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.

[slave_number_23]

I'mma house slave, not a labor slave. Don't work on a farm either.

[tinfoil_angel]

Oh.

You don't get it, you're not a slave any more.

[slave_number_23]

[ Good luck convincing him of that.

Disbelieving stare. ]

[tinfoil_angel]

[He sighs.]

Let's put it this way, you had people you had to listen to or you would get hurt, right? Well they aren't here. You're allowed to do what you want in whatever place your mun sends you to.

[slave_number_23]

[ thinking... ]

[slave_number_23]

[ thinking, thinking... ]

[slave_number_23]

[ ! ]

[slave_number_23]

[ Free. Free to do whatever he wants when he wanted. Never having to fear his Master's next experiment. Being treated as not proterty, but a person, a person with human rights.

sounds nice.

but unrealistic. ]

[slave_number_23]

Just like that? As if.

[tinfoil_angel]

It's true. Also, most people here don't like people who keep slaves. So if your master ever did show up, there would be a long line of people ready to beat him up. People far stronger than him.

[slave_number_23]

[ While the mental image of a long, winding line of people lining to beat up his pompous ass of a Master was entertaining, Twenty-Three was stubborn, and his golden eyes narrowed. ]

Things don't work like that.

[ Equal exchange. There had to be a price for his freedom, should it ever come about. Nothing was free and there always had to be an exchange of equal worth, value, power. Knowledge he could earn, to work towards his freedom. Anything else? Not Likely. ]

[tinfoil_angel]

[Being a mind-reader helped in this case.]

The Equal exchange in this case would be that you have to treat people nicely. If you are cruel to others then no one will assist you if your master appears.

[slave_number_23]

[ A slow blink. And an agreeable nod because that reasoning did make sense. What was the point to being mean to others? Twenty-Three didn't like seeing people in pain, even if he had nothing to do with it. Helping was more rewarding in the long run the inflicting misery. That was why he was offering to teach other slaves how to read and write.

Pause.

Then, suspicion and a sidelong glance at the other guy. This person had admitted to knowing little of alchemy, so how did he know of the Law of Equivalent Exchange? ]

... Eh?

[tinfoil_angel]

What?

[No need to reveal the mind-reading aspect. Even those who knew very little of alchemy must of heard of the law of exchange in his world.]

[slave_number_23]

... Nothing.

[ So paranoid, but he is cautious unlike a certain future son of his and says nothing, just adopting a stormy expression onto his blank face and folding his arms across his scrawny, underfed, bony chest.

Grumble, mutter, mumble. ]

... Guess that's fair.

[tinfoil_angel]

It is, and if we end up going to the same place, you can help me in my garden in exchange for food.

[slave_number_23]

Okay. [ He's no stranger to hard work, after all, and this is the first time someone's offered to pay him, even in food, for his work. And Twenty-Three never turned down a chance for food. No slave in his right mind would do that.

Now, back to staring blankly off into the distance. ]

[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. ]