(no subject)

[dr_temperance]

If there is one thing that Brennan excels at, it's compartmentalization. It's a useful skill, especially during otherwise hectic times.

Next week, she and her father are flying out to Ohio, to participate in their first official family Christmas in over fifteen years. Brennan is looking forward to it, but it does leave her with a lot to get done.

On a number of fronts.

She started out this evening in the bar with work from the lab--a shattered skull in need of reconstruction. The skull is now pieced together, resting on a stand while the glue sets.

Its eyeless sockets are watching Brennan as she moves on to her next task--wrapping her nieces Christmas presents.

Brennan measures out a precise square of red and green paper (just enough to wrap a crystal-growing kit from the Jeffersonian gift shop) and sheers her scissors neatly through.

Comments

[cutting_edgex23]

X, who may have been observing Brennan during her reconstruction of the skull, slips toward the other woman's table.

And then--

"Hello."

Beat.

"You are busy?"

[dr_temperance]

Brennan looks up from centering Hayley's present neatly in the middle of the paper.

"Yes," she says.

It's not a terse or dismissive reply. Just a matter-of-fact one. Brennan is busy.

She catches herself though, realizing that she is probably coming across as unfriendly.

"But I could probably use a break," she adds.

[cutting_edgex23]

"Oh."

X falls silent for a moment, studying Brennan carefully.

Then--

"It is okay."

She doesn't sound like someone who's been chastised. Or whose feelings have been hurt.

In fact, there is no expression on her face at all.

[dr_temperance]

Brennan is gratified that the young woman seems to have taken no offense.

People often do when she speaks with a minimum of social grace.

It makes her more inclined to push her wrapping aside for the moment.

"I'm Dr. Brennan." She introduces herself with a smile.

[cutting_edgex23]

"I am X-23."

Beat.

Beat.

"You can call me Laura."

X is terrible at social graces, too. It shows. Maybe even to Brennan.

[dr_temperance]

It does show. But it doesn't bother Brennan.

"It's nice to meet you, Laura."

She looks curious.

"X-23. Is that also your name?"

[cutting_edgex23]

"It is my designation."

Is. Was. Will always be. Whichever.

"I am a clone."

[dr_temperance]

Brennan raises her eyebrows.

"Really? That's very interesting. Cloning has not reached a technological level in my world that allows for the cloning of a human being."

No matter what sort of conspiracy theory Hodgins might sight.

"Does the '23' in your name reference the number of clones produced?"

Are there twenty-three or more of this young woman wandering around?

[cutting_edgex23]

"I am a mutant."

Beat.

"I am the twenty-third attempt to clone Weapon X. And the first viable one."

This pause is longer.

"The Y chromosome was damaged."

[dr_temperance]

It only takes Brennan a moment to think that through.

"You are the clone of a male, but due to damage to the Y chromosome they duplicated the X."

Leading to a female. That much is clear enough.

"Though...Weapon X?"

That portion of Laura's statement is more difficult to quantify. Almost impossible, barring additional information.

[cutting_edgex23]

"Yes."

Beat.

"He comes here, too. His name is Logan."

This pause is longer.

"He is very hairy."

[dr_temperance]

Brennan smiles.

"More of a male trait."

"Heavier body hair is tied to testosterone levels."

[cutting_edgex23]

"Yes," X says.

"And I am taller."

Beat.

"There was more damaged DNA. Doctor Kinney repaired it."

[ostro_goth]

A skull is a strange thing to have, some will think.

"Is there a reason why you would have a dead man's head upon your table?" Brennan is asked by a passing barbarian warrior with a battle-axe over his shoulder.

[dr_temperance]

"Technically the skull belongs to a woman," Brennan corrects automatically, fumbling her roll of scotch tape out of the shopping bag by her chair.

"I'm waiting for the glue to dry."

[ostro_goth]

"How can you tell?" the warrior asks. "Are we not all equal, in death? There were men with small heads, also."

[dr_temperance]

"The brow ridge is generally a good indicator of sex."

"Also, I have this skeleton's pelvis back in my lab. It is unequivocally female."

Brennan shakes her head slightly.

"As far as equality...dead people are dead. A corpse does not retain any need or consciousness of social concepts such as equality."

[ostro_goth]

"Dead men are dead," Teja agrees, "barring the dead that come to this place. Indeed."

Pause.

"Corpses and bones no longer had will or intention of their own; their meaning is in our eyes only. The skull of a queen, and the skull of a slave-girl, may look the same."

[dr_temperance]

"They may," Brennan agrees. "Although, depending upon the culture, one might see significant differences in the structure of the bone of the person of the higher social class as a direct result of better nutrition."

Slave generally weren't fed as well.

"You seem to know something about skulls," she observes.

Perhaps not in the scientific sense. But he speaks as someone with a certain degree of familiarity with the subject matter.

[ostro_goth]

"I know skulls from cleaving them, with my axe, in battle," Teja says. "And in a land that is at war long, there are bare skulls to be found around the old battle-fields, and the many places of skirmish and ambush. I have seen many dead men, and many of them no more than bones, in my life."

[dr_temperance]

Brennan nods. Very slowly.

War is still a prominent component of her world and her culture. Cleaving with axes? Not so much.

There's a long moment of silence.

"I'm a forensic anthropologist," she replies.

A little lamely.

[ostro_goth]

"One that practices the lore of man-kind, so that justice may be done?" Teja parses the Greek and Latin terms. "To catch murderers, by what modern men call 'science', one would assume?"

[dr_temperance]

"In a sense," Brennan says, with a certain degree of reserve.

It's not usually phrased in quite such poetic-sounding terms.

"I study the human skeletal system for the purposes of identifying bodies that cannot be identified by conventional means. And yes--my findings are often part of investigations into unlawful death."

"You're familiar with this sort of science?" she asks.

[ostro_goth]

"I have spoken to one that works to catch criminals, using science," Teja says. "But he uses those computator machines that modern men have, for that; and he only persecutes the crimes and misdemeanours of sailors. There should be enough work for him, as those were ever an unlawful bunch!"

Pause.

"Can you still tell who the dead woman was, in the end?"

[dr_temperance]

"Now that her skull has been reconstructed, we stand a very good chance of identifying her," Brennan replies. "Assuming that she has been listed as missing and is in the system."

"If not, she will be placed in Bone Storage."

Or 'Limbo' as that part of the Jeffersonian is commonly known among the Medico-Legal employees.

"This man--what's his name?" Brennan asks curiously.