(no subject)

[a_time_slip]

Janie happily waited on the swings for anyone who wanted to be her new friend. She was in a strange place where she could meet anyone and everyone, but it was something she was used to. She didn't even have to be afraid anymore, and she was changing time and place.

Would she ever stay in one place, and be able to call it home?

Comments

[event-return.livejournal.com]

[ Walking alone and seemingly lost in thought, a teenage boy wends his way towards the swings. He doesn't notice the girl sitting there until he's standing nearly beside her. ]

Oh! Hi. Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going!

[janee]

Hello!

[She smiles, and waves] You're welcome to come swing.

[event-return.livejournal.com]

[He smiles and gives a single nod, then takes a seat on the swing next to hers, though he doesn't actually move to swing on it but instead looks up at its frame above them.]

I don't remember seeing this here before.

[janee]

What was here before? I'm traveling, so I never know whats going to be where.

[event-return.livejournal.com]

[Rubs the back of his neck and smiles, but seems to feel he's said something that maybe he shouldn't have.]

I guess I'm sort of traveling too, in a way. Where are you going to?

[janee]

[She looks over to him, and smiles a bit reassuringly]

I don't know. I just keep going and end up in different places. It's okay. I never know.

[event-return.livejournal.com]

How do you get there?

[janee]

I... You might not believe me mister, but I feel like ants is crawling all on me and then I'm somewhere else. I seen some things I ain't ever know was possible.

[event-return.livejournal.com]

[He looks a little surprised for a moment, but it's actually because she called him 'mister' not because of the explanation she gave.]

I believe you. I've seen things I've never known were possible too.

My name's Alphonse Elric. My brother Ed, he's the Fullmetal Alchemist. Back in our world we were both pretty well known but, well...

Hey, you're from this world, right? What are some of the weirdest things you've ever seen?

[janee]

You have?

My name's Janie Potts. What's an alchemist do?

Once when I was traveling I saw an alien and TV. Have you heard of TV?

[event-return.livejournal.com]

Uwah! A real alien?! What'd it look like? Were you scared? Was it friendly? I've never heard of TV at all--does it have to do with aliens too?

[Slows down and takes a breath.]
Oh and alchemy--people here think alchemy's like magic, but really it's a lot more like science. It's a way of changing things from one form into another. We call it transmutation. I'd show you, but it doesn't really work here.

[janee]

Yes, mister. He was silver and I was scared till I saw he just talked to people normal and didn't do nothing mean. TV is, you seen picture? It's real good pictures that move and has sound. Almost is like watching people right in front of you. It's real loud and colorful.

[She looks at him, interested]
You can change vegetables into candy or rocks into money?

[event-return.livejournal.com]

Silver? He was made of metal? I--I guess that would be scary to see, if you didn't know...

Pictures that move around? Wow. What's it used for?

And yes--back home I could change vegetables into candy or sand into a fountain of water. Money's kind of tricky because you're not supposed to transmute gold. It's all about Equivalent Exchange--that's alchemy's first Law. In order to gain something you must offer something of equal value.

[janee]

Yeah I hid for a long time until I saw he didn't hurt nothing.

It's just used to watch. You can watch anything and everything you can think of.

Guess it makes things fair that way. Could everybody transmute?

[event-return.livejournal.com]

[He looks wistful for a moment, like he's remembering something that makes him a little sad, but then he shakes it off and brightens again.]

I can't really imagine what it'd be like to just sit and watch pictures move around. Ed and I had an old picture of us with our mom though--I would have liked to watch that one move and talk!

Most people can't do alchemy themselves even in our world. It takes a lot of studying to do because you have to understand the composition of the thing you're changing so that you can break it down into its elements and then reconstruct them into something new. And there are some people who believe that you shouldn't use alchemy at all--they think it's wrong to change something from one form into another.

[janee]

It's strange at first but then you get interested in the stories and can't stop watchin. I don't have any pictures of any of my family... [She looks sad for just a moment, but manages to look cheerful again a moment later]

But why would someone know how to do it if people shouldn't use it? It's just taking stuff apart and putting it back together different? But it's gotta be smaller than changing a shirt to a dress or taking the boards from a table and making a chair.

[event-return.livejournal.com]

You must miss them, huh?

I think it's because different groups of people believe different things. My brother and I grew up believing that alchemy was a good skill that could be used to help people and benefit the world. The people of Ishbal believe that it goes against the will of god to change something from one form into another. Even amongst them there are those who've used alchemy though--they call it the Great Art, but if someone uses it then they are exiled and shunned.

I don't really know the best way to explain it, but it makes people angry, those kinds of different beliefs. A lot of people aren't very accepting of difference.

