.005 Resolutions

[snacklist]

[A: Phone (Open to All)]

[It's pretty late at night and Al is at the end of his rope. Ed has been avoiding him, he utterly failed to protect anyone he cared about when the town went to hell, and he was once more trapped in this stupid armour body. His voice is high pitched in a mix of distress and determination, coming all in a rush down the phones.]

I've had enough!

I'm not going to let this town hurt anyone I care about any more, and I'm not going to let anyone else get hurt. I know... I know I can't protect everybody, but I can help teach people who don't know how to protect themselves.

So... come to the park in the morning if you want to learn, and together we can help make sure that we can give this place a really good fight!

[B: Park (Open to All)]

[Sure enough, mid morning finds one Alphonse Elric in the park, ready to teach anyone who shows up. He knows a lot of people here are competent already, and that some wouldn't want his lessons. But if he can help even one person get better at defending themselves, then he's done a good job.]

[C: 1649 Albright Lane (Locked to Ed)]

[He has had more than enough of Ed avoiding him. He knew from others what had happened to Brother during the carnival, and he is furious that Ed hadn't come to find him as soon as it was all over. He has been around himself a few times since, but he always seems to mysteriously miss his big brother.

Not today.

He's hammering on the door loudly, big metal fist making a furious pounding that shakes the door.]

BROTHER! BROTHER, OPEN THE DOOR!

Comments

[snacklist]

[He doesn't judge anyone who wants to show up, he knows that size and gender have nothing to do with a person's fighting ability.]

Right! I'm Alphonse, did you want to train?

[forever_cheery]

Hi! I'm Aurora, and... I guess I do. I don't know the first thing about it, though.

[snacklist]

That's okay, everybody starts sometime! And it's good to start now, it's a sunny day and I bet it'll be a lot of fun.

[forever_cheery]

Really? [She thought training would be hard! Sweaty! Difficult! She hopes he's right.] Okay! I really don't know anything about it. I think. Where do we start?

[snacklist]

How about with stance? Defending yourself is way more important than attacking, so show me how you'd stand if I wanted to punch you now.

[forever_cheery]

A stance...? Well... [She has no idea, clearly.] If someone looked like they were going to punch me, I'd just do this.

[No outward physical change can be seen, but she can turn herself incorporeal at will. She waves her hand through a nearby tree to demonstrate.] See?

[snacklist]

[That was unexpected, but it's a sad fact of Mayfield that it doesn't shock him as it might have done once.]

Wow... that's pretty neat! But what if you can't do that any more?

[forever_cheery]

Oh, good point. Sometimes people's abilities and things can be taken away, huh?

[snacklist]

Right! So it's important to be able to defend yourself if that happens.

[forever_cheery]

Right! Okay, so... defending against a punch. I guess I would...do... this? [She shields herself by holding her arms in front of herself, and scrunching behind them as best she can. Her eyes peek up at him over her fists.]

[snacklist]

[He can't help but giggle at how adorable she is while doing it.]

Yeah! That's pretty good, just put your feet further apart.

[forever_cheery]

Oh... [She looks down, and does so.] Is this far enough?

[snacklist]

That's great!

Now try throwing a punch at me... but be careful, don't hit too hard or you might hurt your hand.

[forever_cheery]

Um, okay... [She throws a very cautious punch, making a quiet tap against the metal.]

[snacklist]

You can hit a bit harder than that, it's okay!

[forever_cheery]

[She nods, steels herself and throws another punch! It's... a little harder than the last one. She nods in satisfaction.] How's that?

[snacklist]

Better! See, you're improving already!

[forever_cheery]

[She laughs.] Thanks! I'm sure I still have a loooong way to go, though.

[snacklist]

As long as you keep practising, I know you'll get there.