Chapter Text
Valya Evens Just wanted something to do…
So how did she end up in-front of a dusty old computer that was somehow still running, trying to explain to an equally dusty looking man— her new boss— how to upload a blog to the website her new job APPARENTLY had.
It had been an accident, at least she thought it had. Just recently moving to London with a homeschooling program and a very distant Aunt, she didn’t think she would get a job. But Valya found herself groaning and tossing and turning from boredom at her apartment- flat, whatever. After making way too many ‘I’m so bored I could be a house’ jokes to her distant ant, she suggested getting a job, a simple one. So, she had got up a few days before in the morning (other’s afternoon, 11:45 wasn’t technically afternoon yet) and set out for job hunting. Being home schooled in America meant she really only had volunteering at her local dinner in the fields under her belt but she tried anyway.
Ignoring the mostly cloudy skies and the spooky roads like Hill top road she has to walk past every day. London was pretty, kind old ladies with flower boxes, beautiful buildings and mostly clean streets. If you stayed away from the bars, it was peaceful to just bike around. So, she biked around to all the local jobs she thought she might like to work at. Libraries, coffee shops, retail, restaurants. It started to get annoying how most of them didn’t even seem to care. The same thing happened in basically all of them.
She would walk in, as for a manager or if they were hiring, the one she was talking to would be surprised and stammer too much until something else caught their attention, or someone behind her would yell to move faster, or the manager wasn't there or they weren’t hiring.
Eventually she just fell against a park bench, disappointed. She closed her eyes, Even if she was still close to buildings and people traffic, she could close her eyes enough to trick herself that she was back in the woods. But being back in the woods wouldn’t bring her friends, nor a job. So to make herself feel better, Valya went and scrolled Reddit forums, r/spooky happenings. A bunch of shit and lies left a bad taste in her mouth even so, they were interesting to read and got her mind off things for a bit.
That’s when she noticed the silence in the air and decided it was probably time to head home, but before she could turn her phone off, or switch the song she was listening to, something caught her eye.
It was an old comment, one that she had absentmindedly glossed over because it was basically just 2 sentences, but the reply is what caught her eyes more. An anonymous user. The only mention of who they were was from the text they wrote.
“Hello From The Magnus Institute! We see your distress and if you want to make an official statement for our Archives our doors are always open…”
Obviously it was a rambling of a weird bot or something. But the name was familiar ‘The Magnus Institute’ She swore she saw that name somewhere amongst these buildings. She shook off the thought, the sun was close to inching downwards, and she didn’t particularly like the dark.
The next day, a particularly gloomy afternoon, actually this afternoon, she sought out again to find jobs, her expectations lowered increasingly, hell she even walked into a butcher’s shop, until remembering she was a vegan for a reason and left before she threw up.
After a particularly angry encounter with a family-owned business, she sat on what looked like an old staircase no one was using. Once again scrolling through her phone, looking up more of that Magnus Institute to see if they were hiring. She would take anything even if it looked like a library and archive. At least she could try.
The door clicked open behind her. Jumpscared, she immediately backed up, apologizing. As she finally studied who walked out, she was taken aback by just how fancy the British could be, a polished green suit, a tie that had spirals around it until it folded into an eye shape. Even with his old, sunken eyes that he had been through lifetimes, he still looked 34. And a single earring. Weird- why the fuck would someone only own one earring.
“…Hello?” Their voice snapped Valya back out of her thoughts of that weird earring, she composed herself, bowing slightly in greeting. “right! Sorry, I’ll be going now, apologies for intruding on your doorstep”
The strange young-old-one-earring man smiled politely, dismissing the words. “No need for apologies, I just noticed you were searching our institute, is there anything you need from us?”
Valya tilted her head, confused for a moment before her eyes drifted to the top of the door, a metal plaque reading ‘The Magnus Institute’ grey with dust and cobwebs.
Oh
She nodded, he must’ve seen her phone. Unnerved on how he saw it over her shoulder she turned it off and put it in her pocket. She extended a hand, “Yes actually, I was wondering if your Institute was hiring 17 year olds?”
