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Sigrun Stem New York City is a city of spires, massive structures that reach up to the clouds. Made out of wood, stone and crystal. The roads follow an old road plan, not quite matching any longer due to the ever progressing march of time. Some of the many buildings are in a better state than others.

The streets are filled with wagons, carts and chariots, buzzing around without horses or other animals, but otherwise indistuingishable from muscle drawn vehicles of their kind, rushing at a rapid pace over the cobblestone roads.

The corner of ninth avenue and west thirty-seventh street is in a part of the massive city that has definitely seen better days. Unlike other parts of the city, it's not dominated by spires, many of the buildings are wider than they are tall. The building in which Stem Monster Extermination Services is located is made out of more wood than stone.

Multiple companies seem to share a lobby, a small waiting room is provided, with a row of brass bells to be rung. The bell of Sigrun's office is the cheapest looking of the lot.
Ainsley Ainsley makes sure to wear a large concealing cloak, and only pulls the hood up when she needs to see where she's going. Her arrival here was uneventful, just a visitor from a Multiverse through one of the warp gates that doubtlessly popped up in the city. She doesn't attempt to flag down any sort of transportation, but she also isn't easily distracted, despite how familiar this city turned out to be when she really got a good look at it.

"I should visit this place later," she thought aloud, "It must have a good library or two."

She arrives at the waiting room, with no sign of the Servant that is supposed to follow her, but that's because they have the very useful ability to be invisible until otherwise needed or when they want to apparate and interact with people. It was the easiest way to get from Point A to Point B without drawing a lot of attention. She reaches out to ring Sigrun's brass bell, and she waits, standing silently and as still as a statue.
Silica     A world with no technology at all? Only magic?! That's gotta be interesting to see!

    Silica steps out of the warp gate, fortunately not long after Ainsley. "Excuse me? Are you here to visit mis Sigrun too?" she asks, her cat ears twitching and tail aswish behind her as she scurries to catch up to the cloaked figure. She heard something about wearing a cloak to hide, so it kinda made sense!

    She sticks out like a sore thumb herself. Archaic leather armour in dark royal purple/blue, with a light metal breastplate, and a little feathered dragonling clinging to her shoulder like some odd parrot. "I'm Silica." she offers, then once they've arrived, waits for the response, rocking on her heels idly while feeding her pet a peanut from a summoned little pouch.
Ainsley "I'm Ainsley," the reptile woman replies, turning her head to regard the person belonging to that familiar voice, "Nice pet," she compliments, her bright cyan eyes focused on the adorable little creature on Silica's shoulder. Ainsley's voice is soft and pleasant, unlike the stereotypical gravelly sound of lizardmen of other worlds.
Frankenstein     Berserker's there, following behind Ainsley. The quiet Servant materalizes once Ainsley's in the waiting room, the wedding dress wearing Servant's looking around curiously, this place is quiet new to her, a bit different than Bahamut's Home... and even more different than Ainsley's own home. It's here she just waits, Ainsley wanted her along just in case, so here she waits for her Master's orders, keeping the Bridal Chest close to her.
Sigrun Stem When Ainsley rings the bell, it keeps ringing itself occassionally. Until, just after the third time, it stops. "Come on in. Third floor." Sigrun's voice comes out of the bell itself, the magicked item serving as a voice transmitter.

A moment after, the old worn wooden door opens on its own, making a creaking sound in the process. There's a staircase up, and in addition to that, a double shaft. One person just floats down the one marked down, landing gracefully and walking towards the exit, like this is an everyday occurence.

At the third floor. There are three doors, one is open, with a piece of parchment hammered to it, covering a brass plate. 'Stem Monster Extermination Services.'

Sigrun is standing next to the doorframe, still wearing her mask. Her bow and quiver are placed loosely in a corner. There's a handful of chairs, chairs that don't match, placed in the office. Three of them do match, the one behind the old wooden desk and two the outer group. Those are lightly floating wooden chairs with cheap looking leather lining. The other three are a variety of wooden chairs with more traditional legs.

