pawnish: (11)
Tim Stoker ([personal profile] pawnish) wrote in [community profile] eyemind2022-10-31 01:50 pm

UN: fuckthis

[Have an extremely exhausted sounding British man with more than a little edge of bitter sarcasm in his tone.]

Well, I suppose I should be grateful that it's not a goddamn tape recorder.
aparticularlyhollowlaugh: (a chest filled)

[personal profile] aparticularlyhollowlaugh 2022-10-31 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[tim why are you like this ]

I’ve been here for quite some time, actually.

[seven months in cryo, several more on either side of that. more than a year now, for certain. but more importantly:]

I, erm … I don’t know. [he assumes so, however, and he knows it’s his fault.] Honestly, I’d be surprised to see any of you here. You’re the first person I’ve recognized since I arrived.

[and despite their problems, jon is undeniable glad to hear tim’s voice.]

You don’t remember what happened?
aparticularlyhollowlaugh: (i only fall when you are near me)

[personal profile] aparticularlyhollowlaugh 2022-11-01 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
[he doesn’t need to say it - jon knows. and tim would be unlikely to believe it, but jon can relate. 🙃]

At least a year. Probably more, I can’t be certain. I was, erm - I was unconscious for several months. Twice, actually - but we all were, this last time. No one really knows how long we were out. Could’ve been years, for all we know.

[he’s starting to ramble, because jon does that when he’s nervous, and he’s very nervous about being in the same space as tim again. the other man’s made his feelings about jon quite clear, but jon doesn’t feel the same at all. since he’s been traveling with navi and their passengers, jon’s had a lot of time to ruminate on what happened during the unknowing and just how badly he failed team archive. he inhales a deep breath to steady his nerves and refocus his words.]

Tim … what is the last thing you remember? Before you woke up here, I mean.
aparticularlyhollowlaugh: (nowhere to run)

[personal profile] aparticularlyhollowlaugh 2022-11-03 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
[jon knows tim well enough to know that chasing after him when he gets this angry will do neither of them any good. so he resolves to pick the conversation up with him later, after he’s had some time to cool off. he’s pleasantly surprised that tim messages him first, and speaking to him again much sooner than jon would’ve expected.]

You hadn’t gone to the museum yet, [he comments, mostly for his own solidification of timelines. jon exhales a quick sigh of relief.] That’s - that’s good.

[tim’s unlikely to agree with him but they don’t agree on much anyway these days.]
aparticularlyhollowlaugh: (there's a cult inside of me)

[personal profile] aparticularlyhollowlaugh 2022-11-05 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
[they’re good questions; jon would be asking them too, if he were in tim’s position. he would be desperate to know what happened, and frustrated beyond belief if there was no way to obtain that information.

there is, of course, a good reason why he doesn’t know for certain how the unknowing ended. and he really wishes tim hadn’t asked, because jon doesn’t want to reveal the answer. he doubts tim will take it well. jon sighs deeply.]


Because I died.
aparticularlyhollowlaugh: (nowhere to run)

[personal profile] aparticularlyhollowlaugh 2022-11-06 08:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[jon of course assumes tim’s asking how he died, so that’s the answer he provides.]

You, erm - you detonated the explosives.

[but that’s not enough of an answer and jon knows it. what’s more, tim deserves to hear this story - statement, perhaps? - from jon in person. it’s too personal to be given behind the shield of only his voice coming through the speaker of the handheld device.]

Tim, I’d really rather not talk about this on the comms … would you be willing to meet with me in the kitchen? There’s tea. [but better than tea:] And, erm - no tape recorders. I’ve checked.
Edited 2022-11-07 04:12 (UTC)
aparticularlyhollowlaugh: (this awful energy)

[personal profile] aparticularlyhollowlaugh 2022-11-09 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
Because I know you hate them at least as much as you hate me.

