The X-men run missions and work together with the NYPD, striving to maintain a peaceful balance between humans and mutants. When it comes to a fight, they won't back down from protecting those who need their help.
Haven presents itself as a humanitarian organization for activists, leaders, and high society, yet mutants are the secret leaders working to protect and serve their kind. Behind the scenes they bring their goals into reality.
From the time when mutants became known to the world, SUPER was founded as a black-ops division of the CIA in an attempt to classify, observe, and learn more about this new and rising threat.
The Syndicate works to help bring mutantkind to the forefront of the world. They work from the shadows, a beacon of hope for mutants, but a bane to mankind. With their guiding hand, humanity will finally find extinction.
Since the existence of mutants was first revealed in the nineties, the world has become a changed place. Whether they're genetic misfits or the next stage in humanity's evolution, there's no denying their growing numbers, especially in hubs like New York City. The NYPD has a division devoted to mutant related crimes. Super-powered vigilantes help to maintain the peace. Those who style themselves as Homo Superior work to tear society apart for rebuilding in their own image.
MRO is an intermediate to advanced writing level original character, original plot X-Men RPG. We've been open and active since October of 2005. You can play as a mutant, human, or Adapted— one of the rare humans who nullify mutant powers by their very existence. Goodies, baddies, and neutrals are all welcome.
Short Term Plots:Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
The Fountain of Youth
A chemical serum has been released that's shaving a few years off of the population. In some cases, found to be temporary, and in others...?
MRO MOVES WITH CURRENT TIME: What month and year it is now in real life, it's the same for MRO, too.
Fuegogrande: "Fuegogrande" player of The Ranger, Ion, Rhia, and Null
Neopolitan: "Aly" player of Rebecca Grey, Stephanie Graves, Marisol Cervantes, Vanessa Bookman, Chrysanthemum Van Hart, Sabine Sang, Eupraxia
Ongoing Plots
Magic and Mystics
After the events of the 2020 Harvest Moon and the following Winter Solstice, magic has started manifesting in the MROvere! With the efforts of the Welldrinker Cult, people are being converted into Mystics, a species of people genetically disposed to be great conduits for magical energy.
The Welldrinker Cult
A shadowy group is gaining power, drawing in people who are curious, vulnerable, or malicious, and turning them into Mystics. They are recruiting people into their ranks to spread the influence of magic in the world, but for what end goal?
Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
Adapteds
What if the human race began to adapt to the mutant threat? What if the human race changed ever so subtly... without the x-gene.
Atlanteans
The lost city of Atlantis has been found! Refugees from this undersea mutant dystopia have started to filter in to New York as citizens and businessfolk. You may make one as a player character of run into one on the street.
Got a plot in mind?
MRO plots are player-created the Mods facilitate and organize the big ones, but we get the ideas from you. Do you have a plot in mind, and want to know whether it needs Mod approval? Check out our plot guidelines.
((OOC: Sandwiched somewhere between the brawl and the FF. More than likely pre-Family Dinner.))
Shell shocked from the events at KP, Ghost was very surprised to come back to the Full Circle and see shattered windows. Not hers of course, bullet proof glass also happened to be wind proof so the Full Circle stood suspiciously unharmed in a mess of glass. The city's street sweepers were hard at work clearing the mess away.
Sigh.
She slipped around back to enter her store. Ghost made sure to consult a glass company for pricing and sizes before realizing her mistake would eat up a sizable chunk of what was left of her initial half a million dollars. She asked about a mass purchase discount.
From there it was easy. She got an estimated count of the broken windows, payed half up front to the company and had them print vouchers for her. Only after every window that needed it was replaced would she pay the rest. Any special upgrades to windows (such as tinting) would have to be payed by the other businesses since she could not possibly know what each window was like... besides broken.
After picking up the vouchers, all she had to do was go to each of her neighbors down the block and apologize. An apology that would hopefully go over well since she was making recompense for the damage she had done.
