riverview | [VIDEO .001 | username edward.elric]

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[VIDEO .001 | username edward.elric]

[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?

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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.

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.

[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.

[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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Edited 2017-06-11 19:56 (UTC)

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.

[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.

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.

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.

That place gave her the second chance... They brought her there after her death. It could be hard to hate that place when they did that for- a lot of people.

The military would have used her as a test subject, if she'd lived. It doesn't make it easier that she's gone, but ... she wouldn't have deserved that either.

[He glances away, pausing for a moment before speaking again.]

What her father did was unforgivable, but he carried the burden of his sins in his own way. The military was more worried about what he could accomplish for them, than right or wrong. The corruption went a lot deeper than we could have imagined, I had suspicions but... I was taken from there before we got to the bottom of it.

[The more she hears about this poor girl, the more disgust pools in the pit of her stomach. What kind of place did he come from?] Test subject...? What the hell did he do to her—

[She stopped, swallowing past the lump in her throat. She can't even imagine what it would take for someone to do that to a child. To their own child. And yet she knew there were twisted people out there.]

When you put things like that, I can see why the alternative might look more appealing. What a disgrace.

[Yeah, Tucker was luckily not a normal situation but she wasn't going to realize that Despite his casual tone, there's clear disgust underlying his words.]

He turned her into a chimera. Human alchemy is strictly forbidden, but... I guess they make exceptions if the military thinks they can benefit from it.

[He doesn't offer what a chimera is right off the bat. Either she already knows, or she'll ask if she really wants to. At least that's how he sees it. He's fully aware that she might not want to know given the subject.]

That was all he cared about. Creating one that could talk, and there's no easier way to do it than get people involved.

Alchemy? You mean like... turning lead into gold and all that? That kind of alchemy?

[He'll have to forgive her and the slight skepticism there. She's still getting used to the reality of... well, all of this.

Still, she can follow the conversation easily enough. Whatever her father did to her was vile. If he wanted to talk about sins, then he seemed to fit that bill.]

So he's the mad scientist type, then. I ran into one myself awhile back. Human lives take a backseat when they're trying to make some kind of twisted point.

Yeah, that's illegal too.

[Without skipping a beat. Her skepticism is hardly the first he's seen, and it will not be the last.]

He said he did it just to prove that he could, but... I think it was more than that. I think, at the time keeping his certification meant more to him than his daughter. Either way, he lived to regret that decision.... I doubt he ever stopped trying to bring her back to life.

I see. So then that's... what, typical where you come from? Alchemy being a thing?

[More curious than skeptic this time. Though from what he's describing so far, it sounded alchemy could hurt just as much as it could be useful if in the wrong hands.]

He made a choice and he paid the ultimate price for it and realizing too late what was important. And that's something he'll have to live with for the rest of his life, if no other punishment than that.

For the most part. Alchemy's a skill, it's a science that requires studying - not just anyone can pull it off. Some places, alchemists walk the streets with everyone else, and no one even thinks about it. More rural places don't see alchemists as often though, we used to get people commenting that we were the first in awhile.

[He'd be the first to agree with her, if she voiced that thought out loud. Alchemy was dangerous, and he'd paid a hefty enough price for messing with what he shouldn't have. Nevermind the subject matter they'd already discussed.]

Exactly. The last time I saw him... It obviously stayed with him.

A science, huh? I think we must come from very different places, then. Where I'm from, alchemy was something practiced in the past a lot, but it never actually could do anything like what you're describing. Much less have an entire military society based around it.

[She keeps her tone casual, not wanting to offend but merely share information. She does find it interesting.]

As it should. If something like that happened to my daughter, much less because of something I did... I can't even fathom it.

That sounds like the world my brother told me about. Apparently, I'd be there with him now if I wasn't here instead. Alchemy was more of a joke than anything to them, from what I gathered anyway. They built these ... rocket ships and invaded our world, to try to harness alchemy as a weapon for some Great War.

[Luckily, Ed's been around the block enough to take offense in things he might have once. At the last part he pauses, glancing away slightly.]

You have a daughter. It ... must be hard, being here without her.

Uh... not quite my world, but elements of it, maybe. Alchemy isn't a viable science there, but we never started a war or tried to invade anyone. Not over that, anyway.

[They've started plenty of wars, but now wasn't quite the time to get into a history lesson.

She bites her lip and nods, quiet for a moment before she speaks.]

It is. People have been telling me that time apparently doesn't work the same way here, so she probably wouldn't even realize I'm gone, but... it's hard to trust that without proof.

[At that part he laughs.]

There are too many to know for sure, anyway. The ones that invaded our world... were just a handful of people, from the sounds of it. My brother told me what he could about it, but I only have what he said to go on. Something about the Thule Society thinking our world was this place called Shamballa.

[His tone softens, shrugging a shoulder.]

I can't confirm anything about this place, since I'm new here. Where I came from before that's how things worked though, and enough people came and went to confirm it. My brother told me about my own future... Things I haven't experienced- supposedly I will some day, if I ever get sent home.

Sounds like one of the plots straight out of my mom's sci-fi movies from the 80s, to be perfectly honest with you.

[Despite her words, she is paying attention. She can't even begin to imagine what kind of world or worlds he's seen. It ignites the curiosity in her, but there's also a coil of tension there at the prospect of being sent through time and space and never getting to return home.]

You must miss him. Your brother.

Maybe. Talking chimeras were a myth on my world until they became reality, too. It's hard to know what's real and what's fantasy anymore.

[Movies weren't exactly a big thing where Ed came from, but he'd heard enough about them from friends to sort of grasp how they worked. Having modern technology certainly made the comparisons from the stories easier to understand.

At that last part though, his eyes widen and he looks away from the screen. It had been awhile by now, but he still struggled with the idea of facing his brother again after what happened. Even if any new 'version' of his brother wouldn't even remember it.

Talking about Al in the abstract was one thing. Talking about not being with him, or being with him, was apparently something else all together.]

Yeah...

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