Ava perches atop a building in the city in the wires they've been gradually claiming on their own, legs dangling over the edge and hands braced on the ledge. Far beneath them thousands of digital lives go about their business. Sprites, programs, viruses -- fewer of them, but not zero -- antiviruses, every kind of digital life imaginable, some gameless, some sneaking around on some business during the hours their players are absent.
In many ways, it operates much like a city on the other side of the screen would, with its own peculiarities. Circuiton has an unusually high proportion of sprite-driven crime, and is more hostile than many cities of its size towards viruses -- which makes Ava's choice as an infected bot to target it with their schemes a challenging prospect.
The city is active at all hours, and has a thriving nightlife, so below them a good number of the mostly sprites coming and going are clad in club-appropriate clothing, one group laughing loud enough it's a fair bet they've already more than started on drinking for the night.
At the moment, though, Ava's sight catches none of it. The rogue looks visibly exhausted, their eyes unfocused. Their thoughts are elsewhere, spinning constantly around memories that make their heart sink until their entire chest fills with a throbbing ache.
If their people who have been then since the beginning can leave, anyone can.
If one of the people who should have been safest for them to be around can try to kill them, they will never be safe.
If people who claim to love them can choose to leave them alone to deal with everything by themself and not involve them in the decision at all, they can't even count on anyone to be there when they need them.
A growing sense of despair threatens to swallow them, and they can't even find it in themself to scream. On the outside, they just look frozen.
"Dude... you alright?"
Ava snaps to attention, their eyes darting towards the light-coated Vulpera snapping her fingers in their face.
"What?"
"You were like... gone. I know you don't really talk about things but like... I don't know. Can I get you an energy drink or something?"
"I'm fine," Ava says tersely, eyes moving back to the streets below them.
"Whatever you say, man. Keep being weird," the second half is mumbled mostly to herself, and Laika's accent sounds a bit stronger as she does. "What do you think about the new ordinance, though? Do you think it's going to be a problem?"
Ava snorts derisively. "They're gonna have to find a way to enforce it. They can say whatever they want, but they can't do shit."
"Right... yeah."
"They're showing their hand so obviously now, though. I'm not sure if it's desperation, or they're setting bait."
"What do you mean?"
"I didn't have names to put to the thorns in my side until now. But now they're showing that at the least, they're buying out the council. And that's not gonna be so easy to hide."
Laika makes a quiet noise of understanding.
Ava stands up. "I need to think on the next move. You know what to do."
"Yeah... okay."
Ava vanishes from the space next to their fellow rogue, leaving her alone to survey the city until their next orders arrive.
