✚ THE WAKE APPLICATION ❧

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Personal Information
Name: Nai
Age: 18
Personal LJ: playerpin
Email / AIM / MSN: naiiscooking @ AIM

Character Information
Character Name: Helen Magnus, M.D. D.T.C.X.B (Medical Doctor, Doctor of Terology, Cryptozoology, Xenobiology)
Fandom: Sanctuary
Source: Sanctuary on Wikipedia.
Character History: Helen Magnus was born August 27, 1850, as a proper Victorian child to a Gregory and Patricia Magnus. Gregory raised her after her mother died in childbirth, and because of her father's intense interest in the Abnormal (what we call "monsters") world, Helen too developed an interest and affinity to it. Her father taught her how to study and help the Abnormals he already knew of, but warned her that once she stepped into that world, she'd never be able to go back. Her work with Abnormals influenced her overall career so much that she strove to be a doctor. A female doctor in the Victorian times was scandalous, frowned upon, sneered about, but Helen used her wits and hard work to become one of the first female doctors. While studying, she met John Druitt, Nikola Tesla, James Watson, and Nigel Griffin. The four, too, were interested in the Abnormal realm, and secretly formed a group known as "The Five".

The Five did myriads of experiments on Abnormals and themselves; one such experiment was what really birthed "The Five". Upon unearthing a vial of untouched, pure Vampire blood (known as "the Source blood" in-canon) each member of the group retained Abnormal-quality abilities. John Druitt gained the power to teleport, Nikola Tesla's vampire genes became unlocked, James Watson's intellect increased exponentially, and Helen Magnus... gained the power of longevity. By far, it was the most lenient and powerful powers of the group. At that time, she also fell for John Druitt, becoming engaged to him in the process.

Adam Worth, a colleague, wanted to join The Five, but was declined, despite his massive intellect. This started a strained relationship between himself and Helen, despite how she did respect him as a scientist. Another relationship was strained; hers and her fiance's. John's Abnormality, to Helen, had driven him out of sanity. He began killing prostitutes, becoming Jack the Ripper. Helen broke off the engagement, even if it destroyed a large part of her. As a doctor, she kept on, seeing patients, until Adam contacted her. His daughter was sick, and although Helen did everything she could, she didn't have the technology at that time to make her better. Medicine hadn't advanced enough for her to save his daughter. When she finally died, Adam went insane with grief. Shortly afterward, she and the other members of The Five were called before the Crown to track Adam and his whereabouts down. Helen was given the offer of more ease to continue the building of the first Sanctuary for Abnormals if she helped track Adam down (along with thinly veiled pokes at the other members, as most of them had strayed into criminal behaviors). The Five went out to investigate, eventually coming to the discovery of a contraption that was ready to poison the people of the city. They were sent to track him down, and Helen was the one that tracked him on foot, with a rifle.

She confronts him, on a cliff, shoots him in the shoulder as a warning, and tries to convince him to turn himself in, to no avail. He throws himself off of the cliff, into the water below to his death.

The Sanctuary was built in London without a hitch. From then on, Helen went around the world, researching Abnormals, helping all she could, and building Sanctuaries where there were especially high concentrations of Abnormals. She studied at Oxford, coming out with more qualifications to aid her in her studies. Years and years pass, friends and lovers die, while Helen keeps going.

And, one day, she finds a mother and a son, and is just barely able to save the small boy from being attacked and dying at the hands of a rogue Abnormal. Ever since then, Helen's kept an eye on that small boy, who would eventually grow up to be Will Zimmerman.

This is where it gets complicated.

Helen practically runs Will over while chasing an Abnormal boy (who, to her surprise, he is also chasing), remarking that "this wasn't how I hoped we'd meet". Shortly afterward, she confronts him, giving him her business card and leading him to the Sanctuary. Although Will is, at first, skeptical, but grows into the Sanctuary family, including Henry (resident techie) and Ashley (Magnus's daughter and action chick). Helen is dealing with the Cabal when Will is added to the mix. The Cabal is a group of humans who think that Abnormals are monsters and should be exterminated, to the ends of making a virus so all the Abnormals turn rogue, and humans will kill them all. They actually end up capturing and experimenting on Helen's daughter, who is a normal human (though with parents with Abnormalities, from Druitt and Magnus), into a 'Super Abnormal', who have vampiric traits and teleporting abilities. Helen is forced to fight against the group of Super Abnormals made from Ashley's template, as well as her daughter, who ultimately sacrifices her life to make sure the Sanctuary is safe.

