Character Name: Benjamin Raker

Age: 27

Gender: Male

Height: 5’11”

Build: Not muscular, not fat, Benjamin is what most people would call the “average man”.

General Appearance: While an unhealthy diet, usually grabbed on the run, means he has never developed an ideal physique, he is actually quite fit due to the exercise of his job. His hair is a hazel, darkening with age, and his eyes a light green; his nose was once broken and expertly reset, but the break is noticeable if anyone looks hard enough. Benjamin is what most people would call “a pure human” to their face, then “in-valid” behind their back. He is usually found in his work clothes, a “retro-style” brown suit with polished black fake leather shoes, brown, weather beaten fedora and toting a large brown leather briefcase. He carries a digital notepad in his inner pocket.

Personality: Putting on the outward appearance of someone warm, confident and approachable, Benjamin is quite the perfectionist in his private life. If he does anything wrong he tends to criticize himself to the point where he is immobilised by his fear of getting it wrong again; more than once he has had to force himself past this and do something spontaneously before he loses his nerves. This does, however, result in him being a little reckless when forcing himself to act, not wanting to think about his actions in case he freezes up again. This also stops him from having very high ambitions, as he does not wish to aim high and fail, because there would be no recovery from that.

History: By the time Benjamin was born, most people were used to having these new creatures around; while not all people liked these new beings, it was generally accepted that they were there to stay now. He lived in a medium sized city with his parents, and like most average children of that decade grew up among the “self-made” heroes, aspiring to be like the people who started from simple beginnings and made all the right moves to get to the seats of power they held today.

Despite scoring very highly in his passing exams, Benjamin avoided going to University of his choice, deciding that he would rather attempt to go into the job market. Only when getting there did he realise how few jobs were willing to hire people without experience or University education; through sheer determination he landed a job selling items door to door, and although he had a rocky start he managed to keep at it.

After five years in the job he was one of the best salesmen in the city, and he was actually finding requests from larger more important companies; a series of adverts he had starred in for the growing company had put him forward as a confident and charming spokesperson, and the world seemed to trust people like that. The fact he is a full human is also rather a gimmick they seemed to enjoy. He turned the offers down however, joking that he feared success, but always truly worrying that if he moved away from his current success then he could never top it. He feared that he had hit his glass ceiling, and if he tried to break through he would only fall.

It took several more years and two relationships that ended in disaster before he found the will to move away from his comfy life in the small city; even then it was just another goal for him to aim for in his life. He sold his shares in the company, giving him a tidy bundle, and moved out over the next few weeks. He just needed to get inside the city, look for a place to rent, look into the old offers and maybe make a bigger name for himself.

Other: Although he has considered getting a minor alteration and becoming a construct, Benjamin has always reconsidered at the last moment because of indecision, but he hopes to have a greater range of choices once he has a bit more money. For that, he needs to become a success in the sales business. His briefcase is also a fine piece of technology; most things he sold as a door to door representative were much too large to fit into a normal briefcase, so the salesmen were outfitted with separate dimension cases. To put it simply, no matter what the weight or size, it can be carried inside the briefcase; Benjamin’s is rather old however, since he kept his very first one, and can have a habit of spitting out items at random when not closed completely.

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A thai woman in her 30s stands at the entrance to the waiting area of the Immigration Centre of Krung Thep, and calls out "Benjamin Raker!" with a clear, friendly tone of voice, casting an expectant glance at the motley crew of people waiting to meet the immigration officials. All these people wanting to come live in Krung Thep - and no wonder, she thinks, it is a place to come to, and for so many reasons.

"Oh, uh, yes, that's me" a figure near the back said, the brown fedora being swept off his lap as he stood up from his seat. It was easy to tell that he had tried to look his best for this, his brown suit was ironed and pressed and starched until you could see the folds of the suit acting like hinges, the rest of the cloth made stiff by overcompensation for how frayed the cloth was in places. He'd had the suit for a while. "Excuse me" he said, leaning over and reaching beneath the seat, pulling out an equally aged briefcase which had been applied with so much polish that it almost glittered. He trotted forward, the stiff suit making his motions a little like a show horse on parade, but pulled to a stop in front of the Thai woman blocking the door. His case and hat clutched in front of him, as if they were protecting him from the possible failure ahead, he gave her a bright smile and said "Benjamin Raker. That's me."

