I'm Too Tired For This Job

Test, Test.

Hello, my name is Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute. Tim made me make a “Tumblr Blog,” so here I am.

Coworker(s): @martin-blackwood-offical, @timothy-stoker-offical, @sasha-james-offical

Boss: @elias-bouchard-offical

you and your coworkers

Uh- so it was about… 3 years ago, so I was about eleven. Exact date I don’t remember but it must have been mid-October 20##? I was a kid and I was bored, youngest of four children and always the one who took the butt of every joke. Even bullied me for my name. My— my old one, not the one I took for myself.

Okay- so, uhm, it was during said boredom that I decided that I wanted to go exploring. I looked at my phone’s map and searched for good places to go, and what did I come across but some church. It seemed pretty interesting, and I did a little bit of digging to find out more about it. Apparently it doesn’t even have a website or anything, much less a name that I could find, so I pretty quickly figured that it was either abandoned or a cult building. Either or, that was right up my alley, so I got my bag packed and ready to go. Only a little one, but I packed some water, a bit of food just incase, 2 torches, a lighter and my phone. I told my mother and my stepfather I’d be going out for a sleepover and then told my friend and her mother to tell everyone I was with them. It was in this manner that I headed for the church.

The place itself was grand, larger than I expected and a surprisingly open layout. I walked closer to it and hesitated. It had this kind of… dark vibe around it, but eventually I steeled myself. I’d gotten this far, I had to go through with it. And so I knocked on the door, three times. 

It was almost before I’d finished knocking that someone answered, a tall woman wearing all white, but it wasn’t quite the ritual garb I expected from a building like this. She looked surprisingly normal, and had a warm smile on her face. Maybe I had been wrong about the place, it could’ve been a normal church.. Or, at least, that’s what I thought at the time. I know better now. I was an idiot. Anyway- she invited me in and introduced herself to me as… I- I can’t remember. I don’t know what she introduced herself as, but I think it started with an A…? But, she led me down a hall as she told me the values of this church. Kindness, love, things like that. And she told us about a god, too, a thing by the name Monorikis. 

Looking around, there were statues scattered around the halls, but they seemed to display 2 figures instead of 1. One was the Monorikis she was speaking about, and then a different one, who seemed to be just about the polar opposite. Mono was shown as some kind of demon, horns and a tail and all. The other one, I couldn’t read its name, every single statue I came across had its name chiselled out of the statue’s base. I tried to ask about them, and she changed the subject so quickly I decided against bringing it back up. She also talked about how the “weekly ritual” was tomorrow. I still don’t know what that was, but I’m not sure I want to find out. Spent a solid five minutes ranting on about this… Choir, something about a grand dance to happen. Who knows?

By this time, it was about 8pm, and she told me that curfew was at ten. Every door would be locked. For safety, she said. I asked if she was going to let me leave, and she responded quickly, in the most sinisterly kind tone I’ve heard. “This time of night? No, not a chance! You can stay here with us tonight.” Now, I didn’t exactly want to stay with them, but it wasn’t like I had a choice, so I let her show me to a bedroom. By this point, I still wasn’t convinced of anything genuinely supernatural, all I thought was that this was another deranged cult feeding off mentally disturbed children. I wish that was all it was.

Sleep came to me surprisingly quickly. Almost as soon as I’d gotten under the covers, rough and scraping as they were, I felt my eyes starting to close almost against my will. Impossible to resist. I tried, I had wanted to stay up a little while longer, but I just… couldn’t, for some reason, even though I’ve never slept early. I’d frequently be up till one in the morning, but today I just couldn’t manage to keep my eyes open. As I drifted off, I swear to you I saw something with wings hanging over my bed.

It was still pitch black when I woke up. I sat myself up and there it was again, the winged figure I’d seen before. It was a stark white against the shadows, from its long, thin main body to its feathery wings. Everything except its head, which was just as dark as the room around me, with nothing but a bright smile on its face. There were two halos around the thing’s head, each bearing multiple eyes. He said his name was Technisikir, and that he was the antithesis of the Cult of Light. It was at this moment that I realised he was the other figure from the statues. He spoke with a voice that sounded like everything all at once, familiar yet completely new. I couldn’t tell if it was soft or loud, low or high, all I knew is that it felt comforting. I now know that this was a bad sign, but at the time all I could think is that we had similar goals, and that he seemed trustworthy.

