riverviewlogs | Open Log

Entry tags:

Open Log

who: Jason Todd and open
what: Early August Catch-All
when: 1st - 15th
where: The Housing, The Quartine, Trixie, Around the city...wherever.
warnings: Will update as needed

Floor Six
Jason had returned home the way he usually does, with a bag in hand, some stuff to make dinner later, some drinks, tonight it was the closest thing he could find to sports drinks. And once the bags were unloaded he moved to his bed yanking his boots off, peeling off his shirt and throwing it on his bed and plugging his phone in to chrage turned off so it would charge faster. A quick shower compared to normal was taken as he made his way back out his clothes changed and vigorously drying his hair before grabbing his phone and heading to the kitchen.

He was planning to pull Edward aside now that the mission was done and talk to him, about what he had realized at the dance. he had been to hung over and tired before they left and the mission was no time for that. So, he turned on a song loud enough to be annoying with it and started to pull stuff out to get started on dinner. He figured if he was loud enough, Edward would appear... or someone. Anyone really. He was lonely but wasn't the type to ask for company in a conventional way.

The Quarantine
After he got bored with being at home, Jason picked up the latest book he was reading and headed out to his usual haunt. He knew he should be going to Trixie to support his younger brother, and Loki but he liked the idea that basically no one knew him at the other bar. Ordering up a mug of beer then going back to one of the tables by himself to read. Sure he could drink back in the room but he had always enjoyed haunting bars. A lot could be learned in bars.

Namely for a vigilante looking for a way to break into the criminal underground. But for now, he sat reading Pride and Prejudice, a notebook beside him half filled with notes about other books he had been reading. The differences in them. He knew this book cover to cover, and he was ready to be more offended than when he read the zombie variant.

Out and About
After another day spent working for the guard, Jason made a detour from his usual routine instead of heading home to peel off his uniform and shower, instead he had a change of clothes that he had already switched into. A pair of black leather pants and a black t-shirt with a red leather jacket hanging over it. Sure it was hot but he didn't care. He moved to walk around the city.

One of the places he stopped was to look over cars, more so looking for something in his price range. While he wanted a motorcycle he was wondering if a car wouldn't be wiser in a place like this. He was here a long while. Eventually deciding that today wouldn't be the day he'd finally get some wheels.

Back on track, he moved along walking to look for an arcade or laser tag. Something he could not only drag the boys to like he had promised Jon, but something he could take Ed to for their auction date.

Trixie
After a long day of walking around, Jason finally made his way into the bar he had made a point of avoiding. He really had no reason for avoiding the place. He had no issue with Tim anymore, and Loki was fun. He had just been going out of his way to avoid places he expected to be known. So as he made his way inside pulling his jacket off hanging if over his shoulder. He stopped long enough to look for a face he knew before walking on to take a seat at the bar.

He didn't know what he expected when he came in, but he ordered a drink and waited quietly for it. His eyes taking in the place. It really was nice.

Wild Card

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Luckily, it was highly unlikely anyone was going to bother torturing people for info on the Elrics in Riverview. Ed watched Jay pour the drink in silence, leaning back against the counter now, only for something to do. Yeah, sitting was never a good idea for this talk, he just wanted to move, even now.

"You can say that again." What's dead is meant to stay that way, but what about Ed? He'd died, and came back - not in some Purg half-life, he was actually alive here, he was actually alive in Attollo. The idea sent a flicker of doubt through him, Al had commented more than once on how different he was, he knew calling him weird had only been a joke, but- it lingered. He knew compared to what Al was used to, he was weird. He wasn't the brother Alphonse left behind coming here, and every time it was pointed out it ate at him a little more. You never come back right. That thought lingered, because until now he'd never thought about it. Never worried about what he was missing, or what might be different - but between this conversation, and the way his brother looked at him sometimes... Ed realized something was off, he just didn't know what.

"We didn't want to. I thought if I just- ignored it, it would go away. Al... He tried to stop me, he- actually prevented me from attacking her, even as she tried to kill us." Well, him, but he wasn't going to get into that. "She said that she'd always hate us... that she'd never stop trying to destroy us- I had no choice."

