Okay, now. That wasn't the old alarm clock Mamo-chan (Mamo-chan? Ahh. Yes. Him.) had given her. She was quite sure of that, at least, since said present and giver had ceased to exist a very long time ago. At least for her, that is.
She could always go back, but it wasn't the same.
Alright. Very well. So it wasn't her old alarm clock.
So.
What in the Multiverse could be trying to drag her out of Dreaming something like a eon and a half before schedule?
"---Athena! What happened? Is it an emergency?"
It didn't feel like a really major emergency, anyway. One of those should have dragged her out of Dreaming pronto, "severe need of down time" or not.
But. Hmm.
Something had felt...off, even in Dreaming. And now that she was actually Awake enough to percive it properly... "No. Not a emergency, precisely. At least, not yet. ---I hope."
That didn't sound good. At all.
Alright. So just what was the problem here?
"You do remember you asked me to keep an eye on the timelines you look after, while you Dreamt?"
"Of course."
It wouldn't do to just go off Dreaming without asking somebody reasonably responsible to keep an eye on things, after all.
So. Now.
Most of the thicker main branchs of "her timelines" seemed to be intact, with a healthy---if such a thing could be said about timeline-clusters, that is---glow about them. Most.
But---
"What in the Multiverse is happening here!"
Grey coiled upon grey, piled and twisting into each other---
"It is not like that I have never seen timelines in which things turned out negative and twisted, but---It did seem like things were getting out of hand..."
Getting out of hand was a massive understatement. A certain amount of "negative outcome timelines" were unavoidable---or rather, the attempt to avoid such outcomes entirely tended to cause worse problems than the original one, so most Beings who knew even the basics tried to avoid that particular pithole like mortals avoided the plague---but this?
"Why all that?"
And why oh why did most of them seem to have something to do with the Crystal City Reborn? She loved that City, d--mit.
---Most of the versions, anyway.
"The culmative effect actually seems to be acting somewhat like an energy drain, at least when it comes to the, uh, non-dark timelines. I've never seen the like of this, actually---"
Great. Something the Patron Goddess of Wisedom and War couldn't make head nor tail of, was it.
"Athena. Your considered opinion. ---Are me and mine under attack?"
"---There is a distinct possibility, but I really can't say for sure. Several of the Dark Powers and the Tricksters seem to have been putting there fingers in here and there, but I couldn't really tell if they were the cause or just taking advantage of the situation."
Right. Lovely.
"---Athena? Are your timelines all right?"
"For now. Yes."
For now. But if this spread---
"Something will have to be done. Now."
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(Posted Wed, 24 Dec 2003 14:54)
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