If Andie was so comfortable with her ego - in both senses of the word - why did she label her Vice “Arrogance?” Why use such a word to summarize her insecurity about herself, about who she was? What did her shadow say when using her power, again? “Cut them down, my Arrogance.”

So it wasn’t about putting herself on a pedestal, it was about putting others down. That made more sense. But why worry about that? Did she have a track record? Did she make enemies or lose friends by putting others down to lift herself up? No, that didn’t seem likely. Andie was ambitious, she craved the glory of strong opponents - in her eyes, insults toward her rivals would only diminish the value of her victory. Furthermore, if her excessive talents had ruined - or even just strained - friendships in the past, she would be more… afraid. Cedric knew better than anyone the hesitation brought on by the fear of loneliness. If Andie had been traumatized by such things, it would show. Unless she’d made a full recovery, somehow… but then why would that be her Vice? Why? He had a pretty solid idea of what her problem was, but trying to get an idea of why her problem was felt a little like trying to catch smoke with a butterfly net.

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One of Cedric’s illusory clones tapped on his shoulder, then vanished - drawing the real Cedric’s attention over toward a newly arrived and mildly injured Dyllan.

“I thought you were being unusually quiet.” Dyllan slowly stood up, careful not to fall off the drone that had carried him over to Cedric. “Guess I’ve just been talking to myself for a while, then -” He paused. “- unless you can hear through your illusions?”

“I have a… limited awareness of what’s going on around them. Sometimes. Whatever senses are available to the thing they’re an illusion of, the illusions have too, but all the processing is done in my subconscious, so it’s like looking at things through my third eye’s peripheral vision. If I even notice anything at all.” Cedric dismissed the screens his Trait had summoned, and turned to give Dyllan his full attention. “Did you say anything worth repeating?”