[jon doesn’t snap back at tim - he just sounds tired. i don’t forgive you were some of tim’s last words to jon, and really, why would he? more than enough time had passed since the unknowing for jon to contemplate every single bad decision he’s made as Archivist, and even though he thought his actions justified at the time, he sees now more than ever just how much hurt he’d caused - tim especially. the man was right; they’d both been attacked by the hive, both suffered trauma at the hands (worms?) of jane prentiss, and rather than allowing that experience to bring them closer together, jon used it to create distance and distrust between them.

maybe they’re past the point where any mending can be done, but jon won’t know if he doesn’t try. he knows the exact place tim gives as his location, and a few minutes later, jon quietly slips through the door to the observatory-turned-piano bar. he tucks his hands into his trouser pockets and lightly clears his throat to announce his arrival.]


Hello, Tim.

[jon looks much like tim would remember, like he hasn’t slept in at least a week. his hair’s a bit longer and perhaps a little more disheveled but it’s clearly the same jon.]

It’s … erm, it’s good to see you again.
Edited 2022-11-09 00:40 (UTC)
aparticularlyhollowlaugh: (nowhere to run)

[personal profile] aparticularlyhollowlaugh 2022-11-13 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
[tim looks exactly like jon remembers, and a dull ache settles against jon’s heart. it would be so easy to pretend everything that happened at the wax museum, all of the unknowing, was something jon simply imagined - if not for the guilt. jon won’t let himself forget that tim died and it’s his fault, because he just isn’t very good at being The Archivist, and he couldn’t stop the unknowing without losing his own people as well.

he nods at tim’s greeting; it’s a lot more cordial than he’d expected. frankly, jon’s surprised tim agreed to meet with him at all, but he’s grateful for the chance. now if he can just avoid screwing it up …

jon hesitates for a moment before approaching to take a seat in the offered chair next to tim. he meant what he told murmur - he doesn’t think tim’s likely to assault him, but even if tim does, jon doubts the other man can do any permanent damage. one of the perks of being an avatar, jon supposes, though it hadn’t done him any favors back in new estos. slouched forward in the chair, elbows propped on his thighs and hands clasped tightly in front of him, he takes a deep, steadying breath and somberly begins his explanation:]


I didn’t. Not really, I - I think we stopped the Unknowing, but …

[jon shakes his head. he doesn’t Know for certain, and without seeing it with his own fully conscious eyes, he’s hesitant to claim victory - especially with how many of his people he’d lost.]

I must’ve been in hospital, I was wearing a hospital gown when I woke up here. And I remember … I wasn’t quite there, but I was still holding on. There wasn’t much left to me, but what was left wanted to stay. And there were voices …

[and an unending loop of nightmares, over and over, but tim doesn’t need to know that. it would sound self-pitying, jon thinks, and tim wouldn’t like that.]

I, erm - I don’t know if you’d remember, there was a statement a while back from an Antonio Blake, about these dreams he’d had, premonitions of death … he, erm - he came to visit me. His name’s actually Oliver Banks, and he’s - he’s an Avatar, like me, but for the End instead of the Eye. He said that I … I needed to make a choice, that I was, how did he put it - “not quite human enough to die, but still too human to survive.”

[jon shrugs lightly and sits back in his chair, deflated. he’s itching to know how tim’s taking this recollection of things that haven’t yet happened for him, but jon can’t quite bring himself to look up at the other man directly.]

So I made a choice. And the next thing that I remember was waking up here.

[and even though jon has been happier than ever before in the time since he regained consciousness, even though he has found incredible love and friendship and acceptance and trust during his time on this ship, he still can’t say with absolute certainty that he believes he made the right choice. he imagines tim is likely to agree with him on that point.]
aparticularlyhollowlaugh: (if i did not have you?)

