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Video; un: ilikehorses

[Laura's been trying to adjust. Part of her wonders if coming here wasn't a grave mistake — she'd come thinking there are more like her, people who would accept her more willingly, and in a way, that's true. However... There are a few... annoyances. Grievances. Her rather overworked case worker Linda has been making sure she goes to school. Today isn't the best day for school, though. She's quiet and 'weird' and the other children usually aren't fond of her and her quiet but present danger.

And for Laura, well. She doesn't do well with anyone 'teaching' her. She's had too much of 'teaching' the last eleven years of her... eleven years.

She may or may not have punched another kid in the eye.

She may or may not have ditched school.

And now she sits on the top of a rather tall and dangerous brick-ish wall in the city, her feet hanging precariously off the edge. Close by, the shadow of a tram wooshes by, and somewhere out there, Linda the Case Worker is having a heart attack. Laura, however, seems more puzzled and annoyed than anything. She sits with a potentially stolen bag of mini-donuts, her favorite glasses pressed up on her forehead and her lovely albeit mildly damaged unicorn shirt clear and vibrant.]

Why do children have to go to classes?

I can learn outside of school.

[There are mean children that exist. She's never ran into children who are so exclusionary; after all, mutants had to stick together.

And teachers aren't bad, but something about the set-up bothers her, in ways she's not sure how to explain.

Maybe it's harder to blend in than you'd think. Not that she had gone into this with any high hopes.]

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[He gets the feeling that one word is somehow related to mutant, but he's got no clue what she means.]

Ah... Not really. It's- a science, you have to study it in order to be able to use it. Some of us are just born with a natural gift for it, I guess.

When we were kids everyone credited our abilities to our father, in a way, because of that.

Oh.

Then people like you for it.

[What a weird response.]

If you help them, yeah. It really... depends on a lot of things.

[Not everyone likes alchemy, and even less people like military alchemists, so there was that.]

Some people think alchemists betray the way of the world or defy nature or... something like that. Our abilities are "against the will of God."

[She nods, as if she totally understands.]

Some people say that for us, too. Una ofensa contra Dios —

'Offense to God.'

[Gabriela warned her to be wary of those people. People like the scientists who enjoyed the fact.]

[A blink at 'us'. Mutant. Right.]

You're a mutant..?

[He's not entirely sure what that entails, but he imagines it can't be good.]

People judge you where you're from because of it, don't they?

[He wants to tell her things are different here, that people are more open or she's more likely to find someone that can relate but he remembers Nico and stops short. Some people were still outliers here and he didn't want to set her up for disappointment.]

... Sí. Born with... 'natural gifts'.

[She says it with some solemnness, echoing his own wording to a degree.]

There aren't many left.

[He didn't like the sound of that.]

Your kind?

[Ed wasn't generally one to pry in situations he couldn't help and he definitely couldn't help with her home world, but he had the feeling they weren't going extinct by accident. It made him a little sick to think about. His voice is quiet with the next part.]

I can't even imagine what living like that must be like.

[A shrug. Not exactly indifferent, but just... accepting.]

Está bien.

It's easier to live like that when you didn't know anything else.

...

They said it's better here, though.

[He can relate to that, he's grown to accept a lot of things that outrage people here. At least, he can recognize that's what it is and move on.]

It is. Or... It can be, really depends on who you run into.

[No sense making this place all sunshine and rainbows when he had his own reservations.]

It's better than where I was before, so I'm not too interested in going back, myself.

[A nod.]

Good.

... If anyone tries to change it, we can fight them.

As long as we fight, we can keep running.

We can, and there are a lot of people here who will.

[Which means she doesn't have to do it by herself, and he has a feeling that's the type of person she is.]

You don't need to run here, you're not home anymore. No one's coming after you, and if they do they're in the minority.

[Why is it always kids with the fucked up lives, not that he has any room to talk considering what his life was at her age.]

How sure are you?

That no one is coming.

I'm not... but like I said, if anyone is they're in the minority.

What I am sure of is that there are people here who will protect you from them, because that's our job. If you're new... when you've been here for awhile and make some friends, they'll help too. There's a lot of great people here, and they don't like to see anyone get hurt.

[Knowing what he would have said as a kid, he's sure that she thinks she's the only one that can or will protect herself.]

