#Where jon goes martin follows | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

livebloggingmydescentintomadness · 4 months

Note

Hey man

this is the malevolent fic-starved anon.

You mentioned a Jarthur fic rec list

👁️👁️👁️

yo! i got you 👍

i haven't published the post yet because there are some more fics in my marked for later i want to get through first, but i'll go head and copy/paste the list i have so far for your enjoyment. putting it under a cut since it's long.

formaldehyde (or, The Case of the Missing Lilly) by SupposedToBeWriting 110k M

Half of the King in Yellow gets ejected through a portal on a failed ritual. To return, he must perform a human sacrifice - harder than it first seems, as the entity struggles to adapt to the peculiar ways of mortals. In a stroke of luck, he finds the perfect sacrifice in the form of one drunken, surly ex-PI: Arthur Lester.

In the meanwhile, Arkham is in the swing of Prohibition and everyone knows how things work around here. A chance meeting and an abrupt kidnapping put John and Arthur on a case: one where secrets lurk behind every mask and blood flows thicker than gin.

Surrogate: The Director's Cut by Kraiva, Somniate, Trin (ssjtrinity) 637k+ WIP M

The King in Yellow had a plan. It worked, and Arthur Lester broke.

Then it all went to hell.

A certain Outer God took issue with his favorite show's cancellation, and arrived with certain demands.

Hastur is furious. His adopted daughter is afraid. John wants to kill his other half; and Arthur has a lot of healing to do in rebuilt Carcosa, in the mystical Dreamlands.

Forced family is not, as it turns out, a good time for anyone.

(yes, this fic is absurdly long, and YES, it's absolutely worth it)

All that is mine to me, all that is yours to you by Stringgoblin 86k M

"We'll find you a nice cadaver, or something."

After everything, Arthur and John finally have time to figure out how to get John his own body. It isn't a pleasant process. It turns out that having a fragment of a god excised from your mind has some side-effects, and being a fragment of a god suddenly resident in a human ex-corpse isn't particularly straightforward either.

They'll help each other through it. They always do.

whiskey old fashioned sour by bluejayblueskies 80k E

Following the death of his daughter, famous film composer and pianist Arthur Lester drops out of the music scene and disappears from the public eye. Ten years later, Arthur now works as a private investigator and has no interest in performing or composing ever again.

John is intrigued by Arthur, who comes to his club to drink on the rare nights that there’s no music scheduled. As they meet again and again, they begin to grow closer. But Arthur isn’t the only one with a past he’s trying to run away from.

In a Yellow Wood by oprime 72k T

John is gone, and Arthur goes back about the business of living. Until he finds himself thrust back into the dark underbelly of the world and decides to find his best friend. Or die trying.

I Prefer My Heart to Be Broken by Trin (ssjtrinity) 140k M

(TMA/Malevolent crossover)

Somewhere Else isn't right, and they've never talked about what happened in the Panopticon, but so what? They're together. The Fears aren’t gone, no, but behind a curtain, subdued.

Martin actually loves the small-village life, farming and friends and found family. Jon is... managing. They're making it work.

But the universe they landed in is occupied, and its current rulers are very interested in the new kids. Entities made of Fear, attached to a damaged ex-human and his surprisingly sneaky lover? Who could resist playing with that?

Everyone has plans, and plans under those plans. What happens when a web grows too heavy to support its own weight?

"Tears and blood, blood and tears," says Kayne.

He is not wrong.

Oh, I Love You So Much (It Scares Me Half To Death) by SupposedToBeWriting 84k M

Arthur and John have become Doe & Lester, private detectives. Finally in his own body, John is eager to see what the rest of his mortal life holds -- Arthur, on the other hand, believes that John should spend his life without Arthur holding him back. Arthur is not the sort of man who can provide stability, warmth. A family.

On a case, they find a baby clutched in the arms of her dead father. John grows attached quickly, and together, the men discover that the baby is in fact Emily MacFarland from another timeline... and that the universe is much more breakable than they thought.

The sky falls around their ears, strange flesh monsters crawl from portals, and the world seems to be nearing its end. John begins to realize what exactly he wants out of life, as Arthur faces the constant enemy to his own happiness: himself.

A Night Out In Albany by SupposedToBeWriting 9k M

Arthur and John arrive in Albany after the last train to New York leaves. Stranding in Albany for the night, they take advantage of the opportunity and get Arthur a change of clothes and a shave -- and maybe even a movie, if time allows. After the horrors they encountered in Addison, and amidst Arthur's growing suspicion that his friend is hiding something, sometimes it's nice to have a night out on the town.

How Their Light Sets Me Dreaming by Artistic_Witch 12.6k M

After the confrontation with the King, John awakens to a beautiful vision of a life he and Arthur never had the chance to lead. Is this a manipulative trick meant to break him, or something else entirely?

Now That's What I Call Entangled! by Croik 58k E

On the way to the plateau, Arthur and John discover a spell in one of their books that will (hopefully) allow them to fight back against the King in Yellow. But when John ends up absorbed by the King, it's up to Arthur to free him.

tachycardia by bluejayblueskies 6.3k E

The thump-thump-thump increases until it’s all John can hear, and quite frankly, he’s had enough. “Just calm down!” he snarls, and he clenches his hand into a fist, and then—

And then, it stops.

John has a single moment of blissful silence.

Then, Arthur wheezes and crumples to the ground.

Or, John gains control of Arthur’s heart.

In Vino Veritas by SupposedToBeWriting 5k T

Taking advantage of relative safety, John and Arthur have a nice meal and a bottle of wine. It takes some time before they realize that certain god fragments are not immune to the effects of alcohol, and certain mortal men have recently lost a significant amount of blood. Confessions are made, plans are established, and a good rest is had by all.

Take My Skin and Wear It by PrettyArbitrary 3k E

Stripped to his skin, Arthur lays back on the mattress. “All right, John, I’m all yours.”

They share a body. John thinks it's about time he got more familiar with it.

It Would Be A Long Drive Home by Croik 20k T

The King in Yellow throws Arthur out of the Dreamlands, convinced that will be the end of his troubles. But he's miscalculated - Arthur and John are still deeply entangled, and the threat of Arthur's death and banishment to the Dark World hangs over them all. The King has no choice but to help Arthur survive this, for his own sake (aka Arthur Never Makes the Deal with Kayne AU).

Faroe's Waltz by Wildehack (tyleet) 10k M

Arthur dreams of pain and wakes to music: the opening strains of a melody, left incomplete.

Cold As the Rain That Falls in December by captaincravatthecapricious 41k M

There's no way Arthur just waltzes off to NY with a hole in his stomach sewed up by filthy thread and fishhooks, right?

Phagia by PrettyArbitrary 4k T

It's a holdover from his old body, his old identity. Sometimes his blunt little human teeth ache to bite. To rend, to tear into flesh and set his jaw and just rip.

a burden halved by Calamitatum 11k

Arthur's scars litter his skin like a roadmap of mistakes, the harrowing evidence of everything he's suffered to keep them both alive.

When John is injured on a case, he's startled to find that Arthur can't feel it. Determined, for once, to ease his friend's burden, John keeps the severity of the wound to himself. After all, he's seen Arthur bounce back from plenty worse, right?

Right?

From Roots to Tip by Croik 3.2k E

Breaktime in the Dreamlands, and Arthur promised that John would have his turn for a "hand job."

The Lightning In The Collied Night by Artistic_Witch 4k G

Arthur decides to help John acclimate to his new body by teaching him how to dance.

Sometimes all you can do is dance in the dark...

