The typing of keyboards, the hum of electric lights, the low chatter of workers fraternizing: these were all the hallmarks of a typical day at the Fondre Corp. offices. However, unbeknownst to the bustling business women, this day would produce a rather strange case of office hijinks revolving around two blondes in the office. One, an intimidating woman with a domineering attitude, and the other, a shy, mousy girl who would be too scared to hurt a fly… under normal circumstances. The former was approaching the latter’s desk to interrupt her day.
Katrin leaned around the partition of Rose’s cubicle and addressed her. “Hey, Rose. Printer’s out of ink. Go get another cartridge from the supply closet.”
Rose jumped at the sudden noise before turning and addressing her demanding colleague, “O-Oh… W-Well, I’m kinda in the m-middle of this-”
“Yeah, don’t care. Go get it.” Katrin commanded.
“B-But why don’t you-?”
“Because I’m the queen of this office, and I don’t feel like it. So go, peasant. Do as I bid.” Katrin’s haughty attitude was accompanied by a knowingly smug smirk and a little handwave.
Rose thought about objecting, but she already knew it was fruitless. Katrin was a pro at bossing her around, and if she didn’t obey immediately, she knew she’d be forced to do Katrin’s bidding eventually. She locked her computer and got up, blushing and avoiding Katrin’s gaze as she left.
Rose wasn’t pleased with this turn of events. Doing this would make her lose her place, she had to walk all the way across the building to get to the ink cartridges, she needed to finish her work before she took her lunch break or else she might incur the wrath of a supervisor… She was so focused on replanning the rest of her day, she nearly bumped right into Fondre’s resident mad scientist.
“Ah, Rose!” exclaimed Charlotte, standing mere feet in front of her, “You’ll do!”
Rose looked up at the German scientist. “Ope! S-Sorry, didn’t see you- ULP!”
Before Rose could even fully apologize for nearly careening right into Charlotte, the crazed researcher had shoved an unlabeled flask of mysterious blue liquid into Rose’s mouth! Taken completely by surprise, Rose’s instinct kicked in and she chugged the flask down like a drunk frat boy who just had another beer place in front of him.
“Good girl!” Charlotte declared. She took her hand off the flask, leaving Rose to spit it out.
“Ah!” Rose caught the flask before it fell out of her mouth, then looked up with wide eyes at Charlotte, “Uhhh… what the heck was that?!”
“Miss Fondre wanted to get into zhe sports drink business, so I came up with zhis! I call it, zhe Hydrating Yummy Demeanor Exchanger!” Charlotte put her hands on her hips and beamed with pride.
Rose looked at Charlotte in utter bewilderment. “Ummm. Ok. I think I get the first half, but what was that other part?”
“Ah, of course, I should explain! I zhought a normal sports drink would be too boring, so I designed a formula that also makes you completely change your personality! Isn’t zhat fun?!”
Rose’s mouth hung open, looking at Charlotte, then down to the flask. “Wh-What?!” She burst out in a panic, “W-What’s that supposed to mean?! I-I didn’t sign up to ingest any experimental fluids! What’s gonna happen to me?!”
“Well, first, you should be feeling more hydrated,” Charlotte explained.
“O-Ok…” Rose confirmed.
“Next, in aboooouuuut… ten seconds, you should start acting like a completely different person!”
“Ok, you see, that’s the part that’s sort of confusing me-”
Rose stopped mid-sentence. She stared blankly into the space in front of her, not registering the tall German scientist in front of her. Her left eye twitched. Then, suddenly, her eyes narrowed. Her features got more severe. She stood up straight and looked Charlotte directly in the eyes.
“You think this is funny, huh? Just shoving this weird-ass blue crap into my mouth and watching me slurp it on down? Got a reeeaaaaal laugh outta it, didn’t ya!?” Rose right up to Charlotte, invading her personal bubble with a strangely threatening smile.
“Ja, it was pretty funny to see your face!” Charlotte beamed in Rose’s face.
“Mhmm, mhmm…” Rose nodded, “Well, I’ve got something really funny to show you!” With what seemed like practiced expertise, Rose flipped the flask in her hand before jumping in the air and slamming it down on Charlotte’s head!