#jon's canon info-dumping!!

[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

[if-loki-was-a-fox]

I have a little sibling who like playing the Sims a lot, and whom I have info dumped the whole plot of TMA to, so naturally we've ended up making TMA characters in the Sims together

Funny side effects of this is that we put the first five people we made all in one house together, and then started decorating the house to fit them well enough, and now I am very much endeared toward the post-canon happy-ending AU we have accidentally created for them, in which Jon and Martin, after the finale, end up somewhere else with Sasha, Tim, and Daisy all alive with them again too, and decide to just roommate it up because Gosh Dangit, They Are Alive And They Are Safe And Healthy And They Are Going To Take This Opportunity To Be Happy For Once In Their Godforsaken Lives.

And also there are only two bedrooms and no one's decor sense meshes well with anyone else's, and the house is kinda dull and run down and sucks just a little, because no one really has a job anymore so they can only afford so much, but at least they're there at all so until the novelty of that wears off they're making it work

[catofadifferentcolor]

Terrible Fic Ideas #43: Jon Snow, but make him Aegon son of Elia

I do not know why, but I absolutely adore the idea of Jon Snow being Rhaegar's son - the rightful heir of the Iron Throne hidden right beneath Robert Baratheon's nose. Perhaps it is because such a lie makes Ned Stark one of the most interesting character's in ASOIAF - a man for whom honor and duty is everything willing to stain that honor to do his duty by his sister's son.

But then I thought: why stop there? What if it wasn't Lyanna's son that Ned was sheltering, but Elia's? Or: what if Jon Snow was the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell?

Aka: The Aegon the Adopted Fic

Just imagine it:

Robert's Rebellion goes according to canon - until we get to poor Elia and Aegon's deaths. Maybe Ned is able to intervene before Aegon is killed and Elia dies of her injuries regardless; maybe a maid is able to spirit Aegon away and deliver him to Ned because she knows Northerners to be trustworthy. Regardless of the exact means, Ned ends up spiriting Aegon son of Elia out of the Red Keep.

Ned means to deliver Prince Aegon to the Martells after he finds his sister, but he has no proof that Aegon is Aegon. The prince is small and sickly and Lyanna has been gone for months - what if they think he's trying to pass Lyanna's son with Rhaegar off as Elia's to get Stark blood on the throne? They might kill the boy. It's better to take him back to Winterfell.

And so Ned brings home the bones of his sister (and her stillborn son) and Targaryen prince disguised as his bastard son with a dragonseed.

Canon proceeds apace - only Jon's feelings of not belonging are heightened to such a degree it's astounding he doesn't choke on them. With his fair hair and purple eyes, he doesn't even look Stark. Oh, there's some resemblance from the Blackwood blood the Starks and Targaryens share, but one has to look for it.

Shortly before Robert Baratheon decides to head North, Jon decides to leave. Robb helps him gather the coin necessary to sail to Essos, where he can join a mercenary company...

...only Jon sails to Dorne instead, where he plans to try to find his mother or her nearest relation living.

He succeeds, for a given value of succeeding - because before he can get too far he encounters his sister Rhaenys, who has spent the last 14 years disguised as their Uncle Oberyn's bastard daughter, Nerys.

Jon isn't taken prisoner, but he's asked to remain as a guest of House Martell. It's a surprise to everyone - Jon included - just how easily he finds his place in Dorne.

Rhaenys starts out loathing Jon for the role Ned Stark played in the fall of her house, but try as she might it's a hard facade to keep up as they have quite complimentary personalities and interests. By the time Bobby B dies, Jon has fallen unknowingly into a relationship with his older sister.

Ned, rather than be beheaded, is sentenced to take the black.

The War of Five Kings proceeds as in canon - though Dorne does nothing but encourage its enemies to destroy each other. Only after the Battle of the Blackwater does House Martell put forward Rhaenys' claim. After Stannis sails North, they take Dragonstone and declare Rhaenys Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.

Meanwhile, Ned has a lot of Jon's canon plotline beyond the Wall regarding the White Walkers and after his death and resurrection retakes Winterfell from the Boltons before going to treat with the new queen.

Imagine his surprise when he arrives at Dragonstone to find his adoptive son is has become his biological sister's lover. He's so surprised, in fact, that he immediately assumes that Jon has learned the truth and wed his sister in the tradition of their house.

Much awkward info dumping follows.

They are saved from equally awkward politicking regarding who should claim the throne by Jon pointing out that Rhaenys is older and better trained for it, she should have it, and that they can join their claims with him as prince consort if she'll still have him.

A Targaryen restoration follows the War for the Dawn, with Jon and Rhaenys being crowned together as Aegon VI and Rhaenys I.

There's some ruffled feathers when Daenerys arrives in Westeros with Young Griff claiming he's Aegon VI. Young Griff takes the revelation that he's a Blackfyre surprisingly well and ends up serving as Rhaenys' Hand for the rest of his life. Dany is named Lady of Summerhall and brings more dragons into the world - and a single daughter late in life who goes on to marry Jon and Rhaenys' eldest grandson.

Bonuses include: 1) Doran and Oberyn both seeing much of Elia in Jon but dismissing it as wishful thinking; 2) Ned Stark having the worst time possible, being forced to live through all the terrible things which happen to his family and unable to interfere until after his resurrection, but finding purpose in rebuilding the North; and 3) Jon claiming a dragon only after Dany hatches one of the eggs she finds at Summerhall - a pure white dragon which eventually gains the nickname The White Dread when used to put down pirates in the Stepstones and rebellions in the Iron Islands.

As always, feel free to adopt this bun, just link back if you do anything with it.

Other Jon Snow Headcanons: Aegon the Adopted | Aegon the Undying | Aegon the Unyielding | Aemon the Adventurous | Baelor the Brave | Daeron the Desired | Dyanna the Defiant | King of the Ashes | Lady Arryn | Lady Baratheon | Lady Lannister | Lady Stark | Lord of the Dance | Prince Consort | Prince of Summerhall | Queen Mother | Rhaegar the Righteous

More Terrible Fic Ideas

[tinky-dinky]

actually the idea of Damian - or a son from talia and bruce existed in the 80s. while modern comics definitely retconned much of cannon from that time, what we did know was that bruce and talia were madly in love. they were engaged, talia was pregnant, and bruce was planning to quit being batman. however talia knew she couldn't take batman away from the world, so she lied and said she miscarried stuff happens, engagement broken off, etc. an unnamed child was born, talia supposedly giving it away.

sorry for info dumping but I always found this super interesting!!

What you’re describing is an elseworlds story that was never actually canon. People love using this to claim that Damian’s actual origin- that Talia drugged and raped Bruce- is a nasty horrible retcon done out of racist and sexist motivations and is totally out of character for poor somehow good but still an assassin with the league of assassins Talia. Even though this story still makes Talia a world class bitch, considering it involves her deciding that Bruce should be miserable, lying about the death of their child and giving said child away without the consent of both parents.

I don’t know if they did decide to create Damian because of heteronormativity and homophobia over Superbat and other queer Batman ships, but I suspect it played a role. Especially as Damian replaced the now confirmed bi Tim as Robin. True, Tim wasn’t out as bi at the time but he was very close to Kon, and we all know that TimKon came off as more than just a friendship. There’s a reason it’s a very popular ship.

Of course, if that was part of the reasoning, it backfired considering the most popular Damian related ship (not that he should be being shipped with anyone, he’s a child) is Damijon, a queer ship. A terrible ship- Jon deserves so much better than Damian, like Jay. I like Jay. - but a popular queer one.

[zel-zo]

i'd just like to say i ADORE your spiral jon au! do you have any headcanons or plotpoints you can share with us?

I'm SO so glad you like it!!! and as far as headcanons/plot pointes, Absolutely I do!!! I feel like I haven't explained literally anything about it, so here's the gist:

[WARNING: Spoilers for the entirety of TMA]

So this whole thing starts in an alternate season 1: After Jon's first encounter with Michael, our confusing curly headed companion takes a special interest in him. This manifests as Michael randomly showing up and giving cryptic hints and confusing warnings during Jon's work when Jon is alone. Anytime anyone else shows up in the archives though, Michael vanishes, and while Jon thinks Sasha might believe him, Michael has him a bit paranoid of just about everyone.

[note: this kinda works as an "everybody lives/nobody dies... for now" au since Michael's warnings actually do help Jon keep an eye on Sasha during the infestation]

In truth, Michael is converting Jon over to the spiral, effectively slowing and corrupting his canon transformation.

and Elias is... not pleased.

It's unclear is Michael is just really interested in Jon, is purposefully messing with Elias's plans, or if there's something even deeper going on.

As Jon grows more dazed and confused and paranoid by the day, it may be up to the others to get to the bottom of this and save Jon before he's too far gone.

That's the basic idea anyways!! Though I'm super open to ideas and suggestions!!<3 Thank you so much for asking and letting me info dump about this au I came up with forever ago 💛

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Happy turkey day to you too! :D very thankful for you & the starburst duo :) got some more questions

1: you probably answered this already but what was Chris first couple of weeks/months like after being sent out of the phantom zone?

2: is Chris’s fear of being sent away the same in the comics? Like after removing the red sun watch he caught the apartment on fire or maybe since he’s living in Hamilton country, he set the fields on fire instead.

3: what’s the duos drawing style like? Is it canonically the same type as yours? (Or was it your buddy spider-jays)

4: besides Chris receiving a nut shot from a bully (poor guy) what’s the worst thing the duo received from bullies? Assaulted, wet Willie, putting head into toilet, wedgies, etc…

5: speaking of wedgies, does the duo do that to each other while wrestling or maybe on patrol waiting for crime to happen?

6: I don’t know if you read the recent action comics and/or if it’s canon to your universe, but what’s Chris’s reaction to the super twins? Is he cool with them & see them as younger siblings or does his anxiety kick in of being replaced?

