Esstrey floats slowly through the gathering hall of the PMC with Cathy by her side, very few of the matriarchs are paying attention to the duo, but the ceiling ninjas acting as security haven''t forgotten Esstrey so soon. Their wariness of Esstrey and useless attempts to stop her last time caused them to adapt their weaponry. It now includes throwable hooks on strings which they can use to hook any unstoppable forces and physically restrain them, it would have been a good weapon against Esstrey in such a large number if she didn''t come fully armed and armored. The hooks may be able to find initial purchase in her armor if they are lucky, but the strings aren''t tough enough to be able to hold back Esstrey herself, and she doesn''t need to care as much for the integrity of her armor as much as her skin. Using a net probably would have been a better idea, but it''s hard to act as ceiling security while carrying around a net heavy enough to keep the biggest of catches down for more than a few seconds.
Esstrey makes a mental note of the worried looks on the faces of the ones attending today''s event. The dimensional merge seems to have these people much more shaken than even the more worried officials back in Malencia, and she herself doesn''t believe they committed a coup on the places they inhabited, they seem too tame for that. This organization was supposed to be the light in the darkness for the people in this world, but now with their own lives in danger forcing them to act, Esstrey can''t help but feel that they were even more pathetic than her initial estimate. Hushed whispers of foreign creatures haunt the halls, corrupted beings that do not work like the usual magical beasts. Shallow perspectives from those who have worked with magic their entire lives, and thus fail to comprehend the creatures and their actions. Esstrey did her own research, and the corrupted flesh-forest outside Malencia is actually related to the gods, one of many results of a powerful being closely connected to mana dying. Every dream and nightmare of such a being made manifest right outside their doorstep.
At the very least noble attendants have become much less popular, many of them did originate from Rila, apparently they were funding the PMC to prioritize Rilan problems. This organization was never meant to have a concept of priority, and was probably a large factor in the reason why the Rilan people decided to chop off the heads of the nobles. It might also be one of the few reasons why Esstrey isn''t getting jumped by ceiling ninjas. The only thing that the true leadership of PMC hates more than Esstrey''s contempt for them is the fact that the Rilan revolutionaries have ensured the nobility most vocal about funding the PMC had every record about them edited to refer to them as past-tense. She would have to send a nice thank-you card when she can to them, maybe something practical as well, like a Spetsnaz tactics manual.
Esstrey''s thoughts are interrupted as she spots her target talking to some other attendees, they all look incredibly bored with the explanation given by her, but begin to shake out of their stupor as Esstrey and Cathy approach. Before her target notices that she''s now in someone''s shadow, Esstrey grabs her target and begins continuing the inspection she was forced to drop last time, much to Cathy''s dismay.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"Well, if it isn''t my favorite American plant, the Industricus Texanicus." Esstrey''s smile is visible behind her faceplate, and the [Dryad] is momentarily surprised by being subjected to a medical inspection all of a sudden, before recovering quickly.
"Well howdy to you too lady fish! I ain''t too sure what them fancy words mean, but they sure sound funny! To come look me up must mean you want to hear my wonders about green energy, greenskins would be jealous!" The dryad quickly begins ranting about a world she envisions after introducing herself as Jesse. One not unlike the one Esstrey comes from, but every copper wire is replaced with a root, and every lamppost is lit with bioluminescence. One where GMO takes a whole different meaning, as the walls between engineering and biology collapses, but Esstrey can''t help but feel like Jesse is trying to sell her something. Now that she thinks of it, Jesse has always talked like this.
"Jesse, you sound like a real estate salesman, why?" Esstrey gets straight to the point, and as expected the overly joyous dryad clamps down for a moment before continuing in a somewhat more grim tone.
"I was hoping that someone here would be willing to take me in, the soil around my tree got acidic because of my earlier experiments, and no one wanted me before the dimensional merge over their fears of me ruining crops. Now, no none can even afford to accept me, at this rate my tree will starve." Jesse has told her sob story many times hoping to inspire sympathy, but usually people would just look sad and back away from there on out. Potentially poisoning crops through acidic soil is no joke, people''s lives depend on those crops after all.
Yet, instead of looking sad and offering condolences, the smile on Esstrey grows wider, showing her sharp teeth. Her grip on Jesse instead of slackening tightens slightly, and her eyes seem to relish in the misfortune of the dryad.
"Jesse, how about a deal? I happen to own a city at the moment, and I believe the future you envision could start nicely there. We fixed the food crisis recently, and security gets stronger by the day. We also still have functional trade with two major factions without needing one of [The Veil]''s dimensional portals. Of course, any food you bring to the table would be nice as well, an all meat diet isn''t great for your health you know. What do you say?" Esstrey extends a claw to Jesse, while the other attendees look on in shock. Esstrey seems some other familiar faces as well, the [Naga] isn''t here, but the [Sheep-kin] and [Kitsune] are.
"W-Well gee lady, that''s a mighty fine deal you offer. That... that there be almost too good to be true. Almost." Jesse takes the claw of Esstrey, who then gives it a firm shake before rising back to her full height.
"Cathy, can you help the madam here move her stuff to Malencia?" Esstrey didn''t pay much attention to what Cathy was doing, but at some point she started standing very close to her.
"This one will do it on the [condition/requirement/prerequisite] that the lady does a medical examination on this one." Esstrey looks at Cathy in shock for a moment, she doesn''t often want things, but she never believed that the [Shoggoth] didn''t have wants.
"Sure, I can do that."