The tour guide's brown bob bounced with the force of her enthusiasm as she herded the group through the halls of Faust Pharms. She opened doors and allowed the group to pop their heads in briefly to see scientists in lab coats doing their thing while she sung the praises of Faust Pharmaceuticals. It was a great place to work, cutting edge research, exciting new scientific ground being broken, etc. It was a memorized speech, but one she believed.

Eventually, the tour guide deposited the group of intern hopefuls into a conference room where a blonde in a dark blue jewel tone skirt suit waited for them. She was immaculately coiffed from her neutral makeup to her black spike heels.

"And now, it's my pleasure to turn the floor over to Ms. Lori Faust, the CEO and namesake of our company." The tour guide applauded. A few awkward clappers joined in briefly.

Lori smiled with the full force of her charisma as she surveyed this new lot of potentials.

"As you've just seen, our lab is one of the largest and most comprehensive genetics focused labs in the world. Does anyone know our number one specialty?"

A hand shot up and the blonde indicated with a small head bob that they should speak up.

"Uhm. Mutant genetics?"

"Correct. Gold star. The results of our findings are often published in scientific journals. Nature for example, just ran one of our studies on the role of the thyroid in abnormal genomic expression." For a CEO, Lori sounded surprisingly at home with the nature of the material she was presenting.

She ran through a couple more big-name accomplishments to assure the group that the company was as impressive as it seemed and then got into 'general specifics' about what they might end up doing as interns. By the end of her little speech, the blonde was geeking out with the best of them.

"...In addition, the scientists will provide advanced technical training in their individual specialized expertise. For example, if you work with microarray analyst, you'll get to use the photolithography machine to print microarrays in-house." Her face managed to say how totally cool she thought that was even if she never said it out loud.

"Any questions?"

Butterfly walked around with the group in a dark purple knee length skirt and a button up dress shirt, notebook and pen in hand writing down notes as they visited each section and anything she found interesting said during the tour. As they walked past each lab and watched the scientists work on various procedures, Butterfly tried to identify procedures she recognized and wrote them down for studying later. She wondered if there was any Microbiology lab work being done in the facility as well, which would be a section she would really enjoy. Considering they were at a pharmaceutical company, she would think that there would be research on that somewhere in the lab. Butterfly was really excited to try and get a position as an intern at this facility. She had always been curious as to how a person's genetics and mutations in the DNA lead to physical and mental alteration. She herself was a mutant and didn't know how it happened. Butterfly was a avid science nerd and loved to read about the new research whenever she got a chance to in the library.

As she was being lead to the conference room, Butterfly could see the CEO, Ms. Lori Faust. She was a very pretty woman and when she asked about what their research was about and her hand shot up before she could think of raising her hand. She answered Ms. Faust's question and even blushed a little as Ms. Faust acknowledged her intelligence and her boldness to respond so quickly in front of such a large crowd. She couldn't help but know because she had read the article in the library a few weeks ago on a lazy, rainy day. She often thought about just hiding out and staying at the library all the time since she stayed there so much.

When Ms. Faust discussed being trained in all of their advanced procedures, Butterfly almost squealed with joy. She was so eager to get to the next step to become an intern. Whatever it was, she wanted to go for it and win. When the CEO asked if there were any questions. Butterfly's hand raised and when it was indicated that she should speak, she asked, "So exactly what process do we have to go through to obtain a position as an intern here since we've all had the tour? And would it be possible to intern in more than one section of the lab?"

"So exactly what process do we have to go through to obtain a position as an intern here since we've all had the tour? And would it be possible to intern in more than one section of the lab?"

Lori repeated the question with proper projection so that the whole crowd could hear.

"First, we'll administer a short aptitude test that will cover chemistry, biology, and lab proceedures. We'll be passing out papers for this test shortly. Sorry, I know. Pop quiz time.

Unfortunately we only have limited interning placements available. The top scorers will be given a call one week from today. We'll use your scores to match you with a scientist.

