Adding more onto my Eyes Ears and Mouths AU (btw I made a silly little tag for it so like.. if you follow it you'll see when I post more oooooo)
So guys.. consider more info on the triplets (Pearl, Grian and Jimmy) and their backstory...
Tw for mentions of like. Difficulty getting food(?) and parental death/abandonment
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Pearl, Grian and Jimmy, the triplets.. their parents dead (or maybe the three just assumed they were dead.. who knows :3) and them newly orphaned, around 6..
Them three struggling for food, shelter.. everything. Hanging out in malls and small shops until they were kicked out, trying to beg for food while staying away from any law enforcement - they've heard how bad foster care could be once you were too old and how they'd split you up and they didn't even wanna try it
Them three sometimes having to split up to keep from getting caught, going to different parts of the city, whether for few hours, or days.. or weeks.. sometimes even months if they couldn't find each other. They all hated the separation, but they knew it was better than being split up permanently if they were caught
Pearl, having not only been the oldest but also looking a couple of years older than the other two, had gotten a couple of jobs young, around 13 or 14. She could never keep them long, hence the stealing even still. Besides, when you're working at a small corner store (think like a 7-11) it's easy enough to steal without many people raising eyebrows. But, eventually, she was always caught and fired, and bounced from job to job, never giving any references since she knew what they'd say, and just hoping they'd be desperate enough to hire this (appearance-wise) 15-16 year old without any proof of age or references or.. anything
She never told her brothers about any of the stealing, like where the food came from, or how she got Jimmy and Grian a slice of pie to share around their birthdays, or how one day she came home with a beaten up.. thing ("it's called a gameboy, you can play games on it .... no not games like tag, Jimmy"). She just said she was getting luckier with her begging and that's why she kept coming home much later than when she ended work
At about 15 (it was hard to count the days, but they knew their birthday was during summer) Pearl tells Jimmy. He could run faster than Grian, which mattered in a bad case scenario. Those two stealing while Grian kept begging, getting them some loose change that they saved in a plastic bag they once found, hoping to use it to get warmer clothes or blankets if they couldn't find any during winter
Eventually, maybe about 6 months after she told Jimmy, Pearl tells Grian about her stealing, and he helps. The three would clean up as best they could (so as to seem normal) then go into a mall or a small corner store and figure out what to steal. Only one would steal, the other two would be more like backup in case things went wrong
Now.. in this world, many people had powers (yet another reason they were scared of law enforcement. You never knew who would have a power that was super speed, or could freeze you still, making it easy for them to be taken into foster care) but the triplets.. didn't think they had any
Most people discovered their powers as children, even if they couldn't get the hang of them until they were adults or teenagers, but the triplets couldn't remember any time that they've had a power, so they assumed they were all powerless, which did make things more difficult but, they still got by and that's what mattered
Until one fateful day when Jimmy tries to steal a jacket to help them for the winter (even if it's a rather thin jacket)
He tries to run to the exit doors of the mall, where he can simply run among the cars and hopefully get lost, but before he can make it he gets tackled to the ground. He tries to escape the mall cop's grasp, he can't get caught and he knows there's only so long until more show up. Grian and Pearl started running over but before they could make it..
Bright yellow feathers sprouted from their brother's head, and they would see feathery wings flapping, trying to help him push up from the hard tile floor of the mall. They also saw ears floating around Jimmy's head which.. confused them. They stopped in their tracks, both confused on how the fuck their brother just transformed into some bird being when.. they were all powerless, weren't they?
Before they could get over their confusion and go over to help Jimmy, they see some ears float into the man's ears, and then the man froze. They saw Jimmy still kicking, scratching - doing anything he could to get out of the man's arms, but.. something was off with Jimmy's hands
The ends of his fingers turned into claws.. no, talons, black as the darkest night, the darkness going up his fingers where it ended.. and they could see blood coming from the man as Jimmy scratched him. And although Jimmy didn't notice it at the time, he could hear every single conversation going on in the mall, and he'd remember them all too
Pearl and Grian finally got over their shock and ran over, pulling Jimmy out of the man's grasp and the three of them running for the exit, Jimmy still holding onto the jacket and going back to his human form
When they got.. for lack of a better term, "home" (pretty much just the warmest spot they could find in an alley) they finally stopped running, and then the three finally let out their questions and confusion, although they didn't have any answers yet
Jimmy noticed how the other two treated him a bit differently after his transformation, and it worried him that one day he'd wake up and they'd be gone (Jimmy always handled separation the worst) but Pearl and Grian never considered that, they were just scared of angering Jimmy, of him attacking them like he had the man (they had all seen the news footage from a tv store, of a "yellow-feathered avian attacking a mall cop", and had seen the aftermath of the man when it was shown. They just got lucky that none of the mall's cameras had gotten a good look at Jimmy's face)
Next was Pearl. She had been running from a cop after stealing some bread, Jimmy and Grian being back at their "house" for the day, her legs so tired, almost giving out, panting for breath, unsure how the cop managed to go on but she could tell they weren't gonna stop soon.. she was slightly panicked, unsure of what to do. She couldn't let herself get caught, couldn't let her younger brothers' down.. and then, next thing she knew, she was flying, flapping wings behind her and leaving the ground
As she finally took a much needed breath, she saw the cop staring at her, mouth agape, and she flew as quick as she could (a bit wobbly but she slowly got it) to get back to her brothers, landing in the alley and seeing just how surprised and.. mildly scared they were hurt. She realized she must've made Jimmy feel this way too after he transformed.. but, as she calmed down from her panic, she went back to her human form, and told the story of how she transformed to the other too, and apologized to Jimmy for how she treated him
After that, Pearl and Jimmy tried getting Grian's powers to activate, since if they both had nearly the same thing, surely Grian did too? But no matter how hard they tried, Grian just.. didn't transform
It took to the point of Grian, Jimmy and Pearl nearly getting attacked by people who their stealing had affected for Grian to finally unlock his power. And as he transformed, the attackers ran in fright, but a few of Grian's Watchers (those little eyes, remember) followed them, shooting at them until Grian calmed down enough and they came back, disappearing to wherever with the rest
After this, the triplets worked on their powers, trying to learn of them, whether to use as a defensive measure or offensive one, but either way, it was a way to help them. Not to mention they were curious. They wanted to learn of their abilities, rather then ignoring them, as they've never seen anything like their transformations and the eyes/ears/mouths that float around their heads before
So, they learned how to trigger their powers, and practiced fighting against each other (which yes, has caused more than it's fair share of deep cuts and bed rest after but.. they needed to practice. If they couldn't defeat someone their age and roughly their size, how could they defeat a cop?) fighting or practicing triggering their transformations whenever they could, and they got pretty damn good at it too, using them whenever they were being chased or attacked without hesitation
So, for years they were small thieves, living on the streets, saving up for more, sometimes selling things they had for money. And, a few years later (and maybe a wobbly robbery but shhh they were never caught) they had enough finally for a small apartment. They would all sleep, curled up together for heat, and they cleaned up and all got jobs after getting an ID, slowly but surely. And, they (mostly) stopped stealing, not needing the food as much (usually) and they became more "normal" citizens
And bam! That's what I've got for today :3 y'all better not get too used to daily posts cause after work during the week I doubt I'll have enough energy to post but I'll try to post at least once on the weekends!!
Don't forget to follow the AU tag (Eyes Ears and Mouths AU) to see when I post or even just follow me since I doubt I'll post much else here (I don't know how to do a Tumblr)