She got every kind of response imaginable from many different types of people. She was yelled at, dragged to the highest corner most office, sent away without paying for a single window, met with another smaller business owner who tried to con more than windows out of her. She was thanked, escorted out, and ushered in. Some spoke of law suits and some thought she was an angel. All in all by the time she reached a small two-story brick building that had managed the least amount of damage so far, no doubt, due to it's distance. Ghost was more than ready to be done with this humiliating business of apologies and payment.
Only one of the large windows was broken here to the delight of Ghost's purse. A few of the smaller windows that faced the fire escape had managed to be cracked or blown in since they faced toward her store, but all in all the building wasn't too bad. She noticed the sign: "Coming Soon: Iris Clinic" and she couldn't remember what had been here before, if anything.
Looking quite harried, Ghost knocked on the door. Despite the fact that the windows were open, doors were the appropriate entrance and exit points. One did not wander in through the holes they inadvertently made in another's security. Not when she was trying to make up for it. "Hello? Vega Altair with Full Circle Books, I'm here to talk to you about your window...s."
Posted by Sebastian on Sept 8, 2009 14:00:08 GMT -6
Beta Mutant
730
0
May 18, 2013 11:53:12 GMT -6
Sebastian was working behind the front desk in what would be the waiting room of the clinic. He wasw on his hands and knees and the only part of him that was visible was his tail. It was bandaged, as it hadn't fully healed yet from the beating it had taken from Abyss' fist a few days earlier. It was still wary, so it was on the lookout for anyone who might be sneaking up behind them from either the front or back doors.
There were a number of holes in the walls that needed patching, and he smoothing Spackle over them like he knew what he was doing. It had been awhile since he'd worked on making a wall, and the last time it had been made from plaster. The time before that, stucco. And the time before that, mud. This Spackle stuff was new, but the man at the hardware store down the street had assured him it was just the thing for Sheetrock walls, which was apparently what he had.
The unicorn man peeked over the desk when he heard the voice coming from the doorway, and he smiled when he recognized who it was, “Vega Altair, huh? Did you get tired of your other name already? I like to change mine once in awhile, too, but it usually is only every century or so.”
“Please, come in. I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of refreshments here, but would you like a bottle of water or anything?” He looked around for something resembling a chair to offer her. There was a step stool, a ladder, and the front desk itself. Ermh.
Ghost blinked at the door because the voice that came out of the window was not one she had expected to hear from this location. Ghost peeked in through the glassless window and just couldn't help herself. "Oh brother." It wasn't that she wasn't glad to see him. Just that... well... she broke his windows and now he'd caught her using her store name. Ghost pushed through the door and bowed deeply. "I'm really sorry, Sebastian, but the one responsible for breaking your store's windows was me. I have a voucher to make sure that your window replacements are put on my tab."
He had offered her a water, but she was busy fishing out the voucher. She held it out with both hands out in front of her downturned face. "My dream about the future ended with a shot of Haywire. In my sleep I seemed to make a mess of things so please accept my sincerest apologies." Finally, someone she could explain the actual truth of how the windows were shattered and why it was her fault.
As an after thought she added. "Vega is the legal name under which my store is registered, I much prefer Ghost." Notice she did not say real name. Garrett, after the mob incident, had mentioned her actual name, but Ghost never did. Not anymore.
Posted by Sebastian on Sept 8, 2009 20:51:28 GMT -6
Beta Mutant
730
0
May 18, 2013 11:53:12 GMT -6
Normally he wouldn't have accepted the offer to pay for the windows, as he was already putting enough money of his own into the little clinic that a few panes of broken glass were not a very big expenditure in comparison. However, the white haired sylph offered it so prettily and politely as befitted her Japanese upbringing and it seemed so important to her, that he felt he had to accept it. He bowed in return and took the slip with both hands.
“Thank you very much,” he intoned gently as he slipped the paper carefully into the top desk drawer where it would reside alone and safe until the time came to use it.
The way she said “legal name” made it sound like Vega wasn't her given name any more than Ghost was. That earned her a raised eyebrow. If the unicorn shifter remembered correctly, Garrett had called her by yet a third name that first time they had met. Sebastian couldn't remember what that name had been, but Ghost seemed to have a whole string of them that she changed as easily as she changed clothes. She seemed to have one for every occasion, including work. “I think you may have more names attached to you than I do, and you've had much less time to accumulate them.” He shook his head, a bemused expression playing across his face.