The woman smiled and introduced herself as Mary. "Please follow me," she said as she led him down the corridor and into a small office. She went to sit behind the desk and motioned for Benjamin to take a seat opposite her. The room could be described as cosy, with some drawings done by a child on one cork board, and a potted plant on the window sill, but most people would just call it small. The off-white walls didn't show signs of aging, but they weren't brand new either. "We'll just start the immigration process by filling in the paperwork here, but first I need to ask, do you speak English? There are spatial translators set up all over this building so that we can communicate, but if you need, the government can issue you a personal portable version. It eases integration as you can imagine." She spoke with a slight and an unspecific English accent, which was a curious contrast to her gentle Asian features.

"Oh yes" Benjamin replied, sitting down with his case on his lap, eyes roaming quickly from walls to sill to the floor then to the woman, a shy smile crossing his lips as he sat opposite her. "English, took a bit of French in school" in fact it had been a high pass at A-level "a little Spanish..." his voice trailed off and a set of fingers scratched at the back of his head. He didn't want to show off, but the words kept crawling from him "smattering of German... Few words in" the series of clicks and half-breaths he muttered then was the name of a familiar, if not very used, alien language; famous for it's complexity and tendency to start fights if someone cleared their throat without warning. Benjamin fell silent, his cheeks a little red from the embarrassment he was feeling. He wished he hadn't said those things, she had only been asking as a formality, she probably didn't care about his life story.

"That sounds wonderful," she said with a smile. "So you studied A-levels, did you pursue further education after that?" She inquired. She sat facing him, the computer on the desk hummed a little, as if waiting patiently to be used for something.

"No, no I decided that I should head out into the big wide world of business" Benjamin said with a smile, an actual one this time; it appeared that business was one of the few things that he was not shy about. He could talk business for hours, and he had to usually. "Start out early, self-made men always bring home the bread and all that" he flexed his fingers around the handle of the leather case, carefully lowering it to the floor as he found himself on more comfortable ground. His hat was still on his lap though.

Mary nodded, "I see, I understand." She turned her attention to the computer for a few seconds and clicked something. "So what kind of business are you in?" She inquired with that same friendly tone.

"Advertising and Sales" Benjamin replied at once, giving a small nod and a grin as if he was very happy about this fact "I see what people need and I give it to them. I've already had several offers from companies inside Krung Thep actually. I was in a string of adverts for the company you see, and well... well I'm sure you wouldn't remember them anyway. Would... would you like to have a look at the job offers? I've got a few copies with me" he pointed a finger down to his case; he had triples of every offer he'd been sent. If he was going to pick up sticks and move to the city he was going to do it right.

"Oh wonderful, yes, that would be very helpful," Mary said. "So I shall put here on the record that you are entering Krung Thep on business, and today's date... there..." she continued tapping at the computer, then looked back at Benjamin. "And do you have a planned date of departure, or shall I put 'indefinite' here?" She asked.

"So far, indefinite" Benjamin said with a short laugh, digging into his briefcase; he slowly slid up to his elbow, then pulled it back onto his lap so he could reach up into his shoulder. "In here somewhere... ah, here" he pulled out several pieces of printed paper, pushing them across the desk to the woman "I've looked into a few places to rent in the city as well, but most ask me to look at the place before putting down money, so I need to get in before I can find a place to live." The job offers were there in black and white, several large companies actually; if she checked the dates however she would notice that the offers were several years past. They did reassure him of a job if he wanted one, but large companies were known to be rather... fickle.

"Thank you, I can make copies of these in a second," Mary said, not looking at the papers in too much detail. "Yes, accommodation is another matter that we need to discuss. There are government provided flats where you can stay until you can secure a place, we could fill some of those papers in too to start with..." she mumbled as she focused more on the computer. "Oh, let's do the top first here, is Benjamin Raker your full name? And how old are you?"

"Ah, that will be useful" Benjamin muttered under his breath, he always hated staying in hotels, he stayed there longer than he intended and spent way too much money. "Yes, Benjamin Raker is my full name and I am twenty seven. Though I will be twenty eight in one month and two days" he nodded slightly, snapping his briefcase shut without thinking; he didn't want it to malfunction while he was sitting here. It might make a bad impression.

