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tma-traduzioni · 4 years ago

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MAG063 - #0143103 - “La fine del tunnel”

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ARCHIVISTA

Dichiarazione di Erin Gallagher-Nelson, riguardante l’esplorazione urbana sotto la chiesa di Saint Paul, a West Hackney. Dichiarazione originale rilasciata il 31 marzo 2014. Registrazione audio di Jonathan Sims, Capo Archivista dell’Istituto Magnus, Londra.

Inizio della dichiarazione.

ARCHIVISTA (DICHIARAZIONE)

Sono sicura che saprete che cos’è l’esplorazione urbana. Sono sicura che qui avete avuto abbastanza zotici dilettanti che hanno incontrato un fantasma in una qualche vecchia fabbrica abbandonata, quindi vi risparmio la spiegazione di come funziona. E se non sapete cos’è, beh, esiste Internet. Cercatelo.

Sono la cosa più vicina a una professionista che puoi trovare per quella che è praticamente violazione di proprietà privata per sport. Lavoro come fotografa, e se mi gioco bene le mie carte, posso ottenere più soldi da una stazione di pompaggio abbandonata che dal fotografare una Barbie viziata per il mensile “Odia te stessa”, o simili. Siamo sempre stati io e Luke Nelson. Era il fratello di mia moglie, e si occupava delle luci in tutti i nostri servizi. Per lo meno, fino a che non venne divorato dall’oscurità la settimana scorsa.

È per questo che sono qui: perché non me lo sono sognato. È successo. Non m’importa di quello che dice Steph, non ho bisogno di parlare con uno strizzacervelli, devo parlare con voi.

Ci trovavamo sotto la chiesa di Saint Paul a West Hackney. Edificio orribile, simile a una scatola, ti lascia davvero pensare agli standard abitativi di Dio? Cioè, sto solo dicendo, che se fosse stata casa mia, sarei alquanto incazzata. Comunque, credo che se Lui non l’avesse voluta, avrebbe dovuto proteggere quella precedente dalle bombe naziste, perché Saint Paul era St. James prima di essere ridotta in macerie in un raid.

Tutti si dimenticano sempre di quanta Londra ci sia sotto Londra. Voglio dire non è messa male come alcuni posti come Edinburgo, dove hanno letteralmente seppellito metà della città e ce ne hanno costruita una nuova sopra - ma in alcuni posti ci si avvicina. E avevo fatto molte ricerche su Saint Paul-che-prima-era-Saint James, perché sembrava potesse essere proprio uno di quei posti.

Le planimetrie delle fognature e dei seminterrati del vicinato sembravano indicare la presenza di una grande area sotterranea direttamente sotto Saint Paul che sembrerebbe essere stata evitata da tutte le opere pubbliche - eppure le piantine della chiesa moderna non indicavano niente sotto il livello del terreno.

Ciò che questo mi diceva era che la vecchia chiesa di Saint James probabilmente aveva dei notevoli locali sotterranei, che non erano stati completamente distrutti dalle bombe. E che il suo sostituto non usava.

Sotterranei vittoriani della prima metà del XIX secolo, rimasti indisturbati per 70 anni? Era esattamente il tipo di cosa che andava di moda al momento in una certa nicchia di riviste artistiche, ed ero sicura che avrei potuto venderne qualcuna a Getty e una manciata ad altri siti di stock photo. E poi, non era la prima volta che mi intrufolavo in una chiesa.

Fortunatamente, Saint Paul a West Hackney è una chiesa anglicana, il che vuol dire che non la chiudevano con la stessa cura di altri posti. Le chiese cattoliche possono essere una vera rottura, visto che hanno cose di valore all’interno che devono essere protette? Ma questa, come la maggior parte delle c.a., dentro era semplice e spoglia. Quindi mentre si preoccupavano molto degli uffici, non erano altrettanto scrupolosi nel chiudere l’edificio principale della chiesa, perché abbastanza francamente, non c’era molto da rubare - a meno che non t’interessassero i libri degli inni.

A me e Luke servì meno di un minuto per entrare. Era lo scorso martedì, il 25. Suppongo che, tecnicamente, fosse mercoledì 26, in quanto era già passata la mezzanotte quando facemmo la nostra mossa. Una volta dentro, tenemmo le nostre torce basse, sistemammo la nostra attrezzatura, e andammo a cercare qualcosa che ci permettesse di scendere.

All’inizio pensai che ci potessimo essere sbagliati, e che non vi fosse un accesso per i sotterranei. Ma poi Luke individuò quello che sembrava essere un pannello removibile poco alla sinistra di quello che passava da pulpito. Era più pesante di quanto non sembrasse, ma dopo un po’ di lavoro con il piede di porco, venne via.

Sembrava che non venisse rimosso da decenni - forse da quando la chiesa era stata costruita. Ma quello che mi sorprese fu la folata d’aria che ne uscì quando si spostò. Sospirò, come se avesse trattenuto a lungo un respiro, e l’aria che uscì da quel buco era gelida, e umida. Non inaspettata, ma quello che mi sorprese fu l’odore pulito che aveva. Come di una notte autunnale dopo la pioggia.

[Rumore di statica in sottofondo inizia a farsi sentire]

Non c’era alcuna scaletta o scalinate, ma avevamo portato tantissima corda, quindi scendemmo. L’oscurità sembrò ingoiarci. Avrei giurato che a tratti la potevo sentire stringersi fisicamente contro di me.

Come venne fuori, c’erano solo un paio di metri al pavimento del tunnel sotterraneo, e le nostre torce ci mostrarono esattamente quello che avevo sperato: mattoni vittoriani.

Il passaggio che si allungava lontano da noi in entrambe le direzioni era assolutamente perfetto, e non sprecai un istante nell’organizzare degli scatti, mentre Luke piazzava i cavalletti delle luci. Là sotto i flash sembravano quasi accecanti, ma ero sicura che stavamo ottenendo delle foto eccellenti. Fu solo quando diedi loro una rapida occhiata sullo schermo della mia reflex che iniziai a irritarmi. Chiaramente, Luke si era trovato di fronte alla luce quando avevo iniziato a scattare.

In ogni singola immagine, dove la parete di sfondo era illuminata dalle luci potenti, potevi vedere la nitida forma dell’ombra di una persona.

Ebbi quasi una discussione con Luke al riguardo. Lui insisteva che non avrebbe mai fatto un simile errore da principiante. Gli dissi che poteva discutere con me, ma non con la fotocamera. Alla fine, si allontanò per continuare a esplorare più avanti.

Scattai un’altra foto prima di seguirlo. L’ombra era ancora lì, e sembrava essere leggermente più vicina.

Non so perché la ignorai. La mente umana è sorprendentemente brava a ignorare le cose che non hanno senso, che non vuole vedere. Mi convinsi che era uno scherzo dell’angolazione in quel punto. Non mi permisi nemmeno di considerare l’idea che potesse essere stato un problema della mia costosissima macchina fotografica, quindi di sicuro non considerai la possibilità di una spiegazione soprannaturale.

Seguii Luke più avanti fino a che, dopo circa 20 minuti, arrivammo alle rovine di una specie di camera. Il soffitto era collassato, probabilmente a causa del bombardamento che aveva distrutto la chiesa di Saint James, e i detriti ne occupavano la maggior parte. Sembrava che un tempo fosse stata una sala circolare, e ad ogni lato dell’ingresso, potevo vedere delle porte bloccate dalla pietra caduta.

Non esisteva che fossimo capaci di spostare abbastanza detriti da accedervi, ma era strano: quando i raggi delle torce passavano oltre quelle, anche se erano coperte per la maggior parte in muratura crollata, comunque non sembravano tanto buie quanto il corridoio da cui eravamo arrivati.

Feci delle foto. La composizione del posto era ottima, e le soglie delle porte bloccate avevano una strana sorta di rigida regalità. Erano di sicuro di buona fattura, se erano riuscite a sopravvivere a quello che sembrava essere un colpo diretto di una bomba tedesca. Controllai le foto, e non c’erano ombre, il che fu un po’ un sollievo.

Andammo nell’altra direzione. Quando raggiungemmo le nostre corde che penzolavano dal buco sopra di noi, Luke iniziò ad avere delle preoccupazioni. Beh, dico preoccupazioni: lui voleva uscire di lì. Voleva che preparassimo le nostre borse e che ci arrampicassimo fuori e che ce ne andassimo, mi diceva che stava ricevendo strane energie dal luogo, e stava provando a convincermi che avevamo visto abbastanza. Guardando in su verso quel quadrato brillante, illuminato in modo invitante dalla luna che filtrava dalle finestre della chiesa, fui mezza tentata di dargli ragione.

Il problema era che, a causa dei problemi con il primo set, avevo una, forse due foto di qualità utilizzabile, e non erano neanche lontanamente abbastanza. Gli dissi senza mezzi termini che non avevo abbastanza, e che se io non fossi stata pagata, lui non sarebbe stato pagato. Vidi il conflitto sul suo viso: voleva uscire di lì, certo, ma a quanto pare non tanto quanto voleva pagare l’affitto.

Quindi: proseguimmo, più avanti nel tunnel. Non so quanto andammo lontano. Mi fermavo ogni circa 10 metri per preparare e provare a fare una bella foto, ma le ombre erano tornate, e peggio di prima. Ora ce ne erano due o tre in alcune foto. Non erano proprio una nitida silhouette umana, quindi riuscii a convincermi che doveva essere una particolarità del modo in cui il tunnel rifletteva la luce - anche se, col senno di poi, non ha alcun senso.

