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Day two.
Tuesday has arrived, at last, meaning it's convenience store day. Convenience store day is always at least a little exciting, especially now considering the daily morning latte has been jeopardized by the distinct lack of coffee.The streets are as calm as ever -- it's a small city, meaning there naturally isn't much traffic on the roads.
"Sir, that'll be $22.59.", says the cashier, greeting the person in front of Chloe. Quite an unusual person, for that matter, they haven't said a word the whole time, only nodding to any social inquiries made by the cashier.
"ma'am, please.", she replies. It's a woman, then? She's much taller than Chloe, that's for sure.
"...Okay, ma'am. That'll be-", but before the cashier can finish her sentence, the woman leaves a fifty dollar bill on the counter, stunning the cashier for a few seconds, but she goes on to count the change and hand it to the woman. An unusual interaction, for sure, a lot closer to how Chloe navigates social interactions than regular people.
On the woman's way to the exit, though, Chloe could see what seems to be a fresh wound on her neck, only being half hidden by her long hair. Something's up with that woman, but not knowing where she lives makes it not viable to contact the police station for a wellness check."Guess i will have to follow her and see where she lives.", Chloe thinks to herself. Not quite what any regular human being would think in this situation, but it certainly does the job just fine, which is obviously all that matters. Right?
As the strange woman leaves the building, the fact of this whole thought process being quite socially inappropriate goes completely over Chloe's head.
"Ma'am? Will you buy that coffee?", the cashier asks, pointing to the coffee packet currently present in Chloe's two arms, with one of them being a very clear electronic prosthesis made by none other than Chloe herself.
"Um... Later." Chloe mumbles before leaving the packet on the counter, then walking out the exit, leaving the cashier perplexed by the two consecutive strange interactions.
It's really windy today, but thankfully Chloe always makes sure to keep her hair tied when going outside without fail, almost as if she can't go out before absolutely making sure her hair is tied. The strange woman, however, seems to be struggling quite a bit with the wind, trying so desperately to hold her hair still, in a way that makes it seem like she's trying really hard to hide something. The wound, maybe? But why would she try to hide a sign of her needing medical attention? The sunglasses and face mask also seem a little bit unnecessary, unless she has some sort of airborne disease and her eyes are sensitive to sunlight. Not that Chloe is the best person to define this, but something about that woman seems... not normal.
Minutes pass and Chloe finds herself walking through the nearby forest, one she never actually visited before. It's quite nice and the scents are very pleasant, unlike ones of the city; you can only smell so much of carbon emissions made by loud cars before you start noticing how much you always hated it. Some people seem to like it, for reasons Chloe has no way of understanding.
About an hour passes, and...
That was a bit of a workout. Almost makes it completely pointless having a treadmill at her apartment, especially considering how therapeutic the whole trip was. No loud noises or inadequate scents, only the pleasant chirping of the birds, the crackling of dry leaves and the subtle scents native to the deciduous forest, this ambiance could just as well make you forget what you were here to do in the first place. Admittedly, however, the exquisite old manor in sight makes it quite hard to actually forget you were looking for someone's home.
This must be it. The architecture is almost like something you've probably seen before, but not quite. What appears to be an ancient-greek-inspired design philosophy contrasts the victorian-esque aspects of the building, morphing into an unique mixture of pediments rich in detailed carvings supported by large columns along with large bay windows and beautiful front porches, all coming together in calculated asymmetry.
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It takes a minute or so but Chloe decides to go up the main stairs and make her way to the entrance door, a door so grandiose it leaves her slightly intimidated -- whoever that strange woman is, she seems to be quite well-off, considering her apparent living conditions.
"Maybe she just had an accident? Doesn't seem like she lives in particularly dangerous conditions." Chloe couldn't help but think to herself. Someone this seemingly wealthy wouldn't go to the store to buy soda and packs of instant noodles, either.
