awashlogs | blood and blisters on my fingers / chaos rules when we're apart

Who: Ling Yao & Greed
Where: The Forest!
When: 6/1
What: Two losers go on an adventure and kill some people
Warnings: Maybe some violence

[There's nothing to do here.

Nothing. Absolutely nothign that makes life worthwhile is available here. No drugs, no alcohol, no violene, no women (or at least, no women of an available age), no men who seem like they're down for some fun . . . all Greed's done is find food for Ling and spar him a few times. Beyond that . . . what? Chatting with Sora and Josuke about friendship, antagonizing Zelda, talking endlessly with children who seems so, so much younger than the companions he'd had before . . .

Greed may just die a third time. Boredom isn't a flashy way to go, but them's the breaks.

So: the forest. People have said it's dangerous, which sounds promising; maybe if they're lucky they'll find something to fight. But if not . . . at least it's a way to kill an afternoon.]

I keep half-expecting Pride to jump out from somewhere.

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[Ugggh the forest uuughh. Know that Ling whined about having to get up and come out here, at least for a few minutes, just for effect. He isn't afraid of it- please, he's done wilder shit at the drop of a hat- but having to entertain Greed all the time is exhausting when he has to be awake and aware for all of it, instead of just some. Another thing to add to the "what's different about not sharing a body?" list, for sure.

So he grumbled, but he's here now, and much livelier. This sure won't go badly for them, despite every single thing he's been told about the forest!!]

Ah, did I mention, Selim Bradley is an ordinary little boy these days? It's more unsettling than you'd think.

[Well, maybe not, considering who Greed is. But it's weird and Amestris is incredibly problematic, even now.

Anyway, there are no big brothers in these woods, dweeb.]

Yeah, I bet. Him and Wrath both . . . homunculus aren't supposed to be able to do that.

[Which Ling knows, but which bears repeating. Pride as an ordinary child is . . . creepy. Greed sure wouldn't trust him.]

He used to pull that act way back when. I used to try and get him to do it to get us free shit, but no, of course not.

[Hmm . . . left? Right? Let's go left, that seems to be where the forest is leading them.]

[So creepy... That's super not his problem in Xing, so whatever! But god is it creepy.]

Of course you did. [Greed... Ling looks back over his shoulder as they go left, wondering- was there a different path a second ago? No? Maybe?- but never mind it for now, he supposes.]

You would be even more of a menace as a child.

[Tiny Greed! Precious! Now he's thinking about it.]

[He wrinkles his nose. The thought of him as a child is . . . weird? Super weird. He doesn't care for it.]

You probably were a menace as a child.

[He turns, walking backwards, preferring to face Ling as they have this discussion.]

Right? Or no, was the princeling a mama's boy?

[He should know this, probably, but delving through Ling's memories was a select sort of thing. His childhood was never really high on his priority list.]

[Super weird. Ling is just picturing him shorter and a little pudgier, you know, in that kid way. It's terrifying.]

Who knows! I could have been both!

[Not like it really matters anymore, or ever did, but let's not dwell on that-- Is Greed going to back up into a tangle of branches? He'd be obligated to laugh, and though it's amused, he does say,] Watch where you're going...

You know--

[UGH FINE he turns, glancing around. The trees look . . . weirder, thicker and the branches denser. There's less light around here, and though he doesn't have to breathe, still he notes that it feels a little stuffier.]

Come on. Tell me about little Ling!

[thicc trees]

I had a lot of sword lessons...? [Look, it wasn't very exciting, his many siblings tried to kill him a bunch and he had to try to kill them back. The forest is getting a little too oppressive for fun childhood stories--] Lan Fan was there.

[Consider: little Lan Fan. Amazing!!!]

You suck at telling stories, you know that?

[Little Lan Fan would be adorable, all feisty attitude and skinned knees. He'd pay a lot to see little Lan Fan, frankly.]

I thought this forest was supposed to be dangerous. All I've seen are berries.

