Minseo

these boys are a disaster

are you sure you want to touch any of this with a twenty-foot pole

are you joking

do you know how boring my off time gets during a confluence

try closing your eyes and leaving them that way for four hours

then do that, every single day, for the next several months.

well I'm compatible with both of them so idk what that says about your compatibility with either

one of them has a huge crush on the other, and it's unclear if it's reciprocated

Russia is even more homophobic than Korea

the one with the crush has a tendency for frivolous power use and an impulsivity backlash

which combines just as badly as you'd expect

the other one probably has a ton of trauma from doing the job of a professional partner without the actual respect you need to give a fellow human being

is frivolous power guy the one Da-eun was grumbling about?

don't answer that I expect the answer is yes

I can probably tolerate either tbh, though Da-eun might make faces about the impulsive one being near me

but otherwise whichever you think is more likely to be compatible with me, not like my backlash is secret.

bored esper reporting for duty, sir, deploy at your discretion! o7

my guess would be Dasol

that's the other one, not the frivolous power use one

his backlash is allodynia

I think I'll probably be both his and Misha's Buddy btw

ooo, two for one deal! you're becoming a proper mother hen

sitting on all your lil baby espers

anyway I expect the ace girl who just wants to play video games might be nice for your other guy?

I literally want nothing from him!

okay I do want him to generally be mentally okay and not like, attempting to sex me or w/e, but

you get me right

yeah

uh

he might be expecting to need to sexually pleasure you to be worth keeping alive 

fyi

generally mentally okay does not describe either of these boys 

came from a hell of a place, huh

I will be firm and gentle and channel unnie in all but the yelling

stuffed body pillow for snuggling away the trauma, that's me

one hell of a place sounds just right, yeah 

good luck 

you'll need it

luck is for scrubs

I will bring my elite skills to the table!

bwuahahaha

Yun Dasol had been told to await requests to meet, which he does by huddling on the couch staring into the comm screen readout of

0 New Messages

until his eyes start to hurt. Quasar HR had said that it would probably take a few days to get him a list, but he didn't really have anything else to do in the meantime. He had music on, sure, and he had found the learn Korean tab for practicing the language, but it was weird. He was in one of the temporary silos, for the moment, as they didn't want him returning to the last location where he had used his old identity, and there wasn't really anything else to do—okay, actually, there was lots to do, he just didn't want to do any of it. He couldn't focus, not even on the soothing pop music he had absolutely blasting. He gets himself a glass of water and tries not to experience thought for the ten seconds it takes to down it. When he opens his eyes, though

1 New Message!

he suddenly wonders why he wished for this. He opens the message boards after a few failed tries. These hand signals aren't as intuitive as they seemed!

Hey, heard you were a new professional partner looking for someone to guide? I could use a co-sleeper during the confluence, if that isn't out of your area of expertise

Oh, boy. 'Co-sleeper.' That's a new euphemism. But yes! The answer is yes. He can do whatever!

Best not to write that, however.

It's nice to meet you! I'm open to whatever would serve my partner's needs best! Would you like to tell me a little about your guiding needs?

That sounds professional. Right?

Nice to meet you, too! I'm Yun Minseo, I'm a sensor. My backlash causes me to lose my senses, starting with sight. I tend to spend confluences almost entirely blind. That being said, I am really not into the wet and sticky parts of 'efficient' guiding, and when I say co-sleeping, I do just mean overnight cuddles. Though the frequently-made-blind does mean I have some other needs, like, please do not leave anything on the floor where it might be tripped on, please do not move any of my stuff to a different place, that sort of thing? I gotta navigate the silo blind, and for that, I need to know where everything is.

Oh, no, she thinks I wanted to have sex with her. I mean, I thought she wanted to, I didn't necessarily want—I just want what she wants!

This is so much more confusing than in Russia.

Thank you for being so clear! Nothing wet, nothing sticky, sleep with maximal skin contact, don't move anything or leave anything lying about. That seems like a pretty simple set of instructions to me!

My Korean is not quite as fluent as I would like, but I will work extra-hard at it. Please let me know if there are better ways than the comm-screen to translate for you if I forget a word, though.

Would you like to test for compatibility?

Is that too eager? It's probably too eager. He deletes it and tries again.

Let me know if you would like—

Mmm, nope. Delete, restart.

I hope that you find exactly what you need.

Comm-screen is fine, I've got a special set up to let me read and write while backlashed. I'm down to help you practice Korean though, my non sleeping hours get kinda boring, and I've helped people learn Korean before.

I'm up for testing for compatibility if you are, though you'll need to come to me. I'm currently backlashing; I'd just hurt myself if I went wandering around unescorted.

Eeeeeeee maybe this is it!

Of course, sunbae-nim. Where can I find you? I'll come over right away.

