panfandia | The worst hide and seek...

To say Lan Fan was furious was probably an understatement. For any of the Amestrians the act would have been seen as a simple prank, after all, it was just a mask to them. But it wasn't just a mask to her. Or to anyone from Xing for that matter. It was a mark of status and honor, it was proof of the blood sweat and tears she had put into her training to earn her place as an imperial retainer. It wasn't unlike Edward Elric's pocket watch in that. This wasn't just a prank to her, it was a deep insult--one that, much like everything else she found offensive by the Amestrians, they likely didn't even understand.

It wasn't difficult to find the homunculus at all, at least not after she got to Dublith. That had been a lucky guess as to where he would have gone. Once in the town, locating the concentration of energy was almost easy. She found him on the roof, or rather felt him on the roof and bounded off the necessary surfaces to land there nearby.

"Give it back, monster," she growled before her feet had even fully landed.

Standing up, Greed turned to face the woman. The mask was still resting comfortably on top of his head, as if he'd tried it on and then up it up afterwards. Apart from his easy smile however that was all he had on. There was not a scrap of cloth to be seen and frankly, the man was enjoying the feeling. He didn't get to stand around nude that often. Even his hair was taken down from the usual (and habitual) ponytail he'd been wearing it in.

That in particular had been surprisingly difficult, as having a separate body meant that he sometimes looked for little things that helped him feel connected to his human brother again. Not that he'd share that kind of information without getting something extremely rewarding in return.

"Wow that was fast." He commented, ignoring her intended slur. "Don't worry I didn't damage it or anything".

Whatever she had been expecting that was not it. Had it been anyone else the nudity would not have phased her, or rather, if it had she would have been able to tuck it away into some other part of her mind in order to carry out whatever it was that she was doing. However, coming on the nude form of her prince--or at least the identical body of her prince--threw her completely off guard on a number of levels, enough to distract her from finding the right footing on the window sill.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" she managed to bark out, her eyes wide and her face instantly flushing at the sight--while her right leg lost its footing on the sill, throwing her completely off balance as her weight began to tip backward out the window.

Edited 2013-07-08 04:25 (UTC)

That had to be the most priceless expression Greed had ever seen on anyone's face ever. It was almost a thing of beauty...but then the moment was over and the young woman was screaming at him (understandably) while loosing her legendary balance and apparently preparing to fall out of the window. He couldn't have that. And rather than take the admittedly small risk that she would correct herself Greed mentally swore at himself and then almost reflexively rushed in to try and grab her before the fall could gain anymore momentum, all thoughts of his current state of undress completely wiped from his mind.

His plan was tenatively to catch her around the waist and pull her back inside. If that didn't pan out however he was not above diving out the window after her.

She pinwheeled for a brief moment like a novice before catching herself on the side of the window with her automail hand to keep from completely toppling out the window. To add to the list of unexpected things where all of this was concerned was the feel of arms around her waist and the sight of a very naked Ling Yao--or at least a very naked copy of his body--holding directly to hers.

It was enough to make her flail and lose her balance all over again, half wanting to beat him about the head for this entire situation, the other half wanting to beat him about the head out of sheer panic, all the while the whole of her freezing up because in her mind it was still her master's body and therefore she couldn't harm it.

The whole situation was confusing and infuriating.

He could feel her tensing up around his arms and while Greed was almost positive he was going to be thrashed later, for now he was content with the hope that she didn't notice the sigh of relief that escaped his lungs once he felt his arms firmly attached to her waist. Soon however he realized that he had misjudged both his own momentum and the desperation of her flailing arms, and before long they were both headed out the window and toward the streets of Dublith. With only a heartbeats pause for the homunculus to take in the ridiculousness of what was happening and what might come next.

Even as they were falling though he was at least determined that it would be his legs that took the brunt of the impact when the ground came up to meet them. He'd just regenerate after all, and not have to spend even more time in physical therapy. As for the nudity; well it wasn't as though he had anything on his body he was ashamed of.

Lan Fan wasn't as content to fall to the ground as Greed was, after all she didn't have the luxury of regeneration. Almost the instant after they were both toppling she was already scrabbling for the wall with both hands, her mind forgetting the whole nudity aspect as well as her legs wound around Greed's waist in an attempt to stop him as well if she caught hold of anything--like the edge of the next windowsill down--or rather, the one after that as the first only slightly broke their momentum.

