Faith stepped outside, walking to the desolate bike shed behind the law practice. Sparking up a L&M Red cigarette, she took deep drag, sucking the smoke into her chest, exhaling casually downward at her feet. Despite only having started her new job at Govan Law Practice for a few days, Faith quickly learned, despite being the youngest at the firm, she was the sole smoker. Her colleagues had either quit smoking years back, never dabbled, or were just militant anti-smokers.
Her habit, as well as her age, isolated Faith from her mature peers. Occasionally, one of her new colleagues would pass out back, taking garbage to the bins, exchanging bemused glances as Faith smoked. Most of her new colleagues assumed Faith had been given the job as office junior, out of pity or desperation. Seen as an outcast at school and at home, isolation was nothing new for Faith. In Faith's mind, cigarettes were her true friend; loyal, non-judgemental, present through good and bad times.
After another drag on her cigarette, Faith took out her mobile phone and checked messages, exhaling downward again. Scrolling through recent messages, including one from her older sister, Rose, checking how Faith's new job was going, or her over-protective mother Matilda, on what time she would finish work.
Suddenly, one new message flagged up on screen - Chronivac App - Download here. Change Yourself or Others Today.
Initially, Faith thought this was a typical spam message, and was about to delete but considered the possibility of change. With her cigarette smouldering, Faith was reminded of her self-inflicted isolation by habit.
Faith clicked on the link and downloaded the app from her app store, following all instructions. Soon, an icon appeared on her phone's home screen, and she clicked inside. Further instructions followed, by her creating an account and registering on the app. After installation, Faith scrolled through the options available, until she saw an option for Your Profile. On the next screen, were two options for either Manual or Automated. The Manual option presented pages and pages of options of characteristics for her to define.
This would take like forever, Faith thought, taking another deep drag.
Faith clicked on Automated. A throbber appeared, following an on-screen message saying "Reading". Faith inhaled again, whilst the app loaded.
After a few moments, Faith exhaled, and the app loaded up her entire profile, autocompleting all the options. Sceptical over the app's accuracy, Faith read through the returns and was shocked by the precision of the automated option. Her entire persona, down to her passion for punk music, was returned in the data fields on screen. At the bottom of the last page were options, to Save, Edit, or Cancel. As Faith contemplated her options, she saw under her Habits smoking was listed. With the almost finished L&M Red between her fingers, Faith felt a change was required in this area. Whilst smoking defined her, she was unhappy with the isolation it provided.
Faith clicked on Edit in the page, and loaded up the Habits section on the profile.