Someone has provided beanbags! Someone who knows espers well enough to know incongruent beanbags are more important than following the theme of the room decor. 

Jamie beelines for one and flomf's into it. 

...hand? 

Hand!  Toby will join him in the beanbag, even.

"Mm," he mms cozily.  "Been doing power demos?"

Cozy.

"Mhm. And just for fun. Ly and Lyra are both here, so it isn't too dangerous." 

Jamie rolls to cuddle up more to his side, regretting that he'd flopped before getting his vest off at least. Hand-holding is nice - very nice - but what if more skin? Rude of clothing to be in the way of guiding, frankly. 

"You're a teleporter too, right? What's your backlash, if you don't mind the ask?" 

"Lemme know if you want more guiding, I'm easy," he says.  "I got a psych backlash, I get worse at introspection and more impulsive.  I'm like a short range combat teleporter, not a shipping industry teleporter, I can go like ten yards but I can do it lots."

Permission! Yay! "Shirts for now?" He will sit up and start unbuttoning all the fiddly little buttons on his vest. "Mine is... You know, I never know whether to call it psych or physical? I, um, lose all my senses. Not in the going insane way, though it can get pretty crazy-making. Taste, then smell, then sight, then sound, then touch, then all the stuff you don't think of as senses but are."

"Shirts for now," he agrees.  He unbuttons a couple buttons on his dress shirt but then just pulls the whole thing undershirt-and-all off over his head.  "Man, that sounds like a scary hell week."  Hug?

Hug! "It was pretty bad," an understatement, really. "Being an esper is worth it though, I think."

The vest comes off eventually, and then his shirt is much easier. Now shirtless, he snuggles up and sighs happily as the guiding starts draining away his backlash. 

He wraps his arms around Jamie's chest, firmly.  "You like the job?  You do shipping stuff, you said, right."

He melts, a little, into that hold, and lets out another happy sigh.

"Mhm... I get to go all over, see lots of places. Move boxes around between them." 

He snickers to himself, admitting, "It's not that interesting when I'm on the job, but I can go pretty much anywhere in the US and Canada in my off time, so long as I have the guiding." 

"Where in the US and Canada is anywhere, what do you do with all your freedom to travel?"

"Visit people, explore, be doordash. Lyra has very specific tastes right now, she keeps switching between these two places in Toronto, a sushi place in Vancouver that does really good cooked rolls, this one restaurant in New York, and the Ophelia's Steakhouse in downtown Dallas." 

"That sounds decadent, I'd love to pop around getting to know every local pizza joint in the country," he says.  "That's Lyra Morganrath, yeah?" Impishly: "Pendragon's other twin?"

Giggle, "Mhm! I'll introduce you, yeah? Later." Right now they are Busy. "You're a combat esper, right? Your setup almost sounds like Ly's mom. Though she's just really fast and explodey." Or she was, anyway. "Is it line-of-sight? Your teleport, I mean." 

"Pretty much line of sight, yeah.  Sometimes I can go around a corner I just saw around, or backwards if I just turned my back, but other than that.  The burst goes off any time I land but I can hold it down to a gentle breeze."

"-have you ever been called to a paper dungeon? You'd be a menace in there, I bet," he snickers at the mental image, "Paper monsters flying around all over. The perfect counter." 

"Hold it down to a light breeze, I said," he says, with comfortably playful false irritation, and ruffles Jamie's hair.  "I am more than the hard counter to an origami horse guy."

He ducks under Toby's hand, grinning, "Even better! Papercut tornado. Have to get all the survivors out first, though," he notes. 

Giggle.  "Papercut Tornado is like... almost a cool esper name.  Narrowly squeaked by sounding badass."

"Peregrine beats it out," he nods into Toby's chest, "I wasn't really going for badass myself." 

"Wouldn't make sense for me anyway," he says.  "Do you have a codename?"

"Mmhm! It's Jamie :3," his mouth manages a credible attempt at a cat face. 

He doesn't get it.  "Your codename is the same as your regular name?"

"Noooo, it's Jamie :3," he does it again! 