[janee]

Yes. I don't think I'll get to see them again. They don't travel like me. Sometimes my Daddy does.

People where I'm from, they have different beliefs too. Not about alchemy cause I don't think they have it, but about everything else. It makes me mad, and then I see places where people who believe different or who are different can live together and get along so I get hope. The Ishnal people might be afraid cause alchemy could be good and bad. My Daddy once said that its people that make stuff good and evil and right and wrong.

[event-return.livejournal.com]

That's terrible! Isn't there any way that you can go back to your home? That you can control where you go and when? M-maybe your dad? If he can travel the way you do too, maybe he could help you find a way to control it so that you can get back--! I can't think of anything worse than never getting to see my brother again...

I-- I knew a man from Ishbal once. He hated alchemy and alchemists so much all he wanted to do was to destroy them all. I thought he was wrong, but...in the end I think I understood why. But the thing was, he was using alchemy too, even when he thought it was a curse. A lot of times it's hard to know ahead whether a choice we make will be right or wrong.

[janee]

He's trying to think of a way but we don't always go to the same place. My Daddy told me learn as much as I can from everywhere that I go, that way we might learn what we have to do.

I think with our choices we can't ever know everything, and maybe we aren't supposed to. Maybe some things that are bad will be good things later on.

[event-return.livejournal.com]

[Starting off slow but then beginning to talk very fast as this idea forms in his mind.]

Maybe there's a way that we could help you! Ed and I--even though our alchemy doesn't work here we might still be able, somehow. I mean we've both traveled and seen things--we're not even from this world--and we know about having to search and study for years to find the answers to questions no one's answered before! Brother can be stubborn sometimes, but I'm sure he'd be willing to help!

[janee]

[She smiles, visibly excited]

That would be very good! If you and your brother could help me I'd be most thankful. How long have you been at this world? What's yours like, except for the alchemy?

[event-return.livejournal.com]

I'm sure we can come up with something! Ed's been here longer than me so he knows more about this world than I do. He's been here for...three years, I guess. And I only just got here a few days ago!

See he came home to our world, but there were people from this world who came through the Gate who wanted to start a war. They sent planes and soldiers and attacked our capitol--we stopped them. I mean the army did, but it was us and the Colonel who got their leader. Only Ed said that we had to close the Gate once and for all, seal off the way so that no one could ever come through it again. He was going to return to this world to destroy the Gate on this side, and he wanted me to stay behind in our world and destroy the Gate there. But...I couldn't do it. After all those years of searching for him, I couldn't just let him leave and never see him again. So I stowed away in a suit of armor to come back with him, and the Colonel said that he would destroy the Gate instead.

...Wow. Sorry. I guess that was all kind of confusing, huh? And I didn't really even tell you what our world is like....

[OOC: I'm assuming that they're somewhere in 1923 Germany since that's where Al is situated at the moment--does that work for you? Or does Janie not travel that far across distance when she moves through time?]

[janee]

[She listens wide eyed, and nods]

Did he destroy the gate? Why did they want to start the war? It's a little confusing...

[OOC: It works for me. She travels across time and distances, so going to 1923 Germany is very feasible for her!]

[event-return.livejournal.com]

I-I don't know why they wanted to start the war really. I guess some people want to destroy anything that's different or that they don't understand. A-and I've seen people try to start wars because they thought that the despair and suffering of others could be used to...to make them do something.

But we did destroy the Gate on this side. And Colonel Mustang must have destroyed the one in our world. He...he's not the kind of man to leave something like that undone.

[janee]

People don't always make much sense. I'm a person too, but I don't understand how people can be mean and not like each other cause they're different.

Do you miss your world?

[event-return.livejournal.com]

[Smiles a little sadly in a way that makes him look, momentarily, years older than he is, then brightens.]

I'm sure I will miss it--I'll miss people there and places, like our friend Winry and the town that Ed and I grew up in, and just knowing where things are and their history. I mean I'll learn all that here eventually too. But really so long as I'm with my brother.... That's what matters most to me.

You must miss your home a whole lot though. What's it like where you come from?

[janee]

It's a real nice town. We got two mills and a general store, and everybody who wants work can get it. I like going to the school, but I don't like learning the numbers.

[event-return.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I don't know if it'll be the same, but when I was learning alchemy I had to learn a lot of stuff to do with numbers. I had to know the percentages of each element that made up all the things around me. The first step in doing a transmutation is understanding all of that stuff.

I bet you might need to understand all the things that happen when you travel too, before you can figure out how to control it.

[janee]

It is? I'll try to learn them more. The answers don't always come out the same which is why I quit sometimes.

[event-return.livejournal.com]

I can help you with that, don't worry.

Come on, I'll introduce you to Ed.