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Haru sometimes gets coffee at Tim's, when he happens to feel like it on a random morning, or when he needs to be up long enough to finish out a guiding session with June. This morning it's the first thing.
a zanmi is an esper
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traceless
There's a couple more alien ambushes she needs to deal with; up to her if she wants to throw their ammo back at them or wait for Haru to get the victim out of his arms so he can shoot.
come-hold-my-hand
She continues to return shots exactly along the trajectories they arrived at - she can't see the aliens themselves to aim better than that, but unless they're moving while firing, this will at minimum distract and disarm them.
traceless
It also gives Haru something to trace, if he doesn't spot where a shot came from at first.
They make it to the entrance eventually and Haru heaves the guy through to drift down for the medics.
come-hold-my-hand
It's pretty obvious once they're back at the entrance's safe area, so she drops her power and looks around, staying as close to Haru as she can without getting in his way.
Once their charge is through the portal, she looks at him, face very clearly asking what now?
traceless
He runs his thumb over the back of her hand, assessing her backlash, and then says to the SWAT guy, "Still calibrating her power use, we need a break, back in a bit," and tugs her out the portal.
come-hold-my-hand
Follow follow.
She feels like she's getting a bad grade in first dungeon, but doesn't really know what to say.
Going through the portal is neat, at least.
come-hold-my-hand
Kissing! She likes this and has practice in it! She will enthusiastically participate.
traceless
"Okay, so, that went fine, everyone survived, but the thing where it's hard for you to talk and attend to your power at the same time is awkward."
come-hold-my-hand
-Ah, right, debrief time. She nods.
"Yeah. I hope it will get better with practice. It's fine if we don't need me to be always watching, but when there's danger that can come with no warning..."
She stops and frowns. "...wait, I could have just been checking every few seconds or so. The big pinballs don't move that fast, and the monsters can't shoot us without alerting you, first."
traceless
"If we're holding hands you might be able to notice my backlash tick up without my saying anything, too, though of course usually I will."
come-hold-my-hand
"And in plenty of situations we might be split up and talking over comms, so either way it's a skill I should practice, right?"
traceless
"Yes. If I'm alone, you can let aliens shoot me - it's by far my most expensive power but I can let stuff go straight through me like I'm not there. But when I'm carrying a victim I can't do that for them."
come-hold-my-hand
"Yeah. My understanding of the plan was that I was going to protect the 3 of us the entire way back, which I was doing, it just - took almost all of my attention, and it wasn't obvious I was doing it before they shot? Which was a failure mode I hadn't considered, sorry."
traceless
"Yeah. I'm very, checklist manifesto, if it's my job to see something done and I don't verify that it's happening then I'm not doing my job, trust but verify, and if you can't talk even in response to a direct question that gets hairy."
come-hold-my-hand
She nods.
He is very checklist manifesto, it's a good trait. She could learn from that - she could be learning from that right now, actually!
"Hang on, I want to" and she pulls out her phone and says "Remind me in 4 hours to schedule talking while using powers practice".
She turns back at him. "What's next?"