[A bustling U.S. City.]
A teenage boy walks down the sidewalk in his work attire which consisted of brown collard shirt, black pants, a white apron, and hat which had the Logo of the state Zoo on each piece of said clothing. This teenage boy was a chef in the kitchen at the Zoo due to not meeting the requirements of a Zookeeper.
"Falling away from me(x2)....Beating me down! Beating me, Beating me! Down....down!" He sings to himself releasing the stress of working with food and dealing with customers with the sweet loudness of music. He continues walking somewhat dancing as he turns a corner to a street of apartment buildings that was at least 4 or 5 stories high and each apartment being a 2 bedroom one bath.
"Almost home? let's go!" He says checking his phone to see it's only 10:38pm. "Let's see I got my school supplies and schedule set up for next month, I can stream 2 or 3 hours while taking care of Fiara..." he continues on rambling as he takes out his wallet and swipes his building ID to enter the apartment.
"Oh Lock! Is that you I hear rambling on?" A older women calls to the boy as he turns his head and removes a earbud. "Hey Ms.Hyde! How are you this evening?" He replies to her question and then asks his own.
"I'm doing great this evening, sweetie. Had my grandson and some more family over for celebration of his newborn baby and a his promotion!" She informs the teenage boy. The lady Ms.Hyde was the owner of all the apartments on the street and they did come at a cost but she worked out a deal with Lock since he's a family friend and vise versa.
"Oh that's fantastic to hear! Tell him congratulations for me next time you contact him, please." He says to her while handing her a beige envelope with her gently taking it and sliding it into her purse. "That should cover my rent for the next 3 months, and then I can do utilities monthly."
"You always work so hard to make extra. When will they promote you to something better than just a cook?!" Ms.Chen states rubbing her eyes in somewhat frustration as she gently takes the boys hand, pats it gently, then says a small prayer in a different language. "I got quite a bit of work to do, certification for cooking, certification for welding and carpentry, then college for everything else. Trust me i'll make sure my hard work pays off in the end." He explains to her as she nods frustrated with his situation and his school not offering more classes.
"You do not need to worry. I will keep my promise to your late father." She says solemnly. Lock wraps his arms around her, Hugging her gently for all she has done for him and walks her back to her apartment.
"I'll visit him this weekend like I do every month and let him know of your kindness. I know he'd appreciate it as much as I do." He closes her front door and heads to his own at the very top of the building via the stairs since he walked fast and the matter of the elevator needing maintenance.
Making it to his door with no incident he hears exciting cawing as he opens the door and sets his book bag, phone, wallet, and earbuds down on the table to open the door to his second room. A very clean and healthy looking crow flies out of the room and around the apartment then into Locks arms and nuzzles her head into the crevice of the arm expressing that she had missed him.
"Awwww you missed me that much, fiara?" He asks his best and only friend named Fiara that's a crow he had grown up with and that his father saved as a baby merely days after lock was born.
"Don't you worry you'll get fed, maybe I should do one of those 24 hour streams with the camera in your room so people can pay to feed you, fifi." Lock rambles as Fiara caws and seemingly acts like a super star while she eats her food.
Lock sees the time is 10:52pm so he does a quick clean and sits at his computer making an announcement in his discord that stream would start in a min or two. A 3 or 4 people react with a thumbs up as he starts the stream and leaves it on the starting screen as he changes into black with white plaid pj pants, a baggy band shirt, and then changes his glasses.
"Alright, alright, alright." He says into his mic as he looks at his second screen which has his streaming service, then to his first which has his desktop open, and then his third which has discord open. "What is the plan for guys, gals, and all of you lovely pals." He beams to his audience of 20 people with energy ready to relax and play games with his online friends and make a bit of dough while doing so.
"Ello, ello, ello! Let's get gayming and gaming." A deep feminine voice chimes in joining the discord call, this was Omen one of locks longest time online friend. "Omen! What's the plan for tonight? Feeling like doing something chill." Lock explains as he notices the chat explodes with text when Omen joined and has her stream up with her Vtuber model.
"Oh! Let's play dead by daylight!" Omen beams as she loves horror and very much considers herself a horror pro. "Ight, chat! Horror game it is! Get the popcorn and blankets and turn ya lights off!" Lock says challenging his chat to experience it with him as comments like "let's go!", "oh hell yea!", and a "please let the killer be ghostface" lock and Omen laugh as Fiara caws making the chat chant "Queen Fiara!"
"Fiara cam it is!" Lock says turning his camera to Fiara's small bed and then turns it on and Fiara caws excitedly as she pecs it and does her own thing. "Aw Fifi! She's so cute!" Omen exclaims as she runs from the killer in game and multitask on calling Fiara cute names.
Lock finishes a generator and leans back in his chair somewhat smiling at the life he has. Feeling very contempt with what he has made for himself with the help of others.
After 3 or 4 hours of playing dead by daylight he sends his chat off to another streamer after saying goodbye to them. "Hey omen, thank you." Lock says a bit down leaning back in his chair with his headphones still on.
"Thank me for what?" Omen ask taking note of Locks voice and clear emotions. "Thank you for being friends with me, introducing me to games, for hanging out with me in call, just for everything in general..." lock trails off feeling sad as his depression starts to set in.
"Oi! No depresso! I will come over there and hug strangle you." Omen says jokingly but also seriously. Fiara lands on locks shoulder and rubs her head against his and pokes her beak into his cheek making clicking sounds.
"See? Even Fifi says your happiness is deserves!" Omen reassures her friend as he rubs to fingers across Fiara's head. "I know, I just wish things would go a bit smoother. I wish dad and mom was here. I wish I could skate by on my own and not have to worry about money, or if Ms.Chen will get in trouble.." lock sighs and lets a couple of tears fall, more fall, and the eventually he lets the water works come full force.
"Hey, hey, turn your camera on and look at me?" Omen asks as Lock turn his camera on and shows ocean blue eyes have a irritated red around them, very noticeable bags under his eyes, and his black fluffy shoulder length hair with a noticeable blue and purple dye at the ends.
"You're doing your best with what you got ok? I can't give you a physical hug but I would if I could." She says warmly to her friend. He hums as he dries the tears from his eyes and holds Fiara close to him.
"I have news to lighten the mood! I'm moving and I'm pretty sure it's your city!" Omen exclaims lock looks up at his camera with excitement but still cleaning himself up.
"Woah really?! That's awesome!" Lock exclaims. after a while for the two staying up and talking and laughing with each other they finally call it a night and head to bed.
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Yooo, I had a lot of fun writing this one actually. So I may do more updates depending on how my brain works.
Anyways peace! Love ya faces!
