( he looked at me like i was stupid, i'm not stupid )

[falconing]

Who: Members of the Huntress and visitors!
Action: The U.S.S. Huntress!
When: It's a mingle for the month of March!

[ it's that time of year! also, pr was on hiatus for a bit, and needs to throw herself into things, so indulge me!! ]

Comments

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka's faced worse. Greed isn't so scary. Just annoying.

She opens the door and walks in a few steps.]

Thanks. But I'm not actually here to see you. I need to speak with your better half for a moment. Change over.

[avaricious]

[He doesn't mean to, but Greed visibly flinches. If it were that easy, he'd do it in a heartbeat. But no amount of effort was going to get him anywhere.]

The prince isn't available just now.

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka crosses her arms, studying him.]

Why not?

[avaricious]

[If Greed was the type to lie, it would be an easy thing to just distort the truth and make her go away. Yet even when agitated, he doesn't shy away from his tedious attachment to telling the truth. He could kick himself.]

Because he isn't. I don't know where he is.

[resnipstance]

What, did he just go on holiday?

[The sarcasm is thick with this one.]

[avaricious]

[He sits up in his bed. There's no amusement on his lips. No sign of mischief or deceit in his eyes. Instead he's only angry, but she's not the target.]

What? No. [He shakes his head.] He's been missing since the transmutation rebounded. I don't know what happened to him.

1/2

[resnipstance]

What? How can you just lose track of a person--

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka freezes suddenly as Greed's words come back to her.

"Opening the portal meant paying a toll. One of the souls inside me was used for that. ... I just want to make sure I know which one." Her eyes widen.]

[avaricious]

[He can see it in her eyes that she gets it It's just as well. Explaining it would be difficult.]

I've had others look for him, but there's too many other souls to find him. I don't know if his soul was used up, if he made it through, or if in that struggle he lost his individuality. Whichever it was, he's not here to talk or listen. So unless you have something to say to me, there's no point in you being here.

[resnipstance]

[When she speaks again, her voice is gentler than Greed's probably ever heard it.]

... Who's looked?

[avaricious]

I don't know. Some friend of Al's. Even looking at me made the kid vomit.

[So. He was basically useless.]

[resnipstance]

Then it wasn't another Jedi. [Jedi are made of stronger stuff!!1]

Let me try, at least. I know Ling. Maybe I could pick him out.

[avaricious]

Knock yourself out. But chances are, if he was in there, he'd have made himself known by now.

[resnipstance]

Maybe he's hiding from your bad personality.

[But she comes further into the room anyway, and sits on the floor cross legged.]

Sit. I want to be meditating for this. And it'll help if you do too.

[avaricious]

[Greed huffs loudly and rolls his eyes, but because he wants answers he relents to putting in the effort anyway. So he moves off of the bed and sits across from her on the floor. Although cross legged, he leans back against the wall with his arms crossed and his attention elsewhere. Meditation was more of a Ling thing, after all.]

Just don't vomit on my floor, no matter how much Koala might enjoy cleaning that up.

[resnipstance]

... Don't worry. I've got a strong stomach.

[She closes her eyes then and begins meditating in her usual way. Regulates her breathing, shuts out distractions. Once she's in the zone, she expands her consciousness beyond herself, tapping in to the Force around her. Greed obviously looms large in the Force like a bright, red, angry supernova with thousands of souls. But this time she doesn't try to ignore it. Quieting her unease, she tries to focus on it instead. To sort through the cacophony, to find some signature that feels like Ling.]

[avaricious]

[What opens up before her is a well of souls and it is the same thing that both Greed live through night and day. The further she goes in, the more encompassing they become. They are everywhere and everything, such that the outside world has no meaning. At first they are merely wailing beings devoid of form, appearing only as red energy with what might pass for eyes and mouths serving only to show their distress. They bleed into one another like an ocean.

But among them is one singular soul that seems to dwarf them all in size. It has a form of its own choosing, with large eyes and sharpened teeth. It is the true shape and form of Greed, who seems only too aware of her trying to make her way in. He is able to exert enough control over the torrent of souls to open a place for her.]

[resnipstance]

[Well that's... horrifying. But Ahsoka stands her ground, pulling the energy of the Force around her like a security blanket, asserting her individuality. Part of her can't tear her eyes away from Greed, but she's not here for him, so she forces herself to look away.

Ling...? she calls tentatively, feeling vaguely foolish. If it were as simple as calling him out, Greed probably would have done it already. Her mouth settles in a determined line, and she forges her way forward, deeper into the sea of souls. She might as well be trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Ling, it's Ahsoka. You need to come back. She pauses for a moment, thinking. Your people still need you.]

[avaricious]

[Greed inevitably follows her, remaining as a amorphous presence that navigates the inner world of the philosopher's stone. But as Ahsoka fights to remain an individual presence, so too does this strange inner world become more physical. But Ling doesn't answer. When Greed speaks up, it's the voice she's hearing from being inside the stone, not his voice from the world outside.]

Don't you think I've tried that? You can call out his name until your tentacle-hat falls off and he won't answer.

[resnipstance]

[Back in the room, the corporeal Ahsoka's brow twitches. Ahsoka's presence, meanwhile, turns back to the vague Greed-face and scowls.

It was worth a shot! And you're breaking my concentration.

She turns back to the crowd of souls and stills, wondering how to proceed. If calling for him won't doesn't work, then it's up to her. She tries to concentrate again, to focus on what she knows of Ling, but--

It's so noisy in here. Can't you make them be quiet?]

[avaricious]

These souls have been here for hundreds of years. They came from Xerxes, from Riviere, Cameron, Wellesley, Aerugo, and any other poor country that ever got in Father's way. You can't just quiet them. This is all they are now.

[And if Ling is lost in this... well, Greed doesn't think there's much hope of dragging him back out of it. Once a soul has been converted to energy, it can never go back to what it used to be. That's something that all Homunculi know.]

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka's expression seems to soften, then. So many souls, all shadows of what they once used to be... it's so sad.

She takes a few steps forward and reaches a hand out to one. Do they have mass? Do they have names? Personalities? Memories...?]

[avaricious]

[What is might be empty, but once was is still stained upon their soul. To look at any individual might seem like the same at once, until she begins to peer closer. From a single soul comes the outline of a man. His hair is golden, but his eyes are white and empty. What was wailing is in fact the same words being repeated over and over:

Please stop. Please stop. Please stop.

He is trapped in that moment between life and death and though he cannot escape it, he seems to notice her attention. Desperately he tries to claw at her, urging her to pull him away. His hands take on physical form, enough to try and begin to claw at her as if to pull her into the torrent as well.

Greed watches impassively.]

1/2

[resnipstance]

[It's like the worst kind of nightmare fuel imaginable. Even worse because she's connected to the Force. As it grabs her arm, she feels their torment magnified a hundred times.

Horrified, she leans away and instinctively reaches for her lightsaber-- but of course, it isn't there. This isn't even real.

Stop! Get off me!

She yanks her arm free, but another soul already crowds her.]

no i lied, 2/3

[resnipstance]

[Suddenly, it occurs to her: if the souls are brought forth by her proximity, maybe she could find Ling that way. But... there's too many of them here. For her to stand here and try to go through them one by one-- it would take an eternity...]