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Jon ended up spending the rest of the day at Martin’s place, and while he was prepared to stay the night if Martin had asked, he was shooed away. As Martin put it, ‘Jon clearly had something else to do’, and ‘I don’t think I could sleep knowing there were three Leitners in Jon’s messenger bag one of which would enjoy fire’. Martin also didn’t enjoy Jon pointing out that there were currently 6 other Leitners in artifact storage, and that Martin’s neighbor below him has a Leitner of the Buried that makes plants grow too well. 

Jon also ended that comment with an apology that he was going to have to collect that by breaking into Martin’s neighbor’s place soon. 

Martin told him he would risk a pet shop of horrors for the night and they could plan a break-in if simply asking his neighbor for it didn’t work. Martin sent Jon off with a kiss on the cheek and Jon made his way home for the night. 

Poetry night was still happening, but only cause Jon made Martin promise he would share one of his poems. It was meant to be a deterrent, but  Martin had agreed, so they had a date set for 7 days from now. 

Convo between Jonathan and Daisy

Jon Yesterday at 8:04 PM
I couldn’t get out of poet night, but Martin is going to do a reading
So there will be at least one good poem

Daisy Yesterday at 8:28 PM
lol
rip jon
willing to suffer for 3 hrs for 1 minute of heaven
of all 14 horrors, the 15th mark would be the hardest

Jon Yesterday at 8:30 PM
DAISY
Are you implying that a 15th fear would be poetry night????

Daisy Yesterday at 8:47 PM
yea
you dread it more than the other dread fears? 
so if it can be enough to shake you must be scary

Jon Yesterday at 8:50 PM
I don’t know why I messaged you

Daisy Yesterday at 11:20 PM
cuz u love me
and basira would laugh at you
which she is
i show her my texts sometimes
like now
we still on for tomorrow?

Jon Yesterday at 11:22 PM
Of course you would share this with her…
And yeah. Figure they would be best to be near you rather than at my place incase you start to feel any memories coming back before I can get ahold of some other options. 
Unfortunately one of the people I wanted to get into contact with doesn’t know me yet…

Daisy Today at 1:40 AM 
couldnt u blast them like me?

Jon Today at 1:43 AM
No. I would like to avoid doing that
Besides, don’t know if it would work with anyone I never paid attention to enough

Daisy Today at 1:45 AM
aw u do care
also go to sleep

Jon Today at 1:46 AM
Says the one who text me back at almost 2 in the morning.

Daisy Today at 1:50 AM
i knew u’d be up :p

Jon rubbed the bridge of his nose. She wasn’t wrong. Though she shouldn’t know about his new sleep schedule of only needing to sleep about once or twice a week. It wasn’t like before where he would sleep to avoid suffering and nightmares, which yes, he did avoid sleeping to let his victims get as many restful nights as they could. But at this point, sleep was more of a maintenance thing where his body would reset whatever chemical cocktail it functioned on, and his dreams would shuffle around like he was organizing his desk to keep it from getting too messy.

Jon let out a long sigh as he looked out to the street below. There was a fellow with a Desolation statement. But he’d see Jon leave his flat and know where Jon lived if Jon was unlucky. With a little Knowing, the statement ended up not being worth getting out of pj’s to follow the man a few blocks to give him a business card. 

The Archivist observed the man for a few more blocks, unintentionally, but saw the man enter a flat nearby. It was annoying at first that he had chosen not to change out of his pj’s at first, but now he knew where the fellow lived. Few days from now, that fellow would see a business card mixed in with his mail. 

Jon fell back on his couch. After all this time, he would’ve thought it wouldn’t bother him as much as it did. He’d accepted what he was a long time ago with Martin’s help, but just something about having so much power, it was hard using it. Following the man longer than he should’ve, keeping an Eye on Georgie, Melanie, Tim, Sasha, Martin, the Admiral, Daisy, it felt wrong. He didn’t pay attention while looking, was more just if they became uneasy he would focus a little more than normal. Even if he was banned from calling himself a monster, it wasn’t very human of him. 

Jon was so worried that Elias would do something if he stopped paying attention. How Daisy and Basira has snuck up on him earlier in the week. Jon Knew that it was Elias that had filed the report to get Basira in. He’d thought that Elias was being a little too quiet but never guessed that he was growing bold. Jon would have to do something about that.

But not now. Jon decided to use the dead of night to check out the books, make sure they wouldn’t just eat Daisy. The one with the Dark and Hunt hybrid, Jon read earlier and then proceeded to burn it. The other two were even more passive before his eyes. 

The Vast one basically acted as a lure to jump into the sky and never come down. It was oddly harmless as it would only make your jump seem to last as long as you stared at the page. Once looking away from it, you would finish the jump. It wasn’t like it affected gravity or time, just your perception of time for a little while. 

