The following is as close to a transcription of a dream I had a while ago that I could write. Re-done slightly to explain the gaps of wtf madness that occurs in dreams, and the characters were given names.
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Margaret and Tim stood on the platform, waiting for the train. They happened to be next to each other by coincidence. They had entered the campus from opposite entrances, but through the various tangled webs of service lines and passages and time knots here they were. Both waiting for the train at the same time.
Gracefully the bullet entered the station and the doors slid open. As they entered they both unceremoniously found seats. Margaret opted for a seat next to the aisle. Tim sat one row behind, but one seat inward.
A brief survey of the train showed only one other person in the train. Another young man a few rows towards the front. Otherwise the car was empty. Made sense due to the timing and nature of the schedule. Tim idly began fiddling with his papers.
"Hello," said a voice.
Tim looked up to see the gentleman standing in the aisle, obviously addressing Margaret. Margaret looked at him, gave a small smile with a nod, and turned her head back to resume staring out the window. Tim casually looked back down at his papers.
"I said hello," the man said again. He was now sitting down across the aisle.
"Hi," Margaret responded.
"Oh come now. It's not like I'm going to ask you out. Just trying to make conversation."
Silence.
"Name's Thaddeus by the way."
Tim glanced back up. The young man, Thaddeus, had moved into the seat next to Margaret. Obviously this was all too smooth to be just casual conversation. Tim knew though that Margaret was too smart for that. He had tried a small ploy on the platform and she had returned with the usual iciness.
"And who might you be?" Thaddeus tried, turning to Tim.
"Timothy. Most call me Tim."
"Pleasure to meet you. First time going in to Titan Security I see." Thaddeus nodded at the papers in Tim's hands.
Tim smiled weakly.
"It's a shame I couldn't get the slower train. I had wanted to get a better glimpse of the transit," Thaddeus continued. Tim noted there was a divine musical quality to his voice. Almost a hint of some kind of accent buried deep within as well. It wasn't terribly surprising. Titan Security hired people from all sorts of periods and regions. They had to have the best there ever was.
The train's intercomm announced the train was preparing to leave and for all occupants to please find a seat to avoid interference during transit. Thaddeus rematerialized in the seat across the aisle again.
"Hm, I believe I'll be seeing a few of my old buddies. Margaret will be seeing Mary though."
Margaret perked up.
"Really a shame though. She did always get fixated on those rare few moments. Much like playing a game of dice and rolling a low after as string of highs. Never mind your previous luck, you always fixated on that one roll where the rest caught up and overtook you. And never mind your future luck either."
Thaddeus sighed and sank back into his chair.
"Oh well, should be over quite quickly on this route."
The door hissed shut and the windows blacked out. The train's internal lighting seemed much more harsh than the simulated sunlight of the station platform.
"Really is odd though. I'm guessing you're both third-rates. No Fate running in your lives."
Margaret finally spoke up, "And what would you know about all this? You some kind of Master?"
"Third-class as a matter of fact. I was the unfortunate one who mired about with separating Julien and Jones, and look how well that turned out. Silly of me to try and mess with first-rate Fate players. Cost me a shot at second-class Master status."
Tim was taken back a bit. A Master? First time he'd ever met one. It was rare for anyone to get a handle on time manipulation, and even more rare for them to casually be taking a train.
Granted, they had nothing on those who had Fate running their lives. If you were fortunate enough to have Fate, it didn't matter what others tried to do. Eventually things ran their course, sometimes in the most extreme ways. There were legends about Masters being asked to change a Fate line and try their hardest the universe would rearrange itself back in alignment with the original, give or take a few thousand lives. It was why the Masters Guild was even formed in the first place, to ensure they could notice, catalogue, and reconcile the Fate lines and to make sure Masters didn't do anything stupid.
Third-rates like Tim though were just chaff. Lucky to even exist in their little corner of the universe. Lucky for their timeline to even exist. Still, he was going to work for Titan Securities. That had to stand for something.
Tim didn't get a chance to really think much more on it. A thin purple veil suddenly ran through the train. As it passed through him he suddenly felt his consciousness collide with whoever else in some other part of the universe used that seat on their trip. It was brief and Titan had figured out how to separate the different pieces back out the other end as they entered Titan itself in the singularity, but for a brief moment it was uncomfortable to be sharing the same mind space as someone else.
As they entered the Titan complex proper, the windows opened up again. Margaret apparently was slightly worse for wear from her encounter with Mary. It wasn't every day you ran into your own time clone. No, that's not quite right. Really Mary was another version of Margaret, but in a separate timeline.
They hated each other.
Due to several infinite crisis events many people had met their double from other universes. Some got along quite well. Others were too similar with just enough difference that they drove each other mad. Margaret and Mary fell into the latter group.
"Well, that was fun." Thaddeus commented.
Thaddeus phased to where his old seat was and picked up his briefcase. "Pleasure talking to you fine folk. Perhaps we'll run into each other some other time."
The train slid into the station. Tim gathered up his papers and stood to leave along with all the others that bustled in the train.
"Welcome to Titan Securities. Please remember that all trans-universe devices are disabled while in Titan. We hope that you enjoyed your transit. You are entering Titan on 1567-point-143. It is 5 o'clock in the evening. Your universal watches have been automatically synchronized."
Tim joined the crowd on the train platform and trudged into the giant building.
