[continued from here.]
Simon is going to try out All of the fancy crackers and fancy meats! It's important for his esper business to try out as wide a variety of foods as possible. And he is going to share his many, many opinions about the food to Damian. Unless someone approaches.
Timothy freezes for a split-second, looking at the fist-bump instead of the handshake. Why didn't I think of that? He bumps, resisting the urge to slap hands afterwards and - not bad? Not amazing, but a little better than "meh". "That's okay. Better than my first one today."
"Fist bumps! I should have thought of that!" Does Tim seem amenable to fist bumping too?
Tim has come to shake hands bump fists and chew bubblegum. And he's all out of bubblegum. Bump?
Chew. Swallow. "I think it's asymmetric. I had that with someone earlier because you felt a bit higher than 'not bad' to me. Stronger than anyone else I've tried. I wanna get your number for sure. Also hi, yep, fistbumps all around? I'm Wendy."
She waggles her hand.
This is not the practice mat, you don't slap after bumping. "Ah, that happens." This is not another Sinkhole situation. It's probably fine. You can pass out your card like a functional adult. "Here, I've gotten these printed out already - Bill's my agent, Bill Moore. Er, William on the card." Cards for everyone! Drawn three at a time and handed out to everyone, even a 'meh' is a potential contact, you never know. "His contact info and mine are both on there."
As for the bump with Simon - it's not great. Tim has recently recalibrated his personal scale for incompatibility and this is definitely tolerable, but not...really...anything special. It's there. It's guiding, technically. Tim's lips turn down slightly. "Sorry, nothing here." REMEMBER TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF YOU ONLY GET ONE SHOT AT FIRST IMPRESSION. "I'm Tim, by the way."
Yes, bump! Simon is meh with Tim and bad-meh with Wendy. Well, most espers are meh, so that's not so surprising.
"I'm Citrus, but you can call me Simon." Smile. And yes, Simon can totally give out business cards to the two!
From his messenger bag, Simon produces business card case. It is extremely fanciful. It's a black box with maki-e and raden — lacquerware with sprinkled gold and mother of pearl inlay — of an ylang-ylang tree and its yellow drooping flowers. His business cards are more normal, though. They're off white with black sans-serif font. On the bottom right side is a stylized lemon slice, above and around it is "Citrus" in cursive font.
Simon Prevost
Food Illusionist
hello@fancifulfood.com
Agent: citrus@greatpacificespers.com
Simon accepts Tim's card and places it in his case.
Oh, okay, this is a little quick to be doing business cards already, he hasn't even shaken hands fistbumped everyone yet. He supposes he'll give out business cards to Tim and Wendy first.
"Damian, codename Helianthus. Sensor. I am pleased to meet you both."
From his coat pocket, he produces a black leather business card case with a stainless steel frame and clasp, and opens it. The interior is red velour. He takes out one of his business cards.
It's a deep violet color, with hot stamped silver foil embossing of his details, on serif font (on the left side) plus an inflorescence of heliotrope flowers (on the right), with only the edges of the flowers embossed.
Damian Ozores Ballester | Helianthus
Sensor 3helianthus@greatpacificespers.com
Damian does the same with Tim's card as Simon.
Afterwards, he can bump. Damian is meh with Tim but with Wendy...that's good compatibility. He might say very good, though it's a little worse than the compatibility with him and Simon. Still, someone on that level is someone to know, definitely.
"I'm compatible with you," he says, smiling. "I do scent and touch, and by extension sound, based sensing. Mostly my job is to sweep dungeons to ensure that everyone kidnapped has been rescued, though I'm also capable of detecting hidden or invisible passages or creatures in general. I prefer to do the former type of work, though."
"I got no fancy cards like you three seeing as I have finished awakening like four days ago, but uhhh hi everyone. Damn, that looks expensive."
She feels like she is ruining the cards by touching them with salami fingers. She has a pen... Somewhere. Pocket, there, and writes on the back of Tim's - 'low --> medium <-- asymmetric'. And 'meh' on Simon's.
Then looks up and down Devil Mafia Guy, eyebrows raising a bit, and internally shrugs and holds out a fist as if to bump. And- Blinkblink. She nods and writes 'high' on the back of the card. That's the most compatibility she's had yet, but- Augh? Something is augh here.
