Emotion-reading

"I've got to go, darling," sighed his mom. "Don't worry about this - you'll find out your power soon enough."

"I -" began Thomas, but before he could think what words to say, she kissed him on the forehead and hurried out of the door.

I have emotion-reading! It was an ability he had only ever heard of once. There were plenty of mind-readers - ones who could skim your conscious thoughts, ones who could dig around your head, ones who instinctively knew your favourite food. But empaths were few and far between - Thomas had never met one, and knew next to nothing about them.

"Happy birthday, dumbass." That was his sister, Cat, traipsing down the stairs with her hair tied up in a towel. She was very attractive, both in face and body, and she knew it - but Thomas wasn't looking at that. Now he looked for it, the halo around her was obvious - a soft sunset orange. Instinctively, he knew that despite her contemptuous tone, Cat felt sympathetic at that moment. She must have overheard their conversation - and it wasn't hard to guess that she was hoping to distract him from his worries with a few sisterly insults.

"You know, if you want to support me, you could be less aggressive."

"Support you? Aggressive? I'm just saying happy birthday." She was a bit spooked - with a touch of confusion.

"I know you were listening to us." Cat's super-hearing made that quite a common occurrence, though she claimed to have never eavesdropped on the family.

"Even if I was - which I wasn't - how could you possibly know that?" She looked at him suspiciously. "Have you got mind-reading?"

"Either way, you just confessed," laughed Thomas - but when he looked at his sister, he saw her suspicion and curiosity weren't going to die any time soon. "I only just figured it out," he admitted, "but I think I'm an empath."

"Oh." The air around Cat fizzled, the colour leaching out of it. She doesn't know how to feel, Thomas realised. "So, you don't need to touch people to read them. Do you feel their emotions yourself? Can you manipulate their emotions?"

"I... I don't think so," said the younger sibling hesitantly. "When I look at people, I see a kind of halo, or an aura around them, which changes colour with their emotions."

"So you've worked out which colour is which emotion?" interrupted Cat.

"Err, no," said Thomas sheepishly. "It's... I guess it's like a smell. I don't even have to focus, I just know what it is, without having to think. Like when you smell, I dunno, Sandalwood or something, and know what the smell is, without being able to explain exactly what components are in it."

"Okay then - what am I feeling right now?"

Thomas knew the answer - but it took a moment to put into words. "You don't really know, it's a bit of a jumble really. I guess it's mostly intrigue, with a spot of fear, and maybe a little vulnerability."

Cat looked a little green - figuratively - at having her emotions laid bare. "Oh. Cool." With that, she grabbed her toast, and padded back up the stairs, leaving behind only the faintest wisps of an intimidated aura.