Property of K'arn OrphanageI've finally reached the teenage years. Only a few more until I can leave this place. Here at the orphanage they give us these journals if we reach our teens before we get adopted. They don't actually care about us, they only do it because they have to if they still want funding from the Hylotl. The sad thing is, their neglect about us is the main reason I'm still here. The other hatchlings always pick on me because I'm different. If only I had been smarter back in those early years about not letting myself become too "unique". Due to their bullying, I'm always afraid to go outside of the orphanage workers sight. One time, they put something in the shampoo bottle that caused a burning feeling all over where I rubbed with it, though it took a second or two to kick in. Bastards. I'm not supposed to swear in this thing, but who's going to read it? Anyway, with their tricks, I shy away from the shower room, and other places where I don't have anything or anyone to protect me. The thing is, who wants to adopt the short, gay, dirty, flat-beaked hatchling? Nobody. I'm mainly just rambling on in this thing while the other hatchlings are messing around. They don't go to sleep until around eleven, even though we are sent to our rooms at nine. Plenty of time to write, though in reality, I should just be making plans on how to survive the next day instead.
I'm a legal adult now, yay. They didn't even give me anything except for the clothes off my back. I had to steal this journal along with some sheet covers. Figures, the guys didn't care about us. I'm writing this while sitting out in the middle of a desert, huddled beneath the shade of the cover. All I need to do right now is find some water... or maybe food. [Erase Marks] Honestly, I need to find somebody, someone who's an adult and will take me under their [Erase Marks] arm. Back when I was at the orphanage, I heard of this Glitch who'd been living out in the desert, maybe I'll be lucky and find him. Hopefully Glitch don't eat Avians...
I lucked out. This guy's taking me in. Not to the police, but into his home. He keeps calling me Dirt-Feet, probably because my crappy sandals wore out before I got here. Oh well, I like it, it was waaay better than the name they gave me back there. Plus, it recognises the new start that I have. Anyway, the Glitch is a scavenger, he roams the galaxy, picking apart shipwrecks and taking all kinds of cool loot. He still sees me as a hatchling, but thats fine by me. I hate being expected to do things. Tomorrow we're going to head out to a distress call that was activated three days ago, I can't wait! - Dirt-Feet
There was some pretty good stuff there. My friend and I picked through the ship wreckage, and thats where I saw my first corpse. He was an Apex, a beam was driven right through his stomach and his head was being picked apart by the wildlife... The Glitch was mostly unimpressed, just continuing to loot the area. We found some guns, including a big pulse rifle, which he gave to me, as it didn't use ammunition and man, if he gave me the gunpowder one, we would be all out of money. I was TERRIBLE with shooting, though he says I'm getting better. We'll see. - Dirt-Feet
It's been quite awhile since I wrote in this... we're about to scavenge a human lab, though I'm not sure the owner is dead or left it, yet. I'm worried, what if the guys still there? And what if he's armed? I wish my parents were here. - Dirt-Feet
I'm out of the damn USCM prison. The USCM came, shot us up, and hauled me off to one of their bunkers. After awhile of sitting there in pain, a Floran and an Avian come in, the Floran starts getting all pushy and... Kluex, if not for the Avian, whose name is Krishna, I'd probably be dead... I don't know what happened to my friend, or if I'll ever see him again, but he wasn't brought back with me. Well, I'm officially banned from USCM Space, so thats a thing now. They dropped me off a freakin' Tetanus Fields. Tetanus Fields, its like they want me to die. I'm going to get a stable job, then finally try to figure this religion thing out that Krishna was talking about. - Dirt-Feet
Well, I sold my welding mask in exchange for some pixels. I'm using those pixels to rent out a crate to live in. It's alot better than some of the other places my friend and I used to stay. Now that I think about it, he was more than just a friend. He was like a father. Note to self: Find out how my parents died, or disowned me. Anyway, I'm working on the generator in the factory and I've already begun doing some side-jobs, like fixing the oven at The Oven and fixing some plump woman's fuel canister, only igniting myself twice. I really need to clean myself every once in awhile. Though I may look like a duck, the oil still sticks to my feathers, or whatever the human expression is. The residents of Tetanus Fields are pretty few, but the leader of the place is named Sherrif West and the co-leader is Korpser Crowliss. Spitfire runs The Oven and theres a silent glitch who hangs about. He came and stared at me. Pretty sure he doesn't like me. The other residents are just miners and I didn't bother talking with them. For now, I'm just waiting for an opportunity to spring up. - Dirt-Feet
