#they should have tried it on elias. not because i think it would have worked im sure hed have seen it coming

[cemeterything]

every so often i just think about how good it was that the most foolproof one-size-fits-all solution for dealing with basically any horrifyingly evil supernatural monster of the week in the magnus archives was just. burying them in concrete. like yeah i can believe that a few tons of grey brutalist slop would stop the wolfman or pretty much anything in its tracks to be honest. they use that shit on nuclear waste. do you honestly think you're stronger than a nuke? a fucking nuke?

#🐉 #they should have tried it on elias. not because i think it would have worked im sure hed have seen it coming #but just to see his reaction. #tma

[f0xgl0v3]

How does one Elias Bouchard hold his Pipe/The overall murder scene

Tw this like entire post is about the proper way to hold a pipe if you wanna effectively hit someone with it several times repeatedly :3 also spoilers for MAG 80

Guys I am simply a writer and this is just for writing and thought experiment purposes, none of this shall or should be applied to real life and it’s just for the haha extended sounds of brutal pipe murder-

What has come to my life-? I’m talking about Elias Bouchard and how he holds the Pipe to murder people- I, there will be actual Percy Jackson stuff soon. Maybe talking about Camp Jupiter and armor and gear and stuff or something however,

Everyone draws Elias with really weird hand positions on the pipe-? That’s a weird thing to say and the art is fantastic but if your beating someone with a Pipe then there seems to be a way I always thought in my head-

Let’s, for the sake that I’m halfway through season 4 consider the only Pipe murder I am currently aware of would be Jurgen Leitner’s, we can work with this. Elias is standing over him at the other side of a desk while Jurgen is seated I believe-? There are a couple ways we can go about this,

1) Elias hits him while they both are in the neutral position at the desk

2) Elias walks over to Jurgen’s side during the conversation and hits him then

3) Jurgen stands up from his chair and then Elias hits him.

I have had to listen to the sound clip so many times for this- I- okay. So, the beginning of the murder still is Jurgen talking, I think audibly a bit worried. I’d like to make the assumption that while Elias is like “bird stuff always a risk about death” that is when the pipe is revealed, Jurgen is taking the moment to try and reason with him and I think 2 and 3 are the most viable due to the sound they use. In 1’s scenario Elias wouldn’t get enough strength in that first swing (due to the desk being in the way, and Elias most likely having to lean over the desk to try and get a strong strike.

Then, the sound- I believe Elias initially hits Jurgen from the side of the head, think like the same ‘row’ that your temples are on, that vague side of the head. Jurgen is heard with a grunt by the first hit; we don’t hear him fall or anything (which makes me suspect it could be a situation of Elias walking over to the other side of the table) and it doesn’t really sound like Elias moves where he hits very much- continuing to strike that original spot; otherwise we’d likely hear the crunch of bone. Am I making the assumption that the sound design would include the crunch and that I would know what hitting a skull with a metal pipe is, oh yeah totally.

Now, that settles how I think this entire thing played out, Elias revealing the pipe as he walks over to the side, Jurgen looks up in old sad man still seated and is trying to reason with Elias, maybe he even attempts to get up and that is when Elias strikes in the right side of his head (just what makes sense to me, it could be the left either it wouldn’t matter much) and repeatedly hits there 11 times (yes I counted the strikes we hear, no I don’t have anything better to do with my time because I’m putting off writing a script) before like dipping or whatever.

Now, the pipe posture if you will. I see so many drawings of Elias’s hands like this,

Raised, and for all intents and purposes from an art sense it’s rad. It’s a dynamic pose and stuff, and of course this is not a critique on artists (who are way better than me) and how they want to draw this fictional man hold his pipe. However this is my brainrot talking on the ‘hey I think this is how he’d get the most effective swing’ because I’ve listened to two seasons back to back and I no longer have a brain.

But; Elias Bouchard wants the most bang for his buck so to speak. I think holding the Pipe like the tried and true baseball bat would provide this. Elias holding it like in my very bad diagram is good if he’d want to poke or stab someone with the pipe, but it’s really effective if you can get that swing in. So yeah, baseball style; hands together near the end of the pipe and over a shoulder or even over his head if you want to be silly with his posing.

Uh, haha okay. I’m sorry but the rot is all consuming and I’ve been thinking about him a lot, also like Peter Lukas and a bunch of the other sillies but this kinda- forced itself out while I was looking at art of the scene. I, uh, :3 that’s all. I like thinking about the mapping and layout and planning of scenes like these and how the visuals might’ve looked if there were visuals. I promise I probably won’t make any more posts like this for a solid while (however, talking about Bryce Lawerence and my thing in SoN are-imagining that he was the one to kill Gwen… maybe.)

#hehe :3 #idk how to tag this #the magnus archives #tmagp spoilers #tma podcast #tmagp theory #this is really stupid #ridiculous even #I’m sorry if you just want to see the funny pjo stuff I post- #elias bouchard #love that sick little rat man #sorry #okay bye

[atopvisenyashill]

A timeline of the ruling princes and princesses of Dorne from Meria Martell’s death to the formal union of Dorne and the rest of the Seven Kingdoms in 187 AC.

Anything marked with a * means it’s a canon date. The rest are speculation and a lot of math on my part. I also made up the names for a few characters as well! Also rip the quality on this but when you click it, it looks better.

More explanation under the cut.

Where I ran into most trouble in trying to figure out this timeline when we have not nearly as much information as we do about literally every other major Great House of Westeros, is the line from Morion the Mad to Qoren Martell. There’s several quick changes in princes during that time and we don’t even know what their relation is to one another in several instances. So I tried working out the timeline in a few different ways - I tried it with Mara Martell, Morion’s heir, as his very young daughter, as a twin sister, as a younger sister, and I finally settled on her being his much older aunt as making the most sense.

I think it makes the most sense because Morion is considered young and yet his father was Prince for a very long time; it doesn’t make sense that a ruling prince would wait so long to have an heir unless in a parallel to Jaehaerys’ later issue, several of his heirs die and leave the line of succession a bit uncertain. So I concluded that Morion’s father, who I named Voren, had several older children that died, likely during the Vulture King’s first war (we know it’s suspected Deria was funding him) so when Voren died, the throne went to his reckless, dumb ass youngest son, Morion. With Morion dying without any children, the throne passes next to Deria’s second child, Mara, and the Nymeros Martell line descends from them. This also makes sense because in canon, Morion was angry that his father didn’t send soldiers to kick the Iron Throne out of the Dornish Marches during Lord Rogar’s War; if Voren had children that had died in a previous conflict, it would make sense that he’d hesitate to get involved again.

Qoren was also a bit tricky. He had to be old enough to fight in the Stepstones War against Daemon, but young enough to not be married yet and be considered a potential match for Rhaenyra two years later. After a lot of wondering how in the hell I make that work, I finally figured - again, similar to Cregan Stark and Jaeherys, that there was a surplus of heirs at this time. Mara would have come into her throne already old with children and grandchildren, and her heir would come into the throne also already old, same as Meria/Nymor/Deria. Makes sense that the prince before Qoren was therefore a grandfather or great-grandfather, and that Qoren’s father never took the Sunspear Throne.

I stopped at the unification of the Seven Kingdoms simply because we get absolutely no information on what was going on in Dorne until Doran’s mother. Apparently, Dorne was real quiet during the Blackfyre Rebellions, hah.

And as for names...

Voren - we have several instances of Dornishmen with names that end in the -en sound. Doran, Oberyn, Llewyn, Yoren, etc. It seems like a common naming quirk, similar to the Northerners being really fond of -on and -ard endings. I thought Voren sounded the most like a real name.

Ellario - We have Elia and Ellaria so I figured there should be a male version of the name. I didn’t want to use Elio, so Ellario was born.

#valyriansource #valyrianscrolls #house martell #house nymeros martell #getting on my soap box #dorne #rani graphics #qoren martell #mara martell #morion the mad #deria martell #meria martell #nymor martell #maron martell #myriah martell #marence martell #qyle martell #aliandra nymeros martell #maron nymeros martell #marence nymeros martell #qyle nymeros martell #aliandra martell #mara nymeros martell #meria nymeros martell #deria nymeros martell #nymor nymeros martell #fuck i think that's everyone

[nucifraga]

So, how old are the grandpas of the apocalypse really? Ft. - Jonah Magnus - Simon Fairchild - Peter Lukas - Maxwell Rayner

I MADE A PART 2 OF MY CHARACTER AGES RESEARCH (part 1 incl. og archives crew, 3 avatars + gerry here) after a few days of really wanting to detective the ages of this lot, i finally caved and decided to dig out the magnifying glass! same disclaimers apply! including an extra disclaimer to say that I've changed the formatting for this a lil because there was a Lot More Research done compared to part 1. Necessitated bc these mfs are OLD. (except for peter lukas. peter lukas is surprisingly young??)

(All ages are as of S1 / 2016 & the highlights are in bold if you don't feel like reading my essays)

Jonah Magnus

Age: ~216 Birth Year: ~1800

There are a few landmarks we can use, but because of how shady most are (old-ass letters) I also can’t pin down any solid dates because all the characters involved are fictional ._. Basically the only clues I got were: The Magnus Institute was established in 1818, but Jonah was old enough to travel alone to Germany and exchange letters with a friend (Albrecht von Closen) by 1816. So birthdate around ~1800? 1790?

I tried to find an ‘upper limit’ by using the life expectancy of the time since he also was able to live a ‘natural’ life until the (failed) Watcher’s Crown was carried out ‘at some point closely after February 13th, 1867’, BUT the average life expectancy of men was at most 41 years. So there was some Fairchild-esque shit going on there.

Simon Fairchild

Age: 439 - 488 Birth Year: 1528 - 1577

SPEAKING OF FAIRCHILD - sky grandpa! love him, he’s such a bastard. Anyway, in his own words, he’s had ‘an absurdly long life’. In MAG151 he says he was apprenticed to the Italian artist Tintoretto. Apprenticeships in the Renaissance started at approximately 11-14 years old & lasted for 1-8 years, and I’m assuming this was the same for the 1500s. Hopefully.

Given that Tintoretto became a renowned artist in ~1542, my estimate of the oldest Simon could be would be 14 in 1542. On the other end of the scale, Wikipedia says that his last notable work was Il Paradiso, finished from 1588–1594. I can’t find any mention of works post-1588 so this puts the absolute youngest Simon could be at 11 years old in 1588. From those two estimates, it was just a matter of mathing it out :)

Note 1: Simon mentions that his Becoming was while painting a church, likely a ceiling or high wall since he ‘should have broken his neck’, which should narrow it down – except it doesn’t, because Tintoretto painted a lot of churches x_x Note 2: I’ve just spent half an hour researching an Italian painter & art conventions in the 16th Century, which is of no relevance at all to my STEM degree in the 21st century. Simon’s age doesn’t even particularly matter because it was so long ago that the centuries quite literally blur together. This rabbit hole is incredibly fascinating, but this feels so ironically pointless, which is really, really fitting. Note 3: Simon definitely deserved to get ripped apart by the mob. His time has long, long passed lmao

Peter Lukas

Age: ~49-61 (at the very youngest; 36) Birth Year: late 1950s - late 1960s

Peter appears to be the youngest of these four – surprisingly so! – which makes it a lot simpler to pin down his age. He first meets JamesWright!Jonah between 1973 and 1996 & also he was old enough to have the option of watching TV when he was a child. TV became common in UK homes in the 1960s, so his birthdate at the earliest may be in the late 1950s/1960s.

However, he’s known Jonah as ‘Elias’ for most of their acquaintance by late 2018, meaning that they met at the earliest 1975 (21 years before 1996), but was probably more like 1980ish or later. I don’t think he would have met him too long after becoming an avatar some time after he became ‘old enough to run away’, which I’m assuming means he became aware of the Lonely when teenager-ish.

But spending some time on the Tundra before meeting other avatars makes sense for the Lonely, and so my vague estimate of his birth year would be late 1950s - late 1960s. I don’t think that his birthdate was anywhere later, though it is possible that it could have been as late as 1980 (if he began running away when very young & was introduced to ‘James Wright’ very early into avatar-hood), if incredibly unlikely.

Note: My ‘very youngest’ estimate for Peter Lukas is… younger than my estimate for Mike Crew’s age. I find this inordinately funny.

Maxwell Rayner

Age: 357 Birth Date: 8 November 1658

I have excellent news for Rayner! Good ol’ Jonny has made his original body Edmond Halley. A very famous person with a wikipedia page of his own that conveniently states his date of birth :)

Thanks, Jonny.

Rayner died in February 2017 at the age of 358 years 3 months 2 days, though he did spend a decent amount of time host-less. Unlike Gerard Keay, I’m unsure of how ‘alive’ he was during this time, so I’m just going to count it as ‘alive’-time because it means I get precise numbers for the first time since I started researching character ages!

#tma spoilers #tma #the magnus archives #jonah magnus #elias bouchard #james wright #character ages #simon fairchild #maxwell rayner #edmond halley #peter lukas #tma research #tma headcanons

[mcskullmun]

My own personal Jmart and Lonelyeyes hc parallels and comparisons (because it’s this or Another fic) Many words under the cut

-Tw abusive relationship

-The Lonely as an allegory for depression

-Non consensual mind reading

*mind reading*

-Jon actively tries to avoid, and in most cases succeeds in avoiding, reading Martin’s mind. It’s a clear boundary in their relationship

-Elias actively attempts to see inside Peter’s head. It’s only Peter’s strong connection to the lonely that keeps him out and in some cases where he burnt out/hurt he just can’t. Big angst potential, Very Unhealthy

-I think Martin doesn’t do the whole ‘I want you to look inside my head and see my true feelings as an act of love’ thing. He trusts Jon to know how true it is when he tells him he loves him. He knows Jon might not believe him with certain things, and that that kind of thing should be up to him, not to Beholding. This (in my opinion) is healthy

-Elias doesn’t trust shit. I hc him as secretly paranoid as hell. The nature of the lonely makes things kinda fuzzy when he tries to Look at them which drives him crazy. And Peter Is manipulative. He Does lie. So it’s almost impossible for either of them to know when the other is being genuine. Again very fun to write, Very Unhealthy. So Peter does open his mind to Elias when he wants him to trust him, and Elias just doesn’t. He has no idea if Peter’s somehow tricked Beholding or is Very Good At Lying or anything- there’s never any certainty

*Compelling*

-As a rule Jon tries his hardest not to compel Martin. Martin tried it once to see if he would be able to read poetry aloud more fluently and Hated it. So yeah never again.

-Elias doesn’t like compelling Peter. He’s more into the observing side of Beholding, so actual confrontation is more difficult. More than that he hates it when Peter resists, but tells him of his own free will anyway. This is one Peter hasn’t asked him not to do, but still actively resists.

*Disappearing*

-Martin will not send Jon into the Lonely. He occasionally disappears himself, but knows Jon will find him no matter what. They’re working on it together.

-Most conflict ends with Peter vanishing into the Lonely. He doesn’t send Elias there because it feels like pushing someone else into your room and slamming the door on them? If that makes sense. It’s his space to torture people he doesn’t deem quite as real as Elias.

*Memory loss*

-As far as I’m aware Martin would not be powerful enough to have this power. If he did I don’t think he’d use it

-Having said that inducing memory loss is tied to domains not Avatars, but I’m giving it to Peter for angst reasons

-Peter doesn’t actually use it on Elias. He sure as hell thinks about it, about starting over and pretending he’s still the original Elias (whole other can of headcannon worms), but he won’t. I think he used it on original Elias for some time to hide the fact he was an avatar/isolate him for his own purposes

*Non Avatar related section*

-Jmart do at home dates. Sure they go out places sometimes but outside is tiring as hell. They prefer reading or cooking together and watching weird documentaries

-Lonelyeyes don’t really do dates. Their idea of a bonding moment is burying a body in the woods and not speaking again for months

-Both Jon and Martin have rocky relationships with birthdays so they both try so hard to make them the best they possibly can be

-Elias is fucking ancient and Peter hates interaction, these guys don’t do birthdays

*end*

Sorry for having an obvious Lonelyeyes bias but Peter and Elias have a fucking vice grip on my mind (it’s the whole Jonah/Original Elias being not quite two different people in Peter’s eyes) (And also the voice)

#the magnus archives #tma #elias bouchard #peter lukas #martin blackwood #jonathan sims #jonah magnus #tma spoilers #tma headcanons #tma hc #manipulation #mind reading

[dissolving-mansion]

I love shipping Jon in the TMA fandom because his potential love interests are this:

Guy who was only marginally worse at his Job than Jon was at his own (because he let an animal into the archives). Whenever he sees something he doesn't like he embodies the "I do not see it" meme. Man who is against crime until he personally dislikes the person the crime is being committed against, then it's fine. Bonded with Jon via shared trauma. Thinks Jon is incapable of making his own decisions. Spent most of his life lonely and bitter and without any 0 external or supernatural causes for this. Makes nice tea tho.

