Tim blinks slightly upon seeing the woman's obvious pregnancy before smoothing himself back into a polite yet neutral expression.  Hands FIRMLY in the pockets, eyes FIRMLY on the face.  Just be yourself and just be a perfectly pleasant, professional human being.

"Good afternoon, ma'am.  Zei thinks we could be compatible."  Do NOT uptalk, that is not professional.  You're here to interview for a business partnership.  Ignore how she is very incredibly and visibly taken.  "My power - um, sorry, Zei - is I'm a brick.  Stronger and more resilient, and I can give other people some of my brickishness.  I get exhausted as my backlash."  Slight breath, and in a more confident tone, "Would you like to check for compatibility?"  Hands FIRMLY in the pocket until he gets an answer, there will be NO shocks like that, if it happens again he can CALMLY disengage like a professional human being this time.

With cheese and signing autographs for a pretty large crowd!

She blinks up at him.

He shrugs, "Worst tinfoil I've ever had," Zei informs her, "Figured you should give it a shot." 

"Fun!" She quickly signs the poster she was in the middle of and turns back to the crowd. "The unborn spawn needs a break. You guys wanna come around in about two hours? I'll even take pictures!"

A bit of grumbles and glaring at Zei and Tim but they start to disperse.

(Zei releases a breath of exasperation at her continued use of the word 'spawn'.)

Oh.  He just cut the line.  That's it, he's burned through all his carefully-accumulated social credit no, it's fine, none of those people are espers and determining compatibility is the whole reason that you come to these.  And she has a sense of humor, that's always nice to wait no, she is taken, this is a professional relationship he's cultivating.  Besides, it's not like humor was a good test of character last time.  Wait.  "Pardon me, tinfoil?  Like...the baking stuff?"

Zei sits next to her now he doesn't feel obligated to put space between her and the slavering hordes.

"Huh? Oh- yeah, it's like biting tinfoil, right?"

"Oh, of course.  Right.  That makes sense."  He has never once in his life considered biting into tinfoil.  What would that even..?  This bears investigation, possibly with a little illicit regeneration afterward if it's painful, you're really not supposed to but it's not like a combat esper hits fifty ANYWAY, who cares if he gets liver damage.  Change to look at the glowing blonde's face, she doesn't have anything OTHER than a face.  "I'm Tim, by the way.  Or Aumento, if you prefer."  Why did he not remember to introduce himself the first time, you only get one shot at a first impression.  He knows this, it's been drilled into him but here he is nonetheless.

"I'm Lyra, I don't have a codename. My mum would kill me if I took one, probably. I can make things brittle! Mostly I stay behind my brother or Zei and glare at things."

She doesn't stand but she does hold up her arm for handshake!

A half-moment of hesitation.  A glance at Zei to make sure he's not at risk of touching, no, hands are safe - glance back at her face because she doesn't have anything except a face to look at, he is being SO professional - 

and shake?

"Oh that's better than Jay! He's going to be so pouty."

"He can't pout, he's half of why we're here."

She leans her head against Zei's side and keeps holding Tim's hand.

"He can pout and teleport me to Tim. More excuses to get out of the city." She looks up at Tim. "Where are you based? I'm not doing dungeons right now, so I've been mostly just snuggling with Zei and slowly going crazy. Jay's a teleporter."

Woah, this is pretty nice!  All those little aches and pains from a month of not being really properly guided are fading away.  And he can finally relax and let his power smooth away the rough edges of biology.  Achy wrist from last class?  Nope!  Not anymore!

...wait.

Handshakes are not supposed to lasty forty-five seconds augh.

Tim carefully releases the hand.  "Thank you, ma'am. Um."  You are NEVER supposed to say 'um', it is better to stay silent than wait don't stay silent that long SAY SOMETHING.  "Vermont.  It's a little state just north of New York, near Quebec.  In Canada."  Wow yes, imply your new partner business partner is geographically ignorant.  "I moved to Montpelier recently.  I've been training to cover New England."  Remember, to be interesting to other people, you need to be interested in them.  "And yourself?  I think I've seen you before but I can't quite place it."  That's better, if she does the talking you can't possibly put your foot in your mouth.

Her accent is weird. British? But also her face is very familiar.

"I've been in a bunch of TV and movies. Or maybe you've met my brother? Ly, codename Pendragon. We're based in Winnipeg right now," she grumbles.

