I do not own Red vs Blue. RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth.
I do not own Maximum Ride. MR belongs to James Patterson.
479er rose with the sun. She wasn't necessarily an early bird, but she believed in not wasting daylight. However, she decided she could let the other "birdies" sleep in today.
She slunk into the kitchen, and prayed that the heathens didn't drink all her coffee. She found a tin of it still and breathed in the heavenly scent gratefully. The aroma of coffee seemed to be a gentle wakeup call to many others in the house. Wyoming joined her as she leaned against the kitchen counters. He fixed himself some morning tea as usual, not really saying much. He went through very talkative spurts and then really silent spurts. This morning must have been a silent one.
They stayed like that, graciously sipping their respective warm beverages in comfortable muteness until Flowers came in. He gave his customary good morning hugs which were just as weird as it sounded, but it was something 479er and Wyoming had come to expect.
"Good morning, Flowers," 479er deadpanned, but couldn't keep the slight smile off her face. Blame it on the blue-winged man's contagious happiness.
"Good glorious morning to you too, 47! My, do you look like a ray of sunshine this morning!"
479er chuckled lightly as she pushed Flowers into the living room, instructing him to go wake the refugees. He said he'd be glad to do that because mornings were his favorite part of the day. Still, it was hard to see Flowers disliking anything.
"Rise and shine, campers! You don't want to miss another moment of this beautiful day!"
479er and Wyoming looked at each other as they almost burst out laughing trying to imagine the extremely-unamused expressions on the tired teens' faces.
"Wus goin' on?" they heard a zombie call.
"We're going to tell you about living arrangements today!"
Slowly but surely the kids dug themselves out of their comfy sleeping places, some from the couches and some from beanbags.
They filtered into the kitchen with bleary eyes and low coordination, Washington running into a wall as he was rubbing the sleep from his eyes on accident.
Where all the boys just looked like they were brain dead, the girls looked ticked off. They huffed into the kitchen with murderous gazes and crossed their arms with different levels of displeasure.
"Well! Get on with it!" South said, ruffling her feathers in annoyance.
"I have decided that, although this is the most we've housed at one time, we will let the three new kids stay." Wyoming was calm as he continued. "However, because they burnt down my building, they will have to be doing a few chores for me while they stay."
Connecticut and Washington shot each other a few looks of concern.
"Yeah, but first thing's first. You three greenhorns need to rock-paper-scissors for the order, but you all need to hit the shower and then report to me. You're getting your make overs!" 479er said, grinning mischievously.
David became a slight bit concerned. This "make over" sounded kinda scary now, but Connecticut shoved him down the hall toward the shower. He couldn't argue with her. Okay, he could argue with her, but he'd never win the argument in a million years. So he just went like a little kid being sent to his room, ashamed of getting caught taking another cookie.
When he was finished with his shower he dressed in the new clothes he found considering he couldn't find his own clothes where he left them. He wasn't going to wander around in a towel looking for them. There were girls out there!
He found 479er in a side room looking quite dangerous with the scissors in her hands.
"Finally! You take really long showers, kid."
"Um, this is kind of awkward, but I can't find my clothes that I left in the bathroom so had to put on this kitten graphic t-shirt and jeans. I don't know where I could have lost my clothes. I folded them up really nicely…." He trailed off when he noticed 479er chuckling to herself.
"We took your old clothes and gave you those new ones. It's a gift. Free of charge. We usually don't have demand for this many clothes so sorry about the shirt. There was only one more, but I'm saving the bigger shirt for your Eraser friend."
"Oh. T-thank you."
"Whatever. Get over here so I can cut your hair."
He obeyed and sat down in the chair that the woman was standing behind, but as she lowered the scissors he quickly slunk away, flattening his ears.
"Wash, sit down. What's wrong?"
"Sorry, I just panicked. You were moving those scissors pretty close to my ears and I freaked out."
"Well, I kinda have to because that's also were your hair is, but I promise I won't cut your little cat ears off or anything."
