Chapter Text
Sighhhh… went Silver, as she pulled herself out of the dumpster she had been digging through.
She brought with her a recently-thrown-out paper bag that looked like it had come from some fast food restaurant. Digging through, Silver discovered two perfectly tasty looking cheeseburgers and a large box of fries.
Silver let out another exasperated sighhhh as she looked upon the jackpot she had hit. Though she was thankful for the food, it always bugged her whenever she saw the ways people would waste perfectly good food.
Looking closer, Silver saw the reason the bag had been thrown out: inside rested a rather large and rather dead spider.
The spider didn’t faze her, and she simply grabbed one of the napkins in the paper bag and picked up the spider, tossing it aside.
Silver couldn’t afford to be picky, and besides, she saw spiders everyday.
There were plenty in the alley she called home.
Silver had always lived her life in an alley. They were the only homes she had ever known. Of course, she and her twin brother, Copper, didn’t ever stay in one alley for too long. They either had to leave if the pickings were no longer good enough to support them… or if they were discovered and kicked out.
Silver could still remember the first alley they had ever lived in, though, which was now somewhere on the other side of town.
She could remember her particles forming into the shape of a stick figure with a long ponytail and droopy bangs.
She could remember a figure forming beside her, a male stick with tousled hair.
Though she had never seen this stick before, (not really seen any other stick before, in fact), something inside her told her that this was her brother.
Her twin brother, though they decided the definition of twins on their own since they were technically “born” on the same day.
That same thing inside her, (her programming, she later realized), told her that this alley was their home.
But it didn’t look like a home, though technically Silver didn’t have any other home to compare it to.
But she felt like (and this wasn’t her programming talking) that a home was supposed to feel safe. Secure. Welcoming.
But this dark alley she and her brother found themselves in didn’t feel like any of the above.
Silver suddenly heard footsteps approaching from behind, and she quickly ducked behind the dumpster, body tensed to bolt if she was spotted.
But it turned out it wouldn’t be necessary, as she realized that the figure walking towards her was Copper.
She rose from her crouched position and peered at her brother.
She didn’t need to look long to know he hadn’t brought back any food. She could see the annoyance in his face.
“Barely a soul around,” he mumbled, referring to the marketplace where one of the twins would usually stand everyday, begging for charity.
Silver knew this probably wasn’t true. The marketplace was almost always full of people. There had definitely been at least a couple “souls around”. But Silver knew Copper wasn’t being honest with her because coming back with nothing made him feel useless, and she knew he hated feeling useless.
So she let him off the hook.
“That’s all right,” she smiled and held up the paper fast food bag. “I found this in the dumpster. Should cover both of us for the day.”
Copper grunted in response and walked off to the back of the alley, where they could eat away from prying eyes.
Silver sighed and followed him.
For all the time she had known him, she had rarely seen Copper in a good mood.
Even when a kind stick that discovered them in an alley gave them a generous amount of money, all Copper could manage was grumble about how they would have to move again since someone knew where they lived.
But Silver knew that the bad attitude was just a reflection of what Copper had contained inside of him.
Copper was a stick full to the brim with hate.
Hate for where they dwelled, hate for how they always lived on the brink of starvation.
But most of all, hate for their creator.
Of course, neither twin had ever met nor seen the person who animated them into life. Most sticks who lived in the Outernet didn’t even know their creator’s name.
But all the same, Copper hated them, and no matter how much Silver tried, she couldn’t seem to make him let go of the hate.
Silver, on the other hand, wasn’t sure how she felt about their animator. She didn’t think she had ever truly hated anyone in her life, but she could understand why Copper did.
There was a great variety of sticks in the Outernet. Probably the most common races being the basic stick figures (which was what Silver and Copper were), the stylized stick figures, and the outlined stick figures.
And each one of these sticks had a role which was bestowed upon them by their creator.
Some sticks were created with family, friends, a home, all given to them as a birthright the moment they were brought together by their particles.
But some, like Silver and Copper, were created with much crueler destinies. Some were created to be criminals, some homeless, some even destined to die.
Of course, there were ways to avoid such fates.
