#that kid had to transmute a sword that was already once a human into an executioner's blade which would 'die' once it met with its purpose

[beliscary]

i think abt this mashup like once a week at least

[sepublic]

Is the Golden Guard a Homunculus?

           Once more bringing up the idea of the Golden Guard having a connection to Eda, while also taking several cues from Belos and being trusted by him, being a teen prodigy with magic similar to Belos’…

           I’m gonna go out on a crazy limb here, and suggest this; What if the Golden Guard is a Homunculus?

           Alchemy is a common element in fantasy, of which The Owl House is an example of. With its use of magic, glyphs, and potions, I’d be surprised if alchemy didn’t exist in the Boiling Isles, or at the very least, if it didn’t have its own equivalent; Which, the entirety of Potions magic is probably this show’s take on alchemy!  

           A homunculus is an artificial human created by alchemy, although for the purposes of this theory, the Golden Guard is an artificial witch. The fandom has talked and half-joked, half-speculated on the idea of magic being used to bypass the issue of people of the same sex being unable to produce children; Some ideas have suggested same-sex witches being able to create a child by using pieces of themselves, combined with a magical ritual or two. That is of course pure speculation; However…

           We already know Belos as someone who can create living things from magic; He’s manifested fleshy constructs, and even the Intro Worm at a whim! The Golden Guard himself can even conjure flesh from magic to transmute into a metal sword! So the idea of creating living things from magic is hardly out of the question in this show, and definitely not for Belos and the Golden Guard…

           With how the Golden Guard seems to be set up as a dark parallel to Eda, a look into the kind of person she could’ve become had she joined the Emperor’s Coven as a kid; What if the Golden Guard is a Homunculus made from pieces of various witches, among them Eda herself? We’ve all considered Eda’s lost potential, and wondered just how powerful she could’ve been, had she never been cursed and given the opportunity to fully learn and explore as she’d wished; Eda herself has wondered about it, no less…

           And Belos? He definitely seems like the type of mad scientist, low-key eugenicist who’d do this sort of thing, out of some morbid fascination, a desire to unlock true power, explore the full extent of magic; And in a way, weaponized Eda’s potential without having to deal with Eda herself, by having a Homunculus with her DNA that’s totally loyal to Belos!

          Given how the Golden Guard obviously isn’t a clone of Eda –what glimpses of his face we’ve seen, plus his gender indicate otherwise- then it’s possible that Belos has taken DNA samples from multiple subjects, the strongest witches throughout history (such as the Coven Heads and even Kikimora), with the goal of creating the most powerful witch by combining DNA from all of them! Hence, the Golden Guard as a fledgling experiment, who already proves to be rather promising, with the help of Belos’ tutelage since the very beginning.

           With this show’s dives into body horror, and the ability of Belos to conjure living things to serve him, I wouldn’t be shocked. I could totally see Belos experimenting with his magic, moving on from making animals like the Intro Worm, to a full-blown Witch! For all we know, he may have even put in a bit of his DNA as well… 

          Of course, whether or not this sample was from before, or after he became so physically messed-up, I can’t say. With the connections to both Eda and Belos, the Golden Guard being a homunculus brewed in a lab would be a way to explain those potential ties, without having to resort to a VERY gross age-gap fling that isn’t in-character for either party.

           Alternatively, the DNA sample came from Gwendolyn, who IS a member of the Beastkeeping Coven, and did give birth to Eda herself! As for the potential issues of a sample coming from Eda, who is cursed, well…

           There is that one shot from the trailer showing an owl beast with a face similar to the Golden Guard’s mask;

           Could this be him? Did taking a piece of Eda, perhaps a strand of hair or something, result in the Golden Guard inheriting her curse? It’s also possible that the Golden Guard isn’t cursed, because Belos is able to cure such things, and unlike Eda, the Golden Guard would be loyal to him and have thus ‘earned’ that, especially since Belos wants to explore his creation’s potential. Alternatively, Belos got the Eda sample from before she was cursed; Possibly by visiting Gwen and asking if she had anything, such as a baby tooth, from Eda prior to the curse.

           Likewise, if the Golden Guard DOES contain a bit of Belos, this sample could’ve come from before Belos became so messed up… And/or, due to being young and less experimented upon, with DNA from other witches, the Golden Guard manages to still be healthy despite the presence of Belos inside of him! It is worth nothing that the Golden Guard wields magic similar to Belos, so for all we know, this fragment of the emperor is what allows him to do that, having been distorted in the same way.

          That, or Belos trusts the Golden Guard, enough to keep him privy on a bunch of secrets that the emperor normally reserved for a ‘chosen one’ such as himself; Only those selected by the Titan are worthy of this form of magic, and because Belos himself is decayed, the Golden Guard is the only viable candidate left to truly explore the full potential of this magic. Also, being a construct made of Belos’ unique magic, with his own bile sac and everything; That could explain why the Golden Guard is able to wield that same magic, because he’s made of it!

           And being made from Belos, who isn’t too physically well-off, that could be why the Golden Guard is established as tired in our first glimpse of his personality… That, and/or he’s exhausted because he’s a teen prodigy who has to do the work of an adult, and not just any adult but the right-hand man to Belos! Maybe the Golden Guard was created as a means for Belos to create a new physical body for himself, before he repurposed his homunculus as an apprentice of sorts, while possibly still keeping him as back-up host.

          Perhaps the Golden Guard was Belos’ attempt at creating witch super soldiers, of creating generations of witches by his own hand, who would be totally loyal to him; Thus keeping Belos from having to rely on families for children he doesn’t trust… And potentially freeing Belos to get rid of ALL other witches, because now he can make his own loyal ones from scratch! Belos would be the kind of person who’d want to make an army, while killing whatever he can’t control, hence the hunt for the Selkidomus.

           Plus, being made for the sole purpose of surpassing all other witches, even Belos- It could definitely add a lot more to the Golden Guard’s arrogance, but also a huge amount of pressure as well. And it’d make him feel indebted to Belos, for giving him life, for granting him such great talent and ability from the get-go, for basically writing his destiny out for him, a fate of grandeur and glory.

          As a lab creation controlled and indoctrinated since birth, influenced before birth even, with Belos’ influence ingrained into his very body- It could add to why Belos seems to trust the Golden Guard on matters even Kikimora isn’t privy about! Creating a whole kid to raise into an adult, an entire life for a single purpose, and making sure that life KNOWS that purpose and fully devotes their existence to it, because it’s literally why they exist to begin with- Not exactly something I’d put past Belos!

           Plus, for Eda; The Golden Guard could act as a disturbing mirror for her. Not just in the kind of person she could’ve been, but as a harsh reminder of the magical potential and power she could’ve had, had she never been cursed; And again of the magic she completely lost, when the curse reached its worst limits. It’d be a way to haunt Eda at a point when she’s lost her magic, by dangling what could’ve and should’ve been; It’s like a ghost and a specter for those who have mourned or wondered Eda’s lost potential.

[b-kitsune]

Many ways to say I love you: Day Nineteen.

Kidge-a-palooza 2019 Prompt: Rebirth. Pairing: Kidge (VLD) Universe: Fantasy!AU. Status: Part 1/3

They had been moving for many days nonstop, thanks to the last misadventure they had lived in which they almost managed to escape alive with the help of the last magic resources at hand, earning several wounds around their bodies that hurt at the insistent touch of their clothes. They needed to disinfect the deep cuts as soon as possible, but many of their resources were lost as soon as the caves collapsed under their heads, taking the drastic decision to flee leaving their possessions adrift so as not to be delayed while running.

The mood was down, not even Lance was able to make an ironic comment about the situation and the night would soon fall while walking through the forest, the sharp senses of Shiro alerted him that the hunter animals were already in full swing looking some prey to feed, and they at this moment looked charmingly tempting, almost managing to walk on their own.

Hunk did his best to find a village around him to ward off the impending dangers and to rest properly after the hard battle, but the closest place was the small town of Arus, and it was several miles away from where they could It would take several nights to get there. So they had to camp in that place to recover at least a few energies.

They made a small camp in a comfortable area after a few minutes deciding which would be the best place. Shiro took his sword and went out in search of food along with Hunk, who was skilled at recognizing which foods of the forest were edible without dying of some kind of poisoning. Leaving Pidge in charge of the fire while Lance ordered a few leaves and dry grass to make a large bed improvised for everybody.

It would not be the first time that they shared space of rest to spend the night after an arduous battle, their life as treasure hunters for many years had made them close. Enough to not bother about the closeness between them. They knew each other completely and respect was their main basis for the strange friendship they had created among people of races as different as themselves. What for many was a complete madness when they knew them.

Lance yawned languidly after finishing a nest quite comfortable for everyone, who was about to fall halfway satisfied with pleasure, Pidge laughed at his behavior.

''And I thought that the minstrels were much more resistant.''

''Hey, don't blame me for being tired!'' Lance answered with a broad smile when he settled on the floor. ''Fighting against those trolls has been by far the stupidest idea we have ever had.''

''Yeah, well, I'm not going to deny it.'' Pidge said in a whisper. ''We had to be much more prepared. Even Shiro suffered serious injuries to his right arm.''

''Do you think there are scars left?''

''Are you kidding?'' Pidge's lips bent towards a sardonic smile. ''He should hardly have any cuts, Shiro is an oni, after all. It takes more than a couple of stones and magic fire to break his skin. Especially his right arm.''

''Ahh ... '' Lance replied disinterestedly. ''Well, sometimes I forget that he is not a human.''

''With those big horns that he has?'' Pidge inquired inquisitive, raising an eyebrow as if Lance had said something completely ridiculous. ''Even I can spend much more easily as one!''

''But not when you talking, Pidgy.''

Pidge placed one of her hands on her chest with a slight gasp coming from her lips, pretending to be offended by his words. But even she could accept that her character and her responses were often inevitably cruel or sarcastic. She couldn't help it, many times she felt that humans, especially Lance, were ridiculously stupid, so when they were visiting villages looking for some supplies for their missions, Pidge tended to close her mouth and let Shiro take care of everything so as not to generate uncomfortably situations.

