Lawrence is wearing a long sleeved starched white dress shirt with small mother-of-pearl buttons and single button barrel cuffs, with high waisted dark gray trousers (no belt, but it does have side tabs). They've been pressed very neatly, and he (if you know what to look out for) is obviously wearing garters underneath by how the fabric remains unwrinkled even as he moves. The dress shirt collar is fully buttoned even though he's not wearing a tie. He has shiny black wholecut leather shoes. He has no accessories.

He's 178cm tall, slim, and has jet black hair in a side-swept style, and jet black irises.

In a major violation of cool-guy protocol, ‘Misha’ has arrived early, but that’s fine because ‘Misha’ is a nerd with zero social life and that’s totally a character that Alexandr Vasilyevich Nemstov remembers how to play from back when he was fourteen and espers were mostly action heroes or porn rather than—him. He’s sitting at a table, writing his new name over and over. Ma-ri-nin Mi-Sya. Maybe it will feel like his own if he keeps writing it.

At least he fit the part. Malina is a raspberry, like his hair, which had seemed like a cuter choice back when he made it. He is still waiting for his checks to clear to his new bank account under his false name, so all he has to wear is what he’d stuffed into a suitcase nearly three weeks ago. “Rumpled” isn’t really a style in Korea, but he already stands out like a bloody thumb—tall, wiry, pale, with golden eyes and bright hair on the squared-off face of a military-recruitment poster. He’d thought it looked so cool when he was younger. Now it just reminds him of home.

He bolts upright at the sound of someone walking close. “Privyet—uh. Yo.” Zero-for-two on greetings in Korean now. Great start! “Lavrence-nim?” Hey! Particles! Better!

That is certainly a look. His face shape and expression really contrast with his bright hair and eyes. He has no idea what his name is. Oops. Well, this is why you learn greetings.

Lawrence speaks in Korean. <Yes. My name is Lolenseu Lakson. I am pleased to meet you,> giving his Korean transcribed name rather than its original pronunciation, because He Is Speaking Korean Now. And then he bows. 

Oh, fuck, we're really doing this, okay. Deep breath and bow. "<I am Malinin Misha. Sorry for my, uh—>" he gestures at his clothes. "<My suitcase got lost.>" He makes a little airplane with his hand for in transit. "<Please do not think I mean disrespect.>"

Honestly, he should try being a slob more. It made rehearsing the greeting much easier, knowing what he'd have to talk about.

That's so sad!!

<I do not mind. Welcome to Quasar Guild, Malinin Misha-shi.>

<Excellent. My plan for this lesson is to have you two practice through conversation. I am going to remain mostly quiet, but you can ask me questions at any time. I will also be giving corrections if you use unnatural wording or incorrect grammar.>

She repeats this for Misha's sake in English, because she has less of a handle on his skill level. Her plan is to gauge it based on how well he's able to handle himself, here.

<Yes, seonsaeng-nim.> He makes a face of playful dissatisfaction at his fellow student, on the order of "teachers, am I right?" <How long have you been in Korea?>

<I have been in Korea for around three weeks. I was born in the Philippines, but moved here to join Quasar.>

He has to stare blankly for a little while to get Philippines to register. "<Oh, Is Korea very cold?>" He has to fight the urge to tack on a "for you" or the like. That's how you get your metaphorical knuckles rapped for rudeness.

<Yes. Even though it is only autumn, it is cold for me. In the Philippines, if the temperature is below 25 degrees Celsius, it is cold. May I know where Malinin Misha-shi grew up in?>

What's a city in Ukraine? Uhh. "<Ukraine. Here is warm. In the Philippines, I — >" finger-across-neck and a playful smile. The instructor did not seem inclined to jump in and rescue him, but like hell if he was going to ask. He was cosplaying a nerd, not a wimp.

Huh? Oh, he's saying that he would die. Alright. He doesn't really want to talk about. His childhood. So he should change the topic.

<My power is...>, oh, he really should have asked this before. <Seonsaengnim, how do you say 'sentient' in Korean?>

Yeonwoo will not rescue Misha because Lawrence seems to have understood, and because he didn't ask her anything and his sentence wasn't obviously flawed.

"There's nuance there, since Korean doesn't make the same sentient versus sapient distinction as English. But for your power...I don't know the full details of your power but jigaki inneun is probably what you want. Beings with perception," she says in English.

<My power is controlling the movements of sentient beings.>

"<Cool! Show me?>"

Aww, sweet, esper-off, now this is a game he knows the rules to.

<There are no targets in the room aside from ourselves. Also, I have poor backlash...> he wants to say 'efficiency' or 'capacity' but he doesn't know the words... <I can only use my power a few times before I need to be guided. I have no permanent partner right now. Sorry.>

Also he doesn't want to use his power on Misha because it might reveal information to him about the full shape of his power. But what he said is true, regardless.

<I can also sense the presence of conscious minds in a volume around me. It is a weak sensor power with limited range. I cannot demonstrate it usefully in this room, sadly.>

This time, Misha has to give up and get some clues from the instructor. But once he does? Challenge accepted. "<Can you point at the minds? Can you count the minds?>"

<I know the direction and number of the minds. I can distinguish between minds and I know if it is the same one I have seen before. The sense cannot pass through thick barriers but can pass through thin barriers, like cloth. I cannot sense a mind that is sleeping deeply or> and he has to ask Yeonwoo about the words <comatose or strongly sedated. However, I can sense a mind that is dreaming.>

"< I hope to see it> uhh, in action?" This is way more tiring than dungeon-clearing. How do people do this? "<Soon>."

The instructor suggests that someday would be politer and he has to fight not to roll his eyes.

<I hope to use it in a dungeon soon! I have been doing dungeoneering training but have not helped significantly in any dungeons as I have no partner, still. May I know what Malinin Misha-shi's power is?>

"<Ah? Yes, certainly, Rorenseu-shi. I can manifest other people's desires with my power.>" Like how I'm at this very moment borrowing your desire to speak perfect Korean to make you think I am speaking it at roughly your level. Reality was that he only knew how to ask a few questions about names and bathrooms and—oh, right. "<I just remembered. What is your age? I'm twenty-four.>"

Manifesting other people's desires??? That is such a vague and broad power! <I do not know what you mean by manifesting other people's desires.> Did he misinterpret the Korean? <Is it like Ha Si-yeon-shi's power?>

<I am 18 years old.>

Oh you're, like, brand new. Itty bitty baby esper. I am sunbae! "<A person wants a thing badly, and I can feel it. Then I can cause something similar.>" He is mincing his sentences as best as he can to keep them from taking too much juice. Honestly, this had seemed like a better idea before he realized how tough it would be to be constantly generating the illusion. Much easier to make an object once and let it sit.

<That's a very broad and useful power! I am envious.

Is the person who came in with you your partner?> Lawrence is hoping no, or at least that either is open to other partners, because he wants to have a partner, finally. And also hoping that in the event that they are, they are compatible.

"<I am still looking for a partner.>" No further details needed, hopefully, because he doesn't have any.

Of course, that 'other person' is kind of a pushover and might help him out if, say, he just showed up with a bunch of backlash mysteriously acquired during Korean practice. But of course he isn't deliberately fishing to get pity-guiding from a maybe-ex-partner! It just might work out that way. You know, in an emergency. Of the unexpected kind.

"<Is Rorenseu-shi looking as well?>"