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And To All Sanctuary Shall Be Given
helen magnus
"My father taught me that we have more to learn by protecting life, all life, than by simply destroying it." sanctuary
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She's very good at bluffing people. She's had over 200 years to perfect her medical skills, operated in the trenches of Verdun, in northeast France, during WWI. Can defend herself and outsmart a great number of creatures and people. She has increased durability and is immune to all conventional illnesses, diseases, etc, due to the Source Blood in her blood and DNA. She's an amazing shot with a gun, is able to adapt to just about any situation, has an almost photographic memory, and is capable of thesis level computer coding. Her survival skills are almost unmatched, as she can turn anything into a weapon and map out an entire warehouse in her head despite only seeing it twice. Her fields of study are biology, anatomy, chemistry, medicine, teratology, crypto-zoology, and xenobiology.
canon fluency assumed fluency recognizes haltingly or with help
CANONPOINT: TLV: 4x13: Sanctuary For None Part 2 AGE: TLV: 274 HEIGHT: 5'10" HAIR: brunette EYES: blue STATUS: TLV: Nikola Tesla OCCUPATION: TLV Doctor RESIDENCE: TLV: 220 HISTORY: My house, my rules GIFS: Magnus through the ages BACKTAGGING: Y 4TH-WALLING: N THREADJACKING: Y MIND READING: ASK FIGHTING: Y ROMANCE: TLV: N INJURY: Y KILLING: ASK |
Controlled, even-tempered, stubborn, compassionate, intelligent, isolated, lonely. Helen Magnus is all of these traits and more. Earlier in her life, her kindness and compassion were easy to see in everything that she did; time has seen her isolated, with tight control over her emotions, defying fear just as easily as she refuses attachments. "I don't think the bout of occasional loneliness is too high a price for what we do," she once said. Except for her, it's a near-constant state of being.
Having lived for so much longer than any human ever should, Helen has a difficult time relating to people. Dinner parties are hell and making connections is not easy for her. Despite all of this, she has an equally difficult time losing those people in her life. She fears getting close to people, but she doesn't do well alone. Children are a particular weakness for her and she takes them under her wing most of all, despite having gone through the pain of losing her own daughter. That particular wound has not been, and will never be, healed. Of all the losses Helen has suffered in her long, long life, Ashley's was the one that made her give up. If it weren't for a vision of the entire world's destruction, she would not have continued. But Helen is not the type of person to put her own pain and desires in front of the world's needs; she will not sacrifice all just for herself.
Even with that duality in Magnus, she has the innate need for connection with other people and an inherent ability to draw those around her out of their shells because she absolutely does care. She fights for the little ones, the people and creatures who cannot fight for themselves or who need her help the most. At her core, Helen needs people; she cares and she loves and whether or not she wants to she makes attachments. She likes teaching others and helping them just as much as she likes learning from them. All life has meaning; all life has value and she believes fully in the importance of learning and protecting, rather than destroying. In keeping this truth, she has become willing to do anything for this goal, up to and including the risk of sacrificing those people closest to her in order to save those in need. She takes responsibility for every action she takes, every decision she makes, everything that happens, even if the responsibility is not hers to take on and that comes through in how she fights, both to survive and against all odds and all adversaries. For good or ill, she takes on the weight of the world and every bad decision she makes, she owns, while the guilt eats at her. She does what others can't and she would never want anyone else to take those choices from her because she doesn't want them to feel what she feels. In turn, she barely allows anyone to see what she feels, preferring to hold herself to a higher standard. If she does feel anything, if she grieves for whatever loss or event has happened next, she does so alone. She doesn't like asking for help and likes even less having anyone see her at a time of pain. She is so very alone and that unbearable loneliness plays a large part in how isolated she keeps herself emotionally.