Well? Here’s what I can come up with for these questions my friend @gothicghost2000 ;-)

1. Very similar to the canonical first half of Last Son, during the first week of staying with the Kents (after of course being rescued from the DEO after they confirmed his Kryptonian biology), he mainly spoke the Kryptonian language to which only Clark can understand and communicate with. He also suffered a bit of his memories being scrambled, not remembering his birth name or his time in the Phantom Zone in full but at least knowing he’s free now from a certain person from there, aware of where he is now and the he has no desire to go back to where he came from. He feels very nervous around Lois at first due to overhearing her comments of doubt whether they can fully reside him, especially since they wonder if Jon will feel like he’s been replaced. This though comes to a head when Bizarro, under secret orders from Luthor, attempts to take Chris for whatever scheme Luthor had in mind. The resulting brawl that followed had Lois saw poor Chris have a nearby school bus lane on him. He came unscathed of course but the look of fear in his eyes was more than enough to drive her to get him to safety. However as the globe on top of the Daily Planet building was knocked off its hinges and plummeted to them, Chris in turn rescued Lois via flying to catch the globe himself. As soon as Bizarro was defeated and apprehended, Lois small and subtle growing bond with Chris was solidified, she’s ready to take in another child into her household. Thus through some legal shenanigans and Oracle related info dumping, Chris was finally allowed to stay with the Kents, first as a foster child but in all too due time as a fully adopted son, a big brother for Jon.

2. Oh yes very much. That fear of being rejected for one or few things he does wrong, intentional or not, permeates his conscience beyond any doubt. And yes, I can see him accidentally lose control of his power via removing the red solar watch, resulting in a solar flare that would destroy the Kent’s’ then house/apartment by accident. Similarly though, it takes one of the first of many heart to heart talks between Clark and Chris to let the latter know it wasn’t his fault and that he does belong with them. Thankfully either way, the Kents are able to move to a new house at Hamilton Country with some nifty small upgrades and pleasantries, among them a small hidden portal to the Fortress of Solitude if needed.

3. Very much, the artwork of them provided by the great @spider-jaysart are what I envision. Honorable mention though should go to @theredheaded-stuff whose had about one or few drawings of them that capture their looks quite well

4. Back when the Duo were slightly younger but still in a school that has sixth grader bullies, I can easily predict their stuff in their lockers being trashed, toilet swirlies, their lunch money getting taken, all too common insults about their families (especially for poor Jake due to his grandparents, the Flying Graysons, and their ‘accident’ being an all too common favorite for bullies across the generations to pick up on, and even their passing homework getting shredded right in front of their eyes. That is though if they allow the bullies to get to them on that level so easily.

5. Not when play wrestling but when it comes to crime fighting, probably they can do such for especially uncooperative and jerkish common low level thugs. Mainly crooks who get power wedgies from the Duo would be left on streetlights and even telephone poles with sticky notes that the Duo’s logo and say “Bad Guy” for police to pick up later. Jake is often the one doing more so of the wedgie action as per the fact his training environment is Bludhaven, where fighting dirty is a bit of a common occurrence

6. If say we jump ahead to Chris and Jon aging naturally into their late teens when Otho and Osul move in, I can see Chris being something of a close brother figure to them akin to Jon is. He’d tell them all sorts of stories from when he was their age and take part in their training into superheroics if they choose to do so. He’s overall got no real issue with them beyond the initial shock of them entering the Kents’ household. By this point in his life, he knows much better than thinking of younger new members of the family replacing him.

Happy (late) Thanksgiving and Black Friday Friend :-D

[railway-lands]

determining what to talk about today. hmmmmm.

okay. so, very basic background cause you probably know this stuff from the fic your read, but not the characters who inhabit the space.

Jonathan "Jon" Sims works at the Magnus Institute and was recently promoted to Head Archivist after the previous archivist Gertrude Robinson disappeared. ooooooo spooky

he has three (3) assistants.

Martin k blackwood

Sasha James

and Timothy Stoker.

The head of the Magnus institute is Elias Bouchard, a certified creepy, boogey, bitch.

I can't remember if it's just a widely held head canon or actual canon, but many people believe that Jon was widely unprepared for his tenure as head archivist. (pretty sure a later character, Georgie, is confused why he's an archivist when he doesn't have a degree in library sciences).

obviously Gertrude left the whole fucking archives a mess, and Jon's like "gotta whip this place into shape by DIGITALIZING." and so he does, and the ones we hear on podcast are the ones that will only record on tape, because attempting to record them digitally leads to horrible noises and corrupted files.

so, yeah. that's the basic background. I'll get into Martin, Sasha, and Jon next time. oooooo.

(also let me know if this ever becomes not fun and ill stop info dumping tma on your doorstep)

bye!!

noo no o do keep dumping tma on my doorstep pleas you do a nice job of explaining and its fun to get these asks DJZKLJDR

[millionsofbooks]

i do not have the time or energy to write this but. on the off-chance someone will pick this up. asoiaf/mdzs crossover pls pls pls it would be so good and there are 0 on ao3 rn!!!

just. ok so ik crossovers have kind of gone out of style recently but they're so much fun! they're also just. a really fun way of exploring differences/similarities in how different medias explore certain themes (eg both asoiaf and mdzs have a lot to say on the feudal system, privilege, morality, honour, fucked up family dynamics, redemption, etc but they also focus on different aspects of these themes) and exploring characters via parallels.

putting a bunch of fun character meet-ups below the cut ❤️

like. ok so one thing i think mdzs does that asoiaf doesn't so much is looking at how a character's concept of honour is shaped by privilege. by which i mean - i want to lock jgy and/or xue yang in a room with ned and/or stannis and see what happens.

or speaking of honour - both properties explore the fact that things aren't just black-and-white. God. thirteen-year-time-skip era lwj talking to ned 🥺🥺🥺. or post-canon lwj talking to stannis if u want something less heartbreaking - altho you would have to put in plot reasons for lwj to not just leave.

or if we want to think more parallels - hi wwx and dany!!!! oh my god!!!!! and also when it comes to parallels it doesn't actually need to be those particular characters interacting - eg dany would immediately remind lwj and jc of wwx.

like. concept - for plot reasons, post-canon lwj and jc end up in planetos and have to grudgingly cooperate to get home. they turn up in slavers' bay (either where the portal dumped them or on their way to asshai to find a way home) either in the middle of dany's conquest or soon after she's decided to stay in meereen. then - oh god massive fight over whether to stay or not that very quickly turns into a fight over the resentment they have for each other over the whole wwx-wens debacle. i mean the parallels are obvious - dany = wwx, slaves = wens, dragons = yin tiger seal, etc.

lwj: we should stay to help. this girl is doing the right thing and we should help her.

jc: um, no??? we need to get home and not just abandon the people we love for some strangers. going against orthodoxy never works, she can't win this fight permanently. everyone will turn against her, she'll lose everything, and so will the people who care about her.

lwj: if the people who care about her stand with her then maybe she will win this fight. and even if she doesn't, if they really care about her then they'd prefer to die with her rather than profit from abandoning her.

jc: well maybe they have other people they care about as well and standing with her would put those other people in danger and if she really cared about them then she would stop this madness and come home

dany: im getting the feeling this isnt about me.

anyway they end up staying - there are slaves from all over the world here, maybe someone has useful info; these are very old cities, maybe there's useful info to be found here; waiting for the dragons to grow and then flying to asshai is def safer and might even be quicker; idk the important part is that they stay and want to help. and then maybe it all goes a bit better bc jc actually has experience in ruling and like. rebuilt lotus pier from basically nothing. + lwj to help with doubts and uncertainty. just. i want good things for dany 🥺🥺🥺. also they're used to wwx so their opinions on crucifying the masters would probably be along the lines of like. wow so restrained.

anyway i havent even gotten into like. jgy + jon snow or tyrion which. well i think jgy's main response to jon would be 'oh you think you had it bad???' but he might be more sympathetic to tyrion. or actually it might be more like 'youre just like me (derogatory)'. ugh what an idiot so pathetic he thinks he can get his father to love him ://. unless they meet post-tywin's death. someone: wow can't believe you killed your own father. jgy: well maybe his father was a dick.

also would love a meet-up between jaime and jgy or wwx. the whole - wow ok im evil for doing these things but its fine for you to profit from them?? un fucking believable. why are you mad at me for killing this guy everyone wanted to kill him. wwx could fix jaime, jgy could make him worse.

anyway this got very long but pls other people add on to this 🥺🥺

[voiceless-terror]

Hey!! For your prompts, would you mind doing one from a while ago (the questions one) where it says "do you ever stop talking?" with Jon?? Thanks!!!

Hello there anon! Here is your fic- I let this one sit for a bit, but I’m certainly liking the finished product. Hope you enjoy!

“Do you ever stop talking?”

Jon has been asked this multiple times, though the phrasing and methods always differ. His grandmother used to tell him to keep his thoughts to himself, which wasn’t necessarily meant to be rude but was privately devastating coming from his sole caregiver. He stopped talking at dinner shortly after that. They got on better.

The second was from his teachers, at basically any age. If he knew the answer to a question he had to share it, especially when someone else was getting it wrong. This earned him the title of “know it all” from his classmates, and his teachers often wrote the same sentiment in his progress reports, though in kinder words. He began to write all of his answers on paper instead. This brought on another host of issues- he wasn’t paying enough attention in class, his papers were overly-long and wordy. 

So Jon often hovered between silence and overwhelming chatter. It swung more towards silence as the years went on.

But then he met Georgie, and his second year they got an apartment off campus. He’d been in therapy, finally gotten on medication that helped him. Though taking it was another matter. His mind was often scattered, as was his schoolwork, and he knew how grating he was when he didn’t have his shit together.

One night he was surrounded by notes and books, deep in his latest research project for history. He was petting the Admiral and chattering excitedly to Georgie- finally something he was interested in, even had a professor who wanted to hear his opinions. This paper had to be excellent, top-notch, and then maybe he could ask him for a letter of recommendation for graduate work and have someone in his corner-

“Christ, Jon! Can you please shut up?”

Georgie apologized of course, though it wasn’t necessary. Jon’s prattling could get intense and rather annoying, he knew that. It’s just that Georgie never seemed to mind. Or maybe she did, and never said anything. 

