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Post by ashur grey on Jan 26, 2012 22:22:00 GMT -5
Ashur stood within the large open space, surrounded by row upon row of grave markers. It was the cemetery that all military personnel could expect to end up one day if they served Amestris long enough. All around him the dead were buried. . . they all died in different ways, but died for the same thing in general; they died for their country. . .
It was a fine afternoon and a breeze rushed over the open field from time to time shifting the grass, leaves and the lone man's cloak. The sun shined down warmly and the occasional bird gave a sweet call. Was this what Ashur wanted? Even he did not know, but normally he envisioned he would die on a battlefield and get nothing, but a makeshift marker placed on his shallow grave. . .
Looking down Ashur read the name on the gravestone once more, probably his seventeenth time looking at the name. Brigadier General Maes Hughes. Ashur had not know the man well, but his extremely friendly attitude and happiness had managed to leave an impression even on Ashur's heart. He had not been particularly close to Hughes, but that had been the wonderful thing about him. You could be a complete stranger and Hughes would still have been your friend.
You figured it all out before any of us Hughes. While I did not sense anything was truly amiss until the last day. . . You were smarter than me Hughes, stronger than me in many senses. Perhaps it should have been you that lived instead of me.
At that point Ashur gave the faintest of smiles, something that was increasingly rare these days. While Ashur had not been Hughes closest friend, barely a friend in fact he knew that the kindhearted man would not have wished anyone to die in his stead. That was what made Hughes, Hughes. With that realization Ashur's feet came perfectly together, his right hand moving up till his index finger touched the outer corner of his right eyebrow. A perfect salute, for possibly the best man Ashur had ever met. . .
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Post by elicia hughes on Jan 26, 2012 23:40:01 GMT -5
The day had started out normal, she had dusted some around house and played with Rose. But then it took a turn for the best when she managed to talk her mama into letting Elicia go alone to the grave. Every time she went she had to bring Rose, but, Elicia didn't want to, with Rose Elicia could only stay a little bit before the puppy got bored. Elicia wanted to talk for a while this time, so winning the argument was great. She pulled on a coat and left.
Elicia walked toward the grave, the same grave she has visited once a week for as long as she could remember and will visit many more times to come, the same grave her beloved father was buried too soon in and the same grave that some man stood in front of. This broke her train of thoughts. When she first completely registered that there was, indeed a man standing in front of papa's grave her first emotion was hope and she almost sprinted to him yelling papa, then the second emotion came, anger, more at herself then the man, who could she believe papa had returned and a third emotion overrode both, burning curiosity. Who was this stranger? Mama said not to talk to strangers..... Well, she won't mind just this once.... Besides I can always punch him and run.
She walked up to the man, who based on the salute he was giving was obviously a military man. "Hello sir, what are you doing with my papa?" She asked, somewhat nervous but still trying out her 'I'm an adult' voice. She smiled, but backed away a little bit so she was out of reach. Her instincts to be friendly and her instincts to follow her mother's orders were waring inside her but, hopefully his next words would decide it for her. The breeze ruffled at her coat and her dress. She always wore a dress for papa, she wanted to look nice for him. This was a good week and she had lots of good news to tell him. Her hand moved and itched her for head as she pondered all she would tell papa. But, again, she couldn't space out, there was a stranger in front of her and she wanted to be his friend. Even if mama would disapprove!
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Post by ashur grey on Jan 27, 2012 0:05:21 GMT -5
Ashur had held the salute for several seconds longer than necessary, unable to break eye contact with the name etched into the stone before him. It was a shame that Hughes would not see the world that was growing around them. It was just as he was about to drop the salute that a voice broke the silence of the graveyard. It was a young voice, the faintest tinge of anxiety detectable to Ashur.
Turning Ashur took in the sight of a young girl in a dress, the fabric billowing just slightly from the breeze. Of course a man from the military focused on some of the more subtle things such as the fact that she stayed outside of his reach and muscles that everyone had when the fight or flight reaction began to occur. She had nothing to fear though. . . Ashur might have done some dark things in the past under orders, but he had never harmed innocent children of his own free will, especially not the child of Hughes.
