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In this soup kitchen sits a nun in partial habit, sipping water and frowning at a desk. It is very irregular for adults who aren't volunteering to be at the soup kitchen. It is very irregular for expensive electronics to be in the soup kitchen. The volunteers do seem to know her; they call her "Carlotta".
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"It'd be a better mutant power if it let you be understandable back."
"I wouldn't want it to if it did the same thing to him."
"What is so bad about this thing?"
"It's, it's not just a feeling that you are understandable, it's not just the fact of understanding you. The way you seem to think - fits into my head neatly. Like that is where it is supposed to go. I don't have to puzzle over it, it's just there."
"That... does sound sort of telepathic."
"I'm not explaining it right. Again."
"What is so bad about this thing?"
"It's, it's not just a feeling that you are understandable, it's not just the fact of understanding you. The way you seem to think - fits into my head neatly. Like that is where it is supposed to go. I don't have to puzzle over it, it's just there."
"That... does sound sort of telepathic."
"I'm not explaining it right. Again."
"Like there was already a Sindri-shaped hole in your head before this even happened?" ventures Bella.
"Yes. Only I never noticed it before. But there it is. If I grow a new hole in my head every time I meet a mutant who isn't you, I expect I will kill myself."
"Uh," says Sindri, slightly alarmed.
Oat winces. "Sorry. Don't worry about it. I don't like being alive that much to begin with."
"Uh???" says Sindri.
"That was also the wrong thing to say, wasn't it. Sorry again."
"Uh," says Sindri, slightly alarmed.
Oat winces. "Sorry. Don't worry about it. I don't like being alive that much to begin with."
"Uh???" says Sindri.
"That was also the wrong thing to say, wasn't it. Sorry again."
"Usually if people especially small children don't like being alive people get really worried," Bella volunteers.
"Why?"
"It's really worrying!" says Sindri.
"I can tell that, but not why."
"It's really worrying!" says Sindri.
"I can tell that, but not why."
"...Well, I think if people didn't want small children to be alive they probably wouldn't have any in the first place," says Bella.
"Neither you nor Sindri is a parent!"
"Well, I'm not especially worried because I suppose it's your business if you want to be alive or not but I'm sort of concerned that you might be having a bad enough time for the answer to be not?"
"Is that what the matter is for you, too?" asks Oat, turning to Sindri.
"Yeah, I guess. I just - I don't like it when people are unhappy."
"I don't either."
Sindri smiles tentatively at Oat. Oat attempts to smile back, then flinches and stops.
"Yeah, I guess. I just - I don't like it when people are unhappy."
"I don't either."
Sindri smiles tentatively at Oat. Oat attempts to smile back, then flinches and stops.
"What was that?" Bella asks Oat, tilting her head.
"What was what?"
"You sort of started smiling and then changed your mind, how come?"
"It looked weird to Sindri. Didn't it?"
"A little," Sindri admits.
"A little," Sindri admits.
"This is the weirdest dumbest mutant power."
"I still don't think it's a mutant power at all," says Oat.
"What else would it be?"
"Perfectly normal people go around noticing what other people are feeling all the time without being telepaths," says Sindri.
"Yes, I've seen them do it and I have no idea how," says Oat. "But they don't have holes in their heads. Or do they?"
"I never have..."
"Yes, I've seen them do it and I have no idea how," says Oat. "But they don't have holes in their heads. Or do they?"
"I never have..."
"I don't have a hole in my head," Bella says. "Anyway, for most people it works on everyone, not just Sindri or any one person like that."
"Is it so much stranger, mine working on only one person rather than not working at all, that it has to be a mutant power?"
"It's pretty weird," says Sindri. "I don't know if it's definitely-a-mutant weird."
"It's pretty weird," says Sindri. "I don't know if it's definitely-a-mutant weird."
"Well, but Oat is a mutant and doesn't know what his power is," Bella says. "And I can't think of another way it would be."
"Most people don't get their powers this young anyway," says Sindri. "I don't have mine yet."
"Well, I have mine, it happens. I couldn't be here if I didn't."
"What do you mean," Oat asks Bella, "when you say you can't think of another way it would be?"
"I don't know any other things that happen to people that might make a Sindri-shaped hole in your head and make nobody else make sense to you."