59th Transformation [FOURTH WALL]

[exeggutorhead]

[When the flash of light fades and Envy is once again fully a homunculus, he's…actually kind of surprised, because he's still sitting on the couch in the house, in exactly the same spot he was before. He was prepared to suddenly be anywhere, but not really to be in the same spot. Weird.]

[He gets up, idly changing his form in a few small ways as he does, just for the fun of it, and as he looks out the window he notices flickering blue candleflames all clustered around one spot in the yard. And hey, he's not doing anything else, he might as well go look. What he finds is about fifteen Litwick sitting on top of a knee-high pile of eerily glowing red rocks, very happily nibbling on them as though they were the best hard candy in the whole world.]

[Envy blinks. Turns. Goes back inside.]

[And comes back out to the pile carrying a pillowcase.]

[For the rest of the weekend, Envy can be found pretty much anywhere, but he's very likely to have that pillowcase on him, partway filled with red stones. And he just keeps reaching back in to pull one or two out and pop them in his mouth like popcorn.]

[MMM, DELICIOUS SOUL ROCKS.]

Comments

[garbagechild]

<sub>[When Master says jump, you ask 'How high?']

[When Master says 'I want enemy-of-the-month's head on a plate', you say 'Medium or well-done?']

[And when Master says 'Go find the others', you don't say anything, you just do it.]

[There's a loud PLONK as something lands DIRECTLY ON THE GLASS OVERHEAD of whatever shop or building Envy happens to be in at the time. And then the telltale squeedge of a face being planted against it.]</sub>

ENVY!

_{[FOUND YOU. 8)]}

[exeggutorhead]

[Guess whose voice Envy wasn't expecting to hear today?]

[It may have been a few years since he last heard it, but there's no way he's forgotten it. So he looks up right away, startled...and then annoyed. No, he has not forgiven Wrath for what happened to Lust.]

[At the same time, it's been a few years and Lust is here and alive, and also he's pretty sure that Dante would have just killed the kid soon after he left. No use for a recalcitrant homunculus with missing limbs, after all. ...it sure doesn't look like Wrath is covered in chemical burns, though. He must be from before all that.]

Yeah, here I am. What do you want?

[garbagechild]

_{[If Wrath notices how annoyed Envy looks at the sight of him, he doesn't show it. Truth is, he's just so pleased at having found one of his team-mates so quickly that said team-mate's aggravation is going right over his head. c: Master will be so happy with his efficiency!]}

Master told me to find everybody, we gotta come quick!

[exeggutorhead]

[Like Greed, Envy just assumes that Wrath is mistaken or confused about Dante. She's not here, she can't be here. He sighs.]

I'm not going anywhere, she's not here. Get down off the roof.

[garbagechild]

_{[Not to be dissuaded (but still with some obedience hammered into him), Wrath slides down from the roof and trots around the corner so that he can actually talk to Envy WITHOUT a wall of glass in between them.]}

Yes she is! I just saw her!

She told me to get everybody!

What IS this place?

[armoredsoul]

[Al...actually doesn't notice Envy, not just yet. He's a bit busy having a tug-of-war battle with a strange little thing over a very familiar red coat he happens to be wearing.]

Would you just--let go, you're burning it up! Stop!

[exeggutorhead]

[He's probably going to notice Envy very shortly, because that mocking cackle is very distinct, and getting closer. The red coat threw him off for a second, but that's clearly Alphonse there.]

You just have bad luck with monsters, don't you?

[And today, he has his powers back. Today, he doesn't look the slightest bit wary to be approaching.]

[armoredsoul]

[Al's head snaps up when Envy speaks, and he quickly transmutes the bottom of the coat off--he can repair it later, right now he has more pressing concerns.]

[His hands are up, ready to fight, but he's not going to press the attack. Not now, not when Envy has the advantage of raw strength over him. No, he needs a different strategy now.] What do you want, Envy?

[exeggutorhead]

[So he has his alchemy for sure, then. That's a good thing to know, but it doesn't deter him.]

Oh, I don't know. [He laughs again.]

I was just thinking that every time we're about to get in a fight, we keep being interrupted.

[And every time it happened, it just made him want to fight more. Now, with his strength and speed and regeneration back, and with the promise of consequence-dulling jumbled memories after the weekend...]

[The temptation is a bit too strong to resist. He keeps walking forward towards Al.]

[armoredsoul]

[And here, Al comes to a quandary. Envy isn't the only one that wants blood, wants it badly, but Al knows that a fight will only make things worse. There's no true death for anyone here, and anything short of that won't make Al feel any safer, nor give Envy any of the satisfaction he thinks it'll bring. But the satisfaction of punching the teeth out of that smug, sneering face, those painful memories that rise up every time he even thinks about Envy...]

[Al shifts sideways, moving so his back isn't to a wall without taking his eyes off of Envy. Each step is careful, his whole body tense and ready to spring into action.] Yeah, I noticed that. Pretty lucky for you.

[Action]

[francia]

[France's first thought was not again. He's never going to enjoy the idiosyncrasies of this world, even if they are becoming a little bit more predictable in their timing.]

[He'd been at work but had immediately left, coming home to make sure that hopefully nothing too odd had occurred. Considering previous times, his hopes aren't too high.]

[He only has to look as far as the front yard.]

[France raises his voice.]

