Teacher
Let it be said that Carmilla was pissed off when she found out about Martel's real mission, thanks to Bido, who couldn't lie to save his life.
Upon learning that Martel had snuck into Central's military prison with copies of her parent's letters to give to Kimblee, despite the fact that her father had apparently taken the news better than she could have imagined and even recommended a teacher for her, she'd stormed into Greed's office and given the sin a piece of her mind.
Her family had winced at the sheer volume of her rant, and the ones who had better hearing like Dolcetto cringed at the sound of breaking objects.
When Carmilla had left the office, looking like a hurricane had hit, they all backed away from her and refused to make eye contact.
"Men," she'd muttered under her breath as she approached Martel and Tina, the only other women in her makeshift family.
"Everyone knows that women are the ones who really hold the power kitten, but I think I'll leave you two to talk." Tina purred, fluffing up Carmilla's hair as she passed, likely going to pester Dolcetto.
Martel and Carmilla sat in silence for a few moments at the bar, the Nest closed for the day, gauging the other's temperament.
"I'm not going to apologize, you know," Martel grunted, nursing a glass of whiskey, to break the ice.
"I know," Carmilla sighed, rubbing at her temples, "I don't even care that you went. I just wish that you and Greed would have been honest with me. Sure, I would have liked to tell my father about everything myself, but I also would have taken forever to even try if Greed hadn't taken the initiative. And we would have never have gotten a lead on a teacher for me either."
Carmilla informed the snake chimera as Bido came up with a soda for her.
"Thanks, Bi," she told him as he smiled at her, "No problem Milla, could you re-charm my earring?" he requested, holding out the silver stud.
With a nod and a quick wave of her wand, she handed the stud back to Bido, who put it on, his mottled skin turning a healthy tan and his tail disappearing.
"Thank you, I need to place an order with the Curtis'," Bido explained as he ran out the door, leaving Martel and Carmilla with smiles.
"He doesn't need to thank me every time, I like helping," Carmilla said fondly as she turned her gaze back to Martel, "Did Kimblee really just accept that I'm his daughter, just from the letters?"
"Yep, apparently he knew that Lilly was engaged to James, they must have talked about it at some point during their time together, so that was enough for them. It surprised me too, and that he recommended a teacher for you that seems so different from his alchemical research."
Martel shrugged as she downed her whiskey before refilling her glass.
"It might be because in the end, because of how specialized father's alchemy is, he believes that it might be too difficult to teach without his direct instruction. This McDougal is called the Freezing Alchemist, so his alchemy must involve water, and I doubt it's just freezing water. Water can freeze and boil at the same temperature if you know how to do it. So while he's called Isaac the Freezer, I'd be willing to bet that he did more than just that in Ishval. Steam explosions, for instance, can burn the body quite badly. Then you can take into account that the human body is made out of roughly 70% water."
Carmilla explained, taking out a notebook she kept on her at all times for any thoughts she had on alchemy or magic, writing down everything she'd just said while also sketching out rough diagrams of the human body.
"Thus everyone is material for alchemical arrays in this fashion, could be that Kimblee is thinking versatility in this case and not the difficulty." Martel guessed as she looked over the information.
"Yep, but this could also be a way to dip into his alchemy, the human body is made up like this to this world's knowledge: Water 35L, Carbon 20kg, Ammonia 4L, Lime 1.5kg, Phosphorous 800g, Salt 250g, Saltpeter 100g, Sulfur 80g, Fluorine 7.5g, Iron 5g, Silicon 3g, and fifteen traces of other elements."
Carmilla explained causing Martel's eyes to widen,
"This worlds? Is it different back on Earth?"
"Slightly, or it is right and humans of Amestris as I like to refer to this world as are slightly different from humans on Earth. Earth's human make-up is this: Oxygen 43kg, Carbon 16kg, Hydrogen 7kg, Nitrogen 1.8kg, Calcium 1kg, Phosphorus 0.78kg, Potassium 0.14kg, Sulfur 0.14kg, Sodium 0.10kg, Chlorine 0.095kg, Magnesium 0.019kg, then you have the other list on the top of this."
Carmilla listed, idly noting that Greed had joined them, standing before them behind the bar.
