Stand Back! I'm Going To Try SCIENCE! [open]

[etherthief]

Almost got it now.

She's been working at this for days. Several unanswered calls from CERN and the empiricist groundy riding her ass about unfucking whatever documents she fucked. Not important right now. Not important potentially forever. That was a little joke. Ha, ha.

Dimensional strata aren't at all difficult to locate, it's narrowing in on each particular field that gives her trouble. She can practically see this one now, shimmering just a little out of her focus, if she lets her eyes wander a bit, she can just barely see it, and see beyond it. Like looking lazy-eyed through a screen door.

The Park beyond it looks almost identical, which is moderately encouraging. She's not looking for too massive a culture shock here. The field is much stronger here than it was at her lab, she's discovered, which seems strange. Something to do with the magnetic fields of that Earth, maybe? She hadn't really anticipated the stratum to be uneven, but it is significantly more visible in Central Park than anywhere else she's checked. Fascinating. Perhaps something is happening on the other side.

Well, in a moment, either she'll be able to ask someone, or she'll still be here, sitting in the grass.

She adjusts her hijab and raises her left hand to brace it along the invisible barrier. She can feel the clicks and whirrs of instruments and circuitry moving within the digits of her prosthetic. A soft hum that travels up the arm to the elbow, where silicone meets flesh. Soothing. She lets her eyes flutter closed, a bit of a romantic gesture, as though there were anything remotely spiritual about this process. She splays her fingers slowly, waiting for the alchemical reaction, the infinitesimal brushing of molecules across her carbon fiber skin. There it is. There it is.

She transmutes. Thinking carefully, intensively, about the universal constants that separate one world from another, splitting them, expanding them. Digging out a little hole, just for her. It's a tedious mathematical process, and she allows her thoughts to cradle every step of the formula. This is as close to meditation as she'll ever get.

There's the shift. A little tremor runs through her arm, and she sucks air through her teeth. Easy. Easy. This is it, don't get too excited but also don't fuck it up. She exhales a steadying breath and parts the field delicately, and then lets herself slip through.

It's very different from the test runs and the other times she's tried it and halfway succeeded. There's a sudden sucking force, expanding and contracting roughly, like someone's pulling from the other side. She feels all the air go out of her and gasps in a moment of panic, her reach and concentration shaken. She's supposed to let herself in gently, not like this, with all this force and undertow.

And then it's over, just like that. She's right where she was, but where she was (is) has changed. It's New York, but it's not her New York.

Fuck. Yes.

A little shaky on the dismount, but it all worked out fine. She's not glowing or anything. Nobody's freaking out about her sudden arrival. She can run figures and see what caused that hiccup later. She gets to her feet and brushes off her skirt, then looks up to survey her surroundings proudly. New universe. All right then.

Better find someone to talk to.

Comments

[heysoulsister]

Jodie's not looking for trouble - or so she'd insist, if anyone asked. Nor is she here to gawk. Many of the previously cordoned-off areas have been reopened to the public, though there's still a lot of yellow tape around Bethesda and its immediate surroundings (as well as one area where a suspiciously human-shaped crater has been stamped into the lawn - she might have gawked at that one a bit).

But while she missed the total shitshow of two days ago, it has sort of driven home the point that new arrivals might be trouble, and that the front lines should probably consist of something besides terrified civilians. Which is why it's not entirely coincidental that when some woman in a hijab appears out of thin air, Jodie is sitting on a bench all of thirty feet away, pretending to read a book.

Jodie's posture undergoes a subtle shift as she glances at the new arrival over the top of her book. Whoever she is, she looks pretty fucking pleased with herself. Red flag. But Jodie doesn't want a fist through her chest, so she stays on the bench and deliberately lowers her gaze back to the page. Go check it out, Aiden.

He doesn't need to be told twice. Glad as he is that Jodie wasn't anywhere near that rampage, Aiden can't help but be kind of miffed that he missed such a golden opportunity to hurl some shit around and kick some ass. Recon work isn't as fun, but it's better than nothing, and he dutifully gets right up in the woman's face (she doesn't seem to be aware of him; what a treat) before poking around to see if she has any hidden weapons. Nothing. Except - oh, hey, this is interesting. One of her arms isn't really an arm.