The one-earring’ed man took her hand, shaking it and smiling. “Come in, we can look at your resume”
Elias didn’t know Valya Evens
She was just another teenager, another head in the crowd that he didn’t pay attention to, but his patron kept insisting on the importance of this random teenager. With the same urgency that it gives to fresh statements.
Of course, this should be relatively normal. The eye had fixed its gaze upon people many times to find and retrieve their statement. But this was different somehow. So, it came as a surprise, and maybe a delight when she showed up on our front steps, literally. probably the work of the web, but he didn’t have time to worry about that at the moment, he simply calmly walked out of his office and past the receptionist– Rosie, telling her he was getting some air before opening the door.
The girl, Valya Evens quickly noticed him and stood up, standing up just a second before he could open the door, already spewing with apologies in a subtitle American accent. Once he finally got her to stop for a bit, ignoring her thinly veiled disgust and confusion at his appearance. She explained to him that she wanted a job. The Eye found this delightful.
Her resume wasn't all that impressive, homeschooled all her life, worked at various dinner catering and farms around her community before studying abroad for her Jr year in high school. Worked with horses, loved to write and paint, did two years of girl scouts when she was a kid. It was honestly disappointing, and sounded like a stretch. But the eye kept insisting, to give her an offer.
He looked up at her, as she looked around the room. She couldn’t hide her opinions, that was for sure, he didn’t even need to peer into her mind. She glanced at the wallpaper with confusion. Subtly nodding at his interior design, like a Judge scoring him. Eyes lingering on the painting’s eyes. A particular painting, one of himself, Jonah Magnus, staring blankly into the room, watching.
She turned back to Elias, about to say something, slightly spooked when she realized he was looking up. He gestured to the painting.
“Our founder, it’s an antique,” he explained. “Now, this is your-“ Valya cut him off. “It’s interesting how realistic the paintings were, I mean you two practically have the same eyes,” she chuckled to herself. The statement made Elias intrigued. She seemed observant.
“Oh! Sorry, I cut you off! Go ahead— what were you going to say?” Elias smiled, dismissing the interaction as coincidence.
“This is your first job? Why should we hire you?”
Valya laughed nervously. “Well, I’m a very organized person and would love to help sort whatever is in an archive. I like reading um-“ her eyes lit up “oh! And I can be a social media manager if you want me to be”
Elias thought for a moment, Valya seemed proud of herself for thinking of that, he allowed her to continue. “I recently saw you on Reddit, advertising your Institute, but it seemed more like a bot— not that that’s a bad thing! Kinda— but I could get more people here through social media”
Elias hummed at the thought, chucking. That’s why the eye was so interested in her, it was hungry for fresh statements. It was an old thing, only liking old machinery. Though if someone younger were to organize online, and better than his last attempt to advertise online, it might be a good investment.
“Sure” He opened his eyes, letting the resume fall beneath his hands. “10€ an hour, what hours will work for you?” Valya blinked, pulling out her phone, Elias sighed “Around 12$.” She smiled awkwardly and put her phone away.
“Um, I can work from one pm to whenever, I just take Saturdays off”
She shrugged and Elias pulled out the document, with its horribly small print. Outlining not only her pay and hours, but the contract making her life tied to his.
She looked over the document, squinting hard, mumbling to herself, trying her best to read it. “It just outlines your pay, that you’ll give statements when asked, your paid days off, boundaries for suspension etc, etc” He waved his hand.
And she stared at him, squinting like he was the letters on the page, suspicious, before carefully signing it and hand slipping and smiling a small gesture across a bit of the page.
“Oh! Sorry- hand slipped, hope it isn’t too bad” she handed it back to him, and consequently the words she scraped out had been the ones outlining her ties to his own soul. He didn’t mind, Valya wasn't like the archivist who was on track to becoming an avatar himself, she was just here to manage the social media and bring statements. “It’s quite alright, why don’t I show you around? I’m Elias Bouchard by the way”
He shook her hand, trying to ignore the small doubt in his chest that she was important. The suspicion that the simple brush stroke might be a pain later.
