Disrupt v.1.0 (Patreon)

Upfront, I just want to give a heads up that in terms of actual expansion material, this first part is a lot of set up & will be a little light. While there are some hopefully very clear hints to things that will happen, it ends just before we really give way to the important stuff. In fact, the following part is pretty much exclusively just.

More broadly, this is the prologue to something a little new. I’ve been sitting on it for a while now. I say this not at all trying to cast any sort of aspersions or anything, but a lot of people that are into the blueberry thing tend to stick fairly closely to the whole Wonka mythos. Whimsical factory, gum, etc. And I don't blame them at all! I love those things too, they’re wonderful, you're wonderful. But personally, I tend to feel like when I do my own thing, I need to branch out & try doing a different take. Something a little different. Vin de Bleuet being a prime example.

So this is a new world I want to set up to do Blueberry stories in, & eventually maybe some other content too. While not a typical "Wonka" style premise, there is something of a strange, cultish corporate culture thing at play, if maybe even in a cheesy, Law & Order "ripped from the headlines" sort of way (like I hope that part isn’t a little too on the nose even). But I think after this first "v1" arc, a load of potential outcomes could open up, to explore a world where something a little crazy like this cannot only be possible, but possibly even take off, & shape a bizarre, somewhat blueberry-tinged world. So I hope you enjoy.

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The company was all but dead at this point. But then again, at best, it was only ever a husk. Big promises with no intention of ever meeting any of them. Multiple investigations were still ongoing. Several trials were still pending. And that was well before even getting to all of the pending litigation. Everything seemed to be in a weird state of limbo after the implosion. Up to the point where the feds stormed in.

Bryn still remembered it all pretty clearly. She had to set aside the better part of two separate weeks, sitting down, giving testimony, speaking to a whole team of lawyers, some hers, & a whole lot more that weren't, with a few feds sprinkled into the mix for added flavor. And then? the week after that? Another group of lawyers, feds, & what-have-you. She was supposed to give her account of what had happened during her tenure at the company. What she knew, what she didn't. While her top priority was to clear her own name of any suspicion, the second was her trying to answer their queries in a way that was as fair & as honest as she could. She didn't go in there to purposefully throw anyone under the bus, but through sheer honesty, she certainly didn't paint too rosy a picture of what happened either.

The whole experience, her time at the place & the resulting whirlwind? It left her feeling not only high & dry, precariously unemployed the past few months, sapping her savings, but in a way? She felt almost radioactive. Toxic. Suddenly, there was this glaring pock-mark on what was something of an accomplished resume. "Proteus? THE Proteus?!" The question she’d received in interviews, more than once. Sure, she always just could've subtly tried omitting it from her resume, but on the one hand, that left this whole two & a half year gap in her work history. On the other, everyone in the Valley knew everyone else in the Valley. So chances were, unless she picked up & moved, any potential employer would already be firmly aware of her. Especially post-deposition. So any attempt to obfuscate almost looked worse. But the long & short of it was, she was left with no loyalty. No fealty whatsoever. Just this nagging need for closure.

That's why, when Bryn first got the email, she wasn't sure what to make of it. Part of her seemed perfectly content in just completely ignoring it. Putting it out of her mind, pretending as though she just hadn't gotten it. And that seemed to work. At least for about an hour or two. But then Jaya, who had also been CC'ed, reached out. She was the one that ultimately convinced her. That they should at least see what she had to say for herself. Try to give her benefit of the doubt. Then again too, Jaya had always been something of a yes-person. One of the many fervent worshippers at the altar of all things Abby. And now, here she was, in the back seat, sitting next to Jaya, on their way to their former employer's current address. To talk about "what's next." Just as the email had alluded to.

"Oh hey!" Jaya noticed, pointing out the window, tapping her nail against the glass with a tick. Bryn never understood having long nails & working at a “tech company.” Then again, Jaya was never really one to engage with anything that could be construed as “work.” Bryn sighed, & spied the direction being pointed.