"So the list of a human is actually is water, carbon, ammonia, lime, phosphorous, salt, saltpeter, sulfur, fluorine, iron, silicon, Hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, potassium, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. Wonder if that's why human transmutation fails, other than the fact you can't forge a soul." the sin muttered, rather curious.
"It's possible, but I think that it would fail anyway because we aren't meant to create life through alchemy. Look what it takes to make a homunculus and the Philosopher's Stone, to make even a red stone as you explained, it takes at least fifty humans, and a homunculus is made through the stone itself. Back to my original point, I guess that my father is aware of the magnesium, Hydrogen, and nitrogen within the body. Wasn't he known to turn people into live bombs during the war? Those three have flammable properties. In fact, I think magnesium is used in explosives, and Hydrogen is explosive if exposed to flame."
Carmilla told them, pulling out another notebook, smaller than the other, and able to fit in a pocket, flipping it open.
"I'm right, Magnesium metal and its alloys are explosive hazards; they are highly flammable in their pure form when molten or in powder or in ribbon form. Burning or molten magnesium metal reacts violently with water. Father probably charges the trace metals in the human body." Carmilla muttered, making the other two smile.
Carmilla had thrown herself into her studies after Izumi had pointed out how much her non-magical studies had suffered when explaining some essential alchemical tips. Because of this lack, Carmilla had been horrified and used her photographic memory to her advantage. But to keep everything fresh, she carried several small notebooks of references, such as the notebook she was currently reading that explained everything about every element on the periodic table.
"Well then, your theory about this being a dip into your father's alchemy may be right considering how magnesium and water apparently don't mix." Greed said, pouring himself a glass of bourbon.
"Indeed, do we have any idea where McDougal was last seen? Aside from Central, where he probably resigned from." Carmilla asked curiously, receiving a frown in return.
"No, but it's only been a few days. I'd said it'll be a month before we get any leads." Greed told her, making her nod.
"I wouldn't be surprised if it took at least three, I need to take Mrs. Curtis her next batch of potions, I'll ask her if she'd heard anything about him."
Carmilla said as she slid off her barstool, running to her potions/alchemical lab in the basement.
Her lab was 15x20 room that she'd alchemically reinforced to prevent from collapsing from explosions caused by potions. She'd also added vents heading to the surface to avoid fumes from harming anyone after she'd put Dolcetto in a mini coma one time.
Dolcetto's nose coming back to bite him in the ass, he'd walked in while she was brewing a pain reliever for Izumi, and while she'd had a bubblehead charm over her head to keep the fumes from bothering her, the dog chimera had taken one sniff and passed out with a "Shit that stinks!".
He was out from 'death by nose' for three days after they shoved lavender under it by Izumi's recommendation, though she'd nearly hacked up a lung from laughing first when a panicked Carmilla had rushed to her.
No one in the Devil's Nest had been of any help because they were either a) dying of laughter or b) trying to avoid the same fate as the poor dog.
Shaking her head at the memory, Carmilla grabbed the potions and made her way to Curtis Meats.
Carmilla opened the door to the shop with a grunt, the bell ringing to announce her arrival and to greet the mountain of muscle that was Sig Curtis.
"Hey, Mr. Curtis, how's Mrs. Curtis today?" she called out to the serious-looking man who gave her a smile.
"Hello Carmilla, Izumi's doing better thanks to your potions. And we've told you to call us by name. It's just Sig." the man greeted, gently patting her head.
"I know, I know, it's just that...I respect you too much just to call you by name." Carmilla sighed, smiling at the gesture.
"Still, call us by name, it'd make Izumi happy," Sig told her as he led her behind the counter to the master bedroom, seeing the way Carmilla frowned in concern.
"Bedridden again? I can increase the dosage if needed." Carmilla asked, opening the door to reveal Izumi sitting up in the bed, a warm smile on the strict woman's face.
"I'm fine, just feeling a bit weak today. It's hard enough for you to get ingredients for your potions as is, don't waste them on me." Izumi assured her, making Carmilla sigh.
"You're not a waste, Izumi," Carmilla told the woman, whose eyes widened at the use of her name, "What happened to Mrs. Curtis?" Izumi asked, mirth filling her tone.
"Everyone keeps going on about how you gave me permission to use your names, and how I should take it." Carmilla shrugged, pouring a dose of the pain reliever into a glass by the table.
