An Introduction to a Partnership (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Title: An Introduction to a Partnership
Author: Dreaming of Everything dreams_of_all
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
Characters/Pairings: Lust, Gluttony
Rating/Warnings: Nothing specific.
Summary: How Lust met Gluttony, challenges were overcome and a partnership was formed. My own take on how the parent/child relationship they have came about.
Lust didn’t know much about her newest ‘sibling’ other than his name-Gluttony-and, through that, his most obvious trait. His sin. She didn’t bother giving it much thought; it would have nothing to do with her. She might eventually be forced to work with him, but he certainly couldn’t be any more annoying than Envy.
So when, a few days later, she realized she was being shadowed around the lair that could, mockingly, be called their home, Lust’s mind didn’t leap to Gluttony. He had already been easily and conveniently forgotten.
At least, until she turned around and found him immediately behind her. She knew who it had to be; he was visibly inhuman, more so than any of the other homunculi except for sometimes Envy.
“What do you want?” she demanded.
“Lust?” he quavered.
“Yes, that would be me. What do you want?”
He looked blankly at her, hand in his mouth.
She sighed. Something that looked like Gluttony shouldn’t also look so much like a lost puppy, only blanker. It was hard to hold up any resolve in that sort of situation. Not that she had ever had much urge to help lost puppies-up until now, apparently.
“Okay. Fine. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“…I’m hungry,” he said, after a slight pause, phrasing it almost like a question.
“How old are you?” Lust muttered to herself. She knew the answer-a week or two. Still. She had never been that… young. That… innocent? Not that the word could ever be applied to something like homunculi, no matter how young or puppy-dog-like they were.
She decided to ignore him, eventually. He would lose interest-or get too hungry-and go do something else eventually. What he did was of no interest to her.
He continued to follow her. Oh well. Annoying, but potentially advantageous. He was certainly a powerful weapon, in the right hands. Hers, if you wanted to be specific.
She started to get slightly unnerved when she found him found him waiting patiently at the door when she came back from a five-day long undercover mission. He had been told to stay strictly put at their house-the order reinforced by Father-because he stood out in a way that she didn’t. It had gone well-so well that she had finished two days early. When pressed (that is, bothered incessantly) she had told him it would be a week before she would return.
How long had he planned on waiting there? How long had he been there? The… thing he had had moved well beyond a fixation.
She spent another week trying to avoid him in the labyrinthine cavern of their home, then another few days trying to avoid him outside of it. He was a surprisingly-unnervingly-good tracker, following her no matter where she went. Only direct orders kept him from following her outside, and he always managed to be two steps behind her or less when they were inside, no matter how she raged at him.
He was so silent: a question maybe once a day, and no responses to her tirades, and even his footfalls were unnervingly silent. Lust started flaring at shadows, threatened and harassed. She had been stalked before-she was Lust, after all, felt it and inspired it-but it hadn’t been like this. They hadn’t been this devoted. Single-minded. This uninterested in sex.
This was the first time she had wanted to hide.
oOo
It was late, and she had just returned from a task assigned to her by Father. It had not been pleasant. Normally, casual sex was no problem, but this… man had been revolting. She had gotten what she had gone for, but hadn’t enjoyed it. She hadn’t even gotten what she had hoped for; her sex life was surprisingly boring, considering the amount of the time she spent holed up being followed by an obsessive troll of a homunculus and sniping with the siblings who wandered in and out. She was one of Father’s favorites, reliable and competent, but it meant that she didn’t get to leave often for business, let alone pleasure, of any sort.
It was late, and she was dirty and hungry and exhausted and sore with the ache of newly-grown flesh. Large healings-limbs and other large chunks of flesh, essential organs-were harder, left you feeling sensitive and new, sore and vulnerable. (2) Livable, and probably imagined, but annoying. Her whole body ached with exhaustion. She wanted to lie down and think of nothing for a week, maybe even wanted to sleep, for once, something she never did and never had and probably couldn’t even do.
