"Proof of concept! Is there anything I ought to know about you besides that you're April's right-hand man?"

"I dunno, not that I can think of? We go to the same high school? Went, I guess, I don't think April's going back and so probably neither am I."

"How old are you two?"

"She's seventeen, I'm eighteen."

"Well, conveniently for her an awakened esper is approximately emancipated in professional contexts even if they're not eighteen yet ever since Warner versus Cloudy Day. If she's going to want your help with those forms I should probably let you go, the second one really is a lot."

"Sure thing. We'll be in touch."

"Great! I wish you both a very not running away to become a lumberjack with the paperwork."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. Take care!"

"You too, Sean!" Click.

Okay, how bad is this form.

It could be worse. Not very much of the "use your response to section 17-J to complete the Appendix and sum its result with your State Identificatory Numeral String to apply to questions 6-14 in 24-B according to your Respondent Category in the presence of a Notary thereby Fulfilling the Ancient Prophecy". It’s a very long form but consists of things April should probably know, like her name. Phoebe or some other Maple operative has added annotations that float, stickynote style, in great numbers in the margins, clarifying each question that may have confused any previous esper ("'name' is optional if you want to go full secret identity even with us, but means if there is ever any question of who you are with the bank, you are likely to have to appear at their main office in person and demonstrate your power"; "OK to skip this"; "if this is complicated you can skip it and clarify in the free response field in the next question").

With the help of the annotations

(and Sean)

she will, somehow, make it all the way through this form.

She does give her name; she isn't even sure she wants to conceal it in general, so concealing it from her agent seems like a bit much.

There are more forms for things like authorizing Sean to do stuff, setting up a custom loot share arrangement if she doesn't like the default one, and more things she doesn't have to deal with right away. Formally signing on Phoebe as her agent apparently has to take place in person in the office so they can make sure she is a real esper and not someone fucking around - one of the agents is an esper with a bad power.

Then, once the forms are over with, they can head over to Phoebe's office. (Sean is authorized to do all the stuff. She doesn't see any point in holding back on that front.)

One of the stuffs he can be authorized to do is make decisions on her behalf over her stated objections, because this is relevant for some backlashes. Is that really for sure how she wants it?

Listen, disembodied voice of the paperwork annotations, it worked out pretty well the first time.

She doesn't really think she's going to get that illucid again, it seems like the main problem was that she had no idea what was happening and as long as she knows what's happening she's in the clear, but on the whole she feels better if Sean has full permissions to rescue her from whatever deranged backlash hole she might get wedged into than if he doesn't.

Legit! That is why that option exists! She will need to designate an emergency backup quorum who can fire Sean for her if he goes nuts - some people do, like, "if my agent, and my sister, and my partner, all agree, or if an esper testifies that I'm at zero backlash and I say so, then my assistant/handler/support person can no longer exercise this power". The law is pretty tetchy about people completely signing away custodianship of their lives, at least if those people are espers who can relatively easily fuck off to another country and deprive their previous one of their services.

Once they've got those jots tittled they can sign the agent contract and she's got herself a Phoebe in her corner, who has tentatively lined up Rhombus to buddy her in starter dungeons, as long as the schedule works for April's temporary guiding partners to meet up afterwards. There's a mixer in New York City soon she should probably hit, but Phoebe can try to sift for someone a little more discriminatingly with backlash info.

"So the thing is, this stuff doesn't exactly come with labels. I spent all week crying, when I was awakening, but sometimes I'd be laughing instead. It definitely does something to my emotions, I think it magnifies them? But I don't think it's just 'magnifies emotions' exactly."

"What makes that seem inexact?"

"Mmm..." She's chewing on that question.

Sean suggests, "If it was just making you more upset you wouldn't have cried for days. You hate crying too much for that. It was making your feelings stronger but it was making you express them more too."

"...yeah, you're onto something there."

"Huhhh. First person to pop into my mind is already partnered up but I'll have a look around. Do you care about gender, do you care about age, if you care about those things is it because you also care about what kinds of guiding they are up for..."