The gears in my chest brought me to life, the fans on my side whirring as I booted up. The project lead smiled at me as I ran through my standard performance checks.

"Good morning, Fleck. Are you ready to work with our intern today?" He asked, and after a few seconds I nodded. The lights in the room were dim, and my headlights glowed with a gentle blue that was almost as dim.

Today would be the new intern's first actual shift. The project lead turned, and I proceeded to follow him from my office. The intern would be working for six hours today, scheduled to start in about half an hour, according to the online schedule.

"The new intern should be working a shorter shift, correct? With a short lunch in the middle of his day?" I sought to confirm, my lights flashing to a vibrant blue. The project lead looked at me for a few moments, but before I could fully scan his expression, he turned away and then nodded.

"That's right, Fleck, good job. Make sure he knows to punch out for his lunch, show him how the time clock works and everything." He continued on, and glanced at me as he pressed the button to call the elevator down.

"I will be sure to. He was shown how to use his badge to scan into rooms, and as such, he should have no issue entering the building and punching in." I stepped into the elevator once it had arrived, and the project lead followed.

"That's good, Fleck. Thank you for that. Be sure he meets his team and everything with that, since he hasn't yet. Introduce him to the Junior developers and the Senior developers too, whoever is here, I don't know.." The project lead pinched the bridge of his nose as he did the day prior, looking up towards the ceiling.

The elevator bell rang as we reached the floor we needed. The project lead's eyes turned toward the door as it slid open, before looking it up and down. His expression appeared excessively perplexed for the minor situation.

"Huh. I guess somebody from maintenance actually swung by."

"Perhaps they did. The request has been in the system for quite some time without being closed, after all."

The project lead did not respond to me as he stepped out of the elevator and began to lead me to the main office. I followed shortly behind him.

The intern was to be shown the basic operation of the company on his level today. I was to be sure he was properly introduced to the rest of the software development team, and to the project lead of the hardware development team. I was to show the intern the locations he would need to visit for his errands for the team, and to help him familiarize himself with the expectations specific to the software development team.

The project lead stopped before the door of the office. "You will be leading him on your own today, including retrieving him. I have to head up for the meeting, I'm about to be late. I'll catch up with you after."

I nodded in confirmation, and turned away from the project lead as he made his way back down the hallway. I scanned into the office and checked for the time. The intern was still not to clock in for his first shift for another several minutes. Regardless, I pushed the door open into the office.

"Oh, hello there Fleck! On your own today I see?" The front desk attendant smiled and waved towards me, and I waved back.

"That is correct! The software project lead had to attend a meeting this morning. How are you doing today?" I asked, proceeding through my typical small-talk for the employees I did not work with on a regular basis.

"Oh, you know. Living the dream. It's been a bit quiet for a meeting day, actually. I've only seen a few regional associates come by, and that was quite some time ago. A few hours, actually." I nodded as the front desk attendant spoke, showing that I was in fact listening, but had nothing of note to add.

"I don't believe your new intern has arrived, at least. He's been early to all of his interviews and was early yesterday as well, so I don't doubt he'll turn up soon. Feel free to take a seat while you wait." I nodded and waved to the front desk attendant again, my lights a soft green color that pulsed.

I did not mind waiting. I knew I was brought down early for a reason, as new hires, especially at such an entry-level position for the company, always turned up unreasonably early. I have been told it is to make a good impression on the company. I find this assumption unreasonable, as the company could not care less about an intern at one location out of over a dozen. My guess is that these interns are just excited to be working in such an industry.

The intercom buzzed softly from the device on the desk, and the front desk attendant startled slightly in response. She glanced at where the camera feed was being streamed on her monitor, and then proceeded to unlock the door.

"Your intern has arrived, Fleck."

I stood, and nodded again to her. "Thank you again for your patience. I hope your day does not bring you down too much." She smiled softly again towards me, and I walked through the small hallway besides the desk.

I waited for the inside door to make its loud, and unnecessary, clank sound as it unlocked after somebody badged themselves in. Momentarily, the door did make its noises, and the intern from the day prior appeared after the door was pushed open.

As he turned to shut the door, I scanned his appearance. His badge was clipped to the pocket on his buttoned-up shirt, which today was a pale salmon in color. He looked well-kept compared to the day prior, however his hair was still in his face and he still appeared to be nervous.

