#but i have no idea who georgie melanie basira and daisy would be????

[wizardsnorlax]

Ok so update on the Spiral Jon fic I'm writing: I'm getting it onto Ao3 bit by bit because it's super difficult to write on mobile, but I need to take a break and get ideas for the season three events out before they get lost, here's a link to the season 2 notes

Ok here we go

Melanie does not join the Archives, this is for the best

At one point in season 2 Jon gave Sasha Georgie's contact info for "in case of emergency" use so Sasha is gonna be (mostly) ok she just needs to pop an allergy pill every once in a while

Sasha might be good with the hardware of a computer but the software might as well be a completely different language so she's very little help with Georgie's show

Jon takes to reading Statements like I took to weed gummies

Sasha follows about the same trail of clues as Jon did in Canon but Daisy's grip on Sasha is a bit harder to hold so Sasha gets claw slashes on her arms instead of a knife at the throat

Things that have changed about Jon while Sasha was gone: his hair now has ringlet curls, the extra flexibility in his joints has progressed but not to the point anyone has noticed let alone would consider a problem and his eyes are twitchy from the stress of filling her position to the point he looks like he's constantly ODed on caffeine

Sasha gets back in the office and when everyone learns they can't quit or be fired Jon makes it his personal mission to be as much of a menace to Elias as possible

but he'd never do that to Sasha, she gets doodles of her hanging out with Cecil from Nightvale because she's a good boss:)

Martin scolds Tim for how he's been treating Jon and Sasha because of the changes caused by first and secondhand paranormal bullshit exposure

Jon gets to go out for drinks with people who actually like him

Everyone learns why Jon has a shirt that says "the difference between me and Superman is Superman has Super Vision, I need constant supervision

A discussion about who takes Jon home with them is had because at some point the poor goober lost his shoes and started trying to wrap around Martin like a belt

Sasha gets kidnapped on her way home

Michael helps her because some part remembers being an archival assistant and she's treated hers so much better than Gertrude did

Helen doesn't take Michael's place but the door still rejects him and the corridor collapses as both Sasha and Michael crash into Jon's new flat

Michael is freed but is in such bad shape he needs to be in the hospital for several weeks on recovery

Things attempt to be normal

Tim and Jon are menaces to Elias in very different ways

Jon doesn't want anyone traveling alone

Elias doesn't care but can't STAND the idea of Jon being there without a buffer so Sasha gets to have company on her trip, Tim goes to India and gets the ghost bullet, cue Mystery Mousketool meme

Martin, Basira and Daisy are handling the workload as best they can but since none of them are particularly suited to the task things go badly because Martin is terrible at direct leadership

When Sasha and Jon get kidnapped by Trevor and Julia, Sasha decides that the best way to clear some of the air is through lore dumping her backstory (still to be determined)

Jon is deemed suspicious by the false cop cause he does NOT look sober

Insert attempted police brutality interrupted by a shotgun

While the false cop is regenerating Jon gets the "how did you two meet" Statement from Julia

They get to the cabin and Jon freaks out a little at the idea of reading ANOTHER cursed book

Big relief when nobody gets eaten this time

Nobody ever believes him but Jon has kept every promise he's made (not that he's made many before but it's the principle of it)

Yoinks the page

Our duo finishes the assignment

Back home

Sasha learns about the storage unit

JON STOP REACHING FOR THE EXPLOSIVES YOU ABSOLUTE GREMLIN

Tim is EXTRA motivated to wreck shop at the Unknowing

Jon and Martin stay behind to be distractions

Big boom happens, Tim makes it out because the guy's literally too angry to die, Sasha is in the coma, Daisy is in the Coffin and Basira is just having a time of it

Jon gets mind fondled by Elias and it makes Martin want to rip the bastard's throat out but the best he can do is have the cops rough him up as much as possible

Jon is temporary head of the Archives and the pressure swallows him whole and he crashes like a meteorite because he desperately doesn't want to be the one giving orders

Martin's "assistance" has been leaving cobwebs in places nobody checks

And thus we enter season 4

[stephaniebrownslover]

My Creepypasta but The Magnus Archives style AU

Okay so this is an old AU that I would like to explain and write, but my street cat is currently sick and he's requeiring all my time and energy and that's okay!

There'll be only character roles and AU explainations in this post.

Character roles and which TMA character they match;

Judge Angels//Alice "Daisy" Tonner, Police officer called upon to deal with paranormal cases

Nurse Ann//Annabelle Cane, Avatar of The Web

Zero//Basira Hussain, Police officer called upon to deal with paranormal cases

Vladimir and Zachary//Breekon and Hope, Mysterious deliverymen and servants of The Stranger

Slenderman//Elias Bouchard , Head of The Magnus Institute

Mary Vaughn//Georgie Barker, "Host of the What The Ghost?" podcast

Ben Drowned//Gerard Keay, Mary Keay’s son and acquaintance of Gertrude Robinson

Rouge//Gertrude Robinson , Former head archivist of The Magnus Institute

Nina The Killer//Helen Richardson, Real estate agent merged with the Distortion

Lulu//Jane Prentiss, Avatar of The Corruption

Masky//Jonathan Sims, Head archivist of The Magnus Institute

Clockwork//Julia Montauk, Hunter and daughter of Robert Montauk

Homicidal Liu//Jurgen Leitner, Collector of paranormal books

Hoodie//Martin Blackwood, Archival assistant at The Magnus Institute

Jane The Killer//Melanie King, Proprietor of the "Ghost Hunt UK" Youtube Channel

Laughing Jack//Michael Shelley, Gertrude Robinson's assistant who was merged with The Distortion

Laughing Jill//Nikola Orsinov, Plastic mannequin created from Joseph Grimaldi

Zalgo//Peter Lukas, Avatar of The Lonely and captain of the Tundra

Kate The Chaser//Sasha James, Archival assistant at The Magnus Institute

Trendderman//Simon Fairchild , Avatar of The Vast(edit:he's changed from Offenderman to Trenderman)

Ticci Toby//Timothy Stoker, Archival assistant at The Magnus Institute

Eyeless Jack//Trevor Herbert, Self-proclaimed vampire hunter

Notes;

-Creepypasta characters, which are the equivalent of The Magnus Archives characters, were selected without caring about gender and the character whose personality is the most similar with TMA role was replaced with creepypasta character.

