02 - Pull Yourself Together

[birdinthehand]

A - Venture Park, closed to Eiji Hino

This city was one strange, dangerous place. If it wasn't one thing keeping him from finding that blasted hobo, it was another. (Mostly, he was choosing to blame that weird purple Greeed for making messes and getting in his way.) But today he was determined to find Eiji Hino. He had reached the limits of how far he could grow while nesting at Joji Yuki's lab, or while huddled shamefully at the bottom of Hina Izumi's purse.

Mind you, Ankh has absolutely no patience left. There is no room for subtlety and stealth in his plans today. "EIJI! HEY! EIJI!!!" So there is now a very noisy floating hand rushing through Venture Park at inappropriate speeds. One that cares not for who he bothers or how much attention he's drawing.

B - Venture City in general

When you're more than just a floating hand, there are more things that you can do. Like actually go into an ice cream shop, purchase multiple ice cream bars (with money that was gotten via earlier pickpocketing, but let's not go there), and sit down to eat them all. Even if they don't taste like anything. Even if they don't feel like anything. They're supposed to taste sweet and feel cold, and maybe if he eats enough of them, he'll get something out of it.

But so far, it's just serving to tick him off, for obvious reasons and for reasons that feel just a few inches outside of his grasp. He looks very, very grumpy, for a man with that much ice cream stacked in front of him.

Comments

A

[candothismuch]

Ankh's shouting was certainly getting a lot of people's attentions with his loudness. Though in the long run that might have been a good thing since Eiji heard his name being yelled and started looking around.

"Ankh?"

[birdinthehand]

Ankh had gone into this fully expecting an answer to his shouting. What he hadn't expected was for it to feel so suddenly... something. Familiar? No, that wasn't the word. But what? What, then? He stopped short and recoiled, until he was simply floating there in the air, stunned.

This lasted for all of five seconds because Eiji obviously wasn't in front of him yet, and thus the search wasn't over. "...Eiji! OVER HERE!!!" And now he's charging boldly over bushes and around trees, in the direction of the voice that he'd heard.

[candothismuch]

Eiji starts moving to where he heard Ankh's voice coming from. It doesn't take long for the two to find each other, though some people shouting in surprise at a disembodied arm flying around helped.

[birdinthehand]

All the shouting people can go take a flying leap. Venture City is weird. They need to start getting used to this stuff.

Ankh's charge doesn't stop once Eiji's in sight, oh no. This is the most important person in existence, as far as he's aware, and he's not just going to settle for lingering near him. Once he's close enough he grabs for Eiji's shirt as though to hold him in place. "...where the heck have you been?!"

Way to ruin the moment, Ankh.

[candothismuch]

Ankh had grabbed him while he was in mid-step so Eiji had to put his foot down to center his balance. Regardless of Ankh being able to ruin the moment with one sentence it didn't keep Eiji from feeling happy at seeing him. Sure, he was just an arm right now but he was alive, that was the important part.

"I've been around."

[birdinthehand]

"Tch! Around..." Ankh's grip on Eiji remains firm. Now that he's finally found him, the man with the king's driver, the man he'd remembered following, he couldn't just let him go. He didn't want to. And he didn't tend to question impulses like that.

"You're going to help me find the rest of my Core Medals!" This is not a request. This is a demand. That's what this man is for, right?

[candothismuch]

Right, the Core Medals. Of course Ankh would bring them up. On the plus side, Eiji had them. On the downside, there were only three of them; the three that had not been destroyed/sucked into that black hole.

"I have them with me."

So simmer down, they're not going anywhere anytime soon.

B

[gigigigigigi]

The grumpy man with all the ice cream gets Amazon's attention fairly easily. "Angry Bird!" Why, yes, Ankh, the weirdo in the loincloth has wandered into the ice cream shop and spotted that distinctive Greeed arm. Ankh might have gotten away without getting noticed by Amazon were it not for that. "Angry Bird get body!" Good job, Angry Bird, good job. Amazon is very happy for the fact that you're not just a disembodied arm now.

[birdinthehand]

Great. It's the wild man that Joji keeps around for no conceivable reason. Why did they let him go around unsupervised, again? Ankh side-eyes Amazon, takes a big spiteful bite out of his current ice cream bar, and huffs. He does not care for your thanks. Your thanks are not necessary. Angry Bird is always angry.

[gigigigigigi]

Ankh, no, you can't eat an unusual-looking thing in front of Amazon. He'll want some.

That's exactly what's happening now; Amazon wants some. "What that?" He's curious. Very curious.

[birdinthehand]

Ankh's frown deepens, and he reaches a hand out slide the remaining ice cream bars out of reach. "Ice cream. And it's mine." He knows that look in Amazon's eyes. Ankh is an expert at discerning desire. That's the look of a guy that wants that thing, right there.

[gigigigigigi]

Come now, Ankh, that isn't very friendly. "Angry Bird have lots." And there's a bit of a puppy dog look from Amazon. He definitely wants the ice cream. "Share?"