Embrace the World Ahead by SupposedToBeWriting 2k T

Taking a quiet moment, Arthur starts to nod off. John has a question he'd like to ask, and in return, Arthur receives the first hug he'd had in a very, very long while.

#malevolent #jarthur #anonymous #ask

37 notes · View notes

yourlocalspacecryptid · 8 months

Text

so the first episode we hear Martin is when he gives his corruption statement in season one. now, the entire reason why Martin even met Prentiss in the first place was because he was following up a statement about The Web.

and while there are several places that you could headcanon as the point where Jon starts to reciprocate Marin’s feelings, I feel that this episode is at least when Jon starts respecting and somewhat caring for Martin, not complaining about him as much and all of their interactions from this point forward aren’t filled with the sarcastic comments Jon made throughout this episode. With the most obvious moment being at the end of the episode when he offers that Martin stay at the archives until Prentiss stops stalking him.

fast forward to season four, when Jon goes to fetch Daisy from The Buried, the only reason they’re able to get out is because Martin was stacking tape recorders on the coffin, Whether it was due to Martins proximity to the coffin (him probably being closest to Jon relationship wise, thus being a good emotional anchor) or the tape recorders on the coffin, he gets out. The tape recorders, remember, are closely tied to the web, so Martin feeling the need to put tape recorders on the coffin seems awfully The Web of him.

on top of that most of the teaholding moments we get season 2 onwards are because the tapes turned on by themselves, the web wanted them recorded

hmm, and what is The Webs whole thing again? Fate, destiny, you have no free will, controlling the lives of others…

I believe the entire romantic subplot is just The Mother of Puppets helping their precious son (Martin) get together with his workplace crush

In this essay I wi-

#the magnus archives #tma #teaholding #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #the web

54 notes · View notes

divorcemotif · 5 months

Text

this is going to be kind of all over the place but I wanna look at how martin conceptualizes his loyalty to jon specifically in like, the changing contexts of the later seasons, ig. of all the fucked up martin thesis statement moments in mag 170, "always following, never leading" and how it's placed as a foundational part of his self-conception—within the structure of the episode & dream logic of the house—is the one that’s haunted me the most I think. this episode is in the context of his whole willful ignorance & rejection of choice thing going at this part of the show; he refuses to listen to the statements, or hear about his domain, or make the decision about going into jude’s domain when jon offers it to him directly. and his avoidant tendencies are central to the logic of this episode; the slipping away is enabled by his not wanting to examine things—about himself, about the world—because it’s easier.. “maybe the fog’s here because I want it here”; running away from another person in the house when trying to connect gets too difficult & overwhelming. and then his mantra at the climax of this episode sees him assuring himself that jon will find him, not that he will find jon; although getting out of the fog in this episode ends up being pretty textually thanks to his own willpower rather than jon’s abilities, framing jon as the active agent is what he always does.

it’s this interesting dynamic where “never leading” as an identity maybe isn’t something he likes about himself, but it’s something he’s resigned to, which he frames as intrinsic, and which he’s continually choosing in a lot of subtle ways. if he’s always fundamentally secondary and unimportant—to jon, relatively, to the universe—then there’s no responsibility for him to carry; he doesn't need to dwell on things that are uncomfortable. from a detached bystander's position he can freely make suggestions and criticize jon’s decisions, while evading responsibility for anything that actually happens. but of course, jon being the only vessel through which he has any power to interact with the world or gain information leaves him no influence further than what jon is willing to humour him—and jon is certainly ready to do things martin does not want him to do (or not do things which martin does want him to do) where their convictions diverge. for his own reasons, he can be as selective about what he tells martin as martin is evasive in what he asks.

there’s a pivotal emotional shift in the transition from s4 to s5 and the catharsis at the end of 159, where in a sense martin goes from one extreme to another—from isolating himself and cutting jon out to accepting dependence on jon pretty absolutely, in ways that are exacerbated by the context of the fear apocalypse. but ofc in another sense it’s consistent; even if his decisions in season 4 were made in isolation and jon wasn't involved—or was even actively opposed to them—everything martin did was still about jon somehow, ideologically, which is what doesn’t change going into season 5. the idea he expresses multiple times, in 170 and in season 4, that he’s been alone on a fundamental level his whole life (the line “it’s just me. always has been” in 158 actually connecting his loneliness to the independence of his motivations, wrt his betrayal of peter lukas) is not a contradiction with the idea that he’s always been “following”; the incredibly isolating experience of being his abusive mum's carer having made caring for others—commitment, loyalty—something he’s practiced at doing from an emotional distance, and he’s not used to navigating a reciprocal relationship at all (when they're together martin's selective about sharing his insecurities with jon while expecting jon to make a constant effort to be more vulnerable with him, and doesn’t seem to register this hypocrisy).

and like, from the early seasons most of the major things he does for jon—running into the tunnels in 79; staying with him in the storage closet in 39; returning to carlos vittery's basement in 22, if that counts; generally bringing him tea and pestering him to eat—were always based more in his own ideas of what jon needed/would respond to, than anything jon was or was not asking of him (jon was not singling him out in this regard). so season 4 was not out of line in that respect. and in the final conflict at the end of season 5 he's still making his position about jon, about what's best for him, even though what he and jon want has diverged.

it's in some ways an evasive thing, focusing on jon—whether trying to influence jon’s actions or centring jon in his own—but you also get this kind of muddying of cause and justification. being unable on a fundamental level to conceive of himself as an active player in his own right—wanting things but not knowing how to approach the responsibility that would be implicitly accepted in pursuing them, either by himself or for himself; I think it's a big part of his “it’s not a betrayal if you’re doing it to help” philosophy, where ultimately his loyalty to jon as he conceives it can manifest in going actively against jon’s wishes

#tma #the magnus archives #martin blackwood #op #wrote most of this a couple months ago when I was listening to sedona by sir chloe on repeat #don't you wanna be nobody every once in a while. idk

32 notes · View notes

historicallyaccuratecheese · 9 months

Text

Well, I guess I’m continuing to make these now! Here’s the next part of my thoughts on every Magnus Archives episode! Now, last time I said that I was planning to write about episodes 21-40 in the next post, but as it turns out, the hyperfixation has set in and my thoughts are a LOT longer (so buckle up if you want to read this), and I also reached the tag limit. So, I’m only going to be covering episodes 21-30 here, and then I’ll write about episodes 31-40, and this 10 episode trend will probably continue for the rest of the posts, but that just means I’ll be able to put them out faster.

Also, unlike my first post, where I wrote all of my thoughts after finishing episode 20, all of these ones were written right after I finished the specific episode I talked about, so my thoughts are a lot more clearly documented. Finally, there’s a link to my masterpost, which will contain all the post’s detailing my thoughts on every episode before and after these ones.

Once again, no spoilers for future episodes please, and for anyone who hasn’t watched up to episode 30, spoilers are under the cut, so I recommend turning away until you’ve caught up. :)

- Episode 21, Freefall 🪂

Statement of Moira Kelly, regarding the disappearance of her son Robert.

WHAT THE FUCK??!! MARTIN??!! DAMN, I guess the horrors did get to him! Well, it’s nice to finally meet him, even if his first line was dropping shit on the ground. Either way, I get the vibe I’m in for a wild ride for this second half. ….What was I talking about? Oh yeah, the actual statement. Anyways this one upset me. Not only did it bring out my fear of heights pretty well, but the portrayal of a grieving mother who can’t comprehend what happened to her son was really heartbreaking. The line “The sky ate him” was kind of comedic at first, especially with Jon’s following reaction (love this guy btw, he’s such a loser), but then it became really horrific when I realized how it was just Moira desperately trying to make sense of the impossible horrors she just witnessed. The plot thread set up with Simon and Harriet Fairchild is also very interesting, and the whole sky thing kind of reminded me of Dominic’s visions in Ep. 4. Overall another one of many fantastic episodes, but HOLY SHIT I’M SCARED.