Jason was looking down in his drink as it fizzed and bubbled. As if it would truely distract him from the heavy situation, the heavy talk he brought to life. He had expected something like Ed had gotten hurt on the battlefield not that the guy had tried to bring back his dead mother...how young had the guy been?

Reaching up Jason ran a hand through his hair. Before he looked up listening to Ed explain. "I get that, I would have done the same even if it had to be the hardest fucking thing in the world. That's what I do. I do what no one else can do... that's why I'm my family's monster." He offered a little explanation as he looked to the other. "From the point of view of someone who was brought back unwillingly Ed, I can say you did the right thing. I doubt it helps." he took another drink and shook his head.

Most people expected that, and that's why once they knew he was quick to correct them. He hated it, the way people looked at him with sympathy - pity, even - as if he'd lost his arm in some unavoidable accident, or doing something right for a bigger cause. No, Edward had lost his arm because he'd been a selfish child, unwilling to move on. Ed's biggest sin was sloth, for all the work they did researching alchemy and trying to get their bodies back, Edward had been unwilling to accept his mother's death and start a new life. Even after, he'd been unwilling to see her face in the stranger that was the Fuhrer's secretary, and do something about it - at least until it was too late and he had no other choice but to face her. That's why he spent all of those years in Purg, they'd told him that when he arrived, he was guilty of committing the sin of sloth.

A flicker of a smirk flashed over his features at Jay's words - barely visible before disappearing again. "Yeah, I guess me too." What else would you call someone willing to murder the woman wearing the face of his own mother, while his brother pleaded for him to stop?

"Not really." It was an honest answer, but there was no harshness to his tone. "She didn't want to die, she just wanted us to." His mouth twitched, momentarily looking as if he was struggling to keep the grief back, "I did what I had to but I'm the one that made the mistake in the first place." That was blame he was willing to shoulder alone, no matter how involved Al might have been in the act.

After a moment he moved to the fridge, pulling out a can of soda, the same as Jay had and returning to where he stood by the counter to pour it into the untouched glass of alcohol. Maybe Jason was right, maybe this was a drinking conversation. He doesn't exactly look thrilled about it, but after a moment he knocks the glass back - finishing about half the drink in one swig before setting it back on the counter.

He couldn't really deal with the notion of Jay admitting to being brought back unwillingly, as much as he wanted to ask questions. The thought that it could have also been their mother hit too close to home. What if they had succeeded and she only suffered in some way because of it? That would have been worse than facing Sloth. Besides, it was Jason's business and even though Ed was sharing a lot right now, it would be up to Jay to elaborate further.

Instead, he focused on the "monster" part of the conversation. Looking at the glass with a grimace, as if drinking any of that had been a mistake before speaking again, softly. "What we created- they're called homunculi, in order to kill one you need the remains of the person you tried to bring back." He didn't say it outright, but he gave Jay a pointed look with those words before staring back into the glass still sitting in his hand on the counter there.

"There are a lot of reasons I don't talk about my automail." Admitting to any of this was only one of them. "Where I'm from, it's a weapon and a prosthetic, but it's also a vulnerability. You don't show your enemy your biggest weak point right away, or at all if you can help it. That's just how it goes."

Being a selfish child was something Jason could understand fully. Being selfish and unwilling to move on, was what put him on a plane to Egypt with Bruce's stolen credit card and on the fast track to a fancy wooden box. He was hardly one to judge people whose last name was Wayne or Queen.

Taking another drink of his drink his eyes tracked Ed as he spoke. You can that person a problem solver. Anyone whose seen horror movies knows that no one comes back right. Jason wasn't sure if the pit had really driven him mad or just opened his mind to what he really was deep down. "It's not a bad thing." He added offhandedly, sitting the drink down he finally stepped back to the cutting board instead of just against the counter. he placed his drink down and went back to chopping. Like Ed he couldn't stay still in this conversation.

