Something's ... Not Right (Open)

[true_noir]

WHO: Chloe and You!
WHERE: In and around Recolle
WHEN: 4/6-4/12
WHAT: Awkwardness as Chloe notices some things are not right with her body
WARNINGS: Nup

Option 1) It was a Thursday, like any other Thursday since she'd gotten this silly app on her phone. She was trying to keep her life normal and together, and doing a good job of it. In fact, following through with Yu and Naoto's request had helped a little, taking some of the worry away from her life. Having just finished her shift, she was walking back towards the bus station to get a ride home when it happened. There at the cross-walk, maybe she was a bit tired, but she started to cross before it was her light. There was a honk of distress from a car and Chloe acted.

Really, she wasn't in any danger. The driver was over-reacting and swerving successfully to miss her. But, the honk caused an immediate reaction. Her body launched back without her thinking, leaping up and into the air, sommersaulting back and landing lightly on her feet. The motion was far too limber for what she should have been able to do. It wasn't like she was in poor shape, but leaping like that in the air felt beyond her. As she landed, her eyes widened and she took two or three shaky steps back before falling unceremoniously on her butt.

"What... just happened?" she said, looking around in shock.

Option 2) When she wasn't helping out with the play, Chloe had a couple of days off on the weekend. She tried to visit the local gym to get a bit of the stress out. There was a horse set up there for those who wished to practice gymnastics, and she found herself staring at it with a nervous look in her eyes. Biting her lips, she walked over and patted it, reaching up to scratch at the back of her head.

"Should I?" she asked, wondering for a moment before going to put chalk on her hands. There was only one way to find out if the strange itching sensation in her arms and legs was real. She was feeling restless, restless like her body wasn't moving the way that it should, that it needed to move.

Option 3) There was bad news on Friday, news she did not want to hear. It had her in Starbucks, fumbling for a drink of mint tea. She wanted to calm her jangled nerves. There had to be a logical explanation for any of this. She was tempted to ask on the network, but at this point she wasn't even carrying her phone with her. She'd warned her boss that if he needed her to call the land-line, that she was trying to test out what happened if she didn't use the network. She wasn't going to break that promise.

She had to know if this was affected by the app, or if it was simply happening. But, as it stood, she was getting nervous and worried... and the tea was only helping a little.

Wildcard (Anything that you want can be managed. Chloe is off network for this week, helping out at the play and frequenting work. She has just experienced the return of her natural athleticism and agility, along with the realization that her hair color actually changed last month and wasn't dyed while drunk like she thought. It's causing her to start to freak out again. Either way, if your character wants to meet up with her, we can handwave that they left a message on her answering machine at home.)

Comments

[erythristic]

Did you take any strange drugs or medicines recently? Sometimes side effects aren't entirely known.

[the doors open, and Grell leads the way, calmly ignoring the signs that point the way towards the medical examiner's office and the morgue. though it seems like they're headed to the morgue, she opens a different door before it, strolling in to get a pair of gloves.

the room itself is a small laboratory, with standard scientific equipment around, some to measure and some to calculate, and everything else it requires.]

You asked me what my job was, I remember that clearly, and I also recall telling you that I would explain at a later date. I'm a medical examiner, Ms. Bouchard. Hence the basement working quarters.

[true_noir]

No. [She made a mental note not to mention the underage drinking around this woman once she'd been told that she was a medical examiner. No point admitting that to someone who worked with the police, and besides she hadn't really been drinking throughout lent, so it wasn't that.]

I haven't been sick lately, so I haven't taken any medicines I can think of. But, I suppose you are right, that some of those could have strange effects. [A pause as she looked around the lab.] And, so ... you are the sort of person who examines a body after they have been found? It must be an ... interesting line of work. I have never met anyone who does it.

[erythristic]

[she's used to that sort of response. it doesn't make her flinch, though inwardly she's wondering if she should have mentioned that in her post. ah well, if it bothers them greatly, they can see Lucian.]

I'm not surprised, it's a more specialized line of work. And of course, not everyone has the resolve to face down death on a regular basis...

[pulling a chair from the side, she puts it next to herself, gesturing for Chloe to sit if she likes.]

It means I get to learn quite a lot about people from what's left its traces on them. Or in them, if that's the case. But don't fret, we're not going down that path today.