Jon never did get that paper done. Couldn’t summon up the motivation after all. Just another failed attempt at excellence to add to the pile. 

He’d been in an odd place when he accepted the job at the Magnus Institute. Fresh off a break up, recently moved, completely and utterly broke, not going to any sort of therapy. And yet his application was pushed through speedily, quick enough that he found himself at an interview with Elias Bouchard just a week after applying. The man was intimidating, that’s for sure. But he looked at Jon like he was something, like he was excited to hire him. He nodded in all the right places, listened when he went off on a tangent and shook his hand at the end. He was to start the following Monday.

Sasha James trained him. He’d felt comfortable with her from the start- she had organized binders of easily-laid out instructions that were simple to follow. Jon liked having a to-do list. She made a special copy for him when he asked and didn’t mind his inane questions. She smiled at him in the morning. Traded theories with him well into the night. And helped him with the more difficult researchers, ones that admired his thoroughness and dedication but did not like the rest of the package. That had earned her the nickname of ‘Jon-Whisperer’ which both embarrassed and pleased him. Embarrassing that he needed the help in the first place, but pleasing that someone cared enough to help him succeed. There aren’t a lot of Sashas in the world. 

Tim arrived two years after him, fresh from the publishing industry with an easy smile and a boundless charm, but Jon could sense an intensity and purpose thrumming under his skin. Jon has that same drive as well. Tim recognized him as a kindred spirit, and the two struck up an unlikely friendship. They work well together, despite their friction over Tim’s more...creative methods. They work even better with Sasha, and the three of them are soon the busiest researchers in the institute. Jon felt more at ease than ever and he let his guard down, contributing more to conversations and getting lost in the easy camaraderie.

One day he makes a breakthrough on a particularly difficult case. He doesn’t realize he’s flapping his hands until he accidentally flicks a pen off his desk. Shit. He hopes no one is around to witness his behavior, but no such luck. Tim ducks down to fetch it and Jon grabs it out of his hand with a mumbled thanks. But Tim doesn’t tease or laugh. He just smiles.

“I’m more of a tapper myself,” he drums his fingers on the table in a quick example. “Just tell me if it bothers you.”

It does irritate Jon on more than one occasion.

He never says anything though.

When he gets promoted he is instantly overwhelmed. He’s that child in the classroom again, writing down his thoughts and filtering them as best he can. He agonizes over what should go on the tapes and what shouldn’t. He finds himself re-recording the bits he doesn’t like, where he stutters or his voice goes too high or he pauses for too long. The parts where he needs to catch his breath after talking too quickly. It can’t get back to Elias how panicked he is.

It’s Martin's birthday. Jon is reluctantly dragged out for ice cream he neither has the patience nor the appetite for. He picks some random flavor and instantly regrets it, choosing instead to nervously inform the rest of the table about emulsifiers. It takes him five minutes to realize he’s been speaking for far too long and his speech begins to trail off, his gaze turning down at the melted ice cream in his cup. Yes, this is exactly how Martin wants to spend his birthday. Listening to your inane drivel. Stupid, he chides himself.

“And?”

Jon looks up to see Martin gazing at him quizzically. “Sorry?”

“Why did you stop?” he asks. Jon blinks. “It’s just- well, you weren’t done. I’m not a big fan of cliffhangers, to be honest.” He inexplicably blushes and looks down at his lap, fingers fidgeting.

Jon scoffs but feels a warmth bloom in his chest. “Ah- okay, alright-” and off he goes, Martin nodding and smiling in encouragement. It turns out to be a nice outing after all, Tim and Sasha exiting the shop a bit sooner, giving some excuse about a deadline. Jon doesn’t recall giving them any pressing deadlines, but that probably speaks more to his forgetfulness. 

Martin is up at the counter again, looking down at the ice cream. He gestures for Jon to come over.

“Do you want some more?” Jon asks. He’s not going to fault the man for another round. It is his birthday after all.

“No,” Martin shakes his head. “But I think you should. You didn’t really want rum raisin, did you?”

“H-How could you tell?” Jon stammers, embarrassed at being caught. He’d choked down at least a few bites.

“Nobody likes rum raisin, Jon,” he says with a chuckle. It takes a few more nudges, but Jon ends up picking a scoop of cotton candy. It is childish and overly sweet and delicious. He gets a cone and Martin uses that excuse for a walk in the park.

They arrive at work over a half-hour later than planned. Tim and Sasha begin to tease and Jon immediately barricades himself in his office. He’s got so much work to do, after all. But he thinks he’ll leave on time tonight.

He deserves one good day, right?

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26584141

Next in Series:

What Makes a Home

My Dearest

The Weight of Love

[thekisforkeats]

Love Languages

Info: The Magnus Archives, JonMartin, rated T probably for swears. Canon-Compliant. Set post-MAG 22, with a coda post-MAG 159. Everyone is ND and everyone is trans because that’s just how my personal S1 Archives gang rolls.

CWs: Mentions of ableism and Martin’s mother. I’d say canon-typical worms but the worms don’t really come up except in passing.

I do not know anything about BSL, so I did not try to describe the signs.

Summary: A love language is not just about how you best show love and affection; it is also about the ways you best receive love and affection. And so, for someone like Martin, who shows love by going out of his way to help others, someone going out of their way to help him, well. What better way for him to realize just how loved he is?

--------------------------------------------

The first time Martin went completely non-verbal after starting work in the Archives, it was the morning after giving Jon the statement about Jane Prentiss.

It wasn’t a surprising development, really. Martin didn’t go fully non-verbal that often, but when he did it was almost always a thing that started in the morning and lasted most of the day. Sometimes it wore off by the time he went to bed, sometimes it lasted until the next morning.

After his mother’s diagnosis, he’d been unable to speak for an entire week. That hadn’t gone over well--as much as his mother wanted him to be quiet, she didn’t like the “silent treatment,” as she called it.

Martin hated that she’d called it that, as though his non-verbal episodes were anything he did on purpose. Some days talking just felt like a chore; those days he could get by only forcing words out when he had to. But some days, the worst days, he just couldn’t talk. He could understand other people just fine, he could make noises, sometimes he could even hum. And he could definitely read and write. But speaking words, aloud? No. He could not speak, on these days, however much he may have wanted to.

As Martin grew older and learned more about himself, he learned words and reasons and coping mechanisms. He realized that some of the problem came from dysphoria and the longer he was on hormones the less often it happened. He realized that he was autistic (even if he never got diagnosed), and learned how to handle the episodes that still occurred. He took sign languages classes because it was a good and useful thing to know regardless, to be able to communicate with more people.

As many Deaf people had learned before Martin, he’d found himself in plenty of situations when nobody around him knew BSL, so he’d found a phone app that let him type out things he wanted to say and repeated them in a tinny, mechanical voice. Feminine, but he found it didn’t cause dysphoria; it wasn’t his voice. It was the app speaking for him, a robot lady translating his words.

Martin was fairly certain he was going to need the robot lady to speak for him today, and he was dreading the whole idea. The app got him a range of reactions from scorn to derision to faux sympathy. The last time he’d done so at work, the Institute library staff had regarded him with such pity that he’d called in sick the two other times it had happened since.

He’d woken early, because he was always awake fairly early, to ensure he looked presentable and got to work on time. He did not want Jonathan “Crisply Professional At All Times” Sims giving him that look again. The particular look that was “I highly disapprove of your sartorial choices but I’m not going to get into it right now because I have so very much else to do. Nonetheless, if I could fire you for what you’re wearing I would.”

Jon had a lot of looks. Martin fervently wished he could stop categorizing them; he very much disliked his boss, and very much wanted to stop thinking about Jon quite as much as he did.

Jon was attractive, that much Martin had noticed the first day he’d come in, with a jawline Martin would’ve loved to trace with his fingers, eyes sharp and deep and intelligent, salt-and-pepper hair that Martin would have tangled his fingers in gladly.

Except, of course, that Jon was also a prick who didn’t like Martin one bit and made that very clear. He’d put down on record that he thought Martin would “contribute nothing but delays.” Martin was not such a sucker for punishment that he would put up with someone who hated him just for a pretty face. The tiny potential blossom of a crush had been, well, crushed five seconds after it had poked its head above ground, by Jon’s declaration that he could dismiss Martin if he didn’t resolve the “dog situation” immediately.

Martin counted his lucky stars every day that Jon had not, in fact, dismissed him, despite having had to deal with a doggy mess. The luck was really in having Tim around, Martin figured; Jon actually seemed fond of Tim, and the other man had managed to smooth the entire situation over.

Martin had fallen asleep last night thinking about the new look Jon had given him yesterday: concerned. Truly, genuinely concerned, which had rather taken Martin aback. He’d been certain Jon wouldn’t believe him, would scoff and roll his eyes at the entire statement, and instead he’d just looked… concerned. 

And then Jon had offered Martin the cot that he’d woken up in this morning.

It wasn’t the look of concern that had Martin non-verbal, though; of that he was certain. It was the stress of the last two weeks, and dumping out the statement yesterday, and all the whirl of figuring out how to live in the Archives. Jon’s insistence on going with him to pick up basics with a toothbrush at the convenience store, and then coming back to be sure he was okay. Jon finding clean sheets and discussing how he’d do his laundry. Jon had expensed clothing bought online to the Institute, including next-day shipping, because he’d “lost access to his flat and thus his wardrobe in the line of duty.” It had all been bewildering and overwhelming and it was no real surprise that Martin was in the state he found himself when he woke.

Martin had known as soon as he’d opened his eyes. It was just there, the feeling of nope can’t talk today. He’d pulled on his binder and the same clothing he’d worn the day before and then fumbled around for his phone. Which… he didn’t have. The damn worm-hive-lady had stolen it from him. Well, shit.

