"Yes, that's right, Froufrou, you vile little curd, you, you fucking writhing, wriggling masterwork of wretched disgust! I'm here to fucking snuff you out like a light, and there's nothing you can do about it!" spat alternative Omar as he cackled.
Of course, the fact that alternative Omar was, well, alternative Omar was no surprise to non-alternative Froufrou. After all, she'd recognized him immediately on entering into her alternative self's [checkpoint] scenario. However, for whatever reason it seemed that Omar did not expect her to realize who he was until his... grand reveal. This realization made Froufrou rightly wonder indeed if perchance alternative Froufrou was not in fact ass intelligent as herself. That is to say, Froufrou was quickly falling under the impression that her alternative self's [INT] was nowhere near as high as her own. She'd have to take note of that for when she dreamed up a method to escape this seemingly sinister, alternative timeline.
But for now, she'd have to evade alternative Omar's flaming arm, which was coming down on her like a hammer of doom!
Thankfully, Froufrou thought, what was a hammer of doom, to doom's harbinger? She raised her tendrils and with a quick dash and a spin she evaded the slamming attack. Had she not had [Tendrils of Fury], she might've taken a good bit of damage, but thankfully that too was avoided.
Wait.
Was she?
Froufrou noticed that alternative Omar... wasn't alternative Omar at all. He barely even looked like Omar - alternative or otherwise! Why, he looked like an enormous owl. An enormous owl that was hooting at her!
"Hoot, hoot, WHO do you think you are?" boomed the large, flaming owl as it slapped Froufrou through the air with a mighty wing. She slammed into the wall, which was inexplicably made out of nothing but huge piles of scrolls. Froufrou stumbled to get her footing, or more aptly her tendriling, and indeed when she did she immediately noticed that every single scroll was a prophetic scroll bearing the seal of the Upper Echelon. Which was truly a bizarre thing to behold.
And then, she saw alternative Kahli. Or... was it normal Kahli? She couldn't tell, there seemed to be an enormous amount of floaters impacting her vision greatly in the moment. However, whichever Kahli Froufrou saw in that moment looked to be in great distress.
"Owlmar!!" she cried at the gigantic flaming owl. "Don't you dare activate all those prophetic scrolls!"
"HOOT late, motherfucker!" cried Owlmar as he flapped his wings and landed with a slam in the pile of papers, incinerating many of them in an instant. Froufrou watched as flames engulfed her, and she felt the terrible pain the wrought - however, she noticed a discreet dearth of system messages warning her about her [HP].
Just as Froufrou felt weary enough to lose herself, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Something familiar, and yet distant and strange. It looked like an oversized fony. An oversized fony with two spires, extremely glittery sparkles emanating off its backside, and a strange woman with enormous wings riding haphazardly atop it.
And then, Froufrou heard a strange, guttural voice whisper in her mind's ear. It was the kind of voice that sounded rightly like a million, billion voices all joining together in a chorus for dramatic effect.
Harbinger of Doom. Doom. Doom. Doom.
Froufrou squelched.
----------------------------------------
Froufrou awoke in a dark, musty cell.
"Heh heh heh," laughed alternative Omar as he adjusted the shackles chained around Froufrou's tendrils. "One of the... more interesting effects of the poison you consumed when you ate that strudel is that it can make one prone to hallucinate. You were squelching like you were in some sort of an action movie! HAH! Well, you weren't going anywhere, and there's no beating me, so you might as well get over yourself, Froufrou. I swear to Theseosus herself, your ego must be the size of, hell, of an enormous jellyfish or something. Not sure why that's the visual I thought of, it just came to mind for some reason."
Froufrou squelched involuntarily - she was indeed quite stressed.
"Theseosus' pincers, Froufrou, that is a truly wretched scent emanating from your body! Like, fuck's sake, I think I might just pass out I'm so nauseated! Why don't you stop doing that, whatever the hell it is, and just talk to me?"
Froufrou squelched again. This time, it was voluntary.
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"UGH! This is... this is ridiculous! Your importunity is... it's, fuck, it's insulting is what it is! You know, Froufrou, I planned this all out very meticulously. As you know well, I always think long and hard about every action, and indeed every word I say. I don't do a damned thing if I'm not doing it intentionally, I've always been that way and indeed I always will be that way. But regardless, I guess there's no point in really driving that home as much as there is a point in explaining to you why exactly I've captured you instead of just, well, killed you like the awful nemesis you are. Don't worry, I've got a great explanation. However, before I can tell you, I just need to know one thing. Alright, Froufrou?" Omar ignited his left arm and held it up to one of her tendrils for effect - heating it up uncomfortably, but not burning it or setting it on fire.