[true_noir]

[Thankfully, it wouldn't bother Chloe too terribly much. She could cope with it, particularly as she wasn't being brought here in a body bag. That would have been unpleasant.]

No, I would expect that there are many who do not have the resolve for it every day. I'm impressed in this. I do not know if I could be so stern about such a thing.

[She settled into the chair and looked up at her for a moment.] So, what will we be doing to test this, with the hair? I am not even sure how to test my reflexes exactly.

[erythristic]

Your hair's easy. For your reflexes, if you want me to test that, that'll require me to invent a few tests and then compare them to the average for your age and height, assuming general fitness levels. But, first things first.

[she turns to one of the tables, picking up a new slide, and holding it out.]

If you could pull out a few strands of your hair and put them on this. Please try to not touch the glass, it smudges.

[true_noir]

Yes, we could do that. [She complied easily enough, quietly reaching up and plucking a couple of strands out and placing them very gently on the slide without putting her fingers there. She distantly remembered lab work at school, so the 'do not touch the glass' thing made sense to her.]

I have attempted a little gymnastics recently, but it is ... strange. My body reacts fine, but it is like I do not actually remember how to do it, so I am flying blind.

[As for the hair, oh there was no dye involved. Her hair was definitely a dark, deep purple color.]

[erythristic]

[she busies herself with setting up the slide, taking up a position at the microscope and studying the hair closely. increasing magnification, looking carefully at the quality and whether the color continues to the roots - there would be telltale breakage in dyed hair. there's none - like Yu's silver, this appeared to be natural, without a hint of bleaching involved.]

From all I can see, this color of yours? Completely your own, as much as my own hair is red. It comes from the roots, not applied - there's none of the signs that would indicated dyed hair in the strands I'm looking at, and your hair is healthy. It's unusual, but it seems to be nothing but hair - I can run a few more tests, but I'm likely to get nothing from them other than confirmation it's hair. Strange, yes, but it could be worse. If it bothers you greatly, you could dye it back to the color it was before - what was that, for my information?

[true_noir]

Hmmm, I was a bit afraid you might say that. Whatever tests you think would be appropriate, you may do, but we do not need to go to extensive lengths here unless you have a reason to doubt it.

[She shook her head briefly.] But, my hair was originally black. So the change is not such a problem. Knowing that it has become purple is more the issue. It makes me feel as if something were trying to turn me into the woman from my visions, if that makes sense.

[erythristic]

Really? What makes you say that? No one could know of your remembrances unless you told them, I'd think.

[placing the slide away in a safe place, she keeps her hands busy, powering down the microscope and searching the drawers for something. her own personal feelings on this issue, she's already decided she'll keep locked tight away.]

[true_noir]

You would think that... but the tabloid reporters knew of pieces of them in detail before I ever once mentioned it, back a little while ago. It was as if they knew all about that girl... much like how I have found things of hers in my home without asking.

I do not know if they are trying to confuse me, or what. You should be right, though. Nobody should know what is in the visions, not if I don't tell them, not if their source is not already aware of it.

where did this notif go...

[erythristic]

Confusion.

[she says the word slowly, pulling out the small bottle she was looking for as she does. turning to Chloe, the smile that had been there earlier was gone, replaced with a seriousness.]

That's a risk we have to face. But we also must be aware to not let the confusion set in and distract us from the efforts we can make together - if I stayed inside in fear when my eyes changed to what they are, then I'd be useless when it came to helping other people. We're in pursuit of truth, aren't we?

happens to us all, np

[true_noir]

[She considered what Grell was saying for a moment before giving a brisk nod. If she'd asked a month ago, Chloe would have potentially denied being interested in the truth, because it was uncomfortable, troubling and theoretically could ruin the life she'd worked hard to craft. Now, however, she was beyond that point and needed to know what was going on.]

Agreed. Even if I do not know what they are trying to do to me just yet, I need to know the truth... of who this girl is they are trying to make me look like, and why they are trying to make me feel this way.

[erythristic]

That's what I'm hoping all of us as a group can discover, before someone comes in here with a third eye and we watch everyone insist that orange is called blue and we're fools for thinking otherwise.