He managed to avoid having to figure out how to talk while he went out to get breakfast, just pointing at a scone in the display and smiling at the guy behind the counter as if he wasn’t secretly irritated by the price of everything in Chelsea. By the time Martin got back, Jon was already in his office, so thank God he’d avoided that awkward interaction. He went to make himself tea, and had his breakfast in the breakroom, and brushed his teeth, and then went to get started on…

Wait. He didn’t even know what they were working on right now.

Well, he wasn’t going to bother Jon about it; however nice he’d been last night it surely must have worn off by now, and Martin had no interest in summoning one of his boss’ looks this early in the morning. Normally he’d still be on his commute at this hour.

After a moment’s thought, he went to go see what they’d recorded in his absence, and soon had a stack of statements on his desk. They’d gotten through five statements in the two weeks he’d been gone. Maybe Jon was right. Maybe Martin did contribute “nothing but delays.”

Pushing the thought aside, Martin focused on listening to the tapes, and was just finishing up listening to the second half of Father Edwin Burroughs’ statement when Tim came into the shared office the assistants used.

“Hey, you’re in early. You get the email?”

Martin raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

Tim snorted. “Jon claims he’s got something to warn us about, something that ‘won’t parse properly through digital means.’” He rolled his eyes. “Which is Jon-speak for ‘it’s a weird thing and I don’t want to admit it’s a weird thing because I have to keep my skeptic hat on to preserve my self-image.”

Martin chuckled in solidarity, then gestured toward the door to Jon’s office, to indicate that’s where their boss was.

“Not coming?” Tim asked, his own eyebrow raised. When Martin shrugged, he said, “Well, I guess if you didn’t get the email…” Tim also shrugged, then said, “Guess I’d better get it over with. Wish me luck!”

Martin gave him a thumbs up.

When Sasha came in, Martin silently directed her to Jon’s office as well, then heaved a sigh of relief. He hadn’t had to explain being non-verbal at all yet, and it was already nine o’clock. Maybe if he was lucky, Jon would warn them off talking to him and he’d manage to make it the entire day without having to explain the whole “non-verbal” business to anyone he saw on a regular basis.

Alas, it was barely thirty minutes later that Tim and Sasha returned to talk to him, both wearing expressions of mingled concern and guilt. When they spoke it was a flood of the usual, expected platitudes:

“We’re so sorry!”

“We didn’t know!”

“Are you okay??”

And such like.

Martin shrugged and nodded and shook his head in all the right places, and evidently Jon had played them the tape of his statement so he didn’t have to explain it all again (thank God), and he thought maybe, maybe he could even figure out what statement they were working on right now if he just listened to their chatter after they were done with the niceties, but then…

Well. Then Timothy Stoker happened.

Which is to say, Tim actually looked at Martin, and said, “You’re being awfully quiet. You sure you’re okay?”

And then he and Sasha just… sat there, looking at him expectantly.

Martin sighed and reached for a piece of scrap paper and wrote, I’m autistic and sometimes I go non-verbal. Today’s one of those days, but I don’t have my phone anymore, so no communication app.

As he held up the paper so the others could read the words, Martin braced himself for the ensuing reactions. Pity, probably, like those in the Institute library, and he couldn’t even call in sick to avoid it; he’d rather have scorn and derision. At least those reactions were honest.

What he got from them was not pity, however, nor even scorn.

Sasha hummed. “Autism explains a lot, actually. Don’t worry, it’s not a problem.”

Tim grinned and clapped Martin on the shoulder. “Yeah, why didn’t you just say so? It’s fine, you’ve been through an ordeal. And so you know--you’re hardly the only neurodivergent in the Archives.”

Martin blinked at Tim, then wrote: Wait, what? Who…?

“Would you believe me if I said all of us?” Tim said with a grin. “I have ADD, Jon’s… well… he’s Jon, and as for Sasha…”

Sasha sighed in fond exasperation and cut in, “Tim…”

“I contend that you cannot be neurotypical, Ms. James. You fit in too well around here.”

“I am not admitting to anything on Institute property,” Sasha said with aplomb. “And you shouldn't have either, but here we are.” She looked at Martin. “If HR finds out and they give you any trouble, let us know and we’ll figure out what to do.”

Tim, in the meanwhile, pulled out his phone. “Here, go ahead and use mine for now, until your replacement gets here or whatever. What’s the app so I can install it for you?”

Martin’s jaw had dropped open. Tim having ADD made sense; what did he mean about Jon, though? And Sasha? And what did Sasha mean about HR? And… and why were they being so… nice? So… understanding? It wasn’t an act, or at least he didn’t think it was. They seemed… genuinely fine with it. Accepting, even.

It was the strangest thing Martin had experienced in a while, and that was including the worm-riddled woman who’d stood outside his door for two straight weeks.

From there the day just… went on as normal. Tim installed the app on the phone, Martin’s robot phone lady spoke for him, the three of them did their work, and everything was fine.

Until, of course, the nature of their work reared its ugly head. They were discussing the statement of Leanne Denikin, case #0051701, which they had yet to attach a pithy name to; hence the discussion. It had long since become standard practice to attach a name to the “weirder” statements, to make them easier to discuss. (Jon insisted on using the case numbers on tape still, which was annoying, given that was the only place he did that.)

Martin was reading through the statement, and he typed into Tim’s phone: What do you think of this bit? “Be still, for there is strange music.”

What came out of the phone’s speakers, however, was garbled static followed by high-pitched screeching that startled Martin so much he actually dropped the phone.

Jon was walking in just as this happened; he stopped in the doorway, blinking. “What on Earth was that?”

“Martin’s robot lady gave Tim’s phone an aneurysm, I think,” Sasha said, eyeing Martin as well.

Martin scrabbled on the floor for the phone, pulled up the app (which had crashed), and typed, I don’t know what happened!! I was just typing in something from one of the statements!

Jon frowned at him sharply. “What are you doing with Tim’s phone? Are you quite well?”

“No, Martin is not ‘quite well,’” Tim said. “Non-verbal for the day.”

Then Jon did something that stunned Martin: Jon signed at him, specifically, “Do you know sign language?” He spoke aloud as he said this, too, but also raised his eyebrows and gave a quizzical tilt to his head to convey that he was asking a question.

Martin blinked rapidly, then signed back: “Yes, actually. But Tim and Sasha don’t.”

Jon nodded, then said aloud, along with signing, “Why are you non-verbal, exactly?”

“I have autism,” Martin signed. “Sometimes talking is overwhelming and sometimes, especially in stressful situations, I can’t talk at all. Woke up that way today. It should be gone by tomorrow morning.” Why was he explaining so much more to Jon than he had to the others? Maybe just because Jon knew sign, and thus could communicate in a language Martin found much easier than even the typing.

Jon frowned thoughtfully, then nodded again. Then, still speaking and signing both, “What were you typing into your phone?”

“Be still, for there is strange music. From the statement.” Martin gestured to the statement on his desk.

Jon’s frown deepened and he repeated the words. “‘Be still, for there is strange music….’” His expression went slack for a moment, and then he shook himself. “Right. Well. Just… just… I’ll be right back.” Then he abruptly turned and left the room.

Tim and Sasha exchanged bewildered looks. Then Sasha asked, “Do you know what that was all about?”

“I forgot Jon knows BSL,” Tim replied thoughtfully. “Hard of hearing on one side. Not that he’d have agreed to interpret all day or anything.”

Martin shrugged. It’s alright, he typed. This works just fine.

“Well, no, obviously not for some things.” Jon had reappeared as suddenly as he’d disappeared, holding a small brown notebook the size of Martin’s hand. “Here,” he said, thrusting the notebook at Martin. “This will work better, for communicating about the statements. You needn’t use it with me, of course, unless signing is also taxing.”

Martin stared up at Jon. There was an entirely new look on his boss’ face. Not any level of scorn or sneer, nor even concern. He was… nervous. Fidgety. Like he was offering a gift that he was afraid might be rejected.

Something went flip in Martin’s stomach and it was like the entire world turned upside down. Suddenly, in light of Jon’s actions in the last 24 hours, he saw the way his boss had acted toward him the last six months for what it was: a defense mechanism. Armor pulled up around someone fragile and soft and sweet, someone so terrified of rejection that he went about making sure it happened preemptively so he wouldn’t be hurt.

Martin had a sudden, fierce desire to hug Jon and tell him everything would be okay. It was so bewildering a sensation--he didn’t even like the man! At all!--that he just took the notebook with a nod and a signed “Thank you,” eyes still very wide.

Jon nodded in return. “You’re welcome.” He let out a breath, and seemed to relax a little. “Well. Then. I think we’ve found the name for this one, given the way Tim’s phone reacted to those words. ‘Strange Music’ it is.” He straightened himself. “Tim, you said something about the organ reminding you of articles you’ve read…?”

Tim nodded, expression suddenly serious. “Yeah. I’ll see if I can find them for you.”

“Right. Well, then, Sasha, if I could ask you to look through the Archive like we talked about? I’m certain we’ve had a statement from Jane Prentiss.” Jon then turned to Martin. “And if you wouldn’t mind helping me with ‘Schwarzwald?’ You used to work in the library, right?”

Martin was still staring at Jon in confusion, but nodded.

Jon actually smiled at him. Faintly. “Well, then, I’m certain you must know where to find the German history reference books, if you could go grab whatever they’ll let you bring down?”

The strangest thing about it was, Jon seemed sincere. Like he actually believed Martin did, indeed, know the library well enough to just… go up there and find the German history reference books. The faint, confident-in-his-assistant smile was a new look, at least directed at Martin; he’d seen Jon look at Tim and Sasha that way many times before.

Martin’s stomach was doing cartwheels. There were butterflies taking up residence in his intestines. His heart was pounding. How had he never noticed how nice Jon’s smile was? Soft and small, like he was afraid to let it actually take up residence on his face for too long.

Oh, God, oh, no. Martin could not fancy his boss. Jon hated him. Or, well, no, evidence suggested that perhaps Jon did not hate him, but Jon most certainly did not fancy him. This crush had to disappear, just as fast as it had come. This would not do.

He was going to be writing poetry again tonight, wasn’t he? Crap.