He also grabs at his vest and digs out a card for Toby. It says Jamie :3 on it. 

"What are you doing with your m-"

...he looks at the card.

"...you tellin' me that if I look you up in the IDA esper database...?"

"Mhm!" :3~

He looks up Jamie Starr in the IDA database on his phone.

bryce do you know his codename,,

🔗 attached hyperlink

(Bryce is at this point having an animated and only slightly fanboyish conversation with Traceless and will not notice his phone messages for a little while.)

Jamie peers around to get a look at the screen.

"-I wanted wink," he informs Toby, "But I couldn't take that one, so I improvised." 

"Was it an allowed characters issue or is somebody already Jamie Winkyface."

"-I mean I wanted just Wink," he giggles. "Jamie Kittyface was the first thing I thought of after that. I didn't really want anything else, you know? But, um. The last Wink died a couple weeks before I woke up. It seemed kinda gross to take it so soon." 

...squeeze.  "Yeah, no, I get that."

"Jamie Colon Three is fun, though," he says, and goes for another hair ruffle.

Jamie lets him get away with it this time. His hair is very soft! 

"It's definitely unique! I haven't met anyone else yet with weird characters in their name, though I've met some with numbers." 

"You have lovely hair," Toby says.  "I've heard of a Catch-22, who had digits - and I guess a hyphen - but only ever letters other than that.  What kindsa number codenames have you heard...?"

"I met a few people using numbers for letters," would he like to keep petting that hair? Jamie nudges his head up into his hand suggestively. "St34mpunk, with a three and four instead of e and a. H1GHBALL, with a one instead of an i. Stuff like that."

Aww kitty.  Scritch scritch.

He giggles.  "Never met one of those myself," he says.  "Must be out of fashion in the Great Lakes."

"They're from Vancouver," he nods carefully so as not to jostle the scritching. The hair in the way makes it less efficient guiding, but it feels nice separately to that so nyeh.

Hairpetting is very important.  The polycule knows this.  "Bet you see a lot of different local esper name trends, huh?  What's the weirdest codename you ever heard..."

Purrrrrrrrr- "Oh, um. Wow, that's not easy to pick. Ummm..." It's extra hard because of distracting hairpets! 

"-there were some guys from the Midwest who had these long descriptive names? Like, Man Who Changes the Colour of Things, and Localized Rainstorm Woman. That was pretty funny." 

He snickers delightedly.  "Man Who Changes the Colour of Things, that's spectacular.  What did he do?  I mean, change the colour of things..."

"That was pretty much it! He did home design. Decoration? That. So he'd use it for demos and otherwise he was just a normal home decorator."

"Oh, that's clever," Toby says.  "I'm such a dungeon esper, my first thought whenever I hear a new power is always how do you use this on a run, I was wondering if he, like, turned everyone's kevlar bespoke camouflage colors or something."

"Huh, I bet he could! He'd need to go with them, though, it doesn't last a long time without him present. I know a lot of espers who do civilian work," he nods, "Dungeoneering is important, but there's a lot of powers that just aren't good for it. Like, do you know about the guy who can make you taste stuff? He does tasting sessions for crazy foods or for people with allergies and so on. Citrus, I think? Couldn't use that for much in a dungeon, but with a little creativity..." 

"No, it's great," he says, "civilian power use is so important, look at what you do.  I just mean it's never where my head's at, I've got a one track mind.  I think I have heard of that guy, it's really cool."

"Mhm! And don't worry, I didn't think you did. You don't seem like that kind of asshole." He pats Toby's chest reassuringly. 

Scritch scritch.  "Glad I made a good impression."

He giggles, "Well, you did start out by looking like my boyfriend." 

"Your boyfriend's pretty cute," he says.  " 'N so are you, kitty."

:3!

"I think that's a kinda narcissism." 

"I'm at peace with thinkin' I'm hot."

"I guess it's a pretty delusional Esper who isn't!" 

Scritch scritch.  "I think my partner Bryce doesn't always appreciate how cute he is."

