[ video ] Week Seventeen, Day One

[snapandspark]

[Ah, he'll give you video today. This is a time you want to know the faces of your allies and Roy Mustang is all about the timing. His expression is relaxed, dark eyes roaming over something in his hand. It does bother him, greatly, the turn of events from that little festival that they all attended some time ago. But this isn't about getting into

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[halflingfox]

You sound like you know what you're doing~. [Perhaps she sounds a bit flirty. She'd never act on it, but if it gets things moving in the way she wants, she's not above stroking a man's ego a bit.]

I'd offered to go help out in Yomisato, but this...sounds a bit more important. How can I help?

[ video ]

[snapandspark]

[If there is anything Roy likes, it's the stroking of his ego. And by a lady no less.]

You could say that that I'm skilled in situations like this.

[But business, he can't forget that.]

Yomisato seems to be a problem. Why don't you tell me what you were going to go and help with?

[ video ]

[halflingfox]

There were some caves; they wanted to fix them up to be liveable. With all of this anti-outsider sentiment, I can't say I blame them. Maybe we should all get together and make a village of our own.

[ video ]

[snapandspark]

[Living in caves, not high on his list. He's quite fond of for walls that aren't rock and a door for privacy. Even if they are weird.]

We'd still have to trade with them to have a prosperous village of our own. [Light, a bit of a smile, definitely not shooting that idea down. He has thought about it.]

What we need is their trust back. Not everyone feels the same.

[Video]

[ura_no_ura]

[ Ah, and if it isn't someone who'd like to create their own little army. ]

I take it you're proposing creating an organized force of "other-worlders."

[Video]

[snapandspark]

[Well now.]

We need something.

[Video]

[ura_no_ura]

You realize this will only exacerbate political tensions with the natives.

[Video]

[snapandspark]

I expect it will, at first. Even more reason.

[voice]

[firebornfidelis]

[ She doesn't speak right away. Digesting his video, as well as the current situation, she allows it to ruminate for a moment. It is Not Good, all of it, and hits a place so close to home for her that it almost hurts. There hasn't been any full-scale violence yet but she intimately familiar with this sort of situation and she knows exactly how easily tensions can escalate. And no one wants that. ]

Do you have a plan, sir?

[ This is Hawkeye, reporting for duty. She knows he's just as scared and just as determined as she is and, moreover, he is perfectly qualified for a thing like this. He was practically made for this. ]

[voice]

[snapandspark]

That depends. [He's got a few plans, after all, Hawkeye. Every outcome possible has to be covered.]

First, we need interest. It doesn't do us any good if we can't get a list together. [In other words, that's your job.]

[voice]

[firebornfidelis]

[ Well, she heard that unspoken command. You don't follow a man for more than a decade without learning something as simple as that. She might as well already have pen and paper in hand. ]

Parameters of this list, sir?

[ I.E., do you want me to go fishing for names and interest levels, skill sets, experience, or should I just write down anyone who answers to this post? In other words, how detailed a list are you looking for? ]

[voice]

[snapandspark]

I'll leave that up to you.

[Everything. Even though they're all out-worlders, he doesn't doubt that there might be a 'Kimbley' or two among them.]

[Video | Private] 1/2

[whitenighting]

[ The face is familiar - fuzzy, seen among all the rest at the party the other day... certainly the voice, though. The person after the monsters disappeared, the one that spoke.of his 'Lieutenant'. Roy... Mustang, was it?

Friendly bloke, actually. Very much so. It's why when the man suddenly turns serious he's a... little surprised for a moment. But not really.

And because the papers... all of them, but especially the one from Yomisato... it made him just stop at first and keep reading - that one in particular, that on on slavery... on... women and children... It's a dry-mouth kind of whole-body unsettle, something pinged hard in ways he can't quite understand. And it's strange, you know... because it's not that... it's not that he's surprised at all. It's not that... well, he knows Yomisato is a terrible place. But it's different to hear it, to see it... to see it paradedIt's the double-edged sword, the one that can set things aside to react to the situation at hand, to care for the details and the lives of the moment, but that

[Video | Private] 2/2 also just realizing sdfghdsj only knows first name, sorry

[whitenighting]

[ And he does pause, because that question before was really more rhetorical than anything. A clear blink at the Hitomi that's propped up so he can record the message, considering. Because even if nothing's been proposed it feels like something important to consider.

It's important, the idea and the conversation and all of this in front of them is unsettling and nothing to smile about, but he does a little, leaning back if weight still on elbows with a light smile. Almost casual a little friendly, and ah...

... He's not one to really be somber with someone just off the bat like that. And because he doesn't know you. It's not that he's distrusting exactly, but curious. He's not stupid to just presume anyone he hears from on the Hitomi is always proposing the right thing. In fact, there are quite a few unsavory sorts. But he doesn't get a bad feeling from you.

So he does have to smile a little at that, mirror the earlier quasi-jesting of the other man in his own way. Even if- ]

Sorry, it's just an observation.

[ Light smile is

[Video | Private]

[snapandspark]

[Oh, this kid. The kid that reminded him a bit of Fullmetal. Not as explosive, though. Pretty pleasant. Helping out is great kid, just as long as he knows what it is he's getting into. There could very well be battle over this.]

What makes you say that? [Oh, he knows. He hadn't don't very well at covering it up. It wasn't a big deal--if this kid were his enemy, he wouldn't have taken so long to make a move. Of course, you never know.]

[A bit of a pause.] It wasn't, no.

[But he sighs a little, maybe loosing some tension.] Well. There are a lot of things we need to do, but first, we should start out small. Organize ourselves. Open lines of communication.

Are you interested, kid? [You're younger than he is, you're still a kid.]

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[whitenighting]

[ An easier smile back, if a little tired. Set, looking forward. ]

I am. It's a little like what I did in my world, I suppose.

[ He almost... well, it's not about liking the idea more. But the idea of fighting to protect and helping people... It's a little different.

It's not just existing to destroy then, is it? It is, but... there's always been more. But he was the one who decided to make it more, so the idea of something like this here that's meant for more...

It's not a happy thing, any of this, but it does ease his heart a little in a strangely comforted way; the idea of being a weapon again more clearly not just a thing of destruction and not expected to bury his own desire to be something more. ] 

[voice]

[smiling_umino]

I understand where you're coming from. But I must ask. This is not your world. You, by default, have no association with those around you, save perhaps for your own comrades. You speak of unity and organization, but what for? Are you trying to say you are willing to risk your life for mere strangers?

People you have no ties to?

[Iruka is speaking not with hostility but not overly friendly either. Neutral. Like some sort of law officer in a courtroom asking questions. Impartial to neither this or that.]

I don't doubt your abilities or desire. But I question your resolve to pull this through. Why would you do it?

[voice]

[snapandspark]

We're all human beings, aren't we? [It's not a dismissal. It's an honest answer. They're human (or as close to one as they can get, some of them are freaks), they have feelings. He doesn't want to fight another senseless war.]

[voice]

[smiling_umino]

We are.

[It's quiet, perhaps a touch satisfied with the answer. Hard to tell, really.]

Perhaps that is reason enough. This world isn't easy, though. How much of yourself are you willing to gamble for a handful of strangers?

[voice]

[snapandspark]

Everything, and I expect the same of those who follow me.