A Purple Hood

A Raven

"I can't believe it worked!" The smaller Raven blurted.

Raven's heart jolted a beat, through she remained stoic on the outside. "What do you mean? Did you... Come from my mind?"

Little Raven looked slightly confused. "I-I don't think so. Did you come from mine?"

Raven shook her head. "Not as far as I know. So, you aren't one of my other selves, then?

Little Raven paused, appearing to be thinking. "Oh. No, I'm not an Emoticlone."

"Oh." Raven blinked. 'Emoticlone.' That was cute.

"I'm guessing that you're me," Little Raven said simply, addressing the primary issue both of them were thinking about. "From a different world."

"I guess so," Raven said softly, still unsure what to think of all this. She was sitting here having a conversation with herself. Normally such a statement would not be considered completely abnormal for her, except this time her company was physically present and didn't appear to have existed in the same reality as she. Everything past Raven's door was brighter, more vividly colored, including this smaller Raven. The thought returned to her; it was as if time and space had created a cartoon version of herself. Despite having spent the entire night diving into the literature and theory of such possibilities, it was taking a while to absorb what was occurring. Her gaze fleetingly wandered to the books strewn across the floor.

"Were you reading?" Raven asked.

"No, in this dimension we use books as rugs."

Clearly another version of myself. "So what were you reading?" Raven asked, not missing a beat.

"How to talk to a part of myself. But I didn't mean to summon you, or expect you to be so... tall." Little Raven said, rather impressed.

Raven's brow furrowed. "Wait, you were trying to achieve interdimensional travel, too?"

Little Raven's gaze floated to the ceiling. "Not exactly. I was trying to access one of my Emoticlones; trying to filter down to a single emotion to understand my true thoughts and desires. I didn't know I was summoning your reality, though."

That E word wasn't getting any less strange to Raven, but a different question arose. "You seem like you knew of my reality already."

Little Raven gave a small nod.

That explained why she wasn't that surprised. Raven mused.

"It's a weird world I live in," Little Raven continued. "We have a wealth of almost unlimited information and knowledge at our disposal, and it's not limited to my universe alone. There are books, cantos, legends, and other media referencing your universe in extreme detail. It's almost as if you aren't an alternate reality, but simply a series of events that happened long ago before my time."

Fascinating... Raven listened intently.

She continued. "I have seen fleeting glimpses into your world, small flashes where our lives gain closer resemblance for just a moment. My dimension's physical and magical boundaries allow my powers to be virtually limitless, a property I have read is not present in yours. The people of your universe are much more restricted in their abilities, even magic."

Relaxing as the fascinating conversation progressed, Raven tilted her head. "No power is limitless." She said gently.

"That's true." Little Raven agreed, and then snapped her fingers. A pot of hot tea and two cups suddenly appeared out of thin air, encased in black energy. They lowered to the ground, the magic seeping away from them harmlessly with a sharp pop. She snapped the fingers in her other hand, instantaneously summoning a portal to appear in front of Raven where one of the cups phased through into her hand, fully filled with tea. The bright and vivid coloration of the teacup remained, refusing to conform to the palette of Raven's dimension.