Oh yes, he knew who she was. Anyone who had ever come into contact with Hughes knew about his child and wife. The only trait that the man had which people complained of was his eagerness to talk about his family. In truth Ashur was one of the few who did not mind it. After all, Ashur could not talk to Hughes about his family, so he figured he might as well listen about Hughes' family. . .
"Good afternoon Elicia, I was just visiting your father. . . I did not mean to interrupt your visit though, it is just that I have not been in Central so long and I had missed the funeral. . ."
At the thought of the funeral Ashur could not help, but to remember where he was when the closest thing he had to a friend died. He had been out on the Furher's orders pacifying a group of soldiers with a chimera who had escaped from laboratory five. Oh how he wished those soldiers had never existed, Ashur could not help except wonder if there was anyway he could have helped prevent Hughes' death. . . The thought was through his head within only a few heartbeats and soon enough he was speaking once more to the young lady before him.
"Where are my manners though? I know your name, but you do not know mine. I am Colonel Ashur Grey, I met your father several years ago."
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Post by elicia hughes on Jan 27, 2012 13:37:16 GMT -5
"Visiting my papa...? Well good, he needs to be visited by more people then just me, mama, Aunt Riza and Uncle Roy. Or else he'll get lonely." She smiled at him her worries ebbing away, how could someone who visits her papa be mean? Although Elicia would've liked to talk to her father alone, it was nice to know people did come to see him. Sometimes she thought he might get very lonely and be sad. Elicia never wanted him to be sad.
"You know my name?" Now that was interesting, and slightly weird. Elicia was surprised anyone from the military knew her. but, then again, Mrs. Bradley did say daddy talked about her and mama a lot. That's cool. Papa loved me a lot, huh? She moved a bit closer, being careful to remain just a bit out of grasp. She wasn't an idiot, Elicia listened to her parents and even if he was from the military didn't mean he wasn't bad. She looked a little past him and smiled at the grave. Papa, they shouldn't have buried you... You had so much work to do... And you promised you'd come home... You promised... She looked upset, with tears coming to her eyes.
Elicia could remember that day, if a little hazy. She remembered most of it because her mother told her about it when she was older. Mama said I didn't understand, that I told them to stop burying papa. I wish he would come back. She wiped at her eyes and put her happy face back on. It was no use to cry to a stranger. "Hello Colonel Asher Grey."
Elicia had been taught to be polite, so she tried her best. They day was still fairly nice outside, a slight breeze would pull at her dress and coat. Her pig tails would flow with it before laying back in place. The sun was out and it was almost warm enough so she didn't have to have the coat, but, Elicia knew if she took it off she'd probably leave it there. It had happened several times before, and Elicia didn't want to return home to have her mother say 'I told you so!' and not let Elicia go alone again. She would too. Mama would use it as an excuse...
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Post by ashur grey on Jan 27, 2012 15:12:08 GMT -5
Ashur listened mindfully as the young woman before him spoke of how so few people came to visit Hughes' gravestone. Going off of first names and dismissing the uncle and aunt titles, it was not surprising that Mustang and Hawkeye would have come to visit. If Ashur recalled Hughes' had been especially close to Mustang. Still. . . Ashur would have thought that more people would have came to visit the grave.
The young lady was very innocent in her beliefs, still believing that her dead father had emotions and knew who was talking to and visiting him. Yes Ashur had been speaking within his own mind as if Hughes' was listening, but he did not truly believe it. He was not surprised that young Elicia did though, she was very young and he was sure it helped to deal with the pain of losing her father if she thought she could talk to him whenever she pleased.
Not wanting to tread on her beliefs, knowing that Hughes' would have preferred she believe in such things; Ashur made sure to choose his wording carefully.
"Your father was a great man and I am sure he would be happy with any visitors whether they are few or many. Even if they were strangers he would be happy, he always tried to make friends with everyone. It is how he and I met in the first place."
Ashur remembered back to that day, he had been in Central and waiting for his new orders. He had bumped into Hughes while heading to the mess hall, the man had joined him and began to talk about his family. It was the start of a more or less one sided friendship, but while Ashur may not have thought of him as a real friend; looking back Hughes had been the closest thing Ashur had ever had to a friend. . .
