exeggutorhead | IC Inbox

[He does let her put her arm around him, and honestly? That alone should tell her something. When Al had first showed up, he didn't want contact at all, he'd been far too worked up. True, they weren't together then, but still. If he was THAT riled up over this, he still wouldn't be eager to be close to anyone.]

[Those hours performing may have helped, too. It's hard to get to that level when you're already so tired out.]

I think that if you're covered in pool water in the house, Lust will appear in front of you. Angry.

[...well, he didn't smile. It was a pretty deadpan response, for Envy. But he didn't completely blow off her attempt, at least?]

Edited 2017-07-24 07:20 (UTC)

_{[It does.]

[And tired or not, don't think she's not thinking about that, even as they gingerly pick their way across the circus grounds towards the street.]

[She can still remember the day Alphonse arrived in Johto clear as crystal.]

[Envy's anger now is so far from what it had been that it's like night and day.]

[... But he's still upset. And she wants to get to the bottom of it one way or another.]}

Yeah, well, what's she gonna do if I'm passed out cold and soaked? Carry me somewhere else?

_{[She gets the sense that joking isn't gonna get her too far tonight, though, so she leaves that conversation thread there, opting instead for--]}

So... you wanna talk about it?

[She's right about all of that. This anger is different, it's still bright and hot but it's not out of control like it had been when Al showed up.]

[But it is still there, even under the day's exhaustion, and joking isn't going to work past it. Not this.]

[For almost a full minute, Envy doesn't respond, and the only sounds are the cries of the nocturnal city Pokemon and the faint sound of the background music.]

[When he does say something, it's a strained mutter.]

...not really.

But I'm gonna have to anyway, one way or another. I might as well.

[He doesn't want her to get all her information from either of the other two brothers. She already HAS a lot of the information, actually, but still.]

I don't even know if he's the right one because he wouldn't tell me. Bastard.

_{[The fact that he's willing to talk about it despite not wanting to is a big step, too.]

[That sure wouldn't have happened once upon a time.]}

... Well... to be fair, it's not exactly a situation where I'd be too eager to volunteer that kind of information, either.

_{[SHE'S NOT SAYING HE ISN'T A BASTARD, JUST THAT HE'S A WARY BASTARD.]}

What's the difference, anyway?

Like... I know there's multiple universes and that there's been other ones, but what separates it?

[He lets out a noncommittal grumble at the first statement. Because while she's technically right (HE wouldn't volunteer it either), it's still frustrating as hell.]

Well, in mine he's my half brother, and in the other one he's not. Everyone keeps telling me that the other Envy's true form is just some...weird little ugly green thing, and they're not even dead people. They're some weird other...thing.

Sloth is a giant lazy man and not their dead mom.

I don't care about the other one. He'd be annoying but it's not the same thing.

But I don't know if I need to care or not!

[IT'S DRIVING HIM CRAZY.]

_{[WELL ENVY YOU TECHNICALLY DON'T NEED TO CARE imagine the freedom you could feel by just deciding not to give a fuck.]

[She doesn't say that, because as much as it could work for some people, it sure as hell can't for Envy.]

[Even if she's never heard every single nitty-gritty detail, she does at least know how deep-seated this particular grudge is.]}

Well... what would you do if he was the one who's related to you?

_{[:I besides 'care'.]}

[CARE A LOT X1000]

[Envy raises one arm to gesture sharply in the air in front of him--the one that's not right next to Heather, because he's not angry enough to shoot both up into the air and accidentally smack her in the face.]

[He also is now shouting. Hopefully nobody throws something out a window at them.]

I don't know! I can't just go murder him! I'm already--I did this already, I know I can't, and I know nobody'd let me even if I tried! And Lust was going on about me being the better one now!

I can't just not do something! But I don't know what I want to do about it!

[This little explosion has...clearly been building all afternoon.]

_{[--wow okay it's YELLING TIME NOW.]

[Heather doesn't take her arm back but she does lean to the side a little bit so that he's not shouting in her ear.]

[ON ONE HAND... IT'S GOOD TO KNOW THAT ENVY OFFICIALLY CONSIDERS "MURDER" TO BE OFF THE TABLE. Like, she already knew that, but it's good to hear him SAY it, unprompted.]