- Episode 22, Colony 🔦

Statement of Martin Blackwood, archival assistant at the Magnus Institute, London, regarding a close encounter with something he believes to have once been Jane Prentiss. Statement taken direct from subject.

….aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Ok let’s start from the top. Firstly, I’m really happy we finally got to meet Martin in this episode, and he’s great! Honestly he comes off as more dorky than stupid, and just comes off as a real sweetheart, so Jon’s distaste for him (outside of very different personalities), gets more mysterious. Though all things considered, after what he experienced, I don’t think that the bullying is his biggest worry anymore… Alexander J. Newall does a fantastic delivery, as much as I love Jon’s readings, you can really feel how terrified Martin is here (also “Blackwood” is a sick as fuck last name, and I related to him trailing off about spiders…) Outside of Martin himself, we have Jane Prentiss (or what remains of her) and…well, let’s just say that I don’t find the sex worms nearly as funny anymore. Jane and the worms inside her are absolutely terrifying, and while I would say I’m excited to learn more about her, I wouldn’t be complaining if the institute staff never had to deal with her again. Also the text episode made me, if you’ll excuse my language…squirm. Honestly, this might just be my favorite episode so far. The way that the plot threads from previous episodes connected here was extremely satisfying, and needless to say, I’m very excited and horrified to see where the show goes from here.

- Episode 23, Schwartzwald 🇩🇪

Statement of Albrecht von Closen, regarding a discovered tomb near his estate in the Black Forest.

Worst episode ever because Jon didn’t do a German accent, smh. Ok but in all seriousness, I really liked this one! It wasn’t the strongest in terms of complex themes in my opinion, but it had a great vibe, and was still very interesting, entertaining, and decently creepy. Having a “statement” written before the archives was founded is a really cool idea that’s executed perfectly here, and while we didn’t learn that much about Jonah Magnus, I still found it cool to get a first glimpse of the archives’ history. (Also, given the eye imagery that appears both in here and in other episodes, I can’t help but feel like Albrecht’s wording of Jonah having “good eyes” or something like that is a little weird…) And…now that we have the instance of something that isn’t a statement, but is important being in the archives, I absolutely agree with the idea that Gertrude Robinson organized these poorly on purpose, so that Jon would get the knowledge he needed to have. Regardless, this whole episode had the vibes of a classic ghost story, which while not as weird and off-putting as some of the other horror here, was still a nice change of pace overall. The descriptions of The Schwartzwald were really well done and added to the atmosphere, and I just like the fact that we have another historical episode, that’s also set outside of The UK. Also, the way that they played with the time period at the end was amazing, I already had my suspicions due to the eye imagery, but the reveal of Mary Keay (and therefore Gerard Wa- I mean Keay) being a descendant of Albrecht was still really cool. I also do wonder if the Arabic book was eventually found by Jurgen Leitner in the future…eh, food for thought. Lastly, I loved Martin jumping in out of nowhere, it was both funny, and a grim reminder about how fucked the archives supposedly are, yippee!

Wow, these are a lot longer than my previous thoughts. This, my sweet children, is a phenomenon called “brain rot”.

- Episode 24, Strange Music 🪆

Statement of Leanne Denikin, regarding an antique calliope organ she possessed briefly in August 2004.

Jon, honey, are we not going to elaborate on the fact that one of ✨the horrors✨is literally inside the institute? Like, HELLO? That’s not terrifying at all! Anwyays, this episode continues the trend of making me scared of things I’m not initially scared of, yippee! It had great vibes as well, the weird shit in the attic was made to be as creepy as possible. Initially, I didn’t find this one to be too scary, and figured it was going to go in the direction of “music makes people feel kind of weird”. AND THEN JOSHUA GETS KILLED AND TURNED INTO A DOLL HELLO??!!! Like, I know he was kind of a toxic boyfriend, but DAMN, whatever was behind the calliope and the dolls did NOT have to go that far. (Also until the end I thought he might be Joshua Gillepsie, and like, I don’t care how toxic he is, but you do not dump a guy who bested an evil coffin with his freezer.) Outside of that, It was really cool to meet Sasha! I like her voice, and the introduction was quite funny. (Also, even as someone who has lived in England for over two years, and has a family that is 90% British, nothing hurt more that Jon’s “Americans”.) Lastly, I have a theory, which I like to call “Ringmaster? More like cult leader.” Because I’M SORRY, but you cannot convince me that a CIRCUS, called THE CIRCUS OF THE OTHER, which possessed a HAUNTED CALLIOPE ORGAN, is anything but a cult. (Watch me when I’m inevitably wrong lmao.)

I guess now is a better time than any to say that I’m kind of wondering if there’s an in-universe reason for the music in the background? I mean, considering that the whole framing device is Jon recording these statements, I have to wonder if there’s a reason for the noise we hear, especially with the worms in Ep. 22 and the music in Ep. 24.

- Episode 25, Growing Dark ⛪️

Statement of Mark Bilham, regarding events culminating in his visit to Hither Green Chapel.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I LOVE BEING RIGHT!!! I saw the episode title and immediately assumed this would continue the lore of Episode 9, and I WAS SO RIGHT!!! (Also, I now just noticed that the PCOTDH’s symbol is a closed eye, while The Keay Family’s symbol is an open eye…my cult theory thickens…) Anyways, this was another very enjoyable episode! Firstly, even though it’s far from the first piece of media to do so, I though the way they portrayed a cult brainwashing someone when they’re most vulnerable was very well handled and pretty depressing. I also really enjoyed how the episode isn’t the most weird and paranormal on it’s own, but the knowledge of the connections to Ep. 9 makes us know that it DEFINITELY is, even when the characters in the story don’t. The episode was certainly very spooky, the description of the spinach and the dark church definitely got me. (Also my mom came into my room briefly and when she left she accidentally turned off the light and I nearly screamed.) There were also some really interesting plot threads set up here, like the chanting of the northern most human settlement in the world, the mention of “three hundred years waiting”, and I also wonder if “Mr. Pitch” is an alias for “Detective Rayner.” then…the ending. Holy shit. You know, maybe I DON’T need to know what happened to Gertrude….

Episode 26, A Distortion ☕️

Statement of Sasha James, assistant archivist at the Magnus Institute, London, regarding a series of paranormal sightings. Statement taken direct from subject.

