ossifragant | 011 Things Acquired - [action; FOURTH WALL]

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011 Things Acquired - [action; FOURTH WALL]

[This time, when the shift happens, Greed is prepared. It's been six months, and it's finally hit him that given how long he spent locked away in a prison with no exit, it shouldn't feel like he's been here a long time-- what that really means is it's been seven months since he broke free of Dante's grasp, and that is a big deal no matter how he looks at it. And yet it does feel like a long time, precisely because it's been half a year without Dante.

He's too proud of himself, like he had been upon first finding himself in the region.

Yesterday, the snow had bothered him because of how cold it was. Today, now that he can't quite feel the coldness of the snow, it's more entertaining than anything else. Maybe in a few days there will be enough snow for him to cause problems with. It's a little unfortunate there isn't enough snow on the ground for him to do anything with it now, but he'll deal with it.

As it is, shifting his hand (his entire body, really) into its carbon-black form is something he's missed.

Terrorizing an entire city would be pretty damn easy to do at the moment, but Greed is going to restrain himself, poorly. Prowling around and generally looking like he's up to something makes him look like the least subtle cat possible isn't something Greed is going to get away with for long. Maybe he'll be able to find someone he recognizes before one of the locals who haven't been horribly glitched some to ask him what the hell he's doing.

Or, more likely, he'll get bored halfway through whatever he's currently doing in favor of paying a visit to his favorite cafe.]

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_{[A muffled OOF escapes him as he's unexpectedly dropped, but he catches himself and hops backwards, out of grabbing range. Those quick Homunculus reflexes are really something, although they hadn't been able to save him from getting grabbed in the first place.]

[He puffs like an angry cat, glaring at Greed with every ounce of vinegar in his pint-sized body.]}

What do you mean, no good?

She takes care of us! Nobody else would!

We're monsters and humans hate us!

That's not true.

[Alchemists like Dante, Hohenheim, and even Edward Elric can push them around, insult them, and even call them mistakes. But that doesn't make any of it true.

They're living beings, just like humans.]

She won't make you human. She never will.

_{[First Wrath's eyes widen... and then they narrow.]}

Why wouldn't she?

Once she's got what she wants, it'll be EASY to change us into humans! Easy like... like blinking!

Yeah, it would be easy. She could do it. She'd have the power to.

But she wouldn't.

[He's seen things. Things he won't repeat to a small child.]

... You just don't like her. You're trying to make me a traitor, just like you.

Well I won't be!

She says I'm a good boy.

_{[He squares his jaw and stands as tall as he can without going on tiptoe. >8( HE IS A BRAVE WARRIOR AND THIS IS A FOE.]}

[He should have expected something like this.

He gives Wrath a look that could almost be pity.]

Ask Envy if you don't believe me. Or Lust.

Envy's the one who told me she'd make us human! Envy wouldn't lie.

_{[... Oh. Oh you sweet summer child.]}

That's because it's what you needed to hear.

[It's a pretty cruel thing to admit. Greed is well aware of it. The other Homunculi are all mentally adults. For the most part, anyway. There's still Gluttony to consider, but even Envy had been mostly grown when he...]

If you don't trust me, stick around Envy or Lust, kid. Don't go back to her. We're a better family for you than she is.

_{[The worst part of all this is that Greed is saying all the right things. All the true things.]

[... But the kid has Dante's claws in him too deeply. A few months is hardly enough time spent existing in the world to develop the kind of defenses one needs to withstand what she does to minds. Especially when you don't even have any memories from being human to gently steer your moral compass in healthy directions.]

[So Wrath scowls, his expression darkening.]}

Homunculi don't have families. We just have Master. And each other. And they'd agree with me if they were here!

So stop-- _{[It happens quickly. He plunges his hand down at the floor and when he brings it back up, it's a fist made of asphalt. Which he slams into the underside of Greed's table, trying to flip it.]}-- LYING!

[Wrath is just a kid-- even more so than Greed ever was upon first being born, even if Greed had acted more like a child than a man when he first became aware of the world around him.

Greed isn't going to raise a hand against him for that reason. It's hypocritical, when he'd been willing to harm teenage boys for his own personal gain, but harming Wrath is just not an option.]

