Turns out it was easy to silence the buzzing. She just had to concentrate on the noise, then stop it with a mental command.
Michael said it would still buzz each time she comes across something with Ethereal Property, but after a while it would turn into just a subtle feeling, which would show the Item's location.
She then tested out a few things with the help of Michael. He guided her expertly, and even though he didn't have access to Mind's Eye, he knew everything there was to know about it.
The passive functions were the ability to feel and locate anything with Ethereal Property.
It also gave a small insight to a person's state. It would show if the person felt any potent emotion or had some serious injury.
Her Mind's Eye could only perceive the Physical and Heart Outlook, so she could only focus on the physical and emotional side of a person.
After they were done with the basics about the passive side, it was time for her to try activating it.
"...Okay, now that we talked through everything, its time you tried using it. Your sight won't get transported into the Ethereal Plain probably, but be very careful all the same. If you see your surroundings dissolving into colors, then disable it with haste!"
Without saying a word, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her sight changed drastically.
Everything seemed more vibrant and alight. She looked to the side, where all the cutlery, glasses, cups, and other appliances rested. Their colors were the same, but they looked much more beautiful.
The small intricate designs on the mugs turned into a breathtaking picture.
She looked around the small room with a bright smile. Everything seemed so much more real and pleasant. With this sight, she would see the beauty even in an empty gray room.
When she examined everything in the small kitchen, her eyes landed on Michael and she had to blink a few times to understand what she was seeing.
His clothing looked like everything else around the room, much more vibrant, but otherwise the same. The confusion started when Veronica saw his skin.
Instead of its usual Caucasian coloring, it glowed with a pinkish tint, but as she looked closer, it had blueish and grayish undertones. These colors were strange. It was like a layer above his actual skin.
She also saw a brighter spot on his left forearm and he touched it now and then, like it was sore or something.
"Did you injure your left forearm?" For a moment Michael's eyes widened, and he looked down at his arm with confusion, then as he realized what happened, he chuckled.
"Ah, so you already figured out the Physical Outlook. Good!... It's not an injury, just the side effect of my firearm. While carrying it, it makes a random part of my body sore. It's a little inconvenient, but it could be much worse."
Veronica stared at him for a few more seconds, inspecting everything with deep curiosity. As he spoke, a few more colors appeared and disappeared.
When he looked confused, brown tints took over the pink ones, but they turned to green when he began laughing. While explaining, a hint of dark blue took over, but eventually it settled back to its previous pink with a bit of gray and regular blue.
"What emotions do the colors represent? I assume green is for joy and brown is for confusion, but what are the others?" She asked after staring at colors for a while longer.
"You are right about green, and kind of right about brown, but it also represents loneliness and madness. Most colors are straightforward because their meanings connect to the path colors or because they just make sense."
Veronica nodded, then asked... "So I'm guessing the blue represents sadness, but why are there two kind?"
"There are actually three: light blue for peace, regular blue for sadness and dark blue for concentration... It is kind of confusing, especially when one person has multiple at the same time." He said, then watched as Veronica turned thoughtful.
"You said that the path colors also represent emotions?" She asked, and Michael nodded.
"Then I'm guessing red represents anger, since that makes sense, while white is for purity and black is for what?... Evil?"
It was an actual struggle for her to find meaning behind the colors. Luckily, Michael was here to help.
"Not bad. Red represents anger just like you said, but also passionate love. White is purity and hope, while black is its opposite, debauchery and depression, but evil is good too!" He said with a genuine smile and for a moment his pink color deepened.
"What do you mean by 'passionate love' and what does pink represent?" As she asked, the pink took on an orange hue, and Michael looked away with a small blush.
"Well... Passionate love is... It's being horny..." He eventually said it, still flustered.
It was always funny for Veronica how worked up Michael got, when talking about these kinds of emotions or sex or anything related to it.
Open discussion of such matters was absent, which made them feel embarrassment upon questioning."Pink is the quite opposite. It represents tender, caring love, one that you feel for a family member, or someone you love with you whole being." He said after calming down a bit, but as Veronica stared at him with a goofy smile, he became confused again.
"What is it?" He asked, as Veronica's joyful chuckle echoed in the room.
"I tell you if you tell me what the rest of the colors mean!"
Michael felt doubt if he wanted to know the answer or not, but he told her the rest of them, anyway.
"Gray is for worry and anxiety. Purple is for uncertainty. Orange is for shame and embarrassment. And yellow is for jealousy and malice. Now tell me what you are laughing about!"
She leaned forward and whispered into Michael's ear... "It's a secret!"
With that, she leaned back and watched as Michael's emotions changed a bunch of times. It went from pink to red to gray to purple to dark blue to brown to red again, then it settled back to pink.
It was quite amusing to see all this, but while she was having the time of her life, something strange happened to her vision. The colors of the room and Michael were melting into the floor.
Veronica shut off her Mind's Eye in that instant, then looked around with a bit of fear, but everything seemed to be fine.
Michael noticed this strangeness, but she didn't have to say anything for him to understand. He placed a calming hand on hers.
"How about we test out your last power, Moon's Magnificence?" He asked, while giving Veronica's hand a small reassuring squeeze.
She nodded, a bit uncertainly. The effects of nearly seeing the Ethereal Plain made her very sheepish and fearful. There was a small tremble in her hand, but with Michael holding it, the shaking was decreasing by the second.
They left the Headquarters and headed to a bit more secluded area. Unlike the rest of the city, the people of the Dirt District didn't care about the previous bombing.
The drunkards walked outside, singing and dancing as usual. The prostitutes stood in the brothels' windows, trying to get a few more patrons before the eventual closing hour.
Michael led Veronica, with no true destination in mind, but as they approached the Harbor District, he remembered the perfect place for the testing.
The two of them went into a shipyard, which was closed down for the day.
"Aren't you a cop?" Veronica whispered, while the two sneaked into the large fenced off area.
"Nope, I outrank the police!" He said in a haughty voice, causing Veronica to giggle a bit.
"Does that mean we can't get arrested if we get caught?"
"No, it means I can't get arrested. You aren't part of the Unbroken, as far as I remember." He said with his usual stupid, lovely smirk.
"If you can't even get me out of jail, then why am I even dating you?" She asked as they walked towards the waterfront of the enormous warehouses.
"Because I'm funny, handsome, and the perfect person?"
Veronica began dying of laughter... "Yeah, but you forgot to mention humble and shameful!"
They both chuckled as they reached a small pier facing the water. The tide was high, reaching just two meters below the top of the walkway. Gentle waves came and crashed into the stone platform.
Michael looked around with suspicion, but there was nothing around them for hundreds of meters. It was the perfect place, empty and abandoned.
The sky above them was cloudy, hiding the large waning crescent moon. It also meant that everything was pretty dark around them, but their Ascended eyesight somewhat adjusted to the night's darkness.
It was adequate to distinguish shapes, but they couldn't see colors, which was rather odd.
They walked to the very edge of the pier, then stopped and Michael began explaining to Veronica how the spell worked, and what would happen...