Even when it was almost palpable to distinguish the supernatural area on Shiro's shoulders and people still tended to keep distance with magical or spiritual beings, given the ambivalent nature of their genes, he always captured the attention he least wanted, attraction, both men and women. And while it wasn't a nuisance most of the time, stopping when others saw his clear disinterest in coquetry often shameless, her beloved brother-in-law used to feel uncomfortable most of the time.

But Pidge could understand, those white horns that came out of his head looked imposing, added to that his eyes had a natural delineate along with a purple color around his eyelids, they gave him the image of an aggressive nature, without counting the mountain of muscles that he had all over his body. Even without his mystical nature, Shiro was a person who visually demonstrated not being part of the world of mortals.

Unlike Pidge, who, because of her short stature, the disordered image with a tousled hair under armor too big for her height, looked like an ordinary person. She could almost pretend to be a boy or a dwarf if it were not for the fact that her features were too delicate as she spent more years, but Pidge was completely perfect for what she needed in her missions.

She was the first defense in her group, the shield of her team and the connoisseur of labyrinths. A female appeal was not something she needed.

When about an hour passed, they could see Hunk and Shiro approaching with a deer between their shoulders, drooling almost instantaneously at Pidge, Lance had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

''I see you made a pretty nice nest.'' Hunk commented while lightly kicking the side of Lance, who only responded with a deep moan.

''We'd better let him rest, Hunk.'' Shiro spoke, while he was in charge of crumbling the meat with his hands, dividing the skin that they would use for that night. ''Lance took the worst part of the last battle, it will not hurt him to sleep a couple of hours more.''

''Yeah, I suppose you're right.''

When Shiro stretched the skin enough around some branches of a tree, Pidge made a delicate movement with one of her hands using the last reserves of magic that remained to seal the collagen and transmute the flesh to a softer texture for the touch. It was a simple spell that didn't require much mana, but useful at moments like those of that where they had nothing to keep warm for the cold night that was coming.

They threw it to Lance once Pidge finished her work, who gave a good sleep as he surrounded himself pleasantly. They both decided to sit by the campfire enjoying the meat that Hunk had prepared with multiple species and nutritious vegetables to regain strength. Little by little they felt the hunger disappear from their bodies to give way to a satisfied stomach, and the urgent need to sleep until the next morning.

But they couldn't afford such mistakes as lowering their guard during the night with hundreds of animals and possible thieves around a winding forest, so Pidge decided to stand guard the early hours of the night, promising to awaken Lance when it was her opportunity to sleep.

She spent a couple of hours cutting a piece of wood with one of her sharpest daggers, using her skills trying to listen to what the trees could tell her during those moments of calm and tranquility that very rarely happened, thanks to her noisy group of friends. The fire from the small fire crackling and forming mysterious shapes was the only thing she needed as light as the piece of wood began to take the shape of a spoon, a small gift to her friend Hunk because they had lost the utensils in their last mission.

After a couple of hours, when the night reached its maximum point and her friends snored at her side, Pidge felt a sharp twinge in her back that made her get up almost immediately, with her dagger in hand ready for the attack. The branches of the trees moved slowly, warning her of a nearby danger she had to be careful of. But when she turned around and tried to get close to Shiro to wake him up, Pidge saw what made her blood freeze completely.

A goblin smiling, petty, pointing Shiro's neck with a stake loaded with quintessence with enough edge to cut his throat in a few seconds, as a threat to any strange movement Pidge could make. In a few seconds, the around began to surround herself with others more of his class approaching her friends, but Pidge couldn't move a single inch, the goblins were ruthless and could not endanger Shiro's life. They dropped an unknown liquid over the ears of her friends, Pidge begged all the gods that it wasn't a deadly poison.

Pidge breathed deeply without making any movement that alerted her intentions until she felt strong steps behind her that made the earth rumble drearily, what she feared most at that moment was approaching and exhaustion didn't let her think what could do to get out of that problem. The goblins weren't intelligent beings, they were small monsters that lived from wars against other beings and primitive instincts, so their actions of stealthily approaching and poisoning their companions without an iota of violence, made her think that the strong breathing that felt behind her back surely it was an orc.

She swallowed hard when she heard his laugh rudely, the wretched bastard was enjoying her despair.

Her mind quickly turned to the most important goal, Pidge couldn't let those disgusting goblins kill her friends, she accumulated a wave of electrical energy through one of her hands to hurl it towards the goblins that were on top of their bodies friends to drive them away and generate painful damage. Before she knew it, Pidge was already running away from the camp, using herself as bait.

Pidge was exhausting considering she hadn't rested at any time of the night, but the elves used to have problems moving on the surface, so she found herself at a great advantage with various minutes of running. Pidge didn't know if she had managed to get the attention of all the goblins, but definitely, the orc was chasing her when heard the heavy footsteps behind her, which gave some relief to her heart.

She was sure that before leaving, Lance had woken up because of the current of her attack. Pidge only hoped that the poison he had been given wasn't so deadly as to disable him completely.

Pidge fell on some stairs after a few minutes running through the woods when a dart reached her legs, numbing them completely to almost the seconds. In front of her, there was an old castle surrounded by vines and roots, indicating its abandonment for many years.

Now she knew where the damned goblins came from.

Took off the dart from her leg quickly, but the poison was already beginning to numb her senses. Pidge watched as the orc with his followers came towards her, drooling rudely. Pidge cringed about with panic in her veins, trying desperately to move as she thought of some way out, but her legs didn't respond no matter how hard she tried.

A few words from years ago by the oracle of her village resounded strongly inside her head, something she had completely forgotten. A promise of fate that she naively thought had been delivered when she met her friends, and of which her family feared terribly when she began her travels around the world.

When she felt the footsteps of the orc approaching her, the tears didn't prevent falling to her cheeks for the cruelty that would end up being her death. Her mother was right when years ago she tried to desist about her desire for adventure.

Pidge was doomed.

She screamed in anger when the hands of a few goblins began to tear the clothes with their nails and teeth with fearsome ease, while others held her body against the ground. Pidge beat and bit them desperately, but it was useless when many of them held their limbs with a despicable force. Her throat burned with the force of her screams and her skin bled at the cuts that were made while they undressed her by force. Pidge naively thought that if she tries to concentrate for a few seconds, she would be able to perform a protective spell before she was raped, but her weariness and fear intervened with her magical abilities. Pidge felt desperate, helpless, and deep in her mind, it was constantly repeated that if she hadn't abandoned her family for a personal desire, none of that would be happening.

Her screams mingled with her laments when she saw the orc approaching with a look that made her tremble in her own place, one of the goblins bit her shoulder so hard that she was not able to continue to hold the basic spell of her appearance, changing its morphology into pointy ears characteristic of her race, her hair grew falling on her back to cover barely something of her trembling body, and her wings appeared tinkling erratically, being caressed with the nails of those inferior beings, somewhere in she was afraid they would be torn from her body.

In spite of everything, Pidge didn't stop fighting trying to break free, looking directly at the high-altitude monster whose mouth hadn't closed since he saw her fall for the first time, his saliva dripped rudely from his chin, and Pidge knew that after to desecrate her, he would devour her head with his own teeth.

Her eyes clouded with a lament from her insides when he took her by the neck with one of his hands.

She would have liked to eat a little more of Hunk's peanut butter cake.

He lifted her violently from the ground to stamp her against the wall, to the amusement of the goblins around her one of her wings broke to the impact.

She wanted to see what the sea was like when Lance talked so much to her at night.

Taking advantage of the position she was left in; the orc raised her backside with so much pressure that Pidge almost felt it would break her back. A deep growl inside his throat made her want to tear out his eyes, but her arms didn't respond no matter how hard she tried to move them.

She would have liked to be in charge of the union of Matt and Shiro for next fall when the trees covered the village with multiple colors.

But none of that mattered anymore, she thought. Her end was going to be miserable at the hands of goblins and orcs. A fate that she could never avoid even taking all the precautions.

Only for her desire for freedom and knowledge.

The only thing Pidge thought, before closing her eyes tightly, was that she could only be reborn with a destiny freed from the curses that came with an adventurous life.

The pressure in her insides never came.

However, she could feel the blood spreading on her back violently, when Pidge turned around, she could see that a giant wolf had ripped the head of the orc behind her.

The goblins began to scream in fear, attacking the beast with their claws and teeth, in vain. Pidge wanted to know what had happened in so few seconds, but soon her consciousness began to cloud through exhaustion and recent stress.

The last thing she was able to see, was a hair tied on a broad back and marks of a race cursed by darkness.

 ...

 When Pidge awoke, her limbs burned like shit, as if she had lived a marathon for hours with her brother Matt through the forest of her village, and the muscles of her body were completely torn after constant exercise, so she couldn't help the loud growl from her throat as she rose heavily from a warm, welcoming skin. When she opened her eyes, Pidge didn't see the old castle that was used as a colony for the goblins, nor the forest in which she was trapped with her friends for many days. But a simple bonfire, and the snout of the wolf that had saved it a few minutes ago.

Pidge quickly got up scared, regretting when she realized that it hadn't been a good idea considering the current state of her body, her wings felt stiff behind her back, so she supposed they were being held back by some bandage. She dragged the skin that covered her shame across her shoulders to give herself some heat, the night was still high in the sky and the cold was unbearable. She looked cautiously at the beast she was using as a pillow all this time, now she was sure that she had not imagined it, it was exactly as her father described it in his book of non-earthly beings that she read in her first years of life.

She was next to a cosmic wolf, a beast from space.

''I see you have enough energy to get up...''

Pidge looked away to the voice that greeted her, where a young man, with soft but aggressive features, looked at her with an expressionless face. The marks on his cheeks that grew to his eyes echoed in his memory. He, however, only offered her a bowl full of water.

''Drink it.''

Pidge took it looking at it cautiously, it had a strange color and it moved as if it were viscous on its contents. Pidge hesitated a little, but he had saved her from being killed by the goblins a few minutes ago, so it didn't make sense to think that he was trying to attack her life, so she took it in one trip.

As she supposed, it was disgusting, but she did her best not to return it to the first arcade.

''What the heck was ... '' Pidge barked hitting her chest, he shrugged and still moved the ashes of the fire with a stick.

''It will help you recover the quintessence of your body.''

''Thank you very much ... '' Pidge was surprised by herself when her voice was heard harsher and more serious than normal, touching her neck with one of her hands.

