Nothing, nothing, nothing.

And then he finds a statement given by Jane Prentiss.

Nothing happens in it. There is a wasp nest in her attic. It calls to her, it sings, it tells her it loves her, that she is a home, that she is beautiful. She is so afraid and she loves it so dearly and it itches and it makes her feel things she's never felt before and she is so very, very afraid. It didn't want her to come to the Institute, so she did, in the hopes that they would have something that would help her. She is certain, by the end of her statement, that the Institute is not there to help her. That the hive chose her, that the hive had always chosen her. She mentions fractals, spiderwebs, beholding.

The whole thing is written in a strange style, though that might just be because she admits to not having slept in quite some time.

He stops.

He checks whether it's digitizable.

It's not.

...it's not quite time for lunch yet but he is concerned that if he keeps doing things then more things will happen and he will have entirely too much stuff to explain to Martin. 

He leaves the Archive and goes to Martin's desk. "Early lunch."

"...Yeah, okay."

As soon as they're out of the Institute: "What's going on? You've been acting weird all day."

(Fish and chips shop this time, Lev is concerned if they eat at one place too much the Watchful Thing will decide it's part of the Institute.)

"...I had an extremely interesting day. I tried to talk to the Watchful Thing, and it sent me Elias, and then I found Jane Prentiss's statement, and then I decided to go to lunch with you before anything else happened. --No promises on whether I will also drag you out for an afternoon snack."

His voice is mysteriously happy.

"...Wow, okay, yeah. Drag me out whenever you need. I. What happened, what did they say?"

(Maybe he is going to escape this without Martin noticing that Lev kissed him because he was about to do something extremely dangerous.)

"Jane Prentiss's statement is beautiful."

"...Really? I. Wouldn't have expected that, honestly. I guess I should be less, uh, biased towards worm people. ...Except for how she trapped Tim in his flat and is maybe threatening you, I guess. But like. In terms of, uh, writing quality."

He talks with his hands a lot when he's around Martin but this time he's doing it way more enthusiastically and broadly than normal, like he is so interested in something that he entirely forgot that he wasn't supposed to. He's not bouncing. It is too important for bouncing. 

"It's so-- she met a spirit and was chosen by the spirit, I think? The spirit of-- bugs or something-- it's called the Hive and it's alien, it's so alien, it's completely inhuman and it loves her and she loves it and she can become part of it and when you read it she's not talking like a human because even then it was-- changing her I think-- making her more like it-- and you can see in the statement what it must be like to be the Hive, at least a little bit, as much as we can understand, and it's so alien and it's so beautiful-- I don't think I'm making any sense at all-- the Watchful Thing is definitely the Beholding, that's ours, our spirit, and I think there's another one called the Web-- that must be the one that killed Vittery--" 

"Changing her the way--the way the Watchful Thing, the, the Beholding, the same way it's changing you, do you think?"

"Well, I don't know, do I sound like I'm possessed by a spirit of-- curiosity? Knowledge? Observation? --Probably not yet but maybe eventually. --I wonder if Gertrude left any records where we could see what she talks like..."

He sounds extremely cheerful about this prospect.

"I... don't... think so? But I'm not sure how I'd check, you were already kind of like this--I wonder if Jane was, too--not curious, I guess, but... whatever she was? I have no idea If it... cares about that, when it chooses people. Checking to see if Gertrude left records is probably a good idea."

"Also it took a while to make Jane Prentiss Jane Prentiss, the statement was given before she was the person she was today and she'd had the worms inside her before. The Beholding is anti-interventionist I think so it might not want to merge with me." (Slightly disappointed voice.) "I think she was like this before, she mentions in the statement that people thought she was toxic and stopped being friends with her and this made her lonely and then she found something that loved her so much it consumed her entirely..."

"Huh. I wonder if there's any way to track down the people who thought she was toxic, see if they have any perspective on all this."

Cheek kiss. "Good plan. --Apparently the Hive hates the Beholding so there's, uh, motive for maybe wanting to kill me."

"That seems.... unideal... Should we maybe push for, I dunno, more security or something? And I should, uh, probably get that knife. And lessons on how to use it.

Do you, uh. If the Beholding wanted to merge with you... would you want it to?"

"...yes. Obviously? --I guess I don't want to murder anyone. But the Beholding does not really seem like the sort of spirit that murders people."

"Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. ...Just, tell me before you do anything? If you can?"

Oh no, Martin is making a face.

Lev stares at the table indecisively.

"...I'm sorry. If you want to--and we're both in agreement on the no murder--I really don't mean to stop you, just. I thought I should probably ask, so I can. Be prepared. And probably it won't even come up anyway, if it's non-interventionist, just."

"...okay you are going to do that sentence again without apologizing for wanting to be informed before your boyfriend is possessed by an incomprehensible probably-evil spirit."

"--Yeah, you know what, alright. That was perfectly reasonable of me, actually, and it's kind of not okay with me that you weren't able to agree to it. If there is any likelihood you are going to be possessed by anything, you need to tell me. I'm not even saying that you can't be possessed by anything! I'm just asking to be told first!"

"Good job." Cheek kiss.

"...I did just go talk to the Watchful Thing this morning without telling you because you might stop me."