[VIDEO .001 | username edward.elric]

[alchemyfreak]

[There are a few things Ed is quick to concern himself with upon arrival, and even though they certainly relate to "how the hell do I get back where I came from?" he's seen this play out enough times to know that asking that question directly is never likely to get results. At least not the ones he wants. He's well aware that this change of scenery isn't just some new challenge, because if it was there certainly wouldn't be any point to the mark outright disappearing, but it was gone. Which likely meant one thing, they were telling the truth - at least about one aspect of all this, and he was not in Muir anymore.]

Does anyone have any idea what's really going on here? Has anyone been doing any research on this place? Or been here long enough to know whether or not it is what they claim?

[Ed's skeptical about this whole situation, but cynicism wasn't enough to go on that something just wasn't right here. He had a hard time taking everything in that little introduction at face value.]

If we can just ask to be sent home given enough time, has anyone actually pulled it off?

Comments

video | un: detdecker

[couldkillthedevil]

Some people apparently have, and there's a public records office documenting those departures.

[alchemyfreak]

I'll have to look into that, thanks.

[couldkillthedevil]

No problem. I can't verify their accuracy, though. From what I've heard, some people just kind of disappeared suddenly without telling anyone they were leaving. Seems a bit odd, considering.

[alchemyfreak]

[That doesn't sound like anything new, and he's not happy to hear it.]

If they're leaving because they want to, wouldn't they want to say goodbye to their friends? That doesn't sound like they're sending people home because they want to go back, it just sounds like people are disappearing.

People disappeared where I was before, too. They weren't sent back voluntarily.

[couldkillthedevil]

You'd think so. Especially if the person in question was intending to go back with said friend, once the opportunity presented itself. I don't know much about this 'portal' or what it can do, though. It might've been an accident, it might not. I don't have evidence to prove one way or the other. Yet.

[That last bit catches her attention.]

Where you were before?

[alchemyfreak]

Yeah, apparently I'm making a habit of this.

Guess I should get used to not getting attached to any one place for long.

[couldkillthedevil]

What's that supposed to mean? You've been sent to places like this before?

[alchemyfreak]

Yeah.

This would be my third. Last time I thought it was some sort of trick... I asked what I did because I know the fastest way to get answers is to find the person that's been here the longest, or a compilation of research from whoever was here before.

[couldkillthedevil]

How does one person get sent to multiple— realities, anyway? But that's not a bad strategy. The people who greeted us seemed pretty transparent about their information, but there's still a lot of blanks left behind, really.

[alchemyfreak]

Honestly, I've been wondering the same thing. I'm just lucky, I guess.

Even if their intent is to be helpful, they can't possibly control or know everything. There might be something else going on, controlling things they don't know about or do know about but can't help and don't want us to know about yet. Maybe they think they're protecting us.

Or maybe there's nothing suspicious at all going on, and the only thing we really need to worry about is finding the best place to eat around here. Something tells me that wall protecting us implies otherwise, all I know is that whatever there is to know about this place, I intend to find out.

[couldkillthedevil]

[She listened intently, figuring that if he has experience with all of this, she could stand to learn a thing or two.]

Others have told me that there are monsters beyond the gates. I'm pretty new here myself, so I haven't gotten a chance to see it for myself, but it's apparently why there's a Perimeter Guard keeping track of everything. Either way, warranted or not, I'm not planning on just sitting around hoping for the best, either. That's never been my style.

[alchemyfreak]

Yeah, they offered me a job with the Perimeter Guard. Considering my previous work, that makes sense - which makes me wonder how much they know about us, if they offer us jobs that... sound right.

From what I gather, I'm supposed to help protect people from those monsters if they find themselves outside the gates. Guess I'll know soon enough how real and how dangerous those monsters are.

[couldkillthedevil]

Maybe. They offered me a job similar to the one I had back home as well. Were you here for their little gift-giving ceremony? The one I received was pretty personal. Too personal for it to have been a lucky guess.