''Your trachea is somewhat closed; it is a consequence of the poison that was injected when you fled the goblins.'' The boy answered simply. ''You'll feel better after a few days.''

''How did you find me?'' Pidge asked, but he raised an eyebrow, inquisitive.

''I thought you would be a little more grateful, I saved you from being raped by the goblins.''

''But that doesn't answer my question.''

Pidge answered, a little more defensively. While she was completely grateful for his actions, it seemed a bit strange to her how he had appeared. No goblin perceived it to be miles away being that they were skillful in finding potential enemies. What was strange he kept her gaze for a few moments, until he sighed heavily as he continued to play with the fire.

''I ... I was the one who took them out of that cave last night. I was investigating the ruins of that castle as fieldwork. When I heard the noise from outside, I teleported with Kosmo to see what was happening. '' Caressed the outline of the head of his partner, emphasizing his words. ''That's when I saw the situation, and I ordered my wolf to tear off the orc's head before it did irreparable damage to you.'' His look went down a little, Pidge could see some regret in his eyes. ''I'm really sorry. I thought there was no one around the forest.''

''I understand.'' Pidge replied, a little calmer knowing the truth. ''You were quite reckless, not to say stupid. One doesn't scare the goblins from the caves without even checking the perimeter.''

''It's true.'' Affirmed his words heavily.

''But you helped me at the right time and I couldn't be more grateful for that. So, really, thank you.''

Pidge smiled warmly at the stranger. He didn't seem foolish; it had only been a terrible coincidence that he was about to end her life. But again, she felt really grateful that he had appeared at the ideal moment. Part of Pidge also knew that her actions had been precipitated when she fled into the forest with no plan in mind.

She moved her legs a little more towards the fire, the cold of the night drowned her bones with regret, and although the layer of the skin helped not to die frozen at that moment, it didn't cover her body completely. Suddenly, a fact made noise in her thoughts, breaking the silence that had been armed around them.

''Did you say the last night?'' The elf nodded, confused by her question. Pidge's heart jumped in panic. ''How long have I been unconscious?''

''About two days. We have been moving since then, why?''

''My friends are in that forest.'' She answered worried, he frowned thoughtfully.

''I doubt that they remain there, I didn't feel any magical or human presence while we passed the forest.''

''Is it the same skill you used before releasing the goblins?'' Pidge asked sarcastically, he just watched her irritated.

''No, I used a tracking spell looking for someone who could help you. But I didn't find anything.''

Pidge's concern was evident in her face, her friends would surely think that the goblins had taken her, and if they weren't close to an elf's tracking skills, then they had run to the opposite direction without Shiro's help, who could feel her presence while they were at an adequate distance.

Perhaps the liquid that the goblin had slipped through their ears was precisely so that they couldn't easily find her, and not a poison like Pidge had initially created. But the elf's words brought her out of her thoughts.

''Anyway, we are closer to Arus than the forest, they will surely be there.''

''I don't know...'' Pidge moved a little more to rest her head on the back of the cosmic wolf, she still felt a little weak. The wolf accepted her delightedly. ''One of them is my brother-in-law and an oni. He will be desperately looking for me everywhere.''

''If he is intelligent, he will feel your quintessence trail out of the forest. They are pretty good sniffing yours.''

''Maybe you are right.'' He certainly had it, Pidge thought, somewhat surprised that he knew about youkais. Her best option was to head towards Arus at that time. ''I'm Pidge, by the way. You will take me there, right?'' The boy smiled slightly, nodding after a few seconds staring at her.

''I'm Keith. Do I have another option?''

''No.''

Pidge finally answered a feeling of warmth reached her heart when she reached an accomplishment while watching those eyes as dark as night. Keith had just been responsible for her rebirth, and she no longer needed to fear the death of a prophecy.

[zetalial]

BH rewatch episode 26

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Episode 26: Reunion

Hey, this is the final episode in part 2. It’s also the best. Yeah, this is definitely the best episode I’ve watched so far. (That might be heresy, I know a lot of people love Death of the Undying.) But this episode is both Ed-centric and emotional. What’s not to love?

Ling and Ed fight Envy who’s regrettably still in his giant, incredibly distracting form. They’re just swinging swords about and Envy’s absolutely huge so it’s not going all that well. At first, Edward is just as angry and determined as Ling. But then he starts hearing the souls speaking.

Envy’s body is huge, made up of countless trapped souls that make up his Philosopher’s stone core. All over his skin are these faces and they’re in pain and they’re speaking. Seeing one crying out in pain makes Ed freeze as he finds he can’t attack.

Ling’s telling him to ignore them, that they’re just a mindgame and they’re not really people anymore. But Ed hears one that gives him a flashback towards Nina. He’s reminded of his failure to save her and he can’t allow himself to hurt these souls either.

Envy, meanwhile, confirms that these were the souls from the lost city of Xerxes. Edward gathers that Envy’s creator must have somehow been responsible for its destruction and he wonders who might have done such depraved acts. This is all leading up to the introduction of Father. 

Outside, Alphonse is still following Gluttony into Father’s lair. Mei and Scar are still looking for her panda and they hear its in the possession of Alphonse. They see him and Gluttony (whom Scar recognises as a Homunculus) and follow them at a distance into the sewers.

The show hasn’t hit me with too many contrivances lately but this one is annoying. Mostly Al has been keeping the panda inside his armour so it wouldn’t be visible to onlookers but just now he’s carrying her around on her shoulder. I know that Mei and Scar were searching but it still seems incredibly convenient that they would spot Al and Gluttony just before they head underground. The fact that Al having her bear by complete coincidence is turning into a plot point necessary for the story to advance is already slightly annoying.

And the presence of both of them in the next episode will be incredibly important. Their presence is critical to the story. Not only in helping save the Elrics in the immediate but also giving the two of them the idea to seek Mei out later which will be their entire motivation for going north to Briggs. It all happened because Al grabbed the panda in their earlier encounter. And then Scar spots Al mere moments before he heads underground so they follow him down.

Oh well. We also get another look at the Fuhrer. He tells Roy the story of how he was made because he felt like sharing I guess. It’s also foreshadowing how a Homunculus can be made out of a human by injecting the Philosopher’s stone into them, allowing for it to take over its host. 

Bradley speaks of a program with an evil scientist training a whole class on becoming the perfect leader and each subject being injected. Twelve have already died before Bradley is tried and he of course manages to survive. Unlike other Homunculi, he is a single, particularly Wrathful soul. 

He does identify as Homunculus though and makes it clear to Mustang that he has no intention of becoming human, that he takes pride in being Homunculus. He mentions Lust here, how she died with her pride as a Homunculus intact. 

Back to the Envy encounter. Ling is still urging Ed to fight, that he can’t let himself be distracted by the faces as they’re no longer people anymore. Edward doesn’t listen. He’s lost his will to fight and no longer puts up any resistance. There’s this awesome image of Envy’s tongue sliding out and the souls inside it all lifting Ed up from the ground, slowly enveloping him as Envy swallows him.

Wow Ed, first you’re eaten now by Gluttony, and now Envy? 

Eventually, Ed sees the Philosopher’s stone at the centre of Envy’s body and finally thinks of a way out. Telling Envy he’s thought of a way out is enough to convince Envy to let him out, of course. 

Ed points out the stone’s from Xerxes and Envy fetches some of the other pieces. Most of this circle had been swallowed by Gluttony long ago to hide the evidence of the destruction of Xerxes and Ed finds it similar to what he saw in Lab 5. He accuses Envy of trying to recreate the same thing that happened in Xerxes in Amestris. 

Ed’s plan is clever. They perform human transmutation- this time on themselves, living people rather than dead - to open up the true portal of Truth. That way they can get out of this fake Gateway and end up back in the real world. 

Ed tells them that any backlash would affect him if it goes wrong. To do this though, they’ll need to use the Philosopher’s stone. Edward doesn’t want to ask, he’s afraid and disgusted at the idea of using souls to do this. 

(Does he not see that the souls, whatever’s left of them seem to be in great pain? I wish he thought about using them in a way other than simply it being wrong. Or just explored his sense of morality here a little more. Ling and Envy are both perfect people to debate with about this, both being far more willing to use the Philosopher’s stone. There’s this line in 03 where Tucker tries to convince Ed to use the incomplete stones in Lab 5 and when Ed points out that they’re people, his response is a cold “Would you be able to turn them back?” I’m not saying it needs to go the same way as 03, I just sort of wish the topic was being broached here a little more. Sorry, really must stop mentioning 03...)

Anyway, Ed reluctantly goes through with his plan. He offers an apology to the souls he uses up. He opens the gateway of Truth again and their bodies all disintegrate (to be reformed outside Gluttony’s stomach.) Truth, on seeing Ed, notes that he’s not even trying to get his body back. That makes me think he could’ve used a couple of those souls to get his arm and leg back while he’s transmutating Envy anyway. Alas, Edward is not willing to even consider something like that as it wasn’t so much as discussed before. 

Anyway, best moment coming up. Ed appears in the void and now there’s two gates here, his and his brother’s. In front of the opposite Gate is his brother’s body. It’s not looking well, being incredibly malnourished with the stomach so sunken in. His hair has grown out too. Ed goes up to him but arms drag him back. Al tells him that he’s sorry but only his soul can take back his body.

Ed’s pulled away. The gate closes. Silence. Then they open up once more as Ed fights against the hands dragging him back. Music comes in as Ed promises that he’ll save him and get his body back before being pulled away once more.

I love that ending. And that’s the end of Part 2. It really closes on a great moment! 

No more hearing Hologram, which is probably my least loved opening song anyway. Oh, I like all of them. Rain is my favourite, then Again, then Golden time lover, then Period. Sadly Hologram isn’t my favourite though it does have that awesome image of a grinning Lust and the tree from Rain and the traintracks from Rewrite. 

Er anyway, I loved the emotion in this episode. I complained last episode that there was too much comedy and we don’t see Ed being hit with much despair and this episode actually has Ed in a moral dilemma and its good. The tone here isn’t comedic, it’s full of emotion and that’s just what I love.

I’m actually going to skip the next episode. I have no interest in ever watching the creepy episode interlude party again. It’s mostly a recap and it just makes the Trisha/Hohenheim dynamic really creepy by having her show up as a young kid. Ugh. So next episode will be episode 28. 

