More archivist!michael au! This time, with references for half of the season one archives crew!
Jon, who was fed to the spiral by Gertrude while he was still a researcher, kind of haunts the narrative for a while, I’d think. For characters like Georgie and Tim, Jon’s mysterious disappearance combined with the fact that he’d been talking to Gertrude is part of what urges them to work in the archives. Tim had works with Jon in research, and Georgie and Jon had broken up not too long beforehand.
It’s been a really fun au to work on and I will never ever be normal about it. Ever.
Transcripts for the text on the au refs:
GEORGIE BARKER: 29. She/They. Georgie never actually applied as an archival assistant. She was investigating the institute after the disappearance of Jonathan Sims, and Elias had personally reached out to her about it! She’s not sure why the hell she said yes. (She’s) really chill, but doesn’t hesitate to set up boundaries when the need to crops up. She gets on well with Sasha from the research department upstairs. End transcript.
GERARD DELANO: 35 years old. He/They. Gerry managed to catch the brain tumor early! He winds up signing an employment contract a few years before Gertrude “vanishes” figuring he didn’t have many other options. Gerry intended to keep Michael in the dark because he thought it could keep him from being involved. You should know better, Gerry. End transcript.
MICHAEL SHELLEY: 44 years old. He/Him. After Gertrude’s tragic disappearance, Elias appoints her most experienced assistant as the new Head Archivist! (in reality, Elias was already pissed at Gertrude for feeding his next pick for archivist to the spiral. This felt like good revenge.) He has a weird laugh, but it’s strangely disarming. Sometimes it makes people more willing to talk. Sometimes he laughs and they suddenly remember the most humiliating moment in their lives. He Knows about it too, now. Not fun. Nobody ever believes him when he says he’s in his forties, and he’s given up on correcting them.
Tma au where Gertrude decides to drag some poor curious researcher with her to sanikov land, and Elias decides it’d be a great “fuck you” to Gertrude to name her most oblivious surviving assistant as head archivist after her disappearance. None of this ends well for anybody.
The remaining three season 1 and 2 assistants + Jonathan, who isn’t an archival assistant but still keeps popping into the archives even though nobody wanted that.
Elias assigns Michael four assistants instead of Jon’s three mostly because of his obliviousness. While he does still want Michael to be marked by the fear entities for the whole “living archive of fear I’m evil bt dubs” thing, he would also rather Michael not die before that can happen, so. Extra hands. He was going to transfer Sasha from research to the archives, but Ms Barker happened to wander into the institute just in time!
Transcripts for the references:
JONATHAN: Unknown Age. The pronouns are listed as He, but anything after the slash is unintelligible.
The Distortion.
Formerly Jonathan Sims. He’d met Gertrude Robinson while working as a researcher. She’d convinced poor Jon to accompany to her to Sanikov Land for “academic experience”.
He’s almost always smiling. The expression looks unnatural on his face.
Likes the current archives crew. Still wants Michael dead.
MARTIN BLACKWOOD: 32. He/Him.
Archival Assistant to Michael Shelley. Formerly a librarian, Elias abruptly transferred him after Gertrude Robinson vanished.
Nice enough, but distant. Nobody actually remembers his last name for a while.
As things in the archives get worse and worse, he seems to throw himself into his work more and more.
Lied on his CV, but Mr. Shelley doesn’t seem to mind.
TIMOTHY STOKER: 31. He/Him.
Archival Assistant to Michael Shelley. He used to be in research, but transferred partly because of the disappearance of his colleague, Jon Sims.
At the end of season one, he’s taken by the Not Them. However, it fails to fully “digest” him, you could say?
Long story made short, he’s not exactly Tim, but he’s also not exactly NOT Tim?
Not Not Tim. It’s confusing. (He) can also be called Tims Stokers.
