Voice Testing >> Homeless. Looking. Muse is being difficult.

[slave_number_23]

 ... You're really doing this, ma'dam?

I already have to put up with the loud-mouthed nin-ja brat— [— Don't be rude to Obito-kun, for god's sakes— ]—You're not my Master, you can't flog me, so why the hell should I listen to a word you say, lady?

[ ... Because I am your mun and have control over your very existence and actions— ]— What does "ex...ex..istence" even mean anyway? Whatever. Now you're going to... tra-trans-...port me to a different world? [ Yep. ]

I have work to get done, ya' know ma'dam, and my friend in the flask is going to teach me more whole words, now that I've mastered the alphabet. I don't want to lose my meal for a third time in a row because Master threw it to the dogs again.

[ Sorry, buddy, but I'm not compromising here, understood? Your corporation is mandatory this time. ]

...

... What?

[ Boy, you're stupid. ]

—SHUT UP ABOUT THAT ALREADY, ASSHOLE!

Comments

[tinfoil_angel]

Your mun means that you have to listen to him this time.

[He smiles.]

And don't be too worried, you'll meet people here that will teach you things if you want them to.

[slave_number_23]

... Oh. More fancy words just to say stuff like that?

[ A kind of blank look is directed your way. Then a shrug. ]

It's not allowed. Back in... my country.

[tinfoil_angel]

Well here it's allowed. So why don't you ask me about something you want to learn?

[slave_number_23]

Do you know anything about alchemy? I only know a little of that.

[tinfoil_angel]

Ah a little, I haven't exactly done it myself but I skimmed some information before. I know more about plants than about anything else though.

[slave_number_23]

Oh... Nevermind then.

[ Silence. God, why so introverted, Twenty-Three. ]

[tinfoil_angel]

Are you sure? It's a good way to keep yourself alive if you know how to grow plants and which ones not to eat.

[alchimia]

[ Excuse him for a moment, he's just going to. Stare. Yep. What the hell??? Is this another one of those weird AU things, because it's not Al, it's not him, and certainly isn't Envy dicking around with his "original form".

Still, there's something extremely familiar about this guy, and Ed isn't just thinking about the appearance. ]

[slave_number_23]

[ Twenty-Three's right fist is still twitching, but it's not clenched into a fist as he slowly relaxes from shouting at his mundane. Then he notices Edward staring at him.

Oh. Another Xerxian. Good to see a fellow countryman around.

A pair of golden eyes stare blandly right back, taking care not to look Edward directly in the face as that might be taken as a challenge to the other person's possible authority. And possibly rebellious, uppity actions are all the excuse of one of the masters' need to assign flithy slacking slave a new punishment. ]

[alchimia]

[ That's... a bit weird. Why won't the guy look at him? It's rare for him to see anyone avoid his eyes and even in Germany, people like Noah were able to look down up at him. Perhaps, however, that was part of the strong determination and will of the Roma people...

But it's not just the way his near-twin refuses to look at him. It's the gold eyes, something so very rare, even in Amestris. More so in Munich. Only his old man had gold eyes like him and who knew where Hohenheim got that body. ]

Oi. What's the problem?

[ What might strike the stranger is the distinctively non-Xerxian accent that Ed has. ]

[slave_number_23]

[ It's mainly surprise that causes Twenty-Three to blink and look Edward directly in the face, syrub-golden pupils confused but fearless. The resemblance between them alone is startlingly enough, but the odd manner of speech is another shocker as well. This guy doesn't talk like an Xerxian at all. ]

... Nothing. Wha' do you want?

[ He holds the stranger's gaze firmly and without wavering, but the small amount of tension in his body betrays deeply in-grained nervousness, reinforced with the memories of the switch coming down on his back. This stranger with the sun-colored eyes and hair of an Xerxian, but with the speech patterns of an foreigner, was clearly no slave, and Twenty-Three wasn't sure how free men responded to uppity slaves. ]

[alchimia]

[ If the appearance was surprising enough, it's that hint of familiar Elric stubbornness that he sees in the strangers eyes that catches him off guard. Even if the other boy stands with the kind of nervousness he's used to seeing in Al, he can't deny that the other guy looks even more like him with that steely gaze.

Part of him is a bit suspicious, wondering if this is some kind of trick on Envy's part. But Envy would never play demure, regardless of who he's masquerading as... ]

Don't you think this— [ He gestures between the two of them with gloved fingers and a cocked brow. ] —is a bit, uh, weird? 'Cause I sure as hell do.

[ It still hasn't occurred to him that this boy looks remarkably what Hohenheim might look like if he was Ed's age, if only because as far as Ed knows, Hohenheim had an entirely different body when he was his age and cavorting with that bitch, Dante. ]

[slave_number_23]

[ This is, without a doubt, one of the stranger experiences in Twenty-Three's admitted limited, cramped, shackled life.

It is akin to staring into a mirror, a mirror distorted and fractured and shattered and put back together again with glue in all the wrong places, a mirror which stares right back at him with emotion in its facial expressions. It's a disquieting sensation and one he's not quite sure how to put into words.

At the other boy's words, Hohemheim nearly ignores them in favor of keeping a sharp eye on the stranger's hand and forces himself not to flinch when the other gestures at him, fearing a blow. But he recovers easily, and raises a single eyebrow in return, in a near-challenging way. ]

Actually, I do. You have my face, or at least, your's looks like a lot like mine. Never met an Xerxian who looked so much like me.

