[The feed clicks on with Alphonse inside a dark room, with the camera (and lit screen) shining toward a door with an old lock.]

Ed? Brother!

[Al tries the lock again. It won't budge.]

Oh for- now? Really?

Yes! Really, really! [Ed's voice comes from the other side of the door.]

You could have at least left the light on.

What? And make it easy ( Read more... )

[Clap. Rush of blue light.]

... no. This isn't...

[The distant roar of rain, thunder. Finally, Al pulls the PCD from his soaked pocket. Though his voice is very calm, there is something in his eyes that is... worried. Desperately worried. The rain runs down his face, even underneath the soaked hood of his coat.]I can transmute the water away from ( Read more... )

[The video feed turns on. Alphonse is sitting outside -- probably because he can't feel how cold it is. He keeps opening and closing a hand as the steady raindrops blur the screen, as if he can will himself to feel them ( Read more... )

[Transmutation circles are done in chalk on the floor, the PCD set well away from it. This time, though... this time they're in large, sweeping designs, a strong break from the normal geometric circles and lines anyone will have seen the alchemists draw. In several places the chalk has splintered and there are red streaks, as if the person drawing ( Read more... )