-The terms like The Stranger, The Vast, The Spiral, The Buried and blah blah and being an avatar etc. will be explained in future as in the podcast.

-Although I'm trying not to go out of personality to a large extent, there will be many things that do not fit because this is a completely different universe.

-Most of the Creepypasta characters are not killers, and some external appearance features have been arranged accordingly. If you don't like it, you don't need to read it because it's an AU. It's that simple.

-This AU is set in London, just like the podcast.

-If there is a thing that you are uncomfortable with, just don't read it. TMA is a podcast series full of really interesting horror stories, and if you're feeling uncomfortable, it's quite normal but please don't push yourself too much.

- All statements in the 200 episodes will not be mentioned in this AU. Only as much of it as will help you understand the AU will be edited into the AU.

-The dialogue is not exactly the same as in the podcast, because it will vary depending on the characters, but the critical scenes may be the same.

-I think that's it, have fun.

-And for you to have a better idea, The Magnus Archives description;

"The Magnus Archives is a weekly horror fiction anthology podcast examining what lurks in the archives of the Magnus Institute, an organisation dedicated to researching the esoteric and the weird. Join new head archivist Jonathan Sims as he attempts to bring a seemingly neglected collection of supernatural statements up to date, converting them to audio and supplementing them with follow-up work from his small but dedicated team.

Individually, they are unsettling. Together they begin to form a picture that is truly horrifying because as they look into the depths of the archives, something starts to look back…"

[murderandcoffee]

I'm sorry I sent the ask too early-

Can i get some of your tma character design hcs

👉👈

well of course you can! sorry it's taken me a bit to get to this ask, I'm uh. bad at keeping up with messages lmao

okay so quick disclaimer: I didn't have solid visual ideas of all the tma characters--details would change or shift or whatever, so I'll only list some major ones/the ones I really imagined well

jon:

I see jon as a japanese-british guy who's like 5'6"/5'7" (168-170cm) with a bit of a dad bod. stern-looking, with short black hair that's graying around the temples, and some well-kept facial hair. I imagine him growing his hair out over the course of the show. he's also got glasses. I've drawn my interpretation of jon a couple of times--check out my bs.art tag if you wanna see it!

martin:

uh oh this is the one that could get me in trouble with the fandom. now listen: I had NO contact with fandom interpretations of the characters when I listened, so there was no influence from fanon designs. the martin in my head is a very tall, very lanky, awkward trans guy with blue eyes, shaggy blond hair, and a crooked smile. he's got freckles and glasses, and moves kind of like he's still a teenager getting used to how long his limbs are after a growth spurt.

sasha:

okay so the way I imagined sasha is actually pretty close to a lot of fan interpretations! I see her as a tall-ish, well-put-together, academic-looking black woman with glasses and a natural hair. I picture her wearing a lot of skirts and sweater vests. she's definitely the most professional-looking of the archival staff in my mind.

tim:

I'm not gonna lie I really pictured tim for longest time as tim wright from marble hornets. I kinda still do. tall white guy with dark hair, sideburns, and expressive eyebrows. goofy and expressive. not much else I can say for him lmao.

michael distortion:

this is another one where the picture in my mind is waaaaay different from popular fanon. the distortion, to me, was not psychedelic-eyestrain-tie-dye-colorful. it was more of a black and white, reality but a little to the left, slenderman-/cryptid-esque vibe. definitely inspired by the visual auras I get from migraines. the distortion looks completely normal until you see its reflection/see it through a warped pane of glass, then it's all sorts of fucked up! but fucked up in a take too much nyquil and see the hat man sort of way, instead of a take too much acid and see god sort of way.

gerry:

I believe in natural redhead gerry

basira:

okay okay another one that people are gonna disagree with. the basira in my head does not wear a hijab. she's got her hair slicked back into a tight, military-style bun. brown hair, brown eyes, brown skin, some moles and freckles, some scars, no-nonsense, take-no-shit attitude.

daisy:

the daisy I picture is a small firecracker of a woman. she's dangerous the way brass knuckles are dangerous--sure they fit in the palm of your hand, but they will deliver blows that you won't ever recover from, if you're lucky enough to survive. she's covered in scars, muscular, very pale (I see her mostly as a redhead), and with some tattoos, too. sometimes I picture her as blonde, but I like ginger daisy.

melanie:

I've drawn my version of melanie! I see her as desi/south asian, with wavy brown hair and brown-green eyes. I hc that she dyes her hair red, but once she's infected with the slaughter it starts staying that way (un)naturally. she's short in my mind, probably a few inches shorter than jon.

I don't have much for elias, georgie, or helen, really. their designs kind of shift around in my head. I feel like I'm forgetting characters, but oh well!

I've drawn a few not listed here (annabelle, agnes)

if there are any characters in particular that you're curious to see how I envision them, lemme know!

[emhasthoughts]

Gertrude and the cat-avatars, pt6

Summary: We meet some more girls!

A/N: Uhhhhhh I tried my best...? Similar to the first part, thanks @dcartcorner bc the idea came from their stream and also for liking this au. Also additional thanks to the chatter in today's stream that gave me enough motivation to finish the next part.