"It's about time is all I can say, how are things at the Nest?"
"They're good, we're still looking for a teacher, but we have a lead. Actually wanted to ask you about them, if you'd heard anything."
Izumi grimaced as she downed the potion, the tension in her shoulders waning as the potion did its work, handing the glass back to Carmilla, who filled it with the dose of blood replenisher.
"Disgusting as usual, but far better than the shit they've got on the market for pain. Whose this Alchemist you're looking into?" Izumi asked, curious as to what kind of Alchemist Carmilla had found.
"Well, they're a former State Alchemist, they resigned right after Ishval and haven't been seen since. Isaac the Freezer was his handle." Carmilla told her pseudo-teacher who frowned.
"A Dog of the Military, huh, least this one had the sense to leave," Izumi muttered, a dark look in her eyes.
Carmilla still didn't know why Izumi hated the military the way she did, save for the fact that 'alchemists are for the people.'
"Yes, but please remember that Kimblee is a Dog of the Military as well,"
"Indeed, sorry, as for this Isaac, Honey, didn't we hear about a former State Alchemist joining the anti-military group. Those morons who want to tear the military apart?" Izumi called out to her husband, who poked is head into the room.
"Yes, one of their recruiters had come here asking about you a little over a year ago, didn't they?" Sig recalled, wondering why she was asking.
"Carmilla is looking into a former State Alchemist to be her teacher, Isaac the Freezer. I don't know if the Alchemist they were referring to is him, but you might want to look into it." Izumi told her pseudo-student, who nodded.
"I'll tell Greed, one of the reasons it's been so hard to find me a teacher other than you is because we don't want a teacher associated with the military in any way."
Carmilla said as she placed the corks back in both potion bottles.
"Now, since it seems that you're still having issues with the pain levels, you can take a double dose once a day if needed. Just send word if you need anything, I'm working on mastering more healing related potions. With luck, I'll master Skele-Gro soon. I could give you some Pepperup potions too, to help if your feeling tired." she told the bedridden woman who nodded.
"Skele-Gro?"
"I've had to use it once, a fraud of a teacher banished all the bones in my right arm from the elbow down, had to regrow them using Skele-Gro. Its typical use is to accelerate the mending of broken bones."
Izumi's face darkened at this, "What the hell? How'd a fraud like that get a teaching position?!"
"No idea, the guy also gave me the chills with the way he'd stare at me. I wrote it off as it being that I was famous and shit, but looking back on it after what happened when I arrived in Dublith, I wonder if he'd been planning something. He was never really alone with me, so he never got the chance. Even when I was in detention with him, there were portraits that were watching." Carmilla shrugged, she was over it now, but looking back, Lockhart had the marks of a pedophile.
Sig's teddybear persona dissapeared at that moment, the serious-but-friendly look replaced with the look of a man possessed with murder.
"Sig, I'm fine, I promise. And look at it this way, now I can defend myself from almost anything you can think of thanks to you and Izumi. Not to mention, Greed would rather give away everything to charity before allowing me to be hurt."
Carmilla assured (while back at the bar Greed shuddered and sneezed, someone had just used 'Greed' and 'Charity' in the same sentence) as she handed him the potion bottles.
"Just be careful, we don't want to see you hurt Milla," Sig muttered, pulling her into a hug he knew his wife would have loved to do herself.
After a few moments of having the stuffing squeezed out of her, Carmilla tapped his arm for him to let go.
"I know, that's why I'm furthering my knowledge after all," she said as she skipped out the door, leaving the couple to look at each other and smile.
"If our child had made it, I hope he'd be just like her," Izumi said softly, her hand resting on her stomach.
"I do, too, honey, I do too."
It would be three months before they found the anti-military encampment, two more before Greed was able to bribe the leader with illegal weapons they'd taken from other gangs in and around Dubltih to send the former State Alchemist who was, indeed, Isaac McDougal, to the Devil's Nest.
The day that McDougal was to arrive, they shut down the bar early and put Dolcetto and Roa on guard duty.
This led to a day of extreme boredom on the chimeras' part, until around noon when three cloaked figures appeared, one holding out the Devil's Nest matchbook and muttering, "We were told that your boss would be waiting for us?"
Dolcetto took the matchbook and nodded, "Yep, follow me to the office." the dog chimera barked, leading the men into the bar and to the office.
