Heart of Darkness [Open]

[the_archivist]

Who: Jonathan Sims the_archivist and you!
When: Late April-May
Where: Various locations, including ADI HQ and around town+the train
Summary: Catch-all for the month
Warnings: Scars, monsteryness, injuries, burns, violence, horror, self harm


Recovery - Post Interrogation, around ADI accomodation and town

He hurts. It isn't a new feeling. He has been hurt before and in the same way too. Jude Perry's hand melting against his, the blast of explosives tearing him apart, the scorching heat of a building filled with flame. It makes his muscles burn, and joints ache to the point where he's walking with a cane.

But it is healing. And while the pain is real, there's something distant about it too. He knows it will heal, that he will feed and recover and he will be whole once more.

He isn't sure that's actually a good thing. It's been strange since arriving here, escaping the apocalypse, how different some things feel. He still feels fear, but it isn't the same. He supposes it's hard to have a normal reaction to fear when you've spent months being the core of them, when you know them more intimately than anyone else ever has.

He thinks his fear might be broken.

Any philosophising aside, the pain does make it harder to get around. He's slower walking, gripping onto the head of the cane, and steps are agony. He still goes into the office though, burying himself in futile research.

He does visit town as well, finds himself hungry and watching people with stories pass by, trying to hold himself back.


Well Read
A book fair is something that Jon is very interested in, both because he could do with more things to read, and potentially use as research, and also because... well, news of books being donated by a mysterious benefactor is something that rather puts him on edge.

The mention of books on his library card that he definitely didn't take out, and the name of one of them, Eye in the Sky, is enough to make him give a long-suffering sigh.

Still, it's a good book fair, and he picks up several volumes that seem like they'd be useful.

He's persuaded to sit down at one of the laptops for a quiz.

It starts normally at first. Questions about books which he flies through, and then, slowly he starts to feel that familiar pricklying against his skin, like he's being watched. He almost wants to look around to see if- if Elias is there.

Would you sacrifice a friend to save the world?

What?

Would you rather live as a monster or die as a human?

That's not-

Would you doom another world to save one person?

He digs his fingernails into his palms hard enough to draw blood, and stares at the screen, trying to fight that feeling that is far too much like reading a statement, like reading that- the ritual.

"You already have everything," he mutters.


Training Wheels Off
Jon has caught plenty of trains, but there's definitely a difference between the tube and this sort of train. Eighteen hours at home would get him a good chunk of the way across Europe, while this is just what? A state over? If it's even that.

Of course things can't stay calm so he can enjoy it.

The mutterings start; stories of being locked into shrinking cabins, of scratch maks and fingernails. Sounds too much like the coffin for his comfort. He's happy to investigate if people have encountered it, and to accompany them if necessary.

And then the darkness comes. It is... a tangible thing, feeling his sight blotted out so thoroughly. The Darkness had always been in opposition to the eye, and this is no different.

But he remembers looking into the heart of the Black Sun and making it shatter too. He grips onto that memory, forces down his fear as much as he can.

He doesn't look at the window, or try to find the source of the tapping.

"I'm here," he says quietly, "if you need a reminder. The darkness ends, eventually."


[OOC: Totally open for other things as well! You can find me on the Discord or on Plurk zaliachimera

Comments

[the_archivist]

"I wouldn't recommend being part of the action if you can avoid it." He feels like he should be telling everyone here to run, get out, find somewhere to live in peace.

At least until someone figures out the apocalypse. If. If someone figures out the apocalypse.

"I suppose we could walk."

[bindlestifflost]

"Sounds sensible," he says agreeably. If the stakes didn't sound so high, he might even be tempted to avoid, but...better to be surrounded by people somewhat in the know than totally out of the loop and in a place where he can make a living and get training for living in an era so distant from his own.

As they go, he's watchful, head on a swivel, eyes darting. It's how he always feels in cities, on guard, never fully settled. "What kinda place you come from?"

[the_archivist]

He's slower than he'd like, but hopefully nothing will feel the need to chase him right now. His luck is generally terrible though so he isn't betting on it.

"I'm from London. I worked in a research Institute." It feels like a lie calling it that. "And yourself?"

[bindlestifflost]

"Got a lot a' you folks here," he says, meaning English. He feels like he may have met more of them than Americans so far, at least with ADI.

"Migrant farmer from NorCal. Uh, Northern California." Not everybody knows the nickname. "Jes' a bindle stiff, really. What was you researching?"

[the_archivist]

"I suppose there are a few of us." He hasn't really thought about it much. He's honestly surprised that given infinite realities, there aren't more people who aren't human at all.

"Folklore. Ghost stories. The supernatural. It had quite a collection of haunted artefacts."

[bindlestifflost]

"Oh yeah?" This is the first place any of the others have told him of that sounds like here. A lot like here.

