Tattooed

V

The rat-tat-tat sound on the door woke me up the next morning. Groggily I get out of bed and open the door. The same lady with the rose tattoo on her face greets me.

"Today all new Creatives must go to the city center for job orientation. The tram will bring you there in 15 minutes so don't dawdle!" She walks away in her strappy heels to whatever house she's going to next.

Fifteen minutes isn't a lot of time. I take a quick shower, teleport new semi professional clothes to my closet, twist my hair into a bun and put on my new flats as I walk out the door. Hopefully I'll be able to grab a bite to eat later on.

There's eleven people on the tram. Eleven people who got branded to Creative like me yesterday. I don't know which of them were from Creative originally but I don't see any familiar Clement faces.

 I sit alone near the back against the window again. I realize this would be the best time to make friends. This is my new life, I can't be alone in my house forever. I look around and try to decipher who would I have the best chance of befriending. Clement people usually make friends very easily but I was always much too shy. I'm not Clement anymore anyways, I don't have to be amicable and befriend everyone.

 It looks like I don't have to try though because when we get off the tram a tan girl with short spiky black hair comes up to me. She was very straightforward and I was thankful I didn’t have to initiate conversation.

 "Hey, I'm Corinth. Are you a transfer?" I give her a small smile and nod. She nods back. "Yeah I figured, you were sitting alone in the back. I'm from Cunning, you?"

 "Clement. My name's Cecil. Nice to meet you." She nods again. I noticed she has a small purple music note tattooed near the outer corner of her left eye.

 "Everyone follow me." The rose tattoo lady calls. We head to a big white stone building with pillars lining the sides. As we climb up the many stairs the click clack of the lady's heels is the only sound our group makes.

 At the front entrance is a man in a green shirt and khakis waiting for us.

 "Welcome new fellow Creatives. I hope Joleen has been a good escort." Rose tattoo lady grins. "Today you will all be explained how the Creative Stratum works. Now if you will follow me inside..."

 Like everything else I've seen in Creative the inside is impressive. There's a marble fountain in the center and beautiful glass sculptures. Beyond that are lots of people bustling about.

 "First let's start with a tour, this is the Creative Stratum headquarters. Everything about the Creative Stratum will be here. My name is Gregory and if you have any questions feel free to ask me or even Joleen."

 Gregory leads us down a hall into a big meeting room. "Let me explain to you how jobs at Creative Stratum work, if you were originally from here I'm sure you already know but let's go over it."

 He gestures to the smart-board in front of us as it hums to life. "As you know each stratum is assigned certain jobs to do according to their strengths. Since we are Creative our jobs mostly deal with entertainment. We design things, make music, literature or art, or sort out problems Cunning can not solve."

 Corinth snorts at that.

 "Depending on what kind of Creative you are, you will do certain jobs. No one has just one job, we all rotate every month, but if you can't draw you won't be given a job that needs drawing."

This is different from what Clement does. In Clement you just fill in whatever job needs done. Their jobs were mostly helping nursing. Vets, obstetricians, whoever needed help.

 Gregory lists all the jobs and what strengths a person needs to have to do that job. I could tell none of us were fully listening. Then I realize that Wes wasn't here. That's odd. Even if he was originally a Creative he still has to be here. Did he skip? Or maybe he got sick. Or maybe he wasn't even new and I just confused him with someone else at the Branding. But he looked my age...

 I snapped back to attention when Gregory directed us to a different room. Here we had to take an aptitude test to decide which jobs should we do. The questions were basic personality questions and a few asking what would you do in a certain scenario.

 After the that we got separated into groups based on the results of our aptitude test. Corinth was sorted into a different group than me. Joleen led me with some other guys into another room where she told us about the jobs we would be doing starting tomorrow. They were the jobs concerning dreaming up new technology. I could do that.

Hours later the work shift was over and we were free to go. Joleen led us back to the tram and Corinth sat with me on the ride home.

"Fun jobs?" She asked.

 "I like them fine." I shrugged. She grinned.

 "Well I love my job. I get to make music all day." I remember the music note tattoo and asked her about it.

 "Yeah I got that after I performed an original song in front of my first crowd. I play a lot of instruments and I knew Creative was a shoe in."

 Soon we arrived at her stop and she waved goodbye. "Video chat me sometime!" I told her I didn't know how to and she asked for my address. I gave it to her and she promised to video chat me later.

When it was my turn to get off I saw a lone figure walking in the shadows. As I got closer I recognized him.

"Hey Wes!" I called out. He whipped around surprised. I realized we weren't exactly friends and that calling out to him might come off as weird. I awkwardly made my way over, because the damage was already done, and asked him why wasn't he at the orientation today.

"I don't go to orientation." He answered back not looking at me.

 "So you're not 18?"

 "I am 18 but I'm from here so I don't go to orientation."

 I told him that even though he's from here he still had to go. He flushes and fidgets a little still looking around as if he was about to get in trouble.

 "What happened to no questions Cecil? I have to go." He promptly left walking in the shadows again. I bit my lip. Clearly he thought that one conversation didn't mean I had the right to speak to him whenever.

 However my curiosity was piqued. He was awfully uncomfortable with my questions. Maybe he really did skip on purpose. But he acted so different than he did last night. Last night he was confident and chill and right now he was flighty. I decided to let it go though, he was none of my business. I went home and unwinded a bit. I had work tomorrow after all. It was time to officially start my new life.