"Technology, magic, I find that some people are somewhat prejudiced against the idea of magic. And unfortunately, the world I function in, I find myself having to replace magic with 'advanced technology' all too often." She crosses over and picks up the napkins to read over.

Meanwhile she goes recheck that time is still stopped in her world. It is.

"People have given up on being skeptical about magic since the apocalypse, in my world."

"Well, now. I will have to suggest a controlled apocalypse as a way of removing our apparent need for secrecy. We are an open secret anyway. From your continued existence, I assume the apocalypse was not quite as bad as the word tends to imply?"

"It was by all accounts a positive development. The angels, if they exist, never showed; that was a bit awkward. But it turns out humans got better at warfare than expected and won. Approximately." She takes a seat at the bar.

"Angels talk a damn good game for people who are so reluctant to get involved with combat," Jim comments, taking a seat herself. "Some do have uses though, especially after they fall..." She gives a pleasant smile that still manages to seem somehow sinister. "I must admit, that 'approximately' has me curious?"

"There was not much actual war involved, and the end result was that they're pretty much integrated in society right now. I work for one. Angels are a thing in your world? The 'never showed' part was extreme enough that the only real evidence we have of their existence is anecdotes from some devils."

"I suppose that is fairly good evidence for their lack of existence. For anyone fully initiated into our world they're just a fact of life. Some bullshit about being the protectors of man. Most of them are full of themselves and couldn't protect a piranha."

"The poor piranha. What are they meant to protect man from?"

"Us," she says brightly. "Well, not me specifically, I am a fairly minor fish. And frankly, we are only really a threat if people don't cooperate or try to get out of their contracts. It is always fun when some idiot decides to try and break their contract."

She raises an eyebrow. "Are you not human?"

"Not precisely," she admits. "Closer to human than demon in a lot of ways, but still technically a demon. Normally my boss wouldn't even look twice at my kind if he stepped on one of us. I just happened to make myself utterly invaluable. Apparently good PAs are so hard to find."

"Seems to be a constant across worlds, then. I don't think I introduced myself, I'm Abigail."

She gives a very slight bow. "Aoyama Jimi," she introduces herself. "More commonly just Jim."

"It's a pleasure to meet you. And a curious thing, too, that the two only people here other than Bar are demonic entities' personal assistants."

"And yourself. It does seem like a rather large coincidence. I dislike coincidences. All too often I discover that they are not at all coincidences and then I get stuck with coordinating a cleanup. My job description is nowhere near accurate to my actual job."

"I feel the same, but Bar seems to want us to believe devils are not behind this. And I admit the time-stopping effect is a bit much."

Jim hums. "I think I only encountered one person with time-manipulation abilities, and they weren't particularly good at it. Certainly couldn't manage anything on this scale. It is entirely possible I simply haven't met the demon capable, but I would think I would have at least heard of them." She pauses. "Does such tally with your world?"

"Not really, time-manipulation within their domains is a fairly common ability for the higher-tier devils. Typically not to the extent of completely stopping time outside, though."

"Interesting. It might perhaps be that our high-level demons don't particularly have their realms as such. Or perhaps they're just not interested in manipulating time. They certainly don't flaunt it if they can. But they have been known to keep secrets. I had rather thought I had ferreted all of my boss' out."

"Don't have realms? That's a pretty standard feature of devils where I'm from, even lower-level ones try to stake a claim to something. Too easy to banish them back to whatever hell they came from otherwise, see."

"I think it helps that we managed to...eliminate most of the ability to banish us from the human plane of existence. I mean, my kind exist almost entirely on the human plane. Higher class demons like my boss exist on the human plane and...simultaneously exists in the demon realm. As such, if banishment seems likely, he plays along, but demanifests before they can complete. Two hours later when the coast is clear, he's back as though he never left."

"Banishment nowadays is more typically used for deterrence by law enforcement, anyway. Does it happen often, for someone to want to banish your boss?"

"Not so often anymore. Not since we made a few examples of the people attempting it. Occasionally a hunter will get it into their heads that he simply has to die, and we are...forced to remind them why that is a bad idea."

She leans back. "So your law enforcement deals with...well everyone? I mean, the law enforcement do tend to arrest the supernatural should they break mundane laws, but...not so much for the more supernatural crimes. Most humans are so...blind to the reality of the world."

"Yeah, nowadays even supernatural crimes have punishments, sometimes also supernatural. Those divisions are usually staffed by witches and some people with demonic powers and even a devil or two, and the basic devil deals are all encoded into law. Most devils are rather okay with it, it doesn't award them as many high hits as they used to get when people were desperate and ignorant but on average it actually gets them more people."

She sounds like she approves of the organisation of the system.

Jim definitely approves of the order of that system. "Well now. It might just be worth the inevitable war with the hunters to set up a system like that..."