So, great, that opportunity finally came along. I've been working on a bunker for some USCM folk, but these guys seem kind of... nice? Anyway, it's mostly just fixing up the air-system and making it air-tight, as well as setting up the solar panels. Easy peasy, though I'm going to drag it out a bit so they pay more. With all this money, I'll be able to afford a taxi and actual food, not the stuff Spitfire makes at The Oven. I'll write another entry later, somebody needs an engineer on the radio. - Dirt-Feet
That imbuscule Sweyn! I had met a Glitch on his ship to fix it up. Turns out, he ended up beaming me down to the planet with him and we were right next to an Avian Crypt. Sweyn ran on in, even though I said not to, and he assaulted two crypt guards! Even as I yelled at him for knocking them unconscious, he kept pressing forward. Eventually, we got to some metal gates, used for keeping things in instead of out. Through the gates were some... skeletal birds, or something. I don't remember, the adrenaline was flowing, I just pulled out my Mark II and fired at them until they fell into a pile of bones. I can kill things that don't think and are trying to attack me, but killing a person... that's too much. He knocked out even more priests, at least he wasn't killing them like I asked. He kept calling me Dirt-Butt and calling Kluex Kleenex, obviously respect was low on his standards. We pressed onwards and I saw a big pit with saws. I told him that they /obviously/ don't want us here and that we should turn back, but noooo, he grabbed onto me and THREW me acrossed. I know I'm light, but he could have killed me! We went onwards, now getting to the sarcophagus part of the crypt. There were a couple of sarcophagi and a mass grave. Sweyn began to LOOT the crypt, taking out the gold and other possessions, against my yelling, of course. I couldn't fight him, Kluex as my witness, he was massive compared to me. One hit from him could send me into unconsciousness, or worse. This went on and finally I agreed to help him, but only to get out and that he would have a serious conversation with me on his ship. Then it went downhill. While I was looking at the mass grave, he placed something against the wall, then told me to run. I ran towards him, naturally, and an explosive went off, destroying the grave, mutilating the body-parts, and blasting open the wall so we could beam out. I yelled at him, though I think his ears were deafened like mine, or he was just not listening as before. We left and now I'm here, writing in my journal instead of praying... I need to go pray. - Dirt-Feet
My head hurts. I'll try to write down as much as I can remember, though. I was at The Oven when Sweyn started advertising over the radio that I was buying free drinks for everybody, which I absolutely couldn't afford to do, lest I become bankrupt. I kept telling him that, then saying repeatedly over the radio that I wouldn't do it. Alas, people came anyway. This one Floran, called herself Sun-Juice or something, nabbed my radio after throwing pepper in my eyes. I bet Sweyn had something to do with that. Anyway, I chased her all over, eventually she shoved the radio down into her underwear, which I will certainly not grab at! Sweyn then pulled a trick on me, pretending that he had taken the radio from Sunflower and I chased him around with my welder. Eventually, I couldn't bring myself to weld him together and we headed back to the bar to negotiate. Then it starts getting foggy. I remember Sweyn hoisting me up over his shoulder, then tossing me through the air towards Sunflower. I think I blacked out or something, cause the last thing I remember is being here, in my bed, and it wasn't a dream due to my missing radio. I need b-[Erase Marks] friends. - Dirt-Feet
My pixels are running low, I need to get out of this wasteland. There's a new colony, New Chicago, I think. It'd be a great place to start off as an engineer. Maybe I'll even find a steady job, who knows? Now I just gotta call a taxi service and head out. Who knows? Maybe this'll be my big break. - Dirt-Feet
It wasn't. My pixels are out, I'm short of a job, and I have no ship either. It was left at the damn scientists lab. Now I'm hungry, poor, and homeless. I should've stayed at Tetanus Fields or listened to Skarti and went to Alioth Prime instead. - Dirt-Feet
I have everything back! Also a can of meatballs, half-eaten, but it was free. I was asking for any scraps of food left on my new radio, which I bought back at Tetanus after my old one was stolen, and this Hylotl asked if I wanted any of the meatballs. When I got there, he asked why I wanted a half-eaten can of meatballs and if he could help me any more than this. I told him that I needed somebody to drop me off at the old human's lab, so he agreed. Apparently, he was a mercenary [Erase Marks] (His name was Gills, by the way) and we went down to the planet guns a blazing. I didn't shoot anything, Kluex no. He did all the animal killing and turret defusing. Eventually we ran into the scientist who had started to shoot at us. Gills fired back at him, but I don't think he hit. Anyway, after we allowed access to beam to my ship, we got out of there. I finally had all my stuff back, like my space-tight suit and my toolkit and ship! I gave him my Black Lotus 01 for his help. He was kind of mean, but helpful at least. Maybe I'll see him again someday. For now, it's time for some Job Hunting outside of New Chicago. - Dirt-Feet
