"I see. You seem very well looked after. Nonetheless, I will contribute however I can." This last sentence trails off, as he desperately wracks his brain for how he could possibly add anything to the lives of busy, highly successful espers—wait! "Ah, surely all that work must be stressful for all of you? Perhaps I could give massages? I did that for my former partner, and even at xigh backlash the palms of my xands are pretty okay. I checked before coming up xere and they xave the brand of massage oils that I like to use—well, you said nothing wet or sticky, so maybe not."

Aaaaand it sparked some more concern that he's not Contributing Enough, and now he must Service Her To Be Accepted. Yeah this guy is not cleared to know about Da-eun yet. One day the revelation will hit him like a bus, and that bus will inevitably slam into him, but until then, she can set up little crash mats and safety gear and whatnot.

"Uh. No, thank you? ... You keep looking for ways to sell me on partnering with you, and I'm honestly a little confused as to why? Co-sleeping to clear all confluence backlash by morning so I can wake up with my eyes working is actually really useful to me?"

"I was just trying to xelp. If I'm going to be around anyway, I thought— I didn't mean any offense, sunbae-nim. It was just an idle thought." He should have remembered the no-wet-and-sticky rule sooner. "I can do whatever is needed. Even nothing."

Oh fuck oh god he thinks she's putting him down, that is not what she meant at all, she is not equipped for this boss battle where is her Ji-woo.

"N-it's not - you're not doing anything wrong, I'm not offended? You're fine, workshopping ideas is fine, I'm not exactly against massages in principle, it's just..." The entire way you are making the consent around that a complete and utter nightmare. Saying that is not helpful towards any of her goals. What would be? This guy has so much anxiety about needing to be useful and it's so much like Da-eun, except Da-eun has a really awesome power and he just has his body and his ability to guide. ... That does help a bit for putting things into perspective and knowing how to tackle this.

Okay. She knows how this guy actively and obviously makes her life better, and it's that Da-eun's hair is a thing made out of witchcraft that gets fucking everywhere, but especially in Minseo's face, and she tosses and turns and sighs sadly and obviously misses her husband in a way that is actually so obvious that a literal blind person can tell. It is not fun to co-sleep with, full stop, and Da-eun is the one making more of a sacrifice there, being the one that is sad about being away from her husband and kids. But how does she show him that what he's doing is valuable and useful and worth respect and dignity?

"... Do you want to hear about a friend of mine," she blurts, because she sees a potential path to reach victory, and even if this topic change is awkward as fuck, if it gets her to where she wants to go, who cares.

... huh? "Of course. Xowever you wish to pass the time. Do you want contact during this?"

"Yeah, sure," she says, a little carelessly, vaguely waving a hand towards him as she tries to think about how to tackle this.

"So, Kim Da-eun is the shield esper I work with a lot, and she's also my friend, and she's from Vietnam. And her husband got her out of Vietnam because they were - so her shielding power is a whitelist, it only lets in things she actively chooses to let in? And it's cheap to hold up. But it's not cheap, backlash wise, for it to be pushed. So, everything that gets blocked because of her shield is backlash intensive. But, this is still a really complete shield that can block fucking everything.

"And Vietnam was going to waste her and burn her out, because the - the standard, obvious thing to do with a shield esper, especially a powerful one like her, is put the shield first."

He's nodding along absently, half-listening, because of course the primary focus should be on backlash management. He unbuttons his sleeve and rolls it up first, then catches her hand gently in both of his and begins to massage it with his thumbs, slowly scooting up the forearm, trailing his own arm along hers to gradually increase the contact surface. He is acutely aware of the oils on his skin. Hopefully they aren't "too sticky." She's got a decent chunk of backlash on her, so he responds when she pauses her story with his projected voice, a few inches away from his face. That's pretty negligible accumulation but it's better than nothing.

"I hope she has found better success in Korea so far. Has she been here long?"

"Yeah, it's been several years, she's been doing great here - uh, hold on, are you racking up backlash over there??"

"Of course! Sorry, it's not very efficient unless I'm louder, but I haven't yet been told if there's someplace I can project to more loudly than this and I didn't want to disturb anyone! Um, I see a bathroom over there, I can—"

"—maybe make my voice come from here without any problems? Shouldn't take more than a few minutes if I sing continuously!"

"Ack, no, please don't rack up any more on my account, I know you're trying to be the most efficient guide ever, but, like, well for one full cuddling would be more efficient without hurting you at all, and I'm just completely fine with that, two even with you being maximally efficient you're unlikely to get me to seeing before I go to bed unless we do some things I am really not comfortable with, and three, my reaction was not asking you to get more, please don't!!"

