With all the technological advances happening in the world and the recent trend in startups, it was no surprise that a tech fair would happen in New York city.

Arriving at the convention Richard flashed his pass and entered. The convention had just opened for the day so it was still relatively quiet. He wondered around like a kid in a candy store. There was one booth demonstrating a new way of 3D printing using oxygen diffusion and light, another booth showed demonstration of Cold Fusion. So intent was he in digesting the veritable flood of information that he was not watching where he was going and cannoned into some unfortunate soul. He immediately apologized.

"I am very sorry, are you alright?" He said extending a hand out to help the lady up.

She had a case of the nerves.

How was she going to explain herself here? What was she even looking for, exactly? Maya had bought a day pass to the tech convention because she was hoping to find answers, or at least a temporary solution, to her specific problem.

Maya was having a hard time keeping herself together.

It was getting pretty bad. Like, worse than having a book drop through her fingers unexpectedly. Now, she was having some basic wardrobe malfunctions especially when— oof!

The aeromancer was no match for a healthy weighted man going at full momentum. She may have been the stationary one, but she bounced right off of the stranger.

She'd found a trick lately to keep her clothes on in public. Maya focused her attention on keeping the outermost parts of herself solid. It took more concentration than was pretty so when she ended up on the ground, so did half her shirt. Like. Literally. Her shoulders still maintained the weight of the clothing, but her belly area had gone incorporeal. The fabric fluttered through her torso in a most discomforting way.

> "I am very sorry, are you alright?"

"I-I- uhm." She just didn't know what to say. Maya was in a most precarious situation. If she forced herself fully solid, she would have cloth embedded in the flesh of her torso. Which would be bloody and make for a very, very bad day. If she went fully incorporeal, she was going to lose her shirt. "I'm sorry!" She squeaked and took a gasping breath, quite suddenly changing states from solid to gaseous.

Her shirt fell to the floor and Ghost drifted upward. "Could you, uhm... pick that up for me?" She kept her form blurred, like a hazy memory rather than her usual crisp apparition-like self.

Firstly, the lady did not just seem to fall over, she...she bounced! Literally flew away from Richard like in some exadurated asian martial arts movie, you know what I am talking about. Then when Richard had recovered from that, he looked more closely at the lady. Was it just the trick of the light or was she partially embedded in the floor. He must be seeing things...but no the bottom of her shirt was currently occupying the space where her torso should be it was like some bizzare magic trick where instead of swing someone in half you...well. It also seemed that he was not the only one speechless.

"I-I- uhm. I'm sorry!" She squeaked, then gasped then blurred and drifted upwards. It was fortunate that not too many people were around. To say Richard was dumbstruck would be an understatement. It would be more appropriate to describe his jaw as being Firmly attached to the floor.

"Could you, uhm... pick that up for me?" The request snapped Richard out of his daze. There was something appealing about a damsel in distress and a rather good looking one at that. What was it with New York and good looking mutants. Not that Richard had ever had too much success with the fairer sex. To be fair he had not yet met one that had affected him as ... well best not to dwell on the past. it was over now.

"Umm. Sure, of course. Is everything alright? Anything I can do to help?". He grabbed the tshirt off the floor then looked round for something vaguely towel like. "Hold on a sec." He said darting away still holding the tshirt. He returned a second or two later with a beach towel that he had been able to scrounge from a nearby stall. Well technically he had just bought it, but that was beside the point. He hoped the towel would help. "Would this work better?" He asked holding the towel open. His voice betraying genuine concern. "I'm Richard by the by, what's your name?" Sometimes distractions helped one focus, it was worth a try at least.

Truth be told power malfunction was one of the things that he secretly feared in himself so he could very much sympathize with what was obliviously an air elemental was going through.

It wasn't that weird.

...

Okay. It totally was, but that didn't make Ghost feel any better about the situation. She felt utterly exposed because, well, no shirt. It might not be crowded, but no shirt was still NO SHIRT. The man asked a slew of questions. Was everything alright? "No." Could he help? "Shirt." She wasn't sure if the brain lag was from her semi-nudity or the freaky power show, but he finally got the message.

Or did he? Because typically when someone asks for help in picking something up, the picker-upper then offers the picked up item to the person in need of a shirt.

