and I'm Claire. [Video/Open]

[pump_action]

[The feed opens on what could be a stock footage from a business video; Claire has found her habitat and she's broadcasting from behind the desk of her office, overlooking a corporate campus. She herself is dressed smartly in pale colors.]

Good afternoon, Legion. I thought I should introduce myself. My name is Claire Dearing, otherwise known as The Director. [Keeping it professional, but there's still a little hesitance with her 'superhero name' because seriously, she's a grown woman.]

Back home I was Director of Park Operations for a, uh ... an amusement park, [Sure yeah let's leave it there,] and I'd like to offer my services to anyone who might need business advice. This can be anything from finances, public relations, general or specialized business practices.

[Please just give her something normal to work with.]

Thank you, and I look forward to working with you.

Comments

[gonebyebye]

I'm Dr. Ray Stantz, Ghostbuster. You wouldn't be the first person here to run a business, although I will admit mine probably prepared me more for this than directing an amusement park would have.

[pump_action]

Oh really? What kind of business was it, I'd really like to pick your brain sometime.

[gonebyebye]

Paranormal investigation and containment. Basically we're exterminators, but for ghosts, demons, zombies, banshees, and the occasional Sumerian deity.

[pump_action]

Hm. That's ... interesting.

[Claire finds it a little far-fetched. Claire was almost eaten by dinosaurs in her last job, she has no room to judge. But she does a little anyway; there's a slight shift in her expression for a moment, but then she takes a breath in and asks, hypothetically speaking,] How are you with dinosaurs?

[Because no she doesn't believe in all the paranormal stuff; you want to impress her tell her what you'd do with 74 teeth.]

[gonebyebye]

Living dinosaur, or ambulatory fossil? Because while I haven't had the pleasure of encountering the former, I've dealt with my fair share of the latter.

I can tell you're skeptical. If it helps any, we have an exclusive contract with the City of New York, and a franchise out in Chicago. Ghosts might not be an issue in your universe, but they're a very real problem in mine.

[pump_action]

[She doesn't really need to answer that question, since it's all hypothetical anyway.]

Right. Alternate universes. [That's also a big one. Not only are there aliens but also people who don't make sense.] So, how was it? Running a business around ghosts?

[gonebyebye]

Difficult at first. As you can probably imagine, very few people believed we were serious at first, and we got shut down for a few years just as we were really kicking off. Admittedly, we did blow up the roof of a Park West apartment building, but it was either that or let the world be destroyed by an evil Sumerian god who manifested in the form of a giant marshmallow man.\

The order banning us from doing any sort of paranormal investigation got lifted a few years back, though. Judge got attacked by a couple of ghosts while we were on trial for violating it, and he had to lift it in order for us to be able to catch them. We've been doing a lot better since.

[pump_action]

Giant ... marshmallow man. [She frowns slightly; it's not really helping her skepticism. So this is where this conversation has gone. Although she has to admit if she's forced to face the fact that some people have met aliens and some haven't, it's entirely possible ghosts exist.]

[There might even be a universe where Jurassic World doesn't exist, but right now she's too concerned about keeping it under wraps she's not about to find out.]

Wait, so ... even your world had a hard time believing it?

[gonebyebye]

A lot of people who've encountered the supernatural would rather believe they were drugged or fooled with special effects, really. It's either that or admit to themselves that there are entities out there that could very well devour their souls. Especially since there's not a lot of things they can do to defend themselves against such a thing except by calling the Ghostbusters.

[pump_action]

I can't imagine seeing something like that and then trying to take myself seriously; I'd think I was crazy. [Short pause.] Are they ... violent? The things you have to deal with?

[gonebyebye]

Many of them were once human, which I think says it all.

[pump_action]

Mm, you have a point.

[Although, sometimes, people were dangerous simply in the actions they took and decisions they made, aside from the obvious direct violent. Claire herself was guilty of that.]