As for your second question, you'll have a one week trial period in your placement. If things aren't working out or perhaps you want to focus on a different area of expertise, you may request a transfer. Just know that people who are currently placed cannot be displaced so you can only transfer to an open intern position.

Yes. Next question?"

Lori fielded a few more questions with equal amounts diplomacy and aplomb and when things seemed to be settling down, she motioned for an assistant to pass out papers and pencils.

"You have 20 minutes. I'll be just outside. Come on out when you're finished and good luck!" Her heels tapped all the way to the door.

Butterfly listened intently as her question was answered and knew that she would do well on the quiz. She wasn't scared at all, but knowing the competitiveness of this internship position made her that much more determined to score high and do well. When the pencils and quizzes were passed out, Butterfly eagerly took one of each and found a spot to take the quiz. She looked over the entire thing first and began answering the questions she knew the correct answers to. After answering a few of them, she skimmed over questions with explanation sections and let the ideas mull over in her head as she answered the remaining easy questions. She then worked on the chemical reaction equations in the chemistry section. Nothing like a little math to let you subconscious work on the difficult ones. She had learned this method when she was little and taking tests and it had never failed her. It was never an issue of whether or not she knew the material, but her ability to recall the info while taking the test. She did not wanna stress over doing well and blank out.

After finishing the entire chemistry section, she went back to some of the difficult biology questions and began to explain the exact process by which pathways were used for cellular communication with their respective primary and secondary messengers and expected outcomes in a normal reaction and also what would occur with abnormal environmental conditions and mutations that would ensue in the DNA strand. Her response may have seemed long winded, but she felt it was better to explain every connection from cellular stimulus to organelle response and tying it back into the big picture of things. When Chloe was still living at home and she would get home from school, she would often review things that were taught that day in class, but would then read ahead and connect what she already knew to the new things she was learning in the next chapters and sections. Even though she got picked on heavily for being such a book nerd and doing so well in her classes, Chloe continued to get ahead and further her knowledge. She knew that they were just jealous because she was always praised and would often be recommended to those who were struggling in class. Chloe smiled as she thought back over those days and that her intelligence had gotten her to where she is now and would always help her further herself in life.

The final section was over lab procedures. These were pretty easily answered for those who had been in lab settings before. Simple recognition of safety symbols and where certain chemicals should be stored and what to do with bio-hazardous waste in the lab, but the doozy was the questions concerning ethics in lab settings. It's really difficult to be wrong with these questions, but there are possibilities for better answers and responses when reacting to a situation. Plus, this section would demonstrate a person's character and morality, which would be heavily taken into account when being considered for such a high stakes lab position.

When Chloe finished her quiz, she calmly walked over toward Ms. Faust, took a deep breath and handed her the completed quiz and pencil. She smiled warmly and asked, "Did you want me to wait until everyone has finished completing the quiz or could I go and re-visit some of my favorite sections from the tour? Or maybe could I go and read about the research that each scientist is working on currently?"

She wasn't the first. No, someone had handed in a practically empty test and left in shame nearly 3 minutes into the exam. But Lori had her eye on the pasty chick with the dark hair. She had graphite in a reflective covering down the knife edge of her hand. No doubt it was from all that writing she did.

Had Lori ever been that nerdy?

Her smile upon receiving the girl's test, confirmed that yes. Yes she had.

"Actually, I'd prefer if you have the time, could you have a quick chat with me..." Lori checked the top of the test for a name. "Chloe? I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of each other." Lori directed her to a secretary who led Chloe to an elevator. Lori, for her part, waited to end the test when the appropriate amount of time had passed.

Meanwhile, Chloe was directed to wait in Lori's office, a space that looked well used somewhere mid-building. The office was all dark wood and clean, modern lines. Artful non-representational paintings hung on the walls accented by lush interior plants, made possible to be kept alive by the plate glass window. There was an incredibly boxy phone and very old looking computer buried under neat stacks of papers and folders.

Chloe was offered a beverage to make her wait easier, offered some vague pamphlets to read on their research, and then left to her own devices.