#i’m nothing if not an archivist

[normal-abt-guy-montgomery]

“do it harder” IN FRONT OF GOD AND EVERYONE????

[hi-there-buddies]

People gotta realize that Optimus Prime is only an archivist in ONE continuity of transformers. People, Transformers One is allowed to come up with a new backstory. It’s what every single iteration does, INCLUDING the aligned continuity. Optimus Prime wasn’t originally a librarian, and that shouldn’t be his definitive backstory for every other continuity to come.

[axolozzy]

statement begins…

[magpie-22]

Season 5 Jonathan sims x Queen of Nothing by the crane wives

Ok?

(Magnus archives season 5 spoilers btw)

“Isn’t this what you wanted?” Cause he feels guilty about starting the apocalypse and especially that he benefits so much from it, his mind taunts him, you must have wanted this since you contributed to this, you knew you were part of something evil and yet you continued to feed it and look what happened. It’s all your fault etc etc

“Just finish what you started” even though they all decide to do Annabelle’s plan of dragging the fears into other worlds, Jon takes it upon himself to become the pupil and take on all the powers of the eye, he wants to finish what HE started by burning it all down.

And of course “Queen of nothing, wearing such a heavy crown” THE WATCHERS CROWN!!!

Anyways I did some art about this

(Better with brightness up)

The hands are Jonah/Elias cause he manipulated Jon into starting the apocalypse so he’s metaphorically crowning Jon with the watchers crown

Anyways,

You should go listen to the crane wives

[dante-winning-archive]

I had an idea for pride last year but never got around to it. Will I manage to execute it this year? We’ll see

[stargazerlillian]

Me with a fair amount of my original characters like...

[wow-an-unfunny-joke]

OKAY SO youre telling me that he bought a small child with a fancy last name and hid him out in the middle of the woods isolating him from like the whole world like he doesn’t know shit and apparently all the vampires are super afraid of him?????

AND HE CALLS THEIR CHILD HIS KITTEN!?

EVIL!

The teacher seems mighty suspicious tbh. He seems sinister. I am deeply suspicious of anyone who calls the child they bought their kitten, but he also has bad vibes

[buttercups-song]

I know we’re all joking about Jon and Martin being trapped in the puter but fuck that’s a horrific fate for them, like genuinely dying in the panopticon would have been preferable. If they’re conscious and I’m assuming they’re because this is the tragedy horror podcast we’re talking about then I cannot imagine how awful that must be. To be reduced to nothing but a voice spreading the Fears, feeding them and letting them into another universe. Like that is the worst imaginable fate for Jon (and Martin but he wasn’t the Archivist). Jon’s choice was to let the world die or let the fears infest possibly countless other worlds, despite what he actually wanted (as much as that desperate choice can be called a want) he chose the second option and in his mind they were either going to die or be somewhere else. But to become the voice of the Fears once again? This time with even less of a choice? A disembodied voice reciting statements? That is beyond horrific. And you can hear as the statement goes on their voices becoming less computerised more human. „And the voice I have loved for twenty years answered: Some of him”

[catboymoments]

Collector/Archivist nextgen plot thoughts guahaha

Pretty much Collie finding the archivists and realizing how horrible they always have been + having new emotional maturity given their experiences is gonna be the catalyst that brings their reign of terror to an end. I’m excited for this.

Tiberius was a young Titan that they were friends with before they were imprisoned, but now they’re nothing but a statuette.

[theendorisit]

apropos of nothing, I made Tape-E

Who is Tape-E?

During one of the TMA livestreams (trying to remember which one), a fan question was asked ‘Is there a mascot (for the Archives or the show itself not sure)?’ One of the team suggested ‘Tape-y?’, to which everyone else responded with ‘Oh no!!’. So I thought, oh yes! So yeah, this is your fault 😘

What is Tape-E?

As Mr Bonzo is a parody of Mr Blobby, Tape-E is a parody of Clippy (these last two names rhyme).

Who is Clippy?

Clippy was a microsoft office assistant, introduced in 1997. He was a little virtual paperclip (officially called Clippit, but that name never caught on) who sat on the bottom right corner of the page, and was programmed to give advice in popup speech bubbles when certain actions were taken. For example, if you wrote out an address and ‘Dear’, Clippy would say ‘Looks like you’re writing a letter. Would you like help?’. The name Tape-E in the livestream seemed to be referring to Clippy, as there are many similarities in the behaviour of Clippy, and the actual tapes/ tape recorders in-universe:

always on by default

appears at inconvenient times

provides help you do not want

hated by (mostly) everyone

watching you with cold dead eyes

enjoyed by nostalgia and retro seekers

Why make Tape-E?

