[Video]// backdated to the first liminal space

[neverfeltthatway]

...I found the King's sigil again.

[Armin projects a brief look around, so people can know where he is, and then looks down to a manhole cover in one of the underpasses - where, just as he said, the golden sigil sits. Uncharacteristically, his tone is short and abrupt.]

Avoid this place.


[Private to Leo]

I'm not sure the same protections will work here, with all the traffic. Any ideas?

Comments

[neverfeltthatway]

Forceful is a part of it. You have to want people to see and hear you, and you have to project hard. But you also need to have a strong sense of self, to concentrate on who you are, and project that too.

[It's strange, having to focus on both who you are and what you're saying in order to have a conversation - but it's a trick most pick up fairly easily. Armin doesn't even think about it anymore.]

It'll get easier, I promise. I know it's hard now, but... a lot of them won't be strangers for long.

[He's not really sure if that's comforting. She didn't choose this, she may not want to be here, and what he's saying is implying staying here - more than that, it may feel like giving in. But they have to do the best with what they have, and it's true - she won't be a stranger to the Travelers for long.]

[callyourname]

[That... Sounds easy enough. Especially easy between family like right now, except the part about concentrating on herself too. Mikasa sighs. Okay, get ready to snap your fingers, Armin, while she concentrates on thinking about herself for change.]

Well, I want you to be able to see and hear me anytime...

[Just voicing what she's using as her so called force to get this skill to work before she actually gets to working on it.

Hey, still ready to snap those fingers? No time to do that, she's making this work in a snap or less. There we go. Fast as ever in learning new skills and never the type to brag about it, so just Mikasa shrugs.]

Ehh, that was easy just between us. ...I guess I'll find out how it goes with everyone else later.

[He is right, they won't be strangers for too long. Some of them at least won't be. For now she's playing with it while she makes sure her scarf is still tightly around her neck. Guess who's been playing with that all the time while Armin was away? It was better than drumming her feet on the steps. Then she closes that connection as she walks to him and now when business is over, she gives him a calm hug.]

Welcome back.

[She said it before, she knows. Repeating it with that is not a bad thing anyway.]

haha, she should have waited with Sansa. She has a lot of practice waiting and worrying about Armin

[neverfeltthatway]

[Armin smiles, impressed but not surprised when Mikasa picks it up right away. That's just what Mikasa does. Even after all that time away, it's what he instinctively expects from her, managing so easily what took him time and practice to achieve.]

It shouldn't be hard, now you know how to do it. I know you'll manage it just fine.

[He welcomes the hug from her, squeezing her gently in response.]

...'m sorry I didn't explain things better. I didn't mean to make you wait for me like that.

that's true, though she'd need to get used to the idea of waiting with her to do that....

[callyourname]

I would have waited for you just like that either way, so it's... ...okay.

[It's not fine, just okay -- there's a difference. Damn if she isn't used to waiting and worrying at this point back home though there she's usually able to do at least something else than just waiting but still. She'd ask if he's okay but he said he is, but that... should have been her first question here.]

Just don't do that again.

[No, she really shouldn't even try to make him promise that but she's trying... He can stay out of trouble for a while at least, yes? ...Maybe.]