Dirt between a child’s feet is harmless if the pavement it lands on is speck free of any obstacle that could harm them. By the time they surface through the years of their toddler years to the age nearing ten, the callous they’ve collected would have broken and bled out to toughen their skin. It was something that Imago found their internal selves completely devolving into an infinite sense of pity and profound desire to help them.
That’s why several times in the day, to occupy half their time in town; Imago set out to observe the children, which ended up being their form of charitable conscience. Through teaching a few children the value of a shoe or the concept of dressing themselves for the day. The number of children in the slum area of the town was a surprise Imago imagined but never expected to achieve in the slightest.
Being met with such a reality felt like a breath of fresh air that they could not manage to comprehend but are willing to be in
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The curtains on the main room for patients that need a better diagnosis, such as removing any article of clothing to show their skin or body part, were kept closed for most of the day Mirror helped in the clinic. More patients required internal checkups than external ones. Having incoming patients pile up outside without any means to lessen was what the life of a clinic in the current slums has become.Doctor Andy* is the resident who was not assigned but gradually took over from the previous doctor. They spent, most of the time, setting prescriptions for alternative medicines and cheap drugs for every person they entertained. He was not a particularly doctor-looking guy with his scrawny physique and passive personality. Not to mention the frailty he gaited as he moved around. Still, people approached him and accepted his professionalism and the range of sympathy and compassion he has shown them.Beyond that, nothing else mattered to Mirror because their purpose was to
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Mirror watched their partner’s life seem to lack luster through their internal monitoring. Since there was more energy left in Mirror’s body due to lack of physical exertion, they instinctively checked on their partner without consent. Most of the time all they did was converse with people and practically deal with their problems, a feat anyone with strong mental fortitude can accomplish. Thus, after quite a deeper deliberation, they would let Imago rest for a while as they dealt with the man in front of them.Problems don’t often arise at the worst times. Sadly the moment Imago was starting to prompt their sleep mode, the clinic’s door was rapped on by a loud succession of knocks. Everyone still in the corridor looked at the door before it opened with caution and the body of a man in what looked like a government uniform, that of an authority in the legal sector, entered. His face was stiff and rugged, complete with a semi-shaved face ri
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Days have gone by since Imago reported to Chipper about the missing children. No investigation, or search requests, could be found to answer this plight. Asking civilians about the issue or any case related to “missing children” would only be responded to by sardonic scoffs at the authorities’ incompetence. Some even thought that it was only a rumor, or just like Diyan, knowing who the family the child belonged to, thought they deserved the loss.Any empathy for the situation, and the missing child, is lost in the mundanity of every citizen’s impoverished lifestyle. That is how bad the people’s lives are in the sector of this town. Nothing short of practical built from indifference and apathy.Imago continued their playground classroom even if the threat of losing the children hung at the heads of each one, but what surprised them most was not the bravery or integrity the parents showed about the issue. There was never an iss
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There were more times that Mirror and Imago had fought, not for the simplest things but through the complexities of solutions they clashed with as their life progressed in the first few weeks of their first year. They struggled to become close even if Mirror did not like any of Imago’s stiff methods of doing things. However, there is a similarly empathetic side that Mirror applies to the “one rule” they’ve considered for themselves.Inside Mirror, there is still a struggle about why it should or should not be considered a decision but the autonomy they wanted to practice was a condition they were always built with.“Hey,” said the woman who sat in front of Mirror.The smile that was plastered on Mirror’s face tilted a bit as they droned thinking of Imago, but they poised it back into a natural one.“Hey, to you too, Mrs. De Guzman.” From there Mirror started handing them the sheet for reg
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Sitting in a dimly lit room while waiting for the person who would question Mirror felt like ages till someone bothered to tell them that they would be staying in the precinct for a while. Hearing this while not having access to their partner, Imago, for any form of warning or way notify them of their situation is a circumstance they knew would happen but felt slightly peeved that it did.Without any choice, Mirror used its senses to determine any person past the walls. The heat signatures for most of the rooms are dim, a vivid indication that they are either several walls apart or far away. The nearest heat signature was a room just to their left. If they adjusted their system to the correct setting they could hear whatever conversation behind the wall.Like it mattered if they would invade anyone’s privacy, they started listening by quickly adjusting their energy distribution to save a bit and use their sharp hearing.“—tter wha
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Lines appeared at the edges of Mirror’s sight, something they often experienced when they had memory lapses during the time they had a bug about reliving every last moment with their “one rule.” Though different is the cause for this certain glitch, there was always the lapse to rest and relieve themselves of the burden of enduring these lapses.Mirror determined to conserve their energy and reroute several synapses within them owing to the likeliness that they would stay long in jail because of how the investigation might go in their favor or not. Wasting time waiting awake will not help them on anything but deplete the remaining energy they had managed to save when Imago transferred the night prior.Life is dull if left unattended and resting all the time, a life of a bum that is not considered a freeter. That’s what they did during the time they spent resting and recovering years back when they first met Imago. Their leg did not heal completely, even now but they can manage it by p
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The free day’s Imago had away from doing their daycare volunteer work feels like a respectful rest that was brought upon by the worry they were thrust upon. Concern was not the word that could surmise the loneliness they felt as they thought of Mirror and the time they spent apart. If not for the will they wanted to accomplish in integrating through the society they chose, or preferably the only one they have; they wouldn’t be “obediently” following the primitive law the humans established in this town.Subjecting themselves to learning about the society they thought would exist outside of the ruined city. Would the people fit amongst the technology they once stored and lived with back in the ruined city? They wouldn’t be having a hard time compelling themselves into weeding out potential lives to be loyal. As much, as they wanted to know what the world of humans is like now the most advanced city has sunken into nowhere but almost extinction.What is currently, slowly revealed in Ima
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