Trav, wearing a Ben Grimm Marvel comics T shirt, takes off her Santa Hat and scratches the back of her head for a moment as she trims the ginormous KrampusnachtXmasKwanzaaFestivusChanukahSaturnalia tree in the Fun Room, amidst the huge pile of presents she's collected for her companions from around time and space. But there's no one around talking about her. She shrugs, and goes back to trimming, as santa hatted scutters help her get ready for the best time of year.

Things, like electronics components and socks and money and photos and magic items from Rifts Earth would occasionally get lost, but hell, this was a time machine. Trav can usually find something she really *needs*, although she's gone nuts tearing the place apart to find something she really *wants*. But today, everything just came together, as a few things she thought lost appeared, sitting on her night stand or the TARDIS console or by the RPG bookshelf or with the Gundam models or on her tool bench. Some of them are now gifts, like that set of 12 shades of blue spray paint for Smoke, the treatise on Martian sword schools for Sereth, or that perfectly fitted, bespoke suit from 1892 for Stanley, that makes him look professional *and* dapper. And so on and so forth. She throws out mail cubes that have small gifts, wrapped in bows, including one to Boobie. If he's out there, he'll get it, and if he's not, he still will, since Gallifreyan mail cubes can travel the Vortex.

Her gift? She gets to give gifts.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:54, Sat 02 Jan 2016.

Often, when Trav is alone, her mind drifts, and she remembers:



Trav, still wearing her Santa cap, trots down to the Vault - here, where her deepest secrets are kept, secrets that are even too dangerous for the Doctor - the key to the Time Lock, the 7 names of Grandfather, the history of the Shedraya time demons, the Road of Zor that his Battlefortress traveled, detailing all the worlds that could support the Invid flower of Life, the last words of the God-Emperor of Mankind before entering the Golden Throne, and many more - secrets that The Traveller has sworn to keep safe, are kept.

Entering the Vault, she engages the force fields and Zero Locks behind her, sectioning off time and space. Here, wearing that Santa cap, she carefully opens up the case that contains the sample that the Corsair left her. Of course the Witches couldn't see what it meant - because it wasn't a message that was meant for them. It was something else. It was a duty. It was a message that was meant to be shared between Time Lords.

It could just be nothing. But here, in the safety of her TARDIS, the Traveller opens her psychic and Vortex senses fully, sets her eyes upon the the skin sample that the Corsair left behind, reads the ancient Gallifreyan script, and listens.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:33, Fri 08 Jan 2016.

As Trav reads, she seems to hear all the Corsair's voices, male and female, gravelly and ringing and sweet, all chorus in her mind:

Ι ηαϝε λεφτ τηις βεηινδ σο τηατ σομετηινγ οφ με μιγητ ρεμαιν, ιφ ωηαιν, ιφ ωηατ Ι γο το νοω ις μψ ενδινγ.

Ψου κνοω ηοω λιττλε Ι'ϝε τακεν αλλ τηε γρεατ ανδ γρανδ δεσιγνς οφ ουρ πεοπλε το ηεαρτ, βυτ τηατ ωας βεφορε τηε ωαρ.  Βεφορε σο μυξη δεατη ξαμε το τηεμ.

Τηερε αρε σο φεω οφ υς λεφτ.

Βυτ Ι ηαϝε βεεν γιϝεν α ξλυε οφ μψ οων, ονε τηατ μαψ βε α κεψ.  Α ωαψ ιντο α φαρ ρεαλμ, βεψονδ τηε υνιϝερσε ιτσελφ.  "Σεαρξη βεψονδ τηε ενδ οφ αλλ τηινγς, το φινδ αγαιν τηε βεγιννινγ.  Σεαρξη βεψονδ τηε Ω, το φινδ τηε Α."

Ανδ ιφ τηις ξομες δοων το ψου ανδ ψου αρε αλλ τηατ ις λεφτ, Ι τηουγη ψου σηουλδ κνοω.  Ι'ϝε αλωαψς τηουγητ ι ηαδ νο στακε ιν ηολδινγ υπ τηε πιλλαρς οφ τηε υνιϝερσε, βυτ ιτ ις, αφτερ αλλ, ωηερε Ι κεεπ μψ στυφφ.

Ιφ ψου αρε τηε λεστ, δο νοτ λετ ιτ ενδ ωιτη ψου.

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
I HAVE LEFT THIS BEHIND SO THAT SOMETHING OF ME MIGHT REMAIN, IF WHAT I GO TO DO NOW IS MY ENDING.

