Chapter Text
Rosie tapped Sasha’s shoulder. Sasha looked over the shoulder Rosie didn’t tap on, and sure enough there she was with a little smile and a little wave. “Mr. Bouchard wants to see you in his office.”
“Oh,” Sasha locked her screen with a quick key combo - last time she’d gotten up without locking it, Tim had replaced her screensaver with a screenshot and deleted all her desktop shortcuts. It took her forever to figure out what had happened, and she had brought in a lunchbox identical to his, but empty, as revenge. “Did he say what it was about?”
“He didn’t say.” Rosie walked with Sasha; Elias’s office was on the other side of the lobby, “But I think it was good news.” she winked at Sasha.
The floors of the lobby were freshly cleaned. After Gertrude went “missing” (with a sizable puddle of blood on her desk) the police had scuffed up the floor something awful. Elias gave them an extra day off while he hired a cleaning company to polish the floors special.
(“It’s what she would have wanted,” Tim nodded solemnly over extra-day-off drinks. Then they both broke out into tipsy giggles.)
Sasha knocked on the door once, then let herself in. “Mr. Bouchard?” she asked as she poked her head in.
“Ah, Sasha, yes.” Elias turned away from the bookshelf he was perusing. “Come in, sit down.”
She did, sitting in the faux-comfortable chair in front of the desk that was, according to legend, the same desk the Head has used since the founding of the Institute. Elias joined her, sitting at the opposite side of the table.
“I’m sure you’ve figured what this is about?” he asked.
“The Head Archivist position.” Sasha said; it was obvious.
Elias smiled. “Congratulations, Sasha. You start Monday.”
“Really?” Sasha asks. She knew she was qualified for the position, of course; her track record across Research and Artefact Storage was more than enough to prove that. She also knew that being qualified and actually getting the job were very different.
“But of course,” Elias clicked through something on his computer, the screen was angled away from Sasha. “You’ve been working here for more than ten years, and every single one of your supervisors has had nothing but kind things to say about you. You also managed to last quite a while in Artefact Storage, I don’t believe your record as a practical researcher has been beaten yet.”
Sasha knew for a fact that her record hadn’t been beaten yet. Everytime she noticed a personnel change in Artefact Storage, she logged (hacked) into the payroll system to make sure she hadn’t been usurped. She was proud of that record.
“Thank you very much.” she said, because she realized that she hadn’t thanked him yet. “I’m honored, really.”
“You are very welcome.” Elias clicked through some more. “The Archives are the oldest department in the whole institute, I wouldn’t give the position to just anybody. Now, there are a few administrative things we need to go over, and I thought it best if we work through it together without going through HR.”
*
Her name was on the door. That was the part that made it real to Sasha, her name written on the frosted glass in bold, black letters. Sasha James, Head Archivist.
Inside the office, everything smelled like sterility and bleach. A patch of the floor was noticeably cleaner than the rest. Sasha had taken up Rosie’s offer to requisition a new desk. Working at a desk that had been recently soaked in the blood of her predecessor just felt like a bad idea.
“Well, well, look at you.” Tim pushed the door open, “Fancy boss lady, you.”
“Good morning, Tim,” she said, and did a little spin to let her skirt flutter around her. Tim clapped appreciatively.
“So, what’s the plan for today?” he hopped up and sat at the edge of her new desk - which was really just a slightly larger version of the desks everyone else had.
“Well, I don’t want to repeat myself, so I’m gonna hold off on that until everyone else gets here.” Sasha said. She logged into the computer in the meantime, though because the Institute clunkers take forever to get started.
“So, who are the other poor saps that will be subjected to your reign of terror?”
Sasha rolled her eyes. “Feet off the table, it’s brand new.”
“Oh, fancy!”
“I just didn’t feel like working at a table stained in blood.” She said, “I dunno, it would feel like a bad way to start the new job.”
“Right, right.” Tim nodded. “Don’t want old Gerty’s ghost to pop out and strike you down for using the wrong filing system.”
Sasha snorted, “I’m afraid that if her ghost was going to emerge for anything, you calling her ‘Gerty’ would be more than enough to bait her out.”
“Then there we have it!” Tim smiled, “No ghosts in here, ghost-baiting done professionally by Tim. I will be sending you my invoice.”
“As for your original question,” Sasha dragged the conversation back on topic, kicking and screaming, “I don’t know who the other two people are going to be. I told Elias to surprise me. I trust his judgement.”
“Aw, I was your only pick?” Tim dramatically covered his heart, “Sasha, I’m honored.”