"Huh, really?" Physically he is a melty pool of Jamie (:3), mentally he is confused about this. "But he's like. A hot goth, though?" 

He giggles.  "I think for some people it's hard to spot the cool stuff about yourself from inside.  Can I tell him you called him that, by the way?"

"You can tell him the internet thinks so!" He snickers, "You haven't seen that thread?" 

"I have not, what thread is this?"

Jamie digs out his phone and hunts it down, then offers it over: 

"'The man is literally fucking a hot goth twink.'"

He cackles.  "That's incredible, may I - " he gestures to take the phone from Jamie.

He hands it over, "Go ahead!" 

He skims up and down the Reddit thread.  "They think I'm from the US?"  Snort.

"They think everyone over here is from the US," he rolls his eyes. "I'm clownjewels, by the way." Which he can see in the upper right corner of the Reddit app, actually. 

"The difference between a twink and Pendragon Jr..." he giggles.  "Kinda wanna send this to Bryce too.  Clownjewels is good.  Is that your handle everywhere, I don't think I've seen a clownjewels on the esper forums."

"Nah, I'm FruitsSymmetry in a lot of places. I used to have that one on Reddit but I lost the account at some point," shrug! "You can send it on my phone if you want?" 

hey this is toby, i stole jamie's phone to send you another important link

🔗 attached hyperlink

"FruitsSymmetry, that sounds familiar," he says.  "I'm the only fake hedgehog around here, most places, or some substring of it, for complicated inside joke with Bryce reasons."

Giggle! "I don't know the joke but that's really cute though?" He stretches up to ruffle Toby's hair! "I can see you as a hedgehog. Fake or no." 

"Could you see me as a wisecracking blue anime hedgehog, though."

"Ohhh, like Sonic?" He considers this, and Toby, briefly. "You know? Yeah, I think I could. D'you like chili cheese dogs?" 

"You do know Sonic!" he says.  "Yeah, the inside joke is basically that I'm Sonic and he's Shadow, which you'll see if you get to know him.  I don't like chili dogs, though, tragically."

He snickers, "I guess he's got that vibe, so I'll take your word for it." 

He hums, thoughtful.

"Me and Zei have more of a sunshine and grump vibe going on, but I could see people making the comparison." 

Giggle.  "Bryce wants to be the grump in a sunshine-grump relationship so much but he's too much of a sweetie pie in his heart."

"Zei is a sweetie pie inside too! He's all mushy. He has serious resting bitch face syndrome, though, so he pulls it off mostly. So long as no one sees him with Lyra too quick." 

"Aww, that's sweet."  Scritch scritch.  "I'd like to meet this guy sometime."

"Wellll, he's here too, he's down the hall with Ly and Lyra and their new friend. We're half here cause she wanted to get out somewhere, and he doesn't wanna let her out of his sight right now cause he's a mother hen." 

"That's really sweet but I also don't think I understand all the relationships here well enough to totally follow it."

"Oh, um, so Zei and I are work partners, he lightens things which means I can take more cargo places. His partner and girlfriend is Lyra, and her brother is Ly, and he's my partner. I'm also a bit compatible with Lyra and really we're all kind of together, actually?

"Oh, and Lyra's pregnant."

"Ah, is that what Zei's being a mother hen over?  Cute.  Maybe if you and me and Bryce hit it off we will all glom together into one enormous esper polycule..."

"Ooh, you too?! I kinda thought so but-" he laughs at himself, "I mean, I guess a lot of espers are kinda poly, but- yeah. Um." 

Giggle.  "There are not actually a lot of espers in our esper polycule.  But Bryce and I - have something like the relationship of two male leads in an adventure-drama who are textually lifelong best friends and partners-in-crime and subtextually fucking - and Bryce is dating Kimberly who you briefly met, and internet dating a girl named Millie or Pandora, and Kimberly's friend Lenore is not at this time I would say romantically involved with any of us but she's attached to Kimberly enough to be part of the family.  And then Bryce and I both have a few occasional other guiding partners, but I'm not sure any of them are part of the polycule.  Jackhammer and I are kind of flirty but in a, like, non-transitive way."