"...Understandable." Afterall, he wanted Bruce dead once he had his mind back, but he ahs a feeling Ed's mother likely wasn't the same situation at all. Jay looked up when Ed drank. "Slower, you gotta drink it slower when it's mixed." He spoke without judgement. More like figured he might to Damian or Tim one day, but given Tim owns a bar now, he's sure that boat's sailed, and Talia's kid... he didn't put shit past her. He liked Talia, always would but out of the two she was more of a monster.

"You had to dig your mother up?" He spoke, still keeping his voice low, luckily classical music had kicked on, a nice half hour long song. Sometimes he liked to have classic music when he blew things up. "No, I get that to, I didnt see it as a weakness, the guy I know back home... well know of, he's mostly metal and no one fucks with Cybrog. He is scary as shit. I'm told he's a cool guy but well, I'm kind of on his crew's wanted list." He's sure of it anyway, unless somehow Dick kept him off that shit. He wouldn't put it past this Dick here... but back home he didn't know.

"I'm not going to judge you Edward, You had good reason, shit if I could have done what you did for my mom, fuck I would have. I would have given everything just to have her back." He didn't look up this time just kept chopping, a little finer than was needed. "She wasn't even a good mother, but I loved her... I still do." So much death, technically the whole of the Todd family was dead. Even if he was alive he had already made the choice he would never have a child.

Ed tilted his head back, watching Jay as he spoke - as he chopped the food again, as if only just remembering it was there. He wasn't sure how it wouldn't be a bad thing, but he wasn't going to press that issue, instead smirking at Jason's instructions. After a moment he lifted the glass again, debating just finished it as he originally planned before taking a long sip as if to suggest he was listening, setting it down again.

"I worked at a bar, you know." He didn't need advice on the proper way to drink, he needed to feel like it was going to actually do something. He was very wrong on both accounts.

At the question, Ed nodded. "Greed showed me what I needed to do, I didn't even tell Al until after. He found out during the fight." When his brother questioned what Ed had done to her as she remained helpless. That was easier to talk about than he expected, probably because of the redirection he took with it, intent on not dwelling on that day all over again, crouched over her grave digging up her remains to use as a weapon against the creature they had created.

"It is, though." He didn't know anything about Cyborg or what he was capable of, all he knew was automail. "It's surprisingly easy to remove, even if you don't know what you're doing." Been there, done that. "Plus it attaches to the nerves, so-" He motioned with a hand, "Normally you have to rest awhile immediately after, to recover. I had to do it myself once, in the middle of a fight..." He'll let Jay think on how the arm was removed in the first place, "Didn't exactly get to rest after that one."

At the last part, Ed blinked. It reminded him how lucky Ed and Al had been, even for such a short time, he couldn't imagine ever saying she wasn't a good mother - as far as they were concerned she'd been perfect. "If I could do anything different, I would take it back. I really screwed up Al's whole life... Four years without being able to eat, sleep or feel..."

Jason looked up another moment, it's easy to see he had had to look down to hid the tears that had threatened to spill. The memories of Catherine were always harder on him than even his own death.It was Ed's mentioning of working in a bar that made him look up. "How old are you?" What was it with that family and looking hella young? He shifted to grab a pan and start filling it with water, his attention still on Ed.

The pan was sat on the burner and he started to drop the chopped veggies into it. "Greed? Is Greed really his name or is the guy like in a gang named after the seven deadly sins?" He's from Gotham okay, he has to ask. "Damn, well yeah I can see where that would be an issue." Because nerve endings could cause a lot more issues. He knew that.

"How does he stay so sunny then?" He had to ask. "The kid's like someone I know back home. He always seems happy even when no one else is." he explained, he meant Dick, but he was still hiding that one. Some seasonings adding to the water as he waited for it to boil while he reached out taking another drink of his drink. "My mom was an addict. I had to take care of her as long as I could remember. My old man was always in and out of prison so it was my job to look after her." He spoke, since he was heavy on his mind. "I had to steal a lot to keep us fed and with a roof over our heads. One night when I was out, she checked out for good. She was already cold when I got home. I was maybe eleven..."