The route their rideshare had taken swung right by the old offices. From the freeway, through the trees, you could make out the sleek curves of the mostly glass building & its empty parking lot, frozen in time. It was slightly weird to see a building that was barely a few years old, looking as though it was from two decades in the future, ahead of its time, & yet essentially already mothballed. For a split second, Bryn swore she saw the yellow ribbon flapping near the doors. Was there still some of the FBI's police tape on it? "Aw." Jaya continued with a bit of sentimentality. "It's sort of... depressing, seeing it like that."

"No. It’s not.” Bryn said unsentimentally. And even if you were to think that, it’s not on us," She exhaled with detachment, her neck rolling to look out the window on her side instead.

”Oh c’mon,” Jaya clicked her tongue. “We were doing our best. Hoping to make a better world.”

”It was a bullshit biochem firm that never delivered. All you ultimately did was huff farts. Your own, & hers, especially.” Bryn sneered. Jaya didn’t take kindly to the comment & retreated to looking back out her own window. As part of her job, Bryn had to have a fairly decent memory. She prided herself on it. And as she recalled, Proteus had always been a fairly chaotic place to work. Even by tech startup standards. And that was in no small part to their former employer, Abby Watson-Moore.

At first, considered something of a wunderkind, Abby set the world on fire when she founded Proteus. Some combination of her young age, gender, & (alleged) background in both genetics & chemistry garnered a lot of attention very quickly. And soon, the whole venture had a lot of very serious, & in some cases, very powerful backing. But ultimately? Behind the STEM queen, “girlboss” facade, there was nothing to really show for.

"We all know the result." A wounded Jaya finally retorted. "Still, SOME OF US happened to enjoy some of our time there. What we were doing. Er... at least THOUGHT we were doing." She always tended to have very deliberate, downright British annunciation, but her intercontinental accent always poked through a little whenever she happened to get a little more animated. Born here, her family was Indian, & from what Bryn could discern, quite large. So it seemed like she spent a good part of her upbringing bouncing back & forth between the States, the subcontinent, & extended relatives in the UK, where she eventually ended up going to school.

For Jaya, the word "statuesque" came to mind. She was a bit tall, or at least a significant bit taller than Bryn, with something of an athletic build. Jet black locks of wavy hair danced across her shoulders. If she didn't have her science background, she could've been a model, easy. But the combo afforded her the ability to settle into grandiose roles dealing with matters always markedly more hypothetical than material. It did strike Bryn however, that in the months since they last spoke, Jaya may have not left the house so much. Maybe even engaged in a small bit of comfort eating. She was a wee bit thicker than she remembered last. But still, annoyingly, it mostly only seemed to show in her favor, gathering mostly in the places most other thin girls would die for. And while exceedingly booksmart, it seemed like Jaya's only real fatal flaw was this blind devotion to her former job, & particularly, to her former boss. And symbiotically, it almost seemed like from Abby's point of view, having this stunning, learned Amazon among her biggest boosters, barking like a seal at any nonsense that came out of her mouth, only raised her own confidence, & clout amongst others. Beyond that, it was always rather unclear what Jaya even actually did while at Proteus. Was "sounding board for Abby's game-changing ideas" ever an official role?

"And that's just it, isn't it?" Bryn snickered, considering Jaya’s words after a moment. "What we THOUGHT what we were doing." A lot of what made Proteus (or at least the legend thereof) take off had to do with the fact that Abby was something of a character. Or the word that always got chucked around in the Valley when someone like her found success: an iconoclast. She possessed a strange quality some would lazily classify as charisma. But in reality, it was more of an uncanny valley version of being compelling. Like, in her almost... inhumanity. The cold, almost clinical nature of an automaton that seemed pretty close to personhood, but ultimately, just a bit... off. She was like a robot. Or even a space alien. Unsettling in a way that seemed to draw people in, if only for the chance of maybe getting a closer look as to what was amiss. But by that point, it was almost too late. Many thought it was an act, some sort of carefully cultivated gimmick to help her pitch her ideas to VCs. A way to stick out. Be memorable. But as her executive assistant, Bryn worked with her closely. Closer than she cared to, in a lot of regards. And if it all had been an act, Abby had true dedication to her craft. As she never dropped that veneer for a second. A staggering amount of commitment to the bit.