On top of the desk is a crystal ball, currently displaying what looks to be some kind of news programming discussing the Democratic Primaries.
Ainsley Ainsley looks at the bell with a newfound interest when Sigrun's voice comes through it. Her brows lift at the sound of it, her head tilting to take in the fine detail of the bell's qualities slightly distorting the voice coming through it. She almost reaches out to the bell again, but decides better of it, her gloved hand retreating back into her cloak.

Ainsley decides to use the stairs, making a beckoning gesture to White Berserker as she goes so that the Servant knows to follow. The lizard woman reaches the office and pauses at the doorway, looking around at the rest of the hall with distracted interest. Then she looks toward Sigrun properly, the diminutive reptile woman making a curtsey motion after pulling back the hood to reveal that she is, indeed, a humanoid reptile thing. Her expression is mild, even serene, as she speaks to Sigrun.

"Thank you for allowing us to visit," she says, "Here, I brought cookies." She produces a bag of assorted cookies to hand toward Sigrun, flashing a gentle smile and waiting for the offer to be accepted or declined. "Does your occupation require anonymity?" she wonders, eyes scanning the wooden mask. Then her eyes trail to the sign marking the office, as if it contradicted that.
Eve     It takes Eve slightly longer to arrive, but she had plenty of reason to hurry along. Being polite, well, that almost goes without saying. Eve's also quite curious, and often willing to study something that will expand her horizons. A world lacking technology is one such thing, certainly. So very different from her own world which, while resembling the traditional Earth, is nonetheless very much a technological haven where things like Eve herself are possible.

    Not that Eve looks like anything other than a cute kid. Her long blonde hair is done up in a ribbon, and her dress wouldn't be out of place on any ordinary Earth. Out of place perhaps in a playground, but not in society. She probably looks like any normal citizen of Autocthon, despite being quite a lot different on the inside.

    Too, Eve's not sure what to think of someone working as a monster exterminator. She hasn't made up her mind whether she's philosophically opposed to such things or not. Another good reason to meet the new arrival. She approaches the building, rings up to the correct office, and enters. Others will have been there a short while before her of course, but she loses as little time in joining them as possible. Though, for someone so curious, so anxious to meet someone new and learn all possible things about them, Eve's remarkably stoic. "Hello." is all she says, at least at first. She hasn't even introduced herself, not here, not on the radio. Fortunately some people in the office now would recognize her easily, but she's not exactly openly social at first.
Silica     Silica follows Ainsley up, after giving the bell a close peering look after the voice. "Cooooool." The floating down makes her blink, before looking back over her shoulder to where her wings would be, if she had them deployed. So, on getting to the floor, and looking around at the office. She then looks at Sigrun and smiles brightly. "Hi!" She offers, in general to everyone present.
Sigrun Stem "It doesn't." Sigrun removes the mask, revealing a slightly marred white woman's face, she's somewhere in her mid-twenties, and has apparently seen her share of combat. A scar on her cheek hasn't fully healed, "But it's an industry standard. A lot of veterans in my profession are badly scarred, so we hide our faces when on the job as as a gesture of solidarity."

She makes a simple flick towards her crystal ball, a complex pattern of runes rotates out from the gem mounted in her glove, forming a pattern in the sky that vanishes as the crystal ball is turned off. Then she claims the floating seat behind her desk. The cookies are placed on her desk, "Thank you for these."

"So, to put names to faces. Why don't we introduce ourselves again? I am Sigrun Stem, and this is my business." It doesn't look like a very successful business, everything seems cheap, except for the bow and quiver, which are polished to a fine degree.
Eve     Fortunately for all her stoicism and vague shyness in initial social circles, Eve is polite. "Eve." she introduces herself. Then, making up for lack of radio contact, "Mostly a hand to hand fighter." she says. Which should come as a bit of a surprise to some, perhaps. She's entirely unarmed, and har hands are rather delicate for her to be a martial artist.

