Balmy Frigid Afternoon (Open)

[Idalia Tsavaris]

"Ike," Idalia said with a grin, "Do you feel up for a walk?" She had caught the Great Dane's attention with his name and at the final word of her question the relaxed giant leapt from the couch and careened around the corner to the closet where his leash was kept and whined at Idalia to hurry up. Idalia laughed brightly, it had been a while since it had been nice enough to go out on a long walk. It had been icy and rainy of late and their walks had been brief rounds around the block but she was looking for something a little more interesting since it was a balmy forty something outside. She slipped her feet into a pair of sturdy plush black boots and pulled on her black peacoat. Buttoning up she dug out a warm colored scarf and Ike's leash. "Sit." She said pointing her finger downward. With the books she'd borrowed from Cecil and a lot of work on her days off she and Ike we working together so much better.

The dane sat and Idalia moved quickly to link the leash as Ike started wriggling again. Ike had also grown more into his feet, she was noticing that he was starting to realize his size and weight as he was being more careful about jumping on people. He still jumped on Idalia or if he got really excited but he was better about keeping all feet on the ground. "Oh who's a good boy!" Idalia cooed scratching his head. She had also made a lot of changes. She was more assertive and had started to act more like a dog owner. She still let Ike cuddle on the couch with her and he slept with her at night. She was happier and he was happier, she would take him on walks every day even when she worked nights. He'd gotten trust worthy enough that she locked him in the kitchen when she was gone instead of in his crate. He had more space and more toys and once or twice she had risked letting him roam the apartment, though during the day if she could she still dropped him off at her parent's house where he could run around in their large yard.

She locked up and headed, to Ike's confusion toward downtown instead of their usual lake or block stroll. That made Ike all the more excited, he loved downtown, he loved the people and the smells and downtown Pilot Ridge was a beautiful walk. She was only a few blocks away and the quaint shops started to pop up on either side. It was decorated for the holidays and the snow had melted off the streets and the walks but there was still a fine layer of snow on the grass and rooftops giving a mild winter look. Ike loved snow and romped through making a mess of the clean snow. Idalia tucked her nose into her scarf as a gust of wind brushed past. A smile grew on her face despite the chill, it was a very nice day all things considered. She could feel the wind and she looked up at the gray sky, a dreary sky but not one with a promise of rain or snow, at least not today. Ike roamed sticking his nose at people with a great deal of excitement and Ida smiled warmly at the others braving the chill for a little nice weather.

[Adelaide McLisk]

Add had a tendency to overcompensate for bad weather. She'd studied far too many probabilities involving weather to want to chance anything. Between frostbite, hypothermia, and dozens of other similar ailments, the problems of winter just seemed troublesome. However, Add knew that she needed to at least attempt to "get out more" and "see living people." In her case this meant seeing people through the narrow ridge between her scarf and a gray stocking cap with a rather large puff ball on top. Her coat was thick and warm too, though more of the slimming variety than something ludicrously poofy. Bits of Add's hair stuck out from the back, since she figured that could actually help her stay warm.

At least the weather had taken a slight turn for the better. Add figured that it was good enough that she could counter-intuitively head out and get something warm to drink. She'd optimistically grabbed a backpack with some stuff in it, figuring that maybe she could get some work done at the coffee shop. she didn't know why she bothered, usually too many probabilities hit her in coffee shops and she got wrapped up people/math watching.

She was simply strolling down the street, minding her own business, when a massive dog poked his nose at her. Add jumped back, startled, nearly slipping on the ice. She froze, looking at the dog, attempting to focus enough to figure out biting probabilities. Dogs were horribly unpredictable until you figured something out about them. The tail wag could be "I love people and want to cuddle" or it could be "you look like a fun thing to bite!" Add had, sadly, experienced more of the latter than the former, and the fact that the dog seemed interested was just making her back up.

"Is he apt to bite?" she asked, looking at the leash holder, who she presumed to be a owner of some kind, "he seems rather excited..." she jumped again as the dog shifted, continuing to express his excitement.

{sorry if I'm, like, controlling Ike a little there; I was trying to go off what you'd written with him to set it up; I think it works but if not, I can change stuff}

[Idalia Tsavaris]

((You’re fine! It works well for him.))

