If this worked, it would be far better than having each of them take an Ability, especially since she was pretty sure they’d be able to share images and feelings as well as words. They’d spent quite a while looking and adding the ability to share senses normally required either a spell past the first upgrade or several Abilities from all participants if there wasn’t anyone with a Sphere or Species that specifically gave mental abilities.
Sophia hadn’t expected that to be a focus of Dav’s Species, but apparently it wasn’t completely unknown even if it was rare. Once Dav found the Ability, Rensyn had pulled all of the records he had of Species with mental Abilities and the results were disappointing: there were exactly three. All three had Abilities like Dav’s, though one of them could only connect with others of its Species. There were a number of other similar Abilities, but Sophia wasn’t going to count on Dav’s future Abilities matching them.
Sophia considered the Ability descriptions for a long moment. Whatever his future Abilities might allow, these were very limited. While Sophia knew how to push the boundaries of an Ability, Dav didn’t yet. She was teaching him and might well use Eldritch Mental Diffusion as an example; it already seemed similar to how he controlled his Thorn Emitter, so at some level the ability was probably innate now.
Sophia wasn’t certain she’d have trusted an “eldritch” ability from someone else, but she knew two very important things here. First, it truly meant the Potential of the Origin, and she was a daughter of a being of the Origin. For all that this world called it chaos or eldritch, it wasn’t foreign to her. Second, this was Dav. She trusted him, and in the end that was what mattered.
Sophia smiled. She’d probably try to avoid sharing the memory of memes, but some of them would probably slip through. “We should give it a try, see what it’s like.”
Dav nodded, then reached out and touched Sophia’s arm. She didn’t expect to feel anything, so when her shoulders and back began to sting, sort of like a small electric shock, she jumped. It didn’t hurt and it was gone almost as quickly as it started, but it was a complete surprise.
She rubbed a spot near her shoulder that was easy to reach, then paused when she saw a hint of color that shouldn’t have been there. She frowned and pushed her shirt out of the way. There was definitely color, purple and an almost aqua blue feathers that stretched from her back over her shoulder and stopped a little above her collar bone. “What the heck?”
Sophia didn’t think about it before she pulled off her shirt. She couldn’t really see her back very well, but what she could see looked an awful lot like a colorful tattoo. It took a few minutes of scrambling for mirrors before she could actually see her back. Rensyn was oddly unhelpful, since he spent the entire time trying not to look at Sophia. She just ignored him.
Once she could finally see it, the new “tattoo” looked a lot like it was supposed to be colorful feathered dragon wings, though Sophia could easily tell that they were both only the outer wing and wouldn’t be functional anyway. They seemed to shimmer and even change color slightly as she looked at them.
Colorful Wings [https://i.imgur.com/QAIa3eS.png]
Sophia set the mirror down and shook her head. She wasn’t sure what she thought about it. She’d never really considered getting a tattoo. Some people picked one up for each dungeon they visited, while others got body art for anything from their favorite character to something that looked cool. She could appreciate it, but it wasn’t something she’d ever even thought about for herself.
“I don’t hate it?” That was about as far as she’d gotten. She pulled her shirt back over her head as she thought about it. She kind of liked it, really. Even the parts that were on her shoulders weren’t that obvious; all she had to do was wear a shirt and they wouldn’t be noticed.
She’d always envied her siblings’ wings; this wasn’t the same, but she’d also heard them whine about just how awkward wings were. Maybe she’d eventually find a way to use the tattoo to fly? It seemed unlikely but she definitely couldn’t rule it out.
“I think I can remove it, if you want.” Dav didn’t sound certain.
He also looked almost ashamed. Sophia wanted to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault; they hadn’t known how the Ability would work. At the same time, she was afraid that would just emphasize her surprise and make him feel worse. She decided that the best thing to do was move on. “No, really. It’s fine. We should try the other Ability, the one that lets us send thoughts.”
“I should have sent her an image of her back. That would have been a good test. I wonder if I still can?” Dav’s mental words were followed by a view of her back. It was a little blurred except for the back; that was very clear. A blurred image of Sophia’s face followed almost immediately. It seemed focused on her eyes and her ears; her horns should have been in the picture, but they were barely noticeable at all.
Sophia grinned at that. She knew what was happening; she’d practiced telepathy before. This was different but it was also the same. The last image wasn’t intentionally sent; it just leaked through because he hadn’t managed the thoughts properly. She kept her mouth closed and carefully projected just the words she wanted Dav to hear. “It worked, even the image. It seems a lot like other forms of telepathy so far. You need to work on keeping your messages to exactly what you mean to send, it’s way too easy to project things you don’t mean to.”
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She paused, then squinted one eye before speaking out loud. “You know, it’s not fair that you gave me a tattoo and you didn’t get one. Or did you get one and not say anything?”
“I didn’t feel anything,” Dav admitted. He didn’t have anything on his back when they checked, either.
“Does it work?” Amy asked while Dav put his shirt back on. She sounded impatient.
Sophia blinked, then realized she’d only told Dav that it worked. She hoped he’d heard her. “Yes, at least I can hear Dav. Did you hear me?”