Comunque, continuai a proseguire, sperando di trovare un luogo dove poter fare delle foto dei tunnel spogli e bui, con mattoni così neri da sembrare quasi carbone. Ci spostavamo, ci preparavamo, scattavamo, controllavamo, e poi io imprecavo alla mia fotocamera. Non so quante volte lo ripetemmo. Luke diventava sempre più nervoso per tutto il tragitto.

Non mi sembrava che l’avessimo fatto per molto più di 10 minuti, ma quando controllai il mio orologio, eravamo stati là sotto per quasi due ore. Eravamo finalmente arrivati alla fine del sentiero, ed era semplicemente quello: una fine. Uno spoglio muro di mattoni a indicare la fine di un tunnel che sembrava snodarsi sotto buona parte di Hackney.

A questo punto, alla fine decisi di lasciar perdere la cosa e di tornare indietro. Fu quando mi girai verso Luke per dirglielo, che la mia torcia morì. Non ci furono cerimonie: tremolò per un un secondo, poi si spense con un debole pop. Guardai verso Luke sul punto di chiedergli di passarmi le batterie di riserva - quando vidi la sua faccia. Non credo di aver mai visto nessuno tanto spaventato quanto lui in quel momento. Poi anche la sua torcia si spense, e non ci fu altro se non oscurità.

Lo sentii frugare alla ricerca di qualcosa che pensai essere le luci per la fotocamera, e un secondo dopo sentii il click... click... click di lui che provava ad accenderle. Non successe nulla. Lui continuò a pigiare i pulsanti, ancora e ancora, e potevo percepire la sua disperazione, ma eravamo ancora intrappolati nel buio pesto.

A un certo punto, smise, e ce ne restammo semplicemente lì. Volevo dire qualcosa di rassicurante, ma avevo paura a rompere il silenzio. C’era solo il suo respirare, affaticato e spaventato. Divenni consapevole del mio stesso respirare: rapido, e stava tradendo il panico che fingevo di non sentire.

E poi li sentii: i terzi respiri. Erano silenziosi, all’inizio, lunghi e lenti, e molto intenzionali. Più ascoltavo, più forti sembravano farsi, come se chiunque fosse là sotto con noi si stesse assicurando che potessimo sentirli. E poi altri respiri si unirono a quelli, profondi e gutturali. E poi i quinti - i sesti - poi di più. Eravamo circondati su ogni lato dal suono di respiri, che diventavano più forti, che si avvicinavano.

Luke si lasciò sfuggire un piccolo mugolio, e tutti assieme, si fermarono. Al loro posto, giunse il rumore di un raschiare, qualcosa di metallico, che sembrava essere trascinato sui mattoni, molto lontano dietro di noi, ma che si avvicinava, e velocemente, Gli si unì una cadenza di colpi pesanti: passi che venivano verso di noi, regolari e senza fretta.

Pensai quasi che potesse essere il battito del mio cuore, che mi pulsava nelle orecchie - ma l’eco mi confermò che proveniva da più avanti nel tunnel. Poi venne di nuovo il raschiare, ora dall’altra direzione, e collassai sul pavimento, stringendo la mia macchina fotografica al petto come se fosse stata un qualche talismano protettivo.

Ci fu silenzio, di nuovo,

Il rumore che ruppe la quiete questa volta è quello che ancora mi risuona nelle orecchie. Fu molto più terribile degli altri a causa di quanto era familiare - anche se non l’avevo mai sentita così prima. Era la voce di Luke, e stava urlando in agonia, uno strillo acuto, angosciante di dolore e paura che spazzò via tutti i pensieri e li rimpiazzò con puro panico. Volevo scappare ma le mie gambe erano paralizzate.

Da qualche parte nella mia mente, mi ricordai del flash della mia fotocamera e istintivamente il mio dito schiacciò il tasto.

Quando schiacciai il bottone, le urla cessarono. Con uno schiocco bagnato, e nel peggiore istante della mia vita, un’esplosione di luce balenò nell’oscurità.

Vidi Luke in aria. Non c’era nessuno attorno a lui, ma sul muro, in nitide, scure sagome, vidi due ombre troppo lunghe e sottili accanto a lui. Su ognuna, vidi un braccio affusolato afferrare la sua ombra per le spalle, mentre l’altra teneva su l’ombra della sua testa strappata.

Di fronte a me, quella vera penzolava lassù, dondolando come da un qualche filo invisibile, il sangue che gocciolava sul corpo sottostante. I suoi occhi mi fissavano come se stessero scongiurando la mia debole fotocamera col flash di salvarlo. Urlai.

La cosa che mi ricordo dopo era la luce dolorosa di una dozzina di torce puntate sul mio viso. Era il parroco di Saint Paul, e un piccolo gruppo di quelli che pensai essere fedeli. Non disse una parola mentre mi condusse gentilmente verso l’ingresso. Mi guardai intorno per vedere se il corpo di Luke fosse ancora lì, ma sapevo sotto sotto che l’oscurità lo aveva divorato. Se ne era andato.

Il parroco fu alquanto comprensivo, anche se non ero molto coerente. Disse dolci parole di conforto, mi portò fuori nell’azzurro pallido dell’alba, e chiamò un’ambulanza per farmi controllare. Non capii il suo nome, e fu solo dopo essere arrivata all’ospedale che mi accorsi che lui aveva preso la mia macchina fotografica.

Da allora, sono rimasta sotto osservazione all’ospedale. Nessuno crede alla mia storia, e Luke è stato ufficialmente dichiarato come scomparso. Steph mi ha dato molto supporto, ma riesco a vedere il dolore nei suoi occhi. Lei sa che sono stata io l’ultima a vedere suo fratello, e la cosa la distrugge. Ora non so davvero che fare - tranne tenere le luci accese.

ARCHIVISTA

Fine della dichiarazione.

Non dovrebbe sorprendermi che la prima pietra della chiesa originale di Saint James a West Hackney sia stata posata il 17 Novembre del 1821 da Sir Robert Smirke. Comunque, speravo davvero di trovare almeno una stranezza architettonica nascosta sotto le strade di Londra che non portasse il marchio suo o di uno dei suoi studenti.

Quest’incontro in particolare non sembra avere molto in comune con le manifestazioni in edifici simili. Avevamo una qualche scala per lui e i suoi: tumulazioni in ragnatele, problemi di orientamento, e ora un’oscurità violenta e omicida.

Il mio primo pensiero è stata la Chiesa del Popolo dell'Ostia Divina, in quanto sembrano avere una certa affinità per l’oscurità, ma non riesco a trovare alcun collegamento tra loro e la chiesa di West Hackney.

Non che il personale là sia stato di molto aiuto. Tutti dichiarano di non aver alcuna memoria di aver incontrato la signorina Gallagher-Nelson, nonostante i registri di ammissione dell’ospedale riportano chiaramente che sia stata trovata lì la mattina del 26 marzo 2014. Tim è convinto che almeno qualcuno di loro abbia mentito, ma c’è poco che possiamo fare per ottenere delle informazioni che non desiderano darci di loro spontanea volontà.

Non siamo riusciti a ottenere un colloquio di approfondimento con la signorina Gallagher-Nelson. Tutti i tentativi di contattarla sono stati bloccati da sua moglie, Stephanie Gallagher-Nelson, che ha reso sufficientemente chiaro che non siamo i benvenuti, e che non dobbiamo tentare ulteriori contatti.

Luke Nelson rimane disperso.

Fine della registrazione,

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Supplemento.

[frustrato, parlando veloce] Ho provato ad accedere al computer di Gertrude, ma per ora non ho avuto fortuna. Nessuna delle password più ovvie che ho provato ha avuto successo, e non sono sicuro su chi potrebbe darmi sia aiuto che discrezione. Potrebbero esserci ulteriori indizi sugli altri nastri, ma per ora non ho ancora ricevuto nessuna notizia da Basira! Sono così vicino a scoprire qualcosa, forse dovrei semplicemente andare là sotto -

[Porta che si apre]

MELANIE

Scusa, hai un attimo?

ARCHIVISTA

Signorina King - uh - come hai, come hai fatto a entrare qui… ?

MELANIE

Mi ha fatto entrare la ragazza nuova. Stai bene?

ARCHIVISTA

Hm? Prego?

MELANIE

Hai un aspetto orribile.

ARCHIVISTA

Sono stati dei mesi abbastanza difficili. Guarda, posso aiutarti? Perché se sei qui solo per un’altra scenata-

MELANIE

No! Io, um - Io ho davvero bisogno del tuo aiuto.

ARCHIVISTA

...

Hm. Interessante.

MELANIE

Okay, ce la fai a non essere uno stronzo? Ho solo bisogno di accedere alla vostra biblioteca.

ARCHIVISTA

Allora parla con Diana, è lei che la dirige.

MELANIE

Sì, non ho esattamente le credenziali accademiche che voialtri richiedete, quindi apparentemente ho bisogno di qualcuno che mi faccia da garante -

[Jon sospira] -e tu sei in pratica la cosa più vicina a un amico che ho qui.

ARCHIVISTA

[heh] Ci siamo parlati una sola volta, e abbiamo finito per urlarci addosso a vicenda-

MELANIE

Già! Ed è molto più di quello che posso dire per chiunque altro qui. Inoltre, uh, Georgie ha detto delle cosa carine su di te. Quelle sono state sorprendenti. Non mi hai neanche detto che la conoscevi.

ARCHIVISTA

Io- è stato molto molto tempo fa. Prima che iniziasse a fare What the Ghost.

[Melanie fa 'Hm']

È una sorpresa anche per me, onestamente. Non è che ci siamo salutati nel migliore dei modi…

[Melanie fa ‘Hm' con più enfasi]

Che cosa ti serve esattamente da noi, comunque? Non possono aiutarti i tuoi amici del mondo dello spettacolo?

