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Staren     The white castle is mostly uninhabited. The walls and ceilings are made of some sort of milky-white stone, wile the floors are tiled in a chessboard pattern, with the occasional carpet or rug. Sometimes dusty suits of armor or faded paintings and tapestries adorn the walls. There are far more rooms than inhabitants; A small section is being used as an active living area, with a sort of common area/dining/rec room that has a table (with some snack food on it), chairs, a big screen TV, and a bunch of gaming consoles (where does the power come from?), an adjoining kitchen, and down hallways and up stairs are bathrooms and rooms that are being used as living quarters. Several living quarters have been recently cleaned for possible guests.

    One of the people living here is a three-foot-tall-and-change... blue-green-furred... creature of some kind? There is a sort of pointy snout or muzzle like a mammal that burrows and sifts its nose through things, and large, expressive eyes; Like a cartoon animal it wears shoes and gloves and a scarf. It has a catlike tail and its head has something like limply-hanging furred tentacles or tendrils that evoke the appearance of 'hair'.

    It... he? Is happy to zip around looking at all the new people coming into this space. "Hi! I'm Syril! What brings all you people here?"

    The other 'native' is in the shower, the sound of spraying water coming from one of the bathrooms. Frankly, an understandable reaction from even a short step into Meatworld(TM.)

   But you're not here for a castle tour. You're here to explore new worlds!    

    As small as the party is today, Staren doesn't bother with trying to find cars or mounts in a nearby dreamscape. The Flotilla has transport, she has her mini-mech, and a curious Syril rides along on the mech's shoulder.

    For once, it's not raining. It's twilight, although it isn't clear where the light is *coming* from with no sun in the sky, and it's cool and windy. The area immediately around the castle has become a wasteland from nightmare assaults, but in the distance the terrain is more varied; dark forests, impossibly large mountains, and whatnot. Here and there ruins and bits of buildings from many times and many worlds jut up from the horizon.

    Staren's hooked one of the Syndicate tablets up to her machine *somewhere*. "Readings indicate a warpgate up ahead. Should be only a few minutes away..."

    The trip takes them to a forest path. It's the kind of dark forest you expect fairy tale children to get lost in if they step OFF the path, although somehow, it's wide enough for the party to travel.

    Eventually they emerge into a large clearing, just as the forest is starting to turn to a swampy area, although the dirt and grass here is reasonably dry. The gate is... flat on the ground, vertical, a stone-and-magic circle 20-odd feet across...

    ...And around it are the bodies of several... magitech cyborgs? The flesh parts are strangely artificial, don't smell or scan right, and have oil instead of blood, and the metal bits are ornamented with gold, silver, jade, gems and such.

    An anthropomorphic two-tailed fox in ill-fitting clothes and a labcoat and goggles is bent over one of the bodies, hmmming thoughtfully as she dissects? vivisects? part of it, examining how it's made.
Starbound Flotilla     Most of the Flotilla is hanging back on various exploration and study duties. It's George and Seft repping them here today. George's got one of those pack-mule type robots, but he's sat side-straddle on it, smoking as they head through the forest. "Look like you're settling in, kid. Weird spot, huh? Lotta variety." He's been watching the sky more than the way ahead, which always leads to him swearing under his breath when the cargobot stumbles.

    Seft is her usual sweet self, though the princess dress is exchanged for something still noble but a bit more appropriate for riding a mechanical horse. "Happy. It seems like a pleasant spot to me, personally. I hope you'll keep developing it."

    When it stops at the clearing is when George finally pays attention to what's in front of him. "Eh?"
    "Concerned. Are you okay? There seems to have been some kind of battle here..." Seft's expression is concerned. She regards the bodies. "Curious. Are these wounded natives...?" She's already dismounting, moving to try to assess damage and such.
Staren     Settling in? "Yeeeeah..." Staren rubs the back of her head. "Secundus is... weird. Be careful what you wish for, right? But... scans of the warpgate we're headed to are promising, and it seems like what I can find in the 'dungeons' here, fragments of discarded dreamworlds, could contain pretty much anything. I just need time and manpower to actually... scout them and get an idea of what I've got access too."

    A pleasant spot. "I guess it is during the 'day'. Monsters come out at night. And so do dreamers. It's a mess."

