Chapter 2: 9:00am (Office Tour, Part 1)

Shadow arrived on the ground floor at 8:59am. Sat on one of the burgundy lobby sofas was a hedgehog with white fur. Shadow took in a first round of details. The candidate was better dressed – which makes sense, as he was here to get a job – wearing a white-collared shirt and a navy-coloured sleeveless jumper, contrasting a little with Shadow's own attire: a maroon hoodie over a T-shirt and ripped jeans. The candidate's shirt sleeves were well-ironed and the shirt looked appropriately buttoned up, just about hiding his snow-coloured chest fur, which seemed even bigger than Shadow's own. He also donned beige chinos, wore dark socks, and black shoes.

Then, Shadow's eyes darted to his belongings. He had a light-grey backpack, which looked like it was thrown carelessly on the floor, with a Red Star Ring keyring hanging from the zipper of the biggest compartment. It was open, revealing a metallic, gold-coloured water bottle with circular symbols of aqua all over it, a flat, round bag presumably carrying headphones, and several sheets of paper, some crumpled and folded. The ebony hedgehog narrowed his eyes in judgement and disapproval. Disorganised pile of mess, he thought. Those are your true colours.

"You're early," he managed, before hastily adding, "I'm Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Hello, nice to meet you," he replied, his voice firm, yet gentle. Seems professional enough. He rose to greet his host. "I'm Silver the Hedgehog." They were about the same height, although his maple-shaped quills made him look just a bit taller.

"I'll be your buddy for today. Let's head upstairs for the office tour."

"Thank you," replied Silver. He looked down. "Ah! Let me get my stuff together. I'll be with you in seconds!"

The black hedgehog had already begun approaching the automatic gates. He reached for his lanyard, about to place it on the scanner. The white hedgehog will follow soon enough. He heaved a shallow sigh, careful not to make it audible. The candidate has already lost his calm and professionalism.

Sure enough, Silver followed, much faster than Shadow expected, jerking him out of his thoughts. "Thank you for having me today."

"Not an issue. Hope you didn't have a hard time travelling over?"

"My travel was smooth, thanks for asking. The hike up the hill was something I didn't expect, though!"

Shadow's eyes narrowed for a split second. You didn't expect the hill climb? You've clearly not done your research. He shoved this minute detail into his brain. "Indeed. Few come to expect that Chaos Tower is located atop of a hill, and many candidates fail to arrive on time, or arrive at all, for this very reason." Technically, this was a lie; nearly everyone knew that Chaos Tower sat on a hill, overlooking Central City – it was even visible from nearly everywhere.

"Where are you from?"

"I'm from Crisis City, not too far from Central, although I've never been here before other than for a campus visit to the local university."

Fine. Still doesn't excuse you for your lack of research, though, thought Shadow.

"Cool. Well, the building's quite big, and there's quite a lot to see, so the tour will take an entire hour. After the tour, you will shadow me until your first interview." The two hedgehogs stepped into the lift. Shadow jabbed "M" and waited for them to rise. In a matter of seconds, the lift arrived.

"This is the Mezzanine Floor, Silver. There isn't a lot to see here, except for the Space Theatre. This is where things like presentations and trainings take place, and personally, I find the design quite fascinating," said Shadow, as if reciting a pre-written script. Sonic had, at some point, mentioned bringing in 'personal touches' to make the office tour more interesting. Snatching a quick glance at Silver, it seemed to be working.

The hedgehog's mouth was slightly open at the sight of the spacious, modern room; he was almost in a stupor. He adored futuristic designs like this, and thought it suited the flavour of the industry being at the forefront of combining technology and finance. The interior was largely a light grey, but it did not feel hard or soulless. There were cute chalk-style sketches of science-related symbols like planets and rockets and stars on the walls and the roof. Round tables were positioned across the room, as were monitors and screens.

By contrast, Shadow was back to his analytical, judging self again. Mouth slightly open, childish curiosity… a lack of maturity, he thought, although he himself began to wonder. He wondered where Sonic got all these tips. He wondered how someone can be just as competent as him as a trader – requiring hard, technical computing and mathematics knowledge – but with literal social skills. Sonic the Hedgehog should be the one to babysit this child for his interview day, damn it. It'll be so much easier for him, and he loves it; yet, I'm the one who has to suffer. Overall, it's a suboptimal allocation of labour.

"Mister Shadow, what sort of presentations and training take place in this space?"

"Shadow is fine, Mister Silver," he retorted; in his head, he rolled his eyes upwards.

"Ah, sorry…" said the white hedgehog, resisting the urge to scratch his head.

"How old do you think I am?"

Is this an interview question? mused Silver. "Eight, maybe nine, years older than me, so…thirty-five or thirty-six?" He seems ancient! Maybe I should round my estimates down. Maybe he likes to be seen as young.