As I am of the same generation as some of the RQ peeps, I unironically loved Clippy and Mr Blobby as a child, and it gives me great joy to imagine, in the TMP universe, Sam getting a little pop up: ‘Looks like you’re trying to code a case file! Would you like some help with that?’ In our world this would be impossible - Windows NT (as the official name) was dropped in 1996, one year before Clippy was born, BUT there is voice recording on TMP’s ancient computers, so it’s not totally impossible! 😅😁

What are cassette tapes?

Just a little recap for those who didn’t grow up with tapes: Cassette Tapes contain information embedded in magnetic tape, wrapped around one spool and attached to a second spool. When played, the spools are turned by the machine and the magnetic tape is wound onto the other spool, the information read out through speakers as the magnetic tape moves through sensors. As the magnetic tape can contain different information depending on the direction of tape movement, you can flip the cassette tape over in the machine, and play the tape again, hearing another load of information. This concept is never utilised in the show, but it does mean that cassette tapes have A-sides, and B-sides (as Vinyl records do). Here, of course, this stands for Archivist-side, and Brutalpipemurder-side. On occasion, the magnetic tapes would become damaged, or bent, and could be pushed out of the cassette, causing a horrible noise, and terror to small children who were only trying to listen to their Just William tapes. When this happened, a pencil (or in my case, my little finger) could be jammed into the spiky spool ‘teeth’, to rewind the magnetic tape back into the cassette. Maybe that’s why the eyes are red? 🩸 I am very glad that the TMA tapes are magic, and record endlessly, never need flipping, and never get chewed up by the hungry machine.

Why is the name Tape-E?

Canon answer: the name stands for Tape-Eyes. Possibly Tape-Entity? Undecided.

Actual answer: Tape-y, Tapey and Tapie spellings look weird to me. I think Tape-E looks best.

Why a tape and not a tape recorder?

if you can crochet a tape recorder, you’re a genius and I love you.

What gender is Tape-E?

I might refer to Tape-E as male sometimes because that’s how people often referred to Clippy. But Tape-E is whatever gender Tape-E feels like being.

Why now?

Why not? also now is a good time because TMP episode 15 is an excellent episode

What’s going to happen to Tape-E?

I’m going to gift it to Jonny sometime, if we get more liveshows or book signings. It’s his fault this exists after all. Plus you can write whatever you like in the speech bubbles! Hopefully I can give it calmly? But maybe Tape-E will be yeeted in his general direction in a fit of ADHD-fuelled social anxiety. Only time will tell.

Tape-E is a pattern and design created entirely by myself. The inspiration and world building from whence it came, is entirely the genius of @jonnywaistcoat Jonny Sims, Rusty Quill @rqbossman and The Magnus Archives, which is a podcast distributed by Rusty Quill and licensed under a creative commons attribution, non-commercial share alike 4.0 international license.

Clippy was invented by Microsoft and Kevan Atteberry, who now illustrates children’s books.

Mr Blobby is an adorable abomination, created from a fevered mind.

[lemontartyellow]

Well. More than 12 hours later and she still is residing within my brain AND I’ve begun thinking of two fics I want to write for her. I think I got my answer.

If the mild case of brainrot continues I will make a tag for Kristen.

[gilverrwrites]

any dick grayson x reader smut fic recs? (i’m a sucker for roommate! x reader anything) 😭😭

I’m sorry I can’t think of any roommate tropes, tbh but Sketch Motel and Midnight Jerking by Dehydrated Turtle is a great one bed trope.

Mania by Erea I’m just a sucker for sex pollen stories.

Only Bought This Dress So You Could Take It Off by morgana_yennefer_burnham is a hot friends to lovers piece.

As you can probably tell, I almost entirely read fanfics on Ao3, so I miss a lot of stuff on here. My reblog karma is dogshit cause I don’t want to spam authors, but I’d highly recommend checking out the following writers if you haven’t already;

@hanasnx (stretches isn’t smut, but it is everything)

@killakalx (her bsf fics had me brain dead)

Very few put their back into it like @purple-obsidian. (Nonsense, please read Nonsense, if you read nothing else on this list, read Nonsense. It’s soft, fluffy, damn sexy and 110% Dick.)

