Edward Elric (
alchemyfreak) wrote in
riverviewlogs2017-08-14 07:45 pm
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[Mostly Closed] August Catch-All
who: Anyone that wants to interact with Ed during August (Hit me up to request a top level at
TransmutedSelf or post your own!)
what: Various
when: Anytime during August
where: Floor six, the Gardens, The General Store, Trixie and some nice burger joint in the city
warnings: Amnesia effects August 12th-19th, nightmares, religious talk etc. The nightmare thread has the potential to get pretty dark, warnings will go in individual tags.
Top-levels will be posted below.
Ed also has an open mingle posted if that's your thing.
what: Various
when: Anytime during August
where: Floor six, the Gardens, The General Store, Trixie and some nice burger joint in the city
warnings: Amnesia effects August 12th-19th, nightmares, religious talk etc. The nightmare thread has the potential to get pretty dark, warnings will go in individual tags.
Top-levels will be posted below.
Ed also has an open mingle posted if that's your thing.
no subject
His attitude, mild as it was, sobers immediately when Nico snaps. He lifts his hands as if to ward off a potential fight, "Look, no one's happy about waking up remembering whatever the hell we forgot. That much is obvious. Maybe we shouldn't try to compare notes over who has it worse, right now." He looks a little unsettled though, agreeing with Nico's muttered addition. "We can't be the only ones on the whole moon who woke up hating what we remembered, okay?" He knew what Jason forgot, but he hadn't seen Nico the entire time and that worried him. He had no idea what he'd been through, what he'd forgotten and remembered but he knew Nico didn't like to be worried about so he kept his attention focused elsewhere.
Like ordering a drink once the bartender was done putting something together for Nico.
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"Well, Ed, if you must know, fifteen years old me didn't approve of my choice of bed mates. I owe some fucking apologies and now have to show my fucking id at the bar." He explained to Ed before shifting looking to Nico, then to Edo. "I dont hate what I forgot, I hate what I lost. I was a mostly good kid, I didn't deserve what was waiting for me." He took a drink again. "So, come on boys, lay the cards on the table, your both the closest things I've got to friends, sad as that is. So, tell me what yours was." Yes, despite how he acted, he enjoyed Nico, something about the way the guy makes the hairs on his neck rise makes him an interesting person.
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"I've been through some... stuff. The worst of it can be compared to walking through the darkest, most dangerous parts of Christian hell. That was Tartarus, where all the most evil of creatures are born and the darkest gods reside," he began, hesitance in his voice. This is the first time he's ever talked about it to anyone. He hadn't needed to with Reyna since she felt it for herself by sharing her strength with him, but even she didn't know the full capacity of the horrors he'd been through. Now he's opening himself up, in a way he's never done before, and he can only hope the other two will understand.
"The goddess of Misery is there. Akhlys, she's called. To her, I am the embodiment of perfection. While she'd inflict misery on others, she thought I was perfect. And that's not even the worst of it all."
cw: potentially graphic description of death
Before he can even think to process a reply to Jason's words he's moving the conversation back on the other two. He had been an innocent kid, dealt a shit life, Ed knew that from their previous conversation. Unlike him, who'd brought most of his own shit onto himself. He did pipe up a little stiffly, "Good to know that's sad." He might have otherwise agreed, but maybe Jason had more friends that he felt he should have been closer to.
When Nico speaks he remembers the conversation they had comparing Tartarus to Purg, but Nico hadn't been that specific before. The idea that Misery felt that Nico was perfect was enough of an insight on his situation without any other details, but he had to go and add that it wasn't the worst of it. He takes a sip of his drink, keeping his gaze averted once Nico finishes.
Then, flatly, he adds his own memory to the mix. "I killed Al. Back in Purg, before I came here. I transmuted him before he even realized what I was doing.... before I even realized- when I came to there was nothing left." Shreds of red fabric and dripping blood, but Ed didn't add that part. Without another word Ed downs half his drink, the same way he did the first time Jay saw him with alcohol.
