The so-called "apartment" that the Phoenix-creature led them to was a strange thing. Vaguely it made Schatten think of her home dens, except the rooms were cubic and separated only by doorways, rather than stretches of tunnel. As Phoenix had said, they were dragon-sized, with plenty of headroom and appropriately scaled furniture to accommodate the two Rubans (and four undead critters) that followed her in, eyeing things with curiosity.

N-13 soon wandered off to explore, leaving Schatten to try and translate the strange language Phoenix rambled at her in.

"... and here's the remote for the holo-vision, feel free to watch anything you like, and if you hit this button it'll go online so you can surf Star City's network, just tap things with your claws to go from site to site, and over there in the corner is the music player, I think Merydian left some discs behind you can listen to though most of his stuff is pretty raucous, and if you go through the door over there that'll take you to the kitchen although the refrigerator's empty so, here, I'll go online and order a delivery for you. Should I just get lots of meat?"

It took Schatten a moment to realize Phoenix had finally fallen silent. The strange red creature stared up at her with ears perked and the "ree-mote" in a hand with too many fingers.

"Uh." The Shadow Ruban blinked, as Skippy sniffed warily around the room, and the three NiKara cowered in her hair. "Wait, just how long is that friend of yours going to be gone?" she demanded, not much liking the idea of having to be in this strange place so long that they needed food and shelter.

"I dunno," Phoenix shrugged, somehow managing to look apologetic. "But I guess more than a day, at least, since he said you could watch a hatching while you're here--it'll be a while before anything's ready to hatch. All the Bays are full, but they got filled at practically the same time." She shook her head with something like a snort, even though she had no nose. "That Cemitae's a cad, let me tell you!"

With a half-groan, half-sigh of annoyance and dismay, Schatten finally let herself flop across a long piece of furniture Phoenix insisted was a couch. Though the shape was all wrong, its cushions were at least comfortable. Skippy clambered up beside her with a whine.

"Lovely. Stuck on a strange world with no sky or plants or anything normal and with no idea for how long."

"This actually isn't a world, you know," Phoenix chirped. "It's a space station. You know...floats in the sky? No, guess you wouldn't," she amended, as all Schatten did was scowl. "So...meat, then?"

"Whatever," Schatten muttered, watching uncertainly as Phoenix pointed the "ree-mote" at some other strange thing, causing an equally strange array of shapes and colors to fill the air in front of her like some sort of light show--except Phoenix's many-fingered hands touched the lights, making them change, doing gods only knew what. What did lights have to do with food?

"You know, you look a lot older than you should be," Phoenix commented, after a long stretch of silence, which had been punctuated only by N-13 exclaiming "COOL!" at something off in one of the other rooms.

"I am NOT old!" snapped the Ruban, causing both Phoenix and undead to jump.

"Well, um, I mean, N-13's not any better, he's only supposed to be a pup, so...um." Schatten's scowl clearly unsettled the insectoid creature. "Well, uh, are you still in the Necromancy biz?"

"You need to stop talking," Schatten growled. "You and your fox-friend are crazy and know too much and I don't like you."

Though she had no eyes to do so, Phoenix still managed to achieve the same sort of sad-puppy look that the fox-anthro had out in the marketplace. "I just thought you might like one of the upcoming clutches if you were."

Schatten sighed, rolling her eyes. "And why would that be?"

"Well, uh...cuz from what I've heard, the mom is really big on death and necromancy and stuff, herself. And I just thought, well, most people that end up here at random tend to go on to bond, it's like a weird law of the Nexus universe or something, so since Slyan likes necromancy and you're a necromancer and you've managed to show up before her hatching date...well, it only makes sense that you go as a candidate, right?"

"I think you're more of a lunatic than the fox is," snorted the Ruban. "So now it's fate that I'm here?"

"Well at least you're not interested in one of Schroeder's clutches, then it'd actually be Destiny and be really weird!"

Schatten rested her head on the cushions of the couch and covered her face with one paw, causing her NiKara to chitter at her. "Just stop talking, please."

"But don't you ever get lonely out in your caves? Wouldn't it be fun to have a new apprentice to help you study reincarnation and stuffs?"

"If really you know so much," Schatten growled, "you'll know I don't get lonely."

Phoenix paused. When it was clear Schatten wasn't going to say any more, she pressed, "But what about an apprentice? You liked training N-13, didn't you? Old as he is now, I bet he's not your apprentice anymore, right?"

Schatten stayed silent. She did not want to encourage the ramblings of someone who knew far more than she should.

But for some reason, Phoenix only seemed encouraged. "Hey, hey, do you want to make a deal?"

The Ruban tried to pretend she'd dozed off.

"Have ya ever wondered why you've always been so interested in necromancy, even when nobody around you was?"

"No."

"Because I know--wait, no? Oh." Though she could no longer see Phoenix, the disappointment in her voice was clear. "Well, um...did your parents ever tell you the truth about your birth?"

To Schatten, the statement was such a non sequitur that she couldn't help but lift one toe and peek out from under it. "Did they what?"

"Ahah!" Phoenix seemed pleased all of a sudden, grinning broadly on the other side of the array of lights. "They didn't?"

"I was born, what's to tell?" Schatten scoffed, covering her eye again.

But Phoenix apparently wouldn't be dissuaded. "Well, tell you what! I'm actually gonna go out and pick up these groceries instead, but I'll leave up the site with the info on Slyan's clutch cuz I know there's a little ramble about her studies on death and whatnot somewhere, so you can come over and read it while I'm gone...and if when I come back you want to sign up to be a candidate, we'll do that, and after the hatching whether you bond or not (although I'm sure you will cuz, really, why else would you be here?) I'll tell you the truth!"

"I'll bet you will," Schatten snorted again.

Phoenix was humming now. After a while, she spoke again.

"Well, okay, the site's up so you can read it, and I'm off to get the foodstuffs! Back in a bit!"

Schatten didn't move or respond, but nevertheless Phoenix hummed her way out of the room, and eventually the Ruban heard the strange whoosh sound that accompanied the doors on this metallic world, rather than a normal latching, as the creature departed. After waiting a few moments, Schatten took her paw off her face and glared at the light-array in the middle of the room.

"I predict," she muttered, sitting up again, "that the Phoenix-thing will tell me I was born dead and was resurrected, just like that old rumor goes about potions of the same name. There, not-so-mysterious mystery solved."

Skippy barked at her in response and the NiKara whistled, too, as Schatten stepped down off the couch. She moved around to the light-emitting device and squinted at the pictures and text, then scoffed.

"I can't even read this," she muttered, paying more attention to the pictures instead.

Well. She'd just have to get the Phoenix-thing to read it to her, instead. Schatten didn't care about any "truth about her birth", but an apprentice....

That was the most annoying thing about people who knew too much. When they were right.