Idalia found it interesting all of the variations of people. There were the Vermont natives, like Idalia who were dressed for the weather but hadn’t overdone it. There were the crazies from places like Maine or Alaska who were in shorts and a jacket, those people were few and far between and good thing because Idalia really wanted to scold them for being so careless. Then there were those from warmer places who shrank back from the cold. It was always interesting because you would think that no one lived here in the winter, however once it started hitting fifty or sixty suddenly there were seemingly hundreds of people on the streets out enjoying the break from their hibernation. It made her wonder where they all came from. Ike was excited, he was even more excited when they didn’t make the turn for the ‘It’s freezing I want this to be over as fast as possible’ route.

A few people dodged Ike and his roaming with shocked expressions and others fearlessly asked to pet him and he loved it when the children came up and he tried to play with them but often times parents called them away because honestly Ike was larger than most of them. Ike was zigzagging in front of her his nose to the air here, to the ground there, stopping to see if the snow here was lick-able. Occasionally he wandered back to her to check and see if she was having as much fun as she was. She ruffled his ears and he would be back to his exploring. Idalia was strolling with her hands in her pockets and the leash looped around her wrist. She let Ike pull her along and allowed herself a chance to cloud watch. The sky was a beautiful thing today. It was warm enough to get a few puffy clouds and they stretched in a seemingly random pattern across the sky.

Ike tugged at her and she looked down and saw him touch someone with his nose. Idalia smiled and took her hands out of her pockets to gather up the leash a little bit. She didn’t pull Ike back but rather came closer so she had more control as it looked like the girl was rightly startled by the large dog. Idalia didn’t blame her, Ike was huge and he was very people friendly which sometimes resulted in him running toward people. Which was a terrifying thing for a lot of people, which tended not to end well because the huge puppy thought they were playing. This girl was at least smart enough to hold her ground. Idalia laughed, “Oh no, honey, he’s a sweetheart,” she patted his side and he whined because he wanted all of the attention. Idalia pulled back as he moved again. “Ike, sit.” She said. He ignored her and so she placed her hand on his head and tugged lightly. “Sit.” She said more firmly and the squirmy dog whined but did as he was told.

“Sorry about that, it’s been so cold we haven’t been able to get out into town in a while. He won’t bite. You can pet him if you’d like,” Idalia said with a pleasant smile. She knew that large dogs tended to frighten a lot of people, but Idalia had had Ike since he was small enough to fit in her arms. He used to bite, like most puppies are wont to do. Idalia didn’t mind when he was small and they would roughhouse. But when he got big, he didn’t realize a lot of the time that he was big and could hurt her so she had to put a stop to the behavior and Ike hadn’t bitten her or anyone else since. She wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t bite if he or if she was threatened but he wouldn’t bite anyone otherwise.

[Adelaide McLisk]

A sweetheart. There was a sixty-one percent chance that a dog would bite someone in his home, likely out of some need of defense, and there was a seventy-seven percent chance that the bite would happen to family or friends. Unknowns were only bitten in extreme circumstances, defense or the like, and less likely in a situation like this, especially from a dog as well trained as this one. Variables solidified as the owner spoke and the dog reacted. Training became a factor, as well as obedience, as well as the mannerism. Everything lined up to predict exactly the response that the owner said.

Dogs were just so unpredictable though. It was like they lived to defy the odds.

"He does seem... sweet," managed Add, keeping her voice level. She didn't have a problem with that: her voice had a tendency to stay at that monotone. Then more variables: they hadn't managed to get out because of the cold, so the dog was excited. Won't bite, pleasant happy owner, which usually translated into pleasant, happy animal. Add took a deep, shaking breath, slid a glove off one hand, and then extended the slightly shaky limb toward the dog.

"Sorry,' she said, looking at the owner, "it is not him; I am just... dogs make me uncomfortable. They are... unpredictable,' Add looked like she wanted to sink into her coat, but she forced her hand out. Be friendly, let the dog lick or sniff you or whatever, maybe even pet. That's what normal people did; that was the average. Be the average.

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia wasn’t in the habit of thinking of what could be. At the moment she was short of a significant other and while some people got cats she got a hundred pound and growing dog. Ike might look imposing but he was gentle. He was scary when he ran after someone or something because it was exciting, but he’d never hurt anyone, well short of knocking them over or stepping on their feet. She knew dogs were sometimes unexpected in their actions, that was true of any animal. Idalia, however, likened it to how it would be if she spent time with another person. The more she knew Ike the more she became able to predict his actions and they more they spent time together the happier they both were and Idalia was wondering if she wouldn’t just be happy on her own with her dog for the rest of her life. He certainly didn’t tell her she was a workaholic and he certainly wouldn’t cheat on her.

