"It was nigh on midnight, and Devon D. Dragon was still no closer to a breakthrough than he had been in the evening. He furrowed his brow, frantically comparing his notes to what he saw before him.
"Dev?" squeaked a voice from behind him, and he dropped his notebook in surprise. Standing behind him was his companion, Pigson, a short fellow with kind eyes. He was holding a flashlight in one hand and a scrap of paper in the other. "Sorry, buddy. You were a million miles away, huh? Well, I think I figured out why we couldn't find any traces of magic in the witches' lair we found. It's all fake! I found a receipt tucked between two beakers. Do you think someone was trying to intentionally mislead us?"
Devon took the receipt and inspected it closely. He nodded but said nothing before diving straight back into his notes. Pigson sighed and went back to inspecting the magic kit. The hair on the back of his neck raised as he felt as though he was being watched. Little did he know, he was."
Sal sat the ballpoint pen back down on his desk and sighed. "That's enough writing for me today," he said to no one in particular. He leaned back in his chair and looked over to the water fountain. Still the same two guys chatting it up over there.
Damn, he thought.
The water fountain is a perfect opportunity to get away with doing nothing at work, and these ingrates are hogging it! When he turned back around, there standing in front of him was a jet black rooster with a scowl like something out of a caricature.
"Josef has been calling for you. A couple times now. It's bad manners to keep your boss waiting, you know." He tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for Sal's response.
"Sheesh, Bruce," he replied, "I don't think you get bonus points on your quarterly review for being the company's most uptight employee." Bruce didn't seem to find that funny. Sal slowly raised himself from his desk, took a long, drawn-out stretch, and made his way over to the large desk at the back of the room. There were no cubicles separating each desk in the Toto-Tech Support Office, which may have been helpful for some, but all Sal could think about was how anyone and everyone could tell when he was slacking off.
Josef was a large man, with a well-manicured mane and the faintest ripple of muscle beneath his fur, but his presence was a calming one- at least, for anyone who hadn't crossed him. Sal could not claim to be part of this group.
"Sal! Please, sit down. I've got something to discuss with you."
"Okay, I get it. We all knew this day would come. Now, how big is my severance package? When do I go off the company insurance?"
Josef stared forward a minute, his glasses falling down his nose.
"What? Oh, no, nothing like that, you pessimist! I just wanted to talk to you about a little
project that I need your help with. See that young lady over there?" Josef pointed past Sal's shoulder to a young deer standing awkwardly against the wall, twirling her hoof in a thick lock of her bouncy hair.
Josef continued, "That's Wanda. She's going to be a temp here for the next few months, until her semester is over. She's studying to be a robotics engineer. Can you believe that?" Sal stared forward like he was watching paint dry.
"And this is relevant, how...?"
"Well, you're going to be training her!" Josef smiled disarmingly, but Sal felt anything but put at ease.
"Why me? Wouldn't you want someone who could actually give helpful advice, like Bruce? Or even Charise, for crying out loud!" Josef rubbed his temples.
"It's company tradition, Sal. Bruce trained Charise. Charise trained you. You train Wanda. End of discussion, go introduce yourself." Josef crossed his arms, sat back in his chair, and refused to make further eye contact with Sal. Tail tucked between his cargo shorts, Sal made his way over.
"So... Wendy- I mean, uh, Wanda- how's... I mean, hey, I'm Sal... So, college? You do college?" Wanda just smiled, an awkward crease in her smooth face. "Why robots?"
"I.. I like them?" Wanda rubbed the back of her neck. Sal was tongue-tied. This was going to be one long semester.