Druitt, still alive and having helped the Sanctuary crew, finds it necessary to track down the rest of the Cabal. He as well as Nikola start bringing the Cabal down from the inside, tearing it apart, as a way of revenge for Ashley. Helen falls into a depression that sends her researching on how Ashley could have survived her sacrifice. All results come up negative, and at Ashley's funeral, Helen tries to let go of her now lost daughter, finally accepting her deep loss.

There, however, was something that was starting to become a bit more pressing. One day, an Abnormal very close to Helen (Big Guy, a Bigfoot), is killed--seemingly by Helen herself. Helen claims to have no memory of the incident, even if she is seen on camera shooting him. The Sanctuary brings in a team of telepathics to look into her mind, causing a large ruckus as Helen refuses and insists that she's telling the truth, paranoid to everyone, including Will and the other members of her team. It turns out that Helen had actually planned it all to make sure that they didn't learn about Big Bertha--a large spider that could move the tectonic plates of the Earth, was supposedly killed by Helen herself. She hadn't killed her at all, and Big Bertha was an Abnormal that would cost millions on the Abnormal black market. The telepathics turn out to be traitors, and where looking for Big Bertha from the start.

The fact that Big Bertha was still alive, although the traitors were unable to get their hands on her, was worrying for the entire Sanctuary Network. Many of the Sanctuary Heads didn't like that Helen lied to all of them to keep Big Bertha safe, even if she had a perfectly good excuse (Big Bertha's link to the Earth as a whole was very strong, and normally, Abnormals with that strong a bond with the Earth, if hurt, would affect the Earth negatively). A man by the name of Edward Forsythe tried to take control of Bertha by means of her 'control'--the Makri. The Makri, secured by Will and Kate (a freelancer that joined the Sanctuary crew), chooses Will as a host instead, causing him to be able to see and communicate with Big Bertha's being, named Kali by the Indian people. Forsythe forces the Makri out of Will and takes it into himself, trying to control Big Bertha as she awakens. On the other hand, Will fights to try and see Kali again by preforming a dance and trying to convince her to listen to him instead of Forsythe, while Helen tries to knock Big Bertha unconscious. Terrence Wexford, the Head of House for the New York Sanctuary, tries to convince Helen that she needs to kill her instead, to which Helen refuses several times--causing him to have enough time to have all the Sanctuary Heads make a unanimous decision to relieve Helen of her position as the Head of the Sanctuary network, meaning control gets bumped down to him. He launches missiles to try and kill Big Bertha himself, but only manages to hurt her and make her incredibly angry. Kali is shown being angry at Will, causing him to have cardiac arrest, as Big Bertha causes a tsunami in her rage.

After the tsunami hits their ship, Helen contacts Kate in India to tell her to warn the locals. Terrence, still in control, moves the ship closer to Big Bertha, in an attempt to kill her again. Helen chastises him on moving away from the men in the water, causing Terrence to snap. She chooses to board a helicopter and get in the way of the missiles, and try to subdue Big Bertha herself, but she releases a large electric wave, causing the ship's controls to fry and Helen's helicopter to go into the water. Minutes afterward, Forsythe's men are able to fish her out. She orders Forsythe to stop Bertha, to be told that the Makri is dead, and he cannot communicate telepathically with her like Will can. She links with the Sanctuary in Mumbai, and hesitantly--very hesitantly--explains the situation to Will. She explains that he has to die to be able to communicate with Kali. In his near-death experience, Will begs Kali to stop destroying the land. Once she agrees, everything seems to fall into place--Helen gets back to the Sanctuary ship and gives Terrence a good verbal bitchslap.

Soon after, two Abnormals show up in the Sanctuary, trying to abduct Will's memory, leading the team to discover that Will had forgotten that he met Helen's father when he was in his semi-dead state. Upon remembering a symbol Helen's father had burned onto his arm in the memory, Helen fits pieces of puzzles together--a crystal object and a map inside of a book of art. Interlocking the two, where two identical symbols are, a miniature city in holographic form appears. Helen remarks that her father must've sent her on a chase to find the city, as it was far advanced, beyond human means. Soon after, Helen, Will and Kate are called to help an Abnormal in a building. Although there seems to be no one there, and Kate and Will leave, someone is waiting for Helen.