Aaaaas always, not beta read by someone else, just me, my document and school stress

Pt 1, Simon, Peter, Elias and Mike / Pt 2, Michael and Helen Distortion, Agnes / Pt 3, Annabelle, Jude, Oliver / Pt 4, John, Jane, Maxwell, Manuela / Pt 5, Jon, Martin, Sasha, Tim / Pt 6, You're here! / Pt 7, Jared, Gerry, Nikola / Bonus, a visit to the vet / Halloween bonus!

The next four arrived close to each other in pairs. Not too long after Sasha, Jon, Martin and Tim made themselves comfortable. 

The first one was a rather fluffy light brown cat. The eyes were bright blue though there were scars going straight over those. Gertrude has a suspicious feeling that something was wrong with the eyes. Especially considering the cat right next to them. It was darker with stripes. Right beside the other, occasionally bumping into the other with a meow. 

Gertrude didn’t do anything about it. Thinking they would leave the next day. Two days passed and instead another pair came in. One of them dark grey with yellow eyes, for a moment the cat looked up at her and Gertrude nearly shivered. Sure, sometimes one of her cats would glare at her as if they wanted to kill her. But this one felt like the statement could be held true. As if she was watching a tiger in a small ordinary cat form. The other was also grey, though with black stripes over the body and black paws. 

Gertrude ended up having to let them all stay. The light brown cat was taken to the vet in which she was informed that, while the scars had healed over, the cat was blind. Gertrude did not necessarily want a blind cat. She still had work and was, admittedly, a bit worried over how a cat unable to see, would be in a house full of other cats. 

Gertrude had googled up inspirations for names. In the end she had landed on Melanie, the blind cat. Georgie, the one by Melanie’s side. The grey who seemingly wanted to kill Gertrude any time she looked at her, had been named Daisy by Fiona and the other had gotten the name Basira. 

A week into living there all four cats had gotten mostly settled. Daisy and Basira seemed to prefer being alone, Daisy having a habit to hiss and glare at others. Georgie had managed to befriend Jon, as well as someone could befriend him, while also sticking to Melanie’s side. Gertude felt slightly relieved by the fact that Melanie didn’t have to navigate on her own. Though Gertrude got real concerned as she went to make dinner one day after work only to find Melanie on the counter holding a knife in her mouth. 

[sapph1cghost]

so i was talking to my friend about this and i want more opinions: does a person wanting a second chance relevant to whether or not they were brought through the portal?

obviously there are other factors effecting what brought them through the to the protocol-world, but i think the idea of someone actively wanting a second chance at life effecting that would be really cool.

for example, jon literally says (and martin agrees) in the last episode of tma “maybe everything works out, and we end up somewhere else.” and if that doesn’t express how desperately they want another chance at life, idk what does.

and with jonah he would obviously want a second chance at the apocalypse, to feel how he felt before when he was the center of the eye, and while we don’t know a lot about celia i could definitely see her also wanting a second chance, especially since if i remember correctly she doesn’t really remember who she was before melanie and georgie rescued her.

this would also explain why melanie and georgie and basira haven’t shown up. melanie and georgie have each other (plus georgie probably wouldn’t be able to go with the fears anyway) so i feel like they’d be fine with where they are as long as they have each other. and while basira seems like she would want another chance to be with daisy, she also has had a lot of time at this point to accept what’s happened and come to terms with the fact that daisy is gone.

idk how explicitly this will be brought up in tmagp, if at all, but i think it would be really fun and so far seems to fit with the characters we’ve seen cross over with the fears

[oneinchfrog]

hihihi hello i have fallen into your inbox to ask for any jondaisy thoughts you have :]] (i love literally all tma ships- jmart, basira x daisy etc etc rhdhdhdh) JONDASIY!!! i haven’t finished season four yet but i’m close to finishing it so no spoilers just in caseee

AUGHHH HI LARK. JONDAISY MY LOVES WHO I AM NORMAL ABOUT. a lot of my (at least angsty) thoughts abt them revolve around s5 but WHATEVER

im ALWAYS drawn to characters whove been through crazy fucked up shit together (like the teens!!) that nobody would get if they havent been through it themselves. for them its the eye shit and the buried- daisy definitely seeks out company after being stuck alone in the buried for literal months, and jon is kind of her only option. i think they grow close as gradually basically everyone leaves them- martin getting lonely-ed, melanie splitting her time between georgie and therapy, and basira always off killing people. they have both been seperated from the world for months (coma, coffin) and when they came back, everything was different, and they adjust to that together. i love the idea of daisy just sitting jons office while he works, subjecting him to the Archers, and just finding each other after losing basira and martin. i think of them as a qpr but i will devour literally any content of them becauee theyre SO UNDERRATEDDDD

[pain-is-too-tired]

Revived Moth!Jon au info!

OK kinda based off my rambling in a discord I'm in. And art I recently posted.

But au where Jon doesn't make it out of his kidnapping by Nikola and ends up "dieing" some shape or form.

Even with everything of course the ritual doesn't work.

Jon however is taken and somewhat brought back by the web, he's got not much of a memory but what he does remember is

1. Not trusting the web in general

2. Dislike to hatred for avatars of the stranger.

3. Martin and Tim even if not much

Due to him so being distrusting of The Web they end up keeping him in one place until they can get him tamed.

He's made to be very moth like, especially as parts of him still are built back.

His rebuilt skin does seem to be still flesh, but you can notice it looks as if weaved about him.

His haired even longer, like a mane laid over his shoulders no longer tied up.

Since he had been touched by The eye pretty strongly (probably still technically an avatar) his eyes glow green, though the web shields him from being known by Elias.

His moth like wings covered in eye looking marks.

The place he's kept in is covered in webs, living him trapped like a spiders prey. Though stranger avatars/not!them have come by since its close to their headquarters of function. Often they end up being attacked if they cross into his threshold at all.

