Don't Forget!

[micro-icarus.livejournal.com]

[Ed is sitting out in an out of the way corner of the grounds brooding. He's got his silver pocket watch in one hand, the cover's open, and he's just staring at it, not really paying attention to anything around him.

Today is a day he has to remember, after all.]

Comments

[hot-engineer.livejournal.com]

"What's so special about Xingese alchemy, that you're going through all that for it?"

[micro-icarus.livejournal.com]

"It can do things with living flesh that my alchemy can't. Also our enemy has some kind of control over alchemy. The first time we met he just shut it all off."

[hot-engineer.livejournal.com]

She looks at him. Tempering living flesh like she would metal? The thought was intriguing... and just a little horrifying. The expression on her face shows it too.

"Alchemy's different from magic though, right? How can anyone just shut it off? That would be like... rewriting the laws of nature, wouldn't it?"

[micro-icarus.livejournal.com]

"That's what I thought! But apparently he can."

[hot-engineer.livejournal.com]

"You can't take away something like that. My guess is that he's got some kind of field generator that nullifies it instead..."

[micro-icarus.livejournal.com]

"Or SOMETHING. Whatever he did, it only effected people who learned Amestrian alchemy. That's the other reason I want to learn the Xingese style."

[hot-engineer.livejournal.com]

"That's one way to get around it. And that's the most culturally-specific rewrite of the laws of nature that I've ever heard."

That wasn't a joke. Not exactly.

"Uh... Good luck finding her. And be careful. This sounds like a power that can easily change people."

That wasn't a joke either. But it really should've been.

[micro-icarus.livejournal.com]

"I'm just doing what I have to. Don't worry."

[hot-engineer.livejournal.com]

"...All right."

She reclines against the tree again in companionable silence, letting him ponder his pocketwatch.

[micro-icarus.livejournal.com]

Which he did, for a while. As time passed however he found it harder and harder to focus on the watch with someone sitting next to him. After a few minutes he snapped the watch shut and pocketed it. "So what's your world like? I don't think I know anything about it, really, past what I can guess from thinking about you."

[hot-engineer.livejournal.com]

"...huh? Oh. Uh, let's see... I think we talked about this a little, but I live in a kingdom called Guardia. Obviously we don't have alchemy there... there's magic of different types, but most people never see it.

"It's mostly technology without magic; lights, radios, roads, machines, things like that. Most of the stuff I and my dad create would be called, uh... 'fringe.'" She adds diplomatically.

[micro-icarus.livejournal.com]

"Sounds pretty similar to home, technologically. I was imagining a place where everyone had gadgets like yours, but I guess it'd be pretty unlikely that EVERYONE could keep up with your brains."

That sounded suspiciously like a roundabout compliment.

[hot-engineer.livejournal.com]

She blushes brightly at that, and clears her throat hurriedly. "My family owns an island in the gulf just south of the capital. They have for as long as anyone can remember."

That is, they have ever since the royal family "gently urged" her great-great-great-great-grandfather to relocate there to keep his blacksmithing experiments away from fragile and flammable things--like buildings and people. Looks like some things never change.

"It's kind of damp and frigid in the winter, but you can't beat it in the summer!"

[micro-icarus.livejournal.com]

"Your own island? That sounds kinda awesome."

Edward had been imagining a castle on a rocky island cloaked in mist and rain but outlined by flashes of lightning. A proper mad scientists lair. Then she mentioned it in the summer and it threw off the whole thing.

[hot-engineer.livejournal.com]

Just add the image of Lucca frolicking on a warm but pebbly beach in a bikini, Ed. That ought to be easy enough. She can even be testing out a newly-designed clockwork shark, if it makes it easier.

"I've always liked it. A lotta privacy. Well, except for my parents. Y'know how they can be."

[micro-icarus.livejournal.com]

There maaaaay be a bit of that in there, yes...

"I wonder if I can see it some time without accidentally damaging the timeline."

[hot-engineer.livejournal.com]

"You would? Huh... wh-hey, if anyone can figure out a way to keep the timeline in one piece, it's me! Maaaaaaybe I can sneak you in when the weather warms up... if anyone asks, I'll just say you're from Porre, or something."

[micro-icarus.livejournal.com]

"Well, the only way I get to see the ocean is through CO portals and..."

...and swimsuits and suntan oil suddenly seem marginally more interesting than normal.

"and...uh...I was gonna say something else there but it's gone. Anyways, the ocean is cool, even if I have to clean out the automail afterwards."

[hot-engineer.livejournal.com]

"Don't worry, I'll help you out with it if you need." She thinks back to the beach trip last summer and all the sand hs got into his automail.

Which quickly jumps to all that time they spent on the beach and how he didn't seem to ever put a shirt on at all--

"--I-It's still a little too cold in that part of my world right now anyway. We can do other stuff instead, if you'd want to check it out sooner. I think you'd like the town of Medina. The mysics are a lot nicer bunch than they used to be."

[micro-icarus.livejournal.com]

Despite a part of him screaming against it, Ed dragged himself away from thoughts of the beach. "Mystics?"

[hot-engineer.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, they're technically monsters, but the populations of the town is benign and even helpful to humans! Let's just say that there's a lot of history involved." She gives him a half-smirk.

[micro-icarus.livejournal.com]

"I haven't met too many monsters that didn't want to kill me, so that could be an interesting thing for sure."

He grimaced, "A change of pace, at least."