Leaving home

Res walked out of Levin's Prosthetics and started to walk out of town. She had already explained to Sydney where she'd be and what she'd be doing. He doesn't necessarily agree with it but he basically just wanted her to stay home. She had explained to him why that wouldn't work and how she'd much rather say goodbye rather then up and leave in the middle of the night so she ended up getting her goodbye.

She'd either have to find a trainer or train on her own, The alchemy she wanted to preform was currently out of her power range so she'll have to get stronger. She'll also have to hurry up and become a state alchemist too so she can study farther into the subject. She was determined to bring her parents back because she could see the stress it placed on Sydney, he had to take care of everyone ever since he was 18 so he couldn't really do much that other young adults could do.

She headed out into the world with her bag, her bank card (at the shop they each get their own pay in commissions), and her tools. She knew there were many people out there who had automail. For more money she could always due tune ups and other stuff of the like. She did have $10,000 saved up for this already and this would make sure that she'd should have enough food until she starts being a State Alchemist.

"Oi, oi~" With a gust of wind, Tsune leaned down mid step to retrieve a journal that had fallen from somewhere. From where, he really had no clue. Looking around briefly, he slipped off the main street and a bit into the shadows where the sun wasn't shining. Paging through the journal, his eyes fell on the most recent entry. The surprise hit him pretty hard. He lost his balance and gnawed on his lip to keep his frustrations abate. After he finished reading, he shut the thing abruptly and looked for the nearest garbage can, frowning. But...like always guilt prevented him from doing it. It was the misfortune of having grown up with way to many kids. He sighed outwardly and looked for an address with an agitated look. Anyone watching him probably thought he was crazy by now. "Levin's Prosthetics in Rush Valley ne..." He turned on his heel and wandered around for a bit, searching for the sign. Funny, he had never actually heard of the place. Keeping his left arm behind him--possibly out of subconscious aversion to speculation--he kept walking until eventually he did find it. He hovered outside the door, nervously trying to figure out what he would say so as to not make a fool out of himself...

She looked in her back for her journal or tools but neither of which could be found. 'Shit....' she thought hoping that she had just left everything at home, but she could have sworn that she at least too her journal. Either way she hoped that no one had read it. She sighed and walked back to the shop, realizing that Charlie would already be up so she'd have to leave again tomarrow.

Levin's Prosthetics has been around since her parents opened the shop before the kids were born. It was one of the few shops that had automail internal organs that could also be used like eyes, hearts, lungs, livers, but nothing much else seeing how you can't raise a child in a metallic womb nor think with a metal brain. However the internal organs they could produce worked extremely well compared to other shops organs.

She walked in the front door with her brother looking at her confused. "Sorry I'm back Syd but I forgot a few things, like my tools." Her brother nodded and said "So you're leaving tomarrow then?" "Yeah." "For sure this time?" "I promise" she said as she headed upstairs to the living area of the shop.

She and her only other sister shared a room, Syd got his own room, and her two younger brothers shared a room. She looked in all of her hiding spots to try and see if she left it there and when she had no luck her heart sank. 'I hope no one actually read it past the tasty reward part...' she thought to herself. At least no one would ask what she was looking for since her sister was teacher the youngest sibling some alchemy today.

"Helloooo?" Tsune poked his head in cautiously as if he would get it chopped off if he moved in any further. He managed to get in through the doorway without losing any appendages, nor his life. All seemed well and peaceful and no one was currently trying to tackle him to the ground. Still...he looked around, expecting anything at any moment. "I...found something..." He trailed off, figuring he sounded ridiculous trying to make conversation with no one. That was when he encountered some guy who appeared to be a very brotherly figure. He blinked at the strange assumption and held up the journal innocently before they tried to report him for robbery or something else he didn't do.

Syd looked at the man and him holding up a journal. He was actually kinda confused at the man but he noticed the automail arm. In his confusion he asked "...Are you a customer? Or do you need some food? Or something?" Syd had no reason to accuse him of wrongdoings, after all he didn't see the man commit any wrongdoings. But they do generally help people out by giving out food, since they grow most of their own food anyway they always have plenty to share as well.

Res kept looking around her room wondering if Jen might have moved it on her or something. Hell, she even looked in the trash to see if a page was simply ripped out or colored on my Charlie. She didn't expect a 6 year old to really know better but she was hoping that it was safe as she looked around the upstairs living area of the shop for it. She'd grab her tools afterwards because she knew those were in her workroom downstairs.

Tsune covered his mouth to keep from laughing and quickly looked away to regain his composure. "No...well, actually I found this in the middle of the street and it said to bring it back here." He stared straight at the man and flashed his trademark smile, but it never quite reached his eyes. "This belongs to someone here." He handed him the journal, and turned to leave, except something stopped him. Maybe...was it curiosity? Damn not again.