“Don’t let it go to your head.” she elbowed him off the desk.
“What’s going to Tim’s head?” Jon waved a bit from the bottom of the stairs, bag slung over his shoulder.
Tim and Sasha shared a look. That’s just awkward. Jon wasn’t chosen, but was still here. Luckily, Tim and Sasha have more social graces than a plastic spork. They knew not to mention it.
(Though Sasha didn’t feel bad for not choosing him. He’s a bit… much for her.)
“It’s Tim,” Sasha said, rolling her eyes, “What isn’t going to his head?”
“Wow, I am hurt,” Tim dramatically walked into the main hall, where there would be enough room for him to flail his limbs dramatically. “You get a little bit of power and now you are ruling it over us,”
“What can I say?” Sasha shuts her door behind her, “Power corrupts.”
Jon puts his bag down on one of the desks, thereby declaring it his. They were essentially restarting the department themselves, they didn’t need to worry about things like desk assignments. “Are we waiting for anyone else?”
There were still two unoccupied desks. According to Elias, though, the Archives functioned best when there were only three assistants. Sasha honestly didn’t understand that, as it took at least fifteen people to keep Research running smoothly, but she didn’t want to interrupt or correct Elias. If three was the number he wanted, three was the number he got.
“Yeah, just one more.” Sasha glanced at the wall clock, one really too ornate to be hidden in the basement like it was. It was already five past nine. “We’ll give them until nine fifteen, alright? Just, uh, chill. In the meantime.” then she went back into her office and shut the door.
“Just chill.” Tim repeated and laughed.
Jon sat down and set to work arranging his things neatly on his desk. He put his cheap pens that Tim could steal in the corner nearest his desk, the fancy pens that Tim was not allowed to steal farther away.
Tim followed suit. It was a better use of his time than chilling, in any case.
Then something ran through the room.
Tim looked up. Jon looked up.
“Did you see that too?” Jon asked.
“Yeah, it was like-”
“Did a dog just run through here?” A third person rushed down the stairs, talking with the kind of hushed-but-scared tone used in libraries.
“Uh, yeah,” Tim said, “Martin, why did a dog run through here?” Tim knew his name, of course, because Tim knew everybody in the Institute by name.
“Accident.”
“What kind of an accident-?” Jon stood up, but got shushed by Martin.
“An accidental one, okay? Keep your voice down, I don’t want it to know I’m looking for it.”
Jon blinked. “I don’t think the dog is specifically hiding from you.”
“Well it sure feels like it is.”
“Calm down, Martin, we’ll help you find it,” Tim glared at Jon. “What kind of a dog is it?”
“How many dogs are you expecting to find in the Archives?” Jon asked Tim.
“Look, you just go tell Sasha and we’ll start working on it. Don’t worry, she’s not as bad as Jon-Jon here.” Tim patted Martin’s shoulder. Martin hustled over to the office, Tim and Jon went the opposite direction into the stacks. “Hey man, lay off it a bit,”
“What kind of a person accidentally lets a dog into an Archive full of hundred-year old documents!” Jon hush-yelled back.
“I’ve talked with Martin, he was in the library before this.” Tim explained, “He’s sensitive. And a bit clumsy, it probably was just an accident. And in any case, you are not the boss. It’s not your place to lecture him about it.”
It was that second bit that obviously got to Jon. “Yes, yes, fine.” he looked embarrassed, and turned away from Tim.
They rounded the corner, and something squished under Jon’s foot.
“I am not going to look.” he declared before anything else. He shut his eyes and sighed very heavily through his nose. Unfortunately, that gave him a noseful dog-poop smell.
“Right.” Tim, bless his heart, was on the verge of laughter. There was only so much he could actually handle in one day. “Right, I’ll go check the supply closet. Maybe there is something there that can help with your… situation.”
Tim bumped into Martin and Sasha on his way out.
“How’s the dog situation going?” Sasha asked.
“It’s, uh, it’s going.” Tim said, “Or, uh, it went.”
Sasha was silent for a moment. “When you say ‘it went’ do you mean that the dog left, or…?”
“Jon can’t move because we don’t want to trail dog poop around the office.”
Martin turned bright red and hid behind his hands. Sasha’s smile froze on her face. “Right. Right.” she said.
“I’m on my way to get cleaning supplies now.”
“Good call, Tim.”
“And the culprit?”
“Still at large.”
“Christ, guys, I’m sorry,” Martin stuttered out.
“Hey man, it’s fine, seriously.” Tim smiled, “Sometimes shit happens.” he winked at his own pun.