The descent stopped and for just a moment Greed considered why he didn't feel the pain of broken limbs resetting themselves. He didn't have to wonder long however; he soon realized they were dangling from a window sill on one of the 2nd story windows. Also they were apparently hugging each other with various limbs and this was not awkward at all, as the people who did most of their errands in the morning milled around below them.

"Hey Lan Fan" He called out, completely dropping the pretense of irritating nick names for the moment. "Do we know how we're going to get out of this? There's going to be a crowd soon." He could already see a few onlookers over her slender shoulders.

"I should just drop you for all of this," she growled, straining to keep hold of the sill with the extra weight hanging from her. At the very least it wasn't all concentrated on her port again. Despite it all, her face was still bright pink.

"If you climb down my legs will you be close enough to jump to the ground?" As for herself, she wasn't worried. It was his extra weight that was throwing her off. Without him dangling off of her she would easily scale the building again or hit the ground without so much as a scratch.

She was talking to him! That was good enough of a sign to let the man know she was done being freaked out. Taking a glance down at the ground he considered for a moment. The drop wasn't too far for him, and he shouldn't even have to worry about injury as long as he wasn't supporting both their weight. The only real problem now was the clothing, and that was a problem more for the humans and their sensibilities than his own completely absent notion of modesty.

"Yeah I'll be fine" He told her after his internal calculations were finished. After which he unceremoniously released his grip on her body, allowing himself to drop down to the ground. The people that had gathered around took a few startled steps back and at least one woman reached down to shield the eyes of her child as she passed by. For his part however Greed grinned somewhat proudly and looked up at Lan Fan and gave her a little wink. His hand placed on the mask that was still sitting comfortably on top of his head.

Then he ran as fast as he could back into the ground floor of the Devil's Nest.

The second his weight was off of her Lan Fan pulled herself up onto the ledge she was clinging to, turning to see he'd faired, only to scowl at that damnable grin and the fact that he still had her mask. She scowled openly then before turning to spring up to the next third story window ledge and then back to the window they had just toppled out of, disappearing into the room and preparing to KILL HIM when he met her there.

Stopping at the second floor Greed crouched down slightly for a while, listening. He hadn't heard her land outside afterwards but considering who he was playing with, that meant nothing. Now he was being cautious, or at least he was pretending to be. In truth though he'd seen their Ki sensing abilities in action and was fairly certain that she could pinpoint his location from five miles away if she concentrated.

Now that he had time to calm down and consider; heading out of town might not be such a bad idea. At the very least the chase would last a while longer that way. Of course the question then was whether or not he should take the time to throw on a pair of pants. If the woman caught on getting dressed would waste precious seconds. And the entirety of this consideration had him grinning like a delinquent child.

Lan Fan was waiting in the original room, having torn the curtains adorning the window down with every intention of covering him the second he walked through the door, assuming he was still parading around in the nude. Well. Covering him. Binding him. Strangling him. It was all the same, right?

Her face was still red. The damned flush was probably going to stay there for hours after that display and she hated it, just because everyone could see it. Even if hiding her blush had little to do with the purpose of the Yin mask, to her it was one of the most useful attributes. She could disguise almost every other reaction to anything with her mannerisms, but the damn blush was the only thing she couldn't control.

And Greed was right. She could pin point his location in the building and even while berating herself and planning his demise on the fourth floor she was following his movement below her. If he left the building at all she would be on him faster than a hound on the trail of a fox.

Pants on and he slid a light jacket over his arms. Hey, I haven't worn this since-- Greed shook his head, cutting off that train of thought. This was no time to be getting nostalgic! He took a deep breath, as though he were half meditating before bolting to the nearest window and propelling himself out with an impressive burst of speed. And he was running back up in the direction of Rush Valley as he made for the town limits.

THAT BASTARD--

She felt his ki leave the building and start becoming fainter--did he really think he was going to lose her? He didn't have the advantage of a giant philosopher's stone beneath the ground masking his ki this time.

Without second thought she leapt out the window and across to the next building, springing between ledges to get to the roof before giving chase. If he thought he would escape then he was dead wrong.