And not a writer, more of an archivist, but I’m sure if you scroll long enough on @nightwingmania you’ll find something that you love.

And I presume you’re here cause you’ve read my works already, but I also, enjoy writing Dick from time to time. 💙

[ratboyvince]

The Magnus Protocol - Glitch theory

In light of the current theory/assumption that in The Magnus Protocol, the audio glitches when the characters lie, I’ve been re listening!! And I’m going to be using this post and others to explore what this means for our beloved characters

The glitches aren’t on the transcript, sometimes there will be a direction like (uncertain) or (unconvincing), but thats the best i can do you for, otherwise you will have to take my word

First though, quick clarifications: what exactly is a lie in this context? - this is fairly obvious but i am including it for the avoidance of any doubt what i have gathered is that, in this theory we are assuming a lie is a character saying something they KNOW is not true in attempt to wilfully deceive someone

It is NOT:

A joke, or sarcasm

Believing something but being wrong

Finally, a lot of the lies i have so far are ones that are known to known to be untrue, what i will do is have a list of the blatant lies SO FAR to make my point, to work as support for the theory on this post then leave out any following ones to avoid making it excessively long.

The rest of them will be under the cut and more on a thread, sorted by episode. If i miss any, feel free to say!!

BLATANT LIES (theory support)

1.

Teddy: Colin was just saying how much of a BLAST he’s having (GLITCH) isn’t that right?

Lena: oh really.

Colin: Aye, sure (GLITCH)

Teddy: And how he’d love to take the after party to the Pub (GLITCH)

2.

Gwen: Sam? You okay?

Sam: um. Yeah. (GLITCH)

3.

Sam: cinnamon swirl. Please. (GLITCH)

4.

Gwen: Wait. Did you get me a coffee?

Sam: yeah. (GLITCH)

5.

Celia: Sorry, sorry, there was an emergency at home (GLITCH)

EPISODES 1-11 (where applicable) UNDER THE CUT

Episode 1

Teddy: Nahh, we’ll stay in touch, right?

Alice: Course…(GLITCH)

Alice either did not intend to keep in touch with Teddy, or genuinely just does not believe they will.

* saying she’ll miss him was NOT a lie, so it’s probably the latter

Episode 3

Sam: right, right i get it. Consider me *scared straight* (GLITCH)

He wasn’t taking Alice seriously, underestimating how serious it actually was (maybe even as light payback for her not taking him seriously)

Episode 5

Lena: I am certain that if he finds his current assignment unmanageable he can request assistance (GLITCH) or resign, of course…

She knows what the deal is with Central IT (whatever “the deal” may be), and just refuses to help. Maybe even sets up a little hostility between Lena and Colin?

Episode 7

Alice: listen, if you need to step out for some air-

Celia: no, I’m fine, really (GLITCH)

Celia was infact, not fine, probably because she recognised Chester’s voice as Jon “The Archivist” Sims himself and she’s freaked out

Episode 8

Gertrude: well I’m…sorry, but I don’t think gerry can help you. (GLITCH)

—

Gerry: -And then i left

Sam: and that’s all?

Gerry: Yeah I’m afraid so! (GLITCH)

Gertrude and Gerry know more than they’re letting on, and intentionally not sharing.

*Gerry not remembering most of it being true, means that while he’s probably leaving something out, there’s more he genuinely is lost on

Sam: I…may have given you a quick google

Celia: then…yeah. I’m doing a favour for Georgie. (GLITCH)

She Is Not Doing A Favour For Georgie - the research (teleportation, time travel, different universes) is more personal!

Episode 11

Sam: you keep glancing at the door

Alice: ah. It’s nothing (GLITCH)

—

Alice: it’ll be nothing! I’m just jumpy (GLITCH)

Alice is dismissing her anxiety following the trip to the institute.

Alice: “What have I told you about thinking?“

Sam: “Don’t.”

Alice: “That’s right.” (GLITCH)

Probably meaning that Alice is starting to doubt her own ideas, but is just pushing that uncertainty away because that’s what she does and she’s still more comfortable in ignorance, even if she doesn’t think it’s exactly RIGHT to ignore.

[two-pupils]

I swear half the time I see posts on here I wonder if people even listened to the same podcast.