Ed wouldn't comment on the grief Jason was clearly also going through in this conversation, it wasn't something he liked to call others out on, even if they might need it for an opening to talk. "21." He retorted, watching Jay carefully. "I worked at the bar for a few years in the first world I'd been pulled into, favor for a friend mostly." Sure, he knew Greed but he wouldn't have jumped on assisting if he hadn't been friends with Aaron. Helping with the books had eventually become helping out at both the inn and the bar, and inevitably inheriting them when both Greed and Aaron were gone.

"His name was Greed, the woman that created him had a sick sense of humor." A beat, "The one we created was named Sloth... which is exactly the sin I was accused of committing when I got to Purg." Enjoy that extra tidbit of info, Jay. A lot of issues, and a lot of pain, but Ed breezed past the automail talk when Jason turns the conversation back to the topic of Al.

"That's just Al." He smirked some at that, "He's always looking for the bright side." Even - or especially - when Ed can't hope to see it. "He didn't blame me for what happened, even though I'm the reason he lost his body... and now he's just grateful to have it back, even though it's- wrong." He scowled at that, glancing away again. Al didn't seem to mind, but it wasn't fair that he was still paying for Ed's mistake.

Jay got a sympathetic look for that explanation, exhaling slowly. "Our old man left when we were really young, just never came back." Well, he did, like ten years later. The anger is evident as he spoke. "We tried to find him when mom got sick, but- he never got our letters." He couldn't imagine what living like that must have been like, having to be the parent in the situation, because she relied on him to take care of her instead of the other way around. "Even on her death bed she thought of us, before herself... and him. He didn't deserve her." The disgust was clear in his tone.

Ed took another drink, clearing his throat before speaking again - carefully. "That must have been rough, having to be the one to take care of everything that young. We were around that age when we- ... at least we got to be kids before that."

Jason was always glad to let his own problems be overlooked. He had a reputation as a hard ass to live up to... granted he made that reputation for himself. He was ninety present bark, more likely to say things he wouldn't do. At least when it came to people who weren't criminals. "Shit really?" His eyes went wide. "What do they put in the water where your from?" That lightened him up a little as he shook his head. "I'll be 23 in about 15 more days." He hadn't told anyone else, and yet, he didn't mind telling Ed.

He let the talk of the bar go in favor of moving to the fridge pulling a pack of chicken out moving to the cutting board and switching knives. Another drink taken from his glass as he listened. "....God that had to fuck you up." Jay spoke exactly what he thought in that moment. He looked back to Ed a second, he couldn't picture that kid... no that guy, being lazy. "Your lucky, guys like you and me, we need a sunny person in our lives to keep us from drowning in the darkness." He thought of the old woman that trained him in that second. The wise old crone and her mantra of 'Accept the Darkness, Embrace the Light.' Jay could sometimes be found meditating on the floor by his bed repeating these words.

"Man that's fucked, that explains why he seems younger than he is. I thought he was like twelve." He admitted. When Ed explained their Dad Jason started to cut the chicken. "Hey, Ed, as soon as that hit's a boil drop those vegetables in the pot." He spoke motioning with the knife as he worked. "Yeah, see that's why I dont plan to ever have kids. Father's are shit in every world. Every fucking one of them. Even the ones who step up claiming to care, Their all pathetic." He grumbled as he cut needing to keep his hands busy as the image of Bruce played in his mind. They had made so much work on mending the bridge but Jason just couldn't let some things go.

"Mom... well, Catherine, when she wasn't checked out or dealing with her depression she was wonderful. She's the one who mostly taught me this." he motioned to the dinner he was working on. "She's dance around and sing, while she cleaned or whatever she'd do. She just made a mistake, that mistake was my father, so I get that. They never deserve the women they get, but what can you do?" He spoke before adding. "You mom sounds like a mother from a story book though. She was a lot like Al is wasn't she?"

