eyediot | that one time travel psl

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!monsterhaus

that one time travel psl

sad bad end s5 jon and tim on a monster road trip

[Algric had given the trio a fair warning of what was happening. Not the specific details of what he was coming from, but he was from a little further along Algric's timeline, and came through Hilltop Road. Never pleasant, but he's here now. IT took a few days of settling, readjusting, and putting some firm self-imposed boundaries on himself before Jon felt comfortable enough to see the others.

After a few minutes of surprise and staring, Jon ends up sitting alone with Tim for a few minutes; the others having some things to take care of themselves. He sits there, fiddling a bit with his fingers, trying not to be self conscious. He can't do anything about the myriad of different, newer scars, nor about his black sclera or so many other things about himself now.

But god... Tim. Alive and not shouting at him right this second. How novel.]

Tim... I.. [Where does he even start.]

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[That and Jon/ah's strength stat of like. 6.]

Yeah... yeah I guess it does.

Huh.

[Anything.]

[It would be like watching toddlers have a half-assed slap fight.

Jonah watches him, trying to gage where to even start.]

There's... so much more, worse parts of this that Algric didn't have the pieces to when he told you all about it.

[Yeah. Yeah there definitely is. He lets out a breath, shoulders sinking as he braces.]

So. Yeah. Lets start there. Like... why all this? Was there even a point?

"All this", which part? The part where Elias just wants to be immortal and orchestrated almost everything we've been through and will go through to get it? Or-or how the rituals are supposed to change the world so their patron entity can be summoned here?

[He sighs heavily, rubs at his eyes. Deep breath, start over.]

Elias knew when he built the Institute as Jonah what he was going to do. And he knew it would take a very, very long time to do it. Of the Entities, only two have not tried a ritual that I can find evidence of. The End, because it.. doesn't really need to. And the Eye. He had to wait until ... the right pieces came into play.

During the Prentiss attack, Elias... purposefully waited to pull the co2. He had to wait and make sure I'd be.. I'd be marked. I don't know if he had intended you to be part of it. I know he didn't expect Not!Sasha to infiltrate either, but he allowed it.

[Just gonna. Give Tim a minute to digest that much.]

[That's a lot. Every word of that is wrapped up in implications so wide and heavy it both blows the smaller concerns of the compulsion on Algric and Jon, and the upcoming ritual, entirely out of the water.

And then, in almost the next moment, breathes new, acute urgency into foiling them.

But then... then that last bit. That's where it hits, good and personal, deep under the skin that still itches sometimes. Still drags up the memory of the two of them dropping under Prentiss attack, the futile attempts to shield each other.]

Why-

Why did he need us- us half eaten? What the hell does that figure into immortality? He let that thing wear her face. To only get us a LITTLE killed?

[Jonah sighs through his nose.] Me, specifically. And.

Tim, there are so many parts to this. It's hard to.. explain it linearly. These entities mark us. In some small ways, in other big ways. And usually you either become an avatar or a monster for it, or... [Food. At the mention of the marks though, he feels a bit self conscious himself, rubbing at the burn scar wrapped around his hand like he shook hands with fire.] To even attempt a ritual, you have to be marked.

Gertrude came up with the theory that the rituals.. don't work. At all. That these entities are too big, and too intertangled with each other for any ritual to successfully summon one single entity. And she tested it, watched the, the People's Church of the Divine Host. They attempted, Gertrude watched.. and it fell in on itself.

Somewhere.. between that and Elias appointing me, he got the idea. That you can't summon just one, but you could construct a ritual to summon them all. And to do it... the person performing it has to be marked.

[A beat, squeezing that scarred hand of his.]

By all of them.

[It's impossible not to have his attention drawn to the smooth patch of burn tissue. Whatever had happened there was more than a scalding....

More than a bug bite, or a scratch of an old friend... He looks up and Jonah, horror tinging with sudden understanding of what kind of game Elias is playing. Or at least, this part of it. Why everything suddenly drove down, so dire and terrible.

... why everything is escalating so drastically as soon as Jon stopped isolating himself... As soon as Jon started sniffing on the path of what was really going on. ]

... Oh god. We have to keep him out of there.

[Nevermind that Jonah is right here, complete, and fully formed. A door that has never quite closed again.]

...Yes. We do.

[He knows Tim, at least what he remembers of Tim. And getting personal, getting emotional wasn't the way to impart information. It doesn't matter that he wandered alone for so long, it didn't matter that there wasn't anyone left.]

It may mean Elias rearranges a few plans, but that'll probably take him some time, and give us more.

[His jaw works a moment.]

And... what about him? What about just, getting rid of the core of it all?

[That spark of ruinous fire has already caught an ember somewhere in his chest.]

[He finally lets go of his hand to rub at his eyes, pinch the bridge of his nose where his old glasses would have sat. It's such a Jon action, it's hard to tell it's not really... him, anymore.]

That's where it gets tricky. I do think if we kill him, then it'll likely kill the three of you. And his - Jonah's - original body is still in the Panopticon. But... I was talking with Algric. And I think I'm stronger than he is now? So if we can... I-i dunno, shift things? So you're all under me, instead. Then we could... take out Elias and. I could free you all.