YOU KNOW HOW LITTLE I'VE TAKEN ALL THE GREAT AND GRAND DESIGNS OF OUR PEOPLE TO HEART, BUT THAT WAS BEFORE THE WAR.  BEFORE SO MUCH DEATH CAME TO THEM.

THERE ARE SO FEW OF US LEFT.

BUT I HAVE BEEN LEFT A CLUE OF MY OWN, ONE THAT MAY BE A KEY.  A WAY INTO A FAR REALM, BEYOND THE UNIVERSE ITSELF.  "SEARCH BEYOND THE END OF ALL THINGS, TO FIND AGAIN THE BEGINNING.  SEARCH BEYOND THE OMEGA, TO FIND THE ALPHA."

AND IF THIS COMES DOWN TO YOU AND YOU ARE ALL THAT IS LEFT, I THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW.  I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT I HAD NO STAKE IN HOLDING UP THE PILLARS OF THE UNIVERSE, BUT IT IS, AFTER ALL, WHERE I KEEP MY STUFF.

IF YOU ARE THE LAST, DO NOT LET IT END WITH YOU.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 23:19, Sat 09 Jan 2016.

Stanley is in his room in in the TARDIS, where he's been cleaning up and getting a change of clothes after the detour to the Stormcage, when something catches his attention.

Lying on his nightstand, where he's sure there was nothing the last time he was in the room, he finds a key.  There's no keychain; instead, there's a blue ribbon with a big bow tied into it.

The back part of the key is large and leatherbound with a couple of control buttons; the part that would normally be lined with teeth has, instead, an elaborately edged circuit pattern.  There's an embossed logo on the key as well, and for a moment he mistakes it for the winged UNIT logo until he sees the words ASTON MARTIN within it.

While he's puzzling over that, there's a knock at the door.

"Stanley?  Are you decent?"  It's Amanda.

Alpha.

That was Paltree's designation for Phillipe when Trav got a look at his genetic signature.

Could Corsi have been involved with all of this?

She carefully seals away the sample again. "Dammit, Corsi, this is like waving a red flag in front of a bull."

After she seals the Vault up, it's back up into the control room.

She flips a switch on the control panel.

"Hey kids. Meet me in the control room. I'm about to do something really dumb and I need to know if you want to join me."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:30, Sun 10 Jan 2016.

"Yeah, come in." Stanley replies, still trying to figure out where the key came from. He is certain it isn't his, but a key is a weird thing to lose in someone else's room. Is it an artifact from the Tardis room creation process.

"Amanda, did you leave this on my nightstand?" he asks, whilst holding up the key.

When Amanda comes into the room, she's got a bit of a frown, but this changes to a look of puzzlement.  "Ah... no," she says.  "I've never seen it before.  I was just about to ask if you knew anything about this."

She holds up a ball of gray-and-white yarn.  It has a similar blue ribbon tied around it.

"I was going to say, that sort of joke is considered to be really culturally insensitive to a Kezhek.  But I should have guessed that you wouldn't have been the one making it, Stanley."


Amanda's whiskers twitch.  "Hrr.  I think the list of suspects is down to one."

Trav is of course still wearing the Santa cap. "Presents, presents!"

She trots on down the steps from the platform. "Mandy! Merry Christmas." She has tucked under her arm a big book, gift wrapped - <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiki_Sanford>The collectected research and media works of Kiki Sandford.</a> She gives Mandy a big snug and snugs Stan as well. His suit is on a rack with a big bow.

"Mandy, you look kind of annoyed. What's with the yarn?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:27, Wed 03 Feb 2016.

"We were hoping you would know." Stanley shows Trav the key. "I found this key on my nightstand and it is not mine."

"Huh." Out comes the sonic. Trav checks both for items for residuals of hair, skin, psychic energy or anything else that would indicate who placed them.

"Unless it's an emergency, I never come into one of my companion's rooms unless asked, and I always give gifts personally. Sometimes, Sweet Boy himself will just drop stuff into your pockets. I've had hundreds of companions march through Sweet Boy, and I'm not the only Time Lord to have been a partner with this craft. The Corsair was found of wrapping stuff up in bows - she used to do it to my hair when I was asleep." Is there anything at the center of Amanda's ball of yarn?

If the items seem safe, Trav opines, "This might be Sweet Boy's way of wishing you both Merry Christmas!"

OOC: What are the gifts?

The sonic registers only a slight artron flux, possibly a lingering psychic resonance.  It's not an unusual reading for objects which have been in the bowels of the TARDIS for a very long time.

