CLOUD TO GROUND ☂︎ FIVE HARGREEVES

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EUDAEMONIA
boot sequence

☂︎ ☂︎ ☂︎

The wrenching of bones snapping into place and the odd tenderness of newly rendered flesh was the first sensation Hypatia felt after ten years of blissful numbness. Breathing deep through fresh lungs, her eyes adjusted to the brightness which bathed the world around her.

The light finally becoming bearable, she looked around the room she found herself in. It looked to be an office of sorts, all white and gray and boring. One thing, however, sat out of place, a smashed 2010 Dell computer, its guts scattered across the floor.

The world felt fresh and light around her, the sun leaking through the room's only window sending a rainbow of reflections across the floor. Everything felt technicolor with brand new eyes, brilliant and colorful and full of life. And yet Hypatia felt the memory of her last time in her body tickling her mind, small bubbles of old, profound rage boiling in her stomach.

Broken out of her bitter reflection by a small tapping sound she turned to the window, a small blue jay on the sill looking back.

Carefully pulling herself to her feet, two revelations hit her, the first being that her clothes didn't fit her anymore. They were the same she'd worn the last time she'd held a corporeal form, the dark suits worn by Project Möbius, except instead of a fashionable fit, she now swam in fabric.

The second was that she was far shorter than she remembered.

Still she made her way to the small bird, slowly pushing the window open as to not scare it away. A small rush of wind hit her skin, and in the awe-like glory of a truly peaceful moment, the bubbles of rage evaporated into a blue toned sadness, the kind that rests comfortably in your soul.

The blue jay lightly pecked at her fingers, presumably in search of some food, only to come away empty. In a huff it ruffled its feathers and flew off into the open world. Hypatia's eyes followed it, a new desire for living, plain and ordinary, burning within her.

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That was hours ago. Presently Hypatia wandered the city streets aimlessly, unsure of what to do.

The sun on her skin was a welcome feeling, after years existing solely as energy the thing she found herself missing the most was sunlight.

She wasn't entirely sure where she was, only that the majority of people around conversed in English, a trait she thankfully shared.

Her oversized clothes hadn't bothered her at first, more pressing matters on her mind, but walking well over a mile in shoes far too large had her re-thinking her priorities. She could feel the blisters forming already.

Pausing to ditch the offending shoes in a nearby bush, she continued on with no destination in mind on socked feet.

An elegant looking man sitting on a poorly painted red bench gave her an odd look, neatly folding the newspaper he had been reading and setting it down. No longer caring for the folded paper, he got up and left, sending back one last worried look towards the newly shoeless girl.

Taking advantage of the abandoned newspaper, she skimmed the front page, ignoring the old man's face plastered under the headline: 'CITY SAYS GOODBYE TO SIR REGINALD HARGREEVES', instead focusing on the tiny March 24th, 2019 typed in the corner.