[action/video]

[imperfect]

[action; backdated to the 2nd and 3rd]

[There's a building some distance away from the areas of town where the Hold and housing building are that doesn't look quite as derelict as it did, say, a week ago. Passersby may notice the occasional burst of light illuminating its windows, or hear the rumble of subtly shifting stone.

The other notable change in the environs is the ponytailed young man who's been loitering around here for the better part of the day, going in and out. Sometimes he's walking around the perimeter. Most of the rest of the time, he's hauling boxes and crates around. A few of them look pretty bulky, but he doesn't appear to be struggling. Every time he exits the building or moves to go back inside, he sets aside whatever he might be holding, claps his hands together, and presses both of them to the front of the door - which, if you're paying enough attention, can be briefly heard to crackle.

Otherwise, he's mainly minding his own business, although if you happen to be standing in his way he might eye you for a moment.] Hey, you couldn't give me some space, could you?


[video]

[If the camera angle is any indicator, the tablet recording this must be lying flat on a table. All the better for Ed to loom over it. Most of the room isn't visible behind him, but the machinery that is suggests a lab or workshop of some kind.]

So I hear some smartass thinks it's well past time the Initiative got serious about this full-scale war. Whether or not you think that's the kind of judgment we get to make is your problem. [His tone of voice, initially light, hardens a little here.] But the Initiative guys aren't the only people at home, and they still won't be when that war does come knocking.

If the Initiative has too much on its plate right now to focus on them, then let's take them off its hands. We've got the knowhow, the equipment and the skills. Even if some of us are more ordinary than others, we've got more resources put together than anyone trapped in a single world could dream of. Stepping in to protect them works for now, and I'm glad we can do it, but someday they've gotta be able to stand on their own feet. We might not last here forever one way or another... [He lets that hang in the air for just a moment.] but we can at least leave them that much behind.

[He leans in a little closer, just to be sure - the whole point of filming himself is as a lightning rod for people's attention, after all. The small smile on his face doesn't quite match the uncompromising look in his eyes.]

My name's Edward Elric. That's [he points his left thumb towards his chest] Edward Elric. If you think you might be interested, get in touch. I don't care who you are - there's something you can do to help, and I want to hear what it is. [With the same hand, he reaches down to the side of the tablet.] I'll be waiting.

[The video shuts off.]

[ooc: This is the IC announcement of this weapons development research team! There's an OOC post on it here. Signups are open to freaking everyone and can be done wherever; handwaving is totally fine. (Replies to the video that aren't signups are entirely welcome, though!) In the distant, distant future, there should be a log related to this. ♥]

Comments

[imperfect]

Then what do you want to hear, Al? What am I supposed to say? 'Cause I know exactly what would happen if I asked you to volunteer! [He punctuates this by spreading both hands.]

[alphonse]

Asked me to volunteer? That's exactly what the problem is! If you'd told me what you were planning from the beginning, maybe we could have worked together to come up with something better!

[imperfect]

Better in a way that magically makes us not responsible for every death that comes out of this war? Because we are, as long as we're doing anything more for the Initiative than just sitting on our hands out in the rain. Is that what you're getting at?

Listen. I knew this wasn't ideal going in. You don't have to tell me that. But it's something. [He raises a fist of his own.] And it'll work out. I'll make it work out.

[There's no way he's going to shut this argument down through tone of voice alone, but he can damn well try to get one point across: it's a little late to backpedal now.]

[alphonse]

[That's some pretty extreme rhetoric. Either Ed has genuinely taken self-blame to disturbing new levels, or, more likely...]

Are you trying to guilt trip me into agreeing with you?

[If so it's had the opposite effect, with Alphonse now being nothing short of furious and more inclined to disagree with Ed just on principle.]

Making it work is the only choice we have now, and I think that's exactly how you planned it! You didn't mention any of this to me because you wanted to have a head start before I could talk you out of it!

[imperfect]

You can't demand an explanation and then get mad when you're given one, Al!

[Well, he can if he doesn't like it. Ed isn't that oblivious. But he has had more practice than Al at digging his heels in, he's pretty sure.