“Anyway, don't feel too badly about the windows. I think I might have made an even bigger mess than a few panes of broken glass when I woke up from that dream,” he admitted for the first time out loud to anyone. His expression had turned solemn.
“I trust you heard about the brawl at King Pharmaceuticals. Garrett and I thought we could get rid of the Haywire virus before it had a chance to become what it was in the future dream. Because I asked for some backup, the entire building was mangled and people were hurt. Garrett hasn't even come home since then.”
The unicorn man shook his head and looked out through the broken window at the sky where fluffy grey clouds were tangled together to obscure most of the blue, “I don't even know how to begin making reparations for that.”
He accepted her repayment without a fuss. It made her breathe easier when he returned her bow. If they were going to be truly polite to each other they could bow and re-bow all day long. She would try to refrain.
“It was never my intention to deceive anyone beyond governmental powers." Most people were willing to take that as answer enough considering the recent camps. "I would think you still have more than me. You have all mine now, but all I know for you is Sebastian." Her curiosity flared again, but it wasn't exactly the time to hound the Unicorn about his many splendored past. It was time to hound him about the future.
"What did Sebastian dream about?" It couldn't have been good if he were breaking windows too. Most people didn't seem to have as good a time in the future as she did and even hers was a bit twisted.
“I trust you heard about the brawl at King Pharmaceuticals."
Ghost nodded. "I was there." Not that she felt as if she contributed much. She got into a security room, watched a man die, helped track down a Haywire shipment that was long gone... had her skirt stolen and shredded... No, not a very productive trip for her. But at least Haywire was gone now.
"With Haywire now gone perhaps the mutant accidents that led to the collapse of the Gulf Stream won't happen. I would like to believe that Future has been averted." But with the future gone, they were all suddenly left with only the present.
The present circumstances being that Garrett hadn't been home in some time. Ghost shifted her weight. They'd found out that it was actually Garrett that had destroyed Haywire in the end. So... maybe he wasn't a bad man. It didn't change the fact that he had scared her and they had grown apart. "I'm sorry to hear that... about Garret. I wasn't aware you two were friends, but if you both lived at the Sanctuary..." She had no idea what went on beyond those golden doors now that no humans were allowed.
“I don't even know how to begin making reparations for that.”
She frowned. Neither did Ghost. It was a pity that KP had been torn down, but anything that would slow down the organization that brought about the creation of Haywire was a good thing, right? Ghost shrugged in apology to Sebastian. "One day at a time" was the best advice she had to offer a man so many times older than herself. If he didn't know, who would?
Posted by Sebastian on Sept 9, 2009 10:51:10 GMT -6
Beta Mutant
730
0
May 18, 2013 11:53:12 GMT -6
She could have the last bow, he would gracefully let her have it. If they got stuck bowing all day long, he'd have a neck ache. He could take a bow or two, but after about ten having extra weight on the forehead started to make a difference to the neck muscles.
Then white haired air elemental informed him that he had collected all of her names already, even if he couldn't remember the first one. When Garrett got back, he'd have to ask him once again what it was. It seemed important to know, even if she didn't like to use it anymore for some reason.
“My first one was Pan,” he offered. The name seemed foreign on his tongue after so many years. Like a word he had forgotten the meaning to ages and ages ago, it tasted rusty. Nevertheless, he offered it up to her to do with as she pleased. It seemed only fair for some reason, that she should have another of his names since he apparently had all of hers.
>>>"What did Sebastian dream about?"
The pale healer settled on the edge of the desk. His gaze wandered upwards, again drifting toward the open sky as he recalled his memories of the dream. Even now, they were beginning to fade leaving only the important details that he had already revisited and the strong impressions of the emotions that had been embedded with the nighttime visions.
“It was a very long dream. Most of what I remember was that Haywire had become a plague that caused many deaths. Then wars began because the death of some many deaths made governments incredibly unstable, wars bloodier than any I have ever seen before. It seemed that with each attack the atrocities grew worse and worse and each side seemed determined to be the most heartless, the most cruel.