Nodding, Idalia gave a wide smile that was encouraging. She was proud of the progress she and her huge puppy had made and she scratched his shoulder affectionately. Ike’s tail wagged and he gave his little canine smile as his tongue lolled out the side of his mouth as he twisted his head to look up at her with those big eyes. Really give it a year or so more she heard and soon he’d be head level with her elbow. “He is, trust me I have a bunch of nieces and nephews, some of which are this big,” she held up her hand to show with her hands an exaggeratedly small child, “And he’s so gentle with them. They love him.” She knew her sister’s had been rather careful with them at first but then it became impossible to keep them from playing with Ike and her parent’s dogs.

Ike turned back to the new person as she extended her hand. “No, no it’s quite alright, a lot of people are wary of him,” she said taking no offense. She had a good hold on Ike too and just enough pressure to remind him to behave, but otherwise she let him do his thing. He extended his nose and took a good long sniff of her. He rose to his feet and licked the girl’s hand and his tale beat against Idalia’s leg as he wriggled. The canine looked from the girl to Idalia as if to see if she was as excited about the new person as he was. He shifted closer to the girl butting his head into her hand and demanding all of her attention.

[Adelaide McLisk]

More data helped lock probabilities in place for Add. Good with children, nearly every dog that was good with children was even better with adults. You could nearly say the same for humans, for that matter. Being good with children was probably a good test for "goodness" in a being of any race or creed. Add was not good with children, or dogs, obviously.

"He is quite large," said Add. She was pretty sure she was repeating it, but she figured it was as good an explanation for her stiffness as could be found. Technically she could add "and I am afraid of dogs in general" to it, or, even more accurate "random things scare me," but she was trying. Which is why she didn't immediately squeal with fright as Ike sniffed her hand. There was a soft expression as the dog licked, one that turned into a faint smile for a moment. Satisfied, Add shifted her hand and attempted to scratch the dog's head. In her albeit limited experience, this is what you did with a happy dog. It also occurred to Add that there were other formalities that needed observing.

"I am Adelaide," she said, looking up from the dog, "I am a student at Greenview Community College, but I like to walk here from time to time," she looked around the streets for a moment, her scratching becoming absent for those few seconds. No doubt the dog would notice and Add would soon be resuming with greater energy. "I used to go to the school here," she offered, not certain how much information about the whole meta thing she should be sharing with a perfect stranger. There weren't exactly guidelines, at least, none that anybody had told Add.

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia giggled and scratched Ike’s shoulder as his tail beat into her legs. He wriggled around as if he was far too excited to stay on all fours. He kept looking from Idalia to the girl and back and swinging his head heedless of what the heavy skull was going to bang into, be it Idalia or the girl’s hand. “They call Great Danes gentle giants and it’s true.” She ruffled his ears making Ike make a little noise that was halfway between a bark and a yip as he shook his head as if she had messed with the proper position of his ears. Idalia laughed and turned back to the girl as she started speaking again. Oh how rude of her! Idalia scolded herself, she forgot to introduce herself. She nodded along as the girl spoke and gave her a pleasant smile.

“It’s a pleasure Adelaide,” Idalia said and extended her hand, “I’m Idalia and this is Ike. I know how you feel, it’s beautiful on a nice day, isn’t it?” She replied taking a look around and smiling. “I work in Burlington, but I live just down the street from here.” She pointed in the general direction over her shoulder. “It’s a hard place to leave isn’t it? Oh where did you go to school?” Idalia asked excitedly, it wasn’t all that rare she ran into someone from the Alma Mater and it was always exciting to see who was still there and how things were there now. And even if she didn’t she’d heard enough from her sisters about the public school to know enough to feel like she’d gone there herself. She’d been in a few times for her sister’s performances and stuff of that like, and vice versa but it wasn’t the same as actually being there.

