"Um, sorry it's not really... Decorated and personalized yet. And sorry for being inconvenient." And sorry for it being weird to go back to his place and there are EXPECTATIONS and ahhhh.

Backlash sucks.

It's a large 1 bedroom apartment with a kitchen, dining room, and living room. The living room has a big nice couch and a big TV and a mini fridge and also a large steel desk with a bunch of computer objects and accessories on it. His computer is a big box that glows softly in slowly shifting RGB colors. There are four monitors and a big leather chair.

"You just moved in. Also I'm here for you, not your decor. I see a nice couch and that's all we need for this interaction. That's a lot of monitors, what do you use all those for?"

"I don't usually use all of them, but sometimes it's useful for, uh, IT stuff, to have multiple monitors open at once? I can have my emails on one and a web browser on another and my IDE - the, uh, program to write programs - on a third... And sometimes I put a scenic video up on some of them. Like, there's these eight hour videos from the front of trains going through the countryside."

Um. He suddenly remembers that guiding is nice and he could feel more guiding.

"-D-Do you want any drinks or snacks before we settle on the couch?"

"I could have a drink, what do you have?"

He nervously lists things! A bunch of canned sodas, milk, juice (orange and apple), instant coffee, bottled teas and lemonades, sports drinks... It's a fairly long list actually. (No alcohol.)

"I'll have a lemonade. Lemonade is good."

Is it weird if he gets something that is not lemonade? Does he have to let go of her to fetch the lemonade? Should he offer ice??? Aaaah.

He squeezes her hands.

"It's not weird if I get something other than lemonade, right? That's just backlash talking? Do you want ice?"

"That's definitely not weird. No ice for me, thanks for offering."

Okay, um. Lemonade and diet coke: Acquired from minifridge. Shoes: Off. Everything Will Be Fine.

"Do you want to, um, preemptively take shirts off? Or. Uh. Yes."

"Sure." She can shrug out of layers, except her bra (black, with lace edging)

It's probably not rude to stare??? Especially since this is FOR GUIDING. And he's DOING IT TOO. But still.

...He will? Sit down? On the couch?? (It has cupholders in the armrests, for their drinks.)

She winks at him "I want you to look at me."

She puts her drink in the cupholder so it doesn't end up on the floor and then sits down next to him and puts her arm over his shoulder.

Yay guiding.

"-Okay. It does feel nice. The guiding. And the, um, attention. It's just... Reflexively awkward. Because I never would have had anyone like me like this before esper awakening... Sorry."

"Well 'never' is a strong word, but it definitely changes things. For me also, though I did get a few dates before. Nothing serious,just school dances and stuff."

"I thought for a while that I would just... Not do any of that. It seemed so stressful and heartbreaking, and I wanted nothing to do with it. But- You're really very pretty. And nice to hang out with while coming down from backlash."

"Aww. You're so sweet. And cute. And smart."

What if her face was nuzzling his neck?

This is good!

What if his arm were reaching across her back and far side?

Muffled pleased noises into his neck! Also wiggles to allow easier access.

Both arms involved, in a sort of glompy sideways cuddle hug. This is nice.

"I'm not sure if I'm really smart so much as... Careful? Thorough? That's how I see myself at least..."

"Mmmm..." she shifts slightly to unmuffle without breaking skin contact too much "Well, that's also a good quality. In general, and very good for a sensor, gotta have all the details down. Sometimes people just say 'groups' of monsters and don't say how big. I need to know if I'm looking at five or fifty here."

"Well, I don't sense monsters, but yeah... I've thought about other ways to use it - I can borrow people's senses and maybe notice things they don't, not just talk to them, but that's really morally fraught with victims. I haven't really... Done it. Maybe with other espers or DRT guys who I talk to about it beforehand it would be okay? But it's also more backlash for maybe pretty marginal gain..."

"It's probably okay if you talk to people about it first. Might be worth experimenting a little?"

"And it would be good if somehow radios broke but I could still communicate to people... Do you think it's worth having any practice and, like, a protocol? Just in case?"

"Sometimes dungeons scramble radios entirely, so yeah, you'd be useful for those."

"A good idea! Hurray."

He will squeeze her a bit tighter, for a moment.