[fullmetalirin]

Fullmetal Alchemist OG: Episode 4

The filler begins.

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 4: "A Forger's Love"

On their way to Central, the Elrics stop at a train station where they hear of an alchemist named Majhal, whose name had appeared several times in their father's correspondences relating to human transmutation, and decide to pay him a visit in the area. Upon entering Majhal's village, they encounter a girl named Clause, who tells them that a zombie has been murdering several of the villagers, her older sister being one of them. Clause petitions the brothers to avenge her sister's death, but Ed is skeptical of the whole situation. Upon meeting Majhal, he tells the brothers that the mysterious zombie is believed to be his former lover Karin, who died in an accident several years ago. After some more investigation, the brothers discover that Majhal has been attempting to revive Karin by using mannequins that look like her, and using alchemy to attach the souls of the village girls he has kidnapped to the mannequins, kidnapping Clause to use her soul. Ed discovers that Karin had not died, but initially lost her memories and has aged. Once her memories returned, she had sought out Majhal, but he was already too possessed by his passions of reviving Karin to recognize her. Majhal refuses to accept the wrinkled old woman who has been supporting him as his Karin, and he attempts to kill Ed. Ed knocks Majhal's weapon out of his hand, which flies into the air and accidentally impales Majhal, killing him. Clause reverts to dressing femininely and sees the brothers off as they continue on their journey.

We open with the brothers on the train to Central. We get more introspection. Ed makes sure Al is on board, Al says he wants to become a State Alchemist too so he can help Ed. They wonder if it'll be hard to become a State Alchemist, and Ed looks somber for a moment before declaring that it'll be no problem for someone of his talent. Al looks sad and Ed realizes he's thinking about Winry.

Cut to Winry and Pinako looking at the burnt home and talking about how stupid the Elrics are. Winry is crying, but also looks like she's quivering with rage. They hope the brothers will come home soon.

As the Elrics wait for the next train, they stop a purse-snatcher with alchemy. They use a rather large circle to do so, and I'm dubious of how they managed to draw one so quickly.

On the carriage ride to the village, Al feels good about himself because he used alchemy to help people.

When they arrive in the village, they get jumped by a gang of urchins. The Elrics prepare to fight, but are totally uncoordinated and trip over their own feet, allowing them to be easily captured. I think this is really cute, and emphasizes that we're in the past. The skilled fighting styles we saw in Liore clearly took time and experience to develop.

Majhal instantly recognizes Al as a bound spirit, despite that being rare knowledge. Foreshadowing!

When Majhal gives them supper, Ed loudly scarfs down the food, which we hear prominently even while Majhal is giving exposition. This amuses me. It's a good use of comic relief, but has a narrative purpose too: like them failing at the battle earlier, this reminds us that Ed's still a kid, and one who probably doesn't get big meals often.

When Clause shows up, she has a fit and runs away. Ed runs after her, but she trips and starts sliding towards the river. Ed quickly draws a circle in the dirt with a stick, and uses it to freeze the water to catch her. So he doesn't know he can transmute without a circle yet.

Also, we see a mechanism for how Ed was able to freeze the water from afar: the reaction travels from the circle to the river before it freezes. See, if only we had been shown that with Isaac's telekinesis I would have had no complaints. (The grass is also frozen along the line, so okay, fair: Isaac's reactions did need to emanate from the contact point, which is why he couldn't freeze Ed from his automail. Still would have been nice if we could have seen that more explicitly when he froze the first guy.)

We see an echo of Ed's dickishness towards Rose as he dismisses Clause's argument of "dead girl showed up once = dead girl killed my sister!" more rudely than it deserves. Clause insults both of them, calling Ed a pipsqueak and Al a trashcan; this actually gets to Al too, but he just sits in the background feeling gloomy while Ed rants, which I think is hilarious. There's a cartoon shift here, but I think it's appropriate, since the tension is low and this whole childish argument is silly.

Majhal sounds pretty creepy when he talks about Karin. The emphasis that what he remembers first about this long-dead person is her beauty is a little unsettling. It's a little hard to tell if we're supposed to take this as a hint he's evil or if it's framed as a normal thing for someone to say.

Majhal uses the transmutation circle on his wristband to amplify the flame of his lantern to burn the Karin mannequin… but it appears to be the same circle he used to mend a broken object earlier, and I'm pretty sure you need a different sigil for that.

There's a shot of Lust spying on them, but she dismisses Majhal as a weak alchemist. Ed notices her briefly as she walks away. So that's a good way of reminding us of the metaplot.

Majhal says that spirit vessels tend to reject dissimilar spirits, so Al is very special. It's not explained exactly how Ed was able to do it anyway with a jury-rigged solution he made while delirious from blood loss, so we're left to assume Ed is just very speshul. I disapprove. This isn't even necessary for the plot: the bound mannequins should want to lash out just from the fact that they're murder victims.

Majhal says he tried human transmutation and failed, but he doesn't appear to have lost any body function in the process.

Ed recognizes Karin by a blue rose in her hair. I… guess she normally kept it covered, but it's still a little weird no one ever noticed. Possibly she only put it there recently, when she tried to confess to Majhal.

"One day her memory returned in a flash!" I don't think that's how amnesia works.

Also, so what, they never found a body? How did no one find that suspicious?

Majhal transforms a tiny chisel into a giant sword with no clear source for the extra mass.

Ed is somehow able to draw a transmutation circle and transmute the rose into a whip before Majhal finishes charging.

Afterward, in an echo of his optimistic statement at the beginning of the episode, Al feels down because he's realized alchemy can be used for evil.

Aaand at the end we learn Clause is wearing a dress again, which is good because Ed tells her she looks prettier in one. Wow, that is some impressive message whiplash. Obsessing over a girl's beauty is wrong except when the heroes do it?

Conclusion

So yeah, this episode is not great. But I don't think it's a total wash either. This is effective in its use of origin story tropes: we can see how the Elrics started learning their martial skills, but also that they have a long way to go before they reach the level we see in present day. We also get some hints to the metaplot – a cameo from Lust, and a connection to Hoenheim and human transmutation. Unfortunately, the alchemic mechanics featured here don't fit with the rest of the series at all, but since it's a filler episode it's pretty easy to disregard them.

On representation: Clause's plotline is awful, yes. But I actually think the A-plot is rather nuanced. In most stories of this type, the fridged woman really is dead. Having Karin still be alive and having the man reject her anyway reinforces how truly awful he is, and shoots down potential apologism. And hey, it ends with a reverse fridging. It's hardly High Feminism, but it is something a little atypical. Even in this slapdash filler episode, these writers are willing to play with tropes instead of falling into total cliché.

[birbleafs]

[fic] a series of CATastrophic incidents

Series: Tales of Zestiria Rating: T Genre: Game-Canon, Humour Characters: Dezel, Rose, Sorey, Mikleo, Lailah, Edna, Zaveid, Alisha Diphda, Sergei Strelka, Original Characters Warnings: None, unless you’re violently allergic to cats, bad puns, and unhinged utensils Summary: He shouldn’t have been surprised, honestly. Still, nothing quite prepared him for this; he was more of a dog person, after all. Or: in which the party encounters a witch and the seraphim are turned into cats.

A/N: This started out as a joke fic an excuse to write more cute/silly party shenanigans but kind of spiralled out of hand, lol. So I guess it’s now the equivalent of a side-quest… oops? I may or may not have mixed up some events in the game timeline very slightly for creative liberties, but it’s nothing serious. Takes place in the time after the party’s arrival in Lastonbell and before the incident with Forton in Pendrago.

Fic can also be read on AO3

i. He shouldn’t have been surprised, honestly. Incidents like these—they were a norm and he should really be used to them by now. Being part of the Shepherd’s posse brought both irritability and absurdity. He was aware of this even before Rose had decided to take on the role of Squire; before she had risked her own life to save the brat from certain death after his brush with the Lord of Calamity in Glaivend Basin.

Still, nothing quite prepared him for this; he was more of a dog person, after all.

“But why cats, though?” Rose finally blurted out, incredulous. Hell, Dezel wanted to know too—who would come up with such a sick joke anyway?

“I’m not a cat!”

The small silver creature standing in the grass was scowling up at them with narrowed, violet eyes. His mouth was open, as if he were attempting to speak. But the only sound he managed was a very indignant and kittenish mewl.  

“W-What?” The silver kitten crinkled his nose, tail waving back and forth in confusion. He glanced over his shoulder, gazing at a second cat—a female with a silky white coat and a long, red-striped tail. “Why can’t I… Lailah, what’s going on?”

“Huh,” Sorey said from where he was crouched low to the ground. There was a contemplative look about him as he swept his gaze from the silver kitten to the white cat. Skulking beside his right knee was a smaller, calico-patched kitten with sky-blue eyes and a foul temper, her short tail fluffed up.  And draped casually over the Shepherd’s shoulder was yet another cat—a sleek, muscular tom, grey-striped and wearing a languid amber stare. Sorey watched the cats surrounding him for a bit longer, before he reached out tentatively to let the silver kitten sniff his fingers.

“Well, at least he didn’t turn you all into frogs,” he added unhelpfully. “Ow!” He yelped when the silver kitten nipped a finger.

“This isn’t funny, Sorey!” the kitten said, ears twitching irritably.

Before Sorey could reply, the grey tom leapt down from his perch to the grass below, splaying his claws as he stretched his long limbs out easily.

“Better a cat than a frog, eh, Mikster? Though I suppose it might have been easier if we had been turned into frogs. A kiss from one with the purest of hearts should do the trick.” The grey tom glanced up at Rose, a mischievous gleam in his eyes now. “No harm trying it out with cats too, right? How about it, Missy? Sheps here would actually be the obvious choice but since Lailah probably won’t risk sullying his purity, I’m sure we also can make do with a kiss from a fine lady such as yourself. Besides, the kid has probably reserved his kiss for that special someone.”

“Um, actually—” Sorey began hesitantly at the same time the calico kitten growled softly in her throat. Bunching up her paws beneath her, she sprang forward and aimed a swift paw-jab to the grey tom’s face that had him yowling in surprise and backing away.

