Hexus: Neo

~23~ Aether

[10:43AM, January 15, UTC +02:00]

ADRIANNA stretched as she stepped out of her room and onto the balcony. The air was crisp and chilly, and stuffed her hands into her fur coat as she looked around the clearing and forest that formed the backyard. The blizzard had finally ceased, and from the bits of sunlight streaking through the blanket of clouds, she knew there would be no snowfall for a while. The ground below covered in white, and there was a dusting of snow on the trees, their bare branches were weighed down with icicles, a picture of both serenity and lifelessness. She gazed upwards, towards the horizon. The village beyond Lake Inari was barely visible, and she peered curiously at it, knowing that the people would be taking advantage of the break in bad weather to perform as many outdoor tasks as possible.

She wasn't sure it would work, but she closed her eyes and pushed her senses out. She picked the first hints of sound, like whispers muffled behind a wall. With a little more concentration, they became crystal clear, soft consonants and nuanced inflected vowel sounds of suomi vibrating through the air. She smiled in surprise and shifted her focus around the village, catching different unintelligible conversations and sounds of activity, like running water and crackling fires, crunching footfalls, laboured grunts and axe heads chopping wood. She opened her eyes. The village was at least twenty kilometres away, and her acknowledgement of the space between distorted her point of focus, exploding it over the large area, flooding her awareness with every rustle of movement and change in the winter winds. The vibrations coming within the house were brought to the fore, movements and sounds of breathing, humming radiators and beeps of electronic devices, a cacophony of disorienting pitches and timbres that rose with intensity and made her double over in nausea.

She pulled in immediately and stilled the air molecules in a shell around her, reducing all of the world to dead silence. She sucked in a deep breath as she stood up straighter.

Well, that was fun.

I'll never get used to that.

You should. This shell basically makes us deaf.

That's the point. On the plus side, it cuts off all our sounds too. Perfect for sneaking up on people. And farting in public.

She felt a roll of amusement as she turned around and retreated into the warmth of her room. She shut the balcony door and took the coat off her nightshirt, throwing it on the stool in front of the dressing mirror as she kicked off her fluffy slippers. Though she had no plans to go out, the ingrained habit from years of having to put up appearances stopped her from leaving her room without looking presentable. She sauntered to her closet and scanned her limited options with a sigh. It had been a while since she did laundry.

Anything interesting happen last night? She thought as she pulled on a large brown sweater dress.

The man lovers got into a fight. The big blonde one mentioned something about a 'synarchy' and the small angry one destroyed the bathroom.

Stop doing that; I know their names, which means you do too. What did Adam say about the synarchy?

I do not know. I suppose you should ask the blonde one.

Maybe we can figure it out without letting him know you were listening in on them having sex.

He is probably listening to our conversation.

Adrianna flinched as she pulled on her leggings. Sometimes, she actually forgot about Adam's telepathy.

Fine, if he is, maybe we'll simply avoid the awkwardness and get to the point.