[closed]

[alchemyfreak]

who: Catch-all post for Edward Elric
(Alphonse Elric, Jacob Kane, Frankenstein, Tony Stark (MCU) - will add if/as needed)
what: varies - catching up, explanations, and new meetings.
when: Sometime after the exploratory mission debriefing on floor six / the next day / 7/23
where: Mostly the beach for Al / Floor six for Cain and Tony / Coffeeshop for Al and Frankenstein
warnings: Discussion of rather graphic death, potential for details. If you're FMA '03 familiar, think Nina. Cain's log will also be about death!

Appropriate tags will have warnings in the subject line, should this come up.

Comments

[buildsomething]

He hummed a vague agreement as he turned Ed's arm over in his hands, eyes tracking every line like he was committing it to memory. Once he felt like he'd gotten a good enough sense of the basic shape of it, Tony ran his fingers over the casing to find the catches, nimbly pulling the outer shell open.

"As long as you don't need me to do the organic work," Tony agreed as he traced the lines of wiring with his fingers. "Not really my speciality. The rest of it looks doable, though."

He paused and glanced up at him. "You said you wreck it a lot. What kind of damage are we talking?"

[alchemyfreak]

It was still always weird to watch a new person messing with his arm, so Ed watched Tony's every move as he inspected his arm.

"Nah, the port's already installed and it would take a lot to need that replaced..." Someone would probably have to be going out of their way to forcibly remove it from his body, at this point. Which might end with Ed lucky to get out alive, nevermind needing the port replaced.

There was an installation process that connected the automail to his nerves, but Ed didn't think that really qualified as organic work. He'd slammed his own arm back into the port on his own in a pinch to stay alive, when it was removed by someone else. It would probably be a lot easier for Tony to do if it ever came to that, once Ed explained how it worked.

At the question though, Ed glanced away as if embarrassed having it addressed so directly. "Honestly, I haven't in years..." He just knew what he was like before, and the way the Quarantine was shaping up to be, he expected trouble. It's been banged up a few times but- the last time I wrecked it... May be five years, now." Not that he was dodging the question. He shrugged with his free shoulder, "Usually not enough damage to stop it from working. The outer casing or a finger breaks." It had been awhile since anything like his fight with Greed, or anything he did back home. "It's been- blown up once or twice, though."

That wasn't entirely accurate, Scar had blown it clear off once in the past, but Ed didn't think he'd come across a situation like that again. The second time Ed had transmuted the entire forearm in an attempt to kill Sloth so it being gone was his own fault. Considering the circumstances there he also doubted there'd be a repeat performance of that.

"It's been nearly ten years, twice isn't really that bad considering how much trouble I used to get into in the military." He made sure to say used to so there was no doubt it wasn't quite a habit anymore, even if he didn't know what situations were coming up that might change that. "Nothing like that happened since the first one of these portals I was dragged through."

[buildsomething]

Tony finally glanced away from the arm to the man himself, his expression measuring. There was a lot between the lines there -- Tony was a champion deflector himself, he knew where to look -- but after a moment or so he just shrugged and went back to studying the mechanics of it. He wasn't about to start interrogating someone he barely knew, and it probably wasn't anything he really needed to know anyway.

"Fair enough," he said, voice mild. "Once I get myself set up properly I'll probably able to do metal casting too, so that's not an issue. Probably wouldn't hurt to have spares handy -- heh, handy -- anyway, in case of emergencies." Big rule of engineering. You could never have too many redundancies. Especially not when it was involving important body functions.

[alchemyfreak]

Probably not, outside of the fact that the arm still functioned when beaten to hell and back. It would take a lot to wind up in the type of situation where his entire arm was destroyed again.

Ed nodded when Tony spoke next, brow quirking slightly at the joke but not commenting on it. "Yeah, just let me know when. This thing's built mostly from scraps, from where I was before here. The leg's from home though, mostly chrome and steel."

[buildsomething]

"Sure. Might be a little while for the full set, but I can probably manage smaller repairs pretty easy if and when you need them." He shot Ed a somewhat knowing look. Something told him this was a guy who got into scrapes pretty regularly.

He straightened back up slowly, rolling his shoulders to stretch the kinks out. "You know how to find me for emergencies. I'll let you know when I've got enough things together for you to swing by and I can take measurements and all."

[alchemyfreak]

He nodded at that, ignoring the look. "Thanks..." It was odd to think about how long it had actually been since the last time he even needed to think about this. He'd managed the entire year in Attollo without so much as a scratch, but the environment was different there.

"Sounds like a plan, I'll reach out if anything comes up in meantime." If, not when. Always the optimist about this thing.