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voiceless-terror · 4 years

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Smile and Nod (The Magnus Archives)

Whumptober 2020 Day Six: “Stop, please”

Fandom: The Magnus Archives

Characters: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims, Sasha James, Tim Stoker, Elias Bouchard, Original Character

CW: Harassment, Unwanted Advances

Summary:

“He said to let go of him.” The voice startles them both and Jon turns to see Martin, a placid smile on his face. He is tall, so tall- was Martin always this tall?

Jon runs into trouble at the Institute’s annual donor party and has an unlikely rescuer.

The Institute hosted a party for its most illustrious donors every spring. Jon had never been expected to go to it until his promotion to Head Archivist and even then he tried to get it out of it, to no avail.

“I’m afraid it’s part of your duties now as Head Archivist,” Elias had said. “We need to have a face for every department and I’m sure quite a few of our donors are anxious to meet Gertrude’s replacement. You understand, of course.” Jon nodded. “I trust you’ll be on your best behavior.” He hadn’t forgotten his promise to ‘be more lovely’ after the incident with Naomi Herne.

“Yes, yes,” Jon sighed. He wasn’t looking forward to the event- sticking close to Elias’s side didn’t seem very appealing, but being left to the wolves was even worse. Elias seemed to notice his hesitation and paused, waiting for Jon to continue. Perhaps he didn’t have to go alone. It’s worth a try, isn’t it?

“W-Would it,” he began, cursing his stutter. “That is, I would like to- if you don’t mind, I think it would be valuable to have my assistants attend, as well?” He hated the uptick in his voice that made it sound more like a question. “I-I just think it would be a good experience for them to ah, meet the donors as well. Since they do a lot of the research.” Another reminder that he had no idea what he was doing; Elias hadn’t said anything about his methods in the Archives, so he only hoped that indicated a tacit agreement about the way things should be run.

Jon watched several emotions flit across the man’s face, irritation and disappointment giving way to resignation. He tried to ignore the first two and focus on the last. “Alright,” Elias agreed with a sigh. “Please stress the formality of this event, particularly to Mr. Blackwood. You’ll be representing the Institute, and as such you will be expected to interact with our donors. See that you don’t use your assistants as a social crutch.” Damn. There goes his plan. At least I’ll have some support.

So here he was, standing in the hallway with his assistants in an ill-fitting suit he last wore to the funeral of a distant cousin. It didn’t fit then, either. He hoped he didn’t look too much like a child in his father’s clothes, but the snickers from Tim and Sasha dashed any hope of that. They looked wonderful, of course, as they always did. Martin was in the same boat as Jon, fidgeting in a blazer and non-matching pants.

“Well boss, looks like it’s time to schmooze!” Tim clapped a hand on his shoulder and steered him through the door. Elias liked to have his parties in the main library- it was the most beautiful part of the Institute, aside from the entrance hall. The tables and desks that normally populated the center of the room had been cleared away to reveal a rather spacious area for guests to mingle and talk over the sound of a tasteful string quartet. The whole event was incredibly elegant and Jon felt like he very much did not belong.

“Ah, there he is!” He heard Elias call from the right-hand corner of the room, where he was surrounded by several well-to-do donors dressed to the nines. He gestured him over with a magnanimous hand and Jon instantly flushed. Tim squeezed his shoulder and pushed him in their general direction. “This is our new Head Archivist, Jonathan Sims. He’s been doing fine work thus far.”

After a moment Tim’s hand is replaced by Elias’s, firm and weighty on his shoulder. He’s exchanging pleasantries with people whose names he forgets almost instantly- their hands are cold and their voices distant, they talk over him as if he were a child they judged and found wanting. Elias’s hand did not move and he was anchored in place, even as they made no move to include him in their conversation.

He saw Martin give him a look of pity from the corner that he was currently occupying with Sasha and Tim. They had their hands full of hors d'oeuvres and drinks and Jon wished desperately for a glass of water, anything to keep his hands occupied. He turned to realize the conversation had stopped and his companions were staring at him expectantly. “I’m sorry?” he hazarded, wondering if he’d been addressed.

“Our son George,” the woman over-enunciated, her tone condescending. Jon remembered vaguely that she had some connection to the Fairchilds, though her name wasn’t familiar. “-is over by the bar. I think you’ll find his company a bit more interesting, hm?” The group tittered and Jon felt shame rise in his throat as his boss’s hand tightened on his shoulder.

“Yes Jon, why don’t you introduce yourself?” Elias said genially enough, though Jon can tell he had disappointed him once again. Jon nodded, excusing himself to go to the corner to get a much-needed drink and to embarrass himself further. There was a man roughly his age fiddling around on his phone with a bored expression. He was tall and handsome but in the soft way of the rich, cruel and cherubic in equal measure. It unnerved Jon and he summoned up a smile that felt more like a grimace.

“G-George?” he asked, willing his voice to steady. The man looked up, expression unchanged as his eyes bored into Jon’s. “I’m Jonathan Sims, the new Head Archivist-”

“Parents send you over?” he smirked and Jon felt the tension in his shoulders ease just a bit. “Sorry you had to deal with them. This your first time at one of these? Median age here is usually around seventy five, give or take.” He laughed and Jon smiled, the man’s candor a bit charming even to him.

“Y-Yes, I’m not really sure I should be here,” he admitted as George slid a drink into his hand. He took a grateful sip and closed his eyes at it’s smooth burn- this was expensive liquor and Jon was going to savor every last bit.

“That makes two of us,” the man nudged him with his elbow and Jon started to think the night might not be as bad as he thought. He glanced quickly over to the other side of the room- Tim winked and gave him a thumbs-up (which he ignored) and Martin’s face was carefully blank. Jon did not know what to make of that.

George, it seemed, was not all that bad. He listened patiently when Jon went off on a rant about book-binding, nodding and smiling at all the right parts. In return, Jon let him talk about finance for longer than was polite (and God was it boring). They’ve now had two drinks and Jon is feeling much, much looser. The smiles are genuine and unforced. He watches Elias nod in approval out of the corner of his eye and feels his chest warm with pride. Not a complete disappointment, am I?

