A More Permanent Position Ch 01

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.

Seeing the Korean girl's shoes got Madison's memory racing. She remembered her meeting with Amanda that weekend, and suppressed a shudder.

*********

She had gone to Amanda's apartment the previous weekend expecting for the wardrobe consultation. But why had Amanda asked her to bring ALL of her shoes and clothes? Maybe she would tell Madison which ones were appropriate to wear? She wanted to tell Amanda off, but somehow never found the right opportunity. Whenver she tried, Amanda would cut her off and give her another thing to do.

It took Madison several trips to bring all of her clothes up to Amanda's apartment (Amanda didn't offer to help, of course.) Madison remembered mocking Amanda for being poor back in school, but Amanda's current place was almost nicer than Madison's! She had to keep reminding herself that Amanda didn't come from money.

Madison even got in a back-handed compliment ("Amanda, you've come so far! I'm so glad that college accepts food stamps now.")

Amanda wasn't entertained. Neither was Madison when she heard Amanda's reason for having her bring all her clothes.

"We're going to have a clothing swap! I'll trade my old clothes for yours," Amanda explained. But what happened was not a very fair trade.

Basically, Amanda took all of Madison's best clothes: She took all of her Versaci, Chanel, and designer pieces. In return, she gave Madison all of her old generic clothes from stores like Target, H&M, and Forever 21. Madison had never worn such cheap clothes in her whole life. They were still stylish, but they were clearly 'affordable' - she almost cringed when she wore things like that.

A lot of them were the same clothes Madison had insulted Amanda for wearing in high school.

They even traded shoes, and it was at that point Madison suspected she was being punished. Amanda took all Madison's practically new shoes, and in return gave her only well-worn hand-me-downs. Madison was less than thrilled about wearing Amanda's old keds (without socks, just how Amanda wore them), but she abhored the idea of having no high heels whatsoever! From now on, it was only beat-up flats, low-cut skate shoes, and considerably used running shoes. Madison even got all of Amanda's old ankle socks for some reason.

"You won't wear shoes with a heel anyway, it's against company policy," Amanda explained as she modelled Madison's Loisviton shoes. Madison never realized how similar their bodies were: anything that fit one girl fit the other one comfortably.

The final surprise was the grey cotton dress Madison was wearing now. It brought to mind all the memories of her taunting Amanda in high school. She tried not to laugh when she remembered what she said back then ("Amanda, don't you wear that dress like three times a week? I think it was white when you first got it!").

Amanda told her that she was to wear the dress at least three times a week while Madison worked for her.

********

Madison walked past the women on the couch, down the hall some more. On the way, she saw a table full of Fiji drinking water and cut fruit. Feeling thirsty, she reached out to pick up a water bottle, but her earpiece gave a warning buzz.

"I'm sorry," NAMI said, "but your badge does not allow you to take that. Please use a drinking fountain if you are thirsty. I've highlighted some for you."

Further down the hallway, Madison looked into one of the open doors. Inside, a caramel-skinned woman was lying on a massage table, getting a full body massage from a Greek girl wearing a toga. She even had on an olive branch crown!

When she got out of the hallway, she could only marvel at the beauty of what she saw.

Madison found herself in a huge indoors courtyard - the inside of a circle several hundred yards across. In the direct middle was an elaborate fountain, surrounded by fancy circular tables and padded chairs. It looked like something from a Victorian teaparty - engraved gold metalwork on the chairs and gilded legs holding up the tables. Everything about it was clean, purposeful and gorgeous.

Nor was it all tables and chairs, like some palatial food court. There were benches, sofas and divans spread around, each one looking comfortable and expensive. The color scheme skewed towards jewel tones: ruby red, emerald green, sapphire blue.

Madison observed that many women were seated, relaxing, but many more were buzzing around doing things: bussing tables, refilling drinks, taking food orders. One woman had another girl brushing her hair as she sat gossiping with her tablemates. Each woman was strikingly attractive- both the seated woman and the errand girls.

Madison noticed a highlighted object in her vision - the drinking fountain. But it couldn't possibly be the right one!

The drinking fountain was no more than a foot off the floor. She had to get down on her hands and knees to get her head close enough to drink. NAMI highlighted two handprints where Madison was supposed to put her hands. But still no water came out.

"You need to put your mouth on it," NAMI offered, which caused Madison to roll her eyes.

