It had been one exhausting day. Reija went straight to her apartment to get some rest, not bothering to think about what she’d eat that night. She climbed back up the broken stairs of her building and entered the place she had called home for the past few years.
She picked out a snack and set it on the desk while she worked on one of her projects. She’d promised herself that she’d clean up the mess of wires and electrical components that was her room, but only after she was done with this particular device. Perhaps it was just a delaying tactic borne of her own laziness, but Reija told herself her invention was more important.
She hadn’t been called the best and brightest for no reason. She’d put her expertise and experience into creating a digital camera. One more compact than anything currently available on the market. It was about the size of her hand and could hold up to fifty images in its storage system. Though they were of low quality, she still was proud of the creation. She tinkered with it a bit to make sure the connections worked right.
Sometimes it would delete the entirety of her photo collection once she went over the limit. She was going to rectify that error tonight. She had an important day tomorrow after all. An interview with Grand technologies. It was a small company that had started off in Lasruay, so Reija hoped that they would be willing to take a look at her creation and give her a position.
She packed away the small camera once she was done with it and headed off to bed. It wouldn’t reflect well on her to arrive to the interview with dark bags under her eyes, after all.
****
The building was a tall office complex with tinted windows so one couldn’t look inside. Reija was impressed when she walked in and noticed the card reader near the employee offices. The woman sitting near the desk asked her to wait for a moment while she fetched her boss. Reija was excited, but also concerned by what would happen once she met with the man. Hopefully her nerves wouldn’t take her over.
She looked down to find her skin changing colour, which she tried stopping as quickly as possible. She hoped it wouldn’t return during the interview at least. Though most people didn’t really try hiding their emotions, it really bothered Reija how easy it was to read by just looking at the colour of people’s skin at that moment.
The same woman guided her to a small office room and opened the door for her. “This is Reija Laktimost. She’s here for the interview, sir.”
The man sitting at the desk looked like a true professional. His hair was cut short and slicked back and he wore a simple grey button up with a tie. He sat across from the desk and sized up Reija for a moment.
“Welcome! Come and have a seat please, Ms. Laktimost,” he added a smile. Reija took her place in front of the man and he pulled out some papers before her.
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“Hello, Mr…” she eyed the plaque in front of him, “Akhnos.”
“I hope you are well?”
“Oh, yes, yes I am.”
“Alright, Ms. Laktimost. Then let’s begin your interview with your education. It says that you studied from the national university of Jaryubal?”
“That’s true. Top of my class as well.”
“You were, though you took a gap year. Why was that?”
“Oh…that was for personal reasons, actually.”
“Ah, I see. No business of mine to pry. What about your employment? Your past work experience is practically empty.”
“Well, uh, that’s because I couldn’t quite find any jobs?”
“None at all? That doesn’t bode well for you, Reija.”
“It’s not because I’m not good enough! There were no open applications on Lasruay!” She sputtered out.
“Voice down please,” Akhnos said sternly. Reija cursed at herself.
“Okay let’s move onto a few other things then,” he then stated. Reija was drilled on all manner of things in her past education, her expertise with information technology and the skills that she considered her best. Before long, Akhnos was left with a puzzled expression on his face.
“While this is all well and good, Reija. I just can’t hire someone with no work experience. We’re a small company just starting out so we need experienced developers to really catch a hold on the market.”
“B-but! Can you not give me a chance?”
“I can’t do that. Thank you for your time, bu-“ He was moving to end the interview as fast as he could.
“Wait. I’ve got one last thing to show you. It’ll be worth your time, I swear.”
Akhnos raised an eyebrow but let Reija continue as she pulled out a small device from her pockets. She offered it to Akhnos, who accepted it hesitantly. “A camera?”
“Not just a normal camera. It can hold fifty images in its internal storage that you can view at any time.”
“You managed to squeeze that sort of functionality into something this small? Impressive.” He began to look it over from top to bottom, taking a few test pictures in order to confirm Reija’s claims.
“So…?”
“May I keep this for a while?”
“Oh, of course,” she answered without really thinking of the implications.
“Come back another time, Ms. Laktimost. I’ll have an answer for you then.”
“Which time would you prefer?”
“Any, doesn’t matter.” It didn’t seem as though he was really paying attention to her, but she relented. This would at least give her an excuse to return. She gave her goodbyes and left the office in a wary but positive mood.
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