    Staren approaches cautiously, but doesn't feel like getting out of her mech. "From what they told me, there shouldn't BE natives. Those two are just stuck here because their home planets were... are gone, or something. Either they're from a dream, or the other side of the gate, right? Hey, Syril, you ever seen any of these guys before?"

    The Science Vixen Of Uncertain Provenance answers Seft: "Native to what? Everyone is native to somewhere, aren't they, Seft? They're fine. Souls are stored in these gem things on their foreheads, right? So as long as it's intact they can't die. Fascinating! Fascinating."

    She blinks, and lifts her upper body straight from the corpse(?) she was leaning over. "What was I doing again? I introduced myself to you, I came to investigate the gate, I did the whole spiel about how you think I'm posessed by a chaos ghost but actually I AM the chaos ghost except not exactly, I was taking apart these curious people to see how they work... wait."

    As she turns towards the party and stands, Syril has finally started paying attention, shouting "AAAH IT'S THE CRAZY FOX LADY RUUUN" and has run with seemingly magically-enhanced speed back the way they came. It seems he won't be any help.

    The goggles are abruptly glasses, which she pushes up on her muzzle with one oily finger. "Did that happen yet in this timeline? Timelines... the way mortals interact with time is so confusing. I mean not really. I've figured it out at some point or other. But it's such a pain. This is what, the... second time we've met? Third? Tenth? Or are you someoene else? Ugh..." She tilts her head forward, rubbing her chin and getting oil on her fur.

    "Um." Staren says, having sort of stared at this torrent of words, ready to shoot someone that MAY have just killed a bunch of magitech cyborgs. "...We haven't met yet. Did you say you're a chaos ghost?"

    "Oh. We HAVEN'T? I mean, we HAVE, but not from YOUR perspective. Right! Right. Um. Sorry, which one are you again?" She shakes her head and holds out a hand dismissively, "No, that doesn't explain, does it? Right. So, you know how you're in some kind of Multiverse, right? There's... there's people like me, who gotta make sure it all runs. Except, something went wrong somewhere... Everything is happening on its own here... so I'm kind of out of a job..."

    She trails off in her explanation, staring into space thoughtfully.
Starbound Flotilla     The old man squints at the temporally unstuck weirdo. "Eeeeehhhhhh?" His voice has the crotchety tone as he takes a longer drag from his cigarette. "Never met'cha. You're sounding confused. Out of a job? What, ya got fired?"

    "Uneasy. Or there's little use for that sort of order in this place." Says the robot, approaching. "Amused. Though, perhaps making the multiverse function in a particular way is no particular *specific* job. Maybe that is the role of anyone with aspirations! Do you still have some then? You seem like a wanderer."

    "And a fighter. You do this too?" George hunches over one of the cyborgs, taking another long drag from the cigarette before he puts it out on one of the pieces of metal. No delay before another fresh hospital-smelling roll is in his mouth, lighting up. Indefatigable chain-smoker.
Staren     "Order? Order??" The temporally unstuck weirdo shakes her head. "No no, I'm usually in Sey phase. Or I guess it should be Ren phase, really! I like that. That's a nice name. It would probably be less confusing if I went by Ren, since we have the same first name and all. Ren. Rrrren. Reeeeeennnn." She rolls the syllable around on her tongue for a bit.

    "Did you say we have the same name?" Staren asks, pulling her com-unit out of her pocket and fiddling with it hurriedly.

    "Aspirations... I told you. Or I guess I didn't. Now is when I first tell you!" Ren takes a deep breath, and turns to Seft. "Once, I was mortal. I was... very confused. Poor me. I've seen the other timelines; sometimes I die without figuring out who I am, or remain confused forever." She taps her chin, staring sadly into space. "So many Bad Ends are possible... I guess in a way this is one, too? I can't be mortal again. There are timelines where I go back, but then I'm still here, you know? Just as she's out there, even though she's also mortal. That's what makes the possession thing possible."

    She blinks. "Oh right, I'm in the middle of that explanation. I suppose I can fight, yes. Ultimate knowledge, ultimate power, and all that. So, you see, I'm not actually possessed by a 'chaos ghost'..."

    "'Once you were mortal.'" prompts Staren, glancing up from the com-unit.