“Martin?” Jon’s tone was concerned rather than sharp, and the way Jon said his name made Martin want to sink into the floor.

Instead, he scribbled furiously in the notebook and held it up so all three of the others could see: Yeah, sorry, was just thinking about where that’d be. I’ll bring them down as soon as I find them.

Jon practically beamed at Martin’s use of the notebook and he nodded briskly. “Right! I’ll be in my office when you have the books, then.” He started to turn away.

Martin’s heart went pound pound pound because oh wow Jon was really cute when he let that smile take up more of his face. Throwing caution to the wind, he made a noise to get the other man’s attention.

Jon turned around, quirking a brow. “Yes, Martin?”

Martin signed, “Tea?” He, too, raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to indicate the question.

Jon nodded. “Tea would be lovely, yes.” He smiled at Martin for a brief moment, and then suddenly looked flustered. He glared at them all. “Anyway,” he snapped in his ‘boss’ voice, the impact of which was ruined by the flush rising in his cheeks, “there’s still work to be done. So let’s… do it.” And with that, he turned on his heel and left the office.

Had Jon blushed because Martin had offered him tea? Did Jon like his tea that much? Was Martin imagining things? He had to be imagining things. He put his head down on the desk and wrapped his arms over it so he could grab at handfuls of hair. What was happening to him?

Sasha tried to make her voice serious, but couldn't quite manage it past quite clearly holding back giggles. “Mourn for poor Martin, working alone with Jon.” She looked at Tim. “We should call HR preemptively, it’ll be a bloodbath.”

“Nah, I think Jon’s softening on our boy,” Tim said with a laugh. He reached over to ruffle Martin’s hair with one hand while he took his phone back with the other. “Don’t worry, Marto. I told you he’d come around one day.”

Martin looked up at Tim with a stricken, betrayed expression. In the notebook: Is this how you comfort me in my hour of need??

Sasha shook her head. “For once, Tim’s being serious. You weren’t in the room when Jon explained things to us. He’s worried about you, he doesn’t want you to have to leave the Institute alone, he doesn’t want you to have to look for the Prentiss statement in case it’s ‘too traumatic’ for you to run across on your own. He actually asked us if we thought we should avoid any mention of Prentiss altogether in your presence.”

“I told him no,” Tim said. “I hope that was okay. You seem like you’d rather deal with trauma by facing it and figuring it out, rather than avoiding it entirely.”

Matin gaped at them. Really? he wrote. Jon’s… worried about me? Really? As if he hadn’t seen the evidence just now that Jon was, indeed… softening.

Tim gave Martin a very serious look. “I’ve told you before… I’ve known Jon, well, not as long as I’ve known Sasha, but for a long while now. He’s prickly and thorny, even to people he cares about, but that’s a front and I’ve said so. You just didn’t believe me.”

“In Martin’s defense,” Sasha put in, “Jon’s been awfully ‘prickly and thorny’ to him specifically.”

Tim put up a hand. “Oh, I agree. I have had words with our dear boss about the way he treats Martin, largely because I’m one of the few people he might actually listen to.” He looked at Martin. “I don’t want to take the credit, because it’s really been a remarkably fast turnaround, but I’d like to think I helped, a little.”

Martin frowned thoughtfully. Thank you, he wrote. If Jon’s at ‘I can stand Martin’ instead of ‘Martin is the source of all bad that happens in the Archives’ work might be… better than tolerable, for once.

“That’s the spirit!” Tim said with a grin. “Now, then, Jon did say to get back to work…”

Jon gave Martin another of those soft smiles when Martin brought in the tea, a smile which widened on seeing the stack of books he carried in right after. That afternoon, spent sitting and going through books and discussing the Schwarzwald statement, was the first of many they’d spend together, reading and talking and comparing notes.

Martin was feeling verbal again the next morning, but he kept the notebook. If nothing else, it was a good place to jot down poetry. And it came in handy when he found himself unable to speak the morning after Jane Prentiss’ attack on the Archives.

And the morning after Jon confronted him about his CV.

And the morning after Jon disappeared, leaving Jurgen Leitner’s body at his desk. (Martin blamed that on the corridors more than the body, really.)

Funnily enough, he didn’t need it the morning after the Unknowing. But he kept it with him that day all the same, the first gift Jon had ever given him, and one of the few things he had left of him with Jon in a coma.

--------------------------------------------

When they reached Daisy’s safehouse in Scotland, Martin had hoped he’d somehow manage to dodge the threat of going non-verbal. He’d been the one to drive the car, over Jon’s protests; it was something to focus on, to keep him remembering he was alive and real. He’d clutched the wheel and driven north north north with Jon giving directions in the passenger seat.

Martin had finally figured out that it was the chance to stop and think about trauma that led to his being non-verbal, which was why it was almost always a thing that hit in the morning. Adrenaline would keep him running after a stressful event, and then he’d carry himself through the rest of the day trying to clean up whatever mess had been caused. But sleep was enough for his body and brain to both tell him to stop, to process, to deal with whatever he’d run into.

It was possible, in hindsight, that he’d gone non-verbal more than once since the Unknowing and just hadn’t noticed because he’d been barely interacting with anyone. He’d certainly had a bad bout the morning after his mother’s funeral, dealing with so much misgendering and fake smiles. And there had been more than enough trauma to try to process in the past year, so it must have happened before.

He’d just really, really hoped it wouldn’t now, because he didn’t want to put Jon through that. (Why he thought he was putting Jon through anything he didn’t really want to examine. It made him feel Lonely, and that was bad.)

At any rate, the realization of why he went non-verbal had led to him keeping busy in order to hold it off, in order to hold himself together. So he drove, and he puttered about the cabin poking into cupboards, and he talked to Jon, and he talked to the shop lady in the village, and he brought back food and made dinner with Jon, and everything was good and fine.

And then he woke up the next morning, in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room, and he could not speak.

There was the smell of bacon and eggs and pancakes cooking, and Martin made his bleary way out into the main room of the cabin and peered at Jon, already up and dressed and cooking.

His boyfriend turned to look at him and smiled, one of those soft smiles Martin had come to love so much. “Sleep well?”

"Not really,” Martin signed. “I mean…” He gestured at his throat.

Jon nodded. “I figured you might feel that way this morning. I, uhh… hold on a moment, I need to….” He grabbed the pan of bacon and moved it off the heat, pulled a pancake off the griddle and deposited it on a plate, then turned off the stove and went to poke around in one of the bags.

Martin chuckled fondly. “What’re you looking for?”

Jon was still digging through his bag. “When I was grabbing essentials at the store, back in London, I was thinking, you’ve been through a lot, and the notebook I gave you before must be full if you even have it anymore. I know you were writing poetry in it, and… oh, here we go.”

Jon came up with another small notebook. This one was not plain and brown, the way the first one he’d gifted Martin all those years ago had been. This one was black, and had silvery stars on its cover that, as Jon held out the book and thus tilted it through the light, shimmered into rainbows.

“Just in case, you know, the shop lady doesn’t know BSL.”

Martin blinked at the notebook.

“It, uhh… I know it’s not your usual style,” Jon said, his voice suddenly nervous. He was looking down at the notebook as he spoke, instead of at Martin. “Not… retro. But… I saw it and I thought of you.” He paused. “That tape, where you were talking to Simon Fairchild. He talked about the ‘cosmic scale,’ and how we’ve never even been alive on that time frame, and you said… what was it? You said, ‘I think our experience of the universe has value. Even if it disappears forever.’ And I just… that was… maybe the most… it was very… you. And there were other options, flowers or cursive writing, o-or… I don’t know, they all seemed so obvious, but this…”

Jon swallowed, and finally looked up at Martin. “I thought, after the Lonely, you might like a reminder that, you have value. That… that to me, you shine as bright as any star.” And then he flushed, and Martin knew it was for him, just as he now knew the flushes about tea all those years ago had also been for him.

Martin was gaping. Oh. Oh. Jon… loved him. Which he’d known, intellectually, but the emotional knowledge of it hit him suddenly, took his breath away. He knew it, all at once, in that “oh we could spend the rest of our lives together” way he’d never really thought he’d ever feel.

Jon had clearly misinterpreted the expression; he started stammering, “I-if… it it’s bad, I can… well, no, I can’t take it back, stupid, I should’ve just grabbed the one that had--”

Martin cut him off by reaching out to take the notebook from Jon and reached out with his other hand to cup the shorter man’s cheek. He smiled, and because he’d realized long ago how well Jon responded to physical touch, he leaned in to plant a soft kiss on his boyfriend’s forehead.

Then he pulled back to put the notebook aside on the counter and signed, “It’s perfect. Thank you.” A pause, and then, “I love you.”

Jon smiled, both speaking and signing, “I love you, too.”

And for once in his life, Martin knew that to be true, and trusted that knowledge. He was loved. He had been loved, and he would be loved for the rest of his life, whatever state his voice was in.

[jonspurpleskirt]

Sharing Comfort

A/N: This is for @archivalpride. Prompt was “Sharing Clothes” and “Pre-Canon” so I wrote a fluffy piece to celebrate the quiet moments of trust. 1.7k in word length. No warnings apply.

___

Jon did not make friends fast. Most people he found to be too intimidating, boring or exhausting and not many knew what to do with his sudden info dumps and sharp comments that shot out of his mouth seemingly at random.

He'd been alone in Research for a long while because of it and happily so. Things had changed when Tim had joined the Institute, though. Tim had come into the library and sat down opposite Jon with a thunder cloud hanging over his head and pain in his dark eyes. He'd been quiet and snappy in a fake cheerful way that screamed undealt trauma. At least to Jon, who seemed to be the only one to feel the vibes of "Leave me alone" and "I'm grieving" that Tim gave off in a constant stream.

Having Tim as his desk partner was an intense experience despite the way they only ever nodded to each other in greeting at first. But it was also intriguing. A mystery. Jon loved mysteries.

The instances he had ever willingly initiated a conversation with a stranger could be counted on one hand. Which marked the day he tapped Tims shoulder - after roughly two months of co-habiting - to tactfully ask him what he was groaning about as a very special day indeed. They steamrolled into friendship from there, both personalities clashing in the best ways possible.

