#foray into greater and greater acts of alchemy

[fullmetal-scar-simping]

I wonder, had Noah been able to reach the other side of the Gate, would she have become an alchemist? After all, she combed through Ed's mind in order to gain advanced-level alchemic knowledge in order to put the finishing touches on the array that would serve as a portal.

After seeing what Ed saw, after absorbing what Ed knows, witnessing for herself what alchemy has done to others, would she even want to? Would it have been something she could resist for the rest of her life, or would any number of circumstances lure her to take up the practice? She could likely use it for its everyday utility, rather than experimenting into its more unethical applications.

But it can be fun to ponder the ways different characters can be corrupted, even if that process is innocuous, drawn out, well-intended, or accidental but enticing to the individual's particular idiosyncrasies.

What would the weight of her knowledge of human transmutation, of homunculi, of the Philosopher's Stone, soul binding, chimeras, and alchemy as a WMD do to her in a world that has ample access to alchemy? How could knowing that souls fuel it sit with her as she sees its routine use around her? Though I wonder how she manages these horrors in post-canon CoS, how would having that power at her command change things?

Where does her pain, her desires, her curiosity, her need for safety and the desperation for something that will be no less elusive in a nation no less oppressive: how does alchemy amplify, sidewind, or obstruct these things?

Maybe this knowledge serves as a way for her to understand navigating its places in larger systems, but she would ultimately avoid using it altogether. Maybe she's satisfied with her new lot in life and can resist alchemy's lure.

Or maybe not.

[filiumsol]

⋆❂ TASK ONE : BEGINNINGS

NAME: Riley Sol NICKNAMES: Lee, Ri, Ry Ry, Riles, BIRTHDAY: March 7th, 1997 AGE: 23 GENDER & PRONOUNS: cismale he/him ORIENTATION: bisexual HOUSE & TIER: Heir of Oleander House GIFTS: Alchemy (main) & Summoning  OCCUPATION: artist/jeweler/drop out

HISTORY:

Riley’s birth mother was a prime who wasn’t meant for the same greatness as the Sol family, but fully dedicated to her role as a Sentinel for Oleander house. So much so that she died protecting Charlie Sol, and with his father never part of the picture at all, the man took in her small child as his own. Riley far too young to remember any of it, he is the only father he’s ever known.

His powers manifested at seven; a child with an active imagination and an old myth trailing after him in the shape of a nine-tailed fox. Kumiho was his best friend, a playmate, encouraging small acts of mischief that grew into greater cruelties. Until eventually she took control, an eight year old child rendered a puppet to a malicious spirit. It was brief, and ended with a blade in the boy’s hand coated in his father’s blood, until Charlie’s power banishing it from this plane.

That particular gift got put aside after that, one Riley was afraid to touch on again, even after he grew older and more confident in his strengths. Alchemy felt safer, an outlet that didn’t require anything but his own hands and creativity. Eventually a scared child grew into a rebellious teen, pushing at the boundaries of what he could get away with. He was sure he was good at hiding it from his father, living out every normal cliche, trying to sneak into college parties, smoking behind the bleachers at school, graffiti painted on back walls, and countless nights spent scrubbing it back off as punishment. Seemingly uninterested in the title of heir or politics, his teenage years were spent with the reckless abandon of someone with much fewer responsibilities waiting for them.

After graduation he was accepted into the University of Southern California, majoring in fine arts. An endeavor that only lasted the first year before he dropped out, and what followed was a series of odd jobs; a barista, small forays into acting, a band that lasted about four months and two gigs, until eventually he found that the easiest and most fulfilling way to make a living was his own power. He started a small enterprise of his own, making and selling spelled jewelry, and through all of it he continued the lie to his father that he was still attending college. Even after he hit year five and they both knew he was supposed to have graduated already.��

His return home to Asphodel wasn’t something planned, but fueled by grief and panic; a friend shot in front of him in a liquor store robbery, a random act of violence that made him want the safety of his father’s presence. Despite the rumors that he might not be better off at home, and how intently he’d dodged being there until now.

HEADCANONS:

Appearance: hair to mid-back, piercing in right ear, typically dresses like he doesn’t know grunge came and went before he was born, ripped jeans, black boots, cut off shirts, and occasionally flannel. tattoos include; dokkebai goblin on his right shoulder, black arm bands around right wrist and forearm, cherry blossoms and branches on his left forearm, ‘black sun’ on the inside of his left bicep in Hangul, and a nine tailed fox on his left calf.

Hobbies: too many, creative but unfocused, plays guitar and piano, paints, has tried his hand at sculpting, acting, mixology and cooking, to varied degrees of success, good at silverwork and enjoys crafting rings.

Grew up in Asphodel until going to school about five years ago and has only been back for brief visits until now. 

CONNECTIONS:

???