route_1065 | APPARENTLY THIS GAME HAS A LOGS COMM?

Entry tags:

APPARENTLY THIS GAME HAS A LOGS COMM?

Who: Emmy Altava (

snapandscoot) and Solf J. Kimblee (

explosivecombat). SOMETHING DIFFERENT, I KNOW...............
Where: Lake of Rage
When: Forward dated about a week or two!
Summary: Emmy cashs in on that promise Kimblee made to take her away for a few days or two; also, a chat about his past which may or may not end rather badly.
Rating: PG at most, again.
Log:

It hadn't taken very long for Emmy to make it to Mahogany town, all things considered; the combination of Fly, her bike and Surf cut the travel time down quite significantly. Throughout the journey, the information Descole had given her played through her mind constantly. Could it really be true?

There was only one way she was going to find out properly; asking the man himself. But she dreaded the thought of that conversation. Her and Kimblee had had some difficult conversations in the past, but this...this would be the hardest.

She didn't want to risk hurting him. What if it was just a very cruel rumour? What if he was badly upset by it? She'd been a mess the last time they'd nearly said good-bye to each other for good, and that time he had apologized, brought her back....would he do the same this time, if things went badly?

But she pushed that to the back of her mind as she laughed and grabbed his arm, working to keep her balance on top of Nagara, his Steelix. He had kept his promise and was taking her to the Lake of Rage, north of Mahogany town. Her gym battle could wait; the gym wasn't going anywhere, after all.

"Ah, I can see it, Mr Kimblee! Look, it's beautiful!"

Her camera is out in seconds, snapping photographs of the lovely view Nagara is giving her of the lake. She takes some time to snap one of her charming companion, and the Steelix itself. It makes her think of the gift she's got in her bag for him, and she smiles to herself.

With any luck, he'll love it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It totally is.

As it stands, Kimblee spends a good long moment blankstaring like a boss at the baby Abra from right the hell out of nowhere; the expression shifts from "utterly bewildered" into "incredibly amused" rather quickly.

"'AJ', Miss Altava...?"

Do tell him that doesn't stand for what he thinks it stands for. Because oh, god, he thinks he knows what it stands for.

"Abbie Junior, of course! That's what she is, after all!"

The pair of Psychic Pokemon promptly teleport outside, Abbie Senior promptly throwing Abbie Junior through the air, only to teleport over and catch her in a fit of giggles. After a few repeats (coupled with their facepalming trainer watching through the window), Emmy's Nidoqueen stomps over and rages at the Alakazam, who continues to look innocently amused.

'By the way, I heard on the grapevine that you're a mass murderer! Isn't that crazy?'

"I swear, Abbie acts like her older sister more than her mother. That's Nida's job."

Shaking her head, Emmy lets out a mock sigh, trying her hardest not to smile. She fails.

"It's certainly an experience, raising these things."

'Seven years in solitary confinement, Mr Kimblee? That's certainly something!'

Her hand begins to shake, the tea in her cup swishing slightly against the sides.

'The highest kill count in the war...you're one hell of an achiever!'

Oh, god, why can't she stop thinking about it? Why?

Kimblee's gaze shifts outside properly for the first time since they've arrived at the café; judging from the vague smirking crossing his features, he's rather amused.

"I'd imagine so - "

He doesn't finish his thought, however, his attention given to the sudden shaking Emmy's doing across the table.

"Miss Altava...?"

Emmy slowly places the teacup down, glad that the cafe appears to have emptied for the time being. It won't make what she has to say easier, but it does...make it a bit more tolerable.

"....Mr Kimblee."

As Nida bundles up AJ and takes her away, Abbie glances over at the window, before disappearing into the air. It's time.

"I...I want to apologize in advance, before I say this, but I...I have to talk to you about it. It's digging away at me."

And she was having such an incredible time, too. Her heart sinks.

"Recently I was informed by...someone I know, that....."

...how in the hell does she say this? That you're a mass murderer? An ex-con?

"...they gave me some information about you that was given to them by someone in the Amestrian military. About....your past, Mr Kimblee."

"Oh?"

Kimblee's demeanor doesn't change entirely, but he is much more guarded - something reflected in his positioning as he settles back in the chair, folding his arms across his chest.

"Well, I don't see why we can't discuss it. What sort of information, if I may?"

He almost doesn't have to ask; that pause before she continued on told him just about everything that he needed to know.

She notices the change in his demeanour immediately, and it depresses her. She can't exactly blame him, however, and hates herself for springing this on him when they were having such a lovely time. But if she holds it in any longer she'll end up blurting it out at some hideously inappropriate moment, and she'd much prefer to spare him that.

"...about a war that you took part in; my friend called it more of a genocide. I....."

