Chelsea
The closer she and Lillian got to her room, the more Chelsea noticed the change in the taller girl's behavior. Goosebumps covered her fair arms, every hair standing upright. Her whole body had grown rigid with each step. But the most noticeable was the way her eyes shifted colors. They had started off honey brown and aqua blue, then turned dark brown. Finally, they became feral gold. Chelsea had seen this reaction three times within two days and the reason had been similar each time. The first during Mitchell's temper tantrum. Second, when Chelsea tried to introduce her to a trio of other people yesterday. Lastly, just moments ago when said girl tried to drag her to a table full of people to wait for their breakfast. The shift happened whenever there was a crowd of people or an unfamiliar presence. As if, some instinctual part of Lillian's brain had kicked into overdrive and she was fighting not to give in.
The slow steadying breath Lillian let out as they reached Chelsea's door held a slight tremor, another sign of just how unnerved she really was. While turning to look Chelsea in the eye, a lock of her greying hair fell in front of a drooping ear. "I hate to say this, but it looks like our chat over breakfast will have to wait." As she finished speaking, her focus went to her own door, her feral eyes boring into it with intense scrutiny.
Is she seeing something? Chelsea didn't notice anything different about the slab of wood or the door handle. Like a flash of lightning, Chelsea recalled Chef Jack's advice to the other girl about ordering today's lunch and dinner in advance, and the slip of folded paper. The pieces started gradually clicking into place. "I'll talk to later. Keep me posted?"
Lillian gave her a weary smile, her golden eyes softening just a fraction. "Only if I'm allowed to."
The gravity of that statement pressed in on her. What was going on wasn't something Chelsea should stick her nose in. This time when she went into her room, she closed the door completely.
Lillian
She could smell the faint scent of a woman's perfume before she even opened her door. She fished out the slip of paper from her pocket, unfolding it quickly.
The director wanted to meet with you. You've caught her attention.
Past experiences told her that more times than not catching someone's attention often led to undesirable consequences. Every part of her game play footage must have screamed red flag, and if the woman in her room was truly the director there was no getting out of this.
Lillian opened the door slowly, peering around its edge as if trying to shield herself from the other person and the strong foreign scent of fragrance clinging to her. Although pleasant, the odor burned her nose and throat. She could feel her eyes dilate from the assault to her senses. Sitting on the foot of her bed was a woman with lightly tanned skin and platinum blonde hair. The charcoal grey business suit she wore was elegant yet functional with its skirt hanging just above her ankles. Her dark grey eyes met Lillian's. The beta test felt like prey in the face of a predator, despite the game's AI system assigning her the shifter class. "Ms. Frost." She didn't ask.
Lillian answered anyway. "Yes, Ma'am." Opening the door a little more, she found Mark standing next to her desk looking every bit like a kid that got caught with his hand in a cookie jar before a meal.
The director's eyes bore into her. "We have a few very important things to discuss with you, young lady. Please, come in."
That really didn't sound good, but running wasn't an option. She entered the room, locked the door and sat on the opposite end of the bed as far from this intimidating woman as the small room allowed.
The director followed Lillian's movements with keen interest, studying her slight limp, the barely visible twist in her left shoulder, even the way she propped herself up with practiced ease to reduce the pain in her lower back. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ms. Steele. I'm the director of "Elysium Realms" corporate and development team. After witnessing some rather unusual events and reading your file, I would like to ask you to share a little more about yourself. So shall we?"