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 Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:57 am
RP for Kat and Haisyn. Yo. Obligatory reference image: Right here, yo.------------------------- This was the first time that the younger Elric brother was thankful for his current form - not being a suit of armour any more meant that he could be stealthy in his movements and being a Kitsusagi meant that he had the gift of sensitive hearing, both of which were being fully utilized right now. He breathed off the top of his lungs as he slipped out of the room he had been sleeping in, moving silently into the darkness of the house soon thereafter. He wasn't sure of the time but right now he didn't care. It was dark, and everyone had gone to sleep. That was all that mattered.
Once in the hallway, he headed for the front door. He stood up on his hinds, grabbed the door handle with his front paws, and very carefully turned it. The handle made a loud clicking noise as the door jam turned back in it's mechanism. Alphonse froze solid and still, teeth gritted. Surely somebody would spot him now...
No?
When nobody came, he breathed a sigh of relief, before finally slipping outside into the deep blue veil of the night. The moon shone brightly overhead, nearly full. That was good, at least it would light his way. Alphonse carefully shut the front door again, and then pelted away from the house as fast as he could. He had to get out of here, go anywhere. Anywhere but here. Edward didn't need him. His own brother had called him an idiot. He really didn't need him any more.
Besides, he was with Liliana now, that much was apparent every time he looked at them. It made him angry, upset and jealous, seeing that kind-faced red furred female snuggling up to his brother just about every time he saw them together. To make matters worse, she had tried to tell him that it was all OK, and to come over and stay in their company. She seemed like a nice girl, but... was she trying to rub reality in his face?
Alphonse growled at himself as fresh tears stung his eyes, promptly blinking them back. He thought himself stupid for crying so much. He cantered off to the side, taking one of the well-worn paths away from the house altogether. But where to go? Not even he really knew. Wait, there was one place... that building he had met the strange floaty female in when he had first arrived. That was as good a place as any to hide in until he could work out how to get back home. Edward had said that there was a homonculus here, maybe he could...
“No...” He pushed the thought from his mind and continued to run. It took him some time, but soon enough, he reached the area where the Kitsusagi HQ building stood. He finally slowed down, standing out in the open field near the shack, stopping to catch his breath. It was then he realized that he had left behind his red coat.
“Hmph...” He muttered to himself. “I left it there, at the house brother was staying at. Oh well... he can keep it. Not like I can't get another one. Besides, one day he might actually grow into it."
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:16 am
Also obligatory reference image.__________ The air was still tonight as mottled brown paws trotted aimlessly in the general direction of the HQ building, the only real destination that the sharp mind behind the hazel green eyes could think of. Atae idly flicked a lock of her chocolate brown hair out of her face as she padded along, mind not exactly on where she was or where she was going. She simply... hadn't been able to sleep. And curling up with a book just hadn't cut it tonight, and while she didn't want to bother Terasu and his family this late... Well, no, she wasn't going to bother them. She was just hoping that a walk there and back would tire her out.
So far it wasn't working. She sighed, coming back to reality for a moment to have a look around and make certain where she was. Not too far from HQ... But wait, what was that? Or... who?
At first she thought it was Ed wandering around without his coat. But wait... even in the dim light from the moon she could tell this one was different. His hair was too dark... and his tails were colored like his hair rather than the rest of his fur. His wings were different too... going from white to gold rather than the other way around. And he was too tall. She couldn't help the brief smirk of amusement at noticing something like that. Though actually... he was honestly taller that she was, too. Not that she was as small as Lily, but Atae definitely fit the bill of petite all the same, her light frame lending her an air of delicacy that was subtly decieving. She was made of sterner stuff than she looked.
She veered of from her course, noticing a roiling of her emotions that seemed to grow stronger as she approached... And if she'd had any doubt before that pretty much confirmed her suspicions that this was the younger Elric brother. She lived with Bryna... how could she not know he was here by now? And something was bothering him. A lot. He was tied closely by blood to someone she considered a brother... and she was feeling his distressed confusion. Well, that confirmed the theory about the blood link, she supposed...
