#i starts a compilation of the magnus archive statements

[bending-sickle]

if i had a printer i would be unstoppable

[aita-blorbos]

(Spoilers for Magnus Archives)

AITA for burning my childhood house down

Hello, Jon.

Apologies for the deception, but I wanted to make sure you started reading, so I thought it best not to announce myself.

I’m assuming you’re alone; you always did prefer to read your statements in private. (slightly strained) I wouldn’t try too hard to stop reading; there’s every likelihood you’ll just hurt yourself. So just listen.

Now, shall we turn the page and try again?

WIBTA for starting the apocalypse

I hope you’ll forgive me the self-indulgence, but I have worked so very hard for this moment, a culmination of two centuries of work. It’s rare that you get the chance to monologue through another, and you can’t tell me you’re not curious.

Why does a man seek to destroy the world?

It’s a simple enough answer: for immortality and power. Uninspired, perhaps, but – my god. The discovery, not simply of the dark and horrible reality of the world in which you live, but that you would quite willingly doom that world and confine the billions in it to an eternity of terror and suffering, all to ensure your own happiness, to place yourself beyond pain and death and fear.

It is an awful thing to know about yourself, but the freedom, Jon, the freedom of it all. I have dedicated my life to handing the world to these Dread Powers all for my own gain, and I feel… nothing but satisfaction in that choice.

I am to be a king of a ruined world, and I shall never die.

I believe there are far more people in this world that would take that bargain than you would ever guess. And I have beaten all of them.

Of course, this desire did not manifest overnight. When RS (87, M) first gathered our little band – L, S, and the rest – to discuss and hypothesize on the nature of the things he had learned from R, I felt what I believe we all felt: curiosity, and fear.

But as he compiled his taxonomy and codified his theories on the grand rituals, I began to develop a very specific concern. RS was so obsessed with his ideas on balance, even as our fellows began to experiment and fall to the service of our patrons.

I began to worry that if one of them successfully attempted their ritual, then I would be as much a victim as any, trapped in the nightmare landscape of a twisted world.

At first, I attempted prevention, but the cause seemed hopeless. The only way to ensure I did not suffer the tribulations of what I believed to be an inevitable transformation was to bring it about myself. So what began as an experiment soon became a race.

Beyond that, I was getting older, and mortality began to weigh more heavily on my mind. How much in this world is done because we fear death, the last and greatest terror?

I convinced RS to work on Millbank, leading him to design it as a temple to all the Fears in equilibrium, such that my own modifications to the design of the Panopticon went… unremarked.

It. Took. Years. for the dread of the prisoners to fully suffuse the place, and I was an old man before I made my first attempt at the Watcher’s Crown, sat in the center of that colossal eye, the great ring of cells encircling me like a coronet.

It was… flawed, of course, as all RS’s rituals were, and none of the inmates survived as the power I attempted to harness shook the building almost to pieces, and the murky swamp upon which the prison was built consumed it.

But it left me a gift: For sat in that watchtower, I could see everything I turned my mind to.

It was a dizzying power, and one I discovered I maintained even as I found vessels to extend my life. Of course, I had to make sure the location was kept under my control while I worked on revising my plans, and so I moved the organization I had founded to assist in my research down to London, and the Institute as you know it was born.

I’ll not bore you with details of my bodies and failures through those intervening years. Suffice to say I kept busy, both planning my own next attempt, and doing my best to stymie those others who tried versions of their own.

Surely my interpretation of the Watcher’s Crown had been incomplete; there had been some element of the ritual I had overlooked.

It was not until I met G (70, F) that things began to really come into focus.

You see, the role of Archivist has been part of the Beholding for as far back as my research can go. This isn’t uncommon for the Powers; most of the beliefs around them are guesswork and fallible human interpretation, but there are certain throughlines and consistencies that can be spotted, regardless of the trappings.

But G was unlike any other Archivist. She simply did not care about compiling experiences or collecting the fears of others. She was driven to stop those who served the Powers.

More than once I thought she must secretly be of the Hunt – but there was never that sick joy in her, that thrill of predator and prey. She had simply decided that this was her position in life, and went about it with a practicality that even I found disconcerting at times.

I once asked her what drove her, what had started her down that path. She told me the Desolation had killed her cat.

I don’t know if she was joking, and, to be honest, I could never bring myself to look into her mind and find out for sure.

In any case, G’s ruthless efficiency in derailing and collapsing rituals threw into stark relief a question that had been bothering me for almost a hundred and fifty years: In the whole span of humanity, why had nobody ever succeeded?

Perhaps there were a long line of G throughout history, but I found that hard to credit. Could it be, then, that there was something in the very concept of the rituals that meant they couldn’t succeed?

She was clearly having similar thoughts in that last year, all of which culminated with the People’s Church.

When I saw that she was making no preparations whatsoever to stop it, I realized she was putting into practice a theory, and one she couldn’t afford to be wrong. She was going to wait, and see if the unopposed ritual succeeded, or if it collapsed under its own strain as mine had all those years ago.

Knowing G, I’m sure she had a backup plan if she had miscalculated – but she had not. The ritual failed. And all at once, I realized what had to be done.

You see, the thing about the Fears is that they can never be truly separated from each other. When does the fear of sudden violence transition into the fear of hunted prey? When does the mask of the Stranger become the deception of the Spiral?

Even those that seem to exist in direct opposition rely on each other for their definition as much as up relies on down.

To try and create a world with only the Buried makes as much sense as trying to conceive a world with only down.

Every ritual tied itself so closely to a single power as to render itself impossible. They could bring their patron close, but never sever it from the others, and eventually it would be violently pulled back into the place next to reality where they dwell.

The solution, then, is simple: A new ritual must be devised which will bring through all the Powers at once. All fourteen, as I had hoped I could complete it before any new powers such as Extinction were able to fully emerge. All under the Eye’s auspices, of course. We mustn’t forget our roots.

And there was only one being that could possibly serve as a lynchpin for this new ritual: The Archivist. A position that had so recently become vacant, thanks to G’s ill-timed retirement plans.

Because the thing about the Archivist is that – well, it’s a bit of a misnomer.

It might, perhaps, be better named: The Archive.

Because you do not administer and preserve the records of fear, Jon. You are a record of fear, both in mind as you walk the shuddering record of each statement, and in body as the Powers each leave their mark upon you.

You are a living chronicle of terror.

Perhaps, then, if I could find an Archivist and have each Power mark them, have them confront each one and each in turn instill in them a powerful and acute fear for their life, they could be turned into a conduit for the coming of this – nightmare kingdom.

Do you see where I’m going, Jon?

It does tickle me, that in this world of would-be occult dynasties and ageless monsters, the Chosen One is simply that – someone I chose. It’s not in your blood, or your soul, or your destiny. It’s just in your own, rotten luck.

I’ll admit, my options were somewhat limited, but My God, when you came to me already marked by the Web, I knew it had to be you. I even held out some small hope you had been sent by the Spider as some sort of implicit blessing on the whole project, and, do you know what, I think it was.

Of course, I had to bide my time, get a measure of you before I began to push, learn how you worked – So I decided I would wait until something came for you, and see how you reacted. Attacks upon the Archives were not uncommon during G’s tenure, and, while she was always prepared, I made sure you would not be.

I reasoned if you couldn’t survive a single encounter, you were unlikely to make it through all fourteen. So, when JP attacked, I watched eagerly, one hand on the gas release from the start.

You acquitted yourself well enough, so I decided to see how far you would get, though I waited until the worms were in you before I pulled the lever. I needed to make sure you felt that fear all the way to your bones.

The discovery that one of the Stranger’s minions had infiltrated the Institute in the aftermath was certainly a pleasant bonus. Even if that sliver of paranoia, that vague wrongness you couldn’t quite place wouldn’t count as a mark, it was only a matter of time before it confronted you in a far more direct and affecting matter.

Admittedly, given the advent of the Unknowing, I needn’t have bothered. But what’s the old saying about hindsight?

More important to me was Sasha’s encounter with the Distortion. If it had taken an interest, then I very much wanted it to cross your path.

So I found one of its current victims and convinced her to make a statement.

Poor H (~20, F). I actually had to put her in a taxi myself, she was getting so lost in those narrow London side streets.

It worked, though.

Between the stabbing and at least two desperate flights into its doors – you’re marked very deeply by the Spiral.

JL (~70, M) was a surprise, of course, and I was forced to improvise. I had no idea how much G would have told him, and he could very easily have derailed everything if you learned too much too fast.

I justified it to myself saying I was going to have to send you out into the world anyway, if you were to encounter more of the Powers, but I can’t honestly pretend it wasn’t a… rather rash move.

Still. I’d requested Detective T (~25, F) be assigned to the case when they found G’s body in the hope that having a Hunter in the mix would eventually lead to a confrontation, and setting you up as a killer certainly hastened that.

Then it was just a matter of feeding you statements to lead you to a few Avatars I thought were likely to harm you – but probably would stop short of actually killing you.

J (27, F) served her purpose exactly as I had hoped, as did our dearly departed Mr. C, marking you for the Desolation and the Vast.

Honestly, I had – nothing to do with M (23, F) and her Slaughter adventure, but when I saw the situation, I made sure to trap her here, so when her rage bubbled over you would be right there, a ready target.

I didn’t foresee the mark coming from surgery gone wrong, but it was a very pleasant surprise.

The Unknowing was a distraction, but not an unwelcome one. For this to work, you needed more than just the marks; you needed power. And that was something the Unknowing served to test, though it posed no actual danger in the grand scheme of things.

And it did serve another purpose, of course. It inadvertently pushed you to confront death, a mark I had been very worried about trying to orchestrate. If I tried too early, you’d just die. Too late, and you might be powerful enough to see the attempt coming, and maybe even understand why.

As it was, it was just right, and once again, you came through with flying colors.

By this point, your abilities were coming along in leaps and bounds, and I was concerned that meeting face-to-face might end up with you – (sigh) – Knowing something you shouldn’t.

I had initially planned to go into hiding, but when your colleagues surprised me with the police, well. It was simple enough to cut a deal.

All that remained, then, were the Dark, the Flesh, the Buried, and the Lonely.

I was a little put out when that idiot JH (???, M) misinterpreted my letters and attacked the Institute too soon, before you were even out of the hospital, but then – Ho, you should have see my face when you voluntarily went to him.

I couldn’t see what happened in there, of course, but given how you came out, I’m very sure it counts as a mark.

I suspected the coffin might turn up again, and once it did, it was simply a matter of getting any, uh… restraining factors you might have had flying off on a wild goose chase, and waiting.

Honestly, Detective T has been proving invaluable through this process. I’d been racking my brains for months about what I could use to lure you in.

And, of course, I knew the Dark Sun was just sitting there waiting. So when it came time, I just whipped up another apocalypse and sent you on your merry way.

Then all that remained was the Lonely.

Poor P (~50, M). He really should have left well enough alone. Or just done what I’d asked in the first place.

Ah well. He knew what I was attempting, and was very unwilling to cooperate until I made him a little wager about M (same age as you, Jon, M).

Of course, he had no way of knowing that, in addition to setting you up for the final mark, he was giving you all the tools you needed to escape from it.

How is M, by the way? He looks well. You will keep an eye on him when all this is over, won’t you? He’s earned that.

And there, I think, we are brought just about up to date. I have enjoyed our little trip down memory lane, but past here lies only impatience.

You are prepared. You are ready. You are marked. The power of the Ceaseless Watcher flows through you, and the time of our victory is here.

Don’t worry, Jon. You’ll get used to it here, in the world that we have made.

Now. Repeat after me.

You who watch and know and understand none. You who listen and hear and will not comprehend. You who wait and wait and drink in all that is not yours by right.

Come to us in your wholeness.

Come to us in your perfection.

Bring all that is fear and all that is terror and all that is the awful dread that crawls and chokes and blinds and falls and twists and leaves and hides and weaves and burns and hunts and rips and bleeds and dies!

Come to us.

I – OPEN – THE DOOR!

[anonithemousse]

The Magnus Archives Animated Update 3# - Little bit of everything

Greetings 👋

I started writing this post around Easter, but I put it off, because I needed some time to recover.

Yes, I finished The Magnus Archives. And yes, despite expecting this type of ending by looking at what genre it is, I was still completely devastated. I mean 3 days of being zombie with eyes red from random whailing.

I don't regret listening to this podcast though. This story is amazing in many levels and it would take me ages to write all my thoughts.

In short, general summary:

Narration - This is my first time listening to narrative podcast, so I like how this medium was used to tell the story, both from read statements and characters' experiences. You can get a clear idea of what's happening, or confuse viewer just as much as the characters are in current situation.

Voice Acting - Everyone did great job by delivering played characters' personalities and emotions just with voice. Jonny/Jon really did the job here especially. The stories, even if given second-hand story-wise, feel genuine with how Jon delivers the feelings of person giving the statement. You can easily forget you're listening to just one voice for entire episode.

Setup - The idea for world and how the horrors work has potential, yet the exploration is properly limited to what characters can really experience and comprehend. Since this is horror, fear relies on how much (or how little) you know about the danger and so not all mysteries will be trully solved. You will still get lot of side stories nicely unwrapped and concluded with satisfaction.

Characters - What I like about them the most is they all are multidimensional. It's clear they all have different points of view, they have flaws, they make mistakes. They're not superheroes, but people who try to figure things out and won't always suceed. Some dynamics hurt, but they're also well settled in circumstances and personalities. Even though it hurts to see characters in conflict with each other, I can understand behaviour of each.

I also really liked how relationship between Jon Sims and Martin Blackwood evolved throughout the series. It wasn't in main focus for most of the series, but there were enough clues to see them bonding, at least to me.

The genuine worry of Jon for Martin in Season 4, but not butting into his business, because he believes Martin knows what he's doing? I loved that.

And their dynamics in Season 5? Wonderful. I think this is what I felt lacking in many relationships I've seen over years. They communicate, they address issues, they set boundaries, they listen to each other. Well, it doesn't sound that simple and perfect when put in these words, their relationship is more complex than that. But it's genuine. No foul play, just two people trully caring for each other and listening to other's feeling, doing their best.

I usually am passive towards couples in fiction, but TMA just awoken something in me. I think most of the time the couples I've seen were... ingenuine...? Unhealthy? Shallow? Cliche? The other ships I really liked are Ruby and Sapphire (Steven Universe), Luz and Amity (The Owl House) or Balister and Ambrosius (Nimona) for exactly reasons mentioned above.

So yeah, given that plus my devastation after TMA finale, I spent last month mostly drawing Jon and Martin to cope. The main goal remained, to find the fitting designs, but it also made me explore their personalities and relationship dynamics. You can see in my recent posts most of the results. I regret nothing, hehe!

But there's more! I drew other characters as well, whenever I felt like it. They've been shared in separate posts as well, riiight here.

There's lot for me to discover and creative within The Magnus Archives territory and it's hard to predict what next turn my journey will take at this point. I will not slow down, nonetheless!

That's all from me, for now. You can expect more drawings or rambling.

Stay tuned and stay creative! 🎨

[animsid]

I’m going to compile a quick list of things that I know from Archives in totality. Wanna make it clear what I do and don’t know so it could be interesting for perspective reads. [Spoilers up to Magnus Protocol E20]

Disclaimer: Aside from anything in this list, I do not know anything about Archives. I am listening to Protocol specifically devoid of Archives spoilers. So please no Archives spoilers. Also if I am wrong about something here, please do not correct me. I think it’ll be more fun that way if I’m not spoiled on these assumptions.

Celia is a character from Archives, and she’s aware of the Magnus Institute in her supposedly alternate timeline is definitely why she’s more genre savvy here. As for what the Magnus Institute did in Archives, or what role Celia had in Archives, I have no idea.

This one is more of a theory. I initially thought Celia was some kind of werewolf or creature transformation thing that was locked in the basement and that’s why she appeared on the side of the road in E11. I thought this because E10 ends with the thing in the Institute basement unlocking itself and freeing itself, and immediately at the start of E11, Celia wakes up so I thought there was a tie between them. [It’s still unclear if that’s what’s happening, but more likely it’s random teleportation.] I know the shapeshifter thing has a maybe(?) presidency of some kind in Archives. To what extent, to what’s happening, to what specifically, I have no clue.

I know Jon and Martin are the supposed main characters of Archives, and they’re in FR3-D1 as Chester and Norris respectively. They are gay for each other and Jon is ace(?) which I appreciate as a gay ace agender person.