Silver had heard stories of sticks breaking their coding. In a newspaper she had seen an article talking about a stick who was animated to rob banks, and they were actually pretty good at it. But after some time of doing this they had decided they didn’t want to be a thief, and had turned themselves in.
Some time later after being released they went on to create extra-effective locks and safes for banks to use to protect their cash.
Silver wished she could find a way to break her code like that. Then she wouldn’t have to rely on half-eaten scraps for survival, or use sopping-wet cardboard as a pillow.
But she and Copper had never gotten the opportunity to change their fate.
Silver chose to live in acceptance of this reality, but Copper…
He blamed all their misfortune on their creator, and would never let it go.
Silver knew her brother, knew deep inside him was a kind heart. If Silver was ever in trouble she knew she could rely on him. The one and only thing Copper cared about was her, (which made for a very, very overprotective but very sweet brother).
But Silver just wished he would stop living in regret and just accept their lot in life.
Settling in a (somewhat) comfortable spot next to Copper, Silver handed him one of the cheeseburgers and placed the large fries in between them.
The two ate in silence.
After finishing her cheeseburger, Silver glanced at the fries and saw that they lay untouched.
She looked up at her brother and noticed that he had already finished his burger. In fact, it appeared he had finished it quite a while before Silver had.
“Are you going to try some of the fries?” Silver questioned, though she already knew the answer.
“I’m full, you can have them,” was his evasive response.
Silver’s brow furrowed. “Yeah right. I let you off the hook with the whole “no one was around” stunt, but don’t pretend with me that your stomach isn’t begging for those fries. We’ll split them equally,” she could see he was about to argue so she continued with, “no excusing yourself out of this one, Copper. It doesn’t matter to me that you brought back nothing. This isn’t a trade post, it’s a family.”
He looked away from her quickly, and Silver kicked herself for letting her mouth get ahead of her brain.
She knew Copper had turned away to hide a flinch. He always got… well, uncomfortable, when she used the “f” word.
Family.
Something the two of them had never had. Or, at least not a complete family.
Silver always viewed the two of them as family, because, well, they technically are.
But Copper’s definition of a “family” was much broader than Silver’s.
Obviously he loved Silver, and of course she was family.
But the sad truth was she was the only family he had, and he didn’t feel like that was enough.
Silver knew that every time he saw normal sticks living their lives, it broke something in him.
Silver could recall a time when the two of them had been walking past a park, and there had been two sticks playing there.
A father and a son.
The father had been a simple shade of orange, and the son had had a golden yellow coloring.
The scene had been so simple. So normal.
And the two clearly loved each other.
The son was probably around Silver and Copper’s age, maybe a little younger.
And the father was tall and strong and loving and looked like everything Silver could imagine in a perfect parent.
They were wrestling playfully with each other. Watching them, Silver almost felt compelled to join them in their little game.
But of course, that would be weird, so she just stood and watched them.
But not for long, because almost immediately upon noticing them, Copper turned around and sprinted away in the other direction.
Silver spent nearly half the day searching for him, and when she finally found him on the other side of town she didn’t need to see his red eyes to know he had been crying.
It was all just too much for him.
To know he could’ve had something else. Something better.
If only their creator had been in the mood to animate a loving family.
Silver opened her mouth to voice an apology, when the two both heard something that sent all the alarms inside them screaming.
The sound of footsteps approaching.
Instincts took over in that moment, and they both scrambled to the deepest and darkest corner of the alley. This wasn’t the first time they had had to do this, and usually the person walking by never even entered the alley, but the twins both knew it was better to be safe then sorry.
And, yeah, this person did enter the alley. And another thing that sent alarms ringing inside both Silver and Copper’s head was the fact that they weren’t carrying a trash bag. And this dark-green shaded stick was definitely not one of the waste collectors.
So whoever they were, they didn’t look like they had a practical reason to be in the alley
Which usually meant…
“Dang it, she must’ve seen me,” Copper whispered underneath his breath. (Don’t worry, if anything these two are pro whisperers, so that stick isn’t hearing any raspy excuse for a whisper.)