But George is getting closer. It was fine when they were awkwardly perched on opposite ends of the bar and needed to hear one another, but this was getting too cozy for Jon’s tastes. He tries to take a casual step backwards but stumbles. George’s hand goes to his elbow to help steady him and stays there.

“I-I think I need to-” he starts to mumble an excuse but the man is not having it.

“What do you say we get out of here?” He whispers, coming in closer. Jon’s nerves reach a fever-pitch but he does not want to show it, doesn’t want to make a scene so he keeps the smile pasted on his face. “My apartment’s not that far-”

“O-Oh, I’m f-fine, thanks,” he says, trying to dislodge the man’s arm but it is no use- he is much stronger than he looks and has at least half a foot on him. “I actually have plans-”

“With who?” George asks pityingly as Jon tries desperately to meet anyone’s eyes, even Elias’s. He tries to convey his plea without making it obvious to any other bystanders but his boss’s eyes slide right over him. He knows he saw, he knows-

“That’s why they sent you over, right?” George continues, his mouth dangerously close to Jon’s neck as he leans into whisper in his ear. “Pretty thing like you, get me to open the cheque book-”

“Good Lord no, let me go-” at this Jon scoffs, horrified as he tries to yank his arm away.

“Don’t make a scene,” the man says in a low and calming voice, though the leer on his face is clear to see. Jon feels terribly small. “You don’t want to disappoint the boss, do you?”

“Please,” he begs, all out of words. “Stop, please-”

“He said to let go of him.” The voice startles them both and Jon turns to see Martin, a placid smile on his face. He is tall, so tall- was Martin always this tall?

“I’m sorry?” George replies with a sneer, his voice raising in both pitch and volume and Jon is sure if people weren’t looking before, they’re looking now. “I’ll thank you to stay out of this, we were just leaving-”

“No,” Martin replies in that preternaturally calm voice, still smiling. “You weren’t. Now let him go, and we can forget this all happened, hm?” He puts a hand on the arm that’s holding Jon and there’s real strength behind it. George tries to wrench his arm away but Martin’s got it in a solid grip and he barely manages a wiggle.

“Let go of me now, or I’ll-”

“You’ll what?” Martin sounds bored. It is mystifying and Jon can do nothing but gape at the man. “You don’t want a scene, do you? Not in front of the family. Not again. So smile, and walk away.” There is a moment where Jon thinks they will come to blows but it passes. George manages to turn his scowl into a neutral expression, saving some dignity though he throws one last glare Jon’s way. “Not even worth it,” he mutters as he walks away. Jon leans against the bar, releasing a breath he did not realize he’d been holding.

“A-Are you alright, Jon?” Martin has a hand on his elbow but it’s okay now because it’s Martin and it feels right. His face has that same look he gets when he asks Jon whether he wants a cup of tea, or how he’s feeling or if he’s eaten that day. Worried, gentle.

“W-What was that?” is all Jon manages to get out, his voice in an embarrassingly high-pitch. Tim and Sasha are now making their way over with schooled expressions, though Jon can see the worry in their eyes. “Did you know that man? I-I mean, what the hell?” Jon realizes he’s sputtering and tries to get a handle on his swirling emotions. “N-Not that I’m not grateful, but good lord. ‘Not again?’”

Martin laughs, suddenly bashful. “I just guessed with that one, honestly. He looks like the type that’s thrown a fit or two, doesn’t he?” Tim and Sasha reach them and Martin is himself again, hunched over like he’s taking up too much space. This is the Martin that tiptoes around the archives, that’s always smiling and chattering about his day. Jon has never contemplated the man in much detail, but he is finding it hard to reconcile this new side of him. It’s not necessarily unwelcome.

“Alright there, boss?” Tim inquires, good-natured but anxious. “Was going to come over, pretend to be your boyfriend and all but Martin said that would be ‘demeaning’ or whatever.” Tim rolls his eyes at this.

“I don’t know, Martin seemed to diffuse the situation pretty well,” Sasha eyes him curiously. “What did you say?”

“N-Nothing, really-”

“He asked him to leave,” Jon says, finding his voice and unable to take his eyes off Martin. “And he left.”

“Damn, okay,” Tim gives an appreciative whistle before knocking back the rest of his drink. “Working that Mart-o magic, I guess. This party blows, let’s hit the bars. Night’s still young!”

Sasha cheers and Martin looks at him questioningly- he surprises himself by nodding in agreement. “Yeah, let’s go.” He studiously ignores Elias breaking off from his group of sycophants and heading their way. He watches as Martin straightens himself minutely, blocking Jon with his body as Tim ushers them out the door before they can get stopped by the man. Jon knows he will get a tongue-lashing out of this but he doesn’t care right now. He feels small in Martin’s shadow but it is a safe small, like a blanket wrapped around him on a chilly night.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Martin asks as Tim and Sasha chatter ahead of them, arguing over their destination. “We don’t have to go out if you don’t want to. I can take you home.”

I can take you home.

“I’m fine,” he says though he knows the situation hasn’t quite set in yet. “I’d rather not be alone, I-I think.” Martin nods and gives him a smile. It is almost charming, and Jon returns it. He doesn’t really want another drink but he needs a distraction, any distraction.

The night is cold and Martin is close, big and safe and warm. And if Jon leans into his side when they finally agree on a bar, that’s nobody’s business but his own.

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26856373

#my writing #tma #the magnus archives #jonmartin #jon/martin #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #timothy stoker #elias bouchard #sasha james #whumptober2020 #no.6 #stop please #fic #harassment cw #unwanted advances cw

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tma-more-like-suffering · 3 years

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How to Successfully Attempt Murder

starring, Elias Bouchard as the murder victim.

A/N: So even though this technically isn’t a reader insert, its still in second person because- uh- because I’m currently stuck writing in second person? Like, okay, I’m having fun, alright? Lemme be.

