Much like Earth, Eos didn't have a universal currency and so due to the nature of her work making her travel to various places all over the world Thera carried with her several denominations. Though all of them were made up of the same precious metals (gold, silver, copper, etc), each differed in size, style and purity as a consequence of their method of procurement and creation. This meant that they held different values for appraisers and Thera was adamant in finding the value for each of them.
Coins weren't the only things she carried as she also had an assortment of jewelry, uncut gemstones and even a few mundane artifacts that she was informed could be traded to a collector. Apparently paraphernalia from ancient times, that just so happened to be similar to Eos' current time period, held value to the right people.
All that to say, Thera had a lot of avenues for acquiring wealth but with the caveat that she needed to find the places that would net her maximum profits. With the city being as large as it was and such exchanges being as popular as they are leading to many new businesses opening or old businesses adopting such services, it meant Thera had her work cut out for her.
And work she did, as the four women spent the entire day venturing across the city turning Thera's tangible assets into cash with overall positive result. By the late evening Thera had accumulated a significant amount of capital along with a list of locations she could revisit in case she needed to re-up.
Of course this wasn't just a quest for her to accumulate wealth but a tour and so interspersed with every visit to an exchange store was general exploration as Ezraphel did her best to impress her older sibling with the various sights, locations and her knowledge of them both, with help from Natalie and Ana of course. Unfortunately the reaction from her older sibling was decidedly not as enthusiastic as she expected.
"Are you alright Thera?" Ezraphel questioned.
"I am, is something wrong?"
"Well, it's just that…" she hesitated for a bit "you don't seem to be very engaged with the tour."
"Is that so?"
Thera would admit to herself that she was not the touristy type. Her duties required her to travel and throughout her time as an operative she had ventured to numerous places but that was almost strictly for business. Don't get her wrong she enjoyed going to new and exotic places but traveling, sightseeing and general boots-on-the-ground exploration did not appeal to her much beyond curiosity.
Maybe once upon a time it would have elicited excitement but after decades of traveling being intermixed with the monotony of her work it just stopped being enjoyable for her.
But with that said "believe it or not I am engaged, Ezra."
She meant it too, Thera took in everything shown to her with what she believed was the appropriate amount of respect, consideration and even mild reverence. She paid attention to what was being said, memorized everything and when she had questions, asked them out of genuine curiosity rather than polite obligation.
So what if her reaction was more tempered than expected? That wasn't her fault nor would she apologize for it.
'Just because I am not gawking at every new thing like acertain someonedoesn't mean I am not engaged.'
She didn't say the quiet part out loud but regardless Ezraphel's eyes narrowed as she tossed a suspicious glare at her.
"What is it now?" Thera questioned with a raised brow.
"I can't help but feel that you were thinking something rather unflattering about me just now."
"...you're imagining things" was Thera's response even as she tightened the mental guard blocks on her emotions.
The saying goes that once was happenstance, twice could be a coincidence but thrice was a pattern. Thera didn't need it to happen a third time to notice how perceptive Ezraphel seemed to be in reading her emotional state despite her guards (both mental and magical) being up.
Time to switch topics.
"If I don't seem as enthused about some of the sights then it's likely because I have seen similar enough in the Magitech City."
That elicited a major reaction from Ezraphel who rounded on her so fast it would have given a normal person whiplash "you've been to the Magitech City!?" Ezraphel gasped.
"Multiple times" she confirmed nonchalantly "I'm surprised you haven't."
"I tried but I've never been able to get their location proper" Ezraphel pouted with frustration lacing her tone "it's not fair."
"So, what's this place all about?" Natalie entered the conversation with curiosity. "I figure with a name like that, it must be pretty important."
"Imagine an entire city created with advanced technology that not only acts as a fortress but can fly" Ezraphel laid out an image.
"Okay that sounds pretty cool actually" Natalie spoke then added "that name isn't very inspiring though."