Guy who hates Jon because hating Elias would be even more pointless. Was stalked by Jon. Went from expressing fair negative criticisms and Jon not listening to expressing unfair negative criticisms and Jon listening too much. Lost the people he cared about to the thing that eventually destroyed him. More qualified for archival work than the rest of the team and simply because his publishing career gave him the mystical ability to spot errors. Only interaction with cops was sleeping with them for information so he took one look at Jon and Basira and was like "getting a lot of sleeping with cops for information vibes here". Heartbreaking last line before he went on his kayaking trip.

Girl who tried to murder him even after he thought he had tried to talk her out of it. Spent like a year looking at him and thinking "prey". Knife. Was a cop. In the camp of "Jon shouldn't have an opinion, actually, he should shit up." Often held up in comparison to Jon to make him look bad but she just honestly wants to do better. Has traumatic things on common with Jon. Werewolf. Presumably hot tho.

Not-a-guy that has stabbed Jon. Gives good advice in extremely cryptic ways like some kind of fortune teller. Has the skin texture of leather, apparently. A liar but honest about it. Has saved Jon and company on multiple occasions but did so in the creepiest and most villainous ways possible. Wanted to kill Jon. Had revenge fantasies that only involved Jon because he was Alive and There. Also wanted to be Known by Jon, a factor that may have contributed to its death. Died for wanting something clearly and without deceit.

Man who is way more dramatic and evil than he pretends to be. Makes puns that are only funny weeks later when you finally get them. Owns evil contracts. Hired the two people he knew would be most incompetent at archival work for archival work. Gave Jon a bed?? When Jon is stressed he concludes that the solution is More Work. Thinks being human is overrated. So terrified of being a victim that he victimized literally everybody else. "Grinning freak". Lying liar man. Same sense of humor and communication style as Jon tho.

Goth who comes across like a protagonist. Burns cursed books. Could have esaily been a bad person but chose to be good instead. Loathes saving people but begrudgingly does it anyway. Spent his entire life following the orders of old women who scare people. A book appraiser who would be shocked and upset by Jonathan "I only ever read a book once" Sims. Deserves a nap. Unfortunately, he died before Jon could meet him.

Jon is suffering.

#tma #Jonathan sims #jonmartin #jondaisy #jonmichael #jonelias #jongerry #tma ships #tma spoilers #08 #chats 08 #08 tma #jontim

[300yearschallenge]

Part 1 I Part 2 I Part 3 I Part 4

Laura was seething.

She worked her way around the cow pen, brushing down Majros' fur and trying to dislodge the worst of the muck.

Lately seeing the cow had made her think of Charles Elias and by extension improved her mood, but now it only served to make it worse.

As if the cow wasn't bad enough on her own.

She dropped the cow brush into a bucket and sighed, turning away from her to stare out towards the woods.

She felt so stupid!

Of course the moment she let her guard down just a little Alfred and his lackeys would swoop in.

She wasn't ever sure why she was angry with Charles Elias over it either.

Of course he'd pick the healthy well-adjusted people instead of her.

She should have seen it coming miles away.

In fact she had! And she had kept him at arms length for more than a year because of it to make sure this exact thing didn't happen.

But obviously it still did. She hated herself for ever being so naïve.

She hated herself even more when she spotted the figure of Charles Elias making his way home, head bowed as if in thought.

Once he was close enough to home to spot her he waved slightly, and then jogged the last bit to reach her.

"Hello," he said, giving her one of those small, timid little smiles of his. The ones that he probably gave everyone, because he was friendly and approachable and good.

She hated his smiles, she decided.

"Hey…," she said, "How was… Everything?"

She grimaced slightly, bracing herself for a wider smile and some breathless enthusiastic story of how wonderful and sociable and approachable and fun Alfred and his friends were.

Instead Charles Elias's smile became a little strained.

"Oh," he said, "It was… nice. I think."

He didn't sound sure.

Laura picked at her nailbeds, ripping at a small hangnail with a frown. It was the opposite of what she'd expected. Wasn't that supposed to make her feel better in a way?

She was angry at him, and she hadn't actually wanted him to like Alfred. And yet it also made her feel bad.                                

She tried to think of how to respond.

What did people say in situations like these anyway?

She panicked a little, and picked the first response that came to mind.                        

"Well, it's to be expected of Alfred and his friends," she said and what she meant was that Charles Elias shouldn't feel bad that it hadn't been nice, but from the way his smile went out she knew it hadn't come out correctly.            

"Oh…" He said. "Right."                                                  

She began ripping at the skin surrounding the hangnail.  

"Dinner should be ready in an hour," she said, "It's uh… Fish… stew."    

"Right," he said, "I suppose I'll see you then."                                              

He began to turn away and she felt like she'd somehow kicked a puppy.                                  

Even though she shouldn't care. Didn't care. Definitely not.

And yet she couldn't keep herself from calling out to him.                  

"The uh-- The cow's been a lot more cooperative since you helped," she said.                          

Charles Elias looked from her to the cow and then back to her, and then his face erupted into a small smile.

The kind of smile she told herself she hated.                          

"I'm glad to hear that!"

He walked away with a small wave, looking happier already, and the moment he was out of sight Laura buried her face in her hands.

Part 1 I Part 2 I Part 3 I Part 4

#300 years challenge #sims 4 decades #sims 4 legacy #sims 4 historical #olafssons #gen 4 #charles elias park #in which Laura has a perfectly normal time and definitely isn't beset by social anxiety and a fear of connection #its okay tho Laura just because YOU think you're awful doesn't mean Charles Elias does <3 #ts4 decades #ts4 historical #ts4 legacy #simblr #girl's going through it

[mlmxreader]

Can't Let You Go | David Hesh Walker x gn!reader

『••✎••』

↳ ❝ Pssst.... what if, hear me out here... I know "I think he's come back for his noon feeding" is from Jaws but!!! It's Y/N feeding people to their beloved that got turned into a zombie because they just CANNOT let go. Beloved in question is Hesh.

Optional but would be very funny if Logan helped capture victims because "It's not too different from hunting deer." and he also can't let Hesh go. The brother in law helps out.

Also optional, but would be interesting if Hesh could somewhat remember things even un-dead. Like Y/N tells him "I love you." and he'll sign it back because muscle memory or some shit. Establish a bit of motive for the whole "Letting my dead boyfriend murder and eat you." thing. - @tokillamockingbird427 ❞

: ̗̀➛ You're the only to blame for what happens to him, yet even still, between you and Logan, nobody can be quite sure who is less willing to part ways with him even though they know they should.

: ̗̀➛ swearing, smoking, graphic depictions of corpses, fatal injuries described in detail, MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH, murder, gun violence

•───────────────★•♛•★──────────────•

You blamed yourself for it, more than anything, knowing that the others had done everything that they could whilst you were over with a different task force doing some training; it was your fault that he had gotten that way. Your fault that he turned into a monster.

You should have known that the people they were after would have used the gas; infecting Hesh when he was alone in the control room.

You should have protected him, and look what you had done; he was far from the Hesh you had fallen in love with.

His beautiful, smooth skin was now covered in dried blood, the white cloth he had tried to use to protect himself was melted into his skin and had torn open to expose his fleshless jaw. Hanging on by tendons, dribbles of blood staining the once white fabric.

His skin was grey, pale and thick like a dying scab. Claw marks on his head where he had tried to fight the infection. His right eye was completely gone, melted from his skull and exposing the deep and empty socket; you could see right through to the back of his skull.

Bits of bubbled flesh stuck to his lower eyelid. A hole in the side of his neck where he had tried to kill himself in desperation, blistered flesh around the entry point. His hands were cracked and blistered, skin hanging off in thick scabs constantly, all up to his shoulders.

He could hardly speak, the words sounding more like an imitation of human speech; he sounded human in voice, but the words were just wrong. You had done this. It had all been your fault.

You and Logan knew you couldn’t let him go out on his own, knew that he couldn’t be given up to the US military; you also both knew that you needed Hesh, you needed him around. A life without Hesh… you didn’t want to imagine it, and neither did Logan.

Logan had never been without his big brother, and you had been Hesh’s significant other for so long that you just couldn’t stomach the thought of being without him anymore.

Together, you and Logan took Hesh to a cabin in the woods that you had been left in an inheritance; you put up six foot tall fences made of thick wood with a doggy door that only opened if Riley’s microchip was scanned, and ensured that the rest of the property was littered with barbed wire and traps to make absolutely sure that no one would ever find Hesh.

No cellular phones. No internet. No computers. Never anything that could ever be tracked to the location, not even burner phones.

Nobody else was ever allowed to know; Logan told Elias and Keegan that he was going to see some friends for a while whenever he came to visit Hesh, and you had no one to talk to anyway so you didn’t really need to worry about anyone finding out.

You moved into the cabin, Logan could only ever visit when he could manage to get away. It worked well enough, though, nobody in, nobody out except you and Logan.

If he ever felt like he was being followed, he would immediately drive past the cabin and head down to the local hotel; sign in under his own name, and remain there until it was time for him to go back to Elias’s house.

Never risk anything.

You were both adamant about that.

But every day, even though it always came back the same, you would always check Hesh’s state over and you would always try and clean up some of the wounds; he would sit there patiently, watching you with such softness in his eyes that it was almost hard to believe that he wasn’t fully human anymore.

No heartbeat. No respiratory rate. No reaction to being tapped on the knees or elbows. He didn’t bleed when he got paper cuts from thorns he picked up. He didn’t feel anything when he bumped into objects around the cabin. Never even flinched.

He didn’t sleep. He didn’t produce any bodily fluids like sweat, drool or mucus. He was a rotted corpse, through and through, but he didn’t seem to be rotting even more; like the gas had caused him to decompose up to a certain point and then let him be.

You almost wondered if they did it in hopes of creating soldiers, but you didn’t really care.

Hesh was still mostly himself; still pressed himself to your back when he saw you cooking, still nuzzled into you at night while you slept, still smiled and grinned when he saw you singing and dancing as you put the washing away.

He was still free to roam during the day, though, having access to everything within the six foot tall fence at least; it spanned quite a large area, but you still worried.

You checked every day to make sure that every panel was secure so that he wouldn’t get out and get caught by someone who wouldn’t understand.

Didn’t change the fact that he was always so fucking cold to the touch, though. His fingers always felt like ice, and his lips never failed to make you shiver; it took a while to get used to it when he peppered kisses along your neck like he used to when he came home from deployment.

But like every other being on the planet, Hesh still needed to feed; he still needed to eat, and you and Logan knew what you had to do; you knew that Logan was a skilled hunter, but you still felt bad about asking even though you knew he would agree - you still felt bad about asking him to do such a thing, knowing how much it would hurt you both.

But you had to keep Hesh going, you couldn’t let him fade away, you couldn’t let him leave - neither of you were ready for that, you needed him.

It started out small.

Logan would go hunting in the woods when tourism was slower and there were less people around to notice him going after whatever game there was; he would hunker down, wait for one to become separated from the herd to get lost, and then take the shot when it wasn’t looking.

He made sure to never use his car, and to always be within walking distance; leaving the prey on the small table you had made for Hesh. He would wash his hands of the blood he had spilled, watching Hesh bite chunks from the large carcass, tearing it apart with grunts and growls.

But it was only deer, that was all; it was only ones that ever became separated from the herd, and it was only ones that wouldn’t really be noticed. 

“We can’t keep this up,” Logan whispered. “Someone’s gonna find out - I know it’s only… deer. But still.”

You frowned, knowing that he was right. “We need to find a new herd, that’s all… there’s an unmarked, inconspicuous trailer… it’s big enough for a deer or two… and you can attach it to the car. Just say you’re using it to help someone move.”

“And the blood?” Logan asked with a raised brow. 

“I’ve got some buck fur,” you admitted. “And antler velvet, a few hooves leftover from old taxidermy - covers it up nicely.”

Logan nodded, pursing his lips as he looked over at Hesh, who was reaching into his chest; the flesh separated easily, a gaping hole of pale grey flesh hanging open like putty, when he heard a crack, Logan growled softly.

“Hesh! No!”

Hesh looked at Riley, then back at Logan, pouting. “Fetch?”

“No!” Logan commanded, huffing loudly. “Not with your own ribs!”

You whirled around, looking at what Hesh had done and sighing heavily. “Oh, baby… come here, let’s get that sorted.”

Hesh looked at you sadly as you examined the open hole. “Bad?”

You shook your head, looking up at him as you sighed and dared to gently kiss his scarred forehead. “You’re not bad, Hesh… you’re okay. You just made a little mistake ‘s all.”

He nodded slowly, sighing. “Miss. Be. Warm.”

Your breath hitched a little as you swallowed thickly. “I know… I know…”

He outstretched his arm, a loud peeling sound coming from the insides of his elbows where the flesh was full of sharp scaps; taking a step forward, he tilted his head down slightly.

Even in death, that fucker still knew how to use the puppy dog eyes with only just one eye, and you couldn’t fucking resist; wrapping your arms around him and letting him snuggle into you as you held him.

It seemed like he couldn’t get enough, trying to keep you as close as he possibly could and trying to get his hands under your clothes; yet he couldn’t feel the warmth against his hands, and he couldn’t tell if his own were getting colder or warmer.

He just knew that he missed the feeling of being warm, and that he missed being able to actually feel you; the sensation of sweating at night because you were snuggled into one another and he was overheating beneath the thick duvet.

You missed the feeling of his warm hands on your body, almost scared to touch him thanks to the ice; it made you feel like a part of you was missing, a chopped off limb. A removed organ. You sighed, your eyes thick with tears as you sniffled, letting him go and gently kissing his cold, cracked lips.

“Logan?”

“Yeah?”

“Do me a favour,” you told him, turning away from Hesh.

Logan shrugged. “Sure.”

“Let me borrow your rifle,” you said, voice shaking. “I need to go hunting.”

Logan silently pointed over to where he had left it, and watched as you and Riley left the fenced off area, leaving him alone with his brother. He looked at him, studying his brother's features. He knew that it was still Hesh; when he looked into that sad, singular eye, he could still see his brother trapped within it.

Yet his cheeks were completely gone, the flesh sloughed off long ago during the gas attack, leaving the sides of his jaws hanging on by tendons and strings from the stained cloth. His hands were blistered and bloodied, no longer the calloused hands of his elder brother who used to ruffle his hair when he was upset.

His arms were covered in thick, long scabs just like the scratches across his hairline. His chest was agape, the skin slapping against itself dryly when it caught the slight wind. Of course Logan knew that it was still his brother, it just didn't look like him anymore.

He swallowed thickly, pulling out a packet of cigarettes from his back pocket and offering one to him; Hesh took it, and put it in his mouth as Logan lit it. The smoke drifting into the hole in his skull where his eye used to be; up close, Logan could see the tunnel all the way to the back of Hesh's skull.

He could see the grey mass of lumpy muscle that should have been pumping and thumping, that should have been light pink and squishy. That should have been a brain. He watched as Hesh took a long drag, but never blew out the smoke again, and he frowned.

In every sense, it was Hesh, Logan knew that, but it was… he was wrong. He was Hesh, but he was wrong. But he was still Hesh, and Logan wasn’t ready to be without him - even if it meant having the wrong one.

He sniffled, daring to look at his brother’s remaining eye as he nodded slowly.

“Dad misses you, y’know,” he said, his voice shaking. “I wish I could bring him here, but… it’d hurt him… but he still talks about you all the time like you’re… still here.”

Hesh nodded. “Still here.”

“You were my big brother,” Logan started, tears in his eyes and his voice falling apart with every syllable that left his mouth.

He wished he could have had more time, he wished he could have even though he knew that he would never.

Still, he cleared his throat, and he dared to continue despite his voice giving out, “you protected me, you taught me how to do all the shit Dad wouldn’t - how to smoke, how to drink, how to misbehave, how to sneak into pubs without ID… and I’m lost without you. I was never… I never wanted to… to be alive without you, man. You were always meant to be there for me, you promised.”

Hesh frowned. “Still here… still brother.”

