Climbing the ladder- scion
The streetlight flickered as Scion walked down the darkened sidewalks of a more rundown district of Praque. Restoration had been a little more lax in this pocket of slums, the outer districts, cracks in the veneer mask the Great City wore. Where it was easier to go through life unnoticed, left to your own devices under the oppressive machine that was their society. Everything with a place, a use for everyone, right? Tell that to my mother.
It had been a long shift working as a bus boy for a local diner, one of many the crimson furred phuzo juggled at any moment. He groaned and cracked his neck as he crossed a quiet street with sluggish pawsteps heading towards a cheap fast food place that was just around the corner from home.
The tired phuzo paused outside of the restaurant, stepping to the side so he could finish his cigarette and watch the stars amidst the light pollution of the city. Without checking his PDA Scion guessed it was about 2am, what a wretched time to get home. Most of this area was silent as reasonable people slept when the suns went down. What a drag. Speaking of drag, Scion took one last long inhale before crushing the cig in his metal hand to extinguish it. He holds in the burn for a second before slowly exhaling, feeling the weight of the day melt away with the drifting smoke. With a small grunt he cleared his throat and spat off to the side before heading into the brightly lit food stop.
Blinking rapidly, Scion scowled at the sharp stab of pain to his retinas as bright artificial light flashbanged him upon entry.
"Ugh" he groaned, trudging up to the self serve kiosk like a zombie. He looked up at the menu with an agitated squint, before deciding on a SynthMac, extra cheese, extra large fries, pop, and a black coffee. He was barely aware of his surroundings as he paid and collected his bag of food, stumbling back into the street to head home.
Scion wandered into the lobby of his apartment complex, his head leaning against the wall as he pressed the up button, feeling the monotony of his day pressing back down upon him like a smothering blanket. It was corrosive to his being, he hated being so...confined. He was meant to live fast, on the road with the wind in his hair, not running around a busy diner and being screamed at all day.
His internal mumbling was interrupted as the elevator slid open to Scions dark floor. He decided he'd pick up a different job at the temp agency tomorrow, or maybe take a day off and bother Cathy. He smirked at that idea as he approached his door, swiping his keycard to finally, finally make it home.
Jacket off, tossed aside to the clothes heap that sat beneath empty hangers in his closet. Pants and shirt, torn off and thrown against the opposite wall in the dirty laundry pile to be washed in the morning. Scion changed into a clean pair of black plaid jammie pants and wandered to his small balcony, grabbing the bag of food along the way.
There was a cheap foldable chair out here, and as Scion settled into it with a loud groan, he leaned back and let out a contented sigh. The view was shockingly beautiful from here, the cities entertainment district glowing ahead with a distant myriad of lights and colours. A sight worth more than what Scion paid for this dumpy apartment each month, and it was a luxury he took full advantage of.
After a moment of silence though, the crimson phuzo leans to the side to push a button on the wall, bringing a thin hologram screen out to half obscure the view in front of him. The screen was set to an internet browser, currently set to a livestream of a phuzo playing and reacting to some new horror game.
With everything now set, Scion settled in for a few hours of tube and food to end his day, decompressing after another shit job to make shit money to buy shit food. This was the good life.