Envy? Are you home? What are the living candles eating?

[Action]

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy turns the corner right as France calls out, and he's already got a red stone halfway to his mouth. Which, when he sees France, he looowwwwers very slowly.]

Oh. They're, uh.

[CERTAINLY NOT CONDENSED SOULS THAT HE'S EATING, NOPE.]

Alchemy rocks.

[Nailed it.]

I guess they must like them.

[Action]

[francia]

[France's expression is very narrow as he stares at Envy.]

Alchemy rocks.

[He looks Envy, at the hand with the stone that had appeared to be about to go in his mouth, to the Litwicks and the rocks, and back again.]

Right.

[He motions with open hands to the rocks and the Litwick in an upward sweeping motion.]

But why?

[Action]

[exeggutorhead]

Well...they're incomplete Philosopher's Stones. So they're made of alchemy.

[He shrugs.]

Maybe it's like eating those Proteins or power ups for them.

[Action]

[francia]

Ah.

[France drops his hands back to his side, face screwing up into a put-upon pout.]

It really is one of those times again. I thought so, since -

[He motions vaguely over himself, his gaze returning to Envy. A light of curiosity flicks on in his eyes.]

Were you going to eat them?

[no_ufo_ending]

Cold. Cold. Cold cold cold.

<sub>[Henry isn't usually one to complain, but he is a grass type and it is fucking WINTER OKAY? This is NOT FUN. The little yellow and green fox thing all but hops as he makes his way down the street in search of familiar faces.]

[It's then that he sees what looks like a bulging sack from behind and can't help but tilt his head. Santa? When did Santa get such weird hair?]</sub>

Envy!

[exeggutorhead]

[Pokemon wandering the streets aren't something that Envy pays much mind to anymore, so he doesn't notice the little Leafeon until it...shouts his name?]

[...oh. Oh right this happened before didn't it? Envy turns and crouches, balancing on the balls of his feet.]

You're stuck like this again?

[Bad luck, man.]

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[SAD, SAD PALM TREE EARS.]}

I don't know why this happens...what is that?

_{[He gestures to Envy's mysterious bag of toys question mark.]}

[exeggutorhead]

[POOR SAD HENRY.]

[Envy glances over his shoulder at the bag.]

Oh, these are...something from home I found in the yard.

They're what I eat when I'm a homunculus.

[badabooms]

Hey.

[If the source of the voice isn't immediately clear, the tiny fireball that shoots down and hits the ground a few steps in front of Envy should point the way pretty easily.]

[Impmon is standing in the branches of a nearby tree, watching the homunculus snack on his weird red candy. It's totally candy, right? In what's surely complete and utter coincidence, he's just about at the same height a second-story window would be at. And he is most definitely not showing off that HE COULD SO break into Mom's house that way if he wanted.]

[Regardless, he hops lightly down to a lower branch to be heard easier.]

You gonna keep that to yourself, or you gonna share?

[exeggutorhead]

[WOW, WHO'S THROWING FIREBALLS? RUDE. Envy's surprised enough to take a step back from it, but he doesn't look very threatened when he shoots an annoyed glare in the direction it came from.]

[...whaaaat the hell is that thing? Some kind of talking Pokemon? No, that sounds like that one kid he talked to, the funny one who was complaining about being human.]

So that's what you're supposed to look like, huh? The way you were going on, I thought you might be something bigger.

[He shifts the bag back over his shoulder instead of opening it to share; as full as it is, it doesn't weigh a thing to him.]

You don't want these, kid.

[envy_the_sinners]

[This is his second time going through... whatever this time of year is called, so Scar is ready for whatever unpleasant surprises might pop up. Regardless, he has a MISSION. That mission being to get Lust a belated birthday present. Which he has.

Scar slips out of the book store carrying a small paper bag as he zips up his jacket. Damn this cold. He's keeping his Pokémon in their balls, for now.

He doesn't notice Envy. Yet.]

[exeggutorhead]

[Oh, but Envy noticed Scar.]

[And the weekend with his powers provides an opportunity that he wouldn't normally have. An opportunity to find out just how Scar does treat Lust nowadays when there's nobody else around. Obviously he can't find that out if their conversations are always locked and Scar can't stand him. He doesn't intend to stand around if she's getting hurt, not ever again. But he wants to be more sure.]

[And if Scar turns out not to be awful? Well, then he might have some fun new information on how their resident serial killer acts.]

[He walks nearby where Scar will probably see him...after he's transformed to look like Lust.]

[envy_the_sinners]

[Scar hasn't spoken with Lust since the incident with the letter, and he's been waiting for her to contact him. She hasn't, which has led him to a number of possible assumptions that he has been trying to push from his mind since.

So there's an uncomfortable lurch in his stomach when he sees her out and about. He makes no move to approach or even acknowledge her. If she sees him, he's certain she'll say something.

If not, he's just on his not-so-merry way.]

[exeggutorhead]

[No, Envy's not about to give up on this so easily.]

[So when Scar doesn't acknowledge him, Envy walks closer without seeming to have noticed him until he's too close not to have. He widens his eyes as though he wasn't expecting to encounter Scar at all, before giving him a nod. And adding a bit of hesitance to it, because of The Letter.]

Hello, Scar.

...Are you doing well? With all of this happening.

[He gestures at the...general chaos.]