Sometimes people leave you, halfway through the wood.

[garbagechild]

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.

Comments

[armoredsoul]

[The food is cheesy, orange, and horrendously squishy, and Al sets the macaroni down before settling and starting to sort through the books. Hmm, 'Where the Dragon-Types Are' might be good to start with...]

It's still a little hot, but it should be okay if you blow on it first.

[garbagechild]

<sub>[... Oh! He's seen this kind of food before, in the Rocket HQ cafeteria. It's usually pretty flavorless and mushy there, but he likes it.]

[So he takes the bowl, opening his mouth to lick the surfaces of the noodles until Al tells him to blow on it-- at which point he does, albeit a little grudgingly.]</sub>

I'th very orange.

_{[He likes orange things.]}

[armoredsoul]

Hehe! It is incredibly orange, I didn't think it would actually match what the box showed!

[Book selected, Al scoots over to sit next to Wrath and lays the book on his lap, unopened for now.] You ready to follow along? I'll read it out loud and point to each word as I'm saying it. That way you can see what each word looks like, okay?

[garbagechild]

_{[Al probably had the good sense not to give Wrath a fork. So the boy just laps it out of the bowl like a dog.]}

Mhm.

I never know what all those squiggly shapes mean.

[armoredsoul]

[He had briefly considered a spoon for him, but then he remembered that scooping out eyeballs was absolutely a thing.]

Well, you can start learning! Here, this story is called 'Where the Dragon-Types Are'.

[Al reads it out loud for Wrath, pausing where needed when the wolf child stuffs his face into the bowl or asks a question about why something is being done/is needed/exists at all.]

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Wrath has probably scooped out multiple eyeballs in his time! Al was smart to reconsider.]

[Still, the captive monster-boy listens with reasonable attentiveness as Al reads out loud to him, although by the end of the story, he's frowning.]</sub>

Why'd he go back?

It sounds like the dragons were WAY more fun, and also liked him more.

[armoredsoul]

[Al laughs and reaches over to gently ruffle Wrath's hair with a fond grin.]

Because he missed his family. Even if people make you upset sometimes, or they don't understand, you can still miss them and want to go back. Feelings are funny like that.

[garbagechild]

<sub>[Wrath glowers, giving his head a shake once Al withdraws his hand. >8( DON'T TOUCH ME, HOW DARE U.]

[But he doesn't bite-- like he did back in the first couple of weeks.]</sub>

Well, I didn't want to go back!

I'd never want to go back.

[armoredsoul]

[Al's smile turns bittersweet for a moment before he recovers, closing the book and setting it aside. He knows that Wrath isn't entirely truthful, but he won't try and insist. Those are feelings he needs to find and work through on his own--and it's entirely possible that without that trauma, they won't ever come to light.]

I never said you had to! Just that it can happen.

[garbagechild]

_{[Wrath sniffs loudly.]}

I'd stay with the dragons.

Unless they didn't want me anymore.

Then I'd leave.

_{[He gives the book a pointed look.]}

... Unless they came back to get me, I guess.

[armoredsoul]

[Something clenches in Al's chest, and he sighs a little, looking away.]

...I'm sure they would come back for you. You're a good kid.

[garbagechild]

No I'm not.

I'm an abomination, and I smell bad and bite people.

Nothing you say makes sense.

<sub>[HMPH. He goes back to petulantly licking the bowl.]

[Sorry Al, he's getting sulky.]</sub>

[armoredsoul]

You are not an abomination, Wrath. You're a little boy that's had a very bad life until now. The facts of how you were made don't mean anything about whether you're a good person or not.

[Not gonna comment ont he smelling bad and biting people, though.]

Let's see, which book should we read next...do you want to choose this time?

[garbagechild]

I was born from the greatest of scientific taboos and alchemical immorality, human transmutation. I have no soul and I used the stolen flesh of a living being to escape from the very gates of Hell. Can we read the one with the fat yellow duck on the front?

[armoredsoul]

The first wasn't your fault, I don't really believe the second part, and...

[Al pauses as he opens the book Wrath indicated, making a face.]

...well, it's not like you had anyone in there with you to teach you any better about stealing.

[garbagechild]

I still don't know any better about stealing, but people still yell at me for it.

_{[He says this blandly as he scoots a little closer to look at the pictures.]}

[armoredsoul]

No, you know it's wrong now, you just keep doing it.

[Not that this stops Al from reading the book for Wrath, of course.]