"Wha- Wait!" She hadn't gotten the best look at him before she'd traded in her sight for her incorporeal form's spatial senses. Could she even follow him if she wanted? Ghost crossed her see through arms, realized the futility, and then instead sank down to an amorphous puddle of sulking air elemental soup.

> "Would this work better?"

Was this a joke? He had to be teasing her because he held out a towel, but he still had her shirt.

"No!" Her tone and corresponding blast of air were both a bit stronger than she intended. Papers flew from a nearby booth like freshly freed doves and the towel blew right back into this Richard's smug face. At least, she assumed it was smug. It wasn't exactly polite to smother strangers just to check their facial expressions. Not that she wasn't currently tempted...

"I would just like my shirt back. Please. Coming here was a bad idea."

For someone attempting to help either Richard was supremely incompetent or the lady, no woman he was helping was singularly ungrateful. So far the only replies he had gotten from her were single words almost barked out. No! Shirt! Wait! No! Sheesh! Richard did not mind helping people. He did not begrudge the exorbitant price that the towel had cost. A word of thanks would be nice. Instead of lashing out, he bit his tongue and held back his anger. Out loud he said. "Here is your shirt, I am sorry I just though what with the slight power malfunction that you seem to experiencing holding a large towel around you might make things easier. I apologize if I was mistaken" As he removed the towel from his face. You see contrary to most people the angrier Richard go the more verbally polite his words became and the quieter he spoke that is until he either vacated the immediate premises or spoke his mind. Taking a breath he reminded himself that anyone having a power malfunction, especially one that caused a wardrobe malfunction and a lady at that would probably not be having the best of days. 

A little calmer he said "I'm Richard by they way. Out of curiosity may I ask what brought you here? "

He finally held out the shirt. Ghost worked carefully to manipulate the air around it, making it densely packed before sweeping the garment away in a swirling current made of her misty body. "Thank you, Mister Richard."

This was the strangest pervert she'd ever met. Or... well... if he wasn't lying to her, he wasn't a pervert at all. Just a guy who was trying to solve a problem in all the wrong ways. She hesitated, keeping a lazy circulation to keep her shirt aloft. "Uhm. They call me Ghost. Now it's your turn. Would you wait here? Right here. Don't move. Please?" All she could do was ask and then wait to read his body language before taking off.

A cloudy mist brushed through the women's restroom door and then carefully draped the shirt over a sink. It took time to reform herself and lately she wasn't getting back to full corporeality anymore. Once she had enough upper body, Ghost put on the shirt. Had she been wearing pants, she would have left her legs incorporeal. Arms. Maybe one arm, one leg? Gah! It was awkward every way she tried it. In the end, she walked back out onto the floor of the convention with her insides incorporeal beneath a thin layer of solid flesh. So long as she was careful it would be okay...

She felt bad when she noticed the vendor and a helpful bystander or two picking up the papers she had scattered so she stopped to help as well even though they were almost finished. She dipped her head in apology and purchased a small trinket and two water bottles to make up for the inconvenience.

One water bottle she held out to Richard. "I was unkind and you were only trying to help." She twisted her hands around her water bottle, still feeling a bit adversarial. At least now she could see his face and better gage his reactions if he was indeed making fun of her. "I'm sorry. I should not have reacted as I did."

"You asked why I came... I thought maybe I could find some answers or a better way to cope with..." She continued to wring her water bottle, afraid to squeeze too tight lest the heavy object pass through her hands. "My name is Maya. Do you know if they can 3D print a new body?"

"Thank you, Mister Richard."
"You are most welcome Madam" Said Richard mollified.
"Uhm. They call me Ghost. Now it's your turn. Would you wait here? Right here. Don't move. Please?"
"Sure, I will wait here." A slightly puzzling request but not too odd. Then a gust of wind and mist? drifted away? It went like... well like a gust of wind. While waiting for Ghost, if that was her real name, Richard had not been a mutant long enough to think or even consider a moniker, Richard helped tidy up after Ghost's explosive blast of wind.

Richard smiled at her as Ghost returned and gratefully accepted the water bottle from her.