The faucet, if you could call it that, was a two inch tall tapered cylinder, which flared down towards the bottom into a bowl. As Madison lowered her head, the water flowed in a small trickle out of the hole in the top. Seeing no alternative, she put her mouth on the tip of the fountain to suck some water out, but it immediately stopped flowing.

"You have to create a seal with your lips on the base of the cylinder," NAMI said. Madison glared, fully aware of what it looked like.

"This is a water saving policy," NAMI added, "please have your drink and move on."

Blushing deeply, Madison took the entire fountain into her mouth, locking her lips along the base of it. Water trickled out at a maddeningly slow rate, and Madison could barely keep it from leaking out of her mouth. After a few seconds, she discovered the best way to swallow the water was to suck on the cylinder and use her tongue to flick the water deeper into her mouth while swallowing repeatedly. It made an embarassing slurping sound, but Madison was determined to get her drink.

"This fountain is drained," NAMI said. "Please continue to Miss Mathis's office."

Madison groaned - she was still thirsty! For all her work, she probably only got one mouthful of water. While standing up, Madison thought she saw a girl kneeling beneath one of the tables in the courtyard, but she wasn't sure.

She followed the light blue arrows along the perimiter of the courtyard. Different stores occupied spaces in the outer wall of the plaza: a nail salon, a laundry center, a restaurant, and a massage spot. Madison even saw clothing stores, staffed with shop girls that were doting on their customers.

She stopped outside one shoe shop when she saw a pair of high-heeled boots that she wanted. Looking inside the store, she saw an Armenian woman sitting on an overstuffed chair, sipping champagne. Kneeling at the woman's feet was a short Greek girl, lovingly placing a pair of wedge high heels on for her.

The Armenian woman stood up (handing her glass to the Greek girl) and walked around, testing out the shoes. After a loop around the store, she returned to the chair, took her glass back, and pointed out another pair for the shop girl to go fetch. As the Greek girl sprang to her feet, Madison started walking into the store.

At that point, her earpiece gave an alarm sound: two quick buzzes.

"You have no business in that store right now," NAMI cut in. It sounded like she was getting impatient.

"Madison, where are you?" Another voice said. It was Amanda.

"It's 8:20 and you're still not at your desk??"

"Sorry Amanda," Madison yelped.

"That's MISS MATHIS," Amanda hissed.

"Sorry Miss Mathis. I'll be right there," Madison said, turning to go. Before she left, she saw the Greek girl bowing her head a little too low as she helped the Armenian woman with her shoes. The Armenian woman's full lips were smirking.

The arrows on the ground changed color from light blue to red and began blinking, so Madison doubled her pace. She followed them up to the second floor, taking the stairs. Even though the elevator was working, a black and yellow X sign blocked it off in her eyeglasses. Madison sighed.

The second floor was comprised of large offices, radiating outwards from the coutryard like numbers on a clock. They were built into the outer wall of the circle, so that someone could look over the handrailing down into the plaza.

Madison rushed past several niches, noticing that each one was decorated with its own theme. One was re-creating the American Wild West, some appeared to be from the French aristocracy, some were just modern. Each office had a single girl staffing the front desk, usually dilligently working on a computer. Their wardrobe seemed to match the decor of the room, but Madison didn't have time to notice much more than that.

After four or so offices she reached her own, stopping in her tracks when she saw its decor.

It looked like a high school classroom!!

Not literally, of course - no high school could ever afford its marble floors or the Persian rugs. But the room was an obvious parody of a high school homeroom. Madison's desk was clearly inspired by the one she had back then - a shiny tan melamine top supported by four stainless steel legs. There was a whiteboard on one wall, and an analog clock in the same position it was in the classroom.

On Madison's desk was her nameplate. It read "Maddie :)" in neon pink bubble letters, like some immature girl wrote it. Beneath her name was "$13,000," large enough so that anyone who saw the name would notice it also. She frowned - she hated the name 'Maddie.'

The door to Amanda's office looked like the door to the principal's room- an oak frame with a frosted glass pannel in the center. AMANDA MATHIS was lettered onto the glass in golden letters, beneath was printed "$130,000." Suddenly, it became more difficult for Madison to believe the idea that she was rich and Amanda was poor.

She knocked on Amanda's door, and was invited in.

Amanda's office wasn't anything like a high school room. It was the office of a modern Venture Capitalist, a rich woman who could afford anything she wanted. At least five times as big as Madison's 'office,' it had antique furniture, sculptures by famous artists, and its ceilings were high enough to fit exotic trees that Madison had never seen before. Madison quietly marvelled at the space, but her heart was full of contempt that it didn't belong to her.