sadisticwarfare | IC CONTACT

Are you still in Goldenrod? If so, I wouldn't mind speaking to you in person.

[Why is it so early ughhhhh]

Yes, I'm still in Goldenrod. Where would you like to meet and at what time?

[Because Greed never sleeps!]

Why don't we meet at our last hangout? How about noon either today or tomorrow.

[Yes he is completely ignoring the fact that they were thrown out of it.]

I highly doubt they'll let us back in.

Today is fine, however.

I'm not worried. Sometimes people just need convincing.

[He means he may have bribed someone but you know this is Greed so he could very easily be talking about violence, too.]

[Come on, Greed, you don't need to get violent! You just need to alter their minds a bit with Psychic-type Pokémon!!]

Very well, I'll meet you there at noon.

[And sure enough, Archer shows up right on the dot. He doesn't have all of his books with him today and while he has Alekhine out with him, the Pokémon doesn't seem interesting in trolling too hard today.]

[Greed's actually already here, somehow. He's pretty damn cavalier about even the more serious issues that aren't his screwed up identity issues so the fact that he's on time and not looking smug as hell is probably a sign that something is up.]

Got the barista to get us some tea for a decent price.

[...Possibly because he's been flirting with her for the past twenty minutes.]

[Archer quirks an eyebrow at that, looking vaguely amused. He doesn't know Greed well enough to recognize that something is amiss, so for the time being he's content to act like everything is perfectly normal.]

I certainly won't complain. I'd rather not empty my pockets on tea anyway.

[He leads the way to the same table, sitting down and folding his hands.]

What is it you wanted to discuss?

[It's probably a good thing because it's easier for Greed to go along with things if people aren't obviously uncomfortable.]

It's only fair that I pay for it.

[He rests his chin on his palm, watching Archer carefully. He grins just briefly, flashing his freakish shark teeth.]

I'm not oblivious to the fact that you've been ignoring my questions, you know.

[Archer doesn't object to that and is instead quite content to sip at the tea--

Until that question is asked, but thankfully he manages to maintain his composure and refrain from choking on the tea.]

What are you talking about?

[He doesn't like to play dumb, but this seems like the safest option for the moment. Maybe Greed's talking about something else?]

[Thankfully, he finds Archer playing dumb to be more endearing than frustrating.]

He was here, you know. I could very easily have hurt him but I didn't. Not my style. It was actually fairly enjoyable, though a bit too short.

[Come on, he's not going to come right out and say who he's talking about.]

[Archer is fully aware of who Greed is talking about and yes, he knows he was here. He saw him, after all, and talked to him about what happened the last time he was here and things seem to be okay between them now. Six months is a long time to wait to talk to someone, but everything worked out okay. Greed didn't hurt him either, so that's a good sign, right? Greed probably had his powers back as well, they usually get theirs back on strange weekends like that, and even with his powers Greed felt no need to hurt him, so...

Archer takes a breath, lacing his hands around his tea cup to keep them steady. He's not sure why this is unnerving him so badly.]

I see.

[It's a response, but it answers nothing at all. While Archer's words might not say anything, the fact that he's refusing to meet Greed's eyes and is staring intently at the tea might say a bit more than he'd really like it to.]

[And he stops smiling at that, looking suddenly incredibly uncomfortable. He remembers his first conversation with Lust, what he had said to her without thinking. Greed's not even sure what he should do with with information besides maybe continue ignoring it.

Though "ignoring it" had been why he found himself kicking open the door to Dante's house a few months ago so maybe pretending there's nothing to it is the wrong thing to do.]

[He's still missing information, but Greed has been able to piece together what he thinks is a good understanding of what happened, and he isn't quite sure he wants to confront Archer about it just now because asking him if he lost his head seeing the most important person in the world to him dead is rather cruel. Especially because Greed would have been provoked into the same exact reaction.]

There's a short list of people I couldn't harm even if I wanted to.

[...That's a very interesting statement.]

It seems we're in agreement on that.

[Though apparently Archer can order someone else to harm Kimbley, but that's not the point.]

Well, thank you for not killing him, I suppose.

[Is it obvious that he has no idea what to say?]

[He can't help but laugh at that, though it's a quiet one.]

It's no problem.

...I made the choice to save his life in the first place, you know. He probably would have been shot had I not immediately done something.

He mentioned that. He had plenty of good things to say about you.

[Archer continues staring down at the tea for a moment. He starts to say something, stops himself, and falls silent again. He does this again before finally managing to get the words out.]

...Thank you for that as well. I... I'm not sure he would have lasted very long without your help.

[Even if he had managed to escape the prison, there was no way he would have done anything with himself. He might have let himself get caught again or worse, killed. Maybe that's what he would have wanted.]

[That certainly surprises Greed. He's well aware that he didn't have as good of a grasp on Kimbley as he thought he did. Maybe it's just as well that Kimbley isn't here full time.

Kimblee is someone that Greed certainly enjoy talking to, but he's also an entirely different person than the one he knows. Maybe it was a partnership that was destined to end in failure. Two men who had little regard for their own lives?

It was remarkable that Kimbley and Greed hadn't ended up dead on the floor of the Devil's Nest.]

No. I don't think he really cared, to be honest. He struck me as the sort of person who needed to be kept on a tight leash. Unfortunately I'm not really the sort of person who is capable of doing that sort of thing. I let him do whatever he wanted.

[Which he knows was his problem.]

[Archer kind of smirks at that, it's not the usual confident smirk, but something softer.]

Keeping him on a tight leash wasn't exactly ideal either. He wasn't keen on being cooped up despite knowing that there was nothing else I could do. He also preferred to do his own thing and was very mad when he wasn't allowed to.

Hard man to control.

[Maybe he shouldn't sound so affectionate when talking about the person who was responsible for the death of everyone he knew but it's not like Greed has ever made a good decision at any point in his life.]

I didn't mind it so much, him wanting to do whatever he wanted. The only real problem I had was when he got it into his head to try and turn me into something explosive.

[Because of course he did.]

I can't really say I'm surprised.

[Something in Archer's demeanor changes then, but it's gone in a moment and he doesn't elaborate on it.]

He's certainly interesting, I'll give him that. Listening to him talk about his alchemy was a bit of a surreal experience at first. I couldn't imagine all that advanced chemistry coming from him.

[Greed notices, but chooses not to ask. If Archer wants to talk about it, he will. No sense pushing.]

He's a genius at what he does. Stupid as hell about a lot of things, but he was smart enough to get a certification and I know from what he told me that it's quite the accomplishment. He was young when he did it, too, from what I can tell.

He can figure out a hell of a lot about anything just from a touch. That takes skill, you know. Not even my master can do that.

It's very impressive and nothing like how Kimblee - the one here - does his alchemy.

I'm quite glad I had the chance to spend time with him.

A shame he's not here more often. I never did get a chance to ask him about a number of things I'm not sure he would have been willing to talk about anyway. How much he figured out about me. He knew about the skull, but to be honest anyone could have figured out that it had significance.

[He hadn't exactly attempted to hide it because of the fact that he had trusted Kimbley and the others.]

How does Kimblee's alchemy work, by the way? All that he's told me is that it's different.

His alchemy relies on physics rather than on chemistry, but I'm afraid I can't explain it very well. That's the sort of thing you'll have to ask him.

Physics?

[...huh.]

So even basic alchemy is different between our worlds.

6/14 at what hell o'clock in the morning

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