"Yeah, I'm good. You?"

"Battle-ready."

" - you're really taking this in stride."

"I'm just kind of a really chill person. And, I don't know, when I think about it this dungeon is kinda weirdly cute? The guy stole your spray paint and scribbled over your graffiti with it... they want us to be lost but they're just not very good at making us be lost..."

Snort.  "I - wasn't gonna tell you this but I wanted to laugh at that."

"It was funny!"

"Well.  You'd have every right to be freaked out but I'm - glad you're not."

"Me too! Seems nicer this way."

Giggle.

"We should - we can take a minute to rest if you need it but if not we should move."

"Let's go then."

"So the significance," he says, as they get moving, "of the thing where they think the monsters can tell the difference between me and you is that in theory they don't want to kill you.  We don't understand how dungeons work but we're confident they don't want their victims dead before they disappear.  But in practice we don't know how they'll react if they encounter an esper and a victim together."

"So if there's a monster coming it's less 'oh no I must run away or be murdered immediately' and more 'stay out of your way but try not to get separated, they're madder at you than they are at me'?"

"Right, exactly.  My job is to kill it while it goes for me instead of you, your job is to let it."

"Sure thing."

When he glances at her he's smiling that twisty little almost-smile again.  "But we're getting close to home, so it's as likely as not we won't run into anything.  Once we're at base camp the SWAT guys will take you out to get checked out with medical - you're almost certainly fine," he adds quickly, "but procedure is everybody out of a first time dungeon gets checked out."

"Makes sense. I can only imagine there's been some dungeon somewhere that makes you forget it ate your earlobes or whatever."

 - helpless snort.  "God, sorry - "

"I was bein' funny on purpose, you can laugh."

"You got a knack," he says.  "They might check you out for psychic effects, yeah, or any unnoticed injuries.  There are dungeons that have effects that stick with you after you leave but this doesn't strike me as one of them."

She grins.

"Yeah it's got its whole spooky vibes thing going on. That it's not very good at."

"First time dungeons - I'm almost certain this is one - are kind of fascinating to me because from time to time it really does seem to me like they have an artistic vision that they're not good enough to execute.  If dungeons just had vibes that - would be weird, but - the idea of a dungeon trying and failing to have a vibe is - there's something to unpack there."

"Dang, you know, now that you mention it you're totally right. That's really something."

"To be clear, this is - not tinfoil hat territory but not remotely settled science either.  It's really ambiguous, and I've seen dungeons do stuff it doesn't seem like they'd do if there were - somebody driving - as well.  But it's something that strikes me about some of them, and this one is one of them."

"Doesn't have to be somebody driving exactly. Like, my dreams also have an artistic vision they have a tough time executing sometimes, you know?"

"I feel like dreams are still - you know what, this is a demanding conversation to have while keeping one eye out for monsters - "

"Good point, should I shut up?"