soul_campaign | Oдин / Video // Aпрель 8

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Oдин / Video // Aпрель 8

[Good morning, Death City! Have an injured, unfamiliar teenager on your network this morning!]

I have a few questions.

[Gee, someone sure is to the point.]

First of all: Why do the sun and moon have faces?

[This, ladies and gentlemen, is the kind irritability that comes up when you don't get a good night's sleep. He would have a hard enough time just trying to get asleep considering that yesterday he showed up in a place half-way across the world (as far as he knows) instantaneously without any warning and a barely comprehensible excuse. But the feeling that someone was watching him a little too intently all night sealed the deal, and now Sasha is functioning on the half-hour of sleep he managed to get right before dawn.]

Second: Why is everything around here named so morbidly?

I know America is supposed to be the land of the backward, but could you at least tone it down for the newcomers? Sudden spacial displacement is jarring enough to begin with, trust me.

Third...

[He lets out a disheartened sigh.]

I'm trying to get to the clinic to get some stitches looked at. Two sets of conflicting directions have led me to...[He looks over his shoulder, and continues flatly:] "Death City Heights". [He turns back to the communicator.] So if someone could show me there, I'd appreciate it.

[The request is followed by a long, awkward silence of staring blankly at the communicator, then finally he mutters:]

Я говорю с зеркалом.

[And that's when his message ends.]

[OOC: Translations of Russian can always be found by hovering over the text!]

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[By now, Sasha has had a proper nap to regain some of those hours of sleep he'd lost, as well as stocking his apartment with the basics. There was one chore that still needed to be done, and the cargo pocket-shaped indent on his leg when he woke up was an indication that he really should not put off getting clothes any longer.

With the instructions Yako had given him earlier in his hand, he stops at the entrance of the Horrorspital and checks the directions once again. During his pause, something catches his eye and he looks toward the dumpsters.

That's strange. He doesn't remember that suit of armor being there earlier. It doesn't look like it's in bad enough shape to merit being thrown out, either...]

[Unaware that someone might be watching him given his location by the trash he does his best to gather the pair of kittens as they weave around his large metal feet. He pets them reassuringly and softly promises them to get them something proper to eat before he goes about undoing the leather straps on his sides so he can part his chest plate from his body. With his empty middle section exposed he lifts the cats one by one inside just behind the small curtain of cloth before replacing the section of armor.]

Now just wait a few minutes and we'll be on our way little guys.

[He speaks a little bit more loudly as he turns around and comes to a sudden stop as he takes noticed of the smaller white haired boy standing just across the way from him which makes him jump back a step in surprise. Just how long had he been standing there and how much did he see!?]

[All of it.

Sasha continues to stare even after he's been "found out", though he brings his eyes up to make...what is essentially eye contact.]

...I'd like to pretend that you're an automated program to pick up stray animals, but I've been around here at least long enough to know that convenient theory isn't true.

Ah I didn't see you -

[He waves his arms nervously causing the joints of his suit clink together as he tries to explain himself. When Sasha starts to speak he all but goes silent and still.

An automated program? It takes him some time to realize that the other boy meant robot, a term which he only recently learned himself.]

Oh well you know I'm the latest model?

[He does his best to play alone despite Sasha's disbelief, but he's always been a terrible liar and when one of the kittens meows echos out from inside his empty chest plate he has to resist the urge to turn right on the spot and run.

He swears there's a good reason for his behavior.]

[Sasha is still staring, pinned to his spot on the street. He narrows his eyes and crosses his arms, looking at Alphonse with a silent, judgmental expression, with a kind of groundedness that seems pretty unusual considering Sasha is dwarfed by the giant suit of armor.

You won't be able to lie yourself out of this one, Al.]

[Truth be told he doesn't enjoy lying and he does his best not to when he can. Death City has proven to house quite the collection of people and even if Alchemy doesn't work here, Edward and him have vowed to keep the knowledge of what it could potentially do out of the hands of others for the time being. Of course, with Edward gone as of this morning and how he unknowingly exposed himself he's already limited on the number of explanations he can give.]

Well... um... you're right that I'm not an automated program, but I was picking up strays. The attack on the city has displaced a lot of people, little guys like these - [And he brings a hand up to his chest plate as another meow sounds out.] - are separated from their owners, hungry, and alone.

[The last word of which is spoken with just the smallest hint of difficultly.]