He opened it and on the inside cover he saw his sister's name and then promptly closed it. He knew how girls where with their diaries and really did not want to anger his sibling right before she left and might not come home again for a while. He also didn't realize that it was more or less an Alchemy journal then anything. "Yeah it belongs to someone here," he said "Come behind the counter and head up the stairs, we live up there and it isn't a big space so finding Res should be no problem. The bathroom is actually down on this level so don't worry about having to knock or anything. Her name is Dresden so if you find her up there, you know what to call her." He said while giving the journal back to this guy.

Meanwhile Res was kinda going crazy, not being able to find that. "If anyone finds it and reads it I could be in big trouble, particularly if it fell into the wrong hands. I hope no one from the military found it otherwise I might not even become a State Alchemist...." she said with some despair. She sat on her bed to think a moment to see if just just actually misplaced it. She was hoping that she had only just misplaced it.

Tsune stared at him briefly, but then reluctantly took the journal back with a small smile. He couldn't help but wonder why the brother just didn't take it up there himself. Maybe because he didn't want to get killed by his sister... great he was in for it. He descended the steps and briskly took off down the hallway, glancing in rooms whose doors were open. Of course, the brother said that the bathroom was downstairs, but seriously what if he--a complete stranger--burst in and she had felt compelled to change in the middle of the day and was getting dressed? What then, huh?! He knew girls were weird like that, some were; he lived with fifteen of them! He paused in his search when he reached the middle of the hallway and listened intently, trying to pick up where she was. He heard soft creaking as if someone had just sat on a bed. He moved in that direction, which was a bit further down and noticed a door opened a crack with light pouring through. Carefully, he moved the door open enough to see through just in case... He found a girl on the bed along with a shock of red hair. Red hair--that usually meant they got mad easily didn't it? He froze for half a second and then pushed the door all the way open, walking in quickly. He was in front of her faster than the eye could see and held the book out to her.
"Oi, don't look so sad. It's right here," He laughed, trying to pretend like she was actually sulking on the bed because she was looking for her journal. Like that'd ever happen. When his sisters had lost something they usually forgot about it after not so long a time. "Dresden, right? Your brother appointed me the deliverer since I found it outside."

She noticed the man standing there with her journal. Her heart sank a bit seeing as how a complete stranger had it and he might have read it but she at least looked happy that she knew where it was now. She knew her brother sent him up in case there was any customers, she wasn't too much of an angry person, in fact it was really hard to get her angry. Just because all of her family had red hair doesn't mean that they were an angry bunch.

"Did you read it?" she asked "I need you to be truthful on this, I won't be angry if you did." She walked up to him and took it back. She seemed very gentle and calm and she was generally. She was indeed going to talk to him if he did, but more or less to keep his mouth shut and not tell anyone about it rather then a talk on privecy. At least he returned it so he'd still get his tasty reward.

Tsune's assumptions about her anger were shot down and he smiled sweetly as he answered. "Yes. I read it." But then suddenly his demeanor turned dark and his smile turned into a smirk. "Rather deep thoughts for a pretty girl like yourself." He moved closer to her, very calmly, so he could feel her breath against his cheek when he leaned down to look into her eyes. "I wouldn't dig much further into your theory. You should give it up."

She backed up from him and said "Yeah and give up giving my siblings a better life? I'm sorry I can't do that. You already met my older brother downstairs, He was 18 when he started to take care of us, he is now 23. Do you know how much stress he is under? To have to take care of two teenagers who want to go off and do their own thing, a 6 year old little boy who doesn't always respond to his own name, and a certain sibling always picking on little Charlie? It's hard. I'm mean, don't you think he wants to go out and search for a wife and have kids of his own? He can't leave the shop and neither can my other siblings because otherwise the shop would die, we'd have no money, then we'd be homeless and have no food. When I go out and train I plan on doing tune-ups and fixing simple things and other such stuff then send half the money back home for them so they can at lest get come profits too."

She was determined to bring her parents back to life, one way or another. "With my parents back, Syd can take breaks from the shop every once in a while and so can the others. Also another thing, Don't tell anyone what you read at least do that for me." She was hoping that he'd at least listen to her reasons and discover that they were good enough to at least not tell anyone about this. "Also have you tried human Alchemy before?" If anything she was going to hope that he'd at least teach her how to get her skills stronger or maybe teach her about the gate, or something. She could give him a place to stay and some food while he trains her if he were to decide to but she'd have to ask while on better terms then this.

Something about the way she began to lecture him about her family immediately set him off, but his conscience told him to just walk away. He clearly never listened to it, why was it he had that Automail arm...? He crossed his arms behind his back, listening to the rest of her speech. The anger evaporated and he looked at her sadly. The steel blue color in his eyes no longer shined like cold metal, but seemed now like melted ice. "I'm sorry," He whispered, stepping away from her. He quickly averted his eyes to hide the crushing look he knew he possessed. "It's impossible. You cannot bring the dead back to life." He looked back at her, those same sorrow-coated eyes wavering. "I'm sorry," He said again, "you must realize this and let go...I'm afraid I cannot let you go through with this." He looked at her directly with firm resolve and smiled in that same sweet way as if to erase all that had just transpired. "Yes. I have." That wasn't a question people would normally ask...maybe she suspected him because she happened to notice his arm like her brother did. How these professionals were able to see through solid layers to the metal hidden beneath his clothes, he really didn't know and wasn't about to ask.

