Blah, blah, blah, lost my magic, blah, blah, blah, Stephen... The mention roused Roth's brain a little. He had to stop himself from smiling, even a little. Stephen was terrified, but hadn't told anyone. Of course he wouldn't, but he was clearly just barely holding things together.
Anthony had scratched himself raw from stress, obviously. "Do you want me to heal that for you?" he offered. If he didn't want to show anyone else, it was logical to assume he'd rather be rid of it.
"Tell me about this proposal. You feel like you did it... out of panic? To divert your attention to something you could control, perhaps?" he suggested. Again, the psychobabble came so naturally to him only because he'd heard it so many times as a child himself.