She sends over directions. If it weren't a confluence, she would just offer him a teleport, but since it is, there's a little Ji-woo on her shoulder grumbling about necessity of resource use. Yes, little shoulder Ji-woo, she will be good, and walking off some of the nervous energy might do the poor new guy some good.

"Hey, I'm seeing if I'm compatible with one of the new hires, see if you can go spend some actual time with your family."

This is, of course, directed at the partner she's currently sitting on the couch with.

"... which one?" she asks, delicately.

"The one that has not bounced off of your shield like a sad and stupid mosquito."

Shit she wasn't supposed to let on that that time she was shielding was for - augh she's so bad at information security of this kind!!!!

"Oh. Okay. Cool."

On one hand: Minseo is her own person, and can make her own choices. On the other hand: but she's so vulnerable when she's backlashing, and it is Da-eun's personal responsibility to keep her safe! On the anatomically improbable third hand: Okay but her babies miss her!!!!!!

They might not even be compatible. She's probably worrying over nothing.

"Are you going to have a responsibility hernia if I tell you to shoo so as not to spook him? I hear he's extra spookable."

"Nnnnnnoooo. Maybe. ... yes."

"I'll let him know you're here," sighs Minseo, who now has to figure out a non-threatening way to say to the guy worried he's about to get tossed aside like trash that, oh, by the way, her current partner is right here available for snuggling.

"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?

"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."

"Oh, come on, I don't think that!

"...You all would definitely recycle."

Snort. "Sure. Recycle you to a nice and comfy and fulfilling and purposeful alternative job opportunity. Like, if nothing else, pretty sure you can sell sperm to gene clinics, they go nuts for esper genes for upping the chances of babies being espers themselves." Pause. "Actually I'm not sure if it's sell or just donate, I literally don't care, but regardless. You are so economically valuable, dude, you clearly have no idea, Russia was lying to you."

Sigh. "They didn't lie. I was compensated well, financially. They just... said I had a duty. And that things were this bad and desperate everywhere, and who would look out for us if not ourselves?

"And, I mean, they're not really wrong, are they? Look at Indonesia. Everyone knows we're all only a few selfish years away from that."

"..... no? No, we're not. That is just factually incorrect, your model of the world outside of your frigid shithole is wrong. Your model of your frigid shithole might also be incorrect, actually, because guilt tripping you and saying that things will be lost without you giving up everything possible is part of the indoctrination to extract more out of you in the short term, but I'm less sure about that one because I don't know how badly that place is fucking up. Indonesia's whole thing is a lack of organization and ability to systematically locate, categorize, and disable dungeons, not a lack of espers working hard enough. Actually, I think it's getting more esper per capita than other places, just because the people with superpowers have to go bail it out instead of letting people with guns do most of the work, but I haven't stalked those statistics lately, so."

"Nothing to do with the individual espers, and everything to do with the benevolence of the organization controlling them, yeah. You and the GBE are in agreement there. They'd just say that you all throw your crazy Western money at the problem whereas xumble Russia must soldier on. You give what you can, the organization sorts it out, and you should be proud to contribute."

"Ehhh. It's not that we throw our crazy Western money at the problem, it's more like we use money to track and reward what is working and what isn't? Just blindly trusting your organization is... well, I mean, is there literally anything making sure your organization is efficient? That it's using the resources it has well? That the people it's got a chokehold over are not going to realize they're being treated like shit and flee the country to somewhere better? I was going to make this point gently with my 'Da-eun-is-like-you' storytime thing, but I guess I can just go full Ji-woo instead. Efficiently leveraged power is better than flat power any day of the week, fuck them asking you to give it your all if your all goes somewhere stupid."

"Okay, just to be clear, I left all that behind, so obviously I... Wait—"

"How do you know I'm from Russia? My official ID and record say I'm from Korea!"

"A-rank sensor, dude, I'm a nosy little snoop even without the superpowers." She sounds exactly zero ashamed of this. "Don't worry though, I tried to cover your tracks where I could, got people in the lobby insistent that people were yelling in German and everything."

That one she sounds very pleased about.

"This is going to be a very rocky transition, isn't it?"

"Yeah, sorry. I swear I'm trying to be as gentle as possible. I can help with accent practice a bit though?"

"Are you? Well, I was also trying to be as gentle as possible with the new blind partner but I guess we're both just sort of fumbling in the dark here!"

"—uh, shit. Bad metaphor."

"Ha! I'm only part time blind, mister, and even when I am, I have better navigating skills than some people with working eyes!" she snorts. "I'm fine, I told you my hard no's and you're respecting them, we're good, man."

She gives him a friendly sort of pat on the shoulder in the cuddles.

"No moving stuff, no tripping hazards, no wet, no sticky. No... backlash accumulation without permission.