"She meant well." Jaya tried to make excuses. Even she recognized how feeble it was, staring straight ahead down the freeway. "The technology just never seemed to catch up in time quite the way she or really the rest of us all anticipated it should've." She avoided eye contact, knowing she would crack otherwise. But Bryn, in her mercy, was feeling a bit generous.

"That may be. But hey! At the end of the day? Fraud's still fraud." Bryn shrugged, before adding an "Allegedly” with a sigh. Not sure if it was needed or not, but after dealing with so many legal teams as of late, the habit had been hard to break. Jaya clicked her tongue once again, disapprovingly, but didn't necessarily seem to want to argue either. Which was fine, because Bryn thought it best to let that whole can of worms lie. 

Growing up a bit of a tomboy, the spunky redhead was definitely more of a realist. Maybe in some ways, even a bit of a pessimist sometimes, sure. All & all, Bryn was never the type of person that was ever in any sort of short supply throughout the rest of the known world, but in the Valley? Someone as down to Earth as her? She was basically almost a unicorn. Or at the very least, something of a commodity. And thus, the value Abby saw in her.

While not her original intent by any means in terms of her career, becoming Abby's assistant, Bryn had just sort of lucked out that way. Because unlike most of the people, the Jayas of the world, clamoring & desperate for some tiny piece of Abby's day? Bryn wasn't some run-of-the-mill prodigy, biochemist, coder, or STEM-lord with dreams of "shaping tomorrow" in any way. No. She was just a fairly average young woman with fairly decent interpersonal & office skills that happened to need a job a few years back & answered a pretty vague listing, back in the very beginning of Proteus. No more, no less.

Since she had to be a fly on the wall in a lot of meetings anyway, Abby had the somewhat annoying habit of asking Bryn’s opinion. A lot of the time. For the "laywoman's perspective," sometimes added, patronizingly. And as one of the only people seemingly immune to Abby's inadvertent style of hypnosis, she was just never afraid to tell someone like her what she actually thought. Or how things really were. What people in the real world would think. For better or worse. Sometimes, depending how “out there” things would get? At length. Usually, much to the chagrin of whatever Jayas were nearby. In some small way, it almost felt that it was a connection to the real world Abby desperately needed. Maybe her only. In fact, she herself, once or twice specifically referred to Bryn as her "lifeline." Like she was more of a friend versus some glorified secretary under her employ. But. despite Abby's somewhat poor sense of boundaries, that sentimentality was never entirely mutual. As appreciative as she was to luck out with such a well-paying gig, to her? Abby was just her eccentric boss. Someone she almost kind of pitied, honestly. At least until she ultimately brought her these past months of strife.

The car had pulled not far off the freeway, but took a few secluded bends through hills. In an instant, there was hardly any sign of the interstate or offices, even though they hadn't gone more than a mile or two. Just huge multimillion dollar mansions that some of the Valley's other heavyhitters called home.

"I thought she FAMOUSLY lived in a no frills condo." Bryn mocked, reciting the urban legend of Abby’s personal life. "Just a place to have a bed & a fridge to stash leftovers, but where she could walk out the door & be at the office in roughly a minute!" And she knew it was more than just the PR fodder. A nice condo to be sure, but in the past, Bryn had actually seen it for herself. Had packages sent there. Jaya's brow furrowed a little, as if to not understand how Bryn didn't seem to know.

"She DID." Jaya corrected. "But it was all seized." Bryn looked back out her window.

"Sorry. Not getting the life Abby updates I guess." She snarked. "If that's the case, how the hell did she manage something out here?" she asked, realizing just how long it took to drive past one massive estate. She'd been living in the Valley for years, but still hadn't gotten past the spectacle of these kinds of displays of sheer opulence.

"I don't rightly know, to be honest." Jaya was doing the same kind of gawking out her side. More than just her accent, her family seemed a bit posh. But definitely nowhere on this scale, as she herself fell prone to a bit of marvel. "My guess is the property belonged or belongs to someone else? One of the VC's perhaps? Offering it up an empty investment property out of the kindness of their heart?"

