Regrets.

((Sit down and gather around youngsters, for today I shall spin you the tale of the Vireo Heartplume that the Stargazers know. Ah yes, before his days in Antares, he was an edgy space terrorist, much like you are today! (I was bored and never showed much light on the 'bad things' that Vireo did before Antares, and then I felt like writing one day.... soo.... here's what I made) ))

The bustling city whirled around the group of four- barely noticing them. Shopkeepers stood at their stalls, sporting impressive arrays of jewelry, weapons, huge fruits and vegetables, tender meats and other assorted goods. Dozens- if not hundreds of colorfully adorned Avians milled around, the females gawking at jewelry and purchasing food, the males examining expensive looking steel blades and crowding around inns and bars, - the explosive sounds of their laughter could be heard rising above the the crowd. Youngsters swaggered about in false confidence, played games and tried to stealthily sneak the healthiest looking fruits. Off in the distance, the distinct sound of bells were heard, echoing ominously throughout the city at regular intervals.

But all this commotion did not affect the four. Many noticed them, but they neither noticed nor cared for the crowd. They were adorned in all black robes, hoods over heads- and underneath that, thin steel armor coated their bodies. They moved swiftly through the crowd, keeping silent unless neccesary, moving at a fast but not too suspicious pace.
The group travelled for perhaps a quarter mile through the crowded streets, before taking a detour through an alley and into one of the more shady inns of Avos. Once inside, they pulled down their hoods and made their way to the bartender.
"We are the Tears.", said one in a hushed whisper. The barkeep looked at them lazily, eyeing over the group. After a moment, he slouched over the counter and said in a thick voice that reeked of liquor -
"'Aye, I can tell ye are. The door is in the back, along with the goods. Get'n and get out, there's a priest here that might git suspicious", he said to them.

The leader of the four- a medium sized Avian with jet black feathers- simply nodded and walked behind the counter, and the three others followed after. They found the door the barkeep had told them of- once opened, it lead down a dimly lit staircase and into a wine cellar.
"Ready?" the lead asked the group.
One of the other three- an Avian with bright orange-y yellow feathers, spoke up for the group.
"'Aye, we are."
The leader- Sparrow, looked at him.
"Vireo- you are these charges will work?"
"Pretty sure."
"Pretty sure?", Sparrow spat. "You realise there are no redo's, here right? I told you perfection and I expect it."
"My stars," Vireo said, a mixture of annoyance and exasperation creeping into his voice, "For the last time, I fix ships. Not build bombs. But yes, they'll work. Happy?"
A silence hung in the air for a handful of seconds before Sparrow finally said "Yes.". He turned to another of the group, a short but surprisingly muscular female Avian with sky blue feathers.
"And you did bring the charges, Dawn?", he asked.
The female didn't answer directly, instead reached into her robe and pulled out a small object, wrapped in brown paper.
"There's three more in the robe", she said with a soft voice, which was laced with a surprising agression.
"Good. Boss said there'd be weapons in here...." Sparrow turned about the room, before finally locking his gaze on a gun rack with four impressive looking rifles.
"Everyone, take a rifle. These things are practically guaranteed to work, we stole them directly from the Preist's armory. You each get one magazine for each. This isn't a run and gun mission or assasination, like you gentlemen-" he breaks off, turning to Dawn, "and gentlewoman are accostomed to. This is a clean run- we aren't aiming to kill anyone with these. We brought the charges for that. You've all already been briefed on the plan- now we make our way to the temple."

And so the group moved throughout the backalleys of Avos- through the poverty stricken and dirty slums of the Grounded, stealthily moving along the rooftops of the Stargazer's district, and finally to the rooftop of the nearest building to the Third High Temple of Kluex.
Once there, they got set up.
Sparrow ordered them about- "Vireo, you will travel with me into the Temple. Once that's been done, we move back here and detonate. Dawn, me and Vireo have radios. Use your own to give us updates on the situation if anything important happens- " Sparrow turned to the last member of the group, a crimson red Avian who was incredibly slender and the tallest of the group- only Vireo rivaled him in height. "Iren, you're the best shot here. If shit happens- I trust you to get yourselves out. Don't worry about me and Vireo. Don't fire unless ordered. Got it?"
Iren replied with a curt "Copy" in his steady, almost serene sounding voice.
"Alright, let's go."
Vireo and Sparrow both took off their black robes- revealing their thin steel armour that almost identically matched that of the Temple's guards. Together, they made their way down to the ground floor of the building, and there they were thrust back into the bustling city. They quickly made their way to the Temple.

"Look at that mess", Sparrow said. "The stargazers use their wealth to build themselves massive temples, adorned in Gold and Silver, no less, while the masses in the slums starve at their feet! These monsters deserve what they're about to get."

Vireo simply grunted in reply- an uneasy feeling has been growing inside of him the whole time. Was what they were doing really right? Would they really be making the world a better place, or was it - 'No.', he thought to himself. 'My mind is my enemy. This is right. My mind is my enemy. My mind is my.... enemy,' His efforts to reassure himself only gave way to more uneasiness- he had found himself repeating the same phrase more and more often ever since he joined The Tears. For two years now he had been repeating the phrase, and he was finally beginning to wonder if maybe his mind wasn't his enemy.

