#it's the one where elias just. murders jon immediately

[lizard-queen-izzy]

I Hate Everything About You

Summary: What if Jon and Tim's fight at the end of MAG 65 had gone a little differently? [Most of the dialogue is from the transcripts so obviously full credit to Jonny for those lines.] Word count: 1952 Author's note: It's finally here! Sorry to keep you all waiting, but it's here now! I would apologize in advance but, I'd have to feel remorse to apologize so.

------------------------------

The tape recorder clicked back to life. 

“Supplemental. It looks like my posting on a few of the more tech-savvy boards appealing for statements has worked. While the incident itself seems ultimately inconsequential, I was able to convince Tessa to have a look at Gertrude’s laptop, claiming to have locked myself out,” Jon turned to the now glowing screen of the laptop. “I don’t know what she did - something about “command lines’’ and “administrative privileges” - But I now. Have. Access.” he let out a slow, shaky breath. “I’m almost afraid-” he froze at the sound of the door creaking open. Tim stepped through the door.

“Hey, where did you put the-” He stopped at the sight of Jon hunched over the recorder. “Oh. Sorry. Didn’t mean to disturb you while you were being suspicious-”

“It’s fine.” Jon cut him short before he could drag this nonsense out again.

“No, no, I’ll - catch you when you’re not scheming.” He threw his hands up and backed out the door, turning and reaching to pull it shut behind him. Jon knew he should leave it at that. But he couldn’t help the words that spilled from his mouth, unfortunately, loud enough for Tim to hear.

“No need to take that tone-” Tim whipped around faster than Jon thought possible.

“What?” There was a venom in Tim’s voice, the look of disbelief on his face made something twist in Jon’s stomach. He straightened in his seat, attempting to smooth things back down to their normal levels of discomfort. “Nothing. I’ll see you later -”

“No.” Tim stepped back into the room, the door closing silently behind him. He turned the chair in front of Jon’s desk around, sitting on it. “What did you say?” He was leaning over the top of the back of the chair, still managing to tower over Jon even seated and at a distance. Jon once again readjusted in his seat, hoping he didn’t look as uncomfortable as he felt.

“I said there’s no need for the attitude, I know things have been difficult but -” Tim cut him off, again.

“Oh, they have, have they? ‘Things have been difficult?’ You’ve spent a month staring at that footage -” he leaned even closer, practically laying on the desk, “double-checking every moment, timing every tea break, looking at me like I somehow staged it - but no! You’re right: ‘Things have been difficult.’” His face was twisted in anger, his breathing was getting shallower. 

“It just seems a little too convenient!” Jon could feel himself getting worked up, could feel his composure slipping. “Excuse me!?” Tim sounded like he’d been shot. His mouth hung slightly agape, and Jon couldn’t place the look in his eyes.

“I mean, the CCTV is so corrupted that the police can’t just use it immediately, and then they happen to finish restoring it when I start really digging into the murder!? And if it was an option, why not clean it up when she first disappeared!?” He could hear himself getting louder, but he didn’t care. Tim wanted to talk, they were talking now. “And don’t get me started on the lack of cameras in the Archives - I know, I know Elias’s whole spiel about ‘signal degradation’ and ‘installation issues,’ but I don’t buy it. I mean, he got the CO2 system put in easily enough-”

“Shut. Up.” TIm’s voice cut through Jon, silencing him. He looked up to see Tim staring at the desk, teeth and fists both clenched, tight. 

“What-”

“Shut up. Just stop talking. I’m sick of this. I’m sick of you! We didn’t kill Gertrude, and no one wants to kill you, you pompous idiot!” 

“Now, listen here-” Tims hand slammed into the desk.

“No. No. You listen, for once. I was fine in research. Happy. Then you asked me to be transferred here and suddenly it’s all monsters and killers and secret passages, oh my!” He was standing now, making his way around to Jon’s side of the desk. Jon turned in his seat to face him, not yet daring to stand. “And the worst thing - the actual worst thing - is that no one here has my back. With any of it! Elias doesn’t care, Martin just wants a tea party, and Sasha - ugh - and you! - You’re treating me like I’m somehow to blame for it all, like I didn’t suffer the worst right alongside you!” His breathing was ragged now, and Jon stood to meet him. “Well, excuse me if my experiences have made me-” but Tim cut him off again, this time punctuated by shoving him backwards into the wall.

“Your experiences? Fuck you, I got eaten by worms because of you!” His fist was balled in the front of Jon’s shirt, holding him in place against the wall. Jon squirmed in his grasp, turning his head as far up as he could to try and meet Tim’s eyes. Tim’s gaze was hard and set on Jon and nothing else. If looks could kill, well, Jon was glad they couldn’t. 

“Well, what do you want? You want sympathy?” He spat the last word out, and something flashed in Tim’s eyes. His grip on Jon’s shirt tightened and he pushed him further into the wall.

“You know what, yeah! Little bit of basic sympathy would have been nice!” 

“Jane Prentiss was not my fault, I did not bring her to the Archives-”

“Oh, but you went off the deep end afterwards, didn’t you!? Everything went to hell-” He was gesturing wildly at the air with the arm not currently holding Jon in place. “-and when you actually needed to be in charge, you just hid down here and played with your tape recorder.”

“Well, what would you have me do!?”

Tim’s other arm hit the wall, caging Jon in.

“Anything! Anything that wasn't turning into a paranoid lunatic would have been fine! Anything that showed you could actually do your job!” His face was close now, and Jon could feel his breath on his cheeks. He took in a shaky breath. “Well,” he let out a strained laugh, “Elias clearly thinks-”

“Elias should’ve fired you weeks ago!”

“What!?”

“After everything you’ve pulled, you should be gone. But no! Instead, we all get to talk about how you’re feeling, because we’re worried about our stalker boss. I, I can’t do this anymore!” Tim was shaking now, and it was sending shockwaves through Jon. Jon didn’t know what to say to help, because nothing would fix this. Whatever he and Tim had had before Jane Prentiss, before the Archives? It was gone. Dead and buried and never coming back no matter how much he dug. He could stand there searching for words forever and none of them would undo the damage. So instead, he said all he could think to, knowing it would be the final nail in the coffin. “Then quit.” He heard his voice crack and prayed Tim didn’t, “If you hate it so much, leave your post in the Archives. Permanently.”

“Are you firing me?” The shock in Tim’s voice was like a twist of the knife Jon was trying to desperately pretend wasn’t driving its way through his heart. That same, unidentifiable look passed in his eyes, and it made Jon hesitate for a moment before proceeding.

“...I’m offering you a chance to quit. No notice period, I’ll even make sure you get the rest of the month’s paycheck. Just say the words.” The silence hung between them like a challenge. Neither of them moved, Jon could barely feel Tim’s breath on his face, almost like he was afraid breathing would be response enough. Tim slumped forward, forehead practically resting on Jon’s.

“I want to…” It came out more like a release of breath than words.

“So do it.” Jon’s voice dropped to match.

“I…Can’t.” His voice cracked, and Jon saw tears beginning to fall from his eyes.

“Why not?” 

“I, I can’t! I don’t know - why can’t I quit!?”

“I-I don’t know. But I don’t think I can fire you either…”

“What?”

“It’s this place.”

“...I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I. I’m trying to figure it out I-I’ve got the shape of it but…” He started to reach for him, to offer him some kind of comfort, but his hand froze halfway to Tim’s arm. It hung in the air along with all their unspoken words. “I’m sorry, Tim. Truly I am. But I cannot and will not trust you. This place isn’t right - you see that now. I don’t know how or why, but there is something very wrong with the Archives. And I don’t know who here is a victim of it - and who is an agent.” The words filled the ever closing space between them, and they stung like salt in an open wound. Tim took in a shaky breath. “So… What do we do?”

“For now…? I suppose we just… do our jobs.”

“I don’t want to.”

“No.” Jon let the moment hang in the air. Let it be for a moment, acceptance washing over him. This was it, the end. Tim made no attempt to move, still gripping Jon’s shirt like a life-line, his other arm firmly planted against the wall, both keeping Jon from moving an inch. Jon’s own arm still hung in the air beside them, half extended to touch the arm holding his shirt. Tim’s grip tightened on Jon’s shirt, which he didn’t think possible, and his face twisted like he was deep in thought. “Tim, can you please let go?” His voice was smaller than he was proud of, but he was worried to speak any louder would make Tim do something rash. His eyes were unfocused, still looking down at Jon, but more vaguely than trained on him like prey. He tried again, in case he hadn’t heard him. “Tim.”

“No.”

“Please..”

“SHUT. UP!” His voice boomed with the sudden raise in volume, and before Jon even knew what was happening, his lips were crashing into his own. It was nothing like he’d imagined kissing Tim would be like, though he knew he didn’t deserve the soft, careful kisses he had imagined. He knew he didn’t even deserve this one. He let himself be manhandled, Tim’s hand moving off the wall to hold his jaw firmly in place while he kissed him. Jon let his hand finally fall against Tim’s chest. Flat at first, then eventually allowing himself to also clutch Tim’s shirt, pulling him further into him. He didn’t know how long he had, but he was going to relish in it as long as he could. Tim’s weight shifted almost like he’d stepped closer, god could they get any closer, and then all at once he was gone. He pulled back, putting some distance between them, and stared at Jon.   His face was flushed, his lips bright pink and still wet from the kiss. And that look in his eyes was back though Jon still couldn’t quite place it. Jon took in a breath, his whole body shaking from the effort, he knew he must look pathetic. Neither of them said anything, the silence between them back, but so different now. Tim shuffled further away from Jon, back towards the door.

“...I. um, suppose I’ll see you later.”

“I suppose so.” The door creaked loudly behind Tim as he shut it. Jon fell back down into his chair, slumped with defeat. So they weren’t going to talk about it, great. What was one more thing they wouldn’t talk about? Jon thought of getting up and following Tim, but he knew Tim wouldn’t want that. His eyes fell to the tape recorder, wheels still spinning. 

“End supplemental.” The tape recorder clicked off. ------------------------------

#tma #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #tim stoker #jon sims #jontim #timothy stoker #jonsims/timstoker #jarchivist #savemejarchivist #jontimfic #fix it fic but also not at all #they kiss but it still ends sad #oopsie #theyre SO messy #they make me nauseous #but here you go

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

heyy 📓

I have this one fic that I’m deeply fond of but will likely never write due to the inexorable confines of linear time that’s basically assistant Jon trying to gaslight the entire archives that his husband, Gerry Keay, is dead. He is not. He is trying to bring Jon coffee and wondering why his dear, dear husband is shoving him into the bushes.

The idea is that Gertrude figured out that Elias was trying to groom this feverish nerd as her replacement (he is not a subtle man) and, as a matter of checkmating him, made Jon her assistant to basically give him an out from the contract in the case of her death. A deadman’s switch, basically. She didn’t explain shit to him with the transfer, however. She wanted to keep her options open until she decided how exactly to play the matter.

She did not account for this feverish nerd going off the deep end at record speed, stalking everyone including her and her goth buddy cop companion, who found the fact that there was stupid enough to stalk the man accused of violent murder and subsequent skinning inexplicably attractive. Jons reasoning was anyone who burns leitners couldn’t be THAT bad, which did NOTHING to prevent Gerry’s burgeoning crush. Gerry explains everything to him pretty immediately after catching him at the stalking thing and they’re sickeningly in love in record speed.

Gertrude is a lesbian but honestly they’re disgustingly in love enough to make her homophobic. Stop holding hands where she has to see it. She has some regrets about this decision.

Elias manages to finagle past the deadman’s switch by getting him to re-sign through a very compelling hiring bonus. The compulsion is a gun and the bonus is his beloved husband doesn’t get shot in the fucking head. Jon re-signs.

The thing is that he signs on as an assistant again, because Elias is faking him out. Jon and Gerry are both half-Become and terrified of losing themselves. They’re desperately trying to find a way of breaking Jon’s contract and escape with their lives and souls intact. He knows that, if Jon was the Head Archivist, he’d follow in Gertrude’s footsteps to slow his own becoming.

Except the Archivist is a what and the Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute is just a title. Elias basically tricks Jon into thinking he’s trying to make Sasha the Archivist by promoting her and letting Jon “get one over” on him by interfering with her Becoming, furthering his own in the process. Jon thinks he’s just there as Gertrude’s former assistant who knows about her plans to stop upcoming apocalypses. Gertrude never told him that she suspected Elias wanted him for the job, so he’s completely blind to the real stakes. He thinks he’s protecting Sasha from her own becoming and instead just sinking further into his own.

The thing is that Elias has made it very clear that if actually tells Sasha and the rest of the assistants anything, Elias will find a way to kill both him and Gerry. And Jon’s very much tied to the archives, so they’re limited in ways they can protect themselves. He’s stuck pretending that he knows nothing and working in the background to keep them safe as he can.

Cue “Let’s see if we can track down this Gerard Keay fellow in all these Statements” “We, we can’t” “why not” “He… died. Very tragic. So sad.”