“I know,” Logan whispered, taking a shaky drag from his cigarette. “But you’re not… you’re not you… you’re not… you’re not alive anymore, and I… I can’t let you go because I can’t picture a life without my big brother.”

“Love,” Hesh growled out, his hands signing the words. Muscle memory. “Love you.”

A sob left Logan as he whimpered and did his best to steady himself. “I love you, too.”

Riley was crouched in the bush next to you, sniffing the air as you steadied Logan’s rifle, hunkered down, you used leaves to pad the gun so that it was even more silenced, and with the commotion from all the lorries nearby, nobody would ever hear a thing.

You had your eyes on the prey, and so did the dog beside you, ready to pounce if you needed him to; you watched as your prey took a few steps forward, right into your sites, and then you pulled the trigger.

It reached up to grab its neck, suddenly slumping to the side and twitching violently; you pulled the trigger again, and this time, an orange spray rained through the woods, and you could easily see that part of the head was missing.

It was done.

Riley ran over, sniffing it and making sure that it was dead before he sat down, waiting for you to come collect your prize; you sighed, grabbing the ankle and trying to ignore the bits of metal slapping your hand as you dragged it.

Riley was the first to go back, while you followed behind shortly after. The dog was happy, but as you hauled your prize onto the slaughter table, you couldn’t help but to feel slightly empty.

Usually, hunting helped you to clear your mind, but… not this time. 

Logan came over, Hesh following behind him, and he looked at what you had managed to get. “Good eating.”

You nodded, removing a boot and tossing it aside with a pile of others. Logan helped you to remove the coat, hat, scarf, gloves, shirt, trousers and underwear in total silence. “Check the coat for a wallet, same with the trousers.”

Logan nodded curtly, heading over to the clothing pile that was steadily starting to pile up against the fence. “On it.”

Hesh stood on the other side of the table, watching as you grabbed a knife. He brought his hands up, and smiled, daring to slowly sign four words: “you are my sunshine.”

You looked at him, and sniffled as you nodded. “My only sunshine.”

“You make happy,” Hesh told you, then pointed at the grey skies. “Even when.”

You couldn’t believe that he still remembered that song, the one you used to sing in the car together when he picked you up for date nights; the one that he was going to sing at your wedding. You wanted to sob, but nodded slowly as you swallowed thickly, watching him head over to his little food table.

You whistled at Logan, and pointed over. “I think he’s come back for his noon feeding.”

Logan nodded, daring to come over and aid you with chopping up the limbs and removing flesh from bone. “Is it wrong I still love him?”

You shook your head, daring to meet his gaze even though your own was teary. “No, because I still do, too… I know… I know he’s not our Hesh, but…”

“But you can’t imagine a life without him,” Logan whispered, picking up a pile of goopy, dripping flesh as he cleared his throat. “Nor me.”

You continued to grab what meat you could while Logan put what was done on Hesh’s table.

Immediately, he gathered up as much as he could in his hands, blood dripping from between his grey fingertips and staining his skin harshly.

He bit into it, a loud squelch echoing all around as he started to rip it apart; Logan could see the bits of flesh moving in his mouth through the holes in his cheeks, and was almost sick at the sight.

Still, he went back and picked up some more meat from your table before giving it to Hesh. 

“We need to burn all of this,” you told him, nodding at the piles of clothes and mouldy bones. “Or at least bury it.”

Logan nodded in agreement. “You got a shovel?”

“Back room in the cabin,” you told him, clearing your throat. “Logan?”

He hummed as he looked back at you.

“You’re the best brother-in-law I could ask for,” you told him sincerely. “Thank you.”

Hesh got up as Logan walked away, dragging himself over to where you were and planting his hands on the table as he glared at you, tilting his head to the side. “Love… love you… my… sunshine.”

He looked pleased with himself, and you just couldn’t help it, grinning as you nodded eagerly. “I love you, too, baby… go eat, you need it. We’ll have more for you tomorrow, alright?”

Hesh nodded, extending his hand and showing you what he had in it, gesturing for you to take some. “Eat.”

You looked at the boneless fingers, and you smiled. “Maybe in a minute, I gotta get all this cleaned up.”

Hesh left them on the table, nudging them your way. “Eat. Love.”

You sighed, licking your lips. “In a minute, I promise.”

He frowned, but reluctantly slunk back to his table; you weren’t really sure what to do, whether to engage in what could only be described as polite cannibalism, or to wait until Hesh was too busy to notice you throw them away.

But you supposed, you deserved such a torment; it was all your fault that Hesh had become what he did, and you knew that you could not change that even if you did your best.

You knew that you deserved such torment for letting him die, for not being able to save the man you loved so much. 

#mlem writes #hesh walker x reader #hesh walker fanfiction #hesh walker imagine #david hesh walker #hesh x reader #hesh imagine #hesh cod #hesh walker #hesh ghosts #cod x reader #cod x you #cod x y/n #cod x yn #cod imagine #cod imagines #cod oneshot #cod one shot #cod fanfiction #cod fanfic #cod fic #cod #cod ghosts #call of duty x reader #call of duty x you #call of duty x y/n #call of duty x yn #call of duty imagine #call of duty imagines #call of duty fanfiction

[lostonehero]

Selkie Martin fic

He isn't a seal though pt1

Martin nearly jumps, feeling a hand on his shoulder. "I uh.... oh, Sasha, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

Sasha sighs and motions to the breakroom. "Can we talk?"

Martin swallows and nods, ignoring the odd glance from Tim. He grabs his coat and holds it close to his chest. It didn't really matter anymore, but it was a comfort.

"Martin, what is up with you?" Sasha crosses her arms after she shuts the door behind her. "You've been acting weird since Jon and Tim returned your coat, which again the only reason Jon came is because me and Tim pressured him. Did Jon not apologize? Is that why you've been avoiding the both of them?"

Martin let's out a breath, of course Sasha would notice. He hugs his coat around himself. He didn't want to lie to Sasha. He really didn't want to... fuck it he needed someone to talk to and he couldn't ask Elias he hasn't found his skin yet. "I uh please don't scream."

"Martin, why would I scream?" Sasha raised her brow.

"Ok, you know what selkies are? Ok, yeah, but you don't believe they exist, and well, they do, and uh... this is my skin." Martin holds up his coat for a moment before he puts it on, and suddenly, the cramped breakroom was even more cramped. He was a massive wolf the size of a horse, and vaguely, he knew the species of animal he was supposed to be extinct.

Sasha blinked and blinked again. "Martin?" Her voice was quiet and full of just awe and shock.

The wolf contorts, and Martin pulls off his coat. "I uh yeah, so Jon and Tim returned my skin."

"Uh huh..." Sasha pauses as her mind catches up with her shock. She starts to laugh and then stops watching Martin's face drop. "Oh shit that's real isn't it."

Martin nods. "Sasha, I'm married to both of them. I don't even know what I should do. I've already tried to figure this out, Tim doesn't believe in selkies or at the very least he thinks it's a tragedy they exist and Jon shouted me out of his office when I tried to bring up selkies told me I was daft and that I shouldn't believe everything I read." He covers his face. "I also can't ask Elias because he doesn't have his skin, and it's very rude to discuss this with another who is missing their skin."

Sasha takes a deep breath. "Ok, now that you've completely changed my worldview, you drop the bomb that Elias isn't human!"

"I uh right... I mean, I can't tell you what animal he is, but he is a selkie. We can sense each other well is more animalistic than that, but uh yeah, he is." Martin frowns. "Before you ask, it is customary for younger selkie to help the older ones if their skins are missing or damaged, as long as the skin isn't burned, we are still selkies. The helping out helps with pack bonding, and such it's easier to survive if there's more of you. You know the odd cases of different species of animals forming packs yeah thats most likely selkies. Two of the same animal species doesn't exactly promise the offspring of the same species."

"I have like a million questions from that information alone. However Martin are you ok? Does it uh hurt?" Sasha frowns calming herself down.

"Hurt? Marriage doesn't hurt, but I mean, again, it's probably different than what you consider marriage. I uh don't mind it. I just don't know how to tell them. It does get a bit uncomfortable if I'm out of my skin for more than a day or two. I normally put it on when I get home." Martin rubs his arm. "I uh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have just dropped this all on you."

Sasha shakes her head. "Don't Martin, it's ok. Look, this is a lot, and I have so many questions, but thank you for trusting me with this. Can you come over after work so we can actually talk about this?"

Martin nods. "Yeah... thank you again, Sasha."

.......

Sasha pauses, watching Martin make a face at the tea she made him. "If it's not good, you can tell me."

Martin sighs. "I'm not good with sweet drinks and food. My wolf body can't taste sweets, and my human body overcompensates." He places the mug down. "It's not your fault. I'm just a bit sensitive."

Sasha scribbles something down in her notebook. "Ok ok ok duly noted. That explains why you always refuse sweets from Tim."

"I like chocolate, just dark chocolate." Martin smiles sheepishly. "I uh you have questions, and I think I have answers. I mean, I get this from my dad's side. My mom isn't helpful she trapped him by stealing his skin, and I uh am a product of that. My dad isn't bad he's quite nice and lives up in Scotland. My mom... I would rather not talk about that, though." He rubs the back of his neck.

Sasha frowns. "So that part of the legend is true?"

"The stolen skin forced servitude? Yeah, it is." Martin sighs. "I mean, I'm not at risk anymore since I'm married. If someone tries to steal it, it would just appear with either Tim or Jon. In the modern day, it's more often selkies get accidently married to kind strangers or coworkers because they return what they think is a coat." He motions vaguely to himself. "I'm in that situation."

"Are you ok with that?" Sasha bites her lip, regretting the question.

"I can't exactly change it or get out of it." Martin sighs. "I'm happy neither if them took my skin, but still, I'm bound to both of them now. I'm not a servant, so silver linings, I guess." He shrugs.

"So off that morbid discussion." Sasha tries to joke, but it falls flat. "Right, uh, do you have a different lifespan, I mean, different from your species or humans."

"Oh yes." Martin hums softly. "Our lifespan can be compared to dragons, although the older selkies tend to spend time more so as animals than humans. I'm considered a baby at 29, and technically, so is Elias, we really aren't considered adults in our species until we're well in the mid hundreds."

Sasha blinks. "I'm sorry, first dragons exist?" She watches Martin nod. "And you're expected to live for a few thousand years?"

"Yes? I mean, I know it's a lot. I was raised human, not really understanding it until I actually sought out my father at 21. I think I'm still in the denial phase. I also think Jon and Tim are going to live as long as me because of the marriage thing, but I'm not certain I have to ask my dad or Elias once I find his skin." Martin pauses. "A lot of supernatural creatures exist, Sasha. we don't live in a vacuum." He stops. "I'm sorry that was rude."

Sasha chuckles softly. "Martin, it's ok. We are both new to this, I mean more so me than you."

Martin smiles. "You're right."

"Ok, I have like so many more questions, but most pressing, wanna order food?" Sasha giggles as Martin nods.

"Please." Martin sighs.

......

"So, Sasha, huh?" Tim wiggles his brows at Martin.

"What?" Martin blinks.

Tim snickers. "It's ok, marto, you can tell old Tim everything."

Martin pauses, realizing what Tim meant and stutters and gasps. "N-no? Sasha's aromantic... I uh..."

Sasha crosses her arms. "Martin, that was a secret."

Tim stops and frowns. "Shit, Sash, I'm sorry. I was just teasing, I'll forget I heard anything."

"No, no, no." Sasha pulls her chair between them. "I might as well explain why I basically shut down anything after our one night stand."

"Sasha, I told you it's fine. We're still friends, right? You aren't replacing me with Martin." Tim mocks being offended.

"I'm not, I'm helping Martin find something, and apparently, that means a lot of antiquing." Sasha visable relaxes.

"I told you you didn't have to help me." Martin flushes and sighs. "It's weird looking for it, and we probably won't find it."

"Oh, color me curious, what's this mystery object? A cursed tea pot? A lost sweater?" Tim smiles.

"An animal skin, I mean maybe a fur, just a piece made into clothing or jewelry." Martin crosses his arms. "I'll know it when I sm-see it. It's weird, I know, but I uh, it's just something I have to do."

"Dude, you don't have to explain yourself. If Sasha is helping you out, count me in. We can make a day of it, and I've been looking for some new plates too." Tim hums and winks as Martin blushes and covers his face.

Sasha chuckles. "Tim you're going to break him."

"Ah, what are friends for? Besides, I've got to get a book on myths since you still keep talking about selkies. I need to be able to know what you're talking about." Tim smiles wider as Martin's ears get red, and he covers his face.

"Why are none of you working?" Jon crosses his arms, staring at them with a raise brow.

"We were just discussing this weekend Jon, you can join us." Sasha smiles. "We're going to go through antique stores looking for an animal skin or fur. Tim's gonna look for new plates."

"You don't have to come." Martin quickly adds as Sasha elbows him to not.

Jon hums and sighs. "If I accept, will you stop asking me to grab drinks with you guys?"

"Hell yeah." Tim pumps his fist in the air. "Archive crew out antiquing."

Martin covers his red face.

Sasha chuckles. "Then it's a day."

"I suppose it is, now get back to work." Jon sighs.

......

"Why do you like the selkie legend so much? I mean, I know we deal with spooky stuff all day at work, but why that specifically?" Tim hums, looking through the jewelry laid out with odd fabric attached.

Martin watched Jon watch him and also wait for the answer. He swallows the truth on his tongue, knowing it would be useless until he could show them in person. "It's personal, it's from my father and I haven't been able to see him much with this job." Not entirely a lie but also not entirely the truth.

"You're father?" Jon raised his brow.

"Uh yeah, he lives up in Scotland, very off the grid type of guy. I only reconnected with him as an adult. The relationship with my mom wasn't exactly healthy, and he ran when he had the chance. I don't blame him for not taking me." Martin's eyes widen as he grabs the necklace from Jon. "Bloody hell, that's it." It was a small patch of fur. Martin knew the scent to be from a fox, but the specific species he wasn't quite sure about. It matched Elias's scent.

"Are you certain?" Jon only held a look of confusion as Martin didn't answer, and he pushed past the two men.

Tim hums. "That really did not answer anything, but the fact his childhood sucked."

Jon nodded. "I really want to know why he's so interested in fictional creatures. We don't even live by the sea."

"How about a deal, we come up with excuses for Martin to come out, and we get that information we can stop once we figure it out." Tim holds his hand out.

Jon hums in agreement, taking the hand. "I would suppose that would be a good way to find things out."

Sasha smirks from afar. She knew this was a bit underhanded, but they deserved to know the truth well before they realized that they had reverted back to their twenties. Martin told her about their bodies slowly adjusting to align with his age. She really didn't want a meltdown before Martin could show them the truth.

......

Jonah raised this brow. Why was Martin requesting to see him? He accepted Rosie's page. "Let him in." He rolled his shoulders his body was stiff, but that was normal. He never did feel comfortable in Elias's body even when he took over. He tried to write it off as an adjustment period, but it's been nearly 30 years, and he was running out of excuses.

Martin entered his office with a soft knock, and he seemed a bit more confident than Jonah was used to. "Hello sir, I uh... I found this for you." He holds out a leather necklace with animal fur on the end.

It was fox fur, one commonly known to the British isles. It was his. Jonah blinks furrows his brows. It wasn't his. What was happening? He took the necklace and ran two fingers over the soft fur. How was it still soft? It looked to be treated and old, not properly taken care of. He knew fox hunting had fallen out of fashion, but he never did have a taste for it either.

Martin watched Elias shut his eyes, and the small patch of fur shifted and turned to a very formal looking trench coat.

Jonah knew before he opened his eyes from the change of weight in his hands that the fur was different. He opened his eyes to an ornate coat, one he can recall that his mother looked longingly at through a window in his youth. This... no, the fur wasn't an object of the flesh, and it was his. No, not his it can't be his he's not... he didn't own furs, not ones that could magically turn into a coat from over 200 years ago, a coat that reminded him of his mother.

Martin looked at Elias with a confused look. "You're not Elias."

Jonah's eyes shot open at he staring at Martin. "Excuse me?" He didn't expect Martin to cross his arms and give a frustrated look instead of shrinking back at his raised tone.

"You don't know that's your skin." Martin's voice was quiet but strong. His demeanor shifted, and he pulled his coat tighter around himself.

"My what?" Jonah raised his brow and placed the coat in his lap, leaning forward.