The yarn is not familiar to Trav, but she recognizes the key instantly -- it's the spare that went with her 2271 Aston Martin Vantage, a sweet little black VTOL model that met its tragic end in a mid-air collision with a kaiju on Abranis VII.

"Trav?" Amanda asks.  "What about that?"

Looking behind her, Trav notices that propped on the console with a similar blue ribbon around it is an old black-and-white daguerreotype of herself, in her second incarnation, posing with President Lincoln after his first inaugural.  She hasn't seen that photo in over a hundred years.  The bottom right corner of it looks a trifle nibbled but it is otherwise intact.

Trav smiles. "See? Like I said, Sweet Boy has a way of making things turn up. And Happy Holidays to you too, Sweet Boy." She kisses the console with a big MWAH. She carefully tapes the photo up to the time rotor. Good memories, good times.

As for the yarn, Trav opines, "Sweet boy never gives a gift and it not make sense. Lets unravel it and see what happens. If nothing else, we can maybe knit something out of it!" She smiles cheerfully.

"Hm. Bits and pieces of memories. That Aston Martin wound up in the gullet of a radioactive monster, but we saved a bunch of lives that day. I wonder what story that yarn has to tell. Stuff is just stuff, but memories, those are precious."

Trav hops up to the console. "I need to take a dangerous trip. Super dangerous. You see, I went down to examine what the Corsair, a fellow Time Lord, left me as her inheritance." Trav briefly explains to Amanda their adventure on Estanve Gastem. "The Corsair may have been involved with Phillipe. Anyway, I want to badly go beyond the end of time. You're welcome to come with, but this is very dangerous. I know I always say that, but you have to know that this is like playing time travel russian roullette. I have no idea what I will find there. Only I should take this danger. But, I also feel that have you at my side is the safest, sanest thing I can do. You've been with me here at this Great Beast thing since the beginning - especially you, Stan."

Trav is snapping switches and spinning dials. "Next stop - Draconia, 195th Century. I have Holiday presents for Sereth and Smoke Alarm."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:14, Mon 11 Jan 2016.

The Bowie famiy finds a strange flower on the casket of David Bowie - a Gallifreyan flower of remembrance. The 2nd Traveller had a few music stars walk through Sweet Boy - Jimi Hendrix, Freddy Mercury, and David Bowie, all who played various places and times, teaching Minmay how to be a star and how to sing in her native Japanese. Bowie composed part of some of his best albums on the deck of the Orrorey, during dark times. To the awkward 2nd Traveller, he was just songwriter from Britain, who was brave and helped her face the Krayloss and the the Ruutans, but also sang about strangeness and alienation and hearts and human feelings. After Freddy's death, she let him be. Iman might know who the strange girl in the fedora hat is in some of his old photos, if she goes into his hold letters, or finds his old diary, or if Kate Stewart brings her in for a debriefing, and shares with her how David Bowie was a real space man, and heroically, secretly, defended the Earth.

Upon her return to Earth, there had been a few visits. Of course, because of history, she couldn't intervene with his cancer. But the that one trip back to Mars to the ruins of Spathra had been glorious. They had a drink, for Freddy.

The most important lesson that the Corsair taught her, she thinks, was "the art of letting go gracefully."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:56, Mon 11 Jan 2016.

"So, the car is gone." Stanley looks at the key. "Well...I have no use for it. You can have it back."



"If you feel that you need to go beyond the end of time, then I'll come along." Stanley replies without hesitating. "Russian roulette implies that there is a chance we'll survive, so that is sort of good. Even better: it is a game you can win. But are you sure you need to go beyond the end? It sounds like that should be impossible."

"Beyond the end of time?  How does that even work?"  Amanda asks.  "Doesn't it all, hr, fall in on itself, after all the energy in the universe burns itself out?  The 'Big Crunch' ?"

She shakes her head.  "Sorry, cosmology is definitely not my specialty."

"I've done it before, but it was from another universe. In the wake of the Time War, things may be working differently. Like I said, mad dangerous. This is exactly the kind of place where the Corsair would hide something. Also, I've traveled to other universes - I'm one of the few Time Lords to have done so. Kinda why I have my name. But I usually do it in a sideways manner instead of an up and down kind of way."

Trav talks as the time rotor moves up and down, the TARDIS making it's way through the vortex to Dryn Savato, Draconia, a few weeks after they dropped off Smoke and Sereth. "I also want to visit that warpsmith. I'll leave it up to you guys. Maybe Mr Warpsmith can give me a little extra help on heading outside of conventional time and space. I don't have an Atlantean Time Wizard with me now who can simply Rift us home if things get bad."