Thoughtful nodding! 

"I kind of have guiding partners all over, in case I need someone in a given city. And also just cause I like meeting people," he shrugs. "That's the other part of why we're here." 

"I like meetin' people too," he says.  "And so does Bryce, I think, in controlled doses."

"...We've been going to more mixers lately, of course."  He gives Jamie a squeeze, with the arm wrapped around him, and a gentle scritch-scritch.

"...yeah. 

"...I think a lot of the newer espers don't actually know it's coming? Zei talked to a girl who didn't, earlier. I mean, they're mostly going to mixers anyway, but we should do something to warn them better I think." 

"Don't they?  It's not like it's anybody's first... I guess I don't know, if you didn't always want to run dungeons for a living, how checked in you are to stuff like the lull."  He shakes his head.  "There's not really a lot of formal onboarding, is there, for espers... maybe in guilds they do it differently, but it seems like so much of it is word of mouth."

"There's a few orgs around, but you kinda have to know they exist? There's one that works with the foster system in the Central provinces and they're how I met Zei, but I dunno about everywhere else." 

Aww.  Squeeze.  "Yeah.  I wonder if there's any way to systematically reach out to new espers... maybe that should be one of the things espers with minor powers do.  The thing nobody does of going around emergency rooms and poking everyone, I mean.  Anyone who pings them gets some literature..."

"The pamphlets in the University hospital in Saskatoon were gone because random people kept taking them to read." 

"Eesh," he says.  "Though, uh, I can't say I didn't do that once as a teenager.  I really wanted to be a dungeon esper."

"...yeah, I guess I did it too," he admits. "And if everyone does it once..." 

He chuckles ruefully.

"But that's still putting a lot of onus on the guy who just got out of hellweek," he says musingly.  "I wonder if, I don't know, we oughta compile some of this 101 stuff into, like, presentations.  Run mixers more like conventions, have introductory panels for the newbies.  ...or just talk to these orgs about sending reps out to mixers.  I don't know, I'm spitballin'."

"No, no, you're totally right. Hmmmm... I dunno if this is the time for it, right before a Confluence, but after... Or maybe it is the time for it, or at least for a sorta basic one, just to make sure they're all on the same page." 

"Round up all the newbies, give them We're Due For A Confluence 101?  ...you know, that might not be a bad idea."

"Yeah. There's at least a few of them out on the floor, and even people who were around last time could probably do with a refresher." 

He takes his phone back and starts hunting through his bookmarks. 

"I've got a few good sites and threads we could make notes off?" 

"Ooh, let's see 'em," he says.  "Did you work the 2030 confluence, by the way...?"

"I woke up, like, just after it. I'm a Confluence newbie, even if I've been active six years now. S'why I keep bookmarking stuff about it." 

Speaking of, he hands the phone over once he's opened up a few tabs. There's some esper forum stuff, but also a few Reddit threads and one interesting thread from tumblr, alongside the International and Canadian DRT sites.

"Take notes on yours?" 

"Can do."  He sets to work.

They make notes! Starting with what a confluence is, what the lead up to a confluence looks like, and what happens on the first day. Some examples of dungeons that only show up during confluences, and the ones which always do. How being an esper changes during the event, from wider deployment to cooperation to teleportation rates. How long they tend to last, and predictions on what this confluence will be like, given the long period between it and the last. 

"We should try to put together some resources, maybe... Or, just get everyones' emails and do that later?" They shouldn't spend so much time planning that other people start to leave! 

"Yeah, I like the emails idea," he says.  It would indeed be a pity to not get around to making the actual presentation until everyone else involved in the mixer has long since gone off elsewhere to do other things.  He thinks about, and talks as they're making notes about - how to convey what it feels like to work a confluence.  How everyone's on edge, how you have to learn to expect everyone to be on edge, and expect yourself to be on edge too.

Yeah, and how everyone is on edge beforehand, too, because no one can be sure when it will start, but if you're in a dungeon when it does... 

God, yeah.  Some people get... really anxious, about what if the dungeon they're in supercharges when the confluence hits.

