At the Core - Chapter 7

Chapter 7 : New Discoveries

Francis looked a little shocked at Alfred's display, but it quickly turned into a pleased look.  "Really?  You think you can help us then?  Wonderful!  Just let me know what we can do to help you prepare.  If you want, some of the town's guards can accompany you to help."

Alvarez was kind of taken aback by Alfred's display as well, but he'd mostly shaken that off.  "I was going to take them to Eliza and Roderich's to find a room or two for the night.  I can show them to Gilbert and Ludwig's place too.  They can help them with weapons and armor."  

"Good plan.  Still...  If there's anything else you need just let me know."  Francis then stood and the three did as well.  The town leader then clasped Alfred's hand – and would have Matthew's if not for the bear which he sort of wondered about – and led them back out of the room and out the front door where Vash was still standing guard.  "Enjoy your stay, boys, and, thank you, for helping us."

--

Alvarez led them up one of the northern streets near the center of town to a large five story building.  Once through the front doors he walked up to the counter in the lobby area where a woman with long, light brown hair and a man with slicked-back, dark brown hair stood conversing with each other.  "Hey, Eliza, got a couple of guys who need a place to stay."

The woman turned to him.  "Oh, Al!  It's so good to see that you're up and about.  I was so worried when I'd heard you were hurt protecting Feli and Romano.  Are the three of you doing all right?"

Alvarez looked a little embarrassed but tried to shrug off the attention.  "We're all fine.  Nothing to worry about.  Do you have a room or two free for these two?"  He pointed behind him at the blond twins.  "They'll be staying in town for awhile.  They're going to try and help out with our problem up north."

Matthew spoke up then.  "Um, just one room if you have any with two beds.  We...might not have enough to pay for two separate rooms."

Elizaveta looked a little scandalized then.  "Oh, no, no, dears.  If you're going out of your way to help a bunch of people you don't even know with such a problem, I hardly want to charge you for a room.  If you want one with two beds though, that's quite all right.  Is one on the third floor okay?"

Matthew nodded and smiled.  "Yes, that's all right, but it hardly seems fair to not charge us something though."

She waved him off.  "Nonsense!  You'll be staying in one of our best rooms, and that's final."

"A...all right..."  He had the feeling he wouldn't be able to persuade her otherwise so chose to drop the subject for now.

Alfred set down their packs for a moment and leaned a bit over the counter towards the man standing beside Elizaveta and pointed at his face.  "Hey, what's that on your nose?  That Harriet lady had 'em too.  I've never seen something like that before."

The man leaned back away from him with an annoyed and slightly confused look on his face.  "Would you kindly remove yourself from my personal space and not point so rudely at people?  And do you mean my glasses?  You've honestly never seen glasses before?"

Alfred leaned back on his side of the desk and smiled.  "Nope.  What do they do?  They don't look like they'd help protect your eyes much."

Roderich sighed.  "They don't protect your eyes so much as help you see better if your eyesight is not perfect.  Where ever are you from that you have never seen them before?"

Alfred picked their packs back up again.  "About three months travel west from here. Man, first those gun things and now glasses?  I wonder what other new things we'll see here.  Wait...  You said they help with eyesight??  That's awesome!"  He turned to his brother.  "Matt, we should totally get some!"

Matthew looked thoughtful for a moment.  "While I don't really disagree with that if they'd help, can we get our room first?  We can look into these glasses things more later."

Alfred pouted but let it go for now.  He wanted to dump their packs in their room as soon as possible anyway and get something to eat soon.  "Fine...  Fine..."

Elizaveta clapped her hands together, still looking pleased.  "All right then."  She trotted off to a room right behind the desk and came back out with a pair of keys.  "Here you go, boys.  Up on the third floor and the last door on the left.  It faces north, and the view is lovely since the buildings on that side are all one story.  If you need anything, just come down and ask.  Roderich, Lena, Chloé, or myself should be here.  Off on the right there is a small restaurant where we serve meals, and there's a bar in there too if you care for a drink or some lively conversation."  She struck a thoughtful pose.  "I believe that's everything, boys.  Like I said though, just ask if you need anything."  She smiled and waved them off as the three headed upstairs.  

--

When Alvarez opened the door for them (since both blonds were holding something otherwise) Matthew and Alfred were surprised with the room they'd been given.  The room had two windows in the opposite wall from the door, under which both beds had been placed, facing each other.  Between them rested a large dresser full of drawers that had a large mirror fixed atop it.  To the left of the door was a nice table with chairs for four that was decorated with a lovely vase full of a tasteful arrangement of flowers.  To the right rested a couch placed against the same wall as the door and two armchairs facing it with a low-laying table in between the three pieces of furniture.  Beyond that were two doors, one of which was a small closet that held extra blankets and pillows, while the other led into a private bathroom complete with a basin, tub, and some contraption neither boy quite knew what it was though it looked like it could be sat upon.  

