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The dungeon is in Korea, but as an esper with a pretty specialised power niche Haru is used to occasionally having to go international for these dungeons, and the fact that he already speaks Korean is definitely a bonus. The espers he's going to be working with are all in Quasar Guild, which is the largest one in Korea and which has just recently acquired a very powerful teleportation esper, one whose power can be stored in batteries Quasar also happened to already have in its possession, so they're covering the teleportation cost for Haru to get there.
Bell and Jaeha
this_peculiar_power
.......okay! That's a really obvious tell that he had somehow completely missed! He's going to need to keep that one in mind for the future! Also that is probably a huge part of why his old partners thought he was boring and unpleasant to be around and the fact that Haru has noticed it immediately does not bode well at all! Fuck!
(Also he's kind of scared of clearing his backlash to that extent. He doesn't want to look at that right now.)
"That seems like a reasonable estimate. Four dungeons a day—is a lot." Though Haru is mostly a sensor so maybe it's less? "I am not sure how much we'd cut down on if we did that. Five weeks, maybe? Four?"
traceless
"It is, yeah, but it'd be a sprint, not a marathon, I don't know that I can sustain it long enough to dig you out if you're coming along and using your powers and I think I can if it's only for as long as it takes without that factor. And...
"...it's your anhedonia and you get to decide how you relate to it, I don't, but you should decide that, it shouldn't.
"And as a distant minor factor, we haven't known each other that long and are still getting used to each other and if we want to last as a partnership then I should probably ever be introduced to you at baseline? I shouldn't get too used to you like this because the more I do the more of an adjustment it'll be when you're okay again. Like, I think I can make that adjustment now or later, this isn't a huge deal, but it does come to mind."
this_peculiar_power
...well, if they want to last as a partnership Jaeha should become more interesting as a person, it's true.
He keeps having—hiccups—around emotions that he knows he'd be feeling if he weren't backlashed but he doesn't exactly know what they are nor what texture they have, and that makes it hard to know how to react. Can he tank a month, maybe two, of just staying home doing absolutely nothing?
Say something. Anything. Come on, Kang Jaeha.
"I see."
traceless
"I think this is... an emergency but it's a pretty slow-burning emergency, if you need a while to think I'm not going to fuss about it. Or if I haven't been adequately clear and you want to ask questions about how I'm thinking about this, I guess."
this_peculiar_power
"I think... you might be thinking of me without my backlash as more different from me right now than I do," he tries.
traceless
"I am probably overgeneralizing from my own psychological backlash, sure. When was the last time you were at zero?"
traceless
"You have absolutely no experience of adult life with your brain completely online and that is a serious problem and I believe that your backlash is preventing you from acknowledging how serious a problem that is."
this_peculiar_power
Maybe so.
He's still scared.
He doesn't think he can argue, though. And he's feeling—something else. The shadows of something else, maybe. There's something in him that wants to—when Haru looks at him like that—Jaeha wants to do whatever Haru wants him to do. He wants to be Haru's.
"Let's try it for a week," he suggests, "and I'll see how—bearable—I find it?"
this_peculiar_power
He is feeling so stressed out, and half of the reason why is a complete mystery to him, but he's got an insanely attractive man showing deep concern for him and he wants to hold onto this man forever.
That is far too strong a feeling for not even three weeks' acquaintance!!!!!
And also that man wants to kiss him!!!!!!!
This is insane. He'll, like, take it, and kiss back, and—do whatever Haru wants, honestly—but it's insane.
traceless
They don't have any dungeons scheduled for moving day and Haru can work on that big well of heinous backlash. He can do it invisible, since that helps.
this_peculiar_power
Okay having sex with someone who is invisible is an extremely surreal experience. And extremely hot. He can absolutely want this, uncomplicatedly and wholly.
traceless
Oh good.
Afterwards he drafts an email to Quasar - Park Yoo-Min if he's supposed to be their handler but maybe he's supposed to write this sort of note to someone else?
"That look okay?"
Afterwards he drafts an email to Quasar - Park Yoo-Min if he's supposed to be their handler but maybe he's supposed to write this sort of note to someone else?
Acknowledging that this is really awkward timing for it since we just signed on, IMO Jaeha needs a vacation; combination of various factors which I'm not necessarily going to sue anyone over have left him in a very long term backlash hole and I'll be able to dig him out faster if he's not using his powers and also if I'm using mine a lot. I want to do a heavy sprint load of dungeons with guiding breaks in between for as long as he'll tolerate sitting at home bored, we've agreed on a week to start but I think it would probably take six to get him completely baselined. In case it doesn't go without saying it would certainly still be appropriate to grab him for e.g. Nightmare though, I'd just want to do the runs with him.
"That look okay?"
They receive a reply reasonably promptly: this is perfectly fine and acceptable, with the caveat that if Jaeha is not clearing dungeons on the regular he will be paid as if he were an esper on retainer rather than an active one. He can just pause scheduling on the app and resume whenever he feels up for it.
traceless
"You don't have secret gambling debts you took out six mortgages for or anything, right, this is fine?"
this_peculiar_power
"...even before I was an esper I had a lot more money than I knew what to do with. The amount of stupidity it'd take for me to need money would sink a small country."
this_peculiar_power
Jaeha is having a lot of trouble feeling happy about this. ...well, something that approximates that when backlashed, anyway.
The thing is, he doesn't really understand what's happening well enough to feel safe resting any weight on it, it feels like he might lose this at any moment. He doesn't understand what Haru is feeling and he doesn't know why Haru is feeling it and given how much of a production this is turning out to be he can't help but catastrophise about how much Haru is willing to take before he gets fed up.