In Jon’s defense he panicked and also if they find Gerard Keay it’s a very short jump to “hey Jon why did we find a marriage certificate with your name on it and this very spooky man’s name on it” “hey Jon why did we find all these statements that featured both you and him in these spooky circumstances hidden in your desk” “hey Jon have you been lying to us this entire time” “hey Jon is that Elias with a fucking gun.” It’s just. It’s a slippery slope. The only reasonable thing to do is fake his own husbands death.

Gerry finds this solution hilarious and is immediately and violently reminded of why he married this man.

(“Oh I’m sorry I can’t do the dishes I’m too dead for that” “Gerry do you want to die for real”)

Guest starring:

Michael’s aggressive, mandatory, and deeply troubling adoption of Jon during his time as an assistant (he wants to prove he’s better at keeping assistants alive than Gertrude)

Wlw/mlm violence starring Basira and Daisy (Basira met Jon via Sectioned matters and they got on like a house fire, and like. It’s really hard to find those couple friends, you know? Like sometimes she wouldn’t mind going out to a pub with her partner and a friend who has a partner and they like, get group discounts or something. Daisy come on it will be fun. Only Jon shows up with accused murderer Gerard Keay and Basira shows up with a fucking Hunter. Both of them think the other has terrible taste in partners)

Sasha and Tim trying to set up Martin with Jon, who is absolutely not married to Gerard Keay, because Gerard Keay is too dead to be married to anyone

#tma #jongerry #this one is so fun and silly I wish I had time to write it

[your-mom-friend]

Ranking Avatars on a Completely Arbitrary Scale Part 2: Apocalypse Boogaloo

Arson Montague: 11/10. What an icon. She is the moment. I want a full series surrounding her life. She had a Coffee Shop AU with Jack Barnabas and immediately stopped being evil and died. Poor girl. I can't help but find the circumstances of her existence so funny though. Her mom killed her dad while she's been pregnant. The cult didn't even want this to happen since she wasn't "conceived in the flame". According to the wiki they relented since "no one knew how that would even work". They threw away the childcare book because it didn't fit the aesthetic. She still turned out pretty okay. We love to see it.

Annabelle Cain: 8/10. We don't even know anything concrete about her childhood because she might not have told the truth. Go queen give us nothing! Yeah she terrified people at the arachnophobia study but she also used her powers to help Jarchivist and Co. so like? good for her? Confirmed Eldritch Horror.

Nikola Orsinov: 3/10 *in the tune* fuck this shit i'm out! fuck this shit i'm out! No but fr she gave me legit creeps and the forced skincare routine while hilarious to think about just makes me itch all over. Not a fan. Sorry bestie. Do have to give her points for being a whole Demon Mannequin and still being freaked out by The Coffin, as well as for being sassy with Elias. Points deducted for killing Danny

Nathaniel Thorp: 9/10 this man was requested and I had to look him up because i lowkey forgot but when I saw the start I remembered INSTANTLY I love him. He cheated death!! in a game!! what a madlad. Cut off his finger to prove a point lmao. Sad that he was a coward in the beginning but ah aren't we all? He died and then undied and then got better but couldn't eat or drink. What a character. @4bsent-damascus I hope you know you have excellent taste.

Melanie Queen: 8/10. Queen of owning her opinion. Not gonna call her a girlboss or whatever (she is but not for the eye thing) but if there's one thing she's unparalleled at it's owning her opinions. I feel for her! I really do. If I had a ghost bullet in my leg that decayed my morals enough to let me get all the pent-up anger out I would also not want it out. She was horrible to Jon for most of her run, but I also get it? Also, like fucking hell dude she had to mutilate her eyes to get her life back!!

Daisy Tonner: 8/10. She's a good person!! I love her. Points off for being a cop though. But she owned up to the harm she caused! And after disconnecting from The Hunt she worked VERY hard to make sure she wouldn't hurt people again and still allowed it to overtake her so she could protect her friends! Excellent character and she has incredible depth and complexity

Hezekiah WAKEly: 10.5/10 just wanted to lay in the dirt and get some sleep. What a mood. He didn't even really do anything! Yeah he was a little enthusiastic about the grave digging but I feel like that's understandable. If my only good sleep came after I dug graves I too would want to dig more graves. half a point off for murdering his friend though :/ I would've docked a whole point but his friend was a snitch and told the church which is pretty lame. Also it's so funny that the guy that wanted to sleep so bad had the last name Wakely

Maxwell Reimer: 5/10. His last incarnation kidnapped a kid which is a very bad thing to do, so don't. He is kind of a mid character to me honestly. Points for being a body hopper like my man JMag but eh. No real feeling about him sorry lads.

Tova McHugh: 5/10. Diversity Win! The person stealing your life force is a Demigirl! [This is from checking the wiki, where it's noted that Tova is referred to with both she and they pronouns.] This is more from personal dislike of the whole "I can do more so my life is worth more" philosophy they've got going on. Kind fucked up bestie. Was going to be a 4 but I kind of appreciate how much she's working for the philanthropy? In the sense of "I've taken their lives so I need to make it worth it so it wasn't in vain" which is has complicated feelings but I think it's good.

Micheal Crew: 6/10. Overall good character actually. He had some bad luck with the lightning strike and only went after the Lietners to get rid of the thing that was tormenting him. Devoted himself to The Vast and only then was a little insane. Don't think he even actually killed anyone? Just scares the shit out of them. Cool guy.

Julia Montauk: 7/10. Really cool to me actually. Feral, which we love to see. She's got such a fun dynamic with Trevor. She wasn't even like, a bad person at first. Just trying to live her life and then some pool of nightmare ink made heer feral and she's been living that monster hunting life ever since. Points off for keeping Gerry imprisoned and trying to kill Jon. Though I do wonder how she and Trevor managed to get into the UK at all considering they couldn't before

Trevor Herbert: 8.5/10. What a madlad. Showed up in season 1 like "what's up I'm Herb I'm homeless and I may have killed a man". Just wholesale unhinged. He also battled lung cancer. and addiction. and he won!! Incredible. Love his dynamic with Julia and I would've given him a 7 but I forgot about the addiction and lung cancer thing till I looked it up and I think that deserves an extra point that shit is hard.

This is part 2 of this post

Tag list: @pipis-pods @alas-shes-mad @4bsent-damascus @crabussy @u-suck-im-sick

Lmk who else you want to see and I'll add them in the next part (there's so many avatars it's insane there's like 80)

#rem rambles #tma #the magnus archives #tma s1 spoilers #tma s2 spoilers #tma s3 spoilers #tma s4 spoilers #tma s1 #tma s2 #tma s3 #tma s4 #nathaniel thorp #trevor herbert #julia montauk #nikola orsinov #agnes montague #annabelle cane #mike crew #tova mchugh #melanie king #daisy tonner #maxwell rayner #hezekiah wakely

[somanyfuckedupiftruebooks]

Mag 37

So the tapes have caught bits and pieces of pertinent conversation before, but it has always been in the process of recording a statement. This is the first time that Jon feels compelled to record information that is not a statement, just in case. It's not a coincidence that this happens immediately after he gets the Web lighter.

Also it's extremely funny how done with this Martin sounds from his first word. How may times has Jon forced him to go through the same sparse details?

I've said it before but it's great that Breekon and Hope just look like delivery men. No notable features, just big, wearing delivery uniforms and speaking in fake accents. Sounds legit to me.

Yes, but consider this: what if you got into the business of destroying knowledge. Maybe that would be a good career move for you.

What is Elias playing at, prompting Jon to destroy the table? If the NotThem gets Jon he'll have to replace the Archivist and restart his ritual prep, so why take such a risky move to try and secure a Stranger mark? Why bother going for a Stranger mark in the first place, if he intends to throw Jon into the Unknowing soon enough anyway? Maybe he (incorrectly) assumes that Jon would have one of his assistants destroy the table instead of going all 'extended sounds of brutal pipe murder' on it himself. Maybe it's a test of some kind?

Or maybe I'm overthinking it and Elias just gets off on watching Jon fuck around and find out.

First time Martin expresses care/concern for Jon <3 They've definitely been spending more time together off-tape. They've got to be basically roomates at this point.

Also the prompt of 'go to sleep dumbass' help us place this in time. I definitely think this statement takes place immediately following the last (instead of with the normal week long gap). Jon ended that statement running off to talk to Martin and starts this one obviously having been speaking to him for some time. In the gap between tapes he has also interrogated Rosie, spoken with Elias and presumably been to see the table in Artefact Storage himself. I think it's safe to say that during the interim everyone else has gone home for the night and Martin and Jon are now alone in the Archives after hours again.

If I'm right about that timing it means that this is the first time we know of that Jon has read two statements in one day (depending on how canon you consider the liveshow to be, and whether or not it 'counts' if Jon reads a genuine statement off-tape as he does in that show). We know the statements can take a lot out of him, so that's got to be contributing to his general state of exhaustion.

Also I've dragged Jon before for recording statements onto tapes that are already running, but in all seriousness I think that at this point the Eye won't allow him to turn off a tape recorder for good without feeding it. Once a tape recorder is playing, it must receive a statement, no matter how confusing it will be for any students or academics using the tapes for research.

I wonder what kind of reputation the Magnus Institute has in the wider world? We know it's generally a bad one, but also we see so many statement-givers coming to the Institute for help. Is that motivated purely by desperation, or is there an idea in the general public consciousness that if you are having a supernatural problem of some sort that TMI can help? We know that the Institute only exists to observe and record and helping people is not on their agenda, but we do have confirmation of instances where they have helped the general public. I am thinking of Piecemeal, where Lee Rentoul talks about how they helped a friend of his who thought he was being haunted realise that he wasn't. Maybe the Institute only helps in cases that have no connection to the Entities? That probably makes the most sense.

Very cool how this statement starts out as if it could be Lonely before taking a sharp turn into Desolation territory. It's not about how alone he is, it's about how much he has to lose.

I can't remember, is this the place where Agnes was born? I know this is the site of Gertrude's binding spell, but did she find the site of Agnes's birth to do this? That would make sense and explain the altar stone in the centre. But I am a bit confused by the trees. They were deliberately planted 50 years ago? The binding would have happened around 12 years ago, so Gertrude didn't do that. It also would have been before she was Archivist? I have no idea when Agnes was born (I have a terrible head for dates) but wasn't it during a forest fire that would have decimated this entire area? I can't imagine that those Lightless Flame freaks were planting new trees afterward. Maybe they just grew on their own because of spooky reasons.

So I happen to be in the car with my parents (two retired nurses) as I'm typing this and asked them what would realistically happen to a guy who drank boiling water. They both absolutely fucking lost it.

Mum: Severe burns all over his mouth and throat! He'd be in absolute agony.

Dad: Not his throat, you'd never swallow.

Me: It doesn't say if he swallowed or not.

Dad: You couldn't. Not in that amount of pain.

Mum: Only if it was literally forced down him.

Me: So you'd need to be hospitalised?

Both: YES.

Mum: Immediately! Your mouth would be absolutely ruined; you wouldn't be eating anything without medical intervention.

Dad: And if there was anything in his throat there's no treatment for internal burns like that. They'd just have to give him antibiotics and hope.

Mum: But he wouldn't have swallowed boiling water, that would be insane. It would just be his mouth.

Me: This says he just lay down for about half an hour to get over the pain, then he sort of just kept going like normal.

Both: Not a chance.

#reeah reacts to tma #mag 37 #a mag a day #the desolation #agnes montague #gertrude robinson

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 190 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: mowing the lawn.

LAVERNE: "Besides, you know that they sometimes go to a side tunnel for “private contemplation”. I think it’s sweet." CELIA: [Petulant] "They can contemplate privately here…" LAVERNE: "Can they? There’s not exactly many doors down here." CELIA: "No, I guess…" LAVERNE: "And the tunnels do have a tendency to echo…" Lol, okay, first I was like, how does Laverne know. But we know Melanie (and Georgie) occasionally gossip about sexuality, and with Laverne being Melanie's (former?) therapist, they probably just told her.

JON: "You can sleep here?" MELANIE: "You don’t have to, but it does pass the time." So not everything's unaffected by the Change in the tunnels if they don't need to sleep. Interesting, since this was definitely different at Salesa's. Georgie later says they do need food and water, but it sounds like the need has been drastically reduced. Also occasionally Watchers seem to come down into the tunnels as well, I guess? Since we'll hear about them also losing some of the people they saved.

MELANIE: "Yeah, I reckon it used to be a hideout of, um, you-know-who, uh, when he was living down here. It had supplies and everything." Hmm... I don't think we ever hear them talking about Leitner living in the tunnels. That seems to be something only Jon (and Elias perhaps) was aware of. The others only learned in MAG 92 that the dead guy was Leitner, and Melanie also wasn't even working at the Institute at that time this happened. Martin told her about the murder (of an to him still unknown person) in MAG 84. But it’s okay, things can of course happen off-screen and it makes sense that they talked about this at some point, since they started to use the tunnel to regroup in a way.

