Meeting Stoker's Slayers

--- Maya Williams ---

Setting up a meeting with Stoker's Slayers was… simultaneously very easy and mildly concerning. Easy because the man who had answered her call had agreed to a meeting when she explained that she was an M.A.D. hoping to sell her stuff to their team. Mildly concerning because he had also warned her that while they were willing to hear her out, there was also no guarantee that they'd buy her stuff unless they felt it was a decent fit for the team.

In fact her current meeting wasn't even actually about her selling stuff to them so much as seeing if she actually had anything these people would be willing to buy. Which is why after buffering up and painting her armor to be as aesthetically pleasing as possible she also downloaded her Map() and Informant Network() to a burner phone she'd tweaked the hardware of. And also maybe rigged to brick if it got too far from her without her disabling the safety feature by entering the first hundred digits of pi divided by three after the decimal.

(They're monster hunters, they have to need armor and information can only be helpful.) She told herself once more as she followed her actual Map() to the meeting location.

(We should've brought some dakka.) Her inner madness sighed. (You can't kill monsters without the proper dakka.)

(They're magic users I'm sure they've their own weaponry they can use.) Her inner reason refuted.

(Like I said they need some real dakka not the lightweight shit that 'magic' would give them.) Her inner passion scoffed.

(At most we should've brought our Healing Herbs and Chems. That is something I'm sure they would've been happy to have on hand.) Her inner logic noted. (Though admittedly our supply on that front is a little… low.)

There were a lot of things she could've brought, and a lot of things she could've worked on before setting up this meeting, but part of her was worried that if she didn't come up with something quick she'd lose her nerve to leave her lab and interact with new people.

(Well, that and we're really hoping for an easy payout on the quest rewards.) Her inner madness confessed.

Choosing to ignore that little voice of greed, she instead took a look around as her Map() said she was right on top of her meeting place. Which is how she found a small gothic store in the older part of town labeled 'Stoker's Slayers' while having a bunch of bats, stakes, and other such things painted on the blackened windows.

"I… guess this is the place…?" She frowned, wondering if she'd accidentally searched for the wrong store and wound up at a halloween shop of some kind. (Either way I won't know until I go inside…)

Deciding to take the plunge she pushed open the front door of the building and found herself in something much more resembling a mundane waiting room than a gothic store. The walls that were covered in a number of news clippings and photos of all sorts of people and monsters, all of which perfectly framed a small table in the center of the room surrounded by a pair of couches. One of which being where a beautiful long haired blonde man was currently reading a book (that he should be on the cover of) while sipping at a cup of coffee.

The blonde man looked her way and offered her a smile that had her heart doing flips because, (how the fuck is a guy this beautiful?!) Not handsome mind you, beautiful.

"Um, h-hi…" She waved weakly, her mind going blank beyond the quite unhelpful (beautiful…) that was being repeated in a dazed tone.

"You must be the young M.A.D. I spoke to on the phone, yes?" The man asked, setting his book to the side before turning his hazel eyes to her with far more attention than she could stand right now.

"Mm-hmm." She nodded, just a touch weakly.

"Well, I am Alan Vanderlin of Stoker's Slayers." The man -Alan- introduced himself. "And you are?"

"M-Maya… Williams…" She answered honestly despite having been half-tempted to give a fake name.

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"No need to be so nervous." Alan assured her. "This is just a trial meeting before the… more vicious of my team meet you."

"R-right…" She wasn't sure what she was supposed do with that.

"Now then, given my experience with M.A.D.s I'm assuming you're going to be most comfortable talking about the things you've brought than anything actually sociable?" Alan smiled, before gesturing towards the table. "In which case the stage is yours."

"Y-yeah…" It wasn't actually enough to calm her nerves -be they from showing off her inventions to a possible buyer, or being alone with arguably the prettiest man she'd ever seen- but it did give her something to focus on as she pulled her armor out of her grav-pak and set it up on the table. "Um, first off is this armor. Fairly straight forward but I figured that as monster hunters, defense is always a must."

