beholding_archivist: (The Archive - Finds you)
Jonathan 'Eyebags' Sims ([personal profile] beholding_archivist) wrote in [community profile] revivalproject2020-06-03 04:35 am

Make your Statement, face your fear.

WHO: Jonathan Sims & YOU
WHERE: Jon's Calibration Room
WHAT: Explore the Archivist's mind
WHEN: During the Calibration Event [ June 3rd - July 10th ]
WARNINGS: EYES - Body horror, possible mentions of unsettling events including kidnapping, death and dreadful monsters

The Archivist's office is a mess. Most offices are. Especially offices located in basements. Offices that belong to equally chaotic archives. And the archives of the Magnus Institute are incredibly chaotic. Gertrude Robinson has seen to that. And yet the mess in this office isn't hers. It's the mess of the current Archivist, right now seated behind his cluttered desk, appearing even smaller than he actually is, the small lamp on the table serving as the only actual source of light in this room. In front of the Archivist sits a small pile of statement files on a dining plate, but his attention isn't on the files, it's on his visitor.

There are more of these files spread all over the room. Cardboard boxes full of them stacked high and pushed into whatever free corner has once existed in it. Further boxes are stacked less high or are plain lying around, some closed, some opened, some rummaged through. Other, smaller boxes that aren't filled with files join the previous ones. There are also a few metal shelves covering part of the walls. And file cabinets. There are more files in these as well as more boxes and books. Most of them scientific in nature, some deal with the arcane, myths and legends. Various types of tape recorders and boxes of tapes are also widely strewn about as well as loose pages of paper, the occasional tea mug and cobwebs. For some reason or another there are at least a dozen fire extinguishers to be spotted throughout the room, and it likely isn't due to the clearly used ashtray or the golden lighter with a cobweb design engraved onto it on the desk near the Archivist's dust-covered laptop, untouched cup of tea and the sole human rib. Aside from more stray sheets of paper and some writing equipment, a single book also resides on the desk, its title introducing it as A Guest for Mr. Spider.

Though there is more to be found in the various shelves as well. A knife as well as a cleaver, an unsuspecting whistle that seems to be surrounded by an odd fog and will vanish should one try to reach for it. Underneath one of the shelves, there even is a plain cardboard box filled with C-4 plastic explosives. Further up, a roughly football-sized dark sun dares the visitor to look at it to plunge them into utter and complete darkness. The frisbee some may recognize as a certain someone's shield seems a little out of place as it lays unassuming on one of the higher shelves, covering an odd little action figure from view.

But maybe one feels more compelled to look out of the window, suspiciously present in this basement office. Outside lies the vastness of space, set to incite the feeling of falling right into it unless one pulls away from the sight in time. Or the human-sized mannequin standing motionless in one of the corners, wearing an ancient gorilla skin along with its top hat and a wide, leery, painted-on grin. It has no eyes. The pulsing, black and red veins creeping along the walls of the office and present themselves in varying sizes and thicknesses may also draw the visitor's attention. Or the seemingly harmless and somewhat misplaced looking yellow door draws them in, just there on the wall behind that coffin lying on the floor as if it belongs there. Thick chains are wrapped around it with a padlock holding them close, key stuck inside and inviting the visitor to unlock it. Just ignore the large letters carved into its wood imploring you to 'DO NOT OPEN' the casket. It'll be fine.

Yet... How tempting all of these things may be, the visitor may be unable to entirely ignore the MASSIVE EYE taking up the entire ceiling of the room, glowing an eerie green and watching their every move. Or any of the other eyes scattered around the room. The walls, the cabinets, the shelves, the side of the Archivist's desk, the corners, the floor, the Archivist's forehead. All shapes and sizes and colors and all of them watching the visitor unblinking, unjudging. Just following their every move around the room - Just as the Archivist himself does.

Maybe you want to look around, and maybe you just want to take a seat in that single empty chair before the Archivist's desk. There is just enough room between it and the casket to not feel too cramped in. As for the trap door next to the Archivist's desk... Now that one won't open just yet.
backoff: (pic#14112087)

[personal profile] backoff 2020-07-06 06:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Cloud watches Jon quietly. Everyone had their own way to live and experience their own lives. He had his own reasons to view things a bit differently than others right now. There's moments of doubt and guilt knowing that they would still be in this situation if he did die soon. Cloud takes in a breath and holds it. A simple word that he didn't want to say out loud. But it had been the truth and would always be the truth.

"Despair." He knew he wouldn't enjoy saying it out loud. It had almost became a truth and one that he kept trying to run from.
backoff: (pic#14112089)

[personal profile] backoff 2020-07-06 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Cloud tilts his head at Jon but he doesn't really question him on his understanding. Jon held a lot of information. Jon could make his own conclusions based on what Cloud has told him.

"How do you want to help me?" The question is soft and polite. Cloud can't help needing to ask Jon. He had been through a lot. "You provided me with some help in trying to find a cure. But what do you mean about helping me with avoiding my darkness?"
backoff: (pic#14112107)

[personal profile] backoff 2020-07-07 02:51 am (UTC)(link)
"I can do that but I'm not good at talking out my feelings." Cloud's not the best at talking or saying the right things. He knows he doesn't say the right things but that's something he'll learn over time. "I won't turn down tea. That would be rude."
backoff: (pic#14112107)

[personal profile] backoff 2020-07-07 01:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"I will have to take you at your word about that." He looks away while folding his arms loosely against his chest. Cloud doesn't even know what Jon really means but he's putting in a bit of trust. He doesn't feel threatened and if Jon had answered differently Cloud would have been evasive.