Thinking of as a way to try tame him in some way the web kidnaps Martin and gets him close to the threshold Jon's bonded in.

Jon's immediate reaction it to protect Martin.

Of course the others come to save Martin, unable to recognize Jon due to how different he looks.

Also think it's important the not that after Jon's "death" there is a lot of chaos in the archives.

1. They lose what little cooperation they have with Elias, especially since it was well over a month before they learned Jon had been kidnapped and later killed.

2. Martin just freaking looses it on everyone, he's no longer putting up his harmless facade anymore. He matches the tone everyone else had given Jon and if that isn't a wake up call idk what is.

3. It's much easier to put blame onto Jon for their situation when you can argue he's having it easier in your mind. Being skinned to death however is a problem you can't just brush off. Elias no longer has someone to take on the blame of his actions in the view of the others.

You can't distrust anymore someone who is dead, especially when the one you know is all seeing had refused to act on it.

All in all Elias might try make a new Archivist (most likely Martin since getting a new new Archivist in that climate would not be wise)

But since he underestimated Martin it's a lot harder to try set him up then with Jon.

So already before they go into trying to save Martin tensions are high. Basira, Melanie and Daisy are bit thrown off by the sudden change, especially given Martin's change in attitude towards all of them.

Tim however becomes very protective of Martin, trying his best to keep their sanity. Afterall, all they have left is eachother.

So he's of course the one to lead on the plan to get Martin back.

Think only Basira and Melanie maybe come with him, Daisy probably still be made to run errands for Elias just to keep her from trying to strangle him frxrf

Jon's gonna only recognize Tim however, immediately trying to protect him. He'll precieve the others as a threat especially when a gun's aimed at him.

Tim will be jumpy with Jon at first, but when he makes a move that's a bit too simular to Jon I think it might click for him.

Also another side note that Melanie must likely is gonna have to break Jon's "death" to Georgie which could make their relationship rocky for a bit or just draw them closer depending on Georgie's reaction(Jon still was her friend even if no romantic feelings were left)

I just think that's important to note in the idea of Jon being precieved dead early on.

[levaagrace]

No but the fact that Melanie went back a THIRD time to give a THIRD statement is exactly what I’m talking about.

We know, by the end of season 3, that from the start Jon has been dream hopping. That all of the ones who gave him live statements see him in their nightmares. That it’s as regular to them as sleeping at all. We can’t know if it got worse after The Unknowing but from what I recall, it definitely sounded like the way Elias was describing those dreams was how it had been since Naomi.

Here’s my point. Considering this. And considering how Melanie specifically sought out Jon once she got back. With two nightmares for him to visit and retraumatize her with. I just… can’t see how we’re supposed to think of the dreams as horrible, life ruining things that deserve death.

That isn’t to say that they aren’t. That it isn’t fucked how they get no respite any more after telling him. That isn’t to say that what he did was at all okay. But when you’re touting the idea that Melanie blaming him for trapping her there and perpetuating a cycle of torment was justified. When you’re saying that Basira had every right to see Jon as a monster who needed to be on a leash, considering her hypocrisy regarding Daisy AND her own nightmares she brushed off to Daisy’s face. When you’re believing that Georgie’s boundaries were more important because he hurt her feelings by not wanting to tell her everything under the wrong impression that it would protect her. The text, no matter how it doesn’t question these views and doesn’t let Jon’s actions be forgiven, doesn’t do enough to show that he deserved it.

This isn’t me infantilizing Jon. This isn’t me saying ‘oh those mean women beating down the poor man 😢’. This is me pointing out that it isn’t entirely a wrong read to look at the way they treated him before season 3, during season 3, and through season 4, and think MAYBE they didn’t have much of a leg to stand on. And should’ve MAYBE been a bit kinder than ‘I don’t think you really ruined my life but I’m going to hate you forever regardless’, ‘I will take some blame for the apocalypse but I’m not going to apologize for saying I’ll kill you at the slightest provocation’, ‘me not being around you was the right thing to do but I’m sorry that meant you were left alone’. Like. When Daisy is the only one to realize MAYBE he’s not at fault for everything that happened… you MAYBE need to reprioritize yourself.

[p1nkwitch]

I know it’s been a hot minute but i got a new little idea for you~ I’m doing a gift exchange and one of the prompts I got was for Lonelyeyes as dnd characters. So consider Peter as a elf grave cleric and Elias as a human onomancy wizard who is secretly a litch. Also wouldn’t it be funny if Elias tricked Jon into becoming a warlock with Elias as his patron. Lastly Martin should be a paladin. Anyway all that’s to say, what are your tma dnd head canons? 😉💕

OHHHH first of all I am now waiting to see that lonelyeyes fic cause ohoho. Secondly all those ideas are so goooood.

Fun thing is a have a few ideas. Cause of a few conversations with some friends. So!!!

Peter was a paladin like his family wanted, but he got tired and jaded of having to go around "helping" and ended up becoming a druid so he could live alone in the forest. Either he is a human or an aasimar because fluffy wings. His family is a bit cultish so you know. Regular Lukas.

Elias/Jonah is a warlock, he started as a wizard but ended up as a warlock while trying to figure out ways to cheat death. He is a shapeshifter.

Tadeas is a human paladin. Rosie is a tiefling ranger.

Jon thought he was a cleric but he ended up as a warlock. I think it would be funny if he is a tabaxi or a Kenku.

Martin is a half dwarf. However he got his dad's normal height which is why his mom doesn't like him after he left. He is probably a rougue. Cause sneaky sneaky stabby stabby.

Tim is a half elven bard. Because he is charming and actually being a bard means you gotta get a degree and Tim is smart and will cast vicious mockery to fuck with you.