“As lewd as ever even in this form,” the calico hissed as she swished her bottle-brush tail in contempt. “Just because you’re a fuzz ball now doesn’t mean you’re allowed to be gross, Grossveid.”

Rose rubbed at her nape, still confused, as she stared at the gathering of cats. “How are these cats even talking to us? It’s like I’m hearing their voices in my head and that’s creepy, just like how... Whoa, hold on a sec...” She stiffened, eyes widening as she finally caught on. “Is this kitten Edna?” She flicked her gaze back at the grey tom, who beamed and twitched his whiskers proudly up at her. “And Zaveid?!”

Dezel was already internally groaning at Rose’s slow uptake. But Sorey, ever the sunshine of their dysfunctional little band, only let out a chuckle.

“So you can hear them too, huh? And this one here is Mikleo!” He reached for the silver kitten who was still puffed up indignantly, holding up his now fluffy best friend for Rose to take a better look. “Doesn’t he look like the cutest bundle of fur now?” “Ugh, Sorey!” Mikleo the kitten groaned, struggling to bat Sorey over the nose with a paw. This time, it was Rose’s turn to laugh. “More like an overpriced fur stole, really.” “R-Rose!” Before the two could continue with their good-natured teasing, the white cat with the red tail purred, amused. She bounded up to balance herself easily on Sorey’s right shoulder, looking over at Rose and Dezel with bright eyes.

“And I take it this one here must be Lailah then,” Rose said.

“That is correct,” the Prime Lord (Prime... Cat?) nodded. “It seems that what we’ve heard from the villagers aren’t mere rumours, after all. With their apparent skill in transmutation artes, perhaps this person really is a witch.” “Great,” Dezel muttered under his breath. “This just means more work cut out for us.”

ii.

The trouble with old geezers—with old people in general, Rose thought somewhat unkindly—was how they never minded their own business. Things would’ve been simpler if he had ignored them, had left them to their own devices. But no, the old man just had stick his nose in, throwing a wrench into their plans.

(To be fair, she’d considered that perhaps he might’ve been yet another unwilling victim coerced into it. But she had also spent weeks tracking and chasing down their target, dammit. So nope, he didn’t get a free pass, unwilling victim or not!) In any case, even if the man wasn’t completely to blame, Rose felt at times the odds just weren’t in their favour. After all, Sorey—and now Rose, by association—tended to have the odd luck of attracting unwanted attention, from both meddlesome and honest humans alike.

She groaned, placing a hand at her hip while the other pinched the space between her eyes. It had to be the darn Shepherd’s cloak—of course Sorey was going to stick out like a sore thumb everywhere, clad in such conspicuous designs. That and probably that ridiculously boyish but radiant smile, over-bright like the sun. Sorey’s earnestness didn’t always impress unctuous politicians and battle-hardy soldiers like it usually did with civilians. But they’d always assumed the Shepherd to be an ingenuous young man at first, only to realise belatedly how discerning he could actually be.

Unfortunately in this case, the old geezer wasn’t too quick on the pickup. Sorey wasn’t quite ready to dismiss the old man’s pleas of There you are, I’ve searched all over for you!, but he’d realised something didn’t quite add up when he exchanged a brief glance with her.

“Oh,” Sorey said, looking back over at the old man, who was now bowing fervently before them. “Do you both know each other?”

Rose didn’t miss the flicker of uncertainty in those grey eyes, or the way the old man fiddled nervously with the hem of his tunic. She sighed, before meeting Sorey’s gaze once more with the tiniest of smirks.

“A-ah, yes! We do!” the old man stuttered, a little too quickly and too loudly. “Yes, of course we know each other—why would you think otherwise?! I-I mean, he’s my grandson, who’s now the blacksmith’s apprentice! We had a… fight and he went missing and…” He faltered, staring blankly first at Sorey, and then at Rose. As though he’d abruptly lost his train of thought.

Or as though he’d forgotten the rest of his scripted lines.

Rose stifled back a chuckle. She flicked her gaze back at the boy she and Sorey had chased through the streets earlier, down to the corner of this alley. The blacksmith’s apprentice, huh? Now she was sure the old man was lying. She was no stranger to Coram and his forge; the blacksmith traded regularly with the Sparrowfeathers for metal and coal. And being the loquacious sort, he never had any qualms filling her in with the latest village gossip and updates in his life. So she would have heard if Coram had gotten an apprentice. And even she hadn’t, the boy’s hands were too smooth, his nails too polished for one who supposedly laboured for hours with fire and metalwork.

“An apprentice?” she said, eyebrows raised in feign surprise. She made no attempt to move from her spot however, keeping the boy cornered against the brick wall. “Never heard of Coram taking in someone new. But let’s just assume you’re telling us the truth and that you’re able to describe ol’ Smithy and his forge. If you can do that, then I might just buy it and let you go.”

There was a tensed silence and— Rose caught a flash of movement from the corner of her eyes. The old man lunged clumsily forward, hands flailing out in an attempt to grab her, but Rose was already sidestepping away nimbly—only to realise too late that the old man hadn’t been trying to pin her down, and was instead attempting to divert her attention.

Oh, crap, the kid!

She turned and saw Sorey rushing to her side, sword raised.

“Rose, Sorey—get back!” was the last thing she heard before she felt a gush of wind surrounding them. There was a loud rumbling noise and they were both knocked off their feet by a fierce blast of magic.

Rose skidded against the ground, coughing as dirt and dust settled around them. Blinking, she saw Dezel standing tall before her, his arms outstretched to keep the shield he’d raised with his artes intact.

“You all right?” he snapped. “Alive and kicking,” she said, wincing when she felt a twinge from a bruise on her arm. “Where’s Sorey?”

“I’m okay,” Sorey managed, after a fit of coughing. He was struggling back up to his feet, using his sword as a brace. Rose blinked again, rubbing the last of the dust out from her eyes with her hand. She swept her gaze around, before letting out a choice curse.

“ Can't believe they got away so easily. Dammit!”

“That’s not the only problem we have either,” Dezel growled stiffly, ten times more grim-faced than he normally was. Which was really saying something. Just as she was about to ask what he’d meant, she felt something brush past her shins. She jumped, one hand already curled around the hilt of her dagger, only to pause in confusion when she saw a smallish calico-patched bundle dashing away from her.

“What the heck?” she gaped, as the creature (a cat?) hid itself behind Sorey’s ankles and scowled back at her with bright blue eyes. It was then Rose noticed three more cats clustered around Sorey.

When she’d finally cottoned on to what exactly had happened—the boy who was the rumoured “witch” causing trouble all around the village, had struck out them with a cloud of arte, effectively transforming all the seraphim (save Dezel) into cats—all Rose could do was to stare blankly at her companions.

An awkward pause, and then—

“You’ve got to be kitten me, right?” was all she could manage, confounded as she were. To which Dezel only visibly winced, while somewhere from within her mind, Rose heard Lailah chuckling gleefully, “Aw, Rose, you’re getting to be a-meow-zing at these!”

iii.

“And so that’s how it went!” Rose said, almost too cheerfully, hands placed firmly on either side of her hips.

“Oh, I-I see…” Alisha said hesitantly. Her brows were furrowed in concentration, as she tried to make sense of what had just been shared with her. Mikleo couldn’t really blame the Princess Knight for any doubt she might harbour at their story. After all, it wasn’t every day that humans—let alone human-like seraphim—were transformed into talking animals. Mikleo waved his bushy tail, his poise graceful as he balanced himself on Sorey’s left shoulder. He met Alisha’s gaze with sombre eyes. “I know it sounds really out of it, especially when coming from Rose—” “Hey!” Rose scowled.

“—but that’s honestly how we ended up as cats,” Mikleo finished. Alisha only continued to stare wordlessly at him, still frowning slightly. Before Mikleo could speak again, she abruptly reached forward with both hands and lifted him away from Sorey’s shoulder. “H-Huh? Alisha?!” Mikleo yowled, surprised.

“Oh, but aren’t you just the sweetest looking kitten!” Alisha cooed, pulling Mikleo closer into a crushing embrace. “Your coat has such a brilliant shine to it. And your tail! It’s the fluffiest tail I’ve seen, it’s oh so adorable!” She stroked her hand over Mikleo’s soft pelt, marvelling at the silvery sheen.

“Well, I totally did not see that coming,” Rose said, as she nudged Lailah (who was curled around her shoulder) gently. “So I guess Princess Alisha isn’t quite able to hear you guys speak, now that you’re stuck as cats?”

“Well, it probably isn’t simply because we’ve been transformed into cats per se,” Lailah said. “But just as humans with low resonance cannot perceive or speak with seraphim, it seems our voices in cat-form cannot reach them either. For some reason, they are only able to perceive us visually in our altered-forms, hence why to them, we’re perhaps no different than your average alley cat...”

“I’m not an alley cat—mmr-ow-ow!” Mikleo protested heatedly, before dissolving into kittenish squeaks when Alisha delightfully embraced him once more.

“And due to their lower resonance, it’ll only sound like a normal cat meowing when you try speaking to them—is that it?” Sorey asked, his eyes bright with understanding now.

Lailah nodded. “More or less, yes.”

At Sorey’s words, Alisha paused in her fervent cuddling of cute furry things. “Cats trying to speak? What do you mean…?” She echoed, looking over the cats around them. “Are you saying these cats are actually cat seraphim—oh! Is that cat Lady Lailah?” Her eyes widened and her face flushed a bright pink, confusion quickly turning into mortification as she held up the silver kitten before her again for a better look. “And is this kitten Seraph Mikleo?! Oh, I-I’m so, so sorry for my unforgivably rude behaviour!”

Sorey could only offer a weak laugh by way of explanation. “Guess the cat’s out of the bag then. Um.”

Dezel grimaced, his expression twisted into equal parts exasperation and resignation as he folded his arms. “Dammit, not you too.”

(Mikleo could’ve sworn though, that Lailah was bursting with motherly pride for her Shepherd as she said, “Oooh, it wasn’t as punstatic but good try, Sorey—six points for effort!”)

iv. “We appreciate the help, but you don’t have to escort us all the way, Sergei,” Sorey said, offering an apologetic smile to the burly knight walking beside him. “I don’t wish to add to your troubles when you already have so many responsibilities to see to.”

