armoredsoul | 1st Transmutation | [video] Introductions

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1st Transmutation | [video] Introductions

[Al had taken some time fumbling around with the Gear once he got out of that odd town, testing the buttons and managing to reason his way into making a video post--though he doesn't realize that it is transmitting video yet. Alphonse comes onto the screen sitting at the base of a tree, and actually seems relatively calm about all this. It isn't the first time he's been tossed into a strange new world, though at least the last time he'd meant to go there. Anyone that knows him might notice he seems a bit...young, though.]

Okay, I think it's recording...um, hello! I just got here, and I've read that little book, so I know what we're supposed to be here for, but...does anyone have any information as to how we were transported here? The only method I know to move between worlds like this doesn't...really seem to apply here.

[It looks like he would continue, but his Shinx takes that moment to pounce into his lap and headbutt under his chin--gently, though, and clearly just wanting attention.] Ah, jeez! It's barely been five minutes, can't I pay attention to something else for that long? --um, sorry, my Pokémon is being kind of needy...are they always like this? I know we're supposed to battle them, but this little guy is so much like a little kitten I can't see him fighting anything except his own tail! [And really, he's kind of offended by that concept in general. It's so cruel!!] Um, anyway, if anyone has any information I'd really appreciate it. Thank you!

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[He can't be...]

What is your name?

[It takes Al a minute or so to switch over to text before he replies. He's not sure why someone would respond with text to a voice call, but...]

My name is Alphonse.

[It's several moments before there's another response. Scar switches the 'Gear to a private video. Even if he weren't hiding his identity, he didn't want anyone else to see.]

Alphonse Elric?

[There's Scar, alive and... as well as he could be, right now. His face is an emotional mix. Shock. Relief. Some biting sadness that he can't really place. It's even obvious in quiver in his voice.

He hadn't even known if the boy had survived. Hadn't had the courage to ask. He isn't even considering the possibility that this could be the Alphonse of the other world. Not yet.]

[Al swallows, his face pale as he stares at the screen in disbelief. Seeing his face feels like a sucker punch to the gut. He's not some alternate copy, not like the one that had been traveling with the Roma, but the real Scar from home. That scar across his face, the hair, the eyes...it all matched, and yet...]

[It was impossible. Scar had died, he'd died to make the Stone and save Al's life! There was no way he'd survived Liore, there had been nothing left! And yet here he was, on this tiny little screen...somehow. Figuring out just what was up with the tiny moving picture could come later.]

...Scar? Is...is that you?

Yes.

[His voice is quiet in astonished disbelief. He should explain things- what's going on, what he's doing here, what Al should do... But he can barely think past this. Past seeing that he's okay. That it worked. That he's been able to live and grow...]

I never knew if you survived...

[A wobbly smile comes to Al's face, and he nods.] I...yeah, I did. A...a lot of stuff has happened since then, but we're both okay.

[He frowns then, worried.] But...I mean, I'm so glad to see you again, that you're okay, but how are you here? [It just doesn't make any sense. Even if Scar hadn't died before the transmutation went off, the Stone had been spent, and all the souls from it were taken back into the Gate. There shouldn't be any way at all that he was alive now, and yet here he is, in the...projected flesh? Man, the technology here.]

I do not know. I was dying, then I was here. There is nothing in between.

[Aaand he's already on his way down to the Route 29 area without even thinking.]

There are... many here, from our world. But also many from a different Amestris. I know it sounds like madness, but there are people here who know me in spite of my not knowing them.

I guess that's a mystery to figure out another day.

[Al frowns, confused by Scar's phrasing. That...doesn't sound like the 'other world' he knows of.] Another Amestris? There's a third world connected to ours?

What do you mean, a third?

The mechanics of this other world are entirely different from ours. Homunculi aren't the same, alchemy itself is different.

[I look like a giant gorilla-man.]

There's a world across the Gate, that's like a mirror of ours but without alchemy. People have similar names and faces there, but the history diverged years and years ago so everything is really different. Brother was trapped there after he fixed my body as payment.

Alchemy itself is different? How? That's like...a fundamental part of everything!

[Hey man, at least you didn't get your soul taken over by a creepy not!cousin.]

Slow down. What is the Gate?

[BUT THE MULLET, AL. THE MULLET.]

Oh, you don't know? It's...sort of the regulator of alchemy, and holds pretty much all the knowledge in the universe. It governs over Equivalent Exchange, and it's what takes the payment for human transmutation. ...and it's really, really creepy.

[CREEPY TENTACLE CHILD ALL UP IN HIS ARMOR.]

The hell...

[This is not helping his firmly rooted belief that alchemy is evil, Alphonse. Because right now you're saying that his brother's dick is floating around in some all-knowing door.]

Then... On the other side of this Gate, there exists an entirely different world with a varied history but shared faces?

[...Okay, fine.]

[AL NEVER SAID THE GATE WASN'T A GIANT BAG OF--...okay, poor phrasing.]

Yeah. There's more to it than that, but that's the simplest way to explain it. Even I don't know all the details of why or how, just that it...is.

[NOT FUNNY.]

All right.

[As curious as he is about all of this, there are more pressing matters, currently.]

You're in New Bark Town, I'm assuming?

A little ways out of town, but yeah. Where are you? [Oh man, Al has so many people he needs to meet up with. He has a feeling he'll be running around for a while.]

I'm on the road from Olivine City. I... can come to meet with you, if you would like.

Edited 2014-08-19 21:46 (UTC)

Yes, definitely! Brother and Winry are coming to get me too, but I'm sure we can meet up with you easily enough. Winry said one of her Pokemon could fly them all over, but I don't know how long that will take, to be honest.

Let me know when you've met up with them, then. We can speak then.

Okay! I will, promise.

[Al bites his lip, looking down before continuing.] I...thank you. For saving me.

[Scar's eyes widen, ever so slightly. Yes, he's been thanked in this life. But to hear it from somebody from his previous...]

There's no need.

[His tone makes it clear that he doesn't mean to dismiss Al. It simply isn't something worth thanks.]

[Al's expression falls a little. He knows what Scar means, but he can't agree with it. He never could.]

How could I not?

It... is not something that I am to be thanked for. There is nothing else to be done.

But you...you gave up so much for me. You gave your life for me.

I was as good as dead, anyway.

It isn't something for you to be concerned with.