#tma rant

He won! He played Jon till the end and got his fucking apocalypse. Fine. Good for him. Whatever.

I cannot stand fanfiction that “fixes” characters with relationships and whatnot, because a lot of it is just disregarding major parts of the characters that somebody is writing about.

There was this fic I was reading the other night, and it technically qualified as a Jmart fic, but the actual Jmart part of it icked me out quite bad. I couldn’t keep reading it. It wasn’t even a gross bit, I just didn’t like it because of the way it made not just Jon and Martin, but also Tim and Sasha behave.

The fic kind of really disregarded Jon’s acquaintance and friendship with Tim and Sasha, it made them sort of massive nothing burgers, and they did generally nothing for the story other than being their for the OOC narration of Jon to say: “ohh they’re never really there in a way that matters” yadda yadda.

And then there’s the Martin bit of it, which is the part that really icked me. It disregarded quite a bit of Martin as a character, and a lot of Jon’s general thought process. The fic said something along the lines of: “Martin didn’t expect anything from him” or “Martin didn’t want to fix him” or something like that. And it’s just…? No?

It disregards a crucial part of Martin: he is absolutely the type of person to want to fix somebody else. I’m not going to really get into that because it’s late and that would be whole nother yap, but Martin is a very ‘I want to fix you’ type of character to me. This is no shade to Martin it’s just what I see.

And it also disregards Jon’s entire thought process during that point in time. The fic takes place in season one, and as we all know: Jon was an absolute jerk toward Martin. The majority of his opinion on Martin is negative, he didn’t like Martin at all, so the way he acted in this fic really confused me.

We’re starting with Gerry

- Gerry had a hard time falling asleep as a child

- His body learned to clock out in any situation

- You can now find him sleeping anywhere.

- Rafters? Sure. Top of the fridge? Comfy enough.

Here’s another one!

- Gerry always orders a black coffee

- He hates black coffee

- He will covertly add a ton of cream and sugar so he can actually get the caffeine intake

- He is caught once and only once by Gertrude.

- They agree to keep it a secret

And now!! Stuff I think would be funny but is probably so far from the canon, I’m in a new time zone.

- Elias has one tea brand he likes and refuses any substitutes. This taste continued when Jonah took his body and he hates that.

- Elias is a brandy kind of guy, but won’t turn down other alcohol. Except vodka- long story, very drunk, never again.

- Gertrude likes birds, as a side hobby

- Gertrude will give you ‘The Look’ about grammar errors in speech.

- Gertrude got way too used to Michael being a caretaker type and it was a little jarring the first week to not have coffee ready on her desk.

- Emma Harvey paints her nails when she’s stressed. They turn out pretty good.

STATEMENT RECAP:

This is a statement taken by Jon as the archivist during the apocalypse aka season 5. The statement is about the web fear entity and takes place in one of its domains. The statement is about 'The tragedy of Francis, a comic puppet show in all acts' and is about Francis, a recovered drug addict. This web domain takes the form of a large theatre with multiple 'shows' going on at once. The statement begins with Martin and Jon talking. Jon stops, saying he needs to record a statement to Martin's dismay. Jon suggests Martin 'takes in a show' while he waits. Martin doesn't find this funny, he seems upset at the prospect of Jon needing to record a statement as they are almost out of the domain. 

Jon starts to record the statement. It is presented as a stage play with a laughing audience. It the  49, 067th act of the play. Upon the stage there is a table, which holds a bottle of alcohol, and a box of cigarettes among other paraphernalia. Above the stage there is hooks, they are described as being hungry. Francis, who uses they/them pronouns, enters stage left begging for it to not happen again. There is a pause for laughter which the audience fills. The spider, who is offstage, urges Francis to walk away, before digging a hook into their leg. Throughout the play various hooks get imbedded into Francis, they allow the spider to control them. Other 'characters' make brief appearances from offstage. Francis' parents insult them, a friend tells them how they never smile when they are sober, a lover tries to get them to take something with her. Francis repeatedly tries to get away but is manipulated by the spider into staying. As the play continues, Francis is forced to sit at the table full of temptations, the spider puppeteers them into drinking from the bottle which is full of spiders. The spider's abdomen bursts open, covering Francis in spiders and the scene ends. 

