Ling is currently doing what he does best.

Being collapsed in the middle of the street, groaning like a dog, waiting for someone to come to his pleas and sweep him off his feet and give him food. For free, of course, all on them! Out of the kindness of their own heart.

Last time, he was in Rush Valley, and the state alchemist Edward Elric — yes, the Fullmetal Alchemist himself! — and his brother Alphonse Elric were the ones to come to his rescue. Well, he left before they could make him pay, both for the food and intense property damage his companions left, but hey! They help the people, don’t they?

And they certainly helped him… well, a certain amount that is. They confirmed his suspicions that the Philosopher’s Stone is real and obtainable. He just might have to track them down over and over again to get to it. Which he’s fine with. It’s not exactly his specialty, but his retainers have an uncanny ability to find and follow anyone Ling’s interacted with, and the Elric brothers are far from an exception.

The second he got off that train and into Central, Ling was very hungry. Once more. There was no way he was going to convince Edward to pay for his food again, nor trick him into it, so he fled. And dropped limp in the bustling streets of Central. Someone’s bound to come help him. If not, his retainers will find him before something happens to him, right?

Maybe he can get some more information from other people, too. Though he shouldn’t go spilling his information so freely.

“Food… need… food…” Ling puts on his best act of a man dehydrated and starved after crossing a desert, which he was before running into the Elric brothers, so he’s got some experience. He hears some of the civilians around him whispering and glaring, but his self respect’s already pretty low considering he’s face first on the concrete in broad daylight right now.