004 Things Aquired - [action; FOURTH WALL]

[ossifragant]

[He's suddenly, horrifyingly aware that something is terribly wrong with his body.

What... what's going on? He breathes in through his nose, and he can tell immediately that he doesn't need to breathe in air by the way his chest doesn't quite give in a natural way.

Has he... has he gone back to being a Homunculus proper?

Dammit, he had been so close to being happy here. So close to finding humanity normal, and now he's back to square one.

Greed rushes to the peer, watching the ocean with a mix of forlornness and anger. And then he jumps off the edge, like any psychology unstable normal person might do when they want to test something out.

He doesn't let himself sink far. He's aware almost immediately that he still doesn't need to breathe, even under the waves. There's only the stillness of the water and his own anxiety for maybe two minutes before instinct that he must have learned from newfound (newly lost?) humanity kicks in and he quickly resurfaces, climbing back onto the flooring, his legs dangling off the edge of the pier.

Greed doesn't try to test his Ultimate Shield. He's not sure he wants to.

Maybe he should get inside before someone notices him dripping wet (and the fact that his hair is far too perfect for someone who just jumped into the ocean) but he's too morbidly fascinated with his own lack of a heartbeat.]

((ooc: general catch-all fourth wall post. Feel free to set your thread after Greed stops being an idiot if you'd like.))

Comments

[kingsgreed]

What's up with that act? It was pretty lame.

[ossifragant]

I was testing something out.

...Sorry, have we met? I usually have a good memory about this sort of thing.

[kingsgreed]

Nah, it wouldn't have been possible before this moment. I guess this place just makes the impossible possible.

[Enough with the small talk. He grins.] I'm Greed.

[ossifragant]

[Don't mind him. He's just going to be over here looking completely startled for about a minute.]

You're the other Greed. The one Kimblee told me about.

[He has so many questions for him, but plenty of them are ones he doesn't actually want to know the answer to.]

[kingsgreed]

Oh, that guy told you about me? Huh.

[So he's stuck in this place too. Then again, he does recall something like meeting him the last time he was here.]

You could say you're my predecessor. I mean, I'm alive because you died.

[ossifragant]

[He shakes his head.]

No, not quite. That may be how it worked out for you, but it's not the same for me.

When I die there won't be anything left.

[kingsgreed]

[What the. Greed tilts his head.]

Huh? Did I miss something?

[ossifragant]

There are two different versions of Amestris. Sounds crazy as hell, but meeting Kimblee was proof enough of that.

There's no Philosopher's Stone inside of me. I was created a different way.

Normally I'd dance around it, but since we're both Homunculi here I'll tell you: human transmutation succeeds, in a manner of speaking. It brings something back. You still get nothing resembling a person unless you feed it fragmented pieces of incomplete Philosopher's Stone.

Then you get something that looks nearly exactly like the person an alchemist tried to revive. They even have some of the memories of the dead, though they don't remember much and have a tendency not to act much like the person because they're not that person.

That's how I was created. And Envy too. The others too, of course. But Envy and I were closest for a very long time.

[And he's saying this mostly because he's almost positive it's not true at all for this Greed.]

[Everyone from his world over shares things, Greeling. I'm so sorry.]

1/2

[kingsgreed]

[... too much information to progress at once, please wait. Another Amestris, no stone, a successful human transmutation, being created by different alchemists? What the hell.

That sounded damn complicated. Why couldn't they just do it like they did? Sure, plenty on human sacrifices there, but he bets they're more durable than them. Ling inside him is also trying to make sense of the situation, but Greed will leave him ponder about this by himself for now.

Though this could all by a hoax... he could try out by seeing if he really doesn't have a core...? Yeah that will--

Hmm?]

Shut up, prince. It doesn't matter what I do, he probably won't die. Wha- ugh fine, let's use your method then.

[Greeling looks at the other Greed and shrugs.] Just a sec.

[greedsking]

[Somehow the atmosphere around this Greed changes as Ling takes his place. He looks a little different, but also rather serious as he looks at this new Greed.]

Hmm... you really don't seem like the other homunculi I've seen.

[ossifragant]

[Oh wow that is really disturbing.]

Trust me, I'm not very special.

[Lust had been the exact same way when he spoke to her, after all. And Greed already knew Envy was, too.]

[greedsking]

No, what I mean is... I can sense a lot of souls from inside the homunculi in our side of the Amestris. I can't sense that in you. So I guess that means you really don't have a core like them.

[ossifragant]

I'd rather no one test that out, just so we're clear.

Like I said, we're what's made when an alchemist tries to resurrect the dead. It's not something I like talking about and I don't really have any motivation to lie about it.

[kingsgreed]

[Okay, back to the normal schedule here.]

Yeah, that's what this guy figures so he switched with me. [What a spoilsport.] Guess I can believe you then.

[ossifragant]

I don't lie, anyway. There's not much point to it.

[Lying might keep him from getting things he wants.]

There's also no Father where I'm from. The leader is a different person altogether.

[kingsgreed]

That's a similarity. I never lie either.

[Good, honest, Greed.]

Let me guess, you don't like them either way?

[ossifragant]

[..That gets him to hesitate because he isn't entirely sure how to answer the question. No, he doesn't like Dante. He hates her. But he had also gone back to her because a part of him had wanted her to take him back.

He has trouble talking about that with the homunculi he knows here, let alone with one he doesn't really know at all.]

"Help me create the Stone and I'll make you human" she told me. It's the same thing she tells every one of us she finds. But memories are complicated things. They say we shouldn't have them, but I have memories. My own memories.

I rebelled after she killed the previous Lust. She responded by sealing me away for 130 years.

[kingsgreed]

Oh, that's harsh. I bet she wouldn't have done that even if you helped her.

You're lucky for being sealed away. I was burned in a furnace and returned temporarily. I shouldn't have my memories either, but they came back somehow.

[ossifragant]

No, she wouldn't have. I don't even know if it's possible.

I don't really know how things work for you, but memories are a driving force for us. The only one who I don't think cares at all is Pride-- Wrath for you. I remember hardly anything, but what I do remember is important to me.

[He pauses.]

Burned in a furnace?

[...Yeah he's pretty sure that would have outright killed him, too.]