Jon is also the person who sent Sam that email Sam showed Colin who freaked out back in E7. I suspect he/Martin are also the one who sent the email to Sam about the Protocol and Magnus Institute in E20. They seem to also be the ones in Fr3-D1 that are trying to get Sam to keep researching the institute every time he says he’s going to stop.

There’s a third character in FR3-D1 who voices Augustus named “Jonah”. I don’t know who the fuck he is, but my theory is that he is an evil villain of some kind who Jon and Martin are actively fighting against in the computer, since Alice mentioned Augustus is the rarest voice of the three, which I think is Jon and Martin trying to suppress Jonah by making out sloppy style with each other. I know that the three of them together form the .jmj error that Alice keeps getting.

Tea is some kind of metaphor in Archives, and the fact that Celia has tea consistently instead of coffee like the rest of our crew makes it clear that she’s from Archives.

Certain words are weird. I know they’re key words but I have no idea what they mean: Hunt, Compel, Avatar, The Eye. They’re just gibberish but they sound important. I do know Hunt refers to the statement about Lady Mowbray in E15, but I think there’s more context that was in Archives that isn’t in Protocol.

Georgie is voiced by the Magnus creator’s wife and is maybe in Archives? Unclear about that.

The alchemy stuff in E19 is NOT from Archives. That’s new stuff and plays an exclusive role in Protocol.

Worms?

The fire (at least in E7) can be interpreted as a ritual. Given that The Protocol™️ is anti-supernatural driven arson, I think there’s a chance it was not a ritual. But my friends reaction to E7 was that it was a ritual, so there’s a chance it could be.

Live music is apparently a big no no in the Magnus multiverse?

Influencer speak is not a thing in Archives?[I absolutely loved it, no lie. I satirically speak like an influencer sometimes but I died laughing first time I heard E15]

Protocol is far more digital, having use the audience listen through devices like phones, CCTV or computers via FR3-D1. The only exception is E10 and E15, where fucking tape recorders show up. Tape recorders are a main motif in Archives, and it’s very odd it’s here as an analog device compared to the digital listening devices.

Yeah, that’s all I got. I feel like I’ve scraped my brain clean of any details. If there’s more I’ll probably reblog this with more info. If anyone’s curious, feel free to send an ask and I’ll probably get to it. (No Archive spoilers in the asks obv.)

Kthxbyeeeeeeeee

[evil-flesh-eating-ai]

top 13 deaths in the magnus archives

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Hello, John. Apologies for the deception, but I wanted to make sure you started reading, so I thought it best not to announce myself.

I’m assuming you’re alone; you always did prefer to read your statements in private. I wouldn’t try too hard to stop reading; there’s every likelihood you’ll just hurt yourself. So just listen.

Now, shall we turn the page and try again?

Statement of Jonah Magnus regarding Jonathan Sims, The Archivist.

Statement begins.

[A SLAP ON THE TABLE – OR A CRACK? SPOOKY.]

I hope you’ll forgive me the self-indulgence, but I have worked so very hard for this moment, a culmination of two centuries of work. It’s rare that you get the chance to monologue through another, and you can’t tell me you’re not curious.

Why does a man seek to destroy the world?

It’s a simple enough answer: for immortality and power. Uninspired, perhaps, but – my god. The discovery, not simply of the dark and horrible reality of the world in which you live, but that you would quite willingly doom that world and confine the billions in it to an eternity of terror and suffering, all to ensure your own happiness, to place yourself beyond pain and death and fear.

It is an awful thing to know about yourself, but the freedom, John, the freedom of it all. I have dedicated my life to handing the world to these Dread Powers all for my own gain, and I feel… nothing but satisfaction in that choice.

I am to be a king of a ruined world, and I shall never die.

I believe there are far more people in this world that would take that bargain than you would ever guess. And I have beaten all of them.

Of course, this desire did not manifest overnight. When Smirke first gathered our little band – Lukas, Scott, and the rest – to discuss and hypothesize on the nature of the things he had learned from Rayner, I felt what I believe we all felt: curiosity, and fear.

But as he compiled his taxonomy and codified his theories on the grand rituals, I began to develop a very specific concern. Smirke was so obsessed with his ideas on balance, even as our fellows began to experiment and fall to the service of our patrons.

I began to worry that if one of them successfully attempted their ritual, then I would be as much a victim as any, trapped in the nightmare landscape of a twisted world.

At first, I attempted prevention, but the cause seemed hopeless. The only way to ensure I did not suffer the tribulations of what I believed to be an inevitable transformation was to bring it about myself. So what began as an experiment soon became a race.

Beyond that, I was getting older, and mortality began to weigh more heavily on my mind. How much in this world is done because we fear death, the last and greatest terror?

I convinced Smirke to work on Millbank, leading him to design it as a temple to all the Fears in equilibrium, such that my own modifications to the design of the Panopticon went… unremarked.

It. Took. Years, for the dread of the prisoners to fully suffuse the place, and I was an old man before I made my first attempt at the Watcher’s Crown, sat in the center of that colossal eye, the great ring of cells encircling me like a coronet.

It was… flawed, of course, as all Smirke’s rituals were, and none of the inmates survived as the power I attempted to harness shook the building almost to pieces, and the murky swamp upon which the prison was built consumed it.

But it left me a gift: For sat in that watchtower, I could see everything I turned my mind to.

It was a dizzying power, and one I discovered I maintained even as I found vessels to extend my life. Of course, I had to make sure the location was kept under my control while I worked on revising my plans, and so I moved the organization I had founded to assist in my research down to London, and the Institute as you know it was born.

I’ll not bore you with details of my bodies and failures through those intervening years. Suffice to say I kept busy, both planning my own next attempt, and doing my best to stymie those others who tried versions of their own.

Surely my interpretation of the Watcher’s Crown had been incomplete; there had been some element of the ritual I had overlooked.

It was not until I met Gertrude Robinson that things began to really come into focus.

You see, the role of Archivist has been part of the Beholding for as far back as my research can go. This isn’t uncommon for the Powers; most of the beliefs around them are guesswork and fallible human interpretation, but there are certain throughlines and consistencies that can be spotted, regardless of the trappings.

But Gertrude was unlike any other Archivist. She simply did not care about compiling experiences or collecting the fears of others. She was driven to stop those who served the Powers.

More than once I thought she must secretly be of the Hunt – but there was never that sick joy in her, that thrill of predator and prey. She had simply decided that this was her position in life, and went about it with a practicality that even I found disconcerting at times.

I once asked her what drove her, what had started her down that path. She told me the Desolation had killed her cat.

I don’t know if she was joking, and, to be honest, I could never bring myself to look into her mind and find out for sure.

In any case, Gertrude’s ruthless efficiency in derailing and collapsing rituals threw into stark relief a question that had been bothering me for almost a hundred and fifty years: In the whole span of humanity, why had nobody ever succeeded?

Perhaps there were a long line of Gertrude Robinsons throughout history, but I found that hard to credit. Could it be, then, that there was something in the very concept of the rituals that meant they couldn’t succeed?

She was clearly having similar thoughts in that last year, all of which culminated with the People’s Church.

When I saw that she was making no preparations whatsoever to stop it, I realized she was putting into practice a theory, and one she couldn’t afford to be wrong. She was going to wait, and see if the unopposed ritual succeeded, or if it collapsed under its own strain as mine had all those years ago.

Knowing Gertrude, I’m sure she had a backup plan if she had miscalculated – but she had not. The ritual failed. And all at once, I realized what had to be done.

You see, the thing about the Fears is that they can never be truly separated from each other. When does the fear of sudden violence transition into the fear of hunted prey? When does the mask of the Stranger become the deception of the Spiral?

Even those that seem to exist in direct opposition rely on each other for their definition as much as up relies on down.

To try and create a world with only the Buried makes as much sense as trying to conceive a world with only down.

Every ritual tied itself so closely to a single power as to render itself impossible. They could bring their patron close, but never sever it from the others, and eventually it would be violently pulled back into the place next to reality where they dwell.

The solution, then, is simple: A new ritual must be devised which will bring through all the Powers at once. All fourteen, as I had hoped I could complete it before any new powers such as Extinction were able to fully emerge. All under the Eye’s auspices, of course. We mustn’t forget our roots.

And there was only one being that could possibly serve as a lynchpin for this new ritual: The Archivist. A position that had so recently become vacant, thanks to Gertrude’s ill-timed retirement plans.

Because the thing about the Archivist is that – well, it’s a bit of a misnomer.

It might, perhaps, be better named: The Archive.

Because you do not administer and preserve the records of fear, John. You are a record of fear, both in mind as you walk the shuddering record of each statement, and in body as the Powers each leave their mark upon you.

You are a living chronicle of terror.

Perhaps, then, if I could find an Archivist and have each Power mark them, have them confront each one and each in turn instill in them a powerful and acute fear for their life, they could be turned into a conduit for the coming of this – nightmare kingdom.

Do you see where I’m going, John?

It does tickle me, that in this world of would-be occult dynasties and ageless monsters, the Chosen One is simply that – someone I chose. It’s not in your blood, or your soul, or your destiny. It’s just in your own, rotten luck.

[THUNDERCLAPS.]

I’ll admit, my options were somewhat limited, but My God, when you came to me already marked by the Web, I knew it had to be you. I even held out some small hope you had been sent by the Spider as some sort of implicit blessing on the whole project, and, do you know what, I think it was.

Of course, I had to bide my time, get a measure of you before I began to push, learn how you worked – So I decided I would wait until something came for you, and see how you reacted. Attacks upon the Archives were not uncommon during Gertrude’s tenure, and, while she was always prepared, I made sure you would not be.

I reasoned if you couldn’t survive a single encounter, you were unlikely to make it through all fourteen. So, when Jane Prentiss attacked, I watched eagerly, one hand on the gas release from the start.

You acquitted yourself well enough, so I decided to see how far you would get, though I waited until the worms were in you before I pulled the lever. I needed to make sure you felt that fear all the way to your bones.

The discovery that one of the Stranger’s minions had infiltrated the Institute in the aftermath was certainly a pleasant bonus. Even if that sliver of paranoia, that vague wrongness you couldn’t quite place wouldn’t count as a mark, it was only a matter of time before it confronted you in a far more direct and affecting matter.

Admittedly, given the advent of the Unknowing, I needn’t have bothered. But what’s the old saying about hindsight?

More important to me was Sasha’s encounter with the Distortion. If it had taken an interest, then I very much wanted it to cross your path.

[THUNDER CONTINUES AS HE GOES ON.]

So I found one of its current victims and convinced her to make a statement.

Poor Helen. I actually had to put her in a taxi myself, she was getting so lost in those narrow London side streets.

It worked, though.

[SOMETHING CREAKS. ANOTHER LOUD SNAP/CRACKLE.]

Between the stabbing and at least two desperate flights into its doors – you’re marked very deeply by the Spiral.

Jurgen Leitner was a surprise, of course, and I was forced to improvise. I had no idea how much Gertrude would have told him, and he could very easily have derailed everything if you learned too much too fast.

I… justified it to myself saying I was going to have to send you out into the world anyway, if you were to encounter more of the Powers, but I can’t honestly pretend it wasn’t a… rather rash move.

Still. I’d requested Detective Tonner be assigned to the case when they found Gertrude’s body in the hope that having a Hunter in the mix would eventually lead to a confrontation, and setting you up as a killer certainly hastened that.

Then it was just a matter of feeding you statements to lead you to a few Avatars I thought were likely to harm you – but probably would stop short of actually killing you.

Jude served her purpose exactly as I had hoped, as did our dearly departed Mr. Crew, marking you for the Desolation and the Vast.

Honestly, I had – nothing to do with Melanie and her Slaughter adventure, but when I saw the situation, I made sure to trap her here, so when her rage bubbled over you would be right there, a ready target.

I didn’t foresee the mark coming from surgery gone wrong, but it was a very pleasant surprise.

The Unknowing was a distraction, but not an unwelcome one. For this to work, you needed more than just the marks; you needed power. And that was something the Unknowing served to test, though it posed no actual danger in the grand scheme of things.

And it did serve another purpose, of course. It inadvertently pushed you to confront death, a mark I had been very worried about trying to orchestrate. If I tried too early, you’d just die. Too late, and you might be powerful enough to see the attempt coming, and maybe even understand why.

As it was, it was just right, and once again, you came through with flying colors.

By this point, your abilities were coming along in leaps and bounds, and I was concerned that meeting face-to-face might end up with you – (sigh) – Knowing something you shouldn’t.

I had initially planned to go into hiding, but when your colleagues surprised me with the police, well. It was simple enough to cut a deal.

All that remained, then, were the Dark, the Flesh, the Buried, and the Lonely.

I was a little put out when that idiot Jared Hopworth misinterpreted my letters and attacked the Institute too soon, before you were even out of the hospital, but then – Ho, you should have see my face when you voluntarily went to him.

I couldn’t see what happened in there, of course, but given how you came out, I’m very sure it counts as a mark.

I suspected the coffin might turn up again, and once it did, it was simply a matter of getting any, uh… restraining factors you might have had flying off on a wild goose chase, and waiting.

Honestly, Detective Tonner has been proving invaluable through this process. I’d been racking my brains for months about what I could use to lure you in.

And, of course, I knew the Dark Sun was just sitting there waiting. So when it came time, I just whipped up another apocalypse and sent you on your merry way.

Then all that remained was the Lonely.

Poor Peter. He really should have left well enough alone. (cruel laugh) Or just done what I’d asked in the first place.

Ah well. He knew what I was attempting, and was very unwilling to cooperate until I made him a little wager about Martin.

Of course, he had no way of knowing that, in addition to setting you up for the final mark, he was giving you all the tools you needed to escape from it.

How is Martin, by the way? He looks well. You will keep an eye on him when all this is over, won’t you? He’s earned that.

And there, I think, we are brought just about up to date. I have enjoyed our little trip down memory lane, but past here lies only impatience.

You are prepared. You are ready. You are marked. The power of the Ceaseless Watcher flows through you, and the time of our victory is here.

Don’t worry, John. You’ll get used to it here, in the world that we have made.

Now. (cruel, cruel laugh) Repeat after me.

[WHEN THE ARCHIVIST BEGINS TO READ THE INCANTATION, A HEAVY, DENSE STATIC RETURNS AND BEGINS TO BUILD, ADDING IN HIGHER PITCHES AS IT DOES SO.]

You who watch and know and understand none. You who listen and hear and will not comprehend. You who wait and wait and drink in all that is not yours by right.

Come to us in your wholeness.

Come to us in your perfection.

Bring all that is fear and all that is terror and all that is the awful dread that crawls and chokes and blinds and falls and twists and leaves and hides and weaves and burns and hunts and rips and bleeds and dies!

Come to us.

I – OPEN – THE DOOR!

[landscaping-your-mind]

I know I said I wasn't going to post another TMA fic, but I've been getting into it a bit more, so here goes. It's a vampire AU! It's not complete, but I have been working on it on and off. I never thought i'd actually finish it enough to post, but here's a first bit :3

---

Jon hates job interviews, especially ones he’s not qualified for. But he wasn’t qualified for research, either, with a degree in literature, so it can’t hurt to try. Besides, if he doesn’t get the job, he might get the assistant archivist position, learn a few things. All in all, it’s going to be good for him.

His anxiety is not convinced.

“Mr. Sims?” calls Mr. Bouchard, leaning out of his office. Jon stands up and takes a deep breath. The worst he can do is say no.

Mr. Bouchard ushers Jon into his office, closing the door behind him, and taking a seat in his chair. Jon sits in the other, and tries his best not to look as anxious as he feels.

“So, tell me, why do you think you are the right fit for this job?”

Jon recites his rehearsed speech about how he’s committed to the preservation of documents, deemed both important and not, about the skills he learned in research, his own interest in anthropological research into the supernatural and his disappointment in the state of the archives disorganisation. It’s convincing, he’ll say so himself, and as he talks, he thinks he can see Elias warm up to him.

Hello, Jon. Apologies for the deception, but I wanted to make sure you started reading, so I thought it best not to announce myself. I’m assuming you’re alone; you always did prefer to read your statements in private. I wouldn’t try too hard to stop reading; there’s every likelihood you’ll just hurt yourself. So just listen.

Now, shall we turn the page and try again?

Statement of Jonah Magnus regarding Jonathan Sims, the Archivist.

Statement begins.

