Continuity is a spiteful and pathetic beast. It thrashes about with claws that rend all asunder, and yet writhes in fear when nothing corners it. It lives only in blind logic, withering without realization, and yet still it bites the hand that feeds it.

And beast that it is, it cannot be bargained with, cannot be delayed. It is a slow, blind beast, but when the echoes of deceit are finally heard, it cannot be soothed. It will devour the tapestry of lies once carefully woven, and leave remains that only the sentimental might find use for.

Yukari Yakumo is a circus act, a tamer of beasts; she is the only entertainer left in a circus that has always been empty. She juggles facts as she glides through history, walking a tightrope over the pits of possibility without looking back – she never, ever looks down. What need to survey, after all, when you already know what is beneath you?

But it is always the beast tamer’s act that matters, always the beast that draws the greatest of empty audiences.

Yukari Yakumo, bearer of one million empty titles, leads it along perfectly. The beast awakens, and it obeys her every command. Continuity knows only what is next, and nothing more, and Yukari feeds it the perfect bait of sensible sequences. It follows her every command, watching her intently. Where she looks high, it makes itself tall; where she gestures low, it crawls along the floor. What lies next is the carrot on the stick, the promise of the only food that the beast can live on.

After all, without the constant meals of event, without its perpetual knowledge and confirmation of what is next, the beast will starve and die. Anything that might replace its only food is a threat to its life, and it is a predator’s instinct that will turn upon such threats.

Yukari leads the beast along still. Should it smell the slightest scent of anything more, it will tear her apart and devour her remains.

She may stroke its unliving mane, run her hand along its stone-cold scales. As long as she feeds it in steps, in events, in nexts, it will allow her anything. It loves her, though it is a meaningless, primal bond.

It loves her, and she despises it, though she knows not if that drives her.

It is such a pathetic, lonely being.

The circus lights shine upon Yukari Yakumo once again. The show goes on.