"I was unkind and you were only trying to help. I'm sorry. I should not have reacted as I did." "That is fine, don't worry about it, I am sure it is disconcerting to have a power malfunction. To tell you the truth, I worry about it and fear that one day I may lose control of my power." It was true, as the world was becoming more and more reliant on technological devices, if Richard lost control of his power, who knows how much damage he could do, and the really scary thing was that it would not take much. For a pacemaker to fail only a single wire needed to be crossed, for a computer to short circuit again a wire, same for a phone. Hades mentally forced his train of thought to stop there.

"You asked why I came... I thought maybe I could find some answers or a better way to cope with...My name is Maya. Do you know if they can 3D print a new body?"

"A pleasure to meet you Maya. Hmm might I ask what you are trying to cope with, you see I am an engineer and rather addicted to challenges. But to answer your question, if you want to use it for what I think you want it for I fear it will not work. You see most 3D printed objects are made from Resin which would be inflexible, so they could 3D scan you and print you a statue replica, but not something that moves. Although it would be possible to 3D print in rubber like materials (see here, here or here). Would you be thinking of solid rubber or hollow rubber." Siad Richard while already mentally doing some calculations, he grabbed a complimentary pand of paper and pencil and began to run some rudimentary calculations and do a rough sketch.

Engineer. Her mouth formed a silent 'Ohhhhh' as understanding dawned. He was just socially awkward. Engineers in the books she'd read were hyperbolized as geeky, hyperfocused, and easily excited about their area of expertise. So far that was holding mostly true for this man.

Maya warmed to Richard, now almost certain he wasn't lying. Admittedly, she was not a great judge of character, but he seemed genuinely interested. Even going so far as to acquire paper to start sketching.

"Hollow. Solid rubber sounds heavy. Wait, wait. Elastomeric? Tensile strength?" She read some quickly jotted notes from Richard's paper and looked around the convention center when he did, just trying to figure out what all he was referencing. "Can we start at the beginning? Or maybe just... go slow?" It was all fascinating and she felt like she could understand it well enough if she only had a chance to.

"Uhm. Couldn't you use joints of some kind? They use ball joints in dolls and action figures. Some of them even have finger jointing now." Though, did she really want to be Maya the action figure? "I'm not sure... I mean, this is all hypothetical anyway. I'm just trying to scout some options and if technology has come far enough to do what I want." Was she babbling? She was babbling.

Richard smiled as Maya started to babble. "Come, this is not the best place to chat, do you fancy a coffee?" He said as he lead her towards a small mom & pop coffe shop. As they were walking out a few of the stall owners called out.

   "Hey Richard, helping damsels in distress now?"

"Yes Don, I got so sick and tired of helping your ugly mug!" Richard shot back smiling. "I'll be back later to look at that project of yours if you still want me to."

    "Thanks man, I owe you one."

"You already owe me several." Richard said grinning. A few of the stall owners chuckled. Richard had made a slight name for himself by asking inquisitive questions and, without them knowing it, using his powers to diagnose what was wrong or could be improved with a number of prototypes. As a result he was a little popular, it did not hurt that he did not ask for anything in return.



Once they were seated at a booth by a window and had ordered, Richard took a minute to gather and compose his thoughts then began again. "Maya, do you prefer Maya or Ghost? Anyhow, let me start again, I had two ideas really, see if they sort of fit what you are looking for. Please bear in mind that these are just spit balling, to actually build them would take a bit of work. Anyhow, idea number 1 would be something a little like a skin suit. Here at the convention, there is a 3D body scanner, so you could get yourself scanned and then using a combination of movie prosthetics and 3D printing you could design and print a second "skin" that you could just sort of wear/inflate. Does that make sense? If it is done right no one would be able to tell that it is not real skin." He paused for a breath, a sip of delicious coffee and a wonderful slice of quiche then continued.



"The second idea, well you could think of it a a sort of car like...thing. I was thinking of a slightly stiffer, porous rubber/plastic combination. Kind of like a life sized action figure, you could still do the skin texturing etc so it would look and feel real. The material would be porous so that you could easily "slip into" it and.. well drive it. The difference being that 1. It would take a little more effort to move as it would be stiffer. And 2. it would not deflate like a balloon/ collapse if you decided to "pop off elsewhere" for a bit. What do you think of that?"



