➤ 3rd Transmutation [backdated to 10/3]

[unexculpable]

A. » Action「Mayfield High School Classrooms ☼ Morning - Lunch」

[In hindsight, Ed should have planned for this in advance,.he last place he wanted to be today was here. Out of all the days, it had to be this one., but if he didn't show up today he'd get droned and he is never letting that happen again. Ever.

3. October. 11. Never Forget.

What does this mean for Mayfield? Ed is grumpy as hell. Are you a teacher? Is he in your class? You'll find that he's more snappy, argumentative, and disruptive than normal. You might find a ball of paper getting tossed at you (especially if you're Eddie) when you're not paying attention. He might not even be in his desk, he could be wandering around the classroom. Perhaps pulling books off the shelves and flipping through them for lack of anything else to do, not bothering to hide his disgust at the poor quality of the textbooks -- this math was way too easy, he was reading books like this when he was three, why the hell should he care about American history when he's not from the same world?

This will not be an easy day for anyone.]


B. » Action「Mayfield High School Chem Lab ☼ Lunch - End of school」

[As soon as the bell rings for lunch, Ed makes a beeline to the chemistry lab. He'll be there for the entire lunch period, pulling things off of shelves - beakers, chemicals, and whatever else he can get his hands on - making a nice little setup for himself near the back.

When the bell rings for the next class, Ed's still there. In fact he'll be there for the rest of the day, he's skipping everything else. After the final bell rings and everyone else is heading home, you'll still be able to find him here for about an hour or so before he leaves.]


C. » Action「Around Town ☼ Afternoon - Late Evening」

[Ed's wandering around town aimlessly. His eyes are downcast, his hands are shoved in his pockets and it seems like something is really bothering him. Approach?]

Comments

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

Now that would be something to see. And, she did? How?

[unexculpable]

She can be... she can be pretty terrifying. [he looks away for a minute to swallow the lump in his throat.]

Yeah... we uh, we broke a very important rule of hers. We had it coming. Kind of expected it, honestly.

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

Are you comfortable talking with me about it or wish to save it for another time?

[ She can tell how tense he is and doesn't want to upset him further. Which, to her, is puzzling. Normally, she wouldn't care about hurting someone or tormenting them with their past, but this is something she doesn't quite know about.

She wants to put a hand on his shoulder, but she clenches her hand slightly so that she doesn't give in. ]

[unexculpable]

... Maybe another time. Today's not a good day to talk about any of that.

[and he's not sure if he wants to. especially after everything he just told her. How important that one phrase was, to always remember it, to understand it and to never try controlling nature and the world with alchemy. He'd just sound like a hypocrite.]

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

All right.

[ She swallows down her hesitation and awkwardly places her hand on his shoulder. Then, she gulps and shakes her head a bit. It's new to her, but -- ]

When you're ready, you can tell me. For now, let's focus on something besides that. [ Her voice sounds a little older than it should be, but there's traces of warmth in it. Diana doesn't know why she's doing this, but it feels right to do and while she's not one to go with her instincts on most matters, she thinks it's appropriate to offer him some form of comfort. ]

[unexculpable]

Thanks. I appreciate it, really.

[He sits there for a moment quietly, taking a few deep, even breaths to calm his nerves.]

Right, well, here... [he sketches out another circle - it uses most of the same runes as the last one, but with slight differences. When he's done he rips the page out of his notebook and passes it to her.] Think you can break this down by tomorrow? It builds off of the first one I showed you -- that one was more of a base for earth based transmutations. This is a bit more specific, but I'm pretty sure you can handle it.

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

You're welcome.

[ Diana doesn't remove her hand until she sees that he's okay. She moves her hand a little to help soothe him, as well. When she does see that he'll be okay, she places her hand back on to her lap. ]

Of course. What kind of details are you expecting to see me do? [ She feels confident about this, even without her library. ]

[unexculpable]

[he flips back to the first circle he drew] In the notes I wrote out, I explained the relationship between the runes and the lines that connect them all. It's a little watered down, there's more to it than this, but for what we're going over it's more than enough to work with.

Start getting familiar with the runes and what they represent. You'll see these a lot. [he points to the circle in his notebook] The circle I gave you shares some of the same runes, but you'll notice there's a couple of different variations. Figure out what they are and tell me what this circle could be used for.

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

All right. Shall I attempt it now, unless if you're going to go somewhere soon?

[ She flips to a clean sheet of paper and sketches the transmutation circle while leaving some room to write out her explanation, humming a classical piece to herself. It's to help herself think while she's working. ]

[unexculpable]

If you want to, sure. I don't plan on going to any of my other classes today so, take your time.

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

All right.

[ And so, this shall be a thing! She spends some time figuring out what the transmutation circle means before writing down her answer. It comes out to be a basic way of dealing with stone and rock. Then, she hands the paper to Ed with a slight smile. ]

[unexculpable]

[Ed flips through his notebook as he waits, twirling the pen between his fingers idly. When she hands the paper back he seems a little surprised, but there's a bit of a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

As he looks over it that smile only widens until it's a full-fledged grin.]

Perfect.

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

[ Diana can't help but grin back, actually letting out a slight laugh. ]

Well, it's definitely a challenge, but I'm glad.