MELANIE

No, io, uh - la maggior, la maggior parte di loro non mi rivolge neanche più la parola.

ARCHIVISTA

Che è successo? Si è venuto a sapere che hai rilasciato una dichiarazione a noi, com’era, “idioti creduloni”?

MELANIE

Non esattamente. Guarda, nel mio ambito, la tua reputazione è tutto quello che hai. Il business è pieno principalmente di scettici che fingono di crederci, ma che fingono di essere scettici -

ARCHIVISTA

Credo che il termine che stai cercando sia ciarlatani -

MELANIE

Potresti smetterla? Per favore? Sto provando a -

[abbattuta]… guarda, Ghost Hunt UK si è sciolto. Voglio dire, non ufficialmente, ma beh, sai, Pete è sempre stato un voltafaccia sin dall’inizio, e gli altri si sono semplicemente allontanati…

ARCHIVISTA

[più gentilmente] Mi dispiace sentirlo. Ho notato che avete smesso di postare.

MELANIE

Ho provato a mettere insieme un nuovo team - ma è stata dura. Continuo ad andare in esplorazione da sola, ma non ho proprio le competenze per mettere assieme del materiale utilizzabile. Ho visto un po’ di cose strane… poi sono, poi sono stata arrestata.

ARCHIVISTA

…vai avanti.

MELANIE

Sì, io… mi sono introdotta nel cimitero di treni vicino a Rotherham. Sono stata beccata dalla vigilanza, e io - io non stavo bene. Mentre venivo tirata fuori, un tizio che portava fuori il cane a tarda notte mi ha fatto un video mentre urlavo loro qualcosa su dei fantasmi. [ride amaramente] Quando è finito online…

ARCHIVISTA

La tua importantissima reputazione professionale è morta con quello.

MELANIE

Sì. Guarda, ho delle piste che devo veramente seguire, ma per quello che riguarda i miei colleghi, in questi giorni, sono io il fantasma.

ARCHIVISTA

Beh, per quel che può valere, mi dispiace. So cosa vuol dire non avere il rispetto dei tuoi pari. Parlerò con Diana, per vedere se posso farti accedere alla biblioteca.

MELANIE

Grazie. Davvero, Ora, uh, come esco da questo posto?

ARCHIVISTA

Oh. Sasha può indicarti la strada per l’uscita.

MELANIE

Sasha...?

ARCHIVISTA

Sì. Dovrebbe essere qui in giro da qualche parte.

MELANIE

Oh. Okay...

Beh, fammi sapere per la biblioteca, okay?

[Porta che si apre]

ARCHIVISTA

Lo farò.

[Porta che si chiude]

… Che strana donna.

Fine del supplemento.

[Traduzione di: Victoria]

[Episodio Successivo]

#gli archivi magnus #tma ita #tma traduzioni #mag063 #tma #the magnus archives #MagnusPod #jonathan sims #jon sims #melanie king

8 notes · View notes

soveryanon · 6 years ago

Text

Reviewing time for MAG131 /o/

- More about that lower but: yes, I’m worried about Basira too, but probably not for the reasons highlighted by Melanie. In fact, learning that Helen has been around since The Flesh’s attack, and had been quite benevolent towards the assistants… adds another layer to Basira and Elias’s exchange when she visited him in prison at his request:

(MAG127) BASIRA: Can we cut the bullshit? ELIAS: What “bullshit” might that be? BASIRA: The part where you pretend you don’t spend your whole time watching us. […] ELIAS: I believe you’ve recently lost Melanie. BASIRA: … We saved Melanie. ELIAS: As a person, yes, but as a defender… I would have thought you would want all the help you could get, or… have you forgotten what happened last time you lay your guard down? BASIRA: … We’ll work it out. ELIAS: Possibly. Then again: you are beset by enemies on all sides, Basira. And unless you expect Jon to record them into submission, it would seem you’re in rather dire need of another option.

Basira might not trust Helen as much as Melanie does nor perceive her as… absolutely reliable, but the point is: the archival assistants already had another option! Helen had just proved that she was the perfect “defender”, able to trap an enemy in her corridors – and she had helped Jon escape in MAG101 through her door! If she’s indeed on their side, she’s the best option they could dream of, able to trap, to protect and to transport alike! And Basira mentioned none of it to Elias and rolled with the conversation as if Helen wasn’t with them.

Melanie and Jon were quite clearly in the tunnels when Melanie led him to Helen’s door (Jon mentioned that he had been “down there”, the sound effect was the usual tunnels sound); Melanie had not mentioned Helen while in the Archives themselves; assuming Jared didn’t actually mean “Helen’s corridors” when he said “tunnels”, he was actually in the tunnels as well when he was trapped by her (MAG131: “Didn’t know about those tunnels or wherever this place is […]. I got… scared. So I ran. I ran through the first door I found.”). If Melanie, Basira (and potentially Martin) never mentioned Helen while outside of the tunnels, and if Jon’s assumption from season 3 is indeed right and that Elias can’t spy on them when they’re in the tunnels… then it’s possible that Elias just plainly isn’t aware of Helen’s intervention and probably assumed that Melanie had butchered Jared herself below the Archives.

The Elias-Basira conversation began with a I-Know-What-You’re-Doing from Elias (greeting her with “Detective”); Basira told him as least as possible throughout their exchange. It was actually her police questioning! She was evaluating what he knew, while fully aware that they had another card in their sleeve! It… doesn’t mean that Elias can’t possibly know anything about Helen one way or another, but it means that Basira was trying to outwit him when she didn’t mention Helen and accepted to listen to his “other option” instead – and even if she happened to leave in order to follow his leads since the end of MAG128… she entered the manipulation game with him by withholding information, too.

(;; And it could be a verrrry dangerous move for Basira: is Elias a complete idiot who just happens to have the right powers to hurt when he needs to (hence Martin managing to take him down), or is he actually a bit more in control of what is happening everywhere (did Martin’s plan actually put Elias exactly where he wanted to be in the first place?)…)

- Okay, new Big Mystery dropped this week is… Who requested the Flesh attack against the Archives and sent Jared after Jon? They began to send letters “about two years ago” (so around December 2015 / March 2016, depending if Jared’s point of reference is the current day or the moment he was trapped in the corridor), when Jon was beginning as Head Archivist; the letters were “good white paper, large print”; the person sending them was able to tell where Jared was at any given time (“I dunno how they kept finding me”); usually only contained “a name and a place or a time”; always led Jared towards something/someone who would be interesting to him (“they always led to summat good. Quality bones, a new mate, or some unlucky fool who wouldn’t look at me for the fear.” – how do you tell that someone has “good bones”………………..?). They sent Jared to the Archives while Jon was four months into his coma, and Jon was the Official target (“And you wanted to kill… me, specifically?” “Still do. […] Then I got one about your lot, your Archives. Told me to go there and kill you. They even sent a picture. […] You weren’t there, which was sad, but it made it easier.”). I’m personally considering three main suspects:

* Adelard Dekker, because I really want to know more about him, and because I Know My Luck about characters I find potentially sympathetic in this series, gdi :|| (He knew Gertrude for long and managed to survive, that means he’s probably fishy, if he’s still alive/not-dead in the first place.)

* Elias because he would know where to find (/See) someone at all times, and because… listen… the IRONY of “the pipes… they were wide enough for me and a few friends to squeeze through” (=> “[EXTENDED SOUNDS OF BRUTAL PIPE MURDER]”) + the first time we ever heard Elias speaking was in MAG017, the first statement Jon read that mentioned The Boneturner, and Elias interrupted precisely when the statement was describing Jared (and it was in end of February/beginning of March 2016, during the Prentiss siege, which means two years ago). Elias isn’t, overall, renowned for his subtlety, so it could fit.

* The Web, more specifically Annabelle Cane, since the Chelicerae was already active when the letters began to be sent, her first email to Gregory Cox also used big letters (MAG123: “something in it caused the font to appear incredibly large”), and she was requesting names to be inserted into the website’s code (“Meaningless strings of words, or weird little fragments of poetry, or a name, different every time, repeated over and over again, hundreds of times.”) and getting potential targets here and there through people’s stories. It’s about information and getting people to do what you need them to do; plus, Jared was indifferent at first and then got ~curious~ (“but they kept coming, and eventually I got curious. So, I followed the instructions in one of ‘em.”), which couuuld sound like… a retrospective rationalisation after the Web pulled a string to make you go somewhere.

The straightforward meaning of the attack was that Jon was the official target: does it mean that the Mysterious Sender didn’t know that Jon was currently away from the Institute and in a coma? Or was it a deliberate red herring, because they wanted Jon to think that he had been the target when he’d come back, while their intentions had laid somewhere else? Was it to see whether Jon would react and wake up if the assistants were in danger? Was it to get the assistants… exactly where they ended up going – Melanie falling deeper into her anger; Basira becoming colder and more pragmatic; Martin growing more desperate and finally accepting Peter Lukas’s offer? Or… it’s still a bit strange that Jon himself was never attacked in hospital, even though at least two Fears got involved in the end to visit him (the Web sent The End’s Oliver in MAG121) so… another option I’m considering, I don’t know: was Jared sent to the Institute because the Mysterious Sender wanted to find Jon and Jon was hidden from the other powers until then? Martin’s visit from the teaser was apparently shortly after the attack (since he received a phone call and agreed to an offer, and Basira mentioned that Martin was working closely with Peter after the Flesh invasion); could it be possible that Martin unknowingly led The Web to where Jon was resting, when he visited him…?

- So I have trouble picturing Jon and Melanie become Official Friends, ever, but GOSH, technically, Melanie already didn’t have High Standards for friendships/people she could ask for help, and had called herself out on that matter (+ she explicitly said that she had nobody to turn to, in MAG084, and confirmed it again with Elias in MAG106):

(MAG063) MELANIE: […] And you’re basically the closest thing I’ve got to a friend here. ARCHIVIST: We’ve spoken once and we ended up screaming at each other. MELANIE: Yes! And that’s more than I have with anyone else here.