I hope you’ll forgive me the self-indulgence, but I have worked so very hard for this moment, a culmination of two centuries of work. It’s rare that you get the chance to monologue through another, and you can’t tell me you’re not curious.

Why does a man seek to destroy the world?

It’s a simple enough answer: for immortality and power. Uninspired, perhaps, but – my god. The discovery, not simply of the dark and horrible reality of the world in which you live, but that you would quite willingly doom that world and confine the billions in it to an eternity of terror and suffering, all to ensure your own happiness, to place yourself beyond pain and death and fear.

It is an awful thing to know about yourself, but the freedom, John, the freedom of it all. I have dedicated my life to handing the world to these Dread Powers all for my own gain, and I feel… nothing but satisfaction in that choice.

I am to be a king of a ruined world, and I shall never die.

I believe there are far more people in this world that would take that bargain than you would ever guess. And I have beaten all of them.

Of course, this desire did not manifest overnight. When Smirke first gathered our little band – Lukas, Scott, and the rest – to discuss and hypothesize on the nature of the things he had learned from Rayner, I felt what I believe we all felt: curiosity, and fear.

But as he compiled his taxonomy and codified his theories on the grand rituals, I began to develop a very specific concern. Smirke was so obsessed with his ideas on balance, even as our fellows began to experiment and fall to the service of our patrons.

I began to worry that if one of them successfully attempted their ritual, then I would be as much a victim as any, trapped in the nightmare landscape of a twisted world.

At first, I attempted prevention, but the cause seemed hopeless. The only way to ensure I did not suffer the tribulations of what I believed to be an inevitable transformation was to bring it about myself. So what began as an experiment soon became a race.

Beyond that, I was getting older, and mortality began to weigh more heavily on my mind. How much in this world is done because we fear death, the last and greatest terror?

I convinced Smirke to work on Millbank, leading him to design it as a temple to all the Fears in equilibrium, such that my own modifications to the design of the Panopticon went… unremarked.

It. Took. Years, for the dread of the prisoners to fully suffuse the place, and I was an old man before I made my first attempt at the Watcher’s Crown, sat in the center of that colossal eye, the great ring of cells encircling me like a coronet.

It was… flawed, of course, as all Smirke’s rituals were, and none of the inmates survived as the power I attempted to harness shook the building almost to pieces, and the murky swamp upon which the prison was built consumed it.

But it left me a gift: For sat in that watchtower, I could see everything I turned my mind to.

It was a dizzying power, and one I discovered I maintained even as I found vessels to extend my life. Of course, I had to make sure the location was kept under my control while I worked on revising my plans, and so I moved the organization I had founded to assist in my research down to London, and the Institute as you know it was born.

I’ll not bore you with details of my bodies and failures through those intervening years. Suffice to say I kept busy, both planning my own next attempt, and doing my best to stymie those others who tried versions of their own.

Surely my interpretation of the Watcher’s Crown had been incomplete; there had been some element of the ritual I had overlooked.

It was not until I met Gertrude Robinson that things began to really come into focus.

You see, the role of Archivist has been part of the Beholding for as far back as my research can go. This isn’t uncommon for the Powers; most of the beliefs around them are guesswork and fallible human interpretation, but there are certain throughlines and consistencies that can be spotted, regardless of the trappings.

But Gertrude was unlike any other Archivist. She simply did not care about compiling experiences or collecting the fears of others. She was driven to stop those who served the Powers.

More than once I thought she must secretly be of the Hunt – but there was never that sick joy in her, that thrill of predator and prey. She had simply decided that this was her position in life, and went about it with a practicality that even I found disconcerting at times.

I once asked her what drove her, what had started her down that path. She told me the Desolation had killed her cat.

I don’t know if she was joking, and, to be honest, I could never bring myself to look into her mind and find out for sure.

In any case, Gertrude’s ruthless efficiency in derailing and collapsing rituals threw into stark relief a question that had been bothering me for almost a hundred and fifty years: In the whole span of humanity, why had nobody ever succeeded?

Perhaps there were a long line of Gertrude Robinsons throughout history, but I found that hard to credit. Could it be, then, that there was something in the very concept of the rituals that meant they couldn’t succeed?

She was clearly having similar thoughts in that last year, all of which culminated with the People’s Church.

When I saw that she was making no preparations whatsoever to stop it, I realized she was putting into practice a theory, and one she couldn’t afford to be wrong. She was going to wait, and see if the unopposed ritual succeeded, or if it collapsed under its own strain as mine had all those years ago.

Knowing Gertrude, I’m sure she had a backup plan if she had miscalculated – but she had not. The ritual failed. And all at once, I realized what had to be done.

You see, the thing about the Fears is that they can never be truly separated from each other. When does the fear of sudden violence transition into the fear of hunted prey? When does the mask of the Stranger become the deception of the Spiral?

Even those that seem to exist in direct opposition rely on each other for their definition as much as up relies on down.

To try and create a world with only the Buried makes as much sense as trying to conceive a world with only down.

Every ritual tied itself so closely to a single power as to render itself impossible. They could bring their patron close, but never sever it from the others, and eventually it would be violently pulled back into the place next to reality where they dwell.

The solution, then, is simple: A new ritual must be devised which will bring through all the Powers at once. All fourteen, as I had hoped I could complete it before any new powers such as Extinction were able to fully emerge. All under the Eye’s auspices, of course. We mustn’t forget our roots.

And there was only one being that could possibly serve as a lynchpin for this new ritual: The Archivist. A position that had so recently become vacant, thanks to Gertrude’s ill-timed retirement plans.

Because the thing about the Archivist is that – well, it’s a bit of a misnomer.

It might, perhaps, be better named: The Archive.

Because you do not administer and preserve the records of fear, John. You are a record of fear, both in mind as you walk the shuddering record of each statement, and in body as the Powers each leave their mark upon you.

You are a living chronicle of terror.

Perhaps, then, if I could find an Archivist and have each Power mark them, have them confront each one and each in turn instill in them a powerful and acute fear for their life, they could be turned into a conduit for the coming of this – nightmare kingdom.

Do you see where I’m going, John?

It does tickle me, that in this world of would-be occult dynasties and ageless monsters, the Chosen One is simply that – someone I chose. It’s not in your blood, or your soul, or your destiny. It’s just in your own, rotten luck.

I’ll admit, my options were somewhat limited, but My God, when you came to me already marked by the Web, I knew it had to be you. I even held out some small hope you had been sent by the Spider as some sort of implicit blessing on the whole project, and, do you know what, I think it was.

Of course, I had to bide my time, get a measure of you before I began to push, learn how you worked – So I decided I would wait until something came for you, and see how you reacted. Attacks upon the Archives were not uncommon during Gertrude’s tenure, and, while she was always prepared, I made sure you would not be.

I reasoned if you couldn’t survive a single encounter, you were unlikely to make it through all fourteen. So, when Jane Prentiss attacked, I watched eagerly, one hand on the gas release from the start.

You acquitted yourself well enough, so I decided to see how far you would get, though I waited until the worms were in you before I pulled the lever. I needed to make sure you felt that fear all the way to your bones.

The discovery that one of the Stranger’s minions had infiltrated the Institute in the aftermath was certainly a pleasant bonus. Even if that sliver of paranoia, that vague wrongness you couldn’t quite place wouldn’t count as a mark, it was only a matter of time before it confronted you in a far more direct and affecting matter.

Admittedly, given the advent of the Unknowing, I needn’t have bothered. But what’s the old saying about hindsight?

More important to me was Sasha’s encounter with the Distortion. If it had taken an interest, then I very much wanted it to cross your path.

So I found one of its current victims and convinced her to make a statement.

Poor Helen. I actually had to put her in a taxi myself, she was getting so lost in those narrow London side streets.

It worked, though.

Between the stabbing and at least two desperate flights into its doors – you’re marked very deeply by the Spiral.

Jurgen Leitner was a surprise, of course, and I was forced to improvise. I had no idea how much Gertrude would have told him, and he could very easily have derailed everything if you learned too much too fast.

I… justified it to myself saying I was going to have to send you out into the world anyway, if you were to encounter more of the Powers, but I can’t honestly pretend it wasn’t a… rather rash move.

Still. I’d requested Detective Tonner be assigned to the case when they found Gertrude’s body in the hope that having a Hunter in the mix would eventually lead to a confrontation, and setting you up as a killer certainly hastened that.

Then it was just a matter of feeding you statements to lead you to a few Avatars I thought were likely to harm you – but probably would stop short of actually killing you.

Jude served her purpose exactly as I had hoped, as did our dearly departed Mr. Crew, marking you for the Desolation and the Vast.

Honestly, I had – nothing to do with Melanie and her Slaughter adventure, but when I saw the situation, I made sure to trap her here, so when her rage bubbled over you would be right there, a ready target.

I didn’t foresee the mark coming from surgery gone wrong, but it was a very pleasant surprise.

The Unknowing was a distraction, but not an unwelcome one. For this to work, you needed more than just the marks; you needed power. And that was something the Unknowing served to test, though it posed no actual danger in the grand scheme of things.

And it did serve another purpose, of course. It inadvertently pushed you to confront death, a mark I had been very worried about trying to orchestrate. If I tried too early, you’d just die. Too late, and you might be powerful enough to see the attempt coming, and maybe even understand why.

As it was, it was just right, and once again, you came through with flying colours.

By this point, your abilities were coming along in leaps and bounds, and I was concerned that meeting face-to-face might end up with you Knowing something you shouldn't.

I had initially planned to go into hiding, but when your colleagues surprised me with the police, well. It was simple enough to cut a deal.

All that remained, then, were the Dark, the Flesh, the Buried, and the Lonely.

I was a little put out when that idiot Jared Hopworth misinterpreted my letters and attacked the Institute too soon, before you were even out of the hospital, but then – Ho, you should have see my face when you voluntarily went to him.

I couldn’t see what happened in there, of course, but given how you came out, I’m very sure it counts as a mark.

I suspected the coffin might turn up again, and once it did, it was simply a matter of getting any, uh… restraining factors you might have had flying off on a wild goose chase, and waiting.

Honestly, Detective Tonner has been proving invaluable through this process. I’d been racking my brains for months about what I could use to lure you in.

And, of course, I knew the Dark Sun was just sitting there waiting. So when it came time, I just whipped up another apocalypse and sent you on your merry way.

Then all that remained was the Lonely.

Poor Peter. He really should have left well enough alone. Or just done what I’d asked in the first place.

Ah well. He knew what I was attempting, and was very unwilling to cooperate until I made him a little wager about Martin.

Of course, he had no way of knowing that, in addition to setting you up for the final mark, he was giving you all the tools you needed to escape from it.

How is Martin, by the way? He looks well. You will keep an eye on him when all this is over, won’t you? He’s earned that.

And there, I think, we are brought just about up to date. I have enjoyed our little trip down memory lane, but past here lies only impatience.

You are prepared. You are ready. You are marked. The power of the Ceaseless Watcher flows through you, and the time of our victory is here.

Don’t worry, John. You’ll get used to it here, in the world that we have made.

Now, repeat after me.

You who watch and know and understand none. You who listen and hear and will not comprehend. You who wait and wait and drink in all that is not yours by right.

Come to us in your wholeness.

Come to us in your perfection.

Bring all that is fear and all that is terror and all that is the awful dread that crawls and chokes and blinds and falls and twists and leaves and hides and weaves and burns and hunts and rips and bleeds and dies!

Come to us.

I – OPEN – THE DOOR!

[doritodemon666]

currently going FERAL over an idea for a sort of analogue horror series (idk if that's the right term to describe it) that I really want to do, but I have no motivation or video editing ability. It would be based around The Magnus Archives podcast (if you like horror anthologies PLEASE listen to it, it's kinda long but so worth it), but not the Magnus Protocol as I've not listened to that yet.

There will be major spoilers for most of the plot of TMA from here on out, so if you intend to listen, so do now!

Details below↓

It would follow a student* who after finding a load of tapes, uses their spare time to go through them all and research the events described, making detailed notes about all they can discover in a journal, becoming an avatar of the beholding.

*Name : Earnest Lamb, age : undetermined, pronouns : masc leaning, but idrk yet

This would all be witnessed from the point of view of a videocam used to record their findings, and would probably initially go like :

- small intro, reading any post-it attached to tape

- play though of the statement, with Earnest's reactions

- cut to compiled notes, discussion of what the statement means, what needs to be looked out for etc.

Then, as statements pass, Earnest would start behaving strangely, mouthing along or speaking to phrases / chants and any audio that bugs out; glitching camera to frames where they have extra eyes open, glowing etc ; zoning out after statements / going into trances where they speak or write obsessively, but clearly not to the camera; being able to know things they shouldn't, having keener ears / handwriting becoming neater or more cursive and data collection becoming scarily quick.

Maybe linking them to the "oldest known archivist" the one found in MAG 53 "Crusader", in a way they are 'cursed' to bear witness, to archive, to read and write and research anything done by the fears to satiate the beholding.

I do want to add more of a meta plot, possibly even the trigger of the eyepocalypse triggering something to them /their world, though I fear that it may stray too close to a copy of TMA of I do that.

[arthur-side]

Compiled Unfinished/Discontinued SBG fics that I'll probably never finish

Please don't read them

Please don't

~

“What. The. Heck.” It was roughly around dismissal of the first week of school, and all the students were crowding around the halls. But technically, that is not the concern of the current situation.

Logan, Ben, and Taylor were in the vents.

Why, you may ask?

Well, there might not have been an incident that happened on their second week of being kidnapped.

And the cause may or may not be because Ashlyn kept insisting that the mirror in the room they were staying on in the phantom dimension looked weird.

“Look, I wasn’t paying attention at anything back there,” Logan confessed, “But you’re saying that Ashlyn’s eyes were crimson before she got sucked in the mirror portal thing?!”

‘Quiet.’ Ben sighed, earning an apology from Logan.

“It sounds weird, yes,” Taylor scratched the back of her neck, “But she looked like she was possessed by a demon.” “Because of her eyes?” ‘And her posture.’ Ben added, Logan blinking.

The taller male typed on the phone he snatched from one of the students a few moments ago.

‘She was acting more aggressive, as if more on warning us over something. She was also more distant, not her usual introverted style, but more like she saw us as strangers, per se.’

“...You have a good eye.” Logan concluded. Taylor flicked his glasses with a smirk, earning a glare from the blonde.

“...Well, why not tell the whole story?” Taylor suggested, “We can’t really roam around here without knowing what we’re dealing with, yeah?” Ben started typing again.

And again,

And again,

And again,

Gods forbid someone give the boy a new voicebox.

—

“Ash?” Aiden peeked through the door to the bathroom, a bit concerned. “...Yes?” Ashlyn turned her head to look at him. Aiden blinked. “You okay?” He casually strolls around with spins and hops, leaning beside Ashlyn with his signature grin, a brow raised.

“...” Ashlyn stared at him for a few moment before looking at the mirror. “Gee, what’s with the mirror anyways?” Aiden rolled his eyes playfully, Ashlyn stayed silent.

“...So when are you gonna give me my contacts back-” Ashlyn handed it to Aiden, making him jump a bit with the sudden movement.

As Aiden was putting his red contacts back on, Ashlyn silently hummed as she continued to look at her reflection. She narrowed her eyes. “Aiden.” “Wha-?” Aiden blinked a few times, one of his contacts almost falling off, “What happened-” “Does the mirror look weird?”

~

“-Fifth of October, 2016, uhm, statement of uh-Logan Fields, regarding…” He looked at Taylor. Then at Ashlyn. He nervously chuckled, scratching the back of his neck as his phone was recording the audio.

“...I like The Magnus Archives,” He confessed, practically to no one since both the girls were asleep, “It’s a series that started this year, and…It’s an interesting one, might I say.” He gulped.

“We’re getting off-tracked, let’s…Let’s just start when Taylor started acting weird, on September 11 this year.”

—

“Taylor, you want a cookie?” Ashlyn asked, munching on one. Taylor didn’t answer.

“Tay?” Logan looked up his phone, a brow raised. Slight concern had him.

“Oh, what?” Taylor shook her head and looked at Logan, then at Ashlyn, then back at Logan. Logan and Ashlyn spared a glance before looking at her.

“Do you want a cookie?” Ashlyn asked again, motioning on the recently baked cookies.

“Oh, no, I don’t

~

Ashlyn had always hated fireworks.

Loud. So loud. And so blinding, she couldn’t see anything appealing about it, she hated it, she always had.

