Borealis Nine - Talking Hands

     "So, where is it that you come from?" Aurora asked Ember as they leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Nighttime had finally arrived, and the sky was filled with pollution curated neon, the same as any night.
     "Are you serious?" said Ember.
     Embarrassed, Aurora looked over at the new "friend" next to her who was sailing across the same huge gap as she was with the same fearlessness she had. Granted, Ember was trailing Aurora ever so slightly, but it was apparent that the girl was rather tired.
     Ember hadn't noticed Aurora's look. Still, she responded, Aurora thought, as though she had. "Come on. I'm from the inside. I mean, have you ever even seen anyone else like me out here before?"
     They landed on the next building, hard. So it took Aurora a moment to gather her breath. "Not exactly," she said, breathing heavily. "But you certainly move like someone who lives out here. It's just that... I've never seen someone from the inside before. So, I wasn't sure. Granted, my first instinct was--"
    "The instinct you should have gone with?" Ember said with a smirk. "Listen, I can tell you're a pretty savvy girl. Otherwise, you wouldn't have made it out here for as long as you have. Trust me. I watch you guys a lot."
     "Really?"
     "Yeah, and I'm surprised those guys hadn't killed you by the time I got to them."
     "I can certainly agree with you there."
     Aurora remembered how she had failed to escape the Riser Dogs that morning. She then remembered how a bunch of glass and a puddle of champagne had prevented her escape. Suddenly, the palm of her left hand began to throb. Aurora had somehow managed to not notice or even remember the wound up until now. Of course, she hadn't really needed her hands for anything since she and Ember had been doing little more than running and jumping ever since they had met, but she would need the use of her hands again soon, as they were closing in on the place where they needed head down into the city, to the streets below. Aurora winced. That was not going to be a pleasant process. At least she had been through worse before. So, it wasn't going to be terrible.
     "Are we there yet?" Ember said, snapping Aurora back to reality.
     "What? Are we there yet?" Aurora laughed, trying to distract herself from the pain. It wasn't working. "We only just started. However, we won't be up here much longer."
     "Going down I take it?"
     "Yes. See that tall building we're approaching?" A building ahead of them stood slightly taller than any of the other buildings the two girls had traversed so far. "Once we're over that, we're going to start going straight down, keeping between the tall building and the one in front of it."
     Ember nodded. "Sounds good to me."
     "One thing, though. You need to fall back behind me a little more once we clear that building. There won't be enough room for two people on some of the things we'll have to jump on."
     "Fun."
     No, Aurora thought, it wasn't going to be fun. Her hand was hurting more and more by the second. And as they made their way up the tall building, Aurora had to bite her lip so as not to give away that she was hurting as badly as she was. An obvious Roof Rat was a dead Roof Rat, as far as she was concerned, even at night.
     Ember, however, had a knack for noticing things that she wasn't supposed to notice. "Are you gonna be alright?" She asked. "That hand of yours is looking pretty nasty."
     "I'm fine!" Aurora said, surprisingly abrupt in her tone. "Now stay behind me."
     They had reached the top of the building they needed to climb over. Quiet for once, Ember did as she was told, and the girls soon began their descent down into the bottom of the city. As she followed Aurora, Ember wondered what she had said to upset the outsider. It took a mysterious girl to smile at unnecessary sarcasm and scowl at legitimate concern. Then again, Ember wasn't exactly accustomed to the ways of the outsiders.

Borealis Five - Yester's Eve

     Ember pressed her face against the window and stared at the girl who was sleeping outside. She noticed that the girl had a giant champagne bottle lying next to her. "Where did she get that?" Ember wondered. The Unfortunate Ones had no access to such items. The Business Types had made sure of that fact. Every room inside Borealis' buildings was airtight. Every window was one way, allowing the Business Types to keep constant watch over the Unfortunate Ones. And every door and every gateway on the outside of the buildings opened up to nothing more than a metal wall. All of the real doors were hidden, and the Unfortunate Ones had no knowledge of this cruel truth thanks to the robots the Business Types had built to guard the false doors and gateways.
     "Maybe we can be friends," Ember said to herself as she watched Aurora sleep. "I had no idea there was anyone out there like me." She removed her face from the window, brushed her short, blonde hair behind her ears, and walked over to the door of the small, empty room she was in. "Time to get busy."
     Without a sound, Ember slipped out of the small room and shut the door. She then traced her finger along the lines of the door's frame, activating a hologram that made the door appear as though it were just another part of the wall. Once she was content that no one had seen what she had done, she made her way down the hallway and disappeared.

Borealis One - Kaleidoscope Sweets

     

     Aurora looked up into the neon night sky of Borealis, an aging city of shadows and blacks, these darks the horrible nothings that encased the vibrant, yet deathly lit, electronic colored advertisements decorating the city's metal and glass clothing. Stars abounded the heavens, and every drop of the rainbow was represented in their ancient star shine. Although breathtaking to behold, the beauty of the sight was little more than a grand lie spawned from the ceaseless pollution that sweated up from the streets and factories below. Aurora breathed it all in with a sigh. This wretched city of Borealis was her home. It was her comfort and the place she loved.

     In her hands Aurora held a large bottle of the sweetest champagne a Roof Rat like herself could come by on a night like that night. Which is to say, it was a night unspecial to any other. It was normal, and, thus, all she had managed to obtain was an average bottle of champagne containing only the minimum required amount of sweet a person ever really needs in a drink. But to Aurora, the near potable, alcoholic substance she grasped was unique, as was the night before her. It had been an arduous day, and of course it was the difficult things that Aurora often found boring. So, how pleasant an idea it was to sit on the edge of the second tallest building in the city and gaze up upon the celestial, studded, neon crown painted above Borealis' most absurd building. After a swig from her bounty, Aurora felt the hug of peace embrace her. All was right in her world.

     Soon, the warmth of slumber and the chaos of dreams covered Aurora's eyes and lulled her consciousness into the next day, yet another rough day that would make the mundane of her night feel like the grandest treasure God had to offer.