The Wall Leaned Away
The building took Madison's breath away.
It regularly made Architect's Digest as one of the 6 most beautiful headquartes in the world. The company, Loloth Industries, was ranked by Furbz magazine as the greatest company to work for in the world. It had the highest growth per quarter of any company in history. If its GDP were a country, it'd be the fourth richest in the world.
If only she were there under different circumstances.
She walked up the Grecian marble steps and into the reception area. The heavy glass doors flowed open, resembling an expert ballerina doing an opening stretch. There was only a simple desk in the entrance, staffed by a stunning blonde who could be a model for her height. The room itself was a half-circle, with two hallways leading deeper into the building to the left and right. It was barely decorated; anyone who had business here would go farther inside. Anyone who didn't would be told to leave.
"Hi, I'm Madison. I'm here for my first day," she said nervously. She felt tremendously self-conscious in the simple grey dress and Keds she was wearing, but she didn't want to upset her boss Amanda. Madison blushed, as though eveyone could tell the clothes were Amanda's worn hand-me-downs.
"Welcome to Loloth Industries Madison!" the blonde chirped, putting Madison at ease. She looked at the blonde's ID Card: A glamor headshot of the blonde, and the name "Nadia," with a yellow border. She seemed kind of dumb and bubbly, which Madison looked down on her for. Obviously she was hired for her beauty, not brains.
"Let me get you your stuff for your first day," she continued.
Well, at least Madison was working at Loloth industries, even if it was as Amanda's lowly assistant. She grimaced as she remembered the interview, but the blonde didn't seem to notice.
Amanda Mathis: lanky, unpopular, nerdy. The girl Madison used to torment every day in high school, was now an executive at this company. Madison almost walked out when she learned the position was to act as an errand girl for Amanda. She almost walked out again when she learned the starting wage.
But somehow, Amanda convinced her to take the job.
"Listen, Madison, this is the first step on an amazing career ladder. I know we had our differences in the past, but I think you'd be a wonderful fit for Loloth," Amanda told her during the interview.
Madison was unplussed about the job responsibilities (she was practically a servant!) but in the end she couldn't resist the prestige of working at Loloth. Already she had bragged about the job to her friends! What would they think if she turned around and didn't work there?
The two girls shook hands, and Madison agreed to meet at Amanda's house that weekend for a 'mandatory wardrobe consultation.'
That marked the beginning of Madison's downfall.
"Are you wearing contact lenses?" the statuesque blonde asked, snapping Madison to attention.
"No!.. I mean, yes."
"Okay, you'll need to take them out. These eyeglasses will be your visual interface while you work here. They've been fit to your prescription," Nadia explained.
Madison looked at the glasses. They were black, oversized, full rim frame glasses. The same kind that Amanda used to wear in high school until she got tired of Madison constantly ragging on them. Madison sighed, and removed her contact lenses. How did they know her prescription?
"Do you have a place I can put these at least?" Madison huffed, reffering to her old contact lenses.
Nadia held out a trash can.
"They look good on you!" Nadia said cheerfully, holding up a mirror. Madison looked like every nerdy girl in popular media. The frames totally dominated her face.
"Thanks," Madison responded.
Nadia handed her a small bluetooth receiver that fit snugly inside of her ear, then handed Madison her own I.D. Card. Madison looked at the photo of herself - gorgeous, white teeth, brunette, no eyeglasses. It had a light blue border around the outside.
"The system is initializing," said an aristocratic English woman's voice. Madison nearly jumped. A progress bar started filling on her eyeglasses!
"Yeah, that startles everyone! That's just NAMI, she's the voice of the AI system that links everyone together here," Nadia explained.
Madison had an increasingly hard time telling what was on the screen of her eyeglasses and what was inside her eyes. Somehow, text was floating out in the distance, hovering above objects or printed on top of them.
"Startup is finished. Welcome to Loloth, Madison!" the voice said into her ear. It sounded so... refined. Too perfect to be a robot's voice.
"Uh, thanks?" Madison said, to no one. Nadia laughed.
"Yeah, everyone does that too. There's usually no reason to speak back to Nadia. Just think of her as a tour guide, or a handler."
