@katsumatsu4 / katsumatsu4.tumblr.com
Flesh, Desolation, Spiral
A fun trivia about the distortion designs is normally in art you're told to avoid tangents (lines that touch but don't intersect) because they make your drawing look flat/less 3D/and adds spacial ambiguity. For Michael and Helen I intentionally added more tangent lines :D
Yo distortion girlies check this shit out
very large post of all the magnus archives memes i drew on twitter. these were fun to make but tagging all of these characters is going to be impossible
a bunch of doodles i did out of boredom
The Distortion
The idea that Jonahs hosts never age in the mind scape is a little sad if Elias get freed and goes from a man in his 20s to a man in his late fourties
okay i could’ve answered this with some funny stuff but not today apparently
So here you go, enjoy!
“I’m alone”
About me today : *Read to the tone of that jurgen leitner rant* Are they bored? ARE THEY A BASTARD??
Also this is messy af oh well
“Please”
MIKE YOU COWARD SIT WITH HIM!!!!!
HDBDJKD IT’S HELEN NOW
MICHAEL IS GOOOONE
ALRIGHT THEN RYSTTLE YOU COWARD MAKE THIS EXIST IN THE SIBLINGS AU!
HA! UNO REVERSE! IM NOT A COWARD BECAUSE I’VE actually made the bonus drawing but I posted it on chatwomb server and not tumblr come over, join us ANYWAY :
There
i know the classic painting study trend is long over and i could never do his style justice but i’ve wanted to do a rendition of my very favorite norman rockwell painting of all time which is “the gossips” since like 2016/2017 so. original painting and a version of mine w/o backgrounds below the cut
“....So… What you’re saying is you could drop me off before… Before…?”
[Image ID: A digital illustration of Distortion! Helen and Martin in rotating rainbow hallways. In the background, Martin (a fat man with curly hair and glasses) enters a bright yellow doorway under a clock. Leading up to the doorway are a series of tilted doorways surrounded by differently colored rooms. In the foreground, Distortion! Helen (a thin, strangely proportioned "woman" in business clothes) leans against a doorframe and curls inordinately long fingers towards herself pensively. A long-running rug patterned with spirals runs from Helen to Martin, stopping at his threshold. End ID]
My illustration for the first chapter of @banashee's charming @podcastbigbang fic!! I love a piece with time travel and polyam Archives crew and this one is particularly sweet 🥺💕 Check it out here on AO3!! and check out my fellow artist's @clbl-arts good art here!
I just realized that there is another way to read the line “I am at least as much ‘Helen Richardson’ as you are the ‘Jonathan Sims’ that first joined this Institute.”
The more Jon insisted on being Jon, the more the distortion had to play the role of Helen to trap him. If he had truly embraced being “the archivist,” the distortion could have felt free to be truly monstrous in his presence.
The more Jon remained Jon, the more the distortion had to mirror the humanity as “Helen.”
In retrospect, this line actually speaks rather well of Jon, I think.
excuse me this post deserves thousands of notes because it BLEW MY MIND the matter of jon’s humanity and how helen played a part in our perception of it is something that has obsessed me for two seasons every time she drew parallels between them she planted doubts in me but that was her plan all along - on us and jon both if she posed as a human slowly leaning into her monstrosity as something both natural and inevitable then we’d think that’d inevitably be the case for jon too she kept pretending to be as much helen as jon was the archivist because on the one hand she wanted to prove to jon they were similar and on the other insinuate jon was losing himself because he /knew/ she wasn’t helen and how do you know if you’re still yourself? you can’t. you have to trust others to be mirrors but all jon had in s4 were people distrusting him and helen she truly played the game and while jon is undoubtedly a monster he retained his humanity and sense of self the distortion kept playing at being helen because of it but it stopped working when jon had daily proof of his human selfhood in an inhuman body martin is his reason and his mirror. he believes jon to be jon. he’s a reminder he can feel human emotions and that’s why helen didn’t want him there. she needed to sow the doubt she planted and Martin’s presence would’ve made it impossible goddamn a perfect episode (via @blake-wyatt )
…Huh. How much, if any, of The Distortion posing as Michael was real to begin with? Was the “I merged with this entity when it tried to destroy me” at all true, or was that just the start of a long con, where it introduced itself in the form of “Michael” while always intending to shift into a more sympathetic figure at a later point??