“The worst part though, was that the tragedies were so personal. I felt the emotions connected to the events so acutely. It seemed that every time a biological weapon was released or a bomb was detonated, someone that I knew and cared for was affected and I was helpless to do anything to help either those I cared about or faceless strangers that were suffering so much. Dying at the end was... kind of a relief.
“That was why I felt that if we could stop Haywire from ever spreading its influence over the world it would be worth the risk of going up against the wishes of Syn and whomever else originally created it.”
Ghost had been at the brawl, too. The unicorn shifter winced slightly and looked down at his feet when she mentioned it. He hadn't intended for so many people to be put in danger. A few people for backup was all he had thought he needed, but now he realized it was stupid to have dragged anyone along with him at all. Even Garrett had suffered for it, if he was even alive he was certainly going to be in trouble for his part in the affair.
>>>"With Haywire now gone perhaps the mutant accidents that led to the collapse of the Gulf Stream won't happen. I would like to believe that Future has been averted."
That was a positive way to look at it. It would take ten years or so to see how things really turned out, but it was quite possible that they had averted something terrible. He looked back at her with a sad half-smile. She was so refreshingly optimistic.
“I would like to believe we accomplished something as well. I only regret that... that there is never a perfect way of doing things. It's always a trade, a little destruction to prevent a lot of destruction or a little evil to prevent a lot of evil.”
>>>"I'm sorry to hear that... about Garret. I wasn't aware you two were friends, but if you both lived at the Sanctuary..."
She had been friends with Garrett once, too. It had been evident that Garrett at least cared for her when he had been so worried when she'd been hurt. That one incident was the extent of Sebastian's knowledge of their relationship, so it made it difficult to judge what feelings were there or perhaps had been there at that point.
He nodded slowly, “We were colleagues and we talked. We were going to build this place together, to make healing more accessible to those who need it, humans included.” At least, Sebastian was adamant about opening their doors to humans. Garrett hadn't, perhaps, been as excited about that aspect but he hadn't been unwilling to go along with the unicorn man's ideas.
Pan? Was he not a goaty-satyr kind of person? And that was greek wasn't it? Suddenly she needed to take a seat so she found a perch on the ladder. Sebastian didn't have a sort of half man half-cor thing did he? She wasn't sure if she could handle that. Him turning into a horse was brain stretching enough.
It was a very long dream indeed. Ten years long. Ghost swung her feet from her perch oblivious to the ladder's swaying. "I didn't witness any biological weapons other than the Brothers Red in Moscow, but even in Europe we felt its effects." It was almost easy to slip back into that mind, those memories that swam below the surface.
Her feet stopped swinging when he mentioned dying. "And I thought self-medicating with Haywire was bad..." Had she really signed up for that? It seemed like distant folly from here, but she remembered it being the best course open to her. It was so important to reinstate the weather patterns. She'd never know if it worked, though it almost felt as if it had since the world's weather system was back to the way it had been ten years ago... which was now.
Ghost shook her head. It was easy to get befuddled. There were a lot of things that would hopefully never happen. "Sebastian, do you know anything... about genes?" That was one thing she had yet to look into. And according to the future, she should. Soon.
“I would like to believe we accomplished something as well...”
"Things have already changed with Haywire gone. Maybe it didn't require evil to get it done, but sometimes taking the righteous path takes longer." She knew that to be true, but it didn't necessarily make their choices just. Somehow she did feel better with Haywire gone despite the means, though she couldn't possibly know all the evil that went into its destruction.
Ghost looked around at the Clinic. They were going to build it together? "If you ever wanted help with this place, you could ask." Her legs were back to swinging. "And who knows? Maybe Garrett will be back someday?" She pointedly was trying not to think about herself and Garrett in the context of the future. Had she known Sebastian there? She just couldn't seem to remember. But one thing was for sure, if Garrett was willing to help humans, that meant he was a good man? She sighed. There were a lot of unanswered questions she had for him. Perhaps they would just have to remain unanswered.
Posted by Sebastian on Sept 10, 2009 10:36:12 GMT -6
Beta Mutant
730
0
May 18, 2013 11:53:12 GMT -6
>>>"And I thought self-medicating with Haywire was bad..."
