maskormenacelogs | JANUARY SWEAR-IN: DEATH ISLAND

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JANUARY SWEAR-IN: DEATH ISLAND

WHO: Everyone!
WHERE: ~~Death~~ Sacrifice Island, New Zealand
WHEN: 13th January
WHAT: SWEARING-IN TIME, on the beautiful Island of New Zealand, Sacrifice Island.
WARNINGS: None so far

Welcome everyone to Sacrifice Island, once known as “Death Island” (and still called so by many). Located in the beautiful country of New Zealand, and under their government’s jurisdiction, Sacrifice Island is a place where investigation and scientific development happens: it’s the headquarters for Onward Research Station, laboratories that hope to learn how to neutralize the effects on humans/animals of chemical/biological weapons.

But this island holds dark history as well. It was in this very same place that seven young imPorts permanently lost their lives on October 3rd 2008. This tragedy deeply marked the history of United States and all Heroes of the nation, and is remembered with heavy heart. With hopes to never forget these painful events but to also look for a brighter future, United States of America and New Zealand both joined their hands and decided to raise a memorial for the lives lost at the island.

This memorial will be inaugurated on the 13th January along with the Swearing-In ceremony for the new heroes who have arrived this month. Media has been invited as well as this is too a political event to strengthen relationships between New Zealand and USA. Old and new imPorts are all welcome to come and pay their respects to the Heroes who are gone, swear their allegiance to the US government (or not), forge relations with a foreign country or simply show their presences during this event. Whatever reason one has, they will be welcomed.

TRAVEL

Thanks to the interest of many, an airbus has been generously loaned for free in order to fly the imPorts to ~~Death~~ Sacrifice Island. The airbus includes a dining area and each imPort has their own little cubicle, with chairs that can be converted into a bed. The trip will take a while for sure, so the travelers are welcome to mingle while they are on air, meet the new faces, and try some delicious airplane food. Or they can try sleeping, if other imPorts are quiet enough.

Because it's a long flight, there will be many movies to choose from: there is a strangely big collection of Adam Sandler movies, and apparently the big hit has both Adam Sandler AND Jerry Seinfeld and tells the story of a Wasp that falls in love with a Human, while it leads a rebellion against the humankind. If you aren't into Wasp movies, well- good luck picking something else that isn't as amazing.

ISLAND

Miss the hot summer weather? Well, New Zealand certainly has a lot of it to offer. The weather is the kind that would invite anyone for a swim, even though it’s not one of the activities offered during the Swear-In; in fact, the island has no beaches as it’s surrounded by cliffs. The island itself is beautiful, with a lot of greenery indigenous to the country, forming large forests through the island’s surface and surrounding the research center. There are no animals roaming around, with the exception of some birds (do not expect Kiwis, though), but imPorts are warned not to go too deep into the island’s forests or they might get lost.

At the east area of the island, stands the top of the art Onward Research Station, near the only beach the island offers. The airbus will land not too far away, in a small flight track that crosses the green forest, and imPorts will be directed to the center where they will be greeted by scientists, politicians and, of course, a lot of media.

Onward Research Station is white, clean, and shiny. Everything looks like it has been double or triple sterilized and visitors can almost see their reflections on every surface. The technology is probably the best you’d find in the entire nation: quick silent hoover carts that transport people and objects from a section to another, trays that hoover with food, snacks and drinks, and holograms of several scientists that made a difference while working at the Research Station can be found on specific marked areas. ImPorts that wish to know a bit more about the place will have the chance to press a button for a holographic guide who will tell them the story of the Center, their researches and hopes for the future.

However, since Onward focus on chemical and biological weapon studies, much of the area is very much Off Limits to prevent accidental contamination. There will be security (physical and electronically) to stop people from snooping around and causing huge accidents.

The center has allowed local tourism to be part of this. New Zealand certainly wishes to show their own culture, and thus there will be many who are eager to share it with the new comers. Talks of their fauna and flora, their national bird as well, history of Maori who voyaged across the Pacific, good old Rugby, and of course mentions of certain really popular fantasy movies that have been filmed there – one can certainly become immerse in this lovely world. Not so far away, there is also a buffet area with a lot of variety, all typical New Zealand dishes, including Maori dishes naturally. Try Hangi, or lamb, or delicious sea food, and end your meal with good wine and cheese.

Photographers, journalists, paparazzi will be everywhere. Not just for US ImPort Heroes, but due to the political connotations this meeting has as well. It’s no surprise that apart from “who are you wearing”, heavier and much more serious questions will be asked, involving politics, past events, current political feelings, where and for whom imPorts stand for.