But hey. For everyone who has repressed feelings of anger towards one Jonah Magnus, this one’s for you.

"Hey Mel- oh. Are you... going somewhere?"

Melanie startles, almost dropping the cup of coffee she has clutched in one hand. You stop just shy of the kitchenette doorway, feeling awkward for have accidentally snuck up on her.

"Jesus- I didn't hear you coming at all."

"Yeah... sorry. What're you doing?"

"I'm-" her expression goes through a series of stages, each somehow more interpretive than the last, "I- I went out to get coffee, that's all. And I thought I'd bring some for Elias..."

You squint at her, suspicious, "Elias?"

You don't know how, but Melanie's expression remains completely smooth beside the slight twitch of her eye, "Yes."

"Riiiight." You know that she can probably tell you don’t believe her. Still, you gesture at the cup, "You're going up to deliver that to him, then?"

Melanie glances down at the beverage, "Ah- yeah." She pauses, seemingly thoughtful, before her eyes settle on you again, "D'you wanna come up with me?"

Frankly, Melanie is acting very suspiciously right now. You know for a fact that this isn't just her 'having' gotten Elias a coffee while she was out. But you don't quite know what she's actually up to, and you have a feeling that something is about to happen.

"Alright, I'll come with."

You're standing beside the door to Elias's office, falling just outside his line of sight. Melanie told you to wait out here as she delivered her 'coffee' but left the door ajar just so that the conversation inside can be easily overheard.

"-I assume you don't believe me, then? That murdering me would also kill you?"

You can only imagine what kind of look must be on Melanie's face, right about now, "I-I-I don't know what you're..."

Despite the topic of conversation, Elias sounds unnervingly calm. You're not even the one who’s tried to kill him and yet you still feel a twinge of annoyance, "Coffee is not as good for disguising tastes as you might think. And it's even worse at disguising texture. Dissolved pills always leave such a- hm- chalky residue."

Melanie bristles, "Look, Elias, I never-"

"I assume this is your first time attempting to poison someone." You silently shake your head. Poor Melanie, Elias doesn't even sound fazed, talking about an attempt on his life like he's just scolding her for coming into work late, "Do you actually know how many painkillers it takes to kill someone, or were you just hoping I'd take enough to get sick, and you could finish the job... manually?"

Melanie takes a deep breath, but even from here you can hear the fine tremor underneath it, "Why...? Why bother asking then? Why bother if you know everything?"

Elias chuckles, unperturbed, "I don't know everything, Melanie. Do you know how exhausting that would be?

"I'll tell you one thing I don't know," he continues, "and that's how to convince you that I'm trying to help. Honestly, you're one of the lucky ones. But not if we're all dead thanks to an... overzealous-" you wince, "-attempt at independence."

Melanie sounds like she's gearing up for a fight, like a toy with its key turned too many times, "I don't need you to-"

Elias interrupts, speaking with an infuriating condescendence, like he's just turning down Melanie's request for a promotion the third time this month, "Let's have no more clumsy assassination attempts, alright? And we'll say no more about it. Consider this your first warning." His voice swoops lower, quieter, dangerous, "Next time I shall have to escalate matters, and that won't be a pleasant process for anybody."

A pause for dramatics. "Understood?"

Melanie grits out her own assent, "Yes."

Melanie seems now to be a problem neatly taken care of and filed away, never to be considered again except maybe for his own occasional amusement. There's an audible smile in Elias's voice, "Good."

Next thing you know, Melanie storms out of the office and straight past you, looking too angry to have remembered that she left you standing there. You blankly watch her go, mind spinning in lazy circles while considering the conversation you overheard.

"Will you close the door before you leave, Alex?"

You don't bother to stop long enough in his office for a chat of your own.

It’s curious, really.

He said, 'I don't know everything. Do you know how exhausting that would be?'

He's some form of omniscient, that's for sure. Maybe like a maid working in a Victorian household, always on top of the gossip. Whether that be creating the gossip himself, or simply being the agent who spreads it, that depended on the time of day.

But he can't know everything, all the time. Because that would be too much.

Which means there are loopholes.

"Hey Rosie."

Little nosy Rosie looks up, smiling politely as you stop by to say hello. It's not a very comfortable smile, because anyone who's anyone knows to stay well away from the Archives and their staff. Not Rosie though, little Rosie has quite the fine palette for juicy bits of gossip, reason why she bothers talking to the lot of you, "Hello Alex. Everything well in the Archives?"

You wave your hand dismissively, "We're getting along, I suppose. Lot of excitement with all that murder business, you know how it is."

There's that gleam in her eyes now, that 'oh, what's this?' gleam of curiosity, "Not quite, no. Listen, did I hear it straight that Jon's back? Even after being accused of murder?”

You shift, getting yourself comfortable leaning against Rosie's desk, "Well, they dropped the charges, right? Turns out they had it all wrong, Jon wasn't the one who took a pipe to some old man's head. I mean, look at him? D'you think he'd do it?"

Rosie squirms under your gaze, looking distinctly guilty, "I suppose not. He's a bit of an arse sometimes but- maybe not murder."

"Oh, it's all right Rosie, if my body ever turns up dead you know where to look." You wink. Her lips quirk up in a smile. It's just a spot of joking you two are doing here, really. You turn your head then, just slightly, pretending to look around a bit when you spy a tea kettle boiling away in the corner. "Having a cuppa?"

"What?" She follows your gaze and startles, "Oh! No, no, that's for Mr. Bouchard. He takes his tea this time of day."

You make a low noise in the back of your throat, casually interested but not obviously, "That so. You deliver his tea all times of the day, then?"

Rosie gives you a bemused look, as if she suspects you're trying to turn your nose up on the fact that part of her job is to bring tea to her boss. "It's only twice a day. He's never broken from schedule, doesn't bother me for it otherwise."

You hum an empty agreement, "Seems like the kind of man to keep on schedule."

"I should get to that actually," She pushes away from her desk and starts to her feet, "The water's probably done."

