Riley does not have anyone close enough she's willing to share their thoughts with. She likes her parents but she'd rather not be party to them having sex and imagines that they share this preference. She also expects they'd disapprove of her drug experimentation and doesn't want to deal with that.

Huh. Ok, that might be worth testing, if she can find who she wouldn't mind bonding with.

Not her parents either. Maybe her sister? But that might be complicated if that means her sister also has to share her thoughts with Riley.

Actually, that's a good question: How does this work with more than two people at a time? She can't imagine there's any way for thoughts not to propagate from one person to another with that, but is it entirely the same for two people to be bonded to one person as it would be if all three of them were bonded?

…This seems like a slightly difficult question to look up.

There are relatively few posts about this case, whether because it's rare or because the people in this situation don't feel up to posting is unclear. What few posts she can find suggest it is different but not in a way people find easy to describe.

That's basically what she expected, then. Probably different, but it's probably not particularly more private than if they were just all mutually bonded.

…She wonders if she should go home early. She could probably have a much better time researching this if she was at her computer, and she doubts she'd get in much trouble for it on a night like tonight.

…And if she goes home, she can ask her sister if she wants to test some of these things out.

Riley is a little uncertain at the thought of adding more minds to their group especially when they don't know what the experience is like. A part of her wants to veto it outright but then... can she veto something like that? What are the terms they're going to stick to going forwards for decisions that could impact them both. And what is the standard for something that impacts them both?

Oh! No, if she doesn't want to add more minds to the group, that is also definitely something she can veto! She really doesn't want this to be the sort of thing they can do without everyone being okay with it!

"Sorry about that—wasn't really thinking about it. Of course you can veto that! I just got carried away thinking through ideas."

She winces internally a bit.

Oh good. it's a relief that they're in agreement on that. She's not quite sure how this will apply to other things hopefully Emi isn't easily embarrassed since they'll probably have some awareness of the other person peeing. Huh, if Emi has sex maybe she'll get to understand what the big deal is there.

She shakes away that thought. "Thanks." She says out loud to be especially clear. Back to the topic they were on... "I'm not fully opposed to adding a third person, but I'd like to understand a little better what's happened to us, and what that will mean before we do, especially since we don't know if this is permanent." She speaks a little softly since it feels a little weird not exactly talking to herself...

Actually, she pulls out some ear buds and puts them in. Now she won't seem weird even if someone doesn't know about this new phenomena.

Oh, huh. It's been a bit, but she supposes sex might come up. That… sounds complicated to work out—especially if she'd need to avoid "bonding" to whoever she's having sex with. She supposes they can deal with that when they come to it.

"Makes sense that you'd want to figure more out about this first, yeah. I suppose we should probably try to test things out that don't risk bonding more people to us."

She clocks out at the till, and starts closing up the store early.

Riley is a little unsure at this point. Clearly this works at some relatively substantial distance so maybe she should just go home too but maybe there's useful information they could get by being together. For now she'll keep heading home. Having a full computer would be convenient for research.

If distance doesn't seem like a major factor, she finds herself wondering how their minds are connected. Would a Faraday cage block it? Would a lead box?

…Actually, that's a good thought: is this thing running on physics? They could be in a simulation, in which case it would need to obey some sort of rules, but not necessarily the ones they're used to—and "telepathy suddenly exists" has definitely upped her odds that they're in a simulation of some kind.

On autopilot, she locks the store up and heads down the sidewalk in the direction of home.

She's never been terribly fond of that sort of argument. But she can acknowledge the point that this doesn't seem compatible with physics as she understood it earlier today. The thought about it being some sort of biological radio is interesting.

If they're entertaining weird ideas though, there are those theories of biological quantum entanglement and quantum computing she's previously always dismissed.

She doesn't have a Faraday Cage or a lead box big enough for a person to test either of those ideas. And Faraday Cages always depend on the wavelength of the signal.

Oh, it's still not high on her list of possibilities, just a lot higher than it was yesterday. Extraordinary evidence, and all that.

She's pretty sure quantum entanglement doesn't work like that? It's been a while since she talked to anyone who knew a lot about it, but she's pretty sure she'd heard that entanglement-based communication doesn't actually make sense, conceptually.

"Oh, I didn't know that about Faraday cages! I guess that's why those testing-setups for blocking cellular signals are so complicated."

A lead box would still be worth testing, but it's not like she has one, either.

"That's true." It's stupid of her to reach for ideas from fiction and kooks just because they bear some vague resemblance to what's happening.

She is still feeling that vague tension pointing towards Emi. Maybe that's a starting point for learning more somehow. The questions of how this is happening can wait for better equipment the question of what's happening is more urgent.

Hmm… yeah, she can feel the tension too. That is interesting.

"I wonder if that tension is intentional feedback, or a natural effect of the process. Like, is the communication slightly strained by distance, and we feel that strain subconsciously, or is the connection—'trying' feels like the wrong word, but 'trying' to nudge us towards being closer together?"

…That's not exactly easy to test, either. What could they test, with the tools available to them?

As far as rigorously controlled experiments not that much but Riley has spent a lot of time trying to understand what different drugs do to effect her mind so she feels like she might be better positioned than average to notice small details about what's happening, that will need her to get home and not have to worry about walking though.

She's interested in how emotions get conveyed over the link especially with whether bio regulation like calm breathing on one end can calm the other person down. Also whether careful focused thought can reveal more bits of feedback from the bond that aren't as obvious as this tension. Maybe they can try to do a shared meditation thing.

Oh, interesting! That does sound worth investigating.

She hurries a bit faster on her way home, looking forward to—actually, looking forward to going to sleep, then trying new things. It is pretty late.

…Or maybe just trying a few things before bed…

"Huh, I wasn't thinking of that. Will we need to sleep at the same time?" Getting to sleep in the near future will be hard with all the science she wants to try, but she knows the importance of a good sleep schedule, so she'll do her best to accommodate if that's what Emi wants to do.

Oh! That is a good question.

"Probably you'll need to at least be in a restful mood, to not disturb me going to sleep? Good question though."

She continues on her way home, mulling it over in her head.

Riley will make her way home too. She doesn't come to any important realizations or come up with new important questions on the way. She'll remind Emi to be careful about greeting her sister and anyone else she's sharing the house with when she's almost home.