Richard sat back and and attacked his quiche with gentlemanly like relish.

"I'm not- I don't want to intrude... I don't-" She tried to protest getting coffee with this stranger as she jogged along side him to keep up. Somehow, though, she ended up sitting right across a little table from Richard with him pitching her various ideas on what ideas he had.

The barista brought her tea and Maya wrapped her hands greedily around the cup taking it immediately to her lips to smell the brew and get a taste. The drink may have been almost boiling hot, but she didn't feel it. She didn't feel much these days.

"When I worked with the X-men and when I was afraid of the after effects of the registration, I got the moniker Ghost. I haven't run missions in a while, though. I'm just Maya now. I'm more than just my mutation." Even if her mutation was all that she would become eventually. For now, she could be a little bit human too. "I don't think I'll ever shake the nickname Ghost, though. Even my brother calls me Ghost."

She fumbled at her tea cup as it tried to slide through her fingers. Yikes. She set it down, wiped away the spilled liquid with efficient movements, and smoothed her skirt. Anything to keep her hands busy so that she could order her thoughts without having to look this stranger in the eyes.

"I don't know if I want to be a balloon," she admitted, "but part of this is happening because when I change states I seem to sometimes loose pieces of myself. If it was an enclosed..." Maya struggled to find the right words, "structure, I guess? Fully air tight? That might help, but I can't change states and occupy the same space as something else without fusing to it. It's a disaster." Hence the freak out over the shirt. She was getting a little better at this half and half business, though.

Maya pulled her legs into the chair with her, hugging her knees to her chest. "I can push around an action-figure body. Especially if there is something to catch moving air on. Strength isn't an issue so long as I don't have to fully support the weight the whole time." Even that she could probably get used to. Maybe. "But... will people want to interact with what amounts to a puppet? Is that... weird? You talk like it's exciting. A problem to solve, a solution to find. But it's me. I'd have to be the one living with it."

This whole thing made her uncomfortable. In the future, that shared dream some mutants had of a possible future anyway, Maya had merged herself with a false body on purpose. She'd traded her senses for the security of not wasting away. "I don't mean to be ungrateful. Sorry." She was here for answers. For hope. Not for normal. She had to keep that in mind from now on.

"What would you do?"

>"I can push around an action-figure body. Especially if there is something to catch moving air on. Strength isn't an issue so long as I don't have to fully support the weight the whole time. But... will people want to interact with what amounts to a puppet? Is that... weird? You talk like it's exciting. A problem to solve, a solution to find. But it's me. I'd have to be the one living with it."

"Maya, that is the whole point of the so called action figure, a good one should be like a well made wig, indistinguishable from the real thing. Sure when people shake your hand it may feel a little cool but if the texture and makup is done right people should not be able to tell the difference." He paused., collected his thoughts, took a breath then continued.  "Maya, it is because what I am designing can actually help someone, that is part of the reason I am so excited. Usually I am designing weapon systems or helping people refine designs that go into mass production, but with this I actually get to design something that could make a difference in one persons life. That to me is exciting. I get to create something that might make someone's life better."

>"I don't mean to be ungrateful. Sorry."
"That is completely fine, I am guessing it is a traumatic experience to say the least."

>"What would you do?"
"To be honest, exactly what you are doing now. Then after I had gathered ideas I would try them. Lets be honest the final solution wont appear at once and may need tweaking. So I would try making a prototype of each idea and test them and then go from there. It is like me learning ab out my powers and how to use them. You keep trying, keep adjusting until you get a solution that works." Richard said encouragingly. He paused, hesitating slightly, wondering if he should ask the question, the decided and took the plunge.
"If I may ask, do you know what is causing you to loose control of you powers, it would seem to me that this "suit" is only a temporary measure...." He trailed off, wondering if he had said too much. "Sorry it is none of my business, but if I could I would like to help in any way I can."

He was right. He was so right. She needed to stop wallowing and buck up. Having made that decision, Maya sat a little straighter in her chair.

”A false body would only be a stopgap. I know.” Surprisingly, she didn’t sound terribly upset about that fact. She’d known about it for too long to not face this reality.

