[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]

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.

[alphonse]

Brother. [He's veering into admonishing territory.]

We'd be a lot better off if you'd remember to apply that same standard to yourself.

[imperfect]

[Ed just smiles for real, though not flippantly. What else is new?]

Then how about this? The minute things start to look like they could get out of hand, I'll shut the whole thing down, dismantle everything myself. Any way I can, if it comes to that. Does that do it for you?

[He has even less of a clear-cut plan for this than for if the project goes completely smoothly - but again, what else is new?]

[alphonse]

You know it won't be that simple.

[What he'd really like is to somehow retroactively stop Ed from putting the idea out there for people to latch onto in the first place, but barring that they're pretty much stuck attempting a very dangerous sort of damage control. He can't say he likes their odds of success.]

And you realize, of course, that I'm not going to let you do any of this without me.

[He can't quite tell if that part has sunk in for Ed yet, even after going back and forth as much as they have.]

[imperfect]

[His expression turns wry, but not overly surprised. That's his little brother.] If you say so. Guess there's not much chance you'd change your mind if I just told you to be realistic. But for what it's worth, I was gonna let you know what I find anyway.

[alphonse]

[Realistic? He somehow restrains himself to only mild exasperation.]

It isn't enough just to tell me things, Brother. I might not like your plan, but that doesn't mean getting home is any less my goal than it is yours.

[imperfect]

I said, okay.

[Al didn't specify which home, after all. Privately, a little perversely, Ed's even glad he didn't have to ask for help himself. There's only so much guilt he can take in one day.]

...You know, he really was a lot like you.

[alphonse]

It's strange to think about, but if I couldn't be there myself then I'm glad he wasn't completely different.

[There's some hesitancy in how he says it, though; both because it's a tricky subject in general and because he never imagined he'd have to sort out the implications of being Alphonse Elric number three in someone's life.]

You're not going to say you met another me after that or anything, are you? Every time I think I'm starting to figure you out it seems like you come up with something new.

[imperfect]

[He pulls a face, and not an especially serious one.] Oh, come on, Al. Just hope those machines don't screw up again before we get to them and we never have to find out exactly how many of you there are firsthand.

Or me. [This he adds offhandedly, like it's an afterthought. It isn't.] I know I'd have a few things to say.

[alphonse]

Don't even joke about that. Any more of you and you'd find an excuse to get in a fight first thing.

[Really, he expects this has happened already.]

[imperfect]

Thanks for the vote of confidence. [He sounds far too aggrieved for it to be genuine; it is one, pretty much. And he'd take that over his closest encounter with a parallel version of himself so far any day.] I'll give you a fight in a minute.