“Valya Evens” She smiled, shaking his hand back.
That had all lead back up to this
Sighing as she tried explaining a blog and official website probably shouldn’t contain slang, that it would just drive people away. Physically cringing when Elias, (her new boss) suggested already out of date slang. She was frustrated. Old people particularly got on her nerves when it came to bossing her around on the computer. Finally, Elias sensed her frustration and backed up. “I’ll think about it, it’s getting around lunchtime anyway I’ll leave you to yours”
He nodded and Valya tilted back in her seat, watching him go. And pulled out her lunch of a chicken salad and like, three chip bags. But as she set her stuff down, she realized just how weird the room felt, it was her own office at least, but the white led lights and almost nothing on her desk felt weird. Plus she needed to stretch anyway.
She calmly walked through the cramped building, smiling at all the weird vacant rooms and hallways. It was cool, there was basically no one.
Following the signs, she found her way to the archives. She had always loved old things, some people say it’s an American thing, she didn't care, archives were always a treat to visit. Especially because this was an institute researching strange occurrences– her favorite!
She stepped down into what looked like cubicles of desks, in front of a couch & kitchen. Valya called out for a moment to see if anyone was there. No response, but there was a soft buzzing, someone talking. She walked around to find the source of the noise, pushing back the—spookiness of it all.
Valya found a door reading ‘The Head Archivist’ the mutterings behind the door faint and hard to hear. Valya sat down against the wall next to the door, going silent to listen in. It was a story re-told through a letter, about a war. She closed her eyes, and brought her legs to her chest, softly relaxing in the words, closing her eyes and imagining being there in that war, hearing the piper and his friend dying in front of him. It was oddly comforting.
Valya was so focused on what the Head Archivist was reading, She missed the soft chattering, steps down the stairs, the thump and consequent silence that came from seeing Valya. One of them walks up to her balled-up form. She flinched back before the women could touch her.
“Oh! So-“ Valya glanced at the door, becoming quieter “sorry”
The kind-looking women chuckles “I’m Sasha, You must be Valya”
She blushed. “Am I that popular?”
“Not every day a 17 year old joins an institute like ours” A man’s voice came from a small stack of boxes, throwing an arm over Sasha’s shoulder. “Tim” He extends a hand, Valya shakes it.
Sasha glances at the door, muttering everyone away from the door to give the head archivist more quiet. That’s when Valya noticed the clock and realized she had spent her lunch sleeping. She cursed herself over it, awkwardly waving her goodbyes and walked back up to her office. Just in time for Elias to give her sticky notes of things he wants with the website. Valya sighed, looking at the requests. This was going to be a boring job.
Valya, very, VERY quickly realized how far that was from the truth
I mean, to ask for a not boring job is one thing, it’s another to be dragged into everyone’s drama, that consequently led her into the position she was in now.
She hated drama, really. Even if most of her old friends would’ve rolled their eyes and groaned. Pointing out how she always asked questions and was most always the first to bring drama up. But she really didn’t like it, when it involved her at least. Especially when that drama ended with her bloody and surrounded by doctors in hazmat suits.
After that day of oversleeping, she had made a habit of going down to the archives on lunch breaks and eating with Saha, Tim, and apparently Martin, a kind fellow that reminded her of happy puppies.
Sometimes, when they weren’t there, and she heard the mutterings of recordings, she would sit against the wall, and take a quick nap. Always managing to get back to her office in time.
She hadn’t properly met the guy, Martin said his name was Johnathan Sims. Funny name. The only times when she did meet him, was if he wasn’t recording a statement, and passed by the group to use the bathroom. A snarky man with short, well trimmed hair and white streaks running through it, along with a proper British sweater and suit. (Witch she chuckled about often)
Her first impressions of the guy were good, hearing him read statements, voice acting them was easy to enjoy, but his personality outside his little corner was frustrating at best. She had said good afternoon to him and instead, he turned to Martin and scolded him about how a child shouldn’t be walking around the institute. She explained to him that she worked there, and was about to complement his voice in statements, but he shook his head, interrupting her and just walked to the bathroom.