    She looks around the room, curious as always. At first, the big draw for her attention is Silica's little shoulder-dragon. Eve's fascinated by it, but doesn't stare too too long. She breaks away from it, giving the room a somewhat cursory examination, her gaze lingering only on any books or other reading material that might be present. Even if it's just a pamphlet on 'so you have an infestation of psychic rats' or the like.
Ainsley Ainsley steps over to find a seat on one of the floating chairs. She tests to see if it can pivot the same way modern desk chairs do, and only looks to Sigrun again properly after she does so. Her tail has unfurled from her waist, left to drape over one of the sides of the seat and brush against the floor with the feathered tuft on the end.

"I'm Ainsley," she says, and then she lifts her own hand to mimic the hand gesture that Sigrun just did, making a few magical symbols appear in the air. It doesn't turn the crystal ball back on, but it is a colorful light show at the very least. "That's a interesting culture you exterminators have," she notes, "But that's to be expected with a job as dangerous as yours."

Eve's presence marks a look of interest from Ainsley. She hadn't really overheard the girl say anything before about visiting, but it's hardly a surprise for another person to show up.
Silica     "Oh, I'm Silica! And my friend here is Pina." offers the Cait Sith, nudging the dragonling, who chirptrills softly, lifting off the girls shoulder to flit about the room a bit, before landing on the desk, beady red eyes peering up at Sigrun.

    Eve gets a wave and a smile. "Hi!" she offers, prancing over to offer a hand to shake.
Sigrun Stem There's some flyers hanging around, nothing about psychic rats, but there's one about 'Magical Wildlife: Do's and Don'ts' and one about 'You've Been Bitten by a Werewolf: Now What?' They're exactly as boring and straightforward as any PSA style flyer, though perhaps somewhat revealing to an outsider. There are no books in this part of the office.

"Thank you for stopping by. Coffee, Tea, Water?" Sigrun asks, offering drinks to her guests, but making no gesture to pick up any cups whatsoever. The chairs do rotate and the like, they are also easily moved, just like the office chairs on Earth.

Sigrun seems to take a moment to think, "So, tell me about your worlds? It's hard to explain my own without a better understanding of other worlds." She smiles, relaxing slightly, and gets out paper and a pen along with a stack of papers that appear to have been spit out by a Union computer. The Monster Exterminator dips her pen into a thin black ink right next to a strange glowing red ink, and starts writing down complex looking symbols in complex patterns.
Ainsley "My world had reached about this point in history without a single drop of magic before magic was revealed to everyone at once in a huge cataclysm that shattered known human civilization and rendered most of the world inhospitable. The way it was introduced meant that nearly every single full-blooded human is now some kind of mutant creature like myself, possessing natural magical talents. I'm a Quetzal, for instance, a kind of snake-like creature native to the Americas, usually talented in storm or life magic," Ainsley explains, her voice soft and informative. She makes a little gesture with her gloved hands and a vague Quetzal figure made of light stands in the air between her hands for just a few seconds before it dissipates.

"It's not a nice place to visit. It's a hellhole compared to the Multiverse or here, it's why I don't go home very often." She shrugs at Sigrun after that.
Eve     "Tea please." Eve requests. She'll drink coffee in a pinch, but generally prefers it with so much sugar it might as well be anything else. "Always difficult to explain your own world." she observes with a bare hint of irony. It would be easier to invite, say, Ainsley to describe Eve's world than for Eve to do it herself, particularly since Eve spent most of her lifetime in that world confined within the walls of a luxurious villa. Assuming Ainsley had ever visited that is.

    Still, she can try. "Mostly standard Earth, though with different nations and names." she claims with some authority. "No magic. Fairly advanced technology." she adds. This is incorrect, as it turns out. There's magic in her version of Earth, only it's hidden at least as well as the technology was that was used to create her. She just doesn't know about it, having had no opportunity to experience that aspect.