CELIA: "So, where were you two then?" JON: "Er… Pardon?" CELIA: "They saved you, right? From one of the nightmares? So, what was it?" This basically already establishes that everyone remembers what happened to them in their hellscapes. They would need to turn back time to avoid that.

GEORGIE: "Uh, no, they’re, they’re not – We didn’t rescue them." LAVERNE: "No? So where did they come from?" MELANIE: [Pointedly] "Great question. Jon, do you want to field that one?" Oh come on, Melanie, back to being an asshole...

GEORGIE: "Anyway… they’re passing through. They won’t be staying with us long." MARTIN: "Oh, er, right. Yes." I mean yeah, they’re here to try to change the world back and that won't happen here in the tunnels. Still, Martin's reaction says they didn't talk about their stay yet and is a bit taken aback by being already future-kicked-out.

LAVERNE: "Small world… Nice to finally put a face to the name." JON: "Uh, yes. Yes." Ohhhh, Jon is straight up not having a good time in London! Getting watched instead of doing the watching. Now getting judged by a person, who only knows him from stories told by a person who doesn't really like him... (And we saw in MAG 106 how that's going...) And he immediately gets it, first an awkward reaction, then a defeated one...

GEORGIE: "I see… Thank you Celia. Could you turn that off, please. [FOOTSTEPS] [Brusquely] Jon, a word?" God, Georgie still blaming Jon for the tape recorder is so painful to watch... (Adding that to the I-don't-like-Georgie pile...)

[REPEATED SOUNDS OF ENTHUSIASTIC TAPE RECORDER SMASHING] GEORGIE: "I can do this all day!" [JON SIGHS] Great comedy though XD

JON: "Look, the tunnels offer some protection, but clearly not enough to stop whatever is manifesting these recorders. If you smash this one, they’ll just make another one." That already sounds like the tapes aren't with the Eye <.<

GEORGIE: "… So what? You, just, want me to just leave the tapes running and hope?" JON: "I want you to accept that trying to stop them listening is only going to frustrate you." That some kind of wink to therapy? There are things you can't change. But you can learn how to deal with them.

JON: "They’re here for me. And maybe a bit for Martin. They seem to like him." Awww... Also no big surprise, since the Web also likes Martin. Has there ever been a tape recorder clicking on for someone other than Jon or Martin? I think the others either turned on the recorder and then got distracted or forgot to turn it off because they got distracted. Could be wrong though, I don't think I paid super special attention to this during a mag a day.

GEORGIE: "I, um… I think I owe you an apology." JON: "Oh?" GEORGIE: "I didn’t realise how bad things were for, well, all of you. I mean, I kind of knew, but seeing all this for myself, I… I cut myself off and… I’m not so sure that was the right thing to do any more." Nice to see that she now gets it. (at least a bit)

JON: "You had every right to." GEORGIE: "Yeah, but it didn’t exactly help, did it?" JON: "Georgie, you couldn’t have stopped this, believe me." Jon's right. Both times.

GEORGIE: "Well, obviously. Even Melanie doesn’t think you’d have been stupid enough to do this on purpose." That's... not that of a nice thing to say...

GEORGIE: "Also, uh, we found a pretty convenient nightmare that’s essentially just an endless supermarket." Gravity Falls S01 E05 The Inconveniencing, am I right?

JON: "… Georgie… Where’s the Admiral?" GEORGIE: [With difficulty] "He’s, uh… he’s fine. I guess. He’s enjoying himself, at least. He wasn’t immune, not like me and Melanie. And he’s a predator, pampered piece of fluff that he is. Turns out, there’s a place full of cats. And their prey." JON: "Poor thing." GEORGIE: "I go to see him sometimes. I think he’s happy, in his way. But, um… It’s hard to see him like that. He didn’t even know I was there." JON: "I’m sorry." Of course this is the thing most posts are about for this episode XD The internet is ruled by cats! (Or at least were to early internet days. I miss those days..)

MELANIE: "Then let it run. It’s just the two of us, and it’s not like we can attract any more attention to ourselves at this point, inviting the snoop-god’s favourite kid down for a chat." Asshole again, but I like “snoop-god's favourite kid” even more than the “Ceaseless Watcher's special little boy”.

MELANIE: "And? I guess the end of the world must’ve left me all snappy." MARTIN: "Well… I mean, y–" MELANIE: "Don’t. Don’t say it. I actually did a lot of work on my anger, you know?" Oh, and you think that gives you the right to be an asshole and forbids others from calling you out on your bullshit? Oh fuck you Melanie...

MELANIE: "Speaking of… uh, you and Jon, eh?" MARTIN: "Hmm?" MELANIE: "Congrats, took you long enough." It is kind of satisfying seeing people actually get together after you already prophesized it. Hm... I guess Melanie actually is a prophet. Just not for the thing people think her to be xD

MARTIN: "Oh yeah. I suppose, when you think about – I mean… Do we actually know each other? Really?" Uhhh, I didn't have the impression that they avoided each other during their time in the Archives. Melanie meets Martin in MAG 84, talks to him about finding Jude and the missing calliope in MAG 88, asks Martin where Elias is and Martin invites her to go out for drinks with Basira and him in MAG 98, Martin offers her the awkward I'm-sorry-you-got-tortured tea in MAG 110, she, Martin and Jon have been to Gertrude's storage unit together in MAG 113, and last but not least. She and Martin stayed behind during the Unknowing to pull off their plan to get Elias arrested. (Also pre-Peter time during Jon’s coma, I’d guess. They were all three, Martin, Melanie and Basira present for the Flesh attack.)

MELANIE: [Playing along] "Oh, um… [chuckle] I’m actually one of the prophets chosen to walk the end times unscathed." MARTIN: "Mmm. Mmm." MELANIE: "Yourself?" MARTIN: "Oh, I’m the antichrist’s plus one." They couldn't be more opposite xD And neither of them actually is what they claim to be (with Martin’s line referring to Jon not being the antichirst).

MELANIE: "I hate it. They just keep trying to interpret everything I do." Hahahahaha, feeling a bit called out here right now xD

MELANIE: "But don’t get me wrong… Georgie’s incredible. Um, and she’s, and she’s far, far too good for me. And I, I only hope she doesn’t realise that while there’s an apocalypse on. [HEAVY SIGH] Yeah. And what about Jon?" MARTIN: "Oh, you know Jon. He’s a complete mess. But, so am I and… I think we’re making it work. Communication can be… difficult when you’re on an unholy pilgrimage." Jon would probably say the same about Martin what Melanie said about Georgie and Georgie would probably say the same about Melanie what Martin said about Jon.

[MARTIN PAUSES, SIGHS AND THEN MAKES HIMSELF COMFORTABLE] MARTIN: "Ooooooh. Mmm, that’s nice." [FOOTSTEPS, AND WOODEN CREAK] LAVERNE: "Careful, she’s very possessive of that chair." Martin's journey to find a comfortable chair. This one sounds comfortable, but he immediately gets shooed away. Dammit.

LAVERNE: "But… you’ve got to have hope in something, otherwise there’s no point to anything." Ahh, yes. That's what I like to think as well.

GEORGIE: "I don’t think either of us is particularly comfortable with your use of the word “redeemers”." MELANIE: "Right." JON: "I thought it was quite a good rhyme." MELANIE: [aside] "Shut up, Jon!" Ahhahah, smug (bastard) Jon is back. Seriously, in combination with Arun I can totally understand him teasing. It's such an easy target. 

ARUN: "And, well, maybe your powers feed on hope? On trust and faith and… and hope." Pffff... He's so naive... (This reminded me a bit of Robin Lennox.)

ARUN: [Sharply] "And what would you know about poetry?" [GEORGIE GIGGLES] JON: "Oh, well, uh… I, um…" Hehe, Jon didn't expect that! Yeah, naive people often pick the wrong persons to fight with.

ARUN: "He doesn’t seem holy…" JON: [Archly] "And what would you know?" Oooooh, that struck a nerve... Jon blames himself enough for what Jonah made him do and made him to be.

ARUN: “I – Apologies, I meant, I meant no offence. Oh, I – Please forgive me!” [FOOTSTEPS AS ARUN LEAVES] GEORGIE: “You didn’t need to scare him like that. JON: “I didn’t mean to.” More nerves are being struck... Even down in the tunnels he keeps scaring people. He doesn’t even have to make an effort. It just happens. That’s what he is :( (or is afraid of himself to be).

@a-mag-a-day

#a-mag-a-day #mag 190 #tma #tma spoilers

[thebuggiest]

The Magnus Protocol ep 1-4 thoughts

So many spoilers for TMA and TMAGP under the cut lmfao god it's good to be back on my bullshit

FIRST SHIFT- First file? case? whatever, that's deffo this universe's anglerfish. The speaker says that something took Jacob into the shadows, and the returned Jacob's comment on being "some of him" mirrors what Sarah Baldwin said to Jon in TMA ep 96: "Some of her. Skin, a few memories. Not on the inside." Fun callback to the first episode of TMA. Second file elicits a reaction from Sam because of the mention of the Magnus Institute, so the horrible thing he's seen that was mentioned in the TMAGP interview-with-Lena trailer is likely linked to it. Also, the Magnus Institute burning down… I really hope that means this universe has a Gertrude, and she's still around. I'd also like to point out the mention of strange symbols found in the Institute. I'll talk more about this soon. Also: what or who killed redcanary? There's a part of me that wonders if there's an Archivist wandering in the tunnels beneath the institute similar to the one under Alexandria in TMA ep 53 (rc mentions spelunking specifically, not just urban exploration, which is why I think he went into the tunnels for sure.) Other notes: Teddy quit. You can quit here. That's good to know. Less comforting is that the recording of Sam and Alice in the bar sounds like it came through one of their phones- muffled and not in the office where the computer microphones can get at them. Also: Gwen Bouchard is interesting. I want to know why she's too stubborn to look for work elsewhere, as clearly she isn't wanting for money. She could have some affinity for government secrets due to some connection with the Eye, but even in TMA's universe Elias was just an upperclass meatsuit for Jonah Magnus. I'll be curious to see what unfolds.

MAKING ADJUSTMENTS- I have a hunch that Ink5oul is going to pop up again. It seems like a rich vein to plumb given how the tattoo they(she?) gave their victim and what unfolded seemed tailored to her. Plus, they were the instigator of the horror without being its focus, and they've got a big cool tattoo that will make them easy to recognize. More importantly, the victim apparently found Ink5oul when looking up symbols for a commission involving alchemy. I think alchemical symbols (or other weird occult symbolism) might crop up as a recurring motif in TMAGP, as they mentioned symbols in the Institute as well (placed there by the inhabitants or whoever started the fire?) Other notes: Alice has a brother named Luke who is part of a moderately successful band but doesn't play an instrument. I'll circle back to that.

PUTTING DOWN ROOTS- Nice gristly little (probably) Corruption linked story. Outside of the case, I like that Alice's devil-may-care attitude makes it hit harder when she tells Sam she's being serious about something. It's also kind of interesting to see that Sam gets along much better with Gwen than Alice does. I wonder if that comes from a dislike of confrontation. I'm also curious to see where this mention of redundancies goes-- it's a contrast to TMA, in which getting let go was not something they had to worry about.

TAKING NOTES- The story about the murder violin is quite clearly Slaughter, and yet the fact that it thirsts for his physical suffering as well gives a tint of Desolation over the thing, despite the lack of firey motifs. Maybe we'll get more of the gray areas between powers in TMAGP. Something I really want to speculate about though is whether someone's little brother in a band might get hold of the evil violin sometime. That would be sick. More in line with the story: Merchant immediately reminds me of both Breekon and Hope and Mikaele Salesa. We will see if he and/or his oddly shaped sack come back into things. I wonder if the sack is an artifact itself, as he sounded a little surprised by the appearance of the violin in its depths. Other notes: Interesting that the computer system (I forget how they said Freddy was 1337ed out) is dropping info for both Alice and Gwen here. I could have sworn Alice just exploited a loophole or something to find out about Sam's snooping-- except that's the exact opposite of what she's been telling him to do. And Gwen seemed like she was just doing her job when the video or audio file dropped into her workstation.

Anyways. Excited to hear the next ep tomorrow.

#tmagp spoilers #the magnus protocol spoilers #tma spoilers #if you haven't listened to that yet idk why you're reading this lmao #but fair enough you listen to all of the things in the order you like friend #don't let anyone tell you how to enjoy your media

[a-mag-a-day]

I remember the first time listening to this episode and being right there with Jon going: "wait, why did the breaking of the table free the monster," for like a hot moment there. Also, in Jon's defence, what else was he supposed to to with the table he knew was linked to the spooky thing that was pretending to be Sasha? Just ignore it and Rambo Not!Sasha with the ax? Neither scenario was great and the poor man felt he needed to do something about it. There was no promise that he'd even be able to hurt the thing while it was still bound to the table, and he definitely wasn't able to hurt it once it was unbound (other than S5).