Taking a deep breath, Emmy straightens her posture and folds her hands on the table. That's enough stuttering. Just spit it out, woman. Be a damn lady.

"The exact information was that you had a killcount of many thousands, and spent seven years in solitary confinement for the murders of five of your superior offices."

Closing her eyes, she sighs softly, before reopening them and gazing at him levelly.

"I want you to know that the reason I'm telling you about it is that I believe you have the right to know that someone you know is spreading this information...and I wanted to check with you that it's correct. I didn't want to assume anything."

Finished for now, Emmy grows quiet, her calm facade slipping slightly as a look of sadness crosses her face.

Such a lovely time.

Kimblee takes in all of that in silence; he leans forward again, bracing his arms against the table. There's nothing casual about the shift; his expression has gone rather cold. It isn't anger, and he clearly isn't upset - there's simply nothing.

"I won't lie to you, Miss Altava; what you've heard is true. I imagine you have questions. You're more than welcome to ask."

Emmy looks stunned for a moment, blinking stupidly.

"O-Oh, I....I see."

...so Descole's informant was telling the truth. She almost doesn't know how to react. How on earth is one supposed to react in this situation? A reassuring pat on the back? Recoiling in disgust? Throwing the table out the window?

"Well, I...I don't know what to ask, exactly."

Oh she has questions; they're flying around in her mind, but she can't bring herself to voice them as of yet.

"It's....quite a revelation."

"...let me explain something about how our country goes to war, Miss Altava, as I've no doubt that you're wondering how a kill count that high is even possible, much less something that any single human being can carry out and still retain any claim to their humanity."

His voice is even, calm; there's still that cold, dark void behind his gaze.

"The war started as an attempt to suppress a riot in that particular region; in the fray, an Amestrian soldier accidentally shot an Ishvalan child. The child died; the rioting escalated. The war continued for several years; neither side was willing to back down. It became a case of who was going to be proven right, and who was going to be dead. As the people of Ishval had been receiving illegal weapons from the neighboring country of Aerugo - one with a history of hostility toward Amestris, wanting to see us destroyed from the inside - the war looked as though it could sustain itself indefinitely.

As such, a special division of the military were called in to the front lines. State Alchemists."

He pauses for a moment, taking a sip of that tea in front of him; his tone has remained perfectly even the entire time.

"Amestrian alchemy consists of far more than turning lead into gold - that sort of thing is actually illegal, given that it's good for nothing but upsetting the economy. Rather, it's the general power to transmute substances into one thing or another, as long as it adheres to the general principle of Equivalent Exchange. You cannot create from nothing, nor can you render into nothing - for something to be gained, something else must be lost, and vice-versa. It's a very simple concept. The consequences for breaking it are horrible, as a toll is often exacted against the alchemist in question. But that's not the point right now.

The point is that some of this alchemy can be weaponized. Human beings capable of being used as literal flamethrowers, or capable of shifting the very surface of the ground itself. These are the people who bear the title of 'State Alchemist.'

Obviously, I was one of them at the time. The State Alchemists ensured that a war that had carried on for several years came to a close in a matter of months.

My kill count is nothing that was carried out with a gun, or any sort of traditional weapon. Due to the nature of what I can do, it was highly destructive from the start. Most of my kills were done at a great distance; those that were close-up have remained with me. I've never forgotten their faces; it would be highly disrespectful to do otherwise."

"...alchemy?"

This has gone from terrifying into a whole new level of pure weird; Kimblee is an Alchemist?

She pauses for a moment to ponder that, thinking hard. That sort of thing...well, it sounds like magic. But Kimblee doesn't fit her idea of a bearded, robe-wearing wizard.

....wait a minute....

"...for your....your alchemy, do you...use circles?"

He seems to relax a bit at that question, actually; it's...surprisingly normal, given the rest of the conversation that's happening.

"Transmutation circles, yes; they're essential to performing alchemy."

It's about then that he realizes why she's asking, his gaze flicks down to his gloves. "Yes, you've already seen mine once."

"Yes, that's why I was asking. I mean, I had seen them before, I just..well at the time it wasn't-

....right, what I'm really asking is if I could possibly see them again, Mr Kimblee!"

Going into the mechanics of his alchemy seems like the wisest thing to do while her mind tries to wrap itself around the thought of him being....well, everything he's just admitted to being. She would be lying if she said she didn't find the thought fascinating, after all.

"I suppose there's no harm in it."

At least her delivery honestly seems to amuse him, though it doesn't quite carry through to his actions. He hesitates a bit before slipping his gloves off - first the right, the left following shortly after; he finds himself checking through habit to see whether she has anything sharp in her hands before extending his toward her.