"Yeah, alright." You push off of her desk, giving her nod as you wander over to the door of her office, "Nice chatting with you Rosie. You should come down to visit the Archives sometime."

The last thing you see is her indulgent smile, the kind you give someone when you're only putting up with them until they're gone. In this case specifically, it's a -I don’t want to get caught up in whatever goes down there in the Archives, no thank you- kind of smile.

Oh well. You got what you came for anyways.

It's rather easy after that.

A month of seeing neither hide nor hair of him, Jon comes back. He looks remarkably harried, and you don't think you'd have even noticed him coming into work had you not been in the reception area during that time. As such, you watch him rush straight past you and for the stairs, and you can make a guess for where he's headed with a single-minded focus like that. It seems like Elias has a lot to do with the nonsense that occurs down in the Archives, and people can't be happier having someone to blame.

You pop down in the Archives and tell Martin that Jon's back. He sighs in relief. Even before becoming scarce at his own workplace, it was always Martin that Jon kept the most contacts with, only to completely drop off the grid these last few weeks. Somewhere in the midst of your conversation Melanie comes marching in, a crazed look in her eye, and you know what she's planning too.

I mean, what better time than when the boss-bossman is distracted, eh?

An uncomfortable few seconds of watching Melanie stomp about before she leaves, the door closing behind her with a bang. Martin sighs tiredly and you know that he wishes she would just stop with all of this. These days, he’s more and more like a tired father of two toddler who has accepted his horrible lot in life, and yet still his children continue to insist on making it worse.

You give him a comforting little pat on the back. As far as you’re concerned, it's their loss if they insist on putting their heads in the lion's mouth.

Heading upstairs, you find Rosie's office empty. It must be if she’s settling the little dispute going on up in research. The kettle is however turned on, because Mr. Bouchard has always been a man of schedule.

It's easy, to slip in something into the water.

Elias can't know everything, all the time.

He knows he needs to keep an eye on his Archivist's development. The brunt of his gaze has always rested on Jon and it’s obvious that none of you Assistants can ever hope to stand in the same regard, not really.

Elias keeps an eye on Melanie. Melanie is unstable. She doesn't like her actions being controlled; she doesn't like being trapped here in this place. Never mind that she agreed to join the Institute on her own violation, it's her free will that matters to her now, or at least the illusion of it. Melanie is the kind of person who isn't afraid to fight for what she wants.

Elias keeps an eye on Tim too, though he pretends he doesn’t. It just makes sense. Tim is almost like Melanie, but he's been beaten down too much too soon, and won't take it out on Elias. His target is instead Jon, who seems to be at the center of most of his problems and is a much easiertarget. As long as that continues to be true, Tim is content on simply being indirectly snide towards Elias.

Elias doesn't really keep an eye on Martin. Oh, he knows that Martin is just as angry with him as any of others, but Martin has never been the kind of person to do anything about it.

Elias doesn't really keep an eye on you. You know what people think of you. That you're kind of an airhead. Always lost in your head, can't be bothered with the world outside it half the time. You're the kind of person that likes keeping their head down and quietly working away at your desk, and that hasn't much changed since... well, everything.

Nah. The murder thing isn't even on the top of your list. You'd just like some peace and quiet down here, for once. And, well, Elias seems to be the root of everyone's problems, including yours...

Still, there's no point in doing anything without at least enjoying the results. You researched extensively on what kind of poison to buy, taking into mind Elias’ oh-so-kind lecture to Melanie about picking your poison. It wouldn’t have done for him to taste something off about his tea the moment he took the first sip.

So, after exactly the time it would take for his tea to kick into effect, if you compensate for the time he would take to drink enough of it, you check in on Elias.

The first thing you see is the man collapsed onto his desk, eyes wide open and mouth frothing. The second you see is Jon, staring at the now dead body in front of him with surprise.

"Oh. It worked."

Jon's eyes snap toward you, "Wh- Alex? Did you do this?!"

You rub at your ears at the pitch of Jon's voice, an octave or two higher with hysteria, "I didn't know it'd work, you know?"

"You killed him!"

You shrug, slipping inside the room. "Sure." You can't be bothered to close the door behind you as cross over to the desk. Jon scampers out of his own seat, edging warily to the other side of the room. He can do whatever he wants as long as he doesn't call the cops immediately.

You check for a pulse on the body and find it missing.

From the furthest corner of the room, Jon stutters, "Y-you're insane."

You can't be bothered with an answer.

Fascinatingly enough though, Elias's eyes are still moving. They rove around wildly in his sockets, almost like they're the only way he can convey his surprise at being got. It's still unnatural though, and you have the strangest surety that it's an important detail.

Jon by this point has left the office, and you should really clean up here before someone comes in. Still, it almost feels like things aren't finished here. You have the strangest sense when it’s obvious that a story hasn't reached its conclusion.

You cast about the room and stop at the pen stand, holding fancy fountain pens that look like they cost more than your entire salary. You grab onto one, sliding the cap off by neatly jamming your thumb nail into the line where the cap meets the body of the pen, and look down contemplatively at the eyes that have stopped pinballing wildly, fixed on you. They almost look scared.

Well. This is going to get messy. At least you know that Melanie will be willing to help you clean up the body.

Tip of the pen poised; you get to work.

#original character #fanfic #ao3 fanfic #tma #the magnus archives #tma podcast #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #melanie king #elias bouchard #brief mention of eye trauma #murder #attempted murder #poisoning #my writing

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haberdashing · 3 years

Text

open your eyes (i see your eyes are open) (4/?)

Jon, faced with being the last one left in a dying world, sends his memories back in time to someone who might be able to fix things before the worst can happen.

Sasha James, for her part, is very confused.

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4

on AO3

The visit to Artefact Storage was nice, but just like when she’d been reassigned, Sasha was only too happy to get out of there and head to the Archives, though she knew well enough now that the latter was plenty dangerous in its own right. At least she knew what to expect from the Archives. At least the Archives weren’t literally paying her to test out horrible, unpredictable things...