Martin frowns and takes a breath. "You're not Elias. You have his body, yes, but you aren't him. You're a human who took over a body that isn't." He sits down and looks back to the closed door. "I won't ask who you are, but uh, aren't you going to put it on?"

"Martin, we are inside. Why would I put a coat on? Let alone one that just grew from a pice of fur." Jonah grot his teeth the aches were getting worse, and he held the coat in a death grip. "How do you know that for a fact I'm not Elias?"

Martin frowns, and he had pity in his eyes. "Your body hurts, doesn't it? How long has it been since you've worn your skin? You probably don't know that answer since you took over the body. I won't tell anyone about this, but you really should put it on, I'll put on mine."

Jonah knew he wouldn't get a straight answer unless he put on the damn coat. He refused that tiny voice in the back of his, correcting him that it was a skin, his skin. "You will explain everything."

Martin nods. "I will."

Jonah sighs and pushes his chair back, and starts to put on the coat as he stands up. He feels a bit weightless as the pain and stiffness drain from his body as his perspective shifts. He's shrinking. He has to be. His desk shouldn't be this big. He shook his head and tried to move and realized he had paws. He stumbles back and yelps or whatever that noose was that escaped his mouth. Something warm and wet went across his head and back, and it somehow calmed him down enough for him to stare up at the massive wolf above him.

A low growl from the wolf, and he was speaking in Jonah's head. "You'll have a horrible time if you keep trying to think you're human." Martin's voice sounded off in his head as he laid on the floor, letting Jonah approach.

Jonah stumbled but managed to walk closer. He sniffed Martin and recognized the scent from the first interview. The Beholder wasn't helping him. They weren't even feeding off his confusion, just watching. He batted Martin's nose, unable to figure out how to speak except make animalistic noises.

"It took me a bit to understand how to communicate like this, too." Martin yawns and tilts his head. "I know this is overwhelming, but relax. You need to rest before you remove your skin again. I can't imagine what it's like going so long without it. My mother hid my skin from me for a while, and it hurt, but I can't imagine that pain for years."

Jonah huffs and mimics Martin's position lying on the floor. It was hard fighting against the urge to sleep since the pain was gone, but he needed answers. He focused and shut his eyes and... "What... what are we?"

"You figured it out faster than I did." Martin rolls to his back stretching. "You must know the legend of the selkie. Well, it's not just seals that are selkies. Don't let anyone take your skin, and try not to forget it because if someone grabs it and returns it, you'll be married." He sits up. "However, if you're married, nobody will be able to steal your skin, and you won't become a servant."

Jonah can feel his hair no fur stand up with that information. "Is there a way to be human again?"

"In a sense, but it might kill you. The odds aren't good when you burn your skin." Martin growls. "If you have a death wish you can."

That was the last thing he wanted. Jonah was quiet for a moment. "Teach me?"

"In exchange, I want to know who you are and how you ended up in that body." Martin held a confidence Jonah was not prepared for.

"I don't have a choice, do i?" Jonah knew what a growl meant as his ears pinned back. "Fine, but you can not tell anyone."

"You can't tell anyone about me, and we have a deal." Martin huffs.

"Agreed." Jonah paused for a moment. "My name is Jonah."

Martin barked softly and shifted, and soon, he was sitting normally with his coat around his shoulders. "Ok then, Jonah." He scoops the fox up in his arms. "You need to relax for at least an hour before you take your skin off. I really hope you don't have any meetings because I can't pretend to be you."

Jonah felt a little annoyed at being carried, but it was also a bit comforting. He hated that information, but he didn't have any meetings till the afternoon, so it wouldn't be awful. He yelps as he is placed in his crumbled coat on his chair.

"Don't complain, and I know you're my boss, but right now, we are technically a pack and so on equal footing. This is the best I can do with what you have in this office. I'll be back in an hour and try to relax. Maybe you'll figure out your skin before I get back, but right now, I just appreciate the small nest." Martin smiles softly. "Even if you're not Elias, I'm still going to help. I know what it's like being stuck without a way to truly understand what you are. I got my skin at 13 and didn't know or understand till I was 21." He quietly leaves Jonah's office leaving him alone.

Jonah internally frowns. He was lost and confused, but he had someone to teach him as frustrating as the situation was his body finally didn't hurt he was warm, and his chair was soft. He felt sleep grip him, and he could feel the shift between him and Martin. He was right they were equals now.

......

Jonah doesn't think he was asleep that long when he woke up with sneeze. Fog tickled his nose, and he didn't like the shift in temperature. He shifted and felt something, and he blinked as he was sitting in his chair, and the ornate coat was on his shoulders. Ok, he didn't truly understand how he did that, and he was getting even more frustrated with the mounting questions he had to rely on Martin for.

"Jonah what the fuck." The soft voice of his husband pulled Jonah out of his internal musings.

Jonahs eyes went wide. "Uh, Peter, you aren't supposed to be in this early." He unconsciously pulls his coat tighter around him as Peter approaches him.

Peter notices his sudden shift and stops only a foot away from his husband. "I'm not going to take it, you know, and I'm sure as hell not going to return it to you."

"You know what it is?" Jonah could feel curiosity start to awaken and fan a flame in him.

Peter had a look of shock on his face. "You didn't?"

"I don't exactly choose what bodies the Beholder picks for me." Jonah crosses his arms. "Again, how do you know what this is?"

"I'm a sailor, Jonah. The selkie legend is a common one. Also, Tadeas is a selkie." Peter pinches his brow. "How did you not know? Jonah, it's been over 20 years since you took over Elias."

"I didn't exactly have this!" Jonah makes it a point to hold up his skin. "Martin, one of the archival assistants found a piece of fox fur and returned it to me. How was I supposed to know Elias wasn't human?"

Peter gives a heavy sigh. "I can't believe I know more about this than you do."

Jonah scowls. "Why are you even here?"

"Is it too much that I want to visit my husband." Peter frowns and sighs. "Fine, honestly, I've been trying to use the Forsaken, and it keeps bringing me to the apartment or here."

Jonah snorts. "What you aren't being lonely enough?"

Peter scowls. "My family has also been pressuring me to find out what is going on." He doesn't reach out for Jonah's skin but cups his cheek. "Has your patron been acting off?"

Jonah huffs as he leans into the touch. "I suppose they have... they didn't even feed on my earlier fear when I got my skin... Elias's skin."

"It's your skin now."

Jonah and Peter jump at the new voice.

"Sorry." The red head frowns. "I thought you heard me come in."

Jonah removes himself from Peter. "Martin, please knock before you come in." He sighs.

"I uh did...." Martin rubs the back of his head. "Sorry I can go."

"Can I take him?" Peter perked up.

"No, and this is why we're still divorced." Jonah takes a breath. "Martin, I seem to have a handle on this. You can go."

Martin tilts his head. "You're Peter Lukas."

Peter flinched, not enjoying being known. "Why do you know that?"

Martin hums. "Selkies are a very connected species since we are hunted or our skins are stolen and we become slaves. Tadeas is friends with my father. You shouldn't be surprised you're a respected human in our community."

"Respected?" Peter raised his brow.

"You're one of the fear folks. If we needed someone to disappear or to get rid of an awful human, we would go to you. I know I come off as clueless, but I know what I walked into getting a job here." Martin sighs and shrugs. "My father taught me the truth."

"You already know about the fears?" Jonah smiles. "How fascinating, and you didn't even warn your friends."

"You really are clueless when it comes to what you are or the supernatural." Martin shakes his head.

"You know that explains the random gifts." Peter hums, scratching his beard. "It makes my job easier."

Jonah scowls. "And what am I so ignorant about?"

"Jonah, the fears don't affect the supernatural. Your avatarhood is currently an anomaly, not the rule." Peter chuckles at his partner's bewildered face.

"Peter is right." Martin hums. "You're still an avatar of whatever you serve, but that's only because you were before you possessed the body you're currently in."

Jonah's mouth curves into a frown. "Martin, you can go."

Martin nods. "Ye-yeah, ok." He slips out of Jonah's office.

Peter hums. "Oh, what's wrong, Jonah? Don't like the new information?"

Jonah scowls and pushes Peter away. "Leave me alone. Don't you have people to dissapear?"

Peter chuckles. "Oh, not at the moment. It seems my calander is open. How about another marriage?"

"Go fuck yourself." Jonah scoffs and returns to his chair.

"I'll see you at home." Peter hums. "Any requests for dinner? Rabbit, perhaps?" He snickers as Jonah throws his pen at him. He vanishes in a rolling fog.

Jonah huffs. "I should make him give me back my skin so he can suffer with me." He froze. No, no, no. I shouldn't want that. Peter isn't that important to him. Right? They use each other, and that's that. He covers his face and groans at the new instincts inside of him.

......

"So?" Tim rolls his chair next to Martin.

"So?" Martin raised his brow.

"Did you think about it?" Tim smiles brightly.

"I uh oh... I mean, I was going out to a hiking trail with Sasha this Saturday...." Martin jumps as Sasha comes up from behind him.

"You are welcome to join us. Bring a Frisbee." Sasha chuckles as Martin covers his face.

"I think Jon's allergic to nature." Tim snickers as he hears a scoff.

"I am not. I can enjoy a nature hike." Jon huffs crossing his arms.

Sasha giggles softly. "I mean, it's not really a hike. It just helps Martin get out excess energy."

"You're talking about him like he's a dog." Jon raised his brow.

Martin covers his face and gives a heavy sigh.

Sasha snickers as she heads back to her desk.

Tim pauses and exchanges looks with Jon. "Are you ever going to explain that, Sash?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Sasha hums.

"That's ominous and vague." Tim huffs rolling his chair by Sasha. "Come on tell us."

Martin tilts his head studying Tim as he uncovers his face. He wasn't that old to begin with, but even the signs of being in his 30s were slowly melting off his body. He was very fit and muscular, but time had a way to hide that even if you continued to exercise like he did. Tim probably didn't even notice it. He then turned his gaze to Jon, ignoring the questions and banter. He looked better in all honesty, less tired, and he still had gray hairs in his raven hair, but that just could be genetics or stress. He wasn't slouched either like his back felt better.

"Hey Martin?" Tim waves his hand in front of his face.

Martin blinks. "I uh oh yeah, sorry I wasn't listening."

Jon pinched his brow. "Martin, we were asking what would be appropriate to wear for this outing."

Martin paused. "Things you wouldn't mind getting dirty."

"That makes sense for a hike." Tim hums.

......

Jon had to admit this was a very beautiful area as he made his way to join the others in a clearing. It was odd that Martin had his coat it wasn't a cold day, nor was rain expected, but he didn't question it it could be personal. It explained the panic reaction when Tim and himself returned the thing to him. It was peaceful, and maybe Tim's plan of spending more time with Martin to figure out his obsession with selkies wasn't totally a loss if they never figured it out after the three weekends so far.

Tim motioned for Jon to get closer. "Come on, Jon, we're all waiting." He smiles brightly, maybe he did have a crush on Jon but now Martin was a strong contender and he only asked Jon about looking into Martin as an excuse to spend time with them outside of work. So far, the plan is working amazingly. "I even brought the Frisbee."

Jon rolls his eyes as he approaches. "Seriously? I thought Sasha was joking."

Sasha waves. "I was not it's not for us it's for Martin." She elbows the larger man. "Come on, we are far away from civilization and cell service. Go have fun."

Martin laughs nervously. "Are you sure."

"Put on your coat, Martin." Sasha nudges him again.

"His coat? Sasha, it's not even cold out. He's going to overheat." Jon raised his brow as Martin snickers softly. "Oh lord Martin, I'm allowed to be concerned."

"Let him wear his coat." Tim nudges Jon. "Let him be happy."

"I'm just saying he would be more comfortable not overheating. I'm being practical, Tim." Jon crosses his arms, and Tim swears he looks like he's pouting.

"Oh come on, Jonny boy, let Martin have his fun... what's with that look?" Tim follows Jon's gaze to a large wolf the size of a horse shaking out his fur next to Sasha. "Oh fuck."

Jon's eyes were wide, and he stepped back. "His obsession wasn't an obsession, was it?"

Sasha pets the wolf's snout. "You know he can still hear and understand you." She chuckles as the wolf whines. "Don't be nice. The boys are stupid."

The wolf whines again and huffs. There are red streaks in his black fur, and he walks over slowly to Jon and Tim. He sits back in his hind legs and tilts his head.

Jon swallows. "Fuck me, Martin?"

"That's Martin?" Tim's eyes were wide watching the wolf contort, and then Martin was sitting pulling off his coat.

"Yes, that's me." Martin sighs. "I didn't mean to hide this so long after you guys returned my skin to me. I just didn't know how to bring up the topic."

"Selkies aren't just seals." Tim steps closer.

"Nope." Martin says with a pop.

"We returned your skin." Jon swallows and steps back.

"Yes, you did. I have to reiterate that you both returned my skin." Martin rubs his arm and sighs.

Tim pauses and falls to sit next to Martin. "We fucking returned your skin." He runs his hands through his dark brown hair and curses. "We returned your skin."

"Does that actually mean...?" Jon trails off.

Martin nods. "It does, I honestly prefer that rather than being a slave. It's not either of your faults. I left my skin by accident, and you both just thought it was my coat. You were just being polite, and that's how it goes. I'm not the only one in this situation if that makes you feel any better."

Tim groans. "It doesn't. Are you ok? We've been teasing you for weeks about the selkie thing."

"I mean, I'm fine, to be honest. I'm not exactly good at dropping hints, so it's not a wonder why you thought I was obsessed." Martin smiles softly and leans back. "I'm not mad about the marriage thing, I'm glad it's not a stranger, and it also means nobody can steal my skin ever again, if they try it would just end up with either of you. So I have a new sense of security."

"But we took away your choice." Tim frowns and looks away.

"What choice?" Martin sighs. "It's not like a human marriage, Tim. There was no choice for me in the first place. Some selkies who fall in love with humans or other species have a ceremony like humans for them returning their skin that they purposely left, but again, that's entirely different. You two can do whatever you wish. I just hope you two stay in contact with me. That's all I ask." He gets up. "Now, if you both don't mind, I was promised a game of catch, and I do enjoy stretching my legs so I'm just going to put my skin back on and play with Sasha." He puts his skin back on and runs as Sasha throws the Frisbee.

Jon shakes his head. "Wait, I have questions. I uh... um...." He watches Martin run around and sit next to Tim. "He seems very happy... I uh is that normal?"

"Do you have any experience with dogs?" Tim raised his brow.

"Not really. I prefer cats." Jon frowns. "Also, that's clearly a wolf, not a dog... I mean a very large wolf, but not a dog."

"Dogs and wolves have similar behaviors, like cats and big cats." Tim snickers.

"Martin! No, put that down!" Sasha shouts, and the two men notice a tan creature in his jaw.

Martin trots over to Sasha and puts down what Tim can now identify as a tan fox with streaks of normal red coloration in their fur. The fox looked annoyed the best way he can describe that.

Sasha pinches her brow and looks down. "Martin, we talked about this. If you're going to eat, don't do it in front of me."

Martin proceeds to lick the small fox compared to him, and its fur stands up on end. He sits and wags his tail.

The fox growls but not threatened and shakes out its fur. They sit down next to Martin with their ears pinned back.

Martin nudges his snout against the Frisbee.

"Oh... is this another?" Sasha pauses when Martin nods and lolls his tongue out. "Ohhhhhh ok, do they want to play too?"

The fox tried their best to look uninterested, but their eyes were locked on the toy.

Sasha chuckles softly. "Alright, alright." She throws the Frisbee as far as she can, and the two selkies go running. She hums and makes her way over to Jon and Tim. "Don't worry, that's another selkie."

"I can tell from the behavior." Jon tilts his head. "Odd fur pattern."

"Maybe that's just a selkie thing. Look at Martin he's also git red in his fur." Tim points at Martin holding the Frisbee while the fox dangles from the Frisbee in its mouth.

"You know I did ask him." Sasha interrupts. "The fur color is mostly the animal, but their human hair color comes through like that."

Tim and Jon make a noise of acknowledgment.

Martin drops the toy and the fox and looks over to something the three watching can't see. He tilts his head as the fox gets up and looks over hissing, puffing out their fur. Martin ends up licking them again, which seems to relax them.

A voice chuckles, and a white-haired man steps out into the clearing. He is big and strong and looks like he belongs on a cover of the old man and the sea. "Come here." He holds a hand out, and the fox approaches and yelps when it is scooped up. "Now, is this why you bolted away from me? Miss your little packmate?"

The fox looked like it wanted to growl, but the soft pets made them pur.