As the statement ends, Jon begins to narrate the next scene but is snapped out of it when Martin slaps him. Martin explains his actions before telling Jon he went exploring while Jon recorded the statement. Jon asks him if he was compelled to do so but Martin doesn't know, he refuses Jon's offer if 'Knowing' the answer. Martin asks Jon what the Web wants but Jon doesn't know. He knows that the Web has a plan but he can't comprehend it, nor can he locate Annabelle Cane, a powerful web avatar who had contacted Martin. They both agree to leave the domain. 

AUTISM RANT TIME:

The Web as a fear entity encompasses two main fears: Arachnophobia, and the fear of being controlled or manipulated. It can manifest in many ways but the examples which apply to this statement are spiders and addiction. 

There are many interesting things to talk about in regard to this statement. Firstly, I really like how it handles the web and its relationship with addiction, I just think that this is such an interesting concept for a statement and some absolutely beautiful writing on Jonathan's part. The phrase 'the world's a stage' comes to mind when thinking about this episode. To have the words of people who are meant to be part of your support system used to manipulate and guilt you while simultaneously facing being manipulated into falling to the familiar vices of a previous addiction in front of a laughing audience is chilling. This is further built upon by the repetition of the phrase 'pause for laughter' throughout the statement.  

Another interesting thing to highlight is how the spider urges Francis to walk away while also giving them no chance to do so as the hooks incapacitate them. The web entity had no attempted or planned ritual as it preferred the world as it was before. Afterall, what's the point in trying to manipulate people if they don’t have the autonomy to be able to resist. This is illustrated in this statement as the spider can only physically manipulate Francis, through puppeteering them, rather than controlling them through guilt and fear. There is a certain violence to this statement that the web usually didn't have to resort to in the pre apocalypse world. 

Additionally, something I would like to highlight is that Martin didn't know if he was compelled to explore the domain. Was his curiosity his own or the webs influence? In mag 167: curiosity, a statement about Gertrude Robinson's time as the archivist, we learn about her web aligned assistant Emma Harvey. Emma's curiosity was what lead to her experimenting with the fears and their effects on her colleagues. The combination of these two statements also serves to highlight the connection between the Web and the Beholding, especially in Jon's case. Jon was curious about the supernatural once he was forced to admit it's existence. This curiosity led into a need to know, a hunger for the truth. He became addicted to the pursuit of knowledge so badly that when he failed to continue his truth seeking crusade he would experience withdrawal symptoms like any other addict, causing him to become consistently sicker until he indulged. The Web also has links to addition in Jon in other ways as well. Jon had previously been a smoker, having quit after the death of his grandmother, but it tempted back into it by the web, using a lighter with their symbolism, at various strategic points eg: when it allowed Elias Bouchard murder Jurgen Leitner while Jon went to smoke in order to calm down and process what he had just learnt. 

Furthermore, we know that the Web has influenced Jon from essentially day one. From marking Jon as a child with the 'A guest for Mr. Spider' Leitner, to the tape recorders, to the lighter, the web has always manipulated him. This then stands to highlight how Jon went straight into another statement after finishing this one, something he wouldn't normally do. Though as repetition is part of the web's method of manipulation, this could be more to manipulate Francis, then it was the archivist. 

Regarding the sinister happenings in Season 3 of its entirety

Another thing: is Martin an avatar or not? Why is he exempt from the eyepocalypse and given a domain, but doesn’t seem to have any cravings or real “avatar problems” to deal with. My guess is that his ties to Jonah and the institute have given him these abilities, even so, Rosie wasn’t free from the eyepocalypse (but maybe that’s just due to her being Jonah’s secretary???)

The genuine excitement and joy in Elias' voice at Jon Knowing something amd becoming more connected to their patron. The bickering and bitching that make them sound like an old married couple. The little 'he loves scheduling'. That little smile in his voice, the sadden tone, the heart break and the genuine love Elias has for scheduling that Jon knows he has. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. I love this toxic ship so much.