He shrugged at the last bit. "I'm from Gotham, honestly, it could have been a lot worse. At least I had a work ethic young." He chuckled when he said it. "I was one of the fastest kids on the block. The cops couldn't catch me if they wanted to. I was on a pretty bad track though, if someone hadn't intervened a few months after Mom died, I would have ended up in county with my old man."

"Birthday coming up, huh?" He smirked some at that, ignoring the water comment completely, "Al's is soon too... Not- that soon. I should really think about what I'm going to do for him." Birthdays really hadn't been a thing in Purg, considering time wasn't much of a factor and there was no Al in Attollo to worry about.

When Jay commented on how that had to fuck him up, rather than any of the other things he'd shared in this conversation he shrugged. "I kind of knew by then. I accepted what she was before I killed her... Our sin, clinging to the past and being unable to move on when our mother died. Sloth kind of sums that up pretty well when you think about it." His other sin had been lust, the unrelenting search for something that wasn't his made that one almost as obvious if anyone knew the original meaning behind that sin, rather than the one regarding carnal pleasure. Ed didn't talk about that, though, he didn't talk about the stone much here at all.

At the next part, Ed smiled faintly, "Yeah, I'd call that lucky all right. I would never had made it this far without Al." He actually laughed when Jay admitted to how young he thought Alphonse was, "Don't ever let him hear that, he's almost eighteen. I think." He waved a hand dismissively at that, "Time kind of messes you up in Purg, but if he's from the same time as the ones I met before like I gather, he's almost 18." Three years younger than Ed still felt off but he wasn't going to dwell in that in this moment. "He lost four years because of me, his body never caught up so he looks a lot younger than he is, that's all."

He blinked at the order, glancing at the pot as if to watch for it to start boiling before flinching at Jay's words. "That's not true." Sure, memories of his own father and Tucker came to mind rapidly at his adamant denial, but he couldn't help it. "That's not true," he repeated quietly - although anger had seeped into his tone at this point. "Not every one." Most of them, his thoughts agreed with Jay, pretty much every single one and he couldn't deny it. Nash had tried to redeem himself, though and worst of all - was Hughes. "I got a man killed who deserved every second with his family, whose family deserved him. He was a great father, and he died because of me. They're not all shit."

When Jay turned the discussion back to Trisha Ed nodded, picturing all of the things he'd been talking about - some woman he'd never see the face of dancing and singing, cooking a dinner like the one Jason was making right now. He sighed at the question, "She was..." She was so perfect it was like something out of fiction, something that could never last in the real world. "Al favors her a lot, looks and personality. Even he's got a bit of a temper though... Mom wasn't like that, she wouldn't know how to hold a grudge if she tried." His brother on the other hand, could fight just as mean as he could, and hold grudges like a professional. That's why it was always Ed that had to go find him and make peace.

"After our mother died, we left home." He couldn't wrap his head around Jay's life, being a criminal running from the cops. "I promised Al I'd get his body back, so I enlisted in the military to get the information we'd need to do just that." It hadn't worked though, not really. Al's body hadn't been returned to him after years of research coming together, it had been a simple fluke that everything fell into place the way it did. Ed hadn't experienced it first hand though, so he didn't tend to go into too much detail there. After a moment he glanced at the pot again, waiting for it to start to boil before moving to add the vegetables as instructed. "Someone from the military showed up looking for our father, decided to try to recruit us instead." It was still strange, the gamble Mustang took on them. "I was still recovering from my injuries but I made the decision to get automail and go try out for the exam that day."

"Unfortunately." Jason didn't dislike his birthday he just had his own ideas of how to celebrate and he doubted he could get his hands on a rocket launcher without someone breathing down his neck. "When is it? We could make him a cake? Store bought ones always look nicer, but there's something about home made that sits better." Growing up poor, then having Alfred, home made cakes were much better. Though he said we because he would make Edward help. "What does Al like?"

