No, no. It was the doors. The yellow doors. I've seen them around town now and again. I should have paid more attention. She likes me... sort of. Helen Richardson liked me. Helen saved me from Michael when he was going to eat me.
Okay but that's the Institute and not you. And you said Helen liked you. Why would she want to kill you at this point unless you've really pissed her off?
I'm the Archivist, the avatar of the Beholding. Most things want to kill me. I represent the Institute. I expect she's holding off for something. Michael helped us stop the Corruption before he tried to eat me. They're all playing a game. Stopping each others' rituals, maintaining the balance.
Balance... Do you feel unbalanced? The ground keeps moving. [He looks down.] Because we're walking. Right.
[That answer is immediate. The rest takes a little longer to process.]
I really don't know what I'm supposed to do. Elias told me I'm meant to experience and know things, either through my own actions or through the eyes of others in their Statements. Seeing the different rituals. Maybe it's a part? See them, touch them, feel them.
[As might be expected just from looking over the hedges, there is no yellow door at the center of the maze, just a couple having sex. Jon walks right on past them, seemingly unaware that they've missed their Helen opportunity here.]
Yeah, well, Elias seems to get off on the idea of you suffering, for what it's worth. He really is just a giant dickhead from what you've said. If all you're going to do is See things and become a part of them, then--
[ Wait, hold on, isn't this the center of the maze? Ava slows, stops, and Jon pulls right out of her grip. ]
[ Ava's looking around too because she's...pretty confused as to what he was hoping for. He brought them into the center of a hedge maze, essentially. If he was hoping for a door, it was never going to be here, and it wasn't going to be a door so much as a gate. ]
You're probably not thinking straight. Why don't we head back home? It's late.
It was... it was only 6 o'clock a moment ago. Wasn't it? No, no. We haven't been walking that long. Was looking for the door.
Martin's door. There was a knock at the door, but it was Mr. Wallace. Something pretending to be Mr. Wallace? Ava, we have to get Martin. He's in danger. It's three. Three... multiples of three. In his office. Three and then there were... no. Eight? Eight like infinity.
[ Jesus Christ, he's really far gone. With a sigh, Ava crosses over to him, and gently takes him by the shoulders. She waits for him to really look at her. ]
Jon, buddy, look at me. Listen to me, okay?
[ No Dominate. No compulsion. ]
It's three o'clock in the morning. We're out in a hedge maze. You are not doing well. Come home with me, okay? We'll get you back to Sandy's place. Martin is probably resting like a normal person at this hour.
[He has to trust her. He's decided to trust her. If she says there's something wrong with him, she might be right. And Jon has no desire to repeat the mistake he'd made in the inferno, to hurt her so badly.]
[ ...She didn't think that was going to work. Ava looks as surprised as she feels, blinking at Jon. Slowly, she lets him go, unsure if he's just going to bolt the second she does. And he doesn't. It's...weird. Not the not-running part. Just that Jon is okay with this.
With care, she reaches out and takes his arm. Then, she just takes his hand, and then she walks with him back out of the hedge maze. Initially, she looks hesitant with all of it, honestly expecting him to walk off in the opposite direction. But her grip is loose, not trying to trap him, not trying to drag him along or hurt him. ]
[Jon holds her hand and follows along after Ava without a fuss. He's still looking around as they go, though. The door. Helen's door should be here. Why wasn't it here? Is the Distortion toying with him? Leading him one place only to disappear and reappear somewhere else? That must be it.
Where would it appear next? She'd been popping into the Institute more than he'd like. It had been. Maybe it's back there?
Maybe it's going to go after Martin.]
Martin's been in the corridors before. Him and Tim. They had to escape Not!Sasha, and Michael helped. I don't... know why it helped them. Maybe because they were my assistants like he'd been Gertrude's?
Or maybe he wanted to fuck around with them. You said the Distortion screws around with reality. And lies.
[ She walks with him, holding his hand, and guides them back out of the maze. Ava's gaze is almost everywhere, mostly keeping an eye on the people they pass, concerned more for Jon's safety than his worries about something that may or may not exist in this world. ]
Michael wasn't Michael. [He sighs, frustrated.] As I was going up the stair, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. Oh, how I wish he'd go away.
Helen isn't Helen. Helen isn't Michael, Michael isn't Helen. But Helen is Michael is the Distortion. It leads you in circles. Circles that make no sense. Am I making sense?
[ What does that even... She shouldn't go skimming his thoughts, but she doesn't need to. She knows that's a poem. She knows it has something to do with the Spiral. ]
Considering it's an Avatar of the Spiral, I'm guessing it's not supposed to make sense. Spiral patterns are like that, like fractals. And you're sort of making sense. Helen and Michael...were different people and then became the Distortion?