Sasha is a human wizard with very low wisdom I assure you.

Melanie is a half orc barbarian

Georgie an elf necromancer.

Daisy a werewolf monk and basira a human ranger.

Gerry is a half elf fighter and a sorcerer.

Also simon is an air genasi magician.

[before-whatgod]

im not sure if this is a hot take but i dont love the tma ending. i hate how none of the other characters will hear jon out, how none of them agree that ending the world is the right thing, the merciful thing to do. i understand martin, georgie and to an extent melanie- but basira? who just had to kill her partner bc daisy had turned into something monstrous? it makes sense that martin doesnt bc of his love for jon, but after experiencing sasha’s fate, the unknowing, jane pretiss, and so many other horrors it baffles me that he wouldnt even humor the idea, though ultimately i do agree that that is in line with his character. also like- every single one of the characters had been personally stripped of their agency in one way or another every. single. one. the whole world has been. it does not make sense to me that jon is the only one who thinks ending the world fast, as mercifully as he can, is the only way. no one should have that kind of power, but he does. he does and he is fighting against the web. jon has been hated by these characters, always validly but sometimes to an extent that it was not fair (if that makes any sense). jon has just found out that is whole life has been planned, that no matter what he does it would have always ended like this- obviously his own worse qualities played a part in that, but still. of course jon, who will do whatever to prevent people from getting hurt even if it is horrible and stupid, would think the world dying is the best case scenario. he does not want anyone to go through what he did, what they all did. also i think narratively the world dying makes more sense? the horror comes from the fact no one really has a choice, either you are in the wrong place at the wrong time or you have been marked by a power that you cannot fathom. and it ends with the characters just accepting that and following what the web wants, giving up their last bit of agency just to be free from the pain. i understand that that is the tragedy, that they are now free but at what cost. to me it is just more compelling that the universe is free at the cost of everything the characters know, everything they love, everything on earth. 

[ghostinacardboardbox]

And this becomes especially clear when you compare him to Daisy, both with how the two of them became avatars and then the different ways they’re treated by others.

Like in Jon’s case he literally didn’t know at all what he was signing up for when he took the archivist job. It was, from the outside, a safe (if slightly eccentric) office job. He didn’t consent to anything that happened to him. The fact that he is responsible for his actions after that point can coexist with the fact that he himself did nothing to crest his curren situation. And yet other characters (especially Basora and Melanie, but also to an extent Georgie) act as if Jon not only is accountable for his actions re: taking live statements, but also the events that led them here. Which is blatantly untrue and acts as if Jon taking accountability is equivalent to Jon taking blame for everything that has happened.

Daisy on the other hand is more complicated and is part of why i started thinking about TMA in a context of uninformed consent and consent under false circumstances. On the surface Daisy chooses everything that happens to her. She likes hurting people and convinces herself that because she does so in the frame of law enforcement, she’s still able to be a good person. She chooses a career that will not hold her accountable and that will protect her from the consequences of her actions. She is not complicit or unknowing about this and is guilty of those actions. But she doesn’t actually know about the Hunt (it could be argued that she’s willfully ignorant, but i genuinely don’t think she processes her status as an avatar until way after the fact). Her consenting to being a power-abusing cop is not the same as consenting to serving one of the entities. She likely still would have behaved the same if she knew, honestly, but the point is that she didn’t and the fact that she would have done the same thing with all the information isn’t relevant. It’s not true consent if you aren’t fully aware. And yet Daisy is treated so differently from Jon. Basira especially is constantly enabling Daisy. She’s insistent that Daisy isn’t as much of a monster as Jon and that she didn’t know better.

So there’s this weird dynamic where Jon, who didn’t consent, is blamed fully while Daisy, who “consented” in that she gave in to her Hunt tendencies but not in that she was fully aware of what she was doing, is given plausible deniability (and this relates to the idea that law enforcement systems will protect their own from accountability constantly; Daisy is untouchable as long as another cop is there to vouch for her, even if she and Basira have quit). Which i think about all the time.

I just think it’s interesting that even the avatars we think of as willing participants usually have this idea of not knowing. For some it could maybe be called a leap of faith. But for some it’s still just more decisions that they’re making because of a lack of information, a lack of other choices, or both.

the problem with the addiction metaphor for avatars in the magnus archives isn't actually with the metaphor itself, it's that it's treated as the Only way to understand monsterhood.

"jon made the choice to go after live statements because they felt good" is true

"jon felt good when he took live statements as a metaphor for addiction" is true

"jon felt good when he took live statements because victimizing people feels empowering" is true

"jon felt good when he took live statements Because Eating Feels Good" Is Also True

it's easy to say that jon made The Choice to continue being a monster, there's plenty of characters in the show who've said as much.

but the choice to continue being a monster is Equally the choice to Survive, to continue living. and trying to have a conversation about the Morality of jon's choice, as if it is Only about how good it feels to be monstrous, as if the addiction to living can be separated from the reality of dying. is a bit ridiculous !

the whole point of jon's situation, of Being an avatar, is that it's not Fair. jon was turned into a monster without his knowledge or consent, and then was told that there was no way out of it but to die.

it's not Fair to blame someone for wanting to live, it's not Fair to hurt someone to continue living. both are true, and that's Exactly what makes it interesting ! Why avatars can be both victims and victimizers in turn.

what makes someone like jon different from someone like jared hopsworth isn't their capacity for violence or to cause pain, it's the Choice To Continue Feeling Compassion For Other People. to make the active Choice to see other human beings As People and care about the harm you cause them.

so much of the narrative of tma is about characters who are stripped of agency, who still make Meaningful Choices Anyways. by Choosing to care, even as that choice hurts you. to continue to care even though it would feel Good not to.

this isn't Separate from the metaphor about addiction, it's in Conversation with it.