Jason worked on the cutting as he listened to Ed, nodding. That made sense, but he figured the boys drive would have balanced that out. Not that he knew a whole lot. He didn't comment but did nod to show he was listening. "It's good you have him. He's a sweet kid." He thought about Roy in that moment, all the stupid things he used to do before Jay fucked that all up. It had been for Roy's own good but now he was without the only real friend he had had in his life, Kori excluded. "Time has a way of fucking up for us... I wonder if he will age or stay the same." Those kind of things were weird.

Jason looked up again when Ed on about father's, how not all were bad. Oddly it was Alfred who came to mind for him. He gave a bit of a look before nodding. "You have a point, not all of them, just most of them." He wanted to ask about the man who Ed got killed but as a man who kills people as kind of a profession he doesn't have much room to judge. Catherine had been a red head, curvy and beautiful, a woman who feel for the wrong man. He thought the world of her, even now, even with all the problems. "She sounds wonderful, was she blonde like you and Al?" His birth mother had been a blonde. "I don't look like my mom...I look like my old man, but you know, bigger, and better looking." He hated how much he looked like Willis, but he was also truthful he looked much better than his father had, all the handsome features had clearly come from Shelia's line. Not that he knew jack or shit about that. "Sounds like what kids do when their parents are gone. I ran so social services wouldn't put me through the system."

He looked up from the chicken again. "You a good brother, clearly he has his body, and the things you two must have done together." Clearly Ed and Al were what brothers were meant to be. "You got the Automail and then did the exam? It's weird hearing the military has a exam but you got in clearly... "

Ed paused at the line of the questions, watching Jay curiously as if he wasn't sure how to answer him before responding cautiously, "September 23rd." More than a month, plenty of time to plan something, if Ed had ever considered such a thing. He had listened to Jay talk about the benefits of home made vs store bought cakes for a moment before answering, cautiously as if he expected disappointment. "Pie, actually." There's a pause before the faintest crack of a smile spreads over his features, almost sheepish. "Apple pie."

Their drive had turned into its own sin, the sin of lust, of wanting. Who needs balance when instead you could get two handy labels to the show the world your faults? And show Purg did, slapping them right across the foreheads of people there - at least for a bit. Ed didn't mind thinking about Purg or talking about it, it had inevitably become a second home to him over time... He did, however, cringe to speak of the sin related matters. Best buried, as far as he was concerned. "He is.." That response is more somber, quiet, Ed doesn't look up at Jay's question. "Theoretically, he should age normally here. He's already aged since the transmutation, or you'd be looking at an even younger Al."

"Yeah..." Ed swallowed, trying not to think about the rest. "Yeah, most fathers are shit, especially in our world. I met some people who would disagree with that in Purg, but at home... You couldn't convince me otherwise. Some shitty fathers had a good heart, they meant well at least, but- Hughes loved his family, he was a great dad. His daughter deserved to have him in her life, instead he died helping us. That's not how it should have gone..."

He's brought out of those thoughts abruptly and shook his head as if to clear them away. "Our dad's the blond. I..." He hated talking about this, hated that it even came up and immediately he's reminded of how he reacted to Yuffie when they first met. Ed does not like to talk about his looks, the way he's practically his father's clone. "Al looks more like mom." That was the easiest way to put it, "Her hair was darker, but they have the same warm eyes..." Even if Al's were a different color. After a moment he exhaled slowly, as if preparing himself. "I took after the bastard... In every way. People say we look alike, a lot. I don't see it at all."

At the question Ed shrugged, "Alchemists take an exam to prove their knowledge. No one's going to hire on a scientist without proof they know what they claim on the subject. The military had libraries civilians couldn't get access to, those libraries were supposed to have the information that we needed. Wound up chasing rumors for four years... chasing our own tails." He sounded frustration there but his expression shifted, "We didn't leave right away, I still had to go through a whole mess of rehab to make sure both my limbs were working right."

"That's long enough to have time to plan something good." He commented, before shaking his head. "Shit out of luck there, Ed, I can't make pie, so I guess we'll figure it out." He replied, the smile he tried to wear around the other, which was mostly fake. He wanted to project someone more together than he truly was.