Even if you can defend yourself, it's good to know there are others here who will have your back. It's different, takes some getting used to... but it's nice.

[She likes to think that's true; she just... has a hard time seeing it.

But she tries to remember the nice people she's met, even if she's met a lot of bad in her lifetime.]

... It does sound nice.

You have no idea.

[Ed remembered trying to adjust to trusting people in Purg, especially after losing his brother. He hadn't been as young as her at the time, but it still wasn't easy.]

I know you don't know me from the next guy around here, but if you ever need anything you can reach me on the network. I'm on the Guard, that's kind of what we do.

[A cock of her head, as she considers the offer.]

The Guard?

The Perimeter Guard.

[Right, she was kind of focused on the military mention during that part of the conversation. A shrug.]

There are a lot of different groups in the Guard, but the ones I'm in are about helping people. Going out and finding anyone that gets lost beyond the wall, protecting people. That sort of thing. There's more info about it on your phone, if you're interested.

[A beat.]

My brother and I are mostly involved in repairs and finding scraps, but we do a few other things too so we know a lot about how the place works. Everyone in the Guard has some kind of uniform, if you need help we're easy to spot... but we're not the police.

[He's not sure if she'd trust the police, but he knows she doesn't trust the military and honestly that was the closest comparison he had to the Guard and the way it functioned so he'd just keep that much to himself, for now.]

[She listens in earnest, brow creased with uncertain thought. Not the police is good. She's not a fan of people like that. Of anyone with guns or authority, really. But at least this sounds... nicer. People finding things and being helpful... and not experimenting on things. Or people.

Feeling sated by the information, she turns the conversation thanks to her own curiosity; she hardly has the social skills to naturally change a topic, sorry.]

What are brothers like?

[Ed wasn't used to there being a police force in these other worlds, normally the newcomers kind of made up their own law enforcement. Especially in Purg. So it felt important to note the difference, there is a police presence here and it's not the same thing as the Guard. It felt important to mention, to point out the separation between them. Shooting people still wasn't what he was about.

Having satisfied that subject Ed pauses with the question, blinking as if he wasn't exactly sure how to answer.]

I guess that depends on the brother.

[He looks a little sullen at that, shrugging a shoulder. Ed wasn't about to put other people's business all over the network but he couldn't exactly give her the whole picture with his relationship with Al, and he knew it.]

I have some friends who don't really ... get along. Not sure if that's normal where they're from, or just them though.

[He does smirk then, although it's muted, more reserved.]

My brother's great. We're really close, we do pretty much everything together.

[She's quiet for a moment.

Her dad and her, they didn't get along for a long time either.

But she doesn't want to think about that; it hurts her chest.]

Does your brother look like you?

[Why does everyone bring this up.]

People here say he does. He looks more like our mom, I think.

[She tries to envision what it's like...

The idea of having a mother. Gabriela was the closest thing to one she had, and even then, there wasn't a lot she could do for Laura and the other children; they weren't to be coddled. Or loved. Certainly not loved.]

I don't know mine.

[There is the briefest flicker of emotion on his face at that response before he glances away.]

Your mother?

[He assumes she doesn't have any brothers, considering her first question. Ed's not good at this, especially with kids, he didn't like to make things sound all good or all bad, he didn't want her to feel like she was missing out but he didn't want her to think that mothers weren't worth having, either.

This was difficult, Hina and Wrath had taught him that much.]

Sometimes it's better that way.

[Sometimes, you have mothers like Ed's, who were perfect. Or, you could have a mother that sells you out the bad guy for him to murder you. You know, it could go either way, really.]

[She nods, not quite looking at the screen.]

So they can't hurt you.

[Absorb that however you'd like, Ed; she doesn't seem eager to expound on it.

But her? She sees the life fading out of her father's eyes.]

Yeah...

[He didn't like having to say that to a child, but she seemed to already get the idea, so that told him there wasn't much he could do on the subject anyway.]

Parents are not always the best to have around. Sometimes it's better not to know them at all, but that's not true of everyone's parents. It's complicated.

[A lot of it was complicated. Their father left when they were young, and in opposition to Laura, Ed had watched his mother die while he still held onto her hand.]

Video; un: ilikehorses

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