[crazymothlady]

// some heavy spoilers for all of the magnus archives

Tma x traffic life is An au I’m playing with for trafficlife becuase I was relistening to tma and everytime something like “ceaseless watcher “ I would just be like “evo ref” “traffic lore” and so I was like “what if au” and then I kept mixing up the two Martyns sooo

Based in the world of tma, characters are mainly off of 3rd life iterations but other seasons will bleed in

Below is what I’m thinking for characters, I might change some up since I’m only 120 episodes in to relistenijg so I only vaguely remember some of the character traits and twists later on. I’d also love suggestions and thoughts (not all romantic relationships in tma would be kept, I’m also really struggling with ‘best match of personality’ , ‘best match of vibes’ and ‘best match of who they interact with’)

John/the archivist - Grian struggling with the idea of becoming a ‘watcher’, an avatar of the beholding

Tma!Martyn - scar, played with the idea of jimmy for awhile because he somewhat lines up personality wise, but I wanted him elsewhere sooo

Tma!tim- Joel, Joel’s always making jibes at others and try’s to hide angst under anger, Tim’s brother would probably be switched out to be Lizzie, Joel’s wife that was taken by the circus (also allows me to tie him in with my secret life joel design In my head)

Sasha - jimmy. First to die, also allows to subvert expectations of his personality. Notjimmy’s design would be close to usual fanon designs, while Jimmys design would be more cc accurate (darker blond hair, facial hair, different hair style, etc)

For the rest, I’m not quite as sure, some have more basis then others, we’ll see

Gertrude - Scott or Cleo, I’m leaning towards Cleo becuase she can gaslight and she’s a tough girlboss like Gertrude, Scott becuase he’s manipulative /pos

Georgie - also maybe Cleo? She’s connected to death, becuase well she is dead, and Cleo laughs everything off, she never really shows fear

Daisy- pearl. She longs for companionship she never truly has, and yet she’s also always on the hunt. Enough said

Basira - gem. secret life camel murder buddies, also willing to kill, but also quite good at making friends and then sticking by them

Jurgen lietner - Mumbo, not really frequently seen, but always mentioned. Kinda silly but seems like a serious rich gentleman

Elias- maybe Martyn? Cause listener stuff?

Melanie king - maybe skizz? She’s Pretty nice, though stands up for herself, and than the bullet makes her go angry, like skizz on red life

Scott might be Annabelle cane cause manipulation and web and stuff

Jellie is the admiral ofc

Peter Lukas Is also a strong bid for pearl cause bbg so alone ):

Jane prentice, that clown lady, BreeKen and hope, Simon Fairchild, salaaser and Jared key are some other big names that come to mind and I still have (forgive me if I forget some I’m going off of memory)

Bigb, etho, ren, Bdubs, impulse, and tango to assign characters

[emhasthoughts]

Trick or Treat

Summary: Eric and Fiona were dead set on dressing up the cats.

A/N: "I'm not gonna write another bonus, I'm not gonna write another bonus, I'm not gonna - Fuck it" I had to write this bc I got the idea in my brain during a stream and it wouldn't let go until I wrote it

Thanks @dcartcorner , the two chatters in stream and my friend who helped me decide on some of the costumes.

Inspiration for Daisy's costume

Not beta read, just me, lil document and thoughts about cats

Pt 1, Simon, Peter, Elias and Mike / Pt 2, Michael and Helen Distortion, Agnes / Pt 3, Annabelle, Jude, Oliver / Pt 4, Maxwell, Manuela, John, Jane / Bonus, a visit to the vet

Gertrude blamed Eric Delano for the situation she was in. Well, Eric and Fiona Law. She could hear the two talk on the 30th that Gertrude felt was not work related. Her suspicion was confirmed as Eric knocked on the door to her office, leaning against the doorframe as he waited for her to look up. 

“Yes Eric?” 

“So… Are you doing anything tomorrow?”

“Why are you asking?”

“Because it’s Halloween. Going out for drinks with, oh, what was his name? Jurgen Lighter?” 

“Leitner.” Gertrude sighed. “And no. I’m going to be home. Halloween is just a time of year to give children excuses to eat a lot of candy.” 

“Riiight-” Eric drummed his fingers against the door frame. “You got cats though, right?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to dress them up?”

“Now why would I do that?”

Because Eric and Fiona were dead set on dressing up the cats. So after work they forced Gertrude to the local pet shop in order to find enough costumes for the cats. It was quite hard figuring everything out. Spending hours there looking at photos of the cats to find the right match. 

“We’ll go home to yours directly after work then?” Fiona clarified with Gertrude before they went their separate ways. Gertrude only answered with a nod and mumble about how tomorrow would not be a great day.

31st started just fine. The day went on as usual, though her assistants were more talkative than normal. Eventually it was time to leave and the four stood ready as Gertrude exited her office. She sighed. Clearly no one had forgotten. 

Some of the cats were very easy to get into their costumes. Oliver, Maxwell and Manuela got dressed as bats with wings, matching their already black fur. Oliver let it happen while the other two put on a bit more of a fight. Eric had a bit worse of a luck than Emma as he decided on the twins, both wearing a very colourful snake costume that Michael had first fought to not have to wear, Gerry however had been more peaceful, glaring at Eric as he got a onesie full of different types of eyes on it. 

Poor Sarah had decided to take on Mike, which had gone as well as one might expect from him as Sarah tried to get him into a cloud costume. She had then taken three of the more peaceful cats. Simon, dressed as a bee and Peter who had accepted his fate to be dressed as a jester. She had even managed to catch Elias to put him in an owl costume. 

