64th Transformation [FOURTH WALL]

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy's having a little bit of an issue this weekend.]

[Not swarming Pokemon or even teleportation, oh no. Those, he's gotten fairly good at handling. It's weird that these weekends are something anybody could get used to, but he just about has.]

[No, this time the problem is musical. There's a haunting song playing instead of the background music wherever Envy finds himself. It's scratchy and clearly sounds like it's coming out of an old phonograph, and he KNOWS that if he looks hard enough he'll probably find the damn thing somewhere. He knows he will because he DOES keep finding it, smashing it, and getting an hour or two of quiet before it COMES BACK.]

[Honestly, any reminders of his old master aside, he's spent four centuries listening to this waily goddamn song and he's just sick of it. So during the weekend, if anybody comes across him while the song is going, they'll find him pulling up bushes with his bare hands to look behind them and kicking around any spot where a phonograph could be hiding, trying to get it. And Envy will absolutely recruit passersby to help him out.]

[If the song isn't playing at the moment and providing a distraction, he'll be wandering around anywhere, still in the oddly subdued mood he's been in the past few weeks.]

Comments

[greatbigrock]

<sub>[Well ... okay.]

[You know, it hasn't been that long, all things considered. A few weeks tops while him and Miguel and Chel have been trying to figure out how to get back to Spain, scavenging and conning here and there in whatever settlement they've come across, but mostly living off the forest and trying to figure out the next step.]

[It's a while until the ships are set to return home and playing stowaway worked out so well last time, and their boat was wrecked (in anger, probably), so they're just lying low for now but enjoying the freedom that is. While also coping with the shift and change and loss from the pokémon world, or the halfhearted memories of it.]

[And then ... there it is again. Just suddenly. And Tulio has to gape as he looks around, cause uh, he definitely recognises the place right off, but this was definitely not how it went last time he wound up here, and ...]

[... well, he's kind of alarmed and having some mixed feelings, but okay.]


[And what the hell is this song? That wasn't there before, either.]



[Buuut apparently he's not the only one finding it kind of grating, judging from the figure pacing around aggressively, but it only takes him a second to recognise him, so he just walks right up to him.]</sub>

Woah, hey? Envy?

[exeggutorhead]

[It's been a long, long time since Envy's heard that voice. And damn is it a good one to hear. His head goes right up from how it was bent down to look behind a trashcan, and he whips around to just make sure he's not hearing things. And then his face breaks out into a wide grin automatically. He's very nicely distracted from the music.]

Wh--Tulio! When did you get here?

[BOSS-AMIGO!!]

[And if Envy looks a liiittle bit more on the emotional side of glad than he'd like to show, shhhh don't tell anyone.]

[greatbigrock]

_{[Hey it's cool Tulio's hiding some of his own emotional, but he grins right back at Envy and grabs him affectionately by the arms for a moment, in what's probably in lieu of a hug. In a way, it's making sure he's really there, cause this whole thing has such a feeling of unreality - he was just trying to sleep beneath a gigantic leaf, you know?]}

Don't know! I guess I just got caught up in this ... whatever it is ... thing. It is one of those times, right?

_{[Needs to make sure before he decides what to feel properly, and Envy should know better than anyone. Vaguespeak aside, Tulio figures he'll get it.]}

[exeggutorhead]

[Arm grabbing instead of hugs works just fine for Envy, and he even reaches to grasp Tulio's shoulder for a moment himself. Even if it's just for now, he gets to see his friend again, and that kind of luck is something he's been sorely needing lately.]

[But he still sighs as he nods.]

Yeah, it is. So…hey, even if you're not here long, we can make the most of it. Yeah?

[He certainly doesn't want to waste the time moping about it being over soon. He shakes his head, letting out a little noise that's nearly a laugh. He's still having trouble believing Tulio's actually HERE, and the more it sinks in the more the emotions are pressing up insistently and he can TELL that it's making his grin look weird.]

It's been a long time.

[reluctantreceiver]

_{[A hulking THING is lingering at the street corner. It was amazing to think something so big and thorny could look frightened. The birch man hunched his shoulders and lashed his long spiny tail as the chaos parted around him as if he were a rock in a stream. Occasionally he let out a soft growl and swatted at the Pidov that tried to land on him.]}

[exeggutorhead]

[Fortunately, it's during a period of blessed freedom from The Music. Frightened treemonsters don't need that mournful wailing approaching them.]

[The normal background 8-bit might not be much BETTER, but y'know.]

[Envy's approaching more out of curiosity at first; he's never seen anything like this guy show up, but the first thing he thinks is chimera. Maybe he IS a chimera. Time to investigate. He walks up fearlessly, because after all he can't die right now.]

Hey, what's up with--

Henry?

[HE'D RECOGNIZE HIS FRIEND'S GENERAL SHAPE ANYWHERE BY NOW. Even if he's mostly a giant thorny treeman. This is officially weirder than a Leafeon. FRIEND, R U OK??]

[reluctantreceiver]

<sub>[The monster's leafy ears lifted at the sound of his name and he turned to observe...some human with the weirdest hair he's ever seen. It was most certainly Henry from that ever so slightly worried blank face to the tattered double pocketed button up shirt.]

[But what he didn't have in his knothole-shaped eyes was the spark of recognition.]</sub>

[exeggutorhead]

[While Envy can recognize faces and body shapes like nobody's business, he's not so great with knotholes.]

[And this HAS to be Henry, right? Same shirt, even. He's probably just in shock from waking up a tree.]

Hey, c'mon, come with me. We can go back to the house for a while.

[captainash]

[Great. Ash finally decides to step out of his mobile suit for some fresh air, and the very first thing he sees is a man attacking innocent shrubbery. That sort of thing only happens to him, he swears.

