Abandoned Military Outpost

[Destinykil]

The abandoned military outpost once prospered during the old times until the war turned it into rubble. People usually wander in and out of it even though the signs around it say 'Keep OUT!' What was left of it provided shelter for those without homes but was constantly being cleaned out by military personnel.

Des' is seen walking towards the outpost and stops at the large fence. He notices since the last time he was here, they put a lock on the gates so the homeless didn't get in. His eyes shifted around to make sure no one was insight. Quickly he pulled out his small pistol and blew the lock off. Des pushed open the gates and walked inside the building.

A few minutes down some of the halls and he began to feel some nostalgia hit him like a ton of bricks. He remembers when he was kid visiting this place. Des stopped and entered a room. The floor was half gone revealing a large mound of dirt and debris. He squatted down and placed the book on the floor and flipped it open. After a few minutes of reading the table of contents his shifted a few pages further until he saw the title of the chapter, 'Beginner Earth Alchemy.' This is where he began really reading.

Des could only hope no one would enter this place.

[Yoyo]

She flexed her left arm as she walked down the sidewalk toward the abandoned military outpost. She had been tied up with work lately, so her trips down here had been few and far between of late. Feeling everything to be working properly, she shoved her hand in her trench coat pocket.

Arriving, she was surprised to find that the lock had been blown off the from gate. She knew some people used this place other than just her, so she shrugged, accepting it as an easier method of access than usual. As she made her way deeper into the area, she heard someone muttering ahead of her. She paused mid-step, then hurried to the side of the building, using rubble to give her access to a window. Peering inside, she saw a military man hunched over a book on the ground. She watched, curious as to what he was doing.

[Destinykil]

Des continued to read the book intently. Soon after, he drew a crude alchemy circle on the floor and read some more. After a few minutes he clapped his hands together smacked them on the circle. A small light radiated off the circle and dirt started to rise but quickly fell. Des slammed his fist on the floor and hunched his head.

"What am I doing wrong? This is exhausting, just once i'd like this damn alchemy to work!"

Des tossed the book at the wall and rose to his feet gripping his hair.

[Yoyo]

"Throwing books at walls doesn't do a whole lot of good," the woman called from high above him. She sat comfortably in the window, one leg dangling, and arm propped on the knee of her other.

"And I don't understand the fascination people have with clapping their hands to perform transmutations, either. It was those kids from a hundred years ago that started that and everyone followed suit, even though it does nothing to help."

She swung both legs over the edge and rested her forearms on her knees. "Care for a lesson?"

[Destinykil]

Des lifted his head up and gazed at her.

"You! How did you get in here? What are you doing here? This place is off limits. What did you just see? None of that matter,....yes I would indeed care for a lesson. This whole alchemy thing has me in a bind. My commander told me to learn some sort of alchemy otherwise i'd be booted from the unit."

He motioned with his hand for her to come closer. He walked over to the book and picked it back up bowing off the debris and dirt that fell on it.

[Yoyo]

The woman watched in silent amusement, then leaped from the window. She grabbed an old chain that hung from the ceiling and slid to the ground. She cracked the knuckles in her right hand and stood in front of the man, staring him in the face.

"First things first; I'm going to need to know your name, Mr. Military Man. Mine's Rei." She turned away from him without waiting for a response and inspected his transmutation circle. "Second, this one's a bit to advanced for a beginner. That is an older book so it may be behind in techniques."

She quickly drew a simple circle in the dirt and pointed at it. "This is what you need to start out with before moving into something specific like earth transmutation."

[Destinykil]

He eyed the circle she drew with ease and then grunted. "My name is Des. Lieutenant of the 34th regimen in the Military. Why would you sell me an old book? It doesn't matter, teach me."

[Yoyo]

"Why do you ask questions and then say that the answer doesn't matter, Lieutenant Des?" she said, eying him with minor annoyance. "And for your information, my store sells older books. Older books don't include the absolute basics of alchemy. I assumed you at least had those down when I sold you the book."

Rei crouched beside her transmutation circle and pointed again. "This is your starting point. The material is here; use the ground to create something. Imagine something simple in your mind and touch the circle."

[Destinykil]

Des grunted at Rei and squatted down next to her near the circle. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. When he opened his eyes he touched the circle and the dirt began to shift around.

The dirt started to form and by the time it was down, a small statue in armor stood before them both.

"Ha! Take that, look at that perfection. A Little statue man. I am a genius. Nah just playing. What else should I need to know Rei? You are now my teacher no if's and's or but's about it!"

He rose from his squatted position and crossed his arms over his chest laughing.

[Yoyo]

Rei watched in amusement as Des created his toy, but as he continued, her eyebrows drew closer together. She stood slowly and began pulling at the fingers on her left hand.

"Perfection? You think that's perfection? That simple toy armor?" she asked calmly, her fingers extending unnaturally in her hand. Before long her left hand appeared to be an empty glove of skin. "Perfection takes a long time to achieve, Lieutenant."

In a flash, Rei extended her left arm, her hand beside Des' head. A loud crash sounded and the wall on the far end of the room behind Des exploded into rubble. Rei withdrew her arm revealing an automail left hand, electricity crackling brightly around it.

"A long time to achieve."

[Destinykil]

Des ducked down and covered his head.

"What the hell are you trying to do kill me? Come on, that was pretty good for my first time. I'm like picasso with this stuff..."

Before he got to finish his sentence he began gazing at her automail. He rose up and eyes it ever so carefully.