It did, luckily, break up the tension a bit. Sasha laughed, then took a deep breath. “Yes, Martin, it’s no big deal. We’re really breaking the new team in though, huh?” she nudged his side.
“Right, right.” Martin did not sound convinced.
“Well, I am going to get some paper towels to save Jon from his poopy prison.” Tim clicked some finger guns, then rushed away.
So. Sasha’s first day as Head Archivist was going great.
*
Elias liked to meet with all his direct reports weekly, so Friday saw Sasha once again sitting in the not-comfortable chair in Elias’ office. She politely declined an offer of tea, then sat awkwardly while Elias ran off to get his own. Or rather, to get Rosie to get his tea.
(She did not snoop through his things during the brief moment he was out. It would be bad form to steal from her boss exactly one week after her promotion.)
“So, Sasha.” Elias smiled, “One week on the job. How’s it suiting you?”
“I think we’ve been settling in well.” Sasha said. “We haven’t made much progress, per se. Right now we’re learning the ropes and Gertrude didn’t exactly leave notes for us to go off of.”
“That’s perfectly fine.” Elias said. “And yes, I did get the impression that, especially towards the end there, Gertrude was.. not doing her best work, shall we say.”
Sasha picked up the implication there loud and clear. She frowned. “She sounded sharp every time I spoke with her.” but, she did have to admit it. “The Archives are in a bit of a state, though.”
“Well, even before Gertrude’s untimely departure, the Archives were woefully understaffed,” Elias brushed her confusion off. “I’m sure you four will pick up the slack in no time. Now, how are you getting along with your new subordinates?”
Sasha thought for a moment, looking for a diplomatic way to say it. “I think there will be a steep learning curve.” she decided, “But I also think they’re up to the challenge.”
“I am glad to hear that.” Elias smiled, and he looked genuine about it. “If that changes, though, don’t hesitate to contact me. I want to see you succeed, Sasha, and I am willing to help you to that end. I want you to become the best Archivist that you can be.”
*
On Monday, Sasha held an all-hands meeting. Really, this was a fancy way of saying she sat on the table in the breakroom to talk to everyone about their tasks for the week.
“So, I think by now we can confidently say that Gertrude’s filing system was nonexistent.”
That was what they had spent their first week doing, going through file boxes and looking for anything - anything - that would explain the eclectic arrangement of the statements. There was absolutely nothing.
If Sasah didn’t know better, she’d say it looked like Gertrude was going senile. But she had spoken with Gertrude just a week before her departure, and the woman was sharp as a tack.
“Which means we’ll have to come up with our own organizing system.” Sasha continued. “I think for now we can use a modified version of Artefact Storage’s system, and we can update it as we need. Comments so far?” Sasha knew she had a tendency to just talk and talk. The leadership video she watched on youtube had said not to do that.
“Yeah, I think you’re the only one that knows Artefact Storage’s system, Sash.” Tim, lounging on the couch, pointed out.
Hm. That was a good point. “I’ll ask Joan to send me a copy of the spec sheet we used.” Sasha said, and made a note of it in her notebook. “Basically, the things go with the things. So like, things about icky bugs go together, and right next to them was stuff about creepy plants and molds. Creepy dolls/mannequins/etcetera all went together, things about blood all went together, and so on.”
“Where do we start?” Martin asked, “There are a lot of statements in there.”
Sasha hissed. “One box at a time, I guess.” she said. “That does lead me into my next point, we’re also going to start digitizing statements. So, type them up, maybe make an audio edition, and upload it to the archiving software. It’s already on all the computers, it just looks like Gertrude never used it.”
“Figures.” Jon said. “And after we’re done with the digitizing?”
“Then just hand it off to me,” Sasha said. “I think, especially while we’re still nailing down the system, it will be better to have just one person sorting things. Once I have a more stable system going, I’ll let you know.”
“And, the envelopes?” Martin asked.
“Right! Thanks Martin, I almost forgot,” Sasha nodded, “I ordered us some acid-free envelopes, right now they’re sitting in my office, but we’ll move them to a supply closet once we have space for them. Once you’re done with a statement, put it in the envelope and write the number on it - remember, YYY/DD/MM. Also add any follow-up you’re able to find to the folder too.”
Then they broke up to get to work. The three assistants each grabbed a box of statements to begin digitizing, while Sasha started working on an organizing system.
Joan was the main, and only, admin for Artefact Storage. She, technically, had worked in Artefact Storage longer than Sasha, but she didn’t count because she worked on the other side of the building, far from the actual artefacts.
Joan was also a real life-saver, and she responded to Sasha’s request within fifteen minutes.