...no, that was Jon’s job now, wasn’t it? Elias had chosen him, the Web had chosen him, and now he was the Archivist, and he was going to be put through things much worse than anything Artefact Storage had to offer...

Sasha had started this train of thought in the hopes of reassuring herself, but instead, as she entered the Archives, she just felt a little queasy as she thought of what lay in store in Jon’s future.

Or what would lay in store in Jon’s future, anyway. Things wouldn’t be so bad this time around, not if Sasha had a say in it.

Jon was already in the Archives, perched over Tim’s desk as the two spoke about something, and Sasha was struck by the sight of him. He looked so different than he had in his final days before, and not just because his skin was free of scars--his hair was short and much less gray than before, he was still wearing a suit of all things rather than the hodgepodge of outfits he’d rummaged through as his professional mask slipped and his options grew slimmer...

...and, as Jon turned her way, Sasha could see his eyes focus on her, and though his gaze was still dark and meaningful, there wasn’t the same weight to it, the same sense of the universe itself staring back out of those deep eyes.

(She still felt like she was being watched, but that was only to be expected now, wasn’t it?)

“Good to see you, Sasha.” Jon shot her a quick nod. “I was just briefing Tim on his next project--you’re still working on the Hodgson file, correct?”

God, that felt like ages ago, though Jon had only given Sasha that assignment last Thursday. The Hodgson file wasn’t even one of the real ones, just somebody who’d gotten drunk and mistook what was probably a plane for an alien vessel, though Sasha was struggling to recall all the details at the moment. “Right, yeah, I was, er, having trouble looking up the relevant flight patterns, I believe it was? But I’ll keep trying, of course, so-”

Jon looked over Sasha again, and his gaze softened slightly. “Are you feeling alright? You look a little pale.”

“I’m fine, I... it’s just, um...” ...hell, she was struggling to come up with an excuse, so why even bother? She wanted to tell Jon about what she’d learned eventually, and perhaps now was as good a time as any. “Actually, could we talk in your office? When you’re done with Tim, I mean, I don’t mean to rush you.”

“I think we’re done here already.” There was a flat tone to Tim’s voice that set Sasha on edge--had he and Jon been arguing, perhaps?

“Oh, yes, we’ve covered pretty much everything I wanted to discuss at this point, so.” Jon rapped twice on Tim’s desk with a slender fist, a gesture Sasha had never seen him use before his promotion but had already encountered several times since. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”

“Sounds like a plan, boss.” Tim’s voice had a bit more energy to it now, and as she walked with Jon to his office, Sasha saw him shoot her a wry grin.

Sasha closed the door behind her and took a seat as Jon got settled.

“What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Well...”

That feeling of being watched that permeated the Institute was making the hairs on the back of Sasha’s neck stand up, and she knew it wasn’t just because Jon was looking at her with an expression somewhere between curious and impatient.

What were the odds that Elias- that Jonah Magnus was watching them right now? Probably not great, really, he did have an actual job besides just spying on his employees, but he certainly could be watching. Was thinking about it that much more likely to make it happen, drawing his attention to her thoughts? God, it was hard to know, wasn’t it? And that was the problem, being caught up with knowing and not knowing...

“Now that you’re the head archivist here, it’s your job to hear when the general public’s encountered something supernatural, right?”

“If it’s in a statement given to us, yes, but those are usually made by liars and the mentally unwell.”

Sasha did her best to drum up a smile. “Good thing this isn’t a statement, then, right?”

It could be a formal statement, probably, but Sasha didn’t want that, not when anybody with access to their archives could read it afterwards, not when there was information she now knew that could prevent the literal end of the world if the right people acted upon it.

A soft sigh, more perfunctory than anything. Jon was trying to play the grump again, but Sasha was pretty sure she could see through it even without everything she now knew about Jon masking his true feelings. “Where are you going with this, Sasha?”

“This weekend, my mind just- just filled with a ton of information suddenly. Info about you, about the other assistants, about the supernatural, about a little bit of everything really. Things I should have no way of knowing, but now I do. I figured you ought to know--could come in handy down the line.”

“Do you have any proof of this?” Jon tilted his head to one side slightly. “Something you shouldn’t know about me, perhaps--and not just from hacking, either?”

Sasha thought about arguing the point about hacking with Jon, but honestly, it was fair enough that she be called on it. Instead, she just nodded and took a deep breath--not that she really needed the extra air for what she was going to say, but because it felt right, and who was she to deny the moment that extra bit of dramatic flair?

“Mister Spider wants more.”

Jon’s face went pale in an instant, his gaze unfocusing as he seemed to look more through Sasha than at her.

“Jon?”

Jon didn’t respond.

“Jon, it’s okay!” Sasha rapped gently on his desk. “It’s just me. It’s not... it’s not that.”

Jon blinked rapidly a few times before shaking his head.

“You alright?”

“I’m fine.” Jon was clearly not fine, as his hands were shaking slightly and his face still didn’t have its full color back, but Sasha wasn’t going to argue the point. “But I- I’ve never told anybody about that, how did you-”

“I told you. Weird supernatural information shoved into my head over the weekend. Simple as that.”

“Right. You- you weren’t making that up, then.”

It wasn’t really a question, but Sasha answered just the same. “Of course not. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

Jon looked unconvinced, and Sasha suddenly remembered how when “Antonio Blake”’s statement had appeared, Jon had thought only Tim could be trusted to investigate it, only Tim could be ruled out for having written it as a practical joke on his new boss--that felt like an eternity ago, and yet it hadn’t even happened yet...

“You said you didn’t want to give a formal statement, correct? Was there any other action you expected from me regarding this?”

Sasha shrugged. She still wasn’t sure how much she could share, especially here, in the belly of the beast. Maybe in the tunnels, some time... assuming there still were tunnels, and they weren’t being plagued by worms or Not-Thems or murderous Jurgen Leitners...

