𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎 was a delightful inclusion. Elias stays for the entirety of the presentation in body and mind, only checking out for a millisecond on an indication that he felt someone speaking ill of the dead within the archive’s walls. He was right and would remember the slight during their next performance review.
❝ Go back to slide 24. The one about Nikola Orsinov. ❞ Elias smiles, ever cheerful: a bowl of popcorn in his lap. What good is a movie without the concessions? ❝ Expand on the your previous bullet points. How she particularly, is the worst. ❞ He’s paraphrasing, of course---but it’s true. He hates that puppet.
Alright, so picture this: It’s the Institute’s yearly Halloween party. The Archival drones are definitely not feeling up to it this year, but it’s an excuse to have something more than takeout or whatever the nearby pubs offer, so they drag themselves out of their ongoing nightmare to mingle with more normal Institute 9-to-5′ers. Levi, being the good lad he is, started preparing a while in advance, wanting to make sure his beloved Uncle Beeper’s first year as Head goes along smoothly. He’s even dressed up for the occasion -- Beeper and Mini-Beeper. He has drawn on a beard. Peter is losing his mind just looking at him. Good lad, Talbot!
And then Leah stumbles in. Well, not really stumbling, she makes those heels work and she hasn’t pre-gamed too badly at her mate’s in Barking. It still stands she took the train from Barking out to Westminster dressed in... Well. Jonah, But Make Him A Thot.
She saunters in, green coat with long tails, a plunging neckline, and hot pants in London’s autumnal chill, her heels are as tall as most of Peter’s tales. She has drawn on a little pencil moustache and wears a quite period accurate top-hat, into which her hair is gathered to give the illusion of shortness. She’s even got a monocle, for fuck’s sake.
And they clap eyes from across the room. And Leah grins so wide and clears the distance, whether Levi is enthralled by this backhand against his boss or traumatized by the very concept of Sexy Magnus. She’s snuck in liquor, and wants to really drive home how complementary their outfits are. Writes him up a tidy little divorce paper as a prop. They aren’t attached to each other at the hip, they just occasionally cross paths again in the course of the evening. Each time, Leah is a little more drunk than the last. The same goes for Levi’s direct boss -- Damn it, Leah.
Levi has to drag his bedsheet ghost boss and said boss’ Sexy Magnus plus one back into the basement before they start making idiots of themselves or spilling secrets the rest of the Institute isn’t meant to know. And he sits with these two drunken pests, and hears them start yammering on, and realizes he’s... Not as pressed by this as he should be. He’s had a fun night with his peers, a chance to unwind, and is now making sure they are safe after the party. It’s almost normal. Ignore they are in the Archives. It’s a port of camaraderie and belonging in the port of whatever their lives are in S4.
Beeper later comes down with the last of the cake for Levi and helps give him strength to keep those two from escaping confinement. They get into the tunnels anyway, but overall, it’s been a better than expected evening.
@leavyes asked: “Just because it’s a myth doesn’t mean it’s not true.” / leavyes + tim
“okay, that’s true.” tim is pacing in front of levi’s desk, a delighted light in his eyes. his hands move when he talks and he pauses every few steps to bounce on his toes. “but you can’t deny that mythologizing these subjects makes it hard to tell truth from fiction. muddies the waters. because a good potion of them aren’t true. and that’s not even getting into the details that get added with each pass around of the myth. each time it gets harder to pick out the threads. i’m not saying we should discount myth entirely, just that we shouldn’t jump to them first. both because there’s less chance and because they take longer to sort out.
“they have a time and place, i think. personally, i’m more interested in things i can pin down with some level of certainty when it comes to statement follow up. or something to track down. myths are for free time when i’ve got the availability to pick them apart. find the little grains hiding away.” he finally stops pacing and turns to face levi fully, half smiling.
@leavyes asked: ❛ some people have swimming pools, other people have private cemeteries. ❜ / evan + leavyes
“person one being your boyfriend’s dad and person two being your dad.” evan stares at the slightly staggered rows of weathered graves. they all look like they’ve been here for decades but not ten minutes ago he found one from 2014. “though, i suppose we also had a family cemetery growing up. i used to spend a lot of time there. some interesting flowers tend to grow around graves, you know.”
he toes at the grass, digs up a clump with the tip of his boot. cemeteries tend to make him nervous these days. some part of him recognizes that he should be among them, six feet beneath the dirt. or maybe it’s Something Else calling to him, reminding him that it rescued him from his fate. “personally, i’d rather have a pool.”
@leavyes asked: ❛ did that ghost just spell ‘get out’ wrong? ❜ / leavyes + jon
jon arches one eyebrow, glancing at the writing and then at levi. “ghosts? really?” deep down he’s always known the supernatural was real. ever since he opened that book. since he watched his bully get pulled into the darkness by long, spindly legs. but ghosts seems a step too far.
“i highly doubt it’s a ghost. misspelling or not. more likely some kind of invisible creature.” he turns his nose up at the idea even as a tingle of fear spreads through him. ghosts imply the existence of an afterlife. that one’s consciousness doesn’t just disappear after death. that he has a soul. it makes him nervous. makes a shiver shoot down his spine. he curls his fingers tightly around his torch. “a very stupid creature.”
❛ do not say we should split up. ❜ / @leavyes + tim
“i’m just saying we could cover more ground that way!” tim has a camera of his own that he waves around as he speaks. “it’s a big building. i can take the stuff in the bag and then you’re basically a recording unit all on your own. we both know what we’re doing. it isn’t our first rodeo, as you americans say. it’ll be fine, babe.” he nudges levi gently, leans into him.
“come on. your dad’s making dinner and i don’t want to be late.”