We do have families--

[But the kid attacks before he has a chance to say anything else, raising his Shield instinctively to keep the table from hurting him, which is a mistake, because when it connects, it shatters splinters shooting everywhere, and Greed covers his face as it happens, too used to being human to stop himself from doing it.]

Kid.

[The tone is tense, a warning, but ultimately that's all it is.]

_{[A few people at the other tables leap up with shrieks and swearing, but nobody seems willing to get in the way of this BRUTAL MONSTER FAMILY MELTDOWN, so the area vacates pretty quickly.]

[A few of the flying splinters nick Wrath's skin, but he doesn't seem to notice.]}

My family is loyal. Stop talking like you're part of it! You left them!

_{[Greed may not be willing to raise a hand to Wrath, but the kid is more than willing to strike out at his elder. He slams the asphalt fist directly into the older Homunculus' stomach-- .... where it promptly shatters. Whoops.]}

[Dammit, kid.

He was enjoying having a peaceful lunch, too.]

I never left them.

[Taking a fist to the stomach fucking hurts. Even with his Shield up, it doesn't stop it from hurting. Especially when he's taking a blow from another Homunculus.]

_{[Wrath withdraws, a normal fleshy hand reforming from the stony stump. But his glare is unchanging.]}

You tried! Then Master stopped you!

_{[He can't honestly comment on any details. Because naturally that's really all he knows. Greed tried to leave. But no one leaves Master, so she got him. She got him so good that he died.]

[It's a childish understanding of a situation that was only heard secondhand, and heavily censored (except for the gruesome bits, to really drive home the 'this is what happens to naughty children' part). But he'll cling to it as hard as he can!]}

Do you know why I tried to run? She wouldn't tell you that.

I'll tell you, kid: she kills those of us who aren't any use to her. She killed the previous Lust. She murdered her because Lust failed too many missions. She killed her to punish me.

[He'll never forget Lust's words as long as he lives.]

My plan was to take Envy and run. It didn't work the way I intended it to.

_{[The worst part of all of this is that Wrath knows that they get put down when they're not useful enough anymore. It was one of the first things Envy had told him when he'd joined them. He's not ignorant. ... Just naiive. Because that's just the way things are supposed to be, right?]}

So?! Of course she does! We're not even s'pposed to exist!

At least she gives us a chance first!

_{[His already-shrill voice goes high and cracks about halfway through that sentence, at which point he just glares up at Greed, tears in his eyes for no fathomable reason that he can think of. He's just so MAD. >8'(]}

That's more than anyone else would do!

_{[He hadn't even learned what he was before humans had been hurting him and looking at him like he was a bomb waiting to go off... Master is scary but at least she rewards good behavior...]}

[He's crying now??

Oh god.

What's Greed supposed to do with a crying child who doesn't have any memories of ever being human?]

That's not true.

[No one in the gang hated Greed for what he is. Not even Kimbley, a traitor, hated Greed. Greed's heard what Kimbley does to people he hates, and honestly that's proof enough that Kimbley didn't have a problem with him.

That's one alchemist who didn't immediately reject him.]

IT IS SO!

_{[Greed can't you see that challenging his world-view MUST mean that you're lying? It simply must.]

[Wrath knows better than to PUNCH him at this point, but he does lunge forward to give the older Homunculus a vicious shove, and then another (if he's not stopped), and another, each punctuated by a shouted accusation.]}

LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!

[Wrath will get two shoves in before he tries to put a stop to it, reaching out to grab at the kid.]

Stop that.

_{[This time, Wrath sees it coming and hopskips backwards out of reach again. But his glare could wither an evergreen.]}

Wait'll I tell You-Know-Who that you're here! She'll get you again, and give you what you deserve!

_{[And with that, he turns tail and bolts, outright pushing over a couple of unfortunate Trainers who get in his way in the process.]}

[Dammit.

He doesn't bother to chase after the kid. Greed doesn't know what he's going to do, so he decides not to chase after the kid.

As long as he can avoid running into Dante, he'll be fine.

He's not sure if Envy and Lust will be so lucky, but he'll have to talk to them after all of this is over with, won't he?]

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011 Things Acquired - [action; FOURTH WALL]

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