The next morning Zig and I go out and get some groceries. We used the last of the edible food in the house yesterday. I’m a bit worried about Nina’s diet if she’s been making her own food using what was left in there.

I make some nice fluffy pancakes and eggs for her. Flipping them and using a bit of Alkahestry with some milk, sugar, cream, and some in season odd berries that I’ve never seen before but taste sweet. I mix them up into some ice-cream but cut back on the added sugar a bit and just add more berries making it more of a frozen puree.

When I’m done, I serve them up to her with a dog face shaped pancake with two scoops of the stuff as each ear and scrambled eggs making up its face.

I make some for Zig too but he’s more inclined to eat some meat we bought instead. I can’t help but laugh at the face he makes when I hand him a snake faced pancake.

The day moves on and eventually Edward and Al show up and Nina gushes about the pancakes she had this morning and talks excitedly with Al who alexander has taken a liking to.

Taking Edward up into the guest room I’m staying in I close the door behind me and lock the door. He quirks an eyebrow at me with that.

“It’s a bit of a secret process and once it starts it must go until it’s finished.” He reluctantly nods at that.

“And you mentioned we needed a lot of food?” He looks over at a small pile of cold spaghetti and other high calorie bulk items I have setting on a table.

“Yep, now strip and get on the bed.” He looks at me wide eyed and slowly backs away.

“I-I don’t swing that way… I know I want to be taller but…” He turns his look to me with a questioning look. Slightly backing away from me.

I chuckle at that causing him to back away slightly more. “Just your shirt idiot, I need access to your skin and the best spot is your back.” He looks relieved and hesitantly takes off his shirt. He’s riddled with scars especially around where his automail connects. Hmm I’m not sure how the automail will affect the process.

“Alright, first I’m going to test your channels. Do you remember what nerves are?” He hesitantly nods after my brief biology lesson the other day.

“Well, I’m going to be using Chi to transmit over your nerves in order to help you get a feel for it. Then I’m going to trace it along your back in order for you get a feel for the direction to move your Chi so you can continue to move it in that method yourself. Eventually it will become second nature to do so.” He nods seriously and hesitantly gets on the bed.

Walking up to him I just jab him in the shoulder. He immediately clutches his crotch and yowls in pain.

“Fuuuuuuck! Why? You hit my shoulder?” I jab him in the ribs next just as he moves almost automatically to try to defend himself.

“Fuck my eye?!” His hand that was going up to defend himself instead clutches his eye that suddenly got a searing pain.

I jab his left hand and he clutches his right in confusion. As he turns to me a question on his lips I go for another. I jab him in the forehead, and he gasps for breath and just stiffens before falling over not breathing for a moment before finally catching his breath shaking for a second.

“W-wha what was that? I-I why?” He groans out.

“Well, you’re going to have to start getting a feel for it. So, sit there and concentrate on where the pain travels from where I hit.” He nods but hesitates for a moment as I learn why Su loved jabbing me so much. I immediately realized it wasn’t necessary but I’m going to make him go through what I did.

Eventually he’s suitably bruised. Someone had knocked on the door earlier, but I just pushed that aside for now. I’m sure Zig can handle whatever the problem is.

“Up next you need to lay down on your stomach.” I pull out a small set of needles and his eyes go wide.

His back starts to tense as he lays down. “Uhhh what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to stab you a bunch to release the Chi flow within you. Now just relax or it’s going to hurt. You need to concentrate on the feeling within yourself as I release the blockages. Concentrate and get a feel for the energy within.” I stab the first one and his whole back tenses up but after the second and third his whole form seems to slacken. I can see as the pain from everything I’d done before slacks away and he almost falls asleep.

“Stay awake now, I need you to focus.” I continue and he makes a groan in affirmative.

“Do you feel it? The circle and star?” He doesn’t respond for a while.

“Maybe?” He’s likely never seen the transmutation circle.

“Now I want you to reach for that feeling within yourself. The star is a powerful symbol. Showing the connection that everything has to one another through the mutual bond. I want you to pull it up and press upon it. Feel what you did with the star on your back and apply it to your whole body.” He grunts in affirmative. He groans in relief as I remember when the warmth washed into me.