Except, last week, Logan invited her and her family for this new year. She would normally decline the offer, like the usual, but he was hell-bent and kept asking her to come until she finally agreed.

“Ashhhhhhhh,” Logan scooted closer to Ashlyn with pleading eyes, bumping her shoulder. Ashlyn shook her head, adjusting her noise-canceling headphones. Logan gently shook her. “Just this time, c’monnnnnnnnnnnnnnn,,,” he whined. Ashlyn made an annoyed groan. She hesitantly nodded her head, making Logan light up. “Yay!”

That was what happened, technically, and now she’s uncomfortably pressed on the corner of her father’s jeepney wishing that she didn’t give in so easily, what could she do? It was Logan, after all!

She stared at the void that is the space in between the atoms, nervously tapping her foot on the seat, curled up in a ball. “I’m sure this will be fun,” Mike reassured, glancing at Emma with that look. Emma sighed. She rolled her eyes before scooting closer to Ashlyn.

“...Ashlyn, I know you don’t want to do this, but your dad’s right. Who knows, maybe you’ll actually have fun?” Emma said, giving a small smile, Ashlyn stared. “Plus, you wanted to play Badminton with him, right?” Ashlyn lit up, nodding. Emma chuckled.

“By the way, should we actually gift the Fields something?” Mike asked, motioning to the convenience store close to the gas station. Emma hummed.

Ashlyn mimicked her mother’s tune, also humming. She then nodded her head, thinking of the star stickers that Logan had always wanted to get. Emma gave a surprised look, making Ashlyn turn her head away from her. “Mike, Ashlyn wants to go.” Mike glanced at them with wide eyes. “That’s rare!” Ashlyn stuck her tongue out.

—

“What do you want to gift them?” Emma asks, holding Ashlyn’s hand as they walk over the different isles. Ashlyn glances over all the products, eyes locking at the star stickers and sharpie. She pointed at them.

“Hm.” Emma narrowed her eyes. “Wait a minute…Is all of this just for Logan, isn’t it?” She raises a brow at Ashlyn, Ashlyn only stared. Emma gave a tired sigh. “Alright.”

She took a few sets of star stickers and a non-toxic sharpie so that the kids won’t manage to accidentally poison themselves. “Happy?” Ashlyn nodded.

Emma had also taken bought some gifts for the grandparents; coffee, tea, more coffee, and a bouquet of flowers that’s for some reason on sale in the said convenience store. She put them all in a shopping cart and let Ashlyn push it. “Let’s go buy these now?” Ashlyn nodded, Emma smiled.

As they walked over to the counter, Ashlyn glanced outside the window, looking if her father was there, Emma noticed the action. “Your dad just went to get some gas, he’s coming back, don’t worry.” She gave a small smile. Ashlyn just continued staring at the window.

Emma tugged her as she handed her credit card to the cashier. “He’s there. I know you’re still scared that he might disappear again, just…” She sighed. “...I promise he’s still there.” The cashier glanced at Ashlyn, then Emma, slightly concerned.

~

And Tyler was suddenly in the fields the second the bell rang.

Taylor gasped for air near the doorway after thinking it was a good idea to race with her athletic brother. Not a good idea.

It’s…Been a week, since their father’s funeral, and it took a few days for Taylor and Tyler to get used having to be responsible of themselves. Their mother hasn’t been in good shape ever since their father was buried, it hurt.

Ignoring that, for now, the twins finally started going to school again, which to Taylor, was good!

She tiredly walked to the benches near the court and sat down, watching Tyler beg the coaches for… Something, so she drank some water.

She wiped her lips when she noticed a familiar short-haired freckled ginger sitting alone under a tree. She seemed to be wearing a concerningly big headset, watching the birds with the same, expressionless face. Taylor’s face heated up.

Taylor glanced at her brother, now holding an also concerningly big baseball bat. She sighed. 

Glancing back to the girl, a determined expression was on her face. She stood up and started making her way to her.

It took a moment before she was finally a meter away from the girl. And it finally hit Taylor at the awkward situation she got herself into. She gathered her courage and finally opened her mouth to speak-

“What do you need?”

Taylor jumped, letting out a silent scream. The ginger girl looked at her, and Taylor’s heart skipped a beat. She’s so pretty!!!

Is this what having a crush feels like? She felt like she just got noticed by her favorite. Taylor was a blushing mess of both embarrassment and flatter. The freckled girl just stared at her with the usual expression she’s seen with.

“...What do you need?” Repeated the girl. Taylor stiffened.

“Ah-uhm-hello!” She gave her a wave.

The girl did not wave back.

What a good way to start a conversation, Tay!

“...Hello.” The girl responded. Oh my God she greeted back-

“My name’s Tyler, what’s-wait no, I meant Taylor, sorry.” She let out an awkward chuckle, scratching the back of her neck. “W-what about you? What’s your name?” She extended her other hand for a handshake. The girl replied by moving slightly farther from Taylor, narrowing her gorgo-gorgeu- beautiful emerald eyes. “...Ashlyn Banner.” Taylor blinked.

~

Logan had always heard of stories about sirens, ethereal voices with dark intentions. They were like mermaids, the top half of a human, and the bottom half of a fish.

Or well, that’s what they’ve taught him, never had he seen one, nor had he even known whether they were real, chances were slim, but never had he known that it still hit the bullseye. It shocked him, of course, but the sirens were nothing like said from the myth, or well, the myth he was taught.

Let’s rewind.

---

It was a dark and scary night, so Logan decided to stay with the Banners for the night due to the heavy rain and “unsafe environment”, Logan only thought that they meant the potential slippery ground and hard-to-see surroundings, so he brushed the odd comment off.

He was lucky to be in safe grounds with the Banner's daughter, Ashlyn, being that she was the only reason why he was to let stay, among other factors. He hoped many. It reminded him of the amount of times he was almost caught with a gun, due to her sensitive hearing. He was lucky, very lucky.

It reminded him, a lot of people call him a lucky boy, And he doesn’t really agree with the statement.

After getting bullied, harassed, used, and just, taken advantage of so many times, he really, really doubts the statement. It just confuses him more when even Ashlyn herself actually agrees with the statement. Are they really that blind, or is he missing a piece?

Either way, he was upstairs. With Ashlyn. They were playing chess, and both of them are competitive over the win. He just gave a small smile as Ashlyn gets frustrated in losing three consecutive times, even hiding a small snicker what-not.

“How are you doing this?!” She complained, voice muffled from her hands being on her face. Logan laughed.

“Getting destroyed by your grandparents really makes you stronger, y’know?” He smirked, Ashlyn just sighed. “Care for another round?” He asked.

“...Maybe tomorrow or something, I’m…Tired.” Ashlyn replied, putting her hands down. Logan blinked.

“You’re accepting defeat?” He asked, somewhat jokingly, Ashlyn only narrowed her eyes at him, Logan giggled. “Okay, okay, fine.” He raised his arms in mock-defeat. Ashlyn rolled her eyes.

“Dork.” She said, shaking her head as she started cleaning up the chessboard and pieces, Logan gave an awkward chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. He hummed, looking around.

“...Your room’s somewhat messy,” Logan said, humming to himself. Ashlyn looked at him. “Doesn’t your parents get mad at you for it?” He asked, resting his head on his knees. He’s a bit confused, and a bit jealous, because good for her she doesn’t get yelled at for having a somewhat messy room!

“...They don’t care much about it, they just check me, just me, nothing else, it’s a bit odd,” Ashlyn replied, dusting the chessboard and standing up, going towards her desk. “And concerning.” She murmured. Logan somehow heard it but didn’t comment on it.

“So…They’re just protective of you? Or at least that’s what I can see.” Logan lifted his head up, seeing Ashlyn turn off the desk lamp.

“...I guess so,” Ashlyn said, voice now slightly monotone, Logan suspected it was due to exhaustion, since she said herself that she was tired. Logan gave a nod of acknowledgment.

The duo was silent for a moment, the only sounds being heard were the pitter-patter of the water droplets to the roof and window. Ashlyn was just standing there, menacingly, so Logan just turned to the window in hopes that he won’t get jumpscared or something.

…It was weird, a lot of news reports have said that there won’t be that much rain this month, and if there is, it’ll just be a short and delicate one. It’s like there was a storm that just got in the country, despite their being no reports of one coming. Ashlyn kept telling him that the reports were not trustworthy, and Logan was actually starting to think of that. He thought it was funny, too. Ashlyn was always right, wasn’t she?

“Anyways,” Logan jumped, “You should go to bed now, it’s…Getting late.” Ashlyn awkwardly cleared her throat after that. Logan quickly stood up and dusted himself. He gave a nod of respect, or acknowledgment, and started to get to the door. “Oh, actually, before that,” Ashlyn quickly said, “If you hear any singing outside, you’re not. You’re hallucinating, ignore it.”

Logan slowly turned his head to Ashlyn in confusion and concern. Ashlyn shrugged.

“Ignore what I just said, go to sleep.” She turned to him and pushed him out her door. “Night.”

“I-” The door slammed in Logan’s face before he could even understand what was happening. “Uhm.” He blinked. He then sighed in defeat as he slowly made his way to the guest bedroom, tugging his sleeves as a habit. He yawned when he finally reached the door.

Opening the door, he was greeted with the familiar scent of old books. It had been a strange scent covering the room ever since he met Ashlyn, he used to be tense and confused by it, but now he sees it as more cozy and homey. Talk about progression.

He smiled at the smell, tossing his bag beside the bed while looking around. His hand hovered over the old astrology books on the bookshelves. Ashlyn bought them for him in return for him giving her gardening tips that apparently helped her a ton. Logan was still uneasy about her buying the whole set, but he was thankful, the least.

His eyes met a dull red book on the corner of the bookshelves, that wasn’t there before. In curiosity, he carefully took it out, dusting it off.

“That’s strange.” He said to himself. “Greek Mythology?”

With curiosity peeking, he opened the book.

Sirens were the first thing he managed to read before a melodic voice was heard outside the house. Logan then had the urge to follow it.

-=+~*~+=-

Ashlyn heard a melodic voice outside the house, and she dropped her glass of water, a clang echoed her room.

Within seconds, she escaped her bedroom and rushed to Logan’s, opening the door with little hope that he was still in the room stunned and confused. What she found though made her want to jump off a cliff.

The window was wide open with an unsettling breeze going through the room. Logan was nowhere to be seen.

…Why did they decide to visit at the most unhinged time of all time? Ashlyn’s eye twitched. “Talk about sirens…” She said through clenched teeth, going back to her room in a flash as

~

Step. Step. Step.

Aiden had been focusing on his footsteps for a while now, trying to avoid social interaction. It was hard, but he managed. School had been recently beating him more and more than usual, much to his dismay, which led to him coming back home late to try and get extra credit. Aiden sighed.

He finally got home after a while, only to notice a car parked in front of their house, he raised a brow. “Are we moving already?” He asked. “No, your cousins are moving in with us due to family issues,” Daniel explained after coming out of nowhere, giving a very patched-up teen and a child gender of female a small smile. Aiden blinked.

He hesitantly walked towards them, giving them a small wave, the taller teen only stared at him, but his younger sister happily waved back. “Woah.” The child’s eyes shined as she looked at the house. Aiden watched her for a second before looking at her brother, who looked beaten up and tired, his heart dropped slightly because of how he looked like him, tired and dead. A hand reached for his shoulder.

“Honey, this is Ben, he’s mute.” Jessica smiled at Aiden and motioned at the taller teen. “And this is his little sister, Lily.” She motioned to the child. Aiden looked at his mother, then at Lily, then at Ben. “...Hi.” He managed to say, Ben nodded.

Huh. He thought to himself, examining his cousin with concern from the amount of bruises, scars, band-aids, and bandages that littered his skin. “He has a dark history with violence,” Jessica explained. Aiden nodded.

The air went still for a moment, only the sound of breeze was heard as the Clark’s all stared at eachother. “Oooookay.” Daniel clasped his hands together. “Let’s get inside the house now, Ben, Lily?” Ben nodded, gesturing for Lily to come closer. Lily obeyed. As Lily secured herself into Ben’s arms, Aiden nervously fidgeted with his hands. Welp. Aiden sighed.

They won’t see much of me. He told himself. They’re going to be just like mom and dad. He thought.

—

Okay. Maybe he was unlucky, or lucky, he’s not sure, Aiden smiled at Lily as she painted his nails pink. Maybe it isn’t that bad. He thought to himself.

His parents were gone, Aiden was used to that, yes, but to not be in his room during that is making him feel weird. He noticed how Ben stared at them, or watched them, maybe, which made him a bit more uncomfortable. “Uhm, Ben.”

Ben blinked before he raised a brow. Aiden gulped. “What’s with that look?” He tried, smiling at him nervously. Ben stared at him. Aiden looked at Lily, only to see her humming, concentrating on trying not to mess up his nails, Aiden looked at her with a dead face. Shaking his head, he looked back at Ben, who was now a foot closer to them, which is making him more uncomfortable. “Ben.”

“Don’t mind him.” Lily told Aiden, seemingly unfazed by the situation. Aiden just looked at her with a face ‘wtf’ expression. Lily shrugged. “Lily.” Ben said, his voice raspy, voice cracking halfway, and broken. Aiden stared. Then he screamed for the life of him, which startled the siblings.

—

It’s been a few months since Ben and Lily moved in with them. And it’s been a month since Aiden found out that Ben wasn’t “just mute”.

It broke him, you know? Knowing that your cousin lost his voice for no reason, it hurt, and it scares him.

He’s still shaken by the fact that Ben hid such a heartbreaking secret, but he couldn’t blame him, either way.

Aiden had started actually taking care of himself more than he used to, both for Ben and Lily’s sake. Only theirs, no one else. And Ben had started actually taking care of them more than he used to as well, which warmed Aiden, but he knew it was only for their sake, only theirs.

God, when did they start paralleling each other? It’s funny, but it scared Aiden, somehow. The fact that someone who had such a different past to you managed to suffer of sadness as well, and the fact that it eventually turned to anger, it gave Aiden goosebumps. What happens if it happened to him? What if his sadness, and loneliness, just, turn against him, even if it already is against him? Let him dream.

Either way, he healed, somewhat. His grades started becoming more on average, he started eating real food(or food other than instant ramen), and he felt happy!

…He swears he is!

Aiden giggled as Ben tripped on the kitchen floor, water spilling all over him. “Careful, the floor’s wet.” He teased, Ben glared at him, he grinned.

He felt happy.

So why does he still feel lonely?

Why?

—

~

There's probably more buried in my files

If you read all this

Please don't question my sanity

[stressedbeetle]

I finished listening to season 2 of the magnus archives a couple of days ago and here are my messy but compiled thoughts about the season and theories. (pls don't spoil anything)

firstly holy shit what an ending, I knew Elias was suspicious!!!! Now I'm thinking since Jurgen was like "I was able to hide away from your master" and "You belong to it now" (or something like that when talking about "the eye"), that Elias is like Michael but for the eye thingy they mentioned or something like that. Or I'm just completely wrong about Elias lol

Michael is so creepy and I love him for that but also pls Michael get your hands off of Tim and Martin

Jurgen was a surprise, I was so sure Jon was dead and really wondered how he was going to survive Not!Sasha so thank you Jurgen and sorry for thinking you were evil for a while. I did at the end (before he showed up) start to suspect that he was just a weird collector and honestly after hearing him saying he wanted to keep the books to "protect" people (but also for praise ofc) I kinda get that, but he also seems pretty arrogant.

I'm so happy both Tim and Martin survived and since they mentioned a woman I wonder if they were talking about that real estate agent Henrietta (??? I think that was her name) that Michael just kinda ate. But since Michael did end up coming back for her after she escaped I can't help but fear he will come back for Tim and Martin as well. I also really want to know ho much time they spent in there!!! Tim said it must have been days and now I'm just really wondering what they were up to and how they escaped.

This season was great and especially towards the end with Jon very slowly realizing thanks to Melanie and a couple of statements that Sasha had been replaced was just beautiful and also tragic hearing him so distressed.

[mamahersh]

Mamahersh’s Post-MAG-200 Fanfic Recommendation Mega Thread

@a-mag-a-day

In celebration of us finishing The Magnus Archives (even if I admittedly fell off around S2 and have been mostly lurking since then), I have compiled all of my fave post series fics for your enjoyment! I will be grouping them in some big, general categories, which I’ll list above the read more here. Depending on the size of this post, it might start looking a bit like that “Do you like the sky?” post But I can assure you that I have read all of these and can give them my stamp of approval!

