Adrift - Round Peg, Square Hole

Pairing: Christy Taylor(OC)/Seven (fandom: Star Trek Voyager)

Disclaimer: All characters and locations are the property of respective show or book creators, other than the ones that are all mine

A/N: This is a reposting of a story that is part of an arc of stories. It can be read on its own, but you if decide you want to learn more about my character Christy Taylor, you will want to read her Xmen story Not Myself. A version of her (or several) also appear(s) in 500 Miles. I have taken the character I created for the Xmen universe into other fandoms and they are all a part of the Adrift series of stories, of which this one is part of. I have put her in Star Trek Voyager, True Blood, Twilight, and Once Upon a Time so far.

Author: Princess Alexandria

Rating: R

A/N: There are countless realities, endless subtle and not so subtle differences, and few are able to see or experience the full range that all realities can offer. Christy Taylor is one woman who can open the door to any reality she may want, but she isn't able to be sure what will face her when she gets there. In the Endless Possibilities, countless versions of herself are crossing worlds to try and find a place to call home, as she finds herself evicted from her original home. This is one story, on possibility, as she finds herself in a reality she'd seen on TV, far from Earth

Prologue – In an Xmen World, far far away.

Christy took a form that was a good twenty years younger than what she was, because most of the people here were in their early twenties, but clearly not all. Being a shapeshifter made it simple to blend in anywhere and Christy was always grateful for that ability. As a young college nerd, wearing dark glasses and an Xfiles tshirt she made her way into the convention.

"Miss the X on your clothes?" A blonde woman in her late twenties walked up beside her and spoke quietly, with a slight smirk on her lips. They both pretended to be looking over the list of upcoming panels. Christy took in the True Blood tshirt and tight jeans, before looking away again. She'd expected a few people she knew to be here, and this was one of them. They were her backup for her escape from this world. She had the power to create portals to other worlds, but she didn't control them very well. After using it once, to land in this world and becoming an Xmen of sorts she was happy never to risk it again, but she had to use one now. Running was the only option she saw open to her.

"Not too much." Christy glanced around subtly. The Xmen turned on her, for the most part, when her dark past was revealed six months ago. "Which one are you?" She asked, because this woman was one of five sisters that all looked alike, but seeing the wicked tilt of the blonde's lips Christy followed it up with her guess, "Esme?"

"Not too bad shape shifter." Esme nodded and started to walk further into the convention, pretending to glance at the tables of materials. "We're all here. Annie has us guarding all the entrances." Esme picked up a Xena magnet and glanced at the price. "She's not happy with your idea."

"I don't have much holding me here anymore." Christy muttered and wandered away from the telepath on guard duty to try and work her way to the girl she'd taken in ten years ago. Her heart ached at the fact she had to call Annie for help, but Annie's luck power gave Christy the best chance she had to start over. It was Christy's own luck that even though Annie was shocked at the stories she'd heard, she was still loyal and caring.

It was hard to appear happy and excited about the Fantasy and Science Fiction Convention she was walking through, but she did slow her pace near some tables to appear to belong. She caught the eye of another blonde, this one wearing an faded looking Borg tshirt and wondered briefly if that was Sophie or Phoebe, both were Annie's lovers, but when she just got a nod she moved on to try and find Annie herself.

Every where she looked another table sat, more people with costumes, and posters filled with characters from movies or shows. In a place filled with so much about visual media, Christy was surprised to see the books on sale as well, but the kid dressed as a wizard looked over a Harry Potter book, and the girl stared at an Edward poster, Christy cut through the tables, between where the sellers worked and came to the stairs she needed. The way her powers to travel realities worked was still a bit of a mystery to her, but with so many worlds displayed here, Christy was sure to have little to no control over her destination. It proved her desperation that she was fine with that, anywhere but here was fine with her.

A woman with black hair falling in waves to her mid back started to walk alongside her. Christy glanced to the side and was a little surprised to see the light green skin, out in the open. "I blend in better as myself here." Annie explained quickly why she wasn't hiding her skin color and glanced down at her Star Trek costume. When Christy glanced at it she noticed Annie blushed for a moment, before her face became more controlled and her eyes trailed over the floor below, from the balcony they'd stopped at. "I don't want you to leave."