“I just wanted you to know about it, mostly. I know a lot about these old archives now, so if you’ve ever got a question, I’m glad to do what I can. Not that I wouldn’t be willing to help anyway, but, you know, if I already know the location and validity of statement number 0051701, or whatever, might as well use it, right?”

Jon squinted a little. “What is statement number 0051701?”

“Oh, it’s...” Sasha let out a soft giggle. “We haven’t gone over it yet, but it’s about an old calliope organ.”

“Kuh-LY-o-pee.” Jon corrected.

“Ka-lee-O-pee.” Sasha repeated, a grin growing on her face. “Though there’s really no one correct pronunciation, or so I’ve heard.”

“...right. Well, thank you for letting me know about all this, I suppose.”

“Of course. You are the boss around here, right?”

“As Tim keeps reminding me, yes.”

Sasha stood back up and cracked open Jon’s office door, but before she left entirely, she added, “Seriously, reach out if you need me- or any of us, really. It’s not healthy to spend too long cooped up in here by yourself.”

“Duly noted.”

As the door closed behind Sasha, she could only hope that she was doing enough, that her offers to help would be taken advantage of when Jon needed it most.

#tma #tma au #tma fic #tma fanfic #the magnus archives #the magnus archives au #the magnus archives fic #the magnus archives fanfic #personal #my writing

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neverendingparable · 4 years

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"This is the Story of a little girl named Alice.

Alice used to work for a big Institute dedicated to researching the esoteric and paranormal, where she was the head archivist. Alice's job was simple, most of the time she just sat at her desk and recorded statements. Since a lot of the recordings tended to mess up with the Institute's newer technology, she had to re-record them on an old tape player in her office.

When she needed help or further research on a statement, Alice would call one of her archival assistants Bradley or Stellan in, or place the task on the new archivist-in-training Jonathan. Alice worked hard and she worked well. And she was happy in her routine.

And then one day, something very peculiar happened.

Something that would forever change Alice.

Something she could never quite forget, even if she wanted to.

One day, a door that had previously led into the hallways of the Institute, led into an Office building, one she was sure had never been connected to her place of employment before. In fact, she found it wasn’t even anywhere near London, or in any place she could register as Earth.

The windows showed nothing but blank white and the doors only led into other hallways, never out into the open.

Something had gone very clearly wrong.

Shocked and terrified, Alice found herself unable to believe this turn of events for the longest time.

But as she was forced to come back to her wits, she decided to get up and explore this new place. Perhaps one of these doors will lead her back home.

...

Alas, they never did. Even as Alice made strange new friends who knew more about the Office than she did, even as she stumbled upon her very own self, proud and vicious on her throne of delusions, she came no closer to coming home.

A dimension here, a dimension there. Poor, confused Alice trying to reason her way through the mess. This odd fellow must be a Stranger, yet this one could only be the avatar of the Hunt. What lessons could Maelle be trying to teach her here? How will this further Alice's own powers, her powers of seeing, of Beholding.

She was doomed from the start, I'm afraid. Her assistants had no idea where she was and while Maelle was fully aware of her desperate wanderings, even she would not extend her hand out to save her little Archivist.

After all, she had another one, another one who was far less bright and more curious than Alice. One whose strings could be pulled in any direction without even a hint of suspicion arising.

No, Alice, I'm afraid your time has come. You were a decent Archivist, dedicated to your job, but too much so that you would rather cloud your sight with work, rather than experience it first hand. What good is an Archivist that has lost its sense of curiosity?

Yet you have enough curiosity to finish your story. There, with that Mariella by your side, the strange woman who always seems to know where she is going, the one who befriends the odd entities of this place without a second thought, you wander the hallways hoping her intuition will lead you somewhere new.

You did ask her several times if she can find her way to the Institute, but you fail to understand that Mariella can be just as easily manipulated as you have been.

She could find the way to the Institute without struggle, yet we will make sure she won't. And anyway, it is too late for you to return now.

You wander down into the dusty Mind Control Facility - such irony doesn't come around often - and marvel at the sea of spider webs, overtaking the abandoned arena in waves of silver. Mariella stays at the doorway, a mixture of awe and disgust on her face.

Fortunately for her, she is not an arachnophobe. She tries to keep it out of her hair. Unfortunately for you, you wander in deeper, statements running through your mind as everything clicks into place. Why you are here, how you got to be in this very Office at this very time. How the Web had played with you just as I have been playing with you from the very start.

You open your mouth to voice your revelations to Mariella, but falter as you feel a tickle on your arm. Your hand has carelessly brushed into one of the webs and caught the attention of a spider, black and plump, darting its way up your shoulder.

Screaming just gives them more places to crawl into. Mariella watches in horror, but she has just enough sense left not to run in after you. She runs off, to go get help. But the perfectly placed door leads her far, far away from you and it shuts after her, never to open again.

Just like the previous Archivist, you have disappeared without a trace. I am sure his fate was a lot less gruesome than yours, Alice. But there are worse ways to die. I think you don't need me telling you that."

*Click*

Maelle opens her eyes again and takes out the tape from its recorder.

She studies it for a moment, an ironic smile playing at the corners of her mouth. For a moment, she considers leaving it for the spiders to take away, for when whatever remains of Alice inevitably returns to the Institute, she will be fully briefed on Maelle's betrayal.

But she doesn’t want to risk it getting into the wrong hands at the wrong time, so she locks it away in a little safe where she keeps other such tapes and several checks sent from the Lucas', in case the Institute needs more funding.

She sits back at her desk and coms the receptionist, asking for the archival assistants in her office. They come quickly. Bradley has ink doodles all over his hands which he tries to hide sheepishly, Stellan doesn’t even bother putting down his coffee cup and Jonathan got too flustered figuring out where to put the statements he was filing down, so he took them along anyway.

They all stand before her, quiet but eyes hopeful. Any news from Alice? Has she been found yet? Does that mean news for them too?

The last few months have been difficult, Maelle made sure. Tensions were high, work had been unfairly distributed and they were all tired, tired of waiting, tired of guessing and ready to move on. Just let things get back to normal.

