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stareaterau · 8 months

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Prologue

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I found this old recording from about 2 years and a half ago

I feel like it might be important to the story to come.

CW: mild description of violence towards end

Read below↓

or AO3

The recording opened with the shot of a rainy, empty street at night. The view is from the perspective of The Coward, you can't see their features. They held a cloak over their head and shoulders, whilst stumbling unsteadily on feet like long, dark, bird-like claws. The clank of soft metal tapped on the hard damp ground.

They stopped at an alley and pushed themselves up against a vending machine, breathing heavily. Their clothes were torn and fraying. The red jumper they were wearing seemed to have a long tear down one side, and the sleeve had instead been tied at the shoulder, exposing a dark metal limb with long talons, just like their feet.

They sat for a moment, mumbling incoherently to themselves.

There was a noise from down the alleyway and The Coward shrank against the wall, holding their breath, blending into the shadows.

???: Hey! I saw you running down here.

A tall figure rounded the corner. They were wearing a uniform, a blue jacket that had to be a size too small for them, with the sleeves rolled up and the collar popped.

They had a holster around their shoulder, that held a gun far too big and awkward for their frame, that they kept having to adjust back onto their shoulder.

The dim light of the vending machine illuminated their face. They had short brown hair with two long, braided strands, which were tied up at the back of their head, loose from running.

Their eyes were a soft green, and at angles reflected a bright blue. They were very unique and kind eyes.

[Profile found and documented. Let's call him The Hero.]

He turned down the alleyway and looked around cautiously.

The Hero: Oh… they turned into a vending machine?

The Coward, clearly moments away from being spotted, stepped forward.

The Coward: Rude.

The Hero: AHHH OH OH OH- oh you're still a person!

The Coward: And what are you? A jester?

The Hero: What? No, I'm a vindicator.

He pulled at the front of his jacket, showing off his newly stitched ‘V’ patch.

The Coward: Yeah, I can clearly see that, do they have a clown rank now?

The Hero: No? Why would they-

The Hero: Oh- you’re messing with me.

The Coward giggled, but they stopped quickly, as The Hero raised his gun, quietening them.

The Hero (trying to be intimidating): You’re messing with me, when I have a gun to your head?

The Coward scoffed.

The Coward: I'm hardly worried about being shot intentionally, you’re not even holding it right.

There was a clank, a shuffle, as The Hero looked at the gun and how he held it.

He shrugged, lowering the gun.

The Hero: ... I'm better with a bow.

The Coward: You gonna arrest me or what? Done flexing your superiority?

The Hero: How do you know I was gonna arrest you? Can't we just be having a conversation?

The Coward: You followed me down an alley, I know how people act when there's a hit on me.

The Hero: I wouldn't call it a hit. More like-... you’re a person of interest.

The Coward (sarcastically): Oh, yeah.

The Hero: Yeah! Well, I think this is you.

The Hero pulled up a holographic screen and held it up to The Coward, who rolled their eyes.

The screen was flipped for them, but they could clearly make out a portrait of a young man with dirty blonde hair and muted green feathers on their face. They had a smirk and a cut lip in the mugshot.

The Coward coughed a laugh at the sight of it, as The Hero looked at them and raised a brow.

The Coward: They don't even have my name, come on. I'm sooo being hunted ‘dead or alive’, without the alive.

The Hero: I wouldn't- I'm not going to kill you-

The Hero scanned over the information, confused.

The Coward: You’re new?

The Hero: I started a week ago.

The Coward: Think of yourself as a Hero, then?

The Hero didn’t say anything, just looked confused.

The Coward: Well okay Hero, why don't you try and catch me?

The Hero: Ah well-

The Coward pushed him and made a run for it down the alleyway.

The Hero: Hey hey wait-

He chased after them.

The Hero: That's a dirty move.

The Coward: Oh yeah? Well, you’re not gonna like this-

The Coward pushed over a smaller vending machine, smashing it on the ground, small food bars scattering across the floor.

The Hero: That's wasteful!

