With focused attention and with both of them being fairly calm about all this she can perceive what's happening with a bit more clarity. There's definitely something new there in her mind, that much was already obvious, but with her new focus she can see a little of the outline of it. It's pretty firm, so it doesn't feel like she can easily change it but it doesn't feel unshakable either.

For now, the part that's most in reach is something not quite like distance or maybe a little like the concept of curtains or blinds. A sort of filter between her and Emi. At the moment it's neither at the most filtered or the most unfiltered.

"What do you think? Should I try to shift that? Any preferences on which direction or how much?"

Oh wow, now that's interesting.

…She kind of wants to see what happens if they pull it more open for a moment?

Riley pulls it open just a little and there's just more of each other in their heads. More fidelity of emotion, more awareness of each other's body, a clearer understanding of each other's thoughts, but also a somewhat blurrier line it's a little harder to tell the difference between who is who.

Riley quickly pushes it back before it gets too overwhelming.

Oh my, well that's interesting. Let's try closing it a bit?

Or… can Emi feel and move the curtain? Now might be a good time for her to try that.

With Riley still focusing on it, and especially with the recent blending, Emi finds it easy to find her side of that same filter, and she can shift it the same as Riley. As it slides closed, her perception of Riley's emotions and especially her thoughts gets fuzzier and more obviously Riley's.

Cool! This seems really useful—she'll have to post about it online tomorrow and see if other people can do it too.

Or, if she's going to sleep before Riley, maybe Riley can?

<…I'm gonna leave it like this, to go to sleep easier, if that works for you? Oh, and if you're staying up, it might be good to post something online about this "veil" thing, so other people can use it.>

<Will do. I hope you sleep well. Though explaining all that in a way that makes sense to people who don't meditate is going to be a challenge. I'll try to think quieter and probably go to sleep soon myself.>

<Oh, okay! Then maybe we'll figure it out together tomorrow. Sleep well!>

She turns off the light and gets into bed, closing her eyes and trying to calm her thoughts. Before too long, the length of the day and excitement of the night hit her, and she falls fast asleep.

Riley types up a fairly basic description of what they did and posts it on a meditation forum she's gotten good advice from in the past. She'll think about writing something for a broader audience in the morning.

And with that she'll go through her own bedtime routine. It's a bit earlier than she planned on but synchronizing their sleep schedules is probably a good long term choice.

Even with the filtering, the feeling of Emi's relatively calm mind in the background makes it easier for Riley to fall asleep quickly.

Emi will probably wake up first given all the givens.

Emi wakes up bleary and only half-awake the next morning (as far as she's concerned, it still counts as morning as long as it isn't noon yet).

The sun filtering through her blinds eventually rouses her enough for the memories of last night's events to make their way into her conscious thoughts, and she smiles at the feeling of Riley's calm, sleeping mind beyond the veil within her own. As much as she didn't have any say in it occurring, she can't help but be happy for her connection with the other girl: it's comforting to have someone this connected to her, whose words she can trust so strongly—and it's kind of a plus that she's the sort of weird that she is? Emi has always liked getting to know interesting people, and sharing a telepathic bond with someone sure is an effective way to get to know them.

After a few minutes of lazing in bed, she slowly gets up and begins her day: drinking some water, brushing her hair, and checking her messages before it comes time to leave her room and interact with her sister.

Several acquaintances have sent messages to the effect of 'WTF!!' and 'Did you get stuck with someone?' All the major news sources have front page stories about the new event. Not all of them seem to match her experiences.

Emi sighs and giggles. Yeah, that's about what she expected.

She quickly shoots off a few messages to the tune of "Yeah, I got stuck with someone, but she seems pretty cool."

Oh. Some of her friends are totally going to assume she's into Riley based on that. She might be? Who knows. That sounds like a question for a version of her who's actually eaten something.

Off she goes, puttering around the kitchen and frying up an egg or two.

Oh, or four! Her sister should be getting up for work soon, and she hates making food. She'll appreciate it.

Another few eggs go into the sizzling pan, and are swiftly dashed with salt, pepper, and hot sauce—just like their dad always made them, growing up.

Emi hums a little tune to herself as she cooks, mind occupied and distracted from the probably-busy day she has ahead of herself by the simple joy of making something tasty.

Riley wakes up a little while later. She's briefly thrown by the feeling of Emi in her head even through the filter before her brain quite catches up to remembering everything from last night. The brief spike of confusion and distress makes it past the filter.

But she gets it under control and sends a thought Emi's way shortly after. <Hey, nothing's actually wrong in case you were worried. I'm just still not used to this.>

Emi starts for a moment as Riley awakes and she feels the confusion blurrily radiate through their connection, but it only startles her for a moment. She smiles and sends back a feeling of understanding at her new friend's—or, she hopes they're friends at this point—words.

<It's okay, I got enough context that I figured it out. Sleep okay?>

<Yes actually. Better than usual at least.> She's curious if it's related to the new bond but it's probably too soon to tell. She'll need more data. A bit of the emotional context of contemplation comes across but not the precise thoughts behind it.

<Oh good!>

She can't directly hear the thoughts, but given the acuteness of the topic, Emi can guess what Riley's contemplating. If it is bond-related, she's glad: that's at least a nice side-benefit.

She plates up the eggs and leans back against the counter, slowly sinking into her thoughts to pull the veil back just a bit, sharpening their perception of eachother's minds and letting more of their thoughts and feelings leak through.

<That's such an interesting feeling. I wonder if we'll be able to control it more precisely with practice. Right now it's symmetric and it has a standard order. It needs to be open pretty far for stuff like the sense of touch to be shared. At least I think I felt that with our tests yesterday. It's a little hard to remember since that also made everything blend together more.>

Riley will start going through her own early morning routine. Bathroom, getting dressed, starting on breakfast. 

Huh. That's a thought. As Emi eats her eggs, she begins to wonder what it would be like to open the veil all the way. Would they merge into some sort of hivemind? Would they both still exist, or would they become some sort of composite person for the duration? It's an interesting question.

She doesn't really feel like she wants to try that out just yet, but… it could be interesting? It's probably safe, at least.

<I'd want to be careful about trying that. It did seem to be trending in that direction though.>