I gently prepare myself as I rest my hands on his arms and back.

“GAAAAAAHHH FUCK!!” He starts violently thrashing but I force him down.

“Just relax and accept it. Let the pain sculpt you into your better self.” He keeps screaming for a while. I gently pull the needles out of him as he regains his breath.

“W-what was t-that?” He grits his teeth as the pain becomes more bearable.

“That, is what you’ll need to do daily until you start getting results.” He just looking at me dumbly.

Then his stomach growls. “I-I have to do that… every day?”

“To get taller? Yes.” He slowly nods. Then a steel comes over his eyes.

“Alright… I’ll do it.” I wonder if I should tell him any of the other benefits.

“In the meantime, gorge yourself then go back to it.” He shivers a bit.

We are interrupted by heavy knocking on the door again.

Letting out a sigh I get up and answer it.

“Hello?” Outside is a very concerned Nina.

“H-h-hello? Um Mr.Ninja man… uh ch cheng sing? Uh I… I tried to get daddy, but h-he wasn’t answering the door either… I… He… Mr. Armor was on the ground screaming in p-pain a-a-and I didn’t know what to d-do…” I look over to where Zig should be and find him looking on unconcerned.

“Zig, why didn’t you do anything?” He shrugs.

“I’m not ressssponsible for their ssssafety, only yourssss”

Haaa right. “Alright, well. I’m going to go check on him….” Following Nina to where she was playing with Al previously, he’s slumped over making breathing sounds despite not having lungs.

Moving over to his side the eyes in his suit seem to blaze again briefly before settling down. “Al? You doing okay buddy?” He raises a hand Shakely.

“I-I d-don’t know… I… we were playing t-then suddenly pain started shooting through me… It was m-my um place. Then eye a-and my hand then it felt like something pierce my soul…”

Oh… he’s connected somehow to Edward…

“This is going to sound odd but did you feel relieved then sudden pain again about thirty minutes ago?” His helmet snaps to me.

“Y-yes! Do you know what’s happening to me? D-did we mess up my transmutation circle trying to protect it and I-I’m fading?” His whole body starts shaking as he makes the sound of deep breaths. I think this suit of armor is having a panic attack.

“No, no I just didn’t realize you were so connected to your brother. That was part of the process of teaching him. I didn’t realize you were feeling it with him.” The shaking relaxes.

“Oh… so he was supposed to feel that? I-I’m not d-dying then. That’s good… T-that’s good.” He relaxes down on the ground. Wincing every once in a while tightening his grip likely when Edward goes back to practicing.

“Would you like me to go get him to stop? It would be detrimental to him learning this process in the short term, but I likely will need to prepare you for this in the future.” He adamantly shakes his head no.

“N-no I-I’m fine. It’s just pain. I-I haven’t felt p-pain in a long time… I-I’s kind of nice actually.”

“Ew…. Go be a masochist in private.” He quirks his helmet.

“What’s a masochist?” Damnit, I forgot he’s just a kid. He’s like 13 or something and there’s no internet here.

“Ahhh nothing important. Ask your brother when you’re both free.” There just dump the responsibility on him. Al nods and I go back to let Nina know he’s going to be okay. She seemed a bit scared but accepts that everything’s fine. I guess seeing Al like that shook her up quite a bit. Especially after Zig refused to help.

No longer having any real obligations I move off to go read some books. Nina joins me but mostly just plays fetch with Alexander while I’m pressing books to my forehead for a minute and moving on to the next one.

Eventually it comes time for dinner I make more food. Mr.Tucker is still holed up in his lab. It’s been two days… I look over at Nina who’s happily trying to explain the differences between floof and fluff to Zig who’s staring at her blankly.

She’s probably had to get used to this… Is this how I am when I’m stuck in a project? What would happen if I had a k- Shaking my head I go back to looking at the food.

“Alright, dinners done!” Edward eventually staggers his way downstairs. Al seems to sigh in relief and his eyes seem to almost dim for a moment before flickering back to normal. He’s been making pained noises on the ground near the kitchen for a while now. We all just got used to him.