The nearby beach isn’t amazing, but they worked really hard to change that. The whole area was cleaned as well, with new, white and shiny pavement that leads visitors to a special area: the memorial. There is a huge marble wall with the names of those imPorts who’ve lost their lives; there is a screen as well, and whenever someone touches one of the names said screen will activate show a video of the selected imPort while a voice tells the visitors a little about their life and death. Nearly, there is another holographic guide who, when activated, will tell the story of Death Island.

MEMORIAL

Anyone can access this history by checking out the Memorial, but in the afternoon, everyone will be invited to the beach. Here, imPorts and everyone else will be taught the dark history of the island by a spokeswoman dressed in white, while the screen on the Memorial Marble wall shows the lost imPorts.

“A scientist who held hatred for the imPorts used this island as his private base of operations, where he built a deadly ray and threatened to use this weapon against the United States. Seven imPorts heroically followed to investigate, only to find this ray permanently end their lives. These heroes and their tragic deaths are today remembered by us all, a memory of a dark and sad past – but we too hold on to hope, hope their deaths were not in vain, and hope we can rebuild and move forward.”

The speech is met with solemn nods and soft applause, while the names of the Heroes show on the screen:
DAVID GREEN; Chosen, age 19
MAGENTA MOVELLO; Mauve Avenger, age 17
IRA BRAUNSTEIN; Power Prince, age 21
JUDE BYEON; Bludgeon, age 17
CAROL "CARRIE" KING; Reign, age 18
MASON LOCKLEAR; Entropy, age 16
MALIK ISAIAH MARCHETTI; Journey, age 40

After, the woman will give stand to few more people who will give their own words about the memorial and the events of Death Island, including a New Zealand Minister and also an imPort: Tohru Adachi.

Once speeches have been spoken, people are welcomed to leave white flowers near the marble wall and learn more about the personal lives of each lost hero by touching their names and watching the movie about each. For those who don’t wish to stick around, the buffet area is always open, and people are more than welcome to return to their activities.

RETURN

The event will be over late night, and all imPorts will be brought back to the airbus. Since there are records who came on the airbus, it’s better not to try to stay behind – as welcoming as they were, those who work at Sacrifice Island have no plans to accommodate everyone more than necessary.

Media will be the first to leave, followed by imPorts and finally every politician involved. Once up in the air, the airplane lights will be turned to minimum, to allow imPorts some well needed rest. That is, if they want. Sorry if your neighbor is noisy.

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Pharmakeia... like pharmacy? Can you use your powers to heal?

[He sounds eager to hear more.]

I was given that gift when I arrived in this world- healing, I mean. Alchemy can be used to heal in my world, too, but the people in my country mostly used it for combat purposes. Something about that always bothered me, but I just never had the chance to study how to do it any other way.

[ Circe raises a hand in caution. ]

I can heal, but it is not my foremost skill. [ Also, she very rarely tries to heal mortals, so there's a learning curve to be had here. Circe imagines it would go more easily than the last time she tried, though, after all her exploits with the sailors that visit Aiaia... ]

Pharmakeia refers to extraordinarily potent concoctions; they can be used for many things. I will agree that combat is but one application -- one, for example, my brother is known for, but I have no aptitude in. I do not see why alchemy would not be the same way, with a variety of uses.

[Al nods with interest.]

So... like medicines, or potions. But you're right. Everyone has a different specialty, even if the basics of alchemy are the same. Brother and I tend to be more skilled in transmuting metal and creating weapons. One of my friends is an expert in using fire. Other alchemists only have enough skill to keep things in repair in their own homes and businesses. Some people have no talent for alchemy, and thus don't bother trying to use it at all.

[ Circe nods at his assessment. ]

Transmute, that is a good word for it. I would say most could learn some part of my witchcraft, for it is largely a matter of temperament. But it is a tremendous amount of work, hard work that does not end just because you have gained more skill or more knowledge. There is only ever another horizon to find.

Most do not have the personality suited for endless labor. [ Circe quirks a small smile, as if to invite the listener to consider what it says about her that she does. ]

[Al smiles at that in return.]

My alchemy is also hard work. Brother and I had some natural talent, but we still needed a teacher- it made all the difference between reading alchemical texts we could kind of understand and actually comprehending what we were doing. Honing our skills and being able to do more than just make little wooden birds and paper cranes. And even then, yes, we continue to learn. When I was brought here, Brother and I were headed in different directions to different lands. Seeing, meeting people, seeking knowledge.

[ The luxury of having a teacher seems incredible to Circe, who has learned everything she knows by painful trial and error over countless years. Sometimes it had felt like more errors than trials had taken place. ]

It is a relief to find there is someone who does not brush all their abilities under 'magic' and say it is done, [ Circe says with a small laugh. ] It makes them sound like a charlatan to me.