Fractals. Yes, yes. [Like what Mike Crew was running from. Mike pursued by Michael? It could almost be funny. But the Distortion isn't all the Spiral is. No more than the Archivist is all of the Beholding.]
Different people, but the same thing. Like gloves for a hand. I think... I think the Archivist is more than a glove? But less than a hand. Maybe? I don't want to be a glove, Ava.
[ She glances his way as a deeply-set frown makes its way over her expression. What can she even say to that? This is where his path has led him...and it's not fair. She reaches out to put an arm amicably around his shoulders, draw him close to her for a half-hug. ]
You shouldn't need to be. You don't have to be the glove, Jon.
I don't want to be alone anymore tonight. Will you stay with me, Ava? Please? I have other places we can go. Check. Check for... we were looking for something. The Spiral! The door.
Where are we going?
[They're out of the hedge now and he's not even sure where they really are. Has he been here before?]
I told you: I'm taking you home. It's three in the morning and you can settle for a little bit before you go looking for anything else today. There's no door in the hedge maze, Jon. I don't know if the Spiral is here.
[ She won't say it's not but she also doesn't want to give him the impression that she's fighting him. Just putting it off. Maybe he'll be more receptive to that. ]
I'll still stay with you. 'Til a little after sunrise.
[ The necklace will help but she still doesn't feel comfortable being out. The paranoia of being killed is always there. ]
It could be at home. In the basement. Helen was in the tunnels. Maybe she likes it underground. No... no, that's the Buried. Other mazes. Remind me before you leave. We need to look up other mazes in the city and check them.
[He'll follow along easily with her where she directs as they walk. Though, he'll occasionally point off to the side somewhere and insist there's something he can see to investigate. Sometimes it might even be more than a hallucination. For the most part, though, he'll be easily distracted and redirected until they're walking along the tree-lined drive to Alessandro's house.]
There's a raven that's been following me. I don't think it's anything like a writing desk.
But Jon is pliant enough that he doesn't go scuttling off while they head back, and the few times he does try to walk off, Ava just kind of nudges him back along the path. It's like herding a goat with the attention span of a goldfish. ]
Okay, Alice, you're going just a little delusional on me. Nothing's following us. I wouldn't let it, I promise. Look, we're just about at your house.
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 03:06 pm (UTC)Why do you think she's here? Because you keep seeing spirals? Do you think she's even going to help us?
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Date: 2019-09-15 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-09-15 03:31 pm (UTC)[ ...Or is she not understanding? ]
Helen sounds nice. If she's here, it'd be cool to meet her. It'd be nice to have more allies.
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Date: 2019-09-15 03:34 pm (UTC)[It all makes perfect sense, really.]
I think she's going to kill me, too. Just a matter of time. Gertrude stopped the Great Twisting, its ritual. It probably hates the Institute, really.
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Date: 2019-09-15 03:46 pm (UTC)Okay but that's the Institute and not you. And you said Helen liked you. Why would she want to kill you at this point unless you've really pissed her off?
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Date: 2019-09-15 03:52 pm (UTC)Balance... Do you feel unbalanced? The ground keeps moving. [He looks down.] Because we're walking. Right.
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Date: 2019-09-16 02:18 am (UTC)[ Like Jon's gait, which is why Ava gently takes his arm as they walk, finally beginning to encroach on the center of the maze. ]
It just seems... I don't know. You've been at this longer than I have. Is that what Archivists are supposed to do?
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Date: 2019-09-16 04:01 am (UTC)[That answer is immediate. The rest takes a little longer to process.]
I really don't know what I'm supposed to do. Elias told me I'm meant to experience and know things, either through my own actions or through the eyes of others in their Statements. Seeing the different rituals. Maybe it's a part? See them, touch them, feel them.
[As might be expected just from looking over the hedges, there is no yellow door at the center of the maze, just a couple having sex. Jon walks right on past them, seemingly unaware that they've missed their Helen opportunity here.]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-18 02:54 am (UTC)[ Wait, hold on, isn't this the center of the maze? Ava slows, stops, and Jon pulls right out of her grip. ]
Hey, Jon? Jon, isn't this where you wanted to be?
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Date: 2019-09-18 03:34 am (UTC)[Said in the dry tone he might usually quip with. Bashing Elias brings out the focus in him. At least for a second or two before it fades.]
What? No, we...
[He looks around.]
But the door, it's supposed to be here?
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Date: 2019-09-21 02:20 am (UTC)[ Ava's looking around too because she's...pretty confused as to what he was hoping for. He brought them into the center of a hedge maze, essentially. If he was hoping for a door, it was never going to be here, and it wasn't going to be a door so much as a gate. ]
You're probably not thinking straight. Why don't we head back home? It's late.