She eyes them wordlessly for a moment longer, taking on the facade of a tired boss who is figuring out how to deliver bad news. Then she shows them an envelope.

A resignation letter, signed in Alice's favorite pen. A copy of employment proof and a picture. Alice looks happy next to her wife, an american beauty, blonde and blue-eyed like the sky behind them.

Simple cover stories are often better than the dramatic ones. She found somewhere better to be and ditched her old life. It happens. If anyone would travel across the world leaving behind everything for a pretty face, it would be Alice after all.

There are sounds of disgust, resignation and relief, from Bradley, Stellan and Jon respectively. The tensions of the past months bubble over and Maelle lets them rage about being abandoned without so much as a goodbye.

They have no reason to worry about Alice or even seek out any contact, as her disappearance seemed proof enough she had all but forgotten about their existence.

When Maelle announces Jonathan as the new head archivist, followed by the generous offer to give them the rest of the day off after they finished their respective projects to reflect and celebrate, no one interjects.

Jonathan spends the rest of the day being congratulated from all sides, egged on by Bradley and Stellan to join them for a mandatory promotion drink. As they celebrate their new Archivist and the return to normalcy, no one spares a moment of pity towards the old head archivist of the Magnus Institute, now lifeless in a bed of cobwebs.

#drabble #archivist!au #archivist!alice #finallyyy #i waited until today to post this #because it's the 8th and everyone knows that's a spider num8er #RIP alice #at least for now #let's say she is...transforming #in her spider cocoon #but not into a butterfly #8.10.20

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harryshmjr · 7 years

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02x14

i really loved this episode, especially that it was so luke heavy. but it also focused on the political side of this world and it was interesting to see how everyone acts in such situations

- even though magnus understood that it was the right decision to keep his and alec’s professional and private lives seperate, he was still hurt. their decisions are already being questioned, on both sides. so it's not easy to make this work, especially now when they are both leaders of their people magnus is still in so much pain and his insecurities are even more visible now, that 'have i done something wrong' absolutely broke my heart. because he just blames himself for everything, even when none of it is his fault

- even though i know alec and magnus are dating, every time they mention it, i live. alec calling magnus his boyfriend, i need more of those small but important moments

- MR. LIGHTWOOD AND MR. BANE I SCREAMED they tried so hard to keep it professional but they managed to sound flirty even in such a situation. they're so in love and they can't stop themselves even for five minutes

- magnus congratulating alec on his promotion and then supporting his decisions... I LIVE. power couple af

- and magnus’ face when raphael called him out was amazing haha ‘son, i don’t need this right now’ ‘dad, please’

- alec being the head of the institute is everything. he's been waiting his whole life for this and finally it has happened and izzy being a proud sister? i have so many feels about this, i love it

- alec and izzy tried so hard to keep straight faces when jace said book club... bless their solidarity

- alec reaching out to luke specifically to show him respect was such an important moment alec is trying really hard to unite everyone, even when the clave is so unhelpful (to say the least) and he realises it too well, he knows that luke has every right not to want to attend those meetings or cooperate with shadowhunters more than is necessary

- alec being there for his mother, making sure that she's doing okay... i just love alec so much. because no matter what happened between them in the past, he's still making sure that maryse is somehow dealing with her situation and he reminds her that he's by her side

- i loved the scene between alec and luke. alec knows he needs to do A LOT to gain luke's trust because so far shadowhunters were only failing him and he suffered too much because of them. even though alec doesn't approve it, he understands very well why luke wanted to kill valentine on his own

- it was a bad decision to go to valentine's cell. but honestly? i really can't blame luke. he tried to give the clave a chance, he tried to let them handle it. and how did that end? the clave doesn't care about the downworlders and luke has lost too many people, he suffered too much because of valentine. of course he wanted to kill him

- jace playing on the piano was such a beautiful scene. and that comparison to him and sebastian playing at the end. showing just how similar their lives were when they were kids, yet so different. valentine using angel and demon blood on both of them but destroying lives of both of them (no, i'm not trying to defend sebastian in any way. but he could be a normal person if it hadn't been for valentine... who just killed his first son and created a monster)

- jace's smile when maia's name was mentioned is the most beautiful one and i loved every second of it even though i know they could never be an actual couple, i still love the fact that their relationship or whatever it is, it brings both of them happiness

- can we talk about the fact that jace didn't want to make another move on clary just because she had a boyfriend? because jace would never want to do something so horrible like stealing someone's girlfriend, he didn't even want to think about his own feelings

- jace was so worried about his boyfriend when they were about to go to the seelie realm, it was just so adorable

- 'that tree almost tore simon's pretty face off' 'you think i'm pretty?' please tell me how either of them is straight, i'll wait

- all those cute things jace said about simon... yeah, tell me how jace isn't in love with simon

- maryse congratulating alec on his promotion and supporting him, i love everything about this. and when she mentioned alec writing his own memos in crayon when he was a kid, i was in tears. i love when she mentions all those moments from the past that show they are family, a real family

- maryse trying to fix her mistakes, make things right with everyone she hurt... i can't wait to see that. she's always wanted to do the right thing but in doing so she hurt a lot of people. and now she realises this. i hope we will get to see more of this, especially that her situation with luke still needs more work on her part

- izzy supporting maryse, telling her to leave robert. yes, i cried a lot. even though izzy has always felt like she wasn't enough, she still loves her mother deeply and wants her to be happy

- maryse acknowledging alec and magnus' relationship, FINALLY realizing that her son is happy and in love and FINALLY she understands that. this means everything

- i cried even more when maryse was actually behaving like izzy's mother. she apologised for everything wrong she's ever done to izzy and she wants to be there for her daughter it was one of the most important scenes in this episode

- izzy's training scene... oh boy sign me up but it hurt a lot to see izzy thinking that maryse wouldn't accept her. it did happen way too many times and now izzy thought it would be the same. izzy deserves people who will love her for being her