Gosh this episode is so good, and it sets up so much for both the immediate pay off in 79&80 plus the later relationship destruction between him and Tim in S3. Like, if Jon hadn't tried to make sure they weren't in the Archives that night, they wouldn't have gone back to try and figure out if he had finally snapped. I feel like I'm watching a Greek tragedy where every choice the main character makes is always twisted against them, and nothing they do will save them from their Fate. Living in a horror movie? Can't save yourself or your friends because the horror movie trope of destroying the evil by destroying their talisman is actually Pandora's Box trope! Want to send your friends away from the horrors so they don't get involved? Too bad! You've been too paranoid and suddenly acting shifty to get them to safety means you're probably about to murder Sasha or Elias and they would really rather you didn't! Want to save your friend from being consumed by the Horrors:tm:? Too bad, she was consumed months ago and you've been chumming it up with the monster that desecrated her corpse!

On the plus side, we got some great one liners that I wish were more applicable in everyday life, because there's just such memeability to the line, "It is remarkably easy to buy an ax in central London". Makes one wonder if Jonny himself went out to central London to see how easy it would be for his character to find an ax there.

Jonny doing some hands on research 👌

Honestly I feel for Jon so much because there's absolutely no winning in this situation and deep down he knows it :'(

#a mag a day #tma #the magnus archives #episode asks #mod ashes #tma spoilers #mamahersh #Mag 78

[go-to-the-mirror]

i think it's absolutely rigged that this episode falls on april fools day actually. APRIL FOOLS! everything is still awful actually

Hi howdy this episode is so sad :( I'm so sad constantly about this episode. this episode. :( can't wait until the FUN season 5 bits where it's like they're GAY and there are so many ANALOGIES! instead we just have to wallow in sadness for a bit. so upset!! aa!!

Anyway yeah, lets go. I think when I listened to it at first I was really upset that I was at the end, like I was thinking "oh no I'm nearly at the end" back with 151. I still haven't listened to goodbye for now because it just makes me really sad that my favourite podded cast is over. I mean, good thing it's not now, but I still don't think I can make myself listen to it. I did put off MAG 200 for a while, and then when I actually did listen to it I immediately read Citrus' (CirrusGrey) fics about it.

Which, speaking of, it's season 5 time!!! Fuck dude it sure is! Not only a relisten, but a reread of all Citrus' fantastic fics!! YEAH!!! Ok, ok, ok, getting on with it now.

@a-mag-a-day

MARTIN You had- rum and raisin, and taught us all about emulsifiers.

He has the ice cream taste of a grandmother. Oh, also, funny story. So, we were getting ice cream, right, and I saw rum and raisin, and I got really upset, because Jon Sims had rum and raisin ice cream, and also the world ended. I don't- everything is a TMA reference with me, once someone asked me to open the door and I started laughing, because Jon Sims opened a door.

It's... very... odd.

JONAH MAGNUS (AS ELIAS) Knock knock.

Killing and maiming. I hate him so much. Die. Fucking die.

JONAH He didn’t have to. Nothing escapes my notice, and I like to keep an eye out for this sort of thing.

This guy is COMICALLY evil. like, not only does he end the world, but he ruins a cake surprise? why is he such a bastard?

ARCHIVIST Uh- thirty-eight.

HE JUST ADDED TEN YEARS ONTO HIS AGE HE'S SO FUCKING STUPID <3

TIM, SASHA, MARTIN (Crosstalk) -Jon. JONAH (Crosstalk) -Archivist.

WHY??? Literally, like, why, why, why is he like this, why, why??? Why did he do that? Why is he such an asshole? Why.

Why.

why.

ARCHIVIST If I wish for you all to go away, do you think it’ll work?

WHY ARE WE GETTING HIT WITH THE DRAMATIC IRONY BUS? WHY? "If I wish for you all to go away, do you think it'll work" STOP NO, WHY, WHYYYY...

it just makes me really sad.

ARCHIVIST I can’t tell you.

Your honour I am holding him gently.

JONAH He wished for a little bit of peace and quiet.

It's one thing to manipulate someone into ending the world, it's quite another to SHARE THEIR WISH? Dude. Why is he like this? This does nothing for him? He has taken one of Jon's only happy memories from working at the hell that's called an archive and twisted it into "oh boy, look at all that pain." For no fucking reason except to be evil. Killing and murder.

MARTIN Oh! Uh, (slight laugh) I mean- I don’t- normally- drink wine, you know- t-tannins are a proven headache trigger, and so-

Ooh! Fun fact! Rooibos tea has low tannin compared to other tea, therefore, Martin drinks rooibos tea, I make the rules.

TIM Oh! Yeah! I- just thought it might be nice, you know, something to look back on when we’re all old and sick of each other.

WHY. WHY. WHY.

"When we're all old and sick of each other" THEYRE NEVER GONNA GET OLD AND SICK OF EACH OTHER THEYRE ALL GOING TO DIE. THEYRE ALREADY DEAD AND THEY DONT EVEN KNOW IT. IM GOING TO CRY NOW.

ARCHIVIST (Crosstalk) (Under his breath) Oh, hypocrite.

I hate that it sounds friendly, like they're getting annoyed at each other in a friendly way, that Jon is friends with Tim and Sasha. Hate it. So much. Headinhands.

TIM (Crosstalk) Alright, alright, fine, look. I’m turning it off. Any last words for your future selves? ARCHIVIST Yes. Fire Tim!

ARHRRHGGGHGH </3

[Pause with clothing rustles]

CLOTHING RUSTLES!!!!! 🏳️‍🌈

ARCHIVIST It’s not- (struggling) you’re not the one who ended the world. (Archivist breath shows he’s close to tears)

Oh my god leave me alone. Stop it! Stop it!! It's just. Like. Christ. Oh my god. Oh my god. I can't even word properly, I just want to give him a hug, I just want him to be okay. Fuck, dude.

Why's jonny such a good voice actorrrr :(

MARTIN Are we still safe? ARCHIVIST Y-Yes. It- It doesn’t want to harm me. MARTIN And me? ARCHIVIST I won’t let it.

I like the way Jon's voice is in the "it doesn't want to harm me." Like it's sort of vaguely hysterical.

ARCHIVIST I’m just- I’m mourning a world I killed- MARTIN (Placating) I know- ARCHIVIST (Increasingly fervent) and we’re all trapped in its rotting corpse!-

I like this bit a lot. I think it's neat. I'm gay and I like rot. I need to read... what was it, thirteen stories I think? That's got the rot. I like the rot. 10/10 on the rot. Like hnmmn what Jane Prentiss says about the dead god, a world that was alive, was sentient, now dead, rotting with maggots and flies all over it, flesh squishy and yielding but also firm at the same time like a bruised apple, trapped on an actually dead corpse of a world.

That would be neat!!

ARCHIVIST Can you imagine? If we’d had this? MARTIN But we didn’t though, did we. ARCHIVIST No— MARTIN So there’s no point in dwelling.

ooOOOoooh title drop

but also... </3 like he could have kept them. he could have not done that. he could have not put the fucking solution to everything right after it becomes moot.

stabbing.

ARCHIVIST Healthy? I am an Avatar of voyeuristic terror, who unquestioned craving for knowledge has condemned the entire world to an eternity of torment; healthy i-isn’t- i,it’s not

I've written this so much on like every test, it lives in my mind rent free, it's hhnrnhrnnh holding it gently <3 like i don't even know what to say, this is a far cry from the whole mag 160 thing where it lived in my head rent free and so does a lot of words about it, here it's just... a lot of reaction images.

ARCHIVIST Why not? It- It’s quiet, here, and I have you.

ARHGHHGHHH

<333

ARCHIVIST No, it’s- I love you, I just— I need more time.

headinhands (good)

AND ALRIGHT CITRUS' FIC FOR TODAY IS SEVEN SLEEPS! WHICH I REALLY LIKE IT AND ITS JUST LIKE ITS JUST LIKE I KNEW WHAT I WAS SIGNING UP FOR, I KNEW WHAT THE OUTCOME WOULD BE, I KNEW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN. and like the whole bloody season it's just like it's just :( CITRUS ::::(((

read it. it's so good.

#this is a ramble #tma #mag 161 #landscaping-your-mind-chapter-one #a mag a day

[hollowwhisperings]

Ned Stark's Rebellion: the better name for the uprising against Aerys II & Rhaegar Targaryen.

While the histories & adaptive works of ASOIAF name the events of ? to ? AC as being "Robert's Rebellion", that name is misleading. The uprising now known as "Robert's Rebellion" was, more truthfully, NED STARK'S Rebellion.

It was young Eddard Stark whose father & oldest brother were murdered by their king; Ned whose sister was kidnapped (Lyanna at 15 would still be considered underage, by the majority of Westeros); it was the Lords Paramount SUPPORTING NED whose heads were called for from King Aerys II. It was Ned who first called his banners, Ned's grievances that were rallied to, Ned's cause that people fought & died for. The rebellion was never about Robert Baratheon being mad about getting ditched by his [fiancee], nor his being "kinglier" than the options of Aerys II or Rhaegar.

Robert's grievance of his "beloved" betrothed getting Disappeared by the crown prince - dude met Lyanna, like, once? on record? his hype for the marriage seemed more about "being brothers with Ned" (whom he fostered with in the Vale) than about Lyanna herself (who grew up with Benjen in Winterfell) though Robert definitely fixated on the idea of her.

Robert is only named in the Rebellion because he ended up King. Robert only ended up King because NED never wanted the throne. Robert was crowned by DEFAULT.

he was young and charismatic where Hoster Tully & Jon Arryn were not;

he had more immediate royal heritage via a Targaryen grandmother (whilst Ned & Jon Arryn's kingship was of the North/Vale specifically, not Westeros as a "united" realm; Hoster's "kingship" over the Riverlands was due to House Tully swearing fealty to the Targaryen Conquerors in the stead of the wiped-out Mudd Kings);

Robert had brothers ("heirs") to rule the Stormlands (Renly) & Dragonstone (Stannis) while he sat the Throne: Jaime blue-screened after executing Aerys, spending his time on the pointy chair dissociating & panicking over who to give it to; Hoster's only son was still a kid; Jon Arryn had no family save his new wife & his foster-sons; Ned had Benjen (the Stark in Winterfell) and baby Robb. Ned was pardoned from kingly duties due to the throne room very probably still smelling of Roast Stark.

Tywin killed Elia & her kids, removing the Dornish Claim (& the sole reasons for Dorne's not joining the Rebellion officially);

The Reach were Targaryen Loyalists & losers of the war;

nobody wanted Balon Greyjoy in charge.

History was very much Written By The Victors, in the case of this civil war. At the time, everyone was wholly aware that Ned's Cause was Just & that Aerys II was a ticking timebomb. Dorne's hands were tied by geography (the Reach, on Team Targaryen, was between them and the Crownlands) and their princess + tiny children were hostages (Jaime was also a political hostage, keeping the Westerlands "loyal").

Yet, 16 years later, the rebellion is sung of & taught in an almost romantic fashion: "King Robert avenging his lost love!", "thousands died for a frigid woman", "Aerys did nothing wrong, actually", etc.

The sheer disconnect in opinion on such a recent historical evident, between the generation who lived it & those born during/after... it seems very deliberate. The Reach, in/famous Targaryen Loyalists, had a lot of backpedalling to do & made light of the King they'd fought for whilst ensuring their Maesters taught the history their NEW king liked better.

Ned retired quietly after the Rebellion, finally having time to mourn & having 2 babies to raise. That one of these babies had a bounty on its head only kept the Quiet Wolf quieter: the North keeps to itself and Ned's silence on the subject was respected/followed accordingly.

I very much wonder how the Rebellion was taught differently in the different parts of Westeros: Dorne remembers a beloved & lost Princess, the brutal murders of three innocents by Lord Lannister; The North recalls the silence of its lord, his awkwardly bringing a baby Stark home with him; the Red Keep fixated on Jaime's kingslaying and Robert's wartime heroics (any smallfolk staff who survived Aerys would have died or fled during The Sack, not sticking around lest Tywin kill them too).

The Adaption's Take on the Rebellion read like Anti-Baratheon, pro-Rhaegar Propoganda. Nevermind Elia & her children, nevermind Grandpa Rickard or Uncle Brandon.

Fandom loves to solve love triangles with poly but, in this case... Elia would DEFINITELY have seen Lyanna as being a child.

Elia was 3 years older than Rhaegar and 10 years older than Lyanna, being about 26/27 during the war. While Lyanna is confirmed as being 16 ar her death, the timing of her kidnapping & the playout of R+L=J... puts her as being 14/15 when first abducted. By Westerosi standards (16 for girls), and almost certainly by Dornish standards (plausibly a universal 18), Lyanna was Underage.

Age gaps aside, Elia was a princess twice over & raised with politics. Rhaegar's abducting Lyanna, without the leave of her legal guardian (her father, Lord Rickard) and in spite of Lyanna's being betrothed to a Lord Paramount (Robert Baratheon)? That is political unalivement. Any & all hopes the Lords Paramount held of Rhaegar's quietly retiring his father & being a decent king, as judged by his behavious thus far were immediately made moot.