I…what…I don’t even…we are so fucked. Ok, there’s a LOT going on here, but I’ll try my best to formulate my thoughts as clearly as possible. Firstly, this episode easily scared me the most so far, I agree with Jon when he says that the horrors being somewhat friendly is scarier than them being antagonistic, like HOLY SHIT this one was unnerving. But with that out of the way…uh…let’s talk about Sasha! She’s really cool, I like how her character gives us a lot more insight into what working in the archives is like for a fairly regular person (i say this because Jon is weird as fuck and Martin is too nice to be normal, and I mean that as kindly as possible). But…while I don’t necessarily doubt her status as the most level-headed person in the archives, I don’t think that’s saying much. Like, she saw a creepy guy with weird-ass hands who spoke in riddles and knew too much about her and her coworkers, and followed him into a dilapidated building, also she works at the council of ghost stories despite not liking horror. Like, no offense, I’m sure she’s overall an intelligent person, as are most people in the archives, but none of them are beating Joshua Gillepsie anytime soon (yes I’m still thinking about him.) But mentioning the guy with fucked up hands, WHO OR WHAT EVEN WAS THAT??!! I have very little ideas as to how this “Micheal” even connects to the greater picture. I know some people connected him to the mentions of the man with bones in his hands in Episode 8, but that honestly reminds me more of the Leitner in Episode 17. Outside of that, his name is quite interesting, I initially thought that he might be Micheal Crew, but given that Sasha doubts it being his real name, I have my suspicions (although it would give us a connection between this, the words in Episode 8, and The Boneturner’s Tale….hm….) However, I could absolutely see him being Micheal Keay, as he gives off enough ghost vibes to pass as him (and I’m assuming that if Gerard’s dead, Micheal is as well.) Also he is not described as having a Lichtenburg figure on him so…yeah. Lastly, we have the return of THE SEX WORMS. And as happy(?) as I am to see that The Magnus Archives, a podcast developed by RustyQuill.com, that is also licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, is continuing it’s message of staying abstinent, all things considered, that was absolutely terrifying. I just LOVE the knowledge that the worms are a hive-mind and that Jane might not be the source, I LOVE THAT SO MUCH. In conclusion, I am probably going to sleep with a fire extinguisher tonight, and I am very scared for what the next 14 episodes have in store for me.

Also I guess I’ll mention Tim (the archival assistant, not the dead guy) here because why not. So far I’m getting major bastard energy from people’s descriptions of him, which means I will either love or hate him. Also I found it very funny but also kind of sad that Jon said he only trusts Tim to not prank him in Episode 11, and then he pulled a prank shortly before this statement took place.

- Episode 27, A Sturdy Lock 🔑

Statement of Paul McKenzie, regarding repeated nocturnal intrusions into his home.

Ok, after everything that happened in the last episode, it was nice to get a short and sweet one here. Well, as sweet as an episode of a horror podcast can be. Overall, this one isn’t my favorite, I thought it was a little bit under the standards of creativity for the show as a whole, but that’s obviously not saying much, as it was still pretty damn good in its own right. I think it was definitely very effective with its storytelling, and credit where credit is due, it certainly brought out my fear of weird noises in the middle of the night. And even if I can’t personally resonate with this aspect of it, I do really appreciate how it tackled the idea of mental illness at old age, and while I’d be surprised if the statement wasn’t real, considering where the show seems to be going, it did a very good job at planting seeds of doubt in my mind. But still, it was genuinely pretty crushing how Paul had no proof throughout the entire thing, along with how the cops treated him. It really did make me thing about what would have happened if he hadn’t washed the blood off his hands. It still had a creepy atmosphere, and the reveals at the end were pretty interesting, I hope they show us Marcus’ statement soon enough. Also, the aspect of loneliness in this one did remind me a lot of what happened in Episode 13, so I wonder if there’s some connection there. (Also, I love how I’m 27 episodes in and Jon is STILL roasting Gertrude’s organizational skills.) So while this one isn’t the most interesting for me, I still enjoyed it, and it was nice to have a slightly lighter one after Episode 26. I hope Sasha had a good few days off, she deserves it.

- Episode 28, Skintight 📷

Statement of Melanie King, regarding events at the abandoned Cambridge Military Hospital during filming in January 2015. Statement taken direct from subject.

WHOA THAT WAS SO GOOD!!! Ok, I feel like I should start off with my thoughts on the basic premise, as while those episode is certainly…not the most humorous in its execution, the premise itself kind of is. I don’t know why, but I just thought the idea of there being an in-universe competitor was a really fun concept that was executed perfectly here. It kind of reminds me of something like Hatchetfield and Clivesdale (I don’t know how many people reading this will understand that, but there seems to be overlap between TMA fans and Hatchetfield fans, and also like, shut up, let me indulge in my hyperfixations.) The bickering between Melanie and Jon was great, as was Melanie herself, I’d love to see her again as I think she oddly brought a lot to the world of the series. Although I will say that, while it doesn’t make me like him any less, Jon’s reluctance to buy into statements is a lot more frustrating when there’s another person in the room. I also absolutely love the fact that there’s an in-universe spooky podcast mentioned by name, like, come one, that’s genuinely hilarious. But comedic value aside, this one was definitely pretty creepy. In a similar vain to what Episode 23 was doing, the whole “young people enter creepy abandoned building to film stuff and then get genuinely scared” concept felt evocative of other classic horror stories, and the way they spun it into the context of the show was great. The atmosphere was definitely very creepy as well, as I have mentioned, hospitals creep me the fuck out. And lastly…oh my god, THE CONNECTIONS. So, I’ll start off by saying that all of the skin shit reminded me of what happened in Episode 18 (which I hope is true because I think some connections to other things would make me like that episode more). But that pales in comparison to the fact that we have stuff on THE ANGLERFISH, HOLY FUCK THE ANGLERFISH. I’m SO glad that they didn’t throw it away just because it was in the pilot episode. In retrospect, I think that the story of Episode 1 isn’t quite my favorite. It doesn’t really have to be, as I think the main draw of the episode is getting a first look at the framing device and general vibe of the entire podcast, but the stories didn’t really grab me until Episode 2, which is still one of my favorites. But MAN, this episode really made me appreciate the setup at the beginning so much more, and the knowledge that the people who walked into the alley didn’t necessarily die, meaning that all of those names could potentially come back, is SO exciting to me. In fact, when you consider that Sarah was kind of going through what looked like a possession, I wonder if The Anglerfish is a figure of worship in a cult, if that theory is to be true. (Also I have relatives that live in the same area as Sarah so…maybe I should tell them to watch out for their neighbor lmao.) So yeah, this…this show is just really freaking good.

Note: I have discovered the Leitner rant, and therefore I have achieved true enlightenment.

- Episode 29, Cheating Death ♟️

Statement of Nathaniel Thorp, regarding his own mortality.

I should start off by saying that I love the episode title for this, like, it’s not even metaphorical, the guy literally cheated in a game against death. Well, anyways, the main thing that caught me about the episode was how it absolutely blindsided me. While I was right about the soldier being the same as the statement giver, which I think was supposed to be obvious, everything else in those last six or so minutes left me with a wide-open jaw. (Also, can I just say that I love how poetic this guy just…decided to be? Like, I just love it when the statements really show of personalities with the way they’re written, and it comes with a cool framing device.) Regardless, I initially assumed that it was going in a very traditional line. Nathaniel cheats death, becomes immortal, and regrets it in modern day because he’s lived longer that he really should have. That, combined with the fact that “Death” didn’t seem like the one of the more creative horror monsters in the show so far, had me so prepared to just write this one off as one of my least favorites (once again, not like that’s saying much.) And then the twist comes and HOLY SHIT I WAS WRONG. The idea of there basically being multiple grim reapers at the hands of some unknowable power, who have to gain successors to finally die themselves is absolutely terrifying and extremely clever. I tip my hat to you Rusty Quill, you did a great job at fooling me. Kind of funny considering how this is a story about being punished for your hubris (which seems to be a recurring theme???) I have a few other small thoughts as well. Firstly, I can’t help but shake the feeling that Nathaniel Thorp was an actual revolutionary war soldier, but I can’t find anything online other than the character from this episode. Also, the fact that his fate remains unknown makes me think he’ll show up again, as it seems weird to NOT end the story with confirmation of his death, given the themes. Secondly, a lot of the…less than pleasant imagery here definitely reminded me of Piecemeal and The Boneturner’s Tale. I don’t remember the story inside that Leitner very well, but I might check just in case there’s any parallels between it and this statement. (Update: Not really.) And finally, I was just a little bit intrigued by the fact that we learn no one who was working at the institute in 1972 works there anymore. It’s probably nothing, but given the mysteries surrounding Gertrude’s death, I’m just a little suspicious, both in general, and of Elias because he’s still around. Overall this episode went hard, I’m still kind of stunned by what it pulled off.

