exsiliumlogs | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Date: March 1st
Location: The Initiative Hold & Courtyard.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: New Transports arrive and are shuffled into the Courtyard after their initial briefings.
Warnings: None.

You've just been hustled and bustled through mazes of information and literal, wide corridors of the Initiative Hold and you've been equipped with your weapon—be it a gun, a sword, or even your existing powers. They've handed you this light netbook and a small pouch of coins (or a debit card, if you're more inclined), and there are several Transports before and after you going through the very same motions. You can hear the Greeter's voice as she walks alongside large groups, telling them all about the history of this place and sharing with you your purpose here in a hurried and urgent tone. "You're in luck that we have enough rooms for all of you; the housing building is getting awfully full. Please, let me show you into the courtyard."

You pass what looks like huge gymnasiums, all with dummies and targets strewn and splayed around the room. Training areas. There are even classrooms, and a few small offices. You're rushed past a large library while the Greeter informs you that you can find almost all your information there, if you've got the time to look—and trust her, you'll have time. You don't spend a lot of time in the bank, and it's a bit of a blur of exchanges with more and more of these strangely-accented and oddly polite-seeming members of the Initiative.

Soon enough, you're in a massive courtyard bustling with all the other Transports. It's not exactly what you'd expect, and it looks more like barracks than anything—huge walls of concrete and stone, separating you from all of the hallways you'd just passed through. It's raining heavily, and dark clouds loom in the air, though it hasn't turned to snow. It's a chill cold, and there are shelters—long cloth hangings that extend from the walls of concrete to house you from the rain, but not enough. Most notably, the courtyard is filled with a marketplace. Even in the cold and the rain, there are several citizens seated at their covered booths and tables, bundled up against the weather. They're selling all manner of their own handmade goods and foods, and citizens and Transports alike are traveling from one small covered shop to another in search of all manner of necessities.

The Greeter's voice has become so faint now, but you swear you can make it out in the back of the crowds as she tells you, "Good luck. Be safe!"

Her voice is drowned out by the busy marketplace, though even the transactions taking place are somewhat subdued. Nobody is overly happy, really, though most citizens can be found with smiles on their faces. It doesn't seem like they're that shocked to see you, either; even if you're not bound in tattered rags and wrapped in heavy shawls as they are. You're welcome to walk up to a shop, and find yourself something to eat—hey, maybe you'll even find something akin to a raincoat. Or, you can join the others under the coverings against the walls. Where am I? What war? She was talking so fast, and it didn't all make very much sense… did anyone else catch it all?

Welcome to the courtyard. Welcome to the Initiative Hold—and most importantly, welcome to Exsilium

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You're the one who kept saying it was pointless to compare notes! [He raises his voice just a bit, but for the most part keeps his cool.]

And until just now I couldn't be completely sure that you not knowing wasn't just some kind of misunderstanding.

[Ed lets out a noise halfway between a groan and a growl, and puts a hand to his forehead.] Never mind that! Think, Al! How can you be so sure you'll figure it out in time with basically no resources here and no way to know when we can get you home? If fixing all of this was as easy as just marching into the Hold with a toolbox, someone would've done it by now! What were you planning to do in the meantime, sit and wait?! You got dragged all the way out here to fight - what if it happens in the middle of one? Or starts happening faster? [It's a wild guess, but if the problem really is Al's connection to the armour wearing out, it doesn't seem farfetched...] What then?!

[He has to stop to take a breath or several eventually, but judging from the look on his face, it doesn't calm him down much.]

Brother! Getting worked up like that doesn't help anything!

[Al holds up his hands in an attempt to pacify him.]

I'll figure it out because I have to! Alchemy works just fine here, and there are probably all sorts of resources we never would have had access to back home. There's no reason we can't keep looking for a way to get our bodies back while we're trying to sort out everything else!

[For a protracted moment, Ed looks like he's mentally preparing more of the same rant. Instead of unleashing it, though, he sighs through gritted teeth and, fairly suddenly, sits down on the floor next to Al.]

Al, we can't focus on everything at the same time. There's just the two of us.

That's never stopped us before.

[Which isn't entirely true. For Al, at least, restoring their bodies has had to somewhat take a backseat to focusing on the Promised Day. Deep down, he knows it would have to be the same here. They can't ignore the war and let people die just so they can spend their time and energy on fixing something they've brought on themselves.]

Besides, what other choice do we have?

[Ed shoots him a still annoyed glance before looking back down at the floor, deflated.] You moron. That's not a choice, that's a cop out. You've gotta decide what's important to you.

[Which is much easier said than done. Logically, Ed thinks he knows what the best option is - when the plans he already had work out, they'll benefit more people than just Al, and he must be at least a little closer to realising those than he would be to the end of this particular wild goose chase if he picked it up again now.

Logical in this case doesn't make him happy, though. He's not sure whether to consider that a warning bell.]

So... you're saying you expect this body to be useless by spring, huh? [The time limit wasn't the only minor detail he was, in fact, listening to.] How long does that give us? When did they pull you from?

No, that's something else. For all I know this body could still hold out for years, so there's no point in assuming the worst before we have to.

I know that helping everyone and figuring out what's going on with this war has to be our priority, so you don't have to worry about that either. [He doesn't mean to sound irritable, but he'd really rather cut off any additional reminders to think less selfishly before they happen.]