    As Eve listens to the others' tales, she picks up and reads the pamphlets one at a time. She does so with a haste that makes it look like she's glancing over to judge if they're worth reading... and the answer would seem to be 'no'. She's paying attention though, and learning at least as much of the monster-hunting art as she's learning about worlds other than her own.
Silica     "Oh, My world has no magic what-so-ever. The current year is 2028, and we're... pretty normal by most Multiversal standards. No special powers, no superheroes, nothing like that at all. We've got some pretty cool technology though. Full Dive Virtual Reality and all that stuff... which is what I'm using right now. This isn't my real body." she explains. "I'm logged into a VRMMO back home, and by some weird quirks of the Multiverse, I can 'walk out' of the gameworld as my avatar. My real body is at home wearing a thing called an AmuSphere. It lets me control my avatar like it were my real body, only it's much better at fighting than I am."
Sigrun Stem Sigrun gets out a pair of cups from a drawer in her desk, and then grabs a teapot from a shelf, throws in some tea leaves and water, and a little flick of her hand and another bit of runes lighting up in the air later, the pot is steaming and she pours out tea for herself and Eve.

A tray with sugar clumps (not cubes, but same idea) and a little glass bottle of milk, is pulled out from another drawer and placed next to the tea. Sigrun puts some of the milk in her own tea, then with another spell mixes the milk and tea quickly. "Those sound like interesting placed. I'd love to visit some day, well... except for your world, Ainsley."

"So, as you can tell, Antichthon is world with big, vertical cities. Advances in magic have gone rapidly in the past century. Part of it was fuelled by a rivalry between my own country, the USA, and a now defunct country. The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. This rivalry produced great and terrible things, including a proliferation of magics for which the use is now outlawed by international law. The Great Magics of Death. They've only been used in war once, when the Essence of Hell was unleashed upon two Japanese cities to force surrender." She doesn't look comfortable with the idea.
Ainsley Ainsley's expression remains calm and serene though it's easy to see her own discomfort when she's told about how history here led to the creation of war magic, the kind that is a crime to even use. Her mouth droops into a frown as the bombing of Japan is recounted to them, remembering it from her own history books. "In my world, they used thermonuclear bombs," she points out, "No one knows where the tech for that went or if any of the silos still exist," she adds.

"If it wouldn't be too problematic, I would like to work with your office as a way for me to get familiar with your world and to help you more directly. It seems magic has developed in ways that I have not seen in many other worlds, and I have a great deal to learn about my own abilities that could use inspiration from a world like this. My magical talents are rare compared to the rest of my race," she explains. "Unfortunately, that means I'm not very good at battle. I can swing a sword and I know how to avoid being a liability, but I won't be getting up close to any gargoyles if I can avoid it."

"You won't even have to pay me or anything."
Eve     "I'm from ... well, a part of the world you might call South America." Eve says, guessing from names and such that the parallels are likely to be there. She knows enough of the history of a number of worlds to recognize the parallels from Sigrun's own history, so it seems a safe bet. "Raised by an arms dealer. Recently freed by the Union." she adds. "And now I help them fight."

    Eve sets up her tea, and grabs extra sugar lumps while she's there. Not for herself but for Pina. After she returns to her spot, she reaches out a hand towards the dragonling, sugar lump extended temptingly. She makes it twitch slightly like it's some kind of enticing bait. Heeeeere dragon. Niiiiice dragon. Dragon want some sugar?
Silica     "I'm from Japan... and we read about that in the history books... much like Miss Ainsley's world, ours had a great world war, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed with nuclear weapons..." replies Silica, looking down and giving a shudder. One down side of being in her Avatar... every emotion she experiences, gets expressed without filter, which might explain where her tail is coiling around her thigh in a show of discomfort.

    Pina, for her part, looks up at Eve with those beady red eyes. By some quirk in her AI, she registers the RL food at something she can eat, so she lifts off the desk and flutters over. Sniff sniff. Lick. The Feathered Little Dragon then chomps on one of the clumps and looks up at Eve, chirping happily before fluttering up to drape around the blonde girl's shoulders.
Finna "Ice and snow in the north. Ocean and islands in the West. Sand and heat in the South. Trees and fields in the East. Balance and prosperity in the Blessed Isle. A world full of men and gods. Look hard enough and find talking beasts, beastmen, things that dwell under the ground. A flat world where divine intent is seen in the stars, drifting in endless chaos. In ages past it was greater and larger, with many more people, much greater magics and vast cities like this! But that was long ago, and plenty's happened to destroy what was. We live in the ruins of what was." States a voice from the CEILING of all places.

