The Fourth Dimension, Monday

[nohaircutsplz]

Medusalith had woken up this morning still sans her lady parts and most of her hair. The penis was not an adequate substitution. Still, she had responsibilities to fulfill, so she was at the gallery. Hiding behind what was left of her hair and sulking, but at the gallery.

There was a no doubt charming new display, which Medusalith would care about more when the universe saw fit to give her her hair back. The gallery was open.

Comments

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

Sophie was resolved to check on her employee, even if it was her second day as a man. The second time around it wasn't so disturbing, although she did wish that these events came with some warning.

Pausing inside the gallery door, she raised an eyebrow and asked, "Medusalith?"

[nohaircutsplz]

"Yes," Medusalith said mournfully from somewhere inside her hair.

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

Sophie gave her a sympathetic look; half her hair gone, unexpectedly male... "Do you want the day off?" she offered. "I know how utterly appalling this must be for you."

[nohaircutsplz]

Medusalith pushed her hair back, although if Sophie were very attentive she might notice that not all of it moved exactly in the direction her hand had pushed it. Perhaps it was drafty in here. "No," she said. "I'm not one to shirk my responsibilities." Give her a moment. "Are you Ms. Devereaux?"

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

"Yes. Forgive me, I should have said as much," Sophie said, wandering in to pour herself a cup of tea. "I wanted to check on how you were doing, whether or not you were the usual gender." She raised an eyebrow at him, and the hair, eyes narrowing for a moment. "How do you feel this morning?"

[nohaircutsplz]

"Terrible," Medusalith said. "My hair..." She was sort of...petting what was left of it, yes.

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

"Oh my dear," Sophie said compassionately. "It's still lovely. But I know that's no consolation. It will come back when this is over, though." She added, "And it *will* end. It did last year."

[nohaircutsplz]

Medusalith looked absolutely appalled by this news. "This happened before?!"

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

"Mmm. Last year, a little earlier, I think it was September," Sophie mused. "That's when I bought this Armani. Just in case. Strangely, the men switched genders a few weeks earlier than the women. But both times it reversed itself quite easily."

[nohaircutsplz]

"You would have thought someone would have seen fit to warn us," Medusalith bitched. "Ah, how long did it take to reverse?" She wanted her hair back, dammit.

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

"It was a day last time, so it's already longer than before." Sophie sipped the tea, looking easily masculine and not effeminate. She'd studied Geoffrey's mannerisms for ideas last time. "Then again, two days together would be the same total as it was last year. I shouldn't think it would be longer than a week-- I've never heard of anyone transformed into anything remaining so longer than that."

[nohaircutsplz]

Most of that flew out of Medusalith's head at, "A WEEK?!"

She grabbed most of her hair in one hand and repeated, wide-eyed, "This could last a week?"

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

"It's highly unlikely," Sophie stressed. "We simply can't know. One of the students was an iguana for a week, but... honestly, I would hope this is over sooner." It just wasn't as fun without another adult around to explore possibilities with.

[nohaircutsplz]

"This can't last a week. I'll go mad. An iguana?" Wait for it... "Ah, what is an iguana?"

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

Sophie raised an eyebrow again, more thoughtfully, and said, "A lizard. With very large, spherical eyeballs. One of the student actors became one. He still attended rehearsals, though." She contemplated telling Medusa he ate the crickets in the theater.

Mmm, no.

"They don't have iguanas in Germany then?" She paused. "Or perhaps you know them under another name?"

[nohaircutsplz]

"Well, it's very cold in the part of Germany where I live," Medusalith said, which was true, as far as it went, except for the part where Attilan was not actually located in Germany. "Reptiles--" by which she actually meant 'reptilian Inhumans, especially outside the Refuge' don't cope very well there. I think I have heard of them, though, now that you mention it," she lied.

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

"Ahhh. Yes, I see." Much better attempt at an explanation, that. "But yes, he reverted to form within a week, I'm fairly certain it was." She placed her cup back in the saucer. "It's uncomfortable, but it is educational. I appreciate being female *much* more for having done this before."

[nohaircutsplz]

"I will certainly appreciate getting my hair back, I can tell you right now," she complained. "This is terrible."

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

The hair was a bit of an obsession for Medusalith, wasn't it?

"You're quite certain you don't want the day off?" Sophie checked. "I'd completely understand if you did."

[nohaircutsplz]

Sophie had no idea. "No, no," she assured her. "I'll be fine." Well, she wouldn't be fine, but she would manage.

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

"If you're certain," Sophie said, holding up her hands in surrender.

"Is there anything you'd like to learn today about the art, or the security systems?" Maybe a distraction was in order.

[nohaircutsplz]

Yes, a distraction sounded very appealing right about now. "I was curious about the pressure and motion sensors," Medusalith said. Not that the reason she'd been curious about them applied now.

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

"Then let me turn this one off, so I can show you... this (http://www.pressureprofile.com/products-tactarray-sensors-industrial)," Sophie said, opening one case and lifting out a geode sculpture to reveal the pad underneath. "Wonderful stuff. It's incredibly sensitive to pressure changes; there's a monitor here, in the base of the pillar, connected by wires to the pad. If the pressure changes for longer than three seconds without the code, it sends out a silent alarm." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "There's a number of ways of bypassing that, of course."

[nohaircutsplz]

Medusalith bent over to examine it and asked, "Such as?"

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

"Mmm. The upper range on the material is 200 degrees; so a heat source of sufficient magnitude would fry the circuits, if held closely," Sophie said musingly. "Exchanging the item with something precisely the same weight within those three seconds would work too. It would have to be correct to one-one-thousandth of its weight, though. Tricky. An electronics expert might find a way to disconnect the material from the alarm system, although I don't know the particulars of that." She pointed at the dais. "I've always wonder if an EM burst nearby would fry the sensor as well, but haven't wanted to test it on this set-up."

[nohaircutsplz]

"Yes, it wouldn't make any sense to risk destroying your own system to test a theory," Medusalith said, and, considering they were talking about human things, "to say nothing of the expense."

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

"Exactly." She pointed at the motion sensors, fixed below at four points on the dais. "These infrared sensors (http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/security/question238.htm) detect changes in heat signatures, when someone moves into their range of detection."

[nohaircutsplz]

Ah. Yes, about that. "What is their range? Is it measured in inches, or feet?"

[magdaofslovenia.livejournal.com]

"Feet; approximately six feet on either side. Of course, there is some overlap between sensors," Sophie pointed out. "And if one were to move slowly enough, the sensors wouldn't pick it up. They would adjust to the change in temperature by increments that wouldn't trip the alarms."