"Noooooooooo no no you will not, I'm getting over it, just, here," and she foists a little pendant off onto Minseo. Si-yeon was wearing one just like it, for 'be shielded by the esper from afar' reasons. "And let me know the minute you need it, and. Maybe set up a little quick emergency button in case of..." what would she even say, here? Sexual assault? Weirdly directed, Russian assassination? Ninjas breaking in through the window? "... emergency."

"Sure. But after I teleport to safety."

...

"Okay, yes, but. ... Shush."

Da-eun will nonetheless vacate the area immediately, so as not to spook the poor little asylum seeker NEW RECRUIT TO THE GUILD OF QUASAR.

Snort.

Okay, out of the little silo and down the hallway, not running because there is no reason to run, going to make it to the elevator before he even knows she was on this floor -

"Oh, excuse me!" The women coming down the hall is moving fast, he is moving faster, there is an awkwardly timed 90-degree angle in the hall, and—well. Momentum is a tyrant.

He tosses himself sideways so as not to physically collide with her, hitting the wall with a dull thunk instead. "I'm so sorry, ma'am, I'm in too much of a xurry. Please forgive me." He bows low and skitters past, breaking out into a sprint so as not to be late to this casual meeting with no time specified. Once he gets to the door, he takes a moment to relax his shoulders, roll out his neck, close his eyes.

Nobody wants an anxious guide. You should be relaxed and warm, so they aren't spooked.

Yes, mental Klimka. Of course, mental Klimka. I'm the perfect guide.

He nods to himself, smiles welcomingly, opens his eyes, and lifts his hand to knock before thinking better of it. What if she can't call out or navigate easily to the door? He sends a message instead.

Hello! I have arrived. I can let myself in, if you would like, once you are ready.

... okay yeah, clearing out was a good idea, their combined anxiety levels inside one room could potentially cause some kind of superanxiety explosion event...

Door's open!

"Good evening, sunbae-nim!" he calls out with the practiced toddler-calming brightness of a seasoned cashier during a major holiday shopping event. "This is Kim Dasol! I'm coming in now."

Inside is a perfectly innocent looking modest setup, about the size of a hotel room. There is a small hallway leading past a tiny kitchenette and attached bathroom, to a room with a couch at the foot of the admittedly rather large bed, a desk, and a table and a couple of chairs by the window. There's a television mounted on the wall, facing the bed, currently off.

There's an esper on the couch with improbably long white hair, and red eyes that look kind of far off and unfocused. Her fingers are moving, and there's a comm screen in front of them, though she stops typing to give a little wave when the door opens.

"Hello!" she says.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Yun Minseo-nim." It feels wrong not to bow, even if she can't see it, so he does. "I am looking forward to working with you. I xope we turn out to be compatible."

"Pleasure to meet you too. Uh, just sunbae's fine, you don't need to 'nim' me? And if we're not compatible, it's not anybody's fault, it just kind of happens sometimes." Statistically speaking, it's most of the time for random espers, but their backlashes are pretty opposite, so they do actually have good odds. Probably. "... Are you just standing at the door? You can come in, it's cool?" She nonetheless holds out her hand from where she's sitting for a poke test.

"Ah! Of course, sunbae. I was just getting my bearings." He tiptoes further into the room. "You noted that you need things to stay in the same places, so I was looking around to make sure I knew where things ought to be. Please forgive me if I take a moment to remember everything's place properly." He finally gets to her and tentatively reaches out a fist. "So, I'm going to touch you now."

Boop.

Hm!

Yeah, that's pretty nice. It might beat Da-eun, actually? It's pretty close, though. Solid guiding, theoretically excellent co-sleeping material for when Da-eun doesn't have too much backlash of her own.

"Nice!" she says, pleased. "At least on my end, are you the same, or do we have one of those asymmetric ones?"

It's alright. Not as good for him as it sounded for her, but good enough that the sensation is—ah, it's a good thing she's blind, maybe. "It's certainly a match!" he agrees. It doesn't matter, ultimately, how well it works for him. He's just the guide. And hey, maybe slight compatibility is better, given that she doesn't want to—

Anyway. "Yes, if it was a match for sunbae, then we are in an excellent position, I feel. Let's discuss your symptoms and xow I can xelp during the process, then. I'm going to sit a little distance over on the couch, now, unless you want me to be in touch-range while we talk."

The way this guy phrases everything is so concerning.