Constantly people argue about who would have made a better Archivist while completely missing what the Archivist’s actual role was:

Firstly, Gertrude was not a good Archivist. In fact, her being shit at it was a major plot point. She purposefully left the Archives disorganized to try and stop whatever Jonah was planning. She didn’t like using her compelling powers. She was good at stopping rituals. That isn’t the Archivist’s duty, she just took that on herself. We don’t really know who was ‘stopping’ rituals before her, though we can assume Jonah was at least invested in doing so until he figured out they didn’t work. (I’m also assuming rituals could not happen very often, with perhaps centuries between.)

A good Archivist would be nothing like Gertrude… she wanted to appoint Sasha because she could see they were like-minded and maybe we could extrapolate that Sasha would have gone a similar route in being obstructive to Jonah’s plans

A “good” Archivist would be someone who directly embraced the Eye and willingly took as many live statements as they wanted. I think we can say Jon was decent at the role comparatively.

Do not get being a good Archivist and being good at undermining Jonah’s plans( and the plot of the show) mixed up. Argue all you want about whether x character would have fallen for the ritual… but don’t say they would have been a good Archivist. Because you’re arguing for the opposite

[sansaorgana]

Hey ! I really enjoyed all the fics you wrote about Master Of The Air, that's why i am here now, i wondered if you can write a fic about John Eagan, maybe with some angst, or jealousy type of thing, if you're not confortable with this, i leave it up to your imagination to just write a story about John please !

Thank you in advance, have a great rest of your day !

hi, love! thank you for your request 🥰 I wrote a story of Bucky being in love for the first time with a girl he met at the base and he's jealous of her being friends with Buck lol 😅 I hope it's okay 💝

You met Bucky at the base in England where you worked as an archivist and he was one of the best pilots. Lots of ladies talked about Major John Egan because he was brave, handsome and charming. A real flirt. You were no different than the other women and you had a thing for him as well, so when he asked you to dance at one of the parties, you agreed immediately and you spent the whole evening dancing and laughing together. You shared similar humour – yours was definitely not very ladylike but he loved it. In fact, he loved everything about you so much that he developed a crush on you.

From that party, he was always following you around and looking you up and down, winking at you here and there to which you rolled your eyes with a chuckle. You enjoyed that attention from him even though he wasn’t the only man you were talking to. You had made quite a few friends at that base. Some of them hadn’t come back from the missions – those were the losses you were grieving. But some of them were still there. Like Major Cleven. He was very kind and a real gentleman.

Bucky watched with squinted eyes every time you interacted with his best friend. The way you laughed, the way your eyes sparkled, the way he would make you smile. And Bucky was analysing every single detail about you when you were around him – were you the same or did you seem to be more happy and cheerful around Buck? Bucky didn’t like that thought because deep down he knew that it would make more sense. A valuable woman like you would like a man like his best friend more. Bucky’s middle name was trouble and he drank a little too much, he was loud and a flirt. Nothing about him screamed that he was ready to settle down with a nice lady like you. Still, the ugly jealousy took over him because it was stronger than him. 

Buck could have been his best friend but it didn’t change the fact that Bucky had started liking you romantically first. He wouldn’t give up so easily.

He watched Buck nodding his head at you and then you walked away as Buck approached Bucky standing by the wall.

“What were you talking about?” Bucky asked and Buck raised his eyebrows, surprised.

“What do you mean?”

“What were you talking about with (Y/N)?” Bucky repeated the question, his voice a little harsh.

“Nothing serious, just some details about the paperwork,” Buck shrugged his arms, visibly surprised about the questions.

“And it’s so funny? The paperwork?” Bucky rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms.

“What do you mean funny?” Buck was getting more and more confused as he leaned on the wall and watched his friend’s expressions carefully.

“You were laughing,” Bucky pointed out and gritted his teeth.

“Yeah, we’re friends. Not like I’m with you but I like talking to her,” Buck explained. “You don’t? I thought you danced with her for the whole evening the other day? Why don’t you like it when I talk to (Y/N)?”

“You want to take her out on a date?” Bucky looked deep into Buck’s eyes.

“Wh-what? No,” Buck shook his head. “She’s… She’s nice but… Are you playing a matchmaker now, Bucky, come on,” he laughed nervously. “Wait, she mentioned me? She said she liked me?” He scratched himself behind his neck and Bucky’s heart skipped a beat at that.

“What? You’re interested in her? What if she mentioned that she was into you, what then?” His eyes widened.

“I mean… I could take her out, yeah,” Buck nodded. “That’s not something I’ve been thinking of but…”

“Forget it,” Bucky interrupted him, irritated. “She didn’t mention you,” he added and walked away just like that, leaving his friend confused.