    "Yes! Once I was mortal. And so I had the aspiration to experience *everything*. All that was possible, for all of humanity and beyond!" She spreads her arms wide and smiles up at the sky. "And I met *her*. Wonderful. Wonderful. But trapped in this same existence I am now. I thought of her, the mortal I was thought of her as a were-natural-disaster. Heheh, does that make me a natural disaster now? Am I natural? I switched places with her. Gave her the chance to be mortal. In most timelines I switched back. But in one... I didn't. And I saw a future where I could help oversee an endless multiverse, learning how countless worlds work by making them work together! But when I tried to reach that future, I ended up here. What happened? Oh wait, you already told me. No, wait, you're telling me now? Secundus?"

    Staren texts George and Seft: <Found it. If we do have to fight her, she needs attention and thermal energy to function. Not sure how to ignore her but cold should work?>
Starbound Flotilla     "I mean, I don't know about chaos ghosts. You just seem kinda cranked." George takes a veeeery long drag of the cigarette. She sounds... potentially dangerous? She took out all these cyborgs and also is completely unhinged... from something, at least.

    "Concerned. 'Make' them work together, oversee... Ohhhh... your prophecy failed, then. I see, I think I understand how you found yourself here." Seft's eyes flicker to a concerned expression. "Worried. Are you still planning to do that?"

    That's when she glances down. It's also around when George looks at his PDA and rambles something like, "What... the fuck...?" Before he looks up. "Girl, I am not keeping track of this *at all*. You met someone? Some kinda... what, fae or something? Hang on -- from your..." He tries to figure out how to bluff this out to get an approximately clear answer. "Your perspective, how many times have you done disaster-stuff? From *our* perspective, how many times you think you're *gonna* do disaster-stuff?"
Staren     Ren looks right at Staren as the text is sent. "You don't ACTUALLY know that. Maybe I work completely differently! You always have to fight things, don't you?" She shakes her head. "I thought you were better than that. Is this what you become when you don't run into getting yourself bad-ended? Tsk tsk." She shakes her head again...

    ...And at Seft's question, tilts her head to one side. "That's rude, but I guess it's true." She looks at the warpgate. "Things don't seem to work that way. I showed up for a job, but the office was closed when I got here. Disaster stuff... is this disaster stuff? I didn't kill them. You took their souls back home so they can live again." She furrows her brow in thought. "A few times? This isn't the only time we meet. Although it might be from YOUR perspective. I don't feel like fighting. I don't *exist* while I'm gone."

    She shrugs. "I just am. I've done everything I will ever do, and will do everything I've ever done. How can I 'plan'? I got everything I wanted. Experience everything that can be experienced, across multiple timelines! What's the point of fighting."

    She looks at George, sadly. "What about you? Do you actually want to fight me? See if freezing me works? I think the next thing I do will be take a nap. Or see where these gates go. I will do both of those things in the near future. Except in the timeline where you make me not."
Staren     (Staren, for her part, looks Appropriately Concerned when Chaos Ghost(????) Ren tells her she meets her end in some timelines. It makes sense but it's weird to hear.) "Aunt Fox, do you... have you *actually* met me? Do you *actually* remember me?"
Starbound Flotilla     "Correcting. Taking, I think, not took." Seft says, since she's already kneeling down to extract gems. She keeps a hand worryingly near the weapon at her side. "Anxious. You seem to be stretched across a lot of timelines. I hope you can understand some concern about being at the other end of the rubber band, so to speak."

    George regards her. Freeze her *and* ignore her? Difficult. Possible? Maybe. "Any chance a guy could get ya to experience everything everywhere all of the time somewhere not-here? I guess coming down from the big swap ain't an option. This cross-time stuff looks like it kicked your ass into the end of the Multiverse, but there's always one of you all jammed on all-time." He's rooting around in the pack for his robo-dog. "Where in the hell did I put..."

    He never took them, of course. It was Seft who lifted the cryo-grenades out of the sack. There's one way to freeze and ignore if it comes to it, and that's manipulating George into freezing her while he doesn't realize and his back is turned, focusing on work. But she's a hero. She'd only do that if needed. "Focused. It sounds as though this has become some kind of nihilistic hedonism, though. These may not have died... are others in our timeline dead at your hand?"
Staren     The vixen smiles, and runs up to look at the machine from all angles, getting oily handprints on it. "Oh, look at you! My daughter I never had! Who's the mother? Who's the father? Or did we build you! What did you say your name was? Ashley? Are you *Her* child?" She looks sad for a moment. "I guess I could never raise a child like this. Is that why she became mortal..."

