Chapter two
"And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department."
– Andrew Carnegie
Listen. The light thumping of expensive shoes on plush carpets, rustling of important documents, some mild professional chatter by the water dispenser or the weekly gossip about that attractive SOLDIER.
For Claire and Noctis, this is a comfort zone. A working environment in which they are most effective in. Unlike that terrible 'shit-stopping' setting in the President's board-room which is still deeply ingrained into their memories.
Two crisply (or one of them at least) dressed men approached the pair; Claire could easily tell that they did not belong there - another department she assumed. Claire assessed them quickly: one was tall and lanky with unkempt red hair restrained in a ponytail (a side note of two red marks symmetrically positioned on his cheek bones and a pair of goggles). The other was taller, bald and burly, wore a pair of glasses, a pair of gloves and… that's about it.
"How uninteresting" She heard a voice groan inside her head.
"Are you Claire Farron, yo?"
"Yes, how do you know—?"
"Follow me."
Noctis – assuming that the red-haired man had no business with him – turned towards the taller man, idly wondering why he would feel the necessity of tinted glasses whilst indoors.
"Well?" He asked the man.
"Rude, I'm your guide for the first month of this challenge. I'll be showing you around."
Did he just call me rude? "Err, I'm sorry, but how was I rude?"
"It's my name." Said Rude as his voice took a threatening dip. Noctis – who is worth nothing to be a good head and an inch shorter – suddenly appreciated the dramatic height difference.
"I'm sorry, Rude, I—" Noctis stopped short of his sentence, realizing that he was about to say he was being rude, which sounded funny. He mentally side-stepped and avoided the word. "…want to know where I'll be working; I'm Noctis by the way."
"I know" he replied, his voice resurfacing to normal again. "Follow me."
Awkward!
"So, this is your allocated workspace, Madame." He smirked, giving the final word a little ring. He pulled out the black, leather office chair and patted the cushion comically.
Claire tried her very hardest to maintain her professional façade; the office was pristine, new and unused. The glass desk sported a shiny silver laptop and everything that is… professional. The rest of the room was hardly furnished, obviously a blank canvas for her. Claire snorted, she felt childish, she has seen many offices that have amazed her, but this had by far surpassed them all.
"Wow."
"I know! Offices don't get better than this, yo." He chuckled, walking around the large desk and sprawling on the brown leather couch that she overlooked. There were two, facing each other right in front of her desk. She pictured clients sitting opposite her as she typed away merrily behind the glass bureau.
The office was painted white all over, white walls, white ceiling and plush white carpeting. There was no wall behind where she will be sitting; only this wide double-glazed window that stretched from the ceiling to the floor. It illuminated the room.
And all of a sudden, the job is of paramount importance, her ultimate point in life. If she cannot work in Shinra, she will not work anywhere else.
"Do you know when I start?" She asked, holding back an impending urge to squeal the words out.
"You're starting now, aren't you?" He asked sarcastically.
"That's a good point." She sauntered towards the desk, finally taking her rightful seat. She propped her shoulder bag onto her lap and emptied its contents, a notepad, pencil case, etcetera. Once everything was laid neatly on the glass, she hid the bag by her foot.
Man this girl had OCD too! "Ready?"
"Yes, hopefully, how do I know what to do?"
"Easy!"
"You regularly get your tasks in your inbox, here, take this."
Rude dug into his left jacket pocket and pulled out a PDA, which he handed straight to Noctis.
Noctis examined the device. "Nice."
"I'll make this clear now: you're not allowed to use your own phone in here. We're all using the same thing as you."
"Why?"
"Just rules," He shrugged, "Anyways, if you are asked to assemble, that means you have to head straight to the board-room no-matter what, you have to abandon whatever you're doing and just get there. President Shinra isn't a patient man."
I could tell. He nodded. "Right"
"Your tasks usually have a set time, so you can't afford to slack."
"Do you have any idea what kind of tasks I'll be set?"
"Anything, all the tasks that you're set within this competition won't affect the company. It's just for assessment purposes. So I assume they'd be pretty random, but in some aspects relevant."
Noctis slid the device to life and found that the forewarned email has already arrived.
Assemble
"Great, I'll see you later, Rude."
Noctis felt chills creep down his back again; moisture began to build up on his hairline. The boardroom was truly unlike any place in the office floor. As he followed a couple of contenders filing into the dreaded place, he immediately saw Claire sitting right across President Shinra. She held both elbows on the illuminated table and eyed the man solemnly.
"Now, I'm sure you've already met your buddies, they're here to stop you from running around like headless chickens on your first month." He cleared his throat. "For the first assignment, I have decided to personally brief it to you, but for the remainder of this competition, you'll just have to keep an eye on your PDA."
A woman in specs raised a hand rather arrogantly. "Sir—"
"You're not being spoken to; you shouldn't interrupt a task briefing otherwise you wouldn't know what the hell you're gonna do later!" He snapped. "You're fired."
"But—"
"Would you like to be escorted out as well?"
"Sir—!"
"Get out!"
Disclaimer:
(See the bottom of Chapter 1)