Bucky felt bad about treating his best friend this way. Buck was the last person he wanted to argue with or hurt. However, he couldn’t help his little jealousy tantrum. He sat next to Buck during dinner but his friend didn’t even look at him.

“Sorry for earlier,” he mumbled. “I didn’t mean to snap like that.”

“It’s alright,” Buck smiled softly – kind as always. “Just… Explain,” he added.

“Well, I’m interested in her. Like, for real. But it makes more sense that she’d rather date you,” Bucky confessed with a shrug of his arms and Buck’s eyes widened. “Yeah, go on, make fun of me. Who would have thought, huh? That I’d fall in love…”

“No, you don’t understand,” Buck grinned. “I am so happy for you.”

“Happy? It’s not like I have any real chance. She’s such an amazing woman and I’m… Well, I am what I am. We both know what I’m like,” Bucky whined as he played with the food on his table. He felt like a complete loser and he didn’t like it.

Why was he like that all of sudden? He was a charming flirt usually – always had it easy with women. But with you… With you it was different. Perhaps because with you it was for real, it was serious. And with that, he didn’t have any experience.

“Remember when you asked about (Y/N) and me laughing? Wanna know what we were laughing about?” Buck raised an eyebrow and Bucky nodded, still looking down at his plate. “We were talking about you. She couldn’t stop talking about you. Telling me things about you and asking me to tell her funny stories with you. She wanted to know more and more. And her eyes sparkled whenever your name was mentioned,” Buck told his friend.

Bucky raised his head and looked at his friend’s face. Well… Now it made sense… Somehow… 

“I’ve made a fool out of myself, haven’t I?” He swallowed thickly and Buck laughed.

“We all make fools out of ourselves for love. And don’t worry, you’ve only done that in front of me and I’ll keep your secret,” he patted Bucky’s arm. “Look, she’s staring at us even now,” he pointed discreetly at you, sitting by another table with other ladies. Indeed, you were glancing at them.

Bucky stood up without thinking, encouraged by Buck’s pats on his back and he walked over to you, not minding the fact that lots of people were looking at him as he was making his way to you. You looked up with widened eyes, a little anxious but still excited. And there was that sparkle in your eye that Bucky had noticed before. He felt relieved at the sight of it.

“Hi,” you greeted him awkwardly.

“Hi,” he answered and fixed his hair. “Wanna go on a walk with me after dinner? Just around the base,” he explained, trying to be nonchalant as he hid his hands inside his pockets.

“Sure,” you nodded. “I’ll be waiting for you by the door.”

“See you then,” Bucky winked at you and turned around to go back to eat his plate of food as fast as possible. He didn’t want to keep you waiting for long.

When he was done, he rushed to the bathroom to freshen himself a little and fix his hair with a small comb that was in his pocket. And when he was feeling presentable enough, he left the bathroom and went over to the meeting spot, trying not to walk too fast and act cool.

You were leaning on the wall and playing with your fingers when he walked over to you.

“Hi again,” he greeted you and you smiled.

“Hi,” you raised your eyebrows at him. “So… You wanted to take a walk, right? Wanna talk about something?”

You walked out of the building and took a turn to one of the paths. He looked at you and hummed to himself at how pretty you were and how unusually shy at that moment – just like him.

“We had fun the other night, am I right? I mean… The dancing,” he cleared his throat before he spoke finally.

“Yeah,” you nodded and kicked a small stone in front of you. Bucky watched it rolling over before he spoke up again.

“I was thinking… I was thinking maybe we should take a weekend off, both of us… Go somewhere nice… Together? Nothing indecent,” he promised and it felt weird to even say that. He had never made such a promise to any woman.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” you bit on your lower lip and looked at his face. “Can I ask you something?”

“Go on,” he took a deep breath in.

“What were you arguing with Buck earlier today? I saw it from the corner of my eye and don’t get me wrong but you two are like… Inseparable.”

Bucky laughed nervously as he shook his head.

“It’s funny that you’re asking because we had a fight because of you. Well, kind of. I was just jealous of him talking to you and all that,” he admitted, anxiously awaiting for your reaction.

“Jealous of me?” You asked in disbelief. “Gee, Bucky, you should have known by now that men like Buck Cleven are not my type. He’s making an amazing friend, though,” you admitted.

