Strange place, odd staff- Publisher audition pt. 2

My new friend the towing guy, who's name I learned was Andrew, was having a pretty rough night.  The poor guy had to take a drive out in the middle of the night to pick up a tired and grumpy woman...and then had gotten punched by that very woman when he'd simply tried to wake her up and tell her they were at their destination.  In my defense I was in a really deep sleep and you just don't go waking people up from a sleep like that.  Still I felt horrible for the damage to Andrews' throat.

“I'm soooooooo sorry Andy!” my face was probably a flushed red mess as I followed him.

He sighed, rubbing the area I'd given a good smack.  “It's fine, it's fine!  ...and do you really have to call me “Andy”?”

“What's wrong with Andy?” I asked “It rolls off the tongue better than-”

I paused before I could finish my sentence as we came out of the parking garage Andrew had stopped us in.  I stared up at the giant building in front of us, ominous and towering, it was easy to see even against the dark sky because of all the dim lights within.  It looked like an office building, but it felt a lot more unnerving than office buildings should.

“Just follow the walkway inside and someone will meet you to go over the interview process.” Andrew gave me a little nudge to get me going “I'll make sure your car is running for you whenever you finish.”

My feet automatically started moving, despite the sudden spike of nerves I felt, though I glanced back at Andrew “How long is this supposed to take?”

He just shrugged back in response and I replied with a sigh.  “Real helpful there Andy!”

I saw him give me an exasperated look before he started back for the parking garage.  A little smile couldn't help but creep up onto my face at that, sometimes I just liked to tease people, I couldn't help it.  My smile dropped the second I walked into the building though because holy fudge!  If I thought the outside was ominous the inside was borderline “alone in the dark woods” creepy.  It wasn't any one thing, but the walls were dreary colors, the floor was clean but slate gray in color, and the lobby didn't have much to it but a desk with no worker behind it and some doors in the nearby halls.  
 
I stood there for a minute feeling shy and unsure of myself, did I go to the desk and try and look for a button to ring?  Did I walk down the hallway and see if I could find anybody?  After a few minutes of pacing the lobby and feeling like an idiot my answer came in the form of an opening door.  Another guy who looked just a bit older than me poked his head out of the door, his dark hair was pulled back in a tail and he adjusted his glasses as he looked down the hall at me.  

“There you are!” He sounded like I'd kept him waiting for hours.  “Come on then, hurry up this way.  The sooner I get you set up the sooner I can actually relax.”

“Well this place is just full of cheerful people...” I mumbled to myself as I walked down to the office door.  As I got closer I noticed the door had a nameplate that simply read “Editor”.

The guy took a couple of steps out of his office and I noticed two things right away.  First was his tie, a rather cheerful and bright mix of blue and green stripes, something that just didn't seem to fit in with the building setting at ALL.  And second was that he wasn't wearing any shoes or socks, in fact I could see his shoes just inside his office, sitting against the wall.

I stopped staring between his feet and tie after a minute, and found that he was in turn staring at my hat, raising his eyebrow.

“What?” I said innocently, I think my exhaustion was putting my shyness on hold. “Bright ties and no shoes is the dress code around here but fox hats are frowned upon?”

That just got me an eye roll, and something small and silver shoved into my hands.  “Take this.  It will help you start the “interview” process, just follow the instructions and try not to break it.”

What sat in my hands looked like a strange looking watch, but the center of it had no clock-face.  “Umm....?” I looked back over at the tie guy, and found that he was already shutting his door.

“Look I don't have time for an in depth tutorial, more people are coming between now and the morning and I'm going to have to be ready.”

“But!” I squeaked.  Ah hah...there were my nerves, so nice of them to return.

“Just put it ON!” The dark haired man sighed in exasperation from the crack in his door before he shut it all the way.

“Yes put on the mysterious watch that is not a watch, why not? Putting mysterious items on is ALWAYS a good idea!” I shook my head, but was at a loss for what else to do, and my curiosity was getting the better of me, so I put it onto my left wrist.

Things felt like they just got downright crazy from there.  The screen on the “watch” lit up and a woman calling herself “The Secretary” started explaining what this interview was actually going to involve.  My head began to spin at the idea that this was actually some kind of tournament (or it could have also been from the sheer amount of bleach I inhaled at work), and nearly everything inside me was screaming to get the heck out of there.  I looked back toward where I'd come in, highly considering it.  Becoming my characters sounded like the coolest opportunity ever, and I'd hate to pass it up, but how could I possibly take part in a fighting tournament? I couldn't even squash spiders on my own for crying out loud!

Before I could head back down the hall and take my leave though, the woman in the watch finished her speech with a warning “The doors have been locked behind you, the windows are indestructible, if you try and use your watch to leave it WILL be temporarily disabled.”

A chill crawled it's way down my spine “Select your three characters and good luck.” Her voice finished “And remember that the Publisher will be watching.”

I looked up at the ceiling after that and noticed camera's all over the place.  I debated for a moment, then turned to the closest one “Yes thank you because that's not horrifying at ALL!” I called to it.

I didn't even know if they could hear me through them, but it made me feel a little better.  After a few more minutes of internally freaking out, I actually sat myself down against a wall and started figuring out who I was going to pick.  If I was going to be stuck here, I was darn well going to show these guys what my characters were made of.