The tether hums with his gleeful curiosity, a feeling that roughly translates to: would you look at this shit?! Like he might be a few seconds away from picking up a stick and literally poking this woman with it. Jodie lifts her gaze again, brow furrowed a little as she tries to spot what has Aiden so excited. What is it? she asks, just a bit irritably. Then, is she human?

There's a swift confirmation, but it doesn't feel like a complete truth. Then comes the giddy clarification: she's a CYBORG!

The book drops a few inches as Jodie continues to size the woman up. She doesn't look like a cyborg, but Jodie's not the one of them who can see through things. "Shit," she breathes.

[etherthief]

Iman stays put and scans the park for a few moments, trying to zero in on a good option for first contact. There's no real procedures in place for this, and she's not fond of procedure anyway. There are a lot of people who look like average New Yorkers - people going to work, jogging, walking dogs or babies, snapping pictures... there's sort of a strange atmosphere, though, like everyone's a little tenser than one might normally see in the Park. Like they want to cut through it quickly, or... almost like they're avoiding something.

Actually - is that police tape? She squints, peering in the direction of the fountain. Something happened here. Maybe a murder or something. That might be a good tack to pick up from. She wasn't aiming for a hugely alternate universe, but there's still a good chance interdimensional travel isn't a Thing here. Can't just walk up to someone and say 'So I just popped in from the next universe over, can you give me a rough outline of world history.' Could, however, play tourist and ask just what happened here.

She takes a few steps closer to the fountain area, not quite decided yet.

[heysoulsister]

The woman isn't paying the least bit of attention to Jodie - she's noticed the police tape - so she tucks the book away. No need for pretense.

Aiden, meanwhile, is fascinated by the woman's robotic arm. Apparently, that's the only part of her that isn't human, which makes 'cyborg' a hell of a stretch. But there was enough arm-driven damage done during the previous rampage that Jodie's still on her guard. Not so, Aiden; there's nothing to suggest this woman poses more of a threat to Jodie than he poses to her. Besides, this is interesting.

Without bothering to ask for permission from Jodie, let alone the newcomer, Aiden delves into the circuitry of her arm and commences dicking around. What happens if he blocks this electrical impulse? Or reroutes this one? What does this thing do, anyway?

[etherthief]

Iman has decided to continue her stroll toward the terrace, and is doing so when what the fucking shit is up with her arm holy god damn. She reels to a halt as her left forearm suddenly flips up at the elbow, nearly clobbering her in the mouth, all on its own. She stares at it, half stunned and half freaked, as her hand opens and closes, and the arm flips back down. She tries to control its movement, but - it feels like... something is jamming the circuitry maybe? Shit, people can't see her like this. She turns inward sharply, gripping her wrist, scrabbling to get her fingers on the control panel. Stupid thing is always so hard to open. Partly because the arm almost never needs maintenance. Eleven years working perfectly and now this? Fuuuuck.

Before she can actually do anything, the fingers suddenly split open, her multitudinous internal instruments sliding out and configuring themselves. She jerks her arm away from her as though she's been stung, staring at it, wide-eyed. That definitely can't happen without her express intent. Or manually, internally. Something is inside her arm. Has she been infected??

Muttering a slew of freshly coined curses under her breath, she struggles awkwardly with the arm. She needs to deactivate it, which'll be a holy pain in the ass, but it's that or accidentally spear her own eyes out when if flails around again. She hopes no one's watching. This is so embarrassing.

[heysoulsister]

Jodie gets to her feet, tether practically juddering with intrigued amusement. If Aiden could laugh, he'd be laughing his non-corporeal ass off right now. What do all these instruments even do? One of them rotates like a power drill, as Aiden discovers when he coaxes it into whirring activity.

Fuck. Aiden! Jodie scolds, striding towards the woman with no real plan in mind. Thanks to Aiden's misbehavior, Jodie's shifted gears from 'making sure this woman isn't a threat' to 'cleaning up after her pet entity's mess, again.' To be fair, the woman doesn't seem anything but completely and honestly appalled at all the sudden activity from her robotic arm. Jodie is far too familiar with that particular 'something is acting up beyond my control' brand of mortification to fail to recognize it in another person.

"Hey," she says once she's closed the distance to a few feet. Aiden reluctantly withdraws from the arm; if the woman is a threat, she's now close enough to Jodie that he needs to be able to keep an eye on all of her. "Are you okay?"