"Are you trying to tell me you want new toys, Jonah?" The man chuckles as the fox hisses.

Martin stretches and removes his skin. "Of course he needs toys, unless you want him to bring you back dead animals."

"Duly noted." The man sighs as Jonah is already half asleep in his arms. "Is this normal?"

"I don't see why it isn't he trusts you." Martin shrugs. "You seem surprised."

The man shifts, and a blush is quickly overtaking his pale features. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The fox rolls over and curls up tight in his arms.

"He's also a bit over stimulated, not used to using his skin. Give him time to adjust." Martin watches the man nod as he walks off. He returns to the three on the ground.

"Who was that?" Tim raised his brow.

"That's Peter, he's basically married that that selkie. That selkie just got his skin back, so he's adjusting to being whole again." Martin smiles softly.

"Is that why you were looking for that animal skin?" Jon gets up dusting himself off.

"Oh, uh yeah, that's the guy. He's not that much older than me comparatively for selkies, but uh yeah, we have pack bonded because of that, so he's my friend." Martin sighs. "I can't imagine how painful it was without your skin. I get uncomfortable if I go more than 12 hours without being in it."

"It's hurts?" Jon looks at Martin with a bit of panic.

"Jon, relax. Martin literally explained that he just uses his skin to make that pain go away." Tim gets up and stretches.

"Tim's right, it's just uncomfortable like my human skin doesn't fit right, and my bones are stiff." Martin smiles nervously. "You don't need to fuss over me. I have enough experience with what I'm comfortable with."

Jon rubs the back of his neck and looks away. "Of course you're right."

Sasha gets up and slings her arms around Jon and Tim. "Now that everything is out in the open, congrats on the marriage."

"Sasha.." Martin tries to look annoyed, but he breaks into giggles. "Don't be mean."

"Not being mean, just stating a fact." Sasha pauses. "Granted, they are both married to you, not each other."

"Right, I have to ask. What does that mean?" Jon follows Martin as he heads out of the forest.

"I'm bound to you and Tim for as long as I live." Martin hums softly.

"For as long as you live?" Tim raised his brow.

"I mean, unless one or both of you are killed." Martin sighs. "Although, that's a bit harder now."

"Wait, what do you mean by how long you live? Do you have a different life span or something?" Jon glances at Tim then Sasha, who doesn't give anything away.

Martin stops walking, and Jon stumbles into his back. "So you want to know, or are you just curious? Because you both have the same lifespan as myself now."

"Just tell us! I would like to know if my mom is going to bury me." Tim bit his lip. "I uh... sorry."

"My lifespan is comparably to a dragons, so a few thousand years." Martin turns to face them. "I uh yeah, I mean I'm considered an infant really to other older selkies. My dad is around 500 years old."

Tim opened his mouth then shut it.

Jon clears his throat. "A few thousand?"

"Yes, Jon, a few thousand." Martin hums. "Are you ok?"

Tim takes a deep breath. "So we're just going to be old for like ever?"

"No? I don't know if you noticed, but both of your bodies have already adjusted. You'll be in your 20s for a long while." Martin clicked his teeth shut.

Jon covers his face. "Things make so much more sense now."

"I uh..." Tim takes another deep breath. "This is a lot."

Martin frowns. "Look, we don't have to talk about it. I'm sorry I brought it up." He rushes forward through the trees and out of sight.

Sasha sighs. "You know he wasn't born a selkie. He only got his skin at 13, and even with that, he didn't understand until he was 21 and reconnected with his father. Do you have any idea how hard it was to get him to agree to reveal himself to you two? The man doesn't want to hurt either of you. He's scared that if he dies something wrong, you'll throw him away."

Jon has a guilty look on his features.

"He wasn't born a selkie?" Tim frowns. "I... I didn't mean to hurt him. It's just a lot."

"His mother is a human who stole his father's skin." Sasha pauses watching Tim flinch, and Jon looks even more guilty. "It's a coin flip if Martin would be human or selkie, and he got his skin which answered that question. His mother took his skin away from him until he was 18, and he took it back. He really means it when he says that he's thankful for the marriage. His skin can never be stolen again."

Jon rubs his arm. "We should apologize."

"You're right." Tim nods. "I... fuck I didn't want to hurt him."

Sasha rolls her eyes. "I can't save either of you from being stupid, but I can tell you that you can call him later."

"But-" Jon tried to interject but Sasha held up her hand.

"Text him now if you must, but let him be. He's been scared out of his mind about you two. The truth is out in the open, so let him settle down and just text him." Sasha motions for the two to follow her. "You two can think of nice texts while you treat me to lunch er well early dinner at this point."

Jon and Tim nod.

.....

Jonah stretches and sighs. "What's with that look, Peter? I thought you enjoyed watching me prance around like an animal."

Peter frowns, recalling what Martin told him. Jonah trusts him, and he doesn't know what to do with that information. This relationship wasn't supposed to be anything more than to annoy his family and sex. Sure, they got cats along the way, and his things are mixed in with Jonah's, but it didn't mean anything. It couldn't mean anything, he serves the Forsaken first, and that meant no attachments.

Jonah snaps in front of Peter's face. "I swear you get lost in your head way too often, Peter." He sighs. "I wanted to ask about the Forsaken. What's different about it?"

Peter stares at Jonah and stays quiet enough the other man is getting annoyed.

"Peter, I swear just answer the question." Jonah sighs.

"When did you get freckles?" Peter tilts his head. "We weren't even out in the sun, and they don't develop this fast."

Jonah steps back and raises his brow. He opens his phone and switches his camera. His face is emotionless as he touches his face. "Elias doesn't have freckles but..."

"But?" Peter raised his brow.

"I had freckles... my original body..." Jonah shoves his phone on his pocket as he retreats into the bathroom.

Peter gets up to follow knocking on the door. "Jonah, relax yourself it's just freckles."

"It's not just freckles!" Jonah shouts from the other side of the door.

Peter hears the sound of jonahs belt falling to the floor, then the shuffle of him taking off his pants. "What's so pressing that you're undressing? Last time I checked, you had the same equipment. What were you not born male originally?" He steps back at the soft whine.

Jonahs voice cracks as he answers. "I wasn't born male." He didn't lock the door as Peter entered.

Peter saw Jonah half naked sitting on the floor. He was missing something between his legs but still had his manhood. "Jonah, are you ok?"

Jonah was red face with anger or frustration or just anguished. He was shaking. He doesn't make a noise when Peter scoops him up.

"Alright, fussy, come on. I think it's time for you to take a nap." Peter can feel Jonah stiffen and slowly cling to him. "You've still got your dick, and that's that. You're still a man, you big baby." He sighs as jonahs skin drops to the floor on the process of bringing him to the bedroom. "Are you going to throw a fit, every time your body adapts and changes because you aren't human anymore."

Jonah grumbles, not speaking as he is tucked into bed. He looks up at Peter.

"You're ridiculous, the great Jonah Magnus afraid of a new hole. You're still a man, and whatever." Peter sighs. "Go take a nap, or I'm calling Martin."

Jonah huffs. "W-wait..." He reaches out as Peter leaves.

Peter returns with his skin in his arms. "I swear Jonah I was literally in the next room." He places the skin on top of Jonah. "You are the neediest man I've ever met." He crosses his arms and sits on the edge of the bed.

Jonah pulls his skin under the blanket. "Lay down."

"No, unlike you, I'm going to actually get chores done." Peter stiffens feeling the bed shift, and Jonah has wrapped his arms from behind. "Jonah, I'm serious."

"Take me to a pet shop then. I do want new toys." Jonah rests his head on Peter's shoulder. "I've earned it."

"You've earned it? You nearly broke down because your balls were replaced with a vagina." Peter can feel his resolve shatter. "You have to be in your skin."

"Mmmhk." Jonah hums. "The cats deserve something new, too."

Peter was going to do that regardless of Jonah making a comment. "Of course they deserve more than you."

"I've been good." Jonah huffs. "The Forsaken wants you to have a stronger connection to me, so when you travel, it hurts more. The Forsaken picked you to be... hmm." Glowing green eyes locked eyes with the gray blue eyes.

"Picked me to what?" Peter frowns, knowing that smirk meant Jonah wouldn't tell him unless he got what he asked.

"Who knows? I want a chew toy." Jonah huffs as Peter pushes him back to the bed.

"You're terrible." Peter sighs. "Absotuely awful."

Jonah chuckles. "As I've been told."

Peter groans. "Put your damn skin on. We'll go out."

Jonah smirks.

......

"What...? Tim be serious you're going to apologize and give Martin that?" Jon scoffs as he actually arrives to work on time.

Tim raised his brow. "And you think chocolates are better?"

"He's not an animal." Jon huffs as he places the chocolates and handwritten note on Martin's desk.

Martin blinks. "Uh, what's this?"

"An apology note and a gift." Jon sighs. "I know I've texted you an apology, but I think you deserve more. I apologize for last weekend."

Martin sniffs the box of chocolate and makes a face for a second, and pushes it aside. "Thanks for the note."

"You don't like the chocolate?" Jon frowns as Tim snickers behind him.

"I like dark chocolate. My human side tends to overcompensate when it comes to sweets since I can't taste them in my skin." Martin shrugs handing the box to Sasha.

"I see. Well, I apologize for the wrong gift." Jon hums.

Martin chuckles softly. "It's ok. I just got overwhelmed. You didn't have to go out of your way to get me something."

"Duh, because I got the better apology gift." Tim holds the largest chew toy he could. "Well, did I win?"

Jon rolls his eyes. "It's not a competition, and don't treat him like..." He trails off as Martin snatches the large toy from Tim.

"You got this for me?" Martin has pure hope in his eyes.

"Yeah, I mean, I know you're not a dog, but I mean, you can still use it, right?" Tim gives a soft oof as Martin picks him up in a tight hug.

"Oh, thank you so much. I'm so tired of chewing on logs, I'm still really young, and my teeth are weird." Marrin drops Tim. "Thank you again. This is amazing."

Jon scowls and crosses his arms. "Don't say a word, Tim."

"I don't need to." Tim chuckles.

Martin blushes and puts the toy down by his bag. "I uh right work... got to work.... thank you both of you."

"For what it's worth, Jon, these are good chocolates." Sasha gives a thumbs up.

Jon sighs. "Thank you, Sasha."

Martin gets up suddenly again. "Oh right, I'll make you both some tea. I uh do you two still want to meet up this weekend or uh..."

Jon perks up a bit. "Yes, we can meet up again this weekend."

"Yeah, come over to my place. We can watch bad movies." Tim shoots Martin some finger guns.

"Oh, that's great." Martin hums as he heads to the breakroom.

"Did you not listen to anything I said about Martin and food?" Sasha raised her brow.

"I may have been distracted." Jon sighs, trudging into his office.

"I listened." Tim smirks.

"Obviously." Sasha chuckles. "So how long have you been falling for the two?"

"Am I that bad?" Tim sighs, sinking into his chair.

"You wear your heart on your sleeve, which is kind of cute." Sasha smiles softly. "You've got marriage out of the way."

"Haha, very funny." Tim rolls his eyes.

......

Georgie raised her brow at the unfamiliar number, asking for a video call. It was late, and she didn't exactly have anything better to do, she accepted. She didn't expect to hear her ex speaking obviously slurred speech to show he's drunk.

"Aw yeah, she answered." Jon hiccups. The camera pans to his face with a deep blush and a furry rug he was leaning on?

No, the rug licked his face, which was a big dog. Georgie muffled a laugh.

"Georgie, Georgie, Georgie, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not talking." Jon furrows his brows as the dog licks his face again. "I don't even like dogs."

A voice from off camera. "Martin isn't a dog."

"Yes, yes." Jon hiccups again. "But he's so soft and look at him." He fumbles his phone, and it points to a massive... yeah, that wasn't a dog. "I got married. I wanna see the admiral." He starts to sniff like he was gonna cry. "I wanna see my baby boy."

Georgie watches someone catch his phone before he buries his face into the giant wolf who was wagging their tail. A man she didn't recognize appeared on the phone.

"Oh ahit he really did call someone..." The man sighs. "I'm sorry, er Georgie? Right, uh, I'm Tim, and I didn't realize how much of a light weight Jon is. Also, sorry, he's probably too drunk out of his mind to realize that he called you." Tim directs the camera back to the scene of Jon without his glasses. The wolf had them in his mouth, and he was singing a mech song while petting the large animal.

"Look, I know you don't know me, but can you keep me on the phone? Jon's an old friend of mine, and I would enjoy the blackmail material." Georgie bit back a laugh.

"Oh, I like you." Tim waves off the wolf who whines. "Martin just keep him from hurting himself."

The wolf gets up, throwing Jon off balance from where he was leaning on them, and proceeds to lay back down on his legs.

"Puppy blanket!" Jon throws his arms up in a cheer and goes back to singing and petting the wolf now leaning over the wolf.

Georgie snorts. "Fuck me he's absolutely blasted. I haven't seen him this drunk since college. Here, let me give you my number. I want all the embarrassing pictures."

"Do you have pics from his college years?" Tim smirks off camera.

"Fuck yeah we can exchange pictures." Georgie smiles wide.

.......

"Good lord." Jon groans as he wakes up. He was ok, something soft and warm, but couldn't make it out. Something nudged his hand, and he had his glasses to see, and a glass of water was next to him as well. "Did i... uh." He drinks the water and looks over to the large wolf.

Martin yawns and wags his tail.

"I fell asleep on you." Jon gives a heavy sigh.

"To be fair, you got shit faced." Tim chuckles, sipping a mug of coffee. "You are a good singer though kept asking for the admiral, which I now know is a cat. You also drunk called your ex, which was great. I have her number, and she also wants you to call her back and rejoin a mechanism chat, which I don't know what that is, and she won't tell me. She also thinks I married you since you kept blabbering about being married and then Martin and then how you're not a dog person while cuddling Martin. I didn't want to out Martin, so I told her we're married." He slides a trash can over so Jon can spill his guts.

Jon looks like a pathetic cat as he looks up from the trash can. "Did I keep you here all night?" He sits up, letting Martin get up and stretch.

Martin takes off his skin. "It wasn't that bad. You're a very cuddly drunk. Georgie seems very kind."

"Yeah, I'm the ass in everything." Jon sighs.

"You don't have to explain what she already did, and honestly, you need to get better at communicating even now." Tim helps Jon up. "Also, I think she recorded a few videos of your drinking cuddling singing."

Jon groans. "I already know who she sent that too." He sighs. "Sorry for ruining movie night."

"Are you kidding me? I have blackmail for days, and I got a new friend." Tim chuckles.

Martin hums. "You're very good with your hands in my fur, and you didn't throw up on me, so I count that as a win." He chuckles. "You're also not that heavy. I forgot you were there when I got up. I had to reposition you so you weren't completely on the floor."

Jon blushes. "I'm never drinking again."

"Aw, don't say that. We had fun." Tim laughs as Jon hits his side. "Aw, come on, you were great fun and entertainment. Also, why did you name a cat the admiral?"

"He's a distinguished cat." Jon huffs. "I'm using your shower."

Martin chuckles. "You wanted to name the street rat cheese, Tim."

"It's a practical name." Tim huffs.

.....

Sasha raised her brow at the scene in front of her. Martin was curled up in the breakroom currently in his skin, and that fox from that day in the woods was sleeping on top of him. Well, that fox had one eye open, looking annoyed at her. So the other selkie worked here, that was good to know, but right now, she really wanted the snacks in the fridge she brought, and Martin was quite literally blocking access to the fridge. She clears her throat. "Um, Martin, could you maybe move?"

The fox had both eyes open and stretched. Jumping down the fox batted at Martin's snout, which woke him. The fox paused for a moment, tilting his head.

Martin huffed and got up with a big stretch. He nodded and padded out of the room and the fox followed.

"Um, thanks." Sasha watches Martin head into Jon's office and a short protest from Jon, then quiet. She got her yogurt and stepped into Jon's office to find Jon being laid on by Martin, and the fox had taken Jon's chest to curl up.

Jon sighs. "Who's the fox?"

"No idea." Sasha shrugs. "But I guess you're in time out."

"I was going to take a break." Jon sighs as Martin huffs. "Tim was getting me lunch."

Martin curls tight around Jon's legs.

"Fine, fine." Jon sighs. "Seriously though, who is this fox?"

"I really don't know, but I think it's the same one from the forest, with that big sailor guy." Sasha pauses as the fox lets out a laugh. "I forgot foxes can mimic human laughter."

......