“W-what’s for dinner?” Looking over at Edward he looks haggard. His face covered in the mess from eating food like a crazy person. His hands both stained from just going at it with his fingers.

“You realize you have plenty of time to get used to it right? No need to rush everything?” Though I can’t really say anything. I figured it out pretty quick. The better you are at it the more efficiently you can use the calories.

“I feel like I’m going to explode… But I also feel like I’m starving like I’m empty inside…” He looks at the prepared meats and salads I’d arranged and licks his lips. Great… I’ve created a ravenous beast.

He slowly starts reaching forward to grab some with his hand rather than with a tong. I snap at his outstretched hand with a metal ladle. Causing him to clutch it in pain.

I frown at him. “Just make due with a cheese wheel or something and let us eat the real food until you can appreciate it.” He frowns but moves over to the side of the table and starts slowly but continuously stuffing himself.

Al makes some strange sounds before finally speaking up. “Um brother… is that healthy? Also… I feel like I’m… tasting? Something?” Interesting… so they are joined in some way… Like their spirits are connected.

Edward looks back at him in shock but then continues to stuff his mouth while staring at him almost mechanically.

“You mentioned when you attempted human transmutation that you both put a drop of your blood in it right? Then you used your blood as the transmutation circle that binds him to that armor?”

Edward gets an annoyed look. “Yeah? So what?”

Hmm. “What if you two are bound by your spirit and Chi? Al doesn’t have any Chi. Frankly it feels weird.” I don’t even feel his eyes looking at me with Unseen eye either. It’s like he doesn’t even count as a living being.

“What if Edward is holding on to your soul but your armor is just your… avatar? Your medium to the real world?” They look at each other for a moment.

Edward gulps down what was left in his mouth. Al makes a very awkward moaning sound before doing what my best guess would be a cringing blush if a suit of armor could.

“So… you’re saying that Al is inside me? Then just commanding the armor? Like a long distance transmutation circle controlling the matrix inside the armor?” I nod. He sits there and idly eats while he thinks for a bit.

He wipes his mouth a bit. “But why am I eating so much? I feel like I’m still not full… Like there’s this pit in my stomach and this warm tingly feeling all over me.”

“Well, it could be that you are holding on to his Chi. Which means that when I activated it to start maturing and making use of it your body has a lot more than usual. It’s burning faster and harder than normal. You’re probably going to change much more rapidly than usual but also go through a lot of growing pains and eat a lot of food.” I watch as he finishes off an entire cheese wheel… Maybe we should get more food…

“Where is it all going?” He looks down at his stomach that despite all this happening hasn’t swollen to a balloon.

“Well, it could be that it’s all spreading out and being used?” He nods slowly and goes to stand up but callapses as he winces in pain clutching his legs.

“Shit! I feel… there’s this pain in my legs! What the hell is this? I’m not using Chi or anything right now?” He’s clutching his legs tightly.

“Ah that’s growing pains… I remember them well.” I smile thinking of when I went through this.

The moment he hears this he immediately stops wincing in pain and instead smiles and laughs. Caressing his leg. “There you go pain… that’s a good pain, keep going keep growing….” Okay… maybe he’s getting a little weird.

I turn to Nina who’s been watching all of this with a strange look on her face. “Ignore them, they are both idiots.” She slowly nods before finishing her meal.

The night carries on. Eventually the military guy comes to pick them up again.

He has short cut blond hair that’s styles to stand on end almost straight up. He pokes his head into the dining room. “Hey, did you save any food for me?” He comes walking in still smoking. I frown when I look back at Nina still here coughing a little from the smoke. He looks at her and shrugs… I guess smoking isn’t a known bad thing here yet. That does give me an idea for later though…

“Can you not smoke in here please? It’s bad for kids.” He shrugs pinching out the end and putting the rest of the cigarette in his pocket… That’s got to smell like an ashtray at this point if he does that.

Edward and Al start making their way out. He turns back around and looks at the table. “Anyways… You lot seen Mr.Tucker? Mustang told me to remind him that the evaluation’s coming up in two days and we still haven’t received anything from him.”

