Wrath (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
garbagechild) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
route_10652015-08-12 12:11 am
garbagechild) wrote in route_10652015-08-12 12:11 am
Sometimes people leave you, halfway through the wood.
Who: Alphonse Elric, Envy, Greed, and Wrath.
Where: An ill-fated bakery. All around Goldenrod. The freakin' basement.
When: August 11th onwards! This is a catch-all.
Summary: The world has been pretty good to the various monsters and serial killers hailing from Amestris, but one particular villainous wild child has yet to be rehabilitated.
Rating: PG-13 for talk of abuse, manipulation, brainwashing, all that good stuff.
Log:
Continued from here.
Where: An ill-fated bakery. All around Goldenrod. The freakin' basement.
When: August 11th onwards! This is a catch-all.
Summary: The world has been pretty good to the various monsters and serial killers hailing from Amestris, but one particular villainous wild child has yet to be rehabilitated.
Rating: PG-13 for talk of abuse, manipulation, brainwashing, all that good stuff.
Log:
Continued from here.
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[Envy is entirely correct about Team Rocket probably not even being in the same LEAGUE as what the Homunculi are used to, but Wrath knows about exactly ONE kind of punishment, and that kind is Dante's.]
[It hasn't even occurred to him that there is any other form of consequence for getting in trouble.]
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They might yell or give you a worse job for a while, or...I don't know, maybe not pay you. But I don't think they'll hurt you.
[They'd better fucking not.]
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If you break the rules, you get punished.
None of those things you just said are punishments.
[He'd gotten yelled at and given miserable jobs plenty when he was with the other Sins, and had never seen a single penny for it! As far as he's concerned, the earnings are neat perk, but not something he'd bat an eye at having taken away.]
[And like.]
[People yell at him all the time already. A LOT.]
['GET OUT OF THERE WRATH' is an extremely common thing to hear screamed through the halls in the Rocket HQ. Also, 'STOP TOUCHING ALL THE CARROT COINS AND TAKE YOUR TRAY ALREADY, FOR THE LOVE OF ARCEUS'.]
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[Most people who haven't been horrifyingly abused!]
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[But now his eyes narrow, and he gives Envy a look.]
... You're changing your mind again.
[His voice is low and soft, but still blatantly accusing.]
[YEAH Envy, he DAMN WELL REMEMBERS who originally gave him the rundown of all the horrible things that would be done to him if he screwed up or misbehaved! HE REMEMBERS SUPER WELL.]
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[THAT INFORMATION USED TO BE PRETTY ACCURATE.]
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I belong to a team, and the team has rules! And if you break them, you're punished!
It's exactly the same!
The only thing that's different is what you're saying! And that's always changing.
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[But this is the same issue the two of them have run into over and over, ever since they brought Wrath down here.]
Look, I don't...I don't know how to get you to believe me. I'm not any good at telling the truth but I'm trying.
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[It sure is an issue.]
[Wrath stands there, glaring up at Envy with fists balled and feet squared.]
[But finally he says, flatly--]
... I'll never know what's the truth and what isn't if you keep changing the story.
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[He dug this hole himself, and he knows it. And Wrath's the one who's been suffering for it.]
I know, I know.
[He runs a hand harshly back through his hair, trying to figure out how they're going to deal with this.]
So...why don't we figure out what the truth is now. And once we do, I won't change the story anymore. I won't have to, because it'll be true.
That makes sense, right?
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[While it's true that Envy's changed his mind a number of times even since Wrath had first arrived here, he has managed to stick to this specific version of things for some time.]
[After silently weighing things up for a bit, Wrath sets his jaw and looks back up at Envy.]
You gotta pinkie swear to it.
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Pinkie swear? What's that mean?
[He doesn't look reluctant. WHATEVER IT IS, HE'LL DO IT. BUT FIRST HE NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT TO DO.]
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It's something Joker taught me.
[Emphasis on 'Joker', because Wrath knows that he and Envy are friends. Therefore, it adds legitimacy to what he's saying. Of course, Joker hadn't... exactly... SPECIFIED WHAT HAPPENED WHEN A PINKY PROMISE WAS BROKEN.]
