driftfleet | Rebound

Entry tags:

Rebound

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.]

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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.]

[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.

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.]

[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.]

[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.]

What the--?!

Are you regenerating?

How else do you think I survived?

[She pulls her knife out quickly.]

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

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.

That's what I was trying to do.

[She grits her teeth for round two. True to her word, she makes quick, neat work this time. Years in the field have desensitised her to the sight of bare muscle and blood. She's seen worse. Though... not by much. This definitely has a rank somewhere in the top five, she thinks grimly. Ahsoka's fingers are soaked in blood by the time she's done, and the rogue arm falls to the ground with a thump.]

[When she's done, Greed lets himself heal. The skin knits itself back together with the flash of a red electricity. The blood on her hands turns to ash and Greed's body is healed. There are still smaller pieces of metal fragments lodged into his back, but none so significant that a simple jerk would not suffice in removing them.]

Finished?

[Ahsoka considers him for a moment. She's quickly reaching 100% done with Greed's temper tantrum.]

... That's the worst of it. There are some other smaller pieces, but they can probably be taken out without a knife.

[He reaches a hand back and touched one of the jagged pieces on his back. He doesn't quite pull it out just yet.]

These are parts of his body. How the hell is he going to be put back together again?

[Stay calm, Ahsoka.]

... I'm not sure. Is this sort of thing normal, in your world? How would you put him back together if we were there and not here?

Only someone who knows human transmutation would be able to do anything with him now.

[Alchemists like that are rare enough - and there are no other ones here.]

[She doesn't really understand what that is, but she gets the gist well enough: he can't be fixed.]

... I'm sorry.

Do you want me to help you carry him back to his ship?

[He considers it. But he ends up shaking his head.]

No. I don't know what ship he's from.

[And... there might be missing pieces. It seems important that he should find all those first.]

Well... I guess his shipmates will probably contact you soon enough.

Is there anything else I can do?

[He shakes his head, at first intending to just quietly ignore her until she leaves.

Except...]

Your powers. They can sense the well of souls inside me. Can you do more than that?

[UNSURE DOT JPG]

Um. That depends. Define "more."

More. [He begins tapping his fingers against his crossed arms.] Can you see them. Interact with them?

Probably not. But I could try. ... Why?

[He doesn't want to answer why. He just wants to know if is of use or not. The last thing he needs is for her to raise a fuss.

He scowls and turns back to her.]

Opening the portal meant paying a toll. One of the souls inside me was used for that. [His glare falters and he looks away.] ... I just want to make sure I know which one.

Picking one soul out of thousands, huh...

Sorry, I think that's a little beyond my skill level. Especially when it's not like I've exactly met any of them before.

[You would know this one, he thought bitterly. But instead he turned away.]

Then there's nothing else you can do.

[So she could go. Or watch. Or whatever. He didn't care.]

(no subject)

resnipstance - 2016-03-16 02:16 (UTC) - Expand

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