[On the other...]}

... Why can't you not do something?

_{[She doesn't sound argumentative, or like she's just being contrary for the hell of it.]}

Like... literally. You've got shit going on in your life. And it's not like Al's gonna bring him home to live with us. [Yet.] Why does him being here trump anything else you're doing?

_{[Aside from the part where Alphonse won't be traveling with them anymore~]}

Like... I'm not saying you have to or even that it would be the best option, but technically you could just go 'I ain't got time for this shit' and ignore his ass, right?

I don't want to ignore him! I don't think I can.

He's here and I know it, so it's not like it's going to just disappear.

[Not to mention, the mystery of the Schroedinger's Half-Brother is absolutely going to keep him from forgetting about it. His mouth sets in a scowl again as he lets out a much quieter mutter.]

Al better fucking not bring him to live in the house.

I'm pretty sure Al isn't gonna bring him to the house.

_{[As prone as they all are to Bad Ideas, that would be the Worst Idea and they basically all know it.]}

Look, I'm not saying you should pretend he's not here, I'm just saying that he doesn't need to be more important than everything else. You know?
Al and him are probably gonna be off doing their own thing for the foreseeable future, and we're gonna be doing ours.

... Besides, if you're gonna be miserable either way, actually interacting with him probably isn't gonna make it better.

I didn't say he was more important than everything else.

That doesn't make him not important at all if he's the right one.

[That 'IF' again...to her comment about Al, he snorts, although it doesn't sound exactly humored. He's still feeling pretty sore about what he'd overheard on the train, and the cut off argument when they'd gotten back hadn't really helped.]

[After he'd just spent all weekend protecting that ungrateful little...]

Yeah, of course Al's going. Good riddance. They can go off in the woods together and stay there.

_{[Yeah she'd... listened to a bit of the conversations on the train, but... had felt a little bit in the dark over it all.]}

... What exactly were you guys arguing about, anyway?

I mean.

I know why you're mad, but...

_{[SHE HAS NO IDEA WHAT ENVY WAS DOING OVER THE WEEKEND.]}

[WELL SHE'S ABOUT TO FIND OUT, BECAUSE IN THIS STATE? WHEN ENVY GETS GOING HE GETS GOING.]

Well I mean, you heard him talking to his damn brother, didn't you?

Perfectly happy to show me off to laugh but then it's all oh nooo, I'm not with them.

I kept his vengeful ex-mom away from him that whole weekend and he knew it. I didn't fucking have to.

Waste of effort on my part, if that's how it's gonna be the second he gets the opportunity.

--what, really?

_{[She knows very little about Sloth as a PERSON but she has heard the general tale of her origin from both Envy and Al.]

[And frankly, even with as much progress as Envy's made, it's very surprising to hear that he actively spent a weekend trying to protect the younger Elric. That's like. Advanced progress.]}

... Well, that kind of speaks for itself.

If he's too insecure to stand up and say it like it is, that's on him.

Not you.

[At her surprise, he sort of...realizes what he's admitted and huffs in that particular way that means he's trying to distract from something he'd said.]

Well, I mean, I wanted to hang out with her too, I hadn't seen her since I got here, so all I had to do was show her around away from Al.

[He pauses again, the rest of what she said hitting him. His face does an interesting contortion of trying to still be furiously angry but also kind of happy she'd said that.]

...well. Anyway. That's what the argument was about.

_{[WELL? IT'S TRUE.]

[It is actually true.]

[Even if Al isn't impressed, she is.]

[And proud.]}

I'd be pissed off, too!

_{[SAYING THAT STRAIGHT-UP because he has every right to be upset at getting thrown under the bus after actually putting his big kid pants on and doing the right thing. Multiple motivations aside, a couple years ago on one of those weekends he was chasing Alphonse through Goldenrod like the fucking intro to West Side Story. THIS IS CONSIDERABLE IMPROVEMENT!!]}

But family members showing up is-- ... well, you know how complicated it can get.

Remember that time you and Greed had a full-on screaming text meltdown while I was in the same conversation?

Al... probably wasn't thinking too hard about what he was saying, or about who was hearing it.

