Riley brushes a few strands of hair behind my ear and prims my hoody. The fabric gliding against my chest almost feels nice — small reminders that this isn’t all so bad.

Flashing a pursed smile seems to cut through our shared anxiety. And after a few failed-starts to drum up something closer to human speech, actual, real words come out. “I-I’m not sure if I’ve ever said ‘thank you’ in the past…few years.”

She nods and smiles back. “Lex, don’t be mad,” she moves to hushed tone, “You had…or have…some kind of trauma that screwed up their real machine bad.”

“Unfortunately, I heard.” I reply, easing myself out of Riley’s maternal grip. “I guess it was on Alexa’s side of the gap. Something must’ve happened to her five years ago from…no, that would’ve been ten…Ugh! Who would’ve though that waking up as a girl would be so complicated?”

“Oh wait!” Riley perks up,Wasn’t that right about the time you came out as trans? Lexa? Lex? Shit, doc! — She’s doing it again!”