She wasn’t human, but she felt surprisingly weak, so when a shadow bulged and settled to her left, far enough behind her that her peripheral vision barely caught it, she turned almost without thought, tense and snapping and tired beyond belief, and stabbed at it, fingers extended and razor-sharp and deadly.
They caught in Gluttony’s flesh and slashed through him, through his arm and into his side and back out, blood dripping onto the floor, and Lust felt vindicated, for once. It healed almost instantly, but she knew that it hurt before it healed. She was stridently, violently, unapologetic.
Gluttony fixed her with one of those disturbingly blank gazes, empty and infantile and enigmatic, before turning and wandering off, no real purpose in his step.
Lust turned around with grim satisfaction and walked off towards the little space she’d claimed as hers, finally alone.
oOo
She was happy to notice that he wasn’t anywhere near her, the first day, and then forgot about it for the second, third, fourth and fifth days, wrapped up in work. On the sixth day she noticed she hadn’t seen him, and she reminded herself that she didn't care, and that she liked it that way best.
oOo
Eventually they were assigned to work together by Father; it was a fairly natural pairing. Lust was, by virtue of her sin, good at gathering information and manipulating, and Gluttony was good at removing evidence-or bodies, rather. Envy was the one most physically suited for spying, but he didn't have the patience or the sanity Lust did, so she was often the one assigned to more delicate, long-term assignments. Lust was Father’s second choice for missions that didn't have a special need for delicacy, for when Envy was busy.
So she found herself on some rooftop, waiting for the alchemist beneath her to finish his doomed-to-failure attempt at human transmutation, so that they could gather up the research, the result and whatever else might be useful. She was with a cowering Gluttony who was in a corner maybe 20 feet away; his eyes were bright in the light provided by the waxing half-moon. They were almost like a cat’s, the way they reflected the light.
The sounds of thrashing and a choked-off scream come from below them, and Lust gestured imperiously. “Come,” she demanded, and Gluttony balked but eventually followed, reluctant and feral.
They were barely five minutes in the door when the soldiers arrived and surrounded them entirely; a neighbor must have been awake and heard the noise, or someone on the street. For whatever reason, they were trapped like rats. Gluttony seemed to sink into himself, unresponsive and cut off, as the door was pounded in. Lust hissed, and then they were on them.
She was surprised by the nearly maternal feelings that welled up when Gluttony was stabbed by a desperate, frightened young soldier, and she snarled and threw herself at the soldier, cut through his heart, stopped another soldier dead in his tracks with a single extended finger, braced herself in front of Gluttony-protecting, defending-and killed enough of them fast enough that there was a lull, and then they escaped, Lust leading and nearly dragging Gluttony on behind her through sheer ferocity and force of will. The outcome of the battle had never been unknown, but Lust hadn’t expected to win that… easily. To do that for Gluttony, of all people. Of all homunculi. She hadn’t expected to defend him, especially when he didn't need defending.
oOo
Gluttony appeared in the kitchen when she went to get her breakfast, the day after that. And he appeared briefly while she was filing papers and figuring bills during the afternoon. And while she was reading in the evening. And Lust ignored him, mostly, but she didn’t snap at him, and he kept on reappearing.
Gluttony followed her around, the next day, and she ignored him, but she was… nicer about it, and he didn’t go away.
Gluttony was there the next day, too, and the day after that, and eventually, one morning-after maybe a month-Lust said a good-morning to him.
And eventually Gluttony began to speak again. And Lust mothered him, fed him sometimes, put up with him, sometimes frowned at him then scrubbed at a spot of dirt on his face with her hands and a tissue. She perched on him, while they’re both vicious and deadly and frightening, and mother and child.
And Lust will fight for him and Gluttony will die for her and they are the most human part of each other, these two homunculi, this creature of Lust and this creature of Gluttony: protector and protected, teacher and student, loving and loved and loved and loving. And nobody understood it, not even Lust, but maybe Gluttony, and it’s enough that they are content, or as a content as a Sin can be.
oOoOoOo
(1) Ignoring manga!Sloth, that is.
(2) Conjecture/made-up detail on my part. But it would make sense, I think… If this is ever explicitly disproved in canon, please tell me.