(It should be noted that it is entirely plausible that, when Rhaegar slighted his wife at Harrenhal, Elia was PREGNANT: this makes the slight even worse, given that Rhaegar "repaid" Elia's nearly dying to "give him a son" by abandoning her (and their children). To his paranoid father. Who was regularly having people tortured and murdered, from the lowest of servants to the highest lords of the realm. So Rhaegar could kidnap himself a Northern Womb. For a vague prophecy he read in a book & his interpreting it to mean he needed 3 Targaryen children. Which he already had. Rhaenys, Aegon and HIS KID BROTHER VISERYS.)

ahem, my Strongly Worded Opinions on Prince Rhaegar aside, this has been a Commentary on the War of the Usurper & the poor logic of those pursuing prophecy.

(i'm pretty sure the realm as a whole would be safer & better equipped for a Long Winter if they hadn't, say, a civil war. which killed &/or orphaned a generation who were thusly less-prepared for rule & less able to prepare THEIR heirs before THEY were killed in ANOTHER civil war.)

#robert's rebellion #ned stark #anti-rhaegar #elia martell #valyrianscrolls #targaryen kings

[ollieofthebeholder]

to find promise of peace (and the solace of rest): a TMA fanfic

<< Beginning < Prev. || AO3

Chapter 32: October 2016

“I think we’ve doubled back on ourselves again.” Jon wedged his torch under his chin to try and get it to point at the paper in his hands.

Martin, as he usually did, neatly relieved him of the torch and pointed it at the paper, and Jon once again wondered why he didn’t just ask Martin to hold it in the first place. “I don’t see any of our arrows.”

“I’m not altogether convinced someone hasn’t been moving them.”

“Okay, Sarah, you check your map and I’ll keep an eye out for the Cleaners.”

Jon considered Martin’s statement for a moment, map temporarily forgotten. “I have no idea what that’s referencing.”

Martin snorted softly. “Labyrinth. It’s a movie. We’ll have to watch it some night, you’ll probably love it. It’s one of Neenie’s favorites.”

Jon had been intrigued, and slightly suspicious, when he’d returned to work and Martin had produced the key to the tunnels with the information that Elias had essentially given them carte blanche to explore them. He’d at first thought to explore them on his own, but Martin had been waiting for him the first time he tried, and he’d given in fairly readily.

Actually, he found the experience was a lot more…enjoyable wasn’t the word. It was still oppressive, eerie, and at times terrifying to wander around the tunnels where Jane Prentiss had made a home, and where Gertrude Robinson had been brutally murdered by a man they all had to pretend they didn’t know had done it. But having Martin with him made it better, at least. He knew there was somebody there to catch him if he fell, to remind him to eat or drink water, to reassure him when he heard an odd noise or even to validate his fears if he noticed something off and doubted his own mind.

Also, he was enjoying spending time with Martin. They’d grown closer in the weeks they’d spent above Cinnamon Rose Books, but that had always been with someone else present—usually Gerry, often Melanie as well. Their efforts to map the tunnels were just the two of them. While they tried to focus on the route, and limited their discussion while walking to the tunnels themselves and speculation about where Gertrude might have been, they had opportunities to rest.

Well, opportunities was probably not the right word for it. More like forced stops.

As Jon studied the map he’d been drawing, he noticed the beam of light was shaking slightly. He looked up at Martin, concerned. “Are you all right?”

“Fine,” Martin said, completely unconvincingly. At Jon’s raised eyebrow, he relented. “Bit tired, I guess. How long have we been wandering around down here?”

Jon tilted his wrist to get his watch face into view. As soon as he saw the time, he did a double-take. “Good Lord.”

Martin huffed out a laugh. “I’m guessing it’s been a bit.”

“Nearly three hours, and we’ve been going this entire time. Martin, why didn’t you tell me you were getting tired?”

“It’s no big deal. I’ve dealt with worse.” Martin studied Jon sharply. “How are you feeling?”

“I could do with a rest,” Jon admitted.

Martin pointed the torch’s light ahead of them. “Look—that’s either a room without a door, or it’s a stairwell. Either way, should be a decent enough place for a sit.”

It was only a few yards away, but Martin stumbled and had to lean against the wall at one point. Jon tried to steady him and help him over to what turned out to be the top of a flight of steps. They sank down onto the top step together. By unspoken agreement, they both turned themselves sideways so that their backs were against the walls, letting them see down the stairs—to a point—as well as the way they’d come from.

Jon balanced the torch on its end, giving them a decent spread of light—at least enough to see one another and their immediate environs—then dug through the satchel he’d brought with him. He came up with two bottles of water and two protein bars, then handed one of each to Martin. Martin twisted the top of the water bottle open, then saluted him with it. “Na zdrowie.”

“Likewise.” Jon raised his own glass. “Is that…Russian?”

“Polish. It means ‘to your health’.”

“You really do speak Polish?” Jon blurted, then bit his lip, slightly embarrassed. He knew Martin had listened to at least some of the tapes and knew some of the things Jon had said about him, but…

Thankfully, Martin didn’t seem offended. He merely nodded before taking a deep drink of water. “My grandfather taught me.”

It seemed like a good opening to a conversation. Jon carefully peeled away the wrapper of the protein bar. His hands were a bit shaky, too—since moving back to his own flat after his shoulder healed, he wasn’t always as good about remembering to eat breakfast as he’d been when he’d stumbled out in the morning to find Martin or Gerry presiding over the frying pan, so his blood sugar was probably low—but he managed it before asking, “Are you…fluent?”

“Pretty much, yeah. Granddad was trilingual and used to switch back and forth all the time, and since I spent a lot of time with him when I was a kid, I did too. I learned pretty quick not to do that at school, though, or I’d just get made fun of.” Martin took a bite of his own protein bar.

Jon was intrigued. “So what languages do you know?”

Martin stared blankly at the wall over Jon’s head as he chewed, then swallowed. “Polish. Russian. French, some—I took a couple advanced courses when I was still in school, and Gerry used to help me practice. Yiddish, a little bit—I understand it better than I speak it. Same with Irish and Romanian. I can read Sanskrit and ancient Greek, but I can’t pronounce them properly. I know a little bit of Chinese—Cantonese, not Mandarin—but I’m not going to be having in-depth conversations, and don’t ask me to read it. I learned BSL as part of an after-school thing, but I’m rusty.” His lips twitched upwards in a smile as he returned his gaze to Jon. “And I know how to say ‘can I pet your dog’ in twenty-seven other languages.”

Jon laughed. “Of course you do. I should learn how to say ‘can I pet your cat’.” He tilted his head at Martin. “That’s…quite an impressive list. I had no idea you were such a polyglot.”

“Yeah, well, how many of those languages have come across our desks since we came down to the Archives? Other than a word in Polish or Russian here or there. Wasn’t like you were going to respond favorably if I told you, ‘No, I don’t actually speak Latin unless you count memorizing seven different choral arrangements with ‘Ave’ in the title, but if you can give me a Sanskrit passage I’ll tell you what it says.’”

“No, I suppose not.” Jon took a sip of water to cover his embarrassment.

Martin tilted his head at him. “What about you? What languages do you know?”

“Ah—not that many. Latin, obviously, and I actually studied ancient Greek, too. And I know a little Urdu, but not much.” Jon winced. “My grandmother didn’t—she wasn’t like your grandfather, I suppose. She was…very determined that I not get my languages confused. We only spoke English at home. I finally convinced her to start teaching me, but I was in university at that point, so it only happened when I was home on breaks. And I didn’t…practice as much as I should have when we were apart.” He considered for a moment. “I don’t think she minded all that much, to be honest.”

“Mum won’t let me talk to her in anything but English, either. Old prejudices die hard, I guess.” Martin’s eyes softened. “Granddad’s parents came over when they were newlyweds, just after the first World War. He said they never did learn to speak English very well. They died long before I was born, so I never met them, but he used to tell me stories.”

Jon smiled. “What about your grandmother?”

“I never met her, either. Mum refused to talk about her—all she ever said was that she’d abandoned her and wasn’t worth her time. Granddad never really talked about her, either, except to say I had her courage.” Martin sipped pensively at his water. “And I never met my dad’s family. I barely remember my dad…what about you? Was it just you and your grandmother?”

“Yes, my extended family wasn’t…close. I-I don’t really remember my parents either,” Jon confessed. “My father died when I was two, from an accidental fall, and my mother died from surgery complications a couple of years later. It was just me left, and I think most of my relatives had gone overseas, so my grandmother wound up being the one raising me.” He hesitated, then added in a low voice, “She never quite hid that she resented that.”

Martin’s eyes radiated with a sympathy so sincere it hurt, and Jon had to look away. He didn’t resist when Martin took his hands, though. “It’s not your fault. You know that, right? No child asks to be born, and certainly no child ever seriously asks to be orphaned. You needed someone, and it’s not your fault that it was her.”

Jon tried to laugh, but it came out sort of strangled. “You sound almost like you’re talking from experience.”

Martin was silent for a long moment before he said softly, “You remember that day I snapped at you about Ex Altiora?”

“Yes, I—I remember you telling Melanie and Gerry that was your mother’s birthday.” Jon still couldn’t look at Martin.

“Right, and I called her to wish her a happy birthday.” Jon nodded. “She wouldn’t take my call. I don’t know why I even bothered trying, honestly, because she always refuses my call. She hasn’t spoken to me in seven years. In my entire life, I’ve heard her say something kind about me once, and that was the first time I found a Leitner.” Martin squeezed Jon’s hands gently. “I’m lucky in that I had Granddad, and then Roger and Melanie—and Gerry, even if he’s not legally family—but I at least know a little bit of what you had to deal with. And I’m so sorry, Jon. Nobody deserves that.”

“I—I know she did her best. And at least I remember enough about my parents to know they loved me.” Jon tried to wipe at his eyes with his shoulder so he wouldn’t have to let go of Martin’s hands, then gave it up and looked up at Martin, blinking heavily to try and clear them. “And—and I’m not alone now. I have Tim and Sasha, and Gerry and Melanie…and you.”

“You have me,” Martin agreed softly. He let go of one of Jon’s hands, then reached forward to carefully cup his chin and wipe the tears away with a gentle caress of his thumb. It was a gesture of such tenderness that Jon wasn’t sure he could stand it without breaking apart. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so…cherished. As if he was something worth caring for, caring about.

Jon found himself wanting to close the gap between them, to…he didn’t know what. Possibly curl against Martin’s side and hold him until both of them forgot every person who should have loved them but didn’t. That was a slightly disconcerting feeling in and of itself, but it was also disconcerting that he didn’t want it to go away. Six months ago he likely would have ignored it, or at least tried to bury it, but after everything they’d been through, he leaned into Martin’s hand and tried to work up the courage to slide to the other side of the stairwell.

A sudden sound came from below them on the stairwell, making both of them jump. Martin’s hand fell away from Jon’s face, and he immediately missed the contact. He gripped Martin’s other hand tightly to keep him from letting go as they peered into the darkness.

“That—what was that?” Jon automatically dropped his voice to a whisper.

“I don’t know,” Martin murmured. “It didn’t sound like a worm. Or a spider. But it didn’t sound like a rat, either.”

“I haven’t seen any evidence of rats down here.”

“Me, either, which should probably be worrying this close to the river, but…” Martin trailed off. “We should get back to the Archives.”

“Yes. We should.” Jon peered into the darkness, then looked up at Martin again. “We’re not going to, are we.”

It wasn’t a question, and Martin didn’t answer it. Instead, he handed Jon his rubbish, then picked up the torch and pulled him to his feet. Jon laced their fingers together, and they made their way carefully down the stairs.

The stairs were narrow, and Jon kept a tight hold of Martin’s hand; the second he got stuck, or couldn’t go any further, they would turn back. Jon was not going on alone. Quietly, he asked, “Did Tim mention stairs at any point?”

“Just the ones we came out of up into the Archives, so Gertrude was up there somewhere,” Martin replied. “But I think that stopped being what we were looking for a while ago.”

“You’re not wrong.” They came to a landing, and Jon paused, peering into the darkened archway leading to the next level down. “Do we check this level or keep going down?”

Martin appeared to be weighing their options. Finally he said, “I don’t hear anything. Whatever made that noise, it isn’t on this floor. Let’s keep going. Carefully.”

Jon appreciated that addition.

It was another two flights down before Martin stopped dead, hissing for Jon to be quiet. Jon held his breath, and then he heard it, too—a rattling noise, like someone had tripped over a rock. He looked up at Martin, saw that he was game, and led him onto the level.

This one felt different, somehow. The air was faintly damp and tasted of rot and decay. The ceiling seemed just a little bit lower, the tunnels just a little bit narrower, and it felt like it should have been cold enough to see their breath steam ahead of them, but luckily wasn’t. Jon was thankful he’d worn Martin’s now-mended jumper, but he still stepped just a bit closer to Martin’s side as they traversed the tunnels on this floor. There was no dust—of course there wasn’t, this wasn’t that kind of a place—but it still felt as though this was a place that hadn’t been traversed by humans in ages, if ever.

“Jon.” Martin’s voice was a mere thread. “Look.”

