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Whoah

[The voice broadcasting over the 'gears is impressed and awed and a little overwhelmed. This is pretty amazing! Of course it helps that Jimmy's still a bit blotto from his most recent binge with Ima, and the shock of waking up here has worn some. Where is Ima, anyway? He blinks into the screen, eyes bloodshot red but expression one of wonder and curiosity. She couldn't have gotten far - she didn't move fast. It never occurs to him that he's on his own here.

A lifetime of science fiction comics and serials has prepared Jimmy to figure out the broadcasting feature of his 'gear relatively easily.]

I mean whoah. Look I've heard of crazy trips before, but this takes the cake. The colors, the music, the people.... Who was that broad that said she was my mom? That lady was not my mom. What kind of sicko tells random strangers they're their mother?

[That's a sensitive subject for Jimmy.]

This little guy with me's crazy, though! He looks like a dinosaur or something. Is he? I mean, hey, weirder things, am I right? I never had a pet before, couldn't have one back home. I mean there was the camp dogs, but they weren't pets.

[He turns the 'gear to show a Cubone sitting not far from his feet before swinging it back to himself.]

So what the hell is this place? I feel like I woke up and hey, suddenly I'm Captain Video. But all that stuff about UFOs and aliens landing in New Mexico...that's just bull, right? This is like some kind of...fancy new theme park? I read they were building one out in California next year. We get one down here, too?

By the way, I kind of lost...well, I guess I'm kinda lost. How the hell do I get back to Jupiter from here?

[It doesn't even look like Florida, it's got to be some kind of crazy theme park. Right?]

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Yeah, moms'll do that.

Wrath? Hey, that's a keen name! How'd you get that?

[Because that is not the kind of name a parent gives their kid.]

Thanks! It's not short for James, either, it's just Jimmy. Jimmy Darling.

_{[He's never heard the word 'keen' before, but it sounds like it's supposed to be a compliment, so he puffs his chest out.]}

My old family gave it to me, but they don't want me anymore.

I like it though, so I kept it.

_{[Daaarling. He's heard THAT word before, he didn't know it was a name. Tilting his head, the mouths the words as though getting used to them.]}

[After some fiddling, Jimmy figures out how to set the conversation private. Because he's heard a lot of kids say something just like that. Hell, his own dad hadn't even wanted to raise him.]

It's a good name, and it's yours. If you like it, that's all that matters.

I know a lot of folks who's families didn't want'em. But you know what? They found a new family. An even better one.

You been without your family long?

_{[Wrath still has no idea that it's even possible to eavesdrop on other peoples' conversations, so he doesn't even notice the little blip as it's switched over to private.]

[Instead he just goes quiet and big-eyed as Jimmy talks.]

[It's nothing that he hasn't proclaimed for himself already (especially after being told so unceremoniously to do so by Envy), but hearing it from an uninvolved party is... surprisingly validating.]}

Um... I don't know.

Since when I got here.

_{[The passage of time is so frequently meaningless to a Homunculus.]}

Some of them are here but they told me to find a new one, too. _{[Not nearly as comfortingly as Jimmy just did.]}

To hell with them, then. They don't want you, why should you want them?

Let me guess. There's something different about you, something they don't like and make you feel bad about.

[Something that makes him too much work, or too hard to handle, or difficult to understand. Jimmy's seen it more times than he can stomach.]

I guess just 'cause they were the only ones who wanted me, before.

_{[But what Jimmy says next makes Wrath's brows furrow deeply, and he looks a little troubled.]

[It's... it's not wrong... he'd always been a little different from the other Homunculi, on account of being younger and more inexperienced. Sloth was the only one of them who didn't treat him as a chore to be looked after (well, Gluttony didn't, but Gluttony didn't particularly seem to care one way or another about Wrath, which hadn't mattered to the new recruit one way or another. Gluttony had important Gluttony things to be doing, like eating stuff and following Lust around), and as much as he'd wanted to fit in, in hindsight he supposes he never really had.]

[But at the same time... it was someone else who had first pushed him away for being different.]

[Wrath's voice is small when he finally finishes his little mental workout there and speaks up again.]}

... Well... all of us were different... but some of them turned on our Master and said that I should too, and-- I don't know.

It happened real fast.

But I'm a good boy. I would never betray my Master.

_{[He says it emphatically, but there's a certain robotic tone to the words as well. The mindset had been hammered into him by the very people who had later turned and, at least in Wrath's mind, bitten the hand that fed them.]

