#Sasha seeing Tim dying in an explosion: NO THE FUCK YOU DO NOT (grabs his spirit and forces it into his corpse)

[toms-topic]

AU where Sasha and Tim became avatars instead of dying so now there are 3 avatars loose in the archives

[mysterioussinkhole]

Breathing Room

Statement Summary: The statement was a letter from Adelard Dekker to Gertrude. He gave her the explosives in her storage unit. The situation he wants to talk about arose while he was investigating the possible emergence of a new power. The incident wasn’t what he hoped but it was still something. People kept dying in their sleep from carbon monoxide poisoning but with blood in their throats and shredded vocal chords. There was also evidence of a second person at the scene who left unharmed. After four similar cases he got a call from his coroner friend. The police hadn’t found any CO at the scene and the method of administration seemed to go directly to the bloodstream. The deaths were almost certainly painful. Dekker thought the man-made aspect could indicate his new power but it didn’t turn out to be. He ruminates on how the feeling of falling asleep is unsettling and whether that’s how death is. Death in his sleep is the one he fears the most. The culprit was human, though being by the End, after he’d suffered from CO poisoning and dying for a few seconds before being resuscitated. The man began screaming about his visions of death the moment he was conscious. He’d been off the grid for years. The man was claimed for what he owed to the End. Dekker watched the man’s apartment and saw him leave one night. He followed him to a house, where the man went inside. After a minute, he also went in. In the main bedroom the man sat in the corner and caused the bed’s occupant to choke on carbon monoxide. The victim died but he managed to incapacitate the man with a skewer through a specific area of his brain. He survived but was arrested shortly.

Who Did It: The End

Spooky Rating: 8/10, dying defenseless does damage to dreams

Storage Drama: Jon, Martin, and Melanie get into Gertrude’s storage unit (Tim is not there, like Daisy assumed he was). It’s crowded. They start searching and talk about Jon’s adventures in America. There are several eyeless paintings, an eyeless doll, shredded newspapers, and Martin nearly grabs a random book before Jon stops him. They carefully open it to see that it’s just a notebook. Jon talks about how traveling was interesting but disorienting, and Melanie brings up her own troubles. He tries to apologize but she doesn’t want it. They agree that the plan Martin has come up with to deal with Elias will most likely work. Melanie finds the remains of the gorilla skin which has been thoroughly destroyed. And then Martin finds some plastic explosive. They all have a bit of freak out over it. Characteristically, Martin tries to touch it, Jon makes up some bullshit about it being C4, and Melanie is done with both of them. Then they hear the sound of a recorder and dig it out of Jon’s bag. Martin and Melanie yell at him to turn it off. After the statement, Jon explains how the explosives and the statement only serve to confuse him more. He notes how well connected Gertrude is. The End avatar, Justin Goff, is still on the loose. Jon comments on dreams and says that he’s not going to be letting anyone else in anytime soon.

Stray Thoughts: Dekker makes a comment about how he sleeps so little that the dreams won’t bother him, and honestly how the fuck did I miss this build up the first time around? It seems so obvious in retrospect. Plus, Jon’s comment at the end is definitely a promise to avoid doing live statements while he can. The whole issue of his insomnia and both Archivists’ approaches to live statements are almost tragic in retrospect. They never asked for this. They never wanted to do people harm. At least, not at first. The new power is almost certainly a tech-based one. I have gut feeling and a whole theory that I’ll eventually get to typing out. I also love the bit at the beginning with storage unit. Jon and Martin bickering is kind of adorable, and I get what Sasha said about Martin not having any sense of self-preservation. It’s like a moment of that found family story that we all wish for but know we’ll never get. This isn’t that kind of story.

Children’s Fun Fact Science Corner: Oh, and I finally get to use the only knowledge I retained from A Level Biology. The reason carbon monoxide is so dangerous is because it is more readily accepted by our red blood cells than oxygen and it’s a competitive inhibitor, so once the body gets some it won’t go back to using oxygen until there’s no carbon monoxide to use. The resulting carbaminohemoglobin (not haemoglobin, you heathens) deprives the body of oxygen and it begins to shut down.