Eleventh Transmutation [Video]

[sonofgold]

Who: Alphonse Elric and YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: N/A
When: March 19th

[Alphonse is serious and all business when he clicks the feed on.]

I'd like to offer my services to any exploration teams going down into the depths. My alchemy can be used to reshape metal, and the weapons sold in the shops here might be useful for whatever is lurking. I also have a Security augment, so if anybody needs some muscle to come along on their expeditions... I'm game.

I just hope we can figure out what's going on. I'm working under the assumption that Atroma's going to move us onward soon, whether we want to go or not... and we'll have to leave these people behind, no matter what condition they're in.

Comments

[universal_charm]

"The needs of the many before the needs of the one." I guess that's our equivalent in my world.

Let us do good, Alphonse Elric, and leave things better than we found them.

[sonofgold]

I feel like it's always a good goal to have. Put more good back into the world than you receive. It's what Brother and I tried to live by.

[universal_charm]

You have a brother?

[sonofgold]

Yeah, he's about a year older than me. I miss him a lot... he and I were going our separate ways to travel when I was brought here, but at least back home I could call or write.

[universal_charm]

I'm sorry about that. Guess you two were close then, huh?

[sonofgold]

Very much so. Brother and I have never been apart for very long, and I hate not being able to see him.

[universal_charm]

Kind of attached at the hip sort of siblings, huh?

[sonofgold]

Yeah, we always have been. Living in a very rural area, we saw each other more than anything. He did pick on me sometimes, and we did fight as siblings do, but we were never apart for very long.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He flashed a warm smile. ]}

He sounds like a good brother. I would be worried if you two hadn't fought. It's a kind of bonding exercise for brothers, don't you think?

[sonofgold]

I feel like it was. You can get to know each other that way- each others' strengths, each others' weaknesses. It helped our training, too, since Teacher made sure we were in peak physical condition. We could spar without doing too much damage.

[universal_charm]

Why did you have to learn how to spar?

[sonofgold]

Brother worked for the military, so we got into fights a lot. ... it's a long story.

[universal_charm]

So you knew you were going to go into the military even while you were learning - alchemy I assume?

[sonofgold]

Well, not exactly. Again, it's a long story. There was... an accident when Brother and I were younger, and he ended up losing his arm and leg. He joined the military so he would have the money and resources to try and get them back.

[universal_charm]

Ah, a means to an end sort of situation.

[sonofgold]

Yeah. He still had to follow orders from superiors, but we had a lot of freedom, I guess because we were both still young. It was nice, being able to travel as we pleased, but some people looked down on him for having joined the military. It's seen as running contrary to the principle of alchemists being for the people.

[universal_charm]

I don't think that joining the military necessarily means you can't be for the people. If what you said is true - that you could travel a lot and had better resources - if you used that to help people then you're sticking to that principle, aren't you?

[sonofgold]

Mmhmm! I think so, anyway- but I guess others see it as having sold your soul, in a way. Exchanging your freedom for power. Our country was a military dictatorship, so that may have had something to do with the perception, too.

[universal_charm]

Yes, I could see that. But I understand it too. Star Fleet is psuedo-military - and we have policies I don't always agree with. But I certainly have far more freedom and the ability to help more people being with them than just stuck on Earth.

But that's the nature of life, isn't it? You have to sacrifice some things in order to gain others - the eternal compromise.

[sonofgold]

That's the underlying principle of alchemy, too. Equivalent exchange. You can't gain anything without giving something in return. Alchemy is deconstruction and reconstruction, too- as my friend Major Armstrong put it, you must tear down in order to build.

[universal_charm]

Heh, sounds about right for most things in life.

I hope you and your brother found what you were looking for.