I did not step back to create enough distance as he turned, and he caught himself from running into my chest-plate fast first, and scrambled back with a strange, garbled yell of sorts.

"OH! Hi, hi Fleck, oh god you scared me! Hi!" He smiled at me, a genuine grin on his face, and my lights were fading from a brief flash of orange and changing to a calm green.

"Hello! It is great to see you again. Are you ready to start your day?" I asked, turning my head to the side ever so slightly, and he nodded. "We need to get you clocked in first. Seeing as you are not working a full eight hours today, you can clock in now and you will not be penalized, as long as you do not stay over your allotted time today."

He nodded again, glancing at me a few times, and he appeared to scan my own appearance. He blinked quite a few times before he turned away, looking at the time clock on the wall near the both of us. He grabbed his badge, and extended it to the scanner. I watched, taking a small step backwards so he had more space. I was to let any intern take initiative where they felt comfortable. The machine beeped as it pulled up his information. He turned to me briefly, and I nodded just slightly to continue to encourage him. He selected the 'PUNCH IN' button, and the action completed successfully.

"Great! You seem to have that down already very well, which is good! If you are ready, we can get you started!" He smiled at me before I turned to lead him out. I heard him rapidly catch up to me.

"Thank you again." I spoke to the desk attendant, and the intern and her exchanged waves and greetings as well. I scanned my left hand to unlock the front office door, and stepped out, holding the door open for the intern.

"How are you feeling this morning? Are you ready to start here?" I asked, continuing through my standard protocol, one that was just considered polite talk to employees. It seemed to be quite boring, as I never got very interesting responses with these cues.

"Oh! Uhh, I mean, I think so? I feel ready to get started and get over being super nervous about existing, honestly.." The intern waved his hand in front of his face dismissively again. He seemed to do this a lot, when it comes to when he brings up his own emotions. Strange.

However, I nodded, and continued to lead the intern towards the elevator. "That is good. If you want to stop and get a small snack or a coffee from the cafeteria, we can?" I ask, turning to look to my left, towards the intern. He seemed to think for a second, before finally shaking his head no.

"I think I'm good for now, I made sure I had breakfast already. I appreciate you asking though!" He smiled again at me. He was in a much better mood than he appeared to be yesterday already. It is good to see somebody settling in here.

"Of course. Then I believe we can just head to the software wing. Your day today will start with being introduced to your team, and you will meet about twelve people today. Typically, we would introduce you to the hardware development project lead, however our project leads are with regional associates for a meeting today, so that will have to wait." I pressed the elevator call button and turned to look at the intern.

He nodded, looking into my face very briefly before looking away. He repeated the action as my cameras focused onto the elevator doors before they dinged. The doors slid apart silently, and I managed to see the reflection of the intern's shoulders relax from being tense.

I stepped into the elevator, and pressed the second floor button as the intern followed me, before he settled onto my right-hand side. He scanned the elevator again, and I don't understand what he was looking for. I watched him for a few seconds, and I do not think the intern understands what he is looking for either, with how many times his eyes focused on different sections of the elevator. It is not an interesting structure.

Eventually, the elevator bell rang and the machine slowed to a stop. The doors slid apart and I stepped onto the second floor, quickly followed by the intern. I stopped in front of the left-hand door, looking to the intern who cautiously stepped up beside me.

"Are we, uh, waiting to be let in.. or..?" He asked, his demeanor and expression to be nervous and entirely unsure of what he was asking.

"Oh, my apologies. I should have explained. You can badge yourself in, do not worry. We simply encourage our interns to become less dependent on those who train with them." After I explained, he smiled and pushed his hair out of his face. He was embarrassed by his mistake, which was more-or-less my own, as I understand this intern does need more direct instructions.

"Oh! Yeah, okay, that makes sense.." He trailed off as he fiddled with his badge, pulling the reel out and pressing the card to the machine, and the door clunked. He pushed the door open, glancing behind him to ensure I had caught the door. I followed through, and ensured the door locked itself again.

"They haven't started working on anything officially yet, but this is a very social team regardless. We highly encourage our employees to get to know one another, especially here in the software development team. Are you ready to head inside and meet your coworkers?" I asked, and the intern appeared to be looking through the glass doors, into the office with the rest of his team. He did not turn towards me, or appear to acknowledge that I had even spoke.