Idalia had enjoyed living on her own, more or less, at Hammel, but it had been nice to be able to escape to her parent’s house on the weekend. “So you’re at Greenview, what are you studying, or planning to study?” Idalia loved talking college students because they all had so many plans and they were really for the first time in charge of their own lives. It was an exciting time and she knew that if she had time she would dump all of her life lessons she’d learned in college on anyone she met, but honestly some mistakes had to be made on their own, like getting drunk the first time. And there was just not enough time for Idalia to tell everything, four years was a long time and a lot of things had had to be learned and unlearned and learned again. And occasionally that learning came from catering essays to professor’s fancy.

[Adelaide McLisk]

Gentle giants, well, the term certainly suited this particular animal. Add didn't know enough about the breed in general to make any more specific comments than that. She was just thankful that Ike didn't appear to be pouncing on her or attempting to bite or anything of that nature. The dog just seemed pleased to be getting attention; in fact, he almost seemed a little too pleased. Given the weather though, Add supposed that made sense. The yip made her remove her hand for a moment. Ike adjusted, and Add figured that repetting was in order.

A hand; Add took it, shaking it a few times before lowering. She figured that she should probably right herself as well, even if that meant stopping the repetting. A name and information filtered through, and Add felt the probabilities forming and solidifying, giving her more than Idalia had likely anticipated. Work, hard to leave, where did Add go? that last was a question, and it struck Add as a little odd. was there a non-meta school about? She didn't rightly recall, but she answered regardless: "I attended Hammel Institute for Meta Humans," she said, her voice as level as always. She blinked, then realized that she should probably add: "I liked it there."

Then came the standard college student questions. Add had to fight the urge to sigh. They were quite boring, after all, though Add supposed it was to be considered. It wasn't as though they could instantly just transfer information about each other, at least, not without cell phones out.

"I study lots of things," said Add. She shifted. "I am mostly there because I don't know where else to be. I need to figure people out better," she paused, was that too much? Well, it was an answer to the question; if Idalia hadn't wanted to know, she shouldn't have asked. "I think I want to work at Hammel someday soon," technically Add was old enough; she just needed to finish up her education. She paused for a moment. "What work do you do? Is it interesting?"

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia giggled and covered her mouth with her hand not meaning to laugh at the girl’s jump. Ike butted his head into Adelaide’s hand and pressed forward demanding she continue her petting this instant. Idalia shook her head at her pup and patted his side. What a nut case, well a nut case for a nut case, she supposed. At least Adelaide didn’t look like she was close to fleeing in terror anymore, honestly not that she had looked like that before. This girl seemed wary, but not afraid. Idalia couldn’t quite read her, but then again that was no surprise. She understood numbers and charts and weather, she didn’t have time in her skull to understand people as well. She got the basics and that was what she would have to go off of in a social environment. Though most of her social environments were other people who also knew only the weather.

It wasn’t uncommon for people to forget that Pilot Ridge had nonmeta teenagers as well. In fact her parents had met by random when her mother was going to the Pilot Ridge High School and her father to Hammel. “Oh good,” Idalia said her smile brightening, “I graduated from there in… well,” she waved a hand dismissively, “Many many moons ago. I liked it too.” She agreed, Hammel was for some people a prison but for others it was freedom to be who they were without fear of judgment. And that was a beautiful thing. It made sense too, a lot of Hammel graduates went to college locally. That had made Idalia somewhat of an anomaly. She’d flow and traveled everywhere in the joy of learning and yet after she got her Ph.D when a job opened up where she might be close to Pilot Ridge and her parents she had jumped at the chance. She advisor still hadn’t forgiven her for not taking a postdoc with him or elsewhere.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your power?” She asked even thought the answer usually made her jealous. She had such a minimal impact power and for one part she was glad but for another she wished her power was a little more impressive. She could see the weather, woo, and even then she could be wrong. Damn weather. It never did what it even was supposed to do, forget all that humans want it to do. She turned her thoughts back to the girl and the thoughts of her future. It was hard, she knew, she didn’t know what she wanted to do for certain until she went to grad school for something and even then she changed her mind and jumped into forecasting anyways. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” Idalia said, “That’s more than half the battle. Do you want to try psychology or sociology?” Idalia asked misunderstanding her statement for a desire to know more about the human mind in general.