Jane Prentiss statement…save me…save me Jane Prentiss statement…

- Episode 30, Killing Floor 🍖

Statement of David Laylow, regarding his time working at an industrial abattoir near Dalton.

You know what, Jon is right, there’s a lot of meat in this show. Not that I’m complaining, I mean, it does fuel my obsession with connecting the dots between statements. Regardless, while this isn’t among my favorite episodes so far, I still had a good time with it. The reason it’s not one of my favorites is purely personal, as I don’t do too well with animal violence. Like, as much as I do really appreciate how viscerally Jonny Sims can describe the statements, I will admit that the opening minutes describing the slaughter house made me more uneasy than the actual horror, and not in a particularly fun way, but it was overall fine. Speaking of the actual horror, that was actually pretty good. The endless hallways lined with doors that lead to precarious situations also kind of tapped into a personal fear of mine, but in a more fun and digestible way. And while the idea of “imagine humans being slaughtered like animals” is something I’ve seen many a time before, it was still much more well executed than many other interpretations of the idea (*cough cough*, peta) and there were also plenty of other interesting themes and ideas, like how the episode touched on the inherent horror of working in a job as gruesome as the killing floor, being enslaved to said job, and the idea that maybe we’re all just walking sacks of meat in the end, and nothing more. As for some other thoughts, I was definitely creeped out by Tom Han, I’m not sure whether or not he’s someone who spreads ✨the horrors✨or someone affected by ✨the horrors✨, and his sudden disappearance was certainly…odd. On top of that, it’s admittedly haunting to know that there’s still creepy stuff going on at the slaughter house, and that this isn’t something that happened to David, and only David. Overall, a pretty good episode, I don’t have much to say about it, but it was a fun time overall.

Tim…save me…save me Tim…

Well, if you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading! Genuinely means the world to me when there are people willing to listen to me ramble about my horrible (affectionate) interests lmao. I should have my thoughts on the final episodes of Season 1 out in due time, and while I’m sure it’s obvious, I’m absolutely hooked on this podcast. It absolutely has the potential to become one of my favorite things ever if the overarching plot becomes more involved and this is coming from someone who up until now, wasn’t all that gripped by podcasts. While I’m a little sad that I’m as late to the party as I am, then I remembered “oh yeah, I was in elementary school when this horrifying series came out”, and I’m also hopeful that I’ll be able to be around for The Magnus Protocol while it’s airing (I know it premieres in like a week but still.) Anyways, thanks for reading and hopefully you’ll be around for my thoughts on the next batch :)

44 notes · View notes

thepunkmuppet · 1 year

Text

ok i just looked back through my blog and it looks like my big theory from way back last year has just… disappeared?? which i’m pretty annoyed about tbh, but i want to expand on it and update it anyway because the casting announcement and logo all validate it and make it a lot more interesting SO

my big magnus protocol theory and what i think the plot will be

so, this is a world completely without the Fears, until BAM. here they are. and with the arg, the encrypted messages and the glitchy aesthetic they seem to be going for, now further expanded on by the logo literally being a glitchy computer screen, i was thinking what if as the fears entered the universe, there was some kind of mass signal or energy surge.

imagine all the screens and electronics in the world suddenly go static, and a jumbled-up incomprehensible message (like the “statement remains” audio) can be heard everywhere, all around the world. and it goes on for around 20-30 minutes. and in those minutes, every single person in the world is fucking TERRIFIED. just frozen in absolute fear.

and of course this causes thousands and thousands of accidents and deaths and just generally terrifies everyone, so naturally every world government thinks it’s an attack of some kind. hence why we follow civil service workers, specifically those working for Incident Assessment and Response. this would be quite an incident!!

in these first few episodes following the signal, we also hear from the prime minister. and i originally thought it would be REALLY fun if the uk prime minister in this universe is the og Elias. i love this idea with all my heart for many reasons, but it doesn’t look like ben meredith will be in it, so i’ve had to modify it a bit. so, either the prime minister will be gwendolyn bouchard, who could either be a relative of elias or transfem elias (although, trans prime minister?? in this godforsaken country??) OR the tim fearon character, who could potentially be jonah magnus or a similar previously established character. but personally, i’m betting on miss gwendolyn, so keep that in mind as you read the rest of this.

and so at the end of the first or second episode, we hear this prime minister in a big meeting about the incident, and the episode ends on a cliffhanger that reveals what the unscrambled audio really was.

it’s mag 200. which is why jon and martin are (potentially) on the cast list. the fears are ushered into the universe using their voices.

but i think what would be an even cooler cliffhanger is if after this big reveal, after the tape squeals and basira says good luck, we hear something we’ve never heard before.

“oh, hello. are you still listening?”

tim fearon’s voice.

so this is where the REDACTED names really come into play. idk what the actual plot will be, but my idea is that jon, martin, and the tim fearon character, who i personally think is the voice of the original jonah magnus, are:

1, stuck as “ghosts in the machine” of sorts, living on as disembodied glitchy voices and nothing more

2, are huge eldritch entities, who can speak through anything and anyone, maybe possess people, etc, and possibly act as similar entities to the fears in a way, creating their own avatars and suchlike - maybe to fight the fears in jon and martin’s cases

or 3, the fears use their voices to actually speak, probably through recordings and electronics, meaning the REDACTED isn’t just to conceal their characters, they actually just don’t have names

also this is a much smaller point but because her name and presumed age are so out of place in comparison to the rest of the cast, i think lady mowbray is a psychic or mystic woman of some kind rather than an actual noble woman, and will be able to talk to the new jon and martin, whatever they are

so yeah that’s it i guess! i hope all this makes sense, if anyone has any questions, anything to add or challenge, or just want to discuss it please please do!! i want to see what people think of this in light of all the new information because i LOVE this idea so much that if it doesn’t happen i might just write it myself lol

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #the magnus protocol theory #the magnus protocol speculation #tmagp theory #tmagp speculation #the magnus archives #tma #jonathan sims #jonny sims #martin blackwood #jmart #jonmartin #teaholding #elias bouchard #jonah magnus #gwendolyn bouchard

101 notes · View notes

cult-of-the-eye · 11 months

Text

@melandrops tma restaurant AU? (Coming from someone who knows next to nothing about how restaurants work lol)

Ok so the Magnus Institute is like a prestigious but controversial like Michelin Star restaurant with millions of fancy little courses

The controversy comes from the idea that each dish is tailored to target a person's traumatic and/or paranormal event and people have protested about the ethics but each protest has been magically made to go away so all that's left is rumours and people leaving with a vaguely unsettled feeling

Still gets good business though, just...interesting...customers

Hold on let me actually Google how restaurants work

Ok so after a quick Google I have come to the conclusion that Elias is the kitchen manager

He only comes out to criticise someone's plating and the only time there has ever been a record of him saying something nice is when someone was served cake

(it was from a patron with a Lonely themed children's birthday party where nobody came and the house turned to fog)

Gertrude was Head Chef but she died under mysterious circumstances and they found her body stuffed into an old freezer in the tunnels under the restaurant

Jon gets promoted to Head Chef, despite Sasha clearly having more experience and then Sasha, Tim and Martin make up the main kitchen crew

