001 | Text

[milkisgross]

[Edward's been seeing all of these different posts come up. It's obnoxious to him, but he can see the potential of being able to communicate with so many like this, so he decided to give it a try.]

It's come to my attention that there's a few people here who use "magic." From what I've seen, there's nothing like it where I come from and I have a few questions for anyone who's willing to answer.

In science, you've got different laws that everything follows. Is that the same for magic? Does some magic have laws while others don't?

Are there different fields of magic? What are they?

Where does the energy or power come from?

What makes it "magic" and not a field of science?

Comments

[scarredhorns]

[She ponders over what's being said, except most of it doesn't make any sense.]

The science of your world sounds different from mine, or at least, what I'm familiar with. Binding souls--that's something most scientists in my world would dismiss as being from a work of fiction. We don't even really use the term alchemy anymore. It's considered to be part of ancient history in my world.

[milkisgross]

I guess that's not too surprising. Messing with souls isn't exactly a common practice and I definitely don't recommend it. It's interesting that it's not considered relevant in your world.

[He tilts his head in contemplation.]

Come to think of it, alchemy in my world wasn't always the most scientific practice. If you read the history about it, you get a lot of stories of people consuming mercury thinking it would lead to immortality and stuff like that when it was first practiced. It wasn't until the Philosopher from the East supposedly came to Amestris that it developed the way it did.

[scarredhorns]

[An amused chuckle from Lucy.]

We also have a history of people consuming mercury in hopes of living longer, especially in China. Now, science is heavily involved with machines, computers, and other technology. My world isn’t as advanced as this place, but it’s something the humans are hoping to achieve someday.

As for magic, that’s also been written off as superstition, at least in my world. It seems that isn’t the case in others, considering I’ve met a few people who can cast spells. Not just here, but also through the organization I was with before ending up on the Iris moon.

[milkisgross]

A lot of scientific research in my country is focused on alchemy, though there's still work being done in other fields too. I live in a military state, so any non-alchemical research tends to go towards weapons development. I wonder how it would have been if alchemy hadn't become such an important field...

Magic is regarded the same in my world for the most part. There are still some people around who might believe in magic or miracles, but it's either a misunderstanding or someone pulling some sort of trick on them. I had some trouble accepting it was something other worlds could have. To be honest I still feel kind of silly asking about it.

[scarredhorns]

It can't be helped if it's not in your world, so it's natural you'd be curious. Even I'm surprised by all the people here with powers, magic or otherwise. In my world, there were only normal humans, except for a few others who had horns like me.

[milkisgross]

Horns?

[That sounds pretty awesome. Ed could appreciate the look of some sick horns. He does have a habit of embellishing his transmutations with horned skulls when he can.]

Is it just your horns that make you different from other humans, or is there something else to it too?

[scarredhorns]

[She nods and moves the camera back a little so the little white horns atop her head are more visible, though they almost look like cat ears.]

I do have a power unique to my kind. As I mentioned before, it's not magic or science, but more psychic in nature. It's not something humans are usually able to see either.

[To test whether or not he can see them, four vectors extend from Lucy's back as she calls them with her mind. They float idly around her head, palms open.]

Well? Can you see them?

[milkisgross]

[Ed squints at the camera.]

No, I don't see anything.

[Bummer. It probably looks awesome to those who can see it.]

But when you say 'psychic,' does that mean you can read minds or something?

[Because Ed has a hard enough time as it is with the lack of a filter between his brain and his mouth. He doesn't need anyone poking his thoughts.]

[scarredhorns]

[She shakes her head.]

No, I can't read minds. Sometimes I can hear thoughts, but they were only from my kind--Diclonius--and it seemed as though they were projecting intentionally.

[The telepathic cries of the other girls kept in the Diclonius Research Institute, calling for help as they were subjected to one cruel experiment after another.]

I don't know if I'd be able to use telepathy to communicate with a human psychic since I've never met one.

[But it might be possible.]

[milkisgross]

Are human psychics from your world rare then?

[He hoped so. How much trouble could be caused by people being able to read each other's thoughts? Ed could sure comes up with ways to cause mayhem with that kind of power.]

What are Diclonius, exactly?

[scarredhorns]

Some people believe that, but if you ask me, I think all the self-proclaimed, human psychics of my world are fakes.

[While she won't deny it's possible for human psychics to exist somewhere in the vast universe, she'll believe human psychics exist in her world when she sees one actually do something.]

Well, the humans gave us that name due to the two horns on our heads. There's not much information on us, though. You're looking at the very first Diclonius to ever exist. More came after me, but I was the first one.

[Lucy actually knows more than she lets on, but there's nothing in her tone that suggests she does. She wasn't about give away every single detail about her strengths and weaknesses to a stranger.]

[milkisgross]

Ah, I see.

[They way she spoke about human psychics was how he would regard anyone claiming to be a fortune-teller or prophet from his world. As far as he was concerned they were nothing but well-spoken frauds at the best of times.

His eyes widened at that bit of information.]

Oh. Were you human before that then?

[Ed's more than a bit on the blunt side when it comes to asking questions. they tend to spill out before he thinks about whether they'd offend people or not.]

[scarredhorns]

[Lucy lets out a dry laugh.]

No, I was never human. I was born this way. A miracle of evolution as the scientists liked to put it.

[But her voice carries the same scornful tone from before when she mentions the scientists and their calling her a miracle.]

[milkisgross]

But if you were the first then does that mean it was through natural mutation or some kind of experimentation?

[Ed catches her tone since she wasn't exactly subtle with it. His own tone carries a hint of wariness in it. He's just trying to understand what her circumstances are, though it was his younger brother that was always better at dealing with stuff like this.]

[scarredhorns]

Natural mutation.

[Short and sweet answer. Going into more depth would require having to talk about her abandonment by her parents, which she didn't care to discuss right now.]

Aside from the horns and the psychic powers, our anatomy and physiology are mostly the same as humans.

[But that never stopped the humans from persecuting them.]