Dav nodded, then looked at Amy. “Do you still want to go forward with this, even though it leaves a visible mark?”
Amy shrugged. “This is a bit bigger than I expected, but Abilities that create permanent effects always leave a visible mark. I’ve seen some a lot worse than wings.”
Sophia wasn’t sure how to feel about it now. She certainly hadn’t expected it, since similar Skills back home didn’t always leave visible evidence. The fact that Amy expected them to might not mean they always did here, but Sophia suspected that it was something the Guide did. She settled for just shaking her head slightly.
A moment later, the rest of Amy’s sentence registered and Sophia realized that the assumption that Dav’s skill would always cause the same mark was probably wrong. She didn’t know why it came out as wings this time, but the Guide considered Dav’s Species chaotic. Sophia expected it was something he could guide to an extent, so perhaps it would come out as wings if he thought it would? Amy didn’t seem to have a problem with that, so she probably ought to let the assumption stand.
She did feel like some warning was important, though. Sure, she could let Amy be surprised the way Sophia had been, but that didn’t seem fair. Maybe she could even help channel the change into something Amy would like. “It will probably look a little different on you. Maybe that would be a good thing; you want to be a Night Owl, right?”
“A mark on my normal body won’t change that,” Amy answered, but she also smiled. She clearly didn’t hate the idea, the same way Sophia didn’t hate the image she’d ended up with. Sophia decided not to say more. Dav wasn’t great at deliberately defining what his beacons looked like, and he’d had practice at that.
Amy reached forward and took Dav’s hand. She was clearly impatient. Sophia could tell when Dav went ahead and used his ability both because he shrugged towards Sophia and because Amy shivered at the odd sensation, then pulled up her shirt with her back towards the others. That clearly answered one question: Dav’s Ability was definitely not limited to one person.
Rensyn choked and turned to face the wall. Sophia chuckled at that; how ever had he managed when he traveled and fought? Neither Sophia nor Amy cared that Dav was looking at Amy’s back; it was her back for goodness’ sake and anyway it was the result of his Ability. He ought to be able to see it.
Sophia took a good look at the new “tattoo.” It was very different from Sophia’s, even though it was still a pair of wings. It looked like it was done completely in black ink, with the paler sections the color they were because Amy’s skin color came through. It was also a very different sort of wing, even though it was still just the outer part of a wing. The top was a smooth curve instead of having the spike at the knuckle that Sophia’s “tattoo” had. It also wasn’t extended over Amy’s shoulders the way Sophia’s was; instead, it continued further down her back. Once again, they looked very much like something you might get as a wing tattoo instead of like proper wings.
Black Wings [https://i.imgur.com/1ZEFsJU.png]
Sophia nodded to herself, then tried to send what she was seeing to Amy along with the words, “I think I can see that as a Night Owl’s wings.” A wordless image from Dav overlaid what she saw for a moment; the colors were slightly different, but it was also clearly Amy’s back.
This time, it felt a little weird. She didn’t see any way to choose who she was speaking to; this wasn’t a set of links between people. It was more like talking, really; either Dav or Amy could “hear” what she was “saying” if they chose to listen. That was extremely useful and very limiting at the same time; she couldn’t use it to have a private conversation with Dav.
Sophia discarded some of her half-formed ideas for the evening. She didn’t want to have to warn Amy not to look. That was like telling someone not to think about a pink elephant; it would happen by accident even if it wasn’t deliberate. She was pretty sure they’d all end up leaking something they didn’t want others to see along the connection at some point, but there was no point in guaranteeing it.
“Is that really what it looks like?” Amy asked out loud as she twisted a little to see her back in the arrangement of mirrors. “You two can see it better than I can, that’s not really fair. I guess I have to go for Night Owl now, don’t I?” Amy had a wide grin that said that either it was a joke or she was happy with being “forced” to pursue the path she’d already chosen.
Sophia didn’t even have to touch Dav to feel the tension leave him at Amy’s overt happiness. She thought she was feeling a sense of relief over the link as well, but if so it was both minor and very obviously from Dav, not herself. That was good in several ways; it meant that strong emotions could be sent but that they wouldn’t influence the recipient more than simply knowing how another person felt naturally would.
“My turn.”
The words surprised Sophia. Her eyes followed the sound down to Dav’s ankle, where Taika had clearly just headbutted Dav. She suppressed a giggle as Dav picked up the colorful chinchilla.
Fireworks were Taika’s first message. Even when it was all in his mind, he seemed to prefer playing with color to using words.
Sophia had to suppress a smile when she saw that Taika’s mark was, if anything, even more obvious than hers or Amy’s; his back and tail looked like they were covered in feathers, almost like wings. They weren’t; a simple touch told her that it was just poofy colored fur.
Taika tried changing his appearance several times, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t make the appearance of feathers on his back completely disappear and he couldn’t make them be anything more than poofy fur. He could return his tail to normal, however, which he definitely seemed to like.
Taika Wings [https://i.imgur.com/TKUJMsy.png]