F R I E N S H I P… And now, they’re somehow friendlier and… yeah, sort of friends. Kinda. Sorry for the both of you. Sorry for you, Melanie, I KNOW YOU’RE A SWEET BEAN UNDER ALL THAT ANGER, but seriously, come on. You’re currently adopting Jon as one of your friends, look at yourself:

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: I mean, you’d think I’d have a better idea how to do it. All these… all these statements and… [SMALL LAUGH] You know who I need? I need the Boneturner. [SIGHS] Just reach in and grab a rib. Job done. MELANIE: … ARCHIVIST: What? … Melanie? MELANIE: Come with me. [CLICK.] […] ARCHIVIST: Oh, er… Er, pass the recorder? MELANIE: Seriously? Fine. [RECORDER IS PASSED TO THE ARCHIVIST] […] ARCHIVIST: No. No, now I am going for a lie down. That was… that was not what I expected. MELANIE: Come on, you can use Basira’s cot.

All these small gestures that mean so much!! She admitted that he had done the ““right”” thing, she brought him to Helen – knowingly doing something that Basira didn’t want, choosing to help Jon and to talk to Helen when Jon didn’t want to knock! She stared/judged but she did hand over the tape recorder! She went to check on Jon’s corpse unconscious body! She led him towards somewhere he could rest! She even offered to chop his finger off herself at the beginning! Melanie!! You got yourself a friend!!

At least, they’re allies, but Melanie is kinda becoming Jon’s slightly vitriolic friend, and I’m LIVING. Jon has a knack for surrounding himself and being in good terms with people who call him out and are able to be mean towards him, uh?

- I think that one of the most significant things about Melanie being a bit more herself (not being only the anger) was her… willingness to talk and share what she discovered, what happened, what she’s thinking and doing? Because it used to be one of her main characteristics, even (especially!) with Jon: she didn’t like him much as a person, but they were able to chat and exchange and to hold discussions about her adventures. There were many similarities between them – which miiiight have been one of the reasons why Elias hired her, too, since she was obsessed with finding out the truth about what she had noticed (even if it would hurt her in the process), though it could also be some Beholding magic (making her crave pouring out her experience to The Archivist?):

(MAG076) ARCHIVIST: Well, this “pompous ass” has some very urgent work to do, so if your statement is just going to be insults, you can go back to the damn library. MELANIE: It’s not. Look, I… I think I’ve found something. […] So, can I make my statement now? […] You know this obsession even better than I do. I just wanted to make my statement… ARCHIVIST: In case you get murdered by ghosts. MELANIE: Yes. ARCHIVIST: I understand. Thank you, Melanie.

(MAG084) MELANIE: […] I don’t know why, but… I just, I just felt that perhaps coming here might help. And talking things out with Jon. I mean, I mean he’s awful, but at least he listens, you know?

(MAG086) MELANIE: You know what? Fine. Fine! But you tell me everything. Okay? Everything. ARCHIVIST: I mean… you, you won’t believe it. MELANIE: I don’t care. ARCHIVIST: Alright. Alright. MELANIE: Start with Sasha. ARCHIVIST: … Okay. [CLICK.]

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: Basira said you were doing better. MELANIE: Would you just– stop?! ARCHIVIST: No– Right, no– […] M–Melanie, it, it– MELANIE: Don’t tell me to calm down! Don’t you dare–! […] Oh, just stop! Just stop and– listen. ARCHIVIST: Okay.

During season 3, she repeatedly refused to tell Jon her story from India (in MAG086, and she gloated about it in MAG113), and only shared it in MAG117, in her testament. Now, she’s going back to telling herself to Jon; to being able to take a step back and explain her own reasoning, her own ways of functioning.

- I’m love Melanie so much… so, so much… (And Lydia’s voice. GOSH. Even if some frustration remained, you could clearly hear the difference between Melanie-with-the-bullet and Melanie-without: her voice had something… softer? Less frantic? that seeped into you like a wave and surrounded you, instead of just cutting right in like a rusted knife, like in MAG125.)

I love Melanie’s self-awareness! I love that she’s able to be mad, to feel hurt, to know that her pain is legitimate, but also to admit:

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: I was trying to save your life. MELANIE: Yes…! Well, you did! ARCHIVIST: [SIGH] MELANIE: I think. But I also… you know… see your face now, when I wake up screaming. I feel you digging into my leg. Chalk it up as a win for Team Archive, I guess! ARCHIVIST: I wanted to ask you! MELANIE: And if you had, we wouldn’t be talking right now. I’d have said no, and I’d probably have hurt you. Basira was right. The only way to do it was to completely betray my trust and destroy any remaining sense of safety. So, yes! Thank you. ARCHIVIST: [INHALE] Yeah. I, I’m… I’m surprised you can stand to see either of us. MELANIE: Who else is there? I mean, Basira is… [CHUCKLE], she’s been the only one for a long time, and, yes!, I sort of maybe hate her now! ARCHIVIST: [SIGH] MELANIE: I don’t know! I can’t… look at her without my leg hurting, but what else am I going to do. I don’t want to be on my own, and I’m stuck here. So… […] I’m not dying and I don’t… want to kill you, it’s, it’s…! [SHARP EXHALE] It’s just different. Yes, it’s… sort of better, m–maybe, but I–I can’t…

I love that it was her who explained to us what was happening to her – who explained to Jon that he misunderstood! And she directly echoed (and answered?) one of Jon’s questions about The Slaughter!!

(MAG125) ARCHIVIST: In many ways, The Slaughter fascinates me. There seems to be, in all cases, a question at its heart about… control. Is it a mindless dance, dragging participants along by the beat of a drum or… is there a kernel of will in there, a lucidity and deliberateness to the random fury and violence? I suppose that’s the question with so much of “violence”, “war”: how much are you really in command of yourself or of others? I’m not sure what scares me more: the idea that deep down, everyone is in complete control of their actions, that everything is, on some level, intentional; or that ultimately, we don’t have any control of ourselves at all, and the rest is just… rationalisation.

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: A–at least, it’s out! … Maybe… maybe it’s enough to start healing, start… letting go of the anger. MELANIE: Oh, just stop! Just stop and– listen. ARCHIVIST: Okay. MELANIE: Yes, the, the bullet was bad, right. But it didn’t make me angry. Anger is… Anger’s been all I’ve had for a long time. Years. Maybe since– oh, I, I don’t know, but…! Everything I’ve done, everything I’ve pushed for, was because I was angry! Angry of being past over, being disrespected, ignored… that sort of anger, it, it powers you! … Right until it slips out, and hurts someone. I – hurt someone. And then, one day, I suddenly have this thing that takes all that rage, and it holds it. Tells me it’s right. That it’s me. It didn’t stay in my leg because of some Ghostly Masterplan; it stayed… because I wanted it.

I love the broad idea behind Melanie’s own situation – that anger is a force, that anger can push you through hardships, can help you survive, but that in the end, if there is only anger, it will turn sour and (self-)destructive and wreck you in the process! I love her moments of self-affirmation, how she reclaimed her experience, reminded Jon that she was her own person with her own story, her own feelings, her own perception of events. She had already mentioned her anger in her testament:

(MAG117) MELANIE: […] “Hope” isn’t really good for anything. It’s always been action, with me; it’s, it’s been doing things that helps. I’ve never really seen the point of “hope”. […] I… I’m so angry, just… sometimes, when Jon’s going off on one about his latest insight, it’s all I can do not to punch him in the teeth. I feel like I’ve always been fighting. No one makes space for people like me, you’ve got to… elbow the comfortable idiots out of the way, and then claw your way up with gritted teeth; I’ve had to struggle for everything! […] Elias thinks he’s got this ingenious way to hurt people, but it’s just the same old bullshit in a creepy new package. … Asshole… God! I just want to rip his…! [BREATHES] When did I… start to lose the parts of me that weren’t just anger…?

… And I hate how, dumdumdum, Elias is actually… a pretty good judge of character (except when it comes to Martin). He had described Tim as “Disruption. An unpredictable, angry man with nothing left but the desire to feel in some way revenged.” (MAG104) and had reaaally insisted over the fact that Tim would be a “rogue element” (MAG116), something that could derail the mission to stop The Unknowing… and Tim indeed ended up arguing with Jon at the wrong time, and maybe they missed the few seconds that could have allowed them to escape. As for Melanie, Elias had said:

(MAG106) ELIAS: […] I wish I knew the words that would make you believe me. […] You already have doubts, though. You've been talking with Tim, and have convinced yourself that– MELANIE: [DRY LAUGHTER] ELIAS: –even if I'm telling the truth, I'm too dangerous to live. MELANIE: Well. ELIAS: Whatever I’m planning needs to be stopped! Even if it costs a few lives. Including your own. MELANIE: Well, that’s not even– ELIAS: A rationalisation, of course. A lie, about your own selfishness, that you would rather be dead than trapped without the self-determination you prize so highly. I wish I knew the words to convince you it’s for the best. [SILENCE] MELANIE: Are we done? ELIAS: … It’s too deep. I can see almost anything I care to– MELANIE: ‘f course. ELIAS: –weave knowledge from someone’s mind, or place it there– MELANIE: Sure. ELIAS: –but I just cannot change the– MELANIE: Mm-mm. ELIAS: –nature of a person. And I am struggling to think of what could rid you of this misguided rage.