If you finished the series and were wishing for your best boys to finally be happy, then boy howdy do I have some fanfiction for you!

Time Travel

Somewhere Else

AUs

Uncategorized JonMartin Fluff

By these categories, we should hopefully cover all the recommendations I have, and I hope you all find some new fics! (or enjoy rereading fics you haven’t enjoyed in awhile)

TIME TRAVEL

where there’s a will, we make a way by bubonickitten

"So, what does happen if an Eye learns to See within itself?

What happens is this: the Archive Beholds the Watcher – and the Watcher blinks first."

________________________

Jon goes back to before the world ended and tries to forge a different path.

Probably my fave time travel fic in this fandom hands down; it is also currently the longest whilst still unfinished. While I try not to recommend unfinished fics that I am uncertain of their return to activity, this is a big exception and personally I love everything about it! It’s got Jon dealing with trauma through the lens of his speaking only in Statements, Martin being saved from his downward spiral into the Lonely way earlier in S4, Georgie actually sticking around, Basira having a better grasp of the situation and being more understanding about it, and everyone generally sticking close to character while managing to buck parts of the narrative. I cannot recommend this fic enough, and I very likely already did back near the start of S5.

Something’s Different About You Lately by thesnadger

Jonathan Sims has been head archivist for just a few months, but he has memories of holding the position for years. He remembers monsters, and darkness, and the end of the world. Somehow, he'll have to keep everyone safe from what's coming. Meanwhile, his assistants can't understand why their prickly jerk of a boss has gone sappy all of a sudden.

So TMA time travel fics that focus on Jon going back tend to come in two varieties. There’s the “Jon’s mind goes back and replaces himself/inhabits his past self’s body” and then there’s the “Jon physically goes back so there’s two Jons”. The first two on this list are of the first variety, and if I remember right this was one of the first I ever read. However, I recommend this one specifically because this has an amazing ending. Like, it might just be me, but many of the endings in these feel relatively unsatisfying because there’s magically a third option where Jon comes out unscathed while saving his S1 archives crew from the Horrors. For whatever reason, it was incredibly satisfying having a fic that didn’t shy away from the options presented in S4 and S5 and I love how they characterize everyone in this one as well.

100 Seconds to Midnight by starspangledbread

Jon and Martin find themselves back in 2011 after attempting to release the fears from their reality. The world is the same one they left behind, but now something has come back with them. They have a chance to destroy the fears once and for all, but it proves harder than expected. Who knew that the best laid plans could be thwarted by nosy co-workers, office romance, the inevitable learning curve of being a time traveler turned grifter, and the refusal to believe in subtlety?

Did someone say Extinction!Jon? This also is a part of a series, though the true sequel to this one is currently unfinished (though it should eventually be completed and only has one chapter to go). An excellent romp, I definitely recommend if you’re looking for something kinda dark, some comedy, a little OOC, and Martin being able to embrace his crime side in the name of saving the world.

Yesterday is Here by CirrusGrey

"Who the hell are you?" Jon could feel his hands shaking. The man laughed, taking a step forward and raising a hand to point at him. "I'm you, from the future!" he said, then swayed, eyes going unfocused, and collapsed to the floor in a dead faint. -------- Post-season-four Jon and Martin time travel back to the season one Archives.

Written by my fave (and most prolific) JMart author, we have a perfect example of the other kind of time travel fix it fic in the form of Jon physically travelling to the past to try and save the world. As expected by someone I am calling my fave JMart author, we’re going to be getting double dose on the JMart. I highly recommend if you’re looking for something that starts a little bittersweet, but then ends in copious amounts of fluff.

Reverb (Series) by Wolftraps

Undoing the apocalypse would have been enough for Jon, if all his people survived. Without them, Jon's only recourse is making it so it never happened in the first place. He's going to do better this time.

Summary from the first fic in the Reverb series, I highly recommend the first two fics in this series for different reasons. “The Reverb in These Holy Halls” is a great time travel fic that takes some really interesting turns by the end and unlike most fics actually has Jon try to keep Tim safe by keeping him out of the Archives pre-S1. However “Gossip” I recommend if you enjoy those fics formatted to look like official communication of some kind. It’s got people outside the Archives trying to figure out what’s wrong with them during the events of the first fic, and while it would be very confusing to read without the first fic, I’d almost say it’s worth it if you aren’t feeling the tags on the first one. Really fun and entertaining, you can’t go wrong with either one.

The Triumph of Galatea (for Acis is transformed) by TheOestofOCs

Statement of Hazel Rutter.

Jon couldn’t stop reading.

The Fears, however, are a bit more powerful than Jonah gave them credit for. Jon opens the door, but the world can’t hold what’s on the other side.

Time falls through, instead. Past becomes present, and the future is undone.

Statement begins.

Another fic I definitely recommended back at episode 160, but is well worth the second recommendation and/or re-read. Time Travel, but what if Jon could control as well as go into the dreams of the assistants/other Eye aligned people instead of just his victims’ dreams? Very good, even if unfinished, though the author seems likely to finish someday. Check out their other work as well, it’s all very good and has my fave Circus themed fic written to date.

a map of what matters most by gruhukens

“Is that a body,” Tim blurts before he can stop himself, rising to his feet. Martin looks, if possible, even more scared.

“He’s alive!” he hisses, almost defensively. “It’s not - it’s not Gertrude again, I didn’t kill him, he just – I don’t know what happened to him, I just found him in the stacks like this.”

“And you dragged him up here?” Tim says, and then registers several things at once – the build, the hair texture; the little round scars peppering a pair of thin hands and an awfully familiar face. “Wait, is that Jon?”

----

Jon stumbles back into an earlier Archive, looking for a way to fix the world. (Or, mom says it's my turn for the obligatory time travel au)

Directly inspired by CirrusGrey’s fic that I recommended earlier, this is another: Jon travels physically into the past fic. This one though is far more bittersweet than “Yesterday is Here”, but still an excellent read and does a great job at fleshing out the relationships between all the characters.

Saving the Universe: For Dummies by GhostChoir

Finding a man bleeding out in the alleyway was not what Elias wanted to do today. And he certainly didn’t mean to befriend him. But things never did go how he expected.

****** A Post-MAG200 Jon meets a 1970s Elias, an Elias from before he was corrupted by Jonah. Together, the two of them learn to cope with grief, drink more tea than any two people should be able to consume, and commiserate over shitty bosses. Oh, and just for the hell of it, they stop an apocalypse along the way.

Now for a change of pace: What if Jon time travels to the time of early Gertrude and Elias pre-Jonafying? A very good fic is what! While it’s been awhile since I read this, I do remember it’s quite good and deserves a chance. Note: this is NOT Jonathan/Elias, so my apologies if you were looking for that, but it is two very lonely men getting to just have a reliable friend in times of trouble.

A Little Game of Cat and Mouse by Paptato

“Jonah Magnus.” The cloudy silhouette snarled as it’s hand clamped tightly around Jonah's ascot. That was indeed his name, but Jonah couldn’t begin to fathom what he did to have it spat out with such hatred.

But nonetheless, Jonah was a gentleman and he would kindly address the angry figure as politely as possible, “Yes, and you are?”

“What?” The form spluttered as it slowly came into focus. Ah, yes. That probably wasn’t the proper response to being held at gunpoint by a random stranger. Must have been the blow to his head.

(Or in which Jonathan Sims goes back in time and tries to pull a Terminator, but fails and Jonah Magnus finds a new mystery to solve.)

This is that Jonah Magnus/Jonathan Sims enemies to lovers fic your friends warn you about in a good way. It’s not done, but I think it’s still being updated very slowly. Even if all I ever read is the currently released 11 chapters, I will consider it my one exception to my dislike of Jonah/Jon. As you can probably guess by the description, it’s a time travel fix it where Jon gets shunted back in time to when Jonah was still very human and still trying to figure out the Fears. The Web keeps Jon from explaining his circumstances or anything to do with Jonah’s future in particular, but this is a good thing and they both get to learn how to be more human in a world that previously was very antagonistic to those goals. It’s got a heavy dose of comedy, plenty of romantic tension, and lots of both surprising and unsurprising cameos. If you enjoy Dracula Daily, you’ll probably enjoy this imho.

Déjà Vu by CirrusGrey

Sasha remembers being unmade. Tim remembers being Unknown. Jon and Martin remember being unwound. All of them think they're the only one. -------- The S1 crew wakes up in the past with memories up till the moment they died.

So, here’s another one that’s got quite the spin on it. As you can see from the description, this one is where S1 crew all get their minds sent back in time to the time right around Jon’s first statement if I remember right. Another CirrusGrey fic, so it heavily leans on JonMartin, but otherwise it’s a wonderful exploration of the four S1 characters and ends on a very hopeful note!

oh my darling, just a moment of your time by IceEckos12

The Institute is visited by a pair of time travelers, and Jon has an important question for Tim.

Have you ever had a oneshot that just kinda guts you unexpectedly? While this might not do this for everyone, this is an amazing oneshot that gets right the point. I love it a lot, because of all of the fics where future and past meet each other, it very rarely if ever is addressed that past Jon was a douche. Or well it is but past Jon doesn’t necessarily have a character moment from it. Here he does, and despite the briefness of the fic, the author does an amazing job of giving Jon and Tim a moment while making an almost critique of the TMA time travel genre. Highly, highly recommend, and it won’t overstay it’s welcome if it doesn’t end up being your thing.

The Severing of Webs by chlodobird

After Jon kills the world, he travels back in time. Once there, he gets ready to change the future, to save his Assistants, and to watch as everyone learns to hate him again.

Unfortunately, the tapes wrap around him like a fly caught in a Web—he can't move. He's trapped reliving the original timeline, stuck acting out his past actions like an actor rehearsing his lines.

Sasha will die. Tim will die. Martin—

(Jon screams inside his mind, and someone hears him. Fate is not as immutable as he fears.)

This one is a brand new one! While basically all of the others on the list have been out/updating for over a year at this point; this lengthy oneshot just released this month. tbh, very excellent, which is why it has made the list. Also, quite the twist on the usual premise, where being sent back into his head is actually a bad thing this time. Ends with a giant pile of fluff, but who would I be if all my time travel recommendations were not also fix-its?

-

Somewhere Else

it will be this, always by bluejayblueskies

Jon coughed again, and blood stained his lips and blood stained Martin’s hands where they pressed against Jon’s back and blood stained the floor beneath them and help, they needed help.

Martin doesn’t remember shouting. He barely remembers the faces that had surrounded them, wide-eyed and terrified, all utterly unfamiliar.

.

Jon and Martin wake up somewhere else. Jon begins a slow path toward physical recovery, and several important, long-put-off conversations are had as they begin to navigate a new world that they hadn’t thought they’d be alive to see.

So, I’m sure you all have gathered that I have qualms with how much disparity there is between canon and fanon Jmart. This fic is painful, but is the most in character depiction of post 200 JMart fallout I have ever read. The ending is very cathartic, and takes a “realistic” approach to what happens to Jon and Martin as they begin to navigate their relationship after they both had betrayed each other so thoroughly in the leadup and culmination of MAG 200. If you don’t want them immediately making up, this is the fic for you. They get there, but by all that is good do they take their sweet time getting there.

Out There, Somewhere by Artyphex

"I'm sorry, you were found alone."

Jon survived the apocalypse and now will go to the end of this new, unfamiliar world to find Martin again.

So I think I’m just getting all the angsty ones out of the way first lol. Another slow burn, this fic is Jon’s recovery in the new reality while he also searches for what happened to Martin. Since I don’t post the tags, I will say this ones does feature “Eventual Happy Ending”, and I do promise that both Jon and Martin made it to the new reality and lived. But Jon and Martin both get to pine and cope for a while before that happy ending tag comes into play. It’s incredibly well done and explores their characters really well. Personally, I kinda enjoyed the Reddit saga because people mistaking Jon’s pleas for Martin as an ARG is very typical internet and 100% I would have bought into that at age 13.

Of course I need a therapist. I need ten therapists, working round the clock building me a bionic coping mechanism. We have the technology. by MartinKBlackwoodESQ

A story set somewhere else.

I’mma be real with you all, if I believed that characters could write and publish their own fanfiction, I would be halfway convinced the name is accurate. All joking aside however, this is a “crack treated seriously” fic but with characterization so on point I can consistently hear the voice actors when I read this. Admittedly, it’s made easier by it being written in transcript formatting, but if you’re looking for a hilarious time where TMA is suddenly is turned into a buddy cop adventure where Jon and Martin go to a universe where the Fears hadn’t been till their arrival, and they have doubles that already exist there who are living fairly normal lives till the TMA Jon and Martin crash land into their reality... Well this fic is one I cannot recommend highly enough. It also has a sequel, and it is also well worth the read, even if it appears to be on a bit of a break in it’s updates.

Worlds like phyllo pastry by neworld

After episode 200 Jon finds himself alone in a world very much like the one he left but fractionally different. It's so similar he finds versions of his former friends existing happily in the world. Unfortunately they have never met him in this universe and have no idea who he is.

This one’s unfinished, but personally it’s well worth the read as is. Not sure how I feel about the most recent chapter, but the story up till that point is a really fun spin on “Jon and Martin get shunted to a new reality” where Jon learns how to feed in a way that doesn’t cause problems facilitated by the new reality, and re-meets all the people who he lost till this point and has a very silly antagonistic relationship with his alternate self. While fic might be more of a guilty pleasure, it still is written in such a way that I would rank it high enough for this disorganized list.

Death Is The Easy Way Out by traveller19

After having killed Jonah Magnus and ended the Change, Jon and Martin should finally be able to rest. Rest, however, proves impossible when Jon falls ill. What's more, he begins having vivid dreams of their dead friends - Tim, trapped in the destroyed Archives, and Sasha, trapped outside of them. As Jon's condition quickly worsens and the line between dream and reality begins to blur, love is all he and Martin have to hold on to, because hope is a dangerous thing.

Did someone say sickfic??? But for real, this fic has an amazing balance between an A plot and a B plot, and keeps both at the right level of tension throughout. While this is a sickfic heavy one, it also features Tim and Sasha as ghosts trying desperately not to be. There’s also a lovely sequel and plenty of fluff by the end, but this is a rough ride. ALSO, if you or a loved one had covid / any respiratory illness that caused them to be hospitalized with pneumonia and it could be trigging to read incredibly on the nose descriptions of that experience, this fic is not for you. Or very cathartic. :/

Castaways by CirrusGrey

Welcome to the Castaway Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a safe and secure landing to those lost souls banished from their home worlds by the influence of Fear.

If you wanted saccharine JMart in a new reality where they get therapy and meet old friends from different realities, this series of (mostly) one shots is for you! As you’ve probably come to expect when I suggest CirrusGrey, the writing is fantastic, the ship dynamics are exemplary, and the character are on point. There is so much to say about this series, but mostly, if you want Jon and Martin healing and then settling together and becoming the stereotypical married couple, then this is it. It’s not done, but it is wrapping up, and I hope you all if you haven’t seen this yet enjoy it as much as I do. And for those long time readers who have been reading it longer than I’ve been in the fandom, here’s your friendly reminder that it exists.

Do Before I Die by SupposedToBeWriting

Somewhere Else, Jon can't seem to shake the strange apathy that now plagues his life. Everything reminds Martin of the end of the world. For a change of pace, he and Martin rent a campervan and go on a road trip. Their mission? To fulfill the 'bucket list' Martin made when he was eighteen and lonely. Jon's looking forward to the beach.

Jon and Martin go on a Road Trip accross Britain. It’s just a wholesome and hurt/comfort as it describes. An excellent romp, and the character studies are wonderful. The Planetarium still sticks with me.

ours is a distant shore (series) by pantsoflobster

“If they ever found out about us, we could make things really complicated for them," Jon said. Martin gave a thoughtful hum and then a loaded pause before he said, “Or simpler.” “What?” “We could, you know…” Martin then made mischievous eyes at him in lieu of expanding. “What?” Jon said, thoroughly lost. “Wouldn’t it be a bit fun to sort of... nudge them in the right direction?”

Months after they arrive Somewhere Else, Jon sees himself in the shop.

