"My job? Um. Not exactly. Within the past few months, I suppose."

"You certainly had more things to say about your research when we met," Oscar says.

"I ask," she says, "because I remember when you stopped talking about your research. You got a lot more talkative, too, right around then, so it was even more odd that you stopped talking about your job at all."

Come to think of it, that's about when Terrence started coming across as happier, too.

Terrence frowns.

"Well, I was going to say that I could talk about it more - if you think the middle Platonists have anything relevant to say about the things we've seen - but I believe I see what you're driving at. Well, I make no secret of it. I had something of a philosophical awakening around the time. It's true. My work and many other concerns fell by the wayside."

He remembers distinctively wondering if he'd met someone. A girl most likely (admittedly his mind had drifted to the other option, once or twice).

"A philosophical awakening," says Oscar. Good Lord, his early speculations about Terrence had been as fervent as they were incorrect.

"Yes! I am - reluctant as I am to say it - continuously at a loss for how to explain it concisely. I think it's what historical accounts might describe as a mystical experience, though accompanied by fewer choirs of angels, visions of hell, etcetera, than are sometimes described." He laughs a little. What a funny joke! "But - um - yes. A realization that the way I had been going about my work, and I mean, not my work but my life, could be cast in alternate lights, seen more clearly from outside perspectives."

"I realize that this sounds like a great deal of mumbo-jumbo, said like this, but - I promise you, it is not altogether uncommon."

"The eastern tradition, for instance, is rife with it - although I know less about those. The thing that drives men to monkhood and the well-fed to asceticism. The call of the sea to leave one's comfortable estate and become a pirate, as the Gentleman Pirate felt. I think it is all related. It is a change of that nature."

"Nobody here thinks it's mumbo jumbo," says Oscar.

(Inaaya kinda does.)

Warm smile. "I appreciate that. I spend a lot of time composing explanations in my head."

"I know I've made a few dumb jokes about it," says Oscar. "But we're bringing this up-- not to mock you or catch you out-- because we're your friends."

"And we're worried about, uh... This situation. Does that make sense?"

"...Okay?" Terrence looks thoughtful, he puts some tea on the table. "What... about it?"

In some less-conscious part of his mind, he is trying really hard not to make the connection.

"Well," Oscar says. "You know how Evie is a really charming person... So charming that Jing Yi apparently fell in love, right away?"

"Right."

"And she's got mind control powers and it's made Jing Yi unpredictable."

"Well, we think so. It seems like a reasonable assumption."

Given Inaaya's presence he tried talking around it but it's evidently not going to work. "Yes. So... Given that we know at least three people in love with him... One could say Roby is a really charming person, too."

Terrence blinks. Several times. Three? (Not the point, Terrence-) (Isn't it, though?) (Well, it hardly matters if they're not wrong-) (Get it together, Terrence-)

"Good lord. Do you think Roby's seduced me?" He remembers multiple aspects of present company and promptly blushes. "It's not - he's not - I'll admit he's -charismatic. But I'm helping you all working against him!"

"It's - I'm - I'm sympathetic, even! I'll admit it!" What was it Clapper said? Oh no! "Look, he's. It's - whatever it is, it's different."

If Inaaya thinks there's anything noteworthy about this line of conversation she's not showing it.

"Is it?"

"Yes! He has a plan and I'm working, with you all, my friends, who I know better, about... trying to stop it! I'm not marrying him about it!"

"Seduced is a strong word. But Nessa said you feel about him-- well, the way Jing Yi feels about Evie."

"Well. Or the way you-"

Terrence stops himself from finishing that sentence. "I just - sometimes things aren't mind control!"

"Do you think I'm jealous?"

"No! The thought hasn't crossed my mind! I just mean, I'm hardly capable of mind-controlling anyone. I assure you."

This is going to go nowhere helpful. Might as well drop the bomb.

"For what it's worth, I have no stance on whether your thing with Roby is mind control. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, I do note that you've spoken to him all of twice and he barely said anything but lord knows people get crushes over less than that. What I care about is that your favorite book tried to eat me, and when you read it, your personality suddenly changed in about a dozen ways."