"From what I heard, they all disavowed her, or any connection to Proteus." Bryn smirked. "Hard to imagine any of them are still on her side. Let alone putting a roof over her head.” She laughed to herself. “Kindness of their heart." Jaya, seemingly fed up with sharing the car with such negative vibes, checked the proximity on her phone, but Bryn let her theory fly. "I'm thinking she stashed some money away." She expected it to get something of a rise out of the ever loyal Jaya, but she seemed too busy with her phone. “Like maybe she didn’t hand over everything.” The car took another slight bend up an even taller hill. The further from the main road, the bigger the houses seemed to get. Until suddenly? There just looked to be a very modest looking box of a building gated off by a small security fence, sticking out of a small clearing up ahead.

"Oh, here we are," Jaya announced, looking up from her phone & through Bryn's side. Bryn had a hard time believing it at first. The place looked more like the an office rather than an actual residence. A small, seemingly vacant ultramodern structure with harsh geometric edges. Beyond the brutalist concrete pillars forming the corners & a few grates of thin, dark wooden slats in certain places, there were quite a few places in it where one could look through the front & still see straight through, out the back, being composed mostly of glass. And that space in between the glass seemed, for the very most part, completely empty. Like, as if no one was even there. But as the car approached, the gate seemed to open, allowing the rideshare to pull up close to the door.

"Oh, looks like she has definitely been up to something." Jaya said, noticing piles of cardboard propped against the outside of the gate. "Can't quite tell if that's simply some retail therapy, or perhaps "what's next." Bryn spied the boxes, trying to ignore what sounded quite a bit like giddiness in Jaya’s voice. She noticed most of the discarded packaging seemed to have ErgoTon logos on them. The ridiculously expensive exercise equipment? She had placed personal orders for it on Abby's behalf in the past. Usually when the holidays rolled around, as gifts for board members & things. As Proteus, ostensibly was in the business of health after all. Also boxes for inflatable kiddie pools? She didn't have kids. In fact, even the prospect seemed to horrify Bryn. 

A few feet from the path leading to the large steel door of the building, the car finally came to a stop. Bryn went for the handle.

"Thanks for the..." She started to wave out of habit, forgetting that in the Valley, the rideshare apps had already phased out actual drivers. There was only the 'attendant' in the passenger seat, but he wore big, fuck-off noise cancelling headphones, far more concerned with whatever latest Korean drama he was streaming on his tablet than monitoring the car's AI the way he was supposed to. She feebly let her hand just sort of drop, but it was too late. Jaya, wearing a big smirk that seemed to be calling Bryn some sort of gormless rube without needing to say the words, she scooted across the seat to get out on her side of the curb.

The car pulled away. A very slight rumble of freeway traffic in the distance betrayed the fact that they weren't too far from civilization, but things were so secluded in these hills, it almost felt like they were several zipcodes away. And frankly, that feel of seclusion kind of bugged Bryn out a little bit. At the same time, even always being surrounded by tons of fawning & downright fanatical employees & hangers-on, it was pretty clear that Abby led a fairly lonely existence at all times anyway. She was always miles away in her own head it seemed. And now? Under "house arrest" at who knows who's box of a halfway brutalist, halfway commercial architecture house? She didn't really know what to even expect to begin to expect.

"Are we... supposed to knock?" She asked Jaya leerily. Jaya on the other hand had been building up a smile & smoothing out what seemed like an expensive new sundress she filled out a little too well. Naggingly, she seemed to know she did too.

"Hold on, I'm coming." A voice buzzed from a concealed speaker. It was Abby's voice for sure. The flat, almost robotic tone rang in Bryn's ears. Had it always been that offputtingly robotic? Yeah, probably. But she had probably built up a tolerance to it. Hearing it again? Now? After thinking she wouldn't have to ever again? That tolerance was gone. That’s when she noticed Jaya was looking at her. Her smile had widened to more of a beam.

"She sounds well."

"Uh..." Was all Bryn could offer with a side eye, as suddenly the door let out a loud clang, & the one opaque feature of the front facade swung open, revealing an empty corridor behind it.

"Jaya! Bryn! Come in! Come in!" Abby said via speaker, very determined to try & sound enthusiastic. But Bryn still knew her too well to know it wasn't genuine. Or most generously, at least enthused for the right reasons. Bryn had second thoughts. But the rideshare was gone & it felt too late to leave now.  She allowed Jaya the luxury of stepping in first, thinking back to the ominous, pit of her stomach feelings she had when she saw Abby’s name pop up in her emails.