I've applied for a job on Taranis. I'm going to be a blacksmith, which I think is something like a mechanic. A house will come free with the job, too! I've also met an Apex named Meriweather, whose quite talented at playing the piano, and he's kind of... cute? He's an Apex, I don't even know... Great job Dirt-Feet, questioning your sexuality and fetishes or whatever at the age of 22. He's just going to be my friend, I've made mistakes with hitting on people, like Wren. - Dirt-Feet
Well, my plumage caught fire while I was writing the past entry, great. Anyway, I just looked up the actual blacksmith job and it's nothing like I thought it was going to be! I need to opt out of this and try to get a job as an innkeeper. Side-Note: On a whim, I made a very light pass at Meriweather, just prodding to see if he was like me or not. Nope, but maybe I'll be surprised. - Dirt-Feet
My datapad was taken by The Outcasts... my plumage was torn out by a Russian and a Blue-Jay looking Avian, and today... man today just sucks. I was down at the bar and this Blue-Jay and Russian Human came up to me, they started demanding to know where the female hookers or something were and they were getting all up in my face and all and then the Russian started threatening to brush my plumage. So I kept saying I didn't know anything about the hookers and they just kept going at it until eventually the Russian started running a brush through my ratted plumage. I'm pretty sure he was tearing it out! Anyway, they threw me over their shoulder and I was yelling and calling for help and as they dragged me near the beampad, the Outcasts beamed down and they beamed out, causing me to fall on my face... They pushed the gun up to my head and I stayed on the ground. They stole my datapad too, they had a man on the inside, or at least, a Floran. Everytime my life starts getting better, it just ends up worse... - Dirt-Feet
He's... dead. Meriweather's dead. Plucking hell, I hate everything. My only damn friend is dead now and Napol doesn't give a shit either. Now "Lady Luck" as the humans call it, won't even wait for me to be happy before making my life shit. I just... I need a drink. - Dirt-Feet
I am waaay too emotional for my own good. The bitch lied about Meriweather being dead. You shouldn't even joke about those things... Anyway, we went back to the bar, talked a bit, I told him how much I was worried about him etcetera etcetera. I still don't know about drinking, though... it's allowed, as long as you don't drink too much, but it's rather a foul taste, or at least, the alcohol Dirt-Biter gave me was. I doubt it'd help anyway. Oh, I almost forgot, the Dianthus Cartel is paying me to smuggle "Angel Dust" to colonies throughout Antares. I'm just dropping them off in discreet locations, though, so I shouldn't be caught. It'll be some good pay to replace that Datapad. It's only temporary and slightly illegal. - Dirt-Feet
Well... the letter I sent to the orphanage finally came back. I know how I was orphaned, now. My father threw himself off the tower for Kluex and my mother went into mourning. She stopped, picking up drugs instead. She died of SSD. I don't know how I feel about this... it's good to have some closure and all, but... Augh, I just realized I write like I speak, unsure. I only wish I could have met them, seen what they were like, have them call me by name and care about me. [The entry suddenly ends.]
Outcast raid. Again. I got my datapad replaced though, yay. I'm still going to be refiguring it, changing it to suit my needs and what-not. Anyway, Outcasts raided and I held up in the bar with Free Radical and a couple of other people, like this human with squinty-looking eyes and another glitch. I'll talk about Free Radical later. So they raided and I shut the gate after everybody got inside, they didn't find any of us, but I gave Free Radical my pistol to hang on to, but while I was cowering behind the table, he must have left without knowing he still had it. After then, I called out on the radio for Meriweather, who was hanging out at the Med-Bay. He had been shot in the leg by The Outcasts. I helped him into his bed and stood by his side until he no longer needed me. I really don't want him to die... he's my only friend left. In regards of Free Radical... he went up to me and said I'd do nicely, as I asked he said that I had a very innocent-looking face. Heh, if he knew the full thing about it, the fact that I /am/ innocent would probably shock him. I was asked by him to be his man-servant, otherwise known as a butler, at a Gala Festival that he would be hosting. My main job would be to listen in on the secrets the guests would be sharing, but also bus the tables and do stuff that a butler would do. As I began explaining to him about how terrible of a butler I'd be, he started talking about how he could fix me up. Like let me shower, find me new clothes, teach me how to do this etcetera. I wish Taranis was more heavily guarded, though. The Outcasts are just raiding this place non-stop. Maybe I'll move to Opportunity, it should be safer with all the RA, but I'm not so sure about the USCM that joined their ranks... Oh, and I'm still looking for a new name. - Dirt-Feet