"I-I know. I just get really sensitive about them and stuff and… yeah."
He climbed back into the chair and was really good about staying perfectly still. 479er wondered if he was even letting himself breathe, but she figured if he passed out that it would just make the job a little easier on her.
He still flinched away when the cold blade accidently grazed his ear so she decided to take pity on him and just cut his hair much shorter using the razor. That went over much better with the cat-bird-boy.
Just like the twins', Wash's hair was much lighter once it was cleaned and cut shorter. Except, unlike the twins', Wash's hair was also much more a true blonde instead of a platinum.
"There you are. Now go get someone else to tag out with you."
"Thank you, 479er," Wash said happily as he finished inspecting the new do in the mirror and unconsciously feeling his ears. Yup. Still attached.
Then he left and soon Connecticut came in. She wasn't as difficult although she was still wary of the scissors. Geeze. They all needed to lighten up. Although, as 47 thought about it, she realized that this Connecticut and Washington were the only two bird kids that were the most typical runaways. Everyone else had either been outside the lab before, had special treatment while inside, or never even been inside at all. They were more of what she was use to dealing with, but she was kinda spoiled with the other kids who were already "house trained" fairly well.
Connecticut made no comment about her plain jane clothes –monotone brown with nothing quite fancy. 479er had said before, they were scraping the bottom of their supplies trying to care for this many refugees. Beggars couldn't be choosers.
The only things Connecticut even said during the whole makeover were details about how she wanted her hair done. 479er tried her best, but she thought the end result looked like a disaster. Her bangs flopped over her eye on one side and were layered even with her already thin hair. She thought it looked ridiculous, but Connie was pleased so she just kept her comments to herself and watched her leave.
The woman had to admit, she just had to kinda stand there and take everything in for a minute or two before she could even think about giving the enormous Eraser in front of her a makeover. This was something to add on to 479er's personal list of really unusual things that she never thought she'd end up doing. She shook her head, ditched the scissors, grabbed the razor and set to work.
Considering this Eraser was always in a limbo between his human form and wolf form, she had to treat the fur as if it were more like hair and less like an impermanent thing.
She was surprised by how many scars she found, places were the fur couldn't grow any more because it lacked ability to do so any more. She found herself becoming more and more careful with how she pressed the razor to his head and checking for wounds beforehand to see if it would be even possible for her to cut there without hurting him. The good thing was he wasn't as sensitive to his ears as Washington was. That was good. She figured she would end up hurting him if he kept dodging out of the way like Washington would sometimes.
She stopped momentarily when she was shaving the fur down by the base of his neck. She found a string of numbers, three sets of two separated by dashes. She shut off the razor and ran her fingers over the tattoo. Hesitantly, she found her voice.
"I-I'll be right back, Maine. Don't go anywhere."
She slipped out before the Eraser could give her a confused glance. She found Wyoming in his room like she knew he would, curled up in the recliner with a book he'd read a million times. He looked up and furrowed his brows when he saw the expression on his counterpart's face.
"How much do you know about Erasers?"
Wyoming frowned even more. "More than I want to know, love."
"What does a tattoo on the back of the neck mean?"
He leaned his head back against the chair and closed his eyes, as if to help summon the memory from a deep, dark place he'd buried it. With a sigh, he replied.
"The avian-human hybrids are the real experiments of Project Freelancer. Yes, they created Erasers as well, but they are treated and created like machines, shot off an assembly line regularly. Addressed like robots and built like robots of flesh and bone. However, flesh and bone are not as long-lasting as metal and screws would be."
"What are you saying? The tattoo is a sort of cereal number? Like a barcode?"
"Only part. The first two numbers are the month the Eraser was born in. The second two numbers are the year. The last two are the number in the batch of which the Eraser was a part."
479er would have been satisfied with that explanation if not for the dark and hidden expression on Wyoming's face.
"There's more, isn't there?"
He nodded slowly.
