Matilda, Child of Fire

TSoT/MMV: Persephone of Purgatory

19 TSoT/MMV: Persephone of Purgatory

"I'm messing up the place/Kicking down the door/Never wanna see his face no more..."

-Gin Wigmore, song "Man Like That"

7:30 am, 88th Floor, Next Day, Alcove, Purgatory Corporation (PC), One PC Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The elevator doors swung open, as Matilda stepped out onto the pearlescent marble-floored hallway, coffee thermos and laptop bag in hand, along with her purse. She strode toward the minimalist-chic waiting area in front of her and sat on one of the cubic leather seats, planning to spend the next fifteen minutes composing her dissonant thoughts, as it was impossible to do so over at Epicenter Pico, especially with her parents eagerly wanting to know how her first day went. Luckily, they were mostly preoccupied with her mother's ongoing laboratory research, so she was able to get away with a vague enough answer. Matilda didn't see her parents enough for things to be suffocating or otherwise overwhelming, and to their credit, they trusted her enough that they never questioned her comings and goings.

First order of business, she thought to herself, tying her curly auburn hair in a ponytail, was to switch mentors ASAP. She checked the company's website on her laptop's intranet connection to figure out who else was available. There appeared to be a lengthy list...

7:38 am, 88th Floor, Waiting Area, Purgatory Corporation (PC), One PC Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Matilda frowned as she took two more sips of coffee. As it turned out, there were a hundred other mentors available, but none of them appeared remotely interested in fire magic, save two or three. Of said number, at least one was already taken, the other was on sabbatical, and the final was recovering in a burn ward of a local hospital. That couldn't be good. She decided to jot down those three names anyways, in the (highly, highly unlikely) event there was an opening.

8 am, 88th Floor, Head Supervisor's Office, Conflagration Department, Purgatory Corporation (PC), One PC Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

She stared at the towering, shadowy crystalline door in front of her that matched the building's modern Neo-Gothic glass exterior, wondering if it was remotely possible for such an entryway to bite back (both physically and mentally), given this was a skyscraper edifice full of magical beings of various strengths and powers. She pictured the supervisor turning evil and cackling, angry that she was questioning his purgatorial judgment, as he pushed a button that would cause her to drop through the floor and onto a tiger den underneath. Was that possible? Only one way to find out.

8:01 am, 88th Floor, Head Supervisor's Office, Conflagration Department, Purgatory Corporation (PC), One PC Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

After knocking once, to Matilda's surprise, she heard a lilting feminine voice call out from within. "Door's open!" And indeed, upon the woman's words, the barrier creaked open just enough for Matilda to sidle through; she couldn't help but gape at the expansive, airy glass-enclosed office. The secretary seemed nice enough, Matilda assumed as she walked deliberately toward the lone chair in the vaguely intimidating office, which faced a desk and an accompanying armchair which obscured the presence of who she assumed was the Head Supervisor. Suddenly, the armchair whirled around, causing Matilda to gasp in surprise. The Head Supervisor was female. Not just any female, but the Greek goddess Persephone herself!

8:02 am, 88th Floor, Head Supervisor's Office, Conflagration Department, Purgatory Corporation (PC), One PC Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

"Surprised?" the woman asked of Matilda, who stood rooted to the spot next to the chair. "Everyone always is at first—can't imagine why. Sit, please." She gestured to the auburn-haired girl who dumbly sat as ordered. A suggestion was always an order when it came to goddesses of the underworld, Matilda implicitly understood; she had instantly recognized the goddess from her childhood storybooks back home at Epicenter Pico No. 23, long, flowing locks, pristine floral crown, toga-like garment, and all.