Gertrude decided to make it as easy as possible by taking the cats that seemed the most interested in the costumes. Tim dressed in a cape similar to how a vampire costume would be, Martin who got a cow costume, Sasha who got a small knitted sweater and quickly made glasses to fit a cat, Jon who joined - or was bullied by Tim - was put in a moth costume. Agnes came up to her for her costume, looking like a fire with a crown on top of her head.

Fiona got Daisy into a dog costume, Melanie got on a lion's mane and Basira who got put in a box painted like a police car, though not without some chasing, scratching and something that fell from a table.  Emma stuck to the theme of the matching outfits as she managed to get Jane into a worm costume, John into a fly costume and Annabelle into a spider costume. Eric changed out Georgie’s collar to one that said ‘The Admiral’. Jared got a onesie similar to Gerry’s though this one had a pattern of bones. Fiona had to take Jude and Nikola. Jude dressed up as a flame while Nikola looked like a toy soldier.

After a bunch of photos and attempts at getting Gertrude out with them, Emma, Fiona, Sarah and Eric decided to leave. Planning to go to some bar they liked. Leaving Gertrude alone with cats in stupid costumes and having to answer the door as people dressed up came by. Which was a bit of a pain as cats wanted to get out or the people showing up saw the dressed up cats. Gertrude was not very happy to get the cats OUT of the costumes again.

[nonbinaryfroghorn]

audio recording by miles froghorn, head archivist of the morgan institute, london

ok, i can't really take credit for this au. @agentredfort originally came up with with a tma au where ruby was the archivist, and then someone sent an ask suggesting blacker as martin which prompted her to suggest archivist!froghorn and now i can't stop thinking about it. also i started this post like 2 months ago and then forgot about it rip.

warning: this contains spoilers for seasons 1-4 of the magnus archives, and probably won’t make any sense if you haven’t listened to seasons 1-4 of the magnus archives.

so. the magnus morgan institute was founded in the 1800s by one casey morgan. it is also still in london bc america is just Too Big, i’m sorry.

in 2016, miles froghorn, previously a research worker at the institute, gets hired as the new head archivist after the former archivist bradley baker died in the line of action passesd away

is he qualified for this job? not really! the promotion almost certainly should have gone to his colleague art, also known as hitch, but because hitch would have seen through the bullshit almost immediately for reasons unknown, it goes to miles instead

yes, this puts hitch in sasha's role. i love pain and torture :)

speaking of roles, the other assistants hired to work in the archives!

ruby redfort worked in research with miles and they don't get on or like each other but also they do. no one understands it (tim)

art "hitch" hitchen zachary worked in artifact storage before transferring to research, and came to the archives at miles' request. this stings a little bit because everyone, miles included, knows that hitch probably should have the job, but he won't kick up a fuss. the archives pay slightly better than research and he likes his colleagues well enough. maybe he'll just quit, get a new job altogether. (sasha)

james blacker knows exactly what he’s doing and has all the relevant qualifications for this job, just please don’t look too closely at his resume. (martin)

ruby works at the institute because what genius 20-something wouldn’t want to spend their days investigating ghost stories?? ok, yeah, most of them are 100% bullshit, but occasionally you get something genuinely fascinating because, no matter what excuses froghorn pulls out of his ass, most books don’t light themselves on fire, boss, are you seeing this?? it’s literally on fire, and my hand isn’t getting burned. that’s wierd.

(hitch is the only one who knows about the disappearance of her best friend clancy, and her determination to find out what happened to him.)

we know nothing about blacker’s backstory in canon, so it’s free real estate! and yeah, he might have zero relevant qualifications, but he’s kind of a genius, so no one has called him out yet. and he only lied on his resume because he was about to be kicked out of his apartment, and something has to pay the bills.

plus, he’s just so nice?? hitch and ruby are pretty sure he has no idea what he’s doing, but he’s clearly really smart and no one wants to snitch on the guy who brings in donuts every friday.

ok listen, i’m not particularly original so this would follow the plot of tma almost to a t. i cant think of a rr antagonist who particularly fits the hive off the top of my head, so the archives get attacked by jane prentiss. miles is forced to admit that yes, all the tape statements are creepy as hell, obviously this stuff is real ruby stop looking so smug about it we’re being attacked by a woman made of worms.

as much as i love the jonmartin bonding during the prentiss attack, and this au would feature miles/blacker eventually, it’s actually blacker who dashes off to warn hitch because he just reacts faster than ruby, and miles has just had a corkscrew dug into his leg to dig out a worm. ruby and froghorn manage to find the secret tunnels that are apparently under the institute, but whilst down there they get separated for a while and eventually ruby comes back shrieking about bradley baker’s body being down here??? what the fuck????? and then the two of them manage to make it out of the tunnels, already traumatised, only to be immediately attacked by worms. they’re really not having a good day. and thus, the archivist gets his first mark.

meanwhile, hitch and blacker have barricaded themselves in the breakroom. they make a plan: hitch will try and find victor von leyden, head of the morgan institute, and james will try and find ruby and miles again. they have varying degrees of success. hitch manages to find victor, who is normally pretty ominous and generally unhelpful, but at least he sets off the alarm to evacuate the building. unfortunately there are worms fucking everywhere, and hitch also gets separated from victor near artifact storage. he hates this place, but dashes in anyway in the hopes that it will be worm free. and it is. no worms in sight. there is, however, a table with a wierd spiral pattern on top. and - is something moving inside the table??

“hey, froghorn,” he hisses into the tape recorder that he somehow didn’t lose. “figured you’d want a recording of this. remember that table that was delivered a few weeks ago? i’m stuck in artifact storage, worst luck, and it looks like there’s something moving inside it.” his calm tone quickly descends into genuine fear, which is rare to hear from cool, collected hitch, as he realises that something is climbing out of the table and coming towards him, and - when he walks out of the institute building when the attack is over, he asks people to call him art, instead.

if you know nothing about the magnus archives, i’m so sorry. this post is all over the place and only makes sense if you know the plot of the original podcast. i might try and make a more coherent post about it at some point, because this concept lives in my mind rent-free. also, this only covers season 1, so i might make equally-nonsensical posts about the later seasons too. 

