The door stands there, glowily. It definitely doesn't match its surroundings - in fact, it's hard to conceive of what surroundings the kaleidoscopic crystal could match. Much more new-age ones than these, most likely.

Looking at it side-on, it's less than paper-thin: looking at it from behind, it goes away completely. It's definitely not a normal sort of door.

Inavet is the type of person that can see it from multiple angles at once. The uses of magic. She stops, peering at it cautiously, swallowing the urge to drop everything and flee immediately.

Despite its impossibility, it doesn't look like an illusion. And when it doesn't look like an illusion to her, that means quite a lot. The arcanists that could successfully trick her with an illusion could be counted on one hand, and none of them are anywhere near here.

... She shoves a breeze at it anyway, to see if the breeze passes through it, just in case.

That is very definitely a solid door.

...

Could be a trap. Probably is a trap. They've found her, somehow, in this dinky town no one cares about. Do not walk up to the trap and try to open it, Inavet, that would be stupid. That would get you killed.

But what if it isn't a trap? It could be - anything at all. She doesn't know.

She stands in the road for a minute and a half, fidgeting, before she beats herself in a debate and cautiously, cautiously goes to open the door. ... With a vine. Not her hand. No one's nearby to see her obviously do arcany.

The door opens.

There appears to be a store behind the door.

What.

How?

She - hesitates a little, then carefully steps inside. Cautiously. Looking like she's ready to bolt at any time.

Someone is sitting at a counter across the store, apparently doing paperwork.

Not an arcanist. Anything else, Inavet would have to touch her to find out.

"... Um?" she asks, because her hair's still brown and her face still doesn't look like her own, she can pretend to be a confused citizen, "Excuse me? Why is there a door to a store in the middle of the street?"

The woman looks up with a smile. "Oh, I'm sorry: that must have been awkward. Still, it can't be helped now. Welcome to the OTC, purveyors of fine multiversal goods. How may I help you?"

"How does the door work, exactly? Is it just permanently going to be in the middle of the road for anyone to find and enter...?"

Because that combined with 'fine multiversal goods' is about the worst thing ever.

"Feel free to close the door, it shouldn't be in the middle of a street anyway."

"... And what happens if I close it?"

"The end in the street will go away. Don't worry, I'll be happy to make another door for you as a convenience."

She peers at the woman at the counter. "And where precisely will the new door be?"

"Where would you like it?"

What kind of minefield is this conversation, is she trying to see how she'll react? Is she expecting her to say the location of her safe house or something similar? Is she about to be marked as a delinquent if she asks for the door to be in a non-standard place?

"... Where do these doors typically go?" she asks, because she can't figure out if this is a lie or if it's real and what to do about it either way.

"Wherever the OTC would prefer to place them. And since I'm the OTC here, that means wherever I'd prefer to place them."

She frowns a little at Inavet.

"... Is there a reason why you're so jumpy?"

Shit shit shit she didn't think her acting skills had deteriorated that much from stress, augh, why.

She shifts a little and contemplates bolting. She doesn't, but she thinks about it.

"I'm concerned about causing a ruckus," she lies, because that is a suitably brainwashed explanation for a suitably brainwashed individual, "and haven't exactly done this before, so I don't want to mess it up."

"Well, I don't think anyone from your universe has done this before: you're my first customer. Anyway, should I close the door or not?"

This definitely does not feel like an ordinary thing, there's an entire store where there shouldn't be. Even with aura, Inavet thinks this kind of thing is just impossible with arcany. Besides, the aura's - not accounting for this at all.

But it's probably a trap, and she's probably being an idiot by not bolting immediately. But if this is for real think of what she could get from it. But if it's a fucking trap think of how she could die horribly. But it does not make sense by the rules she knows! Oh yes, because she knows all of the rules of magic, hmm? Knows more than every other arcanist combined, even though many of them dwarf her in age and experience? Well, no, of course not, but one does not need to know literally everything to know something's completely impossible, she doesn't understand how the world trees work but she can theoretically see how they could do the things they do.

Yes but isn't her biggest flaw how arrogant she can get, isn't it jumping to conclusions to think that she knows everything about everything?

Doesn't that apply to her current situation, though, thinking she can go up against a totalitarian government that's ruled for tens of thousands of years without a hitch and win? Doesn't she actually really need help?

Isn't she arrogant to think that she's the one single person holding a not-quite-rebellion together? Hasn't she gone and made herself expendable by getting other people through competent arcany rituals and explaining the logic behind them?

She actually needs help. They actually need help. And she is - somewhat expendable. Not replaceable, but - expendable. And this would be a hell of a boon, if it's not a trap. And if it is - well, maybe she can get out of it. She's gotten out of others.

"..... Close the door," she says, "and I can decide where to put the other side of it later?"

The woman smiles. "Certainly!"

And the door disappears.

Inavet looks at the place where the door was, expressionless.

"... Right, okay." Don't freak out, don't freak out, you just asked her to close the door. (Yes but 'close the door' and 'make the door disappear entirely' are two very different things) "So what do you sell?"

"It would probably be shorter to list the things we don't sell. We don't sell people, and as a general rule we don't do services. Otherwise? Well, it depends on what you have to trade. Would you like me to explain our standard currencies?"

"Yes, please."

"Since we trade in many worlds, the OTC has to trade in currencies that have inherent value to all sentients. There are seven primary currencies: the Takkarash, Dyne, Ka, Izikiel, Chron, Udi, and Buddhitanka. They represent pain, fatigue, lifespan, dead enemies, vital time, dreams, and knowledge, respectively. We also offer our own currency, the Oifeili Trade Credit, which represents a portion of the value of our multiversal enterprise as a whole."