Chapter 46 : Tempus fugit (Fifteen times faster)

 

Aria’s bedroom, The Thompson’s household, Forest Hills, Queens, 31th of January, 17:52

 

“So, what was your little side-project exactly?” Gwen asked, the both of us still leaning back to back, “You never elaborated on it.”

 

Uh, that came out of left field.

 

I thought she was totally under.

 

“Tired of it already?” I ask curiously as my eyes slowly flutter open, ripping me out of my own fugue.

 

“Not really.” She answers with a light shake of her head that makes my own curls dance at the rubbing motion, “It’s just that it has been going for several of my hours, so to speak, and I think I got enough benefits off it for today.”

 

I snort lightly as my lips curl up.

 

“Fair point.” I answer while bonking my head into her own playfully, “You handled yourself very well by the way.”

 

I feel her stiffening for a beat, before relaxing.

 

“You were right, this is grounding and I badly needed it.” She pauses, “...And your presence and continued help was very helpful.”

 

I decide then and there to ignore the light blush turning my cheeks a beautiful shade of rose gold at the compliment as Iris chuckles mentally at my expense.

 

Gah! This is so annoying.

 

I’m used to being vulnerable to compliments, but when you're unnecessarily vain due to a gene-splicing bullshit it’s even worse.

 

“[Mirth] : But it’s so cute.” Iris teases me on our mind-link.

 

“Happy to help.” I answer lightly, ignoring my higher than usual tone and taunting symbiotic half, “And to answer your question, I think I may have found a way to circumvent a problem of mine and I suspect you handle the key to it.”

 

“Oh?” Gwen answers, her voice a little awkward.

 

I chuckle lightly as Iris mentally cooes on our mind-link.

 

I’m starting to think that I’m not the only one that can’t remain unphased if complimented here.

 

“Yes, but let’s have this conversation while seated more comfortably.” I answer as I rise, stretching like a cat as I do so.

 

I distractedly let out a little moan of satisfaction as my back pop while I’m on my tippy-toes, a fact I’m promptly reminded off when I turn toward my guest with a lazy smile.

 

Gwen appears to be quite red in the face.

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And definitely not in anger.

 

Whoopsie.

 

I cough awkwardly in my hand as Iris’ laughter rings in my head.

 

“Right, please sit.” I say while gesturing toward the bed, not wanting to put the blond on the spot more than she already is.

 

She wordlessly nods as she does so and I plop myself next to her.

 

“So,” I pause, mulling over my thoughts, “The thing is, I’m not able to use all of my abilities at once right now. I don’t know if you managed to catch a proper glimpse of Flashy and I’s little spar but the both of us have the same issue : not enough brain powah to handle all of our gimmicks.”

 

Gwen nods slowly as her blush recedes.

 

I almost want to sigh in relief because hanging out alone with her despite the fact that my sole presence was reducing her to a confused mess was getting a little bit uncomfortable.

 

I was low-key expecting meditation to help her deal with that aside from her more vital issues of not becoming overly depressed due to too much time to spend in her own little lonesomeness and I think I was on the right track.

 

Which is good. I honestly like the girl, but her overt swooning was making me feeling awkward.

 

Why am I even contemplating that?

 

Gods, my thoughts are a fucking mess when she’s nearby.

 

Shaking my head to center myself once more while internally bemoaning my kink for smart women, I continue my explanation.

 

“Luckily for me, I happen to be a telepath whose friend naturally thinks way faster than any individual I know.” I carry on as I gesture toward her, “And I think that if I manage to harmonize my mind with your own despite its hyperactive state, I’ll be able to emulate it on myself afterward.”

 

Gwen tilts her head slightly.

 

“In short, you want to try to have a read on me?” She ponders, “But I thought you couldn’t.”

 

“While it’s true that I cannot understand your thoughts because they seem to blur continuously into your noggin’, I haven’t explained yet to any of you that close contact may help me do it.” I explain, “One of the consequences of the mishaps while crafting my body was that I lost a part of the telepathic potential that I should have had, which limits a lot of my options to close range.”

 

I pretend that I do not see her throat bobbing slightly.

 

“How close are we speaking?” She asks a little precipitously.

 

I cannot stop myself from chuckling at her raising panic.

 

“Relax, Gwennie.” I answer easily, “I’m talking about a ‘hands on your temples’ level of closeness, nothing more.”

 

Gwen sighs a little and I would be amused if Iris wasn’t needling me constantly by reminding me of the bet she took with me.

 

By the time I have mentally rolled my eyes at my blood-sister, Gwen comes out of it.