Jon is stressed because Gertrude left behind very complicated, messy instructions on how to create the menus for the patrons, so he's literally making it up as he goes along but somehow it always seems to work out

Tim is usually on side dishes, Sasha on mains and Martin on desserts but they swap when needed

Martin meets Jon when he accidentally lets a dog into the restaurant

Martin lied about his work experience in another prestigious restaurant and it's honestly been a miracle why he hasn't been fired yet

(maybe his years cooking for his mum did come in handy)

The fears all still exist, each dish is personally tailored to the fear the patron has been touched by and during the course of the meal, they're compelled to explain how the dish was relevant to that experience like they're in some sort of trance

Michael is still Michael (until he's Helen)

The Jane Prentiss incident still happens (Martin's out getting some of the more sketchier ingredients when he stumbled upon her, i guess it's just a lot scarier that the worms are gonna get the restaurant shut down and then why Elias isn't more worried about that prospect)

The Leitners could still exist with the patrons having brushes with them

Ooh maybe he gets brutally kitchen utensil murdered

Tim flirts with as many of the patrons he possibly can

Melanie was part of a rival restaurant chain that had gained popularity for apparently being haunted until she joins the Institute

Daisy and Basira are still detectives that investigate some of the ethical protests

Canon is pretty much followed as much as it can be

Jmart still happens. Obviously. You can really get up close and personal in a busy kitchen, especially when your chef keeps abandoning his work to bring you cups of water. (It's hot in a kitchen I'm guessing)

Yeah ok if I can think of any more I'll add them!

#kinda proud of myself for this one #tma #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #martin k blackwood #sasha james #tim stoker #daisy tonner #basira hussain #melanie king #jmart #tma headcanons #tma aus #jurgen leitner #michael the distortion #the fears #the lonely

52 notes · View notes

lostonehero · 6 months

Text

Since so far it's overwhelming, yes, I hope you enjoy this idea

Tma plus mechs

So, death to the mechanisms happened, and it just sent them back to where they first died or got mechanisms

They reunite and come to terms with the fact that functionally immortal isn't exactly something they can call it anymore.

So Tim suggests following a conspiracy on his earth, well technically two, one what happened to his great great great grandfather Daniel Stoker, and why is there a single year missing that the whole world at that time forgot

Jonny smells a new story, and he's excited

Everyone else agrees because they need a distraction, and a few of them can disguise themselves as human

Jonny dawns a hunter hat to cover his ears and horns and uses his tail as a fourth belt

Tim uses black glasses to hide his eyes.

Marius uses a beanie to cover his pointed ears and uses his tail as a belt

Ivy can't go due to her skin being blue, but she does anyhow because of earth books.

Brain and the Toy Soldier don't stay on the ship it's more like Brian has become the unofficial TS handler

Ashes can pass for human if she keeps her mouth covered and her hands and feet also covered.

Raphaella goes for her experiments, but her wings are a dead giveaway along with her red tinted skin and scales.

Nastya stays on the Aurora, thankful for the peace and time with her partner she can no way pass as human and doesn't want to try.

Ok that's out of the way.

Season one Martin is on his way to the Vittery follow-up and runs into Jonny. He's polite and kind as always apologizing for running into him.

Jonny thinks he's cute, but that's it, but he followed him just because he can, and the spider thing was interesting. He didn't expect to catch this kind man to sneak into the apartment, and he just had to follow behind.

The worm lady was something else, and Jonny expected Martin to freeze like a mortal. He was cute, but that happens.

Martin pushes Jonny back. "Run, she's focused on me, not you, and well, you have a better chance than I do."

Jonny stares at this fool of a man, and he can feel a heat on his cheeks as he takes out his gun and shoots the woman a few times, enough to get her on the floor but she was getting up. He grabs Martin's hand, and they run out together. He makes up a lie about why he has a gun.

Martin is thankful and doesn't really have anything for him, so he offers to take him for a meal.

Jonny, like an idiot asks for his number, not even having an earth phone to use it. Martin gives him it.

Jonny steals a phone, and it works. They plan for a proper dinner on a later date.

Jonny is the first to realize that Martin isn't answering right, and since Martin led him to his apartment the first time, he just went there. The worm lady had his phone and was trying to get into his apartment.

Jonny kills her first good and gets Martin to open the door.

Martin is shocked. "I uh... you saved me twice." He shifts. "I don't have anything to give you..."

"Make our dinner a date." Jonny blurts out, realizing too late he has fallen for a mortal.

Time passes

Jon doesn't believe Martin's story about the worms and thinks his text was a poorly timed joke

Martin didn't get any worms to show him as proof.

Martin goes on more dates with Jonny, and Jonny falls hard and fast, and Tim catches them together

Tim laughs and thinks Jonny is pulling a bad prank... he quickly realizes that.... oh shit Jonny is actually in love. Jonny is in love, and he has been with this mortal for 3 months.

Tim softens, and it infuriates Jonny to no end. Tim spreads the news to everyone.

Jonny thankfully distracts Tim, talking about Martin's coworker, and another Tim with the same last name.

"You work with Tim Stoker?" Tim slams his hands on the table, interrupting another date Martin was on with Jonny.

"Why do you keep finding us?" Jonny huffs. "I told him that to keep him away from us."

Martin smiles softly. "I do work with him. Do you know him?"

"In a sense. We are related, he's a distant relative, and I've been interested in finding out more about my family." Tim smiles, adjusting his glasses as Jonny kicks his shin.

"Oh really? That's cool. Uh, we work together at the Magnus Institute, you can find him at normal work hours." Martin hums. "Although I don't know about his other family, he doesn't talk about them much, but families are complicated, and I would rather not pull that information from him."

"I know that." Jonny sighs, sipping his tea. "Families are bs nonsense."

"Just because you had a shifty home life doesn't mean everyone else did." Tim rolls his eyes under his glasses.

"I mean, I had a bad childhood, too, had to grow up fast taking care of my mom. My dad wasn't in the picture. Mom was always sick, and stuff had to give up school to work to care for her." Martin bites his tongue. "It's not a big deal, though you can forget I said anything."

Jonny reached out and held Martin's hand with a soft smile. "It's alright. I'm happy to learn more about you."

Tim has a look of shock on his features as he quickly runs away from the private scene. He quickly texts the group chat. "Jonny is fucked. He actually comforted Martin and cared about his hurt feelings."

The chat goes fucking nuts.

More time passes

Martin meets a few other mechanisms, and he somehow charms all of them. He beats them at cards, shows them he can sing, and the others see how head over heels Jonny is. He can also go against Tim for his drinking. He was also an amazing liar that he fooled Ashes and Brian.

Just to be certain, he won over the mechs, and Raphella and Marius actually tried to figure out a way to keep the man around with them.

Things at the archive are normal

Jon hums, looking through the reports and sighs getting up he heads out in the bullpen.

"Good Jon, wanna go for drinks tonight?" Tim hums.

"I have work to do Tim." Jon rolls his eyes.

"Oh, come on." Tim huffs. "Boss man, you have to unwind. Ain't that right, Marto?"

Martin looks up and blinks. "I uh right.... I can't actually go tonight."

Sasha raised a brow. "You never not go, Martin."

"I uh I'm meeting my boyfriend's sister tonight." Martin blushes. "She's actually coming out to meet me, and we'll I can't cancel that."

Jon raised his brow as a pang of something he would later figure out that jealousy in his chest affects him. "You have a boyfriend?"

