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C2Believe - Our New Reality


AurianaValoria1

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Skye didn't know exactly what to think as she walked into the spacious lobby of C2Believe's headquarters. It was quite a clinical-looking place, with pale blue flooring and massive glass windows, all polished to a mirror-shine. She readjusted her ponytail and her glasses, glancing about her, her sneakers squeaking on the recently-mopped tile. There was no one else there, not even a receptionist behind the lone desk ahead of her.

 

Then again, she did have a habit of arriving far too early for...well, just about everything.

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Victor silently walked up the steps to the C2Believe headquarters building. He still had a little bit of time till he needed to be there so he was taking his time. It was nice to get a few days off from work. Though he was surprised by the lack of people around the building. Aside from a woman who he saw walk up the steps a few minutes ago he didnt see anybody else. Victor looked at his phone to make sure he wasnt wrong about what time he needed to be there as he walked through the front doors.
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The almost oppressive silence of the place allowed Skye to hear the door opening behind her. Curious (and cautious), she turned around to see a tall young man entering the lobby, and she wondered what he was here for. She gave him a shy smile and nodded to him, asking quietly, "So uh...you work here, or are you here for the beta test?"

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Aside from the young woman in front of him the lobby was empty and quiet. The place looked odd for a video game companies lobby, it seemed almost to be a hospital lobby. Suddenly he was very self conciseness about being so early, maybe they weren't expecting people to get here this soon. No, that doesn't excuse the lack of a receptionist. Maybe it is becau- the woman had asked him a question when he entered. He hadn't replied yet, how long had he been standing there looking around and not answering? He looked down at the smaller woman and smiled slightly, "Beta tester, is anybody else here?"

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I am flesh and I am bone

Rise up,ting ting, like glitter and gold

I've got fire in my soul

Rise up, ting ting, like glitter

Like glitter and gold

 

There was a slight bounce in Morgan's gait as he wandered through the parking lot of C2Believe's headquarters, the said bounce attuned to the tempo of Barns Courtney's song playing softly in his earbuds. Having paid and seen off the taxi that had brought him there mere moments ago, he figured there was nothing else keeping him from finally heading over the black expanse of asphalt to the glistening building where the beta testers were told to meet at the given time, which was still maybe tens of minutes away. Even though his could have checked the time on his phone or watch, Morgan trusted his internal clock when it said he was earlier than he should be, and being early didn't mean much to him one way or another. At the very least, arriving early meant he wouldn't be late.

 

He noticed two others loitering in the lobby, though he didn't think much of them as he wordlessly passed through the glass doors. Doing what he always did, Morgan kept his gaze low and averted from the others, yet he still caught as many glimpses as he could out of the corner of his vision. One of them, a man, was dauntingly tall and had an intimidating stature about him, almost reminding Morgan of his brothers. Shivering at the comparison, the man sat himself down on one of the available benches in the deserted lobby, adjusted his cap, and whipped out his smartphone to give his hands something to do.

 

Do you walk in the meadow of spring?

Do you talk to the animals?

Do you hold their lives from a string?

Do you ponder the manner of things

In the dark

The dark, the dark, the dark

 

From where he sat, he continued observing his fellow beta testers as discreetly as he could manage, never turning his head too far in their direction. The lady of the two, unlike her companion, had a very mousey presence in comparison, and her appearance struck Morgan as some sort of schoolgirl. He frankly didn't know what he was expecting of his fellow video gamers, but this lot was a striking surprise; Morgan had honestly anticipated the likes of the stereotypical basement-dweller.

 

Nevertheless, he swallowed quietly and lowered the volume of his music so he could catch any of their conversation, and he was both relieved yet disappointed to overhear only the smallest of small talk. Morgan almost felt uncomfortable with his own lurking, evasive demeanor with the other beta testers, if he was honest with himself. However, he had very little idea how to engage in any sort of conversation with them. How old were they? They looked young, maybe in their early twenties, which made Morgan feel old. What had qualified them to be beta testers? Hell, Morgan couldn't even answer that question for himself.

 

Finally, he sat up and decided to at least make an effort to socialize, turning his full attention to the pair. "Hello," Morgan greeted with a smile, pocketing his earbuds as he measured every movement and carefully contempalted each word, "So... I was expecting more people, beta testers or at least someone to meet us at the door. I'm Morgan."