"It's hiding or prison for me here." Christy spoke softer, seeing the young girl she'd taken in, hidden in what had become a rather confident woman before her. "I can count the number of people who want me to stay here on one hand Annie, and none of them can be around me when I have such a target on my head." Christy was surprised Annie even asked, even cared, with the disgust so many had voiced about Christy's past. Christy had carefully kept her past to herself, not even letting Jean know about it, but that new mutant had the power to project her greatest secrets into the night sky and they'd all seen her at her worst. Maybe if she'd admitted to it before then, but she hadn't, and now the Xmen were out for her blood, as if she could bleed for them. Her powers came at the price of a regular flesh and blood body and she had no blood to give. "I can't win this battle here." She spoke softly to the woman next to her. "And I'm just so tired of defending myself from them, and the government. Even if they decided to stop this now, it's too late. Once Scott called the government on my crimes, it was over. I can't ever go back."

"Scott and the Professor called me to ask if I'd seen you." Annie told Christy as yet another blonde came toward them, this one in a Ravenclaw shirt. "I told them no."

"Christy," The telepath spoke softly and then shared a concerned look with Annie. "If you want there to be lots of proof you've left, the news crew will be set up in a few minutes to film the convention." Christy wanted the audience, so that the government wouldn't keep looking, because she knew how they'd work. She didn't want the few people she cared about captured to try and lure her to surrender, and if she weren't there to surrender it would be worse.

"That's perfect." Christy muttered and Annie grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly.

"I want to try something." Annie's eyes seemed to plead for Christy to agree and Christy was startled when two people she didn't know started to come right toward them. "Raine can copy some powers and transfer it to another person, for a little while." Annie nodded to the redhead coming their way. "And Doug can boost people's powers, he can boost hers." Annie turned to stare Christy in the eyes. "I want you to have some luck, bring it with you, to get you started in your new life. I want to give you that, so I don't have nightmares of what might be happening to you." Annie knew her too well, Christy thought, as the one argument she couldn't ignore was given to her. "It's a longshot, but that's what I'm good at. Maybe this will help." Annie gave her a partial smile.

Christy wanted to hurry before they were caught, to make sure that the news caught her on tape leaving, and there were hundreds of witnesses to prove it. Still she nodded her head for a questionable experiment that might not even work on her, since her body makeup wasn't typical.

Raine held Annie and Christy's hand, and Doug stood behind Raine, apparently gripping her neck in a large hand from behind, resting on her vertebrae and hair. Christy didn't know these two, and wondered if Annie had hunted them down for her, because Annie didn't seem to hold that normal open expression she held near friends with them. In a surprisingly bold move he also moved to touch Annie, and he started to glow as he was boosting the powers they had around them. Christy felt something happening, a strange warmth filling her, and it told her something was working. They stood still as the warmth filled Christy for what seemed like much longer than it probably was.

"Sophie." Annie spoke as the blonde's eyes widened.

"Military, coming in fast. We also sense the Xmen. This is going to be a battle if we don't move now." Sophie told them and Christy nodded, before giving Annie one last hug.

Her portal to other worlds was formed by a scream from her, and it was why Christy rarely ever screamed or raised her voice, but she needed it now. Her scream startled all the people on the floor below and Christy stood up on the railing, as the portal she could create to another world opened up above their heads. She waited until the cameras of the TV crews moved around to focus on the swirling light of her portal, and took one last look at the people of this world, dressed up as if from other worlds, and leapt at the portal, trusting the luck Annie filled her with to pick her destination. From a place like this, with reminders of so many different realities, which the people assumed were fictional worlds, Christy could end up almost anywhere.

As she passed through the portal, she saw twists and ribbons of light through the walls of her own portal and stared in shock as an uncountable number of portal tunnels became visible for just a moment, showing something she'd never seen the only other time she'd traveled like this, other Christy's heading to other worlds. How many realities were nearly the same as the one she'd just left? How many worlds were just a small decision apart from the next?

Christy didn't want to land in something nearly what she'd just been in, didn't want to stare into familiar faces and wonder if they'd hate her like these people had. Christy wanted a completely different world. No more mutants. Thoughts of all the possibilities filled her mind and for once, she appreciated what her power could offer her.

The light around her finally changed as the exit to her ride approached.