It doesn't even matter anymore; it hasn't mattered for seven and a half months. And yet he still finds himself checking.

His right hand seems to have taken a fair amount of damage - of course there are the newer, lighter marks that imply that he's been burned fairly recently, but there's also a line of old scarring raking across his palm that appears to have been there for well over a year now. But the circle is still connected and visible, dark against his skin, while his left hand doesn't appear to have taken any damage at all - he could still use them if Johto allowed.

The opposing triangular marks inscribed inside of them, the symbols for the sun and the moon, the lettering around the edges...it's been a while since he's shown them to anyone. They're nothing but identifying marks here; that thought itself is insulting.

As her eyes trail over the symbols, Emmy finds herself fascinated and forced to restrain the urge to reach for her camera. She appreciates the fact that Kimblee is showing her these marks; she doesn't need him getting upset at any inappropriate behaviour.

...despite these thoughts, she can't resist gently trailing a finger along the symbol on his left hand, since it doesn't appear to be injured. The designs are simple yet intricate, the lettering tiny but perfect, the symbols crisp and clean.

One thing is for sure; these circles are works of art.

"....they're beautiful, Mr Kimblee."

She blinks softly, after she says that...beautiful. But they're what powered his alchemy, which was how he murdered all those people...they're his weapons. It's getting to be too much to take in all at once.

"...I take it they don't work here, then."

Kimblee doesn't flinch when she reaches out to touch the array; he keeps an eye on what she's doing, of course, but he isn't any more wary than he normally is. Her touch is soft, and her words seem to please him a good amount.

"They don't, no. It troubled me a good amount at first - alchemy has been my primary defense for quite some time, to say nothing of the fact that things like that are closely tied to your sense of self; it's a rather deeply-woven part of an alchemist's life, and it's incredibly difficult to even consider giving it up voluntarily, much less having it taken from you.

It doesn't bother me quite as much now, however; adapt and overcome."

"....I see."

Finishing her examination of the circle, Emmy leans back up, looking at him curiously.

"You spoke about the different sorts of ways alchemy manifests itself according to the Alchemist using it....what does yours do? Do you channel energy through the circles, or place something on them, or...maybe..."

She slips her hands underneath his, gently tilting them inwards slightly so she can examine the arrays closer, and potential ways they might match.

"....clap your hands together? To make the circles meet?"

Kimblee allows her to shift his hands a bit, offering neither resistance or assistance; he's aware that this is a nice distraction, nothing more, and eventually the question of exactly what he does will come up.

He's content to let her distract herself for now.

"You're very good at this, you know - yes, that's how they work. I can do very minor transmutations one-handed, as they are complete arrays by themselves, but clapping them together is what activates them properly, so they can be used to their full potential."

Edited 2012-05-13 15:42 (UTC)

"Ah, it's all guesswork Mr Kimblee; but remember, I assist with solving puzzles for a living! This isn't overly tricky to figure out."

She's very aware he's avoided the question.

"I mean, why have them on both hands if they didn't work together somehow?"

She needs an answer.

"So, ah....how does it manifest? Your alchemy, I mean. Besides turning lead into gold, I suppose~!"

"Believe it or not, I've never tried transmuting gold; again, it's illegal in Amestris, and as such I didn't even realize that was the popular perception of it until arriving here."

He pulls his hands back toward him a bit, tracing over the marks on the uninjured left hand with the fingertips of his right as he speaks.

"To give you a very basic description, the particular alchemy I utilize is based around kinetic and potential energy; activating my arrays allows me to manipulate that energy within objects, or to redirect the energy from my surroundings into said objects. The energy overloads the subject; this causes an explosive reaction.

I can force explosions out of just about anything I'm given; some things are obviously more difficult than others. In Ishval it was primarily the ground, or buildings themselves; if utilized to its fullest potential, the alchemy I'm known for is capable of destroying entire districts with one strike."

....well. That was one way to completely explain everything.

Explosions.

Of course.

"So that....was how you fought in the war, then."

She moves back until she's sitting properly on her seat, looking down at her now lukewarm tea with a nervous frown.

"I....don't know what to say, Mr Kimblee."

Once Emmy sinks back into her chair, Kimblee busies himself with his gloves, sliding them back on to cover the arrays. He's more comfortable with them on than the other way around; the thought disgusts him somewhat.

"It was, yes. I imagine this also explains those thousands of deaths you were asking about."

"....it does, yes."

She turns to look out the window, then, searching for something to momentarily take her mind off everything. She sees Magik in the distance, splashing around with another Gyarados, and Nida and AJ in front of the window, the Nidoqueen happily feeding the baby Abra berries. Abbie is invisible behind her, inside the restaurant, and Emmy can sense her concern. A lot of her Pokemon were concerned, really, when they found out the truth about her friend.