Inside Greed and Carmilla waited, the latter sitting at the desk and writing down the result of an experiment she'd performed trying to combine alchemy and magic when three sharp knocks sounded on the door.
"Come in," Greed ordered, lounging on one of the couches with a copy of McDougal's military file in his lap.
Dolcetto walked in with the men, standing behind his boss and eyeing Carmilla, who waved, not looking up from her writing, and announced.
"These are the men from the anti-military faction."
Greed looked to the cloaked figures and greeted them, "Welcome to the Devil's Nest boys; this is my guard Dolcetto. The girl isn't any of your business. Now, you're here for the weapons we have," he trailed, waiting for them to take their cloaks off.
"Yes, you wish to help our cause?" the man on the left said, revealing blond hair and green eyes, his eyes lit with a fanatical light that Greed had never liked seeing.
"Hell no, but you have something we want." Greed barked in laughter as he took in the other two, the one on the far right being as uninteresting as the blond.
The middle man, however, was interesting, he was of average height but fairly muscular, more so than Dolcetto, with long black hair tied back into a low ponytail save for one strand that hung over his face. He had deep lines on his face from stress and ice blue colored eyes. He was wearing his former State Alchemist uniform with a great deal of wear and tear. This was the man they were after, Carmilla's gaze drifting up to her potential teacher.
"What is it you want then? War?" the man asked, his voice raspy as his eyes narrowed in anger.
"Not at all, everyone save for the girl is former soldiers from Ishval, isn't that right, Dol?" Greed said hands held up in surrender as Dolcetto nodded.
"You'll get your weapons, what we want is for McDougal to teach the girl," Dolcetto answered the man, pointing to Carmilla, who looked up.
"Why should I teach this kid anything? I have work to do." McDougal grunted, looking to the girl who moved to sit beside Greed.
"I have a bit of talent, but I've reached the point that I can't continue without a teacher. We've been trying to find an Alchemist that isn't associated with the military for a while now, with no luck. Then we contacted my father who's in Central's military prison, he recommended you."
McDougal took a closer look at the girl, the information telling him that they had snuck into the prison to see the man.
Now that he really looked at her, he started seeing things that reminded him of an old war buddy, if he didn't know better, he'd say that she was the daughter of Kimblee, but that couldn't be right.
"Who's your father?" the Freezing Alchemist asked, staring into gold and green eyes.
"The Crimson Lotus Alchemist," she began, watching his eyes widen, "Zolf J Kimblee. Martel, another of our group, focuses on infiltration. She snuck in to tell him about me, and he recommended you, Isaac McDougal. You don't have to teach me, we all agreed that you'd get the guns anyway. But please consider it." the girl said, leaning into Greed's side.
"You can't be serious, why not just break the Crimson Alchemist out if you want a teacher." The blond beside Isaac demanded, and Greed chuckled.
"Because that isn't an option, we could do it, yes, and we'd bring the military down on us. There is also the fact that both Major Kimblee, and Milla here, agree that she is not ready to learn his alchemical secrets. But he holds a high opinion of your pal here. Thus we reached out."
Greed explained, running his hand through Carmilla's hair, who put up with the action.
"I'll do it, I owe Kimblee the favor," McDougal stated after several minutes of silence.
"McDougal," the blond hissed only to receive a glare from the Alchemist.
"Stand down, Kimblee gained favor from me back in Ishval, and if he's recommending for his daughter to come to me, I will pay him back."
Carmilla smiled at his answer, "Thank you, Mr. McDougal, my name is Carmilla. It'll be an honor to learn from you." she said as she stood, giving him a bow.
"Just call me Isaac or teacher, not one for formality kid." Isaac grunted, "Do you have a lab? I'd like to go over what you know."
"I do, it's downstairs if we have permission to leave Greed?" Carmilla asked, looking to the sin who waved them off.
"Go on, we can finish the weapons deal without you. McDougal, you hurt her and they'll never find your body."
Isaac took the threat seriously, the look in both Greed and Dolcetto's eyes telling him they meant every word.
"It's this way, Teacher," Carmilla chirped from her place by the door, looking back at him in order to make sure he was following.
"Right, lead the way."
What did he just get himself into, no, what did Kimblee get him into?