Nor the battle to the strong [Open]

[equivalent_trade]

Edward sat at an empty table in the mess hall, prodding with a fork at the glob of slop slowly congealing on his edible tray. He was a big eater, sure, and not too picky about most foods (save one), but this?

He let out a loud, exaggerated sigh, sprawling out across the bench. The red cloth of his coat fanned out on both sides of him, slithered down to touch the floor. He hadn't been able to find any of the others, which meant they were still in the pods. At the very least, he'd been assured that Alphonse's soul would be safe. As long as he was in stasis, anyway. That had to be the one bright spot in this nightmare.

Come to think of it, the whole last day had been like being a front-row spectator in an inevitable, slow-motion car crash. Sure, there was stuff here he couldn't explain. And everyone seemed to believe, to varying degrees, the whole Ohm story. But then there was the mention of mysterious meetings and shadowy enemies and the laughable (to him) reassurance that as long as they played by the rules, their universes could be 'restored'.

By who? And how?

He glanced back up at the slop and made a face. At least the water here was normal.

[Ed's open to conversation, but at this point will probably be hostile towards any mentions of previous Edwards on the ship. Fair warning!]

Comments

[noblefive]

Here's a familiar sight, though likely not at first. A 7'8" armoured so-and-so sits down nearby, reaching up to remove his helmet.

It's revealed to be the big, muscular dude from the podpop. His hardware is clearly military, and he's also wearing an unhappy scowl on his face as though he's been served something unpleasant.

...Which judging by the food, it isn't surprising.

[equivalent_trade]

Edward craned his head up to see who his company was, and... oh. It was Sir Stares-a-Lot from the pods. He laid back on the bench a few more moments before sitting up.

"What's the matter? Don't like your food?"

Edward? Immature? Nooo.

[noblefive]

Insulting the guy who looks like he can punch out a rhino? Good move, pipsqueak.

Jorge glances sidelong at the smaller alchemist and grunts.

"That's only part of the problem." He's lived on worse, but the ship's food made UNSC MREs look like gourmet cooking.

[equivalent_trade]

Ed had insulted bigger. Plus, he wasn't exactly good with the not-antagonizing-people-he-shouldn't-antagonize thing. He put his elbow on the table, rested his chin in his human hand.

"Oh, don't tell me. You're homesick already."

[noblefive]

Have a glare, Edward. Jorge isn't really in the mood to be insulted by someone he could stomp out of existance. Just because he's big, doesn't mean he's slow.

"I don't get homesick." He growls.

[equivalent_trade]

Take that, Mr. Needs-To-Shop-at-Big-and-Tall. Not that Edward even knew what a chain store was, of course.

"Okay. So if it's not the food and it's not home, what is it? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

[noblefive]

"Why should you care?" It's not said with any particular antagonistic tone, just the same growl as before. Because, in all honesty, why should a, in Jorge's mind, civvie be interested in the goings-on of a soldier? Especially when they're not from the same universes.

Besides, it should be pretty easy to guess what's wrong, if Ed was paying attention at that point. Jorge's little incident with the acting commander probably drew a lot of attention. They were both pretty big people, after all.

[sonofether]

"This seat taken?" The man standing before Ed's table was tall, dark of hair and skin, eyes obscured by a weird-looking pair of goggles. He too wore a coat of some sort over his plant suit, but his was white instead of red, and unaccented, save for a smudge of oil near one pocket. Interestingly enough, that substance seemed to be beading up on the cloth, instead of absorbing into it.

He didn't really wait for a response before depositing himself in the seat across from the shorter man, pulling a vial from his pocket and dumping it on the slop, then stirring it in, and digging it in. Mostly business.

"You new around here?"

[equivalent_trade]

Ed looked up at the man. Ishbalan?

Nahhhh. That'd be too much of a coincidence. He sat up a little reluctantly, slouching forward onto the tabletop instead. "No, go ahead and sit down. Sorry for taking up the whole seat."

Okay, the man had already taken a seat, but whatever. Details. "That's me. I woke up here yesterday." He extended a white-gloved hand to Stephen. "Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. Pleased to meet you."

[sonofether]

Stephen accepted the hand and shook it, though his brows arched at the title.

"And here I thought alchemy had been subsumed into other sciences. Still..." He shook his head. "Forgetting my manners. I'm Stephen Valkonan. Doctor, but I don't really stand on that formality here. Pleased to meet you as well, though I'm sorry about the surrounding circumstances."

[equivalent_trade]

"Subsumed into other sciences?" What other sciences? Wait. Wait wait wait.

"You're a doctor? What's your specialty?" That whole 'concern about the circumstances' thing fell by the wayside as Edward caught at what might be an opportunity staring him in the face.

[sonofether]

"Physics. Chemistry. Robotics, though I was interested in all of them and decided not to just settle on one, so I did them all." It didn't really hurt that you were a genius either, Stephen. He didn't feel the need to brag about it, however.

"Though I admit I still have a fondness for chemistry." His brows arched again. "Why do you ask? I didn't mean to disparage alchemy." Though it might be best to stop there, Stephen figured. He lifted a hand and adjusted his goggles a bit.

[equivalent_trade]

"Oh." Edward seemed to deflate a little, setting his chin back down on the table. "So much for that, I guess. I'm looking for a doctor with experience in prosthetic limbs."