"I'm twenty-seven. We are the same age, I believe," Shadow glared, nearly hissing as well, but just about held it back. Seeing a glimmer of terror on Silver's face, Shadow reminded himself to stay calm and approachable. Sonic's words echoed in his ear: "You certainly can't be making those snide remarks to our candidate today!" He continued. "Anyway, to answer your question, as Quantitative Traders, we do a lot of coding, which I am sure you are familiar with. HedgeHog Fund offers deep and intense training in Biolizard, TAILSLAB and others, although, unlike our rival companies, we assume a decent level of prior knowledge, as the candidates we hire hold doctoral degrees from top universities who already have extensive programming and research experience. The quality of training you receive here simply cannot be topped, and you'll be well ahead of the pack in this industry."

"Amazing," replied Silver, his eyes beaming with excitement.

Shadow tried to hide his distaste. How could someone be so childish and emotional? Does he not know what professionalism is, wearing his heart on his sleeve?

"I do have a fair amount of programming experience. I've worked with Biolizard and TAILSLAB, as well as MeanBeanCoffee and Chaos++."

The grimace on Shadow's face loosened. Not bad. But you'll need to show us more, if you want to make it to the end.

"Good to know. Better save those for the interview, though," said Shadow, matter-of-factly. "And that's not all. There's no chance you'll survive with those technical skills alone. HedgeHog Fund is brilliant at cultivating a well-rounded character so that us Traders aren't doomed to become mindless coding robots, also very much unlike other firms."

"Thanks for telling me. That's exactly something I'm looking for."

Shadow grunted. "You will also develop your presentation and client-facing skills, particularly your ability to simplify and cleanly communicate complex concepts. Many in the industry come from top PhDs, but, to put it bluntly, few can speak coherently. Our clients don't love us just for the analysis we do; they love our competence as well."

"That sounds great. How would you rate your on-the-job training so far?" asked Silver.

Impatient kid. I was going to come to that! "You took the words right out of my mouth," said Shadow, trying not to tremble with the slightest bit of anger. He felt a pang of guilt when he realised he had failed, for the white hedgehog had shrunk a little in demeanour. "The best part of the job is that you really learn a lot. You are put on dynamic projects in your second week of training – yet another thing that makes us stand out, as our rivals keep you confined in training for at least a month! Once you start your project work, you continue to train on the side by attending frequent seminars that discuss cutting-edge advances in quantitative finance and trading, and have many opportunities to exercise your presentation skills within your project timeline."

Silver nodded, a bit too vigorously for Shadow's taste.

"Of course, the thing underscoring all that is…" continued Shadow, his eyes gazing sternly into the white hedgehog's golden orbs. "You survive. Not just today, but in the job, if you get it."

"Ah, right." Silver chuckled weakly. "There's been a few layoffs recently, huh."

"I wasn't just referring to that. You must be a quick and agile learner. Think about it – are you prepared to receive training at the same, or higher, level as your PhD? Are you prepared to complete such foundations within week one, and to continue even more advanced training alongside this as you begin your project work in week two?" The ebony hedgehog edged closer and closer with every sentence that came out of his mouth. "Are you prepared to push yourself out of your comfort zone to work on the skills that a typical mathematician won't have? Are you prepared to work with difficult clients and tough, intellectually bright colleagues? Are you?"

Silver's irises narrowed in fright. "Eep!" he uttered. "O-of course I am! I'm always ready for a challenge."

"We'll see about that…" muttered Shadow, pretending to clear his throat as he realised that he had nearly crossed the line, yet again. He could almost hear Sonic rushing down to the Mezzanine to scold him… and hopefully take over, seeing how unsuited Shadow is for this responsibility. "Aaaanyway. If you don't have any more questions, let us move on to the next floor."

"Y-yes, Shadow. Thanks for showing me around and answering my questions—"

"We're far from being done. Save your gratitude for later," he spat venomously. "Come into the lift. We're going up."

Silver gulped. This was going to be an interesting work environment with this moody hedgehog as a colleague. Even being under his presence in the lift was a lot of pressure already. But the job sounded like a good opportunity to learn and to meet others who are quite different, personality-wise, to himself. He was still feeling optimistic, and he liked what he saw of the office so far.

"We're off to Floor 1, where I'll walk you around the Sweet Mountain Café." Just as Shadow finished speaking, the irresistible smell of coffee, tea and biscuits floated into the lift as the doors opened, revealing a bustling, yet cosy, artisan café. "Everyone comes here to get their daily supply of coffee, and – unlike other firms – our coffee is good AND free." The last three words flew out of his mouth beautifully, as if he savoured enunciating them, like a chef's kiss.

"Is everything else free, too?" asked Silver, as he looked around, curious to see who else worked at the firm, and what they had on their small, round plates.

"Humph. Why would you care about anything other than coffee?"

