The rhythmic ticking of a clock, the harmonious chirps of a perched bird, and the gentle rustling of a tree's leaves. Not soon after, the blaring wails of bells being hammered upon drowned out the blissful sounds of a still morning. A fair-skinned, feminine, and rather small hand lazily rose towards the source of the ringing. The hand pressing down upon it, allowing gravity to do a majority of the work needed. With their palm and digits encompassing the bells of the clock, the deafening ringing had ceased.
The hand slipped off from the clock, propping itself upwards upon a firm mattress as it heaved forwards, and from it, a young woman rose from her bed. Grace and elegance were two words upon many that were not to be used to describe her in this particular state. From her messy and frayed brown hair, her plain black t-shirt that was two sizes too big, and a bit of dried drool that stained the right corner of her mouth. With the palm of her hands, she began to wipe away at the groggy drowsiness that remained on her eyes. Her arms raised above her head for a well-needed stretch right after. Her eyes blinked twice, and her green irises gleamed like emeralds in the rays of the rising dawn.
"I should probably invest in repairing my A/C unit." She thought to herself, pulling her body out of the comfort of her bed. Bare feet planted themselves upon the soft carpet of her bedroom, while tiredly stumbled towards the window. She closed the window shut, raising her left hand up towards her mouth to cover it while her body heaved out a rather long yawn. "As well as investing in either a louder alarm, or just fixing my sleep schedule." She thought to herself once more, idly side-eying the five other alarm clocks that were placed in strategic locations in her room. Places in which she would have to be forced to get out of her bed to turn them off. However, they were disabled by having pillows thrown their way or other obscure objects that just so happened to be near her bed.
Because of this, her room was always in disarray when she woke up. Not to mention accidental collateral damages, which was evident by knocked over robotic contraptions and tools on her work desk. As well as her collection of different branded yo-yos littering the floor. With a heavy sigh of displeasure, she began to attempt to undo the mess she had created during her slumber.
After completing her task, she sat on the edge of her bed, a white smartphone being held within both of her hands. She scrolled through her messages and other notifications that she had received, until a particular message had caught her eye. "Taite! Are you up yet?? Mrs. Grace is sending me out to get you, you better be awake by the time I get there." The message was sent from a contact named Harlow at the time of 9:35 AM. Her eyes reluctantly moved over to look at the clock that displayed at the top right corner of her phone, 10:05 AM, it read. With a panicked shout and without hesitation, she had leapt out from her bed. She hastily acquired a change of clothing from her drawers, and charged into the bathroom.
After a few minutes of rushed activities, Taite approached the front door of her apartment. Now dressed in a black polo shirt with the wording "Bellrung Antiques" located near the right side of the cloth; her hands hastily tucked in the tail-ends of said shirt into her khaki pants. With her right hand on the doorknob, and her left hand reaching for a set of keys that hung onto a key hook rack to the left of the door-frame; she gave the brass knob a twist, and pulled the door open.
A woman stood before her, dressed in the same clothing as Taite was, and within one of her hands were two paper bags, the other hand hovering just over where the doorknob was supposed to be prior to being opened. Taite stepped back at this, a nervous drop of sweat rolling down from her forehead and onto her freckled cheeks. "Harlow!" she anxiously exclaimed, "how...good to see you in the morning! Y'see, it's a bit of a funny story." Taite continued, her index-finger tugging a bit on the edge of her shirt's collar.
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Harlow ran her a hand through her pure-white hair out of exasperation, "Taite, we really need to get you a better alarm clock." She stated with her brows furrowing, however, she offered Taite one of the paper bags. "I bought you breakfast, so you owe me lunch after our shift is over. It's your favorite." Harlow spoke, her irritation beginning to subside as Taite greedily snatched one of the bags from her.
"You mean you actually got a Taurian Delight from the Miracle of Baking shop?!" Taite inquired ecstatically, her hands quick to open the bag, and a wide grin began to spread across her face. "But for sure, name what you want for lunch! And, sorry for not being at work, though I'm surprised Mrs. Grace has yet to fire me." Taite remarked, her green eyes glancing to the top-left while she pondered at this. Her thoughts to be interrupted by having her wrist being grabbed onto by Harlow's tight grip. She began to lead Taite out of the apartment, who was hurriedly closing the door behind her and trying to lock it before being dragged too far away from it.
Harlow herself was a woman with a toned figure to her with long, white hair that she kept tied up in an unkempt ponytail. Her eyes shone a bright red, and her skin complexion was a bit darker than Taite's, although not by much. She was also visibly taller than her, standing at 5'8" while Taite stood at a mere 5'2". Taite often had to crane her head back a bit just to make eye contact with Harlow.
Harlow was quick to drag Taite out of the apartment building, leading her out the front door as Taite yanked her hand out of her grasp. "Warn me next time that you decide to pull me away, I coulda dropped my keys, and you know I am a lot weaker than you!" She complained, placing the keys to her apartment inside one of the pockets of her pants. She opened up the paper bag once more, fishing for the culinary excellence that was stored within. A bagel sandwich, containing melted cheese, fluffy fried eggs, and strips of maple bacon; this was the Taurian Delight.
Taite took a rather large bite out of it, Harlow still holding onto her own paper bag whilst looking onward down the sidewalk. "We should really head to work, Mrs. Grace is already rather pissed that you were late, but that's already passed." She commented, beginning to take the lead down the sidewalk. Taite followed closely behind, continuing to enjoy her meal that was graciously gifted to her. It was then that something caught her eye, pausing momentarily to now face a newspaper dispenser that was labeled as "Aldebaran Times". She deposited a golden coin within the coin slot, and with an audible click of the hatch being unlocked, she reached in to grab a copy of the newspaper. She began to scurry forth towards Harlow, showing her the front page of the newspaper with the bagel stuffed in her mouth.
"What's this now?" Harlow remarked, slowing her pace and grabbing the papers from Taite. "Oh, now this is interesting; seems like they are finally making more developments towards the case of this criminal." She spoke aloud, eyes narrowing to read the headline of the paper. "Newspaper Inquisitor: More Than Just a Couple of Odd Jobs." She began to flip through the pages, Taite finishing up the last remnants of her meal before speaking.
"Don't you think it's a bit spooky that there's a supposed killer like that out in Bellrung? I mean, you do say they only go for bigwigs and the like, but it's still a bit frightening..."
"This edition is definitely going into the collection after today."
"And she's not even listening, I shouldn't even have bought that copy for you."
"Oh, I am listening, and I still think it's all just something that the government spun-up. So you shouldn't be too spooked." Harlow stated reassuringly, or at least that's how she tried to come off as, but Taite did not seem any less nervous. "If anything, you should be more concerned with scary boss-woman that's about to lower your paycheck." She cackled, Taite now beginning to walk with a slump to her posture, her expression turning into that of a child fearing of an anticipated punishment. "Don't remind me..." she groaned as Harlow threw an arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry, I won't need too."