Tomas stood outside the old Bellamy Mall. When he'd searched online, he'd found out that the mall went out of business twenty-ish years ago, and it was only eight years ago that it was renovated into a business park. The largest part was sectioned off for SlideRuleGames.

It took him two whole hours to decide what to wear. He tugged at the bottom hem of his graphic t-shirt and looked down at it. It was black had a blue English police box on it, with the words, This is My Other Ride, sprawled at the bottom. He'd paired it with his nicest pair of blue jeans, and he even scrubbed the white on his shell toe sneakers to get the dirt off. He looked like a college student. He hoped Sunny was right about not needing professional clothing.

He was an entire hour and fifteen minutes early because he was scared he'd take the wrong bus to get to SRG. He figured it was better to be really early than really late, but now he wasn't sure what to do with himself. Did he go inside and sit and wait? Would that look too needy? Ugh. He'd only had one job interview in his entire life, and that was to volunteer at the local library back home.

Why did he let his dad control him for so long? Why didn't he get some part time job at a greasy spoon in the last couple of years to get some experience. He groaned at his own stupidity. His lack of experience would probably make him look like some spoiled rich kid.

It was true, he'd lacked nothing important growing up. He knew that made him lucky, but he was only ever given enough to survive. There wasn't much back home of his to actually throw away. Just his furniture and some posters on the wall, mostly. His dad horded money like Uncle Scrooge, and he used it to manipulate Tomas and his mother, to do what he wanted. It was actually rather liberating to no longer be under his thumb. Well, it would be if he got this job!

“Excuse me,” a woman's voice from behind him called out.

He'd been so lost in thought that he hadn't heard her come up behind him. He whirled and almost tripped over his own feet in his rush. A large woman grasped his shoulder to help him keep his balance. She winced, “Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.”

“It's okay, sorry, I wasn't paying attention.” He blushed.

The woman chuckled. This woman was huge, Tomas thought as he looked up at her. She had to be at least six and a half feet tall. Tomas was five foot eleven, and she made him feel short. But she wasn't intimidating, she seemed pretty easy going, and Tomas felt himself relaxing and smiling. If he were to guess, she was about his mother's age.

“Nice shirt!” she said, and pointed to her own shirt that had an upside down trashcan shaped stylized robot with the word, Exterminate, written below it.

His smile turned into a grin. He wished his mom was as cool as this woman! “Which reincarnation is your favorite?” He had to ask.

“Tom Baker, of course.” She said proudly.

He laughed in surprise, “Me too!”

“Aw, it's nice to see the younger generation appreciating the classics.” She nodded, before changing the subject. “Now, why are you out here woolgathering? Are you waiting on someone?”

He shook his head, “I have an interview, but I'm insanely early. I wasn't sure if I should bother them this far ahead. I don't want to be a bother, and I really, really, want this job!”

“Wait, are you Zarn?” She actually looked hopeful.

His jaw dropped, “you know me?”

The woman, grabbed him in a big hug , and he was ashamed to say he let out a startled squeak.

She let him go, only to hold his shoulders, “I'm Tempest, one of your Tavern mates! It's so good to finally meet you!”

Wow! Tempest was a male, Eldrich, beserker in Fantasy Tavern Online. It always surprised him when someone played a character that was a different sex than they were, but then again, an Eldrich kinda looked the same as male or female. Tempest was actually someone he knew well. Obviously not really  well, or he'd have known she was a woman.

“It's nice to meet you too! How did you figure out I was Zarn?” He was feeling slightly overwhelmed, this woman wasn't just big, she was larger than life in personality too.

Tempest squeezed his shoulders gently, turned him around, and draped an arm over his shoulder. She lead him towards the front doors to SRG. “Because we don't usually have geeky young college students staring at our HQ. I use the word geeky with respect, just so you know. The only college student we were expecting is Zarn, so I put two and two together. The moment I saw your shirt, I knew you had to be him.”

“You work here?” Things were moving so fast that he was having trouble keeping up.

“Of course! Most of the players in Nevermore Tavern work here.” She grinned even bigger, as if she'd just told a joke.

Tomas felt like he'd just fallen down the rabbit hole. Most of his online friends and Tavern mates worked at SlideRuleGames?! He knew most of SRG's creators and didn't even know it?!

“Now, the real question, my dear Zarn, is can you draw?” They were almost to the doors.

“Not even a stick figure, sadly.” Tomas was slowly acclimating to Tempest's personality.

“Boo. Well, you wont be in my department then. I'm the director of the art department.” She patted his shoulder then opened the door and motioned for him to go first.

Tomas stepped inside, then continued the conversation. “So, you're in charge of all the character concepts and stuff like that?”

“Yes, and so much more. We take care of everything from concepts to 3D modeling, we even help the marketing department with their artwork, but they have a few artists over there as well.” Tempest stopped next to a huge white desk that looked more like central command in a space ship, than a receptionists desk.

Tempest bent to lean against the desk. A man, whom Tomas guessed was in his thirties, sat behind it.

“What ho, dearest Tempest, what didst you bring in your whirlwind embrace to grace these hallowed halls?” The man asked, and it took him a bit to translate that into normal English.

“Heyo, Poe, meet Zarn. Zarn, this is the estimable Poe.” She said with a flourish.

“Oh! Hey Poe, it's nice to meet you! Did you find that artifact in game, that you were looking for last night?” He should have realized who this guy was. His character was a neko mage and he spoke with the same odd vernacular in person that he did in game.

“Zarn! Welcome to our humble abode. Alas, I did not. Twas not meant to be, fie, I shall die with saddened visage if mine quarry dost not find me on the morrow.” The slender man placed one hand on his chest and the other held high as he dramatically went on about his lack of success.

“You can do eet!” Tempest called out, then practically dragged Tomas away from the dramatic man.

“If we'd stood there, he would have gone on until past your interview time.” She chuckled. “He's a great man, and an amazing player, but he missed his calling. He should be on a stage doing Hamlet, not answering phones and seeing to the visitors.”

She lead him to a large meeting room. “Find a seat and get comfortable, I'll go find the boss.” She waved and left in a rush.

Tomas took the closest seat that allowed him to watch the doorway. He didn't want to be surprised by the head of SlideRuleGames, the way he'd been surprised by Tempest. He tried to relax, but the nerves of the upcoming interview made another appearance. In his head, he replayed the last few minutes and allowed himself a weak smile. At least he knew things would always be interesting, working here. If he got the job, of course.