" - actually I wonder if we should get Bryce in on this," he says.  "He's a good storyteller, I bet he'd have helpful stuff to say about keeping your head during the confluence, and in the leadup.  Did you wanna meet him properly?"

"Yeah! We could probably do with a couple more people to chime in, anyway." Jamie will peer down at his phone, "Though I still don't wanna interrupt whatever's going on in the other room. Only Ly's been through a confluence before, anyway." 

" 'Sfair.  I'm gonna text Bryce, though - "

hey bryce fr this time.  jamie and i are putting together a little confluence 101 crash course we're gonna give to some of the newbie espers here & we think you'd be good to help!  come see us when you get a chance?

He shows the message to Jamie, and then hits send.

He gets a thumbs up! 

"So, let's put together some resources lists while we wait? Here, I'll send you mine-" 

"Yeah, on it."

Knock knock!

"Oh that was fast!" He doesnt bother to hup off Toby, just 'ports over to open the door. 

(He startles and chuckles.)

oh hi shirtless jamie

He blushes and clears his throat and says, "Hey, I got a text...?"

"Yep!" He is indeed shirtless! And pretty buff for someone as tiny as he appears in a shirt and vest. "Wanna help us figure out what all the newbies need to know about the confluence? We're also working on some reading lists to email around, but the 101 is more urgent." 

"Yeah, absolutely."  He is not so unprofessional as to remain flustered for more than a moment.  He sits down on the couch next to Toby, giving him plenty of space so as to not zap Jamie while they're guiding, and gets out his phone.

It was only a little zap... He's still holding out hope! 

"What is your backlash, anyway?" He asks as he's digging out a few more links, "If you don't mind the question." 

"Pathological guilt," he says, levelly.  "Can I ask yours...?"

"Huh, sensory deprivation. How do those line up...?" 

He shakes his head and shrugs.  "I obsess about my internal world and you blot out the external world?  I... feel like I'm sinking into darkness away from goodness and light... and you literally... no I have no idea."

"Your backlashes both make you think too much, by increasing the amount of thinking you do," he nods toward Bryce, "and decreasing the amount of anything else you can do relative to how much you think," Jamie, "and mine makes me think too little?"

"You didn't really zap me, though," he muses.  "It was like almost neutral, but not totally-nothing in the way it is when they have nothing to do with each other, more like we were right near the edge."

"It was the least bad tinfoil I've had," he muses. 

He offers his hand? 

"Try again?" 

"Yeah, okay."  Bryce does not have a leg to stand on in re: being fascinated by weird bad sensations.  Handbrush.

"-huh." 

He reaches to clasp his hand more firmly.

"Huh!" 

" - hi there," he says.  "I don't think I've ever heard of that happening.  Uh, unless you've just decided you kink on tinfoil right this second - ?"

"No it's um. It's still tinfoily. It's just really barely tinfoily? It's kind of neat, actually, like a tiny electric shock, or swiping your hand through a flame, or something."

"Well, I wouldn't want to interrupt your confluence 101 project, but if you're enjoying yourself, I'm very touchable."

"The project is important-!" He leans into Toby, still holding Bryce's hand.

"-ooh, that's so weird..." tinfoil and good guiding at the same time?

...what if he climbs over Toby to sit between them? That way his arm will not be in the way of poking around on their phones and planning and such. 

"You are enjoying yourself," Bryce says slyly.  "I've never been that kind of masochist, myself, but I was a little jealous when Toby guided you so well and I zapped you."

"I mean I'm kinda masochistic but I don't even know if that's what this is."

He wiggles back against Toby's chest as he plays with Bryce's fingers, fascinated. Are the wiggles aroused wiggles? Even he can't tell. 

Bryce will sit back and allow himself to be enjoyed, and likewise let himself enjoy seeing how Jamie shifts, a little.

Shifting? Him? Nooooo, never!

Well, maybe a little.

"Um," fidget fidget. "So, the confluence. What d'you think they need to know? I can only really give second hand advice, I awakened right after the last one." 

"What have you guys got so far?"

