MAG 187: Checking Out

An exploration of hospitality. Recorded by The Archivist in Situ.
==Pre-Statement==
John encounters Helen at her domain. She comments on the fact that Martin is not with him as he did not want John to be with him in his domain. John reveals he does not actually want to kill Helen and does not want Martin to ask him to kill her. He enters into the domain as the only other path is "rather full of spiders." 
Helen promises it will be fun but is upset that John immediately Knows the way through. John does not trust or like Helen and is still upset about her taking Helen Richardson even if it was to "save him" from Michael. John says he liked Helen Richardson and felt solidarity towards her paranoia. He never got to know her enough to learn about the negative parts of her and though he feels he could have grown to dislike her, he never got the chance and is instead stuck disliking Helen. He asks her to show him the quickest way through the domain instead of trying to hide her victims or stalling to try and figure out if there is a way to destroy him. 
He asks how long she has been working with Elias and though she denies it, he does not trust her. She does not want him and Martin to find a way to reverse the Change. Helen has been "nice" to him and that has always made him distrust her even more because of the nature of The Spiral. He asks her to manifest a room that he can do a statement in and she obliges despite commenting that the room will be made of her.
==Statement==
Note: This statement is voiced by both Helen and John
A woman walks through the corridors of the hotel. She is looking for her son. The lady at reception had said to walk in a certain direction, but it led her to a dead end. She feels guilty that she has left her son all alone in this hotel, and is trying to get to him as fast as possible. She bangs on every door, finally noticing that she has blisters. How many doors has she knocked on? 
She sees Helen up ahead, and asks her to help find her son. Helen says that it would be a pleasure, and would love nothing more to help them. Though she does hate to see guests leave. Her arm is bleeding but she does not remember cutting it. Helen bandages her arm and it starts to bleed more. There is something behind Helen's smile that is not quite right, but she looks away. She becomes more disoriented, and continues to knock on doors. She tries to ignore the blood on the carpet, her haggard reflection in the mirrors, and the laughing and smiling and the chatter that has followed her since the reception. She then hears John recording his statement, and heads toward him.
==Post-Statement==
The woman stumbles upon John and Helen and asks for help to find room 288, where she thinks her son is. John tells her that there is no room 288 but Helen steps in to "help" her find it. John tells her Helen is lying which causes the woman to realize that Helen is the one who has been tormenting her. John and Helen argue while the woman continues to beg for help. She reaches out for John but he yells at her not to touch him and pulls back, causing her fall to the floor crying. Helen comments on how monstrous he is acting right now and removes the woman after John threatens to make her an avatar. 
John has come to a decision after seeing Helen interact with her victim and is going to destroy her. He was hoping he was wrong about her and that she genuinely cared but now realizes she is too dangerous to be kept alive. She convinced them that she was still a friend but it was just a distortion of the truth. John says she is "the question of what lurks behind a smile." She hurt and helped them at the same time without ever seeming like she fully betrayed them, and does not even really have motive for it. She wants to stop John from turning back the world since it is perfect for The Spiral and could be a serious threat to John and Martin. 
She says that she will not do anything but John begins trying to destroy her. He tries several times but she keeps changing herself and her location to make it impossible to focus The Eye on her. Helen is actually scared but lies about it. She offers him a door to leave but he refuses to take it, instead grasping onto the lie like a string, finally managing to focus The Eye on her and unravels her entire being while she pleads for him to spare her. Destroying her unravels the domain as well since it was also The Distortion, so John leaves.
Outside he finds Martin and tiredly tells him that he killed Helen. John asks about Martin's domain, and receives some vague comments about self reflection. Martin is somewhat upset about the death of Helen and takes some time to mourn, but understands that John had reason to do it.
==Continuity==
*Related Entity: The Spiral
*John met the original Helen Richardson in MAG 47
*Helen "saved" John from Michael and took over as the distortion in MAG 101
Category:The Magnus Archives Episodes