- but can she just throw me like she threw sebastian? please and thank you

- no matter how horrible izzy feels, she's always there to support clary. izzy is the best friend anyone could ever ask for

- seelie realm is so beautiful and all seelies that live there are just so much different from the ones who live in the real world. i hope we'll get another look in the future

- seelie queen is AMAZING. you can see she's at least 10 steps ahead of everyone and she has just began plotting

- it's really interesting that the seelie queen wanted simon to be her ally. makes you think what exactly she is thinking about

- raphael hating sebastian from the second he met him is my aesthetic

- 'all shadowhunters look the same to me' meliorn delivering iconic lines

- i honestly couldn't care less about that clace kiss. the only thing i actually think about when it comes to this scene is what a huge impact it has on simon. not only was he betrayed and cheated on right in front of his eyes but it also proved everything that the seelie queen had told him. and it's that the shadowhunters will always choose their own. whether it's true or the queen was just using the situation, nobody can deny that this will break simon into a million pieces

- clary needs to finally leave simon alone, she doesn't deserve him. she needs to let him move on because she's never loved him, at least not romantically

- rizzy is finally dead and i love everything it's clear that raphael still cares about izzy but in the end, he knows that they could never be truly together

- sebastian needs to leave maia's name out of his evil mouth

- sebastian was freaking scary when he talked to raphael. and even though he was correct, he had no right to say any of this to raphael. sebastian is a million times worse ugh

- the last scene with sebastian was freaking scary... and also, who did he kidnap?

- sia and bjork are seelies, i love name dropping on shadowhunters

- ollie is adorable but she needs to stop snooping around or she’ll get herself hurt... or worse

- 'i'm all for unity, but does he have to bring them here?' sounded so much like 'i have nothing against gays but can they just not do it in front of me?' and it only proves further how horrible people most of shadowhunters are

#shadowhunters #magnus bane #alec lightwood #luke garroway #jace herondale #simon lewis #maryse lightwood #isabelle lightwood #seelie queen #raphael santiago #meliorn #clary fray #sebastian morgenstern #ollie

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purplexedhuman · 7 years

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My thoughts on Raj’s characterisation in Parabatai Lost and why it bothers me

I know that people have already talked about this, but I wanted to write about what I thought. To begin with, the writing was inconsistent. In the past, Raj has been written as a character who is just doing his job and following orders as a shadowhunter. Even in this episode, his characterisation started out that way, with him appearing sympathetic to the Lightwoods and Magnus. He says something along the lines of, “Hey man, I feel you, but you have to go since it’s not working.” This is polite and conveys that Raj is sympathetic but has to follow orders. Then, Magnus says that his magic is working by preventing Alec from becoming worse. After this exchange, why would anyone just say “I know you’re old, but I didn’t think you had hearing problems.” In addition, I assume he lives in the Institute (or at least is aware of the happenings since he’s been here from Season 1). So, he must be aware of Magnus and Alec’s relationship. Magnus has also come to the Institute before to help them with wards and stuff. So there was no reason for Raj to be so vindictive in his reply. It would have made more sense to have Raj instead say something like, “Even so, I have my orders, I need to tell Aldertree,” and then try to leave to get Aldertree, which could be enough for Magnus to get upset given his existing frustration and grief. We already saw him fling a pot across the room and close the door in Jocelyn’s face, so it’s not too much of a stretch that he would retaliate.

Second, some of this was unnecessary. In particular, I’m talking about the ‘Shut up, Raj’ and about throwing him across the room into a wall. We see other characters who are just doing their job as members of the Clave, and yet they don’t receive the same treatment that Raj did. For instance, I don’t recall anyone being so rude to Lydia when she was doing her job in Season 1 (Plus, there was no such reaction on Twitter, with people tweeting ‘Shut up, Lydia’ or any of the other things that happened after this episode). Similarly, slamming Raj against the wall felt like a bit too much. @highwarlockkareena was talking about how the writers probably wanted to show this as a badass!Magnus scene. I would add that maybe they needed Raj to be unconscious so that they could sneak Alec out. Both of these could have been achieved without doing what they did. Izzy could have stepped in just as Magnus was about to attack Raj and stopped him, and Magnus could have used a sleeping spell or something similar to knock Raj out. Throwing him across the room just makes it seem as if Raj was a bigger ‘villain’ who needed or deserved to be treated that way. Also, we’ve never seen Magnus get that violent with someone who didn’t physically attack him first. So what was the need to do that here?

Third, there’s the issue of the fandom’s reactions. Apart from any racial biases, part of the problem also lies in the fact that we see so little of Raj to begin with. Raj isn’t a properly fleshed out character, he’s just used in places where they need another shadowhunter from the Institute to contrast with the behaviour of the Lightwoods and Clary. He’s only ever written in scenes where it seems as if he’s being an ‘antagonist’ to the main characters. It’s unfair to start hating him for doing the same things that other characters do. The difference is that we see more of the other characters, so people don’t have just these one or two scenes on which to base their judgement. Like with Lydia, we see her putting Izzy on trial, going after Meliorn, etc., but they also show her being supportive of Alec and Magnus at the wedding, dropping the case against Izzy, etc. Same goes for Jocelyn. She tries to shoot Jace, she locks up Clary, lies to Clary and Luke, and yet people can see that her character is not ‘evil’ or ‘bad’, but more complex than that.

In all of this, I don’t mean to say that Raj should be promoted to a main character, or that he needs to be included in more scenes or anything (though that would be nice). However, the fact remains that he is the only representation for many fans of the show. Yes, this show has done well in terms of POC representation (with a few exceptions), but the term POC literally covers most of the world. Therefore, even though there is POC representation, many of us are more protective of Raj since he represents us in particular, and there isn’t that much (good) representation of Indian and/or desi characters anywhere else either. When this interacts with everything I mentioned above, of course desi fans are going be upset and we have every right to be!

#shadowhunters #sh spoilers #sh s2 #sh 2x03 #parabatai lost #raj #media representation #desi tag #my posts #pooja talks

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