Chapter Text
The screen cast a slight glow throughout the dark room, barley luminating the furniture which seemed to bask in the changing light.
A chair facing said computer held a certain avian. One who currently looked as if he were fighting in a war alone without any weapons. Dark circles lined the bottom of his eyes.
To be fair, most people around him were suffering the same. College isn't easy for anyone really... okay, well maybe a few people. But honestly, you get the point.
Besides, it's not like he doesn't have any other reasons for his decrepit appearance.
Sliding further down into his chair, Ze groaned. It had been a... tough day, to say the least.
Classes that start at the crack of dawn ( 8am ) were never a good sign of events to come. And clearly the one he had that morning was just like the rest of the warnings.
-
Clocking in, or well... the closet thing a hero can do to it, Ze immediately felt the regret coursing through his veins. He was far too tired to possibly properly focus but... money is money and he needs it.
Long shift cut short, he had made the unpleasant discovery of a new and rising 'villain'. After a short battle with the outcome of a broken wing and a villain dragging their leg. His opponent promptly vanished into a TV.
Isn't that wonderful? Alongside needing at least a weeks rest minimum for his wing, now he has to waste more time writing up a report.
Adding a new villain to the watch-list was never the most thrilling experience. In fact, it was just a 17cm thick pile worth of paperwork with enough writing and signing required to drain a pen of its ink.
And now Ze had to do it. He was simply ecstatic.
-
Returning his focus back to the game displayed, he began mindlessly punching a tree, the starting point of all progression.
Starting a new world was like a flow-state truly. It would take something very off to snap him out of the motions drilled into his brain.
Something like...
[ ReGect joined the game ]
alt + f4
The window closed in on itself, leaving Ze staring at his wallpaper, wondering what the actual fuck that was.
You know, maybe if he were playing multiplayer than that wouldn't have bristled his feathers so much, but he wasn't...
That was simply the run of the mill, single-player world.
And someone had joined him.
It was definitely time for him to hit the hay.
-
Stocking up one of the many toppings, Ze shifted his wings uncomfortably under the tightly wrapped bandages.
Was compressing wings so close to the body that they ached a good thing? No, not at all, especially not if one is broken. But what choice did he have?
He couldn't exactly just waltz around with them, who knows how long it will take for someone to draw the connection between him and the hero 'dmaod'.
And then what? Have his life completely upturned? Absolutely not.
So, Ze attended work as normal, pouring in sugary additive after the seven teaspoons of sugar and mixing coffee after coffee.
Finishing an order, he began calling it out...
"Order for-" He paused. On the cup, written in sharpie was 'Regect'. That name run bells, not the good kind.
Snapping out of it, he restarted with the goal of finishing the order and getting whoever it was behind the name out of here.
"Order for... Regect."
A man far taller than him walked up to the counter, grabbing the cup from his hand and leaving a tip all in one fluid motion.
"Have a nice day." Ze forced out, smile pulling slightly too much at the corner.
"Certainly will after seeing you!" Smooth... kind of... okay no... he is not going to lie to himself. Who the hell says that to their cashier?
The man walked out the door, not before winking at him and turning around like nothing had happened, leaving Ze to silently freak out from the safety of the register.
Regect, like... the ReGect that had joined him - in his single player world, had shown up to his work. Yeah, that's fine. Funny joke, truly.
It's just a coincidence!
It's just a coincidence.
It has to be a coincidence...
-
Ze collapsed onto the couch, once bound wings falling haphazardly across it, numb from the pressure.
He had been through hell and back, even considering walking out at one point before his rent flashed before his eyes. The world is, in fact, not merciful.
Grabbing the remote with a flimsy arm, Ze turned on the TV, changing the station till he reached the news.
A white rectangle stretched across the bottom of the screen, black text detailing the scene currently shown on the screen. Flipped cars with smashed in fronts alongside a wreckage of surroundings tell him all he needs to know. It was a battle between a hero and a villain, definitely. No regular street fight would cause that much damage.
Eyes scanning around for any more details, he finally decides to turn his attention to the scrawling text at the bottom.
[ A fight between a new villain and well-known hero Msak resulting in major damage. Reports and eyewitnesses from pedestrians up next. ]
Ze watched as the messages started over again in its unending loop. Honestly, one thought crossed his mind, 'Thank God that wasn't me.'. Sure, he pitied his co-worker, especially considering they were friends outside of work but... it was about time he faced off with someone other than his 'nemesis'.
Hunger settled into him quickly as the broadcast continued on, eventually he pushed the buzz of the TV to the back of his mind, deciding to get food.
-
Pulling the cupboard doors back with a flourish, Ze was met with his options. Pasta, canned soup that most likely expired two years ago, an assortment of condiments, porridge and... cake mix.
Oh whoa. What a wide variety.
With no thought, he grabbed the pasta, collecting a pot and filling it with water along the way to the stove. Sure, pasta wasn't the most filling meal, but it was better than nothing.
It cooked rather quickly, taking merely a grand twenty minutes for Ze to be able to sit down with the unseasoned, undecorated pasta.
The TV continued in the background, going onto more talk about the recent influx of villains.
Stabbing the fork into a piece of pasta, Ze sighed.
It's going to be a long... long month...