Chapter Text
Protag
It started with a power surge, then an outage.
My headphones went silent. I didn’t know what caused it, and I didn’t need to. The city was under attack from a giant robot, security was down, so I packed my bag and ran. I ran far away and didn’t stop until the lights of the blended into the stars in the sky. As soon as I found something resembling shelter, I also found a ray gun pressed to my neck by two guys in colourful masks like superheroes shouting at me to explain myself, calling me names, and demanding the contents of my backpack for my life. “Uh, not thank you?” I said, my voice high pitched and quiet as I raised my hands.
“Oh the little mouse speaks! Good to know the city kept that intact!” one of them said, in the darkness I could only see the sillhouette of a pair of bunny ears on his head. It made up for his considerable lack of height. I winced and quietly excepted my fate. That was, until he showed up.
Honestly, looking back, he was just as messy and unintimidating as he is now, but back then, he looked like a god in my eyes because no one in Bat city would dress like that. I thought his dark red singlet and dirty white unbuttoned shirt looked kinda cool. His hair was auburn with a strand handing in his face and he had two moles on his left cheek. He also had a flashlight so, you know, that looked kinda impressive in the dark night. “Hey! Watch it there, Bones, Nonsense Tuned. Why’re you wasting battery on some weakling anyway? I thought you were above that."
“Ah, shit. Look, Ash, we’re just looking for supplies,” Muttered the taller one. He kept his ray gun aimed at me but seemed to hesitate. Now that I could actually see them, I noticed his outfit of mostly black clothes, with bleached and painted bone patterns and lots of silver accessories.
“Why are you looking out for a city boy anyway? Are you really that soft now?” said the other guy. He looked younger than me and dressed in pastel colours that may or may not have supposed to look like that. And yeah, he was wearing bunny ears for some fuckn’ reason that’s honestly beyond me. “I haven’t changed, Nonsense, He’s mine. Simple as that. Back off.”
“Woah, King of the Desert here thinks he’s all that now just because he rolled with Dr D and Cola a while back. Newsflash Rotary, They’re dead.” The goth sneered, his comment was completely gibberish to me, but it made this guy tense up. I got the feeling there was unresolved business between them. My defender didn’t dwell on it too long, and drew his ray gun on them.
“I won’t hesitate again, Bones.” He shouted, which made the goth guy pull his gun away from my head as he raised his hands in playful surrender, “Alright. Just sayin’, someone from our crew got dusted last week...”
“You weren’t trying to recruit him, you were trying to off him.”
“We never said it was him we wanted. The positions always open, Ash.” The bunny ears guy smirked at him and pivoted on his heel as they both walked away.
As they retreated, the other guy, my protector, shouted after them, “And I don’t want it.” Before running a hand through his messy hair turning to me and asking “So, you really just left the city, huh?” I felt shaken by the encounter, but tried to answer him though my voice shook.
“Er, y-yeah. Who are you?”
“Rotary Ash. You? Or, ah, I guess you don’t have a proper name yet.”
“A proper name?” I asked, we were standing next to what seemed to be the wreckage of an old car, so he sat down on a piece of metal sticking out of the ground and I sat next to him. He stood the torch in between us.
“Y’know, most Killjoys have names like mine. Those two were Nonsense Tuned and Bones. Most people have two words, not all. Mine is based off an old kinda phone because I like being connected to people or- used to be.” His expression grew sad for a moment before he smirked and said “And Ash because I like burning stuff.”
“Ah, that’s um, interesting… so it’s just stuff you like and connect with? Like poetry…”
“Ha, yeah, I guess it is a bit poetic. A lot of Killjoys love music and art and stuff too. Mostly because it’s emotional and messy and real.”
“Everything B.L.I isn't...” I muttered. I found it beautiful and exciting that there was a whole world of people like that.
“Yeah. You don’t have to come up with a name right away, but what do you like?” Rotary Ash said. his voice was loud and confident, I realised. He wouldn't survive in the city.
“Um, I uh, I like sewing… and rodents, like rats and stuff. And… I don’t know, spaghetti?”
He laughed and smiled at me “Well that's something. Have a think about it, dude.” He said, patting me gently on the shoulder.
“Is that okay? You don’t have anything to call me.”
“Then what about something simple, a one-word name I can call ya by? And if you ever find something you like more, it’ll become my nickname for you.”
He suggested. I smiled a bit at that idea. I knew I was out of place here, but somehow, Ash really made me feel better. “Okay, how about Stiches?” I said, still a bit nervous.“Ha, yeah, I like that. You can call me Rote. That’s what my girlfriend used to call me,” His face flickered with that sadness again, so I decided to leave it. it was so late couldn't tell if it was midnight or early morning, so Rote took me back to where he'd set up camp.