Heh. That was pretty extreme, too. Sebastian couldn't even imagine what healing powers and unicorn shifting would be like under the influence of Haywire. Haywire winds would be... more than enough to knock out everyone's windows on the block to say the least. With a team that power could maybe restart a dying gulf stream, but with the mental side effects it would have been very dangerous to try it.
It was Ghost who broke the short pause that lapsed while they were both thinking of the future.
>>>"Sebastian, do you know anything... about genes?"
There was a very serious expression on her face as she asked, making it seem like it must be important for some reason. Was it something connected to the future in some way? He tried to remember if he knew anything about her future from the dream, to see if he could find a clue as to why she would ask about that, but he was drawing a blank when he tried to recall anything.
Unfortunately he was not the expert she was probably looking for. Genetics was a relatively new science, one that he had not studied in depth.
“I know only the basics from what has been printed in the newspapers about genetic breakthroughs and genome projects. Why do you ask?” Sebastian frowned at the seriousness in her tone. Someone like Doctor Ingram from Mondragon Medical probably knew more than he did, if she had a very specific question. He knew more about things like... dancing. Actually, he hadn't been to school in a long time. Much of his knowledge was out of date. Mathematics didn't change much over the centuries. History just got longer. The other subjects had advanced quite far since he'd last studied anything. It might be time to change that, he thought.
He didn't kick his feet lick Ghost did on the ladder. His fidgets were usually confined to his tail, but his tail was confined in its bandages. It gave a flick of protest now and then, but he tried to keep it still while it healed. Silly bones took awhile.
“If you'd like to help, I'd be greatly appreciative. I suppose you know all about getting businesses up and running after you got Full Circle back on its feet. I read about it in the paper. The neutral ground idea was a great one. Inspiring.” The neighborhood would soon have a second neutral place. Perhaps that number would grow until the whole neighborhood was a safe place for mutants and humans to interact.
As for Garrett coming back, “Maybe he will.”
Sebastian thought he might investigate what had become of him after the pharmaceutical incident. If his roommate wasn't just laying low for awhile, it was possible that he might be in real trouble. Sebastian believe that he was a good man, and he didn't deserve to be abandoned somewhere. If only he had some clue as to where that somewhere was.
Somehow, after dreaming up ten years of her life, she felt just a little more grown up. Maybe it was living through war and love and loss. Or learning that there was more out there besides the X-Men and her bookstore, but she felt a little bit wiser. And a little stronger. She'd been a brave leader and teacher in the future. That meant she definitely had it in her.
And so she tried not to be disheartened when Sebastian did not know the things she wished he did. She even tried very hard not to fidget, but deliver her predicament with a brave face.
"When I first realized my mutation's full potential, my hair turned white. I had to cut it all off because it didn't just poof turn white. It started growing white. So I probably looked like a cancer patient when I went in to the internment camps here. Which was okay by my vanity because I had time to grow hair before anyone here in the states got to know me." As usual, she was taking the roundabout way to explain things. Just because she was being brave didn't mean she didn't have to take time to build up that courage.
"I'm grossly underweight, but not really. Not if I were all here. You already know my temperature sensitivity is a bit... off. Sometimes I don't feel all the things I should." In the future, in her synthetic body, Garrett had fixed that. Ghost flushed.
"In the future it was discerned that my mutation was... is sort of degenerative. I will grow more powerful, but at the cost of my body. Eventually I will not be able to remain in a solid state."
"Mutations are a genetic thing. So, I thought... maybe someone who knew about those kinds of things could help me. Somehow." She gave a shrug that was a little too sharp and filled with a little too much false cheer. "It'll work out."
"You know I almost feel like I'm getting away with something sometimes... with my store. I was going to look into an accountant for tax stuff even though it's early. I've been doing most things by paper except payroll. I'm afraid it might be a less organized on the inside than it appears on the outside, but of course I will help you however I can."
She beamed at the praise for her store. And of course, she enjoyed the thought of helping another mutant get started along a similar path. Owning a business was quite tiring, frustrating, completely out of control and as a side note, fulfilling. Especially in moments like these.