With a DING!, the TARDIS materializes on the grounds of the tourist area of the Imperial palace gardens, not too far away from where Trav far away from where Trav dropped Sereth and Smoke off. She sends a text to Smoke and Sereth: We're here. Happy Holidays!
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 00:43, Wed 13 Jan 2016.

VWORP

VWORP

As the TARDIS departs Draconia and goes barreling off into the Vortex, there's a strange emptiness in the console room.  The Legate was never the most extroverted of people, but what he lacked in general exuberance, he made up for in quiet presence.

Amanda sits on the sofa, quietly studying her phone.

"So I've been thinking... I should probably just get back," she says.  "We've got a couple of leads on the Warpsmith now, and my time might be best spent in trying to find out if I can put any additional pieces together from my other sources.  It may not be anything more than a false lead, and there are other groups that I do need to reach out to."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 04:20, Fri 20 May 2016.

Smoke Alarm had been the last to enter the talkiphone box, footing in at speed after playing chasey with Sereth. But she slowed, and stopped, and loitered, sad again that Sereth had not followed her back in after all. Another friend she would not meet-and-greet again, not eyespy again, for many ticktocks.

Subdued, she dragged her sneakered feet across the console room, and dropped exhaustedly onto a couch, outlooking at the floor, not eyespying anything. Now what could she do? She wished she'd hung around Sereth more when he'd been here, but she'd gone footing off to explore the carrydoors. She had lots of shouldas. She had so many hurts too.

At last, she remembered another friend, and rummaged around in her bag for Puddy. Whereabouts are you, silly cat? At last, she laid hands on Puddy, and pulled him out – in two separate pieces. In all the running and to-dos, his head had fallen off again. 'Poor Puddy.' Smoke sighed, gazing into his forlorn, threadbare face. She poked her special fire-escape tools inside his body again, then tried mounting his head on, but it wasn't going to stay. The cloth around the neck had torn and needed some serious sewing with nail-and-thread, and more. 'Trav! D'you have a stapler?'
This message was last edited by the player at 06:41, Fri 20 May 2016.

Trav was at the controls. Mandy has stayed safe inside the TARDIS during the whole Draconia affair, bearing witness, and she allowed time for her to say any goodbyes she wanted to the Draconian Legate as well as for their to be cross time contacts between the 195th century Draconian government and the Khebares administration and the UNIT of that era. But now, the Time rotor moves up and down lazily, as the time ship materializes on the plains of Falcon's Rest. Trav feels Sereth's absence strongly. It feels right, but it still hurts.

Trav takes a seat next to Smoke Alarm, and nods gravely. She has her sewing kit with her. "If you like, I can help you make Puddy all ship shape." If Smoke will let her, Trav will help Smoke sew and staple up Puddy properly.



"Amanda, thank you for being such a doll. Between your work and the recent visit to that a certain archaelogist jailbird in the Stormcage, I have enough to follow up with at least one lead. As much as I would like to hit the end of time, this is more important, I think. As painful as the past is, it's who we are." She carefully helps Smoke staple and sew Puddy up, curled up next to her. "Our tears and rents give us as much beauty as our colors and prettyness do. Isn't that right, Smoke?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:50, Fri 20 May 2016.

'Like my dog-bite?' Smoke wondered as Traveller sat next to her, referring to the scars on her leg, whose fangs she wore as a pretty necklace. 'I spose. All my bruises make me blue-and-black like Kang colours. Hurts a lot though.' she said, patting the aching shoulder she'd popped out like a dolly's to get down the air-vent.

She was pulling bits of Puddy stuffing out of her bag when Traveller picked up Puddy himself, and Smoke rememorised what the Traveller did when fixited things. 'No! Puddy!' Smoke wailed in a panic, reaching for it with two hands, rather like a child after a favourite toy. Just like a child after a favourite toy, in fact. She grabbed the pieces back and hugged them tight. 'Don't change him!'
This message was last edited by the player at 07:34, Fri 20 May 2016.

Having been a mom, Trav shssh's, making sure that Smokes hands are with hers in fixing Puddy. "never," she intones. Just like she did with Dev's flybike, she works with Smoke Alarm to make sure that Puddy is fixed but not at all changed. He may have a new eye to replace the lost one, and some new stuffing, but she makes sure that the stuffed toy cat meets to Smoke Alarm specifications. "Those bite marks show that your brave and bold as a Kang can be. Just like when I change, when my eyes go from brown to hazel to green to brown to blue, they'll no doubt be brown again someday. The world changes things, dearest heart. Things always change, most especially you. The thing is that we need to stay true." She guides Smoke Alarm's hand as they both stitch the cat closed. "The tears and rents here on Puddy are a wall scrawl of all the adventures he's been through. Sometimes, we need to do a bit of a reset, some fixit, but it's still all there, you just can't see it. We rememorize it. See? All ship shape and sound." Trav makes sure that Smoke has done half of the work. "Check him out. Make sure Puddy is fine."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:44, Fri 20 May 2016.

