The mundane and the rather odd

by Susuoan

The beam pt.3 (Potion Nova)

“So exciting!” A young, orange-skinned man exclaimed. “Are you excited!? Because I’m excited! Maybe too excited! Oh no, I’m…I’m not feeling so good, I-“

He stopped himself as he grabbed a paper bag a blew into it, making the bag inflate and deflate in quick succession.

Potion Nova smiled, finding her friend’s excitement endearing. The blue-skinned lady next to her, however, held a deadpan look.

“She’s the one who’s being interviewed, not you.”

“I-I know,” he replied to his sister, but not stopping his hyperventilation in the slightest.

She rolled her eyes before turning back to Potion Nova with a smile. “So, how are you feeling, Nova?”

“I’m a little nervous, but mostly excited! It’d be so much fun if I make it in and get to work with you guys!”

“Not ‘if.’ When you make it in,” Trial replied. Her brother nodded vigorously as he stopped hyperventilating.

“Right,” Potion Nova said.

A few moments later, the time for Potion to go inside finally arrived.

“Wish me luck,” Potion Nova said as she opened the ridiculously big doors.

“Good luck!” Error called from the other side.

The room on the other side of the doors was a huge, mostly empty room. The dim, and only light in the room coming from the moon itself, slipping in through a huge window behind the desk sitting all the way in the back of the room.

“Ominous. Nice creepy statue!” Potion Nova said, pointing at the statue of an old man with vacant, black eyes.

“Thank you!” The man over at the desk yelled—since they were still pretty far apart. “Pretty cool, huh!?”

“Yeah! But, I must admit that the asymmetry of having a statue on one edge of the room is bugging me…”

“Yeah, sorry…” he said, talking in a neutral volume, “you wouldn’t know how hard it is to find creepy statues. Why it took me forever to-“

The other person in the room, a pale, peach-haired man with a little ponytail and a pair of glasses stopped the conversation. “You’re getting off track…” he muttered, but due to the emptiness of the room, Potion Nova was more than able to hear it.

“Oh right, right!” He cleared his throat. “My deepest and utmost sincerest apologies, Miss Nova.” He said with a bow. “I simply couldn’t clench with enough strength my need to appreciate your notice of the decore I have so arduously—“

The same man as before elbowed him once again. “Stop that. We talked about this, talking with unusual words and long sentences doesn’t make you ‘professional’, you’re just making a fool of yourself.”

“Um… if it amounts to anything,” Potion Nova interrupted, “I personally don’t mind. It helped me settle down my nerves.”

“See, she gets it!” The man behind the desk said, making the other roll his eyes.

“Anyway,” the blue-haired man continued, “my name is Surveil Coruscate, pleased to finally meet you, Potion Nova!”

Potion Nova shook the extended hand with a polite, but enthusiastic, smile.

“Well, let’s get onto business or else my friend Thorn Ampersand here won’t let me hear the end of it.”

Potion Nova could see the faintest frown form in this Thorn Ampersand guy. A friendly, mocking frown, tho.

“I read your resume, and I am quite impressed. Your focus on chemistry could help us analyze the samples we collect! Maybe even figure out how to use that spying equipment in the basement once and for all!”

“…spying…equipment?”

“Well, you never know when finding fingerprints might come in handy.”

“Oh, right, right.”

“However,” Surveil said, earning both a confused glance from the coworker to his right and a nervous gulp from Potion Nova in front of him, “there is just one teeny-tiny problem.”

“Y-yeah?”

“According to this, you’re still a teensy bit too young for us to legally hire you.”

“What!?” Three voices exclaimed simultaneously. One of them was Potion Nova’s, the other two belonged to her friends, who just shoved the doors open.

“Uh, were you listening the whole time?” Potion Nova asked.

“…kinda,” Trial replied awkwardly, while Error ran all the way to Surveil’s desk and slammed his hands on top of it.

No one said anything for a while.

Thorn Ampersand, eventually, cleared his throat. “Error, were you… going to say something?”

“Y-yes… but I kinda lost the idea while glancing at your creepy, black-eyed statue.”

Everyone in the room groaned, rolled their eyes, facepalmed, or sighed.

Pulling her brother aside, Trial slammed her own hands on the desk. “You can’t be serious! Potion Nova’s birthday is in, like, less than two months!”

“Well, then she can come back here in two months. It’s not that long of a wait.”

Potion Nova sank in her seat. Her two friends, however, were arguing with Surveil.

“Listen, I’ve made up my mind,” Surveil announced. “And the only thing that could change it is that a magical, enormous pillar of light erupts from the ground behind me right now!”

Hear and behold, a booming sound was heard from outside right as Surveil finished his sentence.

Everyone in the room turned their heads towards the massive window behind them, from which they could all see the pillar of white light shine brightly in the distance.

“Woah…” they all said as the light faded away.

No one said anything for a while, awestruck at the sight that unfolded before them.

And then, a second pillar pierced the clouds.

This one was rainbow-colored and much, much brighter. So much so, that the entire dark room they were standing in brightened up as well.

Everything inside was brought back from obscurity. From a book left forgotten underneath a bookshelf, to the yellow, piercing, glistening eyes of a creepy statue of an old man.

The seconds passed and the light eventually faded, making the once ominous room they were standing in feel almost dull now.

Surveil’s eyes traced back and forth, expecting something else to happen, but then he remembered he was in charge of an organization designed to research paranormal activities, so he shook his head rapidly.

Surveil turned around and jumped over the desk.

“Trial, Error! Follow me! To the PTSD-mobile!” He exclaimed as he ran out of the room and towards, most likely, the parking lot.

Trial and Error both shuffled in their places as they awkwardly and hurriedly left to get their stuff, tripping on the way out.

Without Surveil or any of her friends, Potion Nova felt the room was almost too quiet.

“Um…”

Potion Nova watched as Mr. Ampersand, composed as he’s been all-night, picked up the chair Surveil tumbled during his daring escape and then sat on it.

“I think you noticed, Miss Nova, that my esteemed friend isn’t the most professional.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

“He forgot, or most likely didn’t know, that we can hire you as an intern. It would last until we can legally hire you, so, if you’re interested, I can fill out the paperwork right now.

“I mean, If that magical beam is any indication, it seems we just might need a helping hand after all.”

Author's Note:

And that’s it for The Beam. Hope you enjoyed this little ‘opening arc’.

Further chapters will be uploaded eventually.

Comments

[Wild Stallion]

Everything inside was brought back from obscurity. From a book left forgotten underneath a bookshelf, to the yellow , piercing, glistening eyes of a creepy statue of an old man.

Ohh! Ominous. Are those the Inspiration Manifestation and Discord by any chance?