"I'm creating a path for you to Miss Mathis's office," NAMI intoned. Suddenly, a path of light blue arrows appeared on the ground, leading to the left hallway.
Without answering or acknowledging Nadia furher, Madison walked away. In spite of everything, her heart was racing with excitement! Few people outside Loloth Industries had ever been inside their headquarters.
"NAMI stands for Neuro-Affective Messaging Interface," NAMI said plainly. Madison nodded, not knowing what else to do.
As soon as she entered the hallway the decor changed entirely.
A priceless red carpet ran the length of it, and the cherrywood walls were punctuated with fake candles that gave off beautiful natural light. Hanging on the walls were paintings by famous artists: Fra Angelico, Titian, and Rembrandt. One painting bothered her, though. With NAMI's help, she identified it as "The Abyss of Hell" by Botticelli. She stopped to examine it closer, but her earbud made a shrill buzz, and the arrows on the ground blinked urgently.
Madison understood and continued down the hallway.
On her way down the hall, she passed by a couple of women. The one in front was a pale, raven-haired beauty wearing prolific high heels, which echoed all down the hallway. She was dressed in a smart business suit, and held her chin up high. Behind her a few steps, carrying her files and a coffee, was a short-haired blonde girl. The blonde girl was dressed remarkably casual: just a short white summer dress and canvas shoes. Madison noticed that the blonde girl had her eyes downcast, but then a red arrow showed up in her vision, urging her to stand aside.
Madison pressed against the hallway as the women passed. She looked at their badges: the black-haired woman had a purple border around her badge, while the blonde had a light blue border around hers. The same color as Madison's. The lead woman eyed Madison, which caused her to start.
"You are being tagged," NAMI announced into Madison's ear with no further explanation. The duo continued past Madison down the hall, and Madison watched briefly. The blonde's dress was almost entirely backless but for two straps, and scooped down to her waist. Shrugging, she went along her way.
The hall started to curve, giving her the impression that she was walking along a great circle. After a while, the hallway opened up: on the right she saw stairs upwards, on the left it continued along. Her path took her up the stairs.
At the top appeared to be a mostly abandoned lounge: something between a coffee shop and a restaurant. Madison noticed two women sitting on a lavish sofa, but they gave her pause.
There was a pale young Japanese / Korean girl sitting with her back against the armrest, and her legs outstretched so that her feet were in the other woman's lap. The other woman, a young white girl with vibrant red hair, was dilligently massaging her partner's feet! Madison noticed a priceless pair of high heels lying in front of the Asian woman, while the white girl only wore a pair of ballet flats. The Korean girl was leaning back, her eyes closed, a blissful smile on her face. Madison admired her stylish jet black hair.
"Rub harder, Katie!" The Korean girl called out. Katie's eyes shot open, and she doubled down her efforts on the other woman's feet.
"Joesonghamnida!" the red-haired girl said deferrentially.
"Stupid baeg-in..." murmured the Korean girl, resting her head on her hand.
Madison heard the padding of footsteps to her side, and turned to see a cute white brunette approaching with a ceramic cup in her hands. Madison noticed the brunette was barefoot, which seemed odd, but the girl was otherwise dressed casually in grey yoga pants, a tank top and stylish eyeglasses. She had a large, heavy-looking metal bracelet on her right arm and her nails were neatly trimmed but unpolished.
The Korean woman opened her eyes to take the drink, then noticed Madison.
"You are being tagged," NAMI announced.
Without being told, the brunette moved so that she was behind the Korean woman. Then she began massaging the woman's shoulders with gusto. Madison observed that the Asian woman wore a fetching mauve dress that could be worn comfortably from the office to the club. After she took a sip of the drink, she leaned back and closed her eyes again, a smug grin on her face.
Madison didn't stay much longer, a little weirded out by the intimate, one-sided relationship between the three women. She walked past them without acknowledgment, but she swore that Katie gave her a look when the Korean girl's eyes were closed. She noticed their badges: purple for the woman receiving the massage, light blue for the girls giving it. Just like Madison's.