Emmy is trying her hardest not to judge him, but she's never...well. One doesn't usually tend to converse with people who have killed even one person, let alone....thousands. But he's still Mr Kimblee, isn't he? He's still her friend, the one she enjoys spending so much time with. Does this have to change everything?

"...it must have been a terrible war."

She's never seen war outside novels, and does that even count? How could she possibly judge him for what he's done when she has no idea what sort of stress a person could be under in that horrible sort of situation?

"Mr Kimblee, can I...."

The civilian deaths, as horrible as it sounds, are explainable; Descole said it himself. It was a war situation. Kimblee is a soldier.

...an incredibly good soldier, by the sounds of it.

"....can I ask why you...the superior officers...why you killed them."

Kimblee nods a bit at the assertion about the war - his own thoughts regarding anything that happened there aside, objectively speaking yes, it was terrible; there's no sense in denying that. An entire group of people was annihilated; he supposes it's a shame.

As for her next question...well. He'd expected that eventually; he keeps his gaze downcast, continuing to fuss with his gloves, while he answers her.

"Well, first of all, given what I've told you about alchemy, I wouldn't be surprised if you found it to be a horrible craft; that's far from the case. Those of us who join the military are looked down upon in society - considered freaks, called the 'dogs of the military;' one of the basic tenets upheld by alchemists is that of 'Be Thou For The People," meaning that alchemy is to be used for the benefit of mankind. Most alchemists interpret this as requiring a pacifistic - or at least nonaggressive - standpoint. Those in the military see it differently; they see no reason why using alchemy to defend their own shouldn't be considered as valid a means of service as anything else.

With that in mind, there are certain things that are considered unforgivable, even among those of us who have chosen to serve the military. Unfortunately, the first law binding State Alchemists is that we must obey the military at all costs, regardless of how repulsive we find their orders or actions."

And all of that is true. It's perfectly true; just misleading as hell. This is what Kimblee does, what he's good at; not necessarily lying, just presenting things in a way that's favorable.

"The men I killed had ordered and taken part in one of the acts considered an abomination, both against nature and against humanity. When the war broke out, there were soldiers of Ishvalan heritage among our ranks; they had sworn loyalty to Amestris, yet they were sequestered by the Amestrian military anyway - they were imprisoned deep in Ishval and, as it turns out, subjected to horrifying human experimentation while locked behind bars or tied down like dogs. Several of these experiments involved using alchemy in ways that I won't describe unless asked; should you choose to do so, bear in mind that these are things that human weapons consider unforgivable.

Again, having joined the military in the first place, it was no longer my place to judge or speak out against such things. However, these people had committed sins against nature; from an alchemist's standpoint, they had forfeited their right to even be considered human, the things they had done were that hideous."

He leaves it there for now; he imagines the implications will do the rest for him.

Emmy listens quietly to his story, shuddering slightly. His world...it sounds so violent and terrible. She misses London. Even if Johto really isn't that bad of a place, it just can't compare to home. Especially not with all this Team Rocket business driving her crazy. So she focuses on what Kimblee is saying to her, trying to block out such thoughts. She can't go home right now, so it's pointless dwelling on it.

As his explanation continues, she begins to see him in a different light. Or rather, it's closer to how she saw him before Descole informed her of his past.

"So you....you killed them because they were evil people, Mr Kimblee."

She knew it would be worth talking to him about this! Emmy relaxes slightly in her chair, a small, relieved smile coming across her face. He's practically a hero of justice!

"Well, I don't see why that's anything too bad! I mean, if what you said is true and they were doing all those horrible things, I....w-well I don't condone murder, per say, but your world sounds so violent and terrible, I mean, what else could you do to get rid of them?"

...as she continues, however, that smile fades, and she picks up her teacup out of habit.

"...it's just a shame that you had to suffer for it. Seven years, that's....quite a long time."

"It's fine now; the leader of our country reviewed my case eventually. I suppose he found it sympathetic, though I don't know for sure; I was told not to ask questions upon my release. But the point is that I was pardoned several months ago, in Amestris' time; obviously, it's been longer for me what with the time that's passed here - a bit over a year."

He pauses for a moment, finally making eye contact with her again properly. "It wasn't too horrible, all things considered. I was never mistreated or deprived. Looked down upon, surely, but that was to be expected, given what I'd done.

That's why I don't do terribly well in caves here, by the way. Small, dark spaces, combined with the lack of stimulus outside of the constantly repeating music, aren't terribly kind to me. It wasn't exactly an issue in Amestris; I think it's the music that's doing it somehow. But it does some unpleasant things to my head."

APPARENTLY THIS GAME HAS A LOGS COMM?

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