2nd Floor Common Room, laaaaaate Saturday, early Sundayish

[alchemic-bean.livejournal.com]

Edward pushes open the door to the common room, several books and jars of ingredients in his arms. Alphonse is right behind him, similarly laden down. Edward sets his books on one of the tables and looks around, nodding once. "Right," he said. "We better get to work if we want this all cleaned up before morning."

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[alchemic-bean.livejournal.com]

"Eh, the rug'll go back over anyway. We can always blame it on the gremlins," Edward said. Once the large circle was gone, he got a second piece of chalk and worked with Alphonse to quickly lay out the rest of the array. "Besides, if this array works for a pure white stone, it will be just one more step closer to putting yo- er, putting things right again."

He grabbed some of the ingredients off of the table and started measuring them out in the center of the array.

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"I thought the gremlins were exterminated?" Alphonse looked up puzzled for a moment before going back to finishing the array. "That's what the principal said he did, anyway."

After he finished drawing out the last line, he stood up and took a look at the circle and all its detailed designs, assuring that it was done right.

[alchemic-bean.livejournal.com]

"I doubt we've seen the last of the little monsters," Edward snorted. "I bet they're just hiding now, waiting for the best moment to jump out and chew on people." He glanced around. "I wonder if they're eating those damned muppet chickens."

He shrugged, and finished dumping the various and sundry ingredients into the array. "You ready to do this?"

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"They obviously haven't eaten the chicken in my room." Alphonse sighed. "It refuses to leave my bed."

With that said, he nodded determinly. "It's now or never."

[alchemic-bean.livejournal.com]

Edward kneels at the edge of the array, shooting Alphonse a bemused look. "You have a chicken on your bed? What, is it nesting?" He has a thought. "What do muppet-chicken eggs look like, anyway?" He pauses to give that a thought, then shakes his head.

He places his gloved hands on the edge of the array, and shoots Al a quick grin. A brief thought passes through his mind as Alphonse places his hands on the array as well - the last time the two of them had done this...

Dismissing that thought, Edward concentrated on the transmutation. They activated the array at once, and there was an encouraging wall of blue energy that swept over the ingredients, molding and melting and changing them down to their very core. The stone started to form, taking shape in the center of the array.

Edward saw the red spark out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head sharply, hoping he had hallucinated it. Not again, no-- He sucked in a breath to say something when the explosion hit him, sending a shockwave through the common room and throwing him violently backwards.

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"Waugh!" Getting a good jolt of the rebound himself, Alphonse was thrown back as well, sliding into the nearby table and the chairs that accompanied it.

He hit his head pretty hard against the chairs; by reflex he grabbed his head.

After it registered in his mind that something obviously happened, he cralwed out from under the table and stared at where the array was. After looking around the room, he noticed the transmutation they performed did far more than intended; the rest of the room was in a complete and total mess. There was no stone to be found.

"... I don't suppose we can blame this on the gremlins too?"

[alchemic-bean.livejournal.com]

His head still ringing from the explosion, Edward slowly pushing himself up on his knees. He was taking stock of himself - everything seemed to be in working order, although he could feel he was going to bruise heavily from hitting the wall like he had. His eyes flew open when he remembered Al.

Alphonse was sitting on the other side of the room, and it looked like he was saying something. He was up and moving and Edward felt such a surge of relief it took him a moment to realize that Al was talking and he wasn't hearing it. He frowned at the ringing in his ears, sticking one finger in his ear and wiggling it. No luck.

He glanced around the room. The area that had the array was a total loss -- the paint was peeled half off the wall, the nearby sofa was completely ruined, and all their supplies were now a smouldering mess. Only the furthest corners of the room were untouched. "Dammit fucking hell," he snarled, crawling over towards Alphonse. "Al, are you all right?"

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"I think so," Alphonse answered. He took off the glove on his left hand, lightly rubbing at a stinging pain on his cheek. He looked at his hand, noticing he wiped off a small amount of blood. "... Just a little cut. So far."

He sat upright a few feet away from where the array once was, sighing in defeat. "So I guess the theory was off..."

[alchemic-bean.livejournal.com]

Edward scowled at the mess - his hearing must be slightly coming back, because he had heard that. "Dammit fucking hell," he snarled. "The book lied to us, Al! Stupid.. gah!"

He looked over at Al. "You sure you're all right?"

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"Of course I'm all right! What're you getting so worked up over me for?"

Alphonse scowled and crossed his arms. "I told you to verify if everything was correct in that book, Brother. I don't think this mess will go unnoticed." He searched around the room. "Where is that book? Or did it go with everything else in this room?"

[alchemic-bean.livejournal.com]

"I think I brought it with me and- hey! I did verify everything in there! I told you it was a simple transmutation and I wasn't lying!" Edward glared at his little brother, then at the mess.

"Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit."

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

Alphonse groaned, already feeling the aches of meeting the table personally. The cut on his cheek was beginning to sting a lot more now, too.

"We can figure out what we did wrong tommorrow, then," He warily eyed the rest of the room. "And clean up, as well."

Wonderful. He started off with breaking someone's window and ended up destroying and entire room. What luck.

[alchemic-bean.livejournal.com]

"That sounds... well. Like a good idea." Edward nodded, getting shakily to his feet. "We'll clean this mess up tomorrow. Crap - I need to find that book if it wasn't in the pile of lost cause over there." He cast a last mournful glance at the pile of used-to-be-books. He held out a hand to help Al to his feet as well.

He was going to sleep long, and hard. Fuck, that shouldn't have gone that way. At. All.