Posted by Sebastian on Sept 11, 2009 15:52:49 GMT -6
Beta Mutant
730
0
May 18, 2013 11:53:12 GMT -6
She had a very good reason for wanting to know about genetics. For someone who was quite possibly in danger of becoming nothing but air within the next few years, she was talking about it very bravely. Her cheerful proclamation that everything would work out in the end didn't have him convinced.
“If it is degenerative, does that mean your are already partly air? Were you able to do anything about it in the dream? How did you give yourself an injection if you were in a gaseous state?” His tone was concerned and the frown on his face contrasted her pretend smile. If he could do anything to help her, he would do it. First, though, he needed all the information he could get about her mutation. And maybe a book about genetics. And perhaps a talk with Doctor Ingram. Thus formed the mental checklist.
Her expression seemed more genuinely happy when she talked about the store. He could tell she was proud of what she had done thus far.
“I haven't even started the paperwork for the clinic. Mostly I've been working on getting the physical repairs done. Garrett was going to do more of the paper stuff, but now, he might not be able to do it obviously.”
Sebastian understandably wanted to know more. "I uh-believe so. Yes. I think you could bench press me easily." It was the only reason she could think to explain her noticeable lack of weight among the other things she had mentioned. She sounded a little miserable about it. One day, she would not be able to hold herself together anymore at all.
"In the dream, it took some years for me to fade." Ghost rubbed her arms as if cold. "There were some days I was able to marshall myself into some kind of solidity, but never fully solid. The injection was automatic. Garrett helped me find an artist interested in a sort of healing project."
"If I..." She waffled her hand unsure of what to say. "become solid on top of something, it becomes part of me, my body tries to form around it. The artist used some kind of synthetic manipulation in conjunction with x-rays to duplicate my body exactly and then I..." She waffled again. "tried to be solid on top of it. It wasn't perfect, but Garrett's neural manipulation shored up the uneven cohesion of a more... uhm... delicate nature."
"After joining up with a synthetic body, as long as I tried not to use that aspect of myself I didn't have a problem with incorporeality. The injections were automatic for perfect timing. Everyone was tested and trained and spaced as far as the estimated..." Yeah, he didn't need to know. "We were trying to restart the Gulf Stream."
She was all smiles.
"So I have a few years before things really get troublesome. We can focus on your clinic. If you're starting at ground zero, I know just where to start. You've got to get things straight with the city, get your papers in order. If it's a clinic there are legal licensing steps to incorporating and starting your business. You'll register as a type of taxable legal business entity and get a certificate. I think you'd be a LLC or maybe... a partnership if you want someone else's name on the list." He did say Garrett was supposed to help open this place. He could come back here. "I did all kinds of research on this stuff." Her legs were swinging free again, nice and cheery.
Posted by Sebastian on Sept 12, 2009 0:38:02 GMT -6
Beta Mutant
730
0
May 18, 2013 11:53:12 GMT -6
Sebastian absorbed the information about her synthetic body as best he could, and stored it away for later research. It sounded so complicated and technological, it was difficult to wrap his mind around someone being able to create a synthetic body. Then again, Mondragon Labs had already created a synthetic heart, what was to keep them from creating an entire body? A synthetic body and synthetic boosting of powers all for one impossibly noble cause.
>>>"We were trying to restart the Gulf Stream."
“We were trying to stop World War III.” He spared the details, as most of them were getting fuzzy in his own memory. The parallels of the two situations made him smile to himself. They were both trying to achieve such large scale, world changing things. Neither of them knew if they had been successful in the end. Perhaps that was the point of the dream, that they were capable of achieving great things if they made a great effort. Already they had disposed of Haywire.
Perhaps further ventures with the Kabal would also contribute to a better world in the long run. Sebastian had never before attempted to make such a big difference, but the dream convinced him that it was possible for individuals and groups to have an impact. They just had to be careful that the impact was a positive one.
Ghost was smiling again as she got back to talking about getting the clinic started. She seemed confident that a few years would be plenty of time to get things figured out, but Sebastian wasn't so sure. To him a few years seemed like a very short amount of time; he could blink and it would already have passed. She was plowing ahead though.