"We've got a lot of, you know, informational stuff, what it is and how it works, but I think you'd be good for talking about what it's like," he says.  "Since you're such a good storyteller."

"Ooh, do you have any good stories from the last one? A good example for the newbies, I bet it would sink in better for most that way." 

"Hmm.  I... guess I'm still not really sure what you guys are looking for?"

"...what would you tell yourself, like, a month or so before our first confluence?"

He tilts his head back and thinks.

"It's hard, cuz," he says, slowly, "I know what I'd tell myself, but... well, for one, I don't know how well it generalizes, but for another - I didn't not know it, that wasn't the problem."

Jamie sets his chin in his free hand, the other still holding Bryce's, despite- or, really, because of the sensation. 

"Well, it's like..."

"To me it feels like the obvious thing.  Just that, like - anyone who gets into this job because with great power comes great responsibility, the confluence is gonna... there's emergencies everywhere, constantly.  Everyone's overstretched.  You - "

He breathes.

"You know for a fact there's dungeons getting away with people in them.  That's where most returning dungeons come from, even more than from places like Indonesia.  And - you are gonna work more, during a confluence, it's inevitable, but it's a lot easier to feel like you ought to be working yourself to death.  And like, people tell you put on your own oxygen mask, people tell you it's a marathon not a sprint, but when it's happening, it just - it feels like an excuse.  It feels vile, to look away from it."

"Oh." He ducks his head, frowning. "That. Yeah." 

"I've never really felt guilty for putting my people above strangers, but putting myself above victims? I could see that turning into... A lot." 

Even if it isn't very logical. 

...oh he wants to give Jamie some kind of comforting squeeze or kiss or something but he'd zap him...

"Yeah.  It's - "

" - but that's the thing," he says.  "There's nothing I can say about it that hasn't already been said."

Nod. 

"It's kinda something you learn by getting through it, I guess." 

Jamie is hugging his hand to his chest now, and doesn't appear to mind the mild stingy-ness. Of course, that could just be because he's doing it at his own pace, though. 

"I could also see someone getting on a high horse about it or something, if you told a story about having to leave some victims behind." 

"I didn't get a lot of that, fortunately," he says.  "People get like that on social media sometimes, but I'd successfully sworn off social media before my first confluence.  But - there were definitely times it would have hit me really badly, if someone had lashed out that way."

Jamie squeezes his hand, "I bet." 

"We should probably mention it again, though. Maybe with the whole, 'you probably won't really get how this affects you until it happens,' part." 

"I think you should," Toby says.  "If you're up for it.  It's not gonna be the same as firsthand experience but I bet it's gonna help."

Little smile.

"At least it'll let them brace for it. They'll know it might happen, if they haven't thought about it already. So maybe some of them will be a little more ready. 

"Y'know, this is kinda what I really mean by the whole, we gotta get better at preparing newbies, right? Even if we don't have guilds, we should have, like, programs? Mentorship and guest speakers, like an organization that reaches out to them instead of expecting them to look for resources themselves?"  

"...yeah.  That's a good idea," he says.  "My - I've kind of made monster capture my main project, right now, but esper onboarding is a good and important cause.  I got really lucky that I bumped into Toby as fast as I did."

"We both did," Toby says.  "We clicked really well, we learned the ropes together."

"Me and Zei, too. We're not very backlash compatible, but our powers work really well together. But yeah, that's luck. So." 

He holds up his phone.

"Either of you good at speechifying?" 

"Bryce should get to tell his part," Toby says, "but I can start us off, yeah."

"Maybe I'll grab Ly, he can get everyone's attention for us so we don't miss anyone. Should we knock on doors?" 

"Hmm, I think so."

Jamie will send Ly a text, then! 

Made some new friends! We're next door down the hall if you wanna meet them :3

Lube? 💦💦👀👀

He snickers.

Pretty sure all the breakout rooms are stocked. That's not actually what we're doing right now, tho! We need you to be attention grabbing 

Obnoxious or charming?

Charming! We're gonna do a Confluence 101 lecture for the newespies

Trousers 👍🏼. Will grab Excalibur and be there in 5.