I waited for another few moments, and the intern had hardly moved, and if it were not for the silent nature of the room, I would have assumed that he had stopped breathing. He was breathing, but he still did not acknowledge me. I assume he is feeling anxious again.

After another few moments, I gently tapped the intern on his right shoulder, and he tensed up, and turned around to look at me. "Huh? Sorry, what.. what was that?"

"I had asked if you were ready to meet your teammates. Your silence was enough of an answer, however." I stepped more to the right, towards the lounge room, the intern following me. I was attempting to get him out of the view of the others.

The intern looked towards the floor, and pushed his hair up again with an audible sigh. "It is normal for interns to be nervous about first impressions. It is a big company, and there is a lot of people to meet in a day. I understand how you may be feeling. Do not worry." I spoke at a lower volume than I typically would, attempting to reduce the chance that one of his new teammates notices.

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The intern sighed loudly, and looked up at the ceiling, before he looked at me. "I'm just.. worried about what they might think about me? I guess? It's a lot of people, for me at least, but.. ugh, god, I don't even know what's going on, really.."

I tilted my head as I looked at the intern. He was clearly distraught over this. I have seen it before, several times, over the years of working with the interns. His case of jitters was exceptional, however, given the circumstances. I was slightly unsure of how to proceed.

"You will be okay. This team is people like you. All of the junior developers with us currently were previously interns as well. Two of our senior developers were as well. You have absolutely nothing to be worried about here."

The intern exhaled again, and looked at me for several seconds. I scanned his face as he appeared to think about what I had said. His expression gradually shifted in one of gratitude, before he gave me a small smile.

"Huh. I guess you're right.. these are the people who are gonna understand me pretty well compared to most people.." The intern took a deep breath in, and attempted to stand up straight and stop slouching. "Okay, phew, I think I'm ready." As he turned to grab the office door handle, his shoulders returned to a slouched posture.

The intern opened the door, and a few people glanced our way as I followed behind. The software team lead smiled and waved from the front desk. "Oh hey there Fleck! What did you bring us today?"

I waved in return, and stepped besides the intern to his left. "Hello! I am accompanying a new software development intern." The team lead smiled, and waved us closer. I turned to look at the intern, who nodded at me, and I stepped forward.

"Oh, well that's great! I knew they hired somebody on for the position, but that was about as much as I got told!" The team lead smiled brightly, and waved at the intern. Once we stood before her desk, she extended a hand, to which the intern eventually took and shook with a nervous smile.

"My name is July, or Julianna, either works but July is shorter! I'm glad you're here and that you're joining our team here. It's not a lot of us but we get everything done together." She smiled very warmly towards the intern, who released her hand with the same unsure smile.

"And you are...?" I prompted the intern, speaking at a soft volume to reduce the chances of the team lead hearing me.

"Oh! Uh, my name is Logan, yeah, sorry! I'm really excited to be here, though I'm obviously a little overwhelmed, ha.." The intern stuck his hands into his pants pockets as he glanced around the team lead.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you. And you're right to be overwhelmed! This is a huge building, with tons of people and teams and there's always something going on somewhere. Honestly, I'd more way more concerned if you weren't overwhelmed as an intern on the first day." She smiled and laughed slightly, and I could see the intern becoming less tense as they spoke.

"We can get you introduced to everyone here, if that's alright? We haven't begun working on anything yet today, everyone is either chatting or finishing their coffee." The lead spoke, and eventually the intern nodded. I turned to look at the others in the room, counting eleven others including the team lead.

"Yeah, I.. I think that's fine!" The intern eventually responded, and the team lead nodded. She stood up from her desk, and moved in front of it.

"Hey, if I could have your attention for just a second this morning?" She spoke, louder than a typical speaking voice, and the conversations of the room quieted down as the others turned to look towards us. I looked to the intern, who appeared to stiffen and tense as the team's eyes landed on him. I moved to stand beside the intern.

"This is Logan! He's our new software intern here! Be nice and be civil with him as he gets used to working with us, okay? Extend a warm welcome to him." She smiled as she spoke and gestured to the intern when naming him, to which he gave a very small wave and flashed an extremely awkward smile. Regardless, seeing how he gets, he was handling everything especially well.

"Be patient when it comes to remembering names, you guys know the spiel by now I'm sure." The team lead turned to us again.