[etherthief]

Does she frigging look okay. All right, all right, it's a pretty fair question, and major props to this random bystander for not instantly flipping out at the finger attachments. Those are weird even in her universe.

"I - I'm. Well." Iman struggles to conceal the arm from view - it would be hard to miss the exploding digits from even a distance, but that doesn't mean she wants whoever this is getting a closer look. "Bit of an odd day, really. Uh. I swear it's never done this before." This with a charming smile as she forcibly resets everything - there, now it's working. The fuck? Her fingers retract into their closed states, thank god, and she wiggles them on her own to test her dexterity. No control loss. It's like nothing even happened. That shouldn't - the only visible factor to change was the approach of the woman. Iman shoots her a suddenly suspicious glance. She looks... not unintelligent, certainly, but remote alchemical fuckery mastermind she is not.

"...Ooookay," she says, once convinced her arm is back to normal, then turns on a winning smile. Like she was totally prepared for this, sure, happens all the time. "All better. Not my favorite way to meet a pretty girl, let me tell you. Iman Asadi." She sticks out her hand - the 'normal' one. "Scientist."

[heysoulsister]

They're plenty weird in this one, too, but Jodie had some prior warning. And she does stare a little as the arm returns to normal, or passably normal, anyway. It doesn't even look like a prosthetic. Whatever universe this woman is from, it's left this one in the dust, technologically speaking.

Christ, won't she just be thrilled to hear that she's stuck here? Jodie might have had some vague intentions of protecting people from a potential blow-up, but she's done zero mental prep work for rolling out the welcome wagon. Ugh, this is going to suck.

That suspicious glance is a little unsettling, but it quickly gives way to the kind of smile Ryan would have loved for her to have on file for undercover missions to fancy parties. There's a beat where both Jodie and Aiden digest 'pretty girl' - Aiden bristles a little, and Jodie opens her mouth and shuts it again - and then she takes the offered, non-cyborg hand.

"Jodie Holmes," she says. Then, lamely, because she has no corresponding job title to offer and she's not about to explain that her money comes from Aiden's shady electronic manipulations, "… Not a scientist."

So, this is weird. Should she just be upfront about seeing Iman's arrival? It seems kind of inevitable unless she plans on just letting the woman wander off without making the slightest mention of the rift, and that seems… maybe not irresponsible, because Iman's giving off some relentlessly capable vibes, here, but… mean.

Okay, so, she'll just get it over quickly, like ripping off a band-aid. It's not like she's any good at this fake-casual bullshit, anyway. "I, uh, saw your arrival," she says quietly. Which, again, Iman seems far more comfortable about it than Jodie was when it happened to her, extenuating circumstances aside. "Are you sure you're okay?"

[etherthief]

"Jodie, charmed," says Iman with a nice firm shake. Huh, so not overly freaked out by glitching hand action and totally chill about Iman's arrival. Maybe this universe is more similar than she thought. That might be a little boring though.

"Did you," she says, taking the opportunity to preen, only a little. "Yeah, it went pretty smoothly, I think. A little bit of weirdness toward the end, but it seems like there were no adverse effects, so I'm thinking it was sort of like turblence. Is it, uh, normal here? Only you don't seem... that surprised." She's not looking to scare the shit out of anyone but she doesn't want to appear entirely unimpressive either. "I mean where I come from the top people in the field still haven't quite worked out all the kinks yet, so... I mean, if this is a thing here..." She trails off, looking hopeful that even though Jodie might not be a scientist, she might know something. Which, really, if she wasn't startled by Iman's appearance, this shit must really be commonplace. Good grief.

[heysoulsister]

Oh. Oh, holy shit. If belated surprise counts for anything, Jodie has plenty of that to offer.

"You mean you did that on purpose?" she blurts, eyebrows shooting up toward her hairline. From what she's gathered, no one's been able to manipulate the rift with any kind of success. Which seems pretty in keeping with rifts as she knows them; they don't exactly behave themselves. Yet here's Iman, talking about turbulence as if she's just taken an exciting trip that she totally bought tickets for. And this isn't just teleportation or something; she's talking about where she's from like it's… well, like it's an entirely different fucking universe. What in the hell.

"It's… um. It does happen, but not that often, and not… it's not deliberate. The rift usually just grabs people at random and dumps them here." Jodie rakes a hand through her hair as the implications sink in. If Iman can just casually manipulate the rift… well, she's about to become really fucking popular.