And to make it worse, the Chatot on his shoulder starts singing along to- Wait, what is that music?]

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy looks up from yanking the bush out of the ground when he hears the Chatot, and scowls in its and Ash's direction.]

Great, now it's coming from your bird, too.

[ENVY'S NOT FEELING VERY POLITE TODAY.]

[captainash]

The song...? Haro, shut up.

So rude! So rude!

[But the bird does shut up, so there's at least that.]

Do you have something against that singer, or what?

[exeggutorhead]

[THERE IS THAT. Envy looks a little less grouchy when Haro does quit singing, and crosses his arms, standing casually and shrugging.]

The singer? Nah. But the person I used to live with played it nonstop for years, and I'm sick of it.

I'm trying to find the phonograph so I can break it, but it could be anywhere around here. I could use some help, if you're interested.

[bookslap]

{SUP DEADBRO. IT'S BEEN A WHILE.}

Where is that ungodly racket coming from?

{That is not the usual background music for this place, what is happening.}

[exeggutorhead]

[HEEEY DEADSIS]

[Much like with Tulio, Envy's head pops up from looking for the phonograph like a cat who's just heard a bell. But unlike with Tulio…he's not sure if this is the Nanao who remembers him as a brother, or if she still doesn't remember that. So he's more reserved in his posture and doesn't go right up to her, even if he does look glad to see her.]

If I knew, I'd have stopped it already. Want to help me find the stupid machine making it?

[bookslap]

{Now that's a familiar voice - and when Nanao spots Envy, her face lights up like it's Christmas.}

Envy! And of course I do.

[exeggutorhead]

[THAT LIGHTING UP LOOKS PROMISING. He hadn't gotten that close to Nanao when she'd come back without her memories. He gets a sort of hopeful look on his face and starts actually walking towards her now.]

You, uh...wouldn't happen to remember what was going on last time I saw you, would you?

[edingly]

[Well. This is awkward.]

[Ed had been separated from Al a while ago, as the Fourth Wall is wont to do, and was wandering around trying to find him again. But then that goddamn song started playing and...curiosity took hold. Who the hell would even have that old record, much less be playing it out on the street?]

[Edward comes upon Envy as he rounds a corner and freezes in his tracks. For a few seconds it's just pure shock, then a quickly smothered by a glare and clenched fists.]

[No words, this time. He's already anticipating the first punch.]

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy WISHES he didn't have that record playing out in the street. Too bad he hasn't found one of those wish slips to send it away with.]

[Envy freezes too when he sees Ed come around the corner. He's not nearly as shocked; Ed has been here a lot of times before and it IS one of these weekends. But it is a surprise, and Envy's face twists from startled into a sneer as his whole posture tenses up. His hands curl into tight fists. He doesn't throw a punch quite YET, but he's clearly wound up enough to do so at the slightest of even imagined provocations.]

[The overload of feelings that comes with grief can take more than one form with Envy, and anger has always been the easiest channel for them.]

So, you're back here again, and all alone. Find your brother yet, or did you lose him already?

[Al might be Complicated right now, but Ed sure isn't.]

[edingly]

[When has Ed ever been Complicated for Envy, really?]

How about you go fuck yourself, Envy? I don't have the time to deal with you.

[Edward knows well enough of Envy's current situation, the changes and the uneasy truce between the eldest and youngest Elric. But he never really bought that Envy could change enough to be worth dealing with. Granted, he has a much more...personal reason than even Al does to loathe Envy with every fiber of his being, but it's kind of justified. Hard not to hate the guy that killed you just because of who your father was.]

[oldestfriend]

[It's right as an entire bush has been uprooted and the phonograph is destroyed that an achingly familiar voice will speak up from behind Envy. Old and familiar and warm.]

Now what did that poor shrubbery do to you? I hope you'll apologize to it.

[Dee is smiling, hands tucked into her pockets with all the ease in the world.]

[exeggutorhead]

[IT'S BEEN QUITE THE WEEKEND FOR REUNIONS. This is a voice he hasn't heard in a much longer time, but…he recognizes it as though he'd only last heard her yesterday.]

[He tosses the bush off to the side, carelessly, and pulls his foot out of the wreckage of the phonograph. Those things don't really seem all that important right now.]

[He even manages a laugh.]

It was hiding something I wanted to get rid of. Completely deserved.

You know me, do you think I'd really apologize to a bush?

[oldestfriend]

Hey, I've seen stranger things. [Dark eyes glimmer in mirth.] Remember when things got a little glitchy?

[bravehoratio]

Excuse me, sir!

[...Why is this man...digging...in the bushes...]

Hello, sir! I was wondering, do you happy to know the way to East City? From here, I mean — which way do I go?

[MY GOD IT'S JOE EVERYMAN, THE HERO WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR]

[exeggutorhead]

[Any smartass remark Envy was going to make is abruptly derailed by three things:

1. Military uniform.

2. Talking about East City.

3. Envy has never seen this man before in his life.]

East City's a long way from here.

[COULD IT BE]

[THE MYTHICAL MR. NOTINVOLVED]

...but I know the way, I could help you out if you'd answer some things for me first.

[Winning, friendly smile. Envy knows he already looks like a punk teen in a miniskort, he doesn't want to scare the human away right off the bat.]

[bravehoratio]

I'd appreciate that, sir!

[...Also you are really badly dressed, also very decidedly a teenager, and you probably don't warrant that "sir" at all but it doesn't hurt anyone anything to be mannerly.

His mother raised him that way, don't you know. Good, polite, and honest.]

Though I don't know that I'll be much help, being a little mixed-up myself! But if there's some way I can, I surely will.