[ A sparkle of mental laughter. Matt's getting better at making those sound like actual laughs, rather than pop-rock bursts of endorphins, but some of the chemical architecture remains. ]

Pushover isn't the word I'd use, but if you mean Sebastian, then yes. [ Who else would it be, Matt, Sveinn? ] I think I was pretty pathetic, though. I rolled up looking like a bedraggled orphan.

But yeah, I'm in the parlor.

[ He's journaling over coffee. Now that he has his powers back and his somewhat lackluster survey results tabulated, his notebooks are being used for spell diagrams and magical notes. Though a not-insignificant number of pages are dedicated to trying to keep track of what he's heard about past wars, and Oracles, and the things this Aetós person has said.

Are those footsteps ...? ]