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"Tierney, you better get downstairs! Seems a few of the beta testers are early and have been waiting, and our receptionist is late yet again!" Cian sighed as one of his supervisors yelled across the hall he worked in. Why did I volunteer to do the meet-n-greet? "On it, boss!" The intern yelled back, standing up and heading to the main elevator to the lobby. Trying not to get the terrible tune playing stuck in his head, he focused on his appearance, straightening his polo shirt, and was more than glad to escape the elevator music as soon as the doors to the lobby opened.

 

Counting three people, two men and a woman, milling about idly. Clearing his voice, Cian spoke up loudly to be heard. "Greetings and salutations! Welcome to C2Believe Headquarters; where virtual reality is the only reality!" Looking around and making sure none of his coworkers were around. "And trust me, there are plenty of other terri-bad mottos like that floating around here." Chuckling, the intern introduced himself. "I'm Cian, your friendly tour guide, fellow beta tester, and all-around good guy ginger. I'll be showing you the area where we'll be holding the tests and joining you in the game to see how things work from the players' perspective. I apologize for the poor reception. Someone's supposed to be at the desk, but they're late this morning, hence our slow reaction in welcoming you-- Ah! Here she now. Morning, Freedman! Wake up in time to smell the ashes?"

 

The receptionist rolled her eyes and got to work behind desk. Smiling, Cian turned back to their guests, glancing at his watch. "Since we're a little early, the testing rooms aren't quite ready yet. Would anyone perhaps like a quick stop at our cafeteria before heading up?"

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"Yes, Mama... Uh huh... Right." Mina listened to her mother prattle on in her ear about her brother's college options, "Yes, I know."


As her taxi pulled up to the front of the C2Believe headquarters, Mina was quite excited to snatch this opportunity to cut her call with her mother short, as it was her second call today alone, and it was barely noon. "Oh, they have someone waiting outside for me, Mama. I'll have to call you when the test is over tonight... Yeah. Love ya bunches, bye... Okay, I will. Bye."


There was, however, nobody waiting for her outside. In fact, the whole place had a strange kind of austere and empty beauty about it. She tipped her cab driver before grabbing her heavy purse and throwing it onto her shoulder. She smoothed down her daisy-patterned skirt and fixed a bright pink flyaway curl that'd come loose during the drive, then headed toward the door at a brisk pace when her alarm buzzed, showing that she was five minutes late.


Her chunky heels clacked on the polished floor as she rushed toward the only people in the lobby, who she assumed were her fellow beta testers, "Oh my god, sorry I'm late! How were you guys all early? The traffic was like, insane! I was sure I'd make it on time. Is this all of us?"


She noticed there was a man addressing the group and promptly pretended to zip her lips, "Sorry. I'm kind of a motormouth..."

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Skye pointed to the second person to enter the lobby - Morgan - in response to the first who addressed her, then smiled slightly and replied, "I'm Skye." Afterwards, she said nothing else, a bit intimidated just by the size of the two young men. This feeling was intensified when the employee, calling himself Cian, approached.

 

"What do you-" she started to ask quietly when the green-eyed fellow mentioned the cafeteria. She was halted mid-sentence, however, when the chatty woman in heels entered and joined their little group.

 

Sighing, she realized she was the shortest of them all, finding herself looking up at everyone.

 

Déjà vu...

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Victor turned slightly when the door opened and another man came in and sat down. readjusting his position he moved ever so slightly to keep both the girl and this new guy in his line of sight. He barely acknowledged the young woman who pointed at this newcom- wait did she just say she was the sky? who claims to be the sky? He knew right then things were going to probably get a little... whatever probably just misheard her. "Sorry what did you say?" he asked turning his attention back to the woman.

 

The new guy, whos name was apparently Morgan, was asking a question but Victor ignored him and kept his attention on the woman who he was pretty sure just claimed to be the sky. Oh god was he really hoping he had misheard and she wasn't one of those weird types.

 

The elevator across the room opened and a young emplo-, no probably an intern, came out and read off the company motto. At least he admitted it was bad because it really was just... just terrible. Seriously who thinks of these things anyways? He also noted a woman had come in and was sitting down by the receptionist desk and Cian had made some sort of Half Life joke about her being late. So that is normal for the receptionist to be late? odd what kind of company- "-cafeteria before heading up?"

 

"Food?" He asked, "I'm down lead the way." behind him the door opened yet again, why was he still standing so close to the door? He stepped to the side so he could see who came in but ended up hearing her well before he saw here. Well at least everybody seemed like the decent types and not necessarily jerks like he had been expecting to find, but there was still time.

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