Chương 27: Can You Hear Me Now?

Andy had been running a new two-kilometer speed trial. Gustave was (per usual) barking critique from above the treeline, so high up that Andy wasn't even sure how he could see Andy let alone give him advice on approval, when his ability improved. The notification appeared between one stride and the next. [ABILITY ENHANCED: THOUGHT PROJECTION -> TELEPATHY(MINOR): PROJECT WORDS, PHRASES, EMOTIONS AND IMAGES INTO THE MINDS OF NEARBY ORGANISMS. THIS ABILITY OVERRIDES THE REQUIREMENT OF THE OTHER ORGANISM POSSESSING THOUGHT PROJECTION AS WELL] [CONGRATULATIONS. YOU CAN TALK NOW.] Andy stopped running. His hooves planted in the soft earth and carved divots in the moss as his body went completely still while the implications of the notification burrowed into his consciousness. I can talk. I can TALK. He could project images, words into any creature's head. Even if they didn't also possess the skill. That meant Ranger.

He could talk to her with words, sentences with subjects and verbs. Presumably the capacity for the kind of mortifying oversharing that characterized his communication, because one thing that Andrew Snodgrass was not was the ability to remain smooth under pressure. Auri sent concern.

Andy had been edging ahead of her in the race and just when she was certain he would win for the first time he stopped and when she turned around he was wearing an expression that combined with his emotional resonance elicited terror in the fox.

"I can talk." Andy sent.

"I just upgraded my telepathy."" It's about time."

"Wait, you've been able to talk this whole time?"" How do you think I was able to send you imagery when we first met." Andy was dumbstruck. He hadn't actually considered that.

"So, you mean you could have talked to Ranger this entire time?"" I mean, I guess."

"You could have TOLD her that I wasn't a horse!"" What's wrong with being a horse?"

"It's not a human!"

"And?"

"I'm more than a horse."

"You're right. You're a Tier 6 magical horse that is on his way to becoming a mythical beast."

"No, you don't get it. I am a person. I'm more than a beast." Auri vibrated with indignance.

"Well then. I'm so glad you're able to communicate that." She turned on her heel and ran off into the forest." Smooth." Gustave sent before flying off after Auri. Andy searched for Auri for well over an hour before he headed back to the clearing to wait. He waited, and waited, and waited. Every moment that passed made his heart thud louder in his chest and anxiety tighten his shoulder blades. He went and sat with Barnacle awhile.

"So, I can talk now. Not just to you guys, and other creatures with thought projection but to like the Ranger. I've really just wanted her to see me from the moment I first saw her. She's beautiful you know, caring and kind and compassionate. I mean, why else would she keep coming back here? She cares. About me. ME! I was too excited I think. I told the fox, Auri by the way, but don't tell her I told you. And when I told her she wasn't excited. She could have talked to Ranger this entire time. But she didn't.

She could have told her I wasn't just a horse. You know what I mean?" Barnacle filtered.

"She just… made it seem so unimportant." Barnacle filtered.

"Just because she didn't want to talk to Ranger didn't mean I should have snapped at her." Barnacle filtered.

"You're right. I need to go find her. Thanks Barnacle." Barnacle filtered. If Andy had waited one more moment before running off he might have noticed a single bubble slowly trail up the side of Barnacle before returning to the surface and popping. Andy was galloping into the clearing on his way to go back and search for Auri and Gustave. He was in such a hurry that he almost missed that they were settled into the clearing as he ran by. He skidded to a stop and turned around.

"Oh. You're back."" Yeah. of course." Auri sent. We always meet back up here at night.

"I just thought… you know. Nevermind what I thought. I think a lot of stupid things. I am sorry. I shouldn't have snapped."" You snapped? Oh I hadn't noticed." Auri said with clipped emotion.

"Seriously Auri. I shouldn't have said any of those things, I didn't mean that. You are the best friend I've ever had, and I appreciate you." Reluctant acceptance was the only response he received. After several minutes of silence she sent, " practice on me."