[Ling waves a hand to shush him for a second, while he looks around. The thing about this forest is the same thing as the rest of the town - there is something distinctly strange about all of it, a creeping uneasy feeling Ling could do without, but it isn't the kind of sense of an entity he'd usually get.

So, it's stupid and gross.]

Pick some berries and be quiet for a minute, I— [He stops and turns abruptly at the sound of a twig snapping, but luckily - it's just a weird deer.

Like, it's a horrifying mutant deer crossing the path behind them, but it's only a deer.]

[He whistles admiringly.]

Three eyes! Hey, I wonder if that makes it better at seeing shit or worse.

[Just a little thing to ponder over as they wander through this shitty-ass forest. But the deer's head snaps up, its ears going flat against its bullet skull as it regards Greed. It's creepy, and he manages to change his fingers to claws just before the fucking thing charges at him.

It aims for right between them, and Greed doesn't think; just springs back, separating himself from Ling, throwing himself between two trees (and when had there been a gap there?). He lands some thirty feet away, and the deer turns, staring at him.

And Ling--]

Oh, fuck no--

[A low growl as he realizes what's just happened, of course this fucking place wants to separate them, but not again--]

What— [Ling twists out of the way, the other way, opposite Greed, staring back at the charging deer. He can barely sense a damn thing out here, so a mutant deer taking them by surprise is—a little much?! It's a deer!

But he's suddenly separated from Greed, and it only takes a split second to realize and dash toward him, hand going for his sword because he will skin this deer alive before a deer is what gets Greed swallowed by the forest.

—And something is... creaking. Ling glances up, then-]

Greed!

[Greed, darling, dearest, the trees are actively fucking moving if you'd like to get back over here in the next few seconds.]

[His head snaps up, and oh, what a stupid trick, but the worst part is that it worked. It wasn't the deer that was meant to separate them; it's the sudden wall of fucking trees marching like they're characters from Lord of the Rings. Within a moment he's got a solid forest between him and Ling (and his voice is muffled, and there's no panic in that tone but there might soon be--)

But wood is still weaker than carbon, and it takes an instant before he's started a career in forestry. Wood and splinters burst in all directions, and oh, there he is, and something panicked in Greed settles just a little.]

What the fuck is wr--

[--wrong with this forest, he'd been about to say, putting his back to Ling, except some other weird thing bursts into view.

It's . . . ]

A fairy?

[Ling isn't fast enough to beat the trees- and that's ridiculous, they are trees- and one good whack with his sword does nothing but get the blade stuck in a tree trunk for a good couple seconds, but thankfully there's Greed coming through before he has time to really worry. Really worry, because he can't deny the spike of some awful feeling like ice in his stomach when trees closed around him moments ago.

But that's one crisis averted, and he's brushing woodchips out of his hair and looking around warily for the next thing to come at them, and it's...

Yeah, that's a fairy.]

I told you this forest was no good.

[And-- and it's speaking, he realizes a moment late, high and singsong and promising him something, if he could just lean toward it a little and listen...]

[It's definitely a fairy, and thank god Ling sees it too. But here's the problem: he's facing the wrong way. His voice is pointed in the wrong direction, and yet he's acting like he sees it too, but hey, what the hell, it's not like the rest of today has been any more normal. Why shouldn't Ling have grown fucking eyes in the back of his head or whatever?

It's a really annoying thing buzzing in front of him, though. Red and creepily proportioned, whispering things about . . . what? He can't quite hear, but he thinks he can make out a few words. Immortality, yes, that's one, and revival, and redemption--

Without thinking, he takes a step forward.]

[Ling has no idea, of course; the yellow fairy bobs just inches from his face, its babbling voice going on endlessly about things that would be nice, but aren't that exciting - more food, better clothes - but when Ling catches the tail end of something about bringing back those lives he's lost, Ling moves toward it—

—and Greed is not at his side, which makes him look over his shoulder and speak,] Where are you going? It's this way.

blood and blisters on my fingers / chaos rules when we're apart

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