Sounds like Fucker was quite right about Melanie in the end? :||

I… do like that even though he wasn’t mentioned at all in this episode, it puts me in mind of Tim at many moments, mostly in the way Melanie seems like she’s able to go… past her terrible experiences in a way Tim wasn’t able to, because she’s capable of self-reflection and of considering other people’s actions. Tim shaped himself around his own anger, around his own bitterness – it ate him up: angry resignation at the end of season 2, depression at the beginning of season 3, before he found a drive again and… only saw a future in which he would die trying to stop The Unknowing.

(MAG116) ARCHIVIST: Do you– … Are you going to keep it together? TIM: […] I’m not gonna give us away. I want this to work. ARCHIVIST: Thank you. TIM: But I don’t think it will. So. I’m gonna take that axe of yours, and… when it all goes wrong, I’m going down swinging. And when I do, you better take the chance and stay out of my way.

(MAG117) TIM: … I’m gonna hurt them, though. I’m gonna hurt the things that stole my brother and wrecked my life. […] I know what it means! They gave it to me because they think I’ll get angry and do something stupid anyway. And they’re probably right. So maybe it’s for the best. […] From what I can tell, there’s only one person who’s ever managed to hurt them, to reaaally hurt them. And that’s Gertrude Robinson. She was cold, ruthless, and she hit them when they were vulnerable, and she sacrificed a lot of people to do it. Honestly? I hope that Jon learned something from her, because… because I don’t expect I’m going to be coming back from this. I don’t know if I want to. And if he needs to pull the trigger, to use me to stop it, well, he better have the guts to do it. Timothy Stoker, August 4th, 2017. [DRY LAUGHTER] Statement ends.

(MAG118) TIM: You thought you brought me in as a distraction, right? ARCHIVIST: What?! TIM: Let me do it! Go in, maybe you can get some of them– ARCHIVIST: Tim, contrary to what you think, I did not bring you here to indulge your death wish! TIM: It’s not what this is! ARCHIVIST: No?! TIM: No! You knew I might not be coming back! ARCHIVIST: I knew none of us might be coming back, and I’m not gonna let anyone get killed for nothing!

Unlike Tim, Melanie might be able to rebuild herself up? In an episode about how things and people change, maybe it could be Melanie’s case, too. She’s able to tell what feels wrong, what happened, how she herself proceeded. She took decisions that broke Basira’s imposed status quo (bringing Jon to Helen for him to get help in his plan, showing him the way where he could rest a bit). Melanie did say, multiple times, that she was running out of options (she came to the Institute for that reason in MAG084); she doesn’t have answers but… it feels like she’s asking questions, and that’s a first important step, too.

- Which makes me realize that…

a) We never got a lot about Daisy’s own feelings and perception of events – and even then, only through… other people. Jon got her statement in MAG061 but Daisy was later pretty clear on the fact that she had never wanted to give it to him (MAG091); Elias pulled her through a “statement never given” in MAG082 and, in the same way, it was something she didn’t want to happen. Even her “testament” in MAG117, though HILARIOUS (Breathes / loads gun / “… Okay.” / CLICK.)… wasn’t about her. We learned that Basira was her last tie to humanity because Elias spat it in her face (MAG092), not because she admitted it. We know more funny bits about her (shows she likes etc.) thanks to MAG106, but it was through Basira. We’ve learned… almost nothing about Daisy from Daisy herself. So maybe we won’t lose her right away since… we’re lacking Her Words, too.

b) NOW I’M SCARED FOR MELANIE SINCE:

(MAG092) ELIAS: […] That’s what this place is, Jon, never forget it. You may believe yourself to have friends, to have confidantes, but in the end, all they are, is something for you to watch, to know, and ultimately to discard. This, at least, Gertrude understood.

………………… Tim died shortly after Jon was able to understand him a bit more, HELP………………

- Melanie coined it, “Team Archive” is officially canon now!!! (“Chalk it up as a win for Team Archive, I guess!”) Third-party family picture of it:

(MAG131) JARED: […] When we came up through the floor, it was wonderful. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look on their faces. It was like their world had gone with the floor. The weak one legged it, and I thought the skinny one did too. There was just the copper. It weren’t dressed like one, but I know police when I smell it. They tried to run, but we were everywhere, and they couldn’t stop us undoing them for parts. You weren’t there, which was sad, but it made it easier. At least until the knife. I don’t know what the skinny one did, what she was, but that knife hurt. She screamed, and stabbed, and cut through all the others, ruining their perfect bodies. Then, she turned on me. Reached out with some of my hands, to get inside her, and pull her apart, and she cut them off. I got… scared. So I ran. I ran through the first door I found. And now I don’t know where I am.

a) Jon, not there, which is sad. b) Basira the cop c) Melanie canonically “skinny” compared to the others /o/ d) ……… Martin “the weak one”, AND HE RAN AWAY AGAIN………… which, once again, add some more… meat… to the trailer. Martin had felt so bad about leaving Jon and Tim behind during the Prentiss siege (remember his broken and tears-filled voice in MAG040?! Even Jon relented and went softer on him because of it!!), and he had resolved to be more active in MAG117, and then the Flesh attack happened, a few months later… That’s probably why he checked if the others would be fine when accepting Peter’s offer, and why he told Jon that more people would have been hurt if it wasn’t for him in MAG129, uh? The thing that tipped the balance and made him finally agree to Peter’s offer was probably guilt over not being able to help, and over running away when scared, once again.

- … Relatedly: where did Melanie’s special knife come from, since it was able to hurt Jared and even he was surprised?

(MAG123) BASIRA: Yeah, it was bad. We took them all out. Melanie did most of them. She was… she got a knife from somewhere and– ARCHIVIST: Basira, I… I don’t know if that’s a good sign…?

Did she literally materialize a knife out of nowhere? Did she infuse it with power because she was parasitised by the Slaughter bullet? I would go for that last option since she was able to injure Jon through a “scalpel” in MAG125 (it wasn’t one of her own weapons), but a third option: something from Artefact Storage or… sent by the Spider ~to help~?

- Basira’s relationship with police work is quite interesting because we met her as a police constable, her relevancy was initially tied to her job (it was thanks to her that Jon was able to access some of Gertrude’s tapes kept by the police); we saw her quit, disgusted by her hierarchy (MAG075), something she apparently doesn’t regret (MAG117: “I don’t want to be here. But by the end, I didn’t want to be police either, so… guess I don’t really know what I do want, which… maybe that’s just as well. My options… they’ve gotten a lot narrower over the last year.”) and now… She happens to be identified, more and more, through her police identity. Elias taunted her by greeting her in that way:

(MAG127) ELIAS: … Good evening. Detective. [STEPS COMING CLOSER] BASIRA: I’m not a detective. ELIAS: Of course.

Jared mentioned that she still felt like police to him (MAG131: “There was just the copper. It weren’t dressed like one, but I know police when I smell it.”), and also Melanie’s description of Basira which… kind or depicted her as if she had pushed the police mentality to the max? Melanie’s words were… concerning, to say the least, in how cold and casually calculating Basira looked to her:

(MAG131) MELANIE: […] Basira was right. The only way to do it was to completely betray my trust and destroy any remaining sense of safety. So, yes! Thank you. […] I mean, Basira is… [CHUCKLE], she’s been the only one for a long time, and, yes!, I sort of maybe hate her now! […] I can’t… look at her without my leg hurting, but what else am I going to do. I don’t want to be on my own, and I’m stuck here. So… ARCHIVIST: Basira said you were doing better. MELANIE: Would you just– stop?! […] [LONG EXHALE] Basira is, hum… Basira deals in “intel” these days, in “usable data”; assets, not “feelings”, not… “people”. Crying, shaking, nightmares, that is “better”. It doesn’t feel like it, but as far as Basira sees it, I’m not compromised anymore, and… that is “better”.

I think Melanie’s description might be more a sort of reflection of her own perception (and betrayal/awkwardness/resentment) rather than an objective truth, though, since… Basira has always shown a sort of cold pragmatism in the way she dealt with things and people around her. She’s always been blunt, harsh, doing things methodically to reach a goal. But even back then, we were shown that she cared; and right now, she could be suffering a bit from… the Jon syndrome: in the same way as Jon, she tends to come across as a bit more heartless and indifferent than she actually is – she rarely shows her concerns directly in front of people but reveals them in their absence. Melanie seems to think that Basira is mostly perceiving her through the lense of a cop’s eye, evaluating if she’s with or potentially against her, but Basira herself wasn’t so metallic when she was describing Melanie:

(MAG123) BASIRA: […] She’s not, uh… she’s not been having a good time. […] Well, just back off. You haven’t been here. […] She saved my life, Jon. She saved all of us. I won’t forget that.

(MAG125) BASIRA: […] Besides, I wanted to give her some space, y’know. But yeah. Living outside the Institute, ’s just not safe anymore.

(MAG127) ARCHIVIST: How’s Melanie? BASIRA: How do you think? ARCHIVIST: I, er, I should probably… talk to h– BASIRA: You should probably stay as far away as possible. She doesn’t want to see you. […] But she did want me to… apologize. […] ARCHIVIST: Do–do you think it worked? Is she… BASIRA: I don’t know. She seems more… coherent, I guess. And you did get an apology. […] She said she can cry now, which is, hum… Progress, I think? She’s still angry but, she hasn’t attacked anyone. Not even sure she has it in her anymore. ARCHIVIST: Well that’s, that’s good! BASIRA: Hm.

