Miss Dial

Handmade

March 26th

Brushing down her dress, Marinette strode down Regent Street dodging the throngs of tourists trying to find Hamley's Toy Shop or one of the many London attractions. Ducking under a rather enthusiastic flower seller, she turned off the main shopping street and headed through the maze of back streets towards where her destination was located, every now and then checking google maps and the route she was following.

She was going to be early, for once in her life Marinette Dupain-Cheng was going to be early; she was very tempted to text Alya and rub it in the reporters face. See, she would say, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was not just a lazy, chaotic mess. Also, she could fill her friend in about the way she had attacked Adrien Agreste this morning. An Adrien Agreste she hadn't seen since college.

The mortification was still running strong as she thought about the events that preceded this moment. After she had – for want of a better phrase – physically assaulted Adrien, she'd scrambled off to her room and hid away as she got ready for her interview. She didn't know what to say or do, instead choosing to stay away from the guy who plagued her very existence in her teenage years. Chloé might have been mean, but Adrien was something else entirely.

It seemed her one time rival was actually staying with his cousin for the next few days, something about a water pipe bursting in his own home — and yet, even after their rather public drunken argument at their wedding, Kagami and Félix had failed to let Marinette know she would be in same space as Adrien for the next few days; part of her suspected them of planning this out on purpose. It was news to no one that the lovebirds wanted them to kiss and make up. But as far as she was concerned he could kiss her...

Finding the revolving door of the building, Marinette pushed through and landed at the back of a rather intimidating line of bodies. It seemed there were quite a few people here for the interview and suddenly the positive, excited demeanour she'd arrived in London with, disintegrated into a pile of mush.

She held her bags tighter into her chest; the bag which contained her handmade outfit, the one she'd spent the better part of two weeks creating being gripped the tightest — this bag literally held the key to her future. The added pigeon feathers lining the lapels of the jacket the 'va va voom' to make her stand out and the risk she'd taken to guarantee her success.

Unfortunately, she just needed to get through a group interview before she could present her design to the CEO and management.

Stepping forward, Marinette inched closer and closer to the welcome desk, her eyes browsing around the area and taking in the blue and silver accents around the lobby. Black and white pictures adorned the walls, pictures of bodies from the chin down, wrists with watches, and hands with rings...

Rings.

Marinette wanted to step closer and have a look at the wall in front of her. The ring seemed to twig a familiarity in her mind, but she couldn't quite work out why?

It was thick, and from the grayscale tone, a silver or platinum in colour. As she continued to stare, her head tilting, she hadn't realised the person in front of her had already vacated the desk.

"Name!"

An unimpressed British accent barked out the order, almost causing Marinette to jump out of her skin.

"M-M-Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Her name came out wobbly and slightly unnerved, not exactly the first impression she wanted to create.

"Are you here for the interview?" The woman didn't even crack a smile, instead her fingers continued to move across the keys at an unnerving speed, not even a frown line to be seen; yet her lips pursed as she typed. Marinette puzzled whether she was having a bad day, or poisoned up on botox.