explosivecombat | NIETZSCHE; DEAD PHILOSOPHERS' INBOX

There's no need for that. Has it just been literal circles, or have you been attempting to actually design things?

They're circles with patterns inside. No particular design, no particular intent, other than that they looked interesting. They're pretty and aesthetically pleasing and I suspect they'd accomplish absolutely nothing, not least of which because I had nothing in mind for them to accomplish.

They're whims. Dreams. You might've noticed by now that's something I do a fair amount of.

Well, putting my usual stance on such things aside for a moment, this is one of the few cases where I'll actually encourage such things. Go ahead and dream if you like; see if there's anything you like, any themes you keep coming back to.

Personal understanding and creativity are just as important as logic and procedure when it comes to drafting arrays; the latter can sometimes be bent to suit the former, if you know what you're doing. If you're finding designs you like, keep playing with them.

[...things she was not expecting to hear out of Nietzsche, news at eleven.]

Really?

Yes, of course. Why?

I'm pleasantly surprised. I was under the impression I'd be chastised for sinking Atlantis again.

For reference, the reason that particular array you showed me would have sunk Atlantis was largely to do with the fact that what you designed likely would have caused a massive energy instability. You then were forcing said massive instability through a symbol dedicated to increasing the elemental power of your transmutation. Four times.

Honestly, I couldn't see what that would possibly be good for other than simply causing the powers that be to give up and give you a volcano, at the cost of yourself and everyone in a thirty-mile radius.

...which is why the intent matters. Because first I need to decide what I want the energy to do, and then I have to make the circle to control the energy, rather than to invoke it. That's what I was doing wrong before — or at least part of it. The circle is like a container, with the lines directing what's put into it. It's not about summoning something, it's about holding it. Is that it?

Good! That's very good - keep that up and I may have to be proud of you.

But yes, that's exactly it; as I said at the beginning, you can't create from nothing. All the energy you'll ever need for a transmutation already exists; it's simply a matter of harnessing it and directing it. Some disciplines simply do that in different ways than others.

Or in your case, controlling the built-in, orchestrated instability to destroy what you want it to.

That's how yours works, isn't it?

Usually, yes. I have a few other methods that I use, but those are last resorts - they're either not terribly effective for anything other than defensive maneuvers, or they have undesirable effects if used too often.

If the alchemy reflects its master, then I could remark on what that implies about you by extension.

On the other hand, you still haven't answered my original question; we got distracted by my unexpectedly productive circle-drawing habits.

And what sort of answer were you looking for?

How you think the talents I listed for you will translate into alchemy. Or, if that's not why you had me come up with them, then the reasoning behind providing them would suffice.

Well, bear in mind that I'm not going to tell you straight-out what you should study, just because what I want and what you want are likely two different things and that will affect exactly how successful you'll be. I had you list these things for yourself just as much as they were for me - after all, perhaps you would come up with a direction on your own - but at least this way we'll both be on the same page when it comes to what I'm suggesting for you; I have something to base my suggestions off of, and you can at least understand where I'm coming from in making those suggestions in the first place.

Before we begin properly, however, I would like to put out there that the qualities you've listed sound a good amount like those possessed by another State Alchemist I've heard of; I just don't think you'd want to go in the same direction he did.

Given that I'm quickly discovering that my difficulties with the field so far lie in the lack of the right frame of reference, I suspect you won't have to worry about me finding my own direction — once I have a sufficient starting point to cast off from.

And I know bait when I hear it. What direction did he choose, and would it happen to be anyone I know?

He isn't anyone in Johto, if that's what you're asking; in all the time I've been here, he never has been.

But from what I've heard, he's some sort of genius when it comes to alchemy; he joined the military as an older teenager, and though he's by no means the youngest in our country to pass the State Alchemist exam, he was far younger than most - from what I've heard, he would have been accepted at about the age that I started studying properly (though by our country's standards, I started a bit late, so take that with a grain of salt, perhaps).

His specialty, as well, was incredibly impressive - I believe one time I told you that it would be ridiculously impractical to destroy things by breaking them down into their core materials every time, because of the encyclopedic knowledge of chemistry that would require. He was fully capable of doing that. He manipulated things on a molecular level, literally altering the chemical makeup of any given material to get the results he wanted. I'm told he could tell you what almost any given object consisted of, chemically, simply by looking at it; the more difficult objects only required direct physical contact - he could set his hands on something, or perhaps pick it up, and tell you almost anything you wanted to know about the core materials used to create whatever he was touching.

Obviously, this sort of talent could lead very easily into some creative problem-solving and ways to facilitate escapes, if one were so inclined; it's fairly clear how memory plays into this sort of thing as well.

Now there's a level of talent and expertise worthy of aspiring to.

But you said I wouldn't want to go in the direction he did. Is that because he used his talents in a destructive capacity?

The way he preferred to utilize his talents was through making chemical explosives; it's been said that he could make literally anything into a bomb, and one of his specialized ways of weaponizing it was through causing slow-acting, precisely timed chemical reactions.

He was also a psychopath.

He liked using people as materials; he would often convert them into walking time bombs while they were still alive. He was arrested toward the end of the war in Ishval; he murdered several of his superior officers after they tried to stop him from committing war crimes that hadn't even been conceived of by lawmakers yet.

I compare you to my psychopath, and you compare me to yours. How nice.

Am I really that brilliant, in your esteem?

No.

In my experience, that sort of brilliance comes at the expense of sanity.

An equivalent exchange, then? That trade's demands would be too steep for me, it's true.

How do you counter alchemy like that? Is there a way to reverse it?

I only know what I've been told; I've never spoken to this person myself, and chemistry has never been my strong suit besides. If I had to guess, however, I'd imagine that sort of process wouldn't be easily reversed; I would be surprised if anyone besides him would know how to do it properly.

From what I understand, he's no longer a threat; he eventually escaped from prison, but he was killed in battle several months later.

I'm of two minds how to feel about that, frankly. Glad to hear such a threat is neutralized, but at the same time, disappointed both for the loss of life and such potential.

But can it really be considered a loss of potential? After all, he'd likely insist that it wasn't - he was using his talent in the way that he saw fit. Just because you don't agree with how he chose to utilize it doesn't mean that his potential was necessarily wasted; it was his power, to use as he saw fit. Is it a waste if the wielder is satisfied?

Furthermore, can we really say that he had genuine potential at all, given that he was too insane to use it in any sort of manner that would be considered productive? Mind you, from what I understand he was always like that - can potential that has no ability to be recognized in the first place even be considered to exist?

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