You remember that Adam guy I mentioned above? Well, um, this is sort of awkward, so I'll just come out with it: he's kind of still alive! (Sanctuary likes this trope. See: John Druitt and Nikola Tesla.)

He beats Helen up quite a few times, revealing that they're operating on sped-up time inside the building, while the world outside is slowed, or "stopped". Adam has a device that lets him teleport through the building, causing him to get a leg up on Helen. Helen, of course, quickly pelts herself into danger's way by tackling him off the side of the building, so he has to teleport them both inside. He threatens to blow up his work and himself along with it if Helen doesn't take him along with him, to which Helen's forced to do. Back at the Sanctuary, after a few blood tests, Helen finds out that Adam's dying of radiation poisoning, and soon afterward, she learns that she is, too, because she went through the same void he repeatedly went through. Adam claims that he knows where the cure is: the city they've been trying to find. Helen refuses to let him anywhere near the map, but that control is soon cast from her hands--Tesla consults the Sanctuary charter, and points out that Helen is dying and therefore the charter rules her unable to operate as the Head of the Sanctuary network.

Will is put into command. In command, Will lets Adam consult the map, and he points out a missing keystone. Helen and John travel together using John's teleportation to find it, and when they do, they're shown a map reference to where the entrance of the city is. Helen, Will, Kate, Henry are the ones allowed; Druitt and Tesla aren't allowed to come on the expedition, since they could trip off anti-vampire measures (Helen had Tesla build a source-blood shield for her, so she could go), and Adam was deemed too unstable to come along. The four are separated at the gateway, with Helen and Will making their way on foot to the city while Kate and Henry take a darker, catacomb-y, more not-as-direct route. Helen and Will, however, are found by the city's guards, and the head of the city sentences them to death for their actions. Because they are not citizens of the city, they--Helen, Will, Kate and Henry--are executed without trial.

Character Personality: Helen is a Victorian woman, and she never lets anyone forget it. She has a certain grace and gravity to her actions that is classic and haunting, making the impression she leaves very true and ethereal at the same time. As the Head of the Sanctuary Network, meaning the entire function, she has an enormous amount of work on her shoulders, and manages it all without a hitch--with time to read up on the Abnormals and connect with them. (Well, she stays off of Twitter.) She can forge a deep connection with an Abnormal she just met, part of her connection being pure fascination and the other being genuine concern. She is a scientist, a doctor--the world she's in fascinates her. She's lived long enough to see beauty in everything, and horrors around every corner, and appreciates most if not all living life. "The great ones dare to believe in the unbelievable.", she says. Helen certainly believes in hope, perhaps needs hope to get through her daily life.

Thinking as a scientist, one would think that most of what she's seen is impossible--and that sheer fact may be what's giving her the strength to fight on, to keep pushing boundaries, help and discover new souls, new life, new hopes that she can nurture and help blossom. Though she is polite and always well-mannered, she is still a human--meaning she gets angry and has deep faults. When she loses her daughter, she falls into a steep depression that consists of her stubbornly trying to find Ashley, because she still wants to believe that Ashley is alive. When her limbic system is compromised because of a parasite, a lot of Helen's raw emotions surface, such as her loneliness in her age. Helen acts like a mother to pretty much everyone, which is mostly something she's cultivated on her own, from living so long and having so many people to take care of.

Helen has had to bury countless friends, 'family', and probably lovers as well. She's experienced so much loss that life is something miraculous for her, so she tries to keep on living. She tends to be playful or even flirty--sometimes for a reaction, sometimes because she feels like it. (Hell, Helen tends to do a lot of things because she knows she can achieve it or do it--remember, female doctor in the Victorian era?) She has a very stubborn position on power--it's not that Helen likes power, because she doesn't take advantage of her position as the Head of the Sanctuary Network, but when she has it, she will use it. She very much prides herself in her position--she's worked at it for so long it's part of who she is, and the thought of leaving the Sanctuary willingly is one she can't ever picture, even if she does tell Will that the position will be handed down to him if anything drastic should happen to her. Helen's niche is in the Sanctuary--she's never better than when she's thrown a loop. (Which is hilariously evident when Will takes over the Sanctuary when Helen's dying--upon finally seeing each other after a hard day, he sarcastically remarks that she can enter the room as long as she knows what 'product per capita' or something similar is in Norwegian. Helen offers him the phrase in perfect Norwegian, earning a sigh from Will.) When Helen has a job to do, you can be reassured that she'll do it 200%. She's very focused and gets the job done quickly and efficently.

