animus_network | first ❅ video;

[It's been a while since Yukiko has been in the Tower at all - three months, give or take a bit. It shows in her face when she appears on the video feed; this isn't the face of a surprised newcomer. It's the face of someone who has explored enough to know that while she was gone, a lot of her friends have left. Her voice is just a bit shaky when she speaks.]

...hello, Tower. This is Yukiko Amagi. I was here, before, and now I'm back. I think it's been about three months. It's kind of hard to tell time when it passes on a dead world. One day blends into another after a while.

[She pauses, briefly, taking a deep breath.]

I know that there were people from the Japanese town of Inaba here before. They were my friends. I also tried sending them a message. I - I know that they're all gone. The message said 'user not found' for all of them, and so I went down to the graveyard to doublecheck. They're definitely gone.

I'll be okay, though. I know they're gone now, but I can be strong enough for all of them. I know I'm back here for a reason, and that reason must be to make sure they're saved, in the end. Really saved, not just 'saved' as in pulled here again.

...so. What did I miss while I was gone?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So whatever it is that's nullifying the glamour powers is nullifying real ones, too. I wonder what kind of barrier it actually is? It can't react to just magic or physical powers only. Given there are so many sources they can come from, it can't be targeting some universal marker.

[Yukiko frowns. She's not a scientist, but she's trying to think like one. It's not getting her very far.

She picks up on that note of worry, and that makes her frown deepen.]

...do you mind if I ask? Are they something like mine, where it's - I explained it, but it's like a piece of my spirit or my soul - or something else? I'm - well, I'd be crazy if I weren't concerned.

[Diarmuid shrugs helplessly.]

I am afraid that I can't help much with that. I suspect somehow whatever is nullifying things doesn't look for a constant. It is keyed to each of our souls individually, but how is beyond me. I let Waver try to figure that stuff out for a reason.

[And speaking of Waver...]

It is okay for you to ask. I understand your worry. His powers aren't like yours. The reason he had so much pain is that his powers come from something that is meant to be introduced to his body gradually, since for whatever reason on our world magic circuits--which a magus needs to work magic--are rejected by the body. Both his circuits and his crest came back all at once when they had originally developed/been given to him over many years.

It...was not pleasant to say the least.

I think I'll let the scientists puzzle over that one. It sounds like it's over my head.

[She laughs for a second, before getting serious again.]

I'm glad Waver is okay now. I can't even begin to imagine how awful it must have been. It's hard to think about magic being something that can even be rejected. I can understand it developing over time well enough, but having it come back all at once when it doesn't develop naturally...

[Yukiko shakes her head. It's hard to wrap her head around, when magic comes as easily to her as focusing her feelings and emotions, at least at first. Then she remembers exactly how she got that power to begin with.]

...I'm sure he would have rather fought with his own Shadow, like I did, than go through something like that. It was painful, but on a different kind of level.

[Though it leaves the question of whether she'll have to fight hers again to regain her Persona. She knows she can do it, but the idea makes her frown again.]

Magic is...weird on our world. It was not always that way, but its form in modern day is very different than it used to be. Waver says it is more like a science than true magic anymore. Perhaps that is why the human body fights it so hard. It has lost the ability to be natural.

[Diarmuid shakes his head. It is another one of those changes for the worse he has come to notice in modern day that he will never understand.

Her mentioning her Shadow causes a concerned look to cross his face.]

Will you need to fight...her again?

[And 'will you need help' is the unspoken question.]

That's almost the exact opposite of how it works at home. There aren't many that can use it, and we have to fight once before the power truly awakens, but when it does, it's like a presence that's always there. I know that this might not be my 'real' power, but I can still feel Konohana-Sakuya. That connection's as natural as breathing.

[Yukiko's just as concerned, and she shakes her head.]

I honestly don't know. I've accepted that part of me where she's from, and I don't think it will change anything. There's no way for me to know for sure until I get the new collar fluid, though.

If I have to fight her, I will. It won't be the first time. I know what to do, but I might need backup.

Well, there aren't that many who can use it on our world anymore either and most of those are tied to bloodlines.

[There is distaste in his voice when he says 'bloodlines.']

There used to be so many more. I don't understand why it changed so.

[He shakes his head and then his expression becomes very serious.]

You know I will help you however I can, right? You need only ask. I don't know if there will be any complications when I get my powers back, but even if there are, I expect they will be very minor in comparison to what others will be facing.

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