[personal profile] aparticularlyhollowlaugh 2022-11-13 07:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[it hurts, hearing tim laugh like that, and each of his next words is a tiny dagger in jon’s heart, but he doesn’t shy away, because he knows that he deserves this pain. tim is right - jon is not a brave man, and for as much as he’s always known he should’ve been taken by that awful leitner book as a child, when truly presented with the opportunity to give in to oblivion, he’d turned away from it.

but the thing tim doesn’t know is that it wasn’t an easy choice to make. it wasn’t a snap decision - jon had balanced on the ledge between living as a monster and dying as a (more or less) human for months before oliver banks paid his visit and urged jon to make his choice. fear was a factor in his decision, of course, but it wasn’t the only component. the part that jon has a harder time reconciling is the fact that the eye wanted him, in a way that jon had never quite felt wanted before, and that was a hard feeling to let go so soon after being claimed. jon’s choice to live was selfish on a second level, and deep down, he knows this, and he hates himself for it.

tim’s wrong about a lot of things, too. jon won’t become like elias, he won’t take over the institute and keep running whatever schemes are in motion between the dread powers and humanity. he won’t continue to sacrifice people for his own benefit. jon knows he is a monster now, he knows he gave up his humanity in order to continue living, and the best thing he can do is remove himself from the equation - if not by death, then by distance.]


I’m not going back, [he says, finally glancing up at tim. does he sound as tired as he feels?] And when you get back, if it’s still before the Unknowing, you need to stay in London and let me go alone. If I was already too far gone from human to die completely in that explosion, there’s no sense in the rest of you dying as well. I know - I know you wanted revenge for your brother, but I - I can’t lose you again, Tim.
aparticularlyhollowlaugh: (surrounded by fury)

[personal profile] aparticularlyhollowlaugh 2022-11-13 10:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[jon is not going to argue with tim about time travel in a multiverse. he walked in here resolved not to argue with tim at all, in fact - tim has the right to be angry with him, jon doesn’t deny that. he acted like a complete clown show, and he regrets it all.

but tim’s bullheaded insistence on dying rings too close to home for jon, and what he says about walking through fire for jon is more than jon can hold at the moment. the frustration and grief he’s lived with for the past year and change boil up and over into angry words as jon utters an exasperated groan, pulls himself to his feet, and begins to pace the floor erratically with his pent-up energy.]


God damn it, Tim, will you just for once listen to reason? I don’t want you to die! I didn’t want Sasha to die, either, and I know it’s my fault, I couldn’t stop it and I didn’t know it’d happened until it was too late. If there was some way that I could trade my life to get her back, don’t you think I would do it? That’s not a choice I’d have to think about for even a second.

[jon halts his pacing for a moment, rubbing his hand over his mouth in agitation.]

I don’t know what you want from me, Tim. I screwed up. I was on edge after the Hive’s attack, I was under the influence of that - that thing, and I - I made some bad calls, all right? But I can’t change what I did - I can’t change any of it, or I would. So what do you want from me?

[he throws up his hands and shakes his head.]

I mean - Christ, Tim, do you want to just kill me yourself? Would that make you feel better? [jon takes a measured step toward tim, arms outstretched in offering.] Go right ahead! There’s plenty of knives about - stab me, slit my throat, do your worst. It won’t work - if a mob of robots couldn’t get the job done, I very much doubt you could - and even if it did work, it wouldn’t matter. I’d be brought back, and you’d have a very angry angel to contend with.

[rant more or less over, jon drops his face into his hands with another strangled, wordless sound of vexation. he sighs deeply and pulls his head up again, outwardly calmer but no less inwardly upset.]

And what’s that supposed to mean, “you wish you could hate me for that”? Seems like you’ve got quite a list already of things to hate me for, why not just add one more to the pile?
aparticularlyhollowlaugh: (keep dreaming)

[personal profile] aparticularlyhollowlaugh 2022-11-14 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
[jon expected yelling; that’s how these fights with tim have gone, traditionally. he expected anger, or being cursed at, or even violence. he’d just invited tim to attack him, after all, and maybe a good punching out would make both of them feel better.

so while jon expects the emotion and volume of tim’s words, he doesn’t expect what they actually say. it feels to jon like all of the air’s been sucked out of the room. deeply stunned, mouth left open for words that don’t materialize, jon unconsciously wraps his arms around himself. after what seems like an eternity, jon finally shakes himself from the daze and remembers how words work.]