Jon pulled Tim into nerve wracking research expeditions, Tim flirted them out of being arrested a few times, they went out for drinks and karaoke and movies and stayed late nights to crack nutty cases of supernatural bullshit together.

This went on for months. A nice, comfortable new routine. Jon wasn't alone anymore. And Tim broke out of whatever had pulled him down so much, becoming more cheerful and flirty by the day. Which didn't matter to Jon because Tim would always come to him the most, would always seek out to partner up with Jon and would defend his prickly personality to his dying breath.

And then Sasha joined them. She came from Artefact Storage, which made her a prime target for every curious researcher in a five mile radius. Tim and Jon included. Alright maybe they were the worst of the bunch.

Although Jon only thought of himself as a partner in crime in this one. He had been dragged along by Tim, after all. Sure in the end he had been the one to ask the most questions, but that wouldn't have been the case if he had just been left alone to be antisocial in front of his laptop.

Sasha and Tim, much to Jons chargin, hit it off within the first few seconds. And ever since then their cozy two-someness had turned into a group effort. With specially leverage put on the word "effort".

"Morning Jon!"

Jon let out a deep, rumbly hum, voice not up to the task of supporting words this late in the- He glanced at the little clock at the bottom of his screen. Ah... early in the morning.

With a laugh that was far too cheerful however you would describe the current hour, Sasha sat down next to him. She leaned in to look at what he was working. He leaned away to get her out of his personal bubble.

Her legs brushed his and the rustling drew his gaze downward. She wore a thick wool skirt, long enough not to go against the dress code. It was a somewhat dull navy blue and fell down in enticing waves around her crossed legs.

It looked very soft and comfortable. Jon itched to touch it. Instead he rubbed against the stiff fabric of his own cream coloured dress pants.

"Would you mind?" He snapped at her.

"No. You spelled 'aboriginal' wrong."

"Thank you for your insight. Don't you have anywhere else to be?"

"Don't you?" She shot back, light and quick as though they were just bantering and not fighting over the right to sit at this table.

Sasha huffed at his glare and slid a cup of something steaming over to him. "You keep staying so late that I can buy you a drink at the asscrack of dawn and be sure you're still here to consume it hot. I'm not usually one to judge anyone's sleep schedule. But I'm judging your sleep schedule."

"And yours is any better?" Jon muttered, taking the offering and peeking inside. Black tea with a bit of cream and hopefully enough sugar to rot his teeth out of his mouth. He needed both the coffein and the sweet energy source.

"I'm getting at least two more hours of sleep than you do on a daily basis, so I'm good."

"Tim would have both of our heads if he knew."

Sasha put her hand on the table and stretched out her pinky. "I swear secrecy if you do."

With a snort Jon linked their pinkies. "I'll hold you to that."

So... Maybe Sasha wasn't that bad. She was a little aggressive in her befriending techniques, Jon mused. At least he hoped the early morning chats and cups of tea and coffee were that and not an elaborate plan to get rid of him via slow poisoning. But she was about as curious as Tim and Jon and her skills with computers were very happily exploited by the both of them. So Jon eventually had to admit that she was actually a very nice addition to the group.

Not that he could have ever said no to their friendship. Tim and Sasha put together were a maelstorm of affection, sucking Jon in with a force he had no chance to defend against. And before he knew it they had successfully gotten him accostumed to friday nights at the pub and saturday mornings in their flats, smashed together on a couch or a bed or a mattress depending on who had had the misfortune of playing host that week.

Jon hadn't been this comfortable since Georgie. And that wasn't only the booze talking. It was one of those nights where they ended up leaving the pub early to lounge around Sashas massive sofa instead. Jons head was swimming within a blissful haze of tipsiness.

He was slouching over one end of the couch, head tilted just so that he could watch his two friends bicker. The words didn't really register, but the noise was nice and their expressions were funny.

Without his conscious saying so, his gaze slid down to Sashas leg area. She wore a very eye catching, fluttery red skirt this time around and the way the warm glow of the ceiling lamp was reflected in the material was mesmerizing.

"Oh Jonny boy, don't you know staring like that is rude?" Tim half-joked as he noticed.

Sasha slapped him on the shoulder. "Shush you there's like zero sexual longing in his gaze, Tim. You don't need to go all protective big brother on me. He just really likes my skirts."

"They look comfy." Jon muttered, sinking deeper into the couch.

"Awww. Jon. Jon my love. My friend. My buddy." Tim scooted over to him, nearly face planting on the floor in his eagerness to slide into Jons side. "Is this jealousy I hear?"

"No. Did you just degrade me from lover to lowest friendship tier?"

"Oh I beg to differ." Tim sang, ignoring the question and making Jon scowl harder.

An arm got thrown over his shoulder and Jon was tugged into Tims side, relaxing into the tight hold against his will.

"You know if you didn't make it a sport to buy the most uncomfortable clothing ever, you wouldn't need to glare at Sashas fashion choices all the time. Making other people think things about your intensions."

"Fuck other people."

Jon waited until the surprised laughter of his two friends ebbed down to speak again. "I wanna be comfortable too..."

"Say no more. Sasha to the rescue."

Tim and Jon both whined as she hopped off and darted away into her bedroom. She hadn't been part of the cuddle pile, but her presence was still dearly missed. Thankfully not for long because a few minutes later she reappeared with a long, purple skirt.

"Here you go mister. Go on try it on."

Trading places with her Jon didn't hesitate to shug his trousers off and slip the skirt on. Tim wolf whistled behind him and Jon dutifully showed him a finger. The yelp he heard shortly after told him that Sasha must have taken more direct approach to disciplining Tim.

"Bad boy. I picked that colour for a reason."

Jon flushed at the reminder that Tim and Sasha knew. That they knew and accepted him and even went out of their way to make him comfortable.

"I may not be allowed to touch, but I can still appreciate beauty when I see it."

"Do you need glasses, Tim?" Jon couldn't help but ask while he settled back down.

It was his turn to be slapped on the shoulder. "Nu-uh! No self depricating jokes in my household!"

"Yes ma'am." He scooted over to Sashas side, marveling at the slide of the soft material against his legs. "Anyway. Touching yes. But no sex, only cuddles."

Sasha laughed in delight as she pulled him closer so he could stretch out, the two of them nearly shoving Tim off the couch.

"Wait, wait, wait Jon you're definitely not comfortable yet!"

"Hm?" He frowned at the renewed shifting, jeez everyone was being so squirmy today.

"Dress shirt? Really? Wait a sec."

Tim ended up finding a truly attrocious night shirt he had stored in one of Sashas cupboards. It was rainbow coloured, but at least it was made of a soft cotton and about a size too big on Jon.

"Awww Jon you're adorable!"

"Timothy Stoker don't you dare take a photo."

"Fine, fine. But I will remember this day forever."

It turned out that he didn't need to. The next time they were over at Sashas Jon asked to borrow their clothes again and the next time after, and the next time after that, too. It kind of escalated from there, clothes mixed together until it was hard to remember who owned what.

And that was perfect. Because the most comfortable clothes were always the ones that belonged to his friends.

[kellyvela]

Help! Is Sansa's page on wiki of ice & fire written by s@ns@n? I went there for first time to check some sansa info, only to see over focus on that tertiary character instead. It has more dump about their canon scenes inaccurately described like fanon metas than actual solo sansa stuff that's more important. Even the fanarts are about him. Sansa deserves better than this. If I hadn't read asoiaf, I would think he is main character & she is his side kick love interest 😭. Pls suggest diff sources

Is Sansa's page on wiki of ice & fire written by s@ns@n?

This sadly seems to be true.

At the end of the page you can read this:

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at House Stark. The list of authors can be seen in the page history of House Stark. As with A Wiki of Ice and Fire, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.

And Wikipedia articles can be written and edited by anyone, as far as I know..........

I went there for first time to check some sansa info, only to see over focus on that tertiary character instead.

This fandom treats him like a protagonist, byronic hero...

It has more dump about their canon scenes inaccurately described like fanon metas than actual solo sansa stuff that's more important.

This is sadly true, the Sansa Asoiaf Wiki is full of made up stuff from those shippers.

To warn Sansa about dangers she faces, Sandor Clegane tells the girl how his brother, Ser Gregor Clegane, burned his face.

He's is no POV, so how do they know this? He was angry at her calling his brother a knight.

Sansa develops a unique relationship with Sandor, who despite his brusque words and hideous demeanor treats her gently, protects her, and refuses to beat her at Joffrey's command. He privately mocks her for her naive nature but also displays sympathy for her predicament.

Oh look: "treats her gently" AND "mocks her" next to each other in the same sentence....

He never refused to beat her at Joffrey's command, Joffrey never asked him before and the only time he did, Dontos intervened, so we don't know if he would have refused Joffrey's orders or not...

After briefly thinking that it is Sandor and not Lothor who rescued her, Sansa dreams of Sandor in her marriage bed, as well as the deaths of Joffrey and Robb.

Sansa first dreamed about the deaths of Joffrey and Robb, then she dreamed of Tyrion during her wedding night and then Tyrion morphed into the hound. It was a nightmare about traumatizing events that the fandom and shippers believe it was a wet dream.

She also dreamed of marrying Joffrey that later morphed into Ilyn Payne. Was that a wet dream as well???

Even the fanarts are about him.

This is awful. And most of the fan-art pieces are a romanticization of the Blackwater scene, not the rape attempt that that really was.

Sansa deserves better than this.

YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!

If I hadn't read asoiaf, I would think he is main character & she is his side kick love interest 😭.

Oh boy, this fandom and shippers write long ass essays claiming he is a byronic hero worthy to be compared with Lord Byron himself and even with King Arthur.........

Pls suggest diff sources

You can check here on tumblr, @sansakatara and @falconstarfall, write a lot about Sansa. They also reblog a lot from other blogs focused on Sansa.

(If you want to read my takes, my metas are compiled in my Sansa Blog. I mostly write about Jon and Sansa but I have some pieces that focused only on Sansa as well.)