"Are you alright?" Martin hums softly in Jonah's mind. They both were ignoring the conversation above them.

"I was born female, originally, and I'm starting to get things from my original body." Jonah sounds uncomfortable.

"Do you believe yourself to be male?" Martin stretches.

"Of course I do." Jonah huffs.

"Then you're male." Martin responds, yawning. "Most nonhuman creatures can switch genders or develop the opposite gender sex for their body while still having the old around. Hence, most supernatural species are intersex or change their sex on a whim. My father gave me a very descriptive sex ed course. You'll just have both parts, so have your partner wear a condom unless you want kids."

Jonah perks up, hopping off Jon's chest to Martin's back. "It's that easy?"

"Mmh, I guess." Martin had a hint of a smirk in his tone. "Is that why you came down here to risk outing yourself?"

"Shut up." Jonah huffs curling up on Martin. "So about the marriage thing."

"You're not married to Peter, well you are the human way." Martin hums softly. "Did your plan not work?"

"Apparently not. Unfortunately, I will have to try again." Jonah sighs. "Your other mate is here."

"Look at you already using correct terms." Martin hums fondly. "I've been meaning to ask besides from the adjustment. Are you ok?"

Jonah stretches out. "As well as I can be, I've been human jumping bodies for a good 200 years. I can't exactly continue that for a long time, nor do any of my other plans I've been devoting during that time." He sounds only mildly bitter. "I underestimated you."

"You did." Martin muses. "Your hormones and instincts will even out soon enough, and you'll feel normal again."

"Will I go back to being your boss?" Jonah hufs hearing a laugh from Martin.

"Legally, you are my boss, but that's only for humanity's gaze. Realistically, we are going to be on equal footing since we are in the same pack." Martin gets up off of Jon to let him eat. "Will my mates be in the pack? I don't know way too early to tell if they both will physically change."

Jonah rides on Martin's back curiosity, tugging at his mind, and he knows his eyes are glowing green. "What do you mean?"

"It's rare, but there are records written by humans losing their humanity, of course. However in rare cases selkie true marriages from returning their skin does have a chance to infect their new marriage partner or mate to turn into a selkie the animal is random but it has been recorded again by said humans." Martin stops in the breakroom curling back up. "It's only been three weeks at most for us way too early to see if anything like that would happen. However, if it happens in one pack, all the members who get human mates they will change as well."

"Fascinating." Jonah hums. "Tell me more."

Martin smiles. "Alright, I will until Peter finds you."

"He won't go down here." Jonah sounds smug. "I highly doubt he cares enough to get out of his comfort zone."

Martin tilts his head, looking back at the fox. "You care for him, but he doesn't for you?

"It's not his nature to care about others." Jonah sounds disappointed. "It's just his nature and how he was raised. Just because I love him doesn't mean he would ever return the feelings."

"Is that why you want the marriage?" Martin rests his head on the floor.

"That and not becoming a slave sounds nice." Jonah curls up tightly on top of Martin. "So information."

"Ok, but again, my father is better at this than I am he's older than both of us." Martin shuts his eyes, and starts to explain what he knows.

.......

Stomping and then the doors to the archives are flung open. The burly, strong sailor man rushed inside. He has worries on his features. His voice did match his imposing figure. "I'm looking for e-j- a fox."

Tim nearly spit out his drink at the entrance. "I uh..." He gave a look to Sasha.

"Breakroom." Sasha answers, giving a look to Tim. As the man shifts awkwardly before Tim points at the closed door.

The man rushed forward, nearly taking the door off the handle. "You!" He stared at the fox who was asleep and the wolf under him who was also asleep. He grabbed the fox, waiting them up as he huffed. "Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you? How many people I had to talk to you, horrible creature."

The fox growls for a moment before staring at the man and twists till feet hit the floor, and Jonah is dusting himself off. "Honestly, Peter, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"Taking care of yourself? J- Elias, you've been gone for two hours." Peter huffs. "You told me we had to have lunch and you weren't there."

"You actually went to look for me?" Jonah raised his brow.

"Yes!" Peter pinches his brow. "You've done nothing but cause me a headache while I had to actually look for you and interact with others." He was looking a bit transparent, and Jonah knew that reflected how anxious he felt.

"You were worried about me?" Jonah tilted his head.

Peter sighs and grabs Jonah's arm. "Yes, don't get a big head, you awful little man." He tugs him out of the archives.

"I thought Martin was joking about Elias." Sasha pursed her lips.

"You knew!" Tim whipped his head to stare at Sasha.

"Martin made a comment about it, but yeah, that's the skin he was looking for." Sasha pauses. "Wait, that means that man was his husband."

"Oh fuck that's Peter Lukas?" Tim blinks. "Fuck I thought those rumors of Elias being a sugar baby were just to fuck with me."

Jon pokes his head out of the office. "Im sorry the fox is Elias? Elias was on my chest?"

Martin yawns. "He's still dealing with the rush of hormones and instincts. He was also mirroring my behavior, like how cats and many other animals do."

Jon frowns. "I uh oh..."

"Being without your skin for a long time can be jarring once you get it back. So his body is adjusting, and his mind is catching up. There's also other factors, but I won't share that it's personal. He is a part of my pack, though since I returned his skin... our pack is the correct term. He asked me not to tell you guys." Martin sighs. "He didn't account for his human husband to get worried about him."

"Oh." Tim sighs. "Be nice to the guy. I can tell that it's personal and frankly embarrassing."

"Tim is right it's incredibly personal and he's seeking comfort, and even though he's older than me in the span of our lives it's not really that important we are in equal footing so he daughter me out for comfort." Martin sighs. "Try not to mention it."

Tim, Sasha, and Jon share a glance, and all nod at Martin.

......

"Peter, you are absolutely awful." Jonah huffs from his desk as Peter pushes a take out container towards him.

"Well, I improvised for lunch." Peter huffs poking his food that was getting cold. Emotions swam in his head with the realization of what he did just to find Jonah. He threw out every lesson his own mother drilled onto his skull for a man he didn't even know if he loved. He doesn't even know what love meant. Nobody taught him, and he was getting too old to ask. He enjoyed the stupid reality TV shows and the awful way he would talk about his work and his patron. He looked forward to the promise of adopting a fourth cat. He likes the old-fashioned way the other man cooked even if it was way too spiced, and he never understood where he got that from. He loved the stupid little arguements and the wagers between them. He liked jonah and not his body even if he was pankcking about the different parts. He enjoyed him as James and.... it's as if a stone dropped in his stomach as something clicked. "Oh."

Jonah raised his brow eating the cold noodles. "Peter, it's not about lunch, although I am grateful it seems I've forgotten to eat breakfast in my haste to get to work. Why would you even go out of your way to look for me? I am not foolish enough to leave my skin unattended in my office." He rolls his eyes.

Peter swallows, and the weight in his stomach seems to get heavier, and his appetite is completely gone. He rubbed his eyes and sighed. "Is that stupid cooking show you like on tonight?"

"You can't call it stupid if you watch it with me." Jonah huffs. "Whatever, eat your food."

Peter numbly picks up his food and eats slowly, afraid to look away from Jonah as if he'll forget what he looks like if he steps back into his patron. Is this what Forsaken wanted? To feed on him? He doesn't want to go back, which is a realization that sends chills down his spine.

Jonah hums, finishing his food. "Although I am mad at you for this stunt, I want you to stay tonight since you're leaving tomorrow." He sighs. "Peter, are you even listening to me?"

Peter nods mutely. "Yes, I'll stay the night."

"Good." Jonah smiles softly. "The next time you'll be back longer, right?"

"Yes, a few months." Peter wanted to say forever, but he couldn't let the words leave his tongue.

"I suppose I'll have to wait till then." Jonah sighs.

#tma podcast #tma #selkie au #jonah magnus #peter lukas #lonelyeyes #martin blackwood #jonathan sims #tim stoker #sasha james

[dreamwritesimagines]

Enamored Extra Scene - 15

[Set in : After chapter 36]

Warnings: Explicit language, drinking, Regency era social norms, mentions of sex

“Remind me again why we are meeting here instead of the gentlemen’s club?”

“Oh come on now,” Anthony told Elias as the barkeep brought three bottles and two glasses to their table.  “You had me drink that god awful wine before your wedding, I have to pay back the favor.”

Elias eyed the bottles suspiciously. “Jesus Christ, what is in them?”

Anthony grinned and wiggled his brows.

“Three words, my friend,” he said, holding up three fingers. “Oxford. Christmas. Holiday.”

A look of realization dawned on Elias’s face and he groaned, slipping a little in his chair.

“Oh God no…”

“Simon went straight home, you and I stopped by an inn before getting to London,” Anthony said. “And decided to get drunk.”

“Mm, couple hours before you left me to go upstairs with a lady of the night?”

“I left you with a lady as well, I didn’t leave you alone.” Anthony corrected him. “But before all that, we came up with quite literally the worst drink combination in the world to get drunk faster.”

“Anthony, I was still drunk when we got to London man,” Elias said. “We had to stop the carriage five times on the way so that we could throw up.”

“Yeah yeah—what was the recipe again?”

Elias heaved a sigh. “Quarter glass of ale, quarter brandy and rum for the rest of the glass.”

Anthony chuckled and started pouring the ale into the glasses before putting down the bottle and grabbing the brandy again. Elias let out a whine, eyeing him as he filled the rest of the glass with rum and pushed the glass in his direction.

“On one hand, if I die of poisoning I would be leaving Cece a widow,” Elias commented. “On the other hand if you die, you can’t marry my sister.”

Anthony nodded. “Sounds about right.”

“Cheers then,” Elias said and clinked his glass with his, then took a sip and groaned. Anthony took a huge sip as well and grimaced, clearing his throat.

“Jesus, this is terrible.”

“I feel like this is worse than that wine,” Elias said before taking another sip again. “Good thing is, we’re going to get drunk very soon so we won’t even notice it.”

“Mm hm.” The drink burned Anthony’s throat as he took another sip and leaned back. “Better work fast.”

“I heard you told my sister to hire a third seamstress.” Elias said, making Anthony shrug his shoulders.

“She wants a long veil.”

“Oh I know,” Elias said. “She basically woke up talking about that thing, and didn’t stop until Aunt Lavinia said ‘Go tell Anthony about it’. Didn’t think she would just say “Alright!” and leave the breakfast table right at that second though.”

Anthony chuckled, that familiar warmth filling his chest.

“And I certainly didn’t think your solution would be that,” Elias said. “One would think you can’t say no to her even before the wedding.”

Anthony tilted his head. “Is this coming from the man who bought his wife a museum as a wedding gift because she liked a painting there?”

Elias snapped his fingers. “You make a good point,” he said. “Still waiting for the paperwork. By the way, I can help you with your wedding gift if you want.”

Anthony waved a hand in the air. “I already handled it.”

“Oh, what did you get her?”

“A house.”

“By the countryside?”

“In Paris.”

Elias blinked a couple of times. “You bought her a house in Paris,” he repeated and Anthony nodded.

“Yeah, she loves it there,” he said. “I figured she’d like one for when we visit.”

Elias gawked at him, then raised his glass slightly. “Well thought.”

“Thanks,” Anthony said and took a huge sip, then sat up straight. “Alright, are you ready?”

“Hm?”

“You know why I brought you here right?”

“Aside from poisoning me?” Elias grinned. “I do have a guess, but you should ask me either way.”

“Will you be my best man?”

Elias heaved a dramatic sigh.

“You know historically speaking, best man’s duty was to defend the groom if someone attacked him?” he said. “Or get involved if someone tried to stop the wedding?”

“Mm hm.”

“I’m the one who might attack you during the wedding in order to stop it from taking place,” Elias pointed at himself. “Goes against the whole point.”

“Your father might attack me or try to stop the wedding as well,” Anthony stated. “It’s not just you.”

“True that, he still doesn’t like you.”

Anthony tilted his head. “Eli.”

Elias smiled before rolling his eyes.

“Fine,” he said. “Assuming my father will be walking her down the aisle, I’d be honored to be your best man.”

Anthony let out a chuckle and clinked his glass with his. “Thank you.”

“I still cannot believe this,” Elias grumbled. “I was serious about her living with us after marriage, you know.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Anthony said and thought for a moment, then took a huge sip of his drink, then motioned at Elias to do the same.

“Hm?”

“You’re going to want to be at least tipsy for what I’m about to say to you.”

“Why?”

Anthony put his glass on the table. “First of all, I want you to know that I do not want to have this conversation with you either.”

“What?”

“…Someone needs to talk to her, Elias.”

“Talk to my sister?” Elias asked. “About?”

Anthony raised his brows and shot him a look, and as soon as it dawned on Elias he made a face.

“Are you trying to make me punch you?”

“Not really.”

“You will only hold hands after the wedding, I forbid anything else—”

“I’m serious,” Anthony cut him off. “Your mother apparently didn’t get the chance and she doesn’t know.”

“And how exactly do you know that she doesn’t know?” Elias asked tersely and Anthony heaved a sigh.

“Are you going to listen to me or do you want to be dramatic first?”

Elias threw his hands up and motioned at him. “Anthony, you’re talking about—”

“I know she's your sister and I know I'd want to punch any suitor of my sisters if they wanted to have a conversation with me about this,” Anthony said. “However, I love her so I can take a punch after you hear me out because this is important.”

“No promises on the punching but alright.” Elias grumbled. “Go ahead I guess.”

“I don’t want her to walk into that room clueless or worse; scared out of her mind because of some gossip she might hear at the wedding breakfast,” he said. “And I would have explained it myself but—”

“You will do no such thing, you’re not even married yet! I swear to God…”

“But as far as I’m told,” Anthony continued as if Elias hadn’t interrupted him. “It’s better if she hears it from a woman first. Tell Cecily or your aunt,” he paused for a moment and made a face. “Or I suppose I can tell my mother but I do not want to have that conversation unless I have no other choice.”

Elias downed his glass and shook his head, then poured some brandy into his glass.

“I’m going to pretend this isn’t about my sister and tell you my feelings on the subject at large,” he muttered. “I don’t think mothers are the best bet here.”

“Why?”

“I told Cecily before her mother did.”

Anthony tilted his head. “Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“For the first time?”

“Mm hm.”

“I mean I figured she had an idea, considering how you two were back in Stormview but…”

“Yeah and it’s a good thing I told her before her mother, that woman was about to scar my beloved for life.” Elias took a huge sip of his brandy. “Apparently she told Cecily that it’s a chore that had to be performed throughout the marriage but she could just lie there and focus on something else if it got too unpleasant.”

Anthony grimaced. “Ouch.”

“Cecily asked me the next day if we were doing something wrong because it did not match her mother’s description so as I said, mothers might not be the best idea now to think of it. Apparently they tend to give wrong information.”

“Or no information. Don’t you remember what happened to…” Anthony snapped his fingers. “Morris and his bride? Her mother let that poor girl marry him without any explanation of what would happen, then—”

“She rode back to her parents’ house and asked for an annulment on the wedding night because he wanted to take her gown off,” Elias finished his sentence for him.

“Exactly.”

“Jesus Christ, I guess it could’ve been worse,” Elias scoffed and shook his head. “But I still cannot believe you have the audacity—”

“Just tell Cecily to talk to her,” Anthony interrupted him. “Please.”

Elias gritted his teeth and nodded as Anthony downed his drink to fill it again.

“This conversation never happened,” Elias motioned between them and Anthony raised his glass.

“I forgot about it already.”

“Good,” Elias said. “Now, do you want me to tell you more about how much my father hates you or do you need to finish your drink first?”

#enamored extra scene

[mycupofteafanzine]

My Cup of Tea contributor announcement: part 2!

We are excited to share our list of writers and cosplayers in the zine! You can also find our artists here. See below the cut for links to their socials and their answers to the question: Why do you love Martin?

Writers

milkteamoon | tumblr Ao3

I really love how contradictorily human he is! He's a little guy. He's kind of a bitch. He wants so badly to be the sensitive artist type and yet will encourage murder against those whom he perceives to have wronged him at the drop of a hat. He's incredibly kissable and should be kissed by anyone and everyone, I think, for his health.

crescenttwins | tumblr carrd

Martin is this lovely exploration of a person who is deeply affected by trauma but still ends up able to be kind at the end of it.