Knowing who he was also made her a bit bolder about approaching him than she would have been otherwise. And she got the feeling that maybe talking to him like she knew him right off the bat would be a bad thing for his emotional state... not like she actually knew him, anyway, but she wasn't gonna leave him standing out here looking lost and feeling so... well, she didn't know the right word for it really, aside from bad.
"Hello..." it came out a bit more softly than she intended. Maybe she was feeling a bit on the shy side... "Ah... you having trouble sleeping, too?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:30 am
"Huh?" Alphonse jumped slightly at the unfamiliar voice. His burnt-golden eyes settled on the female for a moment, before finally giving her a weak, yet friendly grin. "Oh, ah... kind of. Though it's a bit of something else, too. I don't think I'm going to be able to go to sleep."
He shrugged his shoulders.
"Are you sure you should be out this late, miss? It's not so safe out at night sometimes." He knew that statement held true in some of the cities he had visited in his previous travels back when he was a human and when he was a soul bloodbound to a suit of armor, but did that hold true for this side, too?
"I'm just thinking, really." He said finally. "I'm going back where I came from, I think. I'm just thinking how to do it..."
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:42 am
She nodded when he first spoke, sitting down quietly until he asked if it was safe for her to be out this late. "Oh... I live near here. Well, relatively. I know pretty much what's around here." And while she was still leery of Envy she wasn't afraid of him as much as she used to be. She was family to his mate and kits, at least... not that she was particularly fond of being even indirectly related to him. And he, really, was the only thing that she'd ever run across in this area that would pose a real threat to her.
But wait... he was leaving? Or trying to. Gah... what happened? According to Bryna... Ed and Al had been happy to see eachother at least. Though Bryn had tripped up and upset them with mention of their mother. What to do?
"Leaving?... Why? It's not that bad around here if you give it a chance. Though... I guess that depends on where you go and who you meet. Something happen? I..." She suddenly felt akward and ducked her head bashfully. "If you don't mind talking about it, anyway... you look like something's bothering you." She'd give that a try and see what happened before she went ahead and let on that she knew who he was. Or maybe... well, that was rather simple. Why didn't she think of it earlier? "Oh! My name's Atae, by the way..." She grinned sheepishly, both for show and because she felt silly for not introducing herself yet.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:59 am
"Oh, hi there, Atae." He gave her another grin, and a small wag of his tails. "I'm Alphonse, Alphonse Elric. Most people just call me Al." He nodded his head for a moment, before continuing. "I'm leaving because... uh, well..." He idly pulled at a coat sleeve now, plucking at thoughts in his head. "I can't stay here. You're right, something happened. But it happened before I arrived here, and it's best if I just leave it alone."
He sighed. "I don't really know if it's something I should talk about." He pinned his ears back. He normally sat on his issues and didn't talk about them, not at least until he couldn't hold them in any more. He didn't know this female either, best not to burden her with something she couldn't do anything about anyway.
He glanced down at his paws as he pondered a good way to steer away the subject. He turned his paws over, attention falling on alchemic arrays drawn into his gloves. "Hey, are you familiar with alchemy? If you want, I can show you some."
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 2:11 am
Something that happened before he got here? Hrm. "Ah... Alphonse Elric?" She did her best to look suprised. Which was remarkably well. She was good at imitating expressions. She fidgeted, and while it added to the show, it wasn't entirely intentional. Just say she knew his brother, or?...
He seemed rather distracted though, and asked her about alchemy. "Oh... well... I, er..." Good opportunity at least. "Well... to tell the truth... I know your brother. I ah... I've been borrowing some of the beginner alchemy books he's got in his room at the HQ... while he was away on a trip... I've been wanting to ask him if I've been doing the little circles right but I haven't been able to catch him..." At least not since that first day she saw him back when they spilled the beans about Terasu and Charity. Not that she hadn't seen him at Trel's place, but... things were just so busy around there. She still didn't feel comfortable when very many of the residents were around. "Ah... don't suppose you'd check them?..."
