"What's Corona look like, then?"

"Well, not visually. Visually he looks like all the others except you. I mean metacausally, and that's not really something I can describe - I can bounce it if Sue's around but Sue probably shouldn't be around. Just - I think you're the same kind as Corona. And Jokes and Queenie and Ghosty and Alice and Sue and Micaiah and Jellybean and Kas and Beast are a kind, and Harley would've been too, and you and Corona are another kind, and Brilliance and Aianon and Ansharil and Celo and Nona are all other - well, either kinds or one-offs, I can't tell until I see more of the same."

"So is that why all that stuff about the other ones' lives is all wrong? Where they're from New York and have dads and stuff?"

"They're oriented around a different subset of attractors," says Glass. "Corona probably matches you in more particulars. Especially since his world is an Earth, though it's an odd one as Earths go."

"And I don't get to meet any of these people 'cause they all want to fuck me later," he says as though seeking confirmation.

"Well," shrugs Glass, "yes, and predictably vice-versa, that's definitely a thing with you guys and I don't see any blips in your metacausality significant enough to suggest that you differ, awkward as it is to be informing a twelve-year-old of this."

He shrugs. "At least they don't want to fuck me now."

"They do not," Glass agrees. "Oh, and there is no particular metacausal pull inducing you to wander off and collect the template minimum amount of suffering the way there was with Harley, so, I guess there's that."

"He's already up to par, then?"

"Yes. I sort of wonder exactly how young you could kidnap one without them spontaneously freecasting into disaster zones later, actually, but I don't see anything that specific so I guess all we know is older than a year, younger than twelve. And he was lined up like Harley was to do the whole Batlady shtick but that attractor continues not to care if people get in its way."

"Freecasting?"

"It's like teleporting, but Jokers can learn to do it regardless of having any other magic, and it can go between worlds. Sue figured it out first, then Harley learned to do something very similar but without the ability to control it, when he was seventeen, and landed in Gift and couldn't figure out how to get home."

"Jane was down at the time. There was mind-control involved and eventually he freecasted into the sun and stayed there for several years. Once we could get at the world, we fetched him out. He's basically recovered now."

"Into the sun?" he says, deeply impressed.

"He tried the bottom of the ocean and a volcano first, but the local version of my Grandma Lizzie, Aelise, was able to get him out."

Felicity laughs. "Damn. I think I like this guy."

"Anyhow," says Glass, "that's what I've got. Do you need anything else, Elsie?"

"No, I'm all set. Say hello to my cousinoids for me."

"So you aren't fated to vanish for unpleasant adventures, that's good. Harley's wolf was not at all okay when Harley vanished, and had to sleep through the wait. Not that there's any strong reason to expect you to acquire a wolf."

"A wolf?"

"Male werewolves do this thing called 'imprinting' - the imprint is the center of the wolf's universe, basically. It definitely won't happen to you unless you magically turn female, and it might not happen even then. Harley turned into a girl and then invited his best friend over and now he has a wolf. I have one too."

"That's weird," says Felicity. "I don't want a wolf."

"Then if you plan to turn female and wander into the line of sight of any un-imprinted male wolves, you'll want to check with my aunt first. She can see the future."