Right, that mental link. Jon forgot for the moment that it wasn’t just words and thoughts that came through, but feelings as well. Now he’d gone and made his partner uncomfortable - not ideal. Jon turns over on his side to face Murmur more directly, propped up with a bent elbow.
“Oh - hey, no, it’s all right.” Jon’s life is just full of traumas - it’s difficult to avoid tripping over them. Unless Murmur’d been poking around in Jon’s mind, there’s no way he could’ve known. “I, erm … I’d been talking with this man, his name was Jurgen Leitner, and I went outside to smoke a cigarette because I was feeling a bit stressed about it all, and … when I came back, he was dead.”
Jon shrugs lightly. No big deal. Certainly not the most traumatic thing he’s experienced.
“Just another day in the life of The Archivist.” He reaches for sounding unflappable, and it’s probably not as convincing as he’d hoped.
“I did consider not following Elias’ instructions, but … it’s complicated.” Jon smiles apologetically. “He runs the Institute, where I work, and … I literally can’t quit my job. None of us in the Archives can. And I don’t know how deeply he’s involved with The Eye, but he’s referred to himself as the … ‘beating heart’ of the Institute, so I think he must be in quite deep.” Jon idly presses a gloved palm int to the snow in front of him, leaving a perfect handprint behind.
“More than all of that, I was trying to save the world.” He huffs a quiet laugh under his breath. Even now, even though it is absolute truth, saying it out loud in so many words feels silly. “And if I were to walk away from that, who else would be there to take my place?”
Jon shrugs. No one, that’s who.
“For whatever reason, The Eye chose me. I have a responsibility to see it through, to stop the transformation of the world in horrible ways by these Entities. As much as I don’t like it, Elias is the only one who has an idea of what’s happening and is willing to give me even the scraps of direction that he does. He’s all I have. I suppose … I thought I’d deal with finding a way to get some distance from him after the Unknowing had been sorted. And if I didn’t survive … “
If he didn’t survive, it would either mean he’d died or been transformed. Either way, Elias wouldn’t really be the primary concern.
“Well, it wouldn’t really matter much, then, would it.”
no subject
“Oh - hey, no, it’s all right.” Jon’s life is just full of traumas - it’s difficult to avoid tripping over them. Unless Murmur’d been poking around in Jon’s mind, there’s no way he could’ve known. “I, erm … I’d been talking with this man, his name was Jurgen Leitner, and I went outside to smoke a cigarette because I was feeling a bit stressed about it all, and … when I came back, he was dead.”
Jon shrugs lightly. No big deal. Certainly not the most traumatic thing he’s experienced.
“Just another day in the life of The Archivist.” He reaches for sounding unflappable, and it’s probably not as convincing as he’d hoped.
“I did consider not following Elias’ instructions, but … it’s complicated.” Jon smiles apologetically. “He runs the Institute, where I work, and … I literally can’t quit my job. None of us in the Archives can. And I don’t know how deeply he’s involved with The Eye, but he’s referred to himself as the … ‘beating heart’ of the Institute, so I think he must be in quite deep.” Jon idly presses a gloved palm int to the snow in front of him, leaving a perfect handprint behind.
“More than all of that, I was trying to save the world.” He huffs a quiet laugh under his breath. Even now, even though it is absolute truth, saying it out loud in so many words feels silly. “And if I were to walk away from that, who else would be there to take my place?”
Jon shrugs. No one, that’s who.
“For whatever reason, The Eye chose me. I have a responsibility to see it through, to stop the transformation of the world in horrible ways by these Entities. As much as I don’t like it, Elias is the only one who has an idea of what’s happening and is willing to give me even the scraps of direction that he does. He’s all I have. I suppose … I thought I’d deal with finding a way to get some distance from him after the Unknowing had been sorted. And if I didn’t survive … “
If he didn’t survive, it would either mean he’d died or been transformed. Either way, Elias wouldn’t really be the primary concern.
“Well, it wouldn’t really matter much, then, would it.”