[It's really not often that Envy gets to be the one to be sided with, and he can't help his shoulders straightening up just a little. Her assurance clearly had an effect on him that joking hadn't.]

[OF COURSE, THEN SHE HAS TO GO AND BRING UP THE INCIDENT. He cringes, groaning.]

I try not to remember that...

[He's still determined to stay angry for now, but now that she's starting to make SENSE, it means he has to seize on whatever part of the conversation isn't about that.]

_{[NOTED.]

[She can definitely see the shift in stance-- hey, sometimes validation is really important.]

[And you know what, now that she knows what specifically ignited his FURY SPARK, it's not as important to grill him for details.]

[So she'll let him have the other conversation thread-- he can just think about the sense-making stuff later.]}

Honestly, in hindsight, that was kinda funny. Like, you gotta admit.

_{[And maybe, MAYBE, someday they can laugh about the whole mystery brother traincar reveal too.]}

[MAYBE, ONE DAY.]

[Honestly, the FURY SPARK for Ed is still smoldering in limbo, just waiting to get set off. He can't have his proper explosion about it until he knows for sure what's going on. So in the meantime, he can explode over Alphonse and the uncertainty of it all.]

It was definitely ridiculous. I can't believe you actually wanted to move in with both of us after that.

Hey, I don't think you ever met Hal and Liquid.

Not to dunk on your family's very impressive history of drama and emotional turmoil, but believe it or not, those guys almost made you guys look tame.

_{[Not to mention... they might joke about always having to stop Envy from backflipping off rooftops, but Heather spent a truly noteworthy amount of time actually stopping Liquid from backflipping off of rooftops.]}

I had some work experience and transferrable skills built up by that point.

....nnno, I don't think I ever did.

[The fact that anyone could make the Elric family drama look anywhere near 'tame' is grounds for Envy's most incredulous possible look.]

How was anyone that bad?

_{[Aha, maybe now they're in territory where she can get him at least snickering a bit.]}

Oh, boy.

Buckle in.

_{[THE SIMILARITIES, SHE CONFESSES, HAD STRUCK HER LONG BEFORE NOW. Because like. You go through the motions enough times and you eventually start to notice a pattern. She's pretty sure that spending so much time with Otacon and the Snakes had been preparing her on a cosmic level to deal with being best friends with a bunch of undead monsters.]}

Back when I first got here, one of the first real close friends I made was this guy named Liquid.

And Liquid was... like... _{[Envy but macho and loud.]} ... well. Let's just say you guys had some stuff in common, except he looked like he bench-pressed a Hippowdon every morning and his lowest volume was a dull roar. Dude used to pick me up and carry me around like it was nothin'.

Anyway, I may have had to, several times, stop him from killing his estranged brother.

Who he hated vehemently.

And monologued about.

While doing backflips.

And I mean that he was literally doing both of those things, while trying to kill his estranged brother.

_{[IF SHE THINKS SHE CAN GET AWAY WITH IT, she will take this opportunity to pinch Envy's side playfully.]}

Sooooound familiar?

Edited 2017-08-02 04:46 (UTC)

[Welllll...]

[He doesn't snicker. But the longer the story goes on, the more a little smirk starts growing on his face. Which is pretty good!]

[She even gets away with that little pinch, even if he makes a point of squirming his side away and giving her an offended look.]

Hey. Hey.

....I haven't tried to kill anyone while doing backflips while I've been here.

That's because, believe it or not, you're a better person than he was.

I'm pretty sure the only reason he didn't successfully murder Snake is because he had a short attention span.

_{[Like SHE LOVED LIQUID, SHE REALLY DID!! But that boy was not interested in learning life lessons about family and forgiveness.]}

You actually try.

[Heather is now person number two to tell Envy that they think he's a better person than...anyone when it comes to brothers.]

[That means something. He's not sure what, but it does.]

[He's quiet for a minute, and when he opens his mouth...]

[The incredibly loud DEDEDEDE-WHOOOOOP of a Kricketune sounds from entirely too close by.]

[Which is enough to derail any meaningful comment from Envy, but he does finally snicker.]

Well...if you're sure I don't just have a short attention span. Maybe I'm just distracted all the time.

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