Summary is from the first fic in the series, this is a fun little romp for those who hated Martin’s defeatism over his and Jon’s relationship in MAG199 and want to see what would happen if instead he accidentally kick started an alternate version and his and Jon’s relationship Somewhere Else. It’s all very silly, tho the last fic does lean more into the hurt/comfort tag than the previous two. Over all though, if you’re looking for a little crack, a lot of fluff, and Jon and Martin being silly this is a good time.

Written in the Stars Will Have to Do by GentlemanCrow

“Yeah well, god knows why, but he thinks you hung the moon, so you might try treating him at the very least like a human being once in a while.”

It was such a small thing. Small words for a small feeling cloaked in a chintzy veneer of idiomatic dismissal. A trembling little bird cupped in his scarred and battered hands and smothered. Or so he thought. Sometimes trembling little birds turn out to be phoenixes, and those who looked to someone else to hang the comfort of a wise, silvery moon in the sky already have the hammer and the picture wire at the ready.

As far as Jon was concerned, the moon only rose on their Somewhere Else because Martin deigned to pull the strings every night, not him.

This is another one of those JMart Somewhere Else fics masquerading as a Safehouse fic that made me want to cry. It’s just, so wonderful, and once again we have themes of healing, but this time through getting a hobby and sharing it with your significant other. The writing is lovely and really gives off the stuffy academic musings I would expect being in Jon’s head (which we are for the duration of this fic) but adds a layer that I didn’t realized I needed till I read it.

On Errantry by ZaliaChimera

Somewhere Else, Jon and Martin discover that their new home has a very special sort of guardian, and Jon seeks judgement from an unexpected source.

They do say that cats purring can heal...

A cute one shot that deals with Jon’s lingering guilt from S5; this is a wonderful tale from Somewhere Else featuring a giant Cat, Martin being supportive, and Jon trying to reconcile his second chance. Very sweet and fluffy, guaranteed!

Lost, Unfound, But Not Forgotten by Elynn

They didn’t find bodies. Or anything pointing to where they may have gone. In the center of the rubble, what Georgie assumed to have once been the top of the tower, was a puddle of dried, crusted blood, and the outline of bodies in the dust and scorch marks. And she knew that wherever the Fears had gone, Jon and Martin had gone with them. The last victims, snuffed and dragged away with them. --- In the weeks after the Eye-pocolypse, Georgie Barker begins the painful process of mourning her best friend.

So, I know I’m very focused on Jon, but I have one fic of Georgie here that’s 10/10. Post 200, Georgie and Melanie eventually goes to clean out Daisy’s cabin of Jon and Martin’s things for Basira (or something like that) and Georgie finds a journal of Jon’s that he kept whilst there. It’s just as bittersweet as you’d imagine, but it’s fantastically cathartic to read and in our MAG 200 feels, this is a good one for closure.

Not Quite Somewhere Else by hawkfurze

Or you can find it on Tumblr HERE

A special entry to finish out this section, I have a long running comic from Tumblr user @hawkfurze who made a TMA x Infinity Train crossover. While I had not watched the show previously (only seen the trailer/pilot from back before it got picked up by CN), the comic is still easy to understand and explains the Infinity Train parts in such a way as to not need any prior knowledge. I highly recommend this comic for anyone who wants a visual treat delving into the relationship and psyches of Jon and Martin as they try to escape into the next reality.

-

AUs

Two Graves by SupposedToBeWriting

Jon sends the fears far from Earth and flees London, leaving the others to assume the worst. He settles in a small village and opts to live there quietly until he dies, a self-imposed penance. This plan is foiled when the first former Avatar shows up - and Jon realizes that every domain-keeper in the apocalypse still has some faint connection to him.

After a year of being a shoulder to cry on for confused and distraught former Avatars, Jon leads a moderately happy life. He has a flourishing garden, a cat, and some company. All of that comes crashing around his ears (or his head) when a familiar face shows up to his cabin, demanding answers.

This fic is in my top 5 fics of TMA fandom. No contest. It has some of the best healing from MAG 200 for Jon and Martin and tbh the world I’ve seen. It’s got that incredible hurt/comfort and the ending makes me cry tears of joy every time I read it. If you read any JMart fic on this list, please read this one if you can only read one. While I was tempted to put this in a different category, this seemed like the best place to put it.

What Comes After by Mornrandir

More than a year after the apocalypse, the world is starting to move on. Georgie, Melanie, and Basira have learned to move on and get back to living their lives. Then Martin reappears- without Jon- and they have to learn to begin again.

A series based around the initial above description, each entry in the series follows the healing of first Martin, then Jon, then both of them together. While I am a Jon-centric woman, if you are of a more Martin-centric leaning, this first fic in the series should scratch that itch. The final entry is very sweet, and the second definitely has a unique reason as to why Jon shows up so late to the after-Fears party.

The Watcher’s Cows by lenioia

He still remembers the first cup of tea Martin brought him. That’s where it began, not with the dog incident. A sweet and strong blend, reasons for appearance unknown, how could it taste so good, also unknown. Jon stares at what will be the last cup between them. His miserable parting gift. Where it’ll end.

Alt Mag 200, or in a slightly kinder universe which differs by exactly one cup of tea, Martin is the one who switches plan last minute, and Jon’s last half-backed scheme, for once, works.

An AU splitting off MAG 199/200, where Jon’s plan actually happens, but instead of it being quite so bleak he finds a new path with the help of Martin. I know the original ending of the series is probably the most hopeful one realistically, but we all enjoy our fixits here, so this is a really sappy “by the power of love” Jon and Martin save the universe and still get to live in it AU. Highly highly recommend, and it finished within the last 8 months, so it’s “on the newer side” as it were. If you haven’t read it, give it a shot, and if you’ve read it and it’s been awhile now’s a good time to read it again.

The Eyespot Chronicles (series) by SupposedToBeWriting

To Martin Blackwood's surprise, he wakes up in the ruins of the Magnus Institute. He thought he would be dead. The world is back to normal, the Entities are gone, and everyone realizes that it's finally over. The only sticking point is that Jon isn't exactly the Jon that went into the apocalypse. Never one to give up, Martin is determined to make a life for himself and his boyfriend. Even if he is a giant moth.

Summary taken from the first in the series, this trilogy of fics covers Jon and Martin’s attempts at healing in a world that remembers what happened. The first fic focuses entirely on Martin’s struggles, the second on Jon’s, and the 3rd (as you might guess) focuses on them both. The series is excellent, and if you’ve got the fortitude for canon-typical emotional constipation after having just experienced MAG-200 it’s well worth the read.

Another Guest for Mr. Spider by Dribbledscribbles

Jon isn't eating his statements like he should.

Mr. Spider doesn't like it.

Written in transcript format, this AU considers the idea of what if the Web was more hands on it it’s approach to getting Jon to Become more monstrous; or at least not starve himself out. Incredible read, you need an AO3 account though. But I have never been that spooked by a Statement or encounter before I read this fic. If you DO NOT like spiders on you or in your mouth and you don’t like reading about it either, potentially hold off on this fic, or at least skip from where Mr. Spider says “Open your mouth. Do not move.” to when he says “Wash it down with this. Now.” But yeah if you didn’t get enough spider trauma from canon, this fic gives it in spades! (And if you want Mr. Spider getting his comeuppance, you get that too ;) )

Illicio by ThatOneGirlBehindYou

As the new Archivist debates between life and death, the Eye ponders on what to offer him in order to avoid an encore of the unfortunate situation with his predecessor.

-----

Gerard Keay opens his eyes at what feels like fuck-ass in the morning, inside a room with far too little space and far too much dust.

A long form AU of what if Gerry Keay was brought back by the Eye to convince Jon to stay on team Monster if you will. Goes all the way through MAG-200, has some great twists and turns, and manages to turn into an “Everyone Lives AU” as well. While it is currently updating, it’s updating every week on Saturday till it finishes, and she only has 2 chapters left. If you’ve managed to never read this, now is certainly the time for it! It is Jon/Gerry/Martin, so if that’s not your exact cup of tea I’d still say give it a shot.

we should ride this wave to shore by ClarionGlass

“archives research & statement envestigation” Timothy Stoker renamed the group “drinks drinks drinks” Timothy Stoker changed Sasha James’s nickname to saucy sash Timothy Stoker changed Martin Blackwood’s nickname to martini kart Timothy Stoker changed his nickname to stonked stonked: so how bout it lads saucy sash: oh god. A TMA group chat fic where the worst problems they have to deal with start with "h" and end with "angovers"

Right, I don’t tend to read chat fics, I’m going to be honest with you all. I have two exceptions and this is one of them. It goes interesting places, the characters are not completely OOC, if it they are at least it’s consistent OOC and not in a grating way. But in all seriousness, I recommend this because of how it ties in with MAG 160 and 200; as well as how the sequel deals with canon S5. The sequel isn’t finished and is slow to update, but I am still recommending at the very least the first one. It’s a good romp and I highly recommend.

Ask an Exec: How to Navigate Cultish Colleagues, Soul-Stealing Bosses, and the End of the World at Work by shinyopals

I've recently been unexpectedly promoted to lead a department in my organisation, wrote the anonymous emailer.

As there was no one working here when I arrived, my manager, who is head of the organisation, had promised me the choice of my own assistants. However, without warning, he simply presented me with an additional assistant. This new assistant’s first act on his first day was to let a dog into the office. It took several hours to catch and clean up after this dog and it has only been downhill from there. I admit I'm not entirely sure what to do with this assistant now I'm stuck with him. I'm hoping you have some advice?

Kind regards, New Manager

Abigail Bailey runs a successful management advice blog. One frequent contributor is from a workplace with some... issues.

While this isn’t quite an AU and is basically canon compliant, I’m putting it here because it’s a “what if Jon was an avid seeker of advice on a management advice blog?” AU. It’s beautifully formatted, and features very in character interactions. If you are a sucker for the TMA trope: how do normal people react to the weirdness at the Institute, then this is a great fic for you. I know it’s probably one of the most popular things to have hit the Jonathan Sims tag on AO3 in recent months, but this is just me reminding you all it exists and well worth the re-read.

JMart Fluff

Author CirrusGrey

Literally anything by them. I think I probably recommend them every time I talk about JMart, but I think on AO3 they are both the most prolific and one of the best writers for the tag. Pick almost any fic they’ve written for TMA and it’s probably JMart. There’s too many fics of their’s to recommend, so I’ll just link you straight to their profile and you can go swimming from there lol.

Jon’s Moving Castle by IceEckos12

Martin Blackwood may not have a perfect life, but he does have a good one. That is, until a series of magical encounters leave him with an unfortunate curse. Out of other options, he goes to the wizard who lives in the moving castle for aid.

Life never goes how he intends it to, though.

Basically Howl’s Moving Castle, but with a TMA spin. You don’t need to have seen the movie to understand what’s going on, and honestly while it sticks fairly close to the movie, it doesn’t stick so close that it feels constrained by it in places where it wouldn’t make sense in the AU they’ve set up. It’s a very sweet JMart fic with a satisfying conclusion.

The 101 Kidnappings of Jonathan Sims (and Other Inconveniences) by beetlejoos

Martin Blackwood never applies for a job at the Magnus Institute. The universe seems determined that he meets Jonathan Sims anyway. But is it Fate, or something more sinister, that keeps bringing the two of them together?

Right, this mostly crack treated seriously. It’s got hurt/comfort, but it’s fairly light hearted throughout. As one could guess by the title and description, Jon is repeatedly kidnapped and brought to wherever Martin is living/working at the time. While it’s not done yet, and not on a schedule, the chapters that are out thus far are well worth the read. That and there’s some cute fan art for it that’s linked to in the end notes. But I recommend this because it’s got that vibe of S1 Jon meets S1 Martin outside of the Institute and romance (eventually) happens. Very fun read if you haven’t read it yet.

i think we’re alone now + alone-verse (series) by milliganopen

Just a couple of guys breaking into a basement. What could go wrong?

Getting trapped in your apartment with your boss, that's what.

Season 1 re-imagined if Jon and Martin had been trapped by Jane Prentiss together.

Initially I recommended this back when we had hit MAG039/022 because it was a great AU to Martin’s Statement where Jon also gets trapped in Martin’s apartment during Martin’s no good very bad 2 weeks of worm siege. HOWEVER, the author has since continued this series and is slowly working their way through canon one season/fic at a time. They’re currently on S3, and I am definitely keeping an eye on it for whenever the next update happens. If you haven’t had the time to check it out, it’s got some very good JMart moments, and their relationship manages to move faster than a glacier.

Fate, or Something by HermaeusMora

"You can't be serious." Jonathan Sims raises his eyes at last to properly look at Georgie, expecting her to laugh and make some quip about finally getting him to put the damn book down, at least.

"Well, I am," she shoots back.

He sets his book aside and turns fully towards her, betrayal clear on his face. "A blind date, really?"

Jon makes the frankly terrible decision to go on a blind date with one Martin Blackwood. Fate ensues. AU where Jon and Georgie are still friends, Georgie likes finding dates for her friends, Martin doesn't work at the institute, and everyone is just a bit happier while canon spooky stuff goes on in the background. Takes place juuust barely pre-canon in the beginning but catches up quickly. Inspired as usual by the wonderful conversations with my friend RavenXavier/somuchbetterthanthat.

A fun AU that challenges the idea that Jon and Martin are incompatible a la MAG199. Excellently done and well worth the time to check it out.

Diary by luftballoons99

Not for the first time since they ran away together, a camera reel of all the things they don't know about one another whirs behind Martin's eyes, and he can't help but look at all the sprawling magnetic tape and wonder if they’re going to wind up a romance or a tragedy.

or: Office parties, garage bands, and the joy of being known.

A bit of a bittersweet mostly fluff oneshot focused on Jon and Martin having a night in at the Safehouse and talking about good things from their pasts. (Warning, the sequel is rated E(xplicit) for a reason, so I am only recommending Diary. Both are stand alone however.)

Weaving My Heartstrings by arms_full_of_hyacinths

At least he was someone. Someone who could deal with the spiders. That was probably the source of the nerves unspooling like magnetic tape to fill Jon’s stomach with buzzing static butterflies.

Yes, Martin was much bigger than a spider. He was probably the kind of person who cupped them in his hands and talked to them as he walked them out into the garden, which shouldn’t be giving Jon a burst of warm feeling at all, since his preferred method of spider disposal was simply to squash them on sight.

Martin likes Jon almost as much as Jon hates spiders. When a statement from an institute employee sends them spiraling into the center of a complicated web, they'll need to rely on each other if they want to make it out alive.

Bit of an odd suggestion to close us out, but this one is a fun almost episodic plot about an original Statement and the shenanigans Jon and Martin get into trying to research it. It’s very good, features some very on point S1 Jon and Martin along with a bit of a fast forward on their relationship throughout.

And with that, I’ve probably overstayed my welcome lol. I hope you found something new to read! If not, I at least hope that you had fun rereading some old faves. This has taken me a day or two to compile and format, so I hope you all enjoy in whatever capacity that ends up being! Happy end of A Mag A Day, and it was a joy walking alongside you all. Congrats to A MAG A Day blog owners on all your hard work for the last ~210 days and with this post I wish you all a very fond farewell.

[lucianinsanity-only-art]

All my fanfics list:

Boku no Hero Academia:

The Medal (794 words) When Izuku and Katsuki move together they find some interesting stuff in their boxes. (Domestic fluff, Post-Canon, Bakudeku) SPANISH VERSION

Small Stories. A series of stories originally written on Tumblr compilated on AO3.