[It's confusing and the world is very big and nothing is like it seemed before and apparently wheat is poisonous and turns people into snakes. Wrath's grasp on the world is pretty shaky at this point.]}

Whoa.

[Okay, this has taken a very unexpected turn. Master? That doesn't sound good. But he's also talking to a kid, and kids have their own way of looking at the world. And maybe he's saying 'master' like a master craftsman, or something. Like he was an apprentice. Or master of ceremonies. Or anything that doesn't mean this kid was a fucking slave.]

What do you mean your 'master'? [He keeps his voice friendly and conversational, trying to sound curious.] I've just never heard a person call another person that before.

[Not as an every day title, anyway.]

_{[Wrath doesn't seem to suspect that anything might be amiss with the impression Jimmy got, mostly because.... WELL TO BE HONEST, HE DOESN'T REALLY SUSPECT ANYTHING IS AMISS WITH HOW DANTE HAS TREATED ALL OF THEM.]}

Oh.

My Master.

She took care of us and we had to do what she said.

That's all.

[Still a lot of room for confusion. Jimmy just nods, trying to keep his expression from showing how freaked out he's getting right now.]

So like...when to go to bed and to brush your teeth and not run in the house and stuff like that? She was kind of in charge of the house?

[So maybe he was in some kind of reform home...]

Was this like a church run thing?

[Some of them could be really weird.]

_{[Wrath tilts his head the OTHER way this time.]}

What?

No, we never had to go to bed!

_{[Sleeping is for HUMANS. The only thing about beds that Wrath cares about is how bouncy they are.]

[But he shakes his head.]}

We had important jobs.

But those are secret, so I can't tell you about them.

What's a church?

[The more Wrath talks, the more questions Jimmy has.]

Really? That's pretty lucky. When I was little, I had to go to bed at seven o'clock. Sometimes it was still light out!

[What the hell kind of life has this kid had?]

Well, I wouldn't want you to break a promise to keep something secret. A church is...you know. Where religion happens. [He's never actually been in a church, he isn't totally sure what that involves.] A lot of times religious groups, they take care of people that need it, and there'll be a lady who takes in kids. Kind of sounded like maybe that was what you were talking about.

So this master... she was in charge, but she wasn't your mom, right? Like, I grew up in a traveling show and I had my ma, but then there was Miss Elsa. And she was in charge. Of everything. Like our boss.

Oh. Then no, it wasn't a church thing.

_{[He doesn't know a lot about religion, but he sure as hell knows what being damned means, and that's what he is. So he can't very well imagine that any religious types would want anything to do with him.]

[He nods at Jimmy's next hunch, though.]}

Yeah, one of the other seven was my Mommy. But the Master is the real boss who we all listen to. She always knows best.

_{[He tosses his head slightly, giving a haughty sniff.]}

Mommy's like me.

Loyal.

There were seven of you? And your mom was there, too?

Where did you live? I lived in a trailer - got my own when I turned eighteen, it's got my name on it and everything. There were more than seven of us, though.

[He figures Wrath will be more at ease answering questions if Jimmy offers his own answers - like two pals just sharing their stories, not an interrogation.]

What makes the rest of your family not loyal? They don't like doing what the boss says? We had a guy like that, he was always causing trouble. Tried to tell Miss Elsa what to do.

[Which...may have been for the best, but at this point, Jimmy doesn't even care. Shit had happened, who would ever know what really went down or who really did what to who.]

Yeah.

Or-- well-- only six, by the time I got there. One of them tried to run away and was punished.

I never met him.

_{[He says this almost blandly, like he's talking about someone having a mild argument and moving away.]}

Anyway, I don't know why they decided they were going to start disobeying. But they're liars and weak and Master will get them eventually.

Not me though.

I'm a good boy.

_{[It's the second time he's said that in this conversation, and it's not clear who he's trying to convince more, himself or Jimmy.]}

Punished? That doesn't sound so good.

Sounds like a lot of people didn't really like obeying your master.

[Which says a lot to Jimmy. Something seriously messed up happened in this kid's past. Oh shit, was he a cult kid?]

Hey, I think you're a good kid. And I don't think being good's got anything to do with who you listen to, anyway. I bet you'd be a good kid no matter what.

Well, she is real scary when she's mad, but she only gets mad when somebody messes up or disobeys her. And if everybody's following her orders like they should, that never has to happen!

_{[He's quoting Dante's logic almost verbatim. But hey, it makes sense to him!]