"What?"" Practice. Use the telepathy. Say what you want to say. Say them to me and get the awkward out before she arrives." This was an excellent idea to Andy's brain. No one had ever been a better friend in either life and he was exhilarated to have someone so wonderful in his corner. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. He took a deep breath and then he sent, "Hello." Her ears swiveled, her eyes widened." Brilliant. Ten out of ten. No notes."

Andy sent back unamused.

"Try again." They practiced for an hour. He fatigued the longer he used the new projection. He'd come up with several lead ins that didn't end in the single word, "hello" and were not a gigantic run on sentence. One of these such sentences Auri had informed him contained 8 ands and 0 space for breathing. By the time they were done, Andy was overly exhausted and seemed to have gotten out at least the majority of his nerves. He began dozing almost immediately.

"Thank you for being my friend through all the versions of me that you've known." She pressed her nose to his leg, her version of affection. And once he was asleep she said, "You've always been you." The Ranger showed up two days later. It had been quite some time since she'd been back. In fact she hadn't been back since Andy had evolved. She came at her usual time right around mid-morning and brought three large apples with her.

He knew she was coming by scent and sound and butterflies began swirling around in his insides. His ankles seemed to ache and he picked up each foot, rotating them trying to get back to baseline. Her heartbeat arrived before she did and he felt it syncing in time with his. The horn began singing:"Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm, mmm, mm-mm-hmmm" Once again, he was mortified and simultaneously relieved that she was unfamiliar with Aerosmith's 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thing'.

He threw all of his will power into making the horn calm down. He was in the middle of giving his horn a stern talking to when she entered the clearing. She was carrying her satchel with books, the apple bag and an expression. The expression wasn't one he'd seen before and nervous energy tip toed out through his hooves. She intoned something to him. Words that he couldn't parse in a language he didn't know. Today, though. Today he was going to respond.

Andy stood in the clearing shifting his weight around from foot to foot. His horn was still humming, his heart was beating in time with hers. The fox and the hawk excused themselves from the clearing and suddenly Andy felt very alone and very in the spotlight. She began the routine from weeks ago as if nothing had changed. She pulled out her notebook, measuring tape, charcoal sticks and the first apple. Andy walked forward and took the apple from her hand. He greedily ate the entire thing starting with the stem.

A weird habit he'd gotten into and now preferred. The apple was perfect, as if she chose it with love and care. There was not a bruise to be found on it. Her fingers reached for his horn. She now had to reach up to touch it. Her other hand trailed lightly along his neck. Both hands framed his face as she talked to him. Her fingers traced the spiral of the horn once more and the horn sang. His horn was responding to her touch audibly and visibly as the emerald glow encased her. She spoke.

Something soft, Something she'd said that last time she'd been here. He didn't know what it was, but he knew it was important. His truth sense confirmed as much. Andy's horn pulsed. He had prepared a speech. It had started out very long and drawn out, but after practicing he and Auri had paired it down. It was concise, it was moving, it was funny in places. It was quite possibly the best speech he had ever, or would ever give. He looked at her and took a deep breath.

She was looking back with an expression that was focused solely on him. Not off in her own world compiling a grocery list, or thinking about work. His speech vanished. Every word was just gone. It was consumed by her freckles and the hand on his horn and the heartbeat that was in sync with his. He shifted, orienting his horn toward her. He focused and projected.

"Hi. I. um. I can talk to you now. Kind of. Sorry, I had something better prepared but my brain with your hand on my… just… hi." Her hand froze, eyes going wide and a red blush began creeping up her neck and settling in her ears. Her mouth opened but no sound came out. Her hand tightened on his horn and the singing changed pitch, higher now, responding to the surge of emotion in the hand that gripped it.

His horn was being gripped by a woman and it was definitely making noises which were getting louder and more uncomfortable by the second. It was bothering Andy because to him this was an important moment and his horn was ruining it for him, damn it. She said something. Just one word. She'd said it before but he still didn't know what it meant.

He didn't speak her language, the thoughts that he projected to her were without language or translated with the skill, he couldn't be sure but it did not work the other way around.

"Hi," Andy projected again, because his brain had just restarted and had finished making the computer start up noise but hadn't come up with anything better to say, than 'hi.'

