[log] Did the devil say to you, you can make it through [closed]

[spoileralert]

Characters: Steph, Zach, Al, Church, Luna, Kesara, Watson, Quark, Tifa
Location Building 58 and environs
Date: Days 157/158
Summary: A meeting of many people
Warnings: In comment headers, please!

58: A simple single-story building, the snow weighs uneasily on it, and it creaks and groans under the strain at the best of times. It's very dark, and only the kitchen and living room are intact. The kitchen has a back door. Two snowmen have been built outside. A message has been written on the wall in blue ink: "Don't wreck the snowmen! That's super mean!" "ALPHONSE ELRIC, MAMI TOMOE, FREYA CRESCENT, GREED, EDWARD ELRIC, STEPHANIE BROWN, DAY FORTY ONE, TRAVELLING EAST." has been carved into one of the walls. The following has been written on the wall in blue pen: "This is Building 95 97 on the composite map. Contact @CaptSteveRogers for details." Underneath this is a fairly accurate map showing the house in relation to the school and buildings 29, 35, 35, 37, 40, 41, 47, 48, 50, 53. House 34 is labeled "Medical assistance; hot, clean water. Contact Dr. Epps @claytonator". The school is labeled "School. Food available in cafeteria; DO NOT STAY HERE OVERNIGHT." The shed is labeled "Shed".

Comments

[armoured]

[He's not surprised by the question, and he already decided to tell Watson. Maybe it would help him understand that terrible secrets can be shared without the world ending, or maybe it would just make him feel better to be in possession of someone else's secrets since Al had all of his now.]

We were trying to bring our Mom back.

[He glances behind to make sure nobody else is in earshot before continuing.]

It's forbidden for an alchemist to try and create life, it's-- Alchemy is based on equivalent exchange, that means you can't create something without giving something of equal value in return. So to make a human... it wasn't just forbidden and immoral, it was deemed impossible too. But Brother and I thought we could do it anyway, that it would be our secret.

You see... our Mom died when I was five, Brother was six, and it was just us left. So we left school a year later and went on our own to find an alchemy teacher, and to study everything we could find about human transmutation. We tried it when I was ten.

[Four long years of effort, four years of trying to find a way to get their mother back, they wanted to see her smile again so badly.]

It didn't work.

[There's an understatement.]

The transmutation rebounded on us for the price needed, the equivalent exchange for a human soul. Brother lost his leg, and I lost my entire body. Ed gave up his arm to bind my soul to this suit of armour and save my life. But-- it didn't change what we did, and that what we made... it wasn't even human. What we did was unforgivable, and we're paying the price for it every day, but we're trying to make it right.

[He won't go into how, he's talked enough. So he just reaches out to try and lay a hand on Watson's shoulder comfortingly.]

It's been five years since then and some people know what we did, and yet we still have the support of so many wonderful friends that I can't believe how lucky we are. What I'm trying to say is that it might seem like it's too hard now, or that the worst has happened, but-- I promise, having your secrets exposed isn't always the end of the world. A lot of people will still stand by you - friends, even people you don't know that well.

[He can't smile, but the expression is there in his voice.]

I know I will, for what it's worth.

[jumpthegun]

[That's very kind of you and all, Al, but John's full attention is wrenched over to Al with that story. Dear God does that ever explain a lot. And... 5 and 6? They'd lost her and went and studied up on something forbidden and... Al's spent 5 years, a third of his life like this. John does have the benefit of an expressive face, and there's nothing but sympathy now, his suspicious demeanor falling away.]

Al... you were just kids. And your mum. Of course that's not- no one would blame you for that. No one would blame either of you. You did something to try to get her back. You were ten. Of course that's forgivable. Of course, it is.

[He'll put his hand atop Al's larger one on his shoulder this time. At least John's not putting up a solid wall now? He's off on another issue, entirely.]

I'm so sorry people would expose that secret here or anywhere, but that's nothing for you to be ashamed of, Al. Just sounds horrible for the pair of you. I'm sorry.

[armoured]

Please don't be sorry.

[No, Watson, that was not the point of this story.]

I don't make excuses for what I did, and you don't have to either. We knew what we were doing was wrong, it's one of the worst crimes an alchemist can commit, and we did it anyway. But I'm sorry too, to have your secrets spiller like that isn't easy and you must feel scared. Just try to remember you'll move forward from it. You can move forwards from anything if you're determined enough.

[jumpthegun]

Al, in my world, there's a reason we have different justice systems for adults and minors. You aren't fully responsible for your actions, not at that age.

And I already told you I'll be fine. Really. I'm dealing with it.

[armoured]

[Keep telling him that, Watson, he doesn't believe it.]

Of course I was responsible for my own actions, no matter how old I was. That's ridiculous! Who else would be responsible for my actions?

[jumpthegun]

Your guardians, your teachers, the adults around you. I know you've done amazing things. You're still doing amazing things, but when you're that little, you don't have... your brain isn't even fully formed. The decisions you make don't have the benefit of years of experience and a developed center of reasoning. That's why we have those rules.

[armoured]

I guess that's another difference between our worlds, huh?

[He doesn't accept that as an excuse. He knows that he and Ed were fully cognizant of what they were doing and how wrong it was.]