Morning Softness | tumblr

He’s just such a great complex character. He does his absolute best in a job he’s not at all qualified for, determined to go above and beyond so no one will complain about his work ethic, even when the demands placed on him are ridiculous or dangerous. He’s anxious but he’s also brave and stubborn. He’s jealous and bitter and petty and sarcastic. He’s kind and optimistic and gentle. He’s a poet. He’s incredibly practical, and is better at showing care to others through his actions than his words. He holds onto guilt because he’s convinced it helps him do better. He tries so hard to be needed because he thinks it’s the only way anyone would want him, and he feels like it would be manipulative of him to expect or even want anything in return. He makes an effort to care about others and help in any way he can, even though it is an effort, even when it isn’t returned.

Pine | tumblr

In "Big Picture," Martin says to Simon Fairchild "I think our experience of the universe has value. Even if it disappears forever." I think it may be the most hopeful statement in TMA (not that it has a great deal of competition!), and I thought about it a lot while season five was airing. (And I love, too, how Martin may have been a hypocrite about it, unwilling to let the universe disappear.)

Saint | tumblr Ao3

Golly gee what a question. I guess the biggest thing is I love how full of seemingly diametrically-opposed contradictions he is: his genuine sweetness and kindness vs his very serious desire to see the violent death of people he's perceived to have wronged him, his dorky poetry vs the fact that he's the kind of person to use the word "ontological" in casual conversation, his capacity for love and compassion vs his proclivity for isolation. Also he has the best voice.

Cosplayers

Shashamisen | tiktok

He hit me as the most human-like character to me. Blame it on the beautiful voice acting or the discreet complexity of how his character was written, but I started loving him for how much I related, and stayed for the cutest awkward love I've ever seen.

Bow | insta tiktok

The obvious reason is that I see so much of my current, but especially younger, self in him, but I also love him because to me, he is the character in TMA who goes through the most growth and comes into himself. I love seeing his journey of self discovery and emotional strength.

Kaedan | tiktok

He became a comfort character immediately. His patience, his sweet nature, the way he stutters when he's flustered (just like me,) it all felt like a cool breeze in the fire that is the horror that is TMA. His life and traumas mirror my own, and the way he comes out of it with kindness and an unexpected fierceness is amazing to me. The way he underhanded Elias AND Peter impresses me constantly.

Alex | tumblr tiktok

He is my husband and I adore him.

Slush/Hailey | insta tiktok tumblr twitter

To me, he is the heart of The Magnus Archives! Martin is always showing his most human side to those around him and never lets the horrors around him stop him from being a good person. Like so many on this zine, I see a lot of myself in Martin Blackwood. There's so much of myself I see in him, yet there's so much more I want to be. He's kind and thoughtful. He's soft, but he finds his courage and shows that he can be quite tenacious and clever! He's constantly underestimated, especially by himself, but shows them up with confidence and sass. He doesn't let the horrible things that have happened to him make him hard and is never afraid of being his true self. I also find our relationships with the Lonely incredibly similar. Essentially, it's been quite a long time since I've found a character that is so much like myself, and gives me hope that I can also make the same changes in my life as him to grow and become a better person. Hopefully that doesn't include being stalked by a worm lady.

#the magnus archives #the magnus archives zine #the magnus pod #martin blackwood #tma #my cup of tea fanzine #contributor announcement

[caffeinated-and-annoying-bard]

i've been thinking of writing a stardew valley au of the magnus archives with martin as the farmer and jon as some misanthrope researcher living maybe on a flat above the library instead of gunther (perhaps he's researching the strange monsters that appear in the mines and you don't see nearly anywhere else in the world...)

if i were to write it, i think it would be fun to replace canon sdv characters with tma characters, wouldn't it? maybe sasha as maru, perhaps renting a room in the house in the mountains from robin (assuming i don't change her for, say, gertrude? eric and gerry could be there as well. perhaps the house is gertrude's but eric is her assistant– or her son and gerry her actual grandson– and has taken over some of the manual work with her aging, and gerry as sebastian?)

perhaps helen and michael could be there instead of emily and haley? trevor and daisy (julia is in a band now. good for her.) could run the adventurer's guild and daisy could be in shane's place (see: recovering from addiction/unhealthy habits as a parallel to the hunt) perhaps she'd be physically disabled in some way, that would be an explanation as to why the mines are not purged from monsters overnight (can you tell i love daisy)?? basira could be in marnie's place and helping daisy recover while she recovers herself? :)

tim and danny as sam and vincent, with danny as an older vincent but younger than canon danny, perhaps?? waiting for their father or mother or both to return from the war with the gotoro empire? (maybe he had always lived there, moved to a bigger city for a while and returned when the war started. maybe he, sasha and jon are working for the same long-term monster researching project. wouldn't it be nice if martin just came bumbling around one day and drastically started indirectly improving their research productivity with his sdv farmer endeavors?? the four of them engaging in shenanigans?? think about it.)

georgie could be kind of like sandy/visit from time to time from the city, make it a jon heart event first and then a melanie one. melanie could be an aggressive version of leah ("youtuber lives in charming yet spooky town in a cabin in the woods, has a successful channel and a podcast girlfriend. good for her.")

there would be different heart events suiting more the canon characters (maybe sasha's 8-heart could be her venting about how she moved to pelican town because someone tried to kill her and steal her identity, tim's about how a circus kidnapped his little brother as a kid like in that one statement, etc. and i'm vibrating like i'll break glass jusr by thinking of what to do with jon.)

at some point jon is sent by elias to the "my ex-husband took the furniture" quest and martin tags along for the fun of it.

i don't know what to do with harvey because he's my husband and i love him and i don't want him gone but i'll think about it. after all, i'm still missing caroline, pierre and abigail (although they could pretty well be mikaele salesa running the store with annabelle working and living there.) perhaps naomi herne should suit the harvey role?? she's peaceful enough to not make me angry for not getting to have my dearest harvey right there. she'd be a doctor, obviously, and perhaps michael could work with her as a part-time nurse? she's waiting for her husband to return from the war (evan herne was sent to the army by his family for abandoning the lukas jojamart family business and marrying naomi, but he'll come back, fear not.)

diego molina and agnes montague as pam and penny doesn't sound bad, and i'm seriously considering having elias be both lewis and the wizard. for the fun of it? perhaps everyone but jon (and later martin) wonders who the wizard is- he calls himself the wizard j. magnus because he's a pretentious bastard. (jon has been set in a position where if he reveals this he gets turned into a plant or something) and he's also the mayor of the town (his legal name is very much elias bouchard.) also, instead of the affair with marnie he has an affair with morris the jojamart guy (peter lukas.)

george, evelyn and alex could be replaced by julia and trevor– they could be softer, less hunt but still recovering from the same thing as daisy– and julia could have a petty feud with jon because, before she knew she was a lesbian, she fancied gerry and gerry used jon as an escape tactic. nothing came of it between gerry and jon but the incident stayed and it was very funny to everyone else.

jude perry could fit clint (and keep on her incel pining over agnes, have a petty feud with jon, because she burned his hand "accidentally" and also because jon is very good at creating petty feuds with people. martin and i both love that man), and krobus and the dwarf could stay like that, etc. and perhaps jas could be daisy's goddaughter that she's struggling to raise (it could be an event, her realising that she needs to pull herself together and stop letting basira raise her alone, just paying half the bills won't cut it– maybe they weren't even together before this and a year or two after her starting the path towards recovery they get together??)

perhaps for willy we could put oliver banks and mike crew there?? local lightning-scarred man is entranced by the vastness of the sea (+his goth not-yet-partner). local hot goth fisherman is so done with everything and just wants peace with the dead quiet of the sea (he rants about death to martin as a heart event, fight me). they should also be a little bit older, to balance the age range of people in town and also because yes.

also jojamart. i think it shoudl stay jojamart because i need someone to make a jmart pun somewhere.

if i should set elias as the wizard/lewis, peter lukas as morris jojamart, who could simon fairchild be?gus, maybe? god knows he's funny enough to be the owner of a saloon. it's funny to imagine his banter with helen while working busy nights there (helen i love you why does the fandom only care about michael.)

i don't know who else i could switch off but if anyone has any ideas both the comment section and my ask box are open :)

#val ramblings #the magnus archives #stardew valley #the town would be full of young-ish adults oh god #there's still peter (before he gets banished by the power of martin hating capitalism) and mikaele and gertrude and elias and oliver???also #basira and daisy should be a bit older i think. let them age together. also mike. mike could be a little younger than oliver but still!!!!! #and well. helen. #michael could be her younger brother and that's that #also simon #and uhhhhhh diego molina #and everyone thinks jon is like 10 years older than he is so #martin will be DELIGHTED once he discovers the truth #ah i'd forgotten eric #now that i think about it it'd be pretty well-balanced if i play my cards right #ah!! trevor as well

[kikiofthevast]

In planning Slay the Archivist I’ve been having a lot of Jon thoughts (below the cut because it got long)

Jon Sims is a character driven entirely by fear. His fear of spiders and trauma of his youth further isolates him from people, his fear of rejection and being known isolates him from his peers and Georgie, and his fear of the forces beyond isolates him from his coworkers (manifested in his short-fuse prickly skeptic persona).

Jon is a character who pushes people away before they can do it to him and cannot conceive that anyone can care about him.

Which is unfortunate, because his assistants do care about him!!! Not on an intimate level, but Jon and Tim at the very least are friends, and Jon respects Sasha!!!

Jon’s actual opinion of Martin in s1 is a bit cloudy, because it’s clear that Jon does not respect him or like him very much, but that mostly comes from the fact that Martin doesn’t do his job very well, or at least by the standards Jon expects based on his CV.

But on the other hand, Jon never expresses anything other than professional disdain, not necessarily personal disdain. Of course, it’s likely that Jon does truly hate Martin, but outside of the recordings in S1, Jon is significantly more generally relaxed (as shown in the tape about ostriches) and his professional academic persona is very much a mask that he puts on to alleviate his own nerves about the job.

That’s not to say Jon likes Martin very much in S1, but it says to me that he doesn’t outright hate him.

Then the worms happen.

Everything falls apart for Jon. His skeptic act isn’t keeping him safe, not like he thought it would, and Jane Prentiss is after him specifically.

Jon starts unraveling after the Prentiss attack.

Something is watching him. Someone killed Gertrude. He can’t trust anyone.

Most of his paranoia is Stranger-induced but it’s also equally a natural response. Of course, he takes it too far, and he neglects his relationships because he doesn’t think they mean anything to the people in question.

Jon is right to be paranoid, and his paranoia is validated by the fact that one of his assistants was replaced and Elias is passively manipulating him (and also killed Gertrude), but the issue is that stalking is a bridge too far.

He has a very strong connection to the Eye even early on because he needs to know everything and gain new knowledge especially about people.

Because Jon is bad at connecting with people, and he typically barely has the self-awareness to avoid sticking his foot in his mouth and he is NOT forthcoming about his trauma or struggles to any extent (we’ll come back to this) and therefore doesn’t really understand how relationships WORK.

So his breaks his slightly tenuous friendship with Tim, realizes that Martin is not as knowledgeable than he thought, and realizes that there’s a creature in his Archive that should not be there.

So he destroys the table, realizes that was also a mistake, gets chased, meets Leitner, and then is IMMEDIATELY framed for his murder.

So Jon is now on the run from the law, so he goes to the only person in his life he actually confided in to some degree, Georgie.

Georgie asks questions, but not many, and accepts that he won’t answer. She lets him stay with her and the Admiral and Jon tries not to get her involved, because he doesn’t want someone else to realize that he’s doomed everyone around him, and he doesn’t want Georgie to be doomed.

He talks to people, gets scars, tries to get away from Daisy, nearly dies to Daisy, learns that GEORGIE had an encounter and feels guilty that she gets involved, and then he gets kidnapped from Georgie’s house.

Nikola finds him and kidnaps him and he is there for a while. I don’t remember if the length of time is specified, but it’s a while, enough time for him to be missed.

Then Elias shows his true colors, Melanie and Basira are in the Archives, and Jon doesn’t know what to do.

He’s lost and doesn’t feel like he can trust anyone, and oh yeah, Tim hates his guts.

Jon goes to America, meets people, meets Gerry, burns Gerry’s page, goes to China, comes back to the Institute, and still has no idea what’s happening to him but he knows it’s bad, but feels good.

Because knowing puts him in control of a situation. Having that advantage alleviates some of his fear, and it gives him power.

Jon, who has not felt in control of anything since he picked up a Leitner as a child, craves that power.

And then there’s the Unknowing.

The Unknowing is a turning point for Jon, because arguably, the human Jonathan Sims dies in the explosion.

But his brain continues on, his consciousness continues on, and he exists in the dreams of people he watches fear and hurt over and over.

Martin spends time with him in the hospital, before he starts working in the Lonely, working to save his friends that aren’t functionally dead in a hospital bed, or already dead.

Oliver gives him a push to accept his Becoming, to wake up and live in his new existence.

And when he wakes up, everyone wishes he hadn’t.

Jon is functionally changed as a person. He wants to confide in people, wants to be someone people trust, and uh …

Yeah that’s not happening.

Elias may be in jail, but Melanie and Basira (and presumably also Martin, but it’s unclear) are still tied to the Archives due to Jon’s continuing life.

Jon is at a low point this season, and Melanie and Basira have complicated relationships with him.

Georgie has also accepted that Jon isn’t going to change, which is a shame for Jon, but well within her right as someone who has been trying to help Jon for years and never actually got through to him.

Melanie projects a lot of her blame onto Jon, when she can’t take it out on Elias. A lot of her rage is being amplified by the bullet in her leg, but the impromptu surgery doesn’t make Melanie any less wary of him.

And Jon pulls Daisy out of the Buried too, and the tapes become his anchor, his connection to the Archives and the Eye strong enough to pull him out.

The Eye is also strong enough to make him need live statements. Like Daisy needs to Hunt, Jon needs to Know.

It’s treated like an addiction in the show as much as it’s treated as a necessary thing, but the important thing is that Jon now needs to hurt people in order to survive.

The issue is that he likes it, he likes causing the fear and not experiencing it. He likes witnessing and knowing and archiving it, but he hates that he likes it because it means he’s not human.

(I personally think Jon can do whatever he wants forever but that’s just me)

Jon tries not to take live statements, but he cannot resist it forever. He knows so much but it’s never enough and he wants more.

(Mr. Spider always wants more.)

Jon also clings to the last bit of the normal past he has left in Martin, who he has learned to appreciate far too late for it to mean something to him, but even when Jon is in danger, he still goes for Martin, because Martin doesn’t deserve to get hurt.

They don’t know each other well beyond a surface level, but they are also the last thing that connects them both to the Normal, the Before.

They latch onto each other and clearly care about each other, but in S5 their relationship is far from ideal even though it’s the only thing keeping them both together.

They are in love, but they’re also missing a lot of development in their relationship.

(Arguably this makes it more realistic, but that’s a whole other post)

Causing the apocalypse weighs on Jon. He damns the world to horror and fear until the End and it’s not even his fault. Of course, it was preventable, but like many things in this show, it just didn’t happen that way.

Jon Knows the new world much better than the rest of the cast. He knows there’s no hope, that there’s only the perpetrators and the victims.

And he wants to be the one on top, over Jonah. He doesn’t tell anyone that, but based purely on his previous expressions of the apocalypse feeling right to him and the way his powers and knowledge make him feel, it stands to reason he would harbor that desire even if he wouldn’t express it.

And that’s why he inevitably kills Jonah and attempts to take his place, because if they’re going to continue living in this world, he wants to Know Everything and be in the Panopticon.

It’s selfish, but Jon does it anyway, because that’s what he wants. If the world is doomed, he wants to be king of it, if only to drink in the fear until the End took them all.

But he’s also grateful when Martin stabs him, on some level. He doesn’t want the Entities pulled into different worlds, but he also to some degree doesn’t want to go beyond his current state. Becoming on par with a god does scare him, to some degree.

And so Jon dies in Martin’s arms, and with love on his lips.

He’s a complicated man, one who cares but doesn’t ever know how to show it and is an insufferable asshole who doesn’t know when to stop.

Curiosity killed this cat, but satisfaction brought him back.

#kiki talks #tma #the magnus archives #meta #jonathan sims #jarchivist #reducing jon to either solely a victim or solely a perpetrator is faulty #hes just jon yk

[whump-me]

Obscure: Chapter 14

Chapter 14 of Obscure, novel-length interrogation whump about a rebel leader who can erase memories with a thought, an interrogator who can see inside his subjects’ minds… and the connection they share that neither of them suspects.

Masterpost | the Mind Games universe | Read the completed novel on Patreon

---

Kirill

Kirill didn’t have a guard escort him to Elias’s cell this time. That had just been for show. He was perfectly capable of getting in on his own.