"There's one other piece of information you can gain from knowing the numbers on the back of an Eraser's neck." He paused to gather his words. "Erasers, as I said, are created in bulk for simple purposes. They are so readily available and so mutated that they have very short lifespans. The ability to shift in and out, to bring out certain characteristics of their mutations and then hide them away, it eventually burns them out. Erasers age quickly, going from an infant to what looks like an adult in as little as two years. But the typical Eraser will only usually see two years of active duty. In total, they only live about four years before they die."
479er paled.
"How long does he have, poppet?"
"His numbers say that he was born…four years ago. He's going to die, isn't he?"
Wyoming shrugged. "Everyone dies. I have heard of Erasers living up to six years, but our friend is not a normal Eraser, is he? He does not have the ability to shift between a human and Eraser form. He is stuck in-between. This might be to his benefit. It might extend his lifespan. However, he is mutated further than the average experiment. The extra bird DNA grafted into him will likely add complications rather than help him. I honestly have no clue as to his lifespan."
479er left the room in a daze. She returned solemnly to her "beauty salon." She didn't know why she felt so attached to this Eraser. He just got here after all, but she, in her head, had thought that he would stay with her, Wyoming, and Flowers, and help them in harboring future bird kids. After all, he couldn't exactly adapt to society looking like he did. So, although she hadn't really bonded with Maine yet, she was preparing to have him stick around for a long time. Now, he might not even live to see tomorrow.
She returned to see him exactly where she left him, obediently in the chair. He turned a concerned gaze toward her as she approached, clearly wondering why she left in such a rush. He looked so young underneath that wolfy front. It was even more evident now that she had shortened his fur and made it look healthy again.
She finished what she had started quickly and sent him away to the others. She sighed deeply into the mirror. How in the world did she get caught up in all of this madness?
That night, she went to Wyoming's room again. His was the only room that didn't have a pile of bird children sleeping in it. She pushed open the door silently, but it didn't matter. She saw the white-winged man looking up at her, having only moved from the recliner to the bed, still reading that book.
She walked over to him and sat on the edge of the bed, eyes downcast.
"What is the matter?"
She shook her head and then finally glanced at him. "How long are you going to live?"
Wyoming dodged her eyes and looked down to the ground. "Long enough."
"That's debatable. Tell me a number. I need numbers. I understand numbers. If the first word you say is not a number, I will beat you senseless. Tell me now."
Her words were venomous.
The man smiled affectionately, placing the book aside and coming over to sit beside her. He wrapped a wing around her which was unbelievably warm.
"479er, why are you upset?"
She shuttered, painfully holding back tears.
"I'm a human. I know I'll live approximately seventy years. …Just tell me how many years that will be without you." She looked at him with enough sorrow to break even the toughest man.
"I can only promise you what any other human would promise another human. I'll live as long as I can. I cannot forsee the future with all its uncertainties. Its accidents, its illnesses. I will live all the years I am given on this earth. Till death do us part."
He wiped the rebellious tears that leaked despite her courageous fight. She pushed his hand away gently and stood up to leave the room. She spared only a quick glance back as she snuck out of the building and into the cool night air. She needed to go somewhere where she could scream and bawl her eyes out, to lance all of her pent up emotion.
Never had she ever cried more than that night.
Sorry that I haven't updated in almost a month and all you get is this short chapter! I just finished my internship yesterday so thank you for all of you who prayed for me. I can now get back to updating this as well as my other fics more regularly hopefully.
I just realized that the last time I updated was the day before the one-year anniversary of this fic! So, happy birthday to this fic? Thank you all who have stuck with me since the beginning. You all deserve a medal!
Sorry that this has been still more filler-ish. It's going to get faster-paced soon. I promise!
I tried to throw in some light WyomingX479er there. Yes. That is my definition of romance. You won't be seeing any smut in this fic. I am not sorry.
I also tried to throw in something that I almost forgot about. The numbers thing on the back of Erasers' necks is in MR canon. I almost completely forgot about that so, of course, I had to add a little tension. Bwahaha.
Anyway, review or fav as you so desire!
Looking forward to it!