And in the same way, Basira had been oddly defensive of Martin, also laying down that she understood that he has had his issues. Maybe it’s indeed just like Melanie said, and mostly strategy and cautious control from Basira, and she steeled herself to a dreadful extent after The Unknowing… but maybe it’s also that, just like Jon before the second half of season 3, Basira has trouble conveying that she cares when she’s in front of the relevant people, not able to deal with their feelings but aware that they’re hurt and in pain? We didn’t see Basira showering Melanie in care after what Elias did to her in MAG106, either: we saw that she cared in the way she noticed that Melanie wasn’t fine when Melanie refused to explain what had happened (MAG108), in the way she reminded Martin that the victim had been Melanie and sternly told him that they couldn’t allow Elias to go unpunished, (MAG110: “R–right, right. Sorry. I just… It’s just a lot to take in, y’know.” “Mostly for Melanie, yeah. […] We can't just ignore it. […] We are not letting him get away with it.”), in the way she VERY DRYLY told Elias that Melanie wouldn’t be there during the last pre-Unknowing briefing (MAG116: “Will… Melanie not be joining us?” “No. She won’t.” “Very well. I suppose that’s understandable.”)

So… it could be that Basira is heading down a dark path. It could also just be that she is having it rough and is handling herself, but others are feeling that she is more ruthless than she truly is inside.

- Re: Jared himself: * I feel so, so stupid. I hadn’t realized, until Jon referred to Jared as “The Boneturner”, that MAG017’s title, “The Boneturner’s Tale”, referred both to the title of the “Leitner” book… and to the fact that we witnessed the birth of The Boneturner as himself. Which makes sense given that it’s based on The Canterbury Tales, in which people are presented through their profession/status.

* Same as a lot of people: my ESL ears couldn’t understand Jared at aaaaall on first listenings, so thank you so much for the transcripts, Amil ;_; (Now I manage to follow the sentences! And without the voicecast, I would have never guessed that it was Alex voicing him, holy Mew.)

* GDI JONNY STOP MAKING SERIAL KILLERS SOUND ALMOST (almost.) (SYM)PATHETIC….. The thing is, I feel like we were led to think of Jared as… a bit slow and not very smart overall? due to the fact that he wasn’t talking a lot and because of how statement-givers had described him – especially because of Sebastian Adekoya:

(MAG017, Sebastian Adekoya) Jared and I had once been fast friends; growing up on the same road, attending the same schools, we had spent much of our early life as inseparable. But he had always been, well, not to put too fine a point on it, thick as mud, and when I went away to university, he stayed behind. I think he saw it as something of a betrayal, and when I finally returned, I knew immediately something had changed between us. […] I was, I will admit, a bit unsettled. As far as I could recall I had never seen Jared read… well, anything, really.

(…………….. that sounds awfully like Jared initially had a crush on Seb and grew to resent him, in fact.)

But no! Jared got marginalized as a kid because of his height, was actually well aware of his situation and lack of prospects, and given a drive when he lacked it? Wanted to make his parents happy although it was a Complete Disaster and terrifying? And was able to reaaaally get invested in things? Was aware of how people perceived him? Was aware that people would tell their stories to the Institute? And built a gym of friends (people who got what they wanted)?

(MAG131) JARED: […] I wrecked my school. I did have friends, but they left me, one by one, until all that I had were the dregs; the ones who stayed ‘coz they were too scared to leave. We were always either in trouble, or looking for it. Those were bad times. I tried to look ahead, but I couldn’t see anything. No future, no hope; just bitter parents, and whatever misery I could pass on to everyone else. God knows what would’ve happened if that little prick Sebastian hadn’t given me that book.

(L O L about the “given me that book”: according to Sebastian, he just took it and left.)

I’m especially impressed at how quickly he understood (and rolled with) what kind of “favour” Jon wanted from him:

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: Oh. O–okay. D–do you need to know… w–what it is? JARED: Not much you could want, comin’ to me. Put summat in. Take summat out. Which is it?

Let’s be honest: if someone was coming to Jon for something, right now, he wouldn’t assume they’re here to give a statement, you would have to tell him outright.

* One potentially reassuring thing for Jon: Jared said that… it’s possible to just refuse to participate in a ritual. That you can nope out of it, and apparently keep doing your own thing without slowly disappearing like what’s apparently happened with Tom Haan or Breekon:

(MAG131) JARED: […] There were others. Others of skin and hunger; they tried to talk to me about gods. They’d go on and on about remaking the world; of a new day of blood and flesh. I told them to piss off. I like the world just as it is. I take what I want and I make myself more, and when people look at me… that fear – it feels amazing. Some of my mates, the ones I helped find their proper bodies, they listened, and went to feed the hunger. Not me though. I never was that ambitious.

Though: I’m not sure that Jon… would be okay even with turning his back on the ceremony, given his title as The Archivist (it seems a bit more important, less… independent than what Jared is?); and also… Jared sustained himself through the fear he inflicted on others (Jude had explained the “feeding what feeds you” aspect, and Jon hadn’t been able to tell what he was supposed to feed to Beholding). I think that Jonny also mentioned in the Season 3’s Q&A that Avatars’ purpose is to bring suffering and misery onto others? So. Is Jon really simply feeding Beholding through the fears left on the statements’ paper (and his own fear from reading the statements), or is there something else…? (I’m still concerned about the nature of his nightmares and what it’s been doing to the live statement-givers all this time… ;;)

* Relatedly: first time Jon has taken a live-statement (by himself, excluding Oliver oversharing in front of his comatose body.) in season 4. I guess that yeah, uh, I won’t feel super sorry for Jared if it traps him in Jon’s ~slim collection of gifted nightmares~, especially since apparently, full-fledged Avatars are able to push Jon away from theirs? (MAG120: “he even longs for the terrible dream of the melted woman, who would see everything desolated without rhyme or reason. But she was beyond his reach the moment she knew he was there.”) But I wonder, in any case, if we’ll hear about this as an additional dream. If so… yeah, enjoy, Jon. The statement was short, it wasn’t up to Your Standards, but it won’t be a nice experience.

- Obvious Donphan In The Room: CONGRATS ON GETTING YOUR “FLESH” WOUND JON!!

… Now he’s only missing The Buried’s and we know that Coffin Is Coming; The Dark, with cultists lurking around the Institute; The Lonely, with Peter Lukas running the place (… or having Martin running it for him). The speculation about MARTIN ending up being the one to carve a metaphorical Lonely scar into Jon…………. is getting ominously more and more possible??? Gdi ;;;;;

Live-statements wise (I’m counting “Extracted From Subject” here), from Avatars, Jon got: * The Stranger (MAG128, Breekon) * The Spiral (MAG101, Michael) * The Desolation (MAG089, Jude Perry) * The Vast (MAG091, Mike Crew) * The Hunt (MAG061, Alice “Daisy” Tonner” + MAG109, Julia Montauk and Trevor Herbert) * The End (MAG121, Oliver Banks) * The Flesh (MAG131, Jared Hopworth)

+ Amongst victims/witnesses rather than active lives-wreckers, Jon also received The Corruption (MAG055, Jordan Kennedy), The Lonely (MAG013, Naomi Herne), The Dark (MAG073, Basira), The Slaughter (MAG076, Melanie), The Buried (MAG071, Karolina Górka).

Still missing The Web and Beholding, unless one (or both) of them was the thing happening in MAG065 + potentially the New Emergence (… unless it was the thing happening in MAG065). Jon is completing a set in that regard, too…

- I’m a Simple Person very obsessed with the conflicted relationship between Jon and doors, so I was floored that Jon:

(MAG131) MELANIE: Here. [FOOTSTEPS STOP] ARCHIVIST: Oh. … This, this door… It shouldn’t be here. MELANIE: Yes. ARCHIVIST: I, er… I don’t want to open it! I’m not going to. MELANIE: [SIGHS] [KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK] She’s been helping us.

1°) refused to open or KNOCK ON A DOOR, and Melanie had to do it for him. (To be fair with Jon: he tried to open Michael’s door in MAG101, expecting this to be one of his last moments. It’s not especially an appealing thing to do again.)

2°) ended up going in after a bit of talking. That door… used to terrify him, according to Elias?

(MAG120) ELIAS: […] There is a door in front of him. A yellow door. He knows the dream it used to lead to; he knows it well. But that’s not where it leads anymore. He does not know what is behind it anymore, and he is deathly afraid of finding out. The Archivist turns away.

(;; That was probably Helen’s statement before she replaced Michael in MAG101, since she had given her live-statement…) So. Jon faced it and opened it! And he thanked her, we’re so shocked and proud!! Progress!!

- … I’m super worried about what is coming in season 4, since Jon used to say his “Shit” of the season pretty far in:

(MAG039) PRENTISS: Archivist. TIM: Ah. ARCHIVIST: … Shit.

(MAG078) MICHAEL: You – Need – A door. ARCHIVIST: NO. No, I–I just… I need… [DISTORTED VOICE FROM THE NOT!SASHA CALLING OUT HIS NAME AGAIN] ARCHIVIST: SHIT!

(MAG099) BREEKON: ‘scuse us. HOPE: Are you Jonathan Sims? ARCHIVIST: Yeah, wha–? Oh, sh– [THE ARCHIVIST EXCLAIMS & COUGHS AS THE WIND IS KNOCKED OUT OF HIM]

(MAG131) MELANIE: […] It didn’t stay in my leg because of some Ghostly Masterplan; it stayed… because I wanted it. ARCHIVIST: … Shit.

BUT AT THE SAME TIME, LET’S ALL CELEBRATE!!! Melanie is now officially our New Designated (Bi?) Sayer Of Fuck!

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: Oh, I… Melanie, I–I’m so sorry, I– MELANIE: Oooh, fuck off?!

Rest in fucking pieces, Tim, someone is taking care of saying “Fuck” to Jon ;w;

- Jon, that was your Worst Introduction Ever:

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: Uh. Statement of Jared Hopworth, the Boneturner. Statement begins.

No mention of who is recording, what it's about, and no date (we wouldn’t know it was March 20th if not for the episode’s case number). Jon, You Have One Job. Jon. Jon.