"how are you
lunch tues
want to discuss whats next" 

No punctuation. No emojis, of course. Abby’s terse way of communicating. And that was the only direct correspondence she'd received from Abby, since the day the feds came knocking. Sitting in her bed that morning, scrolling, she remembers seeing Jaya CC’ed, but quickly swiping away from the message, hoping to never hear another word. But then of course Jaya just had to reach out. And now she was here, getting started as the steel door clanged shut behind her. It didn’t seem to make sense, the giant door in an otherwise glass house. But then again, nothing about any of the Valley ever made sense to a “laywoman” like her.

“Why are you doddling?” Jaya chided sharply under her breath. She stepped a bit further down the hauntingly empty corridor, but seemed to sway her hands in front of her a little, as if to protect herself from wandering into an invisible plate glass wall, dainty, perfect nose-first.

“I’m not… doddling.” Bryn argued, even quieter, but adding the English inflection. “You talked me into this. I don’t even know why I’m here.”

“Because Abby is a visionary! And we owe her this mu-“

“We don’t owe her shit!” Bryn barked with a nervous laugh.

“No, you don’t.” A flat, robotic voice called out from behind them. Bryn yelped. Jaya gasped. Without seeing her through the greenish haze of glass panes, somehow Abby had emerged directly behind them, almost as if she had teleported there magically. “But I’m so happy & appreciative you’ve both come!” Her eyes remained locked, dead & empty. But her the corners of her mouth attempted to peel upwards in an attempt at a smile. The result was… off-putting.

“Oh my god! Abby!!” Jaya rushed past Bryn with arms thrown wide, going in for a hug. As if the time apart had turned them into besties instead of employer & employee. Or future felon & someone nearly implicated in their felonies. Abby didn’t seem to understand it either, maintaining the “smile” & even craning her neck to make eye contact with Jaya, but not reciprocating the physicality. “You look… well!”

Bryn seemed to think that was entirely debatable. And she thought that slight hesitation seemed to bely that as well. She wasn’t sure if her BFF Jaya was aware or not, but one point, to be efficient & “always on,” Abby decided it would be prudent to make her make up permanent. One of those “genius lifehack” sort of things designed to save time, like having a wardrobe of only black turtlenecks. But just past that forever makeup, there were dark bags under her eyes, giving the impression of little sleep. And while Abby might not have indulged in any stress eating the way Jaya did, her hair was disheveled, in an disturbed, messy blonde bun far from the tight, buttoned up ones she sported with her black turtleneck in her large, iconic tech demos & press conferences. No. To Bryn? Abby knew they were coming. She had set this all up. And yet she had not done the bare minimum to prepare for company. Before the scandals, she had made it fairly well known how “married to the project” she was. A slavish, all-consuming dedication.  And these minute hallmarks seemed to indicate something along those lines. That Abby had been working on something. And to Bryn, that only heightened her suspicions more.

“You’ll understand if I’m a little less forward,” She nodded at her former boss. “Hell, with everything that’s going on, I don’t even know if I’m breaking the law coming here right now.”

“Oh.” Abby said simply, as if it had never even occurred to her. “No. I don’t believe you would be. But to be safe, we don’t have to discuss the past.” She said, maintaining the same “smile.” “In fact,” She said, spinning on her heel. Jaya was quick to follow. “I’d prefer... no... Insist, that we only looked forward. Follow me to the kitchen, if you would.”

“Kitchen? How couldja tell?” Bryn sarcastically scoffed to herself, rolling her eyes.

After two turns in the featureless glass corridor, Abby led them to a sterile looking kitchen area. It was the size of other people’s whole apartments, but like everything else, was starkly minimalist.

“Please,” Abby said, gesturing vaguely towards the granite-topped island in the middle. It was large, but seemed minuscule given the room’s scale. Jaya politely declined sitting, saying her legs were stiff from the flight & the ride in. It made Bryn somewhat self conscious but she planted one butt cheek on the stool to the left as Abby walked over to the wall. It & a row of cabinets were obscured from the front by one of the large, brutalist pillars. But there was enough room between the island & that part of the kitchen for Bryn to look down & see the ankle bracelet Abby seemed to sport with some indignity.