Chapter 1

Christy's body spun in slow circles through the darkness. Her heart was pounding as she stared around her at the stars, and if she had any breath left she might have screamed in hopes that she could make another portal out of this. She wasn't sure she had even been this afraid when the asteroid was coming to ground in her own world, because she was stuck in outer space, spinning, nowhere near a place to charge up and alone. A few tears fell down her cheeks as she imagined forever like this. She didn't need to breath to live, she could probably survive out here for a long time, trapped.

She had no idea how long she was spinning when something felt different. Her mind was locked on her regrets, and she'd already imagined so many sounds, that she didn't even try to open her eyes again. Keeping them closed was all that was keeping her even partially sane. She'd quickly lost all sense of time as she floated around, the spinning making it impossible to gain any sense of direction either.

The odd sense that she wasn't alone disturbed her and she opened her eyes, risking what little calm she'd mastered. The large gray spaceship looked somewhat familiar, was all Christy had time to think before some sparkling enveloped her to the point she couldn't see anything but white for a moment.

When her vision cleared again Christy found herself falling and the shock of it came only a moment before the joy of having gravity hit her. The floor beneath her was gray with some industrial carpet. She heard an intake of breath and looked up to see a balding man with a black and blue jumpsuit on. He walked through a sparkling force field, but Christy kept her eyes on him.

She'd known she could travel realities, but this kind of a jump was a shock. "Doctor?" A strong female voice called out and Christy turned to see an open doorway and a short woman in a black and red jumpsuit. "She's alive? How is that possible?"

"I'm as surprised as you are Captain." He said and then gave Christy a small smile, before putting something to her neck. The sound of air shocked her into flinching, but then she jerked her body to see what he'd touched her with. "And it appears she won't be unconscious while I exam her either." The Doctor sounded a touch irritated.

The woman took a step forward and gave Christy a searching look. "I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway." The woman introduced herself and waited.

Ignoring the doctor beside her for now, Christy carefully stood up and took a step closer to the Captain, but the shine of the force field stopped her. She had no idea how it would affect her. "I'm Christy Taylor." Christy swallowed and glanced around the room again. She now noticed two men in black and yellow uniforms were also there watching her. "And I'm really not from around here."

…

The room was just like many she'd seen on the show, and Christy stared out the window at the stars with some trepidation. She'd lost her first world to space marbles, asteroids, and now she was just riding right through their hometown. "Well, at least they can't hit a moving target, eh Annie?" Christy muttered, wondering at the luck she was supposedly infused with. Her eyes wandered over the rest of the room, taking in the small device on the wall that was a replicator. She'd forgotten to ask Janeway how to operate it when she was given the brief tour of her new home. Well, it wasn't like she had replicator rations anyhow, she thought.

She might have to be careful about how much she did know, because she didn't want to explain that she'd seen this world on TV and didn't remember enough details to be of any use. That was rather embarrassing actually. And if they did ask what she remembered it would be things like who was dating who, not things like what threat lays in this quadrant here. Janeway would certainly be unamused.

"Computer," Christy spoke a little hesitantly, unsure if it would work. She'd seen it done before though, and she wasn't tired enough to sleep yet, even though that's what Janeway left her alone to do. "Location of Seven of Nine."

A female voice spoke up, "Seven of Nine is in Astrometrics." Christy couldn't help the small smile those words inspired. Seven was on board, that certainly would make this world more attractive. Christy liked how honest and straightforward Seven was in the show. She gave a sad smile to the stars and thought of her first world and the man that loved her there, and how he'd admitted to a crush on Seven of Nine.

"I get to meet Seven Mark." She whispered to his ghost. She hadn't ever talked to her past like this before, but here, in the stars, it seemed like they might hear her. "Bet you're jealous as hell."

"Computer, can you play music from the late twentieth century?" Christy asked as the silence became annoying.

"Affirmative." Was all she got in response and Christy frowned a little before chuckling at herself.

"My fault for the poorly worded command." She thought for a moment, remembering to be specific as she could be. "Computer, play the popular music of Earth during the late twentieth century in the United States of America." Almost instantly she could hear a familiar tune playing softly in the background. She could even feel her shoulders relax at that small taste of home. "Computer, unless otherwise stated, always play music from that time period when I am in these quarters." She felt like the computer would do it, and Christy smiled at the fact she was getting the hang of this. She got the computer to lower the inside lights and relaxed by the window for a while, before falling asleep on the couch even though she had a bedroom.