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Jason's blue eyes widened a bit as Nico described not only Tartarus but Akhlys. He knew a lot of Greek Mythology, he was a hell of a lot smarter than he lets on. "Fuck." That was all he could say at first to Nico. Someone had to be pretty deep in the pain to be perfect to someone like that, but not just that, but the fact it confirmed for Jason that Nico wasn't normal. Maybe that was why he bristled so much around the other... and where he got that bitching sword. He took another drink before shaking his head a little. "What's worse than misery finding you perfect after treking through hell?" He left the sarcasm out of his voice for once, after all, he may joke about his own death, but not things like that.
Then Ed speaks and Jason's eyes widen again. Not Al. Al was a fluffy fucking kitten. There had to be more, he wanted to slam his fits down and demand Ed tell him why, but... he had learned enough of Ed's character and personality to know there had to be a reason, he hated when people questioned him and his choices. He watches the way Ed downs the drink again, much like when they had spoke in the kitchen. Seeing it was bad, something had happened with the brother's their clearly. "...I dont even know what to say to that." He admitted looking to the blond, clearly unsure how he felt about the idea of it all.
Taking a drink from his glass motioning for them to continue, he would wait to finish sharing for right now. Wanting to hear what they had gone through more than explaining Sheila and his worst mistake yet.
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"There's more to it than that, isn't there?" he asks, much more concerned with Ed's story than sharing more of his own. He doesn't want to talk about how he was in love with a boy who would never love him back or that he was always an outcast. Those were just memories he wanted to push aside. He takes another sip of his drink, feeling the liquor burn on the way down and relishes it. Then, his basket of fries arrives and he begins picking at them as he turns to Ed.
"You wouldn't do that without a reason," he says. "Your brother and you are just..." He gestures with a fry in hand, obviously unable to put the sheer magnitude of the Elrics' relationship into words.
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Jay asks what's worse than Misery finding you perfect after going through and he feels his stomach practically drop at that. He wasn't Nico, so he couldn't say, couldn't really understand how bad all of that was for him - but for Ed the news he'd casually just dropped on both of them probably covered it.
The silence stretches longer than Ed's comfortable with before Nico speaks again. He shrugs, less dismissive and more hunching his shoulders as if to ward off the question, grip tightening on the glass he's holding. A reason? He didn't have a reason, that was the probably the worst part of it, and Ed just shifts in his seat as if he can disappear if he tries hard enough.
"I didn't have a reason...." That was probably not the best start, but there it was. "What reason could I have to kill my own brother?" He doesn't want to snap at Nico, it wasn't like he had anything to do with it but the question just digs into every one of Ed's own insecurities about what happened. Too late though, and his expression is a mix of panic and anger as he speaks. "I couldn't stop it. I wasn't- in control of my own body when it happened."
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"You don't always need reasons that make sense. I nearly killed my brother's multiple times." He looked towards the office. "Nearly killed Tim just for existing." Yep, that's why they are there. "I didn't have reasons, not ones that made sense. I came back from the dead a bit rabid isn't really a good reason." There was a sense of regret in his voice, after all, Tim didn't deserve what he had done to him, done to Bruce... he hadn't gone after Grayson that hard and didn't know about Damian yet, so, Tim got it worse than anyone.
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It wasn't Ed at all. In fact, it was whatever was controlling his body and Nico is familiar with spirits taking over and forcing a person to do something they'd never do.
"If it was like that, it's not your fault. I can't speak for Jason, but if you couldn't control your body, then you're not to blame. It's whatever took control," he says, quickly picking up his new drink and sipping at it.
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His blood ran cold, practically glaring at Jay's suggestion. "It's not that it didn't make sense, it's that there just wasn't one." At all. Ed had no motivation to hurt his brother in any sense of the word, outright murdering him? It would have been unthinkable except for the fact that it had happened. The idea that Jason had with his own intentions gone after his brothers left a cold pit in his stomach and suddenly he didn't have a taste for much of anything.
Nico's words aren't all that reassuring either, he had heard them before. Everyone in Purg had begged him to reconsider leaving after it had happened. Like he was in charge, like he was the most capable person there to handle the situation when he'd also been infected. "Watanuki said that, too..." If he was so capable he wouldn't have hurt Al to begin with, it was no control of his own that he snapped out of it after it happened as far as he was concerned. A short reprieve that gave him the chance to take care of the problem, nothing more.