 

“And it’ll help you?” She asks for confirmation.

 

“I’m almost certain it will.” I answer back while nodding to her, “I have other telepathic options to explore if it doesn’t work, but I’d like to try that first since I may be able to stack them with each other.”

 

And if multiple parallel thought streams with an accelerated time perception isn’t seriously broken in terms of possibilities, I don’t know what is.

 

“...Does it mean you’ll be able to… Take a peak afterward?” The blond asks a little lamely.

 

Without thinking, I reach a hand to comfortingly squeeze one of her own.

 

Fuck!

 

Not the smartest move.

 

Bah, let’s just roll with it.

 

“If that helps, I’ll help you learn how to shield your thoughts afterward so you’re more comfortable about it.” I answer kindly, releasing her hand.

 

I watch her eyes snap back to mine, knowing perfectly where they were looking just an instant ago since Iris has been helpfully pointing it out while sending [Mirth, Cute] on repeat.

 

I will most certainly coax her into being the best blanket ever tonight because she has been an insufferable tease since I woke up this morning, my only solace being that teenagers aren’t knowledgeable enough to realize that the belts she saddled on the cute one-piece suit she fashioned for me today look furiously like shibari roping.

 

Today had been a tiring day, but she apparently still has enough gas in the tank to continue.

 

Though I do admit that I spend a lot more time feeling embarrassed than depressed since she started her ‘Aria-won't-mope’ campaign so there’s that.

 

“[Mirth, Care, Love] : I wouldn’t keep doing it if it wasn’t working, blood-sister.” Iris admonishes me lightly, mentally hugging me.

 

“I know, and I’m grateful for it even if I’m starting to get worried about my growing list of quirks. But can you please tone it down about Gwennie?” I mentally concede.

 

“[Mirth, Care] : I’ll promise to try.” She answers cheekily.

 

My symbiotic half never said she’ll succeed though.

 

“You’re such a brat.” I answer back with a mental glare which only prompts a final snicker from her part.

 

“Fine, let’s do this.” Gwen finally concedes as my mental discussion ends, “But you better teach me how to shield my thoughts afterward!”

 

“I would have done it either way since we talked about it Saturday, but sure.” I answer with a half-shrug.

 

I shuffle myself on the edge of the bed a bit so I’m facing her while motioning wordlessly for her to do just as much.

 

Gwen hesitates for a beat, eyes darting everywhere, before compelling.

 

“Alright,” I mumble under my breath as I reach with my hands on each side of her head, “This may be a bit uncomfortable but please bear with it.”

 

I barely catch her wordless nod of assent as I close my eyes.

 

My hands on her temples, I focus my mind-eye on the twin mental ropes that link us.

 

I narrow my focus once more on the telepathic one, doing abstraction of the background mental noise that constantly plagues me as my breath goes slow and even.

 

Her thoughts are, as usual, total gibberish to me.

 

No matter, I’m not done yet.

 

Thinking back to my thought process while I rescued Flash from the Astral Plane, I create a second ‘me’ in my mind that I send along the mental rope, trying my hardest to keep my tether with ‘her’ intact.

 

To my immense relief, and probably due to the Cosmic Prick of Life and Destruction’s blessing, the process goes smoothly.

 

I feel Gwen tenses under my grip as a second mind settles in her body, probably due to her sixth sense going haywire.

 

I bear it no mind since I have no plans to ever hurt one of my proteges and my focus narrows once more.

 

There’s only me, ‘me’ and Gwen’s mind now.

 

It takes a while but I soon enough start to get a feeling that ‘me’ is starting to harmonize with Gwen’s thoughts.

 

Yet, it is too slow and the feedback is shaky. I may not be able to emulate it successfully if I can’t compare it from both sides reliably.

 

Frowning, I ponder how to make the process easier when I have an idea.

 

“Could you bend forward a little for me?” I ask aloud.

 

Eyes still closed, I feel Gwen comply with my request as she inches forward.

 

“Nice, now don’t be alarmed.” I say as I bend forward too.

 

Our foreheads meet.

 

I do not pay any unnecessary attention to Gwen as she stiffen even harder as a smile blossoms on my lips.

 

“Perfect, please don’t move.” I comment absentmindedly.

 

The feedback is clear now.

 

The process accelerates.

 

I still cannot understand what nor how Gwen thinks, but ‘I’ is getting a clearer picture by the minute.

 

It is, quite frankly, astonishing.

 

I conceptually knew that she was thinking way faster than I, but as ‘my’ thought process goes even quicker to catch on I’m getting baffled by the reality of it.