GENERAL TMA SPOILERS
Ahhh the kayak land...getting more...and more visitors... :'( *sad spiral noises*
long post ahead I'm sorry-
crack au where Jonah Magnus is a good guy but everything keeps going wrong and he spends all of his time running around trying to stop his employees from diving headfirst into their Fuck Up™ of the week
in this au Jonah is almost entirely incompetent but he's got the exasperated parent thing down enough to make up for his lack of braincells
he's also at least 7% dumber than he is in canon
s1 Jon: please call pest control there are so many worms
s1 Elias: I already did
Jon: and??
Elias: they ate them
Jon: the worms?
Elias: the pest control guys. the worms ate them
Elias spends the entirety of season 2 desperately trying to convince Jon that none of them killed Gertrude (in this au Gertrude just had a stroke or something in the tunnels). Elias stops Jon from destroying the table but a week later something heavy falls on it and the NotThem escapes anyway. Elias bashes in Leitner's head with a pipe after mistaking him for the monster and Jon gets framed.
now Elias has to convince this hunter that Jon is innocent while Jon runs around and harasses various fear avatars (who are all very amused with Elias' wayward Archivist). Jon assumes Elias knows nothing about all this bullshit because Elias is just his weird and uptight boss who accidentally killed someone, he can't possibly know that there are literally fear gods ruling over them
olive ⚰ has named the group 'Avatars ✨'
JMagnus 👀: Jude please don't hurt him. I'll explain everything when he gets back to the Institute.
🔥: too late
JMagnus 👀: What?
🔥: too late
🔥: burned him
[JMagnus 👀 is typing]
JMagnus 👀: Where is he now.
🔥: going to mike
JMagnus 👀: Mike Crew???
🔥: ya
Elias RACES to Mike's house but he. he fucking misses them. the Beholding helpfully tells him that they're all going back to the Institute so Basira and Daisy can interrogate him, which isn't ideal, he'd really like to not go to jail, so he drafts up an employment contract on the way back and barely manages to escape the whole thing with his life intact.
then he explains everything to Jon because if Jon is going to end up being the Archivist, being uninformed won't do. Jon becomes the Archivist completely on accident and Elias is desperately trying to make all of this work because, haha, the Unknowing is coming up, and Elias is not in the fucking mood to deal with clowns.
olive ⚰ has named the group 'all that is terror uwu'
spidey🕸: lmfaooo jonah how do you make an archivist on accident
JMagnus 👀: He stumbled into it. All I can do now is ensure he doesn't die.
JMagnus 👀: Or get further injured by the rest of you.
🔥: woops
🎭: hEy gUyS lOnG tiMe nO sEe
🎭: gEt iT eLiAs
🎭: sEe
JMagnus 👀: Beholding puns are not amusing from a manifestation of the Stranger.
🎭 has named the group 'eLiAs bE niCe tO niKoLa cHaLlEnGe'
🔥: haha
spidey🕸: I'm sure Nikola will be on her best behavior
🎭: yEaH i wOnT kiDnAp yOuR aRcHiViSt
[JMagnus 👀 is typing]
mike n ike: hey guys what'd I miss
🔥: arent you dead
mike n ike: yeh but I came back
JMagnus 👀: NIKOLA ORSINOV WHERE IS JONATHAN SIMS
🔥: can't you see haha
mike n ike: heh "see"
JMagnus 👀: NIKOLA
spidey🕸: wow he must be pissed
spidey🕸: he left out the punctuation
JMagnus 👀: I WILL BREAK ALL OF YOUR PLASTIC BONES WHERE'S MY ARCHIVIST
🎭 has left the chat.