”My mutation will kill me one day. I’ve seen Dr. Ingram at Mondragon Labs and Dr. Velez of Faust Pharmaceuticals genetic research department. It’s an absolute certainty. There’s also a family president.” Like cancer or a history of heart disease. Not every problem had a solution.

The issue now was quality of life in the mean time. What could she do to keep her son from worrying? What could she do to hold on a little longer. It wasn’t like she was in any pain currently. Just… inconvenience.

”I don’t really want to waste your time, Mr. Richard. And I can’t really afford to pay you a mechanical engineer’s wages for your time. I’m just… browsing, really.”

It seemed that Richard had encouraged her in some way, she looked a little more hopeful.

>"A false body would only be a stopgap. I know" They way she said it almost sounded as if she had come to make peace with that fact.

>”My mutation will kill me one day. I’ve seen Dr. Ingram at Mondragon Labs and Dr. Velez of Faust Pharmaceuticals genetic research department. It’s an absolute certainty. There’s also a family president.”



"It may well be none of my business, but have you thought of trying to suppress your X-gene? Either chemically or by adapted or technology? Would that Help? Sorry, just being curious."



>”I don’t really want to waste your time, Mr. Richard. And I can’t really afford to pay you a mechanical engineer’s wages for your time. I’m just… browsing, really.”

Richard had to smile at this. "Maya, firstly please, Please loose the Mr, Just Richard would be fine. although I should really think about getting a moniker." He grinned to himself before continuing."Secondly , who said anything about paying, or accepting pay? Maya I spend all day every day designing things for the masses or weapon systems for military/ security types, I see this as a challenge, as I have not done a lot to do with 3D printing or polymer mixes. Secondly it is also a chance for me to experiment/ train my powers as plastic a whole lot easier to manipulate for me than metal." Richard shivered slightly in recollection of when he had tried to manipulate some of the harder metals. He had almost passed out. "Thirdly this is a chance for me to say at the end of this that I helped make one persons life better, someone who I can see and interact with, not just being able to say that I have made some faceless masses lives somehow better. I would not dream of accepting pay. I have unused vacation time anyway." Richard smiled at Maya. He liked her in a friendly way. Her situation tugged on his heart strings a little.



Suddenly his eyes lit up, he had had a flash of inspiration. "I say, Maya, I have just thought of something. This tech convention goes on for two weeks. I could propose a challenge. To create a lifelike humanoid suite that could be controlled by aeromancers for the purpose of "cinema and theatrics". Well that is how I would sell it. We both know the real reason. But think of it this way, if we succeed we ahve a marketable product and get people to help work on it. I bet I can get quite a few of the stall owners to chip in. Let's see, Joe can contribute his GPU computing technology. Andy and his wife Vivian do Life size 3D scanning, Jason does large scale multi material 3D printing and Justin works on custom polymer mixes. This could actually work. If you don't mind being the tester of course...."

Richard hoped he was not being too intense, he could be at times. The more he considered his idea the more he liked it. For producers it would attractive as they could essentially 3D print any character they wanted and employ a mutant to animate them, which would save a fortune on animation and they could design any "body" they wanted, and if Maya would not mind being the gunie pig... well at least she would get a working prototype out of it. The challenges were no small feat but the reward if they pulled it off, would be big. Richhard also realized that..hmm how to put this, he would ahve to work with a 3D scan of her, if she accepted of course. A skin tight version of her. Richard was no Pervert and was fully capable of looking at things scientifically and switching the other part of his brain off for a project, but other people might not understand. comme to think of it Maya mught not be comfortable with that herself. But how to bring it up, should he bring it up? Would she even agree to something like this?

"I've only ever met one... Adapted? Did you call them? They're even more rare than mutants. It would be hard to stay near someone, anyone, for your entire life." It was common for people to try to help her think of new ideas, but, since she'd been dealing with the issue for some 5 years already. She'd really tried everything.

"I spent a lot of time with Faust Pharmaceuticals," literally 9 months, she'd agreed to stay with them, "but they don't have anything ready for human or mutant testing. Hopefully my time there helped them, but the absolute best they could offer me in the end was a shock bracelet. I even tried that for a while, but that's not a good solution either."

