There's one question on everyone's lips.

"Singularity, is it true that you've broken up with Earthwave?"

She restrains the urge to slap the expensive camera out of the man's hands. Yes, it would be so satisfying. Yes, it would make such a lovely sound when the lens hit the ground and shattered. It is not something she will be doing today or any day. She doesn't want that. Not really.

"Yes, the rumors are true. Earthwave's found a new up-and-comer by the name of Zephyr who they pair much more efficiently with. It was always a corporate relationship rather than a personal one, and I'm told I'll have a replacement guide within the week."

"Who's the replacement?"

"I don't know yet. Some new talent, likely. We'll see if they can keep up. I've never had a partner that properly matched my backlash, so I'm not optimistic about my chances of something better than Earthwave."

Hailey huffs and turns off the TV. Not like she expected much from Singularity, anyway. She sighs and flops back onto her couch, groaning.

Remember what the counselors said, yeah? Don't dismiss a chance before she's checked it out.

She digs her fingernails into her palm and breathes. In for four, hold for four, out for four, pause for four. Again. Keep breathing her way around that box.

After a couple minutes, she turns the TV back on and flips to a show on Netflix about spies, settling in to watch.

The press man smiles in the way they do when they get a remark they weren't expecting to hear. "Do you have any message for your prospective partners?"

Ah, shit. She's put her foot in it again. She pauses, considering her answer, and tries to rein in her backlash. Usually the artificial confidence carries her, but today she's gone and smashed something just because she could. It might not have been something physical, but — 

The image of the reporter's camera slowly crunching into a ball of steel in her hand comes to her mind. 

Liath pushes it away. "I can be a bit of a bitch sometimes," she says with a wry smile, "so, like, watch out for that."

She waves a hand. "Sorry, sir, but I'm backlashing and I need to get back to my silo. Vault will be here momentarily."

"Of course, ma'am." 

The guild teleporter pops in, and a moment later Liath's back in her silo.

Well. That could have gone better. 

Liath goes over into the kitchen and gets a two-liter plastic jug of milkshake out of the fridge. She pours into a sturdy steel thermos, and drinks. 

Going over to her pantry, she gets out a big plastic bag of trail mix, digs out a handful, and eats. The motions are rote, mechanical. She could just tear this bag in half, dump all the nuts and m&ms and raisins out onto the floor. Wouldn't that be a glorious mess. 

She doesn't do it. She's tempted, but it'd be such a pain to pick it all up again and throw it out. A waste of good trail mix. Instead she pulls a deck of tarot cards out of the drawer by the oven, unseals it, and starts meticulously shredding the whole deck by hand, one card at a time. 

It's peaceful. Meditative. She sweeps the torn pieces into their own little pile on the counter. Every single card is a little work of art to tear apart. 

It feels sharp. Like she's a predator and the tarot cards are her prey. Like she's disassembling something to see what its parts are, intent on understanding. It feels right. 

Eventually she shreds the whole deck, and remembers that she has a milkshake out. She drinks. She eats. She goes and flops onto her living room couch. 

Earthwave wasn't a perfect guide by any means, but she wishes she could hold his hand for a moment right now. It would ground her. As it is — 

She time-locks her phone for the next two hours, and starts picking at the stitching on one of the couch pillows. 

A call comes in on the chunky plastic landline.

That goes to only two people: Daniel and her boss. She really hopes it's Daniel.

She goes and picks up.

"Hey. I'm not going to admonish you: we should've accomodated that you were going to be feeling more backlash and scheduled the teleport more tightly. Usually you're better than that. Learning experience. 

You got matched with Ancile from Black Flag, by the way. I don't think you knew."

Well now she feels like even more of a heel. Talking down to America's first A-rank barrier esper just leaves a bad taste in her mouth. Support espers already get a bad enough deal in this business without her going and rubbing it in.

"... Tell her I'm sorry."

"That you were wrong or that you were a bitch?"

That's the damn stupid thing, too. It doesn't do anything but make her confident enough to say the damn fool things she already thinks. 

"That I was a bitch. I was dismissive and rude, and I know she's not going to believe that I don't believe it, but I think I can at least be honestly sorry that I said it out loud." 

"I can work with that. Stay safe there, okay? I know you have coping mechanisms these days but you've gotten a heavier backlash than usual. Rest. Eat, drink, recover the calories you burned. I don't want you turning into a stick figure. Don't break anything expensive, or we'll have to put the TV behind bulletproof glass again. Especially don't break yourself. We've got lockdown on for the next two hours and then we'll assess. Alright?"

