Rebound

[avaricious]

Who: Greed (and sorta Alphonse)
Broadcast: Yes
Action: A park on the Starlight
When: February 28th, after this post

[The transmission starts abruptly with a flash of red light. When the image clears, there's a few blades of grass in the way and a grotesque image of a man's back, only it's embedded with pieces of metal armor as well as what looks like an armored hand sticking out from the side. It's all the result of some hideous rebound. The man sways unbalanced and seemingly oblivious to the mess made upon his back. He stands there for a few seconds before stumbling forward and kneeling to something beyond the angle of the camera.]

Alphonse!? [There is the sound of banging on metal.] Alphonse! Dammit, answer me!

[There is nothing. No answer. Just silence.]

Say something you shitty brat! We were getting out of this shit hole together! Don't say you--

[And then, just like that, the feed cuts out without explanation.]

Comments

[avaricious]

[He tenses. Armor? Armor? How can she be so stupid when he's right there?]

His name is Alphonse. A doctor can't fix that. Nobody can!

[resnipstance]

[Hesitantly:]

Greed... there's no one in there.

[avaricious]

No, dammit. He's still in there. Can't you see the seal? [He crouches down, but that's painful too. A crackle of energy takes care of the minute damage caused by the shifting metal shards in his back.]

He didn't make it through. The gate rebounded.

[resnipstance]

I'm going to be honest with you... I don't really understand what you're talking about.

[avaricious]

Then get out of here. If you can't help, then leave!

[He need to figure this out. He needs a plan. Al is his follower. A possession. A friend. He isn't going to just lose him.]

[resnipstance]

Let me at least get that stuff out of you! Then you can worry about your friend.

[avaricious]

Stay away!

[Both his hands harden into claws and he turns on her, poised for an attack. He doesn't know what she even means, but he can't afford for her meddling to make things worse.]

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka makes a noise of frustration.]

Why are you so stubborn?!

[avaricious]

This doesn't concern you! Get away from here!

[He doesn't wait to give her time to consider. He starts advancing on her, one hand twitching as though ready to swing a blow at any time.]

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka doesn't back down.]

You have an arm sticking out of your back!

[avaricious]

Huh? [He glances over his shoulder, but the angle isn't right to see anything. Still, it does give him momentary distraction.] What the hell are you talking about?

[resnipstance]

[What if Ahsoka attemps to just walk around Greed and pull on the arm.]

[avaricious]

[It's only because he has some level of familiarity with her that he doesn't immediately lash out when she comes closer. His eyes never leave her, though. As long as it's him she's dealing with and not Alphonse, then that's what is important.

Until he feels in his back. Then instinct kicks in and he immediately lashes out with jab from his elbow meant to knock her away.]

What the hell are you doing!?

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka jumps backwards in record speed, expecting the jab even before it comes.]

I told you. You have an arm in your back. Can't you feel it?

[avaricious]

[Greed thumps his chest.]

Right now, every single soul inside of me is screaming. And Alphonse hasn't said a word. I don't give a damn about my back.

[resnipstance]

Well, I don't know how to help with any of that. But field medicine I can do.

[avaricious]

Then just take it out.

[If that's all she wants to do - then fine. The sooner she takes care of that, the sooner he can go back to Alphonse.]

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka looks around for a park bench.]

Are you sure you don't want to sit down? It looks like it's fused with your skin. I'll have to cut into it, or you won't heal right.

[avaricious]

Either pull it out or leave me alone. I don't have time for anything else.

[And no, he isn't going to sit or lie down or do anything else. He'll stand here and let it be done.]

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka takes her belt knife out, the one she got from Nyssa. It should be sharp enough for this kind of work, though it'll be messy, and it's not sterilized. She sighs and tugs gently on Greed's jacket from where she's standing behind him. Ugh. Fused also. What a nightmare. Quickly, she maps out the area around the foreign arm that seems to be fused with his skin and braces herself.]

... All right. Have it your way. This is going to hurt.

[In goes the knife. She tries to do it as deftly as she can, but even with the sort of precision and strength Ahsoka has, this is not an easy task. She doesn't want to cut too deeply and hit something crucial, but the thing needs to come out, too.]

[avaricious]

[All of the Homonculi had developed an incredible tolerance to pain, but none of them were completely immune to pain. Greed flinched and tensed when the knife went into his skin, but all of that was still minor to what was going on inside of him. Although he had the ability to control his regeneration, he was not doing so just now.

This was bad, because it was nearly instantaneous. Moments after her knife went in, red energy began to crackle at the cut skin and start knitting it back together around the metal gauntlet. Greed seemed oblivious. He was too busy staring at Al, waiting for any sign of life to appear.]

[resnipstance]

What the--?!

Are you regenerating?

[avaricious]

How else do you think I survived?

[resnipstance]

[She pulls her knife out quickly.]

Well, stop it! Unless you want to get my knife stuck in you as well.

[avaricious]

Fine.

[It's a waste of his philosopher's stone, as he's well aware. So he takes a deep breath and halts the process. It has the surprising effect of causing a sudden calm in his mind as the souls are no longer howling as they're being consumed for a healing process that never fixes itself. The problem is that he can now feel the pain far more distinctly. It shows in his pained expression.]

Just make it fast.