trust again. their child was dead, killed by a people hell-bent on destroying helen's life's work and then erasing helen herself from existence. if they hadn't taken the source blood, she would have married john... and ashley would still be alive.

but if they hadn't taken the source blood, so many things would have been altered. she wouldn't have been responsible for lives being saved, lives ending, the second world war ending as it had rather than in the utter destruction of the entire european countryside. people might not have been born, everything could have been changed.

she'd had the opportunity to change so much once before.

her eyes mist and she glances away for a moment, the pain she's experienced in her life clear on her face for a moment as she presses the back of her hand to her mouth. it's brief and soon she's looking back at her new friend with a sorrow so deep she suspects she might actually lose another part of herself. ]

I had the chance to change a lot, 113 years' worth of my personal history, but I couldn't do it. Whether I regret what happened or not, it did happen and I have to live with it. I wouldn't change anything that happened, couldn't sacrifice countless people just to change my own regrets. These occurrences have made me who I am, they've made all of us, and to try to change that would be trying to change yourself. I couldn't do it.

[ it was what john had tried to do, what she'd chewed him out for even considering. changing the past wasn't worth condemning innocent people in the future. ]

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

justexisting
2013-08-10 12:02 pm UTC (link)

[it was a loaded question that Rose had asked and maybe she shouldn't have said anything in the first place because of how personal it was. if she had been issued with the same question, she was certain that she wouldn't find it an easy one to answer.

she watches the play of emotions across Helen's face, how she looks away and Rose feels a pang of guilt in her non-beating heart. she does know how strong the other woman is, what she seemed to be capable of, but even the strongest person could have a vulnerability about them. ]

Your experiences shaped you. I can understand that. For you to be so open and honest after I asked you a difficult question is something to be admired, Helen. [There's a small smile.] I have been around a lot longer than you have but I wouldn't say I've ever truly lived until much more recently.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lifelines
2013-08-11 12:36 am UTC (link)

You've given me little reason to distrust you. [ which is the honest truth, more than she gives most people. ] The fact that Nikola liked you enough to offer his heritage is proof that you can be trusted. That isn't something he gives to just anyone.

[ she sighs softly before offering the smallest of smiles in response. there's pain still in the expression, but it's an attempt to press onward. ]

Some would say that's something you and I have in common. [ that neither of them have truly lived. ]

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

justexisting
2013-08-12 03:17 pm UTC (link)

I like to consider myself a trustworthy person. [ Trying to convince one Damon Salvatore that he could had been difficult at first but Rose pulled it off. ] In that case, I am honoured to be part of the inner circle, for lack of a better term.

[ she returns the smile, holding it there for a moment before getting up from the couch. ]

Really? Maybe I should make us some tea first before we delve into that kind of talk. Does that sound all right?

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lifelines 2013-08-12 08:02 pm UTC (link)
	You can thank Nikola for that. [ for both being considered a trustworthy person and for being part of the inner circle. ] Absolutely. [ she rises to follow. ] A good cup of tea makes everything much easier. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	justexisting 2013-08-14 12:43 pm UTC (link)
	I'm sure I will find that out soon enough. [ a smile before she leads them both to the kitchen. It's just about big enough to move around it but the room is neat and tidy, if a little spartan. ] There's cake to go along with the tea if you like. I got some before today but I was saving it for an occasion like this. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lifelines 2013-08-14 09:31 pm UTC (link)
	I'm honored you would offer it. [ she takes a stance nearby, but not close enough that she'll be in the way. ] It might just go well with the tea and conversation. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	justexisting 2013-08-15 02:37 pm UTC (link)
	[ while Helen is talking to her, Rose is busy pulling out mugs and getting the milk from the fridge. she also managed to get some tea leaves so that she could stew the tea properly. ] Chocolate cake always goes well with anything. Obviously, I don't need to eat food for sustenance but I love the taste of it. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	lifelines 2013-08-17 02:00 am UTC (link)
	Really? [ she's interested in that. ] Nikola stopped eating human food when his dormant genes activated. We had a serum for him, but it was entirely blood-based. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	justexisting 2013-08-17 03:02 pm UTC (link)
	Yes. It doesn't cause us any ill effects. [The tea is already on its way to being brewed.] I had no idea about that with regards to Nikola. Then again, I've never seen him eat anything. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lifelines
2013-08-17 06:21 pm UTC (link)

That certainly helps, I would imagine. [ blending in, making the transition, etc. ] I'm a little worried about his control, how well he might be able to manage it here.

[ she really is. rose knows about their background, but she's fairly certain nikola wouldn't have told her about how he devamped himself until helen managed to procure a syringe of pure vampire blood from one of his ancestors... who was in stasis, broke out thanks to helen's efforts to save nikola's life, and then proceeded to toss nikola into a trap and deem helen her eternal canteen.

somehow she doesn't think he'd want to recall that, let alone recount it to anyone else. ]

He does have a preference for wine, so if there's a steady supply of that, he should be all right.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

justexisting
2013-08-18 03:41 pm UTC (link)

You think that he would lose control?

[ a tiny touch of concern in her tone. rose has fought long and hard to keep her urges at bay; took a few centuries but she has been managing all right. with the convenience of bagged blood on hand, she didn't worry that she would go off the rails and attack someone. ]

There seems to be an endless amount of wine but there may be restrictions on how much he can drink at the one time.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lifelines
2013-08-18 06:06 pm UTC (link)

Not exactly. It's complicated and he'll never tell you this himself, but since he trusted you with his secret...

[ she sighs. ]

Since vampirism is genetic in my world, it is possible... for one to manage to make those DNA strands dormant again. Which he did a year ago. He's only been a vampire again for a few months. He's always been very careful never to take blood from a living person. Part of the serum was something to help with the bloodlust and he's never been off it as long as he's been a vampire. I just don't know how this transition will affect him.

[ she was there when he transitioned both times. the first time had been awful, traumatizing for everyone involved. she doesn't want this one to be the same.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

justexisting
2013-08-22 12:38 pm UTC (link)

I brought him synthetic blood once but I never thought it had anything to do with what you just told me. [ Rose says, finishing the tea. ] But I understand the urge to want to feed off someone, I feel it almost every day. I've relied on bagged blood and the kind that's found in some of the bars here.

[ She loads the tea and cake onto a tray, picks it up and then heads back into the living room again to set it down on the coffee table. Her attention falls on Helen again. ]

Do you remember that time when a lot of people were acting strange? Around day 213 I think. I was so close to hurting someone then and it terrified me; whatever was in the air brought out all those dark urges that I've suppressed for quite some time.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

lifelines
2013-08-23 12:55 am UTC (link)

[ helen follows, remaining silent for a time as she listens. settling back into her seat, she tilts her head and then shakes it. ]

I wasn't here for that, though I did hear about it. Something about your most prominent traits being amplified?

[ she understands dark urges better than most. it isn't that she feels them herself; it's that she's known people who have given into those urges without a second thought, who would go as far as to kill without remorse. those are the people she cannot abide. as far as helen is concerned, she's seen nothing that would classify rose as one of those. ]

I'm a little farther than Nikola is in our timeline [ lies, she's a lot farther ] and I know how he takes it at home. I believe he'll be all right. He might just need a little more help than he wants to deal with.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -