recolle | Something's ... Not Right (Open)

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.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"And that fits with the person you've seen? You're sure there's a relationship?"

Her voice was turning hard. Not because she thought the idea was foolish. Because she'd considered it herself, vaguely, and pushed it out of mind because she didn't want to consider.

"Oh, it is her hair color and cloak. I remember them distinctly from seeing myself in the mirror. The exact same shade, and the natural grace, I remember a fluidity of motion that I never had until recently." She shook her head. "I can say that much for certain. I remember the way that her body felt, and mine is starting to feel more like hers."

She shook her head then. "But I am not her."

"Really? You haven't-" She almost hissed and clenched her teeth.

"...nevermind. If that's the way you see it I can't say anything. I haven't... gone as far."

She shrugged. "I think that they are trying to make me believe I am her, and make me feel like her. The changes to my body are signs of that. Before, I used to be in shape, but as an occasional jogger. Healthy, nothing more. Now... this. I couldn't even touch my toes without a lot of stretching, really," she said. To her, this was a fairly obvious change. "But... I am still not her. I don't want to be her, no matter how good certain things feel."

She smiled over at the other woman. "I do hope you are fortunate enough not to end up this far. It's... jarring to say the least."

Catherine was mute. It wasn't that she had nothing to say; she just didn't see any point in it. She couldn't so easily believe that they would have any reason to stop at simply giving the illusion of being another when they already had the ability to change minds. But if that was how Chloe saw it...

Better to cling to that.

"'Jarring' will be if I ever come to look like that person. I'd be about two feet shorter."

"You would?" she said, looking over at Evangeline with curiosity in her eyes. Two feet was a whole lot of height, after all. It was enough to jar some of her thoughts away as she considered the ramifications of the statement. "That would almost be the height of a child, though, wouldn't it?"

"Mhm. Though she doesn't speak like a child. Or... feel... much like one. Sometimes. Most of the time."

She... didn't think she wanted to talk about this, but here she was. Too much time spent dwelling on it in silence.

"That... is unusual. I would ask if she were perhaps a dwarf, but I think you might mention that, if it were the case," she said, reaching up to tap her lips as she thought about it some.

"But some of the visions have been... strange. Perhaps it is not something that we understand? I know of someone being in a stewpot for crocodiles, so ... well, perhaps it is best not to think about all of the possibilities too deeply."

"There are lot of things it would be best for people to do. But they don't, do they? I've been trying not to think about it, not to speak to anyone about it. I'll go so far as to say I hate it. But that taste of unreality is tempting all the same, no?"

She shook her head. "I guess that's a lot words to say I'm curious despite my misgivings."

"I think... perhaps for different reasons, we are basically the same there," she said. "They've given me reason to be curious, but they've also given me a lot of reason to doubt, to dislike, to distrust and to want it to end. I think that will mean I continue forward in the end, but with a great deal of grumbling."

She smirked. "I wonder why it is that we feel that we have to explain ourselves in such detail, when the fact is really quite simple."

"You do learn something sometimes. Refracting thought through words." She laughed. "Listening to yourself talk."

A favorite hobby of hers.

"...she's like that. The one I see. People talk about it but I don't think I've ever really felt hatred and pity at the same time before. Joy and scorn."

"It is a curious combination. I don't think I've ever experienced the same myself," she said. "But some of the emotions that I've felt from the woman I watch, they don't seem... how do I put this? They don't seem to fit the situation that they're in. It's very strange, like she wasn't raised to view the world like anyone else does."

A shake of her head. "But I suppose you're right. Talking through it does help somewhat."

Something's ... Not Right (Open)

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