Perhaps we can compare and see what we can learn from one another. I have had no teacher, so I learn things only when I try them.

I'd enjoy that. This is the first time I've encountered someone here whose powers are so similar to mine. I've looked up what alchemy means here, and it seems like in this world, it was a bit of a quack science for trying to turn lead into gold or achieve immortality. Nothing like what I know it as.

Turning lead into gold is no difficult feat, merely unwise, [ says Circe dryly. ] And I would say immortality is similarly unwise.

[ Not that she's conflicted about being a god or anything. ]

We could begin with what you demonstrated -- creating a toy?

[He nods.]

Changing things into gold was flat out illegal in my country. Too much gold makes it worthless, and that would make the economy collapse. As for immortality... I agree. Everything comes with a cost, and the cost of living forever would be too enormous to think about.

Please- sometimes simple demonstrations are the most effective.

[ That is a harsh thing to hear mostly because it echoes her own thoughts so closely. Circe does not think she would elect to be immortal if she had a choice in it. All these years of solitude with no respite to look forward to...

But she is not exiled here, she reminds herself again, for the thousandth time. She must use the opportunities she's given.

Circe smiles faintly. ] Sensible for it to be illegal. [ Learning to recognize the cost behind things is something she hadn't been capable of at his age. But she's always known she's slow. ]

My name is Circe, by the way, [ she goes on. ] We should remove ourselves from the crowd. My witchcraft is not flashy, but I do not wish to gain notoriety for it either.

Sometimes it IS possible to have too much of a good thing.

I'm Alphonse.

[He's glad to get away from the subject of immortality as they begin to look for a suitable spot. Father and his homunculi had been functionally immortal... at the cost of countless lives sacrificed to power their internal Stones. His armor body had been considered immortal, but it wasn't really. Either way... equivalent exchange was law.]

Well met, Alphonse.

[ Circe seems to have an almost preternatural sense for how to evade people and find a quiet green space, and she walks a little less stiffly as they come onto a patch of grass, hidden from the pedestrian paths by a short line of trees.

No reason to stop sharing as they walk. ]

I did not see -- what is it you made your cat from?

Same to you.

[He produces one from a pocket.]

Wood- it's simple to shape into different things. And abundant, as you can see around us.

So you began from the same material, [ she notes. ] I have not tried much of that, or anything so detailed. I would say I specialize in turning one thing into another.

If it is whole and complete in its final shape, so to speak, it is easier. Things like to be what they naturally are. A wooden cat is not natural, so it is a good exercise for me.

[ There are strengths and limitations to her approach, and this is definitely one of the limitations. ]

That makes sense. My power isn't QUITE the same, but... my alchemy is governed by what we call the law of equivalent exchange, and by chemistry. If I want to transmute something that's made of wood, I can only change it into other things that have the same properties as wood. And I couldn't make something out of nothing, either- to obtain, something of equal value must be lost.

It is possible to make something out of nothing with witchcraft, but I am not good at it, [ Circe says with a somewhat mysterious smile. ] It is a matter of temperament, and I lack the arrogance.

Is alchemy like mathematics, then, where each equation solves the same way every time?

[Al's listening with rapt attention.]

It sounds like it would be difficult, yes. I know every world works differently, but... to create something out of nothing should require SOME sort of cost.

In theory, yes. There are ways to... amplify the power of a transmutation, but again, it goes back to there being a price involved.

[ Circe puts some thought into this before she replies. ]

It is not so straightforward a cost, [ she says slowly, ] but there is cost in everything. [ Circe is thinking of her brother, a self-made king capable of summoning dragons, of wiping the minds of men clean, so there is only his will and none of theirs. She doesn't want to admit that; it hurts her in a way she's never managed to heal, that he grew into this. The boy she'd tended to.

It's not right for this sort of conversation, or if she has her way, any conversation. ]

Witchcraft works by will and by feeling, [ Circe explains instead. ] For example, if I hate someone, truly hate them, it is a simple thing for me to turn them into a foul creature or a monster. I will need spell ingredients, of course, but they would not work without my hatred. At the same time-- I could not heal that person no matter what potion I poured into them. And the cost for creating a monster is that I have made one; that I cannot undo it; that I have let that hatred into me.

It is an equation I have learned to do.

[He nods soberly. Nothing was as straightforward as he and Ed had believed as children- that equivalent exchange was the only truth, that it was an unbreakable law, that one could always figure out the cost. That nobody would ever be so cruel as to use human beings like fuel.