He lowers his hand.]

I'm not trying to make you agree. I want to figure out those time travel machines. That's all there is to it. If I had anything to hide, don't you think I would've kept the whole thing quiet for longer?

[alphonse]

You've hidden enough already. You put this plan together, talked to the Initiative, set up lab equipment, and even started trying to recruit other scientists all without consulting me once. Of course I'm going to be mad at you!

How would you feel right now if you were in my position?

[imperfect]

[The corner of his mouth twitches. It's irrelevant, isn't it? Al wouldn't be in his position. He can get yelled at about making assumptions till the end of time, because that wouldn't be long enough to convince him otherwise no matter what universe they're talking about. That's practically the point!

...Why is he still thinking about Heiderich?]

I'd like to think I could remember what's important.

[Despite his efforts, this comes out somewhat closer to petulant than the emphatic he was aiming for.]

[alphonse]

[So he's not remembering the important things, huh? Al can only take offense to that, and he's seconds away from firing back a retort before he thinks better of it and drops his hands in defeat. This is getting them nowhere. As much as Al's been trying to keep their argument focused on the consequences Ed's plan might have for the Exsiles, there's no making headway there when the elephant in the room that is their relationship seems to have made it impossible for Ed to even talk to him like an equal. How many times since they first met has he implied that Al is untrustworthy or otherwise unable to be counted on?]

You really don't think much of me, do you?

[imperfect]

[He would have preferred the retort. It would have been a lot closer to what he'd expected. He'd had one ready and waiting to counter what he thought it would be, even, but that reply catches in his throat.]

I... What do you mean? [It's such a ridiculous idea he can't make himself sound remotely defensive.]

[alphonse]

I mean that we should start being honest with each other. It's pointless to pretend like being from different worlds is no big deal when it's obviously still bothering you.

I understand if you can't trust me yet. [It's self-preservation, really, and however it might make him feel he can't fault Ed for it. Logically, it's safer to approach people from other worlds with a healthy dose of caution, no matter how familiar they might seem on the outside.] But it'd make things a lot easier for both of us if you'd just be upfront about it.

[imperfect]

[Plenty are coming to mind - of course he does, don't be an idiot, he'd do the same with anyone and besides it's more complicated than that, it's always more complicated than that... - but there's no answering protest out of Ed right away. There's just a brief, heavy silence.]

Is that really what I sound like, Al?

[alphonse]

Brother, your plan for getting out of here doesn't involve me doing anything but standing back and letting you put yourself in danger alone.

[That's answer enough, he thinks.]

[imperfect]

Well... when you put it like that, I guess it doesn't. And I should've realised that in a warzone you wouldn't exactly be safe either way, whether I told you first or not. [Awkwardly, he inclines his head.] Sorry.

[Despite its obvious weight, that apology might not be quite as broad as Al was looking for.]

But it's not what you think, okay? I'm not just pretending this isn't a big deal. It honestly isn't. You're not even the first other you I met. So if you got a different impression... I'm sorry for that, too.

[alphonse]

It isn't about me being sa--[Wait, what? Consider him temporarily derailed.]

I'm not?

[imperfect]

[Ed looks up again, annoyed with himself. Someday he's going to kick the nostalgia habit.]

Kind of. Not exactly. That's not...

[He trails off and heaves a small sigh. Dammit, being upfront about topics like these really doesn't come naturally to him.]

The one from that other Earth, Al. Just a kid with a familiar face. I... thought that was a little weird, it's true. [A beat.] But that was then. That's my point.

[alphonse]

The world without alchemy. [There'd be no repeating their mistake there; maybe they'd even grown up as normal kids? That's a surprisingly odd scenario to consider.

Actually... The more he thinks about it, the more Al realizes that could possibly put some of Ed's behavior in perspective, although the explanation he's pulling from these details might be different from the one Ed's intending.]

That must have been hard. There's a lot you two wouldn't have been able to understand about each other.

[imperfect]

[Ed makes a noncommittal noise. This aside might have postponed his grilling, but it's hard to know if he should be happy about it.] You live with someone for a while, you pick stuff up. Just enough to know for sure that he wasn't you. [What's the point of getting bogged down in details like how long it took him to see anything else in Alfons? As he just said, that was then.] So there's no reason for you to start worrying about him.