She couldn't really say it was morning when she woke up, not by looking around, but she felt done with sleeping. That was a good thing, because that pin that Janeway gave her blipped. "Captain Janeway to Christy Taylor." The voice kind of startled her.

Christy took a moment to touch the communicator. "Christy here."

"Very good." The captain sounded a touch amused. "I'm about to go to the Mess Hall and get some breakfast. Would you like to join me?"

"That's sounds good to me." Christy stood up and shifted her body subtly to do her hair again and switch her clothes to black slacks and a blue button up top.

"I'll be there in a minute. Oh, and we'll be having a guest with us for breakfast." The captain shut the connection and Christy moved to increase the lights in the room and then found herself just waiting. She didn't have anything else to occupy her time.

The door made a noise and Christy responded without thinking too much about it, "Enter." Janeway stepped in and tilted her head just a little to take in the music filling the room.

"I forgot to tell you how to make commands to the computer." Janeway gave her a curious glance and Christy blushed at her mistake.

"Um, wasn't too hard to figure out."

Janeway smiled. "Well, maybe you'll adjust faster than I would have expected then. Come on, let's go before Neelix runs out of coffee."

Christy paid a lot of attention to the way they took to the turbolifts, and also did her best to make sure she'd know how to use those. The turbolift they were waiting for stopped and out stepped one passenger. The tall blonde woman in a tight jumpsuit, that had some metal on her face, was clearly Seven of Nine. Seven had only nodded to Janeway and kept on her way.

"That was Seven of Nine." Janeway told her and Christy did her best to keep her face straight and not give the captain a small grin. "She was the last person to join our crew, before you." Janeway "She is human, but she was taken by the Borg when she was very young and we've only recently freed her from them." Janeway proceeded to give Christy a quick rundown of how the Borg assimilated people, and how those assimilate had no individuality or control over even their own thoughts. It was the condensed version but it was enough for a new person, and Christy hoped that Janeway was doing this to try and head off any prejudiced words Christy was bound to hear later from her crew. Christy wanted to believe that Janeway was at least aware enough of her people to know Seven was being ostracized. Christy knew it from the show and it bothered her. Christy decided she was going to get to know her. There wasn't much she could do in this world to help out, but she could help Seven. Seven's problem of fitting in, blending in, was right up a spies alley, and Christy was trained by one of the best spies in the last world.

….

Her spy training came in useful in a way she wished it wouldn't, when Christy found that even talking to Chakotay face to face wasn't any more interesting than hearing him talk on the show. He'd always seemed like a personalityless jerk. In fact she normally just turned off the TV if the episode was mostly about him, so she really pulled on her training to pretend to be interested in his stories about his culture.

"I had another reason for inviting Chakotay to eat with us." Captain Janeway said once the food plates were taken away by the first alien Christy had seen. Neelix had smiled and been friendly, but he'd taken off as if he knew this was a business breakfast. Christy hadn't seen many business meals on the show. "We aren't a large enough ship to have a passenger. We need all the hands we can to keep things running."

It was at that moment that Christy realized that this was a job interview. "Most of my skills are better planetside." Christy grimaced as she considered that. "I'm a trained spy, I'm a shapeshifter, and I've been a teacher, life skills, health, and psychology." She gave a humorless chuckle. "I was a computer teacher, but I think those skills are obsolete."

"A spy? I'd like to hear more about that." Captain Janeway leaned forward a little and Christy spent a quick moment thinking about how honest to be at this moment. Perhaps a time would come to tell more, and given Q lived in this reality and could probably rat her out like she'd been ratted out in the last world, a carefully planned disclosure of truth might be a good idea, but for now she'd go with vague interview type details.

