[video]// backdated to right after malik's post, filtered from Malik and Rose

[neverfeltthatway]

[Armin's expression is hard and angry, but his words are clear and considered.]

I want to make something clear. It's true that Eren may not have acted well with respect to learning red magic. But those spells Malik keeps going on about - ripping someone's heart out, or giving them cursed wounds - those are things Malik can do, not things Eren can. Eren has not and would never attempt to learn such things.

His most powerful spell gives him the ability to fly. His most dangerous spell lights his blades on fire. Neither are things Malik considered or even bothered to learn before mentally violating Eren and Mikasa with a forcible interface after seeing Eren flying. He has said since - openly, on the network - that it was somehow his only option short of ripping Eren's heart out.

[Ripping Eren's heart out - because the boy learned how to fly. Armin falls silent for a moment, as he lets Malik's words speak for themselves.]

Even if I understand why Malik acted the way he did, it does not excuse his actions. And Eren is not careless or vicious with his power, as Malik is trying to make him out to be.

Comments

[neverfeltthatway]

That's not a bad idea. But... let him calm down a little first. He's not thinking about this logically right now - we both know why, with what happened in Solomon's temple.

[canbebrave]

You shouldn't bring up things from the dungeons outside of them. [Like how they never talk about the ghosts in winterfell- her brothers scorched corpses, her mother's throat sliced.]

I'll try, though. I do not know if he will listen, but I will try, for the both of them.

[neverfeltthatway]

I won't talk about what happened. But it's obviously why he's reacting the way he is.

[He wouldn't reveal Malik's secrets to anyone who wasn't there, not if he doesn't have to. But for those who were, it certainly provides context to the current situation.]

Thank you.

[canbebrave]

Still. They're painful enough to be looked back upon.

[neverfeltthatway]

[Armin glances away.]

...Sorry.

[canbebrave]

It's... alright. I'm sorry. I am perhaps too brash, after my own.

Private (psychic protection ii)

[neverfeltthatway]

...I've been through a lot of dungeons, but I've never had one of my own. So I might not be as sensitive to it as I should be, sometimes.

[It's not true, for the most part - this would be the first time, if mentioning it obliquely to someone else who was there can even be called insensitive. But Armin is too ready to believe the worst of himself, especially recently.]

I just... thought it seemed relevant.

Private

[canbebrave]

...It's alright. If I am being honest, I am not sure Ser Malik would mind. I ought not let it bother me.

Private (psychic protection ii) to infinity

[neverfeltthatway]

If you ever want to talk about what happened in your dungeon... you know I'm here, right? That I'm willing to hear it?

same

[canbebrave]

No one deserved to see that.

[neverfeltthatway]

[Armin's eyes are bright, but mostly they are sad and compassionate.]

Maybe. [Though he's seen worse before.] But you deserved to live it even less.

[canbebrave]

People would tell you otherwise.

[neverfeltthatway]

[Something hard surfaces in Armin's expression, but his voice is more gentle than before.]

Maybe. They would be wrong. And not people I'd be like to trust, anyway.

[canbebrave]

...No. No one you should trust. Ever.

[neverfeltthatway]

[He takes a breath, speaking calmly and deliberately.]

Then I don't care what they think.

[canbebrave]

...Thank you. There might be some truth to them- but it would still sting, to have you ever share--

Thank you.

[neverfeltthatway]

Always, Sansa. Always. I'm here.

[canbebrave]

You are too kind. Perhaps for your own good.

[neverfeltthatway]

[Armin gives her a small, self-depreciating smile.]

There are those who would say otherwise.