Sasha immediately threw out the things that don’t apply; like sorting the items by size and knowing when to put something in high security. The nearest Archiving analog to that would probably be special storage for super old paper.
Sasha printed her abbreviated document to start writing on it. This was her element.
*
Within the week, they had something of a system set up. The empty desk in the group office was quickly taken over by two file boxes, one for statements that hadn’t been digitized yet, and one for statements that had. At least once a day Sasha left her office to grab a stack of papers to record and organize according to her budding system.
“Why is your envelope so thin?” Jon asked when he and Martin just so happened to be tossing their reports in the done pile at the same time.
“Why is yours so thick?” Martin asked right back.
“Well, you’ve been doing follow-up, right?”
“I - I mean,” Martin stammered. “If there was any follow-up in the file I keep it in there?”
“Uh, most of the files haven’t had proper follow-up, Martin.” Tim pointed out, “So unless you’ve been insanely lucky…”
“Have you literally just been typing up the statements?” Jon asked.
“Is that not what Sasha asked us to do?”
“Crack it open, Martin,” Tim said, “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Martin poured the contents of the file folder onto the table. It was, as he’d said, just the written statement and a neatly typed and printed copy. There were no footnotes, no addendums, no extra documents added in.
“You didn’t even contact the people mentioned in the statement?” Jon asked as he sifted through the papers, “We get their contact information for a reason.”
“I thought that was Research’s job.” Martin said, “Aren’t we supposed to, y’know, organize what they send us?”
“A fundamental misunderstanding!” Tim declared, and spun his chair around to sit backwards. “See, you’re assuming the people in Research care about what they’re doing.”
“Tim, are you forgetting that we-”
“Jon, are you really going to say that Research, as a whole, was a super hard working bunch?” Tim interrupted. Jon did have to give that to him. “And besides, Martin, Research isn’t just about the statements. Like, yeah we’d glance through them sure, but the bulk of research was more literature and history based. Y’know, the stuff organizations and governments give grants to research.”
“Oh,” Martin said. That made a lot more sense than he’d been imagining, actually. He hoped he didn’t look as devastated as he felt.
“And,” Jon butted in, “Most of the statements aren’t given by great sources, so Research basically just pretends to look through them, then toss them down here.”
“It’s okay, Martin, you didn’t know.” Tim patted him on the shoulder. “And now that you do know, you can fix it! There are always hiccups when moving departments.”
“It’s a pretty obvious thing,” Jon muttered, but Tim shot him a pretty murderous look. “But again, I suppose we would have noticed that.” he gave the grudging addendum.
(As Tim had told Jon the other day: he had to calm down or risk giving Martin an actual heart attack.)
“I was wondering why I was getting through these so much faster than you.” Martin said, shaky and reedy with stress still.
“Totally!” Tim said, “I thought you just had some mad typing skills.”
Tim was good at that, diffusing. Martin laughed, and the subject delicately moved on.
*
“So, week two. How is it going?” Elias asked.
Sasha had taken the offer of tea this time, peppermint. It gave her an excuse to delay her answer. “Well. We’ve started reorganizing the Archives completely from scratch.”
Elias nodded, “Could you explain your reasoning?”
“Well, not to speak ill of the, uh, mysteriously missing, but Gertrude had absolutely nothing in the way of organization.” Sasha said. “Or if she did, it’s too eclectic for me to make heads or tails of it. I decided it would be easier to create a new system entirely.”
Elias smiled. “I think that was a wise decision, Sasha. But it’s quite a large task, do you think you are up for it?”
Sasha absolutely beamed at the praise. She had to take another delaying sip of tea, lest she do something embarrassing. “Oh, absolutely.” she said. “And with all four of us, it will definitely take a while, but we are for sure at least going to make a dent in it.”
“I am glad to hear that.” Elias said. “The Archives were key to the founding of this Institute, I’m pleased to see that I have put them in good hands. How would you rate your coworkers so far? This is super informal, so don’t worry about making a bad impression.”
Sasha once again took a sip to give her time to think. “Tim is very much a work-hard play-harder kind of guy. He does good work, though. Jon can be a bit… intense.”
Elias laughed. “Yes, I’ve gotten that impression as well. I considered promoting him, but he’s a bit, ah, high-strung for the position. I was a bit worried that he would work himself into an early grave, given half the chance.”
Sasha snorted at that, then looked utterly mortified. “I, yeah. I’ve gotten that impression as well. Good thing I’m the one with the keys then, yeah?”
“Yes, quite.” Elias tapped on his computer, which unsettled Sasha.