Idalia grinned and nodded. “That’s something I would not envy you for.” She laughed. She had tossed around the idea of teaching but she knew Hammel too well and she knew she would probably hurt someone if she taught at any level under college where she could just be like ‘too bad so sad, fail.’ She did love teaching but she loved teaching when people wanted to learn, she didn’t want to pull teeth to teach anyone. So she did a seminar or two over at the University of Vermont but nothing really more. “Oh, I’m a meteorologist.” She said, “It’s very interesting, I mean there is nothing better than being presented with a brand new puzzle every time you go to work and having to work it out for a forecast. It’s very rewarding.” She smiled and in the back of her mind muttered that it was also very demanding.

[Adelaide McLisk]

Many moons ago; Add was half tempted to point out that despite her appearance, she was actually twenty-five, but there didn't seem to be any reason to correct. The admission did lock in several probabilities for Add. Another meta, most likely, and one who had enjoyed the area too, enough that she stuck around. That did seem to happen more often than not. There was simply something about Hammel that made people want to stay for an extended period of time.

Then came the question, one that made Add blink in slight surprise. Oh, she supposed she shouldn't be that caught by the question; most people were curious. Still, she had grown rather weary of people commenting on her power, which seemed decidedly strange when placed against, say, the ability to cast lightning from the fingers. "I calculate probabilities with unerring accuracy," intoned Add, spitting the answer out as though she were a computer requested to disseminate information. "It essentially means that I am scary good at math and can understand the world through numbers fairly easily," Add paused, it was hard to demonstrate openly, really.

The followup question though, that one caught Add's attention. Psychology or Sociology? Add hadn't really considered either, at least until being asked right now. But now that the question had been put before her, both seemed interesting. True, she'd done some work in psychology before, and: "Psychology makes more sense," she said, again as though repeating an axiom.

Meterolist, and then a mention of puzzles. Add actually brightened at that, twitching slightly. "Puzzles are most fascinating, though i have always found the weather to be most difficulty. It likes to change at a moment's notice and defy probability, though perhaps not quite as often as a human will. The local weather predictors are quite excellent though," Add paused, "so that would be you? Your ability must have something to do with it," this last wasn't a question, it was Add guessing based on probabilities that locked into place, and she smiled triumphantly.

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia didn’t like to admit to her age now that she was creeping on thirty, it seemed a terrifying fact of life that here she was successful and thriving at thirty, but no children, no spouse and no even someone appearing to maybe be eventually spouse. She was stuck for the moment. Oh well, Idalia honestly loved being single and at this point in her life she was far more inclined to protect her freedom over anything else. After all who needed a man anyways. It was hard to say exactly what it was about Pilot Ridge that made it special but there was something, something no one could quite explain, whether it was the atmosphere or the meta human and base human harmony, or at least it would be had this PUSE not shown up.

Idalia nodded in fascination and smiled, “That’s so cool, you know I was never quite good at statistics. I was really good at math, but for something just couldn’t get stats.” She said, oh the hours she had spend laboring over problems and getting nowhere. If she needed to compute averages she would have FORTRAN or MatLab do it for her. She was just not good at understanding statistical variables and what they meant. But give her the wave and heat equation and she could derive them all day no problems. What this Adelaide was telling her, Idalia knew was that her talents would be very welcome among the meteorology community. Math and statistics were hard and if someone understood that well, they had a bright, bright future ahead of them.

Ike whined a little and licked Idalia’s hand and she absently reach over and kept scratching his neck. He was all well and fine with them having a conversation over him so long as he was well petted and well loved. Idalia’s smile widened. This poor girl did not know the can of worms she had opened up. If there was one thing Idalia loved to talk about it was the weather. Small talk for normal people, hour long conversations for Idalia and others. “Oh but that is part of the beauty of it all,” Idalia said enthusiastically her eyes bright with excitement. “Thank you, you’re so sweet, I’ll be sure to pass that around. I’ve got forecasting, it’s a baby form of foresight. I can see into the future,” she paused grandly for effect, “So long as it involves the weather. I got to name it too.”

“Weather is hard but it is rewarding, it’s like having a puzzle where you only have the edges and you’re missing half of the inside and you have to piece it together. We’ve got a lot of it figured out, but we’re still leagues away from understanding it all.” Idalia smiled, “Anyhoo, I’m sorry I’m just rambling off in my own world. So I’m curious, and you absolutely don’t have to answer this, but why wouldn’t you major in statistics or math if you’re good at them and like them?” She asked curiously. Maybe she was getting too curious but one never knew.

