Citizen

(Day 17: Tuesday Evening)

"Sorry I couldn't get here sooner," Ben apologizes as he struts over to the seating area, where Evie and Doug stand from their chairs. "We're going to need a blank background." He points to the extended wall on the other side of the room, "Evie. Could you stand against that for me, please?" She only offers a questioning look before going over there as instructed. "Great." He lifts up the tablet, "Okay. Now smile." and she does so. "Perfect."

Evie walks back over to him, "What's this for?"

"I am getting you out of here," the king slowly answers as he taps on the device. "First name: Evie. What's your middle name?"

"Queen," Evie responds, curiously trying to look over at the screen.

Ben smirks as he looks up for a mere moment, "Of Auradon." and then he continues on. "When's your birthday?"

"April twentieth."

"And your current age?" he prompts.

"Sixteen."

"Sex is female," Ben types aloud. "What's your height and weight?"

"Weight?" Evie asks, a heavy kind of dread suddenly settling upon her.

"It doesn't need to be exact," Ben explains. "These details are just needed to verify who you are or to find you if you somehow go missing."

"Oh. Ah." She clears her throat, "Well, my height is five feet four inches, and I'm a hundred and five pounds."

Ben stops typing and stares evenly at her for a second, "That seems a little low."

"It's not low," Evie debates, feeling as though she may cry. "It's accurate. I just checked it this morning."

"No," Ben closes his eyes as he shakes his head. "I mean it seems a little low for your height. Have you always had a lower body weight?"

It takes a minute for Evie to reply, "My mom's always told me that she'd be proud if I could ever get back into the double digits." Ben doesn't speak. "What is it?"

"Nothing," he responds with concern. "I just can't believe your mother would say something like that to you."

"She just wants me to be beautiful, perfect, and fair like she used to be." Evie pauses, "Since her downfall, all she ever wanted was for me to have the best life I could get."

Ben sternly shakes his head, "Look. Losing weight and fasting is nothing new, especially when it comes to sports, but when you have no more fat to burn off your body starts to eat at the muscle. That includes the heart. When an adult's body goes down into the double digits, they are at risk of heart failure. If your mother really wanted you to live the best life possible, then she wouldn't be encouraging you to do something that can result in your death."

Evie looks away from him and down at the tablet, "A hundred and five pounds. Did you get that down?"

Ben refocuses on the tablet, typing the number in, although a clear irritability is still shown in his features. "Eye color is brown. Is your hair naturally blue?"

"No," she almost laughs.

"Then what is it?"

Evie hesitates, "I'm not sure how to answer the question."

"When your hair grows out," Ben explains, "what color is it?"

"White and grey."

"Seriously?" Ben questions.

Evie looks away, "It used to be black, but my mom— she thought I'd look better blond. So, she— she…" She gulps.

"It's okay," Ben calmly assures before she can burst into tears. "Just tell me, would you rather have me put black or blond for your hair color."

"Black," Evie mutters as she takes steadying breaths.

Ben nods, "I already picked out your skin color. I don't suppose you know your blood type?" She just shakes her head. "That's fine. It's optional information, anyway." He scrolls down to the bottom, "Lucky for us living address is also optional." He holds the tablet in front of her, "I'll just need your thumbprint in the box and your right and left hand signatures on the corresponding lines."

"Signatures?" Evie asks.

"Just use the stylus pen to print your full name on the line." She does as he asks. "Great." He takes the tablet back and taps it once, before a plastic card is seen inching out of the device's side. "Evie Queen." He hands the card to her, "You are now officially a full citizen of my country."

She marvels at the sight of the silver card as she holds it, but she still comments, "Only half of the information is on here."

"Ah, yes," Ben points at the corner. "That chip there will reveal the rest if it's scanned. It's for… private reasons that we only display the photo and primary information."

"So, since I'm a full citizen," Evie questions, "does that mean I can leave now?"

Ben smiles, "Why don't you go show them your card at the front desk and see for yourself?"

Evie walks up to the receptionist and meekly places the card on the table, "I'm a full citizen now." as Ben and Doug follow close behind her.