“If she sees us, we’ll bolt,” Silver whispered back, though it probably wasn’t necessary. Both twins knew the drill. If they ever got spotted in an alley, they would run like the hounds of hell were on their tail. Since the two were shockingly fast runners, this strategy usually left their discoverers in the dust and very confused on what had just happened.
The dark green she-stick was the same design as Silver and Copper, a basic stick figure, but hadn’t been animated with hair. Silver always felt bad for any stick that was like this, especially if they were a girl. Even if their animator had supposedly sucked and was an evil and terrible person, (according to Copper), they had at least bothered to animate Silver and Copper with hair, and in Silver’s opinion gosh-freaking cool hair too. Silver was aware that most of the basic stick figure population didn’t have hair, and Silver thought this was just a lazy miss on the animators. If you’re going to create a whole new life, at least leave them with some good looks to work with!
Back on the topic of the stick, (and for crying out loud, Silver, stop going off topic, I’ll never finish writing this one chapter at this rate!), the green stick appeared to be studying the alley. It didn’t look like she had spotted the twins just yet, but the two didn’t get their hopes up. The alley wasn’t too big, so if this stick chose to search the place well enough, she’d probably find Silver and Copper.
But instead of exploring the alleyway more, the stick started to speak: “Hello? I’m sorry, but I thought I saw someone go through this way. A metallic-brown colored stick? With a… um… rag?”
Copper grumbled something incoherently under his breath. Both he and Silver wore cloaks, if you could really call them that. They were more like rags, like the green stick had said, and were covered in holes and stains. Some of the larger holes had been covered up with spare mismatched pieces of cloth that had been poorly stitched in by either twin, who both could sorta manage sewing, but neither often had needles or string on them, so it was a difficult process.
By the green stick’s explanation, there was no doubt that she had spotted Copper.
“We’re going to have to leave,” Copper mumbled to Silver. Both twins knew if they were ever spotted in an alley, they couldn’t continue to live there. They would be at risk of being kicked out by someone else, or taken into custody by either child services, or worse, the police.
The green stick had been standing there quietly, seeming to wait for a response, but eventually realized that none was forthcoming.
“I’m sorry if I’ve disturbed you,” the stick let out a small laugh. “But please don’t think I’m some idiot. There is no other way out of this alley, and if you had left I would have seen you. So I do know you’re still in here.”
Neither Silver or Copper answered. They both knew she was right.
“Pease don’t take that as a threat,” the stick said quickly. “I’m just curious. Do you have a home? I’ve seen homeless characters before, and no offense but you seem to check out,” the stick let out a quiet laugh again. She didn’t seem threatening, or afraid herself. Just genuinely curious, and possibly concerned. Against her better judgment, Silver felt herself beginning to like this stranger.
“I do have a home. A rather large one, in fact. Definitely with room for a… orphan? Sorry if I’m making assumptions here. If you do have a family, then I’m sure you’d rather live with them, of course. But… if you really need a place, I and my colleagues would be happy to house you. I live with two other sticks, great men. I’m sure you would get along well with both,” the stick paused. “You see, I myself started my life without a home. Zaffre and Cerulean gave me a second chance, to live with them and help them in their research into…” the stick chuckled again, but the laugh was more of a nervous one then an amused one. “Sorry, I’m going off on a tangent, aren’t I? Well, if you’re interested, we have a place at the marketplace. Hard to miss, though it’s still in construction so not at all as impressive as it will be when we’re finished with it,” the stick said this with some pride in her voice, clearly proud of whatever project she was a part of. “It’s right across from the Ice & Float stand. The sign says-”
“-MINECRAFT.”
At this point the stick decided she had said what she needed to say, and so left the alley.
Silver didn’t know what to think. In the past other sticks had given them charity. Some would offer food, some money, and of course some would offer the twins a spit in the face and possibly even a string of cussing. But never had any ever offered the twins a home.
Was this what she had been waiting for all her life? Finally, an opportunity to turn her life around for the better?
Copper slowly stood up and walked toward the entrance to the alleyway. Cautiously, he peered outside.
“She’s gone,” he monotoned. “Come on, let’s book it.”
Silver started in surprise. “Wait what? What do you mean?”
