080914KateBeau

-- abyssalArrow [AA] began pestering chessAficionado [CA] at 12:45 --

 AA: Kate wanderes the dream bubble, looking for Beau.

 CA: Beau is sitting around in the library, playing a game of chess with himself...

 AA: Kate sits across from him. "Hello, Beau."

 CA: Beau smiles."Kate, how're you?"...

 AA: "I'm well, moreso now that I can see my old friend again." She smiles.

 AA: "Though I'm sure for you it hasn't been too terribly long since you've seen me."

 CA: "Not too long, but I'm happy to see you too"...

 AA: "I hope the adjustment isn't too jarring."

 CA: "Well, you people are the same as in my timeline, so it's mostly all of your adjustments I'm worried about..."...

 AA: She smiles knowingly. "My adjustment was over and done with moments after you arrived, Beau. It seems your timeline divergences were fairly minor in the grand scheme of things, which was to be expected."

 AA: "The horrorterrors' selection of a doomed was fairly convenient at face value, we lost you, you lost Sami. The devil is in the details of course, but I think the two of you can build something good out of your mutual resurrection."

 CA: "Well... I don't really think anything romantic can come from it"...

 AA: "Why do you say that?"

 CA: "I'm simply not the one she loves..."...

 AA: "And she is not the one you loved, right?"

 CA: "That's where the true pain is"...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "She is exactly like the Sami from my timeline, so despite knowing it isn't her I still have my feelings"...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "But her will is stronger than mine"...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "But even if the two of you were to hold tightly to these feelings of timeline exclusion, could this not be something you could both build upon?"

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "You are kindred spirits of a cosmic quality."

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "It is nice to be with her as friends again, I will not deny..."...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "You have lots of time now, almost 5 years to talk and find your foundations. Whether or not those foundations are strong enough to support romance I'm sure the two of you will find out rather quickly."

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "I sure hope so..."...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "I'd offer to give you two some more time to think about it if you needed it, but I'm not sure how Jack would react to that."

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "He seems a little less murder happy, so who knows? I doubt we need so much time, since we have the whole trip to think..."...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "I could tell fairly quickly that he had been dead a long time."

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "So... When did you figure out your timeline was doomed?"

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "I didn't know"...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "Our timelines are very similar, so I'd bet that mine was pretty close to being the alpha"...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "I just died"...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "Interesting. Did I, from your timeline, have a Canary with a Clock embedded in its chest?"

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "Uh... Not that I noticed, but I never looked at your inventory much"...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: Kate nods sagely. "That makes sense. That bird dies when the timeline is doomed, I must have never created it."

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "I see"...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "I like to keep an eye on it in timelines where I have it. It helps to diffuse any situations that would otherwise needlessly drag on."

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "Perhaps that is why your timeline was chosen. With you being male, your timeline was doomed from your creation. As such, I wouldn't have known anything about the Doom Canary, and as such couldn't tell when the timeline was actually doomed."

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "Thus, I would not have been able to announce that the timeline was doomed and everything done from then on was meaningless. Usually everyone is immediately killed by Jack as a result or they all sit down and have pie."

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "It's about a 50/50 split on that one."

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "Perhaps they figured it out after my passing, who knows"...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "I doubt I would be able to find it at this point."

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "It doesn't really matter. I'm stuck here now"...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "Even if some people are a little less than happy about it"...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: "I'm not worried about Jack and I'm happy to see you again, Beau."

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: "I'm happy to see you too, I'm happy to see all of you."...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: Kate smiles.

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> AA: She looks at the board. "Do you want to play?"

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"> CA: Although he is smiling. His eyes are filled with sadness. "Sure... that would be nice"...

<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;">