[unexculpable]

Nah, I think I went too easy on you. Next time it'll be a real challenge.

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

Oh, is that so? I can take any challenge you give me, Mr. Elric. [ To replace her grin is now a competitive smirk. She's eager to try more. ]

[unexculpable]

[he meets that smirk with one of his own. if it's a challenge she wants, it's a challenge she'll get. well, this'll be fun.]

We'll see about that.

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

[ And Diana chuckles, merely shaking her head. ]

Go ahead - do try me. I can attest that it'll be fun all around.

[unexculpable]

I'm sure it will be.

All right, I'll get some notes together to give to you tomorrow.

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

That sounds like [...] fun. [ Honestly, she's never really done much of anything for fun. Everything has been work, work, work and no fun. So, to have this moment makes her happy inside and she's still smiling. It's been a long time since she's smiled this long. ]

Now, for my end of the bargain, what do you wish to know from me?

[unexculpable]

I'm actually pretty curious about where you're from. We're obviously not from the same world.

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

Well, my planet's name is Epyaxa and I'm from a place called Neo-England. See, before humans decided to move to Epyaxa, Earth was dying from over consumption of raw materials, too much pollution from factories, and just people being too greedy with everything. People took too much from the Earth and didn't give it back in the form of planting trees or helping the land and resources grow again. So, we did what we could before escaping and we moved to Epyaxa.

Epyaxa is a lot cleaner, a world free of contaminants that would ordinarily destabilize it, and people live pretty long and healthy lives. Technology, science, literature - everything has rapidly improved and people now work together to make the best of their future. Granted, we have a lot more laws in place so that people don't get the idea in their heads that they can pull the same stuff that caused the Earth to die out. But, if it happens, people are rather quick to deal with it.

At first, though, the native Epyaxains didn't know how to take to us humans, but after a while, we managed to get along rather swimmingly.

Though, as far as I'm concerned, my family and I live in a mansion that's pretty large. We have nothing but the best technology, mostly built by yours truly. See, when I was growing up, I decided to read the encyclopedia when I was three and, well... knowledge is infectious. [ She manages to giggle a bit here. ]

But, so far, I've managed to live a pretty happy life. My mother's a businesswoman and my father's an engineer. The family business is mostly centered around machines due to both of my parents' occupations and we manage to make a sizable profit. And, I really do love my parents. In fact, I think they'd be proud of how far I've come.

[ That last line is definitely about Ed, and hey, she still looks happy to be talking about her life and her world. ]

[unexculpable]

[He listens closely, absolutely fascinated to hear about a world so different from his own. He leans forward in his chair a little, eager to learn more.

Wow. Space Travel? That's incredible! I mean, the reason you had to leave at all is terrible, but moving the entire human race to another planet? One already occupied by intelligent life, even!

[When Diana mentions that she read the encyclopedia when she was three he can't help but laugh. He grins as he leans back in his chair] Three, huh? Sounds familiar. Though for me it was with my father's alchemy books. Or, well... anything I could get my hands on, really.

[His smile softens as Diana talks about her own family. It's nice to hear about ones that genuinely love each other. Ones that always had a loving mother, whose father didn't abandon them.]

You think they would? Nah, doesn't sound like there's any reason to doubt that they would be.

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

Mmhmm! In addition to space travel, we have hovercars to take you place to place that are run purely on solar energy and the panels on them are enough to charge them for late night activities. And, if you can't get to the grocery store or something like that, there's plenty of automated ways to get what you need in a matter of seconds. People always want to help each other out, which is what makes Epyaxa beautiful.

[ She laughs along with him and nods. ] I was the same. I just couldn't stop reading and trying to get all that I could to learn. My parents started with tutors, but I outsmarted them was I was about seven years old. I didn't see a need for them after that and took my education in to my own hands.

[ Then, she blinks a bit and smiles still. ]

Well, back home, I wasn't really... sociable, so to speak. I actually have never had a friend to talk with since I didn't know how to make them. [ She pauses here and nervously plays a bit with a few strands of her hair. ]

You're ... actually the first friend I've ever had. And I thank you for that.

[unexculpable]

[His eyes widen. Hovercars? THAT RUN ON SOLAR ENERGY? That's. Awesome. In case you couldn't tell, this is a bit mind blowing.

He grins, but that smile soon softens considerably. He didn't expect that, honestly. Her gratitude is more than apparent and he starts to realize that this... this is kind of a big deal for her. Sitting here with someone she met only a few weeks prior talking about her home, her life, and her family. Openly admitting that she'd never had a friend until now...]

Don't be stupid. You don't have to thank me, that makes it sound like it's an obligation or something. It's been great getting to know you, Diana and I'm glad you can consider me a friend. You're definitely one of mine.

... But for what it's worth, you're welcome.

[notalwystrthful.livejournal.com]

[ SHE CAN TELL YOU MORE. All of the things on her planet and then some!

And, well... it takes her a bit to comprehend this. She was one of his friends. She was one of his friends. Things like this haven't happened before. What do. no srsly what do.

If Ed hasn't seen her face this happy before, it's - well, it's because she's relieved. Happy. Overjoyed. And she'll do her best to keep the friendship up. In fact, she thinks it's totally normal to hug him as tight as she can. This is what friends do, right? ]

I'm happy! I'm really happy! Thank you!