You don’t …

[jon huffs a breath that isn’t even a whisper of a bitter laugh but wishes it were and blinks back the start of tears. jon can’t explain it even to himself, but this confession actually hurts more than being hated and wished dead. somewhere in the past few years, that became normal. instinctively, jon reverts to the harsh facade he’d created as armor to protect himself, and his next words take on a much sharper edge:]

Why not? [i do.] Is the club too crowded for you?

[an asshole thing to say, jon knows this before the words even leave his mouth, and the armor crumbles as quickly as it went up.]

Sorry, I’m sorry, I just - [jon rubs a hand over his mouth and shakes his head. with an almost despairing quality to his voice, he says:] I don’t understand.

[and no, he’s not going to “archivist” an explanation out of you, tim.]
aparticularlyhollowlaugh: (i only fall when you are near me)

[personal profile] aparticularlyhollowlaugh 2022-11-15 03:00 am (UTC)(link)
What about for yourself?

[it would be more than justified - jon had treated tim very badly, and he hadn’t really made any efforts to make amends for it. when confronted, he’d been defensive, made excuses for himself, and stubbornly refused to budge from his unfounded suspicions. at the very least, jon owes tim a long overdue apology. he sighs deeply and cautiously approaches the chair to slump down in it again.]

Tim, I - I know it doesn’t change anything and I know you don’t forgive me, I’m not asking you for that. But I am sorry I acted like such a - a paranoid lunatic.

[those were the words tim used during a fight, and he wasn’t wrong. jon did go off the deep end, and he couldn’t see it until he was already drowning.]

I should’ve trusted you. I should’ve been there for you, I - I should’ve done a lot of things differently. [he pauses for a moment, then adds, in a tone a half shade lighter:] Unfortunately, as you’ve already noted, I am quite useless when it comes to time travel.
aparticularlyhollowlaugh: (throw it out the window)

[personal profile] aparticularlyhollowlaugh 2022-11-17 06:17 am (UTC)(link)
[time and distance have brought jon perspective. a year, who knows how many galaxies, a few deaths - all of these factors have shaped jon’s attitude toward his past behavior and tim’s (perfectly legitimate) complaints. he hadn’t apologized at the time because he hadn’t felt it was warranted; he knows now that it is.

tim’s reaction to the apology is better than jon allowed himself to hope for. all of jon’s bad behavior is much more recent for tim, and jon wouldn’t have been surprised if the other man had simply told him to fuck off. he’ll count this as a win - maybe not quite an arrival at equilibrium, but certainly closer than they had been before.]


You don’t owe me anything, [jon says, allowing himself a thin, grim shade of a smile.] But I do wish you’d reconsider the notion that you have to die in order to achieve justice for your brother.

[he won’t hammer on it now, it would only undo whatever sliver of progress seems to be made with tim. he’ll just have to think of a way to convince tim over time, maybe enlist navi’s help in getting tim back to a different point in time, whenever they arrive where such travel is possible. until then … well, he can offer his own perspective on dying. maybe an attempt at being less aggressively secretive will help his case. jon sits forward a bit in his chair and lightly clears his throat.]

Tim, when I said that you couldn’t kill me, I wasn’t posturing. That’s one of the ways I’m different now - you’d need to wield some kind of significant supernatural power. And from what I Know, you’ve been able to put up enough resistance to the Eye to keep anything like that at bay.

[jon isn’t going to bare his soul unprompted, but he’s willing to have an open discussion, if tim’s interested. and he’s left enough hints that he’s certain tim is smart and observant enough to pick up, if he wants to know more about why jon is so certain in his claim.]

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