 

Because of the feedback between I and ‘I’, I know for a fact that ‘me’ is already thinking five times faster than my original thought stream.

 

And it doesn’t stop there!

 

Quickly, ‘I’ is changing gears, thinking six times, seven times faster than I.

 

“This is amazing.” I mutter under my breath.

 

Eight times, nine times, ten times faster…

 

“The possibilities of magic are limitless.” I comment offhandedly as I feel ‘myself’ suddenly thinking eleven times faster than a normal human being.

 

Twelve times, thirteen times, fourteen times…

 

“Gosh, you’re amazing.” I compliment thoughtlessly as I contemplate the fact that Gwen thinks at least fourteen times faster than anyone else.

 

Then, ‘my’ harmonization reaches its peak as ‘I’ start thinking fifteen times faster than usual and Gwen’s thoughts become an open book to me...

 

<“I’m amazing? She thinks I’m amazing? But I didn’t do anything! And why are her hands so soft? And when will it end because she’s just here and our foreheads are touching and her eyes are closed and her lips looks so inviting and I really want to kiss them and…”>

 

...To my growing embarrassment.

 

Trying not to flinch as I am getting bombarded by the inner thoughts of a most certainly very into me teenage blond, I valiantly repress the blush rising to my cheeks as I pull back ‘myself’ from Gwen’s body.

 

To my relief, her thoughts become more muted as ‘I’ travel back the mental rope and I can only thank the heavens that she has enough mental discipline not to mentally scream her thoughts like so many of my schoolmates.

 

Soon enough, ‘I’ am back.

 

The attunement ‘I’ managed to get is a feeble thing though and I have an inkling that it will only be a momentary boon if I don’t act quickly.

 

My thought streams churns, and fifteen times faster ‘me’ finds a solution before I do.

 

It is worth a shot so I immediately try it.

 

Taking inspiration from my Astral tether, I start to fashion a mental rope between me and ‘me’. I start slowly, unraveling parts of both of my minds to have enough material to link them like they were balls of yarn, me and ‘me’ acting in concert.

 

I shudder under the strain, feeling the beginning of a headache rearing its ugly head.

 

I do not falter though, and decisively soldier on as mental strands start to join together, linking and mingling seamlessly since they are both mine.

 

It takes a while, the process long and slightly painful, like a mix between a migraine and having pins and needles in my brain, but eventually I succeed.

 

One moment we were two, and the next I am one.

 

Everything snaps under clarity, one thought decisively human-like despite its smarts while the other has all the time in the world to put the same smarts to proper use.

 

I giddily laugh as I take in my success.

 

“It worked!” I say excitedly as my eyes snap open.

 

That’s about when my very fast secondary thought stream takes the whole of the situation in slow-slow motion.

 

My forehead is still against Gwen’s, my snow white curls framing her face.

 

I still have my hand delicately gripping her temples.

 

Her green mint orbs are boring into my eyes with a slightly dreamy and guilty expression.

 

Her cheeks are so red that I think I’d be able to cook eggs on them if I tried to.

 

I let go of her instantly, starting to apologize.

 

“Did you... Read my thoughts?” She cuts me as my mouth opens, her voice awkward.

 

I cough awkwardly in my hand as I put a little more distance between us.

 

“Yes,” I sigh, not really seeing a way out of it, “Yes I did, Gwennie.”

 

<“That nickname again! I love it! But why do I love it, I…”>

 

Nevermind, she does scream her thoughts too sometimes, she was apparently just very focused on being very quiet.

 

“But more importantly, it worked!” I say rapidly before I can catch more embarrassing thoughts, “I even managed to stabilize a second thought stream that thinks as fast as you do and…”

 

<“Oh no, she'll be able to read me now! Quick Gwen, stop thinking about stupid things like how pretty her eyes are or how much you want to touch her or…”>

 

“And that was apparently the wrong thing to say.” I comment aloud as I pinch my nose.

 

Gwen blinks and her blush doubles as she hides her face behind her hands.

 

“I think I’m going to die from embarrassment.” She mutters under her breath as her thoughts quiet.

 

Me too darling, me too.

 

“Would you like to start learning how to shield your thoughts from telepathy?” I offer a little awkwardly, still struggling against my own blush.

 

<“Oh yes, I very much would like no to have my stupidly gorgeous crush not being able to hear my fantasies like how I would like for her to hug me tight or…”>

 

“Please, yes.” Gwen answers, her face still hidden.

 

Luckily for the both of us, she got the handle of it really quick.

 

Later that day, Iris pointedly remarked, snickering all the while, that she had after all a very strong incentive to do so.

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