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Date: 2019-09-21 03:10 am (UTC)[He looks up and around.]
It was... it was only 6 o'clock a moment ago. Wasn't it? No, no. We haven't been walking that long. Was looking for the door.
Martin's door. There was a knock at the door, but it was Mr. Wallace. Something pretending to be Mr. Wallace? Ava, we have to get Martin. He's in danger. It's three. Three... multiples of three. In his office. Three and then there were... no. Eight? Eight like infinity.
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Date: 2019-09-21 03:13 am (UTC)Jon, buddy, look at me. Listen to me, okay?
[ No Dominate. No compulsion. ]
It's three o'clock in the morning. We're out in a hedge maze. You are not doing well. Come home with me, okay? We'll get you back to Sandy's place. Martin is probably resting like a normal person at this hour.
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Date: 2019-09-21 03:17 am (UTC)Okay. Okay, I trust you, Ava. Let's go home.
[He has to trust her. He's decided to trust her. If she says there's something wrong with him, she might be right. And Jon has no desire to repeat the mistake he'd made in the inferno, to hurt her so badly.]
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Date: 2019-09-21 03:35 am (UTC)With care, she reaches out and takes his arm. Then, she just takes his hand, and then she walks with him back out of the hedge maze. Initially, she looks hesitant with all of it, honestly expecting him to walk off in the opposite direction. But her grip is loose, not trying to trap him, not trying to drag him along or hurt him. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-21 03:47 am (UTC)Where would it appear next? She'd been popping into the Institute more than he'd like. It had been. Maybe it's back there?
Maybe it's going to go after Martin.]
Martin's been in the corridors before. Him and Tim. They had to escape Not!Sasha, and Michael helped. I don't... know why it helped them. Maybe because they were my assistants like he'd been Gertrude's?
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Date: 2019-09-21 04:03 am (UTC)[ She walks with him, holding his hand, and guides them back out of the maze. Ava's gaze is almost everywhere, mostly keeping an eye on the people they pass, concerned more for Jon's safety than his worries about something that may or may not exist in this world. ]
But Helen isn't Michael.
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Date: 2019-09-21 04:30 am (UTC)Helen isn't Helen. Helen isn't Michael, Michael isn't Helen. But Helen is Michael is the Distortion. It leads you in circles. Circles that make no sense. Am I making sense?
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Date: 2019-09-23 06:35 pm (UTC)Considering it's an Avatar of the Spiral, I'm guessing it's not supposed to make sense. Spiral patterns are like that, like fractals. And you're sort of making sense. Helen and Michael...were different people and then became the Distortion?
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Date: 2019-09-23 06:47 pm (UTC)Different people, but the same thing. Like gloves for a hand. I think... I think the Archivist is more than a glove? But less than a hand. Maybe? I don't want to be a glove, Ava.
[It's said earnestly.]
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Date: 2019-09-23 06:56 pm (UTC)You shouldn't need to be. You don't have to be the glove, Jon.
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Date: 2019-09-23 07:03 pm (UTC)I don't want to be alone anymore tonight. Will you stay with me, Ava? Please? I have other places we can go. Check. Check for... we were looking for something. The Spiral! The door.
Where are we going?
[They're out of the hedge now and he's not even sure where they really are. Has he been here before?]
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Date: 2019-09-23 07:45 pm (UTC)[ She won't say it's not but she also doesn't want to give him the impression that she's fighting him. Just putting it off. Maybe he'll be more receptive to that. ]
I'll still stay with you. 'Til a little after sunrise.
[ The necklace will help but she still doesn't feel comfortable being out. The paranoia of being killed is always there. ]
no subject
Date: 2019-09-23 08:36 pm (UTC)[Right.]
It could be at home. In the basement. Helen was in the tunnels. Maybe she likes it underground. No... no, that's the Buried. Other mazes. Remind me before you leave. We need to look up other mazes in the city and check them.
[He'll follow along easily with her where she directs as they walk. Though, he'll occasionally point off to the side somewhere and insist there's something he can see to investigate. Sometimes it might even be more than a hallucination. For the most part, though, he'll be easily distracted and redirected until they're walking along the tree-lined drive to Alessandro's house.]
There's a raven that's been following me. I don't think it's anything like a writing desk.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-24 04:47 am (UTC)[ Maybe tomorrow. He really needs to rest.
But Jon is pliant enough that he doesn't go scuttling off while they head back, and the few times he does try to walk off, Ava just kind of nudges him back along the path. It's like herding a goat with the attention span of a goldfish. ]
Okay, Alice, you're going just a little delusional on me. Nothing's following us. I wouldn't let it, I promise. Look, we're just about at your house.
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