“Asshole” She muttered, sighing and turning back to Martin to have a more present conversation.
That opinion stayed concrete the more Valya came across him. Giving him a few statements Elias needed him to read. Scoffing as he just dismissed Valya. Saying he was ‘busy’.
She even watched as a disoriented, painfully lonely looking woman came in, and walked out yelling and crying. She had to talk to her instead to make sure she was emotionally safe. It was frustrating to watch.
She glanced at the door for the third time in the twenty minutes she had been there. “Is he always like that? Like, always? It’s not just being grumpy?” She asked, leaning back against the couch as Sasha leaned back out of her seat, nodding. “Unfortunately, he’s just like that. Always grumpy and always angry at something, though you learn to look past it”
Valya hummed, sipping on her sparkling water, staring at the door. She guessed she noticed it, how he avoided eye contact when he wanted to say sorry. When his eyebags got particularly dark after Sasha got sick and he had to take on her workload. But that wasn’t a good enough reason to be an asshole.
Valya was so lost in thought she didn’t notice Elias walking down into the basement.
Elias coughed, making his presence known, and Valya jumped. Sasha turned around with Tim, Martin giving a nod before looking up. “You seem comfortable Valya, do you like it down here?” Valya blushed, embarrassed she was caught hanging out in their break room again. “Right- sorry. Yeah, it’s cozy and comfortably cold”
Elias smiled “you can move your office down here if you wish, I’ll send you emails with what I need, might as well if you like it so much”
Valya smiled, saluting him “yes boss! Thank you boss!”
He chuckled softly. “Oh, and having the statements digitally recorded is a pain for storage organization, so you can record the online ones on your own time.” Valya nodded, getting up to retrieve her things from upstairs with Elias trailing behind her.
Settling into the office wasn't too bad, the signal was a bit worse, but she really didn’t mind. More hours, more money. The only annoying thing was Jon Sims, The head archivist. Walking around high and mighty, throwing insults at us. Though, something was strange, the archives were quiet, with Martin being gone with a stomach bug, and weird talk about a Jane Prentiss. Something was going on, but it was none of her business…maybe. Okay maybe she looked and did as much research on the women as she could.
She exclaimed, almost choking on a bite of her sandwich. She found it! “Yo! cough Sasha! cough Come look at this”
She gave Valya a weird look, worried she was choking but walked over to her computer anyway.
It was a yearbook photo, a young looking woman with long black hair put up in a ponytail, wearing goth makeup and dress. The label ‘Jane Prentiss ’ under it. Sarah hummed, “this is her in college right? Valya nodded, “she dropped out soon after” she clicked to a different tab. “I didn’t really know what you found yet, but I got to her workplace” Before Sarah could ask, Valya nodded.
“Already emailed them. And then- I found her old friends’ Instagram, I know by their old photos with her in it, most deleted a lot of their old photos, but they still left her in the back of some. Oh– and I know you already did a follow-up with her statement, but I got the police records and witness reports for the welfare check in her apartment. Already sent the witnesses emails to”
She smiled when she was done, Sasha laughed, patting her head. “Nice job Val! I don’t know if it’ll turn out to be useful but thanks anyway”
Valya nodded, blushing a little “sorry, I overheard you all talking about it and couldn’t help but research into it”
Sarah nodded, switching the subject to lunch.
She didn't think she would ever meet Prentiss, honestly after Martin had come back, explaining his time with Jane, locked in his apartment. She thought that Jane had given up, that the maggot looking bugs in the corners were few and to not worry about them. Even with Sasha’s precaution and interaction with the being called ‘Michal’ that had the fire suppressant system turning into co2 Valya thought she wouldn’t need to.
But as she was looking over a couple statements she had set aside to record on tape later, there was a loud noise of books and paper falling. Valya flinched, standing up and following closely behind Sasha who was also looking to see what the sound was. Valya sighed when Sarah confirmed Jon was okay. But Jon’s scream quickly ripped that relief away.