173 Bureaucracies And Mischief (1/2)
By the time the needed five minutes had passed and the doors to the government building were seconds from opening I had made several dozen new worshipers. They were of course all vermin of some sort or another. The vast majority of them were mosquitoes and rats, the rats being creatures that lived and lurked in the government building.
I quite enjoyed awakening the animals, and upon awakening them they lavished me with love and praise. I quite liked their adoration and their heartfelt worship. I was indiscriminate when it came to being loved, and with them, I had no qualms about using my powers to turn their love towards me. They were only sapient because of me after all, it wasn't the same as an independently sapient creature's will.
I was a bit surprised when I heard a distinct clicking noise, as the doors to the government building electronically unlocked. I hadn't realized that the lock to the building was electric. It had been many years since Saoirse, Seamus, and Geoffrey all visited this building and the last time they did the locks were not electric but instead were traditional and required keys.
I walked towards the building and opened the door that would lead me inside effortlessly, a grin on my face.
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The inside of the building that I stepped into was a cold, grey place. There was a long, fairly wide hallway in front of me, that ended in a number of doors and a cordoned pathway that led to a number of booths. All of these booths were manned by dour-looking people who were separated from those they engaged with by a thick glass screen. I could see cameras off in the distance and hidden in places that those who placed them probably thought would be undetectable and in fairness probably would have been impossible for a mortal to see. That said, I was not a mortal.
As I took my first steps into the hallway, two things happened at once. The first was that I heard static crackle over an old public announcement system, an instant before a voice was transmitted over the same system. ”Please step forward and come to one of the booths. Thank you.” The voice said, sounding tired even though it was eight in the morning.
The second thing was that I received a surprising notification out of the blue. I read the thing as I stepped towards the cordoned pathway and the booths behind it.
[Alert: Technological Update
You are in a moderately medium-tech world for the first time in your life. Had you not earned influence over the trinity of domains and subdomains that disliked truth and detection you wouldn't have received this notification at all but since you have it's worth noting that you can only be detected by cameras, or set off mundane alarms if you wish to. From here on out whenever a camera could detect you you'll be subconsciously alerted and asked if you want to be detected.
Gods of things like trickery and lies are much harder to detect and keep an eye on if they don't want to be seen. Keep that in mind as you go about your daily activities.]
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I read through the notification and was both delighted and surprised to learn what it told me. It was nice to be able to choose when I could be seen by technology in this technology-riddled world.
I quietly made my way to the cordoned pathway and then through it. When I was done I found myself standing beside a seat and in front of a bookish-looking woman who was seated in front of a small computer. She was separated from me by the thick glass sheets that this place used to prevent people who come here from hurting the employees.
The instant before she turned to face me, I activated one of my new love powers, turning on ”Mesmerizing presence” and fully unleashed ”Absolute beauty”. I was a man on a mission and I was determined to be fully efficient with the time I spent here. I wasn't going to allow my time to be wasted by unnecessary questions or overly thorough bureaucrats.
The woman seated in front of me had long, unkempt, dark brown hair, fair skin, and was dressed in a way that screamed ”college professor” to me, or at least in a manner very similar to the college professors at the university that Saoirse had attended had dressed. She wore an outfit made up of professional, khaki-pants, and a tweed vest. She had thick glasses on her face, glasses which hid grey eyes, and before her face had begun to slack like Geoffrey's had when he first laid eyes on me she had been lightly frowning. Not that that frown persisted as her gaze fell upon my chest.
By the time her gaze fell upon my face her cheeks were rosy from blushing, which was a charming look on such a pale woman. She must have spent nearly fifteen seconds just staring at me in awe before I chuckled and greeted her.
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”Good morning, my name is Cian Finigan and I am here to file a request for some paperwork.” I told her, smiling at the smart-looking woman. My words knocked her out of her silenced and awed state, and she began to speak a moment later, after lightly shaking her head.
”Oh, good morning! My name is Ciara, Ciara O'Rourke and I am happy to help you. Please, sit down.” She told me, which I did so after laughing softly.
”Yes, you can do that here. What sort of paperwork are you going to need to request today?” She asked, speaking quickly and nervously. It was clear that she at least had what the humans of this world referred to as a light crush on me. I chuckled lightly, grinning as I prepared to tell her my ”awkward” tale.
”So my situation is a bit funny. As a resident of Glendale, I'm sure you at least know of my relative, Geoffrey, and his totally fair reputation as a hermit. Well, he and his children are positively social by the standards of our other relatives. Sadly, some of the least social of us include my mother and father and so I was a home-birth and I was raised 'off the grid' so to speak.” I explained.
I bashfully placed my hands behind my neck and prepared to speak a bit sheepishly. I was weaving together a somewhat plausible lie given the culture of this part of ”New Sol”, where hermits weren't exactly unknown and I was doing myself a favor by pretending to be related to one. That said I had powers I could use if I needed too, if my lies weren't believable enough so I wasn't hugely worried.
”I need both my birth registration form, and my social identification code to be created.” I ”confessed” doing my best to look embarrassed about my situation. Ciara's face lit up in sympathy and in understanding, and I could sense that she was eating up my lies, which was a relief. She waved her hand at me, and began to reassure me with both her eyes and her words.