foolishwren | IC CONTACT (Victory Road)

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IC CONTACT (Victory Road)

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"Yo, it's Heather. I'm probably asleep or one of the Pokemon ate my 'Gear or something so I can't answer you right now. But feel free to leave a message or something.
I'll probably get back to you. ... Probably. Peace out."

Click!

[Need to send Heather a private message, or start up any other thread that doesn't need a log or post of its own? Tag here with the date of the interaction in the subject line!]

[(NOTE: The old contact post containing all threads from Route 29 can be found here!)]

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[Well. That phone call happened.]

[After JW has quietly vacated the call to go have an unpleasant think, Envy is quiet for a moment. And then glances sideways at Heather. :T]

Sssso. I didn't mention that part before, did I?

_{[It sure fuckin did.]

[And he sure fuckin didn't.]

[She's laying backwards, one arm bent over her face at roughly eye level.]}

I don't really know why I'm surprised.

_{[She doesn't sound angry, actually, because truth be told she really isn't. She had never really thought about what those red stones he and Lust always talked about were but she'd never exactly entertained visions of them heading out to the local ruby mine for lunch back in their world, so clearly she'd never thought they were regular rocks.]

[And hey, you know. Monsters.]

[But it still seems like something that should maybe have come up at some point.]}

[Oof. He's not entirely sure how to take that.]

[Boy being an anime villain is more difficult when you're suddenly no longer only really interacting with other soul eating monsters or people you want to horrify.]

I mean, it didn't really...come up?

I don't think about it a whole lot.

_{[Not removing her arm, she snorts a little bit. Not derisively-- it just. Makes sense, in a darkly humorous way.]

[It's not something she really has a leg up on him about, either.]

[She tries not to think about the undeserved deaths she'd had a hand in over the course of her lives, regardless of if she was truly the one at fault or not.]}

I guess I technically could have asked.

[Oh, well that's a sort of promising sign at least.]

...true. You have seen me eating a bag full of rocks before and didn't ask if homunculi just really needed extra minerals.

[...joke? Joke good to do?]

_{[JOKES! The universe's solution to ALL awkward situations.]}

I mean, to be honest, I thought your whole deal was more... science...y?

_{[SOULS aren't something that had ever really entered Heather's mental vision of what had brought the Homunculi into this world. At least, not with the way Alphonse had always talked about it.]

[(The suit of armor thing was weird but she like kind of assumed there was a brain hooked up in there or something)]}

[Envy actually looks a little confused.]

I mean...lives and souls are still part of the science?

They're real enough to be part of equivalent exchange, after all.

[SOULS, MEMORIES, BODY PARTS, ALL VALID INGREDIENTS WHEN YOUR WORLD'S VERY REAL AND COMMON SCIENCE IS WILDLY OCCULT]

Mm. In my world, there's a lot of people who don't even believe souls exist. As in, everybody is just meat powered by electricity.

The soul is considered... uh, spiritual territory, I guess.

_{[Obviously, Heather knows the aforementioned people are full of shit. If souls didn't exist, neither would she. But the distinction between the two things seems... blurrier, in Envy's world.]}

[The look he gives her is now FULLY baffled. Eyebrows as far up as they can go. Excuse me??]

So...wait.

You've got humans over where you're from, just regular humans...who don't think anyone's human?

That everyone's walking around like a homunculus?

_{[OH, ENVY. YOU ARE NOT READY TO HEAR ABOUT HOW COMPLICATED SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY ARE ON CONTEMPORARY PLANET EARTH.]

[She shakes her head.]}

No, no. How do I explain it... like, obviously, I know souls are real, 'cause if they weren't... _{[She gestures broadly to herself. SOUL FRAGMENTATION AND REINCARNATION BAYBEEEEEE]}

But science has never been able to prove it. So like, for people who only believe in established scientific facts, the soul is just an abstract, invented concept and 'human' is just a species.

I mean, for most people, I don't think it's that black and white. You don't need to be some kinda religious fanatic to believe in souls. It's just, you know... not in the same box as science.

[IT'S TRUE, HE WASN'T READY.]

[There's a rare few minutes of quiet from Envy as he tries to puzzle over this new bizarre information.]

I mean, I guess if you don't have alchemy...a lightbulb or a steam engine or...I don't know, geometry isn't going to involve souls and there wouldn't be a way to prove anything

But they're just as real as any other component of the world that can be transmuted.

I've even seen what happens when there's a body without one. Really without one, not even an incomplete one. And Alphonse must have told you what he was.

Oh yeah, he did-- but like, I guess I assumed it was either a flowery way of saying that his like... brain was in there somewhere, or that it was some kind of like... supernatural thing.

Like with me.

Anyway, not judging. It's just... surreal to wrap my mind around. I'm used to stuff not adhering to science so I guess it's even weirder to hear that it does.

I'll give you that souls don't really behave like your normal elemental components. Alchemists who try to treat them the same way you'd treat hydrogen or carbon are always in for a nasty surprise.

[Although give him a minute, he's just realized what she said about Alphonse maybe being a brain. He only has to think about it for a second before he starts laughing. Actual genuine laughter, not even snickering.]

Wait, oh my god, a brain? Just rattling around in the suit of armor?

_{[She snorts, reaching back over her shoulder and giving him a gentle shove in the shoulder.]}

Not rattling around, like-- suspended in a tank or something. I didn't think about it a lot, okay?

_{[Because out of the two, the supernatural option had seemed a lot more feasible.]}

[The shove doesn't stop him.]

No, no, you don't understand, I'm just thinking about it!

He'd get his empty helmet knocked off all the time and people would be like "AAAA OH GOD" [he feigns shock and horror, with included hand gestures of course] "IT'S EMPTYYYYY"!

But imagine...[he clearly imagines again, having to pause to laugh harder] Imagine if the helmet came off and a brain just rolled out....

[he may be about to cry this is so funny]

_{[... OKAY THAT IS A PRETTY FUNNY MENTAL IMAGE. Sorry Alphonse.]

[She starts snickering as well.]}

That's some grade-A Re-Animator shit right there.

[Sorry Alphonse we know you're a sad armor boy but sometimes it's very funny especially when your name is Envy okay]

Grade A what?

--heheh, sorry. Me and my pop culture references.

S'not important.

_{[She doesn't feel like explaining that movie. Even if Envy would probably think it was a hoot.]}

Anyway...

_{[She reaches over again to plant an affectionate hand on top of his head.]}

I don't judge you for your former diet of souls.

[She can always tell him another time.]

Fine, fine.

[He doesn't lean into the hand, but he does appreciate the gesture. Especially because of what she says next, which gets him to grin. It's definitely nice to hear.]

Thanks. I won't go giving them out to strangers again, either.

[...well, probably.]

Definitely don't go giving them out to strangers.

If peanut butter at the store has to have a label on it that says 'Contains peanuts', you need to inform people that your red rocks contain souls before they try any.

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