The Captain of the Platinum Knights only shook his head in a dignified manner. “Oh, but I must insist, Shepherd Sorey. After all, I cannot ignore these disturbances that have been repeatedly brought to our attention—it is my duty to see to the source of the people’s worries. Caladan is located in a very rural area bordering the forest and news beyond that of daily trade and domestic grievances from the village seldom reaches the Capital. So it’s a cause for concern when we hear talk of suspicious behaviour outside of the norm, especially when there’s been talk of serial murders in Lastonbell as well.” Rose grinned, beaming at Sergei. “Spoken like a true knight of the people! I can already see you and Princess Alisha getting along well enough.” She nodded at Sorey. “And it might actually do us good to have additional help. This one’s been a pretty slippery case, being a witch and all.”

“A witch?” A contemplative crossed the Captain’s face. He cast a furtive glance over his shoulder and at the herd of cats trailing after them. “I caught brief mentions of it from the aides of a diplomatic party passing through the village this morning, but I had not given it much thought then, thinking it was only fantastical rumours. So, if I understand it right—the, ah, feline cortège that’s accompanying you now? Are they actually your seraphim partners, Milady Rose?”

“Feline cortège?” Zaveid snorted, flicking his tail. “Ol’ Cap here sure is the very model of an upstanding citizen, isn’t he? Guess it’s a good coincidence we ran into him when we did.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” Edna huffed. “What brings you here? A lone seraph wandering in a place teeming with foul humans? Seems too much of a coincidence that you’d happen to be in the same run-of-the-mill village as we did.” “You think I had planned to get turned into a cat with the rest of you? I may be many things but I ain’t that crazy!” Zaveid could hardly stifle back a guffaw, lips curved into an ingratiating smirk. “A man has his reasons, all right? Maybe I’d just wanted to stretch my legs a little. Or maybe I just needed some fresh air and fresh sights, so to speak.”

“Do you ever give a straight answer?” Mikleo sighed, his fur already prickling with irritation. It was hard not to feel vexed, especially when Zaveid seemed all too keen on being as vexing as possible. “Or do you just enjoy speaking in riddles?”

And true to his needling nature, Zaveid only chuckled, his whiskers twitched in utmost amusement. “What’s the matter, Mik-boy? I thought kits like you adored riddles.”

Mikleo bristled and would have retorted back with something rude, but Dezel abruptly moved then. The wind seraph darted past the bickering seraph-cats, growling sharply, “Cut the chatter! We’ve got company!”

There was sudden shift in the atmosphere around them; Mikleo felt his whiskers tingling with danger.

Rose was already falling into a defensive stance beside Sorey, daggers drawn and ready. Sergei swept a narrowed gaze around them, sizing up the surly-looking bandits—all eight of them—who had silently appeared from all sides of the deserted path to surround them in a tight circle.

“What is the meaning of this?” the knight demanded. “As Captain of the Platinum Knights, I command you to put away your weapons now.”

The bandits didn’t flinched, but only raised their axes higher as they stepped closer, their eyes wide and glazed as if mesmerized.

“We have no quarrel with you, Captain,” said the leader, his weathered face a network of jagged scars. “But the lad and the girlie? Cursed by the gods, they are. He said they would come and stir up trouble. Said we needed to stop them, foretold as it were by the gods.”

“This isn’t good. There are traces of an arte imprinted upon these men. Someone has woven illusions or tampered with their minds.” Sorey could hear Lailah’s worry as she spoke. “Already I can sense a strong domain coming from somewhere ahead and I’m almost certain it’s the witch. We need to act quickly.”

“You’re saying that their minds have been somewhat possessed and they were sent here to stall us?” Rose clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Great, just what we needed. First talking seraph-cats and now zombie bandits!” She turned towards one of the bandits—a youngish lout with a patch over one eye—who had crept up from her right flank. She frowned, holding up a dagger so that the serrated blade would be angled right across his face if she’d chosen to strike him then. An effective warning. “Back off, kid, if you still want to be able to see out of that remaining eye. Do you seriously think you guys are a match for a captain of the military and the Shepherd’s posse?”

The one-eyed youth curled his lip into a snarl, revealing rows of crooked teeth. “You don’t scare us with your fancy words and titles. All we see here is an old fogey, a wench who runs her mouth, and a boy playing dressed-up hero!”

“We don’t wish to hurt you,” Sorey said, even as he kept his guard up. “So please, stand down and let us through or we will fight you.”

The man with the scarred face let out a raspy laugh, before he spat at the ground inches away from Sorey and countered derisively, “Says you and what army, laddie?”

“He does not need an army for one as disrespectful as you!” Sergei cut in, heatedly drawing his sword now. “Allow me to fight alongside you, Shepherd Sorey! With your beloved wife and your seraph team!”

“Wife??” echoed the one-eyed youth, flicking his gaze incredulously from Rose to Sorey. “You mean you’re married?”

“Well—” Sorey began, looking as nonplussed as he did.

“Congratulations, then! When’s the baby due?”

“Oh! Um, thank… you?” The Shepherd paused and frowned, head angled in confusion. “Wait, what baby?”

“WHAT team?” Scar-face roared, glowering angrily at the one-eyed youth for derailing the conversation. He stared past the trio, his eyes searching before he spotted four furry creatures glaring up at him from where they stood clustered around Sorey’s heels. He snorted. “What, you mean these wild cats? Seriously?”

“Well, you guys do still have Dezel,” Zaveid murmured to no one in particular, “who fortunately isn’t a cat—”

“We’re wasting time like this,” Dezel snarled, his patience finally snapping. “Sorey, armatize with me!”

“Huh? But we don’t really need to...”

“We’ll go easy on them—don’t look at me like that; I swear, nothing too brutal. Come on! Or are you just going to dawdle and let the witch get away again?”

Sorey considered his options, exchanged a quick glance with Lailah and then nodded at his wind seraph.

“All right, let’s go. Lukeim Yurlin!”

Clad now in a raiment of white, embellished gold and green, Sorey leapt to the sky. With a twist of his body, he conjured up a blast of wind to sweep over the bandits, effectively stunning them and knocking them off their feet.

v.

The sun was already hanging low in the dim orange sky by the time they had put enough distance between themselves and the bandits.

“Is it really all right to leave them as they are?” Sorey asked, his expression set in worry and a touch of guilt. “Those men were only acting viciously because they’d been mesmerized—shouldn’t we try to break the witch’s spell first? They might cause trouble for the other villagers too.”

“It seems they were only mesmerized to fight and stall us specifically. If that were the case, then I doubt they would cause any real harm to anyone else.” Edna yawned languidly, flashing a pink tongue over razor-sharp teeth. Now that she was stuck as a kitten, she (and to an extent, Mikleo, even though he loathed to admit it aloud) had trouble keeping up with the humans’ wider strides. So she’d decided it was easier to hitch a ride instead—with a smug grin at her intended victim and three easy leaps, she had settled herself comfortably on top of Dezel’s hat. The wind seraph had protested vehemently at first, but made no real attempt to remove her.

“Edna’s right,” Lailah said. “And the sooner we get to the witch’s domain, the sooner we can stop him and break his spell, both the ones he’d casted on the bandits and us.”

The party trudged on, guided by Lailah as she scented the air for signs of the witch’s domain she had felt earlier. She couldn’t find any lingering trace however, even after they had scouted around for an hour.

“I apologize, Shepherd Sorey, Milady Rose,” Sergei said at length, bowing deeply to the pair. “But I’m unable to continue any further with you. I’m needed to supervise the patrol at the south eastern borders outside of Caladan tonight. I hope you will not begrudge my leave and I pray your quest still goes well.”

“Hey, it’s no biggie, Captain!” Rose said cheerfully. “Duty calls, after all. Just leave the witch-hunting to us. We’ll take care of it in no time.”

Once Sergei had taken his leave, the party continued their search. The hustle and bustle of the day soon faded; the villagers were slowly retreating into their homes for the night. Sorey pressed forward, however, not ready to give up just yet. They ventured away from the village centre and out to a clearing near the wooded area. The path was barren, with weeds peeking out under a stone slab or two.

And just beyond them was what looked to be a large, abandoned house. Glass shards and broken wood littered the front porch where the windows had been smashed in and there was a gaping hole in the roof.

“Okay, no, no, nope,” Rose declared flatly, digging her heels firmly into the ground. “There is no hecking way am I stepping anywhere near that building.”

Sorey swallowed, dread nestling within his gut. But there was another familiar sensation there as well—an unsettling weight pressed painfully against his chest.

“I can sense malevolence seeping out from within.” He studied the dusty path before them again and pointed. “Look, there are footsteps leading inside; that may be where the witch is hiding out.”

Rose wrapped her arms around herself and visibly shuddered. "Are you kidding me? This is a legit set-up for the worst possible scenario. Dark ominous clouds ahead? Check. Full moon hanging right above us? Check. Bats screeching to the backdrop of eerie canine howling in the distance and my hair standing on end? Check, check, and check."

Lailah bounded up to Rose’s shoulder, brushing against her face gently in reassurance. “It’s likely there are only hellions lurking inside. This domain isn’t immensely strong, which might explain why this atmosphere feels more like the frightening sort that humans would associate with haunted buildings.”

“Or it could, you know, just actually be ghosts too,” Edna added unhelpfully. “S-So ghosts are real?!!”

Mikleo stared reproachfully at the calico kitten. “Stop scaring Rose already; it's not helping at all.” He ignored Edna’s smirk as she stuck a petulant tongue out at him, and turned towards the Squire instead. “Think of it this way, Rose: the sooner we purify the witch hiding inside, the faster we can break the spell and turn things back to normal. And if any… uh, paranormal monster attacks, just... well, just get stabby like you always do. We may be cats now, but you can still count on us to back you and Sorey up—we promise.”

“Okay, fine. Now you're speaking my kind of language!” Rose gave a weak but relieved laugh, even as she kept her daggers within easy reach. “I-I can roll with that, yeah! All right, let's go kick some hellion butts.”

The gloom within the house was far more daunting once they’d entered. Rose paled for a moment but pressed on, jaw set in grim determination. She and Sorey flanked each other, with Mikleo balanced on Sorey’s shoulder and Lailah on Rose’s. Dezel kept close behind them, while Edna and Zaveid took point and led the way as they moved cautiously down the dark hallways and past empty rooms.

