A Reaction to the Magnus Archives

by ColorsofaYinYang

Summary:

In a slightly kinder world, an explosion that destroys the Magnus Institute prompts the Usher Foundation to investigate. They discover remnants of a doomed universe, and the disturbing evidence that someone wants to bring an end to this version of events as well…

(This is my reaction to listening to the Magnus Archives for the first time. Some chapters will be report analysis, and some will be 3rd person POV scenes. There is a plot! Read the beginning notes for a full explanation on what exactly this is!)

Notes:

Well, here we are, beginning this journey together. This fic is meant mostly for people who have already listened to the podcast and want to see a newbie's reactions, however you can also listen alongside the fic if you want. (I actually recommend this unless you have every episode memorized.)

I was an avid Night Vale listener back when seasons 1-3 came out and had the Magnus Archives suggested to me, however I had a lot of trouble getting into it until my third attempt where I did some research beforehand about the whole concept and the characters. I reached about episode 30 before deciding to begin writing this, but every episode after that will be my 100% fresh first time listening.

This is a reaction fic, meaning it will contain my honest reactions to each episode, however everything will be in character. There IS an overarching plot and there will be several original characters that show up. I'm listening and taking notes on my own, then cross-checking with the Magnus Archives wiki articles at the end of each episode for character name spelling (I am not reading anything under Continuity due to spoilers). I already know the vague series of events that takes place in the podcast and the names of most of the major characters, but I have not been spoiled on any details.

This universe is very different to canon, and it will also not be canon-compliant to the Magnus Protocol. I read the brief summary on it and assume that they are vaguely related but it seems to be in a different universe and I'm not messing with that (at least until I get there lol).

Hopefully this motivates me to finish the entire podcast, lol.

EDIT: Chapter names will indicate what type of chapter it is— most will share the name of the episode it is reacting to, while there will be a few interspersed that are either transcripts or 3rd person POVs of plot shenanigans.

Chapter 1: Ep 1: Anglerfish

My name is Penelope Quinn. Although I was born in Kent, I moved to America when I was rather young, and began work at the Usher Foundation in DC a handful of years ago. I’ve recently returned to London at their behest in order to sift through what little remains of our sister location, the Magnus Institute. 

I’ve done some preliminary research into the history of the place, and I have some idea of what’s happened and who the main players on the board are. Of particular note is one Jonathan Sims, who was Head Archivist at the time of the Institute’s rather abrupt closing. It is his recordings of statements that I am currently sifting through, as all of the tapes in the archive seem to have curiously survived the explosion without a scratch. I’ve gotten through a handful of these before realising the monumental task I have ahead of myself, so I figured I should probably take some notes while I go through each one in order to keep things straight in my head. I'll be printing out these notes to keep a physical copy of them in case any of the files get corrupted before I can submit my weekly report to the Foundation. Better to be safe than sorry, after all.

Accompanying me in this investigation are Emma and Sam, two of our contacts in Europe whose abilities have proven useful in similar investigations in the past. I am also in contact with Isabelle back at the Foundation, who will be cross-referencing any information gained here with what we have already catalogued. Additionally, we’ve located a survivor of the explosion, a former employee of the Magnus Institute named James Campbell— although he prefers to go by Jimmy— and taken him under our wing. However it’s very clear he merely worked as a normal library assistant and has no idea of the true purpose of the Institute. It’s no matter— he will learn soon enough.

Jonathan Sims seems to have been a decent enough Archivist, and had kindly labelled and sorted each statement into organised categories. Unfortunately, after the explosion, most of the tapes got mixed up in the debris and the majority of the labels were partially or fully burnt off, with only dates of recording remaining. So I figure I might as well listen to these in chronological order, as there doesn’t seem to be any other pattern we can follow at the moment. 

Let’s begin with Tape 1.

 

April 22nd, 2012 - Case 0122204

 

Names mentioned:

Nathan Watts - Statement Giver (survived encounter) - was in 2nd year uni around 2010, but 2 years older than his peers

Michael MacAulay - Mr. Watts’ friend that hosted a party the night of his encounter

John Fellowes - missing person (Mar 2010), was at the same party

Jessica McEwan - missing person (Nov 2005)

Sarah Baldwin - missing person (Aug 2006)

Daniel Rawlings - missing person (Dec 2006)

Ashley Dobson - missing person (May 2008), sister Siobhan Dobson

Megan Shaw - missing person (June 2008)

 

Places mentioned:

The Albanach on the Royal Mile - pub where the party was held

Old Fishmarket Close, Edinburgh - location of the encounter

 

Comments:

I find it highly amusing the amount of vitriol Mr. Sims has toward his predecessor; it’s a shame I wasn’t able to meet him in person before. Thankfully, although it’s highly unlikely any normal person would have survived the explosion, he is so deeply and intrinsically connected to the Eye that there’s a non-zero chance he may have been saved somehow. Isabelle says from what she knows about the current head of the Institute, Mr. Elias Bouchard, he seems like the sort of man to have layers of contingency plans. Nevertheless, we have not had any luck tracking down anyone listed under the Archives employees, nor Mr. Bouchard himself.

As for the statement, I’ll admit I’m not too familiar with the UK avatar scene. My guess would be this is some manifestation of the Stranger, due to the whole “false humanoid” appearance. I could see a case being made for the Spiral, but I don’t believe Mr. Watts suffered enough bizarre effects for this to be the case.

This is merely the first tape, so I wasn’t expecting much to begin with, and just as I thought there doesn’t seem to be anything here that correlates to the explosion or the events that lead up to it. That said, I’ll make sure to tell Emma not to smoke near any odd alleyways. Not that the Stranger is any threat to her, of course, but I’d rather not have an avatar showdown mere days after we’ve arrived in the country. 

 

End of file.