"That's great, I'll put here 'twenty-seven on this date' and today's date there..." Mary typed at the computer, then looked up "and what is your marital status, single, married, divorced etc?"

"I... uh... single" Benjamin said, looking up and down between the interviewer and his hands, his smile returning to that familiar half-moon of embarrassment. He was rubbing the ring finger on his left hand, where there was no band anymore. You can't really be divorced if you never made it to the altar. He forced himself to lower the briefcase to the floor again, he didn't want to seem odd and keep it clutched to his lap the entire time. This revealed a rather squashed looking hat, which he picked up and immediately starting to try and straighten again.

Mary paused during her typig and clicking to look at Benjamin, it seemed that she had a question, but she said nothing and simply nodded and wrote 'single.' "And do you have any children or family members who depend upon you?" She asked, continuing down the form.

"No, no one who depends on me" Bejamin said with a small shrug "Parents getting along by themselves, no kids, grandparents dead." If there had been someone he would have clung onto that dependant person as hard as possible to stop himself from going, but no one needed him back there. He was free, he could go anywhere and do anything... terrifying really.

Mary nodded again with a smile. She found this young man interesting and trust-worthy, and she usually actually judged her immigration cases with her gut more than the information she received and wrote down. There just is no replacement for the human connection, no spare part one can buy to enhance human knowledge. "Then we have here the box for background," she explained, turning the screen a little bit to show Benjamin the form she had been filling in. Everything was impeccably typed, except there was a spare 'r' at the end of Benjamin's last name - 'Rakerr'. "So we have your studies and profession already, is there some activities you've been involved in - clubs or the like - that would be worth mentioning here? Just so that we get a bit of an idea what kind of person you are, socially."

"There's... uh... My last..." Benjamin was carefully pointing with the hand still holdin the hat, gazing at the first spare 'r' on his name. "You've... given me an extra... 'r'" he said, the only way he was able to say it was by staring straight ahead at the mistake "Don't worry about it, I mean, lots of people get that wrong. So many different spellings these days." He was waving his hand quickly, as if trying to dispell any emotions he might have stirred up by pointing out her mistake with a flick of his hat. "Hobbies and clubs though... I don't reacon I do much of that. I mean I read a bit..." a few books, though he had more comics in his bag than he liked to admit; he still liked his childhood heroes, even if others had grown out of them, and their actions seemed more than a little foolish. "I've never really joined any reading clubs though... I like going out with friends, cinema, diners, bars... though mostly I do it for the friends, I will admit. In fact I believe that I go out rather a lot. I prefer to be around people than by myself. I suppose that's why I don't join many clubs, I'm already quite social with my friends."

Mary furrowed her brow and looked closely at the screen, then found the spot with the mistake and with a swift click deleted the offending 'r'. She didn't seem to think anything of it, though it annoyed her that it was just a regular English word - albeit a name - she had misspelt. She was quite proud of her English abilities. But she pretended that it didn't bother her, and simply listened to the man as he spoke. "Hmm, that isn't really something we can put here... Though it sounds like you'd like a library card," she said with a smile, then continued: "What about religious background?" Any dangerous cults or fundamentalism? she thought, but immediately rebuked herself for doing so, for letting her position and job make her prejudiced. She'd just seen a bit too much of everything in this job...

"Oh, no, no real religion. Tends to get in the way of sales anyway" Benjamin with a soft laugh, shaking his head at the idea "I used to sell door to door, and if you went into someone's home without fully respecting everything they could show you... well then you weren't ready to go into their homes." He nodded to himself, gazing off into the middle distance as he spoke, as if he was repeating a mantra to himself. He slipped back into this reality with a gracious smile "Not that I always agree with them, but people have the right to believe what they want, and well, there's no darn reason for me to tell them not to do what makes them happy." He sat back, smiling and seemingly happy with this answer... though, as he settled there, he began to chew his slowly, and Mary would be able to see a cloud of memory drifting over his face, the smile falling slowly as his gaze returned to the past "So long as it don't hurt no people..."