Snapping out of the memory, the thoughts taking up only a few seconds after his words he looked around the cemetery for Elicia's mother. He had seen her picture hundreds of times probably and figured he would see her around, but it seemed they were the only ones in the immediate area at the moment. Looking down Ashur spoke once more, a simple question escaping his lips.
"Your mother let you come alone?"
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Post by elicia hughes on Jan 27, 2012 21:30:50 GMT -5
"You are friends with my papa? My mama said papa can be pushy sometimes... It makes sense." She grinned at him and giggled. Elicia had heard stories about her papa. Always nice, always trying to be helpful. Sometimes Ed and Al called him a kidnapper. They told her that's how she met Winry, her big sister. Elicia's father had taken Winry to Elicia's party to give Winry a place to stay and apparently that's were Winry and Elicia became sisters. Now that Elicia was thinking about it she had met a lot of her older friends because her papa had brought them home. Too bad, he never brought this one home...
Where's my mama? Ha, I'm not that young... sort of... She shrugged at him, "My mom didn't come. I asked if I could go alone..." Then she furrowed her brows, why would he ask, she could take care of herself! "I know alchemy and I can fight, I'll be fine!" She wasn't sure why she was being defensive, but, she was. Lately a lot of people had been treating her like an eight year old and she didn't like it, even if she was an eight year old! She folded her arms and tried to look fierce, but her face was to young and innocent to ever look anything but that. She sighed, it's okay, I guess it's natural... I guess I am a little young...
A thought struck her, maybe he would want to see her mama and her puppy. "Well if you know my papa then you must know my mama! Do you want to see a picture!?" In her head she was thinking 'Yes! Someone who I can show pictures to!' It didn't matter, she was already going to show him no matter what. She pulled out of her coat pocket a family picture with her mother and her lovely puppy Rose. She handed him the picture and smiled, excited.
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Post by ashur grey on Jan 27, 2012 22:10:58 GMT -5
As the young lady fumbled around for a picture Ashur focused his mind onto what she had said before that. Young Elicia was an Alchemist? It was an interesting discovery to say the least. Would she become a state alchemist and be part of the same military her father had been in?
While Ashur was happy with serving the military and followed even the grisly orders without hesitation he did not think Elicia could handle it. Even if she could handle it, Hughes had been part of the Ishvalan war, he would not have wanted her subjected to such things. . . It was not his place to say though and so, he just took the photo and looked at it.
Gracia looked pretty much the same as the photo he had seen of her several years prior, the only real difference was the look of her eyes. There was a more worldly understanding to them which was expected after raising a child. The dog was still a young puppy and in the picture Elicia's love for the beast was apparent.
"Tell me Elicia, do you have a picture of your father? I want to make you a gift, it will be easier with a picture, but if you don't have one I can manage. As a fellow alchemist I think you will appreciate it."
The last sentence was said with a smile, Ashur handing back the first photo given and waiting to see if she had one of her father. What Ashur had in mind would be a grand gift, similiar to a gift he had given to the Furher near the start of his own career.
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Post by elicia hughes on Jan 28, 2012 1:19:01 GMT -5
This man she had just met, who had apparently known her, now wanted to give her a gift, A gift! Wow, I don't know what I did to deserve it but... oh well! Elicia was beginning to like Mr. Grey more and more. First of all he knew her father, second of all he was apparently an alchemist too and third of all... He was giving her something! She didn't quite understand why he needed a picture of her father but, Elicia wasn't too concerned, at least she did have a picture of her papa.
Elicia never went anywhere without a picture of her father, she even slept with it and the only thing keeping her from taking baths with it was her mother. The picture was just one taken on Elicia's third birthday. Her father was hugging her and their faces were close together. This was her favorite picture. Her beloved papa was in it and they were both well and they were both happy. She took back her other picture and replaced it in her coat pocket. Elicia then reached into the other pocket on the coat and pulled out a somewhat worn and thumbed over picture. She was kind of reluctant to give him the picture, she just loved it so much.
"Of course I have a picture of him! Just be careful it's old... I never go anywhere without it." She handed the worn picture to him and asked, "Is this good enough?"
