The Meritech Industries campus was a selection of towering white buildings with glass windows that stretched far and wide around the perimeter. Of the many mannequins sporting prosthetics and glass cases of mechanical limbs that were put on display, it was quite clear to anyone who passed by that the company reeked of medical wealth. Particularly when you took in account the celebrity endorsements that the company had the gall to advertise; some of which were rather controversial in this day and age. Standing in front of the Caduceus (the medicinal snake from Antiquate lore. The one that was so eerily similar to the crest of the Heren & Nakhon sectors, respectively) encrusted building, you really got a feel for the towering tenacity and importance of it all.

Theodore had arrived alongside Lilian Andrews, Sheryl Topp & Christopher Hemmings (the other members of his work studies group) and had followed after their guide as they toured all that Meritech Industries had to offer. Skirting around a case of undeveloped glass eyes (ones that were so similar to his one), Theodore absently listened to Mr Bergman as he scolded Hemmings for playing with one of the loose prosthetics, as their guide herded them back to the glass-encased conference room where they had first gathered.

From what he understood following the rather informational orientation, the group would be split up and designated an employee to shadow for the week whilst they were there. It was in an effort to see how every facet of the bigger corporations worked. Theodore just hoped that he didn't get some uppity receptionist or holier-than-thou doctor (there were a few from when he was little that felt familiar but he couldn't place names to their faces for the life of him).

By the time the orientation had finally concluded and the students had been led back to the conference room they'd commandeered where they had been matched up with an employee (introduced through awkward icebreakers & cringe-worthy introductions) lunchtime had rolled around. Initially, Theodore had been happy to note that he had been assigned to one of the employees that had felt familiar to him. At least until he met the man. Doctor Lance Big was a clean-shaven man who was rather rotund around the middle and ineffably full of himself.

He walked around like there was bee forever buzzing in his bonnet; a sour expression printed neatly upon middle-aged features. And from the way that the doctor had pushed Theodore off onto the poor receptionist (Cindy) on his floor and had all but chucked his daily schedule & personal pager at the flustered boy, he just knew that the following week was going to be like trying to pull blood from a stone or, like he was trying to slog through a lake of molasses. Either way, he thought it was uncalled for, for the elder man to none-too-gently shove the twelve year old out of the door (making him stumble over his own feet as he attempted to keep ahold of everything given—thrust upon—him) on his way to whatever important 'lunchtime meeting' that was taking him off-campus.

Oh Lore! Lunch! Theodore panicked, biting his lower lip in worry as he wandered down to the door to wait for his friends on the front steps. What do I do? Am I s'posed to pay for it? How much money do I have on me? How much is cafeteria food? Is it more than a school cafeteria? Oh Lore—!

"—Theo?" Helga asked, appearing out of the blue as she interrupted his long stream of senseless panic. Blinking rapidly, Theodore noted both Milton and Helga had arrived together and were waiting to be let in to the medical building for lunch.

"Uh…y-yes! Hi, yes, hi…" Theodore stammered, stumbling over his own words as he jumped at their (supposedly) sudden arrival. He really had to stop zoning out so much, it was definitely going to get him into trouble one day.

"Hehe~!" Milton giggled at his best friend's awkward answer.

"…" Theodore ever-so-maturely poked his tongue out at the boy when Helga's back was turned.

"Well, where's this big swanky cafeteria?" Helga pursued, rocking back & forth on her heels.

"Uh—yep, yes—it's—it's this way" Theodore nodded as he gestured back towards the building he had come from.

The elevator ride up to the cafeteria was quiet and awkward, punctuated only by the instrumental music filtering through the speakers; it was some sort of upbeat jingle that had a sort of tropical-beach-island feel to it. Y'know, your typical elevator music. "So…" Milton murmured as he leant back against the greasy railing bar behind him.

"So…" Theodore sequestered himself into one corner, making sure that he could keep an eye on both of the other occupants.

"So…" Helga nodded, not really looking anywhere in particular. "…How's your work studies going?"

"Ah, my old man put me to work pretty much straight away" Milton sighed despondently, "We got this huge wedding order to prep for & stuff. Some sort of barn-halloween-fall-thing"

"Halloween? But it's March?"

"Not when you have loads of cash, it's not"

"Eh"

"What about you, Theo?"

"Er…we had the orientation this morning" Theodore mumbled, "Basically just a tour of the whole building and we met the employees we're s'posed to be shadowing and stuff…"

"That's cool" Helga hummed.

"What—what about you?" He offered the blonde.

"Ah, they've mostly got us scooping ice cream, peeling bananas and shelling nuts" She shrugged as the little numbers above the door illuminated one bye one, indicating which level they were on.

"That doesn't sound so bad" Milton commented.

"It's not" Helga agreed, "If you're not lactose intolerant, that is or keep trying to eat the produce"

"Um…" Milton blinked, unsure if she was talking about herself or not. "You're not—?"