"I should have stopped it." He should have been in more control, he was in control for so long, just enough to make him think he was fine, actually. Leading up to Al's death there had been some other behaviors that implied he really hadn't been, but he wasn't aware at the time. "I should have stopped it before Al had to die, because of me." He sighs, taking a drink before adding softly, "Everyone had to keep it a secret from him, what I did after he died. No one else really thought it was a good idea, either."
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"I didn't do it because I aimed to. I didn't come back right." Blame the pit, it felt better. "The Pit brought me back basically rabid, it's taken years of training to be the man I am now, I merely meant if you had no reason I could understand... but you can't blame yourself for shit outside of your power. That's victim blaming and I refuse to accept that. "
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"This sucks," he said, hoping to turn the attention away from Ed, to give the older guy a break. "You know, I once met Cupid and he forced me to out myself. I think that was one of the worst things remembering again. That I'm gay and too creepy for anyone to like. And I could've still been hiding it, if he hadn't made me confess."
no subject
"I don't even know what that would be like." Dying, and coming back different. He'd died before and he knew he was going home to do it again, but he hadn't come back any different, he couldn't imagine feeling that way. Jay also left out a lot of details, which was going to skew the perception of his experiences no matter what.
He glances at Nico again when he shifts the topic, trying not to look as pathetically grateful as he feels for the shift of focus. He knew talking about things was not exactly easy for either of them - Ed was used to it, had been doing this sort of thing for years now, by this point - but seeing Nico especially open up was a strange experience. Not only because of how closed off he seemed, where Ed and Jay shared stories already, but because Nico's experiences were so far removed from anything he would have really been able to grasp if not for this whole multiverse experience.
For one thing, he couldn't imagine that being worse than the other things Nico had shared, but it was Nico's personal situation so obviously he'd know best. Or, so Ed assumed - sexuality had literally never even occurred to him. "You're not too creepy for anyone to like," Honestly, that part just sounded like nonsense to him but that was probably because he found Nico far less creepy than the average person seemed to. "Being forced to confess something you're not ready to talk about is never easy, but what kind of fucked up world do you live in where who you care about matters that much?" There's another skewed perception, he never really thought about it at home but in Purg no one talked about sexuality and no one cared about who or how many people were gay. Most of the guys Ed knew in that place were invested in other guys, and in Attollo it didn't matter who you were with or how, as long as it was with someone. "What'd he care, anyway? It's not anyone else's business."
no subject
"It fucking sucked is what it did. There's nothing worse than dying then coming back and wanting nothing more than to kill the one person that ever gave a fuck about you. Or to desire to kill the one that took your place." He shifted his eyes to the office again, another drink taken before he shrugged. "The Lazurus pit does that, it will make you damn near immortal if you bathe in it every few years... but theres a price to pay. It either drives the users made or rabid." Jason had already had a temper, the pit just tossed gasoline on it.
Like with Ed his eyes shifted to Nico. He squinted a bit as he took another drink. "Yeah, what Ed said. Your not creepy. Hell you just look like one of those emo band singers all the girls are crazy about." He didn't mean it to sound insulting. Hell if Nico was older, and if he wasnt hung up on someone and refusing to be serious with... well anyone, he'd have made a comment. But he's still new at this whole guy on guy action. He was holding out for a hero, the one he hoped might one day come, the one whose heart he broke to spare the guy a life of pain.
no subject
He glanced at Ed, catching the grateful look that he'd changed the subject and figured he'd roll with it. If he could give Ed a break, that was good. Then, he glanced at Jason, realizing that this "Lazarus pit" was what he'd sensed on the older man. It made sense; it sounded vaguely like Tartarus, and Nico felt bad that Jason had to have experienced it.
But it was Ed's question that brought him back to the discussion at hand. Nico hedged a little bit, not the type to explain things about his life like this, but eventually he sighed.
"Cupid had a scepter I needed for a battle, but in order to get it, I had to reveal myself to him. I didn't like it. That god is an asshole, but I guess he had a point about not hiding anymore. Admitting I'm gay isn't so hard now."
no subject
Ed swallowed the rest of his drink as Jay talked, ignoring the irony that he'd literally just talked about killing Al and he couldn't even imagine the thought of what he was saying. Losing control was one thing, like Nico said, but to want to? It's different in this context. Jay had said he went after his brothers, but Edward wasn't so myopic to think everyone cared about their siblings. Wanting to kill his brother was one thing, saying he wanted to kill the only person that ever cared about him? That was a completely different concept and this conversation was only serving to make him feel more and more uncomfortable. He's nearly content to say nothing at all until Jay mentions the pit so casually, practically blurting out "It makes you want to kill your family, and people bathe in it?"
