[This isn't like one of his posturing matches with the Colonel where he's not willing to give an inch, and he can admit when Lenalee has a point there. Actually, her answer calms him down quite a bit, and the most of the anger drains from his features, though he remains dead serious.
Ed had thought she'd been taking the term lightly when she'd used it, which pissed him off, but when she puts it to him in that light...he can definitely understand that.]
No. I never said that I was. I've known people who've seen a lot worse than me. [The Ishbalans, for example. And the soldiers that were responsible for that war-massacre.]
Even my own brother's had worse than me [Because of me.] Heh, if anyone would know about hell, it'd be him...
[The hell that you put him in, right, Edward? a voice at the back of his head jeers. Can you imagine going through life without touch, taste, smell? Spending every night alone while others sleep? Ed is silent for a moment.]
And for the record, that isn't the extent of anything. There are just some things I don't talk about with people I've just met. Everyone's got their secrets.
To be honest, I'm still not sure if I believe there isn't a way out. But...yeah, I can see how that could be a kind of hell. things left unfinished at home, important things, that'd piss anyone off.
Still don't know about these gods either. Went to a place once, called Liore. They had a so-called prophet they looked up to as a god. Passed off alchemy as miracles and made them believe they could even resurrect the dead. Sounds a lot like what people are describing here.
[Lenalee calms a little as he does. She can at least realize that it's not really him she's mad at. It’s too easy to lash out at the easiest target, with things as they are. If he’s willing to be civil, she will be too.]
[It picks at her curiosity, but she doesn't ask him about his brother.]
I didn't intend to pry.
[“Everyone's got their secrets.” He's going to have a very rude realization that that really isn't true here, when he dreams. But Lenalee can at least appreciate the sentiment.]
I have to believe that there's a way out, but none of us have found it. And there are some people who have been here a very long time. [Though she isn't really sure that those people are even looking.]
[She tilts her head a little.]
Alchemy?
[That's something she knows very little about, though the word is vaguely familiar. Resurrecting the dead hits much closer to home, though, and her eyes immediately narrow in suspicion.]
[A slight frown at that as she considers.] I'm not sure. About a month, I think. Time is a little off here. [She can't think of a better way to put it. It's not something she notices while going about her day, but when she stops to think back on a previous day things seem... odd. Not in any describable way, but odd.]
[She's releaved to hear that he has no delusions of bringing the dead back to life. If it was believed that such a thing was possible through alchemy, surely the Earl would find a way to exploit that belief. She can see that something about the words pain him, but says nothing.]
[He's latching onto that as a subject change, trying to steer it entirely away from the last line of conversation. It's one of those things he doesn't like to talk about, even to the people who know about it.]
[A small shrug.] Sorry, it's hard to explain. I guess it just feels like time passes... fluidly, here. Like it's not always the same, and sometimes it's hard to think straight about when things that happened.
[He's not sure what to make of that, so he decides to file that away as something he'll have to experience for himself. Assuming he stays long enough to actually notice. Which he doesn't plan on doing.]
Ed had thought she'd been taking the term lightly when she'd used it, which pissed him off, but when she puts it to him in that light...he can definitely understand that.]
No. I never said that I was. I've known people who've seen a lot worse than me. [The Ishbalans, for example. And the soldiers that were responsible for that war-massacre.]
Even my own brother's had worse than me [Because of me.] Heh, if anyone would know about hell, it'd be him...
[The hell that you put him in, right, Edward? a voice at the back of his head jeers. Can you imagine going through life without touch, taste, smell? Spending every night alone while others sleep? Ed is silent for a moment.]
And for the record, that isn't the extent of anything. There are just some things I don't talk about with people I've just met. Everyone's got their secrets.
To be honest, I'm still not sure if I believe there isn't a way out. But...yeah, I can see how that could be a kind of hell. things left unfinished at home, important things, that'd piss anyone off.
Still don't know about these gods either. Went to a place once, called Liore. They had a so-called prophet they looked up to as a god. Passed off alchemy as miracles and made them believe they could even resurrect the dead. Sounds a lot like what people are describing here.
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[It picks at her curiosity, but she doesn't ask him about his brother.]
I didn't intend to pry.
[“Everyone's got their secrets.” He's going to have a very rude realization that that really isn't true here, when he dreams. But Lenalee can at least appreciate the sentiment.]
I have to believe that there's a way out, but none of us have found it. And there are some people who have been here a very long time. [Though she isn't really sure that those people are even looking.]
[She tilts her head a little.]
Alchemy?
[That's something she knows very little about, though the word is vaguely familiar. Resurrecting the dead hits much closer to home, though, and her eyes immediately narrow in suspicion.]
You can use that to bring people back to life?
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A long time? How long are we talking, here? [Specifics are always important. Frames of reference. Parameters.]
[The next question though, that one hits home, and hard. For a moment there's just silence, before finally he answers.]
No. You can't.
[His tone is heavy when he speaks, weighted with something much more than an expression of simple fact.]
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[She's releaved to hear that he has no delusions of bringing the dead back to life. If it was believed that such a thing was possible through alchemy, surely the Earl would find a way to exploit that belief. She can see that something about the words pain him, but says nothing.]
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[He's latching onto that as a subject change, trying to steer it entirely away from the last line of conversation. It's one of those things he doesn't like to talk about, even to the people who know about it.]
Didn't get your name, by the way. I'm Ed.
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Oh, I'm Lenalee Lee.
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Good to meet you, Lenalee.
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You too, Ed.
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