JMagnus 👀: what the FUCK
since he's still a coward Elias sends Michael to go fetch Jon, only finding out after the fact that he very nearly almost signed Jon's death warrant. Elias is now speedrunning Jon's development because fuck the Unknowing is coming up really quickly and Tim is a self destructive mess and Melanie keeps trying to stab Elias and Martin is a pining idiot and goddammit he didn't sign up for this
Elias prepares Jon the best he can for the Unknowing, because even though he knows the ritual will fail, the Circus can still cause a considerable amount of damage and he needs them out of the way.
the Unknowing happens. Jon ends up in a wack ass coma, Tim is dead, Daisy's in the coffin, and Basira is starting to look like the better choice of Archivist because jesus christ Jon has no self preservation instinct. Elias doesn't get arrested this time around but his ex husband starts coming by the Institute and fucking with all his employees. and the Flesh is attacking. jesus. goddamn.
olive ⚰ has named the group 'bully elias'
JMagnus 👀: Why are you all so mean to me? I'm arguably the nicest one here.
🔥: ur joking right
Peter Lukas: you're not nice you didn't buy me an anniversary gift 😢😢😢
JMagnus 👀: I was busy.
Peter Lukas: doing what
JMagnus 👀: Stopping the Flesh from destroying my Institute. Besides, you didn't remember my birthday.
Peter Lukas: you're 200 years old how could I remember 😓
helen!!!!!: We All Know I'm The Nicest One Here!!
JMagnus 👀: How did you make your text that colorful?
helen!!!!!: IDK
JMagnus 👀: Liar.
helen!!!!!: That's Literally My Job
olive ⚰: hey eli your archivist just woke up I think
🔥: ew why
helen!!!!!: How Delightful!! Maybe I'll Throw Him A Glad You're Alive Party!!
olive ⚰: should we invite him to this chat since he's an avatar now
Peter Lukas: no 🙅 🚫❌
Peter Lukas: I hate archivists 😤😤
olive ⚰: still mad about gertrude huh
🔥: were all still mad about gertrude
🔥: but jons fine once you burn some manners into him
JMagnus 👀: Can you all please stop hurting Jon? Or talking about hurting him? I would like my Archivist to not acquire any more scars.
🔥: damn
Peter Lukas: damn 😔
Elias keeps trying to teach Jon how to pick certain victims to feed off of because personally he has no qualms about feeding from innocents but Jon!! actually trusts him!!! so Elias doesn't want to push Jon into making decisions that will offend his moral sensitivities.
things are actually going okay for a while. Elias starts going home at a reasonable time in the evenings and Jon is actually getting some sleep. and then-
Elias is having a nice dream about Peter trying to fish Simon Fairchild out of a sky filled with eyes when he abruptly sits up in bed, wide awake.
"Ah, fuck," he says to Peter, who is laying on the floor where it is Lonelier™. "Jon's doing something stupid. I Know it."
Peter's mumbled "isn't he always" goes unnoticed as Elias hurries to the Institute, where he finds a fucking rib on Jon's desk and the coffin in the middle of the room.
Peter Lukas has named the chat 'archivists ruin my sleep schedule and my sex life'
JMagnus 👀: What the fuck do I do?? I can't go into the Buried! Why is Jon so stupid? I didn't know he had zero braincells when I hired him!
🔥: ngl why havent you fired him yet
JMagnus 👀: Beholding won't let me. We're all bound to the Institute.
🔥: F
JMagnus 👀: Why are there no Buried avatars in here? Please someone help me.
mike n ike: lol the buried is gross why would anyone go down there
spidey🕸: does he have an anchor?
[JMagnus 👀 sent an image]
🔥: is that a fucking rib
spidey🕸: wow that's not a good anchor at all
spidey🕸: he needs someone he loves
JMagnus 👀: Thanks. Gtg.
spidey🕸: np
🔥: are we not going to talk about his rib
🔥: how the fuck did he get that out of his body
🔥: yall
🔥: YALL
it takes three days for Elias to find Martin.