Froufrou squelched with discomfort and frustration.
"Another one of those awful, stinky noises? What the hell is this, some kind of a joke?" Omer turned off the flames of his arm and sat down on a small tin bucket. "Seriously, Froufrou, this is crazy. You know, usually you're the one doing all the talking. Hell, I literally practice talking before kidnapping you like this for the very reason that I just knew you'd talk my damned ears off if I didn't! And yet here you are, perfect opportunity to talk your way out of a shit situation, and you're just... sitting there making smells at me! By the great, glimmering eyelashes of Theseosus the almighty herself, I never would've expected such an absurd amount of impunity from such a disgusting little cretin such as yourself! Now, please, for all of our sakes, just start doing what you do best before I'm forced to talk myself to death!"
Froufrou squelched again. This one was extra stinky.
"ARRGH!" Omar stood up, enflamed his arm, and stomped around the room for a moment, waving it around erratically. "I knew I shouldn'tve killed all those fucking gnats... drat..." He looked to Froufrou and cleared his throat. "Alright, Froufrou. Here's a question for you. It's a question I expect a very articulate answer for if you don't want me to burn you alive. Got it?"
Froufrou squelched in a nervous affirmative.
"Where... the FUCK... is my TOASTER, Froufrou?!"
[End scenario]
Froufrou was back in the bright light of the alternate void, and she was joined of course by alternate Kahli and alternate Supreme Time Protector - and they were both looking quite very alternate indeed, which was a quality that Froufrou definitely picked up on while not exactly being able to pinpoint what exactly it was. That is to say, it was almost like Froufrou was staring at off-brand versions of Kahli and the Supreme Time Protector, or at least, that is how it felt to her when she beheld them. Regardless, Froufrou just found the whole thing really quite silly indeed, if not also more than a little off-putting.
"Well, that sure was a scenario," said alternative Kahli with a sigh. "Omar poisoned Froufrou and then he stabbed me to death. Pretty messed up, that much is for sure."
Froufrou squelched in dismay. She hadn't known that Kahli had gotten killed by alternative Omar while she was being interrogated!
"Yes, that sounds dreadful," replied alternative Supreme Time Protector. "However, I think what you'll find even more interesting is what Froufrou saw after you died, Kahli."
"She saw stuff after I died?" asked alternative Kahli, looking at once jealous, offended, and angry. Froufrou didn't like the look - normal Kahli never looked angry at her.
"Oh, yes, she saw quite a bit," replied the alternative Supreme Time Protector. "You see, Kahli, she had a bit of a strange hallucination involving owls and prophetic scrolls. Does that ring a bell?"
"Too many to count," said Kahli with a sigh. "By the gods, I feel like I burn a prophetic scroll up every day."
Froufrou shivered and squelched. Alternative Kahli was nothing like normal Kahli, outward appearances be damned.
"I see, I see," replied alternative Supreme Time Protector. "Well, there's more to it than just that, as well. See, before her scenario ended, she also awoke in chains inside a bit of a... what would you call it? Some sort of a dungeon or what have you. And indeed, who was there to greet her but Omar."
"The bastard, I should've known!" alternative Kahli replied.
As the alternative Supreme Time Protector relayed the rest of the events to alternative Kahli, Froufrou stewed. She was feeling so uncomfortable and indeed also so confused as to what exactly was happening in this strange alternative timeline that she was starting to wonder if this was all some hallucination - some bizarre, strange mistake. Mistake. Hell, had Froufrou accepting with Kahli the [Time Manipulator] [class] been a huge mistake, too? She originally hadn't wanted the [class], but indeed she'd let Kahli talk her into it... The whole thing made Froufrou feel very insecure and indeed also quite conflicted.
"And he went on about the toaster again, too?" said alternative Kahli with a chuckle. "That Omar, always going on about his toaster. Little did he know we had it welded to a robot!"
Froufrou perked up a little bit at this. So this alternative timeline had Unit 5a23 in it, as well - that was nice to know. At the same time, she wondered how the timelines could differ so much to the point that alternative Kahli could willingly destroy prophetic scrolls, and that the toaster soldered onto Unit 5a23 was not only Omar's, but indeed also quite a contentious subject.
"Hello? Nomachiato to Froufrou, hello over there?" called alternative Kahli.
Froufrou shook herself in embarrassment, realizing at once that she'd missed her name being called out several times.
"Are you ready for scenario two?"
Froufrou squelched out to Kahli in a shaky affirmative, hoping that would be enough.
"Great," said alternative Kahli. "I mean, I wish you'd just talk to me instead of making that awful noise and stink, but I'm glad you're on board."
And with that, it was time.
[Now viewing scenario 2]