    A WHITE FOX is standing on the ceiling in clear defiance of gravity.
Eve     Now how did that fox get up there? Eve did look around the room earlier, and she's fairly sure she'd seen everyone in the room. Not certain, no. It's quite possible she'd miss something hidden, or that someone might've come in late. Eve's as prone to being surprised as anyone, but she's learning.

    She dismisses the concern though. Obviously the ceiling fox is nothing to fear. She's got a dragon on her shoulder now, and this fact is making her smile juuuuust a little. She's in a good enough mood that she takes a remaining sugar lump and holds it up towards Finna. If the fox wants a sweet treat, she can come down and be social.
Sigrun Stem So Sigrun may be a little paranoid, or at least have some deeply ingrained reflexes. The moment an unexpected voice comes from the ceiling she reaches out, calling her bow and quiver to her, and before she manages to pause and think, she's already nocked an arrow. She carefully untenses the string, and the spare hand on her bow puts the arrow back in the quiver.

"Sorry. I can get a little twitchy, please don't do that." The hunter says softly, releasing the edge in her body and mind her immediate response put her into. Sigrun instead responds to the news of other Japans being subjected to a similar tragedy. "As far as I'm concerned, developing this kind of magic crossed a line. Using it? Worse." She looks at Eve playing with the little dragon and trying to do the same with the fox, and smiles. The edge is gone.

Thus calmed down, she takes a moment to consider Ainsley's offer. "I'll think about it, but if you're going to work with me a lot we'll probably have to get you registered as my apprentice, which means we'll have to get you a visum."
Finna The fox is non-plussed by the response. The twitchy! In fact... "Good response. Anything less and I'd say phony to claims of hunting monsters!" Finna chirps happily, only to sniff the air... look down...

    Things get VERY FROGGY for a few moments. Finna's tongue LAUNCHES down, stretching impossibly and curling around the cube and UP to Finna, who gets her mouth around it in no time at all!

    ... ONLY THEN does the fox flip about and drop to the ground.

    It seems she can't resist an opportunity to WEEEEEIRD people out. But she daintily hops up on Eve's other shoulder - somehow balancing this - and licks her once on the cheek, eyes then turning Sigrun's way.

    "Finna Snowdancer! We spoke earlier!" ... But she didn't say she was a fox. Or anything else for that matter.
Ainsley Ainsley doesn't seem startled. Her head just tilts back to focus her eyes on Finna, and her mouth droops into a frown.

"Are you trying to get shot?" she says to Finna, "Or do you just like giving our new friends heart attacks?" The disapproval of Finna's method of revealing herself is palpable in the lizard woman's voice. "You have no authority or right to be startling people you don't know to test their reflexes, you don't know how she would've reacted. It's an idiotic way to introduce yourself that could've ended in you getting hurt, and none of us would've been sympathetic about it. Or at least I wouldn't be."

Her frown fades after that, and her eyes flick over to Sigrun and back up to Finna again. "Could you explain what a visum is?" she wonders, apparently still interested either way.
Finna "On the contrary, you learn about others best when they're acting and not thinking!" Quips Finna, completely unrepentant. "If I'll be working with someone in matters of life or death I'd better know them well. That gives me all the right anyone has. You trust words and rules, I operate where neither have power."

    Says the white-furred fox.
Ainsley     Ainsley's head swivels slowly and her eyes focus on Finna. She has a sharp look on her face, though the tired frown she has is not anywhere near aggressive.
Sigrun Stem "If you'd like to test my reflexes, there are ways less likely to get you killed." Sigrun says without rancor, the accusation appears to be of recklessness, and recklessness alone. Sigrun considers how to explain visa for a bit, "Basically it's a bit of paperwork that testifies that you have permission from the government to be here for a certain purpose. Foreign tourists aren't legally allowed to work without an appropriate one."

The little gem on Sigrun's hand starts glowing and playing some kind of instrumental song. "Excuse me, I think this might be a client." Sigrun walks towards a backroom and closes her door. She talks a bit and comes back out a moment later. "I have a client coming over, it's urgent, so I need my office to be available for a private discussion. Sorry."