Jon looked where the beam of light from the torch was pointed and inhaled sharply. As if in mockery of his thoughts a moment ago, there lay a crumpled packet of some kind, dark green and yellow.

Without letting go of Martin’s hand, as impractical as that was, Jon bent down and reached for it with trembling fingers. It had once held biscuits, an imported variety Jon had never particularly cared for, but now only crumbs remained. He turned it over to find the sell-by date. “This can’t have been down here long. A year at most.”

“I don’t think it’s been down here that long,” Martin said slowly. “That’s…not a bad thing, actually.”

“It’s not?”

“It means that whatever—whoever is down here still has to eat regular food. They’re not as far gone as Prentiss was.”

Jon hadn’t considered that, but it made sense. As he straightened up, a thought occurred to him. “That means Gerry isn’t that far gone, right? Since he still eats regular food?”

Martin was silent for a long moment, which told Jon he wasn’t going to like the answer. “He chooses to eat regular food, but it doesn’t really…do anything for him. If he tried to live off of just that, he’d fade pretty quickly.”

“I didn’t know he could die.”

“I never said he would die. I said he would fade. He’d be weak and helpless and—” Martin stumbled, nearly dropping the torch as he tried to balance himself against the wall. “Christ, what did I trip over this time?”

Jon took the torch from him and angled it at the ground. If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t expect to find anything—Martin was probably more worn out by their long journey than he was willing to admit, that was a lot of stairs—but to his surprise, there was a glass bottle lying on its side, still rocking slightly from being kicked. “It looks like a wine bottle.”

“Hang on.” Martin handed the torch back to Jon and knelt down this time, prodding the bottle lightly until the label faced upwards. “Jesus, this stuff runs at least a hundred pounds a bottle.”

“You’re sure?” Jon leaned over to get a closer look.

“It’s what they served at Mum and Roger’s wedding. I remember because Aunt Mary told us if we so much as looked at a single bottle of it too hard, there wouldn’t be enough of us left to put in the Book.” Martin got to his feet with a bit of effort. “And this is the same vintage. Unless our mystery basement dweller has had it sitting around for twenty years, it didn’t come cheap.”

“So a squatter with at least moderately expensive tastes.” Jon watched the bottle spin for a moment, then aimed the torch in the direction the neck was pointing. There was a turn off the corridor just there. “That way?”

“Hold still.” Martin reached across Jon’s body to dig into the bag, then pulled out the chalk they’d been using to mark the walls. He drew an arrow pointing back the way they’d come on the wall facing the corridor. He clearly found it awkward to hold the chalk, and seemed to be having difficulty drawing.

“Martin, are you sure you’re all right?” Jon asked, concerned.

“Fine. I’m left-handed, that’s all. Never really practiced with my right,” Martin admitted.

“Next time, we’ll hold hands the other way round,” Jon said without really thinking. As soon as his brain caught up to what he’d just let his tongue get away with, his face caught fire, but he decided he wasn’t going to apologize or take it back, because he actually meant it.

Martin paused in his work and gave him a crooked, almost shy smile before back to finish the arrow.

“There,” he said at last, stepping back to study the mark. “Good enough?”

Jon squeezed Martin’s hand. “It’s perfect.”

Martin laughed and turned—then froze, the smile dropping off his face instantly. “What the—?”

“What?” Jon turned to see what Martin was looking at, what might be coming down the corridor—and felt his blood run cold.

The corridor was gone.

Frantically, Jon shone the torch along the wall, but it was solid, unbroken stone. “It—I swear there was a passage there a moment ago, I—”

“There was. But there’s not now,” Martin murmured. He reached out hesitantly with his free hand and touched the wall. “I-it’s not a door, it’s…that should not be possible.”

“I didn’t hear anything,” Jon said in a low voice. “Did you?”

“No. No, I didn’t.” Martin took a deep breath. “Right. I guess we keep going straight then.”

“Yes.” Jon turned to face the way they were headed and found he was standing closer to Martin than before. It didn’t really surprise him—he felt very strongly that he needed the comfort—but then Martin cursed quietly and Jon looked up at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just—banged my shoulder on the wall, that’s all. Sorry, would you—can we get more to the middle of the tunnel?”

“Of course,” Jon said immediately, taking a step to the left…or trying to. His foot knocked against the wall, and he turned to regard it sharply, then looked back at Martin. The panic was starting to make itself known. “Are…are these tunnels getting narrower?”

“No,” Martin said under his breath. Jon thought it was an answer, until he caught the note of panic in his voice. “No, no, no…”

“Martin? Martin.” Jon squeezed Martin’s hand tightly, then moved closer to him with the thought of wrapping his arms around him to calm his panic.

Martin yanked his glasses off with an almost violent movement. Jon felt more than heard the static gathering, slowly increasing at first, then faster and faster, rising to an almost fever pitch, painful even though it wasn’t directed at him. He let out a strangled cry and did the only thing he could think of—pinched a bit of Martin’s skin sharply between two fingernails. Martin gasped hard, but the static died instantly, making both of them slump.

From the darkness, a voice spoke, a single word, said without inflection or intonation, just a simple command. “Leave.”

Jon didn’t wait to be told twice. He began backing up, eyes fixed on the darkness ahead of them, still holding Martin’s hand so tightly it had to be hurting both of them. Then again, Martin was gripping him just as tightly.

They had to go single file before they got back to the stairwell. Jon didn’t like that and held onto Martin tighter, determined that he would not leave without him; if the halls got too narrow, if Martin were trapped, Jon would stay with him and damn the consequences. Luckily, they made it without too much difficulty, although it was a tight squeeze for Martin at the very end. The second there was space for them to turn around, they did, pelting up the stairs as fast as either of them could go.

Despite how far down they’d descended, and how far they must have explored overall, Jon didn’t think it was more than ten minutes before they were pushing up the trapdoor and emerging into the Archives, both of them collapsing to their knees at the top, gasping for breath. Jon’s face felt sticky and wet, and when managed to glance at Martin, he saw that he was pale as a sheet.

A shadow loomed over them, almost sending Jon into a panicked tumble back down the steps before Tim said, “Are you two all right?”

“Fine,” Martin and Jon said in unison.

Tim did not look remotely convinced, but he didn’t call them on it, either. “You guys were down there a hell of a long time. Find anything?”

“Maybe.” Jon didn’t know what they had found, only that it didn’t want them down there, and he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to go back yet, either. His heart was finally beginning to slow down, and he managed to look properly at Tim, who was holding something in his hand. “Is everything…all right?”

“Nothing major.” Tim waved the piece of paper he was holding. “I was just getting ready to come looking for you. Rosie just called down—a woman phoned the Institute, said she’s coming by to give a statement. She’ll be here in about twenty minutes.”

“Thank you.” Jon took the paper from Tim and was acutely aware that his hand was shaking. “Where’s Sasha?”

“Lunch. I was going to go out myself once you two got up.”

“Take the afternoon. Both of you. We…made you do the work all morning.” Jon took a deep, steadying breath. “But maybe…help us cover up this trapdoor first?”

Thank God, Tim didn’t ask questions. Probably he didn’t want to know. He shoved one of the disused desks over so that one set of legs rested on the now-closed trapdoor, then waved to them both and headed out. Jon watched him go, then turned to Martin, who had made them both very strong cups of tea and was seated at his desk. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” Martin admitted. “I shouldn’t have tried to Look that deep, but…I was panicking, I admit it. I’m sorry, Jon.”

“It’s not your fault. I was panicking, too.” Jon reached out and gingerly touched Martin’s cheek. “Was it…what was it?”

“I’m pretty sure it was the Buried.” Martin’s voice was barely above a whisper. “But it wasn’t…it wasn’t right. Not strong, not enough to…hurt us? Not enough to Mark you, anyway. It felt…controlled somehow.” He took a deep breath and added, “And I’ve heard that voice before. Somewhere. I just—I can’t remember where.”

Upset, Jon took Martin’s face in both hands and pressed their foreheads together. “Martin. Martin, please don’t hurt yourself trying to…we can stay out of the tunnels. We don’t need to go down there, not—not now. Not for a while. Promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I will. I will.” Martin covered Jon’s hands with his own. “You be careful, too. Please.”

“I will. I won’t go down without you.” Jon took a deep breath, inhaling the faint scents of mint and cherries that always seemed to cling to Martin, then reluctantly eased back. “If—if you need to take the rest of the day, too…”

“I’ll stay. Until you leave.” Martin managed a small smile. “Don’t know how much use I’ll be, really, but I’m not leaving you to it alone.”

Jon laughed. It came out a little broken, but it was genuine. “Tell you what. How about I take this statement that’s coming in, and then we can call it a day, too? We’ll, I’ll make it up to Tim and Sasha later.”

Martin’s smile broadened. “Sounds good. I’ll see what I can do in the meantime.”

“Good.”

“Excuse me?”

At the sound of the voice, both of them turned to see a woman approaching them, clutching a cape around her shoulders and looking agitated. Jon hoped he didn’t look as ruffled as he felt. “Yes, can we help you?”

“I—I’m here to—” The woman broke off, looking confused. “They told me—”

“Yes, Rosie called and said you’d be coming to make your statement,” Jon said, as kindly as he could. “Step into my office and we’ll get set up. Right this way, Ms.”—he surreptitiously checked the paper Tim had handed him—“Richardson.”

#ollie writes fanfic #to find promise of peace (and the solace of rest) #tma fanfic #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #claustrophobia tw #mention of childhood trauma #slight misuse of beholding powers

[cryptid-crawly]

magnus archives au where instead of peter lukas in s4 its simon fairchild. also au where one of the srvhives crew takes the place of helen richardsonand becomes the distortian at the same time in canon. (apologies if i misunderstood the way this works lol) :)

Okay first, let’s do Peter swaps with Simon:

Simon lost a bet with Elias and that’s why he has to take over the institute. He does *not* want to. This stuff is super boring.

Which is why, when he makes Martin his assistant, Martin basically gets full control of the institute as the new boss. Everyone gets raises and better life insurance that includes clauses for if you’ve been eaten by the sky, etc.

Simon doesn’t give two fucks about a new fear so he kinda just slaps the files down on Martin’s desk and is done with it. Since Martin isn’t being pushed into the lonely, he shares this info with Jon, who awkwardly suggests they should review it over at this nice cafe he found. (Supernatural coffee date!)

Simon still causes problems ofc but he’s not interested in whatever stupid agenda Elias has. He buys a new building for the institute that’s a skyscraper and forces everyone to work on the top floor. It has one of those pools that’s got a clear glass bottom that extends past the building. Also mandatory team building exercises that are skydiving.

Elias is going mad trying to manipulate Peter into doing something that will force Jon to confront him. Peter is away at sea and definitely ignoring Elias’s calls.

Bonus: turns out the skyscraper thing is convenient because when other entities/avatars attack Helen likes making doors that lead to the outside. Of the 70th floor.

Someone else becomes The Distortion:

Michael took Helen still, but Tim was being sus about Jon and started looking into the whole “Michael” thing. This ended with him being eaten by a yellow door sometime late Season 2.

Tim hasn’t come into work for a few weeks. Jon thinks maybe he quit or maybe he’s plotting to murder them all. Martin is worried until he goes into the tunnels to try and help Jon run away from the Not-Them, is eaten by a door, and finds Tim again! Yay Tim’s alive!

Meanwhile Elias is acting like he knows what’s going on but in fact he is very confused. Where is Tim? How has he been avoiding work without getting sick? Did he manage to quit? Was he eaten by a clown doll? He would’ve pieced it together after Martin sobs saying he found Tim in the hallways but they didn’t escape together except Jon convinced Martin to keep quiet. He has his suspicions. Also Elias doesn’t care that much.

Tim becomes the Distortion because he’s so mad that *someone else* gets to kill Jon. Really it’s just exchanging one homicidal persona for another, but Tim isn’t planning on killing Jon immediately so it works out.

Tim returns to work at the archives. No one mentions his time away. Elias is really confused but whenever he asks Tim just gaslights him and is all “what time away? Are you sure you’re okay boss?”

Bonus: Elias finally figures it out when Tim returns with Martin after the whole circus fiasco. Tim: hello boss Elias: aren’t you supposed to be dead

#when the world ends Tim doesn’t even bother offering to transport Martin across the hellscape #he is broody the entire time #he shows up just to make fun of Jon #tma #tma aus #5 headcanons ask game #Thank you for sending in aus!!!!!! <3 #sorry it is slightly crack-ish but I think fucking with Elias is really funny #also Simon is a funny old murder man #the magnus archives #TMA spoilers #Simon makes Martin his assistant because he thinks he’s funny #kori stuffs

[itchyeye]

Okay. So if we assume that Elias genuinely watches and likes Ghost Hunt UK (which we will), we can assume Elias enjoys the fake spooky. What if Elias went to a show for a fake spooky ™ band, and Gerry also went to that same show? Meet cute.

(inspired by the jonelias Mechs fic I read one time. Love seeing people be like "why is there an old guy in a suit here? Is he lost?")