Despite it all, she's a very private person. The only reason she lets Will in so soon is because she knows she played a part in introducing him into the world of Abnormals and in a way, shaped his future. It's normally much harder to get near her--such an example would be Kate, given how Helen quite obviously doesn't trust her at the beginning, but slowly began to adopt her as a sort of daughter. Helen tends to adopt people into her makeshift 'family', no matter who it is, and once they're in, there's little chance of them leaving.

Powers: Helen doesn't exactly have a "power", not like her four comrades. Her genes were manipulated with the Source Blood in such a way that it allowed a very passive but powerful trait to form. "Longevity", which is what Druitt and most probably others refer to her "power" as, lets her live far longer than any human would dream was possible, with slowed (if any) visible effects. She is currently 160.

Samples
First person: [ the video feed cuts on to show Helen sitting at a desk, chewing on a fingernail, leafing through various pages of hastily-written notes. she writes notes in a notepad on the left side. she addresses her laptop, glancing up sometimes in between notes. ]

Oral knowledge passed from person to person--it's amazing that the nature of Bending and Unmaking hasn't been completely lost. The nature of the human, or, even Abnormal will is hard enough to understand without this strength. The fact that Nautilius is able to utilize this power within each and every one of us, not selected to a few, speaks volumes about the evolutionary nature of the world itself. Bending, meaning to will things into existence, and Unmaking, meaning the opposite, could make someone without an ability extremely powerful. It could, in a way, feed someone's megalomania, or save someone from their dark past.

Those who are powerless and power hungry could have whatever they want as long as their will is strong, and those who are powerless and prey could have a way of fighting back. As for Unmaking, it works the same way, as does opposing Bending. It's a fascinating ability in such a detached world. I have no inclination towards finding such power for myself, but I'd like to hear from those who've either gained their powers back or gained a new ability here.

Perhaps there's something I've missed in my frequent chats with the locals and various others. Would anyone care to suggest any other information that I haven't found yet, or divulge their experience?

Third Person: In the Sanctuary, the library was so spacious that, sometimes, Helen found herself getting completely and utterly lost in the tomes, on her own journey accompanied by wordsmiths and verbal art. She could start at 6AM and not be done reading just one bookshelf a week afterward (and sometimes she got less sleep than that), and not because she was a slow reader. The thought of having something bigger than that--it was extraordinary. So, when Helen stepped into Nautilius's library, her mouth parted in shock, and she gently touched the wall as if to make sure it was real. A slow, joyful smile spread over her face, and she let out a quiet laugh. She was sure that if this sort of library existed back home, Nikola would surely find some way to spend time in here, other than the wine cellar.

She moved through a few aisles, fingertips gently brushing against the books she passed. "Fascinating," she murmured to herself, blue eyes taking in each title she passed. "Another world, but it seems that they still use the Dewey decimal system. That could be a result of the inhabitants here, however..." Her faint British accent could be heard down the whole aisle, the pure silence making her stop to turn and look behind her. An ache started in her heart--she was so used to explaining everything to Will, Kate or Henry that she did it on instinct, even when they weren't around. She'd have to think instead of speak aloud. She was so used to it, she wasn't sure if she could quite function like that, she thought, ruefully.

Helen turned her eyes back to the tome right in front of her, a bittersweet smile lighting her face. Sherlock Holmes. Her dear friend, James Watson, immortalized in text. It was one of her favorite books--a little bit of home, she supposed, in an unsure and unknown territory. How odd, then, that she stumbled upon that book first. She took a step back, looking at all the others, recognizing some and tilting her head at others. Were these Nautilius's local books? From what she'd gathered from the people who were talking to each other over the local network, it seemed that everyone was from a different world, and if that was the case, perhaps their knowledge were complied in the library itself--she doubted that these classics had been here since before all the foreigners.

Helen stopped at the end of the aisle, trying to pinpoint exactly where the librarian was, or if their libraries even worked the same. Perhaps you needed to pay. No matter--she didn't need that book, but she was curious on the information that even a simple library was showing.