#mag138

[sixeritwouldeatyoualive]

elias you are SO funny

me acting like i haven't seen so many spoilers already: i don't like where this is going

[ceaseless-bitcher]

Hamilton-style musical of rendition of Robert Smirke’s crew and the fallout between himself, Jonah Magnus, and the rest of them.

Ambitious Scottish upstart Jonah Magnus, plunging into the scene of higher society and academia

Interpersonal drama in the esoteric research and philosophy sphere

A power ballad aria from Smirke as he describes his grand, utopian plans for balance

Jonah seeing the wonders of this new world and getting increasingly involved in it, probably getting in some heated theoretical debates with Rayner et al. about it because, being Beholding- and Dark-aligned, their fundamental views would be diametrically opposed

A slowly-shifting musical motif for Jonah as his intentions develop over the course of the play

Barnabas pleading with Jonah through his letter; they’re in separate parts of the stage with different lightings and they can’t see each other. Jonah is reading, rather than listening to, his words

SPOTLIGHTS REMINISCENT OF EYES

Harrowing solo as Jonah sinks deeper into fearing the possibility of rituals

More below the cut because I’m going nuts about this.

I would feel like there’s too much ground to cover (c. 1809 [estimated year Jonah gets introduced to the Fears if he established the Institute in 1818 and talked Smirke into working on Millbank 1815-1821] all the way to 1867 [year of Smirke’s death and the final decommissioning of Millbank: the year in which I place Jonah’s first attempt at the Watcher’s Crown]) if it weren’t for the several decades covered in Hamilton. It provides a pretty good guide for such a varied timeline.

More insane scenes:

Contrast of Albrecht Von Closen’s 1816 letter informing Jonah of his findings at his nephew’s estate vs Dr. Johnathan Fanshawe’s 1831 letter revealing how Jonah knowingly caused Von Closen’s death by stealing his books and got him filled with eyes

Smirke watching the group he formed fall to the Fears in turn, clinging to his alliance with Jonah and therefore being blind to his own turn towards Beholding

Jonah’s financial wheedling with Mordechai Lukas and other donors for his fledgling Institute

Jonah being so gleeful about his brand new Magnus Institute in Edinburgh, after several years of compiling statements informally

HE GETS TO DELIGHT IN ALL THE SCHEDULING AND LOGISTICS!!!

Just. all the letters we have record of. I haven’t even gotten to Dr. Algernon Moss or the conflict between George Gilbert Scott and Sampson Kempthorne

PETTY architecture drama

[filthyprotozoan]

MAG138: The Architecture of Fear

watercolor & ink // kofi

[im-the-knight-of-stardust]

It's times like these when I don't know if I love to hate or hate to love Elias. That man is infuriating but he also is somehow really funny.

[michaelshelleyenthusiast]

Martin, at the end of mag 138: good luck Jon, I- stay safe

THIS BOY WAS ABOUT TO SAY I LOVE YOU YOU CANT PROVE ME WRONG

[theunsubtleknife]

Well, looks like I'm packing up the red string corkboard and clown shoes

[dykehozier]

no one can convince me he wasnt about to say something among the lines of “I wish I could talk to jon about this”

[soveryanon]

(MAG039) ARCHIVIST: And to top it all, I still don’t know what happened to Gertrude. Officially, she’s still missing. But Elias is no help […].

(MAG039) ELIAS: Right. Tell me again, please. SASHA: You’re kidding. […] Well, for the record, if we don’t do something now, it won’t matter either way.

(MAG058) TIM: Look: I tried talking to Elias about it, but it doesn’t seem to do any good!

(MAG062) GERTRUDE: I should really tell Elias about this. MARY: By all means! He’s not exactly big on action, though, is he?

(MAG065) TIM: […] The actual worst thing is that no one here has my back. With any of it! Elias doesn’t care […].

(MAG079) TIM: […] There is something in this place, and it’s messing up our heads. It watches us all the time, it stops me quitting, I’m pretty sure it would stop Elias firing Jon even if he decided to actually try running this place for once. […] Er… Elias is probably still in his office. MARTIN: I thought you said he was a waste of a suit. TIM: Yeah, well he’s better than nothing!

(MAG096) ARCHIVIST: […] A gift from Elias, no doubt. He could have sent this to me any time, filled me in on Breekon and Hope, but no. I had to find it myself, just in time for him to show me he knew all about it. … Cocky prick.

(MAG096) ARCHIVIST: Ohhh… You thought we were going to, er… y’know. Kill her. DAISY: El–Elias didn’t say. ARCHIVIST: No, he doesn’t, uh… He’s not big on micromanagement.

(MAG102) ARCHIVIST: A month, Elias. And you did what, nothing? […] And imagine what might have happened if your rescue had been slower. ELIAS: Sarcasm isn’t going to help, Jon. ARCHIVIST: The only thing here that “isn’t going to help” is you. […] Fine. At least we now know you’re of zero practical use here. So aside from sending me other people’s statements, what can you actually do to help?

(MAG105) XIAOLING: … How long did you say you have been Archivist? ARCHIVIST: Uh… About two years now. XIAOLING: Well, Elias made a good choice. I did offer him someone, but he thought the language might be too much for him.

(MAG107) ARCHIVIST: What irritates me most is that Elias was clearly aware of this, hence his sending me this. Which seems to serve no other purpose but as a restorative. But as usual… he chose to keep this very useful information to himself.

(MAG108) PETER: Oh. That doesn’t sound like the Elias I know. He killed people himself? […] Elias Bouchard, getting his hands dirty. Well-well. Must be the End Times.

(MAG117) ARCHIVIST: […] Elias seems pretty insistent I go along. Part of me thinks it’s just so we can see if whatever this… preparation he’s been trying to do on me works. And you know what? That same… petty little part of me… rather hopes it doesn’t; that all this time, all his… cryptic nudges and “learn to fly by falling” attitude ends up being a complete waste of time. Just to show him.

(MAG134) PETER: […] But I believe I have a plan. However, it requires this place, and it requires someone touched by The Beholding. Elias was, perhaps unsurprisingly, unwilling to help.

->

(MAG138) MARTIN: Great. Great, great. So, what you’re [NERVOUS LAUGHTER] actually saying is that you’re gonna be… no help whatsoever! ELIAS: Just like old times~