"So I am one of two team leads for us here, we alternate who works when depending on the schedule and the project we may be working on. Harrison is your other team lead, however he is on an extended leave until the end of the month. There's four junior developers, you can probably pick them out in the crowd." I scanned the team as she spoke, and she was being truthful. The junior developers were all about the same age as the intern, a few years older at most, compared to the others who all appeared to have over five years of experience in the field in comparison.

"We have four senior developers, and two lead developers. You'll work with them less in the first few weeks, compared to the juniors. Typically, you will work with two juniors and two seniors at a time, and one lead." The intern was nodding along as she spoke, offering small muttered phrases of comprehension.

"We're glad to have you joining us, Logan." The team lead smiled, and it appeared the intern jolted slightly, before offering a very shaky, forced smile. The team lead did not seem fazed.

"There's still some time until we get started for the day, so we'll get you set up now. Until you get your own laptop, you can use one of the shared ones. They're over in the shelf with the red labels. You'll get your own rack on the shelf when your device comes in. That could be anywhere from a week or several months out. It's never consistent."

The intern smiled slightly at that, and the team lead made her way towards the shelf near the front of the room with him, and I followed behind. I do not believe the intern needs my guidance in this specific moment, however, his circumstances are exceptional to my protocols, given his high level of anxiety.

"Of course, we've got actual computers in here, mostly for working through bug testing and things like that. We've got emulators on there for testing anything on other platforms if the project we're on requires it." She smiled as she turned to the intern, leading him around the tables and the terminals facing the wall. The intern scanned everything several times, which is strange overall, but this appears to be a normal behavior for him.

"If I remember, you performed really well on the test assignment you were given during your interview, right? The coding assessment?" The team lead asked the intern, and I watched his complexion change to red in embarrassment.

He waved his hand in front of his face, dismissing the praise I assume, before he spoke. "I.. I don't think I did that good, did I?" He spoke in a hushed voice, and the team lead chuckled at his display of insecurity.

"You scored incredibly high given the time you completed the project in. You achieved the goal in efficient manner, and your code ran smoothly with only a few hiccups when you tested them, and you resolved them neatly. You were the first pick to join the team!" The intern turned more and more into himself, eventually dragging his fingers down his face under his glasses, and I could still see his complexion was quite red.

"Oh, god.. Uh, thank you- I-I don't, really know what to say-.." His eyes bounced around the room as a few of the junior developers looked towards us with slight smiles.

"For today, we're just going to focus on getting your online profile all set up and get you familiar with the programs we use for everything. This won't take long at all, at the very most it'll take an hour. Since you're not being assigned to our coding project, we'll likely have you help us troubleshoot until we reach the next stage or move on." As the team lead spoke to him, the intern composed himself and was nodding along to what she was saying.

"Go ahead and take a seat at one of the computers, I'll get one of our juniors with you in a minute! Fleck will, of course, be assisting you." He nodded again, and eventually pulled out one of the rolling chairs tucked into one of the desk terminals, and slowly took a seat. I watched the team lead approach the four juniors individually, speaking with them quietly, likely explaining what they would be needed to do to help the intern get set up. Eventually, the team lead brought over one of the junior developers.

"Okay! For today, you'll be shown how everything works by this developer. This is Crystel, she is actually our newest promotion to a junior developer! She's great, trust me." The lead spoke, and the rather short individual smiled and waved. Even compared to the team lead, who was also shorter in comparison to the intern, she was very short in stature.

The junior developer pulled a chair out from the computer next to us, and took a seat nearby the intern. I stood directly behind him, leaving enough space for him to move his chair around.

The team lead smiled and walked away to address the rest of the team, which had split off into a few groups as they began their own work objectives.

"Well, as she said my name is Crystel, you're, uh, Logan then?" As his name was said again, the intern winced, which shifted quickly into an awkward smile and he nodded. "Well it's great to meet you! She can be a bit much sometimes, with how bubbly she is." The junior developer smiled at the intern, who was again rather tense.

"Okay, so really all I gotta do is show you what apps and websites we use here, it's kinda dumb they don't do this earlier but it's whatever. Your online sign-on info is the same as the stuff you use to scan in anywhere and what you use online for whatever." She was a lot more relaxed, in direct contrast to the extremely tense and nervous intern. It was a bit of a comical duo.