Waking up (456 words) Katsuki regains consciousness on the battlefield. (Angst) (Small Stories)

Not so soft kisses (1,151 words) After finally defeating the villains a delirious Izuku asks Katsuki for a kiss. (First Kiss, Misunderstandings, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Post-War, Bakudeku) (Small Stories)

Katsuki's confession (2,264 words) Katsuki looks at Izuku for a second too long and decides he needs to tell him his feelings. (Fluff, Bakudeku) (Small Stories)

And everything went well (580 words) The war is over and life is slowly becoming normal again. (Post-War, Dancing, Fluff, Singing, Erasermic) (Small Stories)

Not just a nickname (420 words) Izuku tries to do a silly challenge but it backfires badly. (Domestic Fluff, Post-Canon, Bakudeku) (Small Stories)

Slow Morning (395 words) Izuku wakes up and admires his life in his free day. (Domestic fluff, Post-Canon, Bakudeku) (Small Stories)

Hard decisions (1,635 words) During a villain attack Katsuki is forced to take a fast decision that he will probably regret. (Spider-Deku, Angst, Amputation, Bakudeku) (Small Stories)

Unfinished farewell (12,552 words) Katsuki goes back to his old town just to discover it empty and abandoned, and after finding Izuku everything looks worse than he initially thought. (Ghost!Izuku, Werewolf!Katsuki, Angst, Hurt no Comfort, Alternative Universe) SPANISH VERSION

The sea, it calls you (9,910 words) Katsuki starts getting a lot of weird reports about sharks and other creatures and decides to investigate...by getting lost at sea (Horror, Researcher!Katsuki, Merperson!Izuku, Merperson!Eijirou, Fluff, Alternative Universe, Bakudeku) SPANISH VERSION

It's all that I can give to you, my dear (9,319 words) Izuku's sheep is taken by something. After going to search what it was he finds his childhood friend, Katsuki, eating it. (Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Wolf!Katsuki, Alternative Universe, Injuries, Whumpuary, Bakudeku) SPANISH VERSION

A happy ending (1170 words) Katsuki is one of the first ones to find out what the alien infection does. (Angst, Hurt no Comfort, TGWDLM aliens, Bakudeku)

The Magnus Archives:

How we really know who are the monsters? (1,339 words) Jon and Martin fall into Somewhere Else, but Martin has a strange change when they get there. (Lonely Avatar!Matin, Somewhere Else, angst, JonMartin) SPANISH VERSION

The Statement of Autumn Acosta (2,091 words) The story of how Autumn Acosta left their old life behind. (Statment fic, avatarsona, angst, The Corruption, The Dark, The Lonely, The Vast)

Strap the wing to me (524 words) Jon wakes up and admires Martin sleeping. (Domestic fluff, Icarus Metaphor, JonMartin)

Favorite Mug (861 words) Jon has a very specific mug he likes. (Fluff, Season 1, JonMartin)

How we used to sing (1,222 words) Tim gets his hair dyed. (Tim and Danny as teens, Fluff, Hurt no Comfort) SPANISH VERSION

The Statement of Adriana Contrera (1,707 words) Adriana visits her daughter and gets a little lost. (The Spiral, The Lonely, Statement fic)

Gravity Falls:

Maybe some support (4,449 words) Shapes and Pines AU. Stanley meets Tad Strange the square. (Hurt/Comfort, first meetings, cleaning wounds, panic attacks) SPANISH VERSION

Closer to you (3,321 words) Ford has strange habits and he learns they are not unwanted. (Post-Canon Fluff, Scent Kink, Non-sexual Kink, Ace Ford, 5+1 things, Fiddauthor) SPANISH VERSION

Warm Feelings and Good Textures (1,276 words) Stan has a moment with his hair. (Domestic Fluff, Hair and Memories) SPANISH VERSION

Stardew Valley:

Not a one night stand (4,713 words) Shane meets Elliott. (Smut, Plot, Happy ending) SPANISH VERSION

The Owl House:

First Rain (478 words) Gus and Hunter play in the human rain for the first time. (Fluff, Human Realm)

Original Works:

Little Fun Bits. A series of specifically short original stories that are not part of the main plot.

A serious moment (2390 words) Arturo and Victor fun times. (Fluff, Smut, Vampires, Panic Attacks) (Little Fun Bits) SPANISH VERSION

My Ko-Fi

[fridayyy-13th]

so um. I want to kiss you.

but I’m already committed to my spouse. and instead I will say thank you thank you thank you for those fic recs!- I read literally every single one and also some by the same authors- if you have any other recs even have as good (wether they adhere to what I originally asked for or not) I would love them!! But mainly just thanks!

lol, you're very welcome!!! and i have plenty more recs where that came from--funnily enough, when my friend started listening to TMA i started compiling a list of fic recs for her! it's...a very long list. i wasn't kidding when i said i read entirely too much Magnus fanfiction (jmart or not)

but anyway! without further ado, here's a bunch more recs:

The Sea Calls Me Home by EN123, T summary: When Martin Blackwood takes a job working at Peter Lukas's estate, in the highlands of Scotland, he meets an odd man down by the shore, who looks at him like no one ever has. This man proves to be another secret Martin Blackwood must keep, for more reasons than one.

To be so sure of a love the world denies is a heavy burden to bear. But bearing it was, and will always be, a choice. And it's one Martin has chosen.

A Home For What Loves You by TheWrongShop, T summary: It was completely fine that Jon was following up on this very normal, non-supernatural statement at midnight on a Friday. He was going to find nothing at all, and then he was going to go home and sleep for fourteen straight hours and feel absolutely no qualms about moving case #0150409 directly into the filing cabinet marked "discredited".

Or: Jon and Martin investigate Carlos Vittery's basement and find the entity formerly known as Jane Prentiss together.

a consideration of tropes by gruhukens, T summary: "Do you know much about cataloguing?" Jon asks, a little out of breath from the stairs.

Martin, mid-trolley, rolls his eyes. The gesture he makes at the shelves around him is only emphasised by the book he's holding.

"What exactly do you think I do here, other than sit around and wait for angry patrons to yell at me?"

"Think of what you're going to yell back?" Jon says, and Martin's mouth twitches into a smile.

--

Asking the very important question: what if Jon and Martin had a gentle archives/library romance, and kept running into tropes? What if there was mutual pining involved? Only one bed? Fake dating? Hurt/comfort? Or perhaps, a soft and happy ending?

wake me up (wake me up inside) by IceEckos12, G summary: "No, I won't bother you for long," Elias said politely. "Just checking up on my favorite writer's club."

"Your only writer's club," Daisy muttered under her breath. Jon bit down on a laugh.

"Anyway," Elias continued smoothly, resting his hands on the back of Basira's chair while Daisy gave him the most acidic side eye ever known to mankind. "How's the most recent chapter?"

"Very good!" Tim said enthusiastically. "I'm about to get eaten."

"Death is imminent for us all," Sasha added with gravitas.

Jon's Moving Castle by IceEckos12, T summary: Martin Blackwood may not have a perfect life, but he does have a good one. That is, until a series of magical encounters leave him with an unfortunate curse. Out of other options, he goes to the wizard who lives in the moving castle for aid.

Life never goes how he intends it to, though.

This Lonely Knight by arthureameslove, M summary: Martin couldn't remember exactly when or why he'd joined the Knights of the Lonely. He supposed that was by design.

Knights of the Lonely weren't meant to last long. They were built to take blows, and if necessary, they were built to die. He supposed that suited him fine.

But upon an assignment to escort the Watcher's betrothed to the Kingdom of Beholding, Martin began to realize that, perhaps, there was something he was missing. Perhaps it was in the shape of a person with bright, intelligent eyes and acerbic wit, with prickly edges and a gentle smile when he thought no one was looking.

There was only one problem. He wasn't meant to let the Watcher's betrothed reach the kingdom alive.

The Unknown Watcher by arthureameslove, T summary: The world has changed, and Martin knows the new rules as well as anyone. The monsters come when the sun sets, so you best be home before then. Blast your lights, barricade your doors. Don't come out until morning. When Martin inadvertently stays out past sunset, he flees his monstrous pursuers and stumbles upon the Magnus Estate, eerie and seemingly abandoned, in the middle of the woods.

Inside is a man with a monstrous face and glowing eyes, who insists Martin is the key to turning the world back.

Or, a Beauty and the Beast au--tma style ;)

The Sharkivist is In by ArtificialDaydreams, G summary: "The shark was sitting in his desk chair when Jon opened his office door. Actually sitting in it, with a "hello my name is" sticker stuck to it with "Jonathan Swims, Head Sharkivist" written on it in black marker."

What if Jon has one of those plush blåhaj sharks from ikea?

i finally did a coffee shop au by probsnothawkeye, T (series, 9 works) summary of part 1: At least once a week the man came in and ordered tea, taking it to the table by the window and sitting there for an hour. He would flip between checking his phone and looking out the window, clearly waiting for someone to show up. Every time, without fail, the man would leave after an hour, a sad, dejected look on his face, only to turn up again in the next couple days and repeat the cycle all over again.

or

Jon continuously gets stood up at the cafe Martin works at. What happens when Martin finally talks to the sad man who keeps getting stood up?

Déjà Vu by CirrusGrey, T summary: Sasha remembers being unmade. Tim remebers being unknown. Jon and Martin remember being unwound. All of them think they're the only one. -------- The S1 crew wakes up in the past with memories up till the moment they died.

Archive Poltergiests by vanroesburg, T summary: "...did you need something, Martin?" Jon asked.

"Oh, uh, no, sorry, I was just wondering if- if you needed anything else? Biscuits, or help transporting anything?" Martin gave another flash of a nervous smile. This was normal behaviour, Martin was behaving normally.

Jon shook his head, but he did pick up the mug of tea, which Martin counted as a win. "No, Martin, all I need is your research on cases #0121102 and #0112905. Thank you very much," Jon said primly, taking a sip of the tea.

His face promptly scrunched up. His eyebrows knit together, he drew up his nose in disgust, and the twist of his mouth couldn't be interpreted as anything except utter distaste. God, Jon's face. This was better than he imagined.

Okay, act normal.

"Oh my god, Jon, is something wrong?! What just happened?" Martin asked, maybe laying the concern on a little thick.

Jon spluttered, confused for a moment before glaring at Martin, "What happened is your bloody tea's--"

Time to sell it.

"The tea?" Martin said, cutting Jon off quickly. He swiped the mug from Jon's desk, took a swig and swallowed it. God that was awful. He'd need to wash his mouth out after this. "What's wrong with it? It tastes fine."

do the stars gaze back? by bluejayblueskies, G summary: As they walk to the market, Martin considers just how unfamiliar all of this is to him. It's a rare occurrence to even hear about a celestial spirit visiting the earthly plane. He knows that the number of times he's seen Jon, much less spoken to them, is far beyond anything in anything in recorded history.

Because Jon is--for all intents and purposes--a star. And Martin has quite an impressive crush on them. It should maybe be terrifying, or at the very least remind him of just how very far out of his league Jon is. Instead, it's ... really quite wonderful. Jon is wonderful.

And now, Martin is going to go grocery shopping with them.

.

Or, Martin lives in a little seaside town and meets Jon, a celestial spirit with a fondness for books and human customs. He falls in love with them, even knowing that it's ill-advised and there's no way that Jon could love him in return.

... Is there?

snowed in by Athina_Blaine, T summary: "Do you think it's selfish? Trying to be happy?"

--

The snow is falling. Martin and Jon find themselves forced to stay for the night.

The Power of Self Respect by IceEckos12 & PitViperOfDoom, T summary: Jon's life has never been easy, but he's now in a place where he has friends, his job isn't wretched, and best of all, he's dating Martin Blackwood. Things are finally starting to turn around for him, so of course that's when he learns that he must defeat Martin's seven exes in order to stay with him.

There's something fishy about this whole thing, Jon is sure of it. But the only way to find out what is to throw down the gauntlet and fight for his love.

found this cute guy on the merry-go-round? by abeebumbling, T summary: Martin Blackwood hadn't meant to stick to the merry-go-round job for so long. It was boring, very boring, the music whiny once you've listened to it a hundred times, so anything even mildly interesting stood out like a sore thumb. Jonathan Sims being on the verge of a mental breakdown turned out to be one of those things.

alright! fifteen fics, mostly jmart but also some gen and some background ships. i love all of these fics a lot and i hope you do too!

[foineswoine]

This post is gonna compile all my thoughts on The Magnus Protocol. All taken from various ramblings I’ve subjected my friends to (lmao) (if any of y’all see this, no you do not.)

All seasons spoilers.

I have. questions about The Magnus Protocol. First, I’ll go through the small amount of info we have. https://rustyquill.com/show/the-magnus-protocol/ "The Magnus Institute was an organisation dedicated to academic research into the esoteric and the paranormal, based out of Manchester, England. It burned to the ground in 1999. There were no survivors. Now, almost 25 years later..." right so. from this we can gather that this takes place in an alternate universe where the Fears leaked into, because the Institute was originally in Edinburgh, not Manchester. And it didn’t burn down in 1999 the OG timeline. This raises questions:

If the Fears didn't originally exist, how come Jonah founded the Magnus Institute?

I've been trying to figure out his original reasoning, but it hasn't been... exactly forthcoming. He was always intrigued by the esoteric, even before discovering the Fears (as mentioned in #24, a letter to Jonah before founding the institute, "but I recall that during your visit last spring you mentioned your fascination with the macabre and strange..."). And I can gather that he had known about the Fears before 1824, when Barnabas wrote to him about being in the Lonely (because, if Mordechai Lukas could have popped him into the Lonely, he must have been an avatar, and their cohort learnt about the fears from Rayner as a little group <3- "When Smirke first gathered our little band – Lukas, Scott, and the rest – to discuss and hypothesize on the nature of the things he had learned from Rayner, I felt what I believe we all felt: curiosity, and fear."). So, he learnt about the Fears before 1824. Well, Milbank was designed by Smirke as "a temple to all the Fears in equilibrium." And he started working on it, after being convinced by Jonah, in 1815. Three years before the institute was founded. So, in this alternate universe, why would he found it? If there weren't any true paranormal sightings? Hm.

“It burnt to the ground in 1999.”

I found this notable because, in 1999, the Institute was subjected to a data breach. Is this where the timelines diverged? ("but when all those statements were leaked back in ‘99..."). I saw a post regarding this, suggesting that perhaps this IS where the timeline diverged. And instead of leaking the documents, the person who obviously wanted to damage the Institute just resorted to good old-fashioned arson.

Now, this is a bit meta, but most of the tidbits of information given in statements have some importance to them. We revisit it- especially when it concerns the Insitute. But aside from a throwaway comment in 68, the data breach never comes up again. This would make sense if it was something set up specifically for the Magnus Protocol.

“Now, almost 25 years later…”

25 years after 1999. 2024. Our time. Not 2018 or 2019. Hm.

Now, this next section is talking about fucking Manchester. Because Jonah moved the Institute from Edinburgh to London because of the Panopticon. So, there must have been some big event to cause him to move to Manchester. Now, some of the Magnus Archives is based on real events- the concept of using the panopticon as a prison design certainly was (although, Robert Smirke being involved was not). This is where my ramblings get a bit off the rails- I skimmed through the Wikipedia article on large events that happened in Manchester, just to see if there was any historical significance to the area. And I found the corn laws.

Not particularly relevant, but since I am compiling all the thoughts and rambles I felt it was necessary.

The teaser trailer! Woo! We hear Martin’s voice in it, so one can assume that he will make an appearance. But- there were no bodies found in the wreckage (end of ep 200). No bodies. Not Elias’, not Jon’s, not Martin’s. And we’re talking about a separate universe. An alternate dimension. No bodies found, the fears were dragged into a different universe? What’s to say that Elias, Jon and Martin weren’t dragged in with them. Or, well, Elias’ (and Jon’s? I hope not) dead bodies. God, that would be fucked. Martin waking up in a new, alien universe clutching the body of his dead boyfriend. That’d be fucked.

I’m not gonna stake my life on this theory, but it is a possibility. Just throwing it out there.

And with the teaser, at the very end there’s a slight whisper. Or is it the sound of wind? Of breathing? I am terrible at identifying sounds. Someone’s probably already done it though. Lmao.

A reddit thread I saw (https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMagnusArchives/comments/znrhlk/tshirt_design_for_magnus_protocol/) already identified the “non vacillabimus” to be “We will not flinch,” or “We shall not falter.” And the aforementioned tumblr user identified the two symbols in the centre of the coat of arms to be salt and mercury (they also pointed out sulfur? Although I can’t spot it), and that it resembles the British Civil Service logo/coat of arms. 

The O.I.A.R. at the top of it all stands for the Office of Incident Assessment and Response (probably).

Other snippets of thoughts that don’t really merit their own section: >Daisy’s first name is Alice. Alternate universe Daisy as a main character? I doubt this a bit, but it would be interesting if that were the case.

>”"have stumbled across its legacy. A legacy that will put them in grave danger." what does this mean???? It’s extra stuff that may mean that Jonah'll return (if not as a character, he will be at least talked about again. yk?)” -me at 9 (slightly comprehensible)

>”if jonah magnus doens't show up in the magnus protocol I am suing and crying and weeping just let my favourite charavter suffer more!! let the cast attack and maim him!!! let the bastard man be all smug and then let people b eat the shit outta him!! thats all I want!!” -me at 2am (not very comprehensible)

Closing Thoughts: Jonah Magnus really wanted the Corn Law drama.

