Job Hunters is a webisode series directed by Alexander JL Theoharis.
I am in no way part of the cast, crew, or writing and do not own the world or characters in it. To quote Cather from Fangirl: "I'm just borrowing them."
Watch the series so I'm not alone! DFTBA!

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There's another Anne roaming around in the house and I've already started to get confused. I look over my shoulder ten times today; Anne was just as social as Dani. She may even surpass the butterfly movement… it frustrated Dani to think there was someone more likeable in the house than she and it was pretty stupid—most of these people wouldn't last. I was surprised to see blue-stain guy waltz to the kitchen, sniffing away like a regular Great Dane. He enthusiastically called "Ann with an E" just "E-dog" and she seemed to be fine with that. Funny how they got along considering he can't be near chocolate and she always seems to have a bag around with her the entire time. She began to develop names like "chocolate girl" or "C.G." or sometimes even just "Coco." None seemed to bother her as she skipped around the house chatting away with the other tributes. That's what we were, really. Tributes. Pawns. Stepping stools.

Speaking of which, Basil hadn't talked to me since we'd gotten back to the safe house. He thought of me as an idiot. Why did I think of him as a stepping stool? Probably because I wanted to stomp on his face so hard… calling me the idiot. He was convinced there was no way to get past security even if we could find a way through Tori's database.

"You're going to get caught. And it's not going to look good on your resume."

I rolled my eyes. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Also puffing out my cheeks or ticking the roof of my mouth with my tongue… all habits that used to be easy to hide when no one approached me. "What resume, genius? I'm vegan. No killing."

"That's the other thing. Why are you even vegan? Don't you hate people?"

That was rich. A vegan programmer who hated people? Who did he think I was? That's right. He didn't know anything about me.

Dani didn't say anything which meant she wanted to hear what I had to say. I hadn't told her why I'd gone vegan during my college years considering I was a meat addict. I didn't tell her about the ear holes either but then again I never really needed to. Just the same I didn't have to tell her I was vegan after turning down dad's famous barbecue dinner. She was already under the suspicion that my diet had changed which would mean that something had happened drastically in my life. When something changed, I changed along with it.

"I don't have to tell you anything. We aren't friends and it's stupid if you think you'll get an answer out of me."

Sometimes I'd hear him playing in the common room's piano. Sometimes Bach, other times, Beethoven, and if he was really annoyed he'd start to play Chopsticks. The music was a door through his mind and emotions. If he was sad he'd play a sad song, if he was happy he'd play a happy song, or if he was bored he'd play something that a child could play. Or he was annoyed. I could never tell the difference when it came to him. I'd walk into the room and he'd stand up, pick up his piece and brush right past. Way to be obvious.

Danica shot a glare. I was taken aback.

"What?" I asked defensively.

"You know what. Talk to him."

"Why?" I wasn't about to talk to her target practice. Hers because I don't do target practice, I just provided the location and direction.

"Do I really need to spell it out for you? You really are dense when it comes to this."

"Comes to what?! There's nothing. He's just some kid in the arena."

"Talk to him."

Now she gone and done it. Mom's I'm-older-than-you argument. I could hear it in her throat and I moaned. This was ridiculous. I got up from the couch and walked towards the hallway that led to the stairs. He was sitting on the top of the steps with his hands stretched out as if there were an invisible piano. I couldn't believe it. He was practicing his music without his instrument.

"Er… that'd be easier in the main room, you know?"

His fingers tensed and got all out of alignment. His eyes were hard and were a deep green, the kind of green that blended in the arena. The moment didn't last though. He picked up his notes and walked the last step, I caught his free arm while his foot was still mid-air and tugged a little too hard. He spun around in rapid motion and caught me from the middle of my back before I could yelp. Arena training.

"Nice reflexes."

"You really are hopeless, aren't you?"

My nostrils flared. Before I could retort he lifted me up onto his shoulder and that yelp came through my mouth. I could feel his shoulders shake with amusement as he continued through the dormitories. No matter how much I wriggled, debated, and slapped his chest, he never ceased until we reached the final destination.

"I thought you'd like to go somewhere safer. Also, I don't recommend hitting me. Non-violent rules apply."

"What about non-duchery rules?"

"I want to show you something?"

"Does it involve the weasel?"

"Ann."

He tried to be stern but he couldn't fight his laughter. He'd probably never heard a girl refer to a man's junk as an animal but he didn't seem to debate.

"I promise the whities stay on."

"Briefs?"

"Ann."

There was nothing special about his room. Both sides were blank—except for the Spiderman sheets and personal blanket—and no clothes were caught loose. He explained that his roommate was killed and they cleaned out his half; he hadn't bothered with putting anything up since most the cool stuff was on his roommate's side. I apologized but he just shrugged. He motioned me towards the plain bed while he sat on his superhero bed.

"Classy."

"Thanks. So what's up?"

Eye rolling. He smirked.

"So you want to hack Tori."

"I'm going to hack Tori."

His smirk became a thin line. "What makes you so sure?"

"There hasn't been a program I haven't been able to revert. I could do it in my sleep."

"You also don't kill."

"What's that got to do with programs?"

He went underneath his bed, pulled out a Tupperware bin and tossed me a black notebook within it.

"What's this?"

"Tori's notebook,"

"How?"

"She wasn't looking and thinks she misplaced it. It says she won't take input from anything outside the server."

"So I hack the server."

"There's two, but one's busted and the other one is highly protected."

"What's wrong with the busted one?"

"Someone broke it. I haven't seen them around for a while."

He chewed on the lower half of his cheek, rubbed his wrists and tapped his foot. He exhaled heavily and I could have sworn I saw sweat beads on the edge of his jaw.

"You think they've passed."

"Anyways why do you want to change Tori so bad? She's not that—don't give me that look."

"It's more than just that. She'd be useful."

"You want to use her?"

"She's a synth."

"She has feelings."

"That's like saying my computer has feelings. You only program what you want in it…"

He stood up from his feet and pulled the notebook from my fingertips—I'd just barely opened the thing. Basil walked towards the door and opened it. Clearly I'd stepped on another chord again, but unlike him, I couldn't make it sound pretty and convincing. How could he think that it mattered what a program thought? That's total nonsense and hippy-dippy.

"I thought being on a no-kill policy you'd respect all living things."

"Computers aren't living."

"She's more than a computer Anjelica. I wish you'd see that."

I winced at my full name but I didn't take the door. Awkward silence. Sometimes people would glance at the door to see what was going on and some guys would pat him in approval. After a few minutes of this I slipped through the door and walked to my own dorm. My roommate had died too but I couldn't remember her name. I guess she wasn't worth remembering… but when I slept I could see her face hovering over mine with a katana while I lay in a cold pool of blood.