Hell of a guy, though. [He nearly smiles.] I'll tell you about him sometime. He told me not to forget.

[alphonse]

I'll hold you to it. But that's not exactly what I'm getting at.

[Is there a way to put this much talk of parallel universes and duplicates into words without sounding crazy and convoluted? Probably not.]

It'd be understandable if having known someone like that makes dealing with me even more weird for you. I mean, if I'd met the you from that world...

[He trails off, feeling no need to elaborate. It's just a theory, but it makes about as much sense as anything else he's come up with. He can see how spending time with a human, non-alchemist Al--who might have genuinely needed to be excluded from things for his own good--could color Ed's perception of working with what to him is yet another alternate.]

But we're definitely not the same, and if you and I are going to accomplish anything I need you to try having a little more faith in me.

[imperfect]

[Waxing crazy and convoluted about this particular topic lost most of its power to faze him a while ago, but Ed still shifts a little uncomfortably when Al mentions the other him, and his eyes flicker down to his right. Yeah, come to think... there hasn't been an alternate world counterpart he's done right by yet.

Well, that's incidental.]

I'm telling you it's not that, Al. I just didn't want to pull you into more trouble than you needed to be in, and - [He hesitates.] I didn't think I could go through with this otherwise, even if it wasn't all wrong. Even if it'd end up helping you. That's all there is to it.

[alphonse]

[Al sighs like Ed's reasoning is almost too much for him.]

Most people would think a bad feeling like that is something worth listening to. We talked about doing things the right way when I first got here, remember?

[imperfect]

Well, "most people" get a lot of feelings. You know it doesn't mean those are always right. [He's not outright trying to be dismissive, but he says this so flatly it clearly can't be the first time.]

I said I'll make this work, and I mean it.

[alphonse]

In other words, you're going to do whatever you want regardless of what I think.

[It's not a question, but the way Al looks down at him is challenging all the same. Ed can claim things are normal between them all day, but as long as they keep reaching this impasse Al isn't going to believe it.]

[imperfect]

[Ed stares steadily back up with no trace of rancour, but after a little while, something gives. He deflates fairly suddenly, breaking eye contact, his hands beginning to clench again.] It's not like...

[To be fair, it's almost like that, isn't it? Someone from the outside looking in could come away with the impression that it is like that, and has been for a long time. From the little, dumb arguments about cats to all the heavier things - everything that happened after Liore and makes him sick to recall too closely, opening the Gate on the other side and stowing away as it shut... Hell, even Alfons got in on it, both when it was light-hearted and when it was deadly serious.

But anyone who saw that and only that would be missing the forest for the trees. And the idea that Al, who looks and sounds and acts exactly how he always has, might be talking to him from further away than the kid he held at arm's length for two years and never even tried to acknowledge as his own person? That goes way past disconcerting. That's insane.

Speaking of when Al first arrived, Ed is getting the same feeling he had when they ran into each other and Al didn't seem to recognise him.]

Al, I'm not expecting you to be happy with it. You'd do the same if you thought it was important. Just understand. [His voice drops.] Please.

[Sometimes feelings are wrong. Let them be wrong.]

[alphonse]

Then what do you expect me to do, Brother? That's the part I still don't understand.

[Ed's reaction kills the chance of him losing his temper again anytime soon, and his voice stays soft.]

Think about what you just said for a minute. If I were the one determined to go through with this, you'd be involved no matter what, right? The decisions we make affect both of us, so we need to make them as a team.

[imperfect]

...Right. No sense in wasting so much time trying to figure out what to think about you that I forget I need to think straight, huh? Again. [He has to add that, because despite having had it beaten into him that it's better not to keep his regrets bubbling below the surface forever, admitting them out loud still makes him feel like an idiot. And, today, a broken record.

Some of the tension in his posture eases slightly, although he doesn't meet Al's eyes right away.]

Just - you hang in there and take care of yourself. Nobody could ask for more. That's the best anyone could ever do.