"So all a' this must seem pretty familiar, and you must be a lot more useful than some." Than him, for instance. Once they reach the market, he moves ahead to get the door for him.

[the_archivist]

He gives a thin smile at that. More than he knows. "Perhaps. The broad strokes may be the same, but the specifics vary wildly. Even from country to country, folklore can be very different."

God, he wishes he could just study folklore. Black dogs and ghosts seem so much less intimidating.

He gives a grateful nod when the door is opened and steps inside. "Thank you."

[bindlestifflost]

"Yeah, I reckon that's true. Some a' the fellas what was from back east had different stories than us locals on the road. It was always interesting hearing somethin' new." Largely because there was no danger of those new things being real. It takes on a very different tone here.

Once they're both inside, he defaults to following his lead. Jon knows what he's after. George doesn't.

[the_archivist]

"America is a very large country, with a lot of native history and folklore, as well as all of the folklore brought across from other parts of the world. It's a very interesting area in that regard!"

God, maybe he should have just gone to do a PhD instead of getting a job. He'd be broke, but he would most likely still be human.

CW: Period terminology for ethnic groups

[bindlestifflost]

"It is. On one hand, I've looked at the map and seen the distance between Massachusetts and California. On the other I can't hold it in my head. All I ever knowed was how long it took to walk from one place to the next, or take a bus." It has been eye opening in some ways.

"And then all the things the Injun's talk about. Or the Japs. Or jes' a whole lotta people. I've heard some things. What you after today? Which way we going?"

Re: CW: Period terminology for ethnic groups

[the_archivist]

"It is a lot of distance. Difficult to comprehend, especially coming from a country where you're never more than about seventy miles from the sea and can get to numerous other countries in a few hours." The lengths of bus rides had been eye-opening when he'd visited.

"Yes, I visited Chine a couple of years ago. There's a lot of interesting folklore and mythology there too. And I was hoping to grab some painkillers, and something for dinner is probably a good idea."

[bindlestifflost]

"That's hard for me to imagine, too. A whole country like that." His world in NorCal was like that, smallish, but there was always such a sense of scale and place in California he hasn't seen here.

"What was that like? More general like." He nods and turns toward the pharmacy section first, figuring those will be the easiest things to find. "I never thought I'd get to travel much. Most a' the Chinamen I met was kids or grandkids a' railroad folk."

[the_archivist]

"Busy," Jon says. "21 million people live there. It's crowded. Very modern. Skyscrapers and neon lights at all hours. But there's still a lot of ancient places there too. Although I suppose it's not really different to Oxford in that regard. The modern built right next to the ancient."

It had been an experience. He wonders what had happened to the people there during the apocalypse. Had they been serving the Eye as avatars? Had they known about Elias's plan? So much he doesn't know.

[bindlestifflost]

"Gotta admit I can't wrap my head around that many people anywhere. I used to think LA was too crowded to hear myself think." And it was dangerous for Lennie so he never let them linger when they had to pass through.

Once they get to the pharmacy, he leaves Jon to getting what he needs, taking on the role as convenient basket carrier. "Also, ain't nothing ancient to see out West. Not castles, or temples, or nothing like that." He had heard of petroglyphs and such but never laid eyes on them.

[the_archivist]

"It is a lot to deal with, especially while jetlagged." He hadn't had much chance to enjoy the place. "London's busy as well. Not as much though, thankfully."

And the Institute had been near enough some less crowded areas.

He grabs some- well, he thinks it's paracetamol. Tylenol. Whatever it's called.

"You'd be surprised. I think there are some thousand year old ruins in New Mexico." He thinks. He'd read about them once. Good to know locations people might visit and come back telling stories of ghostly encounters. "And there are definitely a lot of fossils which have been discovered. Not exactly buildings, but much more ancient."

[bindlestifflost]

"What's jetlagged?" It's not a word he has ever heard before.

"Yeah? That a lot older than I'd have expected." He doesn't know enough of pre-history to put much context to that. "I found a couple of those wandering. A shell and some...well, I don't know. Looked like some ridged stick. Gave 'em to Lennie, but he lost them." It was no huge loss. He has never been much a collector of anything.

[the_archivist]

"Oh, ah, when you travel by plane, you often cross multiple time zones. Beijing is seven hours ahead of London, so your body's sense of time gets very confused and it can be hard to adjust to when it's daytime where you arrive but your body thinks it's the middle of the night."

Not pleasant. He's glad he didn't have to do it more for business.

"Possibly a bone or something. There's also fossil footprints. Dinosaurs are the most impressive."

[bindlestifflost]

"Now, I bet that would be something to see," he says. He continues following him through the store, carrying things as they're added, and he'll go along the same vein on the way back to ADI, interested to have met somebody a lot more educated and traveled than he is.

((OOC: I feel like this is a good wrapping place unless there was anything else in particular you wanted them to talk about?))