Miss Dial

Handmade

"Yes, I have my paperwork here." Bringing her bag around to her front, Marinette began to scramble — searching through the depths of her self proclaimed 'Mary Poppins' bag for the paperwork sent the previous week. She was pretty certain she had placed it in there this morning – post attacking Adrien, that was.

"No need. Your name is here."

A red lanyard with 'visitor' written over it was thrust in her direction, a pen following and being slammed down on the counter in front of her.

"Sign."

"Oh," Marinette gasped, "um – merci. Thank you." She attempted to smile at the woman seated behind the desk; however, a glare a headmistress would be proud of was turned and aimed in Marinette's direction. She was quite sure the woman was channelling the vibes of 'sign or die.' Obviously it wasn't time for pleasantries.

Picking up the pen, Marinette concentrated on finding her name and signing herself in, the slight tremble in her hand causing the M. Dupain-Cheng to look more like N. Oupon-Chany.

"Thank you." She pushed the paper and pen back towards the assistant, watching as it was snatched up from the desk and slammed down onto a stack of other papers.

"Interviews are taking place on the 7th floor, the lift is over there." She pointed somewhere off to the right, Marinette taking a quick glance in hope the signing was clear. "You need to read and sign this paperwork..." Another load of paper was slammed in front of her. "... and give it to Miss Sancoeur when she takes you into the interview suite –"

"Miss Sancoeur?" Marinette interrupted.

Miss Botox looked ready to throw the pen she was holding right at Marinette's head, obviously you didn't interrupt this woman. Decisively ignoring her outburst, the woman carried on.

"Once the first interviews have taken place," she said in perfect Queen's English, "Miss Sancoeur will announce those successfully through to the next round. They will then be allocated their models ready to present their design." She looked Marinette up and down, completely unimpressed. "If you get to that stage, you'll be asked to alter your outfit in front of the design panel. Do you have your outfit with you? If you don't, unfortunately you will not be allowed to interview today."

Marinette pulled her bag to her chest with a smile, tappping it like a proud school child with their homework. What was she expecting? A sticker? She smiled once more at Miss Botox.

Waiting... waiting... waiting...

Finally, the woman spoke with pure exasperation. "Any questions?" she sighed.

"Oh," Marinette said, grabbing the paper from the desk and heading towards the elevator. "No, that's all great. Thank you."

Stumbling a little in the heels Kagami had made her wear, Marinette headed to the elevator and pressed the button. As she waited she looked around the foyer once again. There was something so familiar about the male hands with the ring andthe topless males pecks. Where had she seen something that defined before? And the name...

Miss Sancoeur.

Miss... Sancoeur.

It couldn't be could it?

The signal of the elevator didn't do a lot to pull her out of her Gabriel filled thoughts, a few others who were interviewing, brushing past her as they made their way inside; one hitting her hard enough to cause her to stagger in.

It just couldn't be the same person could it? Gabriel had gone bankrupt just over a year ago. He couldn't have already started a new company... she was sure she would have known about it. It's not like Adrien would have taken it over, he was far too stuck up to consider helping other people. He had millions in the bank from his modelling, he wouldn't need his father anymore. She never really spoke to him, except during chance encounters, and Kagami rarely mentioned him in conversation knowing how fired up his name made her.