Okay; tie straight. Badge in clear view. Laminate on left pocket. Cuffs in pouch. Lance sheathed loose. Here we go, Dean, first official action. Do I knock? Or ring the bell? Damn, knock it is, I guess.

Thudding footsteps and muted cursing came closer to the door before it was jerked open. "What!?"

"Are you mister Alvin B Pebble?"

"I don't know nothing about nothing. Name's Schultz, call me sarge, then leave."

Great, a smartass. And he's going to try and shut the door.
"Mr Pebble, or Sergeant Schultz, if you really want to stick with a reference that old. I must warn you that if you attempt to flee, I have the authority to turn this very pleasant visit into an arrest. Could you not have this end up with you on the ground screaming? It gives me a horrible headache."

"What do you want, psycop?"

"To speak to mister Alvin B Pebble regarding a violation of telepathic protocols. If you are he, then let's have a chat. If it isn't you, then if you could introduce me to him, that would be lovely."

"Shit. What did he do?"

"I'm afraid that's a private matter until and unless he, or my superiors, give me permission to disclose. Are you his parent?"

"No. Brother. He's in the back. But look, he's a good guy. I know he didn't to anything too bad, because he wouldn't. So don't try and jam him up. I'm calling our lawyer on the way back."

"Perfectly fine, sir. Always nice to have assistance staying fully compliant with someone's rights." Yeah, "always". Like I've done this a hundred times.

"Schultz" led the way through a nice, but slightly disordered home, past a kitchen resplendent with the scent of cinnamon and eyebright. Someone was trying to boost their signal the old fashioned way. That may be what got me sent here. Some baby espers lose control a little when they experiment.

The nice gentleman knocked on a door, behind which was a soft, almost indiscernible song playing. Tickled my ear, and my pineal gland. Yeah, definitely someone that is new trying to get a feel for things. Aural jazz is the gentlest way to open up one's chakras, particularly the third eye.

The music stopped, and a moment later the door opened, "What's... Oh! Ah, hi. I messed up didn't I?"

I looked to Schultzie, "If you could give us some space while you contact your attorney of preference, it would be very helpful. May I come in your room, Alvin? You are Alvin B Pebble, yes?"

"I, uh, yeah, yeah, that's me. C'mon in I guess."

The room was much as you might expect for a young man cohabitating with a brother. Sparsely furnished, but with hobby paraphernalia. Some gaming gear, a small music player, and bed strewn with crystals, bags of herbs, and what looked like a spool of silver wire. Could have been silver coated, or just a different metal, but beginners almost always spring for real silver.

"Do you know why I'm here today, sir?"

"Sir. Heh. Yeah, maybe. I think I messed up and spread some dreams. They were, uh, kinda racy."

"More correctly, you almost spread a wet dream across five blocks. The almost was because I was on duty, and managed to damp you enough that nobody other than me, and your neighbors across the street got hit by it."

"Oh no! Are the Sullivans okay!?"

"That would be one way of putting it, yes. I checked on them first, and they are both safe and unaware of the external source of the dreams.

Alvin. Or do you prefer some other name?"

"Alvin, Al, even Brenner are fine."

"So, you seem very calm about this visit. I take it that means you know what Telepathic Mitigation Authority actually does?"

"Well, yeah. As soon as I first started hearing thoughts, I looked into it, read up on the rules, best practices and such. You guys get called cops, psycops, but it's more like psychic firemen, only you try to keep fires from starting in the first place."

"That is a lovely way of putting it, Alvin. Yes. I am your fire extinguisher in this case. Like you, I am a telepath. Unlike you, I am also a psy tracer, to use the colloquial term. I am sensitive to other psychics, can both detect them when active and when inactive. Hence why I do this job. Oh, regular telepaths can do this part fine, and can mitigate active breaches of protocol as well or better. But a tracer can often get to the offending person faster, and truly mitigate rather than clean up a mess, or worse."

"I'm sorry to put you through this trouble."

"I'm just glad this has all gone quite well. You never know what kind of reception you'll get.

So, tonight, I'll be putting a blinker on you. Tomorrow, you come down to the office on Divisadero, we pull it out and get you some second stage discipline practice in so this doesn't happen again."

"Blinker?"

"Sorry, jargon. A telepathic limiter. Only lets you peek out, but not send. It gets called a blinker because when it takes effect, the recipient blinks heavily for a few minutes. Nothing dangerous at all, I had multiple done during training. It feels a tad restrictive around the third eye and crown chakras, but doesn't interfere in their normal function. Certainly not enough to keep you from sleeping. It never did me, or anyone else in class."

"Oh. I guess that's fine."

"Well, here comes the unpleasant part of things. I have to remind you that if you attempt to bypass it, you will be committing a felony. And, should you succeed, summary judgement is made by the fact of success, and you will be arrested, then psychically neutered. We all make mistakes, it takes time to learn. That's why the Authority exists. As long as you follow the program, you'll be able to pass your independent telepath rating test in a few weeks, no problems, and we won't see each other again unless we happen to share a cab."

"Yeah. I can do that."

Seems like he will, too. No signs of deceit, no surges or buggery. It's really nice to get a simple case my first night out "See you tomorrow, Alvin."

"Yeah, see you as soon as the office opens."

"Well, Alvin, you tried. Can't say I blame you, but we warned you what would happen if you messed with us. Could have been just fine. Now your brother is dead, and you will be too. Shouldn't have snuck under our shield like that. We barely covered it all. Lucky the agent was a noob, or he'd be dead too."