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".
"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."
"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."