Nora is not really sure what to do with herself. This is her first time at an esper mixer. She doesn't know anyone here - that's kindof the whole point, right? - and isn't sure how this is supposed to work. She stands around awkwardly near the entrance, then forces herself to walk over to the drinks table and pour herself a cup of sprite. Next step: make eye contact with anyone??

As she passes by him: whoa. He's never felt compatibility like that before.

He casts around for the source.

Oh hey, that guy is looking at her! Eye contact: success. She attempts to look friendly.

Wait what is that?

He moves closer. "Oh man, do you feel that too? That's crazy. You're not even within arm's reach and I can still feel it."

"Hi, I'm Starfist." He holds out a hand. "I don't think I've seen you at one of these before?"

Nora reaches out to shake his hand. Wow that feels nice. "Nora... I don't have a codename or anything. I don't even really know what my power is, yet. I just manifested, like, a month ago."

"Oh cool! That explains why I haven't run into you before, heh." He considers asking what her backlash is, how her awakening went, but manages to think better of it. "My power is like... I can punch things really hard. And my hands glow. Hence Starfist."

"Makes sense! My awakening was really rough, I was like in the hospital on a ventilator for most of it. So I haven't tried using mine at all. But maybe I could now?"

"Haha, same! Funny we're so compatible if our backlashes work so similarly. But yeah, I would be down to help out with your powers testing!" And maybe if they get to know each other better, they can be partners? He could do a LOT more dungeons with guiding this good every day.

"Um, do you think it'd be safe to try something here? Maybe I should wait and do it in a facility? I don't want to end up in the hospital again... but I am kindof curious..."

"With compatibility like this? Yeah, you could absolutely try doing something right now! I wouldn't even have to touch you to guide you, if you didn't want!"

He realizes they have not actually stopped holding hands, and somewhat sheepishly lets go.

"Um, probably stick to something that feels *really* small, though. In case your power is, like, "emits a burst of ionizing radiation" and you accidentally give everyone here leukemia." It'd be weird for something like that to be compatible with his, though.

Oops. Right. Not continuing to cling onto some random guy she's just met.

"Yeah that would be really bad. But I think my power feels more... targeted? than that? Like I could reach out and grab some specific thing, maybe."

"Huh! Like TK? Here, try grabbing my pop." He proffers his beverage.

She "reaches out" with her power and tries to grab the cup. It... feels like she's doing something? But nothing obvious is happening.

"I think I've got it... but I can't seem to move it or anything."

"Huh. I can definitely feel your backlash going up. Although it's really not by much." He goes to take a sip from his drink, but the cup won't budge.

Nora feels a light tug in her core. She flinches back a little, about to remark on how weird it feels, and in the process, pulls the cup with her.

Connor lets go of the cup as it pulls away from him, sloshing a bit.

"Whoaaa."

She tries to move the cup that is now dangling midair in front of her. It still won't move. It's like it's attached to her body by a fixed-length, invisible rod.

She takes a step back, and the cup stays precisely the same distance from her as it started, still hanging in the air. She jukes side-to-side slightly, and the cup sways, threatening to spill.

"Uh, could you grab that again? I can't figure out how to put it down..."

"Got it!" He laughs. "That's so cool! You should try grabbing other stuff. Like what if you grab me?"

"I'm kinda worried that could hurt you somehow. Maybe I can try and only get, like, part of you?"

"Sure, go for it." He set down his drink and holds out a hand.

She tries to extend that invisible "rod" out towards just that hand, and not his whole body.

It seems like that worked? She steps from side to side a little, like she did with the cup.

His hand waves back and forth in the air, following her movements. "That's funny, I can't move my fingers at all. I wonder if I can..." He abruptly yanks his hand back, towards himself.

Suddenly Nora is pulled off-balance. She lets go with her power and stumbles forward.

Somehow he was not expecting this.

He catches her as she falls into him. Wow she feels nice.

"Uh. Er. Sorry. I didn't think..."

She finds her balance again and straightens up. "That's fine. I'm fine. I wasn't either."

"Um. It seems like, when I grab onto something, it's like it's... stuck to me? Like I can send out an invisible stick from myself and, and, I don't know. Pin it to me. I can't go closer to it and it can't go closer to me and if I move it moves and if it moves I move?"

"Huhh. So you can kinda just, stick things in place. Relative to you. Actually, is it relative to like, your whole you, or some specific part of you?"

"When you moved your hand, I felt it like... in my chest? Like you were tugging inside my ribcage. But when you pulled on the cup, it was more in my middle? Kindof in my stomach, ish. So maybe I can choose what part of me something is stuck to."

She tries pinning her own hands to each other. "Yeah. I can make my hands stick together. It feels *really* weird, pulling or pushing on either of them is like they're just — one thing. Moving one makes the other move, too."

She tries sticking Starfist's hands to each other. Nothing happens. It definitely feels like it has to come out of her, somewhere. "But I can't stick two thing together if I'm not one of them. It's like I'm sortof shooting a, a really long pin out of me. And it sticks into whatever I'm trying to grab, and holds it in place."

"That is SO cool. I wonder how much you can pin at once. Can you do more than one pin? Can you pin yourself to the floor? Or the ceiling? How fast can you shoot one out? Like if I throw something in the air could you catch it?"

If she wants to do dungeons, they could be SUCH a good team. No more dodging his punches, monsters! You're at the mercy of... Pincushion? Porcupine? Hm. They'll have to workshop that.