It was funny how many alchemists her dad knew, Well... I guess it's not that hard since they all work in the military... Elicia tended to wonder about an alchemists abilities and she was always curious as to what their specialty was, if they had one. Elicia thought about this, Is he like Roy and does he have a specialty? Or is he like Ed and Al?
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Post by ashur grey on Jan 28, 2012 2:49:50 GMT -5
"This will do just fine. Like I said, I could do it without one, but it will help if i have something to go off of."
He took off his gloves before taking hold of the picture, his left hand holding it while his right moved into his coat to take out seven pairs of spectacles, setting each on top of the headstone. The color of the lenses alone did not give him much of that color to work with, but it would prove enough for the gift he had in mind.
With just one deep breath and release, Ashur stretched out his right hand and began working. The various lines and symbols tattoos on his hand (and his whole body for that matter) came to life in a faint glow as a thick substance formed on his hand and slowly dripped off.
Normally Ashur would have just turned elements from something physical into luxin, but wanting to put on a show he utilized the elements found within air. There were still traces of all elements in the air, it was simply more difficult to gather them, but not too troublesome.
Slowly various colors of luxin formed on his hand as a liquid then fell solidifying in a multitude of layers, Ashur drawing on orange more for the artistic emotions that came with it, more than for the color itself. The luxin soon fell into place solidifying into what looked like a thin block with a hollow space. This was where things got interesting. . .
Using extremely fine slivers of blue he snaked them all around the hollow area, layering them in such a bizarre arrangement and so finely few people could count them without squinting. Then, he began to fill them with various colors of luxin, all the solid luxins that went into making this were made to appear like colored glass, while the red and yellow remained in their viscus and liquid states respectively.
Not many people thought of it, but all colors were merely a mixture of the three primary colors red, yellow and blue. By utilizing these colors as well as the secondary colors and layering them appropriately Ashur could achieve the color of human skin and other things if he wished. He could not harness those particular colors by themselves though, which is why he had to layer them in order for this to work.
It had taken nearly ten minutes to make his gift, the entire time he was lost, focusing so intently on the smallest of details that someone could have walked up and been talking to him and he might not have noticed. It was done though.
Turning to Elicia he extended the original photo back to her, keeping the gift in his right hand for the moment. It appeared a one foot tall by six inches wide box of blue glass about an inch thick. Small vines and leaves of green luxin, which appeared like green glass actually pushed out from the smooth blue, acting to enhance the edges to look like a frame. In the center though the blue glass turned colors due to the various layers of color beneath them as well as the yellow luxin that not only helped color, but gave off a moderate amount of light making it glow softly.
Ashur had replicated the picture she had with luxin, making a shell of blue to hold the various colors and protect the image. As Ashur planned to demonstrate at that moment. He smiled to the girl, moving the gift to his left hand and pulling his pistol from its holster with his right, his eyes darting back to the gift. Without any hesitation he viciously pistol whipped the glass box, only to have the pistol rebound off it's surface. He had not even scratched it, this showing that this was not just some fancy glass.
Holstering his pistol he extended the gift to the young girl. Hopefully she would be alright carrying it, as luxin was indeed a little heavy, but on the bright side; even if she did drop it the luxin would not break. Smiling faintly he spoke to her.
"Do you like it?"
It was odd that Ashur had gone through the trouble to make this girl he had just met something as extravagant as this gift. After all the only other time he had made something decorative out of luxin had been the sphere he had given to the Furher over a decade beforehand. He had never even made his own family anything like this. . . It just went to show that while Ashur could not even admit it in his own mind, Hughes had been his best and only real friend aside from the Furher.
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Post by elicia hughes on Jan 28, 2012 14:46:36 GMT -5
Elicia watched him curious. She saw him take out the colored glasses and was confused but went with it. The colors were incredible and although Elicia didn't understand at all how he was doing what he did she stood and watched amazed. It was interesting the fact it was liquid and then it became solid. This was amazing skill. Elicia was more excited about this unique alchemy then the aspect of a gift now. Her eyes widened as she saw the box. It was absolutely gorgeous. She took in the colors of it and the faint glow it produced. She was a little worried when he pulled out a gun.