"In my last world," and it seemed odd that anyone could say that. "There was a subtle, hidden, civil war going on. There were people, and I was one of them, with powers and we were discriminated against to the point that some groups were trying to commit genocide against us." Janeway and Chakotay's eyes widened. "I was trained as a spy, since I was able to shapeshift and could trick the sensors that identified mutants." Christy sighed. "I doubt I'd trick your sensors though. Still, I'm very good on my feet with trying to blend in, and I know a few methods of hand to hand combat. I know the weapons of my time relatively well, but again, things are different here." Christy wondered what her chances were. "I am not, and never will be much of a scientist, I am barely functional with fixing things mechanical, I had leadership experience, in a very different environment," Christy didn't add that it probably would only take one serious confrontation that she had some hand it for her to piss them off, because this was a very rule driven culture and Christy was much more results focused, kind of like Seven. It's why in the show she always cheered Seven on. "I'd be pretty valuable on away missions," She shrugged. "Fully trained with the technology I see myself in Security." She frowned, "Though their color is kind of ugly, but then I'm not Starfleet, so I don't know what you'd want me to wear." Christy glanced over at Neelix and knew she wanted a better job than that, so she grinned at them and shifted her clothes right in front of them, into the security uniform. "Does it look okay on me?"

"Oh my." Captain Janeway stared at the outfit and then into Christy's face. Christy could see Chakotay doing the same, but Janeway's eyes were more compelling so Christy didn't look away. "I'll take what you've said under advisement." Janeway sat back from the table a bit. "And I'd love to hear more about those skills at some point, but in order to take on that job you would need to go through extensive training." Christy gritted her teeth a little. She was always going through extensive training. "It might be something to consider in the future, once you understand enough of the technology and have learned more about our laws and procedures."

"I don't imagine there are many jobs that a twentieth century girl can slip into here without training, are there?" Christy sighed, already seeing a future in food preparation on the horizon.

"Just a few." Chakotay gave her a small smile.

"Can we revisit this after I know which end of a tricorder to use?" She gave them a good natured smile. Captain Janeway smiled and nodded. Christy shifted her clothes back to what she'd been wearing.

"It wouldn't take too much training to have you work in the Mess Hall and Hydroponics." Chakotay offered, and Christy had only heard of that last word in relation to this show.

"Hydroponics is gardening right?" She asked, and got a nod. Well, out of those two, it was the better. "Before we decide, would it be possible for me to work other departments if my 'unique skills' would be handy? It would give me a chance to check out other types of jobs." She had taught life skills after all and she wanted to see if there were any better fits for her, and to also start learning the people who live here. She also had the mantra, learn everything, see everything, blend in everywhere, drilled into her head for years. It wasn't something she would recover from, it just made sense to be able to walk into any office on the ship and at least look like she belonged. Some alien might invade and if she could pretend to be an engineer, or a doctor, it might give her an edge.

"What are you thinking?" Captain Janeway looked somewhat interested so Christy relaxed a little more.

"I have no idea how many hours you all work, but if I could work maybe twenty percent of my time in other spaces, if I'm needed. Just some flexibility for change. I'm used to much more," she tried to be diplomatic, "mentally stimulating work, dangerous work. If I can't have that, then I would be much happier at least not having too much of a routine. I might like some of the routine in hydroponics, and I've never been off planet before so plants might be comforting, but every day? I don't know if I could do that."

"You neglected to mention your negotiation skills." Janeway said while glancing over at Chakotay. Christy gave her a small shy smile at the subtle compliment. "I think we can work on that. In the beginning, until we see how things work out, you may be job shadowing on your flexible time, but cross training is always a good idea for emergencies." Janeway nodded and it looked rather commanding. "We don't have a full hydroponics lab, so that would really only be part of your job anyhow. You'll end up helping Neelix with some of his responsibilities as well." Christy tried not to grimace at that. She was a bad cook, and she knew it, but then from what she'd heard his cooking wasn't too popular either. "And we'll need to arrange for some tutoring to help you catch up." She looked thoughtful. "I'll also mention your interest in Security to Tuvok, as it is his department. He may have additional ideas for your tutoring."

Christy left with a rough schedule created. Tomorrow she'd be meeting her new supervisor in Hydroponics. Christy also managed to play up her experience blending in with humans in many situations and it was a subtle manipulation, but she got Captain Janeway to suggest that Seven of Nine might be a good tutor, as they could both benefit from each other's experience. The Captain left with a promise to introduce her more formally to the ex-Borg later that day.

…

Seven had finished the report on the spatial anomaly readings they had from when the new passenger appeared, and it was not like any wormhole or any other anomaly she'd seen before. Her conclusions were not as sound as she'd prefer, but Captain Janeway was determined to have the report now, even as incomplete as it was. With Pad in hand she left Cargo Bay 2 and started for the turbo lift.