Mary nodded, and felt a strange pleasant feeling over her. She liked her job, getting to meet different people like this. "I believe you will find that that is almost the unofficial slogan of Krung Thep," she said with a quiet chuckle. "Since the Great Event 200 years ago, Krung Thep have been the very embodiment of that sentence and the happiness it brings to her citizens. You are most likely to notice this very much during the beginning of your stay, as it is soon the bicentennial celebration of the Great Event." She began to rummage the shelf behind her. "I will give you this..." she said, facing away from Benjamin and looking through printed material. She picked one up and turned around to hand it to Benjamin. It was a pamphlet about Krung Thep that contained a very limited, glossed-over section on history, and a What's On of the Bicentennial Celebration events. "We'll also get you all the paper work, your ID card and accommodation sorted before the end of the day, when the process is through." She smiled to herself and added: "Yet another great thing brought about the Great Event: bureaucracy is efficient and to the minimum."

"Why, uhh, thank you, I-uh" Benjamin patted his suit with the hand not holding onto the new pamphlets, indicating that there were no pockets apart from the one inside, which had a digital note pad in it right now. He leant down to his case, clicked it open and flinched back with surprising reactions as something shot out of it; he caught the piece of paper in the air, blowing on it quickly and swatting at the few flickers of flame that had started. "Sorry about that!" he said, beating the edges of newly emerged pamphlet with his sleeve cuff; just visible would be the words Modification Today on the cover "sometimes it has... well, the hiccups. Just lucky it was a piece of paper, having a couch come at you half the speed of a collapsing dimension is quite memorable, once you get over the head trauma." And there was the joke, the little laugh afterwards trying to disguise the mistake he had made, and the wave of embarrassment that had swept through Benjamin like a wave of vomit. As he was speaking both pamphlets disappeared into the case and it was shut, firmly, with one hand. "Now... the paperwork?"

Mary observed the quick event with a frozen stun of surprise, but managed to make a polite chuckle at the couch-joke. She doubted herself, maybe she had missed something important about Benjamin. She tried to fight the feeling, since she knew that 'no one is normal and everyone has something strange about them, and most people are peaceful,' the training she had received went around in her head, but she also dreaded the idea of being the official to let some dangerous terrorist into the city right at the eve of the bicentennial... She at least had to make a note of the strange briefcase he was carrying into his file. But she didn't know quite what to write. "Yes, the paperwork, let me just give you this form, this is for the housing, it should all be rather standard information..." she shuffled more papers and pushed a sheet of paper to Benjamin's side of the table, and placed a pen on top of it. "Some things around here are still done the good old fashioned way," she explain with a grin.

"Of course, of course" Benjamin said, nodding slowly and taking up the pen and papers, head down and eyes looking straight at the desk; he was still embarrassed about his briefcase. It made him look shabby... fake. Coming in with his best suit and a bright smile and then one of his most vital pieces of hardware has an accident on him. Not a good impression. "This... this part here" Benjamin said, pointing to a place on the paper that requested a contact telephone number "My phone has recently" been shot out of a bag at half the speed of a collapsing dimension "been damaged... I haven't had the time to put in for a replacement yet, would it be acceptable to only put an e-mail address down? I can get messages on my notepad. Or... should I leave that blank for the residencies phone? Does it have a phone?" He looked up at Mary again, his eyes betraying how he was more than a little lost right now; it was a big, scary world out there, and he'd dared to step into it.

Mary leaned across the table to see the point he was pointing. "You can leave that blank then, that's fine. It's better to not put the housing phone - if they have one, you can never be quite sure with these things - in case you end up moving soon," she said. "I'll just go take a copy of these and go fetch the ID card for you," she said getting up and referring to Benjamin's papers about employment. "Be right back," she said as she exited the room.

Benjamin nodded, sitting back and gazing blankly at the empty seat in front of him after smiling and waving her out of the room. He just had to sit here, waiting for her to return... He scratched the tingling feeling on the back of his neck, chewing on his lip softly. So... he was in, right? he did it? he was accepted to the city? He placed his hat on his head, then remembering his mother's constant voicing of how it was rude to wear hats indoors, swept it off again. He just had to sit and wait. That was all.