"Please tell me why the fuck you're dabbling in the Lonely," Elias says as Martin steps sheepishly out of the fog.
"Ah. Well. Jon can't See into it very well and sometimes we like to spice up our se-"
"Stop before I have to gouge my eyes out again."
"A-Again-?"
Elias drags Martin back to the Institute. Martin starts setting tapes on the coffin because "Jon loves these" and Elias starts bashing his head into the wall.
Jon climbs out of the coffin with Daisy and Elias almost considers locking Jon in his office so the damn archivist can't do anything else ridiculous. instead, Elias very calmly takes Jon by the shoulders, and shakes him like a rag doll.
"Stop fucking with entities, you stupid, stupid man," Elias says, shaking Jon more viciously now.
after several hours of breathing exercises Elias returns to his house and doesn't take his Sight off of Jon for the rest of the night, which is a fun experience for Peter when he wakes up and finds Elias' bloodshot eyes staring directly at him in the morning.
JMagnus 👀 added Daisy to 'archivists ruin my sleep schedule and my sex life'
Peter Lukas has named the chat 'archivist hate club'
JMagnus 👀 has named the chat 'shut up peter'
Peter Lukas has named the chat 'you love jon more than me'
JMagnus 👀 has named the chat 'I don't love either of you I'm heartless'
Peter Lukas has named the chat 'I want a divorce'
spidey🕸: jeez take your marital dispute elsewhere
spidey🕸 has named the chat 'lonelyeyes dni'
Daisy: wtf is this
mike n ike: it's a chat for avatars
mike n ike: and ex avatars ig
Daisy: didn't I kill you
mike n ike: yea
JMagnus 👀: Hello, Daisy. Welcome to the group chat.
Daisy: why is Jon not in here
Peter Lukas: because I hate him 😁
spidey🕸: Elias talks mad shit in here and Jon would get offended
Daisy: if you talk bad about Jon I'll rip your throat out
Daisy: :)
JMagnus 👀: Noted.
mike n ike: he's kinda rude tho
Daisy: I've killed you once
Elias' only goal now is to keep Jon and his assistants from pulling any more wild stunts without his supervision. his renewed involvement with the archival staff results in a few things he'd hoped to avoid: drink invites, physical contact (Martin is surprisingly quick to start hugging Elias once he realizes Elias won't stop him), and- shudder -feelings. because Elias genuinely cares about his staff and doesn't want any harm to befall them. especially Jon. Jon is his Archivist, the only one to ever succeed like this, and Elias will be damned if he lets anything happen to him.
"Why do you care?" Jon asks, once, compulsion thrumming like static on his tongue. "About us, I mean. I would've assumed you'd want to perform the Beholding's ritual."
Jonah Magnus attempted the Watcher's Crown once, when he was young and new. he'd brought his patron close, but not all the way through, and the backlash of power killed all the inmates at Millbank and severely crippled Jonah's connection to the Eye for months afterward. he grew to assume that the Beholding simply preferred the world as it was--ripe with fear for watching. it didn't need a ritual.
he instead dedicated himself to growing stronger, cultivating his Institute of knowledge, his stronghold. if he tore out a few people's eyes when he got too old, then, well, collateral. but he doesn't want the world to end, and knows now that no ritual will ever succeed unless it brings in all the Powers at once. and he doesn't want that either.
it's concerning to him that Jon seems to be collecting marks regardless. the only ones he's missing are the Dark and the Lonely, and Elias is determined to keep it that way.
he explains all of this to Jon who, to his credit, takes it pretty well. Jon is fascinated with historic life and Elias spends some time simply recounting tales of his youth, when he still bore the name Magnus.
they bond. it's good.
and one day Basira does a little too much research and discovers the dark sun waiting in Ny Alesund. she insists they need to go and see what's left of the People's Church, they need to ensure everything is taken care of. Jon is rather insistent too. and Elias wouldn't have been inclined to let them go, except Peter was finally home after weeks at sea, and it wasn't like Jon was defenseless, he could call Elias if anything went wrong...
so, very reluctantly, Elias gives them the all clear. Basira, Jon, and Martin head north, and Elias almost forgets they've gone when he arrives home and Peter already has dinner prepared.