Her Sanctuary staff is her family and she loves them each as such. The people she considers hers are the ones she will protect at all cost, even to the detriment of her own personal self. She saves lives, personal consequences be damned. Her normal state of being is calm and even-tempered, but the second one of her people is threatened, all bets are off; she snaps and heaven help whoever is responsible. She isn't above making threats or blackmailing; whether or not she will go through with any of them is usually up in the air. Most likely she will, if pressed. She isn't the type to make empty threats unless she knows exactly how her audience will react and plays to that knowledge. She would give her life for her people in a heartbeat if she could and she does everything she can to keep them safe, alive, and happy. Even so, even with how important people are to her, she keeps space between herself and everyone around her. She has the ability to stand right next to someone but keep miles of distance between and if she doesn't like something that comes up in conversation, she leaves rather than face it because she can afford to. She is far too used to getting her own way, is confident in herself and her physical presence, and takes whatever space she needs or wants regardless of what the people around her want. She won't sacrifice them or their safety for her own emotional state, but if she needs something and believes she can get it without causing harm to anyone else, she absolutely will take it. If the price she has to pay for saving lives is further isolation through alienating and upsetting everyone, then that is the price she will pay.
In direct relation to that is her inherent need for control. She calls herself a chronic micro-manager and she absolutely is. She has to have control and she's very confident in herself when she does have it. When it gets wrested away from her by any force is when she feels threatened and afraid, unsure of how to proceed. She always prepares for everything, as much as a result of that need for control as it is her scientific and intelligent sides refusing to take unnecessary risks. She likes the control of her life and the idea of controlling how she eventually dies, but she's tired of living and she's afraid to die. Despite that, she absolutely is a survivor and that shows in everything she does. If given the choice, she will fight to live because it's all she has and her fear of death is stronger than her resignation in life. She controls her emotions and every piece of her life that she can. Losing that control of her emotions is the red flag of her life. One of the most important parts to Helen Magnus is the fact that she is not in any way a runner. Her fight or flight instinct turns to fight every time and she never backs down from a threat. She much prefers to figure it out and diffuse the situation, always going into the unknown with her mind open and ready for peace, but if pushed she will 100% fight back with everything she has, giving her all in each situation. She's always thinking, always at work, and her mind almost never rests. Her longevity and her intelligence are both blessing and curse, giving her an unending lifespan in which to work.
People who push her too far might be privy to her walking away from a fight; if they don't let her do that or if they hit one of her hot buttons, she can and will raise her voice and she's not afraid to fight back, physically or verbally. Her hot buttons are Druitt, her daughter Ashley, her work, and her Sanctuary staff. The first two are the ones that can make her go from zero to RAGE in the matter of seconds, though she usually keeps a tight hold on herself even when angry. It's when she starts to slip, when someone doesn't let her walk away to keep her cool, that she loses her temper and nothing good ever comes of that. Pushed to the limit, she fights with abandon and she though she knows she can and often figures out how, she never manipulates unless she has no other choice. For survival, literally or figuratively. No matter what happens, she has a hard time apologizing for anything and often won't because what she does, even in the heat of the moment, is honest and true.
Helen has a quick wit and a good sense of humor, one that she uses as needed and the other that she reserves for those she has come to connect with. She's a scientist above everything else, prodding for answers before letting emotions set in. Despite respecting people who can go toe-to-toe with her in a battle of wits and intelligence, people who can and will challenge her, Helen absolutely will steam-roll right over anyone if she needs to, particularly when saving lives is at stake. She fights until the bitter end and then she swallows the bitter pill herself and buries it because what else can she do? No one else can do what she does; no one else should see what it does to her. They need someone strong to lead and so she gives them that constant image of strength and confidence. Fear and pain do not make her give up. Instead, they just make her fight harder. Regardless of her personal feelings, she will always get the job done. Even so, there are times where she will let her guard down and lean on someone else, even if they aren't aware that she's doing so. She takes comfort in their words and actions and those people are what keeps her going in her darkest hours. Helen spends so much time and energy saving other people that she sometimes forgets to try to save herself, leaving herself out of the equation until someone reels her back in, because everyone else is far more important to save than she is.
| MAGNUS + ABNORMAL + SANCTUARY TIDBITS |
 Sanctuary Abnormal oohh 1909 gregory mounted an expedition to find it but never did Headcanon | Helen Magnus late 1940's. i wonder if it was related to the war | NAMED  HEADS OF HOUSE Misc who knows the real reason. i'm betting an abnormal >> because sanctuary |
| QUOTES |
sanctuary for all
fata morgana
folding man
kush
the five
requiem
revelations
end of nights
eulogy
hero
pavor nocturnus
next tuesday
penance
sleepers
kali
| firewall
bank job
trail of blood
animus
the hollow men
awakening
normandy
into the black
resistance
fugue
chimera
the depths
sanctuary for none
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CODES FOUND @
tlv inventory