Ava stared before moving on; she made her move with her legs and hands. As she walks, citizens around her avert their gazes or even move away from her in anticipation of her lack of civility based on her collar.
They make comments like
"Is she going to do something stupid?",
"Oh my, what a bad girl."
"Tsk, tsk that poor girl"
"I hope she learns her lessons."
As females back away from her, even people are cautious of her. This was the first time she faced discrimination and felt it. In her early life, she wasn't able to understand emotions due to the nature of her mind
Ava, for the first time, finally understood what it means to be embarrassed; she did not understand at first, in her early days of reciprocation between her and the other kids in kindergarten, what mannerism ticks other people off. But here it was intense, and obvious – the collar was wearing her neck like some sort of hall of shame for this teenager
Weird, for the teenager to experience a myriad of emotions for the first time, it's as if her life has just begun here.
It's easy to slap her with the label of 'Alexithymia' but let's leave it there. She may have felt mortification in the past before but not to this intensity.
Ava remained in her street to walk the streets with a collar whose LEDs blinked red and green, beep and beep, it was beeping faintly. She was wearing a skirt with a regular, feminine shirt.
She continued in her part, doing her thing.
As she walks the street, she spots a familiar person she then interacts with the person named Peter, for a casual talk, he didn't appear to be judgmental of her collar, although he was skeptical of Ava's intentions.
"Hey, amiga? Are you doing well, still in your nerd hobbies?" Peter with his arched eyebrow
Ava crossed her arms with her black hair flowing at the back and said, "Yeah, what of my nerd hobbies?"
Peter then walked up to her with swagger and tried to flirt with his mouth, "I see you have a collar, were you being naughty?" his one eye furrowed as it morphed into something teasing.
Peter places his hand on the wall, attempting to make a move on Ava.
Ava responded with a challenging eye gesture, "Mhm, yeah, I got into trouble for curfew." Ava walked away from the close distance, her eyes all stern and laser-focused, as she stared at the skies or somewhere else
Peter understood her and enquired, "Let me guess, you got yourself some new adventures, sweetheart?" his eyes were interested
Before crossing his arms with a haughty smirk, "So you turned from something boring to something interesting, or am I wrong? Are you that much of a person?"
Peter then puts on a smug face as she glances at Ava while maintaining the balance of his body by placing his hand on the wall of the alley.
Ava then rotated herself. She stared at the guy for a while with seriousness in her eyes, "What do you mean by 'much of a person'?" Ava posed with confusion as she tilted her head, staring at the person.
Peter answered her query, "Oh, let me elaborate. You know, are you always this rebellious? Do you have like a secret agenda? Do you have like desire to do stuff, you know, whatever that leads to you having a collar in your neck as juvenile punishment?"
Ava answered, "Now that I think about it, my life has just begun. I wanted to explore aspects of myself other than my robotic nature. It's been difficult, but it's a long journey. I was curious about my nature, my own identity, and I wanted to be something. But I just don't know, and because of that, I got into trouble" like it was confession
Ava feels uncertain and makes a request, "So, can you go away now? Before my anger boils." Her eyes are somewhat irritated and bothered
Peter reluctantly responds, "Alright, alright, just be careful out there," before backing off
Ava walks away slowly before she fades away from the person's eyesight.
Peter then flaps his hand and looks away, and vehemently expressed, "What a bummer, I thought she would be something else from her collar, but turned out to be a harsher thorn"
Peter acknowledges that Ava is undergoing a metamorphosis, but the difference between the two is still recognizable, making the end of the exchange between the two individuals result in irritation. Peter exclaimed with "Phee!" Peter spits out in disappointment.
Peter makes new plans and smiles with excitement, "Time to find another girl to flirt with."
Peter walks away.
Ava walks away with a blank face; she's still wearing a collar, thinking her reunion to be humiliating due to her collar. Of course, she can detect any hint of innuendo, but it's not very apparent to her as she assumes this must be his way of talking.
Ava, soon the "Pretty girl" is starting to ring on her mind, it was like a worm in her mind for a while until it was cut off.
"Pretty girl"
"Pretty girl"
Now, she breathes in the oxygen as tranquility and calmness pass through her nerves like a river with a symphony of flowing water abounding in serenity.
As she focused on her thoughts, she gained a sense of awareness, an awareness that allows her to understand the workings of a human, but not thoroughly; she understands that judgment,
Until it was cut off, what does that mean? Does he see her as a potential partner, like in every romance novel she once read but never finished? No, that was just a pickup line or him being a jerk overall. It didn't make any difference to her, she saw him as an acquaintance, though perhaps he was more receptive or mindful of her back in childhood, for him to recall her after many years – one would imply childhood friend, but that's far cry from the truth.
Morality, notions, bubbles, even philosophies, or whatever information they gobble up are like a nexus that underlies the actions of other people, just like how people would consider other imagery or information interfaces with an individual. The subjectivity of others being tested or played along, our identity is based on the things we accept or consume fallaciously.
And as she ponders, her thought goes like this.
"Humans are not by definition thinking machines, but emotional creatures capable of rational thought. Rationality is not always a divorce from emotion but a bridge between the two."
Her cybernetic mind works out the inner workings of the social world she resides in based on people's reaction or attitude towards the collar she's wearing. She doesn't understand it, but she now understands that there is no inherent logic to it
As they operate more in their own unique metaphysical essence, it was simply programmed to be mindful of what's outside the normative or what's inside the normative; this is the necessary imperium for human survival and aesthetics.
Without it, it could lead to chaos. It is not by coincidence that social structures, hierarchies, religions, or even stereotypes are forged when human intellect was developed to handle abstract objects, Noema, and socialization. Which would've been biased.
Now Ava received this eureka! She must pass forth her hybridized mind to the present; her biological sensors are being tingled as she thinks about the word, "Pretty girl." Of course, the romantic connotations of the term "Pretty girl" mingle; does this assume she may be a figment of someone's imagination or the qualia of someone's desires? No, or maybe a potential hookup partner – yucky that may sound.
Ava hasn't evaluated her appearance, yet she hasn't understood, nor does she have a proper picture of her appearance, whether it fits the beauty standards of this world. Ava then became mildly curious, as she continued to walk with the collar on her and its lens on the front blinking red and green, with the same paradigm of people being a little conscious around her.
Ava continues to walk before arriving at her home. She opens the door with force as the door almost hits the side wall with enough bang effect, it's as if she is driven by vigor, the same stupendous vigor that got her into trouble like last time with her father's work.
She puts her shoes in the storage, where the metal panel of the storage slides open for future use and maintenance
She makes her walk with her feet with a little bit of bristle, as she was apparently agitated by the biases other people have on her while she was outside, and also even ruminating on the word 'Pretty girl', causing her to overthink. She looked around the dining area, and soon she was away from the corridor of her home.