“I do! And you like me back!”

"...that's less surprising."

“Maybe to you it is.”

Maybe... if Lev makes a very cute face at Martin... they will stop having this conversation and instead have sex.

Oh good this was basically the outcome Martin hoped for! This conversation is terrible and kissing Lev is excellent. 

(Martin does get to see how happy and floaty and relaxed Lev is when you hurt him. He does not get to take off Lev's pants.)

(Lev is so good. Martin is going to inform him of this a lot.)

Mmm no Martin is good.

(The next morning Lev is very cross about having to go to WORK instead of spending all day in BED.)

He will be kissed and informed that they’re going to work anyway!

On the way to work, near the Institute, Martin spots and immediately stomps on a small white worm. “...Shiiit. Do you think it’s one of—you know—? I guess, probably, right?”

"Yep! We're being stalked by a crazy worm lady!"

Sigh. “Great. We should... keep more of an eye out for those, then, I guess.”

Lev goes into the office and does archiving!

Do his assistants have anything interesting to say about the previous two non-digitizable statements?

Tim has some thoughts on the calliope organ one!

"Reminds me of some of the research I've done on the traveling circuses in Russia and Poland in the early 20th century. One of them had a Denikin, even, if I'm remembering correctly--Цирк другого, I think? Gregory Petry’s written some stuff about them, I can check the Institute library if you want."

"You should do that. --Why the fuck would anyone play evil paranormal music for their grandkid?"

"Dunno. Or--the obvious answer is that it's malicious, right, but if he wanted that he could have pretty easily gotten out the calliope organ while he was, you know, alive."

"Maybe it's just that half the people in every statement have the self-preservation instinct of a snake going to a mongoose convention."

Snort. "Yeah, you're not wrong. I guess the ones with more self-preservation manage to get away before they see anything beyond a little spooky."

Conversation over, Lev pulls out the nondigitizables and starts to sort through them, scribbling notes onto a piece of paper. 

Eventually he stands up, gets notecards, and starts writing on them. 

Tim comes by later. "Found it!" He holds up an open book with a black and white photograph. "I was right, it was Цирк другого. Nikolai Denikin was their organist, ringmaster was Gregor Orsinov. Couldn't find any actual names of any of their other members, but there are recurring figures--two strongmen, a contortionist, a fire-eater, a freak show... They're connected with all sorts of weird stuff, it really doesn't surprise me that their calliaphone was cursed."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Mysterious disappearances, mostly. A couple reports of being mauled by tigers, well outside of recorded tiger habitats. Lots of journal entries and letters that aren't particularly useful but talk about it being bad and something to avoid. Nothing certain? But definitely suggestive."

"Well," he says, scribbling down the name of the circus on a notecard. "That's pretty much what I expected."

Lev keeps scribbling on notecards and rearranging them and occasionally checking non-digitizables. He skips lunch, barely touches the food that Martin puts by his elbow, and drinks a lot of tea.

At five he pulls Martin aside and says: "I think I've figured some things out."