Snippet #2506828

Helena opened up the bag she carried, carefully moving her toy out of the way and taking out something old, worn and faded. A large refill paper book that looked to have been far overused.

She shifted the battered looking chunk of old copypaper, held together with duct tape and bulldog clips at the time. Plenty of people had tried to grab it off her as a means to upset her, but while she often came across as a bit clumsy in her hideous multicoloured sweater so was surprisingly fast. No-one had managed to get hold of the ratty notebook.

And it was just as well from Helena's point of view.

The book was her Field Guide. Of sorts. It contained all the notes she'd made on the corrupted Otherworld. Diagrams, maps, lists. Sketches of the creatures and plants, what could help you and what could tear you to pieces, from years of personal experience. It was downright necessary, when so much of the OW was based around obscure rules and childish logic. It'd saved her more times than she could count. She could give them copies of this to help matters along.

Lena looked round and her gaze set on her first target, that of Jessi, who was standing with sme of his friends, who were already looking at her with some degree of disdain. She was pretty used to it. She had, for as long as she could remember, been some form of social pariah, picked last for any team going, generally at a loss when students were asked to find a partner and usually placed with someone who accepted very grudgingly and interacted the minimal possible, and those were the people that didn't really strongly dislike her. It was the being picked on that was more of an issue. She'd taken a million hits to the face in dodgeball, had her drink or lunch emptied over her head more times than she could count, and had been shoved fully clothed into the swimming pool to the amusement of most of the class at least a dozen times.

Lena was an individual who came across as sufficiently offputting that no-one really seemed to feel sorry for her, or at least if they did they kept it very much to themselves, and Lena herself had never reported any incidences to the school itself...well..Lena had her doubts they'd take her seriously even if she had wanted to do that. Most of the teachers were convinced she must have been some kind of druggie, and 'random' locker searches always seemed to end up at hers. She'd once been dragged up before the pincipal and her parents called in to confront her with a packet in her bag...which'd turned out to be some basil her cousin, who went to a different school, had taken from her garden to give Lena for home economics. Her parents were pretty wealthy and fairly influential, and hadn't really appreciated getting dragged up in the middle of the day to scrutinize their daughter's seasoning choices, and they'd caused enough of a fuss that the heat was off her for a little while. Still, she was aware that if she wanted any adult intervention in matters at schools he was pretty much ut of luck.

The young woman trotted up to the group.
"Jessi." she spoke, adopting a sort of tone as if she were about to broker a business deal, which did not really follow into what she said after that.
""They say that you need to come back to Otherworld. I've been trying to sort things out by myself but it isn't working. I'm willing to put everything behind us if you and the others come back and help me. Archer is being extremely difficult and I'm having some serious trouble with the Sentinel recently..."