[she says it flippantly, but she means all of it. and then, without warning, she throws the small bottle in her hands at Chloe, to see if she'll catch or dodge it. she'd spoken of reflexes, after all. might as well see them in action.]

[true_noir]

[There was a reaction, an immediate one. One hand moved to catch, but she had still not mastered this quite yet and so missed actually grabbing it out of the air. The head, however, was completely out of the way long before the bottle came and her other hand was reaching back behind her back before she froze in mid motion and started to relax it back in front.

She hadn't even brought her knife. Why had she reached for it? It had been an automatic response.] W...was that a test, ma'am? [said as the bottle clattered away.]

[erythristic]

[it rolls away, and Grell will fetch it later. there's a look of undisguised interest on her face, and with those eyes, it's almost unnatural. but she relaxes in the next moment, not moving to take notes.]

It was. Reflexes are best tested when the subject is unaware and therefore cannot fake the results. Though you had a curious added response - where was your other hand going?

[true_noir]

[She nodded. Yes, that made sense, though the question caused her to look embarrassed and scratch the back of her head. A moment later, she decided honesty was the better choice here and sighed, looking away as she talked.]

For a second, I thought I was being attacked and my hand went for where I sometimes wear a knife that I believe that they sent me. Sorry about that, ma'am.

[erythristic]

Nothing to apologize for. It tells me more about you - perhaps it tells you something about yourself? That you're used to being attacked, and you know enough to defend yourself? I know enough now to think I wouldn't want to be on your bad side, at any rate.

[and that had been a quick response, too.]

[true_noir]

...I never would have done it before. I've never actually been attacked in my life. The girl I see visions of, I am fairly certain that she has been attacked, many times. But, I am not her, even if they are trying to make me into her.

... I'm not, am I?

[erythristic]

That's a question I can't answer for you. That'll have to be something you think about and come to your own conclusion on.

[her words are blunt, but her tone is kind - she won't tell someone one way or the other when she doesn't know the answer for herself. if the Grell in her remembrances is her or not, if what she feels then is something she really does feel or if it's all confusion.]

[true_noir]

I refuse to be her.

[There was a firmness to the statement. It wasn't that everything about the girl was bad. In fact, some of her visions hadn't been scary at all, but that girl was getting in the way of a picture perfect life she'd had envisioned, and she wasn't having it. Added to that, she was starting to suspect that this person might not have been that nice... and she was a nice girl, deep down, wasn't she?

Of course, that possessiveness ... was a lot more like the person in her dreams, whether she liked it or not.]

But feeling the way she does in her body doesn't help at times. As nice as it is... it's hard to walk the street and feel the same freedom as someone else, when you never did what you needed to, to earn it.

[erythristic]

Curious word choice you have there.

[she's grateful no one needs the lab today - it'd be annoying to have to move conversation elsewhere, not when it's going this direction.]

Why does it need to be earned? Why can't it come down to you as a gift?

[vaguely, she's reminded of her conversations with Dirk, the way he'd fire off questions and viewpoints while taking up her couch and she'd be watering the plants and replying. philosophy follows where she goes, it seems.]

[true_noir]

[She looked at her curiously before replying.]

I suppose that some athletes have a natural talent as a gift, but they still have to work to hone their bodies, do they not? For mine to go from simply healthy to ... well, what it is now? Overnight? It seems not only sudden, but unfair to those who had to try so hard, does it not?

[erythristic]

That depends on how you view the occurrence. As something granted or as something remembered. If the latter, then obviously you did work hard to achieve the condition at some point, even if you don't recall it.

[shove it down. analyze this later. she's good at this.]

[true_noir]

[She thought about that for a moment. There was a frown, but she didn't seem so much upset as uncomfortable. Squirming slightly, she then nodded and spoke up.]

That, I suppose, would be true. But with how I am viewing it, and how I think I would prefer to view it, it would feel more like something given, not something worked for that I forgot about.

Though 'muscle memory' is a thing, isn't it?

[erythristic]

It is. The way you reacted when I threw the bottle at you - that was memory and instinct. You can't fake that.

I can't offer you a way to come to peace with what you have now. But, and I'm saying this as a Retrospec user, not a doctor, it might help if you look into making time for activities that would allow you to work with these new abilities. Some sort of exercise regimen, so you can become more comfortable with them instead of being frightened by their existence.