Her eyes widened even larger as she wung the pistol at the gift. She was about to yell out when she watched as the pistol bounced off and left the colorful glass looking gift unscarred. She took back her picture and very tenderly put it away. He handed her the object and she took it, surprised by it's weight she had almost dropped it but managed to catch herself. Elicia held it close, hugging it and then held it out, her eyes searching the perfect replica of her picture. It was amazing. She just had to know how he did it. She was a bit surprised, how could she not like it? She walked up to him and hugged him. Even if she just met him he obviously knew her dad and was apparently friends with him. If he was a friend of her papa, he was going to be a friend of Elicia's too.
"I... I love it! It is really beautiful." She peeled her eyes from the frame and looked at him. She smiled hugely and began trying to form speculations on how he did it. "You took colors... and made them into this? How? What is it called?" She seemed ready to ask a million other questions about the process and the object but shut her mouth so he could answer those few. Maybe he could teach her? No, she pushed the thought away, she didn't want to pressure him into that. She would just learn about it if she could, but she wouldn't do much more then that, she was content with just having her alchemy.
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Post by ashur grey on Jan 30, 2012 21:17:03 GMT -5
Ashur was in control of himself quite well, at least. . . until the young girl hugged him. Immediately he went from the collected to unsure. He had never been close even with his own family and did not have friends, yet now someone was hugging him. Ashur at first was tempted to physically unwrap her arms from around him. He however endured it, waiting until the girl let go of her own accord and began to speak, first that it was a beautiful gift and second how he did it.
Pausing for a moment, Ashur tried to think of a simple way to explain it. She was an alchemist so he might understand a little more than others, but at the same time she was still very young. Ashur had written three books about the whole process, and he had to think of how to summarize all of that in a few words. . .
"I do not use colors, rather I use light of different colors. The more of any of these seven colors represented by these spectacles that I see, the more I can utilize this substance; both mass and efficiency. The substance itself is what I've come to call luxin, more or less it is the radiation from different colors of light affecting regular matter in different ways."
Raising his hands up, the transmutation symbols tattoos all across his body flared, hidden for the most part. Slowly small threads of luxin, of each colors dribbled from his right hand, one on each finger and one on each side of his wrist. Slowly he went through, pointing with his left hand to each color in turn, speaking as he moved through them:
"Sub-red, this slight blur in the air (pointing to the right side of his wrist.) is changing oxygen and nitrogen with radiation from sub-red. It makes it very warm, very hot in large amounts and is very difficult to see. Red is viscous, extremely sticky and highly flammable, which is why I have it on my pinky, away from the sub-red. Orange is heavy and slick, yellow is a liquid and take effort to keep it from running of my finger, green is flexible and springy, blue is hard, strong and brittle and lastly ultra-violet is strong, but nearly invisible."
The last color was accompanied by Ashur using his left hand to slowly move the thread, it extremely faint even if one were to squint and focus their eyes. Then like that, with nothing more than a flash of his tattoos; the luxin substances were all dispersed back into their natural materials and into the air where they came from.
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Post by elicia hughes on Feb 5, 2012 21:50:12 GMT -5
Elicia listened intently to his short explanation. She felt like she understood most of it, but, that he was only skimming over the details. She watched as he raised his hands and drew some more of the "luxin" substance. She continued quietly listening as he explained the colors and what they did. It was interesting stuff. How could a color be so dangerous? This was what she was thinking about when he talked about red and sub-red. She smiled at him as he showed her the blue.
"That really is cool. I mean I don't completely understand how you would make the radiation solid. But, it's amazing." Elicia was about to say more but she stopped herself, she was considering what he had said about the colors and such. It was slightly confusing to the eight year olds mind, but she wanted to learn more about it anyways. Would Ashur want to teach her? Or could he explain it in more detail? "Could sometime you explain it to me more?"
A thought struck Elicia, Maybe he could come over and meet mommy some time! Elicia voiced her thoughts, "Maybe you'd like to come over some time? I could make tea and stuff... And you could explain that alchemy to me! Oh, and you could meet my mom too." She laughed, if Elicia had her way he was coming over whether he wanted to or not. She clutched the gift to her chest once more, it was gorgeous and Elicia loved it.
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