[birdinthehand]

His hand does not move, and his resolve does not waver. He takes another bite of his current ice cream bar, reducing it to just a little stub clinging to the stick, and takes his time in letting it melt enough to swallow. "...no. Go get your own." Puppy dog looks do not work on him, Amazon.

it's quite humorous that this was one of her surviving icons.

[hinavelous]

Ah, but Ankh looking grumpy was such a staple, regardless of his state of ice cream. Hina, en route from campus to home, noticed a familiar mop of blonde curls and stopped dead in her tracks, rerouting herself to where he was seated. Upon realizing that that familiar mop was, indeed, Ankh, and he was no longer just a floating arm monster, she shouted in elation and sat down beside him without his permission to throw her arms right on around his grumpy scrawny shoulders.

"Ankh!!" She paused, arms still around him, and frowned intensely at him. "My brother will still be in Japan if I call him right now, right? You're not stealing his body again?"

Humorous and also appropriate!

[birdinthehand]

He had been sulking so much about the ice cream situation that Hina had just snuck right up on him. Her shout wasn't even enough of a warning of what was to come. He froze at the hug, and then stiffly tried to pull himself free from it, a half-gnawed on ice cream bar held awkwardly at arm's length.

"Let go!" And he's just about to throw an elbow into her ribs when she starts with the questions. "Tch! He's not here! I made this body myself! LET GO!"

[forgottendecade]

"Did you now?"

Joji was finding this amusing. So the Greeed had human allies in the past? That was a bit more interesting than the doll Greeed. At least it made him feel a lot better over the crafting of the blank form now serving as Ankh's host. It still wasn't perfect, but that's what part of this trip was suppose to be used for - figuring out where he could improve the form.

"Is he usually this touchy?"

[hinavelous]

Oh stop being a stiff antisocial brat bird, you know you like it. She doesn't even flinch when he spits vitriol at her. This was all par for the course. She inhaled to react to his boasting when Joji seemed to appear out of thin air, and she jolted instead, scooting closer to Ankh but not relenting on her hold on his shoulders.

She blinked, and shook her head. He wasn't touchy, and he still wasn't, really. He was probably just tolerating her because he hadn't shoved her away yet.

[birdinthehand]

Ankh jolts upon hearing Joji's voice, and now he's angling himself subtly away from him, too. Can't a Greeed sit down and not enjoy his ice cream in peace? Apparently not.

"I did." He bears his teeth at the end of that statement. And also, without even fully realizing it, hooks his free left arm around Hina protectively. "What in the heck do you want?"

[forgottendecade]

He can not enjoy his ice cream for as long as he wants, but Joji is still going to watch and make sure that Ankh's body wasn't going to melt into a puddle of goo. He glanced at Hina, noting the almost protective way Ankh held her and her protectiveness over Ankh and then shrugged, taking a seat far enough away that he wasn't going to appear as a threat.

"I want to make sure that the form is not going to explode or otherwise react in a manner that would be annoying," he said, folding his hands together. "Or do you think that I just let untried experiments go walking off without first checking to see if they stay in one piece?"

[cardsflippedup]

[It's certainly been a hell of a week. Tomoki would honestly prefer to forget about it for now and just get back to work. That was what he was doing when he walked past the grumpy blonde covered in ice cream.]

[He double-takes, stopping in his tracks, and stares. Wh- who was. That wasn't Rei. Who...]

[Someone who looked like Rei but wasn't human. He'd heard enough about the weird arm creature who tried to possess his friend. Given his arm looked anything but normal he took a pretty educated guess.]

Ankh.

[birdinthehand]

[It was only when Tomoki spoke that Ankh took any notice of him. The voice sounded familiar, so he turned with a lazy sort of slide-shift in his seat, a weary and exasperated look at the ready.]

....Eiji?

[He had meant to snap it, but it fell flat. For the man had Eiji's face but not Eiji's.... everything else. He stares for a long moment, then narrows his eyes and leans in, looking at him harder. Then comes a bird-like tilt of his head to the side.]

What the...

[This is a window of opportunity to act before the usual anger kicks in. He is just plain confused, now.]

[cardsflippedup]

[Nothing much about his posture or attitude really ring true for Eiji either. He looks at the Man- bird- whatever and chuffs a laugh, crossing his arms.]

So, I was right. You're that thing that tried to possess Rei.

[Normally, Tomoki might have been a little more tactful, but he's not having a great week and he has the patience to show for it. Also, don't fuck with Rei.]

[birdinthehand]

[That thing, he said. How dare he call him that! Ankh snorts loudly, then jabs his half-eaten ice cream pop in Tomoki's direction, glaring.]

Watch your mouth! Who do you think you are?! Who're you?!

[Note that there is no denial that he possessed anyone.]

[cardsflippedup]

[He snorts back, quirking an unkind smile.]

A journalist. Rei's friend. If you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from him.

[birdinthehand]

[Ankh's eyebrows lift at the threat. For someone with Eiji's face, he doesn't have Eiji's attitude at all. But it's an attitude he can almost respect. He rolls his shoulders, sits back, and keeps his eyes on Tomoki.]

He wasn't what I wanted. I didn't hurt him.

[And then there's the slightest quirk of his lips.]

He's important to you?