"Jon, that's old news." Tim sighs. "You would know Martin's been seeing a Jonny for the past year if you bothered to chat with us and not hold yourself up in your office. You've been a real ass and a stick in the mud since the promotion."

"Tim's right, you don't have to be a hard ass Jon. This place won't burn down if you have fun for once." Sasha sighs. "Also, Martin, that's great. I hope you have fun and you'll make a great first impression."

"Thanks, Sasha." Martin smiles, collecting his bag and walking past a stunned Jon. "Next week Tim, I'll be free."

"Bring Jonny!" Tim chuckles as Martin shouts back a I'll try.

Martin meeting Nastya wasn't what he expected. She was taller and an odd shade blueish silver, and Jonny did warn him about the skin condition, and so he didn't mention it. She had a disapproving gaze on her face and annoyance in her eyes.

"Um, uh, I'm Martin." Martin gives a nervous smile. "I uh... Jonny didn't tell me what you liked, but I do a bit of knitting, so I made you a scarf." It's a light blue scarf with a coud pattern. it's beautiful and doesn't look handmade. "I know it's not perfect, but uh, I wanted to make a good first impression."

Nastya face softens slightly as she takes the softest scarf she has ever felt in her hands. Her species was built for the cold and didn't need something like this, but the craftsmanship and texture were something else. She puts it on immediately.

Jonny actually looked surprised.

Nastya clears her throat. "Jonny tells me you work in an archive?"

"I'm just an archival assistant, nothing special. You're a mechanic, right? That is much more interesting than dealing with horror stories and dusty old statements all day." Martin smiles and swallows. "I mean, if that's your thing, I don't blame you it can be interesting."

Nastya hums her interest was piqued, and as she discussed more with Martin, she understood everyone's infatuation with him. Not to mention the way Jonny looked at him and how nervous he was that he actually attempted to prevent her from meeting him.

......

Martin convinces Jonny to join drinks with Tim and Sasha and the other Jon.

GP Tim joins as well, finally able to meet this Tim.

"Whoa, so you're the infamous Jonny." Tim smirks. "I expected you to be taller."

GP Tim snickers.

Jonny huffs. "I am perfectly fine with my height."

Jon was staring from the booth scowling.

Sasha hums. "Who are you?"

GP Tim smiles. "Another Tim."

"Fuck yeah another Tim!" Tim gives him a Hi five.

Martin chuckles and grabs Jonny's hand. "Come on, I'll introduce you to Sasha and Jon."

Jonny nods and has a light blush from the contact.

Jonny and Jon immediately hate each other, and Jonny makes it a point to practically sit in Martin's lap the entire night.

Sasha realizes that Jon might actually have feelings for Martin and decides to be a little chaotic agent nudging both men to drink more.

Tim and GP Tim break off from the group for some darker topics

That's what I've got for now

#tma #the magnus archives #the mechanisms #the mechs

29 notes · View notes

a-mag-a-day · 2 years

Note

ARCHIVIST

(squawk) Uh, I, I don’t know. I don’t – know. But… maybe it’s worth it? The risk – y-you and me, together, getting out of here –

[Martin sniffs.]

ARCHIVIST

– one way or another.

*taps mic* ahem...

h-he said the thing... HE SAID THE THING!!!

i am so mentally Unwell...

And you know what makes this even sadder? The 2 year anniversary of the finale is TOMORRROW. Jon and Martin kissed at the top of the Panopticon 2 years ago and then disappeared forever...

It's very fitting then actually, how today we're on the episode where Jon first makes his promise to stick together...to follow Martin wherever he goes...no matter what happens.

that is all. thank you for your time. i'm going to lay down and sob forever now.

Oh my god the anniversary is tomorrow

#a mag a day #tma #the magnus archives #episode asks #mod ashes #tma spoilers #mag 154 #itssomethingcosmic

90 notes · View notes

fridayyy-13th · 1 year

Text

so i am an ardent Sasha James Enjoyer, and as such i very much dislike fanon!Sasha. her personality and character do a near-complete 180 from canon to fanon, making it tough as hell to find fics that don't just make her the Braincell Mom Friend—if she's even featured—and i took that personally. i'm a fic writer, and i have quite a few WIPs bouncing around in my flash drive that feature her in at least some capacity, and i certainly didn't want to add to the pile of fics where Sasha is Like That. so, a while ago i re-listened to every episode she appears in and Compiled A List of Sasha Trivia, just random bits of info that caught my attention that help me keep a clear image of her character in my head. with maybe a little bit of headcanon thrown in there for fun.

so! without further ado: various Sasha notes bc i love her

never had any direct interactions/experiences with the supernatural before the Distortion

afraid of rollercoasters, doesn't like horror

considered herself a skeptic, thought working in the Institute made her moreso

had a "dreary" commute to work, liked peeking through the old warped windows of her building's stairwell bc it made people distort like a funhouse mirror

a bit of a pedant (calliope)

was more sympathetic towards Martin than the other two were after he gave his first statement in 022, felt bad for him being the target of Jon's ire

sososo curious, to the point it can overpower fear

deliberately didn't tell Jon about her initial encounter with the Distortion bc she knew he'd try to discourage her from going, which she'd already decided to do (stubborn)

of course, followed the Distortion (a whole-ass monster) to a cemetery in the dead of night without telling anyone about it

(she did so because it sounded like it knew a way to save Jon's, Tim's, and Martin's lives, and in the wake of Prentiss targeting Martin, she decided she couldn't take that chance)

"without thinking" she figured out how to kill the worms using CO2. i like to think that was some Knowing right there

Jon considered her the most "level-headed" of the team, and trusted her to be telling the truth

was the one to ask if Jon was okay after being caught off-guard by his surprise party (and was also the one who said it was "kind of fun, giving you a heart attack")

knew Jon was lying about his age, knew about Martin's CV (goes through her coworkers' files)

despite having hacked her way into said confidential files, she considered being recorded during Jon's birthday party an invasion of privacy

bullied Tim into stapling statements that one time

Tim was more outwardly upset by Jon's being promoted instead of Sasha than she was. she knew if she said anything about it she'd just wind up in trouble, so she kept her mouth shut

had been in academia for ten years by the time the Archives transfer occurred

knew about Danny and the reasons Tim joined the Institute

didn't think there was such a thing as a "real you," save for the actions one takes. considered everything else a mask put on for others

was dead-sure (and was correct in thinking that) Gertrude kept the Archives a mess for a reason, and was concerned about what the reason could be

and that's about all! alas it would have been wonderful if we'd gotten the chance to learn more about her, but given she's only in six episodes, some only for a moment, she really is jam-packed full of character and life. i love her so much.

#friday chats #the magnus archives #sasha james #don't mind me starting like half the sentences in that beginning bit with 'so' btw. it's a bit of a problem lol

31 notes · View notes

rainbowchewynuggets · 2 years

Text

TMA: Encore #9

The day after Melanie’s interview, Jon goes looking for the others. He finds Tim and Sasha first as they try to look busy without betraying how little they can focus.

Jon: Um, morning.

Sasha gives him a polite “hi” back. Tim nods.

He asks how they’re doing. They answer negatively. So does he.

Jon: I’m sure we all could use time to think after yesterday, but I was hoping to talk to you two for a moment. And Martin, if he’s around.

They reluctantly agree.

Jon brings them into a nearby room and attempts to address the thwarted escape attempt. Tim is quick to ask if he intentionally led them down dead ends in the tunnels. Jon regretfully admits that he did. Sasha sighs. Jon quickly adds that he already had a strong suspicion that Not-Jon wouldn’t let them leave. It wasn’t the right time to escape, but he didn’t see any way to convince them of that. Tim is about to speak, but Sasha cuts him off.

