[closed catchall for Homeward Bound Boy Wrath]

[garbagechild]

Who: Wrath, Lust, Envy, Scar, Henry
What: LASSIE WRATH COME HOME
Where: Shark House (ie, quiet suburban neighborhood in Goldenrod City)
Warnings: Later threads include graphic dialogue about subjects like child death/injury, suicide, etc.
Summary: Wrath can't avoid the inevitable any longer. After meandering in awkward emotional paralysis for a month, he finally arrives in Goldenrod City to find out if his family is still there or not.



The city streets haven't changed a single bit.

The same smells hang on the humid, seaside air. The same warm yellow lights blaze above the sidewalks. The same buzz and murmur of never-sleeping nightlife float along main roads and narrow alleys alike.

Wrath remembers all of them with startling clarity, and yet they don't feel familiar anymore. He shies away from all of it, slinking along like an awkward shadow and trying not to be noticed. Which is blessedly not difficult, at least in the heart of town where there's still enough bustle and activity that a short kid and his Cubone hardly stand out. But even with his memories intact... coming back to a bona fide city after the isolation he'd wrapped himself in back in Amestris is overwhelming in every way.

What he's looking for, however, isn't in the heart of town. No, his destination is down in the southern half of the city, in a much sleepier pocket of suburbia...


____


His feet remember the path there better than his brain does, and all too fast, their surroundings have shifted from broad bright streets to ones lined with houses, trees, and lamp-posts. Completely preoccupied with his own growing anxiety, Wrath barely even notices how fast they've arrived until he realizes that downtown's golden hum has been replaced with the soft, velvet drone of chirping insects and whirring fans. The clank of his automail foot on the pavement is painfully loud now that there's so much less background noise to drown it out.

He stops right there in the middle of the road like a statue as the realization hits him.

This is it. This is their street...

Down at his side, Son squeezes his hand. The Cubone had been keeping up with his trainer valiantly all night long, despite his stubby little legs. Keenly-attuned partner-Pokemon senses aside, it hadn't exactly been hard to notice that Wrath had been growing tenser and tenser the closer they got (even though escaping from the chaos of the inner city should have, would have been a relief for most people). Although Wrath doesn't look down, the squeeze tugs him back into reality enough to carry on.

It isn't long until he spots it.

There.

It's there.

It's still there.

The House... but that doesn't mean it has the same people in it. Or that they would feel the same way they did once, even if they'd remained. ... It's not too late. He could just keep walking. He could just head straight out of town and into Ilex Forest, never to be seen again. They would never know that he was here. ... And vice versa.

A shadow briefly passes in front of one of the windows, and Wrath stiffens, freezing again. He feels like throwing up.

But Son delivers a gentle headbutt to his automail leg. CLINK. Wrath grimaces, swallowing, and stumbles up the walk.

Approaching the house is ten times more difficult and painstaking than it had been with the cottage in Violet, but eventually, he finds himself standing on the doorstep, almost too tense to breathe. He lifts a hand several times, only to drop it again. Once, he manages to make contact with the door... but just scratches it timidly with his nails, too quiet to be heard.

"... I can't," he mumbles hoarsely after these failed attempts, more to himself than to his Pokemon... but Son responds anyway with a whispered but no-less-vehement "Bone!" Yes you can!

Wrath lets out a shaky, miserable sigh, but... he can't say no to his son.

Steeling himself and taking a deep breath, he raises his hand again... and knocks.




Thread Timeline because we're out of control:
1. Wrath arrives and is ushered in by Henry + Envy; Scar informs Lust about Wrath's return; Lust and Wrath reunite.
2. As Lust + Wrath Cry In The Living Room (tm), Henry re-enters with a failed hot cocoa attempt; Envy flees to the laundry room.
3. Heather receives distraught Envy phonecall.
4. Envy and Scar briefly discuss The Gluttony Thing in the hall.
5. Wrath and Envy catch up; Evil Brother Hug! at Kitchen Island.
6. Heather and Scar fail to communicate on the porch, but it's fine.
7. Hot Cocoa Attempt 2.0 by Henry; Evil Brothers + Henry quiet couch time.
8. Scar + Lust discuss personal growth and parenthood.
9. Heather gets home with pizza baked goods, gets caught up on the tea.
10. The following morning, Scar + Envy discretely get info from Wrath; also Don't Tell Mom About Gluttony.

