Hello people of the internet. Just finished watching a special on the history channel about the deadly sin of pride, so you can only imagine where this is heading. I swear, there were parts where I wanted to take notes, and I probably would of if I had some paper. Well, free styling it works too.
Vainglory
Pride stared out at the cityscape of Central from the balcony affixed to his room at the Bradley mansion. It had been a month since his 'adoption' and so far everything was running as smoothly as planned. The war in Ishval was nearing it's completion, signaling the next stage of their overreaching plan for the country.
The sun was starting to lower itself behind the buildings in the east, and Pride knew that soon the woman he had begun to call mother would come in and tell him to come inside to keep from the cold. If she came before the sun was complete in it's decent, he would beg her to let him keep watching. He just loved watching the sunset, the shadows were so pretty. She'd let him, of course. He'd already began to figure out just how bendable she was to a few pleading words and an innocent smile.
The other sins, his 'siblings' often assumed that this was a part of the job that the powerful being took with a grain of salt, being reduced to acting as a normal human child with a normal human family, the exact opposite of the self-absorbed, fearsome creature he knew he was.
That wasn't exactly the case though, his sin, his being, far more complicated then to allow for such a simple distinction.
Father had once told him a story of the first person to have categorized the follies of man into several distinct forms. There had been eight originally, a concept that utterly fascinated the then young sin. How could you erase something as permanent as a sin in the creation of a finalized list?
The answer was simple really. That eighth sin had simply been a subcategory of pride. Vainglory, it had been called, and Pride had to admit he liked the sound of it. It sounded powerful, important, casting up images of leaders surrounded by gold and the light of their own strength.
The need of others for the sole reason of being told how great you were. That was vainglory in a nutshell, and Pride could readily admit how much that was a part of his character. Masquerading as the president's son left no shortage of that either. Sure, he had to pretend to be a human child, but it wasn't just any human child. He was important, far more important that any regular child you could find on the streets like vermin. His safety was a matter of national security. There needed to be trained men with guns watching him whenever he went out and surrounding the house he lived in. If someone attacked him it was an act of terrorism against the ruling family and the country as a whole because of it.
Men looking for the president's good grace knew this, and showered compliments upon him in attempt to please their boss. Those who knew his true origins took this a step further, using these to try for the approval of the ancient child himself. Pride didn't respond to their desperate pleas, all of them useless and replaceable in his eyes, but soaked up the compliments none the less.
He'd played this game before, and it definitely had it's perks. It satisfied that second sin inside of him, the one none too many knew about.
Their father, he was unique and special, he contained none of the taint that reeked humanity, casting them out of himself and giving them forms and minds of their own, just as a god would create life. Pride was special and unique as well, holding within him two sins, although similar in nature, since before his own creation.
The sun was down past the horizon now, and Pride could hear the footsteps of Wrath's wife heading towards his room. What a strange woman she was, but Pride wouldn't complain, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, after all.
Staring up towards the stars, he quickly pinpointed a few constellations, their forces combined with that of the moon and lights of the city allowing for it to never become a complete darkness, which was perfect for him.
"Oh there you are sweetie, come inside here before you catch a cold," the older woman said as she entered the room. Pride quickly placed a cheerfully innocent smile on his face as he turned towards her, not coming completely off the balcony at first.
"Mother, come look, I found a constellation that father had showed me! See, there!" he pointed upwards towards one of the brighter, easer to see patterns that were the only ones visible at this time of night. The woman looked up before smiling down at her 'son,' rubbing his hair affectionately.
"Why yes dear. What a smart boy you are Selim," she praised, earning an even wider smile and laugh from the fake child. Ah, vainglory, one of the only things that made it bearable, no, enjoyable as his time playing a foolish human.
Even as a human, he was important. While he wouldn't dare think that humans were even close to that of homunculi, importance and power were relative, really, and it didn't matter what pyramid he was at the top of, as long as it was the top, and everyone knew it.