[video]

[neverfeltthatway]

[Armin tries to look professional, but this liminal has been trying, in a number of ways. He keeps his face neutral, but he looks tired - and there's a tension to his expression, just a hint of sadness.]

I have the list of those Travelers who are no longer with us. To be clear, I am only including Travelers who have been here for at least a jaunt. There are too many who both arrived and vanished in the last couple weeks for me to include them all, since I never met most of them. If anyone wants to know whether somebody who showed up during the last couple weeks is still here, however, I can find out.

Nicholas. Istas. Elliot. Byerly. Zatanna. Mikleo. Doujima. Robin. Neeshka. Hal. Sorey.

[He goes quiet for a long moment, before continuing on a different vein.] Most of you will probably have noticed, but this liminal space seems to be messing with our heads - making people more cynical and paranoid.

Eldritch defenses work against this influence.

I'm not sure exactly what this means, but we should be on guard. However, I have searched thoroughly and I can find no trace of the King in Yellow's sign.

Comments

Private (not protected)

[thornsofmalkav]

[On one hand, someone she was scared of is gone. That's good, right?

On the other hand, Neeshka was gone. Fuck.

And there's someone else she needs to ask about, although not for her own sake.]

Um. Hey, Armin. I know this is a really long shot, but. While he was here, did you get a chance to meet Alcuin and Phedre's teacher? He showed up when Jules broke things. I just... want to know if he disappeared when all those other people did too.

[Because if he is disappeared... it's gonna really fuck up Alcuin.]

Private (psychic protection ii)

[neverfeltthatway]

Delaunay? [His expression tightens at the question, for all that he expected it.] I did meet him. And he did disappear.

[Really, what else is there to say?]

Re: Private (psychic protection ii)

[thornsofmalkav]

Ah fuck.

[That's what she was afraid of.]

Yeah. Me too. Alcuin introduced me to him back when he showed up. [just offscreen because same mun]

He'd... probably appreciate seeing you.

[amadine]

So she really is gone, and not just being avoidant...

[That probably wasn't meant to be shared, but despite their differences, losing Neeshka is a blow.

So, though on a smaller scale, is losing Elliot and Byerly, for all she's tried to wall away her lingering sororal affections.]

The paranoia is similar enough in nature to the Old Ones' influences to fall under the protections afforded by eldritch defenses, but the source isn't eldritch in nature.

Small comfort, perhaps, but it's not the work of the King in Yellow or his kin.

[neverfeltthatway]

Yes. I'm sorry.

[He doesn't necessarily know what their relationship was, but it doesn't change the pain of losing someone. That, he understands all too well - even now, with Robin and Zatanna.]

How can you tell that the source isn't eldritch?

[Because Armin doesn't have a way to tell, and that sounds like a useful thing to know.]

[amadine]

There are subtler signs than the sigil. None of them are present, and if the source was eldritch in nature, they would be.

[private]

[capital_asset]

I thought the Bond felt different.

[He'd ask how she knows that about the source of the paranoia, but Neeshka's loss seems like it should take precedence here. His own curiosity can wait.]

[private]

[amadine]

I'd hoped it was merely damaged. We only just retrieved her...

Monkey's gone too, this time. I can only hope this means she's found her way elsewhere, and hasn't fallen into a dungeon again.

[willyousee]

...A larger comfort than you make it out to be. Thank you.

[amadine]

Is it? I find the prospect of sourceless eldritch corruption deeply disturbing.

[thornsofmalkav]

... yeah. [Ugh. Why hadn't she noticed earlier?]

[amadine]

She's not alone this time. And we may be able to find her again.

[wildmagician]

No way, Doujima-san? Man that sucks.

[He didn't get that many chances to talk with the man, which he regrets now.]

Not sure if I should ask but... what's King in Yellow?

[thornsofmalkav]

A hugely squamous and non-Euclidean dick. Uh, I'll let someone else who was actually there fill you in on the rest.

[wildmagician]

I'd appreciate it if you used words I'd understand better - but even from that I can understand he wasn't a very good person.

[neverfeltthatway]

Yes. I'm sorry.

The King in Yellow... he's a being with power on par with the Trumps, except he's a god of madness. Death is preferable to what what happen if he got his hands on you.

About year and a half ago, there was a jaunt where he had a cult following. They tried to summon him into their world, to manifest him directly - we stopped them, but only barely, and he invaded liminal space and infected the telepathic network first. The network, we got back - but he had gained a foothold in liminal space, for a time. His sigil kept appearing here - and if it was messed with from this side, he could get through. He and his creatures, his eldritch horrors.

[wildmagician]

Wow, that's messed up. I hadn't thought there'd be beings as strong as Trumps, but of course it's possible with how many different worlds we go to.

So if we see this sigil, what should be done? I'm guessing part of it is contacting you and leaving the sigil completely untouched, but... just in case there's something else I should know.

[rustyhonesty]

You can probably confirm that none of those who visited from our world are no longer here.

At least that takes care of Reiner and Annie.

[neverfeltthatway]

Yes. [It's said flatly, his face all but expressionless.] They're all gone. It's just the five of us, now.

[rustyhonesty]

[There's a long silence following Armin's words.]

Thanks for confirming it.

[callyourname]

[ Elliot. That's the piano guy's real name... So that confirms it, even if she has thought about it before this because he hasn't been around at all. But there could have been many reasons for that. Maybe it's better to just not even try letting anyone in when anyone can disappear at anytime... And that's just her usual cynical nature, though it might have been increasing a lot. Lately or slowly during her time here, not in this Liminal.

You know what? She's just going to jump to the end of that broadcast where she knows what to say because she's not even sure what to say to anything else. ]

So you went to look for it alone. Again.

[neverfeltthatway]

Y-yeah.

[Armin blinks at her words, genuinely surprised - and, knowing him like she does, Mikasa may see that it honestly hadn't even occurred to him not to do it himself.]

Mikasa...

[bite_the_hand]

Shit. Then they really are gone.

[He'll ask about what this sign thing is in a minute. He's got to take a moment to process this first.]

...I know she was a crazy bitch who threatened people over the stupidest shit, but I'm still going to miss Istas. I know it wasn't really us, but Izanami was Ren's sister. She was an even crazier bitch then, but they still cared about each other, and... Even once Izanami was killed, Istas still came back to help in the fight and make peace with Ren. He'd really needed that.

[He's talked about Bando and Ren's fucked up family before, but usually dodged the subject of his older sister. Eren had never figured out how he felt about it - and now it seems he might never get the chance to.]

And Hibine - Elliot - was the first and closest friend Ren made after his clan banished him. I- ...Dammit!

...

I guess it's pretty stupid, letting Infiltrator memories get to me this much.

[happyhalloween]

Uu. I'm gonna miss her too. She was a good friend to Mari as the wolf-bear-ghost. She helped her make friends and become happy. Even though Mari killed her when the Shinju said so.

Istas was a good Mama.

[neverfeltthatway]

I understand. That's how I got to know Thorne, you know - she was my sister.

[But he frowns at Eren's reaction - in response to what he's going through, of course, but more specifically at what he was thinking about his own feelings.]

It's not stupid, Eren! Whether or not that was actually you, those feelings were real, and you experienced them. Nothing that happened before or afterward changes that. Is what I feel for Sansa less real because I let my infiltrator feelings get to me??