Edited 2012-11-19 23:03 (UTC)

...

[Alone is a word that echoes within him, albeit for different reasons than Al at this moment. He looks away and drops his hands, tucking them into the pockets of his shirt.]

Then let's get them something to eat that isn't trash.

[It's only a minor detour from what he came out here for, right?]

[He's honestly surprised he doesn't get anymore questions or comments about the fact that he's an empty walking, talking, and for all purposes sentient suit of armor. In the brief silence that follows Al for the first time takes the moment to really look down at the short stern faced white haired boy before him who seemed to end up in his own trouble recently if the bandages were any indication. He'd smile if he could, but instead he merely nods his metal head up and down once before stepping forward.]

Mmmm! There's actually some places up by that haven't been closed due to the damage and there's a shelter on the other side of town I can take them to when we're done.

[He only gets a few steps before pausing and glancing back.]

I'm Alphonse by the way. Alphonse Elric!

[He's sufficiently numbed to all the weird and unusual things around here. Maybe, one day, he'll make sense of this crazy city and the bizarre war that's going on, but until then he's been finding it easier to just go with the flow of things and try not to let it bother him so much.

Sasha follows--because he's quite sure this guy knows a lot more about how to get around than he does. He looks up when Al stops and offers his name.]

Aleksandr Hell. You can call me Sasha.

[Hell? Interesting last name, but when your brother's partner claimed to be Hades himself it probably wasn't any stranger than an empty suit of armor running around. He'll make a point to extend his hand in friendship when they aren't heading down the street.]

It's nice to meet you, Sasha. Have you been in Death City long?

[The bandages make him want to assume yes, but he knows appearances can be very deceiving.]

I just arrived here yesterday.

[Arrived seems like an inappropriate word to use in this situation, but it still gets the message across.]

I'm...still getting used to everything.

Yesterday?

[Concern immediately creeps into his voice as he looks down at the sudden discovery. That meant a lot of those injuries were received back home and not here during the attacks. Doing his best to curb his curiosity he does his best to politely focus on the rest of the conversation.]

Ah ... well, it takes some time. I guess it does at least if a place like this isn't something you're used to.

Yeah.

I'm trying not to let things bother me for the time being. [His tone says that it's easier said than done.]

How long have you been here?

[It's a tone that he knows all too well. After a few weeks he's still doing his best to adjust to this modern day world and living without his alchemy.]

That's a good mind set to have, but it's not easy. I've only been here a few weeks and I still find myself getting frustrated over policies or procedures that I learn about.

This place is really different from my own home.

[Sasha tilts his head to the side in minor intrigue.]

I imagine this world is much different than one where someone like you comes from.

[So what's up with the suit of armor, anyway?]

This place is much more advanced technologically. Most people haven't even heard of alchemy, which back home has developed into a science. Here's it's just some type of esoteric art, but I'm used to cities and other things likes telephones and radios. We even have cars but they're more for the rich and the military.

[Sasha's eyes narrow.]

"Alchemy."

[Well, he definitely has Sasha's attention now. Alchemy used for everyday things? Perhaps--no, definitely involved with how this guy is a walking, talking, empty suit of armor, and even though Sasha doesn't know what it is, it makes the hair on the back of his neck prickle.]

[Despite the precious cargo in his hull the tone of voice Sasha uses when repeating the word alchemy causes him to stop and turn completely around. If he had eyes they'd be narrowing.]

You're familiar with it?

[Sasha stops when Al does, looking up at him.]

Familiar? I'm...a specialized practitioner, we'll say. Someone who can manipulate one particular element at will: a Qwaser.

To hear about it being used so casually...it's upsetting.

A specialized practitioner?

[Al questions curiously and repeats Sasha's words, because there's much to be gleaned from the way he goes on describe himself. Of course, the last thing Alphonse had ever meant to do was offend someone and so when Sasha mentions how his choice of words was upsetting he chooses to address that before focusing in on any of the other interesting things to note that were just mentioned.]

In world, there was a time when alchemy was treated more like a religion, but as time passed a lot of the mysticism was lost when scientific laws and principals were used to replace what the old texts really could not quite explain.

I didn't mean to offend you.

[He lifts one hand with his palm open as his voice takes on a more apologetic tone. Al could only imagine how this conversation might have gone if it were Edward here in his stead, because his brother hardly believes in God.]

