somethingspecial | 1 [Accidental Video]

Current Mood: scared

Entry tags:

1 [Accidental Video]

[The feed clicks on to show a girl dressed to the nines sitting on a rock. In the rain. In any other moment, Rachel Berry would appreciate the dramatic nuances of the scene, but for the moment? The girl looks scared, arms wrapped around herself, and she's shivering.]

This isn't funny. Whatever has happened, I'm going to figure it out. You hear me, Vocal Adrenaline?!

[And she's calling into the woods now, because obviously, this is the rival glee club's fault. ~~She's serious.~~]

I'm going to get back to the performance hall and we're going to win, without your cheating! I demand to be returned at once!

[Her bravado is broken by a small sob as Rachel tucks her head into her arms once again, totally ignorant of the PCD recording her.]

Oh, Finn, where are you?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She blinks at him before taking a seat again, sighing a little. She pulls the teapot towards her to pour another cup.]

Whenever I woke up crying, when I was little, my dads used to get me a glass of water. And now, whenever I'm really sad, I can never tell whether or not I'm sad or if I'm just thirsty.

[She's quiet for a minute as she sips at her tea.]

[Al's eyes widen a little bit, hands cupped around the mug. Familiarity, the kind of familiarity it aches to hear.]

...

The water here... usually needs to be boiled before it's safe to drink.

[Al puts the mug to his lips, studying her silently for several moments.]

But the river is only a short walk away.

[She blinks at him for a moment before smiling a little.]

I don't live near rivers. My dads put me in the middle of white America suburbia. Something about gang violence.

... but it sounds nice.

[Even if she doesn't pick up the metaphor, Al smiles warmly. Perhaps a distraction.]

Gang violence happens in cities, but it's not a problem here. You have to worry more about bunnies or getting caught in dodgeball games.

[Chuckle.] I grew up in the country, a little farming village, until Ed joined the military when I was eleven. Then we traveled all over the state.

I wish I could just leave and drop out of school and travel. Like Madonna! I hate being stuck in Lima... it's such a sheltered cow-town and I want to go to the big cities and become a star. I'll get there, one day. New York City. But I need to graduate high school before my dads would ever let me leave.

[... Pause on The Rachel Berry Show™. She blinks.]

... wait, the military?

They're right, school is incredibly important, whatever you decide to study, and-

[Pause, what.]

Ah... y-yeah. Ed joined the military, he was the youngest recruit in history.

Is that even legal?

Not technically, but the military bent the rules a bit.

[Al leans back in his chair with a sigh.]

... Ed and I are alchemists... and my brother is one of the most talented and powerful alchemists out there. Our military used alchemists, called State Alchemists, as weaponry.

They weren't about to let someone that powerful slip away.

[Well, that puts Rachel's problems in perspective.]

You're not allowed to join the army until you're eighteen where I come from. But who knows, we're in a war now.

My best friend, Finn, his dad died in the first Gulf War.

[Al nods, shutting his eyes. He's seen what it does to people.]

That's a good law. Nobody should have to go through that, to lose people.

[Winry had, but he still can't talk about her.]

Thankfully, Ed and I never had to fight in a real war.

Why join the military if there's no war? Does it pay for college?

... no.

[Al shifts, just a little uncomfortable, but breathes in.]

It's... a long story. ... we would have both joined, but... well, when I was younger...

[Again, that uncomfortable shift.]

We had... there was an accident. With alchemy. The same accident that lost my brother's arm and leg. We were only little kids, but I was... worse off than he was. To get ourselves back to normal, we wanted to find something called the Philosopher's Stone. It lets you bypass some of the normal laws of alchemy, and make a lot out of very little.

The position in the military gave us both the funds to travel and search, and the clearance to get to classified information we'd never find otherwise. To find that, and to fix our bodies.

[Rachel doesn't understand a large part of the story Al says, but she understands that it's painful. And from what the brothers have told her about alchemy, it was something powerful. Obviously it could go wrong, too.

And it did, if Ed lost his arm and leg.]

That sounds terrible.

[Al sets his mug down and laughs softly, nervously waving a hand.]

N-No, it really wasn't! We always had each other, and we had a lot of fun together!

I-I'm sorry, you just came here, and here I am telling you about my past, I don't know what's up with me.

It's fine. It's helping me.

[Seriously. She's probably going to cry for two hours once she goes to bed.]

[A tiny smile. He knows.]

Good. I'm glad.

Mm.

[And she's finishing her tea.]

I think I'll head to bed.

All right.

[Gonna find sheets and blankets, then.]

Thank you, so much, for letting me stay here. Really. No one's ever been this nice to me before.

You need a place to stay, that's really all there is to it.

[Shrug, but he smiles, finding a pillow.]

Most people here would do this.

I don't know if anyone would for me back home.

[She follows him, hesitant to just... pick a room. Some part of her still wants this to be a dream.]

But... I'd probably be eaten by rabbits or something if Ed hadn't found me.

I'm sure they would, Rachel. [Nope, no doubt in his mind.]

Well... you probably would have been bitten, yes, but nobody's ever been eaten by them. They scare off pretty quickly if you throw things at them.

[Al waves between a few rooms.] Let's see... I guess it all comes down to whether you want a mirror and a dresser, or a closet and a window.

[Rachel honestly looks like this is a difficult decision. She contemplates it heavily before deciding. A mirror or a window...? She can already see that she won't have her standard wardrobe, so the dresser isn't necessary, but she doesn't want a room without a window either.

She then tries to think of how terrible her hair must look, hairspray, rain, and all, and quickly decides she doesn't want to see.]

The one with the window is fine.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1 [Accidental Video]

[Offline]

[Offline] 1/2

[Offline] 2/2

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline] 1/2

[Offline] 2/2

[Offline]

[Offline]

Re: [Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]