Lifting her metallic hand up slowly, she hesitates. This has taken so much longer than anticipated already, and the upcoming social interactions might just make this whole thing last the entire day... An entire day of what, exactly? It's not like Chloe has that much time to just spend willy-nilly on mindless walks and exhausting chit chat. Chloe simply stands there, hand nearly touching the main door, thinking for around a full minute.
"Not worth it. I'll just... forget it." she thinks to herself. The weirdly mysterious woman was probably the wrong pick, anyways.
Chloe begins her journey back home. Such a strange day, one she would, in fact, not forget.
Day three.
The dark tinted metal feels extremely cold to the touch, almost reminiscent of a cold lonely night. Or just aluminum coating, in this case.
A light blowing sound is heard, followed by a quiet sip. The pleasant, although bitter smell of coffee fills the air. Chloe is currently working on one of her gadgets, this one being quite special: it's one of her prized myoelectric arm prosthesis. The reason for it being special is due to it not being a hybrid design, meaning it's exclusively powered by electricity and nerve sensors, making for a great replacement when you're out in public and don't want a clunky mechanical looking doodad strapped to your body. Though it's not quite often she goes out in public, it's always good to perform daily maintenance on such a delicate device, even one as robust as this one.
It's quiet today, but the occasional roaring of car engines breaks the comforting silence. It's almost like some people have no manners when driving and simply go around being a general nuisance. Loud noises aren't too common in this area, since such a small town can only have so many people driving expensive engine-powered road vehicles (or just "cars", as most people call them), but although rare, they still get on Chloe's nerves sometimes, almost as if her brain is specifically wired to intensify the obnoxious sounds. It would certainly be an issue, but only if Chloe didn't have her lovely silicone earplugs built specifically for people like her.
With no prior warning, her phone starts vibrating on the table, indicating it's time for her daily treadmill walking routine.
"No... My legs hurt..."
Intuitively trying to use her right arm and failing, that being, the one she doesn't usually have, she frustrates herself even further.
"Shut up..." she mutters, getting irritated by the loud buzzing of the phone breaking any and all focus, before turning the alarm off with her left hand. "What the hell?" She can't help but wonder. Forgetting the absence of one of her limbs is certainly not an everyday occurrence, even if she was admittedly using all of her brain capacity to focus on a single task.
She tries not to think much of it. This day will be a fairly uneventful one once again, since she has already finished her college assignment and most of her online classes. Chloe was what you could call a "child prodigy": a person whom many expectations were placed upon from a very early age, all due to exceptional performance at school. Eventually, however, Chloe noticed how much said expectations were weighing on her, so she decided to move from her parents' home the moment she hit the age of majority. Yes, owning property is indeed not something anyone can afford to do in the current year, but Chloe's parents are fairly successful on their own and always made sure to give her the best accommodations they could afford, so giving her a new place to live was never really off the table, though they were reluctant in regards to not being sure she could live on her own -- every parent has thought that to some extent, but Chloe's case is a bit more special.
Special...
Huh.
Being "special" can be really fucking isolating sometimes.
On with the day, Chloe.
The prosthesis' aluminum coating feels somehow colder than before. It flawlessly reflects the white light emanating from the brass-coated articulated lampshade sitting atop the similarly engineered desk, all whilst Chloe impatiently taps her finger against her craft for what feels like an eternity crammed within a tiny fraction of the universe's scale of time. What day was it today again? Wednesday. Wednesday... Her focus then shifts to the calendar hanging on the clean, white colored wall, of which the engineering desk is placed against. May 6th, 2026. How long have we been at this, exactly? It's gotten harder and harder to keep track of, despite how obsessed Chloe can be with constantly tracking most of the things about her ongoing life. Her focus then shifts again, multiple times, between different objects in her vicinity, before finally stopping at the blank space where her right arm should be. Mentally describing miscellaneous objects was always a good way to soothe whatever cacophony happens to stir inside her mind, but there's not much to describe here, is there?