He told me there was some kind of treasure hidden deep at the heart of the building, and just said ‘you’ll see’ when asked to elaborate. I tried to make sure I was quiet as I got out of bed and started to follow after him, but nobody seemed like they were going to wake up. I could barely even tell my bunkmate was alive, if not for the slow, relaxed rise and fall of his chest. 

It was slightly lighter out in the corridor, a few lights left on. As we walked, Technisikir continued to speak to me. He told me about his relations to the cult, how he planned to free the members once and for all, and how he needed my help if he were to succeed. I told him I needed a bit more time to think about it and he didn’t press further. At one point, I swore I heard footsteps behind us, but when I turned around, nobody was there. He was leading me down a hallway, and he only laughed when I asked when we were going. A playful laugh, not an evil one. Eventually, we came up to a door, and he told me to open it, so I did.

The room he led me into was fully lit, even at this time of night. The walls were lined with trinkets, all chipped or broken in some way. Jewellery, what must’ve been a dagger, paintings, sculptures, it looked like this room was where they kept everything that was unusable. Except one thing. On the far end of the room, displayed proudly against the back wall, hung a sword. The thing was jet black, and I mean truly black. Darker than what you see when you imagine darkness. It seemed to swallow the light around it. I knew at once that this was what I had been looking for. I didn’t even notice I was walking closer until I was halfway across the room. The memory gets a little… fuzzy at this point, but I reached up and slowly, carefully pulled it off the wall.

The thing was cold. Freezing cold. It must’ve been giving me frost burns, but even then, I didn’t drop it. I just sort of held it at my side. I don’t know how long I stood there like that, pain burning through my hand, but after a while Technisikir whispered in my ear. “Olivia. Turn around.”

I don’t remember giving him my name, but it doesn’t matter. I did what he said, and behind me there was a girl. I saw the star on her necklace, the symbol that she was a part of this cult, and I had to pity her. She looked no older than ten. At first, she was terrified, and then she saw what was in my hand and it turned into anger.

I couldn’t help myself giving a couple mocking remarks. What could she do? I’m the one who had the weapon. She told me to put it back, that it was important, and I laughed in her face. I don’t think she could see Techni as he pulled my arm, trying to lead me out of the room before she could alert anyone else. Slightly reluctant to give up the fight, I followed along. At first, I saw no doors, but he showed me to a little secret trapdoor, which led to a long, cold corridor. At this point, I became fully aware of the pain the sword was causing me, but I wasn’t giving up now. He promised to heal it for me, and I believed him. Idiot move, but hey, it turned out fine… The corridor ended up coming out close enough to the front door that I could sneak over to it uncaught. The door was locked, of course it was. He went up to it and knocked, and it just… unlocked. Just like that. 

As I went to leave, he turned to me. Asked me what I’d decided. If I wanted to stay by his side and help him free the trapped cultists, or go home and forget. I didn’t feel like I had a choice. I’m not sure I did at all. I raised my hand and shook his. I felt no change, but I’m sure something did. Since that day, I’ve heard his voice, seen his shadow, every single day.

I I don’t know if this is the kind of statement that you’re looking for, but… Yeah.

Quite a lot…

unfortunately not, sorry.

I’ve noticed I’m really good at wrapping myself in a blanket burrito. But the thing is: it only happens when I’m sleeping. I guess instead of sleep walking I sleep- wrap my self in my blanket in the tightest most secure methods. Well. It’s more like a blanket dumpling, cause my knees are compressed to my chest and so is my arms, curled up into a little ball.

As annoying and hard as it is to get out of these when I wake up, this is also the best and most comfortable I’ve slept in years. Sometimes I just don’t want to get out. Sometimes I wish I could make it tighter. I don’t know what that says about me.

1000 years in jail for you

[The caller sighed, her voice equal parts tired and weary. She didn’t think this was a good idea. Everything she heard about this “Magnus Institute” screamed bad juju. And it’d only gotten worse since they picked up. But…she just had to get it off her chest. She’d learned to live with everything by now, sure, but that doesn’t mean the shadows don’t haunt you. And it was probably too far on to simply hang up. Sunk cost fallacy, or whatever.]

I won’t give you more than my middle name, on account of how little I trust y’all. How’dya do this? Uhhh…right! Statement of A-no, Claire. Statement of Claire, regarding the absolute nightmare that was being possessed by an entity called The Artificer.

[This is my other OC! She’s way nicer than Arty, promise! And she probably hates her more than you!]

We’ve had an encounter with this “artificer” before.