video @ellie

[pundemic]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Each of those words has a separate amount of emphasis. Ellie is holding her hands up and gesturing like she's trying to make an invisible margarita or something. Anyone who's ever been around teens should recognize the fact it's teenagerese for some form of frustration.]

I'm bored out of my fucking mind. Anybody want to go exploring? Monster hunting?

[Basically: her AU was that she never lost Riley, that it was the two of them that went across America in search of the Fireflies. She never met Joel at all, and her feelings about that whole mess are so mixed she's even willing to go shopping just to take her mind off it.]

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[alchemyfreak]

[Well, that doesn't answer the question of assessing skill level. He's not sure if that answer is intentionally vague, or missing the point. Maybe time to try a different tactic.]

So, what you're saying is you can hold your own, right? I used to know some kids that'd get a kick out of that sort of thing. Hunting down monsters.

[Now is not the time to get nostalgic, but his gaze definitely flickers some at that mention. Kids, more like monsters hunting monsters - but he'd learned not to judge.]

Look, sounds like we could both use a distraction. If you can defend yourself and that's what you really want to do, I'll go with you.

[Right, offer's out there. Take it or leave it. Ed is very used to being dismissed as a kid by adults and lumped in with the adults by teens, at this point, so he's not going to push either way if he gets the feeling he's not trusted.]

[pundemic]

[Once upon a time, she wanted to trust people. She's lost the taste for it these days, but-- a few of the ones she's met here have been showing her it's not the only way to live. Between Clark, Taako and James she might just end up being a Real Girl after all.

Ellie takes a deep breath.]

I can defend myself just fine. But I'm not going anywhere with someone I don't know, either. So... who are you?

[She lacks tact. Sorry, Ed.]

[alchemyfreak]

Hey, you asked.

[And you didn't exactly specify it was a limited invitation. Still, Ed looks far from offended - if anything he looks amused. Especially since she might the first person on this network not to state his name at him in response to figuring out just who he was.

Plus if anyone can relate to lacking tact, she's looking at him.]

Name's Edward Elric, I've been making a habit of exploring with my brother since I was 12... it's kind of a hobby, at this point.

[So that wasn't entirely true, but it served the purpose regarding the subject of her post, right?]

What else do you want to know?

[pundemic]

[Oh, right. Usernames. Well, you never know. Maybe he lied!! maybe i forgot!!]

Shit, got a name, rank and serial number for me?

[He's super conciliatory, she's not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. She sort of wrinkles her nose up at him, not exactly in distaste but certainly in thought.]

Your brother-- he here too?

[alchemyfreak]

[Have a withering look, Ellie. He knows she's not really asking, and his tone says everything he thinks about that snarky reply. It's been four years or so, and the word practically leaves a foul taste in his mouth but if she's going to be like that she's going to get what she asked for.]

Fullmetal, Major, and no.

[Even back home no one had really acknowledged the rank, but that was beside the point. Sorry to disappoint, kid. At the next question though, his expression softens and he glances away. Suddenly quite tight lipped.]

He's not.

[pundemic]

[She ignores that tone entirely because she can. Instead:]

Whoa, seriously?

[She grew up in a military prep school, 'major' sounds like a big deal and also not a rank you'd ever find on someone so... short. But at the comment about his brother, she feels at least bad enough to look faintly apologetic.]

Sorry. Must be rough.

[alchemyfreak]

Yeah, I was kind of a specialist in the military on my home world. It's an automatic rank of Major, if you pass the entry exam.

[He doesn't really know how to explain Fullmetal, especially considering he's trying to keep the whole automail thing quiet, so he's hoping she's not asking about that part.]

It's been a few years... Being jerked around from one portal to the next, you get kind of used to being alone.

[pundemic]

[Not the weirdest thing she's ever heard out of a military organization, so whatever. It doesn't even occur to her to ask about the other name - just sounds like some kind of jibberish callsign to her.]

So wait-- you've been other places like this one?

[alchemyfreak]

This is my third.

[Yes, he is smirking - because at this point he's very used to this question. No one batted an eye at Lang about him being in Purg before, but here? Here, everyone wanted to know about it when he brought it up.]

[pundemic]

[Fuck, she can't even imagine.]

Don't you want to go home?

[alchemyfreak]

[At that he does sober up some, shrugging as if it was no big deal, but his tone is softer.]

I'm not really sure that's an option for me, anymore.

[He doesn't sound upset, just... resigned to the fact.]

[pundemic]

[She makes a face.]

Well, that fucking sucks.

[I mean, she's from a literal zombie apocalypse but she still wants to go back. Some day. Eventually.]

[alchemyfreak]

Yeah...

[He sort of smirks again, no sense dwelling on what he can't change. He wasn't about to try to explain it all to her though, even if this portal could send him back- supposedly it would just send him back where he was last, and that wasn't home.

Even if he somehow wound up there again, what did he have to look forward to, though? Dying a whole bunch and winding up trapped in some other world, anyway. In a sense it almost.... didn't make a difference. At least here he could use his alchemy and help people, at least here people didn't tell him his world was a fantasy.

One reassuring fake smile coming right up.]

It's been a few years though, so I'm used to it.

[pundemic]

[Riiiight, she buys that smile. Totally. 100 percent.

She just sort of arches an eyebrow at him.]

Shitty thing to have to get used to.

[A beat.]

For what it's worth, I hope you can go back some day. You know. One stranger to another.

[alchemyfreak]

It's not the worst.

[He doesn't really think about the implications behind that response before it's out there, but there it is. Yeah, he's gotten used to a lot of things much worse than "can't get back home" according to his book.]

Thanks... Since this place supposedly isn't keeping us against our will I hope everyone gets back, some day. Everyone that wants to, anyway.

[He's more aware than he'd care to admit that sometimes that just wasn't an option. Coming to these places post death wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibilities and this one seemed to specialize on that topic.

On the plus side, that smile is actually sincere.]

[pundemic]

[Dat altruism tho. Usually it's something Ellie is instantly suspicious of - people who talk about good intentions rarely have them at their heart, but. What the hell, she'll give this guy the benefit of the doubt. This place is drawing that out of her more and more these days.]

Do you?

[alchemyfreak]

Of course, why wouldn't I?

[He's assuming she means 'do you really hope that' and not 'do you want to go home'.]