What the fuck is wrong with your world, Jay? He doesn't ask though, instead letting the conversation move on. Ed almost lets the statement pass when Jason says something about emo bands and girls, but then Nico repeats it so he turns back to Jason again with a raised eyebrow. "What the hell does that even mean?" Was that supposed to be a compliment? Ed had no frame of reference, but it sounded like it from Jay's intention. Some days he really hated this whole multiverse thing.
"He sounds like an asshole." Ed agreed, taking a moment to order another drink before shrugging. "Something like that shouldn't even matter anyway, he was just picking on you." Which obviously rubbed him the wrong way, Ed practically bristled at the thought. At the last part he just smirked, "Good. You should be able to just be yourself. Hiding who you are only makes things more complicated, it can't do anything but add to unhappiness."
A pause, because this was way more interesting and possibly less depressing. "What did you need the scepter for?"
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"Yeah, but only one family gets to use it. The Al Ghul's, it's keep old Ra's alive for hundreds of years, it was his daughter that tossed me in. Only that family is allowed to bathe in the Pit's waters through. it's hard to explain, but if you know what Absinthe looks like, it looks like that but constantly bubbling." He sat back again, thinking about Talia in that moment, she had meant well, at least at first. He didn't know what her endgame had been but, he had mostly made peace with it. The image of her falling dead played again in his mind. He felt like it was his fault she had been shot.
He snapped and pointed to Ed as he snapped out of his thoughts. "I agree with him. Guys an asshole, and fuck anyone who thinks less of you for being who you are. Sexuality isn't a choice or a sickness, we all like what we like, and fuck anyone that judges that." He had opinions, strong ones which he felt this was not the time to be voicing them so he went quiet again, ordering another drink just after Ed even though his wasn't done yet.
no subject
But that doesn't matter much to him. He turns his attention back to the discussion at hand and looks between Ed and Jason. Should he explain what happened that day? What he considers to be the worst day of his life after learning his sister was dead. Sighing and taking a gulp of his rum and coke, he shrugs.
"I know that now, but back then, I had a hard time accepting what I am. I was born in the 30s, you know. So I guess you could say a lot of my thoughts and opinions about stuff were formed because of that. But I needed the scepter from Cupid to fight a war."
Another sigh and he takes another gulp. "Sounds like all of us have been through Styx. I guess it's a good thing we're here, getting drunk."
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When Jay agrees Ed can't help but note he seems a little passionate about the topic, which makes him wonder what the situation was like in his own world. Considering Ed had never really thought it before now he wasn't sure he knew well himself.
His eyes narrow thoughtfully at Nico's words, because at least he was able to accept it now but the next part obviously has some importance to the kid and he's missing it completely. "The 30's?" The expression on his face probably shows just how confused he is by the notion that they should just 'know' because of that.
At the last part though he looks back at his drink, sighing softly. "I guess so." He doesn't really agree, the longer they're there the less sure about it he is, actually.
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"I agree wholeheartedly." He spoke as he made eye contact with Ed, reaching for the pitcher.
Jason had just started refilling his glass again when Nico spoke the decade he was born in. "Fuck... you look good for shit, nearly eighty?" He knew about time travel, and multiverse but it was often hard not to think of ones now, as the main now.
Jason lifted the beer and nodded. "Seems so, I guess we're the dead guys club." He shrugged some, making a bit of a face. "I cant offer much insight on what happened between me losing conciousness and me waking up in the Pit. there is flashes here and there but it feels like someone walking over my grave." he visibly shutters when he says it. As much as he jokes about his own death, somethings he says have a natural reaction with him. He denies it, but he remembers waking up in the coffin, digging himself out and stumbling from the graveyard, past that as he said it was all flashes. He had had massive frontal lobe damage when he died.
