1st Possession - Video, Action in Nova City (Back-dated to March 23rd)

[princeofavarice]

Video

Yo, listen up!

[ A 'teen' who looks very irritated with life right now starts the video feed, and it's clear that from the din in the background he's in a bar – most likely in Nova City, considering the background furniture and futuristic appearance.

He straightens then, looking straight into the feed as if he's trying to see straight through it. ]

Some moron that looks like me might be lost on the street somewhere, collapsed from hunger or some other bullshit he might spout at you. Anyway, if you find him, tell me where on this thing so I can come pick him up and kick his ass for doing something stupid like that.

[ The feed cuts from there. ]

Some random bar, Nova City

[ After that, Greed sighs and puts his communicator away for the moment, making sure that sound and vibration are turned up to max before going back to the beer he'd ordered for himself. Sure, he's gotten some nice cash from hunting down some nobody bounties, and he can drink almost as much as he wants thanks to living in the same place as the other brats, but...

Thinking about Ling still has him on edge. He swigs and chugs down the rest of his beer then, breathing out hard before finally noticing that someone's sitting beside him when they weren't before. ]

What?

[ ... Apparently that single word is all they get as a question. ]

Comments

[Video]

[myalofme]

[The background on this end is much tamer—the inside of the Elric's hotel room. Al's wild like that.]

I haven't seen him.

[Video]

[princeofavarice]

Oh, it's you Alphonse. Guess you followed here after your brother after all.

I'm surprised no one's seen him, he'll make himself obvious if it means free food. Where would that guy have gone...

[myalofme]

Did you try ordering food?

[IS HE JOKING? Probably not. It's hard to tell.]

video

[ringed_fate]

Um...very well. I'll keep an eye out.

Re: video

[princeofavarice]

Yeah, you'd better kid. If you find him collapsed, he might try to eat you until you're flat broke. Not that I wouldn't do the same, mind you.

Video

[skilledwithwords]

You two sound close. Does he have a name? I'd be happy to help look for him.

[She doesn't know what help she'll be but it doesn't hurt to try a little bit.]

Video

[princeofavarice]

His name's Ling, and despite all appearances he's a prince of Xing.

[ BRB chugging down more beer. ]

Don't offer him food if you do, he's a real glutton. I'll take care of it when I pick him up.

Video

[skilledwithwords]

A prince. [That explains why he might not be able to take care of himself.]

Are you sure I shouldn't offer him food?

[It sounds very specific and she remembers him saying he might be starving.]

action;

[orlokbutterfly]

[How do you not notice some guy in purple attire and a butterfly mask with wires hanging out of his neck right away? Gale was minding his own business, swirling his drink that was some mix of soda and alcohol before casually glancing over at Greed.]

What, can't a guy have a drink without being interrogated now?

action;

[princeofavarice]

No, but a guy can question why the seat next to him's suddenly taken while he's on the phone.

[ Greed just scowls before going back to order another beer, clearly frustrated with something or another. True, this guy looks interesting, and on another night he might try to pry for more information. However, right this second he is no where near in the mood to care. ]

action;

[orlokbutterfly]

[He lazily shrugs, taking a sip of his drink.]

Fair enough, but a free seat in a bar tends to be fair game. Not like I was intentionally eavesdropping on ya.

[He does eventually set his glass down and spin his seat around to face Greed, resting his elbow on the bar counter and propping his cheek on his fist.]

Somethin' on your mind? You're obviously bein' pretty prickley about something.

Text

[nrgsvr]

He hasn't reported to work. Attempts at communication through this device have not gone through.

Text

[princeofavarice]

[ Ah, new function. He'll answer in kind, although the message received is not a pleasant one. ]

This isn't right. Even if it's just for shift work he wouldn't miss a job he signed up for on purpose. You have any clue where he might have headed when you saw him last?

Text

[nrgsvr]

I haven't seen him since he left Sand Gym. Do you know if he found a place to stay?

Kidnapping is a possibility. A student of mine was taken.

[youfool]

[Gee, everyone's being so kind and concerned. It's too bad they're not feeling up to telling the truth. Sometimes Ted feels like he's the only one with pattern recognition. How to break the bad news to the evil twin...]

"Hello...Greed, if I remember correctly. I hope you'll forgive me for being frank.

What's more than likely happened is that he's either been kidnapped, in a similar manner to the others [But the Adachi plot may or may not have been wrapped up by this in-game date so don't quote me on that], or he's just...vanished. The latter is a distressingly common occurrence in this world. It's perhaps too early to tell, but for what it's worth, I've rarely seen such searches bear fruit.

Still, I'll keep an eye out. If he has vanished, they sometimes do come back, but it's rare. In either case, go under the Benevolence."

[Kind of awkward; he sounded like a vet giving the "it doesn't look good" speech. Ted's the last person that would want to douse hope, but he's tired of seeing people hope in vain. At least this one's free.]

[princeofavarice]

... So he either left this place entirely or got his ass kidnapped.

[ Yeah that definitely calls for a drink, queue him chugging down another beer before breathing out hard. Also this post is back-dated for a reason so it still applies ]

You know anything else about any of those supposed kidnappings? Perhaps this time an information trade can actually happen, I don't intend to leave you with nothing if I can help it. I don't want to end up owing you for this.

[youfool]

A light laugh. A curious mix of the honor of fair trade with vulgarity.

"Goodness, need all be a transaction? Are my debts so terrible? In any case, sorry, nothing yet. My guess is that the kidnapped reside in one of the newly opened Archways, but which or where is still a mystery. Hopefully desire will find knowledge soon. If it's any consolation, I'm not half bad at rescue."

Action;

[saarshokrakar]

[ After dodging cars, and trying to generally exist in a modern city...It was time for a drink. Thank the Gods bars still were around, because who knew what the Hell they would be doing with their life at the moment. Ataashi doesn't notice who they sat next to, not til he speaks. So they glance over, raising a brow. ]

What..? Just sat my ass down. Are you saving the seat for someone?

Action;

[princeofavarice]

... No. Go ahead.

[ He hates this mood he's in. Normally he'd be all for talking to interesting people and gaining more knowledge about his 'home', but the fucking brat is all he can think about and it's pissing him off.

Which means, if left uninterrupted, he's going to mull over his beer and keep a sharp eye on the communicator. He'll keep an ear out for if she does decide to initiate more conversation at least. ]

text;

[wheresmykey]

Or he could be tied up somewhere being tortured.

text;

[princeofavarice]

I'm going with what's likely, not with what isn't. The fact that you bring that up is pretty suspicious though, so do you got something to say regarding it?

text;

[wheresmykey]

It's more likely than you think considering this place. Every impossible is more likely possible, think about it.

Action

[stealinurdead]

Hee~

[ The catgirl isn't sitting so much as kneeling on the bar stool, pushing in close to Greed so she can give him a good sniff. ]

So many souls you smell wonderful~

Action

[princeofavarice]

... Interesting that you could tell so easily.

[ Hm. He looks her over, his interest piqued before he decides to explain just a little more. ]

Yeah, there are thousands in here. And I'm the one in control, so I guess you could say I'm number one.

[stealinurdead]

[ Orin would love to take those souls, but she wasn't sure if she could actually win a fight with him. ]

Heya, number one! I'm Rin Kaenbyou, but you can just call me Orin for short!

How long did it take you to eat so many souls? I think you might have eaten even more than I have!