“He is,” Bucky agreed and extended his hand out as he took the risk. After a short while of hesitation, you took it gently into yours and he could feel the corners of his lips curling up. His usual smug smirk was back on his face and you chuckled. “What?” He asked.

“Nothing, I just like you like this the most,” you admitted. “When you’re a bit goofy.”

“And when I’m trouble?”

“I like you then, too. Even when you drink a bit too much. Buck told me about that unicorn…” You chuckled and Bucky laughed out loud. “But he doesn’t know the details. Would you tell me one day?” You pleaded and Bucky looked down at your face lovingly.

Of course he would. He would tell you everything from now on. You had his heart and yes, it was scary and he had never been in love like that. But it was also exciting and it was healing in a way. He enjoyed it.

“Only if you promise that you won’t tell him,” he teased playfully.

“I promise,” you squeezed his hand tighter.

The sun was setting already and you found yourselves in the back of one of the hangars, completely alone. Bucky took a step ahead to make you trapped between the wall and his body before cupping your face and placing a gentle kiss on your lips. He broke it fast and furrowed his brows to watch your reaction.

“What? That was it?” You mocked him in a playful manner and he grinned widely before joining your lips together again but this time for a big, passionate kiss.

The first one out of many that you two would share. And the way you kissed him back – with all the fire, hunger and devotion – made him realise he had no reasons to be jealous at all.

MASTERLIST

[thestrangepoet]

The Furrcinating Adventures of Champion, the Archives Cat | The Magnus Archives Fanfiction | Ch 2/?

Based on @ultramarinaa’s Cat!Martin AU 

CONTENT WARNINGS: None

DISCLAIMER: As per usual, this is an unedited first draft that I haven’t proofread. Forgive any typos and roughness around the edges – I tend not to go back over fanfics, as they’re just a bit of fun writing for me. (I am a full-time professional writer, and if I start telling myself I need to edit and proofread my fanfics, it’ll cease being fun for me.) ← Previous Chapter | Next Chapter →

──── •✧• ────

The weekly Monday team meeting had never inspired much in the way of passion in the past, but then, the topic of Champion the cat had never been raised before.  

“If you’re adamant about it living in the archives, Jon, then my requirement is that it be useful!” Elias repeated, pulling a silk handkerchief from his pocket and discreetly wiping his eyes. He kept a healthy distance from the Head Archivist and the armful of ginger-and-white fluff he held, but the creature’s shedding fur seemed determined to attack him all the same. 

Jon readjusted the cat in his arms, his stubborn scowl set despite his difficult load. “Champion is useful!” he retorted, earning a loud and happy purr from a delighted Champion. “And he will remain useful in the archives, yes. Not in the tunnels!” 

In the what? Martin thought to himself, snapping out of his happy reverie of Jon complimenting him. Admittedly, he hadn’t been paying quite as much attention to the meeting as he ought to have been. It was difficult when he’d been allowed to sit on one of the comfier chairs, and Jon had been scratching behind his ear the whole time. 

“He’ll not be locked in there.” Elias sniffed and narrowed his eyes at Champion, as though he’d like nothing more than to keep the cat underground at all times. “I’m not that cruel. But I have reason to believe there are rats in the tunnels…or at least one…” A smirk played on his thin, pale lips. “It would be a better use of resources to have the cat flush any out.”

“Of course there are rats in the tunnels! This is London! And the tunnels are underground! You can’t expect Champion to rout out every bloody rodent this side of the Thames!” Jon squeezed Champion a little harder than was comfortable, but Champion didn’t protest. 

Tim, however, spoke up from where he was lounging behind them, his chair rocked back onto two legs. “He’s got a point, Elias. Have you seen Champion chase a laser pointer yet? Honestly, it’s pretty tragic. I don’t think he can see all that well, you know.”

“It’s a cat,” Elias drawled, looking down his nose at Tim. “I’m sure its eyesight is fine. Look, this is not up for debate. Either the cat is put to use in the tunnels during the day, or it goes to a cat sanctuary. Tonight.”

Champion wriggled in Jon’s grip, panic surging. If he ended up in a cat rescue centre, then what? He’d have absolutely zero chance of anyone realising something was wrong – a normal family wouldn’t even know things could be paranormally wrong about their cat! If he was going to have any hope of changing back, he had to stay in the archives!