"I'm a telekine. And I can psychic shield. I have like six ratings but I don't know if I'll end up doing dungeon stuff, it seems rather dangerous."
Tim is suddenly struck by a wave of keening self-awareness. Maybe a business card case would be a good idea instead of just sticking it in my pocket. I mean, does it matter, I just take a photo of both sides as soon as I'm away, you never know what could happen. Thought for later, socialize now.
Damian...not great. "Bad compatibility here, I'm afraid." Don't apologize this is not your fault it's your entire world's magic system. "Luck of the draw, I suppose."
Tim turns to Wendy and raises an eyebrow. "Those are pretty rare powers, right?" Especially taken together...Well, whatever, it's not like powers have any consistent logic at all.
Damian shrugs and smiles at Tim. "Oh well. Most esper pairs are neutral or bad."
Oh, she's new new!
Writing on a business card for one, putting a card in the pocket for another..........
"Yes, quite. It pays well, though," he says to Wendy. He smiles brightly.
"Though usually I enter dungeons when most hazards or monsters have been cleared, so it's relatively safer for me — my sensing power isn't so good for mapping them out. It's possible that we could work together — I can detect threats from a good distance away and then call them out to you so you can use your power on them."
"I don't have a dungeon-useful power and I'm rather reluctant to wade in with Damian. But you have protective powers! Still, a telekine...you could definitely find good-paying construction work, depending on the details of your telekinesis. Not that I've researched this industry much."
"I don't really know how rare kinds of powers are? It's possible. I'm better at... Precision than raw force. And speed over weight. I nailed things together as part of power testing. Had an idea to be, like, my own railgun. Little steel ball bearings. But like a lot of edgy teenage ideas I have no idea how well it would work in real life. It's one thing to go, yeah, go dive in and kill the monsters! But actually doing it... Dunno."
...She doesn't like his vibe, it's just screaming 'too rich for her blood'. But for compatibility...
Tim is blissfully unaware of the vibe! This man is being a Professional. Wendy is being just some kid, which is understandable, he had judged her slightly at first but four days to get used to this? She's doing fine. "I've got the 'brick' package. But I can also give it away, a little bit." He reaches into his carefully-tailored suit pocket, pulls out a folded eight-inch length of quarter-inch copper rod. Straightens it, twirls it around in his fingers for a moment, then bends it. He puts it into a slipknot as easily as a normal person would tie a shoelace. Maybe a little more effort for pulling the knot "through". And it won't actually slip, of course, it's copper. "Anyone want to try?" Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes. Also don't do anything stupid with it, please.
He can tell that Wendy is not really feeling him but he's not sure why. They're compatible! He supposes esper compatibility is different from personality compatibility but like. You can just be professionals working together.
"Oh, that's amazing!" he says to Wendy. "Have you signed up with an agency yet? There are ones that could help with your power testing. Or you could try a gun range. I go regularly to practice with pistols — it's an important backup option for dungeon espers without direct combat powers. We could test your precision and power with small projectiles, and see what shape of projectiles are best for you. Can you do rotational force too? You could mimic rifling, with that.
...the range go to is in California, though. We live in San Francisco. Though actually, we could just go to one nearby, I can look up a good one."
"Wow!" Damian says to Tim, this time. Then he looks at Simon with a questioning look.
"I would be willing, but do you have anyone who can guide you better than us, here? I don't want to cause you to accumulate backlash.
I can share my power, though!" Are either of them interested?
"Yeah, you want a plan for debacklashing and keep the demos small for something like this I think. I'm happy to demo too. Timothy, right-? Buffs, huh... I'll press my arm against yours as long as it takes to bring it back down to zero. If I do a demo too that should increase the rate your backlash gets guided away, that's how it works, right? I can unbend that rod without touching it, maybe. -Um, no agency, they're kind of intimidating and I had to deal with family stuff. Or well, I guess technically one brought me here as a freebie, but no agent yet."
Tim hands copper off to Simon with a low-key but very pleased smile and rolls up his suitsleeve and shirtsleeve to offer to Wendy. "That sounds like a plan, Wendy." A person's name is the nicest thing they'll hear all day, remember it and pronounce it right and they'll be thrilled. "You're going to be stronger than usual, obviously. You won't hurt yourself, being a brick takes care of that, but don't stretch or you'll pop your shirt." Or pants, or - not the time. "And if you hurt yourself recently, you'll find yourself getting over it - I don't cut myself in the kitchen anymore, but the day before I get guiding, I make sure my classmates all hang out with me for a few minutes. It'll take care of any wear and tear they might've accumulated. Well, not all of it, maybe." You're rambling, let others take a turn. Once Simon has confirmed he understands - boop! Simon won't feel any different, until he starts tying knots in metal. Tim will be staring at Simon like a hawk, ready to revoke his empowerment if Simon looks like he's going to do Inadvertent Crimes against Fashion or Public Decency.