She had to be following him now, as the scenery became a bit of a blur around him the man veered off the main road and up into the scraggly wilderness that would soon turn into the dry rocky mesas leading up to Rush Valley. He knew the area all too well and had a certain fondness for it. Just a little ways up there was an outlet from a larger water source, and beyond that a glorified shed that he laughingly referred to as his 'cabin'. That was as good a place as any to end the game and there were a few trees around that almost made it seem 'foresty'.

The stream was easy enough to ford. Even when the thing flooded the depth had never reached more than 4 feet. And while logically he knew that he couldn't wash away his Ki the way he could with his scent Greed couldn't help going through the water anyway.

Greed was only a minute or so ahead of her. Fortunately she had impressive speed and stamina, so he didn't get much further. Sprinting after him she cleared the stream in one strong bound, honing in on him.

Oh she was definitely there. He'd hopped up to the top of a tree behind the shack but he knew that there were only seconds to spare before she unleashed her glorious wrath upon him. Out of habit the man shielded his hand up to the elbows, though he found for the first time that his inability to choose whether to have claws or not was an inconvenience. He was at a disadvantage against her in so many ways, and somehow that made things exciting. No risk, no reward I guess Greed thought to himself, his breathing shallow and excited as he wondered just what direction she was going to come from.

She was not afraid of Greed, and ultimately she knew he intended her no harm--and so she did not even stop to consider any other plan other than to charge head long toward him.

Coming around the shack her eyes locked on him, her voice rising angrily even as she leaped into the trees as well, bounding from one limb to the next to reach his same height.

"GREED--," she stopped just before him, chest heaving from the sprint there, her teeth bared and her eyes practically glowing with how angry she was. "Give it back."

Hand casually placed on his chin in thought, Greed smiled at the woman, his voice taunting in the deliberate tone he used. "Actually" He began, the tree rocking softly in a gust of wind that passed by "I've grown kind of attached to it. And you know how I get when I decide I like something!" His grin broadened as one shield coated hand raised, pointing first his finger at the woman, and then ashe spoke moving to direct his thumb at himself.

"So if you want it back. You're going to have to come over here and take it!"

And just for a little extra incentive, Greed reached up to the top of his head and slowly began to pull the mask down over his face.

Lan Fan growled from her place across from him, the fire in her eyes seeming to burn brighter as he started to pull the mask down--and just like that she leaped across to the same limb, waiting only a split second to find her center and balance her weight before striking out with one of her hands, teeth bared in anger and irritation.

As soon as he heard that sound Greed knew he had to stop what he was doing because she was definitely coming his way now. He let go of the mask only to discover that he was just a split second too late. As the object fell down the rest of the way it crossed his eyes just in time to see the palm of Lan Fan's hand, which slammed into the mask. The force of the blow sent Greed plummeting off the top of the tree and down onto the ground with a noise that would have probably meant hospital time for anyone else.

He didn't move. The mask was sturdy and so unharmed as it lay across his face, only slightly askew. Content to remain where he was, the homunculus moved not a muscle as he anticipated the young woman following him down to claim her prize.

Lan Fan paused where she was, half shocked that he'd just fallen like that and also with the distinct thought of 'that was it!?' going through her mind as she looked down to him in the brush.

She jumped down, landing gracefully like a cat nearby, striding over to snatch her mask back before putting her feet at either side of his head and sitting down hard on his chest, glowering down at him.

"What was the point of all of this, Greed?" she growled, scowling down at him.

The small gust of wind that brushed against Greeds face as the mask was snatched away felt cool. Greed hadn't realized how hot the thing could get and it surprised him. For a long moment he just lay there, staring up at her with a slight, cocky grin until finally he folded his arms up under the back of his head and odly enough began to chuckle absurdly.

"The point?" He asked back at her before shaking his head "None at all Ninja Girl. I was just bored and needed a little excitement! And what can I say. I--" He stopped for a moment and internally cursed his incessant need for honesty, breaking his eye contact to glance to the side "I missed havin' you guys around."

Some note of touched emotion that she would never admit to crossed her face and she turned her eyes away as color rose on her cheeks again. "There were simpler ways of going about that, you know." Ways that didn't involve both of them risking bodily harm.

And then she scowled again, turning back and actually smacking him lightly upside the head. "And why were you naked!?" she snapped, going even pinker thinking about it. "Or do I not even want to know?"

Edited 2013-07-10 03:13 (UTC)

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