[Video]

[neverfeltthatway]

[Armin image appears suddenly, and though his face is composed, his thoughts are both cautious and alarmed.]

Everyone - be alert in liminal space, and avoid the men's bathroom four floors above where the portal let us into liminal space. The sign of the King in Yellow is still with us.

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[neverfeltthatway]

[Armin is busy enough with the other conversations in his head, and when Leo walks in he's standing by the sinks, keeping an eye on both the urinal with the mark and the door - hands on his hilts, guarding passage in both directions.

It's not a good plan, or a sustainable one. But it's all Armin has, until someone can come up with a better one.

His eyes widen at Leo's question.] Of c-course not!

[He glances between Leo and the sign for a moment before repeating his earlier question.] What are you planning to do?

[howexciting]

Good. Then we're in no immediate danger. But if someone were to remove it... well. You know what happened the first time. And the second.

[He takes a deep, calming breath, staring down at the word beneath his feet. Aegis.]

I intend to seal it off. Bar the door from the inside. Draw the necessary protections. We can prevent his coming with these. First thing's first... we need to seal it off. I can craft a cage for it, I think... can you watch the door while I do so?

[neverfeltthatway]

[Armin nods, shifting uncomfortably - one hand absently moving to rub the scar on his shoulder. He knows what happened, far too well.]

Yes, sir! [Hearing the request, and in such a perilous situation, Armin responds on instinct - before realizing Leonardo is not, in fact, his superior officer. Armin blushes fiercely as he moves to stand in the doorway, but he doesn't say anything about it.]

...Does anyone else know how to make these protections?

[howexciting]

... just... just Leonardo will do. [But the mix-up does provide him a little bit of relief from the tension, a small smile forming on his lips as his shoulders slowly relax.]

Frankly, I do not know. After today, you will at least know the basics. But first, let me try to seal it off.

[He turns, and uses his Liminal Manipulation to create a cage from floor to ceiling around that particular urinal, keeping it just out of arm's reach - even from outside the words-made-walls, for the cage clearly extends in a cylinder through the open space beyond, all around the lower part of the "i" on which the urinal rests.

And then Leonardo begins to mutter something that sounds entirely inhuman, tracing a finger over the frontmost bar of the cage; the tracing glows faintly until he withdraws his hand, fading back to a surprisingly simple sign for such a complicated ritual, etched onto the steel cage as if it had been there all along.

... and then the power drain hits Leonardo, and he has to steady himself on the wall next to the urinal, made of an "l". The word? "Debilitate".]

[neverfeltthatway]

S-sorry. I... it was instinct. [He sounds very sheepish, obviously embarrassed about it.]

We should make sure several people know, in case you - or even both of us - are infiltrating next time it happens. [Plus, it doesn't escape Armin's notice that he'd have no easy way to do what Leo is - he's never been able to manifest a portal, let alone bend liminal space enough to create something like a cage.

Even so, he watches everything Leo does, carefully memorizing the sign - he'll write it down later. He'd be a poor guard if he were not prepared to draw, and he won't risk his journal being lost to liminal space, should he have to drop it in order to do so.

Armin looks alarmed, instinctively reaching out to support Leo when he sees the other man stagger.] Are you all right?

[howexciting]

I can teach you all the basic protections. The two Inscribed Elder Sign Forms, Simple and Broad, as well as the Gestural Form of the Elder Sign. I can also teach you the Sign of Koth and its Gestural Form. I cannot teach you more than this... but these five will be enough to protect you for as long as they stay intact. Crafting totems of either the Simple Elder Sign, or the Broad Elder Sign as I've made there...

[He motions weakly to the indentation he's made in the metal of the cage.]

... will work also. They would, at least, be more resilient, and portable, but not as versatile.

[He gratefully takes the support, but does his best to steady himself on his own.] I'll... be all right, after a little rest. As long as no one breaks the cage from the outside, the seal will hold indefinitely. It is imbued with the power of the Elder Sign, now. Neither he, nor his minions, can break it from the inside.

[neverfeltthatway]

All right. [He looks conflicted, for a moment, but the situation is contained for now, so concern wins out.] Just... just rest for now, you can teach me the others later.

[howexciting]

Grazie. [He nods, gratefully, taking a few steps away to lean carefully on the wall away from the urinals, the d in misleading.]

... I thought we would be rid of him, when we left that Jaunt. I truly did.

[neverfeltthatway]

I didn't really know about him until after. That monster we fought proved otherwise - I guess it was vain to hope it would simply go away with time.

[Unconsciously, his hand goes to his shoulder and his mark from that battle when he mentions the creature.]