"How long does it last?" Simon asks, as he gingerly bends the copper. Wow! "What a cool power! It does regeneration too, not just strength?"
To Wendy, he says, "I get that. It's easier to switch agents than guilds but yes, better to pick right the first time.
Don't be intimidated! From what it sounds, you are a powerful esper and you have lots of negotiating power. Agents will be tripping over themselves and bending over backwards to accommodate you. You could ask for lots of things."
Yessss, this is such a cool power, it was totally worth playing Rip van Winkel for a week to be able to do this! "Until I take it back, really. It's more like a release when I let it out, it's like I'm keeping it myself is holding a muscle tense." Tim will pay attention to the rest of the conversation when Simon is no longer at risk of endangering his outfit. Safety first!
Simon will find that bending a moderately-thick copper rod will be easier than bending a coathangar. Maybe akin to bending play-doh.
Wendy sidles over and presses her arm up against Tim's. She's wearing a t-shirt so nothing needs to be rolled up. It's a nice feeling!
"Powers are really amazing. Even with having to deal with backlash... And you're right umm- Damien. But I am so very unused to such things. I should get, like. A hug machine. -My backlash is itchy skin and wanting pressure on my skin. And I should get gun range training. I should get a lot of things, but one thing at a time."
Simon eventually ties the metal, being Very Careful not to rip his shirt. He really like this shirt! It's shocking, the strength this power gives you. It feels like what Tim did was make the metal more pliable rather than strengthen him.
"I did it!" he cheers. "I think you can take off the power, now. Thank you very much. Could I repay you by giving you an illusion of your favorite food? Or any food, really — I'll tell you if I don't know it."
"They really are," he says to Wendy. "Pacing yourself makes sense.
My power is sensing so I can't really give a demo. I suppose I could tell you what fragrance the people on the other side on the room are wearing?" He chuckles.
"Yeah, I guess not... Wow, cool buff. I bet a food illusionist needs to be, like, a professional taste tester. Have you ever had a Californian style skillet? Nasty, to me, but the kind of thing rich people seem to like sometimes. It's cheddar, potato, goat cheese, sundried tomato, and artichoke hearts. It's my go to example of glad I tried it, never eating it again."
"Could I get - um. I'm not much of a foodie, where I grew up it er. We didn't have a lot of choice in restaurants, it's not like we starved, but if you wanted anything other than a pizza or a sandwich, you were out of luck. Or, y'know, gas station food, but that doesn't count." Wait, it's your turn to reciprocate. "Food illusion is such a -" something true and nice "really interesting power! Could I try your favorite food, see how much I like it?" Yes, great, this is working.
He winces. "Oof, that's a difficult question to answer. I can't pick! And I don't know the sorts of things you like. Hm...we went to this Filipino-Korean fusion restaurant recently, and this feels like it would be appropriate to serve in this event. It's ube hotteok. Tell me if you hate it, I can stop. Otherwise I'll do it for a minute."
Simon closes his eyes, and now Timothy can smell and taste something! It even comes with temperature. It feels like he's chewing on a pancake, the scent of hot bread filling his nose, the texture of chopped peanuts on the roof of his mouth, butter on his tongue blossoming into ube and brown sugar as the pancake splits open to reveal the filling inside...
(Feeling weirdly... Hyperactive and slightly bored, Wendy starts juggling and spinning her pen between her non-occupied outstretched arm and her torso, just listening for now... The idea is to keep just barely nonzero backlash, for Tim.)