“This place is quite the find.”  Jaya seemed to compliment. Bryn had trouble discerning just how authentic she was being.

“Oh, it’s not mine,” Abby robotically chortled. “A… friend… in a high place offered to keep a roof over my head though. At least until… you know. Court.”

“One of the VCs?” Bryn started to ask, but she stopped herself before getting an answer. “Nevermind. Don’t implicate me in anything further.” While Abby seemed completely unphased by it, Jaya stomped a little at the rudeness, as the two guests exchanged a glare. Bryn tried to move the conversation along with impromptu small talk. "So how have you been occupying your time?" She asked, still poorly concealing the frustration of being there.

"Getting right down to business, I see. I always did admire your directness, Bryn." Abby's already unbreaking gaze intensified as her eyes widened slightly. "I may have neglected to go into too much detail in the email, but yes. I have been working on what comes next." Like in those big tech demos, Abby had her presentation voice switch on. And ever the sucker, Jaya stared intently, hanging on her every word. Bryn could see she was never out from beneath Abby's spell. Even after all the touch & go legal stuff. She was right back, hook, line, & sinker. Waiting, mouth agape in a smile. Bryn realized they were both waiting on her.

"Next?" Bryn wavered, trying to suppress something of an involuntary scoff. Quick to kind of smooth over the roughness of her reaction, she continued. "Do you really think that's in your best interest at the moment?" It seemed like a slight curveball that Abby hadn’t anticipated. But she wasn’t shaken.

"It's fine. It's something I've had on the backburner for a while, honestly. A pet project. Something I've had in the works for years." She said flatly, clearly ignoring the meat of the question in her oh-so robotic way. "Just hadn't had the opportunity to really dig until... well... the scandal freed me up a bit." She started circling her kitchen island towards the far wall, away from her guests, digging steel looking cups, the kind you’d mix a milkshake in, out of a high cabinet.

"Well, I must say. Certainly sounds as if you’re making lemonade from lemons... as it were." Jaya finally rejoined, falling right back into her ass-kiss routine without showing any signs of rust. “Please, what’s your latest & greatest?”

“Settle.” Bryn mouthed in Jaya’s direction, but she stared at their former employer with wide, puppy dog eyes.

"Really hope you weren't in the mood for lemonade." It seemed like Abby's desperate attempt at a joke. Jaya mustered a fake snicker, but it came a bit too late to feel genuine.  "You've heard of Soylent, right?" The former CEO asked as she ran her finger down a seam in the wall, as if to find a gap.

"Of course. And I remember you trying it early on, with high hopes, & saying it was all wrong." Bryn watched as Abby caused the wall to beep, opening a door.  Concealed within the mostly featureless kitchen wall was a gigantic, two door refrigerator. After a second of scanning the shelves, she pulled out a large, matching, stainless steel pitcher, giving it a quick shake & twirl. Bryn seemed more enamored with the fridge, noticing it also seemed to be stocked to the brim. Uncharacteristic for Abby. On the two other occasions she had been to Abby's old condo, the only things she ever had populating her refrigerator space were faddy, greenish health drinks & an ever-growing collection of various condiments from takeout places. But now? It was staggeringly full of a lot of what looked like fresh produce. Mostly fruits. Berries. Cartons of the things. But also more similar stainless steel pitchers. And cups. All with post-its sporting times & dates. But then the doors beeped shut again, giving way to just blank, unassuming wall. With a large smile, Abby demonstratively set the pitcher down on the counter in front of them, next two the two steel cups. All in her unsettling, unblinking way.

"I call this… well honestly, I'm workshopping a few names for it. But at the moment? The top contender is Cerulea.” She said, beginning to pour.

“Oh, none for me, thank-“ Bryn attempted to assert, just on instinct, before even seeing that the viscous liquid dribbling slowly out of the pitcher was an almost unnatural electric, neon blue. It didn't seem appetizing, on top of the fact that she was worried Abby might be trying to preemptively poison them before any of the trials were under way.