But even if you think it's a waste of time, this isn't the kind of opportunity we're ever going to get again, and it'd be crazy not to take advantage of it while we've got the chance. With all the things people claim to be capable of here, there really might be something that could work.

The other transports? [Thought so, he silently adds.] Listen, I'm not trying to say it is a waste of time, but you don't know if you can trust any of them for anything more than an argument.

Don't tell me you've been making enemies already.

[Though, really, he'd be more surprised if that somehow wasn't the case.]

There's the Initiative too. Time travel, accessing other worlds, supposedly sentient weapons... How they're able to pull all that off is something worth looking into.

[He flushes faintly, indignantly red.] Hey, I can keep my head down as well if I have to! [Badly.] I'm just saying. Listen out for clues on the side, sure, but don't believe everything you hear.

[Having said that, though, maybe he's overdoing it again. With a drawn-out sigh, he reaches up to bang on the side of Al's chest plate a few more times.]

So tell me, Al. What else didn't you want me to ask about? Carrying any bombs in there? Think anyone's gonna burst through the door with a hosepipe in the next few seconds? [There's a genuine note of reproach buried somewhere under all of that sarcasm.]

Geez, you're really something.

[He pushes Ed's hand back, somewhere between exasperated and amused.]

First you don't want to talk, then you get mad at me for not forcing you into it.

And you don't think that's the kind of thing you should've mentioned first? Come on!

I'm sure that would have went over well when we barely knew what to say to each other.

And it isn't like I'm trying to keep secrets. The more I hear, the more it seems like a lot of things we've gone through have been completely different. It's hard to just guess how much that applies to.

That's... [He's not fully mollified, to say the least. On the other hand, Al isn't wrong. He settles down, albeit sulkily.] different, isn't it? That's not as important as you saying you've been passing out.

Not really. I wouldn't have brought it up the way I did if I hadn't assumed it was something I'd had to deal with in your world too.

[That he considered being more dishonest than that isn't something Ed needs to know. It most likely wouldn't have worked out in the long run, anyway.]

I would have had to tell you eventually, but that'd be a pretty awful way to start a conversation.

Yeah, yeah. [Ed attempts to convey with a wave of his hand that he's never worried about tactful ways to start a conversation.] Instead of assuming, try thinking next time.

Sheesh. I'm starting to get the feeling it'd take less time to literally swap notes. [He laughs.] Like I could really be a damn novelist.

[He stops himself fairly quickly, though, in case it raises more questions. If it's Al's turn to be reticent, Ed... has mixed feelings about the possible reasons why, but he did after all tell himself this mess would be easier to discuss later, right? Provided there is a later... Well, there's no right answer. By now, he shouldn't be surprised.

He points a thumb over at the notebook Al set aside.] You can keep those ones, at least. If you want. I just started them out of interest, but it sounds like they're gonna have to wait.

[Considering how much research Al is quite literally still carrying around inside his armor, there are some aspects of his story where that wouldn't be hard at all. It's almost funny to think that only hours ago immediately showing Ed what he'd learned from their father would have been his first priority, but since things have changed it feels like way too heavy of a topic to launch into unprompted.]

I'll bring them back to you tomorrow--you never know what might end up being useful. For now I'm just trying to catch up to what the rest of you have already learned any way I can.

[And while they may be more decipherable than alchemy notes, they're still distinctly Ed's. He and Al tend to have a different approach to... everything, really, so there's only so much he'll be able to glean from them.]

Yeah.

[Even though he'd been joking, he sounds momentarily distant as he contemplates what it would really be like to commit to paper all the things he's ever regretted and stare them down. Nah, there's no way it'd be easier - there aren't enough trees. And where would he start, having just told Al not to make too many assumptions? "1904, Dad was an asshole"? Earlier than that?

It annoys him that he's struggling to think of much else he can do to directly help, though.

He turns his head to look at Al again.] ...Wanna go to the library?

[If they head back to the Hold, maybe he'll get the chance to collar one or two of the Initiative's people and have a friendly, reasonable talk about a few things. It can't hurt. No reason to bide his time any longer.]

[Now that's a familiar thing to hear, and yet unexpected enough that it still draws a laugh out of him. Winry would absolutely murder them if she knew their first course of action was to bury themselves in research as a distraction from talking things out, but she isn't here, and Al can justify it to himself by believing they're focusing on the bigger picture and trying to be productive.]

As long as you actually go out prepared for the weather this time. Running around in wet clothes isn't good for you or your automail.

It's not like anything else I could wear wouldn't get wet! [He hauls himself upright.] Give me a moment.

[He disappears into his room, not bothering to fully shut the door. From behind it, there's a swift series of noises: rustling, clanking, a slightly muffled "The hell? It was here...", several long seconds of silence, and then a loud clap.

There are quite a lot of things Winry is going to murder him for whenever she shows up here again.

Ed emerges with a small, very plain-looking white umbrella hooked over one wrist and an expression that dares Al to make anything of it. He pulls his coat, which at least is no longer dripping, off the back of the chair as he passes by.]

Come on, let's go.

[Oddly enough, it's the umbrella's normalcy that has him staring. No decking it out in black and red or slapping a gargoyle on top or at least making the handle look as grotesque as possible? Huh. Could it be that Ed's taste has actually matured?

...Nah, probably not. But even if it's a fluke, Al will take it. He gets to his feet, ready to head out and throw themselves into something new the same way they've done countless times before. He mumbles something to himself about impatience, but there's really no bite behind it.]

I'm right behind you.

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