Jon is a bad tour guild
Martin’s dreams were changing. So were Sasha’s. It was an odd thing for the both of them, but neither one really noticed until they bumped into each other one night.
For Martin, his dreams shifted from gaining memories to every few dreams he was surrounded by shelves filled with books or statements. He didn’t think much of it since it seemed to be sorta like how Jon described his dream archive, but also it’s not uncommon to dream about workplace settings. Those dreams Martin would normally just walk the isles and think of poetry he would write when he woke up.
With Sasha the space would shift slightly depending on who she last hung out with, but the basis was always normal shelves stretching endlessly. After hanging out with Nikki, the labels would normally shift in weird ways, or there would be the feeling of not quite being Sasha while wandering. While after hanging out with Daisy, the halls would feel wider. After hanging out with anyone in the archives, her dream would just feel comfortable. Sasha rarely remembered her dream when she woke up, so it never came up in conversation.
But neither of them had bumped into another being in their dreams. Yet here they stood staring at each other. Sasha was wearing the dress she’d worn over to Jon and Martin’s place, and Martin was in his nightclothes. They’d just seen each other in those maybe an hour ago?
“Hello?” Martin was the first to speak up. Not even sure if he had a voice here till now.
“Hi, um, Why are you in my dream? I don’t think I’m dreaming about you?”
“Hmm well, I was about to ask the same thing? Maybe, this is Jon’s domain?”
Sasha let out a sigh. “You know, probably. We are cursed to be tied to the institute after all. Makes sense we’d be there while sleeping”
“No. We aren’t at the Institute.” Martin corrected. “This is Jon’s Archives. There is a very distinct difference. There is nice carpeting.”
Sasha smiled at how grumpy Martin looked over that. “My bad. Think Jon is around someplace?”
“I assume if he is sleeping he would be. This means he is probably awake.”
“Or he is avoiding us?”
“Why do you think that?”
“He’s been weirder than normal. I get it, but he really needs to just let himself get grumpy over whatever is bothering him. It’s annoying seeing Tim so focused on it. I swear he practically mentally adopted Jon as a sibling at this point.”
“I’m aware of that. It's just complicated” Both Sasha and Martin jumped at hearing Jon’s voice from the next aisle over.
“Christ Jon! Did you have to eavesdrop then just join in as you please!?” Sasha glared as Jon turned the corner. All his eyes were glowing as his attention was everywhere. Jon also had a look that while being everywhere included that he was barely there.
Martin laughed. “You clearly don’t live with him. It's just what he does.” There was so much fondness while also a hint of tiredness love can’t quite cover.
“I try my best to make noise when I approach. I just, not used to company here.” Jon latched onto Martin and mumbled something along the lines of ‘evening love’.
“I thought you weren’t planning on sleeping tonight?” Martin rubbed Jon’s back as he responded with a noise not all unlike a purr but definitely like a tape recorder.
“Well, you both finally met, so I wanted to be here for it. See what would happen. You are both normally much less aware of things.”
“Wait, you’ve known we were here this whole time?”
“Yes? I know everything.” Jon looked both confused and slightly offended Sasha would imply he didn’t know something in his domain. “Isn’t that obvious?”
“Right. So what now?”
Jon tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“Well, now that we’ve met, and I’m aware of all this, what happens? Is it just some weird dream hangout with nothing to do?”
“There is hardly nothing. You are literally surrounded by an entire humanity’s worth of stories.”
“Jon, I think she doesn’t want to do the same thing in her dreams as she does at work.”
“Oh...Oh!” most of Jon’s eye remain glowing, save for the two that came with his face.” Yes. Um I suppose.” Jon was slightly more focused. “Well there's not much to do here than to interact with statements, but um…”
Jon pinched his nose as an eye on his cheek blinked. “Well there are a quite a few statements with good folly behind the fear, so you could watch whatever the person was watching, or-”
“Wait, are you saying I’ll just watch tv while someone is reliving the worst moment in their lives?”
Jon nodded. “I do it from time to time. All the statements are reruns for me so I look for other things from time to time. I could catalog it for you for easy reference.”
“I’m, okay I think. But I’ll let you know if I ever want to take you up on that offer.”
Jon nodded again. “It’s actually already done, but I can wait to show you. Meantime, I can give you both a proper tour so you don’t just keep wandering aimlessly.”
---
Sasha woke up relatively disoriented. She remembered her dream so perfectly it was almost like she hadn’t been asleep at all. To say it was weird would be an understatement. Jon was just Jon, while also very not Jon.
She grabbed her phone to check the time and there was a text message from Jon.
Jon today at 5:03 AM
I’m so sorry for last night. I’d expected to have more time to warn you about the dream thing. But then you and Martin ran into each other, and I didn’t want you both to be lost and confused, cause it’s very easy to get into The Spiral territory there if you don’t know the way around. But because I was caught off guard, I never got time to warn you about it. I can be a bit more in touch with the beholding there and a little more detached from being Jon. Feel free to take the day off if you need time to process.Jon today at 5:04 AM
I also feel I should apologize cause I did intentionally both eavesdrop and greet you from the other aisle for the moment of fear you both had of being watched since you were very confident you weren’t being. And I feel terrible about it and I would like you to know I understand if you are upset and I can do my best to stay way from you in the dreams or while we are awake.Sasha today at 5:05 AM
Jon it’s fine, I was startled but this changed nothing. So PLEASE stop worrying. Wake Martin up and get some cuddle therapy or something.Jon Today at 5:05 AM
But I was horrible to you there.Sasha today at 5:08 AM
You really werent. At most just weird. But thats normal for you. If you really feel bad, just bring pastries and talk to Tim. promise me you will warn him if there is a chance he’ll be wandering around there at some point.Sasha today at 5:10 AM
I also expect an explanation as to why I’m in your dreams like that.Jon today at 5:15 AM
That last thing is easy. It’s because you are bound to the Archive and I’m the Archive.
Sasha sighed. It was too early to deal with Jon so she rolled over and opened her laptop to focus on anything else.