[catofadifferentcolor]

Terrible Fic Ideas #35: Targaryen Restoration, but make it romcom

After a conversation with @tooinvestedinasoiaf the other day regarding the tendency to make Daenerys the villain in fics where Aegon and/or Rhaenys survive, I found myself wondering: what would it take to make the surviving Targaryens into one big, happy, incestuous family without sacrificing their inherent need for drama in all things?

Or: what if the Targaryen Restoration could pass for the basis of a Westerosi Much Ado About Nothing?

Aka: The Daeron the Desired Fic:

Just imagine it:

When Ned Stark learns that Robert Baratheon is on his way North, he decides its too much of a risk having Jon in Winterfell, where any member of the court might see him and see the Valyrian look beneath his Stark coloring. He tells Jon the truth of his heritage and gives him a bag of gold to set him up in a new life far from Westeros.

Jon, still struggling to think of himself as Daeron Blackfyre, eventually finds himself in Myr, where he gets hired as a warehouse clerk for a wealthy merchant. It's a position that puts him high up in the merchant's household, as Daeron's honesty, work ethic, and ability with numbers put him head and shoulders over any who held the position before.

In the course of his job Daeron comes into contact with Aegon and Jon Connington. It's a Parent Trap moment, as Jon and Aegon could pass for twins save for the hair.

After much info dump exposition, Daeron joins the crew of the Shy Maid at Aegon's urging and spends the next several months getting to know his half-siblings. Jon Connington starts out leery of him, but eventually decides Daeron is too pleased to have siblings to ever turn on them.

Daeron has been on the Shy Maid for about six months when they run almost literally into Daenerys in Tyrosh, where Jorah Mormont had helped her escape rather than allow Viserys to marry her off to Khal Drogo. Both join the crew and Aegon, Rhaenys, Dany, and Daeron become one big, happy Targaryen family.

This is where the Shakespearian comedy comes in, as Rhaenys and Aegon have been betrothed to marry, as per Targaryen custom, since pretty much the moment they arrived in Essos. Daeron's presence hadn't perturbed things too much, as he's a younger son - he can become a Kingsgaurd or marry into a Great House for an alliance. But Daenerys changes things. She's the last king's daughter and a purebred Targaryen. It makes more sense for Aegon to marry her while Daeron and Rhaenys, as half-siblings, wed to produce a cadet line.

Jon Connington rearranges the betrothals so Aegon will marry Daenerys and Daeron will marry Rhaenys in 300, when both boys turn 17.

The problem is: Aegon and Rhaenys are in love. They have been pretty much all their lives. Daenerys and Daeron aren't quite there yet, but it was something like love at first sight for them.

What follows is both tragic and comedic. Each of the betrothed pairs tries to come to terms with their betrothals, but ultimately all parties are dissatisfied but decide to make a good show of it for the sake of family unity. Aegon pines hopelessly for Rhaenys, but thinks Daeron is in love with her so says nothing because he wants his brother to be happy; Dany loves Daeron, but thinks he loves Rhaenys and only wants his happiness, &c.

This goes round in circles for a while before Rhaenys can't take it anymore and confesses to Aegon that she would rather marry him. This is about the same time Daeron does the same with Daenerys. But rather than solve anything, this just makes things worse because both pairs are committed only to loving each other from afar so as to assure their betrotheds' happiness and honor their agreements.

This too goes on for a while before the truth finally comes out. Aegon marries Rhaenys and Daeron marries Daenerys in a double ceremony.

Meanwhile, things are going pretty much per canon over in Westeros - although Robb managed to survive the Red Wedding, even if his mother and wife did not. The Targaryens use this chance to retake Dragonstone, and once there Dany's dragon eggs finally hatch - three eggs, but four dragons as Drogon has a twin here. (They're also given different names here, dealer's choice.)

The Targaryens reconquer Westeros. Aegon and Rhaenys take the Iron throne. Dany and Daeron become Lords of Highgarden after recreating the Field of Fire with the Tyrells. And, as with any Shakespearean comedy, the lovers live happily ever after.

Bonuses include: 1) Daeron fully believing he's a Blackfyre, and thus unworthy of his family's love, until the evidence of his parent's marriage is practically shoved right under his nose; 2) The many complexities of Targaryen family dynamics, even when everyone involved loves all the other members of their family and no one is trying to steal anyone's crown and/or spouse; 3) All of Westeros firmly believing that Aegon, Rhaenys, Dany, and Daeron have some convoluted polyamorous relationship going on and are only pretending to be two separate couples to keep the Faith off their back.

As always, feel free to adopt this bun - I'm sure this is only the tip of the comedic iceberg possible with this concept - just link back to me if you do anything with it.

Other Jon Snow Headcanons: Aegon the Unyielding | Aemon the Adventurous | Baelor the Brave | Daeron the Desired | Lady Arryn | Lady Baratheon | Lady Lannister | Lady Stark | Prince Consort | Prince of Summerhall | Queen Mother

More Terrible Fic Ideas

[cloudwithoutsilverlining]

please tell us more about co-archivists au 👉👈 i am very excited to hear your essay

BLESS UR HEART ANON I was NOT expecting anyone to actually read my tags <3

ANYWAY, thanks so much for asking and here are my vaguely comprehensive ideas for co-archivist AU here we go (it’s gonna get pretty long so I’m putting it under a cut lol)

Seasons 1+2 would probably go pretty much the same - Elias still chooses Jon alone as archivist and canon proceeds as is up until Infestation. Sasha still gets Not-Them’d but she doesn’t cease to exist, instead ending up trapped in some liminal space. She was already strongly tied to Beholding  and so is able to be claimed by the Eye to escape the Stranger (think Mike Crew getting claimed by the Vast to escape the Spiral) which allows her to break out of the clutches of the Not-Them. Meanwhile, in the tunnels, Leitner tries to trap the Not-Them with the Buried book and instead the thing is psychically ripped apart from the inside out, the memories of Real Sasha are instantly airdropped back into everyone’s brains, Sasha wakes up in a pile of broken table fragments, and gets the hell out of there.

From there, the start of s3 is pretty much the same for Jon (he and Leitner decide that the book had some sort of unforeseen adverse affect on the Not-Them that exploded it somehow) - he flees the institute after finding Leitner’s body, hides out with Georgie, and so on. Everyone assumes Sasha’s dead, except for Elias, obviously, who Knows not only is she alive, but she’s well on her way to becoming an Archivist. (He’s not going to do anything about it - sure, it’s more moving parts than he was counting on, but a backup Archivist could prove useful if something were to happen to Jon. Plus he’s already got a bet going with Peter over which of them will make it to the end.)

Sasha, consumed by the beholding-typical hunger for information, seeks out The Distortion - Michael helped her that one time, after all. She gets hints of usefulness from him (though he insists on using 80-word-long names for all the entities) but mostly he speaks in riddles and is generally frustrating. I’m also gonna say they have a Jude Perry handshake moment except instead of boiling wax it’s knife hands because I love parallels.

She leaves the Spiral with a vague understanding that entities are a thing and starts basically throwing herself into situations fitting their various motifs and hoping for an encounter. One of them seems related to heights? Guess she’s going skydiving. (I stand by my headcanon that Sasha is at least as if not more impulsive than Jon. In s1 while he was like “well I guess I’ll keep an eye out for more statements about Prentiss and hopefully get more information” she went straight to “I personally am gonna hunt down this nightmare worm monster! How dangerous can she be she’s only killed like 5 people that we know of + I’m too curious to leave it alone!” I mean seriously.) While this is a great way to accumulate a lot of Marks for herself, it’s not a great way to find out anything useful. Plus she’s nearly gotten herself killed a bunch of times, so clearly she needs a new approach.

She goes to find Michael again but instead finds Helen, who’s much more inclined to be helpful. She fills Sasha in about how Jon’s also going Archivist, and gives her a door to find him. Sasha steps through the door and emerges in a clearing in the woods where Daisy’s just about to slit Jon’s throat.

Suffice it to say, when a yellow door appears from nothing in the middle of the woods and dead-for-a-year Sasha James steps out of it, Daisy is very surprised. The resulting altercation leaves Sasha marked by the Hunt but the situation calms down after the arrival of Basira who points out that, when facing Elias, surely two avatars are better than one.

Events of s3 from there on play out basically like they do in canon except this time the archivist’s not alone, which helps with the whole “turning into an avatar” identity crisis. Don’t get me wrong, they’re both still freaking out, but they’re freaking out TOGETHER so it’s not as bad. It’s nice to have someone to talk to about weird Beholding stuff, especially when they literally share your brainwaves. (I’d imagine there are a lot of moments when everyone’s just sitting around resolutely doing no work when both Sasha and Jon abruptly stand up, point to each other, and yell some random thing that means absolutely nothing to anyone else but them because Beholding just airdropped them some knowledge. Also since the archivist power is split between the two of them, when they go into Statement mode they end up speaking in unison, Sasha’s right eye and Jon’s left both glowing. It’s very creepy for anyone watching.)

Then comes the Unknowing, and Tim blows up, but instead of dying like in canon, he gets pulled back into the realm of the Stranger along with the rest of the Unknowing and trapped there. When Jon and Sasha wake up from their twin comas, Basira tells them he’s dead, but Sasha realizes that somehow she Knows he’s not. With Jon’s help she uses Beholding (all-seeing) to break into the realm of the Stranger (concealment) and pull him out, and later Jon does the same for Martin in the Lonely.

And in the end, yes, they both end up marked by all the entities, and the world still ends, and things are still pretty bad. But at least they have all four of them (the og archive team) to deal with it. And at least, when Jon needs to info dump about cursed beholding information, he can talk to Sasha. And at least, when Martin would really like some company that isn’t someone possessed by an omnipotent eyeball god, he can talk to Tim. Which I think would help with morale if nothing else. 