Copper stared at her as if she had just grown three more heads. “What do you mean, ‘What do you mean’? You know the script, Silver. If we’re spotted, we leave. End of story.”
It took a while for Silver to figure out how to respond to this. “But… didn’t you just hear what she said? What she offered?”
Copper, too, didn’t seem to know what to say to this. What felt like hours passed before he opened his mouth. But what came out wasn’t words. What came out was something Silver hadn’t heard Copper do in a long, long time. It was something that should’ve made her happy, but instead made her skin crawl.
Copper started to laugh.
It started out as a quiet chuckle, but soon turned into gasping, paradoxical laughter. It didn’t sound right. Not coming from Copper. He never laughed, barely ever smiled.
But here he was, nearly at the point of collapsing on the ground in a fit.
He didn’t find any of this funny, Silver knew. This laughter wasn’t out of joy.
From Silver’s perspective, it looked like Copper was laughing at the pure irony of the world. The pure cruelty.
Apparently she was right, because eventually Copper got a hold of himself and looked up at her. Silver now noticed that in all the laughter, tears had been streaming down his face. It wasn’t unusual. For strange reasons that Silver didn’t understand, when someone laughed hard enough, even out of joy, the body tends to respond with tears. It was strange to Silver that something meant for sorrow appeared in times of joy. It seemed… misplaced.
But in this moment tears fit Copper’s appearance, because he hadn’t been laughing from joy.
“Why…” he gasped. “...why… in all the Outernet… would you believe a thing she just said?”
Silver didn’t answer. Not immediately. Why would she? There had been plenty of times when people would make false promises to her and her brother. Would get their hopes up for nothing.
So why would she trust this stranger? When she thought about it, she knew why. Something about that stick had convinced Silver. Convinced her that if she followed that dark green stick figure, everything about her life would change. You could call it premonition.
But anything other than this would be better, right?
She told Copper so, and he just laughed again. Not as hard this time, but still an ironic chuckle.
“I don’t get it, Silver,” he said, his voice finally normal enough to speak clearly. “You’re a smart girl. When we were younger, and strangers offered you something—candy, puppies, money—you always said no. If they approached you, you ran like hell. You knew not to take people’s word for it. You knew not to trust people, because we live in a cruel world with cruel people, and everyone’s out for themselves.
“But why now? Why, after all those encounters, all those lies, all those close calls, why now do you choose to be a naive little girl?”
Silver’s brow furrowed. “You just explained why. I’m not a little girl anymore, Copper. And when I was a little girl, like you just said, I knew what I was doing. So don’t you think, now that I’m older, with even more street experience, I maybe know what I’m doing?”
Copper opened his mouth to respond, but Silver didn’t let him.
“You always insist that everyone’s the bad guy. You don’t trust anyone. You think everyone’s out to get us. To send us away. To separate us,” Silver knew that that was Copper’s greatest fear. That if they got caught by child services or the police, that they would get separated. “Well, let me knock some hard needed facts into that stubborn noggin of yours!
“Not everyone is a bad guy. Not everyone is untrustworthy. And not everyone is out to get us! There are kind, good people out there in the world. People who want to help others. Who want to improve society. And… I think we just met one of those people.”
Silver stopped. She had said what she wanted to say, save one other thing. But she wanted to hear Copper’s response first.
Copper had been quietly listening during Silver’s strained out monologue. Now that she had stopped, he simply spoke a few words, “Why would this person be any different?”
And that was it. What she had been expecting him to say. Why would they be any different? Why would they be any different than those who had spit in their faces. Who had chased them out of alleys. Who when they asked for charity would promise to come back with something, but never did.
“Do you trust me?” is all she said.
Copper didn’t immediately answer. Silver held her breath in anticipation of his response. This was it. Silver had always believed she and her brother had an unbreakable bond of trust, but when making a tough decision, would he stand by her? If he answered no, then there would be no way for Silver to convince him to come.
Yeah, pretty much their entire future is hanging in the balance right now.
Finally, Copper looked Silver directly in the eyes, and right then she knew what his answer would be before he answered,
“Yes.”