Sasha: I imagine you have ideas on how to handle Prentiss, then?

Jon says he does, after a pause. Not-Jon is simply too volatile an enemy to outmaneuver from their position. Tim and Sasha throw each other a look. Jon thinks that, despite everything, the safest thing to do might be to follow the original plan and re-enact the order of events from the tapes, minus some obvious hazards. He distrusts Not-Jon just as much as they do, but he wants to focus on surviving for now. They can deal with everything else afterward.

The plan seems tenuous to him even as he says it out loud.

Tim: And you’re still not telling us when it’ll happen?

Jon glances away.

Jon: I’m sorry.

Tim and Sasha don’t argue further. They agree to his proposal. Jon is surprised.

Jon: Really?

Tim: *shortly* I suppose we’re just in the same boat at this point.

Jon: Oh. Okay. Well, we can go over particulars later. Let’s just try not to rock the boat. Who knows what he’ll do.

Tim and Sasha stay in the room after he’s gone and lower their voices too far for him to hear.

Sasha greets Martin. He answers with a sheepish smile, but it fades very quickly. He puts his phone away.

Sasha: You cut your hair.

Martin: Yeah. I didn’t want it to be in the way.

Sasha: Did you cut it because… Did Jon tell you when–?

Martin: No, no. It just felt like time.

Sasha asks if Jon talked to him about his plan for the Prentiss ordeal just now. He says that he did. She asks if he agrees with him. One end of his lip pulls in an uneasy grimace.

Martin: Sort of.

Sasha: Kind of seems like a steep risk, doesn’t it?

He gives a nod and a shrug at once.

Martin: I mean, I can see why he’d be shaken up enough not to want to try anything.

Sasha: No kidding. I thought I was going to pass out when the flashlight blew.

Martin: I mean the strangling.

She hesitates.

Sasha: The what?

Martin: Not-Jon tried to strangle him. Or, that’s what it sounded like to me. And he did the… the reverse-Beholding thing on him. Where he puts horrible things in your mind, you know? And I think he threatened to do it to us next if we got out of line.

Sasha is dumbstruck.

Sasha: Martin, we’ve got to get out of here.

Martin rubs his neck.

Martin: That’s kind of the thing, though, isn’t it? The more we try to get out of this, the more trouble we seem to get into. Not-Jon is ready to catch us if we keep pulling away.

Her eyebrows screw up with urgency.

Sasha: We’re not gonna just sit here and let this happen, Martin.

Martin: No, I–I’m trying to say that if we want to resolve this, we... we might have to consider that we’ll have to do it from here.

A cold feeling twists in Sasha’s stomach.

Sasha: We can’t do much of anything if we’re dead.

Martin: I know that. Just look at this!

He holds out his hands. They tremble incessantly. He bundles them into the folds of his sweater and stares at the floor as Sasha stares at him.

Martin: Of course I’m scared of what that means, but I’m more scared of what’ll happen if we don’t put an end to all of this. I’ve hardly been able to sleep even after coming back to my flat, so I could just be losing my grip but… I’ve spent all this time wondering what kind of–of person it would take to pull it off. We haven’t agreed on what to do so far, but it’s not like we’ve been completely crazy.

Sasha: Of course. We were just doing what we thought was reasonable.

Martin: Exactly. Not-Jon already knows what our reasoning will be. He expects that of us. So do the Fears. Maybe if we never succeeded in all the different variations of people we’ve been, then we should just throw the normal, rational “person” part out of the equation. We might even get lucky enough to see the other side. The whole death threat part could just be to keep us away. I mean, does it really seem like there’s a more unlikely way out from here than through?

He looks at her like he’s begging her to talk him out of it.

She puts her arm around his broad soft shoulders and gives him a squeeze.

Sasha: You should get some sleep, Martin.

Days pass on. The team pretends to operate as functionally as they can, especially around Jonah. Jon continues to slip dirty wrinkled papers and damaged tapes in with the rest of the archive’s materials. He records some bunk statements to keep up appearances and only tackles real ones when he remembers to bring pain medicine. He can’t bring himself to abstain, knowing who’s watching. The others busy themselves with misfiling anything they can find. They do their mischief as neatly as they can, so as not to draw suspicion. Though, Jonah has been down in the archives more often than before. Tim told Sasha one afternoon that he got a talking to for leaving a file shoved in a door jamb so that it spilled all over the floor when Jonah opened it. Tim said it was the highlight of his week.

The worms are everywhere. No one has seen hide or hair of Not-Jon. So, they wait. And keep waiting.

Not-Jon sits deep in the lightless tunnels, watching the activity above. His back is propped against the wall, his head hung in one hand. He bounces his leg to distract from the tearing feeling inside him. It’s getting worse.

Jonah exits a door somewhere in the archives. He whistles as he heads back toward the stairs. Tim hears him coming as he heads down a connecting hall. He turns his back with a tired grunt and ducks into the break room to get another cup of coffee. Sasha’s already there.

Martin sits with boxes of tapes, shuffling blank ones in with the alphabetized statement logs. They’ve already been put well out of order, but he can’t think of anything else to do. He sits back, wrestling with a thought.

He puts the tapes aside and crosses the hall to the tiny storage room he used to sleep in. Pulling open a drawer, his trusty corkscrew slides toward him along with a dusty plastic cassette with a cracked frame. A piece of faded opaque tape on the front reads, “THE LAST”. Martin found it wedged into a shelf in one of the file rooms weeks ago. He decides he’s put off listening to it long enough, pockets it and the corkscrew, and leaves to get one of the handheld tape players from the supply room.

Jon reads Lost and Found. Having no research to offer in the afterward makes it mercifully short. He shuts the recorder off and rubs his eyes. Pain blooms deep in his head with needles on every petal, despite the dulling effect of the drugs. He felt like he had to record this one today. To keep pace. It’s supposed to be today. He looks around, expecting a spider to make its presence known. But there is none. After all, why would there be with no Annabelle Cane?

Maybe he should just put a hole in the wall himself and get it over with. Surely they’ve waited long enough. Who knows what could happen if the timing isn’t right.

No matter how firmly he musters these assertions in mind, his body won’t move. His nerves are occupied with sensations of the apocalypse. He keeps waiting.

Jon nearly jumps out of his skin as a bookshelf collapses behind him. He stares at the pile of books and wood on the floor, half-expecting it to get up and bite him. Sasha bursts in the door with a coffee mug in her hand.

Sasha: Are you okay?

Jon: Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.

Jon measuredly gets to his feet. She follows his eyes to the heap. The impact of the books and wooden shelves has cracked the plaster wall inward at the very bottom. Something silvery glints and shifts from between the hardcovers.

Jon: Sasha, get ready to pull the fire alarm.

She puts the mug down on the floor without looking away from the books.

Jon picks up his chair by the backrest.

Sasha flinches, wanting to stop him.

He rams the chair’s legs at the wall. It crumbles. Worms spill out like water.

Martin snaps the tape into the little handheld player. He plugs his earbuds into the audio jack on the side. He swallows.

He’s just about to hit play when the fire alarm blares through the halls of the archives. It caught Tim halfway through a sip of coffee, which he nearly drops. Jonah barely reacts and keeps walking.

————

First

Happy New Year! Happy new post!

Index

#the magnus archives #mag200 spoilers #magnus pod #tma fancomic #tma encore 9 #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #sasha james #tim stoker #jonah magnus #elias bouchard #the eye #the beholding #the corruption

102 notes · View notes