I don't suppose you'd be willing to pass the information along, about what you find out there? I'd go myself, but I've got some digging and... other things to take care of in the city first.

[alchemyfreak]

Nah, I missed it. We had something like that back in the place I came from before, but it was a replica of something from home, the gift you got was obviously different in a way. A necklace, but the color of the jewel was slightly off... that sort of thing.

[He smirks at the last part]

Sure, I'll keep you in mind.

[couldkillthedevil]

What purpose would that serve? Or was it intentional?

[That came across as almost mocking to her, depending on the intentions.]

Thanks. You might also find the library a good source of information. Someone else pointed me in that direction, and I found some useful things on this place's history.

[alchemyfreak]

[Ed actually pauses at that.]

I don't think anyone put too much thought into it, to be honest. We were supposed to be there to repent for our sins, so maybe it was intentional... and everyone missed the point. Whatever it was. Everyone was just so glad to have some little piece of home with them it didn't matter at the time.

[She can probably tell from his tone how much he bought into that repenting business. No one was treated any different, no matter how they lived in that place.]

I'll have a look there too.

[couldkillthedevil]

[She does pick up on that, and her response probably betrays her own disdain.]

Sounds like whoever ran that place had a hell of a God-complex.

[alchemyfreak]

Several of them, and they weren't subtle about it.

The place was even named after Purgatory, didn't matter that you didn't need to die to show up there.

[couldkillthedevil]

And the whole point was to, what? Imprison you? Because of your supposed 'sins'?

[There may be a heavy note of disapproval there. She didn't think highly of those who decided who got punished and how; that was up to the law to decide. It's an especially sore subject for her now, considering what's recently been revealed to her.]

They obviously thought very highly of themselves, if they thought they had that right.

[alchemyfreak]

I think the sins were an excuse, honestly. Maybe it was all just some elaborate social experiment... They weren't exactly picky about who showed up.

You can't compare the sins of someone who- murdered people to an innocent child.

[couldkillthedevil]

They brought children there, too?

[Not that this place was different in that respect, necessarily, but if the excuse was that it was for people who sinned, then that was just disgusting.]

Like you said, it's not even a matter of sins. If someone's been found guilty of murder in a court of law, then they should go to jail. End of story. Not some creepy other world.

[alchemyfreak]

Yeah, enough that they opened a small school, I think. There was a four-year-old from my world... but she was only going home to die.

[There are clearly some mixed feelings there. Ed doesn't mention that most of those children were right at home with murderers, and would be just as comfortable on the Perimeter Guard destroying monsters outside the gate for fun - but to be fair, he didn't really understand many of them, himself.]

Different worlds have... Different ideas of what to do with murderers. My country is military, people die there all the time and it doesn't necessarily mean anyone goes to jail.

[couldkillthedevil]

[She grew quiet at that, momentarily overwhelmed with those implications. It made her think of her own daughter.] I'm sorry. That's a hard thing to have to reconcile.

And no, you're right. But no matter what world it is, no one person should get to decide who gets punished and how. Even in the military, there are systems and procedures for that kind of thing.

[alchemyfreak]

It was ... complicated. She didn't belong there, but she was alive again, and as long as she was there she got to live. We protected her. She didn't deserve what happened to her... No one deserves a death like that, let alone an innocent little girl.

[Ed doesn't really know what to say to that last part. After a pause he sighs.]

There should be, but even those systems can be corrupt. The man responsible for her death... They said they executed him, but he continued his work for years after her death, in secret.

[couldkillthedevil]

It sounds like she was lucky to have you. Not— not a lot of people get that. A second chance. I know it doesn't make it any easier, though.

[He'd be able to hear her sucking in a sharp little breath at that next bit. She knew what corruption looked like as well; her department had been more than happy to sweep a man's wrongdoings under the rug, after all. She'd staked her entire career on trying to prove him for what he was. Hearing such blatant injustice brings a coil of tension to her stomach. And maybe a little rage, too.]

To have that kind of power and take advantage of it... all of the people involved in that decision— that's unforgivable. Your friend deserved a hell of a lot better than that.