01 | holo | the sanctuary (taxon)

[longaevus]

She was stunned. Helen wasn't quite sure what to refer to the feeling as but that was what it became. She had to resist the urge to audible gasp as the setting in front of her fully worked its way through her mind

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[holo]

[tin_hearts]

If there's one thing Cain felt more than ambivalent about, it's new arrivals. He joined the police force as a young man because he wanted to help people, and that's something he's carried all the way into Taxon. He still wanted to help, he just found himself at a loss as to how. With one glitch following back to back on the other these past few months, you had to roll with the punches.

And that was yet another reason he wasn't sure how he felt about greeting newcomers. It needed doing, but sometimes he doubted he was the man for the job.

Nevertheless, he couldn't sit and idly watch the woman when he knew how distraught he himself had been when he found himself in that very same room almost a whole year ago.

"Ma'am," he said, keeping his tone of voice calm but professional. He didn't like the look of blood on her hands. "Are you hurt? Do you need assistance?"

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

Helen froze, dropping her hands from the wall as she listened. She turned her head in a brief glance, slowly turning herself once her eyes had found something else. The once empty room now containing the image of another - something she had to describe as image due to the lack of a physical body. It reminded her much of how Praxis has originally look when she'd first discovered the map, the projection of it so real and yet... so distance.

She ignored the questions, trying to pull her thoughts together to focus on the bigger questions. Her mind still fell back to Nikola, those all important moments; she had no time to waste and yet she couldn't help but be intrigued, to want to know more. Instead Helen found her question, posing it and hoping that what she received wouldn't be entirely too vague.

"What is this?" For wanting an answer of something more than vague her question was particularly nondescript in itself. "Where am I?" Helen clarified, hoping that would be somewhat better.

[ holo ]

[tin_hearts]

Okay, thought Cain. First things first.

"This is Taxon, an underground city located far away from what you call home. The room you're currently held in is the same room we all go through upon arrival. We don't know why we've been taken, only that there is no way out. We're a small group of people here, from all manner of places. Concepts like time and space seems to have little meaning to our captors, as almost none of us share a common place of origin."

He paused, clearing his throat - maybe he'd said too much too soon, and the last thing he wanted was to overwhelm the woman when she very probably had enough on her plate already.

"My name is Wyatt Cain." He held up his arm to show the bracelet fused into his skin. "Every newcomer gets one of these, and the techno trinket directly below my hologram is called a tablet. It's our means of communications and data gathering. If you pick it up, the door out of there will open. You're in a building located in the central part of Taxon called the Sanctuary."

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

Helen remained quiet even after he'd spoken, not overwhelmed but simply attempting to digest what she'd heard - or at least understand it on the basic level. Taxon? She had never heard of it but there had been a time when she hadn't heard of Praxis either. It was entirely possible that this was a similar concept although how she had arrived there? Could there have been something in the chamber

[Audio]

[imperial_long]

The English accent is what first attracts Long's attention-- his tablet is quietly on, sitting on the library reference desk while he is running over the final version of his translation and trying to grasp the ramifications it might have on the city.

But the sound of a voice penetrates, the accent, the touch of-- well, it isn't home, not for him, but all the same there is familiarity. Nostalgia.

He reaches a dark-skinned, long-fingered hand for the tablet, slides it across the counter towards him, and taps his pen absently against his chin as he studies the new arrival. After a few moments he presses the button to reply, sound only.

His own voice sounds just as English as the woman's-- the textbook-correct enunciation of Oxford or Cambridge punctuating his speech.

"Madam? My name is Mayland Long. I am afraid that your... Nikola, whoever he may be, is not present. You are a very long way away from home."

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

Helen stopped, caught in the moment between trying to find something and wondering what the bloody hell was going on. Add to that a voice from seemingly nowhere - there'd been no one in the room when she'd arrived and there had been no signs of anyone entering, at least none that she'd heard.

So what was this?

