Chapter 6 - vi: players and rules

We entered the atrium, and both found ourselves stunned briefly by a sudden blast of daylight. Our eyes cleared and before us we saw a long table. Well, long in the fact it stretched across the entirety of the relatively small space. Sunlight poured in from the glass walls and roof reflected brilliantly off the tables birch length. Hence our blinding problem. Dotting the walls of the room was ivy and vines, accentuated with colorful flowers, with light shining through the gaps between the leaves. That combined with the general asthenic of the table and chairs left the place feeling a bit fey. In my love of the slightly hardcore metal aesthetic I scoffed a little at the girly peaceful vibe the place gave off. Even if a part of me couldn't help but wonder if I was being offensive to possibly very real fairies.

I couldn't quite scoff at the room completely though, because it did seem like it fit it's five occupants pretty well. As expected by us sleeping in we were the last to arrive. I recognized Whisky, sitting at the end of the table. The enigmatic wizard was smoking a cigar, which didn't seem to be producing any smoke in spite of being clearly lit. Down the table on his right was the blonde girl from the other night. The one who had thankfully returned my bra and panties to me. It wouldn't have been the first time a girl had handed me back my underwear, but that pair had always fit me so perfectly I couldn't help but feel unreasonable grateful. So, as she glanced at me behind those thick framed glasses, I shot her a smile, that I was hoping mustered the platonically flirty vibes some girls tended to give off. Across from her was the last girl who had signed up for the job. She was exotic, with slightly dark skin and piercing jade eyes, with gold hoop earrings and hair that was big and immaculacy curled into long shadowy locks. She reminded me of a bond girl. But one of those bond girls that's an evil enemy spy at the start who's seduced to the side of good. I couldn't help but think Dakota putting the British accent in my head had something to do with that immediate first impression.

"Well ya'll are a bit late, but we waited up for ya'll, feel free to grab a bite or such" Whisky said welcomingly as he gestured for us to take a seat. Under normal circumstance I would've been more than happy to take from what looked like a stellar continental breakfast. But with the image of a horny Dakota being magically stuffed still seared into my mind, I couldn't quite muster an appetite. The brit herself was more than happy to place herself down in a chair and started sampling from the spread. I couldn't help but notice as I took my own that she seemed to be taking from exclusively the most sugary items on the display. Whiskey looked ever so slightly taken aback as she started to eat, making me wonder if the offer had been real or just a classic case of southern politeness.

"Well perhaps we could get started then, I doubt anyone would mind, if we discussed while eating, I'd imagine you'll be doing most of the talking anyways" The new girl said with a slightly smug glance at Dakota snacking innocently on some sugar cubes. I couldn't help but feel ever so slightly offended on the brit's behalf, but I swallowed my sass for the moment. I doubted making a scene at dinner was going to bring me any closer to getting the sign on bonus and away from the degenerate haunted house. "Right well yeah, the most important thing to cover is that as you all know there's only one position, but what you probably don't know is that in four days' time, I'll be fully decided on who should have it" he said twizzling his moustache a little anxiously, as three out of four of us inhaled sharply in surprise.

"Well you told us there'd be three years till anyone got the job" I protested quickly a little surprised at the gear shift. "Well yeah darling, but I said I'd be training and interviewing the person until then, ya'll didn't really think I was going to train four girls just to potentially hire one of them" Whisky said in a tone that sounded sincerely apologetic. I glanced at Dakota on a quest for some backup but as she swallowed a mouthful of sugar, she simply shot the magic man with finger guns. Which as cute as it was, was less than sterling support for my indignation. "Am I the only person who's at least a little surprised by this" I asked the atrium, leaning into my rock loving anarchist roots. "Well...I'll admit it's surprising, but I think i should be able to make my conclusions in four days, so it makes little difference to me" The blonde said pushing her glasses up her nose a little in a nerdy gesture. "I was fully expecting it, as fun as it'd be to see less viable candidates stumbling into traps and failing exams, one has to acknowledge the reality of the situation" The unknown girl said with a wide grin, and a knowing glance at my chest. I was used to getting a bit of attention below my neck. I had sprinted into being well developed at the end of middle school and stayed there. But there was something uniquely sinister in the way her eyes were locked on my tits. Like she was seeing something I wasn't.