"I cant even picture him younger than he looks." He admitted, "Granted, I do kind of understand that, I was super small before I died. It's not the same idea, but seems close enough." He said it right out. "I guess hair and nails aren't the only thing that grows."

He looked a little sympathetic again as Ed explained Hughes, taking another drink of his drink, before he finished cutting up the chicken. "May he rest in peace then." He spoke, without his normal extra attitude, a geniune tone to his voice. A man like that was rare.

"That sucks. Looking like someone you don't like. You look like Al to me, but I don't know what your parents look like, so I'll just hold you and Al look more alike." He said it to be nice, after all he knows better than most that looks don't make family. How much he looks like he really belonged to Bruce, was really brother's with Dick, Tim or Damian... Bruce had a habit of finding nice looking boys with dark hair and blue eyes.

"Ed, that sucks." Was all he could say as Ed explained. Poor guy, four years of chasing nothing? That blew.

He laughed at that, waving it off. "More than enough time to find a decent recipe. Especially with everything at our fingertips, like you all enjoy reminding me." Ed motioned to the device he had, even though it wasn't a phone and he was still sure it couldn't handle internet like most people's communicators here.

"Al was ten when he lost his body." He paused to listen to Jay's retort, smirking faintly before shrugging. "If he didn't age at all, he'd still look ten now... so he's definitely growing." And aging, which was important. Bad enough he lost four years, if he was just stuck that age for the rest of his life? Ed probably wouldn't be able to forgive himself.

When Jay offered the genuine sentiments about Hughes Ed nodded, "Hopefully." He was glad to move off from that subject though, it had been a long time since the guilt of Hughes' death made its way back into the pit of his stomach.

"A lot of people here say we look alike... I guess so without our parents to compare anything to." His expression changes at that, almost wistful with a shrug, "Al got the looks and the personality, I guess he'll be the lucky one when he's older." Old enough that people stop confusing him for a child, at least.

When Jay said it sucked, Ed actually laughed again. "It did, but we were determined.... And what we wanted eventually fell into our laps by accident, anyway. Al's got his body back, and that's all that matters."

"You have a point." Though he was already thinking of other places to look, as much as he loved having the internet Jason loved having his fingers on real books. "We'll get it done for Al." He spoke forcing out a grin, a wink and a finger gun move. Trying to ease his own melancholy by playing up the devil may care attitude he tried to push.

However, it fell just as fast as he had pulled it up, hearing when Al lost his body. "Yeah, he looks older than ten." How terrible Ed most have felt. Sure Jason had come back and gunned after his adopted father, and his replacement, who he now viewed as a younger brother, with the violence of a bloody hurricane... but he could never actually imagine having his blood on his hands. He looked meloncholy for a second, secretly happy that Tim was here, and not back home dead.... he hadn't told Dick what Tim was hiding, that Tim Drake-Wayne was dead.... at least here he had another chance, and was using it better.

"Likely so, and the blond hair helps to. Don't wish him to grow up so quick though." he spoke trying to sound wise as he dumped the rest of the stuff into the pot and started to stir it, before lifting his glass with his free hand to finish it off. "It's good, even if it was what sounds like dumb luck."

"We will." He's not worried, there's plenty of time.

"It's been a few years... I was eleven when it happened." A shrug. "I'm not wishing him to grow up any faster than he should have. Al's going to be 18, he should get to be that." He should have gotten to be a teenager too, but Ed doesn't point that out, as far as he's concerned it is his own fault that Al's experiences aren't what they should be. The weirdest thing is that Ed's going to be 22, which means even 18 feels too young for his brother, but he knows that has nothing to do with their mistakes.

"It basically was. A series of events that made it happen without our choosing. I don't know what we would have done if Scar hadn't created the Stone, but- I wasn't planning to use it. Al made that decision." Yeah, that was information with no context out of nowhere, enjoy Jay.