Thera decided to enter the conversation, adopting a lecturing "that is not its real name. The city is called Gremtopia."
Natalie stared with an expression of mild disbelief "wow, that is…even worse if I'm being honest."
"Now you see part of the reason why we just call it Magitech City" Ezraphel commented with a somewhat flat expression.
"Word," Natalie agreed.
Thera continued, adopting a lecturing tone "regardless, the city itself started out as the remains of an ancient Magitech facility that was discovered centuries ago by a collective of human scholars. As it was the only mostly intact facility of its nature at the time it became the main staging ground furthering research into the mysterious ancient technology of the lost era. This eventually attracted the attention of Gremlins who 'integrated' into the group. As more contributions and breakthroughs were made that single facility grew to eventually become an entire city dedicated to Magitech research, engineering and innovation."
"..." Ana 'commented.'
"It does sound amazing," Ezraphel agreed before she frowned "but that wasn't exactly a good thing."
Thera nodded "officially Gremtopia is neutral in the war but that didn't matter to the Order who saw their research into Magitech as dangerous and sought to launch an invasion in order to seize their technology."
"Of course they did" came the Wight's mutter.
"The leadership of Gremtopia had foreseen this however and prepared for such an eventuality. The result was the construction of a machine that enabled the entire city to levitate, thus turning Gremtopia into a flying fortress city. It is constantly on the move with technology that renders it invisible to both the naked eye and most magical senses and attempts at scrying as well as what they called shield generators making it forever out of reach for anyone uninvited."
After hearing the history of Gremtopia both Natalie and Ana were understandably mesmerized in their own ways.
"It is one of Eos' modern marvels, kind of like Earth's eight wonders of the world" Ezraphel added before frowning "though because it's constantly on the move and protected from all manner of detection and scrying, finding it is a chore."
Thera raised an eyebrow "not if you have the right contacts."
"What kind of contacts?" Ezraphel asked curiously.
Thera looked at her with an expression of patience and tiredness "Ezraphel, you are a princess of the Royal Makai, all you need do is send a letter through the usual channels and you would have been granted an invitation and escort."
"..."
Natalie and Ana looked at her with the former saying "let me guess, you 'forgor' that too?"
At her words Ezraphel sucked in a long breath through her nose, covered her face with her palms, faced away from them while hunching over and erected a silencing barrier around the four of them.
"AAAAARGH, GODS DAMMIT!"
Thera flinched at the sudden outburst, whatever reaction she thought Ezraphel would have she never expected her to curse.
'Come to think of it, didn't she curse yesterday?'
Thera distinctly remembered hearing her say crap-something after she appeared before her.
"Stan is definitely rubbing off on that girl" commented Natalie while Ana nodded.
"Uuuugh!"
"Damn, you must've really wanted to visit that place huh?"
"I did~," Ezraphel groaned.
"Well if Gremtopia is like modern Earth, technically speaking, then I guess I'd be pretty upset about missing out too."
"I would not say Gremtopia is completely like Earth" Thera informed.
Some things were similar but even then the underlying differences between Magitech and Earth technology was stark despite there being an overlap in functionality. She would liken it to taking different paths towards the same destination.
"I mean, that's a given if they have technology that can make a city fly." Natalie agreed before adding "sounds like something out of a YA novel."
"Is there not something similar on Earth?" She asked out of curiosity, having caught the ending mutter.
"In concept but not in practice. The closest analogue I can think of is the space station up in orbit but I wouldn't really call it a city, more like a research station."
Thera perked up "space station? As in a station…in space?"
"Yeah, it's pretty self explanatory."
Thera's mouth worked for a moment, on Eos there wasn't much need or want for the study of space beyond astrology or the worship of certain Gods through celestial bodies like the sun and moon. Even then there wasn't any interest in actually going up there because it was generally agreed that aside from the sun, moon and stars space itself was deemed to have nothing else of worth for consideration.