"I really am fine, though, to take on more, you now. It's not tough to do if I have the space."

"I'd say 'no backlash accumulation without prior negotiation and consent of both parties,' but sure, permission is close enough. And maybe you are, but I don't know what backlash accomodations you even need? We literally didn't talk about it at all? And that's a scary position to put people in, we Koreans aren't wired to go, 'Oh, that's just the new guy, don't worry, he just screams and cries when you touch him, but he says he's fine, nothing at all to worry about!' like you're not a human being whose suffering matters. You are helping me be comfortable by being okay."

"...Doesn't seem like there's much that needs to be discussed, if you already know about the screaming-and-crying-when-touched thing, A-rank-sensor-sunbae."

... Ah. Hm. Yes. Privacy concerns. She's aware that these are things people care about, and she has perhaps misstepped by being too much of a nosy little snoop.

"I know approximately nothing about backlash accomodations," she says. "And the screaming and crying was extrapolation, not a - condemnation or dismissal of your ability to cope with the debilitating medical condition that's been forced upon you by the weird arbitrary magic lottery?"

Her little shoulder Ji-woo is grumbling under her breath at her conduct here, so to appease her:

"... And, um. Sorry. About the snooping. Without your permission or knowledge. I should come with a warning label on being perpetually curious and bad at information boundaries."

"Snooping? I've lived under a surveillance state with Misha as a partner—I presume I don't need to explain xis pastimes to you, either. The fact that Xa Si-Yeon-sunbae thinks we can keep secrets at all in a place like this—xe's the weird one!

"If you must know, I do not need any particular accommodations, like I said. Si-yeon-sunbae insisted that I ask for some, anyway, so to make xim xappy I requested all-cotton sheets because they are easier on me. And xeated floors are apparently a common thing around xere, so not even a concern! I guess if you really want to baby me, you can give me some warning so I don't have to skip dinner over backlash, but emergencies xappen, so we'll just roll with it."

"Keeping secrets from the outside world is more doable, it's just that I'm a little bit the worst person to try and keep secrets from in this guild. Or the best, maybe, I don't advertise what I know to people? Definitely one of those. But I'm telling you stuff I know about you as a courtesy, not because I make the habit of blabbing to others."

Relatedly: she would only know about Misha's stuff because Da-eun was shielding Si-yeon from him, and while Dasol can probably guess it was her from Minseo's description of her power and basic logic, she doesn't need to spell it out for him. She makes a note to herself to ask about his deal later. She was going to ask anyway, because nosy little snoop, but it's nice when it plays to the narrative of her not already knowing everything gossip worthy in Quasar.

"Anyway, your standards suck, because cotton sheets are easy. These might be cotton already, actually, I'm not sure? But I can definitely make sure they are for next time or before co-sleeping actually happens.

"I don't expect to get surprise emergencies, exactly? I'm a solid dungeon sensor and sometimes get called in for weird stuff, especially with Da-eun keeping me safe, but it's not going to be 'whoops I have life threatening levels of backlash and you need to guide me down in ten minutes or I die' or something? Not that that kind of flexibility to guide isn't valuable, it absolutely is, just. I myself am one of the most predictable espers in the guild, backlash accumulation wise."

“I’d say roughly an 85% cotton blend, based on xow itchy they are. I can tell you for sure once I get a little bit more backlash.

“And my standards are practical. There’s just not that much to be done about it, unless I’m going to be guiding someone in a sensory-deprivation chamber. I don’t even know if that’s possible. But it’s fine, I’ve been doing this for years.”

"Huh. That's a neat application of backlash, kudos for being able to tell. I'll requisition some 100% cotton sheets, then." She pulls up a comm screen and does so. No teleportation delivery, she's not sure the sheets the system has would do for this, so. Ordinary people running ordinary errands it is.

"Well, practically speaking, Russian standards literally led to you fleeing the country. In the interest of Korea not catching their dipshit disease and losing you to, I dunno, Japan, let's raise them just a scootch."

The sarcastic smile is evident in his voice. “I did already. Eighty-five percent at an 800 thread count are what I xad in the den.”

Perhaps he is just tired from some combination working in a second language all day and being stressed out of his mind—certainly the cortisol ache in the shoulder and joints suggests as much, but he was still taken aback some by his own snark just now. Ha Si-yeon had done a number on him earlier with his stapler nonsense. He considers apologizing, but that feels strangely unwelcome. Certainly the banter seems to be entertaining her, and she had complained about being bored before. Maybe it’s fine.

"... Okay, even your raised standards are kind of sad, but I'm still going to support you in them. Just, you know. You can also aim higher than this."

Then the second part of that registers.

"... 'Den'? Why was it a 'den.' ... Did they keep you in a basement. Please tell me they didn't actually keep you in a basement."

