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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[She's more than willing to follow his lead and drop the subject, though she imagines there's a lot he's not voicing. Fair enough, considering it seemed like a sore subject. He's entitled to his privacy.]

My name's Chloe, by the way. Chloe Decker. You're Edward, right? Going by your username.

[That might be relief at the easy change of subject. He'd considered other options, but this many years later the code name just felt too foreign. He probably wouldn't know what to do if people started calling him Fullmetal again, now.]

Yeah, pretty straight forward.

[A pause, as if he's not entirely used to formalities. Although despite the conversation, it certainly wasn't insincere, Ed wouldn't bother if it had been.]

Nice to meet you, Chloe.

[There's a polite smile from her end, as if that's opened something up in her.]

Nice to meet you too, Edward. Are you staying in the communal housing center? I might see you around.

Yeah, actually I'm on the sixth floor.

Oh. So am I.

[Well, that certainly made things interesting.]

Guess we'll be seeing more of each other then, since we're at least sharing a kitchen from what I gather here.

Yeah, apparently. Small world.

Yeah...

[A pause.]

You said you're fairly new, right? If we're assigned rooms based on when we show up, I guess it makes sense that new arrivals would end up rooming together.

Yeah. Still an interesting coincidence, though. I know someone from my world who also got taken here, but he's not on our floor.

Someone from your world got taken around the same time as you?

[That, in of itself, was unusual. At least going by his experiences.]

It would probably be an even weirder coincidence if he was roomed with you. It's hard to say if this place operates like the others until we know more about it, though.

And not just taken at the same time, but from the same time. He was preparing to come speak to me when we both got taken; we both remember the same thing.

From what you've told me, let's hope they're not operating the same.

Okay, it's been a few years so I may be wrong but ... I don't think I've even heard of that happening.

[At the last part he smirks.]

Well, some things are different off the bat, anyway. This place is almost like someone combined the last two places I was at, so... There's that, at least.

The portals might be similar even if the purpose isn't the same, though. I'm not sure how many different ways you can make the sort of portal needed to do that kind of work.

Edited 2017-06-16 22:20 (UTC)

Really? So everyone you've ever come into contact with in these worlds have been from different timelines and places?

[Huh. Interesting. Another point she'd have to file away for later to examine.]

True, though I wouldn't be a good person to speculate over that. Particle physics and that whole thing aren't exactly my field. Someone should definitely examine them, though. See if they can figure anything concrete about them.

[That thought really makes her miss Ella. A forensic scientist may not be the best for magical portal observations, but she could imagine her gleeful wonder at getting to see it. The sound of her voice as she babbled on about this and that. It makes something like a smile tinge her lips, though it's tempered by something a bit more somber.]

It's ... more complicated than that. For example, people might work out that they came from the same time in their own worlds, but arrive here months or even years apart. People show up close together, but usually the timeline is varied to some degree. At least... with the people I remember talking to about it.

[At the last part, he can't help but smirk again. Fully aware of the irony in his own words, although someone that's not familiar with him saying as much wouldn't quite grasp his apparent amusement.]

Maybe we don't need a scientist, maybe we need someone who knows magic. Either way, that's what I'm hoping to find out, everything about this place and how it works. The harder to figure out, the more interested I am because that is going to help us uncover how we got here in the first place and whether or not we're being lied to.

I see. So most people where you were at before had already had to build a life before someone from their own world came along. I can imagine that'd be a disorienting experience.

[And downright creepy, actually. At the mention of magic, she sighs, because no matter how hard she tries to get used to it, it just doesn't come easily to her.]

I've heard that magic is apparently pretty commonplace here. So if no one's been able to figure it out through that route yet, it might be a good idea to at least keep our options open.

My superior from the military arrived around the same time I did, but I didn't get a chance to really figure anything out before he disappeared again. Guess I'm the bigger sinner.

[He's still smirking, as if that was some kind of a joke. It's such a complicated thing in their world, Ed's experiences compared to killing people in a war. But he's not going to get into that with her, at least not now.]

I was there for awhile before Wrath showed up... my brother and Nina came later. They weren't the only ones, but the rest gets a little more confusing.

[As if casually throwing out that there's someone named Wrath didn't occur to him as strange, at all.

Don't worry Chloe, even after all this time he can still relate. Which might come off as ironic to her considering his concept of science, but he doesn't actually expect her to get the joke anyway.]

I guess the real question is if people have really tried, most everyone I've talked to - except for you - seems pretty content to stay here. So, why bother trying to figure it out at all?