Just an empty void and the Gods themselves seem to encourage this kind of thinking.
Thera 'clearly we were mistaken or rather, we were led to believe a false narrative.'
It wouldn't surprise Thera to know that the Gods discouraged proper exploration into the void if they thought it would disrupt their own power.
Now Thera had many questions she wanted to ask but shook her head "I will consult the internet for a proper explanation, no offense" she added.
"Hey, none taken. I was going to suggest the same thing, I don't know the specifics about what they're doing up there myself."
"In that case, it is getting rather late in the hour, so we should conclude our business for the day. Is there anything else of importance needed before I make my purchase?"
"Probably not, well…" Natalie answered before pausing "I guess they might ask for an ID-er identification to get a plan sorted for the phone but you don't have to worry about that since I got you covered."
"Identification" Thera muttered and she mentally scolded herself for overlooking such a small detail.
Of course IDs existed on Eos; they were adopted by kingdoms as a means of verifying who entered their walls. Despite this it wasn't something that was widely owned by a majority of the population. Nobles, merchants, knights, adventurers and mercenaries were among those who actually utilized them in an official capacity. Outside of this IDs weren't really utilized by the general population if only due to a lack of necessity.
That said "how important is identification in this world?"
"On paper, it's very important. You need an ID to travel through certain avenues, get licenses, set up accounts, get insurance and even to purchase certain things. I could go on but we'd be here a while."
"I see."
'It makes sense that identification would be more important here.'
With everything connected and streamlined of course they would need ID's to keep track of everyone and what they were doing.
'I was planning on getting one for propriety's sake but I may need to make haste on that.'
"How do I go about getting identification?"
Her question caused the other three women to pause with Natalie wincing a bit "uh, about that…"
As the Wight trailed off, Thera took a single glance at everyone present before zeroing in on her sister who suddenly looked nervous.
"Ezraphel," she began and could already see the other woman fidgeting under her gaze. "With how much importance seems to be placed on it, tell me you did not spend an entire year in this world and failed to get proper identification."
At this Ezraphel rubbed the back of her head bashfully "i-in my defense I never really needed one? Stanley takes care of it for me and if not" she wiggled her fingers causing ineffectual pink sparks to manifest "magic makes bypassing restrictions very easy."
Thera could only sigh "of course. I suppose that is to be expected" her gaze then went to the one who didn't have Stanley's obligatory explicit backing "and what is your excuse?"
For her part Ana merely shrugged, having never been in a situation where she needed to have an ID. Even then she had a boyfriend and was capable of casting some magic of her own as well.
Seeing those two as lost causes she turned back to Natalie and said "I would very much like to receive an identification."
Natalie made a face "yeah, it's not exactly easy to get an ID, especially nowadays. Our country is currently going through a whole thing about foreigners negatively affecting local communities and a big part of our current government administration's platform is based on getting rid of illegal immigrants so they are cracking down on it, hard."
"How hard?" Thera questioned.
"If you're suspected of not being a citizen and don't have an ID, they'll arrest you and if you can't prove your citizenship then you're branded an illegal alien and stationed for deportation-uh, sending you back to your country of origin" she clarified "and since your country of origin doesn't exist on Earth…" she trailed meaningfully.
"I understand," she nodded seriously. "And I suppose there isn't some way I can get this sorted without arousing suspicion?"
"Oh, there definitely is," Natalie smirked. "The system is kind of a broken bureaucratic mess and corrupted to the gills right now so chances are good that you should be able to find someone able and willing to take care of you guys without ousting you." Her expression then turned a bit sheepish "it's just that I have no idea who that someone is. Though using your magic to bypass the usual scrutiny should work just as well if you're careful enough."
"Well at the very least bureaucracy is proving itself to be yet another universal constant" Thera half sighed while shaking her head.
"And that's a good thing?"
"Yes, for it is something I am intimately familiar with."
'I'll need to look into the political landscape of this country as well as the hierarchy of various government organizations.'