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"That club is really only the two of you. I've never died. I mean, sure, Son of Hades, can raise the dead. But I'm not dead, myself. I came out of Tartarus alive. Unfortunately..."
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His eyes narrow some at the conversation about death, "Hey, I'm not dead yet. Death isn't exactly permanent in Purg, it's not like it happened on my home world either." He knew it was only a matter of time, but it was weird to think about it like that. He hadn't died and been brought back or anything like Jay had, he gestures vaguely as he speaks again. "Purgatorium worked sort of like an underworld, we weren't really living to begin with. It was some weird half-life, we were basically frozen in time, death wasn't permanent and no one aged a day while we were there."
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"The place you were before sounds real peachy keen, Ed. It sounds like what the name says, Purgatory, like Dante's Divine Comedy, Purgatory." He explained with a shrug. Then he sat back and took a drink of the beer looking down into it as he listened to Ed. Eh, fuck it. Not like his identity really mattered here. "Seem's I'm alone in the died and got better group." looking into the beer he sat the glass down and crossed his arms over his chest.
"I got in a fight with B, a real bad one, he thought I killed someone so he benched me..." No context more given there. "I ran off like the genius I am, and ended up running into one of my moms old friends, she kept a box of my families stuff from after mom died and my birth certificate was in there. Turned out, mom wasn't my mom... so I hunted down my real mother to Qurac, it was the happiest I've ever been." He looked pretty sad for a moment. His brother's would be proud he was talking instead of quipping about it. "Turns out, my real mom was a crook to, she was working for the Joker, and my dumbass thought she needed saving... so I gave up my secret Identity. I showed her I was Robin and tried to save her." He explained to Ed what Robin was when the memories were messed up, but not that he was Robin. "She gave me over to the Joker. She watched as he took a crowbar to me. That alone nearly killed me but... when he left he left a bomb and despite how bad it hurt I had to save her, she was my mom...The door was locked but I tried. I failed. We both died."
After speaking all of that Jason lifted the beer back up taking another drink.
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He snorts, polishing off his drink and ordering a new one. Then he focuses on his fries. "Jason's right. It does sound like Dante's Purgatory, only maybe worse. But it's good you got out of there. I'd hate to be trapped someplace like that." Especially after his travels through Tartarus. Sighing, he shrugs and takes a sip of his new drink when it arrives.
"I think this stuff is starting to affect me. It's hard to tell with demigod metabolisms."
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“That place was no comedy.” Another reference he doesn’t get, but Ed is from that awkward time period in his life where he has suspicions about Dante that aren’t confirmed yet so the familiar name does get his attention, even if it’s not the same person. “Who’s Dante?” This conversation was only getting more and more out of his realm of reality as they talked. “The names are similar enough, that’s not surprising, them sounding the same.” Maybe Purgatorium was worse, what would he know about that? “We were there to suffer for our sins, and we did.” Simple, straight forward. “I don’t know how lucky I am to be out of there, though.” Everything about it had been easier than Attollo, which he never would have gone to if he hadn’t left Purg. “It probably sounds messed up, but- it felt like home.”
When Jay noted that he was alone though, Ed shrugged. He finished off his drink before setting the glass down again, keeping his gaze focused on the bar rather than either of them. “For now, maybe. I die back home, and Al brings me back it just… Hasn’t happened yet. I’m not sure how those memory canisters work, but if I get one of them at least my memories will be caught up.” He’d been considering it for a bit, now, although he was still undecided on whether or not he wanted to do it. Not only because he wasn’t sure he wanted them, but because it would just complicate everything about him further. He still won’t have technically died, as far as he’s aware but he’ll remember it like it happened.
Okay, so Jason was Robin and that meant Jason also knew Batman and all of this was definitely registered but it was hardly sinking in as the story continued because Ed is focused on one thing. “You found your mother again and she turned you over to get killed?!” Drug addict mother, mother with intent to murder. This guy sure didn’t get any breaks. He couldn’t blame Jay for trying to defend her after though, he’s not sure he wouldn’t have done the same exact thing in that position. It’s not exactly a time for thinking, instinct takes over.
After a moment he orders another drink, hunching slightly In his seat at Nico’s words. “I don’t know anything about your metabolism but I don’t normally drink much.” Or at all, this was definitely getting to be a record already.
(no subject)