[He does smile when Jimmy tells him he's good, though.]}

You're the first human who's said that.

_{[He's been told 'Good job' a few times, but never that he is good.]}

Does she yell and scream and throw things? I know people like that, it's really scary when they get mad.

[Hell, he can get like that when he's mad and not careful. But then...whoa. Wait.]

You look pretty human to me. A little wolfy, but I've known about four different Wolf Boys and none of'em were really wolves.

_{[Wrath shakes his head.]}

No, she never yells.

She's always calm.

I think if she yelled, it wouldn't be as scary. Then I'd know she was mad before the punishment happened.

_{[Because guess what, in Wrath's eyes, had come RIGHT THE FUCK OUT OF NOWHERE the first time he got in trouble? Yeah.]

[He doesn't like thinking about that, though, so he scrunches his face and quickly moves on to the next topic.]}

I'm not a wolf. Wolfs are big dogs, and I'm not a dog.

But I'm not a human either. I used to be, but I'm not anymore.

[Jesus fucking Christ. Jimmy needs a minute.]

Punishment? That doesn't sound good. When I was little, my ma'd send me to bed without my supper...

[He knows that whatever punishment Wrath's talking about is much worse, but he wants to know how much. How badly had this kid been hurt?]

Nah, wolfy! Shaggy and a little bit wild. Wolves are keen! So...what are you?

_{[What Wrath does next is probably not going to help Jimmy's impression at all, considering the kid's already proven himself to be something of a motor-mouth, and liberal with details to boot.]}

Yeah... I don't like punishment. Punishment is bad.

_{[He skirts the issue entirely, not even rising to the bait of Jimmy's own personal example.]

[He doesn't want to talk about what Dante does to them when they mess up.]

[He doesn't even want to remember it.]}

I'm a Homunculus. I died and someone tried to bring me back, but they got a Homunculus instead. That's what happens when you try to make dead people come back to life.

Has anybody tried to punish you here?

[Jimmy's known enough kids to not push for details. Whatever it was, it was bad. And the rest...he can't tell how much is comic book reality on some other planet and how much is just a confused kid trying to explain something normal. Like maybe getting air deprived when he was born and ending up a little off 'cause of it.]

Well, we've been talking for a while, and you seem like a normal kid to me. Not nosferatu. I think you came back just fine.

_{[Wrath shakes his shaggy head.]}

Nuh uh.

... Well.

One person hit me.

But she was one of the traitors so I have to fight her anyway.

_{[THAT'S RIGHT, LUST, HE HASN'T FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU SPANKED HIM ON NEW YEAR'S.]

[Still, he perks up again when Jimmy says the 'n' word. 'Normal', that is, not 'nosferatu'. Wrath has no idea what 'nosferatu' means.]}

Really?

No one else thinks so.

Back home things like me are abominations.

People knew I wasn't normal even before I knew I wasn't normal.

This place is really different.

_{[AND HE LIKES IT BETTER.]}

Well, it's probably not a good idea to fight anybody, I hear that can get you in trouble around here. But stay away from people that hit you.

[Jesus.]

Seem perfectly normal to me. You got a brain, you got a heart, you got feelings...what ain't normal? What some jerks say, just 'cause they don't understand anything a little bit different?

[Jimmy hesitates. Well, it's only fair and it's not like he needs to give details.]

I've been called that too, back where I come from. But people that's different are still people. You and me, we're more normal than the assholes who try to make us feel like shit. You dig?

I like to fight, though. I'm very good at it.

_{[Wrath likes being good at things. And his viciousness on the battlefield had been one of the few things that had earned him praise from his ex-teammates.]

[Still, the other things Jimmy's talking about are more important to Wrath than defending his right to engage in mutual acts of violence with other people. No one's ever described it that way before. There had been a lot of "It might look like a child, but it's not a real person" and "Homunculi don't have emotions", but whether it was from a position of human disdain or Homunculus camaraderie, it had still all boiled down to YOU ARE DIFFERENT, AND THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT YOU'RE A MONSTER WHO SHOULDN'T EXIST.]}

... You get called that?

Why?

You're a human, aren't you?

That doesn't mean the cops like you fighting, dig?

[Jimmy looks away for a minute and shrugs.]

Most of me is. [He manages a small laugh. Mostly human, a little lobster. But his easy smile returns and he brushes it off.] I'm just different. Don't worry about it. I don't let it get in my way.

Edited 2015-02-03 17:47 (UTC)

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