The Coward laughed.

The Hero laughed too, jumping over the vending machine with ease.

The Hero: If that's how you’re gonna play-

There was a noise. A shot fired.

The Coward reflexively put their arms over their head, but the shot didn’t hit them. Instead, it pinged off a wall, errupting into a huge, almost firework level explosion, making The Coward stop abruptly to avoid running into it.

The Coward (quietly): Whoa.

The Hero: Cool, right?

The Coward: No, I was just amazed with your ability to miss me.

The Hero: Hey! No fair, I was intentionally missing you!

The Coward, now that the embers had faded, continued to run down the street, yelling back quips.

The Coward: So you are a jester then, if they gave you fireworks.

The Hero (yelling back): They didn't give me fireworks, I was allowed to choose any gun.

The Coward: And you chose a sparkler?

The Hero: I chose the biggest gun I was allowed, actually!

The Coward (laughing): And how's that working out for you?

The Hero: I look cool, don't I?

The Coward: Sure.

They slipped on the wet ground, but flexed their sharp claws into the surface, the added grip giving them an advantage. The Hero was not too far behind, but he was clearly finding it harder to run with his thick leather boots.

Up ahead, The Coward stopped at a deadend, its walls too high for them to possibly climb, even without the rain.

They ran up to the wall and looked up at it hopelessly. There was the sound of something shifting, close against their back, from a developing reflex, but it granted no satisfying whoosh. They turned their head to watch their bare, immature feathers catch no air between them.

The Coward shivered. Their breathing short and rapid.

Out of the corner of The Cowards view, they spotted an old, withering creeper, pushed up against a dumpster, leaning into it with empty eyes. It rested completely still aside from a very faint flicker of light under one of its shells.

The Hero (out of breath): You're cornered! Aha! You run fast.

The Coward: ...

The Hero: You’re not gonna trick me and reveal you could fly away this whole time, are you?

The Coward (quietly): ...I can't-

The Coward: you wouldn't happen to want to let me go?

The Hero stood up straighter, once he caught his breath.

The Hero: I- ...I have a job to do.

The Coward: Cheat day? Just a secret between me and you.

The Hero: I’m sorry, I can't.

The Coward (nervously): Ahah- aren't you guys supposed to be corrupt? Why couldn't that be useful for me, for once?

The Hero: I can't let you go, you’re dangerous.

The Coward: You don't even know my name, or what I did.

The Hero: ...

The Coward: Please, really, I can't afford getting caught at all- you don't understand how much danger I'm in.

The Coward swayed on their legs, hissing as their barely healed wounds leaked slowly.

The Hero: Are you hurt? You look hurt.

The Coward: ...yes.

The Hero: Okay, okay, well, I can help you.

He smiled nervously.

The Hero: Maybe If I help tend your wounds, you'll let me take you in?

He held his hands out tentatively. The Coward took a moment to contemplate, briefly glancing towards the out-of-order creeper.

The Coward: Okay.

The Hero: Okay, okay, good! I have supplies on me-

Just as The Hero was distracted with pulling his bag off his back, The Coward took a step towards the creeper, slowly placing their hand behind it.

The Coward: I'm so sorry.

They pushed the creeper, making it fall into The Hero, who had only just looked up from his bag.

The creeper suddenly hummed loudly, with a hot glow growing under each metal scale.

The explosion pushed back the coward, not expecting the old rusty machine to acutally blow up that much. It must have been tampered with. Charged. They breathed loudly, watching the fiery wisps light up the alleyway.

Unsteadily they stood up, turning in the other direction to make a move to run.

But they stopped, and glanced towards The Hero. They saw him laying on his side, embers and smoke billowing around him. Everything was covered in so much ashy black and red that it was hard to find his face. But those eyes looked up at them, half lidded and not blinking, the shine of blue flickering from the reflection of small flames left by the creeper.

Those kind eyes looked up at The Coward.

The Coward ran.

#stareater au #life series au #gtwscar #grian #cw violence #stareater log #trafficblr

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