synopsychic | [Audio]

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Hello, everyone. I... I have the list of those who have vanished. [For once, Armin doesn't use his image when making a broadcast, and he's definitely shorter and more terse than normal. It's definitely unusual, for him - but anyone who knows him well enough to notice might figure out why as soon as he starts reading off the names.]

Ivan. Levi. Joscelin. Yua. S-sansa. Adachi. Neeshka. Hitsugaya. Sera - umm, the unfriendly one. And Xaldin.

[Locked to former Illuminated]

I heard some of what happened during the walkabout. If you don't mind, I'd like to hear more about it from each of you in person. When you're feeling up for it.

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[He shivers, though it's not cold in the room.]

...Thanks.

[He sits there quietly, looking small and vulnerable - although in her mind, she'll hear him continue to respond and answer questions on the network - however tonelessly - as if nothing's wrong.]

[Okay.]

[That was...definitely unnerving. Not the part where he kept responding to the Network; if anything, she was glad he was still sort of talking to other people. It was his tone--or lack thereof--that made her feel uneasey. Like all the life in him had been drained of emotion, leaving behind little more than an Armin-shaped shell.]

I can't help...wonder if this is partially my fault.

[What she had to say next probably wasn't going to help. In fact, it would probably make him feel that much worse...but she needed to get it off her chest before he started to suspect.]

Actually, there's something I've been meaning to tell you too.

[His eyes narrow in confusion and he tilts his head, uncomprehending.]

...How would it be your fault?

Because it would make sense.

[In her guilt-tainted mind, it did.]

Last time we met like this, we started looking into our Trump tatoos. One Jaunt later, and your girlfriend's up and vanished, and my magic... [She trailed off for a second, trying to best figure out how to put it. It wasn't gone. Just the opposite, actually; there seemed to be more of it now than before. Which was a problem in and of itself.] ...I'm having a hard time keeping it under control. My spells are less focused. There's too much power coming out of me at once.

That hasn't happened to me since I was a kid.

[Armin purses his lips, looking marginally more concerned and focused - but not at all angry or guilty. The last time he'd taken their misfortunes to be his fault, he'd been entirely wrong - and that kind of thinking isn't helpful, anyway.

He opens his mouth, then pauses for a moment - wrapping up a couple conversations, and then letting his presence on the network slowly fade away until he can't feel it at all before he responds.] If that's the reason, then her disappearance is as much my fault as it is yours. But I wouldn't be so quick to assign us as the cause. We've been doing this for nearly a year now - it's too easy to see a connection with any misfortune we have, but most of the time they won't be related. I've made that mistake before.

Sansa's vanished in the past, and before we ever started this. As for your magic... [He pauses a moment to think.] You were a corviger, right? Were you ever turned?

[So it could be both their faults. Deal. She still felt bad, though.]

I was.

But that shouldn't matter. Transforming has very little to do with magic--well, not that kind of transforming, and not my kind of magic. And none of the other abilities I've ended up with before messed with me like this.

[Both, or neither, one way or the other.]

...Do emotions affect your magic? Like, if you're really angry or upset, is it harder to control?

Not that I ever noticed.

It wasn't even that. Like, I was having a hard time changing my clothes. That's like a non-issue spell most of the time.

[She thought back to the unnerving rush of energy that flowed through her when it should have barely registered. How she'd reflexively stopped the spell mid-cast the first time because of the shock. How she'd just barely managed the second time, and even after, her heart was racing like she'd overexerted herself.]

Same with Robin's clothes. I almost didn't do it, because I was worried. The spell still worked. I just couldn't control the amount of energy I was using anymore.

[Which, most importantly, meant...]

Circles might be off the table for a while. [One of the main reasons she suspected Trump involvement.] It's too dangerous. If I can't focus properly, then I put everyone around me at risk.

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