MAG 132: Entombed

Image by @BitterCombatant on Twitter

Audio
Transcript
Warnings

Statement of Jonathan Sims, concerning their descent into the Coffin and attempt to rescue Alice "Daisy" Tonner.

## Pre-Statement

John listens to Statement #0160112 to hear Daisy describing her first encounter with the coffin. As he prepares to go into the coffin to rescue Daisy, he makes a tape recording of his goodbye and apologies to Melanie and Basira and leaves it and his rib bone. He tells another tape recorder, "You're coming with me," and picks it up before opening the coffin. Strong static is heard on the recording as the coffin compels John to enter, until John says, "No need for that; I'm willing."

John travels down many stone stairs and into a passage that becomes progressively narrower, especially when he stops moving. It becomes a tunnel, and then a crawlspace, and then he can no longer move much at all. He calls for and eventually finds Daisy, and the two catch up while being squeezed by The Buried.

John tries to find his anchor, but he can no longer feel it. He panics, stating that they are in "Forever Deep Below Creation," where the weight of everything presses in on them and there is not even an up. He states they are trapped there. Daisy replies, "Not alone, though?" and John agrees, "No, not alone."

After a moment of silence, Daisy checks that John is still there. When he responds that he is, she says she wants to talk, so John compels her to talk about how she is doing.

## Statement

Daisy is scared. She is cut off from The Hunt in here and she says that she feels more like herself now, and does not want to go back to hurting people like she did before. She recalls the statement Elias extracted from her in MAG 82 and reflects that The Hunt has always been part of her life. She does not want to go back to being a violent predator out there, but nor does she want to limp around like wounded prey, and she is most afraid she will not get the chance to choose. John assures her that there are always choices.

Daisy admits that she planned to kill John after they stopped The Unknowing. She decided to because she started seeing John in her dreams. When she saw John in her dream wearing a new shirt before he returned from the United States wearing that shirt, she realized that they were not normal dreams and that John was not human. (MAG 114) John admits that he is now less human than he was before, but Daisy does not care right now. They strain as The Buried squeezes.

## Post-Statement

Suddenly, John is able to feel his anchor better, and he guides Daisy out of the coffin, where they find dozens of tape recorders turned on and playing in-person statements. Basira bursts in and begins to say, "John, you stupid idiot—" but breaks off when she sees not just John, but Daisy as well. Daisy greets Basira with a quiet, "Hi." Basira responds, "Oh my God."

## Continuity

* **Related Entity:** The Buried and The Eye

## Trivia

* Many fans were curious about the use of the pronoun "their" to describe John. Jonny Sims has clarified on Twitter that this was not indicative of any deeper canon meanings, but as the Archivist's gender would likely be unimportant to the plot, there is also nothing to contradict a non-binary interpretation of the character.
* This is the first time John is confirmed to have physically entered an entity and only one of two such incidents (along with The Lonely.) It is possible he may have been inside the Stranger in MAG 119: Stranger and Stranger and the Eye as documented in MAG 120: Eye Contact, though these are unconfirmed.