It's kind of adorable how much the grumpy teleporter man likes the castoff, in light of how little he seems to like everyone else and how little time they've objectively spent together.

having your thoughts here is strange MAYBE YOU COULD THINK A BIT LESS

He doesn't think how much he thinks is something in his control.

THAT SOUNDS LIKE A DRAWBACK we could make you stop again it wouldn't even be hard

Thanks but he'll pass on that, thinking is nice in his opinion.

"May I?" asks Dhama.

"Yes, go ahead."

we still do not like it here IT'S CRAMPED AND SMOTHERING

Yes yes Tahir realises the psychic bar is cramping their style but they'll have to deal with it if they want to stay, his adventure party is doing adventure stuff.

Dhama smiles, breathes in and—

—Vetmera is a mote inside a gigantic prism, eyes peering in at her from all around—

—held tightly in an enormous fist—

—a flimsy piece of glass held up to the light—

(—but she is not afraid, this is... not hostile—)

The psychic's words come from everywhere and nowhere, infinite distances crossed instantly by sound. "A shared space? Such depths, such twists... It builds itself around your experiences, around those who share it with you. Ah, and you have people there, already, four little motes of light... Yes, yes, but shared spaces can be dangerous." Their voice draws closer, and the pressure eases and disappears. She is back in herself.

"I'm sorry, I know I said I wouldn't mess with much, but I sharpened a part of your mind. It should help keep your... visitor spaces... more solid, yes. But what an excellent space, an excellent battleground. If you lured a foe into you, you could trap it within your mind... you could destroy it."

...

Vetmera frowns.

"Excuse me," she says, irritated, and when she looks at him it's got weight behind it. She had been cooperating before, holding still and keeping small and letting him look. But that's what she was letting him do. Look. And then he couldn't resist touching.

"While I appreciate your intent and can tell that you helped, that that was ultimately for the better, that is mine. You should have asked. You should have explained, instead of moving to directly meddling. This is cooperation, and therefore my opinion matters very much. That," and there's a flash of something in her eyes, a flash of but I could be very dangerous if I wanted to be, "was extremely rude. Frankly, how dare you."

Theboros explodes in laughter while Dhama blushes very red and stammers a profuse apology. "And that is what you get for being a meddlesome busybody," says the old man who had been quiet until now. "She's right you know."

Yes she fucking is, thinks the teleporter who is now looming very menacingly around Dhama.

Though Vetmera is still closest to the psychic because Aleks does not want to draw from her spotlight and honestly she is so hot when she's being threatening.

On that they are all in agreement.

"Yes I am," she sniffs, a trace of smug, and if she's agreeing to her companions' thoughts or Theboros's words, it's not clear. "But your apology is accepted. Though for the record if I'd retaliated I would have been entirely justified. Aleks, thank you dear, but I do not want his heart presented to me at this time. He really did mean to help, just. Was very rude about it." Then, at Dhama: "Do better, good intentions do not result in good results."

"Y-yes, my, um, my apologies," they say for probably the tenth time, "I will do better."

    "You got some spine, kid," says Theboros. "I like it."

Ziobe leans over and pats Dhama's shoulder. Poor meddler. Lying in the bed he made for himself. And meanwhile, she eyes Aleks. They're fine, yeah, this isn't about to be a fight where she needs to defend Dhama from an angry teleporter? Because she'd do it, but it would suck.

"Thank you." Theboros gets a smile. Then she looks back to Dhama. "Now. You said there were four people in my mindscape. Not counting myself, I assume?"

Yeah yeah he was doing it mostly out of principle he'll back off.

"Y-yes, I don't think you could be said to be in your mindscape right now," they say, trying to get their stride back. "Were you expecting more? Fewer?"

"Fewer. Were three together, and the last off by itself?"

"Yes," they say, frowning a bit.

"Mm. Well. That'll need looking into. I expect I can probably get to my mindscape on my own, but I haven't done it on purpose before. And I think I'd like to get some practice at projecting before I go poking at strange people hiding in my head. The whole rhetoric of wanting to be able to defend myself before looking for trouble."

"Ziobe might be the best of us to help with that."

"Mmmm depends on the type of projection. I just do physical stuff—telekinesis and whatnot. Is that the kind of projection you're talking about?"

"Oh. No, I meant projective empathy and thoughtsharing. Mind to mind contact. If I'm telekinetic I don't expect I'd be good enough at that to defend myself anytime soon."

"Oh!" exclaims Dhama. "Yes, that is more my area of expertise."

“Right! So, my major concern is that my sire probably didn’t put any… safety limiters or anything. And I am a bit worried that if I try anything, and can, I’ll reduce everyone around me to vegetables. Which I would not like to do. Is there a way to safely ramp up, or, I don’t know, add in some safeties so I don’t break brains by accident?”

Dhama rubs their chin then looks at Theboros. "Actually I think he can help with the safety part."

    "Can I," Theboros says, dryly.

"You could help partition a part of my mind and then I only use that part to instruct our new friend, here, and if worst comes to worst it's only that part that gets turned into a vegetable."

    "...I would not have expected you to offer it just like that," admits the old man, sounding surprised. "But yes, that's something I can do."

"Oh! That'd be great, if you didn't mind uh, maybe having some portion of your mind made useless. Can we work our way up in size, start with something that can just register a yes/no?"