"Sometimes it's overrated growing through that shit. I skipped about three years of growth myself. I turned out fine." says the man as he pours more whiskey into his glass and less soda. "I went from fifteen to eighteen with no memory of the in-between." It was all the offer he gave of explanation. Jay at least understood the differences in aging wrong. He was the opposite of Al though, he went from super tiny, to aging fast to super big. He had memories of the three years but they made his skin crawl. The stuff that haunted his dreams.

"...I dont understand this, but I'm going to assume if Al made the choice for himself, than it was the right one."

Ed actually smirks at that, shaking his head. "I guess that's something we have in common." Although for different reasons. "People didn't age in Purgatorium, when I found myself in a new location I was suddenly 20. I remember the years but didn't exactly experience them normally. I was physically the same age the whole time, and then one day I wasn't."

At the last part Ed shrugs, "He didn't have a choice. He was going to die anyway, after I was killed he just- used the Stone, and his death, to bring me back instead."

Jason had many questions as Ed explained, but he didn't get much of a chance to voice them as everything became less important as the fact that Al had died from his understanding to bring back Ed. He looked bothered by it and stirred the soup a little before lifting his drink to take another drink.

"Your one lucky son of a bitch to have someone love you that much. Don't you ever hurt that boy." He spoke feeling a bit protective suddenly, he knew his brother's would never do that for him, in truth he'd die for them these days but he doubted it would ever be mutual. The kind of love Al and Ed had hurt him in ways, because he would never experience it. It was strange to be jealous of someone who clearly suffered worse than him.

Ed visibly flinches at the next thing Jay says. He isn't going to say it's too late for that, too much to get into to explain any of that, and it wasn't the Al that was here so that would only add further confusion. Instead he doesn't respond to it at all, because there's no response he could give that wouldn't feel like a lie. How could say that he'd never hurt Al when everything he'd done since they were kids put his brother in harms way? When in Purg he'd murdered him before Al even had a chance to react.

"That's just how we are, I guess." His answer is quiet, there's no humor or pride in the notion at all. He's too shaken up by Jay's words, but he's trying to ignore it. Ed is oblivious to Jay's jealousy of their relationship, it wouldn't be the first time someone felt that way watching the Elrics, but he just didn't think of it when he spoke. "If he hadn't died to bring me back his soul and body wouldn't have been reunited. I would have never been able to get him back to normal. I thought if I exchanged myself to get him back it would work, his mind, soul and body reunited- only apparently I can't even die right." There is a smirk then, mirthless. "Guess I'll see when I go home and live through it for myself."

Something in the silence is enough, but Jason isn't so cruel, at least not without reason, to rub salt in that kind of wound. He stared at Ed a moment before reaching up and to shut the burner off once he was sure that what he made was done. He shifted worked on drinking from the glass in his hands.

Jason gave him a sympathetic face a second before reaching out to ruffle the top of Ed's head. "Chin up, Kid, you got him here. Just enjoy your time until you go home. It's the best I have for you." He spoke not being sure what else to say. he's sure Alfred would know, but he wasn't Alfred though.

Ed might duck slightly at the hair ruffle, but he tolerates it for the moment. "Yeah... You're right." Even if he didn't like to think about the idea of getting Al here. That wasn't the plan, back in his own body? Yes. Stuck on the moon of some foreign planet? Not so much. No sense dwelling on it, though so he just grins in response as if those thoughts aren't plaguing him. "That's really all we can do."

"Go get a bowl and try this. I'm not hungry anymore, so just eat all you want. I think I'm gonna go change and head out." Which is Jason time to go drink and repress, or find someone to get into a brawl with. He has healthy coping ways.

Ed offered a nod at that, there wasn’t really much else he could say. “Thanks,” He didn’t bother to move to get a bowl right away but if Jay was going to leave food to eat he wasn’t going to let it go to waste. “I’ll clean up the rest up, don’t worry about it.”

Jason turned washing the knife he used and then his hands before drying them. "Thanks Ed, I'll see you later." He spoke as he moved to grab his jacket and headed for the door to leave.

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