"Either's fine? Symptoms are pretty straightforward. I generally don't push myself until I lose hearing unless it's a real emergency. There's some general loss of feeling everywhere else even before hitting deafness, but it's mostly an irritating dexterity problem, not like. Anything anybody can help with, besides guiding away. What about you? Do you need any accomodations?"

He sits gently to avoid jostling sunbae and scoffs dramatically. "Oh, you don't need to worry about me! I can xandle it just fine! I just need a place I can scream!"

Hmm, that sounds bad.

"What I mean is that my power is voice projection. If sunbae needs me to rapidly accumulate severe backlash, I can do so, so long as there's someplace I can throw a loud, sustained scream to without disturbing anyone. I can go through walls, so it can be, say, out the window. Just any old place with nobody in it, really!" He works his jaw silently for a few moments, suddenly nervous that he had led off on a bad foot. "Or, for more moderate levels, I can read aloud for my partner? Or carry a conversation using only my projected voice? It's whatever sunbae might want, really. I can accommodate."

Some of her horror at this phrasing must have shown on her face. Because: that is a yikes from her.

She is now painfully aware that this guy is terrified that if he's not useful enough, or possibly not efficient enough for his partner's benefit, that he's going to be discarded like trash. Or handed back to Russia, or forced to be a backlash battery for whatever esper is compatible and feels like using him.

"Just co-sleeping would honestly be really useful? And company to keep me from going crazy from boredom, but - I'm a sensor that's most useful for mid-grade dungeons? I don't tend to have big unexpected backlash spikes." That's more Da-eun's thing. Or Ji-woo's, in confluences. (She is also keenly wishing Ji-woo were here.)

"I'm a straightforward, predictable workday, really. And I absolutely don't want you torturing yourself daily over it?"

"Oh, well, that's perfect! I would be delighted to keep you company. As I said, I can converse using my power to get a good amount of backlash. And it xurts less to bring it on more gradually, anyway!" Is he chattering too much? Her face says yes. "Not that I'm unwilling, of course! If it's needed. That's fine!" Yeah, he's chattering. She would hardly be the first esper to be annoyed by too much one-sided talk. He clears his throat and looks away. "Um, your place is very tidy. What sort of things do you do when you're unable to see?" Good yes. Ask questions. If she's talking, then he can't be!

Annoyed is definitely not what she is. The correct word is concerned. She is very concerned. She wants to put him at ease, let him know that he is safe.

Small talk will probably help? Engaging with him as a person, and all. (She really misses Ji-woo.)

"Thanks. I keep my silo small, any larger and I'll have trouble finding everything. I have my comm screen set up to do tactile feedback, so I can read and write and keep up with what's going on. There are also some sound based rhythm games I can play, though they're a bit brain dead for me to marathon? And I can do puzzles and listen to audio books and stuff, though usually I prefer reading over listening when it comes to literature." There. See? She is a sweet innocent little geek. Safe and nonthreatening.

"So, voice projection? That's cool, is it just yours, or can you, like. Put on different accents, mimic people and stuff?"

Ah, she’s now asking him questions. Dangerous! He risks being too chattery again. “Not with paranormal accuracy or anything. I still xave to consciously mold the voice to mimic someone, same as if I were doing it with my ordinary mouth. It’s good for entertainment and guiding and not much else. Which is all I need, really.”

Too much chatter. He is so bad at this! It has been years since he was working with totally new-to-him partners and he’s out of practice at this part. He will compensate, though: focus resolutely on what she needs! “Ah, you said you have reduced sensation through your body. Do you need to be checked over for injuries before guiding? In case you didn’t notice something?” It really wouldn’t be all that different from how his family cared for his babushka back in the day, if so.

"Nah, I usually deploy with a shield esper whose whole main thing is keeping me safe, and get checked over by medical at least twice a day. Usually more. Plus, like - uh, do you know of Baek Ji-woo-unnie?"

The local pub in my village has a first-edition pin-up behind glass. It was a local scandal when a drunk defaced the bust area. "Yes, I know of her. You work with her?"

Oh, poor little hoobae, he has no idea.

"We have asymmetric compatibility, in her favor," she says, as normally and casually as physically possible. See! Asymmetric in her favor, your guide status is not in danger! (Just, uh, don't ask questions about that shield esper yet, she hasn't done the necessary prep work to make you not think you're going to be thrown out of the window for uselessness.) "So I'm one of her primary partners. I get so many medical checks, man, if nothing squishes me I will probably make it past a hundred."

There. Totally normal, nonthreatening thing to say. What's the damage in freakout?