All Level, No Experience (Worm/Pathfinder Amnesia Quest)

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Just in this moment, you've briefly thought on how you would approach this; the way things in general have turned out, you are no longer nearly as lost or without foundations as you were when you and Lisa had first met. Indeed, rather than a general need for information as you had back then, your main consideration at this point, with the exception of time, was a recent curiosity into parahuman powers and the like.

Well, it was more Tinkertech being consciously specific, but the rest of your mind had a broader focus on powers as a whole. It also had latched onto the notion that they were in some form extradimensional in nature, even though all you've studied directly is tinker technology so far, but it wasn't the oddest continuation of logic, and did have some merit potentially. As well, it ought to be fairly simple to check that broad idea eventually, by simply placing down a Dimensional Lock at some point. Would certainly make Dimensional Shackles quite useful, if so. With that in mind, co-operative subjects for non-lethal studies could perhaps come in handy, at some point.

With that general idea in the back of your mind, you speak to the still closed door, where the footsteps have stopped just behind it, "Hello there, whomever happens to be at the door. I was invited over by Lisa, a couple of days ago."

Silence, bar the sound of pen on paper, the pen put down onto a soft surface- a couch or cushion, most likely.

After nothing for ten seconds, you speak, "Ah, I am beginning to see 'how it is', then. Well, if you so insist. Based on the timing and timbre of your footsteps, I'm fairly confident that it's someone other than Lisa, slightly heavier and about a quarter-foot or so taller, only slightly more weight. Hellhound slash Bitch is unlikely, she doesn't quite seem the type to play along with this. The physical features don't quite match up with Grue, just as well, as the somewhat nominal leader he likely wouldn't be sent to open the door either. With Lisa very obviously being the one to set up this little bit of ridiculousness, wasting ink and paper more than anything up and to the left there- do make sure that pen doesn't fall between the cushions, by the way- that must be you at the door, Regent. The only royal sent on a servant's task, funnily enough. Please," you give a single tap to the lock with your fingernail, "Do unlock the door for me and let me in, if you would."

The sound of a door chain being moved and the lock clicking unlocked was quick, if unhurried, after that, despite the fairly pen on paper further back, and soon enough you saw into what appeared to be the home base of the Undersiders, it indeed being a civilian-dressed Regent opening the door. Fairly low muscle by the looks of him, wiry but not quite lean, a physicality more built around quickly repositioning than anything else, like a sport-fencer or the like.

He looks at you over, and as he leads you up the stairs behind the door he says, "I have to admit, pretty effective disguise if you are who Lisa says you are. Even if you do weirdly look like the common ancestor between me and Brian."

You run that through your head as you reach the top step, and respond, "Ah, I see. Civilian names, then."

Reaching the top, you find the remaining Undersiders spread out between two couches, Brian on the one closer to the stairs, sitting upright with legs on the ground, while Regent just bluntly flops himself onto it, hand up to his forehead as if he's fainting. Is he actually fainting? Looking closely, probably not.

On the other couch, perpendicular to that one, is Bitch/Hellhound, similarly upright to everyone that wasn't Regent, though she was more leaned forwards, arms resting on her legs, as if set to get up at any time. Hm, from what you could tell she had shifted towards that once you were known to be nearby, particularly once you entered the door. Thanks in part to the magic about you, you think you can tell it's not necessarily you in yourself she has an issue with, more the location. Which was, in your opinion, fair enough, dead-and-worse men know how viscerally a Wizard protects their own innermost sanctums.

Sitting next to her at the far end of the couch in a criss-cross position, closest to the window, is Lisa, looking pretty much the same as always, if now you can tell she seems a bit confused at the sight of you, though it continues to subtly shift the longer she looks at you, halting at one moment where she shuts her eyes a couple seconds before re-opening them. She tries to play it off with a grin, as though it were intentional, her trying to lean into the vulpine comparison, but at this particular moment, you can tell better than that.

Firstly, you look towards Bitch/Hellhound for a moment, giving her what you are hoping is properly conveyed as a commiserating nod, a gesture in the understanding that you are in part intruding. She returns a smaller nod, and elsewhere in your vision Lisa looks between the two of you for a moment.

With that moment done, you nod towards the rest with much less meaning than simple acknowledgement, and speak while walking forwards, "Good afternoon. I am not sure to what extent Lisa has spoken of me," you reach into your haversack and extract your staff, "So allow me to introduce myself," with a mutter, you create a horizontal Wall of Force in the space between the couches, and sit yourself down on it, putting the staff back away as you do so, "As I am, I am Akil Bergschmidt."

