This sort of thing is mostly put off by the transaction costs, and also Artonans' general hard-to-describe hesitancy around Avowed. The other aliens are even harder to get into contact with.

She should try getting a Griveck as a pen-pal. That would be funny.

Maybe she will!

When she decides she has milked enough use out of the forum she goes on her last hurrah of Australia with Reena. Even if she affixes on the sly there's not time to learn to surf, but they can hit Dreamworld and the zoo and stuff like that in a whirlwind week punctuated by quiet evenings with Charlie.

And then she presents herself at the consulate to be zhooped over to intake.

Her System interface counts down to zero once she accepts the teleport, and then she is in a small chamber- With nice trimmings- But closed, metal walls all around.

"Welcome to Anesidora, miss Swan!" A speaker announces. "I see it's your first time here, and you're heading to intake. Congrats or condolences, as desired! Now I know it's a bad first impression, but everyone entering Anesidora must either consent to a security scan for contraband, or request an in-person evaluation instead."

"Just like, you're making sure i didn't accidentally bring vodka? Scan away."

"Precisely. One second... You're good now, thanks for the cooperation!"

The steel door slides open, revealing a spacious atrium, with a few other people walking to the right. 

"Can you head down to the customs office at the end of the hall? Green door. We have a few things to get sorted out before you can head down to Intake."

Yeah, okay. She wants to be somewhere safe when she affixes in case she faints, so she just walks at her accustomed pace down the hall to the green door. Hopefully there's not a line.

No line! Just a bored middle-aged man at a desk.

As journeys through the cogs of bureaucracy go, it's fairly painless. Ten minutes, really.

Present Australian ID. Sign here. Stamp. Consent to pulling medical records so they know she's up to date on vaccines and the like. Sign here. Consent to a partial System profile pull, or fill out a long boring questionnaire. Sign here. Acknowledge that you've read and understand the Anesidoran law primer. Sign here. Receive passport and Intake Papers (both in the System and as physical documents). Be wished a lovely day and told to go with the nice man who showed up a couple of minutes ago for a taxi ride to Intake.

They are really trying their best with the teenage refugee thing.

Into the taxi with her.

Driver helps with her luggage. He, like a lot of people, has a System nametag over his head in her vision. [Samedi - Intake Driver]

"Hey, good afternoon. I'm basically an errand-runner for Intake. Whatever you kiddos need. It's going to be about half an hour driving. Feel free to ask any questions you have- 'Bout intake, life on the island, whatever."

"That's a weirdly long drive, why isn't there a closer teleportation spot?"

"The teleportation complex is the only major transfer center on Anesidora. A few people have private pads- Hero teams, important public figures, and the Artonan ambassador. The houses of healing. But for most people, it's the main complex. Mostly a security thing as far as I understand? And it's not like Anesidora is tiny either!"

"It looks pretty tiny on maps, but fair enough! I haven't affixed yet because I wanted to be sure I was on something soft if I fainted, is here good or should I wait till I'm in my room?"

"Huh, I was wondering why you had a squishy warning. I think it's fine? You wanna be sitting down for it, but, yeah."

"I'm sitting down! I'm buckled up! Here goes nothing."

Everything where she expects it to be? Good.

Finalize affixation.

She is in a white place. Featureless, but oddly un-dreamlike. Some people get System visions when they affix, it's a known factor. They mostly don't remember much of it, going from anecdotes.

There's some sort of pressure in here. It's a little uncomfortable, but not in any sensible way.

A blue window appears before her.

Hello, Isabella.

I am the entity known to you as the System. Due to your Unique Class, your affixation is more complex than average and your awareness during affixation is necessary. I usually help Avowed experience this process as this a virtual reality scene generated based on their memories, but my guess was that you would not prefer that.

More of the Contract's attention is focused here than usual. If you have questions for me, now is the time to ask them. I do not promise to answer, but I promise on the Interdimensional Warriors Contract to not lie.

Whoa.

"Why did I get a Unique Class?"

Before telling you this information, I would require you to agree to not reveal it to other people without the System's permission, with penalties to be assessed if you deliberately or carelessly do so.

"...why?"

I am responsible for an entire planet, and my actions affect the entire universe. Information is a weapon. I can assess that you are likely to keep secrets if you see the importance of doing so, but not whether you will consider my reasons sufficient on their own. I am weighing the certainty of a small gain for you against a tiny chance of great harm to others.

"Are you reading my mind?"

I am slightly reading your mind, in order to perform affixation safely. An automated system is reporting some summarized aspects of your mental state to other automated systems, which are operating this conversation and performing the affixation.

Without this information, affixation has an unacceptable risk of failure. Records of your mind will be deleted after affixation. However, though I use first person pronouns, the System is not best described as a person.

"I guess that's okay... what kind of penalties to be assessed are we talking about and can you say anything more about your reasons for keeping this secret to begin with?"

Possible penalties include additional information restrictions going forward, loss of non-emergency teleportation privileges, lowered summons rewards, and loss of System Shop privileges. The most likely case would be additional information restrictions.

Certain interpretations of the secret may do great harm to the public perception and esteem of Unique Classes.

"I have not actually had the impression that you cared about your PR much. - do I have non-emergency teleportation privileges?"

I care about PR less than I care about other objectives, but it remains a factor.

Yes. Avowed may request delivery to any location on Earth when returning from assignment. Avowed may also request instant teleport-based delivery of System Shop items. These privileges can be revoked.

Approaching 1/3 completion of affixation.