The woman stares at the computer as she clicks a few times, before she replies, "So you are." and turns back to her. "But getting or renewing a citizenship card doesn't reduce or get rid of a prisoner's sentencing."

Ben leans on the counter, "As king of Auradon I'm going to politely ask you to check the roster again."

The receptionist responds in a shocked surprise, "I don't see her name on here anymore."

"Because she was never supposed to be on there," Ben states. "Her mother committed the crime and is carrying out her sentence accordingly. There's no reason why Evie should have ever been punished for it." The woman doesn't speak, and Ben smiles at Evie and Doug. "Come on. I'm sure you're dying to get out of here, and I should probably give the others their cards too before they stumble upon a similar situation."

"Huh."

"What is it?" Carlos asks.

"Oh. Nothing," Ben answers. "It's just that usually one of the signatures is sloppier than the other."

"I'm ambidextrous, so my handwriting is equally as sloppy."

Ben smiles at him, "Your handwriting is just fine." before the card prints out, he hands it to him, and he addresses all three of them. "Now. It's important to keep this on you at all times, if possible. You don't want to find yourself in the situation Evie did today."

"Yeah. I have a question," Jay interrupts. "This metal square. Is it going to be tracking where we are?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," Ben evenly answers.

Mal gives him a look as Carlos slowly replies, "So, it will be tracking us."

It takes a moment for Ben to respond, "Do you want the truth?" They stay quiet, waiting for the answer. "There's a tracking chip in almost everything. It keeps it from being stolen— or in this case, it will either help the user find their card or help the government find the missing person it belongs to under the condition that they keep it with them."

"So," Mal questions, "for instance, we could all break into a museum to steal something and if we were to have these on us then we'd be directly connected to the crime."

Ben smiles, "Why? You planning to steal something?"

"Already tried," she honestly answers. "It didn't work."

"Sorry to hear that."

"No you're not," Mal laughs.

"No. You're right. I'm not." He looks at the guys and sees their looks of concern, "I know that you're probably used to a lot of privacy on the island, but tell me what you'd rather have: safety of privacy?"

It takes a minute for Carlos to comment, "I just don't understand how far this goes. Are there cameras around here too? Will these chips be able to tell exactly what we're doing of every moment of every day?"

"The chips aren't actively monitored, although your locations are stored for future use. It won't be able to tell if you're sleeping in class or stealing someone's class notes, and if you sneak out, then it's unlikely for anyone to notice unless you do do something as stupid as to break into a museum with it on you." He looks at Mal, "For what exactly?"

"Oh, yeah." Mal tries to smile, "Nothing really. Just Fairy Godmother's wand."

Ben nods, "Okay." before he continues. "As far as cameras go, they are only posted in the public areas of the school, and only the ones in the classroom or common areas have sound. To my knowledge, the sound is only checked when someone poses an allegation."

"So, there's no cameras in the dorms or bathrooms or anything like that?" Carlos asks.

"No," Ben reassures. "Child pornography is still against the law, and if the school were to put cameras in the dorms or bathrooms, then they'd probably be in violation of that law." No one speaks. "Any other questions?"

The three of them give each other a look, before Jay answers, "Nah. I think we're all good."

"Okay, then." Ben places a hand to his head, "That's right. One last thing: to be relevant these need to be replaced every two years on or after your birthday, and you can do that by taking a very quick and easy trip to city hall." They nod, and Ben scratches at his face. "I think that's it. Yeah. That should be it. You all alright? No questions?"

"No man," Jay answers. "We're alright. What about you?" He sees Ben shift his stance. "You seem a little on edge."

"Yeah. I'm fine," Ben lies. "I'd just really like to ask Mal something in private." He looks at her, "Maybe we could discuss in my dorm, since it's, you know, close and everything?"

Mal softly replies, "Yeah. I can do that." She walks towards him before glancing back at her friends, "See you later guys." as the two of them head out of the room.

- Yeah. Somehow Ben seemed more fidgety when I first wrote this, but that's probably just because I think I remember writing this chapter the same night I wrote the Beastly Texts chapter. All well. So long as another character notices it I guess?

- Edit: 03/09/2019- Corrected Evie's birthday. Probably should have made character profiles. Sorry for the inconsistencies.