"Automail huh? That is rare to see these days. Well for me at least. Pray tell, how did this happen?"

[Yoyo]

"It doesn't matter," she said, a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips as she stepped over the circles in the dirt. She turned to face him and crossed her arms. "As for your first time, it had very little to do with you. That circle is nearly perfect. Compare your attempts and my circle and you'll see quite a bit of difference."

She knelt and drew a plain circle in the ground and motioned for him to do the same. "Perfection takes a long time to achieve." She watched him a moment then added, "Unless you're really really good at drawing circles."

[Destinykil]

Des looked at her perplexed and knelt down beside the circle.

"I better not fail this time. Who needs circles anyways?"

With that being sad he took a few deep breaths and placed his hands on the circle. He concentrated but realized nothing was really happening.

"What gives? Does the circle have to be perfect or something? Throw me a bone here."

Des fell back onto his butt and sighed heavily knowing learning alchemy would be an near-impossible task.

[zergio]

Will had been wondering around town. Because of his curiosity, and his tendency not to think before acting, he decided to explore the Warehouse. He walked in and looked around

[Yoyo]

Rei rolled her eyes. "It's a plain circle, muscles-for-brains. Those aren't going to do you much good. Just practice drawing circles for now. The better your circles, the easier to perform alchemy."

She walked away, inspecting the ceiling as she waited for Des to begin drawing his circles. "This place needs to be fixed up. Too many practice sessions are gonna make it cave in at some point."

[Destinykil]

Des rose from his butt and walked over to the dirt and knelt beside it, he began to draw circles crudely.

"This is absolutely ridiculous Rei! Circles are not my forte but you are the teacher so I will continue to try."

Des erases the poorly drawn dirt circle and begins to draw another and another. They start to look more like circles with each attempt. The glint in his eyes get brighter and brighter with each circle.

"Rei, i-i'm doing it! Huzzah! Now what?"

Des rose and threw his arms up into the air celebrating his near perfect circles in the dirt.

[Yoyo]

Rei returned to Des and examined his circles. She nodded silently, contemplating something. Finally she spoke. "Pretty good. The question now is whether you can add the correct runes to make your circles do something. Try copying the circle you used to create that armor."

Rei stretched as she turned away from him. "Once you can do that basic circle flawlessly you can start working on the circles in your book." She began pulling the flesh-colored glove over her automail as she walked toward the entrance. She smiled as she reached the doorway. "Good luck, Lieutenant. Your one lesson is over."

[Destinykil]

Des looked at her and looked back at the circle. He started to attempt to draw runes but they all came out crummy. His hands were never steady. As Rei walked towards the door, Des turned his head towards her and spoke.

"Thank you Rei. Come back soon."

He turned his attention back towards the circles and began slowly drawing the runes. Each line got better and better. IT was nowhere near the one Rei drew earlier for him. This was going to take some time it seems.

[Yoyo]

Rei stood some distance from the building, just out of sight of Des but not out of hearing. "You probably won't need my help anymore, Lieutenant," Rei thought, turning slightly to look back through the entrance. She could not see him but she could hear him muttering in frustration on occasion. "You have the secret for now. Hopefully we don't meet again on opposite sides."

She smirked as she walked away from the building. "Again."

[Destinykil]

Des continued to draw the runes in circles and mutter every now and then. Each attempt drew him closer to the perfect circle but it also drew out the frustration in him. As the time passed by, Des finally got a perfect circle with runes down and took a deep breath in.

He stood on the other side of the room and gazed at it for a while. HE never knew something so small could be so hard to do. He came closer the circle again and slapped his hands down on it exhaling all the breath in his lungs. The circle lit up magnificently and a large statue towered over him.

"I did it! WHOOT. Take that everybody!"

Des jumped around the room in amazement at what he had created. IT only took him several hours since Rei left. He was amazed at how fast time passed by. Des approached the dirt statue and saluted it before walking out the door in triumph.

(Des exit, toipic is open)

[zergio]

Will arrived at the abandoned military outpost. He didn't know why, but seeing the military pissed him off. Ever since he meet Rei, he began to gain hate towards the military. No body even pushed him to hate them. It just began to fill up. It was raining that night, and Will couldn't stand seeing this place anymore. Since he couldn't do it without one, he began to draw a alchemy circle around the base. He was gonna destroy this place. He began to use his alchemy, after completing the circle, to gather up a ton of water above it. He was ready to crush the building.

[SamSeven]

"What are you doing?!" she ran around the corner of the dilapidaded building, her jacket fluttering in the breeze of iminent alchemy. She put her hands out, "Stop, let me look around!!"

[zergio]

Will payed no attention to the woman as he prepared to unleash the water upon the building.

[SamSeven]

Her carefully constructed look of anguish dropped. She sprinted at him and tackled him to the ground before he could do any serious damage. After a brief scuffle, he was pinned and she got a better look at him. He was younger than she had thought.

"This can't wait a second??" she asked, irritatedly.

[zergio]

Will blinked a couple times before the water came falling down. Since he was knocked over, he lost focus, so the water fell on the building like rain, harmlessly dripping away. However, he and Dywin got soaked in the process.

The hatred he felt slowly drained out of him, and he realized what he was about to do a few seconds ago.

"I-im sorry..... I just..... when I saw it, I just thought I had to destroy it......"

Will wasn't even sure why he felt this way towards the military. He just did.

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