"…I don't drink coffee. I'm more of a tea person," replied Silver meekly.

"What did you say?" growled Shadow, clenching his fists. "Yes, everything else is also free, including bland, and filthy, tea. Happy?"

Silver recoiled. He didn't know what to say. A few heads turned to look at them. He embarrassingly followed Shadow without making eye contact without anyone.

"Cakes. Biscuits. Coffee! Ugh, tea…" said Shadow, as they walked past all the delicacies and drinks. The list went on pretty long – there was a bit of everything. "Sandwiches. Paninis. Toasties. Chilli dogs. Crisps." Silver liked how everything was arranged in neat rows.

"…Recyclable, fully bio-degradable cutlery. Napkins. And that's it."

"Wow," mustered Silver. "I'll definitely be coming here often."

"To drink your tea?" mocked Shadow, putting a regal twist on the last word. "Don't get so excited, posh boy, you'll need to get past this day first."

"H-hey! There's nothing wrong with drinking tea! It's healthy and brings calming effects," retorted Silver, feeling a little hurt.

"A load of rubbish. Coffee is objectively superior. You can never reject its taste, especially not the preeminent Dark Sceptre coffee… the rush of the spicy cinnamon going down your throat is sure to put anyone's day right!"

"Clearly someone's not had their coffee yet…" said Silver, observantly. Shadow shot him a razor-sharp glare, but softened as he saw a coffee mug floating in the air, surrounded by a delicate, turquoise hue. "Here you go, Shadow."

The black hedgehog's expression was one of pleasant surprise. No, he did not have (one of) his daily coffee(s). Yes, Silver was right. Maybe, he himself was right, that, upon devouring the contents of the mug, he would be in a better mood. Only maybe.

"…thank you," he said, softly, as he picked up the mug. "No wonder you tidied yourself so quickly back in the lobby. You've got psychokinesis."

Silver grinned shyly.

"Why didn't you mention this on your CV?"

"I didn't think it was particularly useful or relevant," he replied.

"Let's be realistic," said Shadow, continually taking sips of coffee to kill the urge to down the whole mug in one gulp. "Your psychokinesis can be invaluable for logistics and efficiency. You could fetch something without leaving your seat, whereas anyone else would have to get up, walk, et cetera. When comparing two candidates who are equally skilled and eloquent," – another sip – "we would obviously pick the one with higher marginal value. It's things like this that can make or break your application."

"Ah, makes sense…"

"I suggest you try to mention this in your interviews," continued Shadow. "But do not force it, especially not if it is irrelevant to what the interviewer asks for."

"Noted, thank you."

"What tea do you like?"

"Chamomile – ah, but I'm not particularly thirsty. There's no need to go out of your way to make one for me, Shadow."

"Consider it quid pro quo."

"Did you learn Latin at university?"

"Yes, I did in fact take optional courses, although one does not need to have studied Latin to know or understand that phrase."

"Of course, but the way you said it sounded very professional and artistic, almost… posh. Who's the posh boy now?"

"Don't you use my words against me, Silver," rejoined Shadow, walking away towards the tea bags. He picked out the nicest-looking bag of chamomile infusion, poured some hot water, and brought back a mug of chamomile tea. "I would have used actual dried flowers and a bit of honey, but we don't have all the time in the world."

"They have actual herbs, too? I really like making tea from first principles. I'm liking this place more and more," remarked Silver.

Well, it'd be a shame when they send you home and we'll never see you again, thought Shadow, bitterly. "Were you born with psychokinesis, or did you acquire it at some point in life?"

"I was born with it," replied Silver, his tone suddenly a little dull.

"Tell me more," he pressed, suspecting that the white hedgehog must be hiding something.

Silver hesitated for the briefest moments, and continued. "There's nothing more to say. I was born with it."

"You weren't." Shadow's red orbs glowed like an eagle's, sharp and discerning. He saw the hesitation and swooped in on its prey.

"I WAS. And, with all due respect, Shadow, this is none of your business," spat Silver resolutely, brows furrowed as he sipped on his cooling tea. "I apologise for my outburst. Please let us forget this has happened, and move on with the office tour. We can take these mugs to other floors, yes?"

Shadow paused for a moment, trying to make sense of the conversation. Silver, sensing his preoccupations, clenched his jaws and did not wait for an answer to his question, instead moving towards the lift. He jabbed the button with a single finger, but it did not light up. He awkwardly but furiously gulped down the rest of his tea.

"You'll need an access card to move across floors, and, yes, you can take the mugs anywhere," said Shadow, a little belatedly.

"Thanks," replied Silver, more coldly than he would've wanted. His eyes stayed fixated on the lift doors, waiting for them to open.

The two hedgehogs shuffled into the lift, feeling a little chilly in each other's company, now that their mugs and its hot contents were empty.