Tim, being a red-blooded teenager, is intensely aware of the arm. Attached to the girl. Attached to NOTHING, because she doesn't EXIST, because he has to make sure Simon is being SAFE. And then he is intensely aware of the Flavor. "Oh...Oh wow! This is...almost like something Maman would make, when I was just a kid?" Obviously he is no longer a kid. He is a grown-ass adult man capable of buying cancer sticks if he wanted to die of cancer. He doesn't, because cancer, but he could and that's the important part. "It's so weird." Don't talk with your mouth full. No, your mouth isn't full, it's just...tasting...like it's full... "So cool but it's confusing, I feel like I should have a whole mouthful but there's nothing in there?" Don't drool on the cute girl PROSPECTIVE BUSINESS PARTNER cuddling you.
At this range, and at this strength, Tim is barely racking up any backlash. His eyes dart towards Wendy's improvised telekinetic fidget spinner and her face because she doesn't have anything but a face because she is a business partner. "Do you mind if I take it back now? I keep getting distracted by Wendy." Um. "'-s power."
Tim will gracefully recall his power, taking it back smoothly to avoid sudden strength mismatches. And immediately 'relax' and let himself start playing with the copper tube fidget toy while staring at Wendy's face pen as it bounces around. Wendy was thoughtful enough to help him bring backlash down, and he might as well do his part. "That is so cool.". Do not say 'hell week was worth it', you only almost died of exposure, you weren't even awake for half it anyway. But it was totally worth it.
Simon laughs, covering his face. "Thank you very much! What about you, Wendy, do you want a food illusion too?"
She - blushes a bit and catches it with her physical hand. "It really is! It's all - vectors and motion, to me. I don't hold things in place I push them. Hovering something is expensive since I'm fighting gravity the whole time."
...Shifts her arm. The serious boy is rather close. Which is kind of the idea with an esper partnership. But she doesn't know him yet, she was the same way with Teddy at first.
"Ooh. If you don't mind? Let's say something... Not western food. With meat, and spices. I like stir fry?"
Tim is attentive enough to a girl he's literally staring at not that way though she's doing a magic trick to realize she might need some space. He will disengage, scratch the back of his neck for a minute, and then carefully swallow a yawn. Doing fine on backlash, that was nothing, it's all in your head anyway. You're not really tired, you just feel that way.
"Not at all," he says, this time taking hold of Damian's hand.
"This one is spicy. It can get really spicy depending on who's making it, but I'll make it milder to start, unless you tell me otherwise. Tell me to stop and I'll do so." Here's mala xiang guo stir fry with fish balls, lotus root, sliced beef, celery, cauliflower, and glass noodles.
It's seasoned with chili oil made of dried chili peppers, Szechuan peppercorns, star anise, black pepper, cinnamon, bay leaf, nutmeg, orange peel, and ginger.
-!!! Taste!
"Thaph- That is so neat! Wow, there's a lot of different flavors in here. And it tastes... Real. Talking over it is weird... You don't need to get much backlash on my account. Damn, though."
"Thank you!" He stops. "And don't worry, I can sustain it for fifteen minutes without any guiding before I have to stop. I only did it for less than a minute and I have Damian guiding me. I've trained and studied to get my illusions to where they are today." He is Very Proud.
"Sweet. I can see it, I think everyone has a practice element with their power... I'm looking forward to having, like, regular guiding with someone reasonably compatible so that I can practice things more. I've gotta mind my vectors and get used to estimating masses of things. Tim and Dan - Er, Timothy and Daniel - either of you interested in scheduling a little guiding somewhere purely for powers practice? That gun range idea, maybe."
What does she want, she looked like a kicked puppy for a second before got to taste the food. Er. The not food. Shoot. Tim will use all of his suaveness to dangle his hand near Wendy and whatever happens, happens.
Wait she said something. And it was good! New potential business partner!!! "Sure! I'd love to, and Tim's fine for me. I should get used to Aumento as well. Just be prepared to - " don't mention torn clothing this time you BUFFOON "wear something easily-replaceable, you know how training goes." Shit. Was that better? I think it was better. "I had to dump my gi at one point, which was such a shame." Okay, gis aren't sexy suggestive.
"Damian," he corrects. "You can't improve the power itself but you can improve how you use it. Especially backlash efficiency.
I would be interested, yes. Today or tomorrow is most convenient for me, because I have to return to San Francisco in a few days. Otherwise, I could have the two of you fly to San Francisco when you're both free — I don't mind paying for it and you don't have to pay me back." Timothy hasn't said that he's a new esper with no money (relatively speaking) but like. It's kind of obvious.
"You can stay at our house and we can do power testing." Esper money means you can afford Bay Area housing.