[ But Twenty-Three was never one for displaying surprise or shock, even then confronted with a talking, smartass blob of shadows and teeth and spooky eyes. ]

It's... creepy.

[alchimia]

Your face?

[ Hold up there, buddy. He likes to think is face is his alone, and it shows in the slight scowl that forms on his features. He doesn't much like that insinuation at all. But something else soon catches his attention, more than the remark, and quickly he's going through any references to "Xerxian" in his head he might find.

Even with his knowledge of his father's background and his origins, of the lost city beneath Central, and of his memories of maps detailing the lands surrounding Amestris, he still doesn't know of anything "Xerxian". Which makes the other boy's claim of shared... whatever even more weird.

Creepy is putting it lightly. ]

Xerxian.

[ He drops his hand, sliding both into his pockets now because the way the other boy watches his hand doesn't go unnoticed. Nor does the near-challenging stare. ]

Never heard of whatever that is. I'm Amestrian.

[ At least, partially. He will never really know what his father originally was in terms of country origins. His mother (the memory of her making the quickest flash of longing and guilt passing across his features faster than blinking), at least, was Amestrian. But Hohenheim of Light... ]

[braided_icarus]

...Mun says your mun should bring you to scorched.

[slave_number_23]

[ Oh, look. Another Xerxian, even if this one was a little shorter then the other guy. Twenty-Three blinks, looks upward with a rebellious scowl, and then returns his gaze to the blonde kid.

And what's with that look on your looks-strangely-like-mine face, kid. ]

Mun says she's heard of it. It's a [ Hohemheim pauses a moment to move his lips silently as he struggles to sound out the new, unfamiliar word, before continuing ] stre-stream... punk game-place, right?

[braided_icarus]

Yeah. It is. [Thinking this guy looks oddly familiar somehow yet can't quite place it, and why his mun is so excited.]

[slave_number_23]

[ Twenty-Three keeps shooting his mun filthy looks and the glare twists his hunger-sharpened features into facial expression that might seem eerily familiar. ]

What "fun". Stupid mun... I have work to do. [ The mun is happy you're so excited~!

Hohemheim fakes deafness in an momentarily successful attempt to stop playing his mun's messager boy. ]

[braided_icarus]

She doesn't see many of you around, apparently, which is why she's so...enthusiastic or whatever. [The expression is pretty familiar, but Ed either ignores the similarity or doesn't notice.]

my power lines were cut so I lost internet connection and had to go to my aunt's to get it. sorry.

[slave_number_23]

Well, that's a first. Never met someone who's happy to see me.

[ Or really truly cared at all, besides the smirking little dwarf inside the flask. Or if it was his Master, but that was only because slaves had to get their work done and clean up the untidy, sloven mess the alchemist always left behind him in the laboratory. Also, the thought of multiple "hims" running around here is one that Hohemheim is not really eager to pursue.

With a sigh, Twenty-Three plopped cross-legged down on the ground, annoyed. At the whole situation, but at his mundane in particular. Also, social skills, what are those?

In boredom, he begins to scribble on the ground with his finger, tracing ancient letters, slowly and laboriously into the dirt. The straight lines and boxy characters aren't in any language the other boy would probably understand. But there are a few recognizable designs scattered within the lines and doodles, such a smaller example of a transmution circle and a couple of alchemistic symbols. ]

Ouch? I hope you get power back soon!

[braided_icarus]

[Shrugs, but watches Hohenheim, blinking and frowning for a moment at the vaguely familiar drawings and runes he does recognize]

....You know alchemy?

[hohenheim]

...That can't possibly be me.

[ Hello, past-self. This is your future-self about to have one hell of a migraine trying to sort this out. As if sharing a mun with this psycho isn't bad enough. ]

omg :D another Hoho-papa. SCREAMS

[slave_number_23]

[ ...

...

... Twitch.

Hello, future self. Your past-self is attempting to understand why the hell there are so many look-a-likes of himself running around this insane place, and why is this breaded bastard is calling him a "me".

Also, he doesn't envy you the psycho chick at all. ]

What the hell are you talking about?

hello~

[hohenheim]

Um, well I...I guess I should explain what's happening here, right? Yes, well that's the thing. I really don't know what's happening here so I can't really explain.

[ Goodness. This has to be one the weirdest days he ever had. His poor mind can't even comprehend how it's even possible for two versions of the same man could be present at the same time. ]

I'm guessing this counts as a paradox.

Hi to you too~

[slave_number_23]

Y'know, it would be kinda nice if I knew what was going on here too, but I don't either. So we're in the same boat, huh.

[ Twenty-Three sounded kinda grumpy, lips pulled down in a thin frown on his blank dirty face, but that's mainly stemming from the fact that he doesn't understand this at all. With the other Xerxians, it seemed just a matter of differing information and countries that didn't seem to exist and their inability to recognize Xerxes as a place.

But this appeared to be something on an entirely separate level of surrealism. Thus, he was a little annoyed. If he was actually aware of just who he was speaking to (himself roughly four centuries in the future, and a magical stone stuffed of the souls of the damned to boot) Twenty-Three would certainly by as baffled as Hohenheim is.

Also, hey! A new word the Homunculus hadn't taught him yet! ]

What's a "paradox"? I haven't learned that word yet.