Earshot

[punsofiron]

Characters: Iron Liz and OPEN
Content: Mind-reading abilities are not all they're cracked up to be.
Location: Cafeteria
Time of Day: Afternoon
Warnings: none

Maybe she shouldn't have dragged herself out of bed. She had to get some coffee or something to try to cope with this headache that had been building up for the past several days.

But the cafeteria was far, far worse than even her room. Voices came from EVERYWHERE, bombarding her nonstop, even people who weren't even in the room. What had started as an occasional amusing thought as she passed someone in the hall became a constant chattering in her ears from everyone in what was apparently an expanding range. Sora and his friends going on about their recent departure and return, Princess Celestia's fixation with cake, random snippets of songs, Twilight's motormouth, Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie...

Pretty soon it all just became a jumble of noise she could barely even follow. Everywhere. She didn't even make it to the food synthesizer before she couldn't take it anymore and collapsed against the wall, leaving fingernail scratches in the paint as she slid to the floor, clutching her head, gripping her hair as if to tear it out.

Comments

[punsofiron]

She knew she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep with all this happening...hell she still sometimes had trouble sleeping without this ever since she had the room to herself, but it hit her like a ton of bricks as soon as she settled on the bed, staring half-lidded at the wall. She dozed half-asleep for a moment, then looked over at Makubex sitting by the door, a little smile on her face. He was a sweet kid, he really was.

"So why can't I read you?"

[virtualunknown]

He leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He knew the question was coming eventually.

"Because there's nothing to read."

[punsofiron]

That caused her to sit up slightly, looking him over with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean? Someone as smart as you would be swimming with thoughts and ideas, I'd think."

[virtualunknown]

"Well, that part is true..." He looked over at the door with a shrug. "But I mean it literally. I technically don't exist."

[punsofiron]

Liz just looked confused at that for a moment. Then after a moment it clicks. He had said something about holograms being familiar territory to him.

"...I see."

[virtualunknown]

"I'm not quite sure how I'm able to be here, to be honest," he admitted.

[punsofiron]

Liz frowned.

"Maybe it's like in Star Trek."

It's not often one said that phrase completely seriously.

[virtualunknown]

"How do you mean?"