[etherthief]

Uhhhh...

"Whoa, whoa." Iman holds up a hand. "Rift... no, no, no. No one else can use it, even, it was - well, I don't really have a name for it yet to be honest. I just slipped between the strata with an extremely localized adjustment of constants and some electromagnetic field manipulation. It - well, it's a lot more complicated than that sounds, actually, but-" She shakes her head, a fearful itch rising up at the back of her mind. If Jodie has any idea what she's talking about, and she at least sure seems to think she does, the implications are both worrisome and irritating as fuck.

She should probably acquire more information, here.

"Back up," she says. "What are you talking about."

[heysoulsister]

So she didn't manipulate the rift, she bypassed it? Jodie glances around, as if unable to believe that ROMAC and rebel representatives aren't about to swoop down on Iman like vultures. Some of that paranoia transmits to Aiden, and he moves off - somewhat begrudgingly - to watch their backs (or her back, anyway).

On the plus side, at least Jodie doesn't have to explain the multiverse as if it's a foreign concept. Or explain the multiverse at all. "There's a rift above Manhattan - this Manhattan. It's been there for years, pulling people from different dimensions into this one. No one's been able to control it, and it's usually a one-way trip." Jodie hesitates, rubbing at the back of her neck, then adds, "That's how I got here."

Even at a little distance, she can feel Aiden's disapproval, but considering the circumstances, Jodie doesn't see the point in skirting around the truth. Especially because it's not even her specific secret; it's shared by hundreds of people on the island.

[etherthief]

Iman narrows her eyes as Jodie goes on describing what sounds like an incredibly problematic situation. Sounds like she was was way off base. This is not commonplace at all, she was just... what, lucky? enough to run into a member of the small circle who does know about this kind of thing. And if this has been going on for years, and no one's managed to quell or reverse it? They must be further behind her than she realized.

But it's not that simple! People from all kinds of universes, and none of them have the wherewithal to pull off something like what she just pulled? Discouraging to say the least.

"Well," she says firmly, "someone's got to put a stop to that. Can't see why anyone hasn't already." She puts her hands on her hips. 'Rift' indeed. Seriously, the audacity of the thing. Stealing her personal thunder. "I'd need to acquire some serious figures before I attempted anything like jumping to another place from here, to say nothing of taking someone else - but I suppose that'll have to be the next step." Progress always works better with motivation anyway.

"How long have you been here?" she asks, even as she begins tinkering with her arm. A lot easier now that it's under her control again. She figures with what Jodie's already seen it'll be fine if she flips open the panel and fiddles around. Everything still seems normal inside - weirdest thing. Maybe a side effect of the shift? She'll have to run a diagnostic when she gets back.

[heysoulsister]

Aiden does not approve of these questions, though Jodie isn't sure if it's Iman in particular that has him on edge or if he's just irritated on principle. Probably the latter. Well, Jodie doesn't see the point in lying - not when she's already been so forthcoming, and not to someone who actually seems like she might be capable of getting people out of here and back to their homes. Whether Jodie even wants that for herself is irrelevant; she has too good an idea of how many other people would leap at the chance to get home.

"A couple months," she says with a little shrug. "Not that long." And okay, Iman is just popping her prosthesis right on open. Aiden drifts back over, and Jodie silently warns him against any more messing around with the machinery.

Nodding at Iman's arm, she adds, "Not everyone is from universes as advanced as yours. Or even as advanced as this one."

[etherthief]

"Yeah, I had already clocked as much," says Iman casually, still focused on tinkering. "But for every universe that's behind there's got to be another that's ahead, right? All things being equal. Statistically speaking. I mean that's just how infinity works." She taps her fingers against the arm, unable to locate any specific issue. Everything seems to be fine.

"Weird. Never seen it do that before, ever." She flips it shut again and looks back at Jodie. "Any idea how many are here? Is there some sort of infrastructure? Someone's gotta be working on this, even if they don't have my particular skillset." She waggles the fingers of her left hand as if for example.

[heysoulsister]

Jodie blinks as the panel clicks shut, leaving the arm looking completely normal. Christ, that's weird. She can almost understand Aiden's fascination (if not his way of demonstrating it, which she is absolutely not going to cop to).