"I mean, that was, I just… I can project my thoughts now into your mind, Through the horn. It's new. I've been wanting to talk to you for a very long time and I had a whole speech but I don't remember it. She backed up to take a seat on the log. Missed. It wasn't a dramatic fall but her composure gave way and she ended up on the forest floor with leaves in her hair, her hand still extended toward the horn that had just spoken words into her brain. Andy lowered his head to offer his horn to help her up.

The emerald glow illuminated her face, and her features were cycling between too many features to track. A smile finally broke through all of them, Andy likened it to a flower pushing through soil. She laughed. It was wet and tears streamed down her face. This seemed to be a common thing with Ranger. They were bright and real. Something in her broke open with the laugh. She said something. A lot of somethings. A flood of words tumbling out like a dam breaking open.

Sound and emotion (from his truth sense) overwhelmed him. He attempted to get her to stop several times but finally just let it play out. When she'd finished crying and gesturing and talking and sat there silently smiling at him as if everything now was clear.

"I can't understand your words," Andy projected.

"Telepathy goes one way. I can send you words but I can't understand yours. I understand your emotion, your tone, the shape of what you're saying. I can tell if it's true or not. But the words are a foreign language." She processed the information. Frustration, adaptation, acceptance, and somewhere beneath all of it some nervousness. Something she didn't want him to know and that she was doing her best to conceal. She pointed at herself and said a word.

She said the word slowly, clearly, enunciating each syllable like she was teaching him to read. She was telling him her name.

"Veronica?" he projected, approximating the sounds through the telepathy's translation. Her eyes filled again and she nodded vigorously. She pressed both hands to her mouth and continued to nod. She was trying to physically contain the emotional response that was too big for her body.

"Veronica," Andy projected again, and the emotional bleed carried months of wanting and wondering and not knowing. It was cringe, like showing up to a first date with a hundred roses and a string quartet. He did not care. Her name was Veronica and he was saying it and it made her smile and that made the horn sing which made the flowers bloom, which made… But she was backing up. Smiling uncertainly. She was masking hesitation and started once more on her measurements.

She began chattering again, without meeting his gaze. His horn song died down. When she noticed she reached up and stroked it a few more times, reassuringly. But Andy had truth sense. And the sense was that this was disingenuous.

"I don't know what I did wrong," he projected, which came with a huge emotional pang of worry, disappointment and sadness. She whispered soothing words at him, and put her head on his neck. Lightly trailing her fingers along his mane. Truth Sense told him this was genuine. She genuinely wanted him to be calm and happy. Somewhere beneath the desperation to be loved, was a sinking feeling, that this wasn't right. He pushed it down and leaned into the truth of her wanting him to be happy.

That was true, and if that were true he was just being over-dramatic. He leaned into that and allowed himself to work his way back into contentment. She finished up her measurements. Smiling again. She fed him another apple and left the third on the boulder like she usually did. She looked at him and grabbed him around the neck burying her face in his mane. His heart dropped from the sudden connection and his brain short circuited.

She kissed him then on the cheek and patted him on the head before waving and heading off back to wherever she existed when it wasn't with him. He focused on that kiss and the talking and her name. He tried it out again. Ver-On-eh-ka. Veronica. As beautiful as her freckles. He stayed like that, horn playing Aerosmith on repeat and smiling dreamily until Auri and Gustave found him later. Both were giving off uncertain vibes. But, Andy was happy. Tonight he would fall asleep smiling.

[LIMITED TELEPATHY: FIRST USE ON HUMANOID SUBJECT. SUCCESSFUL.] [COMMUNICATION BOND ESTABLISHED: ANDY ↔ VERONICA (RANGER-TYPE, HUMANOID)] [NOTE: ABOUT TIME.] [XP: +25 (COMMUNICATION: FIRST HUMANOID TELEPATHIC CONTACT)] [XP: 1697/?] [GALLOP EFFICIENCY: 67%] [COMMUNICATION STATUS: NO LONGER A ONE-HORSE MONOLOGUE.] His first kiss and the System had made a joke. What a great day this had turned out to be. Tomorrow could only continue to improve.