Array 077 [Voice]

[bloodseal_soul]

I need to get back into training harder.

I've got a few new tricks I want to test out, too. I'll bring the armor, and we can do long-range moving target practice. Would anyone be interested?

Comments

[cornered_circle]

Armor? ...You 'ave a whole tank!?

[Voice]

[bloodseal_soul]

N-No, just a suit of armor.

[Voice]

[cornered_circle]

Oh.

...so you can't fire missiles?

[Voice]

[bloodseal_soul]

No, though that would be kinda neat.

[Voice]

[cornered_circle]

Maybe in a future model?

Ah - can I ask you somethin'? It's a smudgeish odd.

[Voice]

[bloodseal_soul]

Maybe. I'm sure I could figure it out, or Winry could.

Sure, go ahead.

[Voice]

[cornered_circle]

Winry? Friend 'a yours?

See, ah, there's a couple chemicals I'm lookin' for, and I'm a little at a loss as to how to gain 'em, and you seem like the go-to person for a lot of people. You and the doctor-inkeeper woman, but doctors make me hedgy.

[Voice]

[bloodseal_soul]

Yes, that's right. She's a mechanic.

Sure, that shouldn't be a problem at all. What do you need?

[Voice]

[cornered_circle]

A nice, normal career. Good - everyone 'ere's so special.

Really? ♥ I can find something to pay you with. ...It used to come in bottles with different brand names, but I think I can mix it myself if I've the right parts. Like the bottles were totally no help at all, talkin' about "extra additive chemicals!" but not saying what they are. Don't tell me nothing. But it's mostly formaldehyde... some sorta humectants... colored dyes... silicone oils? Linolin for somethin...

[Voice]

[bloodseal_soul]

[Al laughs a little.] I don't think it's the career that makes someone special, really.

Of course!

Formaldehyde, humectants are propylene glycol, that's an alcohol, lanolin and silicone oils are fatty oils in most cosmetics, the dyes are easy...

[There's a long pause -- he's got a good idea of what was "in the bottle" but he says nothing.]

I can find most of that if I take it from common household products, and the rest shouldn't be hard to find. If you bring me the bottle I could put it together and mix it for you. Some of those chemicals are dangerous if you mix them together in the wrong amounts, so you probably shouldn't do it yourself.

[Voice]

[cornered_circle]

But so many of you have... talents 'an curses 'an things. It's kinda nice to be reminded that someone can just be a mechanic.

...You know it better than I do. [She laughs, a little nervously.] But you can really make it? I didn't think it'd be tha' simple. But yes, yes, I can bring the bottles, but I don't think it's that dangerous 'less I set it on fire. Can't 'arm nothin.

[Voice]

[bloodseal_soul]

I think this place does its best to attract people with oddities, really. That would explain a lot. People who make ripples in time.

[Oddly, Al says nothing about that, nor does he ask her why she wants it -- though only people who know him well will find that strange.]

I guess you're right, but propylene glycol alone can cause poisoning if it's applied directly to the skin. I'd hate to have you accidentally splash yourself.

[Voice]

[cornered_circle]

I s'pose that could be it. The universe cleaning up itself by sticking all the mess-causers in one place.

...Ah, really? Well, a bit a' poisoning now and again ain't so bad. I can be careful!

[Voice]

[bloodseal_soul]

That's a depressing way to look at it. I prefer to think that there's some good we can do here, and things we can learn.

If... you're sure.

[Voice]

[cornered_circle]

Like... provin' our worth to the universe, so it keeps us around?

Very sure!

[Voice]

[bloodseal_soul]

Or something. Even if I'm only someone's toy, I don't intend to sit back and accept it.

Okay then.