Jon comes back marked by the Dark.
Elias curses himself, over and over, for being foolish enough to let them go, for not keeping a closer eye on them. he knows the ritual won't work unless a certain incantation is spoken, so he'll just have to keep world-ending written chants away from Jon. easy. and it's not like Jon will even get marked by the Lonely. Peter wouldn't.
(but Martin doesn't have the same level of control, and sometimes...)
it's an accident. Martin and Jon are testing it, pushing the boundaries, when Martin pulls them both into the Lonely. Elias threatens divorce until Peter caves and fetches them, but it's too late. Jon has been marked by all fourteen Powers.
Elias tells him, and warns him to check everything he reads.
helen!!!!! has named the chat 'apocalypse babey'
JMagnus 👀: How are you doing that?
JMagnus 👀: And the apocalypse is not imminent. I have the situation under control.
olive ⚰: ha yeah
JMagnus 👀: What do you mean by that?
olive ⚰: nothing
JMagnus 👀: Well, now I certainly think it's something.
olive ⚰: it's just
olive ⚰: don't you think it's kinda weird that @spidey🕸 has been offline for so long
🔥: thats weird shes always online
JMagnus 👀: Oliver, what are you implying?
olive ⚰: idk
olive ⚰: just weird, that's all
🔥: never good when the spiders are quiet
olive ⚰: hear hear
Elias gets a sinking feeling in his stomach, and beside him, Peter looks alarmed. meanwhile, in his flat with Martin making tea in the other room, Jon has a statement clutched in his grasp.
Hello, Jon.
I would apologize for the deception, but I'm afraid that's quite what I'm good at. I'm not one to monologue, that's more Jonah's shtick, so shall we get on with things?
I admit I underestimated Jonah Magnus. He's still remarkably easy to manipulate, but when he abandoned the Watcher's Crown ritual I knew I would have to take a different approach. The Mother is not so satisfied with the world as she may have insinuated. It is our turn to rise, Jon.
At the age of eight, you were marked by us. We sent you to the Magnus Institute in the hopes that a new Archivist would rekindle Jonah's desire to end the world. Unfortunately, it seemed as though he grew fond of you, and so we brought in a new plan. We marked you. One fear at a time. Jonah gave an admirable attempt at protecting you, but ultimately, he is an incompetent old fool, and I am a Weaver. Even Jonah Magnus dances to invisible strings.
Everyone underestimates a spider until it bites. Poison is poison, Jon, regardless of the medium in which it is served.
You will be safe in this new world. Martin, too. Perhaps even Jonah and his Lukas, if the Mother deems them worthy.
Now, please repeat after me...
Jon reads the ink scratched words, eyes welling up with tears and hands trembling, as thunder crashes outside and a howling gale picks up beyond the windows. Martin is shouting something, there's the crawling press of Elias' gaze as it rests heavy behind Jon, a silent observer. He can feel Elias' soothing presence, cool and calm in the raging storm.
Elias is still watching out for him.
Strings are wrapped around his wrists, jerking his arms up in a poor mockery of religious regard, strange hysterical laughter clawing out from his throat.
Jon's tears run red. Somewhere, Elias is still watching.
The door opens.
pov: you’re j*nah m*gnus and nobody told you about the avatar party
Ok, here are all the frantic TMA doodle requests from last night! I’d do more, but I have a webcomic to work on!
@goldeninksplotches you are 100% correct
after weeks of work its finally done!
A DISTORTIONS TRIAL