"Oh, no, it, uh... just the running joke." She doesn't seem like the kind of person who would find the 'Snegurochka's little dog' jokes very funny, so he elects to skip over those. "And that was just so there weren't any windows for people to see us naked. We weren't, like, down there all the time."

"Is there just no one way glass in Russia? Because this is really not even a hard problem."

"The building was built in the 60's, I think." Actually, the foundation is from 1947, but a major renovation happened in 1967! He knows this because his basement den happened to contain the old foundation stone, but that seems like an unhelpful level of detail!

"Curtains were invented in," and she does need to look this up with the power of the internet, but she's a damn fast typer, "3100 BC. So. Boo to them either way."

“Yeah, I don’t really know why we couldn’t do curtains. Maybe they were worried we’d forget to close them one day? Wxo knows. I mean, either way—oh, were you expecting someone?”

An authoritative knock had interrupted them.

“Ah, wait just a moment. I can get it for you.” He hops out of the bed, pulls the sheet over Minseo, and then starts dives into his pants.

"Probably our delivery," says Minseo, who can cooperate with her ~womanly modesty~ being preserved or whatever. "Guess they must have had the right kind of sheets already, that was fast."

In fairness, he would have protected her manly modesty or agender modesty just as reflexively! No surprise nudity was a general rule in his former position.

He opens the door and talks to the courier outside in the softest possible voice. “Oh, you didn’t have to do that!” and similar protestations waft back into the room, at some length, but eventually he has no choice but to accept the prior delivery. “Well, thank you very much!” he finally says, closing the door and padding back into the room. The sound of tearing plastic indicates that he’s attacking the packaging.

Probably this means changing sheets on the bed! This is a task Minseo is technically capable of while blind, but for work efficiency purposes it is probably not the wisest division of labor. Also, she's lazy. Best she feels like doing is moving to the couch.

"Was there something besides the sheets?" she wonders, because she heard polite protestations, and she doesn't think he'd make those over sheets.

“Mmmf!” He has to take a moment to finish chewing and swallowing. When he speaks again, it sounds slightly choked up. “Nothing important, just a snack. Would you like me to replace the sheets now? I see that you’ve moved.” 

"I figured you'd want to swap them sooner rather than later, because backlash accommodation? But you're my guide, not my manservant, so it's really up to you."

An unrequested snack delivery is a little nonstandard. Usually if they're feeding them it'd be with a full meal, and it'd be both of them. From his voice, it sounds like it's a personal favorite? And it's very Si-yeon to pointedly set up a delivery of something Dasol requested off handedly. So that's likely what's going on. Good on Si-yeon, and good on the support staff for making it happen.

She sends a little 'Thank you for taking care of my new hoobae guide! He really appreciated it' note to the delivery staff, and otherwise does not comment or act like this was weird at all. Because it wasn't.

That was unacceptably impulsive of him. Then again, the spice on his tongue wasn’t going to matter for Minseo, given her no-wet-and-sticky-activities rule. Otherwise he would need something fatty to absorb the oils—but! Anyway!

“I’m putting this down here, on the white, square side table with nothing else on it, while I change the sheets,” he narrates as he gets to work. “Would you like to tell me about your hobbies while I do this? What do you do while blind?” She’d given him a summary earlier, but it’s always worth knowing more!

"Thanks for the heads up for where stuff is, I appreciate it," she says, of his narration.

"Sure. It's not really a hobby I guess, but I end up braiding my hair a lot? Kind of a take-it-with-me stim option, I guess. And there's always reading and arguing with people on the internet about how they suck. I've been trying to set up some games that I can still play while entirely blind, but even for MMOs I need to autofollow someone and get callouts for major mechanics, sound cues are really not enough. I've still been top percentage in DPS while literally blind, it's just anything reactionary or movement based that I kinda suck at, unless I literally know the fight inside and out."

“Interesting! I’ve never played an MMO, but they seem cool.” He redoes the sheets with military precision as they talk. “I don’t really know anything about them except EVE, which didn’t seem quite like my thing. Which ones do you play?”

"Final Fantasy XIV. I've tried some others, but I like the complicated raids and the ability to just be all jobs on the same character, so I don't have to be stuck in newbie Hell each time I want to try something out. WoW - er, World of Warcraft, sorry, isn't bad, but it's like, I dunno, it seems to hate its newbies in this toxic way I can't get behind? I hear the raiding is pretty good once you get there, but I haven't gone guild hunting in it because who has the time, so I only saw the easy stuff, and the world's lore is so broken I just do not give a single shit about any of those over dramatic assholes."

This is the most animated she's been talking about a subject since he's met her.

“Perhaps you can introduce me to it. I have a really old laptop, so I will have to check if I can even run it. Nonetheless, it would be a fun way to maybe pass some time together! Oh, bed’s done, too!”