… The way Jon very quickly accepted to give up one of his ribs when it’s supposed to be ~a precious anchor~ still makes me facepalm, but to be fair, he reacted quickly and… it didn’t sound like he was especially thirsty for the statement itself:

(MAG131) JARED: Guarantees? None. But I want to leave more than I want to kill you. Not like it was my idea in the first place. ARCHIVIST: So…[STATIC:] Why did you and the others attack us? JARED: I was asked. You want my statement, that’s gonna cost you another rib. ARCHIVIST: I–I could just pull the information out of you. [MENACINGLY MEATY MURMURS] JARED: You could try. ARCHIVIST: Okay. Fine. A rib for me, a rib for you; your freedom and a statement. JARED: Yeah. Alright. ARCHIVIST: Right. Statement first.

Jared had already mentioned that Jon was specifically the target; it was… about getting information about who had siced him on The Archives. And indeed, we don’t learn a lot about it in the end, but the news that someone has been pulling strings to the point of organizing an attack against the Archives was quite big…

;; It’s a bit heartbreaking, and also !!, to see that Jon is getting better at understanding negotiations with avatars. He still does things that he probably shouldn’t (sarcasm and threats and forced compulsion are nnnnnot the Greatest Things to do against things that can physically wreck you), but… he also quickly picks up on how he can find a common agreement. Compare him now to how Jude had wrecked his hand in MAG089, in exchange for information about Mike Crew… Jon is more in control – still a bit panicky, not at ease, but he understands the logic and how exchanges are supposed to work.

- True Romance is giving one of your ribs to someone on your first meeting:

(MAG131) JARED: […] Anyway, this one’s for me. [MORE MOBILE MEAT NOISES, THIS TIME OF INSERTION] Huh. That’s a weird one. Not sure I like it. Still. Mine now. ARCHIVIST: [WEAKLY] I supp… I suppose it is.

… I think that Jon, Melanie or Helen would have commented about it, if the rib Jon was clutching at the end of the episode was, let’s say, COVERED IN EYES LIKE IN MAG127. So it’s probably not the case. But still: Jared felt something weird about it. Will it mean something…? Will it be poison for him…? Will Beholding take a look at Jared from the inside. uwu

- Tiny thing but that could turn out to be relevant later:

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: I was down here just yesterday, and there wasn’t– MELANIE: Here. ARCHIVIST: Oh. This, this door… It shouldn’t be here.

If the sound is any indication, they were in the tunnels. Which means… that Jon explicitly mentioned spending time down there. What is he doing? Trying to map them out, using them to get in and out of the Institute like Tim used to? Planning something?

Basira left at the end of MAG128 (3rd March 2018); it’s been 17 days since then, almost 5 weeks since Jon woke up from his “coma”, and… we still don’t really know what Jon is doing with his time. He only recorded and listened to two statements since Basira’s departure, and we know he can’t really do much follow-up lately so… What are you not telling us, Jon…?

- I’ll never get tired of Jon conking the heck out, and it’s been twice in a short amount of time! <3 (MAG128 after the reading of Breekon’s statement, MAG131 after the ribs extraction.) What is your life, Jon.

- Oh My Gods, Jon, You Can’t Just Ask People Why They Didn’t Kill Someone.

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: I see. … Why didn’t you kill him? MELANIE: I stabbed him in three different hearts – didn’t work. If you want to go hunting for a fourth, knock yourself out. ARCHIVIST: I, er… I’m alright, I think.

mELANIE…

- I am SO delighted about the news that Helen has been back and helping!!! I missed her so much gdi!!! And I really wasn’t expecting that she had been around all this time, that she had saved the Archives Team since Melanie stabbing three hearts didn’t manage to take down Jared!!

And I feel bad now for calling her “Helen” with quotation marks and taking extra-precaution to designate her differently from MAG047’s Helen Richardson, since… Helen took offense from the “It” and Melanie calls Helen “she”, so let’s trust Melanie on Helen’s correct pronouns! :w

* To be fair to Jon, Helen-as-the-new-Distortion was extremely confusing, identity-wise, in MAG101 and MAG115! She spoke about “Helen” in third person, but sounding like it was a constant push-pull between being and not being (MAG115: “I don’t, I don’t think I have a choice but to be Helen. Self is difficult.”); admitting to have killed a man, and not being satisfied by it but… not being overly upset about murdering an innocent person either (;; have there been others, since then…?); making Jon an offer to evolve alongside each other when The Unknowing was coming close and Jon was precisely trying to put himself together. But if Helen indeed didn’t lie… she could have helped, indeed, back then ;; She could have used her doors to transport them to the wax museum and ensure their safety…

* I do like how Helen suggested that Jon not put a clear delimitation between humanity and monsterhood; it was both… a sort of invitation for Jon to stop angsting about it, and to stop trying to run away from it? And it also echoed what Jon himself had wondered about, about being himself, when he woke up (MAG122: “I’m… I’m… I’m trying to focus. Trying to make sure I’m the same me as before, but… how can anyone really remember that? How do you know… you’re the same person that went to sleep…?”).

(MAG131) MELANIE: She’s been helping us. ARCHIVIST: It has never helped anyone. Not without a cost. [THE DOOR CREAKS OPEN] HELEN: If I’m an “it”, Archivist, then what does that make you? [THE DOOR CREAKS CLOSED] MELANIE: Hi, Helen. ARCHIVIST: I have been told that you could help. HELEN: I have been trying to. But the last time you were very rude. ARCHIVIST: And you’re still wearing her face. HELEN: Not this again. I’m not “wearing” anything, Archivist. I am at least as much Helen Richardson as you are the Jonathan Sims that first joined this institute. Things change. People change. It happens. ARCHIVIST: … We’re not “people”, though, are we? Not anymore. HELEN: Names. Categories. It’s all so important to you, isn’t it? You do know none of it is actually real. It’s all just meaningless boxes.

(Though: Avatars and monsters still tend to call Jon “Archivist” – they’re also the ones putting Jon in a box?)

BUT AT THE SAME TIME, IT PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH………… BECAUSE GUESS WHAT…………… GUESS WHO MIGHT HAVE BEEN RIGHT ABOUT THIS AFTER ALL……………

(MAG092) ARCHIVIST: […] Am I… Elias, am I still human? ELIAS: Jon, what does human even mean? I mean, really? You still bleed, you can still die. And your will is still your own, mostly. That’s more than can be said for a lot of the “real’ humans out there.

*FLIPS TABLE* I WOULD LIKE TO FIND HELEN’S WORDS INSPIRING BUT… IT’S ALSO WHAT FUCKING ELIAS SAID… WHY IS THIS EPISODE A STRING OF IMPLIED “ELIAS HAD BEEN RIGHT ABOUT X AND Y”……………………

* That said, I’m also laughing that:

(MAG131) MELANIE: Is… he still in there? HELEN: Oh, yes. He’s not exactly something that I can… digest. He’s a bit of an irritant, to be honest. If you’re looking to let him out, I can be persuaded. […] MELANIE: … Did you let that… thing go?

(Bwahahah about Helen calling Jared an “irritant”, when Elias had qualified Michael with that word.) For all that talk about showing respect to People-Who-Changed-And-Became-Spooks, Melanie really had trouble calling Jared a “he”, uh. (But well. She stabbed three of his hearts. That gives her a peculiar point of view.)

* Was that a reference to periods.

(MAG131) HELEN: Hm. Bodies are strange. Rather glad they’re not my concern anymore. MELANIE: Must be nice. HELEN: [CHEERFUL] It really is!

* OOPSIE, so. If Martin knew that Helen was around and that she saved them from Jared… I have trouble picturing him taking her presence kindly. (MAG118: “being left to wander impossible corridors for weeks!” ;;)

* ANYWAY, HELEN IS THE BESTEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO TEAM ARCHIVES, OKAY.

(MAG131) MELANIE: … Did you let that… thing go? HELEN: He found a door. MELANIE: … Where did he come out? HELEN: The door may have been in a bwall, some distance above a river. MELANIE: [CHUCKLE] Nice…!

She’s totally nailing the Keeping My Promise (And Wrecking You At The Same Time) aspect of monsterhood, uh! =DD

(MAG131) HELEN: Good luck, Archivist! Be seeing you.

Look!! She’s even being a good guest by using the awful pun of the local patron which is currently housing her door!!

* There was something in this episode about the fact that Avatars or people-who-are-not-total-spooks(-yet) are Their Own Person: Jared refused to participate in his god’s own ritual, out of sheer disinterest; Melanie explained that the anger wasn’t coming from the bullet but was her own; Helen has decided to help, despite what one could expect from The Spiral (or is it a trap? She sounded genuine and given the overall message I felt from the episode, I don’t think she was lying and trying to mislead here, that she wouldn’t be able to fight a sort of natural instinct); Jon is trying to save Daisy despite the fact that The Archivist is supposed to be “the Observer” and that Beholding is usually described as… amazingly passive. It’s really like how Gertrude made her own choices, decided whom to sacrifice and how in order to reach her aims? I wonder if this will lead to something about Daisy? When we left her in MAG119, she was chaotic and filled with violence (Breekon described her as “feral”); in the same way, that violence is… most probably her own, building up since she was a kid. Maybe she isn’t as lost and Far Gone as what I feared; maybe there will be a way to hear her words, too?

- So many character developments points for Jon…

* I’M SO PROUD OF JON FOR TRYING TO APOLOGIZE HERE AND THERE… it was good! And he ended up understanding that it wasn’t the point, and did what Melanie asked him to do – shutting up and listening to what SHE wanted to say!!!

