Somewhere, Bells Are Ringing

54

54 looked between the two humans. The noise seemed to have become slightly quieter, yet at the same time, it did not appear that the source had moved. The volume had simply decreased. Since the female had not heard the noise, 54 wondered what had brought her to that spot. Perhaps, she was the source of the ringing? There did not seem to be anything else of interest in the nearby area except for the two humans.

"You. Is the noise coming from you." It was convenient that the male had already said the words that 54 needed, and that at least one of the two humans had been named. Or so 54 assumed. 54 indicated at the female non threateningly as 54 spoke, a part of 54's body bulging out like a stubby arm. "Not I, not Orion. Nu[t]-[some]thing here."

"Really?"

Orion stepped away from the blob to sit next to Faye. He had nothing against the blob--it seemed like a perfectly reasonable and polite blob--but he found Faye's company to be more inviting. Sitting close, he put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a bit of a side hug as the blob pointed at her directly.

"I mean, I don't hear anything myself. But my scanners are picking up something wicked fierce around here. see?"

He held up the gadget on his glove. The little touch screen on it resembled a cleaner version of an oscilloscope, and the lines on it were freaking out with huge spikes. He tapped a few buttons on it in hopes of tuning it for better accuracy. He was quick on that job, but he was surprised at the result.

Holding his arm away from her, he watched the sensor fade slightly before it jumped back up as he brought his arm back.

"Huh... I think.... I think it's coming from you, Faye. The noise. It's like, psychic or magical interference or something. Do you have jamming powers or something?"

54

If 54 had had a head, 54 would have cocked it to the side. "It made you mad," 54 repeated in the female's voice. Mad is how powers are zeroed-in on." Although that did seem like more of a trend for the really, worryingly destructive powers. 54 did not think that 54 could recall a person in particular who had activated what seemed like a passive power in this manner. But there was always a first for everything. Somehow. Maybe 54 was wrong and the female was not a human. What then should she be classified as?

The ringing was still going. First that problem had to be solved.

"Figure out the noise. It's going, going. Different power." Maybe the noise could be blocked out. But what would happen if this power met another was a complete mystery. Was this interference more than just a noise? Could it actually drown out other powers as well?

54 focused on the male. "Different power," 54 repeated. "Do you have powers to hid[ing] the noise. I think, at least, hearing something not like magic jamming powers." The emphasis was made with pauses sandwiching the word, in an attempt to show that its meaning was supposed to have been along the lines of exactly same, not sort or type. 54 hesitated before repeating. "I think."

"Oh... So that's why you ran out here... Sorry, hon."

There was genuine sympathy in Orion's voice as he took a moment to stop scanning with his device to give Faye a gentle, reassuring hug. He had no such experience like what Faye had gone through, but he could understand the mix of humiliation and frustration that came with being mixed with people who could be perceived as "not on your level". It was over though, and it seemed her little outburst had at least triggered something inside her better than sitting in a classroom.

Orion noticed how the blob became increasingly articulate in direct proportion to how much he and Faye spoke, and that the blob seemed quite intelligent for being a blob creature. It pointed out that powers in young people were often triggered by anger or, more generally, heightened emotional states and Orion nodded along in agreement.

"It's got a point, Faye. Try calming down and maybe the noise it's hearing will fade. It'll be a good experiment either way."

Then he had to shake his head at the blob's question.

"Nope. I got no powers of my own. So maybe that's why I'm not hearing anything."

54

54 twitched, sending ripples across 54's gelatinous body as the two humans began their experiment in -meditation? It seemed to be quite a popular idea among people. Powers teachers were always telling students to calm done, take deep breathes, and so on. 54 wasn't too sure what breathing had to do with anything, seeing as 54 did not even have lungs to speak of.

But watching the female, 54 was amazed to find that this breathing thing had worked. Again. The irritating sound was beginning to ebb away now. Perhaps it would have been too much to ask for it to go away entirely in such a small span of time but at last, the noise fell away to a merely unpleasant hum.

"The ringing sound is calming down," 54 said. Though approval was meant, it was likely that there was no such emotion in tone. "It's good. I'm hearing noise but it's calming down."

Although, 54 had to wonder. Did 54 feel any different from the noise? Besides being annoyed, had there been anything else? Well, besides the desire to up and leave. Unconscious sound emission seemed like a relatively straight forward power so 54 was left trying to find what else might come with it.

"Just breathe, honey..."

Orion wanted to help Faye calm herself down. As she slid to the ground and closed her eyes, he spoke in as soothing and calming a voice as he could muster while he followed. Raising a hand gently to her back, he rubbed gentle circles like he was trying to put her down for a nap. It was only when he felt the urge to maybe give her a shoulder massage too that he realized that he might have been getting too enthusiastic about trying calm her down, which was counterproductive at that point.

After he finished rubbing her back, Orion took to sitting next to her and quietly watching his scanner for any changes in interference. The experiment proved a success. Eventually the interference died down to less harsh levels, and the blob's input corroborated the evidence.

"There we go. There we go..."

He patted Faye's shoulder and tried to show her the scanner.

"See? It's just like with a lot of the other kids at the Academy. Your powers are kinda linked to your emotional state. But then it begs the question: What else can it do?"

54

Humans were curiously emotional, 54 thought with some annoyance. Until that day, 54 had never been able to truly appreciate how fluid human emotions tended to flow, all just rushing from one to another so quickly. It might have been a bit hypocritical to say so, but humans appeared to be so unstable. It was a good thing, in 54's opinion, that their governments had decided to curtain Manta Carlos off as a place to help the more dangerous ones learn to not be as dangerous.

And, as much as 54 liked seeing what types of powers were around the island, 54 very much did not being subjected to them unless the effects were mostly benign. Annoying ringing sounds fell out of that category by virtue of being vexing. Whether or not the female had any other effects to her powers beyond the audio, 54 was sure that the matter was something which could not simply be resolved here in the middle of the woods. The female needed a real instructor for this sort of issue, not a couple of fellow students.

For once not saying, 54 merely squished 54's own body flat against the ground. A rolled up piece of paper was slowly being pushed out of 54's gelatinous material until it fell to the ground, the text partially visible. It was a typed list of all the teachers at the academy, plus areas of expertise.