video; un: martinkblackwood

[curriculum_fictae]

[ The feed opens to show a rather stiff looking man in his early thirties (late twenties?). Copper red hair, broad shouldered and soft-faced, wearing a rather threadbare grey jumper. He seems a bit nervous? And his eyes stare down at the sheaf of papers he keeps shuffling in front of him. Someone is reading off a script.

(There's something odd about him. Something off. It's not unusual for someone with that hair colour to be pale, but he seems nearly grey in spots, trailing off into transparency around the edges. At least for a moment. And then you blink, and he's an entirely normal person blinking at you with his dull brown eyes.) ]

Hullo, ah. My name is Martin Blackwood and - and I'm an Archive Assistant at the Magnus Institute, London.

[ His accent is rather more Mancunian rather than Londoner, but either way, he's obviously from the UK, if you're the sort to recognise that kind of thing. ]

I've just arrived here with - with Jon Sims, who's the Head Archivist at the same Institute. And ... we'd like very much to keep up the work that we'd done back home. It's, ah.

[ He flushes darkly. ]

Well we don't exactly have a choice is the thing. So.

I-if you have any unusual or supernatural stories from home or - or otherwise, I would be very grateful if you would agree to tell them to us. Text is more or less required? Though if you would like, I'm willing to take your statement in person and write it down for Jon later. Just. Ah. Don't give it to him directly, or there will be um. Side effects.

I'm happy to provide more details on how they'll be used upon request, of course. But honestly, they won't go past me and Jon.

[ Because Jon's going to eat them, of course. ]

PRIVATE: Locked from Jon

And ... er, while I've got you here. Ah.

[ He gulps in a breath, looking even more nervous somehow. ]

Does anyone know of any good therapists around here? One that specialises in the supernatural, perhaps...?

Comments

voice;

[detail]

You are in the right place for supernatural inquiries.

Do you have anything specific you're looking for? Cause otherwise I'd recommend just heading to Jeopardy if just want to research. Living here has been an experience.

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Martin shuffles his papers around, taking out a notebook. ]

That is on my list as well, yes. But for this I'd rather have more personal stories? Something terrible or horrifying that's happened to you personally.

[detail]

Not necessarily recently since I've seemed to have lost a whole month, but I did open a box of spiders recently. Came with a table I purchased from the church. A little bit horrifying to walk into hundreds of spiders hanging out in the occult shop I work in.

I'm still cleaning up the spiders.

[curriculum_fictae]

[ UM. Martin goes very pale very quickly. ]

S-sorry, you said you had a - a table with spiders in it?

video

[khajidont]

Well... I've got a lot of supernatural stories. Or unusual ones, anyway. At home, they're not seen as being quite as supernatural, but they are in some worlds.

[ He coughs a little, looking self-conscious, then appears to puff himself up. ]

...which is why I can give you the name of a good therapist. I dunno about specializes, but if she can deal with my junk, she can deal with a lot. I'll send you her contact information.

private from jon!!

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Oh. His own expression softens a bit with gratitude. ]

N-no, that's - that's perfect. Specialise may have been the wrong term, anyway? As long as - as they're all right with talking about unusual reasons why you might be anxious or depressed, then. That's perfect.

[khajidont]

Yeah. We've gone through, like -- apocalypse stuff? Averted apocalypse stuff? Spooky agents of god and coming back to life and junk? So... I don't know what you need to talk to her about, but chances are, it won't surprise her enough to interfere with her job. You just gotta do the legwork of walking her through it and then she can handle, um.

[ He taps twice on his temple. With that, Martin's phone will ping with the name of a therapist; upon a google, he will discover she's an older woman in Heropa who specializes in trauma and, lo and behold, imPort psychology. ]

And hey -- good luck. It's pretty brave of you to come in asking for that sort of thing. I hope she can help.

I'm Jaime, by the way.

[curriculum_fictae]

Right. Right, that's - that's fair. I'm willing, I just ... you know, need someone who won't dismiss me out of hand. That's all.

[ He fiddles with his phone for a moment, saving that information. And heaving a soft sigh. ]

I'm - well, I'm Martin. Like I said. A-and it's not bravery, really. I just ... things are bad back home? And not safe enough to. To try it, really.

video.

[goldtoxicity]

I've got plenty of unusual stories, but like, how supernatural are we talking here? Like ghost supernatural or like, just anything that isn't normalish? 'cause I think most of mine are technically kind of, uhhh, science based?

[curriculum_fictae]

Ah, well. I meant more on the horror story side of things, but scientific supernatural might work fine. Certainly willing to try it, anyway.

[goldtoxicity]

Oh, yeah, no, I got that. [ josh scratches his chin thoughtfully. ] Uhh... Well I've got info about a ghost, but like, wasn't actually a ghost? One about an immortal death goddess who raised a techno-zombie army, uhhh, there was the stuff with the Fates last year... Oh, uh, some stuff with a hell dimension and demons and junk.

Are you, like, doing some kind of thesis?

[curriculum_fictae]

[ Um. Martin stares at that. ]

Those - those all would count. Yes.

[ God, how does he explain this. ]

N-no, it's - really rather more insidious than that, I'm afraid. B-but if you provide the stories in text form, o-or just to me, you ought to be safe.

on the other side of the room lbh

[eyediot]

You know, I think this may be the most information we've ever gotten up front from the start about horrible things around us.

[Cece explaining about the Fates and the power vacuum, and now this table... Lord. This network is a breath of fresh air.]

[curriculum_fictae]

Amazing what happens when you don't work for, you know, Elias Bouchard.

[ Not that Martin is pleased with the revelations so far. He is incredibly concerned, actually. ]

[eyediot]

[Oh his pulse has been just a steady beat with no stopping since he started looking into this place.]

It is quite illuminating just how hard he made things on purpose.

[curriculum_fictae]

Mm. I - I should have realised much sooner.

[ He rubs at his face. ]

What the hell are we going to do about that table, Jon.

[verunandesu]

Hello. You may want to get in touch with a man called Darth Nox. He has a museum, of sorts, which collects the stories of many imPorts before they were taken here. It may be useful.

And I would like to request details about how you intend to use the stories you are gathering. And why we should not directly tell this man named Jon.

[eyediot]

Thank you for that. I'll look into getting in touch with him and that you sent us his direction.

As for what we intend to use them for. Back home and what we shall continue to do here to the best of our capabilities is research, file, and properly archive them.

[No need for anyone else to know what he needs them for.]

[verunandesu]

You are very welcome. He seems to be the type to chat to about archiving, if that is your area of interest.

I wonder why we should not tell them to you directly?

[eyediot]

It is not only my area of interest, it is my specialty and expertise.

And honestly, for my own peace of mind.

[And. Well. Everyone else's.]

[curriculum_fictae]

Huh. Bit of an odd name, but yes, I'll gladly follow up.

[ That second comment though ... he's only surprised it took this long for someone to say something like that. ]

Ah. Well. Like Jon said, we will archive them. For you that will. Really be the end of it. It will all be fully private.

... We, ah. We get something else out of it.

[verunandesu]

Everyone here is oddly named. It is something one gets used to, over time.

Something else? You do realize that you must elaborate now that you have said that.

un: frenchie

[culpabilite]

bonjour, monsieur bois noir!

you use these statement how?

[curriculum_fictae]

Oh, ah. Bonjour, I suppose. I don't speak much French.

We ... eat them.

[culpabilite]

with the universal translator function of the nanites, perhaps in fact you do.

what are you talking about? shakespeare in paperback would be less effort to stew.