The Desolation book encouraged the reader to burn their favorite thing. Be it toy, book, photo, or person. After the burning, the book promised a wish granted. The way that the book was written, it encouraged small wishes, like no school the next day, or finding something lost. Things that would normally resolve itself through normal means or as a response to what was burned. Encouraged repeat burnings. 

Jon hated the Desolation. He really hoped Daisy wouldn’t pick this one.

Thinking of picking, the one Buried that Martin’s neighbor had might not be all that bad an option if it could influence Daisy as an Avatar. It focused on altering the minerals in soil and various other mineral-based materials, so it might make her less on the Too Tight Can’t Breathe, but that would be a giant gamble on Jon’s end. Especially since from what Jon knew about Avatars of the Buried, they tended to bury themselves rather than others, giving themselves to feed the patron rather than others. Also a book so unobtrusive as changing dirt couldn’t be counted on to shift the sway of Daisy’s alignment. 

“What a mess this is. I had no idea I could even project memories like that. What if I’m the reason Martin is remembering. His nightmares.” The two books looked up him tauntingly from the table. What if they weren’t enough. No way he would ask Jude for help, and Simon and Mike were out of the question. Rayner was another he wasn’t going to talk to to help with the Dark. No idea how to contact Oliver, the End was still something Jon couldn’t view without a little help from the Eye in the sky. 

There were those two Vast Avatar’s he met the day before. Maybe they would be willing to help? “Heh, or maybe the Mother of Puppets will have my back. The Web wasn’t too fond of the Beholding’s work even though she was such a pivotal part getting there.” If Jon ever saw Mr.Spider again, he would burn it regardless of where he was.

Jon ran out of things to do. Nights were boring for lack of better wording, and now that he and Martin were a couple, all he wanted to do was lay next to him. His focus shifted to Martin, who was sleeping peacefully enough. Didn’t seem like he was dreaming of the Lonely at least. 

Jon opened his laptop and started searching for articles on good date ideas. The Beholding could supply him with all the locations people go to in London, but it was just locations with no reviews. To get the human perspective on locations, Jon still had to do it the manual way. It was nice. Seeing the difference between Knowing and understanding how something was viewed. Martin always had a way to remind Jon how to be human, and he was doing it again. 

--

Elias was ecstatic that Jon had been marked from his interaction with Daisy, as he had hoped would happen. The Beholding also filled him in on the Vast mark too. Jon could still be influenced by fear so the bet wasn’t made in vain. He sat in his front room celebrating with himself over a glass of vine, overlooking the view from the front room window. 

The only mark he was unsure of was the End. How to mark someone with Death, who is and Knows they are incapable of dying. 

--

Daisy answered the door wearing a button up pj set with the most adorable puppy pattern that Jon had ever seen. When they were living in the archives she’d always just worn what ever she was wearing, so seeing the outfit too him by surprise. 

“Jealous? Basira got them for me last holiday.”

“How did you-?”

“I wore them to throw you off of course. Though they are incredibly comfy. Maybe we could find you a pair with lots of eyes. Or with owls or moths since they kinda got the whole Eye thing going on.”

Daisy left the entrance to meet up with Basira who was reading a book in her reliner. Jon followed in. “I don’t have a choice even if I said no, hm?”

“Yup. It’s gunna happen. Pj’s are a luxury we can have without having majority of the supernatural world out to kill us.” 

“I hope it’s easy enough to find then.” 

Basira looked up from her book and smiled. “Hey. Thanks for going cursed book hunting for us. Can’t say I’m excited to have them around.”

Jon laughed after making himself comfy on the couch. “They aren’t as bad as the one you know of. They aren’t safe, none of them are, but of the books, these ones are, less deadly.”

“They got instructions?”

“Not quite, but I’ve got them tied shut and was going to fill you in on what all they did and how to avoid the effects unless Daisy runs into trouble suddenly.” Jon proceeded to tell them both about the books, and also let Daisy know he was planning on marking her in some way to try to pull some sway on her even if she wasn’t the best fit.

“Wait, isn’t telling me you are going to sick daddy eye on me the opposite of what you should be doing?”

“Nope. Beholding thrives on paranoia. You knowing, but being unable to do anything about it is almost an amplifier.”

“Even knowing that amps it up?”

Jon smiled and opened some extra eyes for dramatic effect. “Yup. It’s better than having you sign a contract like last time.” 

Daisy nodded. “It wasn’t the most pleasant contract. I would do it again in a heartbeat under the same circumstances.“

“So, with that out of the way, you know how to take care of cats right?” Basira looked to Jon who responded with an almost offended look.

“Of course, why?”

“We are going to get two. And Basira and I both realized after some talking, the only cat stuff we know is from your info dumps, so wanted to know if you would like to help us get some things set up before we head off the the shelter.”

Jon’s eyes, even the extra he forgot to close, lit up.