"Alright, so what, we'll be doing skill assessments, job interview stuff?" I asked shaking off the shock of being tossed in the deep end. I had never so much as written a CV and the thought of doing so over night was more cursed than any of the magical furniture I'd encountered. "Well more of the former than the later, the most important part of being a wizard's assistant is not getting blasted by magical side effects. So that's what ya'll will be doing" Whisky explained in a rathe blasé tone as he sampled a strong looking coffee. I blinked a few times at that. Unable to help but recall my experience with the armor, or Dakota's midnight snack. I found myself hoping he wasn't quite as omnipresent as your lord of the rings brand spell caster. "So, these "magical" energies will be around the house and we have to avoid or resist them" The blonde asked jotting down notes. There was an obvious inflection to the way she phrased the word magic. One which made it clear what those conclusions she was referring to earlier were about. Obviously, she hadn't run into any of the weirdness I had. "Not magical energies, like literal cursed objects and such will be dotted around the place, there's always a way to break out of their spell, so the most important skill is learning how to snap out of it" He explained as if this was the sort of common knowledge that belonged in a cereal box. There was a scoff followed by the scribbling notes from the blonde's side of the table.

"So, what whoever runs into the least magical items, random chance doesn't seem a fantastic way to find the best candidate for the job?" The dark-haired girl suggested. But her tone boarded on leaning. Close to a pantomime. Wherever this was going she already knew its destination, and that was more than a little concerning. "Well not that either...." He protested, struggling to do so with a mouthful of coffee. "Ya'll are going to get a chance to put some traps of your own of course, only makes it fair, saves me the effort to boot" Whiskey continued casually. Thankfully this seemed a line that was too far for most of my other competitors. Dakota, the blonde and I all did that thing you see on tv where everyone starts talking simultaneously to the degree nobody can hear what anyone's saying. The poor guy almost did a spit take at the sounds of our cacophonous complaining. "Alright, Alright, Alright, now I know this ain't what ya'll are used to, but I checked that flyer I wrote..and while yeah I was drunk the amount for the sign on bonus is accurate" He protested holding up his hands. It was a fairly obvious bribe on our morals. Subject the others to weirdo magic you don't understand and maybe win a prize. Unfortunately, people have committed murders for substantially less money than was on that flyer. Slowly our complaints died out and he finished his coffee in peace as a quiet settled over us. It was hard to be fun and conversational when you had just discovered you were at war.

"At dawn each day, we'll reconvene here at breakfast and measure how much each person was affected by curses the day prior" He explained as the final part of the competition slid into a clear place. I fancied it a bit like one of those reality tv shows. Four girls in a house armed with magical traps, four days to determine who gets a stupid amount of money. "Now that that's all out of the way, feel free to introduce yourselves and such" He said with a vague and somewhat dismissive gesture at the lot of us. "I don't much see the point, you'll all be gone in the head by the time I'm finished, but you can call me Tahiti" the dark-haired girl said with a villainous smile on her face. There was something about her that had me wondering if it was even whiskey that had trapped the armor. Not that I could prove any of it. "I'm Paris" the blonde said glancing up from her notebook to offer a slight head bob. I mostly felt bad for her, if she didn't believe in magic yet she was going to be in for a rough first night. "Dakota" The red-haired brit said with a smile talking through what looked like a particularly crumbly scone. She was undeniably adorable with her full lips covered in powder sugar and dimples in her cheeks. I found myself thinking it was very much a shame we'd be competing. "Georgia" I explained quickly, blinking a little at the realization we all shared our names with places. It was a statistical oddity for sure. But as we all began sizing each other up, it was the last thing on anyone's mind. Slowly we all turned our gaze to Whiskey wordlessly. Whatever cordial atmosphere he had been trying to build had certifiably failed. "They're in the store room down the hall" he said pointing with a sigh. And we were all off like bullets from a gun.