We're just lucky that Colonel Mustang saw the potential in Ed and recruited him, instead of arrested us for what we did.

[jumpthegun]

Al, if Kesara murdered someone, would you treat it the same as if I did? Let's say we both had the same motivations and were going after the same person. Would you take her as being just as responsible for her own actions and deserving of the same punishment as me?

[armoured]

Of course.

[Is that a trick question?]

Kesara's not an idiot, she knows what she's doing. Why would it be any worse for you to murder someone, than if she did it?

[jumpthegun]

[Al... you're making this difficult.]

Because I'm adult. I'm in control of everything I do. Kids her age typically aren't. Whether it's because they've got someone minding them or because they just haven't got the experience to know the full ramifications of their actions. There's a difference. And there should be in how we've be treated.

[armoured]

Really, you don't think Kesara is in control of what she does?

[That's a little insulting, to be honest. They're not smart enough to accept responsibility because they're kids?]

If you'd told her, time and time again, that murder was wrong and she still did it anyway. She shouldn't be held responsible just because of her age?

[jumpthegun]

She should be held responsible in a different way. We don't let juvenile offenders get off free, but there are programs to help rehabilitate them, there are counselors, there are steps to figure out what went wrong and who went wrong to let them get to that point.

Adults you do have that more and more, but the emphasis is more on punishment for the crimes.

[armoured]

I think your world is very different from mine.

[And clearly weird.]

In Amestris, if someone commits a crime then they commit a crime. And I don't want to excuse my actions by pretending it was just because I was a kid, I knew what I was doing.

[jumpthegun]

[John just shakes his head. You're the one from bizarro world, Al.]

It's not an excuse. It's basic biological fact. The brains of children don't develop fully--their reasoning and inhibition centers don't develop fully--until adulthood. It wouldn't be fair to treat them the same.

[armoured]

You probably shouldn't tell that to my brother, he'd be pretty mad if he thought you were saying his brain wasn't fully developed.

[It's awful to think of Ed, a bittersweet sort of pain in remembrance, but he's not going to insult his memory by not talking about him.]

I've never heard that science before.

[jumpthegun]

It's a natural process of the brain and human development. There's nothing wrong with him, that's just the way we're designed. Brains reach their full maturation in your mid-to-early 20s. The prefrontal cortex where most of our decision-making, logical thinking, risk assessment, and impulse control goes on develops fully last. If you look at the brain of someone who's 15 and compare it to someone who's 25, there are physical and chemical differences. An older person's brain has more connections, it's larger, the triggers that make sure the chemicals in your brain are right are more on balance.

It's really not an insult, Al. It's biology.

[armoured]

[He's silent for the whole explanation just drinking it in. Though he still fundamentally disagrees with the idea that a child shouldn't be held culpable for their own decisions, he can't deny that he's fascinated. It shines through in the minutia of his body language, the slight lean in, the way his eyes remain fixed on Watson.]

Biology really isn't something I've studied much, but I'd love to know more about. Medicine too, it must be amazing to be able to help people in such an immediate way.

[Let's just move on to this, better than arguing more.]

You know, you're a lot friendlier than all the other doctors I know.

Pretend that said mid-to-late 20s... /o\

[jumpthegun]

[It is a better topic because it's a perfectly neutral one, and John's happy to latch onto it fully when Al offers him the opportunity. The compliment gets a mild laugh out of him, at least.]

Am I? Reckon that's only because I'm competing against Dr. House and Dr. Stein. [He shrugs.] Dr. Wilson's nice, too, from what I've seen of him. I like helping people. I like healing them. Not everything's physical that needs healing, and being able to get a patient to smile or laugh? I'd like to think that helps. Motivated people tend to heal faster and listen to my instructions better.

[armoured]

[No argument on Stein or House, though Al has avoided Stein since pretty much their first conversation. Hopefully nobody has noticed.]

I'd really like to be able to do that too; heal someone, I mean. Where I'm from, alchemy is primarily combat based, so all I really know how to do is fight. But over in Xing they have alkahestry, which is used to heal people from wounds almost immediately. It's amazing, and it must be so nice to know you're making a difference in a positive way.

[jumpthegun]

Fighting helps people sometimes, too, y'know? It's how we defend our country and our friends from harm. I was a medic when I was in the Army, but I wasn't with the medical corps, Al. I joined a combat unit--I wanted to fight, too.

[armoured]

Oh, I know. Fighting is sometimes necessary and it can protect the people around you, but it would still be nice to be able to help in a less, uh, destructive way.

[He shrugs.]

I don't think I'd want to give up fighting to be able to heal, maybe both is the best way. You're lucky, you know that?

[jumpthegun]

[Lucky. That gets a mildly bitter laugh from John. He covers it quickly with a shrug.] I loved doing what I did in the Army, yeah. And my work after. Maybe when you get back home, you can see about training to be a medic, yourself.

[armoured]

[Don't think he didn't hear that, mister.]

But you don't think you're lucky?

[Just asked mildly.]

[jumpthegun]

I was sent home from the war because of an injury, and lost my best friend on a case. I was lucky to have what time I did.

[armoured]

I'm sorry.

[He shrugs, metal clanking quietly.]

It's good that you can see how lucky you've been, though. I bet your friend would be proud of what you're doing here for everyone.