Yeah, probably not something they'll want to be the first people to try.

<…Wow, it's weird to think about the idea that this is happening to… everyone. It's the sort of thing you'd expect to see happen to a few people in a modern fantasy or sci-fi story, but in most of those it'd be just us. I'm looking forward to experimenting, but it's wild to think that we don't have to. My genre-sense is still telling me that we'll have to be the ones to learn anything new about this, and I keep having to remind myself that the whole rest of the world is learning about it too.>

Emi finishes her breakfast and moves to the sink, beginning to efficiently scrub the plate and fork clean.

<Is it weird that I'm disappointed about that? Well kinda at least. The fact that it is impacting everyone means that anything we do find out is more important but it also makes it less likely for us to have unique insights.> Riley's emotions are a medley of excitement and disappointment, hope and fear.

<No, I totally get that! I kinda wanna get to explore it all myself, and not have everything figured out by someone else somewhere else in a few months or something. It feels like a chance to learn new things and share them ourselves—and it is that—but with it happening to everyone, it probably won't be that way for very long.>

<Exactly! You do get it. I feel like a lot of people aren't actually looking for opportunities to go beyond the normal. They might like the idea of the result but they don't want to take the risk or put in the effort.>

<Yeah! The doing is kinda the best part! Like, having the knowledge is great, but it feels like not enough people want to actually figure it out! Not enough people are curious~!>

Emi emphatically plops her dishes in the drying rack, the clattering sound startling in the morning quiet.

There's a startled noise from the hall, and a voice calls out.

"Oh, Emi! You're up?"

Emi freezes up for a moment in alarm. Wow her sister can be quiet sometimes!

"Hey sis! Yeah, just got up. Sleep okay?" She says, carefully avoiding eye contact for the moment.

<Oh right, you live with your sister.> Riley is a bit chagrined to have forgotten but also doesn't want to distract Emi too much from the conversation. She doesn't think a second would be enough to form a bond, and she kinda suspects it will be easier to avoid now that they have some sense or what it feels like but she isn't eager to test that.

She tries not to send this whole long thought chain through but she probably isn't perfect at filtering just yet.

Emi definitely hears some of it in the back of her mind, but that's fine: she's not exactly perfect at keeping her internal monologue to herself, either.

Unaware of the conversation going on inside her sister's head, Mae nods, yawning.

"Not too bad. Went to bed a bit early, but then I slept in too, so I guess at least I got lotsa sleep?"

She giggles.

"You?"

"I slept okay, but got to sleep kinda late because of the whole…"

She winces and points to her head with one wiggling finger.

"…Situation?"

That should hopefully be enough to let Mae know that she accidentally bonded with someone last night, without her having to go into too much detail? It's a bit embarrassing, even if there's theoretically no way she could have known it was going to happen.

"…Situation?"

Mae looks confused, her brow furrowing further when she tries to meet Emi's eyes and her sister looks away.

<If she went to bed early she might not know.>

Emi is starting to get that impression!

"…Oh. Okay. Come sit down?"

"…Sure."

She sits.

"…What's going on?"

"Okay, so first: stop trying to meet my eyes. Something happened last night, and now anyone who looks someone else in the eye for more than an instant gets… psychically linked? That's the best way I can describe it, anyway. It happened to me, and I can still hear the other girl's—Riley's—thoughts, even after she went home a ways away and we both slept."

She should probably clarify that first bit.

"I don't mind the idea of being psychically linked to you like that, but I'd want to talk about it first, and in this case your thoughts would also be shared with Riley, who you don't know."

Is there anything else she's missing?

She could tell her about the veil thing, but that's not immediately important, so no, that can wait.

Oh wow, that's a lot.

"…Is she nice, Riley?"

Riley was already paying attention but her focus sharpens a little. She doesn't really see herself as particularly nice but she also hopes she hasn't left a bad impression on her new headmate. And then she realizes the implicit pressure of that focus. <Should I try to give you privacy to answer that?>

<I don't think I need it, but thanks.>

"I think so! I definitely like her."

Riley can feel the fondness bleeding through as Emi says it.

Oh good. Riley returns some fondness with a bit of relief threaded through it. Either she's just vibing well with Emi or perhaps more of her issues with people than she thought were just due to communications issues.

Mae smiles.

"That's good."