[Fortunately, Wrath has a big imagination to make up for that.]
It means you promise something, and if you break the promise, first all your body parts start to rot off, but you don't feel it, so you just have to watch. Then your hair turns to cobwebs, and all your skin melts off, and you vomit up your organs one at a time.
Finally, you're a bunch of bones, and you can't move, because there's no muscles to pull on them.
But your brain is still inside, so you can still think.
And then bugs eat the brain.
And then you die.
[......]
... And you DON'T come back!
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Then I really won't be able to break it, not even if I wanted to.
Okay, so how do we make this promise? Anything special we need to do to make it the real thing?
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[Wrath holds up his hand, pinky extended.]
You gotta hold the small finger on the end of someone's hand with yours.
And say what you're promising.
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[What a weird way to make a promise. But it does seem like a thing humans would come up with. He extends his own pinky, linking it with Wrath's.]
I promise that I'll only tell you the truth, from now on. I won't change my story anymore.
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Not that they'd quite upheld that one, considering Joker's first move upon finding out that the little ragamuffin had stolen AN ENTIRE VAPOREON had been to send Invidia out to sweep him off to the big-top, but WHO'S COUNTING...][Then Wrath lets go. And nods somberly.]
It's sealed.
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Sealed. No more lies, ever again.
[He lets out a breath. He really does mean it.]
...now will you believe me, when I say I don't think that your new team's punishments are going to be like hers were?
I'll still talk to the others about letting you out to go back to them. But I don't think it'll be the same as it used to be.
Here--sit down with me?
[He takes a seat on the stairs, gesturing for Wrath to sit next to him, if he will.]
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[He shoots another longing look at the door, unable to help letting out a low whine in his throat. But... after a second, he does sit down. A couple stairs down from Envy, but he does sit.]
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[That whine hits him a lot harder than the outraged shouts had when this started.]
I'm pretty sure we're going to let you out, if I bring it up to everyone else. We don't want you to get hurt or in trouble. None of us do.
[And as much as he REALLY DOUBTS that Team Rocket's discipline for its members is straight up torture like it had been with Dante...he doesn't really trust the idea of punishment either. It was too long ingrained for him.]
But if we do let you out...would you promise to come back? If you do, we wouldn't have to lock you up down here.
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[And honestly... it's less because he doesn't want to come back (although he really DOESN'T) and more because... Envy's ASKING?]
[Envy NEVER asks for anything. He just demands it.]
... Why do you want me here?
Really?
If... if you're willing to let me GO, why would you want me back?
I'm really confused.
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That's why we brought you here, because we wanted to help you. And if you'll let us...then there's no reason to lock you up, right?
[He's trying to explain this in a way that might make more sense to Wrath.]
And we...[He struggles for a second, gesturing. But he promised he'd tell the truth. And this is an important thing for Wrath to know, something Envy's been avoiding saying even though he knows exactly how important a thing it can be to just hear.] We do want you back. All of us do.
None of us want to be your enemy, Wrath. We want you around.
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[Here in this dimly-lit little basement (because eventually he'd started being able to lower the lights at night when he slept instead of just keeping them blazing all night long), sitting and looking up at the oldest of his siblings-in-sin, Wrath looks more like he did the FIRST time he and Envy met than anything else.]
[When he finally does speak, his voice is small and broken.]
... And you... you wouldn't change your minds again?
[No one has wanted him forever. And the first lesson he ever learned was that rejection hurts.]
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[He swallows hard, and shakes his head. It's a moment before he can find words, and even when he does, they're simple ones.]
No. No, we won't change our minds.
[...]
I won't change my mind.
[He puts on a small grin, genuine even though it wavers slightly, and gestures at his legs.]
And these aren't falling off, are they?
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... Well...
The rotting would probably start with the fingers and toes, not the legs.
But... those aren't rotting either.
So...
[He looks back up, not daring to LOOK hopeful but starting to feel the tiniest flutterings of it in his chest.]
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