Inside, the lights were dimmed almost to full darkness. A hint of yellow light remained, like a harvest moon. He had always found something sinister in the baleful glow of the harvest moon. Elias had told him it was nothing to be afraid of. Just an effect of the moon sitting lower in the sky. Now, as he stepped into the cell and eased the door most of the way shut, leaving it open just enough that it wouldn’t lock behind him, Kirill wondered if he had been right all along.

This was only the second time he had set foot in one of these cells. The first time was when he had tried to fool Elias into thinking he was his new cellmate. He had been playing his old self that day. He just hadn’t known it. No wonder it had come so easily.

When Kirill had come here, headquarters had assigned him a private room in the dormitories. In some places, private rooms might have been a privilege. Not so in headquarters. Here, they had to prove they were trustworthy enough for roommates.

His room had been half the size of this, with no toilet or sink. For the first few months, the door was locked all the time. He’d had to call a guard whenever he needed to use the bathroom.

But this room felt like a cell the way that one never had. Maybe it was because he’d had a drawer under his bed where he could keep any personal belongings—not that he’d had anything to put there. Maybe it was that PERI had called it a dormitory, like he was away at some fancy boarding school. He had been young enough then to be swayed by a difference in words.

Or maybe it was as simple as this: he had chosen it. No one who ended up in one of these cells had chosen to be where they were.

Elias muttered incoherently and rubbed his eyes, the sound of the closing door bringing him awake. Kirill didn’t say anything yet, and he didn’t walk closer. He looked down at the man in the bed, Elias’s figure indistinct in the dim harvest-moon light. He saw his best friend, but impossibly old. He saw his prisoner, his adversary, but impossibly familiar. The two couldn’t coexist. But they were both there in the same man.

Elias sat up. He showed no outward surprise when he saw Kirill. But his fear leaked through in his memories.

“Is this your next tactic?” Elias asked. “Catching me half-asleep, while my defenses are down? Not letting me have a moment of peace?”

“I don’t need a new tactic,” Kirill reminded him. “I already have one that works.”

He instantly regretted his words as a look of raw disgust came over Elias’s face. Maybe he should have been disgusted with himself for threatening Elias’s son. Maybe he would have been, if he hadn’t spent so long hollowed out inside.

How had he never realized there was nothing in his heart but the obscuring fog?

He still didn’t know the answer to Elias’s question. He didn’t know who had been before the obscuring, before he had come here. He had changed in the decades since Elias had obscured him. The nooks and crannies where his old memories used to live were gone or reshaped, as unrecognizable as his current face would have been to anyone who had known his teenage self. His mind was a muddle now, the once-sterile space transformed to a chaotic jumble like the remnants of a house in the aftermath of a tornado.

“Then why are you here?” Elias’s eyes were flat. Like Kirill’s own eyes in the mirror. Only the trickle of memory betrayed that Elias was feeling anything at all. And it was a small trickle. Mostly anger.

“I thought we could talk somewhere that wasn’t an interrogation room,” said Kirill. “Somewhere we can have a real conversation.”

“I’m sure this room has cameras, too.”

“They’re off.”

“You don’t think anyone will find that suspicious?”

“I need to talk to you.” The sound of his own desperation in his voice surprised even him. Not because he had been trying to hide it. But because, until he had spoken, he hadn’t realized what he was feeling. He wasn’t used to feeling anything that was his own. Anything that wasn’t what the person he was talking to wanted him to feel.

Elias didn’t want him desperate. Elias wanted him gone.

“The room isn’t the problem,” said Elias. “The problem is that you’re assigned to destroy what I built, and the cost of that destruction is measured in lives. The lives of the people you’ll abduct if I give you what you want. The lives of the people we won’t be able to save in the future.” Elias looked down at the metal bracelet. The cuffs were gone, but the bracelet remained. “And you still threatened my child.”

The memories spilling out from Elias weren’t pure anger anymore. They were a confusing, chaotic darkness. Half-remembered nightmares. One second, a rage-inducing image—an intricate model smashed to pieces, all its delicate parts twisted beyond repair. Elias yelling out through the small house, demanding to know who was responsible. The next second, he saw his own younger face—not blurry anymore, but still the face of a stranger—disappearing under opaque green water. He felt the panic in Elias’s body as if it were his own.

He couldn’t tell what Elias was feeling toward him anymore. He probably didn’t want to know.

“I can’t give you what from me,” said Elias. His memories were a tangle of emotion, but his voice was perfectly even.

Kirill still didn’t know what he wanted, only that Elias was the only person who could give it to him. “Just… talk to me about the past,” he said. “It’s hard to make sense of the memories after all this time. They barely feel like mine.”

He sat on the edge of Elias’s bed. Elias recoiled. He swung his legs over the side and stood, careful not to let any part of his body touch any part of Kirill’s.

“I thought you said you didn’t want to remember,” said Elias.

“I don’t want to see it through your eyes,” said Kirill. “I want to see it through my own. I lost so much. I never understood how much I was missing.” Was this how everyone else went about their lives, with the memories of their childhoods clear in their minds? Not a crayon sketch, but a series of full-color recollections, with all the emotions as strong as the day the memories had been formed? How did anyone live with this much past in their heads?

Elias stared at a point past Kirill’s left ear. “I thought it would be kinder that way. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I should have left some of the guilt. I never imagined what you might become without it.”

An icy wave of shame washed over Kirill. Not at who he was—he was doing his job, he was being what PERI needed him to be, and wasn’t that the only right thing? Wasn’t that what he was for? Was this jumble of memories, memories that barely felt like his own, supposed to change all that? So far, all it had done was make it harder for him to do that job. It had filled him up until there was no room for what he needed to be. The memories had made him useless.

The shame was about the look in Elias’s eyes. He had never wanted to let Elias down. He remembered that much. It was why he had climbed that tree in the first place, even though he had known it was too high.

Maybe Elias was wrong about his lack of guilt changing him. Maybe Kirill was wrong about how Elias had hollowed him out. Maybe this was who he had been all along, but with Elias in place of PERI, Elias showing him what he needed to do and who he needed to be.

Maybe all Elias had done was make him better at being who he was.

He wished he could hold out the jumble of memories in his head and ask Elias to take them back.

He probably could have asked. Elias had the power to do that. But he didn’t ask.

“There’s too much in my head,” said Kirill, looking up at Elias like a supplicant. “Help me sort through it. Tell me about… I don’t know. Tell me about the marsh.”

“You still haven’t told me why I should.”

“Or tell me about my parents. I remember them, but the faces all blend together. I can’t remember which parts are Mama Kelly and which parts are Mama Charisse, and which parts are Papa Graham, and…” His vision blurred. It had been simpler when his family had been a crayon drawing, when he hadn’t cared about the nuances between one stick figure and the next. “Which ones were mine?”

“All of them,” said Elias. “That’s how it worked there.”

“You won’t even give me this?” Kirill asked.

“Will you give me my son?” Elias countered. “Will you guarantee his safety?” The flow of memory surged. It grew darker, the memories tinged with grief. The boy’s memorial service. Elias and the red-haired woman screaming at each other—the woman saying she knew there was something going on that Elias wasn’t saying, Elias telling her she had to accept Sammy’s death.

If he were still who he had been in those memories, he would have promised to keep Sammy safe. It was what Elias needed. But memories couldn’t erase the decades that had passed. His two selves lived together in his head, uneasily sharing space, and his past self was the one that felt alien. When he looked at Elias, he saw an interrogation subject. He saw what PERI needed from him.

But what he saw lacked the sharp clarity he was used to. And he couldn’t begin to understand how to get it back. He remembered his plan. But his confidence was gone. In its place, he had the memories. He was too full of contradictory things. He was his own interrogation subject. He was full of memories that weren’t his, staring out through the eyes of someone he had never been. But Max stared back, wondering in confusion and a small bit of horror who this person was that he had become. And for a second, he saw through Max’s eyes.

Was that shame he felt?

No. Only anger. Elias had broken him. Once when he had taken his memories. Again when he had inadvertently given them back.

What did PERI need with a broken tool?

Who was he, if not what PERI needed?

“You asked me who I was before PERI,” Kirill said. “Maybe you can tell me.”

Another brief burst of memories from Elias, before Elias shut them down. “You already know now.”

“I was what you needed me to be.” Kirill’s eyes searched Elias’s. “Is that really all I was?”

Elias’s eyes widened, like Kirill’s words had surprised him. “Of course not. It’s only PERI that has you thinking like that.”

“Then tell me.” He heard himself begging, like it was an act he was putting on to get what he needed. But it wasn’t. He didn’t know what would make Elias gave him the answers he craved—except setting him and his son free, which was impossible.

And if he didn’t know how to get answers, he was broken, because that was what an interrogator did, and an interrogator was what they had made into.

You were made for this, Ramachandra had told him, once he had finished the battery of evaluations that would tell PERI exactly what he was good for. What she didn’t say was that PERI had made him for this, as surely as if he had come out of one of their labs.

“Do you think I want to revisit those memories?” A hint of roughness broke into Elias’s voice. “I’ve spent thirty years trying not to think about Max. You may think you’re him, but you’re not. Not unless you choose to be. Until then, it’s best for both of us to leave him buried.”

“How can I choose to be him if I don’t know who he was?” Then, as the tone of Elias’s memories turned to fear, he asked, “Are you afraid of talking about Max? Are you afraid of feeling something, in case I use it against you?”

“You’ve done it before.”

“I won’t this time. Not about this.”

“I don’t trust you.”

Now Kirill saw how hard Elias was working not to look directly at him, and how unnaturally even Elias’s breaths were. The only reason Elias felt so little right now was because he was doing everything in his power to hold the emotion at bay.

“You used to trust me more than anyone else in the world,” Kirill reminded him.

“That was Max,” said Elias, and left it at that, as if the subject was closed.

Maybe Elias was right. Maybe the solution was to leave Max dead and buried. He was Kirill now. He had been Kirill for longer than he had been Max. He couldn’t be both of them at once, the dutiful interrogator and this alien teenage boy. Maybe the way to remember how to be Kirill again was to send Max back to the grave he had crawled out of.

And if Max was dead, Elias had been the one to kill him. He didn’t owe Elias anything. Especially not if Elias wouldn’t help him figure out how to be Max again.

Elias wanted Max gone. Kirill would give him what he wanted.

He stood without a word and left.

It was time to get back to his job. It was time to follow through on his threat.

---

Tagged: @cakeinthevoid @suspicious-whumping-egg

Ask to be added or removed from taglist.

#whump #whump novel #my writing #my writing: Obscure #my writing: Mind Games #interrogation whump #superpower whump #emotional whump #whumper POV

[venndaai]

relistening to calamity ep 1 and Asmodeus really set Zerxus up so comprehensively with that vision of him banishing the Dawnfather to protect Asmodeus- 1) that should have been our very first clue to Zerxus’s hubris, and it’s pretty clever how we just accepted it because dnd is all about making players feel powerful, and 2) that was total confirmation to Zerxus that he did have the power of a god, that he was more powerful than them! like of course he later tries to put a god in time out, it worked the last time! and “no mortal would do what you have done,”- again, setting Zerxus up as special and above everyone else.

but also oh my god what a fuckin. own goal for Asmodeus because he set himself up for Zerxus’s pity there! I think he was maybe going for a sort of “noble, tragically betrayed but still awesomely ancient god dispensing fatherly wisdom to his “child””, but he completely screwed it up by throwing that vision of Elias in at the start and placing Zerxus’s tormented dreaming mind fully in paternal guilt mode. to be fair, most normal people would not look at an “older than the world” 400 foot horned giant man and go “it’s free opportunity to assuage my guilt child”, so I can’t totally blame him, but I do find it very funny, and it gets even funnier when you think about how his next move was “sexy wounded deer” and all that did was make the situation more freudian

#critrole blogging #exu calamity #zerxus ilerez #asmodeus

[writergirl2011]

Fun With Fics

Rules: Pick any ten of your fics, scroll roughly to the midpoint, pick a line (or three) and share it. Then tag ten people.

(I got tagged a while back and just remembered, lol. I am using a random number generator to pick the fics for this)

Single Parenting 101.

Jaime knew he should allow her some privacy, but he couldn’t resist peeking at the phone to see the girl—Brienne’s daughter, who looked to be around eight or nine. She was also Renly Baratheon’s daughter as she was the spitting image of him, except for her eyes. Renly’s were a bluish-green, whereas this girl’s were just like her mother’s.

2. Christmas Wrapping.

Trust Renly to bring ultrasound pics on a boat outing.  He probably had fifty copies in case he lost a few.

Renly plopped down beside her again and thrust them at her.  “Aren’t they gorgeous?”

Brienne stared at them, wishing she could think anything besides they look like alien life forms, what the hell.  Renly rattled on about 3D technology enabling them to get lifelike images, and didn’t she think that baby A—the girl—looked like Loras, while baby B—the boy—looked like he was going to have Renly’s chin?

3. Single Dad Dating 102.

Jaime held the door for Brienne as she walked into Martyn’s, then took her coat and was rewarded by the sight of the back of the blue blouse she’d changed into after Maggy was gone. The front, which all he’d seen because of the coat, was relatively modest, but dipped low in the back, revealing her back, covered with freckles.

He rather liked them.

4. they don't know about the things we do.

Jaime wonders if he should suggest that they finally tell people about them. It probably won’t deter Renly from trying to interfere with their lunches, but if they go public and Brienne puts her foot down, then maybe…

He won’t deny that he’s enjoyed the cat-and-mouse game of keeping their friends from finding out, but a growing part of him wants to be acknowledged as Brienne’s boyfriend.

5. you who know what love is.

Brienne Tarth would never be beautiful, or pretty, or even considered handsome. Despite the perfection of her dress, her looks remained as they always were. But after she made her curtsey to King Rhaegar and Queen Elia, both of whom smiled approvingly at her, she walked through the throng of people in the ballroom looking like a goddess, her strength coupled with her now evident femininity making her the love child of the Warrior and the Maiden.

6. Trust Me with You.

She lowered her hands and tried to work up the courage to ask if she could see him. But almost as if he heard her, he shrugged out of his suit jacket and dropped it to the floor. His fingers went to his vest and made quick work of the six buttons, then his tie. It wasn’t until he started unbuttoning his white dress shirt that Brienne noticed that his fingers were trembling.

7. and we could be enough.

Jaime turned to help with the task and a moment later, a snowball smacked him in the back of the head.

“Unfair, wench!” he shouted, but Brienne was not behind him as he thought.  He looked to see who might have done it, but the only person there was Sansa, smiling at him innocently with her hands tucked behind her back before she nodded and walked away.

Jaime supposed he deserved that.  He tried not to smile as he helped with the cleanup.

8. but no one knows it's only me.

It shouldn’t be possible. Jaime’s done a great deal of research in the eight years since he took over being the Librarian, and there’s never been a single instance of a superhero being able to use telekinesis by remote. Even Tyrion has to physically go to his location to be able to use his power, and he’s the most powerful telekinetic on record.

By the time she’s finished, Joanna’s face is deathly pale, her eyes are dull, and she sways on her feet. Jaime scoops her up and sits on the couch, holding her tightly.

9. Reprise.

The video starts with the usual hysterical screaming. Jaime stands there with a sad smile on his face as he waits for the fans to settle. Then he begins playing. He doesn’t try to do too much with it, doesn’t turn it into something wild or funky or discordant. He just stands there and plays her song, eyes lowered to his guitar as though he’s alone rather than in front of thousands of fans who are mostly silent as he plays, until the final note dies away and they scream in ecstasy.

Brienne struggles to breathe as she stares at the screen, now frozen on the enigmatic look on Jaime’s face after he raised his head to the crowd. She looks over at him now, and she knows he knows what she’s just seen.

10. there seems to have been some disturbance here.

“Is there a particular moment you want me to interrupt? Are they going for the traditional cloaking and vows to the Seven ceremony?”

Galladon snorts. “Of course not. That’s what Brienne wanted, but Hyle felt that that was too paganistic. They’re going for the modern revised Ceremony of the Seven.”

“So I should show up right after the septon asks if someone has an objection?” Might as well go for the most melodramatic moment of the whole ceremony.

LOL! Mostly the smaller stuff came up--let's hear it for the random number generator! I think the links work. If all else fails, you can find me at cardinalgirl75 on AO3.

#dee writes things #lots of things #1.1M words and counting #yikes that's a lot of words