『Elegante 001』► Audio

[skin_and_steel]

[The comm rattles a bit, the sound peppered occasionally by a frustrated growl.]

How the hell do you - oh, I guess it is on.

[Rattling stops, and with it is a small sigh of relief.]Alright, well - oh geez, this is so stupid, does this actually work? Do you guys actually hear me on this thing

Comments

[survivorking]

We are going to the Golden Shore, apparently.

The jewels cause you to have a thirst for violence.

The Balls make you incredibly stupid.

[There. Are we done?]

[skin_and_steel]

[So Sandman isn't not too verbose, is he? This guy's reminding him more and more of the bastard back in Central.]

[survivorking]

[Nope, Damas doesn't say more than he has to. That's why he got an interpreter back home.

He turns off his communicator with some finality.]

[skin_and_steel]

[Ed stares at his communicator for a moment.]

Asshole.

[ Audio ]

[evillyaffable]

[ ... Listening. And an awful idea comes across his mind. He knows he'll be found out soon enough, but why not have some fun before then? ]

Fullmetal. You're here too? [ It's Roy's voice. ]

Re: [ Audio ]

[skin_and_steel]

No shit, Sherlock - no, I make transmissions like these just for fun.

How did you get here, Colonel? I fell asleep on the train and woke up here - no note, Gate, anything, just floorboards that smell like chum and vomit.

[evillyaffable]

I don't have any idea. One minute I'm in Central, the next I'm on a boat and everyone's telling me things that make absolutely no sense. It's only been a few days, but apparently the ship's been in chaos for a good week.

[skin_and_steel]

I've been hearing the same thing - apparently there's these balls that make you stupid if you touch 'em, and... well, I don't how you get them, but apparently you're supposed to avoid people with jewels in them...?

[missmimmi]

We are going to the Golden Shore. I do not know where that is, none of us do. But it must be very far away, as there are people here that have been around for over a year.

Balls do, but I do not care to find out.

[skin_and_steel]

A year? Shit, so you mean there's no way we can get out of this damn boat?! No, no, no, that can't be. I-I can't be on some boat in the middle of the fucking ocean when my brother still needs -

[There's a stretch of silence on the transmitter. After a few moments, Ed pulls himself together enough to respond in a somewhat calmer tone of voice.]

Well, I'm not going to stay on here for a year. We're going to think of a way to get off this thing, or at least make this Redd bastard tell us what the fuck he did to us.

[missmimmi]

I doubt we could do either. People have already tried getting off the boat. It never ended well.

[skin_and_steel]

If you just give up and don't even attempt it, then of course you're never going to get out of here. I hate that stupid victim mentality. If you work hard enough towards something, you will be rewarded for it, be it with whatever you were transmuting or - in our case - with freedom.

I mean, what's the worst that they can do to us? How did these attempts "never [end] well"?

[talkingfishbone]

The captain picked us. I dunno what for, really--First Mate Kage kinda...couldn't tell me. He's under orders or something. The Captain isn't a God, but he's not human.

Also, watch out for this chick named Jessica. She's crazy and killed, like, a whole mass of people. You'll know her when you see her because she's, apparently, dragging a dead dog behind her.

I'd seriously steer clear of her.

[skin_and_steel]

I'll beat some answers out of him if I have to. Gods don't exist, and he sure as hell wouldn't qualify. He's just some lunatic that kidnapped a bunch of us, and I'm going to find out why. I don't have time for his stupid games.

...is Jessica one of these people who got touched by an idiot ball? I haven't heard about her.

[talkingfishbone]

Dude.

He grabbed up dozens of us, all from different worlds, and dropped us here. He does this, like, Every Week. That's his version of normal. I highly doubt you are gonna pose much of a threat.

He'd probably just wave his hand and dump you off the side of the ship. That'd count as one death, too, y'know.

Oh! Right! Did I mention the part where he brings back the dead?

Anyway, Jessica is the girl who made all the decks so dangerous. She was locked in the theatre, but people thought she was in legitimate danger and tried to help. She turned around and killed them all. Now she's out there, roaming around, probably just as blood thirsty.

[skin_and_steel]

I'm not going to pose a threat by myself. But if people grow a fuckin' backbone and not just let this guy walk all over us, maybe we'd have a chance at turning things around.

Oh, bullshit. You can't resurrect the dead. You might get a mass of flesh and organs, but it's a far cry from the person you're trying to bring back. Once someone dies, that's it. Their soul is on the other side, their body is gone, and you have to give a huge price in order to get any part of 'em back. I... well, let's just say that I've tried it once and I will never do it again. Ever. The price is way too high for anyone, and this Redd bastard shouldn't even be alive if he's supposedly bringing people back from the dead frequently. Even once is too much for most.

[Edward swears and takes a deep breath. He already feels he said way too much, so he tries quickly to move onto another topic that doesn't hit so close to home.]Does anyone know how she got into there in the first place? Shouldn't someone like that be locked up in someplace more... well, protected

[lilyground]

I can tell you everything. I'm Lily.

[skin_and_steel]

Well, some kid named Hiccup (what the hell kind of name is that) just told me about a girl named Jessica...? What's her deal?

[lilyground]

[Damn that girl.]

Jennifer? You mean Jennifer? Um, I don't know. We let her out of this place called Spectacular Spectacular, and she just... started killing people.

[Lily doesn't like talking about this shit. It brings up memories. Bad memories.]

But there's lots more to the boat than that.

[skin_and_steel]

Jessica, Jennifer, whatever - that girl that keeps killing people. So you basically did her a favor and she just kills people as a result? Was she always like that, or did something set her off?

[Ed puts his middle and index fingers to his forehead - a habit of his whenever he's trying to solve a puzzle.]

You said you can tell me everything. Start giving details.

...please.