Author: Dreaming of Everything dreams_of_all
Series: Fullmetal Alchemist
Characters/Pairings: Lust, Gluttony
Rating/Warnings: Nothing specific.
Summary: How Lust met Gluttony, challenges were overcome and a partnership was formed. My own take on how the parent/child relationship they have came about.
Lust didn’t know much about her newest ‘sibling’ other than his name-Gluttony-and, through that, his most obvious trait. His sin. She didn’t bother giving it much thought; it would have nothing to do with her. She might eventually be forced to work with him, but he certainly couldn’t be any more annoying than Envy.
So when, a few days later, she realized she was being shadowed around the lair that could, mockingly, be called their home, Lust’s mind didn’t leap to Gluttony. He had already been easily and conveniently forgotten.
At least, until she turned around and found him immediately behind her. She knew who it had to be; he was visibly inhuman, more so than any of the other homunculi except for sometimes Envy.
“What do you want?” she demanded.
“Lust?” he quavered.
“Yes, that would be me. What do you want?”
He looked blankly at her, hand in his mouth.
She sighed. Something that looked like Gluttony shouldn’t also look so much like a lost puppy, only blanker. It was hard to hold up any resolve in that sort of situation. Not that she had ever had much urge to help lost puppies-up until now, apparently.
“Okay. Fine. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“…I’m hungry,” he said, after a slight pause, phrasing it almost like a question.
“How old are you?” Lust muttered to herself. She knew the answer-a week or two. Still. She had never been that… young. That… innocent? Not that the word could ever be applied to something like homunculi, no matter how young or puppy-dog-like they were.
She decided to ignore him, eventually. He would lose interest-or get too hungry-and go do something else eventually. What he did was of no interest to her.
He continued to follow her. Oh well. Annoying, but potentially advantageous. He was certainly a powerful weapon, in the right hands. Hers, if you wanted to be specific.
She started to get slightly unnerved when she found him found him waiting patiently at the door when she came back from a five-day long undercover mission. He had been told to stay strictly put at their house-the order reinforced by Father-because he stood out in a way that she didn’t. It had gone well-so well that she had finished two days early. When pressed (that is, bothered incessantly) she had told him it would be a week before she would return.
How long had he planned on waiting there? How long had he been there? The… thing he had had moved well beyond a fixation.
She spent another week trying to avoid him in the labyrinthine cavern of their home, then another few days trying to avoid him outside of it. He was a surprisingly-unnervingly-good tracker, following her no matter where she went. Only direct orders kept him from following her outside, and he always managed to be two steps behind her or less when they were inside, no matter how she raged at him.
He was so silent: a question maybe once a day, and no responses to her tirades, and even his footfalls were unnervingly silent. Lust started flaring at shadows, threatened and harassed. She had been stalked before-she was Lust, after all, felt it and inspired it-but it hadn’t been like this. They hadn’t been this devoted. Single-minded. This uninterested in sex.
This was the first time she had wanted to hide.
oOo
It was late, and she had just returned from a task assigned to her by Father. It had not been pleasant. Normally, casual sex was no problem, but this… man had been revolting. She had gotten what she had gone for, but hadn’t enjoyed it. She hadn’t even gotten what she had hoped for; her sex life was surprisingly boring, considering the amount of the time she spent holed up being followed by an obsessive troll of a homunculus and sniping with the siblings who wandered in and out. She was one of Father’s favorites, reliable and competent, but it meant that she didn’t get to leave often for business, let alone pleasure, of any sort.
It was late, and she was dirty and hungry and exhausted and sore with the ache of newly-grown flesh. Large healings-limbs and other large chunks of flesh, essential organs-were harder, left you feeling sensitive and new, sore and vulnerable. (2) Livable, and probably imagined, but annoying. Her whole body ached with exhaustion. She wanted to lie down and think of nothing for a week, maybe even wanted to sleep, for once, something she never did and never had and probably couldn’t even do.