She was planning to do that anyway but then again she needed to do a lot of things which just translated to more work on her end but Thera couldn't say that she was upset about it. The novelty alone of navigating a global information sphere was enough for her to be excited. Add the fact that she was doing so with new tools that didn't require her to interact with a dozen different people at a bare minimum or traveling to various locations and for the first time in decades Thera was actually looking forward to work.
As the four went into the car Thera announced "I am ready to make my purchase now. What is the best place with the most high quality products?"
"Probably Best Buy" Natalie suggested as buckled up.
"Ooh, let's ask Stanley."
"He's gonna say Best Buy" Natalie said as she started the car and drove out.
Ezraphel was already calling though "hi Stanley~ I'm doing well, everything is going great! Yes, we are almost done for the day."
Ezraphel has been keeping Stanley updated on their movements throughout the day.
"I miss you~" she said tenderly.
At some point she had grown bored of their visits to the exchange stores so while Thera had been busy with that she distracted herself in various ways. When she wasn't looking at some inane thing on her phone she was pestering Stanley. So far she has sent him written texts, pictures, videos and made several calls, all of which have resulted in long conversations with the man.
"Ahem" Thera cleared her throat to get her sister's attention.
"Oh! Um, Thera wanted to ask you something, I'm putting you on speaker."
With that she pulled the phone from her ears, the previously black screen lit up and she tapped a button before holding the face out but not letting it go. Thera could see that underneath Stanley's name (surrounded by heart emojis) was a picture of the man being smothered into Ezraphel's chest while the woman slung a hand around his neck while looking at the camera and making a kissy face.
Tentatively Thera leaned forward "hello?"
"Ezraphel was insistent on getting your opinion on where to get some items."
"Phones, laptops, tablets and Personal Computers. Preferably a wide range of them and all must be of considerable quality." She added based on previous conversations with the other women.
In response Stanley replied
That got a raised brow from Thera and furrowed ones from Ezraphel.
"Stanley," the Lilim said in a slow warning tone.
"Not a good look trying to extort your sister-in-law bro" Natalie commented from the driver's seat.
"..."
<...the fuck Ana?>
"Language."
"He was outta line but he's not wrong," Natalie conceded.
Ezraphel nodded too and Thera conceded the point. The concept was explained to her earlier that day following the discovery that one of the more reputable gold dealer organizations dealt with sales online and was known to grant the sellers better profits.
"Thank you for the offer but I will have to decline."
It was Ezraphel who reacted to her newer first "eh, are you sure about this Thera?"
"I am" she answered easily.
Because just like with the aforementioned online gold dealer, while the concept of doing these transactions remotely was fascinating she was not nearly as confident in such a service. She was too impatient to wait for the product to get to her even with the so-called 'same day delivery.' Most importantly she preferred having a tangible product in front of her that she could appraise, especially since it would play a key role in her future endeavors in this world going forward.
Then there was the fact that she was just adverse to receiving even more charity from the couple. She was making an effort to become independent and going with his suggestion ran counterproductive to that.
Stanley accepted her reasoning well enough
"Told you~" Natalie commented while keeping her eye on the road.
Hearing his sister he asked
"We wanted a second opinion" Ezraphel was quick to answer, perhaps too quick.
<...you just wanted an excuse to call again didn't you?> The man spoke, easily seeing through her deception.
"I missed you though~" Ezraphel whined.
"Is this place truly the best?"
'Then it's a good thing I chose otherwise.'
"Wait!"
In a flash Ezraphel pulled the phone back, erected a silencing barrier around herself and turned away for a private talk with her husband. Thera almost rolled her eyes when Ezraphel started twirling a strand of hair with her finger as she conversed with a smile.
Shaking her head at her sister's antics, Thera addressed Natalie "can you take us to the store."
"I was already doing that to begin with."
"Oh" Thera blinked, then composed herself and nodded "good."