Borealis Thirteen - I Got the Fuzzies

     Ember's chin was the first thing Aurora saw when she woke up. And, from what Aurora could tell, everything was slightly green and also very dark at the same time. It didn't make very much sense to her. Why was she waking up, again? It was starting to feel like the only thing she could do anymore was fall asleep and wake up.
     This time, consciousness brought with it an odd sensation that Aurora had never felt before, and it grew even more peculiar as the seconds passed. Aurora thought it was pain at first, but it didn't quite feel like pain. It almost tickled a little and made her body feel like mush. She wondered what would happen if she moved. She eventually tried, and when she did, her body shocked and tightened like a whip that had just been cracked. The tickling stopped, and a very high, shrill whisper then crawled from Aurora's lungs. Her body flinched involuntarily as well. She wanted to get her companion's attention, but no words wanted to come from her lips, and Ember remained oblivious to what was happening next to her.
     The fat man with the green eyes took a step forward and said, "Aurora!"
     "Aurora?" Ember said, confused. The girls had neglected to ever introduce themselves to one another. "Oh! Aurora!" She realized that the strange word was probably the girl's name. "Stay away from her. I know what you people do to each other out here!" Ember, aiming to guard her companion, slid over to what she thought was an empty spot in front of Aurora. However, it was actually the spot where Aurora's side was located.
     The hurried bump was not good for Aurora. In fact, it was incredibly excruciating. Her previous whisper of hurt left her, and an ear raking screech took its place, echoing up and down the city's walls.
     Ember jumped to her feet, startled now more than ever, screaming, "What?! I don't-- Aurora?!" She couldn't figure out how a little bump had garnered such a response from Aurora when entire buildings had elicited nothing from the girl.
     Suddenly, the fat man rushed over to the girls. The sight was threatening, to be sure, especially with the eerie green light the man carried with him, and had Ember been in her right mind after the screech, she might have stopped him, but it was better that she hadn't.
     "We need to get away from here. It's not safe," he said, his eyes focusing on Aurora, who was now frozen mid squirm, eyelids and teeth clenched tight. "The morning sun won't be waking up the denizens of Borealis today. They're already awake now, despite the gas." The man pulled up his sleeves and then reached into one of the pockets of his trench coat, retrieving from it a small sphere. "What I'm about to do will look very odd, but rest assured, Ember. I'm here to help Aurora."
     Ember, dumbfounded and full of panic, said, "Uh," again, wishing very much that her vocabulary and quick wit would stop abandoning her.
     The man turned his head toward Ember. "You're very unlike yourself today. You need more sleep or else this place is going to kill you." Then, he turned back to Aurora, knelt down, and squeezed the sphere over Aurora's head. "This will only take a second. As soon as it's done, and you'll know when it is, pick her up and follow me."
     "Okay," Ember said, brows furrowed.
     "Ready?" he said and dropped the sphere onto Aurora's forehead.
     The impact of the sphere produced no sound or any indication of an impact, really, and in a second, just as the man had said, the sphere had done its job. Ember didn't even see what happened since it had happened so quickly. One second, Aurora looked no different than she had before. The next, she was was covered in an ultra thin, transparent substance that encased her entire body. She no longer displayed signs of agony, either. Peace had overtaken her, and she was asleep again.
     Almost forgetting herself, Ember snapped to and grabbed up Aurora as the man had said. She was prepared to start running or jumping, but she noticed that the fat man with the green eyes wasn't moving like he was supposed to.
     The man grunted. "On second thought, just hold onto my shoulder. We don't want to risk harming her any further." And without waiting for Ember to do so on her own, the man plonked the girl's hand onto his shoulder.
     Had anyone been creeping nearby, they would have heard a snap. The green lit balcony switched back to darkness. A dark blue could be seen far above. The sun would soon rise above the horizon and illuminate the sky. The man and the girls had disappeared.

Borealis Twelve - Blinded by Fire

     "What do you want?" Ember asked the green eyes.
     The green eyes grew brighter in response, but the owner of the eyes said nothing. Green light, meanwhile, filled the balcony, cutting through the trace amounts of yellow smog that lingered in the dark morning air. More and more light flooded from the two eyes as Ember sat, making it easier for her to see who stood before her.
     A large, round belly covered in a tattered trench coat was the first notable feature the growing light revealed. Then came broad shoulders adorned with large, black feathers that stuck into the air. Last came a pair of extra long arms, most likely extended by the trench coat's length, and a pair of rather short legs that were dressed in baggy corduroy. The face, however, remained a mystery as the green eyes were now so bright that they masked any features hidden behind them.
     Ember shielded her eyes with the back of her hand. She couldn't take anymore of the light's intensity. "Well," she said. "What do you want to do besides that?"
     The lights immediately dimmed to a more bearable level. Ember brought down her hand and could see that the eyes were attached to a large gas mask. The figure continued to remain silent.
     Unamused, Ember sighed, "Is that all you can do? Turn your lights on and off and scare people?"
     The figure shifted its weight and coughed a very muffled cough.
     "Great."
     Then, what sounded like a chuckle from the inside of a full trash can escaped the figure. "Ember," it said in an equally canned, though obviously masculine voice.
     Completely baffled, Ember said the only thing she was capable of saying at that moment, "Uh." All other words left her brain. So, she sat there, staring at the fat man with the green eyes who knew her name. She didn't even notice that Aurora was beginning to wake up.

Borealis Three - Neo Crow

     Silence. The deafening sound that permeates the morningscape of each and every day in Borealis. It pricks the ears of the Unfortunate Ones, whispering, "The Sun has gone up to sleep in the sky, and the Moon has gone down to work in the earth below. What say you to a day of jamboree?" And each of the four walks of the city arise from their slumber to honor the silence, noting the absence of the nighttime factories' hum by saying nothing. Orange, meanwhile, bathes everyone and everything, the Sun's light the true instigator of consciousness.
     A Grounder Bird cries out from Balderdash Alley, sharing the good news that silence needn't hold the morning captive any longer. "Pray," he says. "Pray for the jubilant jamboree!" On the next level up, the stomps of the Riser Dogs clang out and echo, ensuring that no other soul dare lie in dreams, lest they suffer the bite of a Riser Dog wrangle. And, from all corners of the city, Sun Cats sing at the shadows cast from the sunrise's ascent. Their song proclaiming the city's approaching warmth:

"O, Shadows shallow on your fallowed gallows,

travel o'er the graveled graces, sing to me your addled places.

Leave me from, the eaves they come, death to all, to all the dumb!"

     Quickly, the Roof Rats scurry to their hiding places. Their squeaks of fear drawing the routine of Borealis' dawn to a close. Pure daylight then covers the city in warmth, the warmth warned of by the Sun Cats' song. For sunlight often calls out to those who wish to cause harm. No soul is safe out from under the shadows' blanket.
     It would not be a good day for Aurora, in that case. Too much champagne had gone into her system the night before. So, she lay there, that day, asleep as the shadows retreated from her body. Had she any luck, the stomps of the approaching Riser Dogs would rouse her in time enough.