The first one to respond is Regent, flipping over onto his back, legs hanging off the end of the couch towards you, seemingly- possibly genuinely more focused on stacking two throw pillows to prop up his head than on speaking, "Alec, Smart-Alec. Very ethnic name, for a black man in Brockton Bay. Actually, wait," he turns his head vaguely more towards Grue, "Does that count as blackface? That totally counts, right?"

Grue just sighs, and draws his hand to his temples, "No, a full-body stranger-"

"Changer," Lisa cuts in, "It's not fake-" a glance at you, "An illusion, this time around. He actually is a full bodied normal human right now."

Grue continues, "Right. No, Alec, a full-body changer effect does not count as blackface. Like you're one to judge, renessaince man."

As Alec mimed an arrow to the heart, Grue focuses back on you and says, "Don't mind the class clown. I'm Brian."

He held out a hand, which you took, for a quick, firm handshake.

Next up, Hellhound/Bitch just gestured at herself with a thumb and said, "Rachel."

You nodded, "I've heard two cape names used for you. Do you prefer Hellhound or Bitch?"

She grumbled a touch at the sound of the first one, and said, "Bitch's better."

You say, "Understood," then, looking past her, "Hello again, Lisa. Have you managed to handle those issues we've had since we last spoke? Hire a fumigator, perhaps even switch to a different landlord?"

Lisa's expression changes, if you can't put your finger on just how, as she says, "Not yet. I was wanting to give you a chance, give some details on that offer before I went shopping around."

You say, "Yes, the reason I've been invited over, as it were. Well then, my circumstances since then have rather greatly changed, I have come into my own much more than before. Where before I had believed myself in need of something perhaps only you could provide, these days I have much greater connections, and far more confidence in my own capabilities. As such, I no longer propose from a place of need, and more from a place of want, perhaps even whim one might say."

Even in this far more restricted humanoid form, you still were full well capable of letting your general presence wash over a room, and so you continued, "As such, a different offer; I have recently found myself growing exceptionally curious into just what parahuman powers truly are. To the point that I find myself coming back again and again to the idea of doing my own studies of powers, particularly in relation to extradimensional functions found currently in Tinkertech, though suspected as a potentially frequent element elsewhere within semi-common functioning. I'm not entirely certain just yet, hence the desire to study them, of course."

Continuing, "However, of course there is the issue in that I have a lack of parahumans to study," getting a hunch, you look further around the room and state, "Willing parahumans, to study Non-Lethally, and most likely even Non-Invasively either, whom do not otherwise have pre-existing commitments to attend to."

You continue, "Past that atmosphere, is that further, while I am nothing less than the foremost expert in those fields that are my specialty, bar none, there are also areas where I, individually, am not as capable. This, however, is where my new offer comes into play."

You look at Lisa, "I am no longer seeking to ask you, individually, about an exchange of information for favors,"

You turn your focus to the Undersiders as a whole, "Instead, I would like to negotiate hiring the Undersiders away from your previous boss, to instead work for me; in a capacity as potentially one or both of willing test participants into various future studies into parahuman powers, as well as general minions, henchmen, goons, or whatever particular word might express that sentiment which you prefer."

"So," you lean forwards, and…

What next?

[ ] Mild Sell. You won't expect much for this. Offer something fairly mild, a small favor or so, or a bit of cash. "Perhaps a case-by-case basis, contracting work, to start a professional relationship. At the same, market rate let's call it, as your current employer."
-[ ] Different Line? (Write It In!)
[ ] Moderate Sell. You would expect at least similar to what they do now. Offer to directly one-up their current employer. "Let's talk about what you get or think you're going to get from your current boss, and how I can offer you better."
-[ ] Different Line? (Write It In!)
[ ] Extravagant Sell. For something like this, you would expect a great deal in exchange for this, ongoing support, a sense of debt that would never go away, a lifetime of gratitude if not more. Offer something only You can. "Confess. Tell me what you want, more than anything else. No matter how greedy, no matter how fanciful, no matter how much the world outside the depths of your yearning insists it cannot be real. Tell me your deepest most impossible dreams, and I shall tell you exactly how I can make them real."
-[ ] Different Line? (Write It In!)
[ ] Something Else? (Write In)

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AN: You've still got another 12 or so minutes until your buff run out, and 14 after that until Alter Self goes, unless something crops up that leads to y'all deliberately dismissing it earlier.

Anyhow, hope y'all've enjoyed!