Comments

[no_ufo_ending]

[ Henry's Poke'Gear photo gallery is usually full of three things: candid shots of his housemates, pokemon, and weird angled artsy shit. Now? There are selfies. Henry's never taken a particular interest in what he looks like before. ]

[Anyway, Henry's taking fucking selfies in the kitchen under the light over the sink because it's a different color than the other lights in the house. He is the nearest to the door when there comes a gentle tapping. He glances up from his shot, resulting in a blurry ghostly image.]

[It's late...who could that be? Did someone order food? Hopefully it wasn't someone here to report bad behavior from the Pokemon they let go outside. Henry pockets his Poke'gear and meanders over to the door.]

[He opens it.]

Hello?

[ His eyes fall on Wrath and he just kind of stares dumbly at him for a moment, uncomprehending. It's Wrath. Why is Wrath knocking? The door wasn't locked. A gentle crease forms between his brows as he puzzles over this. What was he wearing on his arm? Armor? A costume? Had he been playing?]

[Something looms behind Henry. He feels its presence press into the back of his neck, heavy like a wet afghan. It surprises him. Why should he feel weird about this??? It's Wrath. It's just Wrath.]

[IT'S WRATH.]

UH--!

[ Henry slaps the door out of sheer reflex and startles himself.]

Hey! Woah--hi. Hi there. Do you...want...to come in? Come in! Come in the house.

[ Henry steps back, letting the door drift open and bump into the opposite wall. He twists halfway around, his beautiful hair glistening in the porch light. ]

Eeeeeeenvyyyyyyyyy?

[exeggutorhead]

[FOR SCAR]

It hasn't actually been that long since that little knock on the door, but as far as emotional states go? It's like several days' worth have been crammed into that short amount of time. Envy's re-emerging from the laundry room after his emergency call to Heather, determined to actually shake off the paralyzing fuzz of shock that's had him in a vice-grip and be able to...he doesn't know, exactly. Actually go talk to Wrath. Say he's sorry, like Heather had patiently reminded him was an option. Reassure himself that the youngest homunculus really is back, and here.

That awkward, painful text conversation he'd thought he had with a total stranger a week ago is hitting him like a truck, now.

Wrath isn't in the living room, but Lust had wanted to get him food...so he's probably in the kitchen. Envy's so focused on getting to the door that he's not paying a whole lot of attention to anything or anybody who might be partially in the way of his muscle-memory quickest route around the furniture.

Which is to say, he dazedly speedwalks directly into Scar with his entire left shoulder, actually bouncing off of him a little. And then blinks up at him, looking dazed.

"Oh. Sorry."

It's very distracted and casual, but this is very possibly the actual first time the word "sorry" has ever left Envy's mouth directed at Scar. The word is, perhaps, at the top of his mind.

[FOR WRATH]

Ishbalan detours aside, Envy pretty much only has one focus at the moment: he has to go talk to Wrath. Wrath had said he was glad to see them, he'd hiked all the way here. He'd smiled back, and it had been genuine. He wouldn't have done any of that if he hadn't wanted Envy anywhere near him. The heavy, twisting weight in his middle is making every step closer to the kitchen a whole trial of nerves anyway.

What does he even say, besides "sorry"? He can't only say that!

He's not good at this.

When he reaches the door, he goes in quietly, still on the reserved side. But he's not quite so hesitant as before, since Wrath hasn't seemed afraid of him so far.

"Wrath?"

[OPEN]

After being able to actually sit down and talk with Wrath, Envy will actually be capable of interacting with anyone else!

[officerdown]

[For Lust]

Scar has spent the evening in relative quiet from the rest of the house. While this is far from out of the ordinary, his Silent Looming takes on a different timbre, when the youngest among them has just reappeared from thin air, undeniably changed and worse for wear.

He's had a small moment on the porch to let some of the deluge of emotions washing over him out, but they're still big and loud and... not as new as he might have originally thought. Unmasked, perhaps. Exposed. Barring this, he's been steady the whole night through, doing his best not to lurk in Wrath's presence, lest the boy be overwhelmed. Scar prepared his bedding while Lust cooked, and the latter would have been all the more shocking had it not been preceded by...

Another swoop in his chest as he makes his way upstairs one final time to brush his teeth. The feeling isn't so vast and confusing now that he can barely parse it, but it still leaves him dizzy. Something had changed remarkably, in his absence. And he never would have known, had this living bundle of twigs, automail, and 7th Grade Stink not ragdolled onto their doorstep.

Scar picks up the pace, halfway up the steps. She should be done shuffling the boy off to bed, by now. Never mind that it hasn't been ten minutes since he's seen her last; he's impatient.