[shut-up-danny-kun]

My top 5 Magnus Archives episodes (excluding the season finales because that's just not fair):

2 - Do Not Open. A very famous episode. For a while I thought I liked it so much because, well, it's the second one I listened to. Things always seem cooler when they're new and fresh, right? Then I came back to it after finishing the podcast and realized I was wrong - it really is an outstanding episode. The plot kind of reminds me of a fairytale - what with the magical promise given to a shady magician, and the "Pandora's box" the hero promises not to open. However, unlike in a fairytale, where the hero gives in to temptation and gets punished, the statement giver outsmarts the coffin - and man, was that satisfying. Also, this episode sets up three massively important storylines: the coffin, of course, Breekon and Hope, and Lukas' lonely apartments. Just amazing stuff all around. When I want to get someone into Magnus, I tell them about Do Not Open first.

110 - Creature Feature. This episode doesn't get talked about very often, but I really like it because of the filmmaking theme. I love hearing about film set drama, and this episode almost feels like a mockumentary. That feeling when you're searching for an old movie that you saw as a child and nothing you find feels quite like you remember, so you start thinking you imagined it - that's in there, too. Plus, giant spiders, Neil Lagorio, and a canonically trans statement giver.

81 - A Guest for Mr. Spider. Of course it's on this list. What can I say that hasn't already been said a million times? I like the characterization of Jon as a little kid, he's surprisingly relatable - I also was a deeply annoying bookworm. This episode feels very realistic while also being deeply unsettling. I can totally imagine seeing "A Guest for Mr. Spider" in some store, in fact, it almost feels like I've read it already. Let's call it the Candle Cove Phenomenon. I wish Rusty Quill published a copy of the titular book - perhaps without the last page.

150 - Cul-de-Sac. God, this episode is everything I want from the Magnus Archives.

✔️A realistic, kind of relatable introduction

✔️An original horror idea

✔️Criticism of contemporary problems presented in an interesting way

✔️Queer rep

✔️✔️✔️A tense story with a satisfying conclusion

One of the very, VERY few episodes with an undebatably happy ending. I was listening to it on the plane and almost cried. Thank you, Jonny, for sparing Herman. I must also say that I really like liminal spaces, and this episode was like the backrooms creepypasta, but better.

132 - Entombed. *sobs* Oh, Daisy... Oh, Jon... Oh, Maahtin... This is not a typical episode, but it is perfect. I can never get enough of rescue plots. What's better than a character risking their life to save another character because they care about them so much? Jon is wonderful in this episode, and the whole subplot about him leaving his rib as an "anchor" is so metal. I love it. I also love the coffin, the whole concept of the domain, the phrase "forever deep below creation, where the weight of existence bears down", and how Martin rescues them. That man was always smarter than everyone gave him credit for.

Imagine how the voice actors recorded this episode. They had to groan all the time.

Hope you liked this compilation! I'd love to hear what your favorite episodes are - I know it's a generic thing to say, but I really would like to hear it.

[eldritchqueerture]

I posted 8,057 times in 2021

367 posts created (5%)

7690 posts reblogged (95%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 21.0 posts.

I added 3,703 tags in 2021

#tma - 3027 posts

#niki.rambles - 119 posts

#ask - 97 posts

#spn - 83 posts

#;; - 80 posts

#chnt - 66 posts

#ask game - 64 posts

#dnd - 57 posts

#yes - 56 posts

#the magnus archives - 54 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

MAG193 be like

122 notes • Posted 2021-06-03 17:20:43 GMT

#4

i wanted to go on a rant in tags of a post about mag200 but then i decided im making my own post

i cannot stress enough how much i fucking love tma ending specifically and precisely because of how heartbreaking it is. when i first listened to the podcast i expected some big fucking showdown action guns blazin shit and i was honestly a bit underwhelmed. yes it was Very Sad and Traumatizing but it was over so fast I didnt feel completely satisfied. But I don't think the idea was ever for it to be a guns blazing action showdown at all

you know how a lot of people say that jon's voice while reading the statements helps them sleep? someone asked me what kinda horror podcast makes you want to sleep and it got me thinking. its a kind of horror thats not outright scary and in your face; on the outside it might even seem calm and soothing when stories are read, and the horror only comes out when you actually pay attention and start thinking about things, and as you go through the podcast you start thinking more and more and its getting scarier and scarier the more you realize, like that meme i started realizing and i couldnt stop realizing yknow?

what i absolutely love about the ending is that its exactly this kind of horror. it was never going to be out in your face, dramatic climax; it may seem underwhelming at first but the more you think about it the more heartbreaking it becomes and its Fascinating

140 notes • Posted 2021-08-13 19:51:53 GMT

#3

all girls do is wake up and blog about jonathan sims

276 notes • Posted 2021-07-28 07:32:09 GMT

#2

Hello Jon nation how are we doing??

This is a quick compilation of Adorable Jon moments inspired by this post: https://twigstarpikachutroll22.tumblr...

I enjoyed doing it a lot and if anyone wants me to do another one please let me know!! I know for a fact there are many more quotes to be used because Jon is Beloved, even though I make fun of him a little bit in the video. It's out of love 💜

@twigstarpikachutroll22 look I made it! XD

276 notes • Posted 2021-08-07 17:24:18 GMT

#1

im so in love with the fact that there are so many safehouse fics. im so in love with how we looked at those two episodes and collectively decided that we will write these two characters an eternity in love and safety. and i love every author who looked at the amount of safehouse fics already written and said "there needs to be more". i think this is really really beautiful and it just never gets old

840 notes • Posted 2021-09-03 17:12:10 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[allavengedromance]

A compilation of interactions between Jon and Helen from beginning to end because they had the best dynamic

Transcript under the cut

[MAG 47]

[CLICK] [SOUND OF PEN SCRATCHING AGAINST PAPER IN SHARP, FRUSTRATED MOVEMENTS]

ARCHIVIST

Statement of Helen Richardson, regarding, uh… how would you describe it?

[PEN SCRATCHING CONTINUES]

ARCHIVIST

…Miss Richardson?

[PEN SCRATCHING CONTINUES]

HELEN

– uh, what?

[PEN SCRATCHING CONTINUES]

ARCHIVIST

Your experience, how would you summarize it?

[PEN SCRATCHING CONTINUES]

HELEN

Um, well, I’ve been, I’ve been trying to draw you a map, but, it doesn’t, it doesn’t work.

[PEN SCRATCHING CONTINUES; HELEN CAN NOW BE HEARD BREATHING HARD AS THE ARCHIVIST SPEAKS]

ARCHIVIST

– Right. Statement of Helen Richardson, regarding a new door in the house she was selling. Statement recorded direct from subject, 2nd October, 2016. Statement begins.

[MAG 101]

HELEN

Do you want to come in?

ARCHIVIST

Wh… Helen? H-Helen Richardson? But… But y– Michael…

HELEN

Michael isn’t me. Not now.

ARCHIVIST

What happened?

HELEN

He got… distracted. Let feelings that shouldn’t have been his overwhelm me.

Lost my way.

ARCHIVIST

And now? Y-__you’re__ Helen?

[MAG 115]

[KNOCK, KNOCK]

[Calls] Come i–

[KNOCK, KNOCK]

[More sombrely] Come in.

[A NEW DOOR CREAKS OPEN]

[Sharply] What do you want?

HELEN

Not sure. To talk.

ARCHIVIST

You’re keeping her face, then.

HELEN

I am Helen.

ARCHIVIST

Don’t pretend to be people I know. Knew.

HELEN

I’m not pretending.

ARCHIVIST

You’re not Helen Richardson.

[MAG 115]

HELEN

Before, talking to you made Helen feel better.

ARCHIVIST

You’re not that Helen!

HELEN

I just want… I just want to feel better.

ARCHIVIST

…

I don’t believe you.

HELEN

You don’t?

ARCHIVIST

Wh-what? Why should I believe… a-a-any of this? You’ve told me over and over that you’re… what was the phrase? The ‘throat of delusion’? All of this is –

HELEN

I have never told you a lie, Archivist. I wouldn’t dare. I, I just thought you might understand.

ARCHIVIST

Uh… How could I possibly…

HELEN

We’re both changing, Archivist. I had hoped, that together –

ARCHIVIST

[Furious] Get out.

[MAG 131]

[MELANIE SIGHS, KNOCKS ON THE DOOR] MELANIE

She’s been helping us.

ARCHIVIST

[Sharply] It has never helped anyone. Not without a cost.

[THE DOOR CREAKS OPEN] HELEN

If I am an “it”, Archivist, then what does that make you?

[THE DOOR CREAKS CLOSED] MELANIE

Hi, Helen.

ARCHIVIST

[Coldly] I have been told you can help.

HELEN

I have been trying to. But the last time you were very rude to me.

ARCHIVIST

You’re still wearing her face.

HELEN

Not this again. I’m not “wearing” anything, Archivist. I am at least as much ‘Helen Richardson’ as you are the ‘Jonathan Sims’ that first joined this Institute.

[MAG 143]

ARCHIVIST

Why are you here?

HELEN

I told you! I’ve decided to help. I thought you might like a way home?

ARCHIVIST

Another door?

HELEN

If you want it. (short pause) How was it?

ARCHIVIST

Hm?

HELEN

Looking upon the Dark.

ARCHIVIST

I thought I was going to die.

HELEN

You seem to think that a lot.

[MAG 152]

HELEN

(“delicately” hinting) Although – some of us are always lost, in a sense.

ARCHIVIST

Wait, are you saying you can navigate it?

HELEN

Not exactly, but my door has been part of these tunnels for some time now.

ARCHIVIST

Wh – (frustrated sputtering) – what’s it hiding, wh-what’s in the middle?

HELEN

(suppressed laughter) A delightful surprise…!

[HE SIGHS. SHE LAUGHS, OVERLAPPING HIM AND HERSELF, SEEMINGLY OUT OF SEVERAL THROATS AT ONCE, AND WITH A DRAINED, SLEEPY QUALITY TO IT WHEN SHE FINDS THAT SHE HAS LAUGHED TOO LONG, AND MUST STOP TO INHALE. HER LAUGHTER, IN SHORT, NOW SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE MICHAEL’S. THE ARCHIVIST SIGHS AGAIN, RESIGNED TO HER.]

[MAG 152]

HELEN

Hungry, are we?

ARCHIVIST

(angrily) That’s not –

– I haven’t done anything –

HELEN

– yet.

ARCHIVIST

(roughly) I feel like if I don’t… I might die. Fade away into nothing.

HELEN

…

Do you… Know that?

ARCHIVIST

No. But I… (frustrated noise) I can’t die. They need me.

HELEN

Come on, John, no excuses.

[HE SIGHS AS SHE SPEAKS.]

They don’t need your protection.

[MAG 152]

HELEN

Helen was like you, at first.

[HE CAN BE HEARD INHALING UNHAPPILY IN THE BACKGROUND.]

She felt such guilt over taking people. Until one day she realized she wasn’t going to stop doing it. So she chose to stop feeling guilty.

ARCHIVIST

Fine. I get it.

[MAG 157]

[CLICK] [HEAVY KNOCKING ON A DOOR. IT SWINGS OPEN.] ARCHIVIST

Helen.

HELEN

Jonathan.

ARCHIVIST

I need – you said before you knew the tunnels, right? That you’d been a… part of them?

HELEN

Not my exact words, but close enough.

ARCHIVIST

I need to know what’s in there. What’s at the center? (urgently) I-it’s important, Martin – I need to know.

HELEN

(cheerfully) That’s a shame, because I’m afraid I’m not going to tell you!

ARCHIVIST

(aghast) What? Why not?

HELEN

Because I have a good enough sense of what’s going on to know that it will be much more fun without my involvement! (begins laughing)

ARCHIVIST

What? You – you said you were going to help!

HELEN

I am.

ARCHIVIST

I don’t have time for this.

[164]

HELEN

Remember? And please – my name is Helen.

ARCHIVIST

Like you said, I can know everything now, including how much of a lie that really is.

HELEN

Don’t mistake complication for falsehood, dear Archivist. And remember, that knowledge is not the same thing as understanding!

ARCHIVIST

What do you want.

HELEN

To say hello! And check up on the happy couple.

[She laughs again.]

[166]

ARCHIVIST

Hello, Helen.

HELEN

Oh, hello! In a better mood, are we?

(lower, teasing) Feeling more secure now you’ve learned how to kill?

[As she speaks, a shimmery, high-pitched sound starts to layer over the background.] ARCHIVIST

(inhale) Something like that.

MARTIN

Will you tell me how he did it?

ARCHIVIST

Martin…

MARTIN

He just keeps going all vague about it.

HELEN

Oh, goodness. You see what you’ve done to the poor boy, John? He’s coming to me for clear answers.

[She snorts, and it turns into her trademark laugh.]

ARCHIVIST

Shut up.

[177]

HELEN

Oh, John? Not to sound like a squeaky hinge, but do try to lighten up. Don’t get me wrong, the brooding thing’s a good look on you, but it is starting to get a bit tired. Especially now you’ve got someone else to do the intense, driven thing. I think you might need to get a new schtick.

ARCHIVIST

[Sarcastic] Thank you for the feedback. I’ll try to bear it in mind.

[183]

ARCHIVIST

What we want doesn’t matter much these days.

[HELEN MAKES A RASPBERRY NOISE]

HELEN

Oh nonsense. What we want is the only thing that matters these days. And Basira wanted to join Daisy.

ARCHIVIST

She made her choice.

HELEN

With your assistance.

ARCHIVIST

It was still her choice.

HELEN

[Sighing] What a waste.

ARCHIVIST

No.

It wasn’t.

[MAG 187]

HELEN

You really don’t like me, do you?

ARCHIVIST

No.

HELEN

And you never have.

ARCHIVIST

Not really.

HELEN

Even though I saved you from Michael.

ARCHIVIST

You were Michael.

HELEN

Argh. I’m The Distortion, as was Michael, but I am not him, and never have been. Surely you know all this by now, what with your shiny new eye powers?

ARCHIVIST

It’s not about what I know. It’s about what I feel.

HELEN

[Disparagingly] Oh, what do you feel?

ARCHIVIST

I liked Helen.

HELEN

I am Helen.

ARCHIVIST

The real one.

HELEN

…

Helen-Classic.

ARCHIVIST

Sure.

HELEN

But that doesn’t make any sense. You barely met her. You had half an hour together, and she spent most of that ranting about mazes! She was positively delirious with paranoia!

ARCHIVIST

True. But as you’ll recall, I was pretty paranoid myself at that point.

[MAG 187]

ARCHIVIST

I got you rattled.

HELEN

I’m not scared of you.

ARCHIVIST

Helen… Was that… a lie?

HELEN

[Too quickly] No!

ARCHIVIST

A lie. A genuine untruth. Like a little bit of loose thread, flitting in the breeze.

HELEN

Fine. You can go.

[SHIFTING, AND A NEW DOOR OPENS]

There’s the door. Just go!

ARCHIVIST

Ceaseless Watcher!

HELEN

No!

[THROUGH THE INCANTATION, THE HARSH BUZZ OF STATIC MINGLES WITH CREAKING WOODWORK AND CRUMBLING CRICK]

ARCHIVIST

See this lie, this golden strand of falsehood. Take it in your gaze and pull it, follow through its curves and twists and knots as it unravels all before you.

HELEN (BACKGROUND)

No. No! No! No, Archivist! Stop! John, it’s me, it’s Helen. It’s me. I’ve always been your friend. Don’t do this to me. I have always helped you. I have always helped you and lent you doors. Think of all that I have done for you. If you do this, everyone inside me is dead!

ARCHIVIST

Unweave it now, its fear and its falsehood, its hidden teeth and the ones it wears so proudly.

HELEN (BACKGROUND)

You’re no different – You are no different from me! You can’t save anyone!

ARCHIVIST

Take all that it is and all that it has. It is yours!

HELEN

No! NOOOOOO!

[HELEN’S VOICE IS STRETCHED AND VANISHED] [EXTENDED SOUNDS OF DISTORTED DEMOLITION]

[MAG 47]

HELEN

Finally, [suppressing tears] after the latest bout of nightmares, I decided to come to you and tell you my story. Maybe you can make some sense of this.

ARCHIVIST

…Perhaps. Leave it with us. We’ll… do some digging and see what we can find.

HELEN

[tearful] You believe me, then?

ARCHIVIST

I… yes. Yes, I think I do.