[Adelaide McLisk]

Cool? Add still didn't quite understand why now that she'd gotten older everyone seemed to think that her ability was "cool." She could remember so many classmates that shot lasers from their fingertips or grew wings and flew. The ability to calculate things always struck Add being more practical, sure, but cool? Add found that she couldn't find words to respond to that.

However, she could respond to Ike's whining. "We could walk," she said, pointing in the direction that Idalia had been heading, "I had just been out for a stroll, and if Ike wants to walk, then we probably should," probably because dogs needed exercise and Ike might need to, well, mark his territory at some point. Add didn't relish the thought of being used as such a territory marker, though she doubted that Idalia would allow her remarkably well trained animal to commit such an act.

Forecasting, sort of like foresight except with weather, "That explains why your predictions defy mine," said Add, clearly fascinating. She could deduce probabilities based on national data, though she didn't know nearly enough about weather to formalize all the situations. But no matter what, those local predictions... Add could actually feel excitement bubbling within. This was especially pleasing, because she usually disliked those that defied probability horribly.

An explanation of a love followed, along with a question that Add had, sadly, grown used to. She paused and looked at the sky for a few moments.

"Math and statistics are interesting," conceded Add, "but I've always found people more interesting. People are where probabilities collate and overlap with one another, creating strange webs that are utterly fascinating. Everyone defies some variation of probability in some fashion, and people's lives start to line up in such interesting ways. Math and statistics I always can figure out, but people are always interesting and malleable, but not quite as random as, say, animals,' she looked to Ike for a moment, smiling and giving him a pat. The smile looked almost natural, if odd on the monotone girl. "It does seem odd though," Add finally admitted. She paused, considered, then said: "we should probably start walking again; I would not want Ike to get too restless."

[Idalia Tsavaris]

Idalia wondered if the silence from the girl was a sign that kids these days no longer said ‘cool’. She was getting old and the idea terrified her. And now this! What were hip kids saying these days? Oh god! Did she just think about hip kids?! Idalia’s mind spiraled in a strange panic. She was too young to be old! Oh the world was a cruel place indeed. She would have to check for wrinkles when she got home.

Idalia nodded and opened her mouth to ask where the girl was headed but she beat her to the punch. Just out for a stroll. Adelaide was onto something, Ike’s restlessness now wasn’t being ignored but being idle too long, he wanted to see more of this world. So many new things, so many interesting thing. She laughed, “You’re right, when the big dog wants to do something, well you do it.” Idalia’s spirits were high and she knew it was a temporary state because inevitably the weather would turn icy again and outside would be the last place she wanted to be. The one benefit of forecasting was that she was usually ahead of the game knowing what was going to happen, but then again she loathed the times when spotty showers popped up unexpectedly and she was the meteorologist without her umbrella.

Adelaide was definitely getting onto Idalia’s good side. She was intelligent and was one of the few people who understood that power or no power what Idalia and the rest of the meteorologists did was hard. They couldn’t deliver a perfect forecast all the time, hell not even part of the time. A good forecaster got their forecasts busted about fifty percent f the time, Idalia with her power got bumped up significantly but her forecasts still got busted more than she would like them too. Mostly by temperatures, but she could see weather events, she couldn’t see temperature, unless in her vision there was conveniently a thermometer. “Just by a little bit,” Idalia said, “It goes to show you how much father we still need to go. I can predict the weather but it chances on a whim sometimes and everything can be absolutely perfectly lined up and then something happens, a front moves faster or slower than expected or the environment is just not right. And we get busted. I get busted. It’s rather annoying,” she said with a little bit of a laugh. But Idalia and her team of forecasters and broadcast meteorologist were lucky enough to work a little ways away from the NWS office and often Idalia sent her forecasters to do a little research to determine why a forecaster was busted and Idalia did the same. They could only get better by learning from their mistakes. It had put them toward the top as far as accuracy.

Idalia nodded, she could understand that. Not everyone wanted to do what their power was good at. Idalia nodded, “Oh right, that was happening, c’mon Ike!” She said and with merely a start to walk in the direction Ike started forward again trotting here and their across their path. “I think you would have a good talent with that. People might not be able to be defined by numbers but knowing math and statistics will help you in everything. Especially if you want to work at Hammel.” To hear Adelaide speak even if she was monotone, it was clear she was passionate about it and curious. Idalia was glad to have met this girl, she would not forget her. “You can get far by understanding the masses but people are difficult. More difficult than weather I think. You know that’s our biggest problem? We can’t seem to figure out how to get people to take out warnings seriously. What do you think?” She was interested to see if this girl had any opinions on the matter.