    She looks at Staren. "Who are you again?" "Staren Wiremu?" "Magitech catgirl Staren Wiremu!" Ren smiles again. "No, I know OF you, but no timeline I get to see met a younger you. At least, THIS you..." She peers in Staren's direction. "No magic computer? No traveling extradimensional home? Doesn't seem like the kind of thing you travel without."

    She rests her chin in her hand, stroking the underside of her muzzle thoughtfully. "'Aunt Fox', huh? I can see how you'd come up with that if we didn't have Ren. Did you meet me as a mortal? Would have to be a me that didn't become /me/, or went back." She shakes her head sadly. "I won't remember all this, if I go back. Mortal me only remembers feelings. It's too much for a mind to hold."

    She turns and looks to Seft sadly. "'Are' dead... or will be... I can't tell from your perspective. But..." She shakes her head. "I'll surely do things you won't accept. Or have done." She holds her hands to her head and pulls at her hair in frustration. "It's all so... they're so SMALL! Mortal lives... so many... dying all the time! It doesn't make a difference! If that's how it has to be...."

    She floats up into the air several feet, narrative-metaphorical hype drives engaging. There's a shift, and then she's a human girl but for the ears and tail. Wearing ragged, oversized shirt and pants. Staren gasps. There's a brief surge of wind from her direction as air heats up, her hair goes metallic silver, and flecks of gold sparkle in her eyes.

                          S T A R E N   "No, the new one's good. Less confusing." She reaches out, going foxy again briefly to claw the boss title as it appears.

                          \ \ \ R E N   \ \ \ \ \ \ \                          
                             MAD CUSTODIAN OF CHAOS                            

    She looks down at the assembled group. She's seen a timeline where they work out a way to make her stop existing, and she can't see clearly past that. She's not in the mood to fight...

    There's a burst of heat and wind and energy, she's engulfed in a golden aura, and--

    --Dives through the gate.

    All is quiet.

    Staren lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
Starbound Flotilla     "Here! No this one's the incendiary. Where's..." George was actually sweating at the chunks of this that filter past his determined effort to ignore it. But then... suddenly Seft is behind the mechanical beast, as if ready to do something -- or as if ready to take cover.

    Eyes widen. Motors jitter into fight-or-flight configuration. Her grip goes as white-knuckled as a robot can be... And then falters. The threat's gone. "Relieved. Well, I didn't want to anyway." She mutters, softly in under-breath static.

    "The hell? Wait--" George whips around, grenade in hand (it is a shock grenade, put that back). "Where'd she--? Oh. Well..."
    "Relieved. Gone, thankfully, it seems." She rambles a bit, before she sets the belt of grenades back on the big-dog looking thing. "Now help me gather these up. We have some bodies to repair or refashion, I think..." Setting off to the clearing, she (and George, begrudgingly) get to work. "Humorous. I think you make a much better cat." She mutters a little.
Staren     Once Staren comes down from that adrenaline spike, and finally opens the cockpit and climbs out. "They're Alchemical Exalted. Guess we know what's on the other side of this gate... or *somewhere* in Secundus, at any rate." She approaches the nearest body. "...Shit, yeah, with medical facilities I think I can put them back together, but I don't know if they'll wake up... She said we took their souls back to their home, right?"

    Staren looks at the gate. "...She meant we *will* do that, right? But... yeah. We can... We can take care of this, and... organize a proper gate expedition later."

    At Seft's comment, she smiles. "She's not me. I haven't seen Aunt Fox in... gosh, fourteen, fifteen years? She liked to talk about magic. SHE did the magic computer thing, not me... Although..." Staren hmms, holding a few fingers to her chin for a moment. "I can't say I haven't *thought* about making some kind of magitech computer. The rapid-assembled magitech doesn't sound like what she was talking about, though. Different timeline?" She shrugs. "Anyway, that sounded like Aunt Fox. Some very confused version of her, where... SOMETHING happened. She became the chaos ghost thing instead of having a piece of it inside her? It sounds like a trip."

    She looks at the bodies and sighs. "...THIS is gonna be a couple trips. Guess I've got a long night of surgery and reassembly if we're going to bring them home in one piece..."