It wasn’t long before they encountered the first wave of hellions—dusk bats and dirt leeches—which they easily made short work of. Sorey had purified the last bat when there was a scuffling noise ahead, the sound of scrambling footsteps.

“Over there!” Dezel growled, swinging his pendulums out towards the sound. Lailah conjured up a ball of flame to illuminate the way and they caught sight of a huddled form crouched in the shadows. The figure—the same boy they had cornered earlier that day— glared at them from under his hooded cloak, his eyes the icy-blue of frost and winter gale. He clasped his palms together, murmuring a string of spells.

“Ncewmevb Boks!”

Abruptly, Lailah’s conjured flame flickered and fizzled out, and the party was plunged into complete darkness. There was spine-chilling rush of wind, the disembodied whisper of a voice right beside Rose’s ear and—

"GYEEAAH!!" Rose shrieked, jabbing her fists forward on instinct. She felt her punch connect with something furry at the same time as she elbowed someone else in the gut beside her. “Yeoowwch—!” “—Hyeargh!”

Both Dezel and Zaveid grunted in pain just as Lailah quickly conjured another ball of flame. “Brace yourselves, everyone!” Sorey warned, raising his sword to counter another rush of attack—only to glance down in surprise at what looked to be a demonic porcelain tea set lunging towards him. A tea cup flung itself forward, smashing and breaking pathetically against his chest while he batted his sword at a screeching teapot hell-bent on scalding him with boiling-hot liquid.

"What are these things?" Mikleo hissed, swiping his claws at a particularly stubborn tray with a fanged maw. “Lailah, are these even hellions?!”

Beside him, Edna only let out a resigned sigh, and very casually dodged a set of dinner knives flying her way. "Well, they sure are a pathetic excuse of a hellion, if that’s the case.” “Oh dear,” the Prime Lord mused, seemingly unperturbed by the possessed crockery assailing them now. An oversized cauldron hovered before her, threatening to ooze a sickly purple mess over its brim. “It has just been a series of CAT-astrophic incidents, hasn’t it? And now with KIT-chenware too!”

A collective groan sounded from her companions, but Lailah only giggled, a glimmer in her eyes. “Nothing a little spring-cleaning can’t fix!” She sidestepped the cauldron and released a burst of fiery spheres back at the marauding utensils.

“Ugh, this is even freakier than those floating bison heads!” Rose whined, whirling as she and Zaveid parried blows from a giant, spiked rolling pin trying to flatten them all like dough while Dezel wrangled it down with his pendulums.

“This is getting ridiculous!” Mikleo yowled, avoiding the snapping jaws of a deranged goblet before it crashed into the wall. He was backed into the corner and hadn’t noticed the figure hidden in the shadows...

“Mikleo, look out!” Sorey leapt ahead, pushing the silver kitten to safety just as the witch moved. There was a blinding flash—they dodged swiftly, the force of the witch’s arte only grazing Sorey’s shoulder. The blaze of magic rebounded off a pillar in a wild arc and struck the rafters above them instead. The crumbling wood would have crushed the witch then—who stood rooted in fear as he stared upwards—but Sorey was already lunging forward again, twisting his body to shield the boy from the falling debris, before a number of stray pieces caught him sharply by the back of the head.

He gasped as white-hot pain shot down his spine and crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

vi. His head was still throbbing when Sorey finally came to, the edges of his vision slowly coalescing into focus. Mikleo and Lailah—still bewhiskered and feline—were peering over him anxiously, sparks of healing artes trailing from their stretched paws over him.

“Look, it’s not my fault he got knocked out,” a child’s voice said from a little way off. “What kind of Shepherd is he anyway, keeling over so easily?”

“You dropped practically half a ceiling on him!” Rose countered hotly.

“Two wooden planks and half a brick, actually,” Zaveid corrected, only to falter when Rose shot a dark look his way.

“Is everyone okay? O-ow...” Sorey winced as he sat up, carefully rubbing the sore bump at the back of his head. “What’s going on with Rose and the others?”

“We’re fine,” Mikleo assured him, before heaving a sigh. “Still stuck as cats though, as you can see.”

“And it seems that we have mistaken this source to be malevolence from the witch, but… Perhaps you can explain it better, Almanakh.” Lailah nodded at the small blue normin who had approached them.

“I owe you some thanks, Shepherd,” the normin said as she bowed stiffly, “for protecting Atreides earlier. But all the same, you ought to stop bullying him too. Hmph.”

“Bullying him? Your little witch boy is the one causing havoc around the village!” Dezel growled tersely.

“Atreides might be a handful at times, but he’s still only a child,” Almanakh continued. “One doesn’t have many companions when living on the streets; he was abandoned by the orphanage who’d housed him as a toddler for possessing ‘the Sight’ and was shunned by other street urchins as well. He himself did not understand at first why other humans couldn’t see us, the spiritual beings that periodically crossed paths with them.”

“So he has the resonance to perceive seraphim too,” Sorey mused. “Did you also form a pact with him? That’s why he’s able to cast spells and artes, right?”

“Hey, don’t pick on Almanakh,” Atreides abruptly cut in. Sorey turned, meeting the haughty gaze of the raven-haired boy; he did not sense any trace of malevolence in the child.

Atreides fingered the hem of his cloak nervously, but still jutted his chin out in slight defiance. “Almanakh’s the only one who was willing to teach me things whenever I asked. I’m not so illiterate either that I can’t pick up a thing or two about magic from the books she’d stole—um, shown me.” He paused, his lips curved into the tiniest of smirks as he crouched to pinch at the normin’s cheek. “And you stuck around because you actually like me, don’t you, Almanakh? Can’t blame you—I am rather charming for a street-urchin.”

Almanakh shrugged, swatting her paws at Atreides’ casual prodding. “Nonsense. I just really like meat-pies and you’re great at stealing them. Ours is simply a bond of mutual convenience.”

“Mutual convenience, right.” Rose shook her head, before grinning back at Sorey and the others. “Not so different from your standard friendship then. In all seriousness though, can you please remove the spells you’d put on my friends and on those people you’d mesmerized?”

“Why the bandits though?” Atreides said breezily. “If they’re mesmerized forever trying to fight you all, that’ll keep them from preying on innocents.”

“...And what kind of rationale is that?! Mind-control without permission isn’t any better!”

“Atreides,” Almanakh admonished. “Remember, favours should always be returned for karmic luck.”

The raven-haired boy grimaced, puffing his cheeks out but didn’t protest. He turned to Sorey again, staring owlishly at the Shepherd for a moment, and asked, “Why did you protect me when the arte rebounded? I turned your seraphim into cats, and the villagers have already branded me a witch. I’m one of the ‘bad guys’, after all.”

Sorey brushed the side of his jaw with a finger as he considered his words. “To be honest, I’m not too sure myself. But you had looked terrified when the rafters collapsed. You’re just a kid, like Almanakh said, so I couldn’t just stand by and watch.”

“You could’ve easily stopped me and broken the spell if you had let the debris hit me.”

“Maybe. But even so, I didn’t want to judge you based on rumours alone—I wanted to hear your side of the story too.” Sorey offered the boy a sheepish grin. “And in the end, we still managed to stop you this way too.”

Atreides frowned, ice-blue eyes still narrowed suspiciously. “...You really are a strange person, you know?”

“Er—” Sorey began, but Atreides’ lips were pulled into a wry half-smile now. He held a hand out, helping the injured Shepherd climb shakily back to his feet.

“My skills in transmutation and mind-charming artes are rudimentary at best; the effect usually wears off in a day or two. So your seraphim will return to their usual forms by sundown tomorrow and the bandits back to whatever it is that bandits do during their spare time when they aren’t terrorizing wayward travellers.”

“And the hellions here?” Rose asked, glancing warily around them.

“Merely illusions that I had conjured to fool the senses—the demonic kitchenware, the malevolence. This is just your regular abandoned house with regular ghosts, I suppose.”

“S-so ghosts are real then?!”

“This chit-chat’s been nice and all,” Edna cleared her throat suddenly, her expression flat and signalling extreme boredom. “But what are we going to do about the boy? Do we just let him be as he is? He’s not corrupted by malevolence now, but life on the streets is tough and he has been troubling many of the villagers.”

“Even if you guys don’t do anything, the esteemed Captain of the Platinum Knights might someday be forced to,” Zaveid added.

“A kid’s got to eat,” Atreides said defensively. “And it’s easier to steal using artes.”

Sorey sighed, feeling a sudden twinge of sadness at a fleeting memory of a girl and her dog; at how sometimes resonance could easily be as much a burden of loneliness as a gift of camaraderie. Edna and Zaveid were right of course, but Atreides had a point too. “It’s true we can’t just leave him like this, but Atreides has only been trying to survive living on his own too…”

“Oh, that’s right!” Rose chimed, hitting her fist into her palm, blue eyes bright with an idea. “All right, leave this to me—I know exactly who can help.” She grinned widely at the boy. “You guys like money, don’t you?”

Atreides exchanged a glance with his normin, brows quirked questioningly. “I’d like to feel rich sometimes, yes.”

vii. “I have to say, Rose, you really do come up with some of the best solutions,” Lailah said, seated comfortably around Rose’s shoulders.

They had visited Coram the blacksmith in his forge first thing in the morning. After some convincing and the promise of free batches of the Sparrowfeathers’ mabo curry buns, Coram agreed to take Atreides under his wing as an apprentice.

“He’ll never admit it, but ever since Coram’s lost his Emery to the sickness all those years, he’s been a little lonesome.” Rose explained, slowly making her way up the steps to the inn room they’d booked for the day. “So I thought having Atreides around as his apprentice might help with that. It’s not exactly a get-rich-quick scheme, but Atreides will at least have a place to stay. And if he’s serious about making a change, Coram’s willing help with Atreides’ education too.”

“All in all, a happy ending,” Lailah purred. “Let’s hope things will work out well for both of them.”

“I wonder if Sorey’s feeling better,” Rose said, carefully pushing the door open to peek inside their room.