She'd let him change the subject for now. It might help if he got a chance to get used to her... and she really did want someone to tell if she'd been doing the circles right. Somehow she couldn't bring herself to trust a book alone on the matter... especially with some of the things she'd read about how dangerous doing things improperly could be. Call her over cautious maybe, but...
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 2:34 am
"You know my brother, too, huh?" He flicked his ears back, and the youth wondered how much his brother had been travelling without him. And now the female was telling him that he even had alchemic books here? He was really settling in by the sounds of things.
Alphonse sighed. "Ah, yeah... some transmutation circles can be pretty hard to do. Just start out with the easy ones. The trick is to make them symmetrical, although some aren't at all. The more simple ones are, though. If you want to show me some of the ones you know, I can help you out if you like."
"Here's one I know." He picked up a rock, and then began to draw a basic transmutation circle, one of the ones he was most familiar with. He expertly drew one ring inside of another and then a large triangle, all three of its points touching at different points of the circumference. On the sides of the triangle, he drew three more smaller ones, facing outwards.
"I don't need to use this any more because I can peform alchemy without a transmutation circle." He told her, discarding the rock over his shoulder, dusting his gloves off again. "Now all you need is something to transmute, and a thought about what you want to turn it into."
He raised his head, glancing to the area around him. He wasn't expecting anyone to come after him at this hour, but still... after Lili had persued him out of the house, and later into the air, he had become wary.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 2:44 am
He seemed to be more upset after she mentioned the books... damn. "Actually the books are Roy's... he told me that. The room he has at HQ belonged to Roy, but he hasn't been back there in a while. Not that I've seen, anyway. Ed just stayed there 'cause he didn't have anywhere else to go back then. Apparently Roy was trying... and failing... to play dad to him when he was a kit. I don't think he actually left HQ much for a long time there... it's where I met him, at least." She shrugged, not sure if telling Al all this was good or bad... he probably deserved to know, either way.
She studied the circle for a while before nodding. It looked like the one she'd been trying... though the practice definitely showed. "Be a loooong time before I could do anything without a circle, I'm sure... I haven't actually tried transmuting anything yet... afraid I'll blow something up." She grinned sheepishly.
She tilted her head curiously when he started looking around, a flash of something similar to but not as bad as paranoia inserting itself into her consciousness before it disappeared again. "...You waiting for someone? ...Or hoping they aren't around?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 4:55 am
"Roy? You mean General Mustang?" Alphonse knew the guy was here from his brother's information and he knew that the two had met. Although beyond calling the guy a jerk, Ed hadn't gone into too much more detail. "The books belong to him, and they're stored at that building?" He raised his head, eying the Kitsusagi Headquarters building curiously. The youth was intending to come hide here anyway, but... the fact that there were alchemic texts there might be useful and worth checking out.
Alphonse returned his attention to the female, giving her a pained expression as she mentioned doing alchemy without circles. "You can't perform alchemy like that normally... it only happens when an alchemist has seen 'The Truth' beyond the Gate. And that happens when..." He shuffled uncomfortably. "When you perform the forbidden act of human alchemy. That's why my brother and I can perform transmutations without circles." He finally offered her a grin, wanting to shift to lighter subjects. "I wouldn't worry too much. To date, I've never blown something up with alchemy. As long as you understand the three steps - analysis, decomposition, and reconstruction, there's not much you can do wrong."
"I'm not waiting for anyone," He relaxed again. "But you're right, I'm hoping they don't come for me. I doubt they'd come at this hour, so I should be on my way again before the sun comes up." He turned his head towards the HQ building, nodding at it. "Want to go inside with me? Maybe you can show me where the alchemy books are being kept."
The blonde-haired youth wanted to know what kind of alchemy books General Mustang would want to keep, and wondered how much useful information he might be able to get out of them. It intrigued him to say the least.