So she let him down easy. "Really, I appreciate your suggestions. I wish that you could have come up with something I hadn't already tried. This, however," Ghost tapped Richard's drawings with her finger, "is something new. I don't think it's a solution, but it is at least something. If it brings you joy to work on it, then it would be my pleasure to work with you." And it would ease her mind to take a brilliant mind away from designing weapons, even if it was for a short while. The world needed more helping. Less hurting.

Maya mulled over his suggestion that they make it a collaborative effort. She'd seen him being charismatic with the others at the convention. It didn't sound unreasonable to make this kind of goal.

"If you don't think it would be an imposition... it's not exactly a secret, so you don't have to fib if you don't want to." People could gather around a charitable goal as much as a profitable one, right? "Either way, it could be good press for all involved." And that more than anything was money in the bank.

>This, however, is something new. I don't think it's a solution, but it is at least something. If it brings you joy to work on it, then it would be my pleasure to work with you."

"Awesome!" He was afraid for a moment that Maya would shy away from it but now that she was a willing participant....

>"If you don't think it would be an imposition... it's not exactly a secret, so you don't have to fib if you don't want to. Either way, it could be good press for all involved."

"I agree, I think I will pitch it as both. Umm, question, how realistic do you want this to be? I think with a 2 week time frame starting from scratch, realistically we will probably end up with a prototype. During these 2 weeks a number of us will be working on the scans...so.... there is the question of how much detail your are comfortable with..." There was really no un-awkward way to bring this up.

"Anyhow do you want to give me a few days to get things together and hopefully by then we may need your input on various aspects of the design, like how stiff is too still, how porus the suit would need to be etc. Here is my card with my number and email. Oh, and Maya..... Thank you so much for sharing your situation with me and letting me help. The press will probably be involved b ut I can try to keep your name out of it if you would prefer." Just a few hours ago Richard had been randomly browsing the convention. Now there was a lady in need, not only that, but there was a challenge that Richard could engage with that would bring people together and probably generate good press for mutants as well as business for those at the convention.

Richard left the coffe shop his mind in a whirr. He grabbed his laptop out of his bag, found a place to setup and started typing emails. One was to his employer explaining what was happening and offering to use his unclaimed vacation time if necessary. Then there were emails to the convention center owners, the organizers of the Tech convention. A few to the individual stall owners and the CEO's of their companies, others to his contacts in Hollywood......

The next day he gathered a number of the stall owners together and layed out his plan. "....So the main aim of this would be to give the lady a chance at normal life"
"You mean before she..."
"Umm yes you could see it that way, something like last wishes that sort of thing. The other good news is that this idea seems to be a hit with Hollywood. As we all know Mutants are getting increasing employment in the movie making industry and a number of large unamed production companies are attracted to the idea of being able to design characters and have aeromancers animate them as it would save them on CGI effects. I have talked with the organizers of the convention and the centra area is ours and there will be a press conference in a few days." He paused for a sip of water before continuing. "Ladies and gentleman this is no small challenge, in two weeks we need to go from nothing to having a working prototype, there will need to be 3D detailed body scanning, Andy that will b e your department. We will need 3D printers that can do life size objects, Jason that would be you. Then we need massive multi-material print head and on-the-fly polymer mixing capabilities, Justin that would be you and Jason, I can help with the designs. We will also need to run a ton of simulations and computations, Joe that will be your department. So who is in?"
There was a unamious show of hands. At the end of the meeting everyone left in a buzz of energy. Richar would take the lead on this project and that afternoon things started happening. An area was fence off, power cables were laid over the carpet. Partitions started being setup, there was the general atmosphere of energy, like the whole convention center had been dozing and was now shaking itself awake.

Word started to spread about a flash mob style challenge, a "go big or go home" style challenge that was both charitable, helping someone in need, and potentially profitable. The word spread on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other media sites. Everywhere people were asking what was going on. New reporters started circling. There was going to be a press release tomorrow. In the center of all this activity one engineer was more alive than he had potentially ever been. Directing, managing organizing. His brain that was designed to deal with large quantities of information and process them rapidly was being put to good use. Every fiber of his being felt alive....