She makes herself look up at Iman's face, instead. "There are two factions, but I--" okay, she probably shouldn't mention that she's been avoiding them both, because then she'd have to explain why, "I don't know much about either of them. There's ROMAC - that's the government organization - and the Rebels, which are… pretty much what they sound like."

[etherthief]

"Ooh, political intrigue," she remarks. "Sexy."

Well, she has the data she needs specific to this universe. It's gonna take a lot of time to suss out the rest - everyone's personal universes to start with, and this 'Rift' to follow. She'll probably need some more stuff. Maybe a team. She's always worked better alone, but a team couldn't hurt for something so big, right? Get her, stumbling into something so big and career-making right off the bat.

"All right, Jodie," she says. "I'm gonna pop back home to get some shit. But don't worry your pretty head, I'll be back. Most definitely." She nods with great resolution. "Gonna grab some things, maybe a cohort or two, and see about getting some of you folks home. This cannot stand, let me tell you. And this Rift! Gotta research it. Back in a jiffy. I mean. Maybe a day or two. Don't wait up."

She flexes her fingers and holds out her hand, not bothering with a 'stand back' because really, it's an incredibly unintrusive process, all things considered. Her prosthetic is the anchorpoint, so Jodie wouldn't be affected in the slightest, not even if they were making physical contact.

She closes her eyes, thinking carefully - adjusting Planck and all the other constants, a careful little mental exercise, like riding a bike for any halfway decent alchemist - and...

There's that pull again. Something sucking her back, holding her in place. The hell?

She risks a peek. Bad form, possible visual input that could mess up the whole thought process, but... She hasn't moved! Not even a ripple!

She tries again, a little more intent this time. "Sorry, could you just..." Jodie's approach had been the only noticeable factor potentially influencing the weird shit with her arm. "Could you just back up a few steps?"

No good. Still nothing. It's like there's a new veil she can't penetrate. Something she's never encountered before. Something that operates with a whole set of physics all of its own.

"The fuck," she says, and drops her arm in stunned defeat. "The everliving fuck? Why can't I..."

She tries again, a quick sloppy burst of mental science, to no affect, not even a messy one. "Goddammit!" she snaps, momentarily losing grip on her cool. "Fucking - fucking shit!" She wheels on Jodie. "I can't do it. I can't get through. I have never in my life - it's the Rift, isn't it?" Because it can only be the Rift. Something that powerful, interfering with her work - something she's never seen before. Her eyes narrow. "Who the fuck knows what this thing is."

It's a demand, a little more intense than is called for, but she is one extremely disgruntled scientist.

[heysoulsister]

There's 'pretty' again, though it's a hell of a lot more condescending this time around - enough so that Jodie and Aiden bristle about equally. But the prospect of watching someone just casually pop over to a different universe is too enticing for either of them to object, so Jodie obligingly steps back and quietly watches the attempt.

Unfortunately, and to no great surprise, 'attempt' is about as far as it gets. At least Jodie's saved the responsibility of telling Iman she's stuck, which is a small favor, but the woman's growing ire isn't exactly fun to witness, either.

And then she turns that ire on Jodie, and there's an ominous crack from the overhanging branches above them. Jodie's gaze flicks upward, and then she plows forward, shoving Iman back a few paces. Quick as she was, she still only narrowly avoids a scrape from the hefty branch that's now occupying the bit of lawn where Iman had been standing.

"Shit," Jodie mutters, releasing Iman's shoulders and looking back at the branch. Quit it, Aiden! she adds for good measure. The only response she gets is a sulky hum from the tether. Not exactly apologetic.

Frowning, Jodie pulls a stray leaf out of her hair - shit, that really was close - and turns back to Iman. "Yeah, making sure people are stuck here is what it does," she says. "We can't even leave the island."

[etherthief]

"Hey-!" Iman staggers back at the force of the shove - hell, she's not that threatening, is she? - and lands on her ass, staring wide-eyed at the branch that came really close to knocking her right out. She looks up slowly at Jodie, staying put for the moment.

"How did you," she says, a little breathless. She holds up her hands. "Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean to get up in your face. I freaked out a little. I don't like it when things happen that I can't explain, not your fault. But speaking of things that can't be explained, what just happened?"

She picks herself up, a little shaky, and looks up at the tree, which looks perfectly healthy. "I mean, that... that was not a coincidence. That didn't just break outta nowhere. What the hell?" She looks back at Jodie, reassessing, her tragic scientific failure momentarily forgotten. She can't tell if Jodie caused the near-death/injury in some kind of latent telepathic panic (like in a comic book??) or if it was caused by something else and she's just prescient.

