Avery Jones was going to have a
weird day
, today. Forces beyond her ken had decreed this. Even now they had chosen their champion, given him their unholy sacraments and sent him on his merry way.
She didn't know it yet, but this champion had already begun shifting and changing the world under her feet, in ways he made it impossible for her to detect. She had woken up this morning to the same old sunshine through her windows, shucked off her pyjamas for a shower, lazily auto-piloted her way through her daily ablutions in preparation for another day at her internship.
As she sleepily brushed her immaculate teeth, she could not feel the macabre changes being wrought upon her world by an adolescent Übermenschen. She could not comprehend the sinister intent and boundless avarice of the universe's newest and most adept tool.
She could not comprehend the sheer eldritch might of
Ian from Financial Services
.
* * * * *
She buzzed in with her keycard and walked into the vast glass and steel reception of the Tapsen Building, the aerospace/tech firm she was interning at. She took a moment to marvel at the jet-fighter suspended by cables from the ceiling, then walked over to the receptionist.
Mary was sat behind her desk at usual, but something seemed a little...
off
about her. Her usually immaculate hair was a little out of place, and she was sweating even in this air-conditioned room.
"Morning Mary, is there anything to go up yet?"
Mary seemed to snap out of a daze and notice the girl for the first time.
"Oh, Morning Hun! No, nothing to go up yet. No idea where the delivery driver is, to be honest I've been
go-go-go
this morning... I might not have even
noticed
him."
Avery frowned confusedly at that. Mary was a lovely lady, but busy was hardly how
anyone
would describe her... Nevertheless, she was clearly sweating and a little out of breath, and even her clothes were a little askew. Avery could plainly see the lacy edges of the hefty black bra that held Mary's considerable bust at bay.
However, no part of her mind thought of this as
unusual
in any sense, so with a little mental adjustment she carried on as normal.
"Oh, are we busier than usual today?"
Mary puffed a wisp of blonde hair out of her eyes and pulled her blouse up a little.
"
Believe it
, girl. Ms Tapsen has been planning some 'efficiency changes' and they go into effect today. Everyone's in a real
tizzy
with all the new jobs that need doing... You should check your emails to see whether you interns have any new jobs."
Avery figured that this was as decent explanation for Mary's slightly ramshackle attire as any, and bid her goodbye as she went for the elevator. She and the other interns in her program were based on the 14
th
floor, so she punched that code in and settled into a corner as the obligatory muzak came in through the tinny speaker in the ceiling.
She used the time to check the news on her phone, some part of her brain noting that the stories seemed a little more
risqué
than usual...
"Syrian Civil War officially ends on conclusion of nationwide orgy."
"Senator from Nevada officially resigns after accusations of marital fidelity: 'I swear, I was
going
to cheat on her eventually!' he admits under questioning."
"National Women's Party demands mandatory insemination for all girls over the age of 18 in radical manifesto pledge."
Each headline gave her a moment of temporary confusion that seemed to melt into easy acceptance as her brain added in the proof that this was perfectly normal.
With a ding the elevator came to a halt and Avery stuffed her phone back into her handbag, checking her choppy brown hair in the mirror panels before stepping out onto the 14
th
floor. She was once again confronted with the strange feeling that something was indescribably
off
about her surroundings, but within a moment it was normalised, and she began walking to her work pod.
She shared a pod with the three other interns her team had taken on this year, and it appeared that she was the last one in. Her desk-mate Emma was currently reading her emails, which were reflected in the chunky lenses of her black-rimmed glasses. Avery noted that unusually she was completely naked but for her eyewear, and her
deliciously
chubby body was on full display to the rest of the oblivious office.
"Hi A-V, got you a coffee."
She handed over a to-go cup full of something sweet and then returned to her reading. Avery studied her friend's body for a
little bit longer
than she usually would have.
"Thanks, Babe.
Why are you...
"
She got midway through the thought before she remembered that there
were
sometimes special uniform days here at the office (fancy dress, casual Fridays, that sort of thing...). She decided to check her own emails to see whether she'd forgotten anything. Avery sat down to see that while Max was still fully dressed in his normal work clothes, Lydia was as naked as Emma was.
While Lydia's currently white hair was smart and elegant (she dyed it to look more 'professional' but shaved one side of her head to maintain her edginess), her nudity exposed the long, ornate and colourful tattoos running down both of her sleeves.
Lydia usually worked hard to keep her goth sensibilities hidden away during work hours. However, considering her clothing at the moment consisted solely of two silver nipple bars, she had precious few options to conceal her true identity for the time being.
Avery's confusion lasted a moment longer this time, and for a long few seconds she was utterly
convinced
something was very strange about this whole scenario.
"Ok, something's
off
here... Did I forget something was happening today?"
Lydia rolled her eyes and pursed her lips in mild consternation.
"
Duh
, its that company wellness thing the Boss has been cooking up for weeks. We're meant to be doing some sort of teambuilding trust-fall bullshit all day. How could you forget about that? They told all of us girls to be prepared to spend the whole day naked last week, remember?"
Avery honestly
didn't
remember for a few seconds, until a rash of surprisingly fresh memories bubbled up to fill in those blanks. She
had
been told that, hadn't she?
"Oh... right, naturally. Only, weren't we giving our Project Overview Presentation today? No... I guess that must be tomorrow... Whatever, nobody minds if I just stash this stuff under my desk, right?"
The girls and Max seemed to murmur their agreement and Avery quickly began to shuck off her work clothes. Gone were the white-blouse and pencil-skirt, exposing skin almost as pale as Lydia's but bereft of any ink. These were swiftly followed by the bra and panties (she was
mortified
to realise she hadn't colour co-ordinated them this morning) exposing a fluffy brown bush thankfully kept enough in check to not be distracting.
Now fully exposed to the open air she stuffed her clothes, shoes and sundries into one of the drawers of her desk and
hoped
that nobody had spotted her in full work-wear. Emma flashed her a sympathetic smile and placed a hand on Avery's naked shoulder.
"Don't worry babe, I think half the office forgot this was happening today. I turned up
wearing my spanx
for God's sake, so I think I've got you beat on the embarrassment front..."
Avery smiled and thanked her, and the atmosphere instantly returned to normal. She checked the email roster and noticed that all of their appointments were cancelled in favour of an all-day meeting on the 12