They could hear the arm work. Everyone in the family could easily hear automail on one's being. "I know you can't bring the dead back to life per say but it is possible to transmute souls to things is it not?" she said. "I only plan on making bodies that look like theirs as a shell, Get to the gate but not go in it to see the truth so I won't lose anything, Try and cross paths their with souls, then transmute their souls into the bodies. I just need to find a way to make those bodies without them appearing to be falling as well as a way to edit the human transmutation circle so it won't try and make a soul but still bring me in front of the gate but not into the truth." She was trying to explain to him that there is a chance for it to work. That there might just be a way for her to perfect human transmutation.

"I ran the DNA and me and my siblings, oddly enough I have two sets of DNA. Between 6 sets of DNA, if you can spilt the chromosomes apart then it is possible to recreate mom and dad's DNA so the shells off the body will in turn become theirs. DNA is another crucial part of a human that most people actually forget when it comes to making one. I have each of their DNAs hidden, but I have them, and with that the bodies should look more like a body too." There was no doubt that she was smart and had some good ideas.

"What was doing human transmutation like for you?" She honestly wanted to know about his experience and why he had tried to do it.

"Yes...that's possible." He bowed his head reluctantly. "But... the instant you touch the circle...you've lost something." The last part came out painfully; he couldn't hide the horror in his voice and it wavered uncertainly. He plunged himself ahead, trying hard to understand what she was saying. "I--mind if I sit down?" He asked before abruptly dropping himself onto the carpet.
"I was trying to do the opposite of what you're saying..." He bit his lip and watched her reaction carefully. This was the first time he had admitted it; the first time he had spoken to anyone about it. He felt almost grateful...maybe worth something. This thought alone brought the story forth from the depths of his heart where he had buried it. "I wanted information. I sought 'the truth' but...'the gate' doesn't ask you what you want. It merely gives. 'The truth' is not what you gain from your sacrifice, but what you buy is the act of appearing before 'the gate'--that...white space. Does that make sense?" He paused, playing with the drawstring on his black sweat shirt nervously.
"If your goal was to avoid 'the truth' by not opening 'the gate' then how will you pull out your parent's souls? Even if you somehow escape it, the cost... would be your entire being," He murmured, looking back up at her. "I wish your ideas would be true, but the only thing you could do would be to alter the transmutation circle like I did...but still...the sacrifice..."

She listened to him and said "Either way I have to find a way to do it." she was crying and yet determined. "I want my family to be happy, Sure they seem happy now but they aren't, they all have things that they wish they could do." She wanted it so that way Syd could find a wife, so the teens could be themselves, so Charlie could learn from the true masters of how to transmute metals. She just wanted everything to be back the way it was.

"I'm sorry I can't heed your advice, I really really am. There is a reason why I want to become a State Alchemist, I'm sure they have better research then what you had, and what I have to go by." She knew the government could perfect human transmutation, she felt it deep in her soul that they could do it and create human like things, the next step was to transmute a soul to it. She did feel like shit about it and she knew that she could lose parts of her body by doing it but in a way she almost wasn't afraid. "If I do it here, and lose anything, Syd can fix it." She said in almost a whisper. "He is against me doing this but he also knows that he can't hold me back. He just worries about me is all."

Tsune couldn't understand everything she was saying for he didn't know her family and what they had went through. What he did feel from her was her determination to succeed and it wasn't just her own recklessness; she really wanted to perfect it. He thought about it a moment...

"If you did manage to create something human and transmute a soul to it, how would they feel about it? Aren't you being selfish...Even if you are willing to sacrifice something briefly, they have to live their whole lives like that. And it will be twice the sacrifice...you aren't guaranteed to lose your limbs; it may be your heart." He frowned and looked down, ashamed to be spouting reality at her. He hadn't even considered what he was saying when he had made a similar assumption. Not too many people committed the crime of human transmutation. He was hoping she wouldn't repeat his mistake.

His eyebrows furrowed as he thought deeply about the words he wanted to offer her next. Smiling at her tears, he decided that this was what he really wanted to do. "If you will let me stay here like you offered, then when I get paid from the military, I will support you and your family here. It may not be a permanent relief, but at least until you figure out what you really want to do, you can live leisurely. It may be a few days maybe even a week until then, but I will keep this promise. What do you say?"

He stretched out his arms above his head and smiled a bit more. It penetrated into the depths of his steel blue eyes. He hoped this would be successful, and while he stayed here, he could help them out at least until they got sick of him. Everyone always got sick of him and his recklessness--he struggled not to frown at the thought. His main goal was to keep this poor girl from making a mistake that would destroy not just her future, but her entire family. Girls this pretty should be enjoying life with a smile. He hoped he could accomplish at least that; he hated seeing anyone suffer.