[heysoulsister]

Good going, Aiden, Jodie thinks, disparagingly, as Iman starts to put two and two together. Christ, it's not as if she can see him, and yet he couldn't wait ten minutes before squandering that advantage for no goddamn reason. Because no, Iman's not that threatening. She sure as shit isn't something they couldn't handle without resorting to a fucking sneak attack, robotic arm or no.

"It's fine," Jodie says, waving a hand irritably. "You didn't do anything wrong. And I… I just have good reflexes." It's a lame excuse, but not an outright lie. Still doesn't explain the branch, though, and she squints up into the foliage for a few moments before inspiration strikes. "There was some kind of shitshow in the park a couple of days ago. Maybe the branch got messed up then."

[etherthief]

Iman squints at her, wholeheartedly not buying it, but trying to decide if it's worth pursuing just now. Probably not. To badger Jodie about it would be stalling from the real problem, as well as likely losing her only acquaintance as of right now.

"Thanks, then," she says, glancing back down at her hand. She sighs and drops it to her side, attempting to remain composed while rage and panic bubble up underneath. "Well, this is balls. Can't even leave the island, you say? I suppose we can't contact anyone outside Manhattan? Has anyone tried? Well, you might not know, I suppose. I'm gonna need to get in touch with these organizations. The Rebels and the other one? Or are they not speaking?"

Actually, first things first.

"You know what I really need right now, though," she says, blowing through all this without giving Jodie a chance to speak, "is a motherfucking drink. Take me to the nearest three bars. I mean if you want. I can probably find them myself." She shrugs. Jodie seems incredibly cagey, and Iman can't entirely blame her. She can drink alone, if she has to. She's pretty good at it.

[heysoulsister]

That's definitely not the squint of someone won over by Jodie's lies (though she privately thinks the one about the branch was pretty plausible). But before she can start squirming, Iman barrels onward as if that close call with the branch is barely worth mentioning.

… Which, compared to everything else she's got on her plate right now, is a fair enough assessment.

Jodie doesn't even get the chance to answer any of the woman's questions before she turns the conversation to the nearest bars. It might have been an intriguing prospect, but given Aiden's reaction to Iman, it might be best not to spend much more time around her, especially in a location full of glass breakables. And while Jodie has her own reasons for avoiding either faction, she's not sure if she should be warning Iman away or trying to set her up off the comparative grid. Where else is she going to get the rift-related information she needs?

Yeah, Jodie should probably just stay the hell out of this. Whatever 'this' ends up being.

"I, um… sort of have plans." Vague plans, but still. "But there's a place in the East Village you might want to check out. Wilmot's End. It's kind of a rifty hangout," she explains in the vaguely uncertain tones of someone for whom 'hanging out' is a foreign concept. But it's in a more encouraging tone that she adds, "And it's unaffiliated, so there shouldn't be trouble."

Aiden's impatience to move on is like an itch, but there's one more thing. "I don't know about the currency in your universe, but if you have credit cards, they aren't going to work here. Do you need any cash?" Jodie tends to carry a fair amount on her person - more than would be wise if she didn't know how to take care of anyone who tried to mug her - and she doesn't want to just leave Iman with nothing but a general overview of how screwed she is, here.

[etherthief]

Iman nods attentively as Jodie recommends. 'Wilmot's End' sounds like a fairytale pub, but that's maybe appropriate - the concept of it, meanwhile, sounds richly practical.

"Sounds great," she says brightly, and, "Uh, oh," to the offer of cash. "Really? I mean, that's - I guess I can't say no, can I?"

She is carrying identification and a few credit cards - and she's pretty sure she can truthbend them enough to work, if it comes to it - but it's too kind an offer to pass up.

"However much you'd be able to part with, I guess," she says. "And listen, is there a way I can reach you again? This isn't a gift. I'll pay you back as soon as I can. Fuck, what do other, uh, rifties-" (cute) "-do when they get here? Guess that's where affiliations come in handy, huh?"

She smiles, a bit more genuinely this time. This is about the most gracious she could probably have hoped anyone to be, especially after this thoroughly bizarre introduction.

"You're all right, Jodie Holmes," she declares.