witchesreign | 1. [Action]

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1. [Action]

[Here's a short blond kid wandering rather stiffly around campus, pestering anyone who looks even slightly engineering-minded:]

Uh, 'scuse me. You know if there're any mechanics around here? Or if you are one, could you do me a favour? I'm not - well, I guess I am low on money now... but I'll work something out.

[Because if there's one thing more annoying than being unexpectedly and unwillingly propelled to a parallel world, it's being unexpectedly propelled to a parallel world where your arm won't stay on properly. Ed can in fact speak from experience since both have happened to him in the past day or so, and he's really pissed off about it. More than usual, even.

He mentally takes stock yet again, in the hope that his situation will make a little more sense the fifth or sixth time through. So... he woke up, definitely not dead. That's a bad start. And then he went and enrolled in the first group he bumped into that remotely resembled a military, which just goes to show he hasn't learned anything. Shortly after that, after they left him to his own devices for the rest of the day, was when his arm fell off. What was it doing here in the first place, anyway? And his leg? He supposes it's better than not having them at all, but...

Nope, no more sense. Oh well. Maybe if he walks around long enough and bugs enough people, someone will take pity on him. And it serves the additional purpose of familiarising himself with these new surroundings, he tells himself, because he hates feeling as useless as this.]

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I guess I am... Why?

[Jack is suspicious.]

Great! Do you know anything about automail? Normally I try to take care of it [lies lies lies], but this just kind of happened. [He tries to gesture towards the arm he has tucked under his left, non-automail arm, but it's a bit difficult without the ability to point...]

Automail? [Jack is intrigued!] Never heard of it, but if it's mechanical I could...

[Finally notices the arm and shrieks a little.] Your arm fell off!

...Wait, you're a robot? Nifty... [And now he's going to circle Ed, trying to see any seams. Of course, Ed's awfully covered up at the moment, which is annoying.]

[You know how to make Ed rip his own clothes off? Pick a fight with him! But that's neither here nor there, and besides, he's not in the mood.]

Why does everyone keep saying that? I don't even know what one of those is! [Well, it's not that common even in most of Amestris, never mind some freaky parallel dimension universe time world thing, but never having heard of it? Hardly a mechanic, Ed would've thought...] The rest of me isn't automail, if that's what you mean. Uh, except my leg.

Really? So they're like cybernetics... that is awesome! I haven't done work on that stuff specifically, but I'm familiar with the concept... I'd have to examine the arm and how it connects, but I'm sure I can fix whatever went wrong. [He's extremely enthusiastic about this.]

And yeah, robots are pretty much people that are all machinery.

[Ed is rather surprised by how quickly the guy went from careful guardedness to sounding like a kid with a new toy. Cyber-what now? But never mind that, that's pretty awesome to hear!] And what do you want for it if you can fix it?

...Do I look like I'm all machinery? [Because he happens to know a person who is all armour, and he doesn't look anything like Ed.]

Oh, that's right. Hm. [He tries to rein in his enthusiasm. Ed's right, he needs to make sure he gets something out of this besides just having fun. He can't think of anything at the moment though. He smiles (juuuust a tad unpleasantly).] How about you just owe me a favor.

No, that's why I was so interested. I've made robots that look extremely humanlike, but there are usually small seams and such... I thought maybe you were just very well-made.

[The expression of Jack's face doesn't bode well - not to mention having to deal in such poorly-defined terms - but what's Ed going to do about it? The sooner he's fully mobile again, the sooner he can go back to doing his own thing and getting the hell out of this dump.] Okay, an equivalent favour it is. I'm counting on you.

[Also, he's completely misunderstood what a robot is.] You've made people out of machinery? Give me a break! A body, sure, but a person is out of anyone's league, whatever you're calling them.

Alrighty then! Let's find a table or something to work on. I think I saw one just over here a minute ago...

[He casts a pitying glance at Ed.] Does it hurt to be so ignorant?

Right now? You don't need to go and get some tools first or anything like that? [Not that it's particularly Ed's concern, but now he's even less confident that the man knows what he's doing.

And uh oh, looks like somebody's hit an angsty nerve. His grip on his detached arm tightens a little.] Who's calling who ignorant? You really think anything you could possibly exchange is enough for a real person's life? That's basic alchemy.

I have a set of mini-tools I always carry with me. If they're too small I'll get something bigger, but... [He shrugs.]

Um, what? Alchemy has nothing to do with robotics. What's alchemy got to do with anything? Isn't that, like, ancient fake-chemistry or something?

[Ed's just going to hang around until Jack finds an appropriate table, because he didn't spot any on the way here and doesn't feel like admitting his lack of observation to some stranger.]

You've never heard of alchemy and you think I'm the ignorant one?!

[But the other world was the same way, right? A place where they stopped studying alchemy a long time ago and used machines to do everything it would normally be used for. It's totally plausible that there could be more than one of them. Strange, but plausible.] Doesn't matter. I guess this really is a different world, huh. ...But I don't see how machines could create life any more than alchemy can. That's more than just alchemy, it's nature.