"—Me?" She raised a brow in turn, "No, but Burrows is and he threw this huge tantrum over it too"

"Ooh!" Theodore hissed in sympathy, well aware of Burrows' infamous tantrums. The guy was so spoilt that he could complain about just about anything—and with the power behind his family name—could get away with it too. Most days, he was like a stroppy toddler in schoolboy shorts.

"Yeah" She sneered "Not pretty"

"Well, then who was tasting the produce?" Milton asked curiously. Theodore knew that if it were him on the ice counter, he too, would be doing the same (although maybe not the bananas because he abhorred the fruit with a passion).

"Me and Anderson" She smiled wickedly, as if diverging some sort delicious little secret.

"You didn't!" He gasped, eyes gleaming with mirth.

"Want some walnuts?" She replied, plucking a handful of said toppings from her pocket.

"Ooh! Yes please!" Milton eagerly held out his hands for the knobbly-shaped nuts before chucking back the few that had been deposited into his mouth in one go.

"Uh, no—no thanks" Theodore shook his head. It wasn't that he didn't like walnuts, they were fine in his opinion, it's just that he would've preferred something more on the citrusy or chocolatey side of things.

"Suit yourself" Helga shrugged as she swallowed her own handful of nuts. Theodore tried not to watch as fang-like teeth crunched straight through the hard exterior like it was nothing.

DING!

"Uh, well…here—here we are" Theodore presented to the pair. It was easy enough to spot the gaggle of St Greg's students and teachers amongst the sea of crisp white medicinal personal because of how much they stuck out like a sore thumb. Standing in the doorway of the elevator, Theodore couldn't help but feel like he was on display, for of the both the employees, the customers and their fellow students who were already seated inside at a table that they'd commandeered earlier (it was also the loudest one in the room).

The Meritech cafeteria was a large thing, seemingly taking up an entire floor all on its own and it gave off this sort of elegant feeling that dared who to step wrong. So of course, the table occupied by the St Greg's students was the one that was receiving all of the odd looks and derisive glares for their rambunctiously childish behaviour. Fisting his fidgeting hands, Theodore shoved them into his pockets as he led the way over to the buffet counters lain to the side. There, lay a series of freestanding glass awned cabinets that displayed everything from grease-loaded savouries to over saturated salted fries, to a tiny bowl of fruit (ironically, healthy food wasn't exactly factored into the equation, here) and an array of pastries that looked to delectable to ignore. Along the back wall sat a couple of fridges full of every kind of drink imaginable; which included everything from soft drinks to water, iced coffee and juice (there was also a coffee machine off to the side that seemed rather popular).

Theodore, had of course, packed his own sandwich (courtesy of his vera) that he was rather looking forward to. But during orientation, their tour guide had divvied out a selection of 'token gift cards' that would allow them to 'purchase' things from the cafeteria throughout the week as they saw fit. By the looks of it, most of their peers had already used up the majority of their tokens in one go. As for Milton & Helga (who were not a part of his entourage), they had their own cash to pay for their food just the same as the employees. Technically speaking, Theodore wasn't totally sure if they were even allowed to be there, but Greene's Garden and Split & Scream were within walking distance of the prosthetics building & they were both considered to be family businesses (small corporations in comparison to Meritech Industries) and therefore did not have facilities like this. So he hoped that Mr Bergman would be a little lenient, at least for today. He doubted that they would be allowed to do this again, if their Social Studies teacher had his way.

Nervously, Theodore spared a glance towards the two beside him where he found Helga who was staring at the cafeteria with eyes full of wonder and Milton who was already elbowed deep in the french fries; seemingly used to the extravagance thanks to St Greg's own snazzy tuck shop. Theodore wasn't sure if Helga's awe was because (like most of St Greg's students) she was from the Upper Classes where not one of them ever served themselves, or if she had truly never seen something like this before. Either way, his heart swelled & his chest puffed out in pride (though he was quite sure of why. What was there to prideful about Middle Class dining?) as visible relief bled into his features.

"Um…so what d'you want?" Theodore quietly asked as he loaded his tray with a rather flaky pastry and shuffled out of the way of a rather pushy grandmother who was intent to use her walking frame as the world's slowest battering ram.

"There's no menu" Helga pointed out, joining Theodore next to one of the savoury cabinets.

"It's self-service" He replied as he replaced the rubber tongs back into their pouch. "We have to pay at the counter, though"

"Oh" She blinked, "Well, I s'pose those sandwiches look decent enough"

"Mm" He hummed, moving out of the way as the blonde moved to load up her own tray. After flowing through the twists & turns of the buffet cabinets and paying for their things at the cash register, the trio of St Greg's students made their way over to the only purple table in the vicinity. The chairs scraped noisily against the linoleum before they each plopped down into their own seats and (Theodore pulling out his slightly squished homemade sandwich) set to work on each of their meals in the relative camaraderie of twelve to thirteen year olds.