You don't gotta be all King Arthur if you don't wanna! 

Hopefully he gets that before he rushes off? 

🤴🏼✨🦄

Okay then! 

"He'll be here soon. Maybe with a unicorn?" 

"A unicorn, huh?" he says.  His fingertips trace absently up and down Jamie's chest.

Unfortunately Jamie cannot actually purr, but he can leeeean! 

"A sparkly one," he offers the latest messages for Toby's perusal. 

"I remain - " he says, and interrupts himself with a snort when he gets to Lube? 💦💦👀👀  "I remain approximately as confused," he finishes, slightly through-laughter.

"Me too," he admits, snickering. 

And so Ly appears! He swings the hammer in greeting. He's also wearing trousers! But his shirt is unbuttoned and hair tussled.

"S'mae."

Beside him is Zei, similarly bedraggled but much more disgruntled.

"Hi," he more grunts than says, taking his side-eye off Ly for a moment. 

Jamie waggles his fingers at them from the couch, "Hi! You didn't haveta drag Zei over here, y'know." 

"I'm brawn. And baby is the one that likes to help people. He's been yearning for months."

Zei digs his elbow into Ly's side. 

Jamie snickers, "That's Zei, Counterweight. He's my work partner. And Ly, of course. Guys, this is Toby and Bryce, Peregrine and Shadowcat." 

"So you're the guy, huh?" Toby says.  "What do you think, Bryce, do you see it?"

He squints at each of them in turn.  "I mean, kinda."

"I don't know."  To Ly: "Say, you know, vampire type shit."

(He giggles.)

"I vant ta suck yer blud?"

"No - " he sporfles.  "No, I meant the literal words, quote, you know, vampire type shit, unquote."

"That was good, though."

Ly hmmms and looks over at Toby.... then shifts his posture and facial expression.

"You know, vampire type shit."

Jamie breaks into giggles. 

So does Toby!

"Toby I think you might be the same person as that guy."

Zei rolls his eyes up at the ceiling, but he's got a little smirk on. 

"I was gonna investigate that, you know! But we got distracted by plotting." 

"I'm a more beachy blonde," he says, considering Toby's hair colour.

"Temporary hair dye!" 

"You just had divergent esper glowups, I'm sure."

"My hair colour didn't change." He notes Toby's red (brown?) eyes. His own eyes are blue. "Eyes didn't either. Lyra has red eyes though."

"I think my hair changed a little, slightly more gold and slightly less blonde, but it's subtle enough I don't know for sure.  Bryce has really pretty hair, he's got the iridescent effect that some dark-haired espers have, if it catches the light just right it gleams purple a little."

Jamie is going to examine this, absent any objections! He kneels up and plucks a lock of hair to turn this way and that in the light. 

"Ooh, it does, that's so cool. My eyes were blue and went all gold, and my hair got gold-er, but I mostly look the same." 

"I just got taller and, you know, my cock is huge."

Snort.  "That would be another couple of indications that we are not secretly the same person."

(Bryce's blush intensifies as Jamie plays with his hair.  "Your eyes are pretty," he says.)

"Mini me. Good for many things."

Streeeetch.  "Oh I just bet you could put me to work."

(Jamie beams at Bryce, also blushing.)

"........if you guys are gonna fuck can I go back to Lyra. You can call me back for the planning and all." 

Giggle.  "Sorry, Zei.  We have got something serious to do here."

Ly nods, the picture of unbothered. "Where do you want me?" he asks Jamie.

He tears his attention away from Bryce's hair. 

"Um, so we're gonna knock on doors to let people know about it, so they can come see if they want, but once we're in the big room you can pull everyone's attention for a sec so everyone hears what's up. Also," he points to the couch beside Bryce, "Compat checks?" 

He holds out his hand for compat check boops.

Zei is closer; boop? 

Boop.  It turns out Bryce and Zei do not guide very well - better than nothing, but worse than good.  Neither does anybody else, apart from Toby and Jamie (as previously established) and - 

"Huh," he says to Ly.  "It happened exactly the wrong way around."