A Healthy Working Relationship (Luxurious & Gina)

[Gina in Orange]

Unfamiliar buildings rolled by at a steady pace as the rumbling bus cruised past block after block. The morning light reflected in a slowly descending line along the 3rd floor windows as the sun worked its way up into the sky. Apartment buildings gave way to places of business as the vehicle ventured into the commercial district. Periodically it stopped. People would board. Others would depart. The doors closed, and the bus rolled on. Largely oblivious to it all, Georgina Ribaldi sat in her window seat, her eyes faced outward, looking without seeing.

A nervous tension occupied the 27 year old's mind. Her last 72 hours had been defined by a whirlwind move to a new city, one which involved frantic apartment hunting, haphazardly stuffing the entirety of her life into boxes, riding in a rickety truck across six state lines with her dad, and lugging said life up three flights of stairs to her elevator-less new studio apartment. All of this, she accomplished in order to start a new job, her dream job, she hoped at least. The job would see her working in the marketing department for a small independent game development company, Luxurious (Lux) Games. The position promised Georgina the kind of creative freedom her last job sorely lacked, along with the perks of traveling to conventions and trade shows, representing a company who's output she actually appreciated.

Assured that the office dress code was casual, Georgina wore a long-sleeve, navy blouse with white polka dots and a pair of high-waisted jeans that wrapped snuggly around her wider than average hips. The company interviewers had specifically mentioned that displaying tattoos was welcome, and typically Georgie preferred to do just that. Still, she opted to keep her arms and upper back covered on for her first day.

Music cranked in her headphones, Georgie tried her best to silence her nerves with a wall of noise. It worked to an extent, almost too well. The bus's doors closed again. The breaks released and it started to roll forward, right past her workplace. "Shit!" she swore aloud, swiping her headphones down to rest across her shoulders. "Wait wait wait, this is my stop!" she called out to the bus driver, jumping to her feet and scrambling to gather her belongings. The driver let out an impatient sigh, pressed the brak, and rolled the door handle to open. "Thank you thank you, oh my god, thank you." she called back over her shoulder on her way down to the sidewalk.

Georgina took a deep breath and shut off the music that was still blasting away on her headphones before tucking them in her bag. She approached the front entrance to her new workplace and tried the handle. It was locked. She tried it two more times, no less locked, then remembered they had given her a key card to use. A quick swipe later and she was inside and heading up the elevator to the 7th floor, which was entirely occupied by the game studio. Having the elevator box to herself, she took a moment to stretch and roll her neck in an effort to loosen up. With a ding, the door opened to her new (hopefully) dream job.

"Good morning! Georgina, right?," greeted a friendly woman with a blonde ponytail who appeared similar in age. Her desk overlooked a few chairs and a coffee table for visitors.

"Yeah!" Georgie replied, with a bit more excitement than the greeting called for. "I'm sorry, I don't remember your name."

"It's Gwen," the girl responded, standing up and extending her hand. "No worries, I'm sure last Friday was a whirlwind of faces and names."

Clasping Gwen's hand, Georgie smiled back in agreement, with a light flush of red showing on her face. She recalled the quick visit. It had come an hour after she and her dad finished hauling her belongings up to the new apartment. She barely had time to shower, which meant showing up with her hair tied up and still wet. No one at the office had been intimidating, but there was some raucous, alcohol influenced, multiplayer gaming going on. Georgie had declined to drink, wanting to make a good impression while also very close to exhaustion after the long day. "Haha, maybe," she said. "But I really appreciated getting the chance to come by. Everyone was so friendly."

"Oh, well you had the good fortune of meeting the team at Friday happy hour," joked the blonde girl. "Come on in! I'll walk you to your desk."

Georgie followed through the fairly large space as her guide pointed out different department groups. The office only seemed about a quarter filled, the young brunette noted, figuring that most staff came in later. Those that were present either had their eyes glued to their screens already or offered a friendly wave. They passed through an open sliding door to a large open office space that had two desks set up facing each other. Also filling it were a host of posters featuring the company's games, whiteboards covered in scribbles and figures, and assorted other knickknacks. "This is where you'll be," declared Gwen, pointing to the mostly bare desk. Overall, the space was a bit of a mess, in dire need of some organizing. Still, Georgina felt very excited to dig into all the intricacies of the space and her new job.

Gwen continued, "You'll be working directly with the marketing lead. You probably haven't met him yet, but I thought I saw him walk in already, so he should be back soon. He's a good guy. I bet you two will get along great." Georgie certainly hoped so. As Gwen left the room, she busied herself with organizing the scattered items already set up on her desk.