It made little sense to her why she stood outside the Ready Room waiting to be allowed in, when the captain herself had requested her presence, but Seven had learned to not question these minor things. Protocol or politeness were always the answer, as if that explained away the wasted time.

"Seven!" The Captain waved her over and Seven moved to stand before her desk, while handing out the datapad with the information she had managed to collect. "Have a seat. Would you like something to drink?" The Captain was already up and moving toward the replicator, before even waiting for an answer. Seven stared at the chair, knowing that sitting would mean staying longer than she'd planned, but she slowly lowered herself into the chair.

"I do not require…" She started to answer and the Captain sighed quietly.

"So none for you." The Captain finished Seven's answer imprecisely, but Seven just nodded and waited for the coffee the Captain wanted before they got to the real reason for this meeting. When the shorter woman moved to sit, she let out a gust of air. "Alright, to get to the point, we have a new crew member from the early twenty-first century, very early from the sounds of it." Seven waited, curious about why this was being revisited. "She's got very strong communication skills, and seems to have a knack for putting people at ease while talking with her. She says she has experience learning new cultures and fitting in to new situations. Her main obstacle is that she doesn't understand our technology and doesn't know how the ship functions." The captain smiled at Seven. "And that reminded me of another relative new crew member we have, that seems to have the very opposite issues. You have an amazing grasp of technology, but you are lost with human interactions."

Seven sat just a little straighter as she saw where the Captain's logic was going, and she wasn't sure she supported her conclusion. The crew members of this ship often avoided her, or kept their distance, but she could hear that they thought she was a threat. Many were dismissive to her face, or completely suspicious, even after her being on board for months. There was little evidence that this new crewmember would not hear the rumors about Seven and desire a different tutor.

"I've assigned her to work under Neelix, as his department requires the least training in technology." The captain gave Seven a small smile. "But she is clearly unhappy with her assignment. I want you to work with Christy Taylor to get her the skills she needs to survive on the ship and prepare her to start training for a position in Security. She's made a sound argument for belonging in that department, and we know we could use the help."

"Understood." Seven said, and moved to stand up to leave.

"I want to introduce you to her tonight, so come to my quarters at nineteen hundred hours and we'll work on your social skills." The Captain gave a small, amused smile, and Seven felt her heart drop, but she just nodded and left to try and finish up her scans of the upcoming area with the time she had before she had to cease work for this exercise in social skills.

…

Seven arrived at the Captain's quarters at nineteen hundred exactly and was allowed entry. The captain had a table prepared with three chairs around it and the room was more softly lit. "You're the first one here." The Captain gave her a welcoming smile and Seven just nodded her greeting, but mentally she prepared herself for the woman she was supposed to work with to be as unreliable as the other humans on board. It was now past nineteen hundred and the woman wasn't here.

Seven was coerced into helping the Captain prepare by inputting their order into the replicator. At three after nineteen hundred the door signaled that Christy Taylor had arrived. Seven looked over from across the room as the door opened and she watched the woman walk in. Christy wore a friendly smile and was in different clothing than Seven had seen her in, briefly, in the hall earlier.

"Christy." The captain moved forward and Seven started to pay more attention to the interactions, as that was the purpose of this exercise. "I see you found my quarters alright."

"Eventually." Christy shook her head. "I got lost on the wrong deck. I'm sorry I'm late. I finally ran into someone who told me I wasn't even close."

"I'm sorry I didn't give you better directions." The captain replied and Seven didn't really understand why they continued to talk about this, when it was a problem and was now resolved, but she said nothing. "Christy, I'd like you to meet Seven of Nine." The captain motioned Seven forward and so she came closer.

In studying Christy's reactions, Seven was slightly puzzled. Granted Christy saw her briefly in the halls, but typically when people are introduced to her their eyes widen and they sometimes react with faster breathing or dilating eyes. Seven had seen other physical reactions to herself, but the way Christy just calmly held out a hand for a customary hand shake and her lack of reaction to Seven's borg hand was somewhat unexpected.

The sensors in Seven's hand quickly recorded readings from Christy's body, and they were remarkably different from any creature she'd physically touched before. Christy's body temperature was close to human normal, but there was no flow of blood or heartbeat. Many other pieces of data were filed away for later consideration, as Seven continued with the introduction and had to remove her hand and stand there at attention as the captain talked about the two of them, clearly trying to make some connections between two unlike individuals.