(Thanks for sticking to the end of all that lol - I meant it when i said i had a lot of thoughts) 

[you-can-be-what-you-want-to-be]

Hey since you're basically half responsible for the existence of martin + tapes AU it's time for you to get an ask! I feel like there has got to be at least one time, even after Martin finds out about the Eye possessing his coworkers, that Martin actually finds something the Eye does Cute (and then promptly bashes his own head in because WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM) Anyway, what do you think the Eye would do that would provoke this response? 👀👀👀

😯😯😯 you’re asking me? Me? Thank yooou I’m writing 7 martin+tapes aus I’m glad I’m getting some asks anyone else seeing thing feel free to send me martin+tapes stuff

Let me start this off by saying I’m saying cute in a non romantic way.

I personally am someone who finds the eye cute all the time, so I’m kind of bias, but I think it’s eagerness and naivety is the cutest thing. Martin however, can’t find it cute because it’s just so OVERBEARING.

So anything it does that is cute would have to be less….. charged.

I think there would be four main things that would make it likely for Martin to find it cute, but three of them aren’t very likely for it to do. I’m going to ramble here for a minute about Martin head canons so uh yeah.

This is my own projection but as a follower of autistic low empathy Martin I think he has the one symptom of “think of people like objects.” Not in a mean way just in a way where he has difficulty conceptualizing everything about them and sticks them into rolls to much (I.e. “you’re the police you can’t abuse power” and the amount of leeway he gives Jon with stalking because he’s having a hard time, not believing Jon is capable of jokes, ect.)

That all to say I don’t think it takes a lot for a full grown human being to be cute in his eyes. He isn’t trying to be demeaning! It’s just all the endearing stuff of people he doesn’t even know is automatically cute the way a dog is or a car that looks like it has a face.

1) So if, for example, the eye as being channeled by the assistants lets out an old habit or characteristic of theirs, he ALREADY found it cute. When Tim tries to throw pencils at the ceiling to get them to stick, or Sasha makes a witty comeback that turns into an info dump, things like that he’s ALWAYS loved about them. Martins less likely to find Jon cute at any point because Jon hid most of his personality behind fake stuffiness so he wouldn’t recognize when bits of himself leaked through.

This one is the most likely for the eye to do as it is made of these people who while being controlled by it are also shaping how it manifests in turn. It’s also the least likely to make him melt because 1) he had gotten used to finding that cute and not reacting and 2) he’s just as likely to cry or get upset because it reminds him even more that they’re being piloted against their will.

The next three methods are much more likely to work but less likely for the eye to actually do

2) the eye stops taking care of him and asks to be taken care of. Martin is at heart, a caretaker. I think it’s because of several reasons, one being that he’s just genuinely a caring person and also trauma, but also because of the earlier mentioned bit. He follows a lot of rules for politeness bc he has difficulty knowing what to do without listing out hard and fast things you should and shouldn’t do, along with the not being able to help but see everyone else as something that NEEDS taking care of.

Martin now? He’s in a situation where everyone else is doting over HIM, his routines been thrown out the window, he can’t cope by taking care of others like he usually does, and there’s no rules for how to handle this situation. If someone, say Jon, comes into work looking like a drown rat and asks for him to make tea? If they stop taking care of him and ask for his help? It would be a big ego boost, make him feel like he isn’t doing nothing but forcing his coworkers to coo over him, AND be cute. How can you NOT want to hold someone that looks like they need a hug so bad? I think one time you said something about anything openly asking for attention is endearing a little so if the eye did that without being so demanding and clingy about it, Martin would go a little bit soft.

The 3rd) is related to this in the naivety department, which I think is one of the eyes cutest traits. Curiosity is adorable, and if someone asks you questions, that’s pretty close to taking care of them. If it went “explain all your thoughts on this and also how humans perceive things” it would get yummy information AND Martin going “awww” just a little. But why would the eye ask Martin something? It thinks it knows all, so there isn’t much point.

4) the final one I’m just realizing might not be cute and just make him sob in relief actually but like. If it genuinely just asked him “what’s wrong” or “what do you want” gently without just taking his thoughts and assuming it knows I think it would do a lot of good. It won’t do that, but it would be helpful.

(4.5 The big anime eyes they get dkckkdkdjfje)

[meltedxwings]

Would you take this ask as an offer/opportunity to nerd out about something that you love?

gods did you actually want an essay on Ned Stark? because you’re getting an essay on Ned Stark, and very specifically how everyone is wrong about him. Austistic info dumping below

Quick catch up and sort of dramatis personae for those who aren’t super up to speed on A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Throne and Robert’s Rebellion --Ned Stark’s younger sister Lyanna was kidnapped by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. --Rhaegar is the son of the king Aerys Targaryen. --Lyanna is in love with Robert Baratheon who loves her back, they are betrothed. --Ned Stark’s older brother Brandon Stark goes to save Lyanna from Rhaegar but is a bit of a hothead and goes into the throne room shoting about how he want Rhaegar’s head.  --King Aerys takes Brandon into custody and calls Ned’s father Rikard Stark down to Kingslanding (where the seat of the kingdom is held) to swear allegiance but both Brandon and Rikard are killed  --Ned, Robert Baratheon, and the man who they had been fostered with (like a mentorship) Jon Arryn declare war --To this point the most important families are the Targaryens who have the throne, the Starks who hold the North, the Lannisters who have tons and tons of money and are known for being cunning to come out on top the patriarch of the family Tywin had served as hand to Areys for a while, and the Martells Ella Martell is Rhaegar’s wife and the next queen.  --When Jon Arryn declares war not everyone takes up banners. Some important houses sit out, most notably house Lannister does not take a side.  --the turning point is The Battle of the Trident when Robert kills Rhaegar. It is after this that the Lannisters join with Jon Arryn to take the throne from the Targaryens  --Ned Stark is on his way to Kingslanding to deal with the King and what ever resistantance he might find there --when he walks into the throne room Ned Stark finds the eldest Lannister son Jaime Lannister sitting on the throne and the king is dead. Jaime Lannister had previously sword to protect the king with his life. the King had been stabbed in the back.

The least valid criticism of Ned Stark is that he is a hypocrite for getting upset with Jaime for killing a king despite being part of a rebellion to over throw a king. But like that does not take into account any of what is in the long ass “catch up” above.  So lets start with Jaime and what he did. 

Jaime Lannister was a member of the Kingsguard sworn to protect the life of the king with his own life if necessary. He gave up his family name, his inheritance all of it when he joined the Kingsguard. It does not matter what side his father took in the war, his duty was to the king. And he killed the king. Not only did he kill the king, but he stabbed the king in the back. 

Ned Stark is a sucker for Honor. It gets him killed in the end. To break an oath like that to Ned is completely unimaginable. Ned Stark has no problem with the fact that the king was killed. And in fact he was going to go kill the king himself, or at least bring in an army and someone was going to. So this idea that Ned was upset only because the king was killed makes no sense, that was the end goal. 

No the problem that Ned has with Jaime is specifically that he violated such an important oath. Ned does not keep the new gods but he would hold an oath made in the name of the New gods by someone anointed in the light of the new gods in the same way he would hold an oath made by someone who keeps the old gods made in the sight of a heart tree. And that’s what any knighthood is, an oath made in the name of the New Gods, but being a member of the kings guard is a second oath made in the name of the New Gods. Jaime violated a sacred oath and that’s the first problem Ned Stark has. 

The second problem has, with Jaime specifically, is that he stabbed Areys in the back. That is not an honorable way to face a foe. You face a foe, weapon in hand and to his face. (beheadings are not facing a foe so that’s got a different set of rules to maintain honor) Ned HATES that that happened. I mostly keep to book canon but the show suggests that Howland Reed killed Arthur Dayne stabbing him in the back, two on one. This would fit in book canon and would add to the reasons that Ned feels shame about the Tower of Joy and never really talks about it. 

And then there is the problem Ned has with the Lannisters in general. Of course he hates the caniving politics they play, that’s hardly honorable. But his bigger problem and more immediate to Jaime is that the Lannisters didn’t join the war. Ned does not seem to care what side of Robert’s Rebellion houses fought on, presumably that is oldnews now, Robert is king and there are no more Targaryans. However we know he has a problem with the fact that the Lannisters withheld their help which Tywin Lannister surly knew would sway the war one way or another. Not only did he withold his help, he withheld it until it was very clear who would win the war and then gave his support to that side. Tywin Lannister also killed children (or had his people kill children) something Ned finds incredibly distasteful (which...yeah, they’re children) 

if you take all of this that’s enough to really get into a nuanced reason to why Ned hates Jaime, but add all of this to the fact that Ned found him sitting in the throne. Can you imagine, all the work Ned did, the lives lost on both sides, only for Jaime to then be king.* Like this kid who clearly had no regard for honor, just killed the last king and now he’s taking the throne for himself. It would not be the first time that Tywin Lannister was essentially on the throne with out sitting there himself. 

Ned Stark is not a hypocrite for hating Jaime because he killed a king. Because had it been anyone who was not sworn to protect the king he would not have minded. There would not have been a problem. But not only did Jaime break his sacred oath to protect the king, he stabbed him in the back and then could have ruined all of Ned’s war efforts by taking the throne for an arrogant man who runs an arrogant family. 

*this is a monarchy, the rules are not voted in. And most people will never see their rulers. The people who hold the effects of the Monarchy, most importantly in the Seven Kingdoms, the Iron Throne, hold the kingship. It’s why when the North breaks away they start talking about the Iron Throne as an iron chair, and use other language that kind of trivializes the Throne. The have to take the power out of the effects, in order to deprive the ruler of power. 

The Iron Throne and Kingslanding are even more important to hold because the King does not rule by divine right. It’s a good idea to keep the Faith of the Seven on your side, to have the high septon call you the king, that will get a lot of people to agree that you’re king. HOWEVER unlike the kings in England whom this story is based on, the King of the Seven Kingdoms do not rule because the Seven want him on the throne, they do not speak with the voice of The Seven. Kings in Western Europe were literally ruling as mouth pieces of the Catholic god. It was the Catholic god who gave them power. That is not the case in The Seven Kingdoms which make the material effects of royalty even more important.