The soft wooden creak stirred Sorey from his sleep, and he blinked, turning towards the sound. “Is that you, Rose, Lailah? How did everything go?” he said, yawning. His head was wrapped in bandages but it didn’t ache as much as it had before. Dezel was standing by the window, gazing at the scenery outside, but the other seraphim—still in their cat forms—had curled up around their Shepherd, dozing lightly: Mikleo was curled into a ball over Sorey’s chest, his long, silvery tail covering his nose, while Edna had draped herself comfortably on Sorey’s pillow just above his head; Zaveid was all stretched out on his side and snoring noisily over Sorey’s knees.

It was a sight enough to draw soft laughter from Rose. She shook her head when Sorey made to move slightly, as though to offer her the bed instead.

“I’ll be fine here, really,” she said, settling into the couch by the bed. It was a bit dusty, but she’d rested on harder surfaces before while on Scattered Bones missions. “And yup, things are all settled between Coram and Atreides, so we’ll just hope for the best. We’ve done all we could, after all. So don’t worry! You just rest that head of yours and we can be back on our way searching for more of those shiny orb thingamajiggies.”

Sorey laughed, green eyes bright despite the fatigue lining his face. “Thank you, Rose. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you sometimes. I’m grateful to have all of you with me.” He turned towards the dozing seraph-cats sharing his bed, lifting a hand to brush gentle fingers through Mikleo’s soft fur.

Rose only snorted, rubbing a knuckle playfully against Sorey’s cheek. “Likewise! I’m glad I have you guys around too,” she said, beaming first at Lailah’s bashful smile and then at Dezel, who merely grunted, his back still turned as his resolutely kept his gaze out the window. She yawned then, exhaustion finally catching up to her and stretched back against the couch for some much needed rest.

“The Shepherd taking down a witch and berserk kitchenware with only a Squire and an army of seraph cats,” she murmured with a sleepy grin. “Now that’s a side to the legend you don’t hear about every day.”

  —End— ________

- Ncewmevb Boks: “Whirling Gust” in Ancient Tongue, an arte that sends a strong rush of wind in circles. It forms spiralling wind blades that can injure foe, but Atreides being young and untrained, is still unable to control and fully utilize it yet.

- Listen, all the side-quests involving kids in the game left me emotionally compromised, okay. Let me have ONE silly, cracktastic side-quest with a kid who got a happier ending at least aghdjjhsdkg.

- Thanks for reading and #sorey not sorey for the crack/bad puns I GET WEIRD IDEAS IN THE SHOWER.

[zetalial]

BH rewatch episode 24

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Episode 24: Inside the Belly

Envy has decided to once again grace the series with his presence. We see quite a bit of the Homunculi in this episode actually. Which is very nice. And more Ling who is sadly not yet a Homunculus. He does get eaten by one though! Yeah, a lot of stuff to like.

So we open with Envy. Yay! He’s talking to Marcoh who they’ve just been keeping prisoner so they can turn him into a Homunculus. Marcoh has realised they plan to use the entire country as a transmutation circle and Envy laughs and tells him he’s on the right lines.

Ah, no one can pull of Evil like Envy. He brags about how pathetic and emotional humans are and threatens to kill all the people in Marcoh’s village if he doesn’t work with them. (What they need is for him to perform a human transmutation though. He can’t do that while imprisoned. And I believe they’ve had him captured since around episode 7? Not that they’ve shown him since then. Threatening him to perform it can work of course but they’re being pretty lazy about carrying these threats out.)

Envy is specifically calling humans pathetic for the emotions they have, how they care about others. He is sure that Marcoh will agree because even though it may be illogical to save one village at the expense of the whole country, humans act based on their feelings which the homunculi manipulate. Envy has an interesting and pretty skewed perspective here.

Then we get some Wrath and an early showing of Pride. It’s just Pride’s voice Wrath is hearing (through his shadows though this isn’t revealed yet.) Pride notes how Wrath is looking strangely pleased even though they’re having a setback with the humans having won some small victories in outwitting Wrath and Gluttony. Wrath seems pleased with the challenge and notes that he is ageing and that these young humans could mean good new ideas for the future. Pride warns him not to talk like that, to focus on their goal. He says he won’t mention anything to their Father though. The scene gives us a lingering look at a spider eating a butterfly, foreshadowing the way Pride works in the shadows, spinning his webs.

In the episode proper we get back to our Gluttony fight. He wants to kill Mustang and is being pretty reckless about destroying whatever he can. Ed and Ling mention trying to capture him again but Mustang has decided it’s too risky and goes to blow him up with fire. And Gluttony just eats the fire.

Yeah, that’s when they all decide to run.

Mustang’s injury from Lust is giving him pain again and he can’t fight. Ed creates a Mustang decoy to help him get away and this tricks Gluttony.

While he’s distracted, Riza convinces Mustang to get in a car so they can get away, along with Lan Fan and the doctor. Ed, Al and Ling all decide that they want to stay and fight. Here’s one of these moments that just scream Parental!RoyEd with Mustang worrying over the boys, pointing out that they’re just children and shouldn’t be fighting. Roy in general is characterised as quite noble and caring (pretty different from the manipulative bastard who is terrible at showing he cares – yeah I mean 03!Roy.)

The three of them convince them that it’s their fight too though and Roy reluctantly accepts. (Oh he’s been called useless a few times here.) Before they go though, Riza hands Ed a gun and there’s a brief flashback to him taking the gun from Winry’s hands. He accepts the weapon reluctantly – suggesting he feels that his hands are meant for destruction and violence.

Envy is back and showing off a pretty neat transformation power – he can shift into a dog. Oh and he can sit in a tree without breaking it – isn’t he supposed to be really heavy? I don’t remember that ever actually mattering.

Envy is super friendly, telling them he’s not here to fight, just to pick up Gluttony. ‘Course they don’t want to kill the Elrics but Ling on the other hand can totally die.

Well they begin fighting and Ling fights Envy while Ed and Al attack Gluttony. I’m not sure if they have much of an objective now unless they think they can defeat Envy and Gluttony? Well the Homunculi probably would’ve attacked Ling either way.

Speaking of, while Ling is fighting Envy, we hear Selim reading a letter to Bradley while that family has dinner. It sounds like the kind of letter a kid might write about how his father is a great leader who defends the country but still has time for his family. I’m not really sure what to read into it as it’s unambiguously about the Fuhrer so it seems like Pride is just playing the part of innocent child. The leader stuff could be a reference to Wrath and Ling’s discussion about true leadership a couple episodes ago and the show is trying to hint that Ling is a true leader who cares with those cuts between his fight and the letter reading.

I rather hope that’s not it. Ling’s fine! I didn’t like how he was introduced into the series of course, but my issue is more that Ling’s still young and I’d rather the show was suggesting he has great potential, not suggest its something he naturally possesses already. Hmm, I guess the show could mean that. My issues with Ling’s character are becoming a little complicated to describe. How about this? Any flaws Ling has are being played for comic relief and are not to be taken seriously. Meanwhile his claims about being a good, noble leader have been consistently supported by his two very faithful followers. He’s been consistently bothering the Elrics and without facing any negative consequences. In fact, he and Ed have basically become friends.

Eh, I’m probably trying to read into this a little too much. I might try watching the scene again apart from the rewatch. I should try and articulate my issues with Ling in a separate post maybe. Err that’d be sort of critical though and I don’t want to make lots of posts complaining about brotherhood. (This rewatch is sort of that already, I know. Sorry I can’t help it!)

But I digress. Ling’s fight with Envy is entertaining. I try not to rewatch moments too much but it was totally worth rewinding part of the sequence. Envy has one arm turned into a snake wrapped around Ling’s neck. The other has morphed into a blade. Ling drops his sword, kicks dirt into Envy’s face and grabs the non-bladed part of the bladed arm and uses it to cut off Envy’s snake arm. Then he sort of rips off the blade which was vulnerable where it transitioned into skin. This sequence is all incredibly smooth and fast. I had to rewatch to see how it happened.

Ah, Envy. He seems to have even more powers than his 03!Counterpart. Turning into animals, turning arm into a snake complete with a fanged head while the other arm is a shiny metal blade and of course his monstrous true form. 03!Envy’s abilities did include strength and turning his arm into a sharpened spike but that’s about it (that’s the extent we see at least). It’s amazing how incompetent Envy is, therefore. He seems to never have any idea how to use his powers well. More abilities but he’s lacking 03!Envy’s grace.

This isn’t a complaint by the way. It’s totally in character for Envy to be theoretically overpowered so he’s lacking any actual skill and technique to back his abilities up meaning he’s often outmatched. He usually has to resort to cheap tricks like transforming into an opponent’s loved one to win.

He does this here, naturally. Ling hesitates against Lan Fan and Envy laughs about how emotional humans are, like he did with Marcoh at the beginning.

Against Gluttony, Ed and Al have the advantage as Gluttony can’t kill them. It’s because of their plot armour as they’re both Sacrifices. Which they are well aware of. But finally Gluttony has the chance to swallow Ling!

Ed gets in the way, so Envy tries to pull Ed out and all three of them get eaten! As does some of Al’s arm, as he’d also tried to grab Ed.

We cut to Mustang who is speaking with General Raven. He wants to trust the man so he’s making connections and ‘jokes’ that the Fuhrer might be a Homunculus. That’s when it’s revealed that the Homunculus conspiracy is plaguing the military itself. It seems many higher ups, including Raven, are also aware of Bradley and are working with him anyway. Mustang utters this nice line (this won’t be accurate – it’s from memory): “When he said the enemy was close, what he meant was that we are the enemy.”) Fuhrer Bradley appears too, asking Mustang if it matters that he is a Homunculus.

We get a look at Al panicking as Gluttony sadly tells him he can’t uneat anything as his stomach closes. Then there’s a look at Ed waking up inside Gluttony’s stomach. He can only wonder where he is. That’s how the episode ends.

–

So, nice episode. Envy is great in it. Some nice action. Cool ideas. My little digression about Ling isn’t anything to do with this episode really -it’s purely Ling in general up to this point. Yeah, I’m still not fond of him. Pride’s scenes are a little weird and I think that’s because they’re trying to make the reveal more dramatic when it comes around. You’d think ‘inside the belly’ is referring to getting swallowed by Gluttony but I think that’s a misdirection. It’s really a reference to how Mustang is trapped in a military which is made up of enemies. The military itself is the beast.