Slowly she turned, confirming her speculations that no one was with her. She took one step forward, following it with another before turning it into a slow pace around the room. Small, circular and nowhere to hide.

And yet that voice was there. She hadn't seen any speakers or intercoms, at least not of any description that she knew, nor had the voice been in her mind.

Tentatively Helen answers, gauging how much to say on the little that she'd been given.

"Your words aren't particularly comforting." For all she knew this was whom had brought her here.

[ holo ]

[imperial_long]

He can see her staring around the room, hunting the source of his voice.

"Do you see the pedestal?" he offers. "There is a small device upon it, called a tablet. I am speaking to you through that.

"As for not being comforting..." the voice sighs. "You are in no immediate danger. But we, all of us, are in a type of a prison, so I do not know how comforting I should be. Suffice to say you are not alone, here, and while this prison contains dangers, under normal circumstances they will not come from your fellow inmates. Of whom I am one.

"Might I ask your name, madam?"

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

Under normal circumstances? How very reassuring. She didn't particularly like nor appreciate any of what she'd been told; there was no way to truly back it up, nor did she want to accept it as truth - not when Nikola needed her.

She'd seen the pedestal on arrival, now noticing the tablet. Helen was weary to say the least, all of this was panning out a little too simply - at least with what he was saying. It did give her pause for thought, though - was this actually some strange form of a prison? She didn't take kindly to being captive, if so.

"Helen Magnus." It seemed safe enough, perhaps, and the first thing that had come to mind rather than one of her other names. "And what would cause a deviation from these 'normal circumstance'?"

[holo]

[rose_tainted]

"Hello there," Rose said in a warm, friendly tone, careful not to startle the other woman too much. She had noticed the accent-English like her own and Rose wondered what part she came from. There weren't many people here from her home country and she was always keen to speak to them; it had been a while since Rose had been to England and she really did miss it.

"Has anyone told you where you are yet? Maybe I can help."

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

"Information would be of some use." She knew a little from what she had already been informed of although she would not deny the opportunity to hear more.

"We're in Taxon. No one knows how we're here or why." It was a pretty simple but accurate summary.

[ holo ]

[rose_tainted]

"I'll tell you what I know," she replied sincerely, meaning what she said. Rose knew what it was like not knowing everything when she arrived and how difficult it was.

Rose nodded. "That's correct. I can also say that our captors look like hamsters. I'm completely serious about that by the way."

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

"You've seen them?" That surprised her more than the hamster part - that may have been odd but not so much considering her world.

[visual]

[justaddmarbles]

That voice was familiar, in a hazy sort of way, and studying the hologram Glitch could almost recall the woman. She was from his early days in the city, and if he hunted around his newly-clear memories enough he might be able to dredge up...a party. Two parties, one not long after he'd arrived and then the first one at the palace, and she was--

"Helen?" he ventured. "Is that...are you Helen?"

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

Helen was starting to get used to these interruptions - although she had been told how to leave the room she wasn't quite finished with her search. Moving over again to the tablet she looked at it - seeing the face of the man on it rather than a holographic projection of it.

"I am, yes." This was curious. "And you are?" The tone of her voice makes the phrasing of that sound far more polite - which it was meant to be.

[visual]

[justaddmarbles]

"Name's Glitch," he replied, slightly disappointed. He hadn't known her well, and he knew very well that people frequently came back to the city without remembering it, but the idea of having someone else familiar with his earlier days had been nice. So many were gone now...

"And-- sorry, I know you're already dealing with a lot of stuff which ending up here and all but I...may have stumbled upon one of the weirder things, i-if you're ready for it."

That damn stammer popped up at the worst times, still.

[ holo ]

[longaevus]

"It's nice to meet you." There was a small smile to her tone, and a mental curiosity over his disappointment; she wouldn't ask, at least not yet anyway. She was rather curious on what it was that he had for her.

"I'd be interested in hearing it." Helen wasn't certain if ready was the word but if it could help her learn something she wasn't about to say no.