[That... He wasn't sure if it was blindingly simple or bewilderingly esoteric. But somehow it seemed both. Still, he couldn't see why it couldn't work as suggested... but he was also feeling how utterly little he actually knew.]

... right. So, what, in this case, does freeing mean?

Because last I knew, it involved self mutilation. And I'm pretty sure you fall into the 'wont survive.'

Iiiii would not, no. The other me? He might survive. He's... at that point, I think. [And he can see Jon's already made a choice. Jonah himself probably won't want to be around when it happens.]

I mean... If you're all tied to me, I could just. Let you all go. Release? I guess?

Just.. like that.

Just ... [Sigh.] Like that. What Elias won't do.

...

I really hate that man.

...I think you'd hate him more if you knew what else happened.

[Jonah really.... truly hates that man, now that he's had some distance to deal with his trauma.]

Of course there's more.

[DESPISES him.]

... Okay. All right. What else.

Let's see. Off the top of my head: murdered Leitner in my office and framed me for it, kept all of you in the dark when Nikola kidnapped me for a month. Made the deal with Peter Lukas that... hurt Algric. [That one he hesitates, sounding less like a laundry list and more... personal.] Somehow kept all information about the Unknowing and our plans to stop it from you. He... [Hm.] He hurt Melanie, made her... Made her Know how her father really died in Ivy Meadows.

[That man did so much to cause so much harm to so many in just a few short years. Jonah sits, like he's debating talking about the last big thing.]

In... the end. F-for me. I killed Peter. Wandered the Lonely for... months looking for Martin. Found my way back to the Institute, there wasn't... Anyone left, Tim. Everyone was... dead or just. Gone.

[Tim is probably going to hate him.]

[... A month.

Killed Peter- fine. He feels like he should have a better reaction than the grim satisfaction he felt at hearing about the man's murder. But good. Frankly.

There's more there, tucked in too curt explanations of people he doesn't entirely know and the significance he doesn't have enough to grasp yet.

But... he knew a writhing when he heard one. His gaze sharpened. What did he DO?]

... what happened?

[An Avatar of the Beholding, is able to know anything and everything on a whim and a question.... and Jonah finds he can't help curling into himself. He shifts in the seat, knees pulling him like trying to make himself smaller.]

He... tricked me. I was. I was tired, and. And weak, and... alone. He tricked me into... doing the ritual. Th-the Watcher's Crown.

Edited 2020-09-01 02:30 (UTC)

[It's no great leap to put it all together. It takes little to look at Jonah and guess there were enough marks. From the pocked skin to the burn, to the - good lord what happened to his NECK.

No wonder that transformation happened.]

God. [It comes out in an explosive breath, clearly the foreshocks of the coming explosion. There is a spark, white hot and vicious. But it... never hits? The angry, bladed words whistle past his open back.]

That bloody son of a bitch.

[He expected anger. The explosive burst of emotions that would cut Jonah deep, like Tim always had a way of doing right up to the end. "Why didn't you stop it?" "Why did you keep reading it when you knew what it was?" "Why did you let it happen?" All things he kept asking himself

If stopping reading would have killed him... maybe that would have been worth not destroying the world. It's what Jonah keeps telling himself when he can't sleep.

It's surprising when the anger isn't directed at him. He looks up at Tim, bewildered and openly vulnerable, having been ready to defend himself.

Where he had the words ready to explain about how he couldn't have stopped, Jonah sits. Speechless and lets Tim express what he doesnt have the energy to anymore.]

[And then it goes off. Tim is out of his chair abruptly, the wood clattering against the kitchenette table as it's slammed back in. (The others hear.) He's working out the frustration that should have been tearing chunks in the spaces between his intentions and actions... instead, as he paces, the futile rant is directed at someone neither here, nor honestly would even care enough to enjoy it.]

Of all of the petty, evil bullshit! Consigns a whole fucking world to- to one of those- all of those things because the wretched old fool doesn't want to die?

It's not enough? A whole building full of suffering. Of all of the - the absolutely random horror poor fucks somehow live through and it's not enough. No, he kills all of us and rips it out of you.

[It's odd, feeling so prepared for the anger in front of him, but watching it be directed to the pair of eyes trying to see from across the city. (It's only because of Algric and Martin that Jonah hasn't been found out. It's still too early to show the cards.) Elias definitely wouldn't care to hear or savor any bit of this; anger and fear often coincide together, but rarely make a nice palette for the Eye's tastes.

The other thing, though, is how uncomfortable it feels, sitting here and listening to someone be angry on his behalf. That feeling of being seen for the first time in ages - not as the Archivist, or an Avatar, or a harbinger, or a tool. But as someone worthy of being angry for. Someone who, despite all the mistakes he's made and likely will continue to make, has suffered in the eye of the storm.

His jaw is trembling when he finally finds his voice again.]

Tim. There... It's too late in my timeline, but. There's still a chance here. We can stop it from happening.

[His attention snaps back to Jonah at the sound of his name. His fist clenches and then- then relaxes, and stays relaxed. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.]

I... Yeah. Yeah. We have to.

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