The younger Elric brother was quiet again as he headed towards the building, thinking hard, hatching a plan in his head.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 5:29 pm
"Mustang... yeah. Is he a General? I didn't know that. I've never actually met him myself. All I really know is that Ed is rather not fond of him and Bryn's under orders to shoot him in the face with her water gun whenever she sees him."
Atae grinned and nodded at his reassurance about not exploding things with alchemy, though her mind was whirling. Suddenly a lot of things clicked that Ed had never really explained. Human transmutation. Ed missing his arm and leg. Them being upset about hearing their mother would be here some day. Bryna mentioning something about Al being a "tin can" before and about Ed not wanting to see "Sloth". She'd read somewhere that the homonculi were artificial human beings made with alchemy...
She was going to have to ask about that sometime. But she had a feeling she knew a lot more about the Elrics' past all of a sudden.
"Al... Can I call you that?" She padded up and put a paw on his shoulder to stop him. "Look... I'm glad you're here. I don't know why you want to leave, or why you don't want them to find you. I also can't make you tell me why you're doing this, but I can't in good conscience help you without an explanation. You don't know me... so I know it's asking a lot... but if you can bring yourself to believe me, I honestly do give a hoot about whatever happened. It's up to you. And if you won't tell me, I can't help you try to leave, but... if you have questions about here and now maybe I can help with that at least?" She dropped her paw, ears pinned back, and stared down at the space on the ground between her forepaws. "I know... I know I don't really have any right to ask. But I can tell you're upset... I want to try and help..."
Even if Al didn't mean so much to Ed... she'd feel that way. Sometimes she was just drawn to people, even when it made absolutely no sense. Riku, for instance. It was just the way she worked. But she was still afraid she was doing something wrong by asking... her sentiments were in earnest, and she wore her heart on her sleeve enough for that to be as obvious as her uncertainty. "I dunno, maybe I'm being stupid. I'll drop it if you want me to."
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:10 pm
"I'm not surprised that the General and my brother don't get along." Al had to smile in amusement at that. "They never really have done."
"Yeah, you can call me Al if you want." He slowly nodded. He jumped slightly at the contact when the girl put her paw on his shoulder and he turned his attention to her, wide eyed and attentive. He released a long sigh and lowered his head again as she finished speaking again.
"No, it's not stupid, really." He told her, frowning. "I just don't know how to explain it properly. But uh..." He turned his attention towards the ground, thinking, hesitant. "You know my brother, right? Well, if you know him, you probably know that he has a girlfriend. He doesn't need me. He's living with her, I think. When I went to their house, well..." He went silent again for a few moments and slowly shook his head. He didn't want to go into the details of what happened.
"He doesn't need me, he's got her now." Alphonse continued. "He probably never did since he got here. That's why I'm going away again." His tone was miserable now. "Because I'd only get in their way."
The younger Elric brother found himself making another quick search of the area again, before nodding towards the headquarters building again. "Come on, let's go inside, huh?" He forced a grin onto his face for her. "It's cold out here."
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:43 pm
Atae remained silent after he spoke, but she nodded and followed him toward the building. What Al said... spoke volumes, realy. Ed and Lily neither one were very good with emotions. Atae had been more perceptive about them even before her Empathy really started working. The main room, fortunately, was quiet at this time of night and she led him through it toward the kitchen. "You want some juice or something? They keep some stuff stocked up here for visitors, so we can have whatever as long as we make a note on the board if something runs out." She needed something to help calm her nerves while she collected her thoughts.
After retrieving something to drink she sat down and lapped at it, thinking. "So... let me guess... they tried to make everything "normal" right off the bat and forgot to give you any space or time to try and adjust? Ed never really talked about his past when he was human to me... but it did sound like it was just you two and maybe Winry for the most part. Lily on top of everything else..." She sighed. "Those two are so dense sometimes."