(Wednesday anon)

dear wednesday anon, i need you to know that i have been insanely unimaginably ungodly busy these past few days so i have had very little downtime to sit and answer your messages, all of which i cherish, but THIS ONE i cherish most of all

i have read it many times this past week and therefore had many thoughts. i am going to share all of them now that i have the time to do so.

1. elias and i could never go to a show together, because i am always at barricade and he would only ever want to be balcony

which made me think about where gerry would want to be at shows and i think he would be on barricade sometimes but mostly lurk at the bar, pit sometimes but not always, a real crowd butterfly 🥰

2. i want elias to off handedly mention to gerry that the coke in london isn't what it used to be and gerry (who has never done hard drugs but is used to people assuming that he has because of his appearance) shrugs it off with like "well we all have our reasons to miss the 80s" and elias is like "quite" except he is, in fact, thinking of the 1880s when laudanum was over the counter

3. i can 100% picture elias cruising but i can't picture gerry clubbing (while he is goth and he does murder people he's established as being shy, introverted, and having no friends so i can't picture him at night clubs. maybe when he and jane were dating she took him with her to go dancing) and i can't picture elias at metal/punk/goth shows (self explanatory) so i'm day dreaming of a convoluted au scenario where gerry and elias end up meeting at the same club for some reason and just as they're about to hook up in the dark gerry's beholding alignment kicks in and he goes "m... mr. bouchard??!!!"

he sputters, squirms out of his arms, and leaves immediately then spends the next several days at work desperately avoiding everyone while thinking the phrase "don't think about it na na na na na nothing happened doo doo doo" as loudly and insistently as possible

gertrude knows anyway, of course

elias knew it was him the whole time

4. i really really really want to ship gerry and elias and i can't which is annoying to me... if anyone else feels inspired by this line of thinking, hit my line! it just feels out of character for them both and i think gertrude would be territorial about her assistants... they're my two favorites so i want to smash them together like barbie dolls but it isn't working for me

5. ALSO i agree i think elias was being sincere about watching ghost hunt uk. i think it makes sense for him to be interested in/keep tabs on paranormal investigation type stuff in london since it is slightly more likely that people who seek out the supernatural will have experiences with the entities and seek out his institute

i also think he may have had some sort of premonition about melanie and georgie, both bc they knew one another and because of georgie's history with jon and because the threads of the web encase them all

so he probably listened to WTG? too!

idk if it's a detached interest or a sincere one but it makes perfect sense to me that he would keep tabs on spooky influencers etc since even if they don't have genuine experiences, they're more likely to make it to the institute anyway

#[💌] asks and replies #wednesday anon #gerry x elias

[littlebigmouse]

TMA S1 thoughts and S2 predictions

That sure was... a season finale. Sad to see Jon turn down the path of paranoia right after bonding with Martin, but it's also... I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think it's curious we got "motivations" and backstory on Jon, Sascha, and Martin in MAG39. Which a) high time, I already love them all and b) means they're going to be more important now, since we're finally acutely learning things about them.

I initially just wanted to sus out that we got nothing of the sort from Tim and Elias, although as Jon already noted, Elias is the prime suspect for the Robbinson murder and I have a feeling he's in on it all wayy deeper than anyone is guessing at this point. His conversation with Sascha sounded almost grounded, though, so there is a slight chance he's just kind of a puppet? A figurehead Head of the institute who has the least idea of what is going on. That could be a cool reveal for sure, if evidence keeps ramping up against him. Although I am certain there are skeletons in the tunnels his closet that he DOES know about.

I am high-key worried about Sascha and Tim. As I have mentioned, I don't think Sascha is who she seems to be after she got ambushed in the Archive. (@gaymelie pointed out to me that the episodes have credits one can listen to for hints if one weren't so impatient to close out the episode as soon as Jon ends the recording, lol). Tim did get a statement, and he was hurt by the worms, but he did not get the sort of attention or establishment of motivation as the others in this finale, which either simply means he is less important to the story than them, or it means there's ... more to unpack there, but for later. Not as important could mean that he's going to die soon. I dare him to start raising death flags. Not on my watch. I'm still missing the Tim and Sascha on the job heist series.

Which brings me to Martin. Where do I begin.

I like Martin, I do, and my initial reaction when Jon said that he couldn't trust anyone was to immediately go "Oh but I'm sure Martin is exempt, they've even bonded recently and Jon thinks him incompetent anyway". But then I thought about it.

Okay so first: Martin is probably in danger because he did just unearth the corpse of Getrurd, so whoever tried to burry it there probably won't be too pleased. I doubt that Martin is her killer because he wouldn't report a body he was already trying to hide.

Everything else though? Jon explained his motivations and beliefs, and believing to be bonding with Martin, asked him about his. And Martin just. Absolutely dodged the question. Said he doesn't know and that he's trapped in the same web as Jon. Weird way to phrase that, but sure makes it seem like he at least intuitively knows more, or is, idk, haunted in a similar way to Jon except not by the literal web of lies and paranoia Jon is dealing with. Maybe a different thing? Maybe he's just picking up on the weirdness/more open about it than Jon.

Do not think that I missed the spider imagery surrounding Jon. Him trying to kill a spider started the worm attack (by accident, but still), he recently received a lighter with a spider web pattern and no explanation, and Martin both noted that there were no cobwebs in the room with Robbinson's corpse and called their situation a 'web' they're trapped in. Seems to me, Jon is being stalked by the spider people ;D

But back to Martin, it's actually not the supernatural shit I'm worried about, it's everything else. Jon and Sascha have mentioned initial motivations/information from when and why they started working for the archives. Both of theirs make sense, to a degree, but Jon is right: Martin has been living in the archives for months. He's not a nerd like Tim and Jon are, so why would he even start working there in the first place. What adult can keep up their (social) life while living in someone's basement. I think his episode also mentioned him being stuck in his flat for almost two weeks with no one checking on him. At this point I genuinely don't think that Martin has a social life, but since he isn't a weird shut in who likes to do voices into a recorder all day, what IS he doing with his life. I'll make jokes on it for days, but we are past the point of claiming lost and confused dude experiencing a second quarter life crisis and having no social life. Idk if he's being haunted, but outside of the whole supernatural sphere Martin stands out like a sore thumb amidst the cast, and his unwillingness to share with Jon seems... strange. I mean they could be playing for an introverted and lonely character who seems extroverted and friendly but is actually more distant than the literal over-played-sceptic shut in, but I don't know. This is a horror story, not a drama. I think that's part of it but there's gotta be more.

Either way, I do not think that Martin's particular brand of weirdness is responsible or related to the murder mystery or whatever is stalking Jon. I think Jon will think that, however, maybe by starting to investigate his colleagues on by one. He might find weird stuff on Martin, getting distracted by it and confronting Martin on it, giving Imposter!Sascha a chance to make whatever her move is. Martin may have a piece of the puzzle, but more likely due to his own investigations.

Elias seems more like a season 5 BBEG kind of situation, so I'm not counting on his brand of bullshit getting much attention with a possessed Sascha running around.

Please, Tim, please quit your job while you can. I am worried for your safety this season and the fact that you aren't quitting after worms tore holes into your body is making you seem strange and suspicious, too.

On another note, I do love how clever everyone acted in the finale. Those are smart adults! From hiding spare CO2 to leaving to get help/activating the fire alarm to evacuate everyone and then manually activating the fire exstinguishing system... I figured they'd all do it at some point, sure, but those were pretty much their immediate reactions, keeping their collective cool as much as they could given the situation and acting quickly. I like that sort of writing.

Anyway, end recording.

#tma #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #sasha james #tim stoker #long post

[suttttton]

so the draft of my elias time loop fic is currently divided into 18 loops (Loop 1, Loop 2, etc.), which is all pretty overwhelming. it's a lot to write

BUT! One of the loops now has fully complete first-draft status! Yayyyy only 17 to go

#it's the one where elias just. murders jon immediately #it's real short because jon's death resets the loop. so

[red-archivist]

Not quite part of the liveblog but, lil post-092 hc fic :3

~~ 

As he leaves Elias’ office, Jon’s feet automatically take him down the stairs leading to the archives.

  It is a habit that his long absence hasn’t managed to break but he stops himself from walking straight into his own office.

To do so, he would have to pass the open space where the assistants work, and call him a coward but he just isn’t quite ready to see the state that Elias’ little reveal has left the others in.

  He retreats to the breakroom instead, keeping the lights off and taking a moment to take a few steadying breaths in the cool darkness.

As soon as he stops moving, the injuries he has been ignoring loudly make themselves known.

The constant ache of his burned hand provides a low steady hum of contrast to the staccato pulse of his throbbing throat.

He needs to clean them both up in order to avoid infection, and if he doesn’t want some concerned passer-by to call an ambulance on him when he leaves, he will have to bandage his neck as well.

He walks to the nearest press and begins rooting around for the first aid kit. It doesn’t seem to be where he last saw it months ago and a stumbling search in the dim light reveals nothing to him.

Jon is about to give up and just try to give himself a bit of a rinse in the sink when suddenly the door creaks open, and the lights click on behind him.

He whirls around with his heart in his bloody throat expecting something to pounce on him. Perhaps it is Tim come to take his weary anger out on him? Or Daisy aiming to finish what she started? Or maybe Elias with some other unsolvable puzzle to dump into his lap?

The fright only lasts an instant however, when he sees who is standing in the doorway looking even more surprised to see him.

“Martin,” He sighs with relief.

Martin’s mouth opens and closes a few times before he manages to find his voice.

“Uh, h-hi?”

“…Hi. Did you- Ah. W-Was the first aid kit moved?” Jon points to the mess he has made of the open presses.

Martin jumps in place before rushing forward.

“Oh! Uh, y-yeah, sorry!”

He crouches down to pull the kit out from under the sink and when Jon raises a questioning eyebrow, he shrugs meekly.

“Melanie moved it,” He says, “She said we all had to be able to reach it in an emergency.”

“Right.”

He takes the box from Martin with just one hand, keeping the bandaged one away from his body at an angle so it won’t bump into anything.

  It’s a heavy, clunky thing and hoisting it onto the counter makes his joints sting. Ignoring the pain, he flips the latch and starts rummaging through it. A thin roll of bandages, antiseptic cream, gauze and dressing are placed in a pile on the counter as he mentally goes through the half-remembered steps of cleaning an open wound.

Just as Jon starts to unravel the hand bandage, the side of his face burns with awareness. He looks over to find Martin staring at him.

  His gaze lingers on his hand, taking in the old bandages and his cracked nails, both still caked in grave dirt. Jon does his best not to squirm under the scrutiny.

 When Martin’s eyes dart to the mound of medical supplies Jon is compiling, he also realises he is taking up most of the counter space.

“Am I… in your way?” He asks, about to sweep it all to the side.

Martin starts, as if he just remembered where he was and stammers as he turns away from him

“N-No! Sorry, sorry!”

He fusses with the kettle, taking out mugs as it boils, and does not face Jon again.

Jon is glad for the privacy. He doesn’t want to look at his own hand any longer than he has to, no-one else needs to see it.

As he peels the rest of the dirty wrappings off, they catch on his ruined skin and he can’t quite hold back a pained hiss. The burn is still dreadful to see, blistered like bubbling wax and so red it’s almost black. It weeps a clear discharge, making the whole thing reek a fluid, animal smell.

  He rinses it off in the sink, pats it awkwardly dry, smears the whole thing in antiseptic cream and clumsily wraps it up again. It’s a messy, slow process and he barely remembers to clean his other hand as well.

Martin stays stock still as he works, standing guard over two brewing mugs and, as he glances at him, Jon can practically see the questions he wants to ask in the stiff line of his shoulders.

  Jon feels both grateful and guilty that Martin holds his tongue. He owes him answers but his mouth is so tired of talking.

Tentatively, he starts prodding at the cut on his neck. It is long but shallow, already clotting. He can feel the skin around it is tender with a blossoming bruise. Daisy wanted it to hurt.

Jon pries his mind away from that thought. If he thinks about how close he came to dying today, he won’t be able to keep himself standing, nevermind clean up.

He just needs to get through the next few steps, and then he can go back to Georgie’s, lay down somewhere quiet and try not to have a complete breakdown. Laying out gauze and dressing, he wets a clean tea towel. He is halfway to raising it to his neck before he realises his mistake.

“Damn.”

“…Jon?”

Martin is peering over his shoulder at him, concern drawn in deep lines around his face.

Jon blinks back at him. He had almost forgotten he was there.

“I… uh,” He waves the tea towel, “I need two hands, should have done this first.”

He is going to ruin the clean wrappings on his hand. He will either have to do them again or wait to get back to the house and hope Georgie won’t be too pissed off to help him. Clucking his tongue, he weighs up his options.

“Um… Do you…” Martin’s soft voice cuts across his thoughts, “I mean, I can… i-if you want?”

“What?” Jon turns and sees him holding out a hand for the tea towel, “Oh.”

“O-O-Only if you, y’know, you’re comfortable with…”

  Jon stares at him for a moment and regrets flickers across Martin’s face. He starts to draw his hand back.