“Oooh, the brilliant mind behind Proteus, solving the meal replacement market?” Jaya cooed, almost happy to cut Bryn’s rudeness off. Be for adding with a gasp “I Absolutely LOVE the color of it!”

“Right?” Abby asked with her dead eyes.

“I mean I don’t know if the market needs to be “solved.” Bryn leveled honestly. A bit dismissively. “In fact, it’s kind of oversaturated. Mostly with bunk.”

“Not solved. More… disrupted. By highly personalized blends of different natural ingredients.” Abby said, clearly in pitch mode. “The idea is to make a perfect, yet bespoke, nutrient rich meal in a glass for the modern consumer on the go. Healthier than anything else on the market, but also… well… delicious. And unique.” Probably for her unwavering faith, Abby pushed the first glass in Jaya’s direction before beginning the slow pour for Bryn.

“Fine.” The redhead accepted, noticing her polite decline was going unnoticed. “Just a little please.” Jaya was giving her steel cup a twirl before taking in the aroma, oenophile style.

“It… it smells distinctly of… blueb’ries.” The UK side of her accent peeking through with her pleasant smile.

“A chief ingredient.” Abby nodded. “On account of the flavonoids. I mean… the antioxidants.” She said, patronizingly lilting towards Bryn before pushing the second cup forward. A hesitant Bryn was slow to lift it, but also doubted Jaya knew what a flavonoid was either. The blueberry scent was quite nice though. Better than the green juice style drinks she’d tried to get into more than once. A lot more pleasant. Inviting even.

“Cheers,” Jaya laughed, stretching out the bottom of her cup.

“Don’t mind me,” Abby chortled, producing a covered tumbler from a lower section of the island counter. “I had one started from earlier.” She lifted it to Jaya’s, watching Bryn. “For my breakfast.” Reluctantly, Bryn tapped both Abby’s & Jaya’s with hers before tilting it to her lips. It took a second for it to flow down the rim of the cup. But surprisingly, the instant it hit her tongue? It was actually? Quite nice. Better than she would’ve given Abby credit for, honestly.

"Not... not too bad." Bryn nodded, smacking her lips a bit. She went back for another sip. "For something as healthy as you claim it is, it's actually pretty good. Sweet. Just the right amount of like... tang."

"And it's so good for you." Abby said plainly, watching Bryn intently as she held her own glass. Her response felt slightly labored, practiced. As if she was workshopping this part of the pitch. But also genuinely intrigued by their reaction. And watching them drink. "Finish what's in that cup, & you'll have hit all your major recommended daily nutrients for the day."

"Mmmmmmm," Bryn did exactly that in short order. Once she got past its thickness, she honestly did enjoy it.

“It tastes AMAZING!” Jaya emphatically purred with a heavy gasp before going back to guzzle the rest. Not entirely ungrateful, Bryn pushed her cup back towards Abby.

"So that's how you've been spending your days? Mixing a new type of smoothie?" It was actually a lot more harmless than she’d been anticipating. She started questioning why she had suspected anything so sinister. Capable of fraud? Sure. But not some insane megalomaniac.

"Mixing?” She forced out a laugh before landing on a flat “No." Abby finally took the slightest taste, before swooshing it in her teeth. "And I wouldn't really call it a smoothie. Not in the traditional sense. But it certainly was freshly squeezed this morning." Jaya looked around, her sundress twirling with her slightly. It was like she was already auditioning for the future infomercial. Or sponsored social media post.

“The process must not be all that messy. It’s certainly immaculate in here.” Abby let the silence fill the room. But then there was a strange chime noise. Abby looked to her smartwatch for a moment, the corners of her mouth once again wrinkling into the facsimile of a smile.

“Sorry. Set an alarm earlier.”

“For what?” Bryn inquired.

"You two… trust me, right?" Abby’s wide eyes seemed to grow slightly wider.

"I mean..." Bryn once again froze, considering her words very wisely. On the one hand, she didn’t care. She narrowly avoided an ankle bracelet of her own, thanks to Abby. But at the same time, speaking to her in person, it was hard not to be at least slightly sympathetic towards her, being isolated here, making new, delicious juices. "I always trusted that you meant to do the right thing. That you're well intentioned." The choice of verbiage seemed diplomatic enough, but she wasn't sure if it would pass her boss's muster.