“Shh, shh, it’s all right, Champion, don’t listen to Elias,” Jon said, petting the wiggling giant in his arms. “We’d never put you in a rescue centre. You could live with me! Or Tim!” “Err, actually Boss, my landlord—” 

“Or Sasha! Or even Rosie! No one’s going to abandon you here, don’t you worry.” 

Champion settled somewhat, if only because his heart began to swell at the very notion of not being abandoned. Joy and sorrow in equal measure – Martin had never been so noticed and cared for before. And yet…he wasn’t Martin, was he? They didn’t care about Martin; they cared about Champion the cat. In fact, Martin’s absence had only been brought up in passing at the meeting to ask if anyone had heard from him, and to agree Tim would swing by his flat again that night. 

“The point stands, Jon.” Elias gathered up his files from the meeting and began to head to the door. “If that bloody cat is here when I next visit, it’ll be thrown out the front door. If you’re going to insist on it being here during working hours, it goes in the tunnels.” 

──── •✧• ────

The trapdoor closed behind them, plunging both Jon and Champion into a moment of gloom. Jon rustled around in his bag for a moment, then something clicked; he’d pulled out a flashlight, and its bright beam pierced the dark ahead of them with ease. 

Champion looked up at Jon, bashing his head lightly against the man’s thin leg. 

Please don’t do this! Don’t leave me down here! I can hide under the desk, o-or under the bookcase, or hell, Tim’s car all day, I don’t mind! Just not down here on my own!

Jon, evidently sensing Martin’s distress, crouched down and petted his head lightly. “Don’t you worry. We’ll be fine. If Elias wants you down here, well…we’ll have to do that. But he never said you had to be alone.” 

The head archivist straightened up then, taking a few tentative steps further into the tunnels. “I-I’ll be here with you. And eventually, Elias will realise this is a grand waste of time. Besides…there’ll be horrible echoes in the statement recordings I do down here. He’ll have to give in.” 

He turned to offer a smile to Champion; yet another Martin had gained this week despite months of trying as a human. Still, the reassurance that wouldn’t be alone down there meant Champion trotted after Jon, keeping close to the light and to his companion.

Jon chuckled. “There we are, see? It’s actually not so bad down here, is it? It was worse a few months ago – full of worms. A-and a worm-woman. But she’s not here anymore. Don’t you worry.” 

Jon led them both to one of the many doors leading off from the main tunnel. He paused, pulling out a piece of chalk from his bag and marking an arrow back the way they’d come. Then, he opened the door. 

He peered inside – by his feet, so too did Champion – checking for any sign of danger. Seeing none, Jon pushed the door further open. “Right! This can be our office, then. You don’t need to be wandering the tunnels, Champion – Elias said nothing about that. Only that you had to be in the tunnels.” 

Jon headed inside, setting his bag down on the ground and then sitting himself down. Champion hurried after him curling up as close to Jon’s leg as possible, shivering a little. A comforting hand came down once again to stroke his fur. “Oh, I know…It’s not as nice as the archives, but hopefully, we won’t have to endure this for too long. Just until Elias gets sick of the echo.” 

He pulled out a tape recorder from his bag, giving it a little wiggle to highlight his point. “He’ll have to cave eventually.”

Champion wasn’t so sure. What was to stop Elias simply demanding Jon return to work in the office and then chucking him down in the tunnels and locking the trapdoor? What if Elias got the locks changed? What if he got stuck down there, lost among the twisting corridors – oh God, what if Michael found him again? 

Champion shivered, lying down flat on his front and putting his paws over his eyes. It didn’t last long, however, before a worried Jon scooped him up, tape recorder and statement forgotten on the floor beside him. 

“Oh, Champion, it’s all right! I’m here!” he said, bringing him up for another cuddle that threatened to smother Jon in fluff. “I know, this place is horrid, isn’t it? It won’t be forever, I promise. A-and maybe I can bring some more things down every day to make it comfortable? I wonder if Martin would mind if we borrowed his emergency jumper stash to make you a little bed in here? We can ask Tim to check with him tonight when—” 

Jon’s reassurances were deftly severed by a loud bang from further up the tunnels that made both of them jump. Champion in particular yeowled and scrambled up from Jon’s arms to wrap around his head, knocking his glasses and latching on like the world’s weirdest woolly hat. 

“Gak! Champion, I can’t see if you do that!” 

Still, Champion wouldn’t let go. He stared at the door to their makeshift office in the tunnels, waiting to see what horror had caused that sound even as Jon’s hands tried to unpeel him from his head. 

The hands stopped as the door to their room began to creak open…

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