Pushing these thoughts aside, the two had finally made their way to the gate. There, they found a relatively quiet spot near a fountain. Sparrow radioed in
"Hey. Dawn, we're about to go in. Are we clear?"
There was a moment of silence, before a pop of static and Dawn's voice could be heard over the comms.
"Uh... yeah. You're clear. Two guards moving towards your location, but they don't seem alerted. Get in and get out, got it?"
"Copy".
And so the two decended into the depths of the temple- the realm of the Stargazers. These hallowed grounds held many treasures, or so he'd been told. Vireo wouldn't have any time to discover them on this mission, however- and after the mission was done, he doubted there would be any treasures to return to.
"Stop here.", Sparrow ordered him. Sparrow took out one of the charges, and placed it on the nearest pillar. He moved to the next, about 50 feet away, and repeated. He did this for all four charges, before finally finishing and giving a hand signal to Vireo- the signal they had already predetirmined to split up and make their way to the rendezvous with Dawn and Iren.

After a very tense walk, Vireo returned to the rooftop. There, he found the rest of the gang, including Sparrow, waiting for him.
Dawn turned to Vireo, giving him a small black box with a red button.
"You know what to do", she said. While passing him the detonater, their fingers touched, and hers stayed on his a few moments longer than usual.
'Stars above, I just need to get this over with and then ask Dawn out.' Vireo thought to himself- and blushed a little.

He then took the detonater, glanced at Sparrow- who gave him an approving nod- and pressed the button.

At first, nothing happened. Five seconds went by. Ten. Around fifteen, Iren finally spoke up "Did it wor- "
He was cut off by a tremendous explosion- the ground at their feet shook, and they were temporarily deafened by perhaps the loudest noise Vireo had ever heard in his life. After a moment of shellshock- Vireo looked up to view the Temple. Except... Vireo doubted one could call it a temple now. The entire place has collapsed- it was scorched rubble. The once massive temple, the centerpeice of Avos itself... decimated. Suddenly, something dropped in Vireo's stomach. He was a monster. A murderer- it wasn't just the Stargazers in there, innocent people were there too! And he killed them! The realization took him by force- he doubled over, and threw up over the edge of the building. Suddenly, the world went black.

Vireo woke up the next day, nestled in the warm thatch of his bed-nest. Dawn hovered over him, a concerned expression on her face. Once Vireo opened his eyes, Dawn's face light up almost instantly.
Vireo, who normally would have been overjoyed to see Dawn, felt nothing.
'So... this is what it's like to be a monster." he thought to himself. He felt numb but incredibly burnded at the same time- the souls of at least hundreds now layed on his shoulders. And he hated himself for it. Dawn yelled something to someone out of his view- but he couldn't hear what she said. All he heard was the blood pounding through his ears and the thoughts that roared through his mind.




Three days later, Vireo stole Sparrow's ship and left for good. He spent a year learning to cope with himself, aimlessly wandering the stars and avoiding what had happened as best he could. Finally, he caught word of the Antares sector- he heard rumours of it's obscure yet oddly charming colonies, the hundred of people, plenty of which were outcasts such as himself, and couldn't resist. He decided he would finally stop running, and forge a new, better, cleaner life for himself. If he didn't, it would drive him mad.


((I kind of wrote that all in one sitting, so don't expect it to be 100% in-lore or perfectly written. If you like, please tell me or something. If you don't constructive critisism is always welcome. Thanks for taking the time to read, seriously!))

 

Ahh nooo like what it's been a while since I read on avian lore

 

Thanks for the input. Like I said, Im not 100% up-to speed with all the Avian lore, so Its my fault entirely for all the issues. I also just kind of sat down and wrote this all in one sitting, very little planning involved. I might do a much longer/revised version, the main reason I posted this was to give a little insight as to why Vireo is so cautious around obviously/openly religious Avians and stuff like that.
And don't worry about being harsh with criticism, as long as you arent being an asshole (which u weren't), I don't have a problem .

 

While this isn't directly stated, I believe it would be true, at least in some areas. In a place such as Avos, where the majority of the population is that of Stargazers, there would almost certainly be religion based discrimination. Take Xatu for example, he refuses to treat Gluaen's injuries or speak directly to me, since we're both Grounded ic'ly. Why wouldn't this be true in a large city? Grounded would probably have a tough time being employed, and businesses that DO employ grounded might lose business because of that choice.

 

Yeah I'll probably iron out the lore and plot errors ans make a larger story, but that's for another day

 

That's just the issue. There isn't too much info on Avian culture that would help me construct a living, breathing world. I had and I. The future will probably have to take some poetic licence and make assumptions. I have the basics of course, but I'm missing juuust enough to have gaps in the world to make it seem "off".

P.S. if someone could reference me to official avian lore that maybe isn't on the wiki or something that'd b much appreciated