"You don't need to stay a minor celebrity. But if you sponsor a charity group or political cause, it could be pretty effective."

"Yeah, that sounds more my speed."

"At any rate, you're emancipated but your age still presents us with some bureaucratic challenges. You're going to need to go to the social security office to clear things up, you'll need new state ID which means the DMV. If you have insurance or leases or a bank account you need to inform them all. It's all on that questionnaire, which will decide how many other forms I have to go print."

"Joy of joys. I'll fill it out."

"Oh, and you'll want a monster-hunter license. If you have one you can claim bounties for every monster you can present proof of you destroying, even if you're not working with the official defense groups."

She hands over the form and a pen.

Form! Pen! He starts filling it out.

Truly the delights of bureaucracy are boundless.

Chromadyne wanders into the back rooms somewhere. More forms appear.

He vaguely wishes these were electronic.

This is a three-century-old institution. He's lucky they have a printer.

More Spirit Bearers show up and head back into the building somewhere. A couple stop to chat about 'a new face' and ask what his first spell was and so on.

He tells them! He's expecting So Much Transphobia.

Yeah there's some of that. Though for the most part it's more 'I don't want to think about this' than 'you are disgusting'.

He'll be perhaps slightly obnoxiously trans at them. But only slightly.

He gets admonished about topics for polite conversation twice, and one lady outright asking whether he is Catholic or not. When he's not, the woman makes a catty dismissal of him.

He's done with the first round of forms soon enough. "It doesn't look like you have too much else to go through, actually."

Oh he is unfailingly polite and whenever someone mentions that the topic might not be he is—politely—befuddled.

"Oh that's good, only fifteen more forms, then?"

"Six, actually."

He giggles.

Health insurance: He can opt out of it if he wants and get out of any contract penalties. He wants, the receptionist assures. Apartment rental: He has to inform his landlord within 30 days. Landlord could evict him by going through a bunch of legal hoops, but he'd get refunds and stuff. He probably won't bother. DMV and Social Security office: Require a visit. His job: Employer needs to be notified too. Same thing with any bank accounts or credit cards. 'Spirit Bearer' is a category protected against job discrimination. Monster-hunter license: This four page form plus a fifty dollar processing fee if he wants one, and here's some informational material.

Within another hour and a half or so the paperwork will be cleared.

He suggests computers aloud after an hour.

"Digital data isn't really very trusted, it's even more prone to monster damage than hard copies. Plus, the various government agencies have to serve everyone and not everyone has a computer and having two versions of forms is expensive apparently. And for us, well, I don't think the SA will stop using paper records any time soon."

Sigh. Fill fill.

The supply of paperwork thankfully has a limit.

Though the secretary does produce a to-do list for the days to come for him. "You might as well attend your first meet today. You won't get a vote if anything comes up for vote, but you can certainly listen, introduce yourself if you like."

"There's a meet today?"

"There's one every Tuesday at six." It's four thirty. "Not everybody comes to them all, but we've got a big turnout to welcome Terrana back."

"Then I'll be there. Is there anything to do around here meantime?"

"We have a practice area and gym, we have our own library. Or I could recommend this cafe down the street a bit, if you're hungry."