Edited 2017-06-17 19:00 (UTC)

That sounds familiar to what happened to someone else I spoke to. Their friend just up and supposedly left for home even though they'd promised to go together. If people just up and left suddenly in the place you were in before, it doesn't sound like this place is that different, at least in that regard.

[She sighed at his last comment.]

From what I've gathered, a lot of people arrived here because they were feeling 'displaced'. Some were even about to die in the timeline they came from. I guess it's a matter of choosing what they prefer; finding a new home here, or going home where they don't feel they belong.

Honestly, it seems to be how they all work. Not just the ones I've been to, but the ones I've heard about too. These portals are ... unpredictable like that. I'm under the impression that anyone who claimed to control them in other worlds didn't have as much control as they wanted us to believe. The place itself sometimes has... whims of its own.

[That was .... hard to say. As if a location could make decisions about who came and went, without someone guiding it. There wasn't really another way he could think of putting it though.]

Yeah, someone else mentioned that to me. He said that... we're about to die, or we don't have a world to go back to... Feeling displaced is a lot easier to swallow than an entire world vanishing. I guess that would explain me showing up here, though. I didn't exactly fit in where I was before.

[And pretty much all of his friends disappeared en masse, making him getting dragged here all the more logical.]

Still seems odd not to even question it. Or ... want to know about the new place you're calling home.

Like it's sentient, you mean?

[That in itself was unnerving, but also a possibility worth considering. It did seem to line up that while the people here did try their best to get the portals to work, they may not always be able to fully control them. Perhaps less out of maliciousness and more out of pure helplessness to stop nature.]

Yeah, I'm not against you there. There is the Perimeter Guard, and I've heard of them taking people outside who want to explore beyond the gates. I don't know how much of that actually leads to useful information, though.

Maybe.

[That wasn't an entirely alien concept to him, but he hadn't really put too much thought into it. Honestly, by now it might have made more sense for Edward Elric to compare these portals to the Gate from his own world. It definitely seemed to have a motivation all its own.]

Sometimes things happened that even the gods didn't plan, so how else would you explain that? Besides that they were lying about having no idea what was happening.

[He was willing to buy either explanation at this point, to be honest. it was weird to think about them denying knowledge of something though, when they tried so hard to appear all knowing about the whole thing.]

I don't know how comfortable I'd be taking civilians out for a tour of monster infested woods, but I guess if that's how things work here... It might be worth taking note of. Not that I'd need a tour guide or anything, if I'm signing up with them.

[He was still trying to process how he felt about being handed a job, right off the bat. That was new and strange.]

A work of nature, maybe? Who knows. At this point, anything could be a possibility.

From what I'd been told, it was less a civilian tour and more having a team of people with various skills to back you up. Though apparently it's also not completely dangerous in some parts, so you might be on to something about there being tours. I'm not sure I'm ready to get that answer yet.

Back you up for what, though? What business would people not on the guard even have to be out there if it's so dangerous that they need to protect us with a wall?

[He's skeptical. Either it's dangerous and just anyone shouldn't be going out there, or it's safe enough that people can just venture out with a team to guide them - but so far what he's heard sounds a lot like a mix of both.]

I feel like a lot of the information we have is just rumors, it's hard to make any informed idea of this place without knowing for certain what's actually true and what people are just saying.

[He sighs, the last part more muttered to himself as an after thought.]

I guess I should be used to that ... almost like being back home.

Some might be interested in exploration. I know if there were any reason for me to go out there, it'd be to see if there's more than they're telling us. Or another way out of here. They probably want us to feel free to do as we wish, because otherwise we'll start questioning any restrictions.

And yeah, you're not the only one. Which is why I'm trying to do some digging to see if there are actual things I can verify. Or poke holes in, if need be. So far I've done a decent job of that.

[She gives him a sympathetic smile.]

Well, for what it's worth, you've got at least one person willing to question things with you.

They are pretty determined to play the ally card, so they want us to feel as free as possible. It's not the first time I've seen that angle though, and last time there wasn't a dangerous forest just outside the walls. If they're hiding something out there, staffing us on the Perimeter Guard isn't going to keep it hidden for long anyway.

The longer we're here, the more certain we can be of our findings. The closer we'll be to some solid answers.

[Probably not what she wants to hear but, he already knows what he's thinking.

At the last part he smirks again, it's almost a smile.]

Yeah, we'll figure it out. The sooner we do, the sooner you can get back home.

Or maybe they want us to find it. Maybe there's something out there they need our help with; having a whole population of people who feel indebted to you seems like a good way to get that. But you're right. Until we have actual proof, it's all just speculation.

[She hums thoughtfully at that.]

And you too, preferably.

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