She wasn’t human, but she felt surprisingly weak, so when a shadow bulged and settled to her left, far enough behind her that her peripheral vision barely caught it, she turned almost without thought, tense and snapping and tired beyond belief, and stabbed at it, fingers extended and razor-sharp and deadly.
They caught in Gluttony’s flesh and slashed through him, through his arm and into his side and back out, blood dripping onto the floor, and Lust felt vindicated, for once. It healed almost instantly, but she knew that it hurt before it healed. She was stridently, violently, unapologetic.
Gluttony fixed her with one of those disturbingly blank gazes, empty and infantile and enigmatic, before turning and wandering off, no real purpose in his step.
Lust turned around with grim satisfaction and walked off towards the little space she’d claimed as hers, finally alone.
oOo
She was happy to notice that he wasn’t anywhere near her, the first day, and then forgot about it for the second, third, fourth and fifth days, wrapped up in work. On the sixth day she noticed she hadn’t seen him, and she reminded herself that she didn't care, and that she liked it that way best.
oOo
Eventually they were assigned to work together by Father; it was a fairly natural pairing. Lust was, by virtue of her sin, good at gathering information and manipulating, and Gluttony was good at removing evidence-or bodies, rather. Envy was the one most physically suited for spying, but he didn't have the patience or the sanity Lust did, so she was often the one assigned to more delicate, long-term assignments. Lust was Father’s second choice for missions that didn't have a special need for delicacy, for when Envy was busy.
So she found herself on some rooftop, waiting for the alchemist beneath her to finish his doomed-to-failure attempt at human transmutation, so that they could gather up the research, the result and whatever else might be useful. She was with a cowering Gluttony who was in a corner maybe 20 feet away; his eyes were bright in the light provided by the waxing half-moon. They were almost like a cat’s, the way they reflected the light.
The sounds of thrashing and a choked-off scream come from below them, and Lust gestured imperiously. “Come,” she demanded, and Gluttony balked but eventually followed, reluctant and feral.
They were barely five minutes in the door when the soldiers arrived and surrounded them entirely; a neighbor must have been awake and heard the noise, or someone on the street. For whatever reason, they were trapped like rats. Gluttony seemed to sink into himself, unresponsive and cut off, as the door was pounded in. Lust hissed, and then they were on them.
She was surprised by the nearly maternal feelings that welled up when Gluttony was stabbed by a desperate, frightened young soldier, and she snarled and threw herself at the soldier, cut through his heart, stopped another soldier dead in his tracks with a single extended finger, braced herself in front of Gluttony-protecting, defending-and killed enough of them fast enough that there was a lull, and then they escaped, Lust leading and nearly dragging Gluttony on behind her through sheer ferocity and force of will. The outcome of the battle had never been unknown, but Lust hadn’t expected to win that… easily. To do that for Gluttony, of all people. Of all homunculi. She hadn’t expected to defend him, especially when he didn't need defending.
oOo
Gluttony appeared in the kitchen when she went to get her breakfast, the day after that. And he appeared briefly while she was filing papers and figuring bills during the afternoon. And while she was reading in the evening. And Lust ignored him, mostly, but she didn’t snap at him, and he kept on reappearing.
Gluttony followed her around, the next day, and she ignored him, but she was… nicer about it, and he didn’t go away.
Gluttony was there the next day, too, and the day after that, and eventually, one morning-after maybe a month-Lust said a good-morning to him.
And eventually Gluttony began to speak again. And Lust mothered him, fed him sometimes, put up with him, sometimes frowned at him then scrubbed at a spot of dirt on his face with her hands and a tissue. She perched on him, while they’re both vicious and deadly and frightening, and mother and child.
And Lust will fight for him and Gluttony will die for her and they are the most human part of each other, these two homunculi, this creature of Lust and this creature of Gluttony: protector and protected, teacher and student, loving and loved and loved and loving. And nobody understood it, not even Lust, but maybe Gluttony, and it’s enough that they are content, or as a content as a Sin can be.
oOoOoOo
(1) Ignoring manga!Sloth, that is.
(2) Conjecture/made-up detail on my part. But it would make sense, I think… If this is ever explicitly disproved in canon, please tell me.