'But you took Dev's sky-bike away and made it all different,' Smoke had complained, 'And my old talkiphone – though that was icehot.' she'd had to concede. 'Sereth said mayhaps you shouldn't do that all the time.' Sereth was gone now, but he'd asked her to outlook for the Traveller, and so she would, all-ways.

With that said, she was mollified as Traveller shared the fixiting and didn't take over and didn't outlook like she was going to turn Puddy into a robotic cat with picture-takers for eyes or something, which was what she'd been afraid of. Nevertheless, she outlooked on like a nervous mother. Working together, they fixited the stuffed all good and proper, with nail-and-thread, not just safety pins and staples, until he was, if not new-as-good, then at least shape-ship-and-sound. Tentatively, carefully, she squashed the doll, feeling he was soft and fat, then outlooked into his face, eyespying the same Puddy still. She hugged the doll tightly to her chest. 'All fine.' she agreed. That would do, until the next time, anyhow.

'Everything changes, I knowhow. Sereth's gone, and I'm biggerer. It's just you change like... like a caterpillar into a big beautiful butter-fly, all over night.' she described, still thinking of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and wondering if a cocoon was involved. 'And mayhaps you're used to that. But people and puddies and sky-bikes and empires all don't change so fast. We just grow bigger, and older, and up. If it happens all-speed, then sometimes there's to-dos.' She'd been thinking of a Draconia too.

She outlooked at Puddy again, realising one change she could make, one that would hide the scars, or the stitching. 'Can we get a cat-collar for Puddy?' she asked. 'Blue, and no bell, in case we need to be sneaky.'

"Well, remember what happened when I did that. I asked Dev to listen to the heart of his girl. That's why *you* are fixing Puddy, and I'm just helping along. And didn't I give you your old talkiphone back? No different, see. Here, like yes, like that."

She smiles as the finish up fixing Puddy. "Remember what I said. I'm really big here, me and the Doctor, sometimes, like big Daddy and Baby, we need smaller people to help us see. Smaller doesn't mean weaker or dumber, just different. Different people change at different speeds in different ways. I need you guys to help me see with good hearts. That's what helps me be good." She taps her temple.  "Also, big cocoon? No, it doesnt happen like that. If you're around when it happens, you'll see."

So, this is what growing old good and well felt like.



Trav digs into her bag. She digs out an old cat collar. "This used to belong to my cat Maxie, on Rifts Earth, you know, that funny planet I showed you pictures of with the dinosaures and robots and mean guys in the skull outfits and the walls of blue light? Maxie is gone now, on the scrap heap. She used to follow me into the ruins. I'd be honored if Puddy would wear Maxie's collar. I miss her and loved her lots. That was when I was Louise and didn't remember Talkiphone boxes or time wars."

The collar is cloth and indeed blue. It has on it a small brass tag, and stamped "MAXIE". On the other side "RETURN TO LOUISE SIMONS NEW KENTSHIRE FREE STATE 2,000 CR REWARD". Trav uses her sonic to change MAXIE to PUDDY and LOUISE SIMONS NEW KENTSHIRE FREE STATE to SMOKE ALARM PARADISE TOWERS. "Hm. What rewards are we gonna offer for Puddy's safe return?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:33, Sat 21 May 2016.

Smoke Alarm outlooked at the collar; it was old and blue and scuffed up and fluffy where the cat had scratched it. 'Purrfect.' she decided with a grin. She listened for a moment, interpreting 'Puddy says he would be honnered to wear Maxie's collar.'

'I dunno what rewards. I don't have much to give. A hug, at least.' Smoke Alarm figured.

She wondered about cats and collars, and called out 'Hey, Amanda. Do you wear a collar?'

Amanda's whiskers twitch and her face scrunches up in a strange way.  Finally, she says, "No, I don't, Smoke Alarm.  There are some Khezheks back home who, hrr, practice what they call the 'feline lifestyle' but it's really not the thing for me.  And, well.  I know you didn't mean anything by it, but you should probably know, it's not the most polite question to ask."

She shakes her head and sighs.  "Wicker baskets, indeed...."