[Adelaide McLisk]

Add knew all too well about the tendencies of events to defy probabilities. You could have everything lined up, everything perfectly predicted, and something completely odd would come along and mess things up. She hadn't thought that it would apply to forecasting too, but she supposed it made sense. It did make Add wonder if perhaps the ability to predict the future was somehow based in the same realm as her own powers: nothing more than probabilities amplified to absurd levels. That was something for researchers to determine, certainly nothing more than a passing fancy for Add.

They started walking. Add slid her hands back into her pockets, glad to have some company, especially company as intriguing as Idalia. The more the meteorologist spoke, the more variables locked into place. Add was beginning to build the complex set of probabilities that defined everyone, though she certainly wasn't about to tell Idalia that; it had a tendency to unnerve.

Biggest problem, a question posited, and one that Add felt confident in answering: "It's simple, everyone thinks that they're the exception. Whenever you release information that says that so many people are going to be affected, people want to believe that it's not them. They've defied some sort of odd before, so why not now?" Add shrugged. She then looked over at Idalia. "I always prepare when the weather people tell me. You are experts for a reason, and we should listen to experts," Add looked back ahead, noticing the cold. "Though I do wonder sometimes how some people got to be called experts. I guess it's just a matter of being the odd one who somehow defies the odds to become an expert without expertise," Add tried to smile at that. It was supposed to be something of a joke, but Add knew she wasn't very good at it. She dug her hands a little further into her pockets, as if to berate herself for the comment.

"Do you ever feel like you were just supposed to be a meteorologist?" she asked, her eyes flicking to Idalia. Maybe an uncomfortable question would shift things, or at least make Add feel a little better.

[Idalia Tsavaris]

It was always something that eluded Idalia. She got statistics enough to make sure that the data that she was reading from was statistically significant but beyond that it was all over her head. She knew probabilities only when it came to thunderstorm tracking and even then she did them on the fly on instinct when need be. Idalia could talk, she could talk and talk someone’s ear off if they let her, she was happy to have someone who was willing to entertain her and her crazy ideas. Adelaide was bound to learn all sorts of things that Idalia didn’t want known but she also didn’t go around assuming that people were out to get her. She was rather pleasant and Adelaide was already on her good side when she praised her forecasters.

Idalia listened and nodded along as she watched Ike as he ran over there and sniffed at that. She only stepped in if he started sniffing at something that she wouldn’t want him to then try to eat or if he was getting dangerously close to stepping into the street. She tucked her chin in against the wind as it picked up briefly. “That is the problem isn’t it?” Idalia sighed, you could have a huge hurricane barreling toward them at breakneck speed and people would still either pass it off as not that bad or assume that it wouldn’t hit them. That was how people got hurt, that was how people died. There was never a victory for meteorologists when even one person died.

“That is amazing,” Idalia said with a genuine smile, “You know if everyone was as smart as you were then maybe we wouldn’t have to mourn so many people.” Her smile vanished into a frown and she shook her head. Why didn’t people listen? And Adelaide was right, they were experts, but of course the congressman who had never taken a science class in their life decided that they knew better and anyone in the sciences suddenly became a communist or a radical or a hippie. It was infuriating and as the front for her station in weather Idalia was called on to talk about things like this a lot. “It’s a rank that people give away to freely,” Idalia said icily missing the fact that it was a joke, “An expert should be one who has a degree in the field they claim to have expertise in, they should have published or at least be up on the current science. You know, Adelaide, I think what makes an expert is being able to accept the fact that you might be wrong.” She shook her head in frustration. They were getting better, the American Meteorological Society was starting to hold a lot of weight as far as giving out certifications for broadcast meteorologists.

Idalia cocked her head as she considered the question. “Hmmm, yes and no,” she said buying herself time to think. “I feel like I’ve been given a gift and if I can use it to help people then maybe that was what I was supposed to do. But I’ve always loved weather, maybe not before I got my power but once I started to see I wanted to understand. I guess you could say that made it the natural choice.” She smiled at Adelaide, “But who knows maybe if this starts being boring I’ll go do something else, who knows?” She raised a brow making a little joke of her own.