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: Oh, I… Melanie, I–I’m so sorry, I– MELANIE: Oooh, fuck off?! […] ARCHIVIST: Basira said you were doing better. MELANIE: Would you just– stop?! ARCHIVIST: No– Right, no– MELANIE: This isn’t better! ARCHIVIST: M–Melanie, I, I– […] M–Melanie, it, it– MELANIE: Don’t tell me to calm down! Don’t you dare–! ARCHIVIST: [LOW] Right… Yes. I… […] Maybe… maybe it’s enough to start healing, start… letting go of the anger. MELANIE: Oh, just stop! Just stop and– listen. ARCHIVIST: Okay.

Jon has grown up so much and it involves shutting up!!!

* He didn’t apologize to Helen but listened to her! And thanked her!!!

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: Right. Uh… [WINCES] Thank you. … For your… for your help. HELEN: You are very welcome. I have decided that I support what you’re doing, and I’m happy to assist. I think we’ll all be much happier this way.

Progress!!

* GAASSSPPSSSS

(MAG131) MELANIE: Basira’s not going to be happy that you let him out. ARCHIVIST: [SCOFF] Basira isn’t here. … And if this works…! I’ll have Daisy waiting for her when she gets back, so I don’t think she’ll be thinking – too much about Jared.

Is… is this Jon finally understanding about lesbians………………….

(Jooooon, but what about YOU freeing Jared into the wild… There will be people coming to you, in a few months/years, telling you about how they lost a loved one or were tortured by him, maybe, if your bone doesn’t kill him or if he doesn’t drown thanks to Helen… I’m surprised that he didn’t think about the consequences here, even though he had highlighted that he was upset at the thought of people getting killed and victimized by the Fears…?)

(;; And the idea that getting Daisy back would cheer up Basira is such a simplistic reasoning, at the same time… almost childish? Very pure? Like a child knowing they did something their parents would disapprove of on principle, but hoping that the consequences will make up for it anyway? And the way Jon is banking on Basira forgetting about his freeing Jared because Daisy would be back… probably means that no, it won’t be that easy and simple and nice, uh…)

- People not saying anything but conveying in their tone that “Sure, Jon.” (/You Do You) when Jon tries to explain the thing about “anchor” really cracks me up:

(MAG131) MELANIE: [INHALES SHARPLY] So! Why are you trying to chop off your finger? ARCHIVIST: [AWKWARDLY] O–oh, I, I–I am– [CLEARS THROAT] I nee–need a… I’ve been thinking of it a–as an anchor. I think. I… know. Something I have a connection to, th–that I can use to find my way out of the Coffin when I reach Daisy. I–I figured the strongest anchor would be… part of my own body. [BREATHLESS LAUGH] MELANIE: Okay. So… just cut it off.

[…] JARED: That’s yours. What’s it for? [PAINED SOUNDS OF RECOVERY] ARCHIVIST: [STAMMERING] Um… A, a–an anchor JARED: Huh. Right. Anyway, this one’s for me.

[…] [CLICK–] HELEN: Still alive? MELANIE: Seems to be, yes. HELEN: And he’s certainly holding a bone, for some reason. MELANIE: Said it was going to be an… “anchor”.

Nobody is impressed rezufsdhjnfez.

- How could you ever say that Jon wasn’t funny, Martin:

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: That’s it? [SNORT] Hardly worth a rib. [JARED LOOMS FORWARD] [PLACATINGLY] Alright! Alright. Is it, uh… Is it going to hurt? JARED: Dunno. Doesn’t hurt me. [THE ARCHIVIST MAKES IT BE KNOWN THAT IT DOES RATHER] [EXTENDED SOUNDS OF MEAT AND BONE MOVEMENT]

(I missed the official transcripts and their official descriptors so, so much efdshjxnefd.)

Anyway! Jon… Oooh, Jon… you already did know about that one. You had already read from someone who had gotten a bone removed by Jared himself…

(MAG049, Gregory Pryor) “There is… no way to describe what it feels like, to have bone pulled out of you through your unbroken skin. If you’ve ever been stabbed, or had a decent-sized object embedded in you, maybe you can remember how it felt to have it removed, but even then, the pain is of a different quality. The nerves aren’t being… torn, or cut; they’re being pushed aside, like water. Imagine the feeling of removing a rubber glove from your hand but… you’re the glove, not the hand. And it hurts like the worst toothache you can imagine, it– That’s as close as I can get to putting it into words. […] I can still feel it sometimes, like it’s still there. I know it’s just phantom limb syndrome but… sometimes I swear it feels like my bone’s still out there, twisting in someone else’s arm… ”

So yep! It was supposed to hurt! And hurt it did!

Also enjoy feeling your rib twisting in Jared’s torso (or wherever he put it), Jon…………….

- I think this was the most unsettling episode ever for me. WHAT A BEGINNING, WOW, THANKS, THAT WAS AWFUL AND… not even exactly gruesome, but very disturbing? Not so much for the sounds of Jon trying to cut off his own finger but because of his shaky cries of pain while doing it.

(MAG131) ARCHIVIST: […] [PAINED FRUSTRATION] Oh, come on! Everyone else can carve up the Archivist but– when he actually needs it…! […] MELANIE: [INHALES SHARPLY] So! Why are you trying to chop off your finger? ARCHIVIST: O–oh, I, I–I am– [CLEARS THROAT] I–I need a… I’ve been thinking of it as a–a, an anchor, I–I think. I… know. Something I have a connection to, th–that I can… use to find my way out of the coffin, when I reach Daisy. I–I figured the strongest anchor would be…. part of my own body. [BREATHLESS LAUGH] MELANIE: Okay. So… just cut it off. ARCHIVIST: Er, I’m… doing my best. MELANIE: [HUFF] Can’t go through with it? ARCHIVIST: Oh, th–the blade keeps going in! And… it hurts… hurts plenty. But then it heals up, pretty much the moment I take it out – no wound, no scar… nothing.

YEAH, YOU BET, I COULD HEAR THAT.

So, is it not working because it’s Jon doing it to himself, or because only Spooks can harm him (temporarily) now? Gooooosh, the fact that Jon tried and tried again, and was losing it with pain/anguish but kept trying for a good while… (If he manages to get Daisy back and she’s not too far gone: I wonder if they would try to test the limits and conditions of Jon’s healing abilities?)

That also ;; answers (without any question) the matter of whether Jon would be able to self-harm, or to try to… avert his fate, at the last moment. Apparently, no. I’m guessing that the auto-regeneration is more akin to a reflex, and it should be a good thing (he can heal very fast! can’t even get harmed through normal means!)… But it’s awfully creepy to know for sure that Jon doesn’t have that control over his own body anymore – that his body doesn’t really belong to him anymore, and that what he wants to and can do with it are now two different things.

- Which should have been a first red flag for Jon about his idea of using his own body as an anchor. AND THE SECOND ONE WAS OBVIOUSLY:

(MAG131) JARED: Not much you could want, comin’ to me. Put summat in. Take summat out. Which is it? ARCHIVIST: Take something out. … A bone. A rib, probably. S–something I won’t miss.

(+ Bonus of accepting super-quickly to give up on another rib and to give it to Jared against his statement.)

“Something I won’t miss” OH MY GODS JON, DO YOU EVER STOP AND LISTEN TO YOURSELF………. HOW IS THAT SUPPOSED TO WORK AS AN ANCHOR IF YOU’RE NOT GOING TO MISS IT, IF YOU’RE NOT EXCEPTIONALLY ATTACHED TO IT……. J O N…………..

- Maybe the Rib-As-Anchor will work but I’m Very Sceptical About It. So many ways and reasons for it to work or to not work with everything going very wrong anyway!

* The rib works, Jon goes back to the surface with Daisy, she’s still in (or returns to) the “feral” state she was in during the Unknowing and manages to flee. Jon now has two missing ribs, an empty coffin, a very dangerous Daisy on the loose, and a lovely Story to tell to Basira, who will… not be very happy about it.

* The other rib works and Jon comes out somewhere in front of Jared; feral!Daisy butchers The Ex-Butcher (which could solve the Jared problem) and escapes, same as above re:Basira.

* The ribs don’t work because Jon literally said it would be something he wouldn’t miss, or they actually… already grew back in his own very messed up Beholding body; Jon compulses Daisy into thinking about her own anchor (like he grounded Tim during the Unknowing), and she thinks about Basira, and Daisy gets the both of them out.

* Same as above except Daisy gets out and Jon is still stuck. Either gets out by thinking about Georgie or Martin OR THE MEMORIES OF TIM&SASHA, L I S T E N, I SHIP JON/MARTIN LIKE EVERYONE ELSE BUT I WOULD D I E IF JON WERE ABLE TO RECOVER HIS MEMORIES OF THE REAL SASHA’S FACE AND TIM’S LAST MOMENTS IN A DIRE SITUATION AND THAT IT WOULD BE THE THING SAVING HIM, ALLOWING HIM TO GET BACK………, either he ends up needing exterior help to get out – Basira coming back right in time? Martin doing something? Martin asking Peter to save Jon? The Web having to send someone/something again?

- It also worked when Sasha and Tim were still around *WHIMPERS LOUDLY*, but: nobody in Extended Team Archives is a heterosexual dude! So All Likelyhoods aside, I want Daisy back and a team sleepover down in the tunnels, between Daisy-Basira-Melanie-Helen, and Jon being… there. Honorary guest or person-who-had-to-pay-for-the-food. (Get Martin back, put him there too, for max awkwardness!)

Shhh. Shhhhh. *cries*

Patreons have the title so, yep, well, we know the main subject, uh. (Both “being x” for Daisy, and “getting x” for Jon, I’m guessing…?)

#the magnus archives #mag131 #tma liveblog #long post/#tma spoilers/#tma season 4

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