"Drinking with academics," Vlad said dryly, rolling his eyes. Liya took a breath and chugged the rest of her drink, to Yoshi's dismay.

"How dare you, this is fascinating," Shinobu replied. She considered the diagram on the napkin for a moment and added, "Although this diagram doesn't include the Aetherian fold."

"Fold?" Liya asked, face screwed up against the taste of the drink, setting her now empty cup down.

"You know," Shinobu said, and pinched the napkin between her claws, holding it up as though that explained everything. "The Aetherian fold? The literal pinch in space-time?"

"I thought that was a big fairy tale," Liya said uncertainly.

"Is that what they told you in school?"

"No," Liya said, as Vlad moved to refill her glass and Yoshi watched rather worriedly, "They told us Aetheri moved whole universes just so they could� be close enough to Earth to invade it. But they also told us a bunch a' lies," she added, sensibly, "I figgered that was one of 'em."

"Oh, no," Vlad chimed in casually, "That's all true. During the Great War, some genius thought the best way to make getting to Earth easier was just to fold space so Aetheri was right next to it. But all the worlds that got pushed out of the way during the fold? They're gone."