“Uh, yes, no, I mean, I-I appreciate…” Jon stammers, “You don’t have to. I-I don’t want to interrupt… what you’re doing…”

The sheepishness fades from Martin as he chuckles slightly.

“I just came in to get a bit of a break from everyone else, really,” He immediately winces, “God, that sounded bad, didn’t it?”

“No… no, I understand.”

  Martin smiles slightly and Jon’s feels his lips twitch upward in response.

“So, uh,” Martin holds his hand out again and Jon passes him the towel, “Might be easier to sit.”

“Right.”

Jon brings the gauze and dressing to the rickety coffee table while Martin wrings out the towel in the sink. They sit facing each other, and Martin scoots close enough that their knees brush.

“Can you lift your chin?” He asks, “And please tell me if I hurt you?”

Jon raises his head and stares into the yellowing florescent light embedded in the ceiling as Martin starts delicately dabbing at the cut.

It stings, of course. He can feel the edges of the wound prickle with pain as the meagre scabbing that covered them is wiped away. He hopes he isn’t letting it show on his face.

It is a little uncomfortable, letting someone else touch his neck. Especially someone he hasn’t seen for over two months. He peers at Martin out of the corner of his eye.

  He looks exhausted. There are heavy bags under his eyes and the light from above washes him out terribly, making him seem even paler than usual. His hair has grown a bit, more from neglect than choice. His fringe droops over the frame of his glasses.

Guilt bites at the back of Jon’s mind. Without him here, he is almost certain Martin has been doing the lion’s share of the work in the archives. Melanie is only new to the position and Tim… Jon is doubtful Tim has been working at all.

  Martin mumbles a pre-emptive apology as he moves the towel slowly over the cut. His touch is soft but steady, gentle in a way that is completely alien to Jon.

Martin’s gaze is focused on Jon’s neck, intent on washing away every speck of pain scrawled onto it. Instead of the sting of the wound, Jon feels something in his chest ache.

He can’t remember the last time anyone was this careful with him. That thought, more than the pinch of physical pain, makes his eyes water.

He blinks rapidly and rattles his brain for anything that will keep his mind off of how tender Martin’s touch is.

His mouth runs ahead of his head and he tries not to swallow too hard as he speaks.

“Martin… ah…”

“Sorry, am I pressing too hard?” The pressure on his throat eases slightly and Jon wills himself not to chase after it.

“No, no, I just, ah, I wanted to-” Jon bites his tongue in his haste to speak, “H-H-Have you been getting on alright?”

The pressure disappears entirely as Martin reels back to gawk at him, his mouth hanging open in shock. Jon might be offended at his surprise if he wasn’t too busy kicking himself.

He keeps babbling before Martin even has a chance to respond.

“God, that’s stupid- stupid question, of course you’re not-!” He sighs, “Just- Ignore me. Apologies.”

He looks back up to the breakroom lights, his face burning hot.

Martin chuckles.

Jon dares to glance at him.

The surprise has faded into something softer, a not-quite-there smile lingering on his lips.

“Yeah…” He agrees quietly, “That… is pretty stupid.”

“Well-! Pardon me for asking,” Jon snaps.

Martin’s smile grows.

“I’ve… I’ve got a pretty stupid answer for it though?”

“Uh,” Jon leans forward in his seat, “Yes?”

“Despite um, well, all of it…” Martin swings a hand around the room, “It’s… It’s really good to see you, Jon.”

He stares.

  It’s Martin’s turn to try and hide from the scrutiny. Jon watches with fascination as he starts to turn a blotchy red.

He doesn’t understand. The last time they spoke, Jon gave him nothing but a weak apology after suspecting him of murder and invading his privacy for months. Martin should be angry at him, or maybe even afraid. Jon doesn’t want him to be, but he would understand if he were.

Instead, Martin sits in front of him with a shy smile and soft hands, helping him, missing him. Jon can’t possibly understand that.

He opens his mouth without any clue as to what to say.

“That… doesn’t actually answer my question?” He says weakly.

Martin laughs. Not a chuckle or a giggle but a full-throated belly laugh. It is a sound Jon has never heard from him before. His face feels even warmer.

As soon as he calms down, Martin shakes his head before delicately placing his fingertips on Jon’s chin and tilting his head upward.

“I guess not.”

He finishes cleaning and dressing the wound in silence. When he presses the dressing against the cut to make sure its smooth, Jon can’t help but shudder.

A frown crosses Martin’s brow.

“Don’t suppose I can convince you to see a doctor about this?”

“You suppose correct,” Jon sighs.

Martin clucks his tongue but doesn’t push him any further.

Jon is overcome with the sudden desire to sit in this chair for the remainder of the afternoon, resting in Martin’s half-joking disapproval with their kneecaps just about touching.

He is also keenly aware that that desire isn’t something he can afford to indulge in.

With a weary groan, he hauls himself upright.

  “I… appreciate the help.”

Grabbing the now-stained tea towel, he turns away to toss it in the sink.

“O-Oh, uh, sure, anytime,” Martin says automatically, “Well, n-no, not anytime- I didn’t mean- I don’t want you to get hurt again or a-anything!”

“It’s fine, Martin, I know what you meant.”

He puts the first aid kit back under the sink and pats his pockets to make sure he has all the things he came in with. It’s not much.

“Right, I won’t be back today, but I’ll be in the office tomorrow.”

“You’d better not be!” Martin exclaims, suddenly loud.

Jon blinks at him.

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re hurt! You need rest!” Martin squeaks indignantly, “Proper rest, Jon not just a half-day off!”

“I- Wh- You can’t stop me coming to work!”

“I bloody well can!”

Jon boggles as a memory suddenly strikes him full-force. He had tried coming back to the archives early after Prentiss’ attack as well, hadn’t he? Martin had practically carried out of the building. At the time, it was just another reason for Jon to be suspicious of him. Now, he can see it for what it was.

  Martin cared.

  He still cares, whether that care takes the form of washing his wounds or scolding him for his poor work-life balance. It’s not a feeling Jon is familiar with.

Martin still sits at the coffee table, arms crossed over his chest, colour high in his cheeks. With a wistful smile, Jon decides to let him have his way. It’s paltry thanks for his ministrations, but it is all Jon has.

“Alright.”

Martin’s glare vanishes under his shock.

“Alright?”

Jon nods.

  “Alright. I’ll rest.”

“Oh! Oh. …Good!”

“It’s what, Friday now?” Jon says, “Maybe I’ll even take the weekend off.”

“Wow, let’s not go overboard,” Martin grumbles.

Jon snorts, hiding his laughter behind his bandaged hand. Martin smiles brightly and somehow, gets even redder.

“I’ll see you Monday.”

“Y-Yeah.”

Jon heads for the door. His feet are like lead weights and he already knows he is going to have to stop himself from napping on the tube. He can sleep properly once he is back at Georgie’s. It might even be nice to rest, for once.

He pauses in the doorway, glancing back.

Martin has stood up, his arms still crossed even as he flicks a hand up.

“See you.”

As he stares at him, Jon’s chest aches again. He is overcome with the urge to speak, as if that will ease it.

“For what it is worth… It is really good to see you too.”

Martin’s face goes slack with a look as soft and tender as his hand was on Jon’s throat. It makes the ache worse.

Jon turns away without another word, knocks once on the doorframe and walks away.

  As he heads for the stairs, his hand still throbs, and his neck still stings but it is the hurt in his heart that distracts him. The sound of Martin’s laughter echoes in his head and Jon thinks that this particular pain is one he doesn’t mind keeping.

#the magnus archives #tma #jonmartin #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #tma 092 #tma fic #the great tma relisten #listen. has this scenario been written about more than once? yes. do i care? no. #you will get my interpretation and you will like it #the boys are PIIINNNNIIINGGGGG

[ghostbustermelanieking]

📓!!

i've posted about this idea before a million times, but: archivist melanie fic. i've had this idea for such a long time, and i would love to riff on it if i ever get the motivation.

so the basic premise of this ends up being a semi melanie-jon role swap, but: essentially jon does not work at the institute, and melanie comes in to give her statement sooner. (her statement takes place in january of 2015, so this actually sort of works?? but i'd probably mess with the timeline so melanie has her encounter with the slaughter, and ghost hunt uk breaks up, sooner.) elias doesn't see a clear candidate for the archivist after murdering gertrude -- he's considering tim, he's considering rosie, but no one feels like a clear fit... but then he meets melanie, who isn't exactly a perfect fit, but... she's doubly marked, by the slaughter and the stranger. and with the drive she has for investigation, it seems like it would be easy to orchestrate twelve more.

so melanie takes the archivist job, with sasha, tim, and martin as her assistants (just because), and her approach ends up even more focused on investigation than jon's. (she refuses to look into the most outlandish ones -- she's still as skeptical of the institute as she is in canon -- but there's plenty grounded in evidence that she's ready to investigate.) tim and sasha fall into this easily, of course, with their experience in research, and they all end up more or less bonding, because why not (melanie canonically liked sasha, and was friends with martin, and i think she would've gotten along better with tim under better circumstances...). georgie, of course, is still close with melanie, and ends up being much more involved with things, and while the institute initially seems like a good thing for melanie -- a new opportunity and a chance to find closure -- it also ends up being a little frightening as time goes on, as melanie's eye powers start to develop, and the slaughter starts to take a greater hold on her...

so in this au, jon comes into the story when he's convinced (either by coincidence, by georgie, or by the web) to give a statement about mr. spider. there's little to no evidence, and melanie would probably dismiss it if it wasn't for the fact that a) jon is friends with georgie, or used to be friends with georgie, and b) the fact that martin and jon immediately hit it off, and martin pushes to investigate more. they can't find anything about jon's statement, but they do decide to look into more spider statements to see if there's a connection. specifically, first, the carlos vittery case. which martin and melanie go to investigate together. and this time, instead of martin, jane prentiss follows the archivist home.

melanie is trapped for a few days with her phone gone. but this time, people get clued in faster -- partially because georgie, who texts with melanie all the time, knows that prentiss's texts are nothing like melanie, and partially because martin was there at the basement with her. they manage to break her out after a few days. melanie ends up staying with georgie instead of in the institute because georgie insists ("you're not staying in the office, melanie; i'll be fine"). jon finds out about this through georgie and, despite the tension he and melanie had when he gave his statement, he calls to apologize. (and is more or less adopted into this strange little circle because of his connection with georgie, and his new tentative friendship with martin.)

the prentiss attack goes very similarly, except for one thing: when the dust has settled, and melanie is getting patched up in an ambulance outside, and tim and martin start hugging a strange woman and calling her sasha... melanie sees through it. she sees through it, and can't say anything, because the others won't believe her, and the not!sasha knows it, keeps smirking at melanie over their shoulders. that isn't sasha, and something has happened to her.

melanie tells georgie, convinces georgie to believe her. they go back into the archives while it is empty (everyone on leave) and tear it apart, looking for references to what this is. (melanie remembers the amy patel statement, but wants more information...) eventually they find the statement from mag 78, the one with adelard dekker. they put together the pieces about the table. melanie goes to tim and martin, and they don't believe her, but she convinces them to come with her, to just see the table, and that's when they destroy it, releasing sasha and letting the not!them loose all at once.

(yes, sasha lives in this au; not because melanie is the archivist, but just because i don't wanna kill sasha, shhh)

there is the canon-typical not-sasha chase, with a sasha that only melanie recognizes along for the ride. jurgen leitner still shows up and traps it, but melanie refuses his offers to talk. none of them want answers, at this point, after prentiss and the not!them; they just want out. they go to elias to try and quit, and are unable to, of course. (even after melanie threatens him with a letter opener.) they are trapped, for now.

everyone takes their time off, although none of them really stay away; tim and martin and georgie are all waiting for their memories of sasha to go right, and after tim and melanie's wounds heal a little, they're meeting almost daily to try and figure out how to leave the institute. but in all the confusion and exhaustion and trauma, one thing all of them forget to do is fill in jon. (how can they? strange spiders and worms are one thing, but this... it all seems a little much.) this ends up being a mistake when, on everyone's first day back to the archives, elias announces a new coworker. he shows jon down, who looks confused and maybe even a little hurt when everyone loudly protests. elias smiles at melanie and tells her it's a shame they can't bring that host of what the ghost on -- that she would surely be a valuable resource to the archives as well.

so i'm not sure where the fic goes from here; in my mind, it's always cut off with elias essentially hiring jon as a hostage to keep the others under control. with the 197 reveal that the web hand picked jon as the archivist, though... i did have a new idea for a continuation. one where, in a sped up timeline with the revelations of s2 and early s3 having come in about a week -- and with the web's chosen archivist finally in the institute -- the web starts to orchestrate situations where jon gets marked alongside melanie. and it catches things before they progress too far. it shows melanie eric delano's tape instead of steering her away -- like it did jon -- in the hopes that melanie will blind herself to get free of the institute. so that the archivist position will be open for jon.

#this got long lol so im sticking it under a read more #i have been thinking about this idea for SO LONG lol #tma au #archivist melanie