"Oh, I see."  Wait, that's a thing?  You can do movies as an esper?  You're certainly hot enough for it by default, which is weird getting used to.  He can still feel puberty's kiss on his nose, even though the Powers that Be smoothed all the blemishes away.  "That makes sense.  Not a fan of Winnipeg?"  Wait.  There are three people in this conversation.  Glance at Zei, make sure he still feels included and not just watching a COMPLETE STRANGER handholding his wife?? in front of him.  Do they have rings?  Does that even MEAN anything, you don't want to wear a ring in a dungeon, surely.

They do not have rings that he can see, which is not perfectly given Zei's left arm is around Lyra's back. He doesn't seem to mind the handholding, either, as far as Tim can tell. 

"If we didn't have a contract keeping us in Winnipeg she would have dragged us away by now."

Despite his tone, he looks fond.

Okay, this is normal.  No angry God in miniature husbands, Zei doesn't seem to mind the handholding as long as Tim isn't touching Zei.  Tim's hand flexes at the memory, clenching into a fist before relaxing.  "Ah, I see.  A TV contract?  In Winnipeg?"  Remember, to be interesting you need to show interest in others.  Wait, can you film in her condition?  Maybe they take it out in post.  Or maybe her pregnancy is part of the show, somehow, wasn't there a birth that they included footage of in the show?

"Nah, I haven't worked since I awakened. I've been to a few red carpets... oh! And we went to that charity gig last year."

He shudders in remembrance. 

"The contract's mine and Jay's," he explains, moving away from the charity event in question as promptly as possible, "We do cargo transport." 

Okay, this is fine.  Doing great.  This is why you don't focus on one conversational partner, Tim.  Even if no they BOTH plausibly could be business partners, you both need guiding and you can't focus on the one you're compatible with in isolation.

Say something it has been ten seconds you can't lock up like this in a dungeon.

"Oh, I see, that make sense.  I don't think I caught your power," which is a failure of curiosity and a social faux pas especially to a prospective business partner "do you mind if I ask?"

"S'fine," he shrugs, "I reduce weight. Makes moving cargo easier- traditionally or through teleporting it. We do runs all across Canada and the northern states, hence being based in a central point like Winnipeg." 

"Oh, I see."  You said that already note to self come up with better social noises for next time.  "I think that's a little better than mine, in some ways - I'm stronger, but I can't pick up a, a car, because all I'd do is tear off the bumper.  Or I could get a few friends and we could pick it up at the - anyway."  Smooth move, ex-lax.  Yes, it's a good move to say that someone's power is better than yours at something, you could have just left it there.  "It seems like you have a good synergy, though!  You're a - " don't say civilian FINISH YOUR SENTENCE TIM "- an industrial esper?"

"Sure," he snorts, "Not sure what to call it officially, anyway. You've got the better dungeon power, either way. Mine leaves me useless in a fight after a few applications."

Yesssss, that's reciprocity, you elevate someone above you and if they return the favor they like you, perfect.

"It's fun when we team up though. I make things brittle, Zei makes it super light and then Ly smashes it and makes it go flying and shatter into a billion little pieces."

"Yeah, and then your brother has to carry both of us home," he snarks. 

Tim's relaxed now.  A little smile plays about his lips, and his abdominal muscles have finally relaxed from their tense and stressed state.  Lyra has been nothing but friendly, and grouchy-seeming Zei has shown that he's willing to be friends business partners.  They're bantering with each other and by extension him, he can work with this.

"Well, perhaps you'd like a little taste of what my power can do for you?  It does include extra strength, which would help your poor brother get you home, but it does a little bit of passive regeneration.  It won't regrow anything, I think, but my wrist is feeling a lot better since you guided me.  Er, because I used my power, not just the guiding.  You could probably feel the backlash ticking up."

"What level buff are you? I'm Buff 2, even though it should be classified as DEbuff. The system is stupid."

Do not do the 'um' thing.  "Three.  Wait, that doesn't count as Control?"

She looks at Zei! She doen't pay attention to nerd stuff.

"Nah, she isn't controlling anything. She "buffs" the brittleness of things." 

"Oh, I" DIFFERENT SOCIAL NOISE "- get it.  It is weird that they call it that, but I'm sure they took the time to hammer it out that way for a reason.  I guess."  Why would...No, don't worry about it.  You can look it up later.