She glanced over, smiling apologetically. "I feel weird getting in the middle of this, but finding you has been really important to Ed for as long as I've known him. I really doubt he 'doesn't need you'... there's a lot of us that have been watching out for you just for his sake. You're his brother Al. Not even Lily could replace you. And if I know anything about Lil, it's that something like that is the last thing she'd want to do." She sighed and looked back down at her bowl. "I don't know if what I'm saying really means much, and if you're sure you want to leave I won't stop you. But I do think you're being too hasty about it."
She finished her juice as quickly as she could and stood up. "Anyway... you wanted to see the room, right? It's down one of the hallways out there... I'll show you."
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 7:18 pm
Alphonse was attentive as he followed Atae into the headquarters building, making mental notes to himself about where the rooms were and such. Although he wasn't planning to stay long at all, it was still worthwhile to know where the exit was. He silently shook his head at the offer of something to drink. With the way he was feeling right now, he really wasn't in the mood for anything like that.
"It's not like that really. Coming here wasn't that bad, just disorientating. I'm still adjusting to this form, but it's not unbearable." He sat on his hinds, glancing down at himself. "I kind of like the idea of having wings. Mankind has wanted to fly ever since he looked up and saw the birds."
He shook his head. "It's just... well... Brother failed to mention anything. At all." He thought hard, wanting to choose his words carefully. "And then there was that female, rubbing up against him and getting all mushy and stuff. I..." He pinned his ears back. "It's awkward! And then she tries to tell me it's all OK?" He made a frustrated grunting noise. "No, it's not OK! What is she trying to do, take my brother away from me? She said she wasn't, but..." He turned his head away, sniffling. "S-Sorry..." The younger Elric brother was glaring hard at the floor now, his wings tensed, the feathers ruffled.
"But they're together..." He continued, his wings drooping with his sadness, his posture defeated now. "And if I tried to do anything to stop that, brother would hate me more than he already does now. He's already going to be mad when he finds out I shoved her." He sighed. "They'll be fine without me. I'm just in the way now. That's why I'm going to go back."
He was relieved when Atae mentioned the room. "The room with the alchemic books, right?" He got to his feet and followed. It would be good to bury his nose in some good books. Both to learn, and to keep his mind occupied and distracted.
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 7:35 pm
Atae just... shook her head. "I don't suppose you'd give it a few days?..." One last plea. The only one that could clear this up was Ed, but she didn't know what to do about this... she couldn't make Al stay.
She led him back out through the front room and down one of the hallways, going much slower this time than Bryna had when she brought him here. When they got there she opened the door for him and stood there, waiting.
"If you really don't want them to find you, staying here would be a bad idea. You can stay with us for a while, if you want. I won't tell Ed where you are, and... well he's only been over a couple of times. He doesn't like to come over, really, since... well, it's another one of those things he apparently didn't tell you. I guess I could tell you what I know about Ed's life here or something if you want, but... it'd be better if you asked him. I don't know a lot of the details."
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Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 8:33 pm
"A few days?" He pondered the question as he continued to follow along behind her. "I figure that's about how long it will take me to find the information I need. I'm pretty sure about what I did last time, but it would be nice to find one of the General's books to check to make sure." He shook his head. "If you're talking about my brother though... it's not going to just blow over in a few days." He looked ahead, giving her a pained expression. "He has a girlfriend, remember? They seemed pretty close. I don't think that's going to go away in a few days either."
He sat in the hallway, deep in thought.
"No... no thanks." He stopped, shaking his head. "Thanks for the offer, it's very kind of you, Atae." The blonde formally bowed his head in gratitude, straightening his posture a moment later. "But if I can find that book before the sun comes up, I should get out of here and be on my way. I don't really want to be found again..."
His eyes widened slightly at Atae's next statement. Another secret his brother had? He pinned his ears back. "I..." He pulled at a coat sleeve, twisting the cuff between two paw fingers, awkward. "I don't want to ask him. I don't want to hear about it. I..." His voice began to break up, but he kept it under control. "I don't want to talk about him any more."
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