[seraphiteshaven]

I like this so I'm going to write headcanons for it. Obviously. Jmart is this stupid little locally owned store in the Scottish Highlands sorry I don't make the rules. They get a fair few customers to keep afloat, which is nice, and the shop is friendly with warm lighting that's easy on the eyes!! The two of them take turns doing jobs like baking bread and ordering new products but most of the time it's Jonny stocking shelves and Martin at the register. Not like they both couldn't do the other's work, but Jon is just trash at not being really rude to customers. He's the type to ask stupid questions while a customer is buying alcohol and baby formula like "Odd choice. Tell me, what struck you that the idea of drinking while parenting an infant was a splendid idea?" or something else along those (British) lines that tells everyone he thinks the customer is a piece of shit. Headcanon Martin keeps the shop cool. Really cool. So cool in fact that on super hot summer days when the door opens you'll see little bits of steam and condensation.- Not so much that its uncomfortable, but more that you should definitely wear a sweater. Jon freezes his ass off and ends up smuggling in like ten jumpers. Jon is absolutely amazing at catching shoplifters. I think Jmart probably has like two cameras but they're both really grainy and old so Jonny just has to do it himself. He catches some kid stealing a sandwich and before he can look her in the eyes and tell her exactly how many years she could go to prison Martin pulls up, pays for the sandwich, and.. whoops... they've adopted some scrangly girl named Melanie.. Melanie helps keep people from shoplifting by looking super threatening she's so silly. Sasha and Tim are long time friends of Martin and Jon and while their work mainly consists of sitting around and drinking the horrible coffee Jon brews(and then the tea Martin makes) they pull their weight. I imagine there's probably no official attire or uniform, but Tim and Sasha make it a point to wear matching cheesy Hawai'ian shirts. Basira comes around to eat donuts but later investigates Jon under the suspicion that he murdered some old man out in the woods. Jon has absolutely no idea who tf Leitner is. !!!CONTENT WARNING, ELIAS!! EW YUCK!!!!! Elias would probably be the town mayor, and he wants to build up more residential districts. Leitner and Gertrude ran against him for election and he kill them both and then vaguely pointed in the shop's direction like 'uh the gays did it!!' Peter Lukas is a ship captain Elias secretly has a relationship w. Nothing else needed I hate these old men. Content warning over Elias is gone I prommie

I imagine Georgie would come in and do college prep at one of the tables by the window and bring the Admiral, which would then devolve into Admiral running around the shop and being dubbed 'Avid mice catch(and releaser)' because he's bad at pest control.

Georgie and rat Melanie immediately fall in love and kiss kiss! Diversity win!! Jmart totally has different pastries at the counter like how supermarkets have candy at the checkout and ngl that shit smell delicious. Sasha is the best baker don't even lie to yourself Martin and Georgie could help but they have nothing on her. Daisy comes in one day, looks at all the queers and just demands a job. Like shes at the counter hounding Sasha for a job and Tim is just standing there like 'mhm oh wow rlly ykw YOURE HIRED!!" and before Sasha can ask about telling Martin or Jon Tim just hushes her and suddenly Daisy is on payroll and she's really good at gardening (ok that's a lie just digging) so she makes the flower beds outside look pretty

Micheal is this stupid little loser with semi long blonde hair who comes in to buy the cinnamon rolls and Micheal distortion is a fuckwad who makes fun of Jon for having acne scars and recommends a dermatologist. ok that's it bye!!

I was talking to my roommate about the Magnus Archives and accidentally came up with a kinda hilarious au idea.

So JonMartin is often shortened to Jmart which I thought kinda sounded like a shop they would own together or something.

So, hear me out, JonMartin au where they own a store called Jmart and all the avatars are just these really weird and awful customers that the store just seems to mysteriously attract. Tim and Sasha would be employees obviously lol.

[monstersqueen]

fun little early s3 TMA facts :

upon the stair ? still amazing i love it. my god. the imagery of the not!there man! the dinner with his family and his father who's dead and then gets up and leave and what happened? what did really happen? does 'really' even has meaning in this situation ?

and then we get at 'the statement was typed by eric delano and my heart melted a little bit at his name.

fun fact but. i really love gerry ok.

melanie. signed the archives contract. while jon was on the run. last she saw him they had a row because she thought he was gaslighting her about sashe, and before that they were talking about her research, and really getting a job in the institute was not even on the radar for her. and at that point the whole 'can't quit' thing is more like. hinted at than confirmed.

and then she comes back while he's missing (hiding at georgie's) and since she's unemployed 'elias' offers her a position and. jon is. not anywhere near the situation? in no position to offer any insight or interfere in any way? HE LEARNS SHE'S BACK THE NEXT EPISODE!!! doesn't even learn that she got a job at the institue yet!

so yeah the 'jon got melanie into the institute mess' is so patently wrong i. don't even know how he can be blamed for her position ? Like what? SHE got ito teh hospital. SHE decided to investigate the war ghost. Jon. facilated her research by giving her access to the doc in the institute. WHEN SHE SIGNED HE DIDN'T EVEN CONSIDER HIMSELF EMPLOYED THERE ANY LONGER. like??? the most you could say is that his presence in her dreams incited her to sign to protect herself from those dreams -EXCEPT FOR THE PART WHERE HOW WOULD SHE EVEN KNOW ABOUT THAT??? (and also. way to get into even mroe danger)

WHATERVER I'M STILL ANGRY ABOUT JON GETTING BLAMED FOR MELANIE'S INVOLVEMENT WITH THE INSTITUTE.