“Yes!” Jaya was quick to follow up. "While the company might’ve been… Ergh.” She grit her teeth & cocked her head to abbreviate the investigation with a dead expression. “I’ve always thought you were pure of heart & intention!”

"Of course!" Abby tried to reinforce, in her awkward, dead-eyed way as she rounded the island to join her guests. There was a slight pause as Abby lowered her still mostly full tumbler. "Would you like to see how Cerulea's made?"

“Um…?” Was all Bryn could get out, her suspicions rising once again. There was something about Abby both needing to check their level of trust AND the weird twinkle in her eye now, after asking that question.

“Of course,” Jaya nodded, answering for both of them, shooting Bryn a look, but not waiting for her response. “We’d love to see your process.”

A second later, Bryn & Jaya were being ushered down another glass corridor towards a door previously obscured by one of the other concrete pillars.

“Glass house,” Abby shrugged. “I moved my work downstairs to keep away from prying eyes.”

“There’s a downstairs?” Jaya gasped, leading the way. Bryn was more concerned about the obvious detail of why people couldn't see her making a juice. At least until Abby cagily insisted Bryn go next so she could be last.

The staircase was narrow & enclosed. It would've been a bit claustrophobic if it didn't run as nearly long, almost feeling as though it ran the length of the entire building upstairs. Maybe even further, once they were underground. The steps were fairly shallow but somewhere about the halfway point, Bryn had realized they had already descended nearly a full story. And the deeper they got, the chillier it seemed to get. Not cold, but cool. And slightly damp. Like after the produce section of a grocery store, right after things had been sprayed. It went on for so long, even a kiss-ass like Jaya suddenly seemed to get a little trepidatious, looking back over her shoulder as the door seemed to clang shut behind them at the top of the stairs.

"Keep going," Abby instructed with an innocuous wave. Jaya shrugged & used her long, gazelle legs to cover the last few stairs a bit quicker.

“So what?” Bryn asked, “You have some kind of bat cave lab happening down here?“

"Ha. Bat cave. No. Not entirely," Abby said, almost trying to sound modest. "But I've got everything I need for the most part."

"My word..." gasped Jaya from the bottom, seeing something around the corner Bryn hadn't reached before disappearing from view.

“This is where the magic happens.” Abby attempted to joke. As Bryn reached the bottom, she saw what Jaya was reacting to. The first thing to catch her eye was a living wall feature. Hydroponic bushes, the obvious source for all of the produce in her fridge. Berries it seemed like, mostly. But a few other plants Bryn couldn’t identify too. And while it was impressive, it alone didn’t seem responsible for the sheer volume of pitchers in her fridge. There was nowhere near enough. Not to grow back that fast. Unless maybe that was the innovation. Jaya seemed impressed with all of the lab equipment, bounding about & tweaking knobs & checking read outs. 

“It’s quite the set up!” She nodded to Abby, who attempted to nod back. But the sound of Jaya's voice seemed to trigger something.

“Unnnngh-“ A moan lingered in the room for a moment. Not loud, but definitely not inaudible. Bryn looked to Jaya, who looked to Abby, who suddenly shut another door behind her at the bottom of the stairs.

“What the fuck?!” Bryn shouted, the fear & anger bubbling to the forefront.

“Who-?” Jaya suddenly quivered, wide eyed & frozen, realize the moan didn't come from one of them. Abby took a step away from the featureless door, mostly confident that Bryn wouldn’t be able to figure out how to open it without help.

“This lab is only where I developed the initial couple of seeding formulas. It is a nice set up. But it's not what I wanted to show you. And not where the Cerulea itself is produced, obviously.”

“Unngh, Ab-Abby…?” A moan sounded again, almost impatiently. It was guttural. And straining. And with certainty, not emanating from the three of them. But also, distinctly different than the first moan. That’s when Bryn noticed there was another room just off to the side. The lights inside were dim, but she could just make out two large... spherical shapes, perfectly round & taller than she was.

"Coming," Abby cooed. Oddly, some of her flatness dissolved. She sounded almost...  matronly. "I'm coming, dears. And like I promised, I've brought guests."