The intern moved the mouse as he nodded, waking the screen of the computer up and being greeted by the login screen, which was two typing fields and a drop-down box.

"Yeah, just enter your information, you probably scribbled it down somewhere, but you can use your badge too. Just change the drop box from the 'work from home' option and select the 'in-office' option. This doesn't hardly change anything, it's just to keep everything neat or something, and you get less file access too because of network security."

The intern did as instructed as she spoke, rapidly typing in his information and selecting the correct option as told. I had seen this instruction explained more times than I could actively recall in my memory. It was bit of a tired spiel, but it was just a precaution to ensure everyone got the information they needed.

The sound of the two talking, and the murmur and abstract sound of the room eventually blended together as my mind went into idle. I watched the screen as the intern went about exploring the company's programs, and I watched his hands glide across the mechanical keyboard. His hands were awkward, and his fingers appeared almost too long for them. He still had the faded and chipped remnants of nail polish clinging to his cuticles.

It was clear to me that he had worked with technology quite a bit. He understood the way our programs worked rather quickly, and adapted very well to anything unusual about our standards. He was also very respectful of the computer terminal, as he was not pressing the keys down aggressively, nor was he shifting the mouse excessively. He kept the mouse on its traction pad as well.

I began to run through the list of expectations for my day today. Once I finished supervising the introduction to our computers, I was to help the intern get registered in each program and ensure he could access his company email address. I watched as the intern and the junior developer worked together and chatted idly as they went through everything one by one.

It was only a few minutes past the hour when we had finished going through everything we needed to achieve at the computers for the day. As they began to chat about unrelated things, very awkwardly, I stepped away from the intern and the junior. I proceeded to the team lead's desk, as she was standing near two of the seniors and the rest of the juniors.

"Oh, hi Fleck! You guys all finished setting up I'm guessing?" She asked, and I nodded in confirmation, the green light emitting from my headlights reflecting off of several items on her desk. "That's great to hear! I'm actually really relieved everything went right, we've been fighting some issues with registration lately."

I nodded again, as I was indeed aware of some issues regarding the registration platform. I turned to look toward the intern, who was glancing at me as he fidgeted with his hands, still managing to chat with the junior.

"Since we got that done, we're really just bug-testing for now. I don't really expect the intern to want to do that at all yet, and I'd really prefer he know more about what he's doing, so..." She looked around, before moving to her desk and flipping through a folder of various papers, scanning for something in particular.

"Oh! Shoot, today's when we need to get last month's completed lines to hardware for them to begin troubleshooting with on parts. You guys wanna drop that off for me? Introduce the intern while you're over there, see if they need anything either?" She offered, and it was clear this was an awkward time for an intern to start. They had already begun a different project, too far in to wedge him in, but could not give him his own assignment. Regardless, I nodded, and caught the eyes of the intern, and waved him up to the desk.

"What's up, Fleck? Something happen?" He asks, and the team lead is already behind her desk, clicking through something on the main computer.

"We have been asked to deliver a program to the hardware development team. We will also get you introduced to the few over there. Their team is a bit smaller than yours, with eight currently in the office." I explained.

"Well, seven, really. The project lead is up in that surprise meeting." The team lead added, and my lights blinked bright green.

"That is correct. Seven members of their team are currently in their office." The intern nodded, and I watched the junior developer move and sit with her peers at another table. The team lead nodded, and clicked through a few more items, and removed a USB drive from the computer.

"This should be everything they need, set up and ready for them to get to stress testing. I appreciate you two getting this out of the way for us!" I nod, and the intern smiles. I extend my right palm out to the team lead, you sets the drive into my hand. I wrap my digits around it, and hold it slightly out from my body.

I look to the intern, who nodded once they looked into my cameras, and then smiled. "Thank you again for your assistance. We will see you again today eventually!" I step toward the entrance, and the intern quickly stepped in front of me. He grabbed the door knob and turned, giving the team lead a small wave, and walked through the door, holding it for me to come through.

I held my left hand up to approach the door scanner, but before I could, the intern pulled his badge out and scanned in, pulling the door open and stepping out very quickly, waiting just enough for me to step through.

He very quickly leaned up against the wall, slouching down and exhaling loudly. He pushed his hair out of his face as he stared down at the floor.

"Did I do okay in there, Fleck?"