But he continues listening as Circe describes her powers with interest. Al always enjoys hearing about others' abilities and definitions thereof.]

That makes a lot of sense to me, though. Even if it's not how my own powers work... it's logical. To want to do someone harm, you need to mean it, and it can be hard to do so if there's not a strong intent behind it. And allowing too much hatred in... it's like a poison to a person. It can be hard to break the cycle once it begins.

[Al is thinking specifically of Scar, and the other Ishbalans, who had much rightful hatred for Amestris. They had all needed to learn to look in shades of gray.]

You are young to be so wise, unless you are older than you look, [ Circe replies with a wry smile. ]

It took me much too long to understand how it works. That my feelings are themselves part of the working. But come; that is a somber discussion, and I promised to make you a toy. Though I am more used to making toys for cats than toys that resemble them.

I'm only 17, in mind and body, but... Brother and I have led an interesting life. Our world was touched by war when we were young, and we saw the aftereffects of it wherever we went. What hatred and violence and mistrust can do to people.

[His ears perk up at that, though.]

I'm fine with that, too. I'm fostering two cats right now. I've always wanted one of my own, but... people have pointed out that pets get left behind all the time when their owners get Ported out. Fostering helps scratch that itch without adding to that problem.

[ Seventeen seems unbelievably young to an immortal. From Circe's perspective, seventeen years ago could've been yesterday, for all she knows. ]

I will not ask you to dwell on war and violence. [ She puzzles out this use of 'foster' but it seems clear enough in context; it's just not a practice she'd heard of. ] That is a kind thing, to house unwanted cats, [ she goes on, ] and not something I had thought of. Perhaps I will do the same.

[ And if any of her roommates take issue with it, well, she'll just move out.

Circe approaches a tree, and reaches up to slice off a branch with a small, anachronistic looking knife, which she replaces at her hip after the branch is retrieved. She turns to face Al, holding it out flat in her palms. ] Let's see. I suppose it is a better demonstration of my explanation if it does not stay wood. [ Circe's witchcraft is not a flashy business: she closes her eyes, and concentrates, and pictures these poor, sad, unwanted cats that Alphonse has at home. She dwells on how she would want to enrich their lives just a little.

And in a moment, a twig is a flat woven cloth toy shaped like a mouse, filled with catnip and other herbs attractive to cats. She opens her eyes. ] I could give it the illusion of movement as well, but it would only be an illusion.

It's fine... it just helps me to put things in perspective when it comes to trying to deal with these world's problems. Working with the Aegis Force and seeing the things people will get into fights over... it's hard to not think about what we've gone through.

[He smiles bashfully.]

Brother and I traveled so much, we could never keep a pet... so it's like a dream come true.

[However, he falls silent when Circe begins the demonstration of her powers, and he gives a low whistle, impressed.]

And you can do that just by willpower. I should say that in my world, being able to do alchemy as I do it- clapping my hands and transmuting- is exceedingly rare. Most people need to draw a circle to contain the flow of power, and runes around the edge to act as a blueprint. So to be able to change things by just wishing it... I love seeing it.

[ Perspective is not something Circe is lacking, she reflects dourly. In many ways, being here is like a dream come true, and she is both highly cognizant of that and not willing to let on how pathetically lonely her life had been before. ]

It is not quite just willpower. Some aspects of witchcraft can be taught to anyone with the temperament for it, but as you say about your transmutation, it is rare to have the aptitude for it I do. Most witches have a particular thing they are most skilled at. For me, it is transformation.

If I taught you witchcraft, for example, most likely you would need many other ingredients to achieve what I can do with thought. They work as your circle and runes -- aids to direct the energy.

[ It would be inaccurate to say it's been a long time since Circe's gotten to discuss her craft. The truth is, before coming here, she'd never gotten to, past what explanations she'd offered Daedalus about her capabilities. And that had been factual, an exchange of knowledge in a crisis. Nothing like this.

It is liberating and comforting in a way she hadn't known she was looking for from Medea when she'd asked her to stay on Aiaia. ]

Alchemy is sort of the same... everyone in my world is capable of doing it, but some have more natural aptitude than others. I've compared it to cooking or playing music- most people are capable of doing those things, but not everyone can or wishes to become an expert at it. And for those who can do it, there are ways to expedite using circles- like having a tattoo or a piece of clothing printed with a circle to achieve a certain effect. Most people resigned themselves to having to draw something every time, though.

[He nods in understanding.]

I have a specialty, too- Brother and I mostly worked with metal. In fact, Brother's codename in the military was "fullmetal". Making weapons, repairing or breaking down structures... One of our comrades was skilled in the use of fire as a weapon.

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