"So...have you heard of the Freudian concepts of id, ego, superego?"

"Yes."

"So, the way it feels like to me is that I lose my superego. But I still retain my ego and my id. I become more impulsive and less able to consider the negative effects of what I'm about to do on me and on others. But I can still be persuaded to do or not do something through other means. Like...I will be less cooperative with someone telling me to do something because they're an authority figure, but will still be cooperative if they say that they'll disapprove of me. Because that's an emotional thing.

I've also been working with a therapist to make me pay more attention to my thoughts and whether or not I actually want to go through with doing something."

Well, this guy has been able to retain a partner so it's not like it's impossible to work with him. It sounds very annoying if not dangerous but, what backlash isn't?

"I'd want to work with you more to know whether I'd want a longer term arrangement but I don't think that backlash is a definite 'No' for me."

"That's fair. I can get really irritating and have to apologize later."

"I admit that I'm surprised your backlash is public, given...the way it is. I'd have expected you to try to keep it secret."

"That's because there's no hiding it, really. During my hell week, I was arrested for vandalism and sexual harassment. I spent my entire hell week in jail. Once I got my mind back, I said that I was an esper who had a psych backlash. They were skeptical but they had an esper check and sure enough, I was. So I was acquitted.

It was national news. The government offered to suppress coverage of it but, like, it had already been on the news for a week. There wasn't much point. And I was worried that doing so now would Streisand effect it."

Wow. And he thought his hell week was bad. Imagine having your reputation be 'sex pest esper' forever.

"I'm really sorry to hear that."

"Eh. I've gotten over it. I got a useful power out of it, at least.

It took me a while to get over the guilt but...although I'm responsible for what my backlash self does, I'm not at fault for it. My backlashed self is a part of me, but it's not the whole of me. It's my magically brain-damaged self. So it's pointless to beat myself up over that time. And now that I do have knowledge of what my backlashed self is like, I can mitigate it and control it with my normal self."

"That sounds like a healthy way to approach things.

You're still doing National Service, right? Would that complicate a partnership?"

"A little. Right now, it's a confluence, so, given that you are the most compatible esper I've ever met, I can partner with you. Afterwards, we could still partner, but I have to do the dungeons that the government assigns. So, basically all Singaporean dungeons. Lots of dungeons here because it's so dense.

I could theoretically get out of it early but it would cost. I'd have to pay an amount of money proportional to the usefulness of my power multiplied by the time I still have left."

"That means you aren't part of any guild or agency yet, right?"

"That's right."

"If we turn out to be good partners, I'll try to look into whether Quasar would be willing to pay for you or give you a loan to get out early."

"Thank you. But I don't mind just serving the rest of my term."

They chat a bit more.

Lawrence is 18. Lachlan is 19, awakened 18. He actually only awakened two months ago, but he'd been already doing DRT work from his conscription. So he's had a year's experience clearing dungeons already.

Lawrence doesn't plan to finish high school. Lachlan has already gotten his A-level diploma. You go to school after you do National Service and he doesn't know if he'll go to university afterwards. Probably not.

Finally, their food arrives. It looks really good!

It's spicy!!!!! The menu didn't say it was spicy!!!!! Lawrence spits it out.

"Is something wrong?"

"It's spicy. I thought it wouldn't be."

"Oh. Yeah, a lot of Singaporean food is spicy. I can take care of that for you."

Lachlan pushes aside his laksa and takes Lawrence's bowl, cradling it in both hands. Then, puts it back.

"Try it now."

Lawrence tries it. It's no longer spicy!!!!!

"I thought your power was environmental remediation?"

"It is. But there's flexibility there. My power also breaks down poisons. And what does capsaicin do? It creates a burning sensation that can be painful. It can create redness and soreness. Basically a contact poison. So, my power can break it down. There's kind of...I can kind of exert some kind of flexibility over my power by convincing it that something is 'harmful, actually' so it triggers on it. And the reverse, so I don't inadvertently put out a fire or warm up a cold drink, or something like that."

"I really appreciate you doing this for me — it's really cool — but um, I don't know how much backlash you incurred from that?"

"Very little. My backlash scales on volume of effect and 'stuff neutralized', broadly defined. That was like, a minute's worth of handholding for us, given how compatible we are."