This is the first time I've ever heard of someone else's world having alchemy that actually works! Though the fact that you can only manipulate one specific elemental is different, alchemists from my world are only limited by the knowledge and understanding, and given enough study most of capable of transmuting anything. Though most after their initial training tend to specialize based on their talents.

[When Al finishes speaking, a brief moment passes before Sasha starts walking, beyond him. Even if he doesn't know where he's going, he still wants to cover ground; there's no reason to have this conversation standing still, especially when he didn't really want to be out here in the first place.]

Even though there's a difference in how alchemy works in our respective home worlds, there are certain things that stay constant throughout the universe, such as the Laws of Conservation.

So, tell me: Where does someone like you get the energy to move?

[Sasha will find Al is quick to catch up, even with two cats in his chest cavity he's had practice at moving along at a efficient yet safe pace when carrying others on his inside. He once let a cat live inside him for two weeks without his brother noticing, of course he had been much younger at the time.]

This is true, there's no reason why basic principals like Equivalent Exchange shouldn't apply. To complete transmutations alchemy harnesses energy released from the movement and collision of tectonic plates deep within the surface.

Alchemists can use arrays and circles to draw out the energy and focus it. The lines of the circle and arrays also prevent what is known as a rebound from occurring, though if the alchemist is inexperienced the circles may not be sufficient enough to keep the flow of energy at bay.

[Of course, Alphonse realizes all too late that the subject of Sasha's last question isn't about where does the energy for his transmutations come from, but rather how does he specifically get energy to move.

Realizing his error and the fact that Sasha knows there is something wrong with him causes him to once again to halt. This time though no amount of Sasha going forward will cause him to move. It was only this morning that Edward left Death City and returned home, leaving him alone and to fend for himself in this world.]

My brother.

[Sasha stays quiet as Al continues his somewhat tangental but still relevant discussion of how alchemy works. The use of traditional transmutation circles, the harnessing of earth's convection energy...it's completely different than the alchemy he knows, and, by extension, pretty reasonable that it would end up being used casually. A stark difference from his alchemy, the power of Qwasers, that runs on sacred life.

This internal realization would have run off whatever steam Sasha had, and then Alphonse says that. He continues walking, but stops when he realizes that Al is not catching up. He turns and puts his hands in his pockets.]

A brother...made of flesh and bone, I presume.

[It's Alphonse's intonation that clues him in. Matters of sibling intimacy is not something Sasha takes lightly, and he speaks his assumption in a softer tone. Though Alphonse is not able to make facial expressions, he is quite clearly headed into rocky territory.]

Yes. Well, not entirely. It's complicated...

[He admits so much more softly and in a way that implies that he's not sure just how much of this information he can trust Sasha with. Still he's said enough and with Sasha being an alchemist there was no way of telling how much of the truth he already knew. He pauses only to cast a quick glance around, from what he can tell the streets are empty and when he looks back towards Sasha he slowly takes to a knee on the ground and bends forward as his hands lift to remove the metal helm from the very top of his head.]

I didn't always look like this. I was born and I grew like any other normal boy and after our father left home it was just my mother, brother, and I. We were very young when our mother died a part of us never quite let her go. We threw ourselves into learning alchemy even more, got a teacher, and we planned to used alchemy to return her to life. Back then we were too young to know better and the night we attempted human transmutation it failed. I lost my body and my brother lost part of his leg, but some how he managed to figure out a way to bind my soul to a suit of armor that our father had left behind in our basement. It was a desperate act that cost him one of his arms and he used his own blood to do it, because of it I am tied to him.

[He pauses here to give Sasha a moment to approach and take a moment to catch the circular seal that rests on the inside of his back plate.]

If anything were to happen to that seal or him I'd probably die.

[Sasha is already "settling in" for a long-winded explanation when Al describes it as complicated.

The very second Al says the words used alchemy to return her to life, Sasha's eyes narrow in a deadly, frigidly cold way--that was the function of Paracelsus, an associative organization of the Adepts, and Sasha had seen several times the sickening works they've done, defying the sanctity of life itself. Even if human transmutation was not the name it went by where Sasha comes from, it's still an equally taboo subject. But it was for their mother, a beloved, not sacrificing the innocents for the sake of a power-hungry heretic, surely Sasha would understand...?]

[ ᴀсᴛıᴏɴ ]

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