“He still does great, though.” Sasha quickly backpedals. “His reports are super thorough.”
“Oh, of course.” Elias said. “And Martin? Last but not least.”
“He’s,” Sasha took a sip, needing a pause again. “Nice. Of course, this is very different from what he’d been doing before, so he’s having a harder transition than everyone else. He’s still doing very well, though.”
“Of course,” Elias said, “And don’t worry about giving a bad impression, Sasha. I understand that things will be rocky during the transition. It’s all about getting better, yes?”
“Right, right,” Sasha’s heart was trying to escape her chest, it had already shattered a couple of her ribs, she could feel it.
“Now, I have a few questions about that new organization method of yours…”
Sasha sighed. This was a discussion she could handle.
*
“Drinks!” Tim shouted in her face as soon as she came down the stairs.
“Sorry?”
“I just realized,” Tim backed off and sat down on his desk, “That we haven’t had drinks as a group yet since we moved departments. So, I am inviting you to drinks tonight.”
Well, Sasha didn’t have anything the next morning. “Sure, I’ll go.”
“Awesome,” Tim swiveled in his seat, “Martin, how ‘bout you?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Jon?”
Jon frowns. “It doesn’t feel very professional-”
“ Jon .” Tim groaned. “What’s that about going out for drinks with friends after work isn’t professional ? Who cares? It’s normal!”
Sasha snickered. “He does have you there, Jon.”
She glanced at Martin, who seemed very much like he didn’t want to be a part of this conversation. Hm, his CV said he was about the same age as her, but the more she watched him the more she doubted that. She nodded between Tim and him -- it would look weird for the boss to start heckling him.
Tim picked up that thought. “Come on, Martin,” he said, “Back me up here; going out for drinks after work is completely normal.”
“Y-yeah.” Martin nodded. “It’s pretty stereotypical, actually. And-and it would be a bit weird if you were the only one not there.”
“Fine.” Jon agreed. “One drink.”
“Now you see, Martin,” Tim stage whispered, “That there is called peer pressure. Jon can be easily swayed if enough people gang up on him at once.”
“Hey,” Jon snapped, “I can still hear you.”
“He is a bit like a little yappy dog,” Tim continued.
“Tim,” Sasha interrupted, at least in part because Jon’s head would explode.
“Fine, fine,” Tim laughed, but laid off the teasing. “You need to calm down, Jon, before your head explodes.”
Jon, for his part, did not acknowledge this. He sat down at his desk again like they hadn’t said anything at all. Somehow, though, he was still willing to go out with them all at the end of the day.
And it was nice. Fun. Everyone was happier after a few drinks, more talkative. Tim drunkenly regaled them with stories of his youth, telling fanciful stories that probably were not all true. It was all well and good until Jon snorted into his drink.
“That’s nothing.” he said.
Tim’s eyebrows shot through the ceiling. “Oh yeah?” he asked, mid story about being escorted home from the police when he was twelve. Apparently, twelve-year-old Tim was convinced he would be going to jail for life.
“I was escorted home by police…” Jon counted on his fingers. “Four or five times by the time I was twelve.”
That got a reaction out of everyone; mostly shocked disbelief.
“Bullshit!” Martin claimed immediately, then turned red. His thoughts were echoed by Sasha and Tim.
“Absolutely true.” Jon nodded. “I was convinced that Gran was going to tie me to the bedposts by the end of it.”
“What were you even doing?” Tim asked.
“Getting lost, mostly.” Jon nodded, “Trespassing, a couple times.”
“Oh my god,” Sasha giggled into her hand, “ Jon. ”
“Look, if they didn’t want me going in places, they should have made the fence harder to climb.”
“ Jon!” Tim threw back his head laughing.
“What?” he asked back.
And Martin, unfortunately, realized he had a bit of a crush.
*
“So, Sasha,” Elias said. “One month of the new job. How has it been going?”
“Well.” Sasha said quickly. “It’s been going well.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Elias tapped something on his computer. “I know you were having issues with the transition before, how is it now?”
Sasha thought about it for only a moment. “Much better.” She said. “I’ve worked out a new organization system. I think it’s solid, though of course I could modify it if I needed. Jon and Tim are all settled in. Martin’s taking a bit longer, though.”
“Ah, yes.” Elias nodded. “I’ve noticed he has a tendency towards staying safe.”
Sasha agreed. “He’s very nice, but you’d think it would kill him to take a risk. He’ll catch up, though.”
“Well,” Elias said, “In any case, I’m glad to see everything’s going well.”