"Oh, of course, you're right! I just wasn't sure you wanted to—you said you were comfortable, I should have assumed! Just give me a moment." The sound of a seam popping rips through the tranquil atmosphere as he yanks off his shirt and undershirt while discarding his shoes. He's quite efficient at undressing: if the needs of his partner weren't sufficient motivation (and of course it is!), his backlash makes this cotton-poly blend feel like a newly minted nurse trying to find a good vein on a heroin addict. Everyone's happier, really, when he's naked, so it is his duty to get there as quickly as possible. "Would sunbae care for assistance?"

Why is he like this.

Not the battle to pick, Minseo, just let the man help the way he knows how before he gives himself a stroke trying to figure out how to please you. He very clearly needs a job to be succeeding at, and she understands that well enough.

"- Nah, I'm okay," she says, and she can stand up to get out of her own clothes. She was already barefoot, and was in a little sundress that was entirely for Da-eun's benefit, so this is not a hard problem. The sundress can just hit the floor immediately, and then she's in a sports bra and some similarly sporty briefs.

"Okay, available for cuddling." He's a little exasperating, but: this is still way better than being bored, actually.

Aha! Success! This wasn't so bad! Just a little miscommunication up front, heh! He'll have to clean up the script for future partners, of course. But for now: progress! His voice lapses back into the gentle late-night-nature-documentary cadence of a seasoned professional. "Would sunbae like to sit back-to-back first, or nested?" How do they call it in those western message boards again? "Ah, I think you all say 'spoon?'" What does that mean, anyway? Is one of them supposed to be soup? "You can be the spoon or the soup."

...?? The? Spoon or the soup???

This earns a little amused snort.

"Big spoon or little spoon, though 'spoon or the soup' is pretty great," she corrects, amused. "With the big being the one holding the little spoon. I can be big spoon. You okay moving to the bed?"

"Of course!" he says, bouncing up off the couch and walking to the bed. He stands next to it, hands folded demurely over his boxer shorts, and waits patiently for her to climb into the bed.

"...Wait. Spoons have to be the same size to nest properly. Why do you say 'big' and 'little?'"

"Little spoons can nest inside bigger spoons, but not the inverse," she clarifies, as she begins navigating to the bed. This is a bit slower and more deliberate than someone with functioning sight, but she navigates quickly enough by keeping a hand on the furniture as she moves. "So I assume that's why it's big spoon and little spoon, but. Spoon and soup is really evocative."

"I see!" He does not see. But then, neither does she, so it's the blind leading the blind. That was rude of him. Bad brain.

Once she looks largely settled, he takes her one hand in his and holds it continually as he climbs into the bed, so that she can always tell roughly where he is. He lays facing away with several inches of distance between them and places her hand on his shoulder, so she can scoot in and make herself comfortable. "How is that? Do you have enough pillow?" he asks after she's moved in.

"I'm okay, but thank you," she says, scootching over and snuggling up. This does involve a little bit of fumbling, because she's not cheating with her power even a little, but, well. He can feel like an excellent guide that is Doing His Part^TM.

(It's a pity that he didn't say his thoughts out loud, because they would have earned another snort from Minseo. But since he's not comfortable enough to handle her deft verbal ripostes without finding them threatening in some way, it's probably for the best.)

"All comfy?" he chirps. "Would you like the sheet over us? I can take on more backlash more easily without it, but I can make do if you're cold!"

"All comfy." Deep breath. Damn it, she lost her train of thought. She's not even sure that strategy would work anymore. Whatever, she'll figure it out.

"Okay, ground rules while we don't go running off for partnership contract drafting, because I expect you would find a contract exactly zero protective and probably actively threatening: no taking on backlash without warning. It's, like, some is fine, but we want pre-negotiated consent before we start drinking the mind and body affecting magic debuff juice, yeah? It's going to freak out people about the same way as if you cheerfully offered to stab yourself to donate blood without like. Properly understanding what backlash you are playing with and how you will be from calling it upon yourself. And I know your reply is going to be that 'But sunbae! You are yourself extremely backlashed,' but mine is only torturous in that I have been pretty shit at picking up non visual hobbies and so I get kinda bored while I'm blind. It is not mind affecting at all. You are currently solving the 'being bored' problem, and so I am completely fine."

Don't say it, don't say it— "But sunbae! You are yourself extremely backlashed!"

Maybe I'm the one with the impulsivity backlash.

Called it.

"I am! But this is my third confluence as an active sensor, I absolutely know my limits here, okay?"

He chuckles. "I know mine as well. I've done this before, alright? I know what I can take, and you're way under that level. You don't need to worry about me, sunbae. That's my job. You just relax and get ready for another workday."

"You've done sketchy as fuck de-humanizing Russian guiding, dude. And you don't know my limits in regards to you torturing yourself, so let's play it safe and just not. This is your first confluence in Korea, you're dealing with a whole culture shock, and you're terrified that if you're not useful enough we're going to discard you like you're trash. Which: we're not, because objectively, you are not any kind of trash just because your power isn't good for dungeoneering. That's a dumbass reason to treat people like trash, and it resulted in you and your buddy literally fleeing the country, so we can see for ourselves how shit it is."