“I had no idea that it would be that complicated. What kinds of papers do I have to have in order to get things all set with the city? Where is the office anyway? For the taxes, is it a set fee per month or do they charge on the profits the business makes?” His tail wanted to be swishing like her legs were. He held it in place. Swishing was not good for healing tail bones. His leg gave an experimental kick. It wasn't bad, but not quite like tail swishing.
Sebastian said he had no idea how complicated it would be. And he really, really didn't.
Ghost explained some things and came to the conclusion that she would drop off the paperwork for him to complete later. There was no need for him and his horn to get refused papers, and he could mail them in. He did know how to mail things, right? Ghost also explained about needing forms of identification and why it was important to be certified and approved for legal status as a business and a person.
She was glad that Sebastian had been her last stop because by now it was getting a bit late as far as business hours went.
"...you do have forms of identification, right? Social security number, passport, driver's license. Or if you're not a citizen you'll need working papers or to get a green card." He still looked a little lost, and Ghost knew they had a lot more learning to go through. "Would you like to take a dinner break?" She'd be more than happy to help him spackle afterward if they were not done learning during dinner.
Though, honestly, maybe Sebastian's brain could use a breather.
Posted by Sebastian on Sept 13, 2009 22:39:45 GMT -6
Beta Mutant
730
0
May 18, 2013 11:53:12 GMT -6
Sebastian could remember when people wrote by pressing a stele into wet clay. He could remember when papyrus was pounded together in overlapping strips for the pharoah's scribes to keep records of his cows for him. He could remember when books were made from animal skins. He could remember when paper was invented, and when monks would spend hours painstakingly copying and illuminating manuscripts. He could remember when paper was so precious that every square inch was used before it was discarded.
It seemed that now, in order to do anything, one had to collect a dozen papers from some office and fill them all out with every bit of information there was about him. He'd practically be writing an autobiography before he could open up a clinic it sounded like, and for someone as old as he was that was no small task. Then, some of those papers would result in more papers being sent to him that would enable him to fill out even more papers. Sebastian wondered how on Earth the government could keep track of it all. If the scribes could fill an entire room with scrolls about the pharoah's semi-annual cow census, how big must the storage area be for all the information they must have on every person and every business in the United States? It made his mind numb just thinking about the sheer amount of paper.
She mentioned a passport, which snapped him out of his paper mountain dreams.
“I have a passport!” He fished out his wallet from his pocket and showed her. It was practically fresh from the Thai printing press a little over a year ago. There, that was one thing he didn't have to worry about.
“Dinner sounds wonderful,” he admitted. It had already been a long day, and he couldn't remember if he'd taken a break to eat lunch. “Do you have anywhere in particular you'd like to go? The only places I've gotten food at in this area are that Chinese place, the grocery store, and Flower Peddlers. I don't think you'd want to eat there, though.”
A passport passed between them. It was very shiny and despite having taken up residence in a man's wallet and more than likely under his backside, the thing still had an air of newness to it. "Did you come into the States using this documentation?" She wondered how he had procured it in the first place, but she knew very little of Thai governmental processes.
"And also, how long you have legally been in the United States is important... I think. We'll have to do more research on the matter." Research was very important. Without it you could be stuck standing in some lonely governmental office for hours or even days before you talked to someone who knew how to help you. It was best to go in armed with knowledge at the very least so that you could ask the right questions to avoid repeating the process.
Ghost handed the document back to its rightful owner, but could not help but grin toothily at his mention of a flower peddler. So he sometimes just popped in for a light snack of daises?
"I uh-- no, I don't think that would work as well for me, but I wouldn't be above trying it one day." Just to have the experience. Maybe not for a whole meal, but for a taste. "To be honest I eat a lot of the restaurants around the store. Why don't we pick a direction and start walking? I'll bet we could find something new that way." And as long as there was someone out with her, she wouldn't have to worry about how late it was getting, nor how dark.
Ghost hopped off her ladder perch rubbing at her bum through her slacks. Sitting that long in one way had its way of affecting oneself. "Do you have a favorite flower?" To eat or to see, either was an acceptable answer. She was totally bringing him a bouquet someday soon.