I nod to him. “I’ll let him know. He’s been busy working on something in his lab the last two days. He hasn’t even come out for a meal.” He nods a bit before walking off. Not really paying us any mind. I guess to him we are just civilians. We don’t even deserve a proper goodbye.

Turning back to Nina I can’t help but frown when she’s still coughing from the smoke. With a swish of my hand, I try to use the ambient moisture in the air to grab some of the smoke a bit of alchemy lighting crackles as it moves around making the air smell a bit like ozone but also much cleaner.

“Thanks… Mr… big brother Jiang.” I can’t help but smile at that… Wait… since when am I the big brother to four different little girls? None of them are even related to each other.

“No problem. Make sure not to breath that in if you can’t help it. It’s really bad for your health.” She gives me a serious nod and a thumbs up. Before she starts giggling to hers and finishes up the last bits of her meal and starts to wash her own dishes… She’s about 9 but looks like she’s used to taking care of herself.

After tucking her in for bed I head down to Mr.Tuckers lab. He’s probably been working on something important, but he should know about how close the deadline is.

Knocking on the door there’s the sound of several screeching creatures and iron scraping on metal. There’s no response for the first several knocks until finally he speaks up.

“I’m busy! Come back later!”

I shake my head thinking about how similar we are in this way. “It’s just Jiang! Your evaluation is in two days! I just wanted to let you know since one of Mustangs men came by to remind you. Since nothings been turned in yet!” I hear the sound of several things crashing and steps rapidly coming up to the door. A series of locks coming undone happen before finally a somehow even more haggard Shou Tucker opens the door.

“W-what? Already? I thought it was still days away! I’ve only been in my lab for a day…” I look past his shoulder and see several creatures in the process of being dissected.

“No it’s been two nearly three… are you ready for the evaluation?” He lets out a wide smile.

“Yes! I’ve got something I’m sure they will be excited about! Your idea for commercial use was fantastic! I’d never considered the use for economical purpose or consumer consumption. I already have a draft ready for their review. I just wanted to prove a few other things to add as additional content. The… tumors you’d mentioned previously? It’s a problem that’s haunted the chimera work for years now. When it grows it doesn’t look like the transmutation marks. Instead it only grows in small patches in different places. I’ve found though that it’s just that not all flesh stays in that growth phase!” Oh, so he’s discovered that some of the cancer sells become malignant and stop dividing.

“Yeah, that’s natural. Cancer can happen naturally without alchemy too.” His eyes shoot up at that. “Really?! Where? I need a nonchimeric subject to learn the process!” I shrug at that.

“Look at mining towns and heavy smokers. I’m sure they have plenty of dead that suffered from it in their lungs.” He nods seriously before pulling out a notepad just riddled with notes on every inch.

“Well… If they need my evaluation soon I best get ready for them… I haven’t showered in…” He sniffs his arm pit. “oof way longer than since when I went to meet you. Haven’t changed these clothes either…” He looks down at himself.

“You should probably rest tomorrow and go turn in your evaluation the day after that huh?” He nods slowly. I can see the fatigue start to slowly settle in.

“Yes…. You’re right… I probably should…. Thank you for everything. I… I was considering another potential solution but now I don’t need to. I just wish I was able to come up with this years ago…” He starts to sag slightly. He’s probably not gotten much sleep or food for the last two days and is very lightheaded.

“No problem Mr.Tucker, just make sure to take care of yourself and Nina.” I punctuate that last part a bit. His eyes shoot up a bit. “Right! Nina! How is she? Did she eat?” Hmm I can’t help but feel slightly annoyed that he doesn’t know…

“Yes, I made some breakfast and dinner.” He nods again.

“Then I owe you doubly so. I’m… not use to being able to take care of her. It’s been two years but I’m still bad at it…”

I can’t really deny that. “Just… try to do better once you start getting stuff back on track.” He nods before slowly sagging into a table. I help carry him back to his room where he staggers his way to crashing into his bed. I check over his lab to make sure nothing is in an immediate need of caging but the only thing that’s on a timer is the mid dissected creature but even then, it looks like he was basically done.

With that it’s just the end to another day. I head back to bed, playing with thoughts of smoke and water in my mind. Mentally crafting a transmutation circle for such an object.