For a moment, he was still. Then he shook himself suddenly, as if trying to work kinks out of his arms and legs all at once. "Arrrgh, this is so frustrating. I guess I'll just have to settle for a non-automail mechanic."

It wasn't a prospect he was looking forward to. Grumbling aside, he'd had access to some excellent technicians back in Amestris -- technicians that hadn't minded (much) when he came in with his arm nearly destroyed. Or when he asked for expedited service without appointment.

[sonofether]

"Oh? On my world, we were using robotics for prosthesis--so technically, I could be of some help, if you'd like. Automail? I don't think I've heard of that before..."

A fleeting, confused expression passed over Stephen's face. "Though there may have been some blueprints in the Media Library I looked over, a few times," he said, rubbing his chin. Then he snapped his fingers.

"Necessity is the mother of invention! I tell you what, you come down to my lab, and I can see what I can come up with. The worst that can happen is that I can't do a thing for you, and then, what have you lost? Nothing, I would hope! Besides, with the devices I have there, I shouldn't have to do anything to your existing prosthesics, either."

Though, truth be told, Stephen probably looked a little more excited than he should, by any right...

[greatergone]

Kais grabbed a seat in front of Ed, seeing that he wasn't eating. He may not have been a Water Caste diplomat but he could do his part for the Greater Good by making sure others ate the proper amount of nutrients. Unfortunately, he wasn't polite enough to remove his helmet before talking...that'll come soon enough when he gets around to eating.

"Do you dislike the food?"

[equivalent_trade]

"Huh?" Edward looked up, only to see a humanoid man wearing some kind of armor. Naturally, he assumed Kais was human (albeit a little on the short side, but hey, he was in good company).

"I think the real question is if this is really food. This isn't all there is to eat around here, is there?"

[greatergone]

"It fulfills your daily nutritional requirements so it is better than normal 'food'. You shouldn't require anything else." More Tau indoctrination for you.

Now he took the time to pull off his helmet, set it beside him, and eagerly dig into the slop. Don't judge, he actually enjoys this stuff.

[equivalent_trade]

Edward stared for a moment, watching Kais eat. Well, that was... new. But after the things he'd seen in Amestris, he supposed he shouldn't make too much of a fuss. At least the guy wasn't trying to spit venom in his face or something.

"Yeah, about that. Presentation is important, too, you know." But wait -- of course. Edward didn't have to eat this slop. In fact, he should have thought of this sooner.

He clapped his hands together; in response, the light of an alchemical reaction filled the immediate vicinity. When the electrical discharge cleared, Ed's slop was gone. In its place was a steak (medium well) and some nondescript vegetable matter. Hmm. He'd have to work out the exact composition of the slop later.

Edward took up his travel knife and fork, and began to eat.

[greatergone]

"This looks just-" There would have been more here about how one shouldn't ask for more than what was given but there was that demonstration. No, Kais knew little about magic, much less alchemy and he just stared, wondering what kind of technology he just used. Whatever he turned his food into was...not all that good looking.

[equivalent_trade]

"Huh?" Ed asked through a mouthful of food. "What'd you say?"

[fieldpromoted]

It was lunch hour for Starfighter Command, in between the morning's PT and drills and the afternoon's sortie exercises. Despite Trudy's effort to keep things a little more formal, she did exercises with everyone else and got just as rumpled. Her uniform's bomber jacket hung over her arm, which left her in the red high-collared shirt with its General's stripes on the shoulders.

Slop again, but who really cared at this point? She scanned the dining hall for a place to sit and her eyes lit on Ed. He didn't look familiar, and by this point she thought she had a handle on the familiar faces. Which meant he was one of the new ones. She picked his table to sit down at, but didn't say anything to him just yet. If he wanted to brood, that was fine. If he had questions - well, the stripes on her shirt were useful now and again.

[equivalent_trade]

Edward lifted his head up for a moment when Trudy sat down, but when it looked like she wasn't going to say anything, settled back into his position on the bench. If he applied himself, he could probably go to sleep right here. The thought was kind of tempting, actually -- weird as it might sound, these benches were somehow more comfortable than the ship's nostril beds.

Or he could find someplace in the City. He'd found his way there yesterday, walked around a little just to explore his new surroundings. Sure, plenty of the buildings were beat-up or outright falling over, but a few seconds' worth of quality alchemy would be able to fix that. And he should hit this Media Library, too -- find out what it had to say about their current predicament.

[fieldpromoted]

Trudy couldn't really see the kid on the other side of the table, so she just ate her slop for a minute. Being here for the better part of a year meant she didn't make faces or even taste it much. It was pretty tasteless anyway.

Eventually though, she did lean across the table. "You're not planning to take a nap out here are you? It gets pretty busy this time of day."

[equivalent_trade]

"That's okay," said Edward, "I've slept in weirder places." But he sat up, anyway -- he might not be as unfailingly polite as Alphonse, but he did have some semblance of manners. He put his head in his hands, resting his elbows on the surface of the table.

He glanced over at Trudy's slop. "Guess if it's the only thing on board, people have to eat it."

[fieldpromoted]

Trudy shrugged. "You could always go to the Sensoriums and have Stacy trick your brain into thinking you're eating something else," she said. "We do have at least one restaurant on board with real food but it's a hell of a trek down into the City and I've only got an hour."

She didn't extend her hand because she was sweaty and eating, but she did introduce herself. "General Trudy Chacon, Starfigher Command. I haven't seen your face around before."