New to the Scene (TAG)

[Deleted]

‘You can do this….you can do this…’

Corrine had been repeating these words over and over to herself throughout the entirety of the process of joining Aegis. It had been quite the process, and she had held her doubts about joining Aegis. Her second guessing had creeped in during the tests, making anxiety kick in. Was she ready for something of this caliber? Was she being too ambitious? Could she handle the pressures of being a hero? So many questions, so many negative thoughts, but she had forced those thoughts to the back of her mind and taken a deep breath. It would have done her no good to fuss over everything, so she had pushed herself and now here she was.

The young woman stepped through the doors of Aegis headquarters, donning her costume she often wore as a hero. In a sense she was probably overly dressed for just a walk about the headquarters, but it never hurt to be a little prepared. Besides, Corrine figured she might be there for a few hours given she really knew nothing of the layout to the building. Much less knew anyone there. It just seemed the next logical step to get acquainted with her new job description.

Only thing was, where did she begin?

Standing in the lobby now, Corrine could only glance at the differing corridors that led to various parts of the building. “Great, I’m here, where to start…” She muttered to herself, having not exactly thought this through.

Alice
@blackjack

[Deleted]

Viktor didn’t want to be here, and it showed. He was dressed in one of Bell’s old Ferrari hoodies, the red long faded to nearly pink, jeans with outlines worn into them from where his keys and wallet always went, and of course the scowl to match. Too many people in one place, the lights were too bright, and the large coffee was barely doing anything to tamp his growing headache down. Perkele.

The young woman in front of him in some kind of superhero outfit and covered in spiky metal extrusions stopped dead in the middle of the atrium, looking this way and that. He raised a brow and skirted around her, meaning to leave her be, but then he saw the furrow in her brow, heard the slight catch of breath. Nervous, huh?

“First time here?” Viktor said in his gruff, flat, Finnish-accented voice. He gestured with his head at the larger hallway in front of him, then moved towards it. “Security’s this way. After that, I can take you to Alice.” They’d put in more protective measures after the… incident a little while back. He joined the left line going through the security cordon, of badged employees touching their ID card’s security chip to a terminal, then going through a large cage-like turnstile one at a time. There was a large poster on the wall that read VISITORS MUST BE ESCORTED AT ALL TIMES.

Viktor looked at Corinne as the line moved up, pointed at the other line to the right of visitors waiting to have their bags x-rayed. “If you don’t have a badge, that’s the line you go in. Tell the guard I’m your escort, they’ll bring you back to me when you’re done.” He touched his badge to the reader, went through the turnstile. He turned, looking at her through the security fence. “Viktor. Viktor Kolyanov. Pleasure.” He walked over to where visitors were being given their name tag stickers after going through the x-ray machine and having their driver’s license checked, and waited patiently, sipping his coffee.

@corrineburns , Alice

[Alice]

Shiiiiiit. Late late late. Alice was late. This was a new experience for her. She was so used to being everywhere all at once, all of the time, that actually having to be physically present for something, and factoring the time it took to do that, was something that she was still getting used to.

And clothes. Clothes too. Why the hell were clothes so damn hard to get into? She thought back fondly to the days where she could just think and suddenly be wearing whatever she could imagine and render.

But no. She was trying something new and she was liking it. Low heels, a skater skirt and a top that was tight but not too tight all managed to get on her and situation, and she'd managed to figure out the balance on her footwear. She almost stumbled as she raced in the door, but managed to catch herself, flashed her hand at the security gate, and then skidded to a stop by Corrine and Viktor, "breathing" heavily, although nobody would be able to tell it wasn't your normal human respiration without giving her a close look.

"Hi. My name's Alice. I work here, take care of a lot of things. You must be... Ankylo? Right? Hi Dr. Kolyanov. You get things started for her?"

Alice extended her hand for a shake and smiled, speaking quietly. "It should be noted, that when you touch me, it'll feel a little... off. Kinda rubbery, a little colder than you might expect. Don't react to it too much, and I'll explain more once we're out of the lobby."

She tried to look reassuring. She hoped that's how she looked. She didn't want to scare away the new hires.

@blackjack @corrineburns