[Annoyed:] I just said I'd heard of it, didn't I? Are your ears broken too?

[Ed is right; there technically aren't any free tables. There is, however, one that's just covered in somebody's papers. Homework? Research? Who knows. Jack pushes them off onto the floor.] Alright, let me have a look at that arm.

Different world...? Ah, I guess you mean yours is weird. [Then Jack gives Ed a strange look.] Um, everything has chi? It's just a matter of installing personality chips--and loyalty chips, if you want them to be useful.

Broken? Could be, 'cause I definitely heard you say "fake" there and alchemy is not. But, you know, you can think what you want. [With unusual self-restraint, he ignores the "weird" crack.] Here. [Ed sets his arm down on the table, not quite as gently as he can manage. Come to think, it does look a little more battered than he remembers it being... which means it could be missing parts. Damn it.]

What's chi? [The term rings a bell, unlike the sentence following it which was obviously entirely made up... Had his teacher mentioned it before, or was he misremembering?] Isn't that just another word for life? Moving it around isn't the same as creating it out of nowhere.

[Jack's just going to roll his eyes and turn his attention to Ed's arm. He pulls a little magnifying glass out of a tiny black container from his pocket, and starts examining and poking at the automail.]

Yeah, chi's life energy. And you don't have to "create it out of nowhere"--everything already has it. It's just sort of... there. I'm not a philosopher, I don't know how it works. I just know that one day my robot double locked me out of my lair and tried to take over my life. That's what happens without loyalty chips.

[Ed can only stand around awkwardly and wait. He shifts his weight; his leg seems all right for now, and that's good, since he's not in love with the prospect of owing this guy any more than he needs to.

He's about to protest that machines having life energy is kind of a stretch, but he remembers that a human body is just a watery bag of chemicals too - if the "lives" of machine people are just false lives, everything is fine and the world still works the way he thought it did. Still, it's a touchy subject, so he decides to pick on something else.] Making a copy of yourself when there's already one of you sounds pretty pointless to me. What kind of person has a lair, anyway?

It's always more useful to have a team than going solo (as long as you can trust your teammate--and you'd think you could trust yourself, but...) Also it confuses your enemies.

[Jack scowls slightly.] ...It sounds better than "my parents' basement", ok? [Also every proper supervillain has a lair. Not that that's an explanation he's actually going to use publicly.]

[He gets out a little screwdriver and tightens some things.]

I guess so... but if I had to have a decoy, I'd want one that wasn't going to go anywhere I didn't want it to.

Why? If you live somewhere, you live there whether you admit it or not, right?

Yeah, like I said: loyalty chips. Always use them.

You really don't understand the subtler side of things, do you?

[He straightens.] Ok, that's all I can do with my current supplies. It looks like the screws at the shoulder-joint popped out somehow--stripped themselves or unscrewed themselves through use, I don't know--when I get some new ones to replace them, the arm should be usable again. But.

[Jack wags a finger at Ed.] This thing is going to need some major work soon. One of the struts is broken, and several others are getting weak. A number of the still-present screws need to be replaced. One of the plates is cracked. The elbow joint itself might need replacing. Whatever you've been doing with it, stop. At least until someone's done a thorough overhaul of it.

[A shade more serious than the way he's been talking up until now:] No, I get it. You're ashamed, and you want to separate yourself from the rest of the world by pretending that reality is gonna rearrange itself to suit you if you just pick the right words. But reality doesn't care what you say, and it's better all round if you don't try to prove otherwise. So why put yourself to the trouble?

[That's just by the by, though. Ed lifts the arm up gingerly and privately thinks: it's been in worse condition, what's the problem?] Well, that can wait. When do you think you can get some new ones?

[Jack scowls pretty deeply.] Because reality is going to learn to care. [Yes, he realizes after he says it that it sounds stupid. It's cool though, because it's megalomaniacally-stupid, not just... stupid-stupid. Yeah.]

[He's just going to look awkward for a minute.]

[Then he's fine again, and shrugs.] Eh. I'll swipe em next time I'm in engineering class. So... I guess [gives a soon-ish date].

[Ooookay.

Meh, jerkishness aside, the guy has been helpful. He'll just have to keep the arm somewhere out of the way in the meantime, he figures.] I guess I'll just meet you back here, then. Honestly, thanks a lot - uh - [And it just now occurs to him that the guy might have a name other than "the guy". Oh well.]

...But don't think I owe you anything extra! One favour, that's all!

Sure thing. If that arm ever breaks for real, lemme know. I'd love to take it apart. [...He says as if that isn't utterly creeptastic.]

[And Jack smiles, just a tad unpleasantly again.] Oh, I won't forget, don't worry. I'll be sure to be it count.

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1. [Action]

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...can we kinda handwave that the library stuff takes place later? ^^;

Re: ...can we kinda handwave that the library stuff takes place later? ^^;

:3 I am all for timey wimey shit, but.

Sorry I deleted the first comment |D

XD it's fine~

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go go gadget screwed up formatting

XD it happens

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1/3

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