Snuggle.  Extract.  Hup.  Where's the bird there's the bird, what's it thinking.  Briefly.

"- where are you going? Do you need line of sight?" Haru asks, sitting up on the air mattress.

f̶̢̹̣͓̬̝̞̿͐̾͂̔̕͘̚l̶̢̺̰̺̤̘̜͈̿͆̚y̷̫̅͑̃̄̚͠ ̸̨͙̪̆̇̓̑̀g̸̢̝͍̖̐͆̾͂̑̏͒ớ̶̳̥̦̣̪̤́͝ͅ ̴̛͙͈̼̖̄͒̐̕͝p̷̨̮͂̓̇̄͌̋̍ļ̵͓̟̙̺͓̠̪̽̃͂̃ȁ̵̡͚̪̲͖͈̩̻č̴̦̹͉̳̪͓̃͂̃̀͌̇ͅę̶͎͉̘̤̜̪͒̎͛̿̃ ̶̰̙͛̇̐̒͋͌͠g̶̥̦̪̩͉͂̀̆̌͌e̵̍̊̈́̂͒̔͘͜͠t̷͉͕͙̼̭̪̾̈́̋͜͝ ̵̬̺̰̩̫́͑̑͂̈́͑͐͘d̸̖̍̒ṟ̸̩̥̮̥̄̎̿̏̆̋͒̚i̸͔̬͔̥̹̞͑̑̾̔͜n̷̨̜͖̰̩̪̣̾͑͜k̷̻̱̙̦̮̾̈͆͌͌̇̆?̵̡̛͕̟̯̩̰͇̭́̎̈́͠?̴͕͕̦͈̟͋͒͛ͅ
̶̤̀̀̄̉̿̈́̋̈
̶̻̟̟͖̓̾̒͋͘͘?̸͈̦̝̼͇̇̄͆̽̃͝?̷̡̯̘̼̖̭͈͛̆̆͛ ̶̡̝̰̲͇̤̑̀o̶̮̼̊̽͆́̇͘͝ͅb̶͈̲̹͔̼͌͛́̅̃͋͠ş̷̩̱̰̩̹̺̇̐̒͘͜ţ̵̩͙͙̈́̏̇̆̎ą̶̼̭͓͙̖̮͑̾̓̕͝ç̵̡͔̞͚̦͊̀̋̃l̴͇̱̩̬̩̣̻͐͋̑̾̅̑̚͠e̶̠̲̠̔́̿̅͑̕?̷̭͖͎͓̟̭͇̬̈͌̃͒̚͝

"...I didn't want to miss.  Just in case."  Snuggle return.  "I don't think it's still hurting."

"That's good." Snuggle snuggle pet. "I hope it survives the dungeon dying. Do you want to read the dungeon itself any more or are you done?"

"I really want to try tapping the core if I can get low enough fast enough.  .....I just had an idea for guiding but it might be crazy so I'm going to wait to say it until later.  Anyways, I don't know if I'll be able to handle it if it seems - curious, and able to learn and stuff, from the tapping, and then they still want to kill it."

"If it's crazy we can simply not do it? But - yeah, that seems like it'd suck, but I don't know if we will ever get ahold of a dungeon core to tap which isn't on death row."

"Hnn," cling.  ".....I was going to say you could bite me."

"Teeth do not in and of themselves conduct guiding, it'd all go through the saliva so it'd be basically like a less effective form of licking you."

"Okay.  Do you think I'm weird and a freak open parenthesis derogatory close now?  Parenthesis, close parenthesis, I meant."

"No. Julien, I was already running an esper blog the time that Reddit thread about how drinking urine is the most efficient form of guiding went viral, I can cope with the concept of nibbling on a cute boy even if it wouldn't be very useful."

"I just - already feel really bad, and it feels - less disrespectful than kissing.  To the situation.  And less weird than licking."

"Sorry. I'm not sure I have the - intuitions about disrespect to the situation that you do, but, uh, whatever you settle on there. I mean, if you want me to bite you it wouldn't be nothing but it wouldn't add a lot to the hug."

"I think, like, it's correct for me to be some amount of miserable about this, but ideally in a sane way... and kissing is too fun for that... but like, in a way where I don't think I'd find it fun right now."  Pet pet Haru.  "And biting is - sometimes fun, but also not so traditionally a fun activity... and it's like, grounding.  And maybe kind of self-harmy in a way that feels - correct.  In light of all the dungeons everywhere maybe being in pain, even though they also cause other people pain...."

"Not... thrilled about being your instrument of self-harm."

"I didn't think you would be, which is why I didn't think I should say it."  And now Haru thinks he's an awwwwwful person who wants to drag other people with him into spirals of destruction.  "But we can simply not?  Right?"

"Yeah, we can simply not. If you're into being bitten we can save it for some other time. I... find it really useful as an esper to cultivate the tendency to thrive on emotional whiplash. It comes up a lot even if you're not doing cutting edge dungeon mindreading, combat intercut with rescues marinated in backlash spliced with logistics and capped off with guiding. It's important to me to have all the appropriate feelings but not important to me that I have them in - long stretches with high inertia."

"...That seems really useful, yeah."

"Yeah. Not necessarily something you can figure out right here right now of course."

"I can try, though."  He brings Haru's hand to his mouth and kisses the knuckles.

"Mmm - if you want advice on how I do it I can produce that but I don't know how it generalizes -"

"I would like to hear it."

"Sometimes I kind of think of my life as though it were a movie - like a documentary, not like a thriller, but in a documentary you want to cover what there is to cover and get the footage when you can, and it would kind of suck as a documentary about what's going on in my life if the breather scenes and the sex scenes and the exposition are all bogged down in leftover musical cues from the downer beats or if somebody being pulled out of a dungeon and safely restored to their family couldn't be a triumphant moment just because someone else got bitten in half by a monster ten minutes ago. Videographer-me can arrange it in a more sensible timeline later, in the moment I need to be doing what I am doing and not what I was doing."