"Figure having a buff and a debuff category seemed redundant to whoever designed it." 

He shrugs.

"You wanna trade info and get back out there? You're welcome to hang out, but you seem like you're actually looking for partners here, and you live too far away to make Lyra your primary." 

"If you bring me more cheese you can sit and hold my hand for a while too. Before or after the mingling."

"Oh.  Right.  Yessir." Nobody's going to come to an esper meetup injured and you shouldn't be empowering a pregnant woman anyway what if it YOU WERE QUIET TOO LONG.  "I got these made up, here - " He smoothly pulls out a business card from his breast pocket.  It includes Tim's email, and the contact information for the agency of William Moore, Paige A. Lotte, and Hugh J. Lowed.  "Bill's my agent.  Well, William on the card, but he likes Bill better."  Nothing sounds better to a person than the sound of their own name, so make sure you get it right. 

Wait, there's two of them.  Second business card!  Produced a hair less smoothly, like he hadn't practiced picking out a business card with one already in hand.  Can't assume they live together, there's no ring and they have secondary partners ANYWAY it's fine.  Put that on the list.  VERY careful finger and thumbtip grip to offer one to Zei, a more hinged and normal handoff for Lyra.

Don't um "Yes, please.  I'd be happy to um - " argh you are not thirteen "hold your hand after I've mingled a bit?  I might rack up a little backlash, if that's alright with you."  I can't think of why it wouldn't be alright but maybe she has to keep her guiding down because of pregnancy?  Wait, that doesn't make sense.  Does it?  I can look it up later, it's fine.

Zei takes the card just as carefully. 

"Might take you up on that power offer at some point, assuming it's not touch-based." 

"Nossir, it's ranged.  Just gets expensive the further out you go, after a certain point it gets too expensive."  It's a shame about the incompatibility, he's - business partner.  You do NOT need another Sinkhole.  "Since you have access to a teleporter, if you ever get hurt, you're welcome to call me for, er, help.  I'm only EMT certified" and I busted my ass for it "but I get to cheat a little bit."  Maman was right about those stupid diction lessons but I'm not going to admit it until I'm at least thirty.

He nods, "We've got a healer contact, but she's pretty far afield, would be nice to have something closer by. You let us know if you need backup or guiding, yeah? We'll set something up through our agents, but if something comes up before then."  

Yesssss he IS nice wait say something don't just "yessir" to everything.  Be respectful without a doormat.  "I will!  I appreciate it, since -" Sinkhole "- well, I don't have a partner right now.  A good one, I mean.  I have, you know, some people, enough guiding to be functional as long as I'm careful.  But it's hard to get a good feel for my powers if you don't have reliable guiding, and I have to teach the people I'm, er, buffing how not to break something accidentally."  Like that one time with the trigger, or the Mosquito Incident.

"It could be fun to see how you and Ly work together. He loves breaking things."

Okay, great!  She wants to meet again as well.  Mission accomplished!  Contact made, partner achieved!  “I’m sure we’ll have the opportunity, ma’am.  It’s a lot of fun the first time, but be sure everyone brings a change of clothes.  The strength takes some getting used to.”

Wait.  Oh no.

She laughs! "Ly is going to love you."

Zei lets out a short laugh before he can stop himself, only just restraining himself from gently kicking the guy. Not going to test if the incompatibility is senseable through clothes, thanks. 

"Ly is going to be impossible," he tells her as an aside, before turning his attention back to Tim. "Logistics might get a bit complicated with the two of us in the mix, though," he says, smirking wide enough to show a little teeth. 

You can't control your blush reaction, but you can control your reaction to your blush reaction.  "Um.  Right.  I-I look forward to it.  Um."  Whoever invented 'um' should be shot into the sun.  "In the meanwhile though, I should mingle.  Like you said.  See if anybody more local is available."  Wait.  "For partnership."

He nods, "We'll be around," he glances at Lyra, "Probably both in here, unless I'm out getting more cheese." 

"Salami."

A concrete task!  One that won't involve any faux pas.  If you make a 'sausage' joke you will perish from the face of the Earth. "The meat was on the left-hand side, on the round table.  Second from the left wall as you enter.  I'm sure that we'll meet later, thank you both for testing compatibility with me."

Timothy: stage left, pursued by teenage hormones, innuendo, and terrible incompatibility.

Zei: exit stage left, pursued by pout.