Yep, handholding will resume! She's just a hair off from zero backlash!
"Sorry. Damien." He kind of gives off preppy/politician/cop vibes but that's no reason to be rude, and also her immediate prejudicial reaction is probably unwarranted.
"...Hmm. That's a solid maybe, though I might prefer to get an agent and arrange travel and housing through them. Or doing it before you go." So she has someone who is definitely in her corner (for money reasons), and is not doing the sketchy thing of flying to another city and staying at Some Boy's House.
And as for Tim, "Are you from the Chicagoland area? I forgot if you said."
"No'm. I'm from Vermont, it's a little state just north of New York." He's clearly had some practice explaining where Vermont is by this point. "I'd be happy to travel for powers testing, or host if that's more convenient. If you look at my card, they do free consultations to all espers. I don't know if you want to deal with the hassle of an out of stage agent, or if there are licensing issues or " get to the point "- whatever. But it might not hurt to give them a look. Bill's been pretty good to me so far."
Damian has Tim down to a T. Tim looked at his options, took out a loan for a princely sum and immediately started turning it into personal convenience, trainers, and local high-speed internet. Then paid it off with professional guiding for Sinkhole. He's not really a professional guide, but if you're new enough and not running dungeons regularly, it can sort of be similar.
"No problem. Do email me, whatever you decide. Same for you, Tim. I think my — our agency, we have the same one — is really good and fits our needs, but I don't know if they'd have the resources or connections to help you much with your power testing. Probably you'd want one with both dungeon and construction espers? That way you could switch niches more easily...I have a few off the top of my head but they're all based in California and do mostly West Coast work."
"I will definitely be in touch!" And take a photo of both sides of this card as soon as you're out of eyeshot. "I want to mingle a little more, you feel like you're down to zero, Wendy? If I might be permitted the use of my arm?" God that line is still so cheesy, I can't believe it worked once.
"Before you two go, do you have Instagram? Or any social media, really. I want to take a picture for it. It's totally fine if you're not into that."
Oop Wendy will step away now, hopefully out of frame!
"Count me out. I wanna delay the curse of internet fame such as I can. I have read esper comment threads."
"Oh, um. I haven't thought about it for a while, but I guess I do. It's O-Soto-Gari. That's O as in Oscar." You've earned a little showing off. "... Can I pick you up for it?"
Damian laughs. "Yeah, they can be really awful, I don't blame you," he says to Wendy. "I have my agent make sure anything I post on social media that has people's faces either has them blurred, cropped out, or was taken with consent." He will not prevent her from moving away.
"Yes, definitely. How do you want to arrange ourselves? And what's your handle, so I can tag you?" he asks Timothy. "Simon, can you take the picture for us?"
BEING A SUPERHERO IS AWESOME. "Okay, don't struggle for a second. You're going to think you're falling, but I've got you. If you struggle, you're going to make it more likely that you fall. If you fall, it's fine - I'll be able to, er, use my power - " action item: find a better name for it "before you hit the ground. Ready? One, two, three, HUP!"
Damien will shortly find himself being firmly squeezed around the midriff, ignore the flinch it doesn't matter as long as you don't physically flinch and you didn't good job, hurled two feet up, caught, and then carefully balanced, sitting on Tim's shoulder. Esper coordination, eat your heart out, I got so much better at throwing people after I woke up. Heh. Woke up. "Cheese!"
(Wendy, watching from the side and blushing: Why does SHE kinda want to be thrown onto a shoulder like that.)
Damian knows a photo opportunity when he sees one! He crosses his legs at the knees, sitting up, and then puts his hand on Timothy's other shoulder to steady himself.
"Do you want me to tag you, name you, or neither? When I get around to making the post, probably later today."
"Er." Think three steps ahead. Stall for time before so you don't look like a robot that just had the power cell removed. "Good question, let me think about it for a second." I'm giving him an opportunity to do me dirty but if he's a dick over such a little thing he's not worth keeping around as a friend business partner. "Could you use my codename, Aumento, but not tag me directly?" What if he doesn't speak Spanish or is a bad speller. "In the NATO alphabet, that's Alfa, Uniform, Mike, Echo, November, Tango, Oscar. Aumento." You're not on dispatch, you don't have to fight a clear signal, it's a good habit to be in for dungeons but this is a ballroom with some random classical in the background, you don't have to fight to be heard.
