"Go for it. I rather like the idea of being a fantasy novel heroine."

"I'm not actually a particularly good writer, but I can plot it out while lucid dreaming - can you do that? - and then put it on the ethernet."

"Not really. I can share dreams with someone, accidentally or on purpose, but that doesn't make me aware that it's a dream while I'm having it."

"Huh. Most subtle artists can learn to lucid dream - other people can too, but not as easily. I get my hubristic power fantasies out of the way so I can behave during the day."

"My inappropriate fantasies have less to do with pride and more with wrath, but yeah, that sounds convenient."

"Bar could loan you the book I used to learn, I assume, but I don't know if it would work the same for you even though I've been rounding you to 'subtle artist'."

"Well, I've never tried. Bar, may I see the book?"

The bar materializes a copy of Lucid Arts.

Edie flips through it. "Interesting. How much would this cost me if I wanted to bring it home?"

$8, but if you bring it out of the bar it will continue to be written in Pax and you will not have the ambient translation effect.

"Ah. And it's long enough that I really don't want to try to copy it out by hand. Oh well, I'll read it before I go home, I guess."

"Isn't it annoying that telepathy doesn't work on books? I know a tiny amount of Kharoline from school and a tinier amount of Elvish from being a nerd and that's it."

"Yeah. It's still better than television, though, at least my brain doesn't expect text to have a mind behind it. Television is just so...uncanny valley."

"Huh, I don't have that problem. Like, I can tell when there is a mind present, but it's a pretty minor sensation if that's all I'm getting, and it usually is. I don't miss it much."

"I mean, there are exceptions, Dad's anti-telepathy helmet makes him completely invisible and he doesn't bother me when he's wearing it because I'm used to it, but with most people it's the most obvious thing."

"Fair enough. I don't actually like TV much, but I'm pretty sure it's for other reasons. It moves too slow - I read fast."

"I suppose there's that too. I haven't investigated enough to know what else I would dislike about it."

"Are cartoons better? Stylized ones?"

"A little, but it's still...it's less creepy, but it still doesn't ping any of my 'I should care about this' triggers."

"Fair enough."

"I actually do get a little vicarious enjoyment out of a few shows from Emily, but I suspect the act of observing a story in someone else's brain is rather different from actually watching television."

"Probably. I haven't tried it myself though."

"It helps that I have someone who has zero objections to having her mind read. I have other people who will let me in reasonably often but I have standing permission to poke around in Emily's head whenever I want."

"Sounds - relaxing."

"That's one word for it. And it's reciprocal--if she wants something from my head, I give it to her."