"It is." Alan agreed as he picked up and inspected a vambrace. "Everyone has a different method of it, my own deviancy offering me a healing factor, whereas Sarah and Travis typically infuse their own equipment with enchantments of a variety. Preferably lighter in weight as not getting hit is the one defense everyone can agree with."

"Oh…" She grimaced, getting the unspoken message that metal armor was not something the three wanted.

"Can you make something with silver if provided?" Alan asked after a moment.

"Silver?" She blinked.

"Yes, it's arguably the best metal for enchanting work even if it's not quite as durable as steel proper." The hunter explained as he withdrew a silver knife from his boot and showed her the script along its side. "While the base defense would be lower, with some enchanting it could become on par with diamond in durability."

"Um… it'd take some tweaking but I could probably work with it." She admitted, whispers already hinting at what tweaks she'd need to do to her Alchemy() program beyond her usual scrap welding.

"Well, on that note I'd also consider working with leather. Formerly living materials have a certain… resistance towards a number of the more mystically inclined threats out there." Alan told her as he rolled up his white sleeves to show off a leather vambrace on his arm. "It's not quite as good for taking a claw or such, but there's a certain 'like repels like' factor when dealing with the undead that cannot be denied."

"I see… Um, it might take a bit but… I think I could figure something out." (Just as soon as I figure out how they make leather, and whether or not I can grow it with the biopods.)

"Very good." Alan grinned before glancing at her grav-pak. "Did you have anything else you wished to show off at this juncture?"

"Um, I've also got some programs I've written that are good at gathering data and presenting it." She answered as she pulled out the burner cell and pulled up both the Map() and Informant Network() before explaining how each worked.

"Hmm, useful for bounty hunting, which is what we do during the slower seasons supernaturally speaking, but admittedly not the greatest for actually tracking down things in the mystical sense." Alan confessed with a sympathetic twist to his face. "You might actually do better presenting this to the local police, they'll sometimes pay local M.A.D.s to help better equip them though… they may not take you seriously at your age."

She felt a twitch of irritation at that, one that made her feel less than guilty about the fact that Informant Network was using a backdoor into the police database to steal said database for her own purposes.

After dwelling on that for a moment, she couldn't help but let out a sigh as she realized, "You guys aren't going to want to buy any of this stuff are you?"

"Unfortunately not." Alan nodded with a wry grin. "I always try to hear anyone out who wishes to offer their support but I also need to be realistic about what is actually supplementary to our kits. The price of being at the mercies of a frugal leader I'm afraid."

"So if I come back with silver and leather armor?" She wondered.

"I could arrange a proper meeting with the rest of my team." Alan assured her before pausing as he seemingly thought of something. "Though if I may make a suggestion… or perhaps an inquiry first?"

"About?"

"Can you make… armaments?" The hunter asked. "Esoteric ones, rather than just ones based on firepower as it were."

Her mind drifted towards her Hand Cannons and everything she could do with her COMP. "I… can… in a I will deny it in front of the gangs kind of way."

"Oh? Oh!" Alan's eyes went wide as he understood her implication. "I did not mean- No. No! The hunters of Eternal Horizons make use of less magic than my own group, and as such would be interested in both your armor and especially any unique weaponry you can provide."

"So I make them dakka and they're likely to buy it?" She frowned, even as she considered it.

"At the very least they might seek out a commission if you have something interesting. Those two tend to collect every weapon they can get their hands on even if it makes no sense from a practical point." Alan chuckled warily, before mumbling. "They're even worse than Travis with his cross."

"Okay… I'll… consider it." She told him, her mind already thinking up new projects she could do for both teams.

"Well, I'm glad this proved at least somewhat fruitful for you." Alan admitted as he stood. "It's always a shame when a bright mind quits because they didn't realize how tall the first hurdle really is."

"Yeah, but I'm the tenacious sort." She assured him as she started packing up her things.

"Hopefully tenacious enough that I hear the other Hunters bragging about your equipment Ms. Williams." Alan smiled while offering her his hand.

"Oh, they will be." She promised, taking it with a firm shake. (After all, what kind of M.A.D. would I be if I didn't show them all?)

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