[ Matt is more confident in his spellcasting than he is in any other area of his life. It doesn't feel like confidence in himself, even, so much as faith in the broader universe. So although Koby's serious tones tend to genuinely chill him, on some lizard-brain, shock down the spine level, all Matt does is arch his eyebrows. ]

It's not always blood, [ he answers gently.

Whether Koby accepts that answer or not, he seems willing to move on for the moment. Matt steps back from the fire as Koby resumes feeding his papers into it. And he considers this Haki-slash-ESP. It sounds like what he knows about psychic abilities--those of empaths in particular. Though it runs against his convictions to dismiss such abilities as "not special," he also doesn't want to challenge Koby on something he has more reason to know about than Matt does. ]

That's a really good thing to be thinking about, [ he says, a touch rueful. ] Unfortunately, it's not really my forte. [ Understatement. Matt's openness to outside energies is one of his hugest problems just as a person. ] I know how to set up a protective ward that will filter outside or negative influences, but it's not super practical to do every day, and I've found it's not very portable.

I've actually been learning psychic shielding from somebody else here. I'm sure he'd help you if you asked him--Charles Xavier?