Liath nods sharply. "Alright."

Hailey Willburg, known publicly as Ancile (pronounced "An-seel-ay"), had just gotten back to her silo from shielding another esper in a dungeon when she saw Singularity's interview. She was already feeling distant, needy, mistrustful, and desperate for stimulation — not a good time for another let-down, in her opinion. She signed with Black Flag because of their reputation as among the best at partner-matching, especially for support espers, not that it's panned out so far. The best they've found for her are people up for some lukewarm spankings or maybe pinching her nipples, and none of that is enough to really bring her back to the world.

She writhes on the silo's couch, resisting the urge to claw bloody furrows through her skin, and presses a violet wand into her nipple instead.

At this point, she thinks Singularity is likely just another of those, and probably a bitch besides. She is not looking forward to what happens next.

She gasps and pants and dials it up higher.

Doing it herself never counts as much as someone else doing it does, but this is still better than those pissant little spankings.

Fifteen minutes later, Daniel reaches out. "I'd like to formally apologize for the unplanned remarks made by Singularity," he says. "She doesn't endorse them on reflection. This is my fault too: I never should have allowed the media to get at her when she was under a heavier backlash load. She's siloed right now under a media blackout or she'd be telling you this in person. She and I both still want to go through with this contract; what can we do to apologize?"

Daniel doesn't get down and beg, this is America, but in his head he's on his hands and knees. 

Hailey's rep with Black Flag is is a fiercely protective woman named Valerie Mitchell. She already knows how this will have affected Hailey, and she knows how desperate Guiding Star has to be for this match, so she smells blood in the water.

"Hello, Mr. Marks. Ancile is going to need a few concessions to make this up to her, yes. To start with, I want a private silo for her — on your dime rather than ours — because she will absolutely need someplace to escape to as needed after Singularity stepped directly on her trust issues. Goth decor, but cozy, good soundproofing and a quality entertainment system. It needs to be kept stocked with a variety of pain-play toys and medical supplies, for solo backlash management. I'm sure I don't need to reiterate how that needs to be kept confidential, either. Beyond that, easy meals in the freezer and a comped account on a food delivery service, because knives and hot stoves are an unnecessary temptation when she's backlashing. Lots of spicy food. And to reiterate, no knives unless you want to pay for a healer. And full access to your teleport services goes without saying."

Daniel winces internally, but nods. "I think these are all reasonable accomodations." Liath's been getting thinner with each passing week, even with Earthwave to guide her — and this match could genuinely fix things if they can just keep under wraps why their backlashes complement. If Guiding Star's top talent kills herself through calorie starvation it'll be his head on a platter. "We'll do everything we can to pave Ancile's way to Guiding Star."

Valerie smiles like a shark. "Then I look forward to the potential of this partnership. Thank you, Mr. Marks. As far as introductions, Ancile will appreciate an environment that highlights some things they have in common, once her guard is down enough to accept such things. What sort of environments is Singularity most comfortable in?"

"Given the nature of her backlash, Singularity is most comfortable with environments with utilitarian, easily-replaceable goods. Where items are too expensive to replace trivially she prefers them to be made well & sturdily. Her silo is set up to do timed lockout of her heat-generating appliances during periods of serious backlash — though she doesn't experience the desire to self-injure, her backlash can express as pyromania if given the option. As she is presently chronically backlashed, and I believe Ancile to be too, it might be best to arrange a meeting in a pre-cleared guild room with chaperones so there is a reduced possibility of a runaway reaction, as it were."

He rubs the back of his neck, a little embarrassed to have to spell it out for his client.

"I don't expect her to have a preference whether that guild room is Black Flag's or Guiding Star's. Whichever is more convenient and comfortable for Ancile."

He taps his thumbs together in front of him, considering.

"I expect that once the nature of the compatibility is spelled out to the pair of them directly, it shouldn't take too much convincing for Singularity to be willing to try mutual guiding through simple touch. No guarantees as to whether there will be anything more than that, naturally, that will have to be something Singularity and Ancile negotiate for themselves."

He crosses his arms, and looks Ms. Mitchell in the eye.

"As a reminder, we still want a mutual NDA for Singularity and Ancile regarding the exact natures of their backlashes in the event this doesn't work out."