[Voice / Action]

[truthget]

That's right... the code...

Hey, anybody listening out there- [It goes quiet abruptly as Edward examines the journal to make sure it's working.] ...hm. My name is Edward Elric, and I'm an alchemist. Where I'm from, alchemists follow a certain code: "Alchemists live for the public." It means that our abilities are meant to be used for ordinary

Comments

[voice]

[squaring]

[Well, that sounds pretty cool.]

Wait, you mean you can make anything?

[voice]

[truthget]

Not make- reconstruct. I need a material base first, I can't just make something out of nothing.

[voice]

[squaring]

I see. [So cool.] It sounds pretty amazing, either way.

Ah, how does it work? Do you use some sort of equipment?

[voice]

[truthget]

No, I can just do it by hand. It uses the flow of energy within the world to change to material- all I need is the understanding to make it work.

[voice]

[frost_jewel]

Al...A-Alchemist?

[Ed has no idea what he is calling himself.]

[voice]

[truthget]

Yeah, why? [Something wrong with being an alchemist? :|a]

[voice]

[frost_jewel]

But how? How can you...even propose to use that kind of power?

[voice]

[truthget]

Alchemy is pretty common in my country. Even a child can use it if they understand the science of it.

[ action ]

[truthhides]

[ that feeling is back. the same sort of emptiness that he'd felt when he'd come to once they'd pulled marta from his body... something hollow, a faint feeling of failure - but he knows that this time, it's no fault of his own that this had happened. the malnosso just...

they're cruel to take them here, away from their families, goals and friends... and crueler send people back to a fate like that. ]

[ action ]

[truthget]

[It's mostly quiet on the way home, each brother left lost in their own thoughts, though they're probably thinking about much the same thing. And Edward can't help but let his thoughts drift to Alphonse- of what could happen if one of them was sent back without the other, of how it would affect them to be separated for as long as Winry had been separated from them. It's too cruel.

After a while, though, Edward lifts a hand to bonk it lightly against the armor, lips pursing.]

If we follow him, we'll go together.

[ action ]

[truthhides]

[ it's ironic that had al been taken even a day after they'd brought him here he'd be faced with that thought. there'd be that uncertainty, a quiet voice questioning whether or not he'd ever see his brother again. there's no way he could know this, but the thoughts are much the same... if they were separated, it couldn't last long. neither brother wanted to be parted from the other for long, so they wouldn't be. and everything told him that in the end, it all worked out...

how had the alphonse who was here before dealt with being without ed? or winry? how had he coped with never knowing for sure if he would go home and see the people he cared about... how had he formed so many bonds with people who were so fleeting, and how had he stomached knowing that some of them were only alive while they were in this strange place? life and death is such a delicate thing... not everyone was as lucky as he - as they were.

the bonk catches his attention and the words do ring true. ] Right. [ he sounds far more cheerful than he actually feels. but

[ action ]

[truthget]

[It's a terrifying existence, that much is for sure. And he hates the very idea of it, the thought of being separated from Al again. After all those months since Briggs, he'd been missing the reliable presence of his little brother, and to finally be reunited with him... splitting them up again, for even longer - for anything like Winry's time here - would be a nightmare. Beyond a nightmare.

No... it's together, or not at all. That's how it has to be for them.]

We'll have to keep working on it. Find a better way. Maybe if we tried harder to research alkahestry, we'd find a way. The planet has to have that dragon's pulse thing, right? So maybe it can cross worlds, too.

[voice]

[presumablyalone]

Alchemist...? What's that? [Question marks everywhere]

[voice]

[truthget]

[Obviously he should've posted a tutorial with the announcement!]

Alchemy is the understand, deconstruction, and reconstruction of any known material. Basically, turning one thing into another.

[voice]

[presumablyalone]

[People in Luceti never cease to amaze him. If he had a tail right now it would be wagging a million miles an hour] That's amazing!! And you can do that kind of thing??

[voice]

[truthget]

[S-so energetic.]

Yeah, that's what an alchemist does.

[Action] /o/

[repeatsyearly]

[Building three! That's where Nagisa lives! And so she'll happen to notice Ed walking around on her way out.]

Are you looking for something?

[Action] \o\

[truthget]

[Erp, he's been caught. He lifts a hand to gesture at the apartment he'd been checking.]

Have you seen the guy who used to live here? His name is Ling. ...Or Greed, if you met him instead.

[Action]

[repeatsyearly]

[Her eyes follow to where Ed's pointing. After thinking for a moment, she frowns shakes her head.]

Umm, I don't think so, sorry. I only just arrived here recently. How come?

[Action]

[truthget]

[Damn. So much for that.]

A friend of mine was living here until recently. I haven't been able to find him anywhere, though.