Alfred dumped their packs between their beds.  "This room is totally awesome!  What's with this stuff in the bathroom though?  There are twisted pipes pointing into the tub and basin."  He poked the one over the sink.  "So weird...   And what's this other thing?  A chair?"  He lifted part of it that ended up being the lid.  "Whoa!  What the... There's water in here!  What kind of chair is this?"  

Matthew had set the bear down on the bed on the right and had joined his brother in browsing the bathroom.  "I...don't know...  I mean, the pipes probably bring in water, but I don't know what this thing is.  There's a chain attached too.  Hmm..."  He pulled on it, and the water in the 'chair' went down the hole in the bottom of it.  Both boys jumped back and let out startled sounds.  

Alfred leaned back towards it as the bowl filled with water again.  "What the hell??  What was that, and where'd the water go, and where'd this water come from?"

Alvarez just stood back out in the main room, staring at the two like they had come from another planet.

--

After Alvarez had explained the wonders of indoor plumbing, running water, and the miracle of toilets the trio headed back over to Antonio's restaurant for something to eat.  The restaurant was mostly empty, but they were interrupted in their conversation when they came through the doors by one of the few still there.

"Hey!  Al!  Up and about, I see!  Kesesese.  Knew that attack wouldn't have you down and out for long."  

The brunet looked over to one of the booths on the left and the albino and blond seated at it and chuckled.  He headed over to the booth and sat down at the table beside it, waving Matthew and Alfred to join him, which they did, Matthew across from Alvarez since he'd set the bear down on the fourth seat at the table.  "Heh, yeah, you know me.  Hard to kill and all that.  What are you two doing here though?  Business slow today, Gil?"

"Pff, yeah.  Dunno why though.  I'd offer to join the guards today, but, eh..."  He shrugged and took a long drink of his beer.  "Who're the new guys?  And what's with the bear?"

Alfred grinned at them and beat his brother to the introductions this time.  "I'm Alfred, the awesome hero, and this is my brother Matthew!  He's still awesome, but not as much as me.  We're staying in town to help out with your dragon problem. ...Oh!  Hey!  Al suggested you to go to about these gun things we saw earlier.  Could you teach us about them?"  

Gilbert smirked over the rim of his beer before setting it down.  "'Awesome hero,' huh?  Kesesesese.  We'll see.  But, sure, I can teach you about guns.  You've never learned how to shoot one?"

Matthew waved at Chloé who had come back out to deliver another table's order then turned back to the conversation.  "We didn't even know what a gun was before today.  We don't have them where we're from back west."

Gilbert sort of gawked at them, and the silent blond with him gave them a bit of a disbelieving look as well.  The albino shook his head sadly.  "Man...  I had no idea there were still places around without them.  You guys must live in the middle of nowhere!"

Matthew wilted a little.  "So I'm beginning to believe..."

Alfred still seemed pleased with the conversation though.  "Well, I guess you could say that.  We've seen a lot of stuff today that we've never seen before.  It kind of makes me wonder if we really knew much before we left home."

Matthew gave his twin a rather incredulous look.  "You're just now realizing this?"

Alfred stuck his tongue out at his brother, ignoring the "How mature..." from the elder blond.  "Yeah, well..., that's one of the reasons we left on this adventure anyway!  Anyway..."  He turned back to the others.  "Once we get something to eat could you start teaching us about them, Gilbert?"

"Yeah, sure, kid.  Don't see why not."  He turned to the blond sitting across from him in the booth.  "Hey, Lud, you can watch over the place while I teach these two, right?  We've barely had anything to do all day anyway."

Ludwig gave his brother an annoyed look and sighed.  "It's not that we haven't had anything to do so far today, brother.  You're just ignoring what work we do have.  But, yes, I should be able to finish what's left and handle anything that comes up."

"Awesome.  Okay, fellas, let's eat up then go have some fun."

Chloé headed over to the two tables after having delivered another's orders.  "So, boys, what would like?  The usual for you three?"

Alvarez shrugged her off, saying he'd eaten not too long ago.  Ludwig nodded, but Gilbert shook his own head.  "Nah, can you guys whip me up a burger this time?  I'll probably have the usual for dinner though later."

Alfred and Matthew didn't know what to order, so the former went ahead and asked, "What's a 'burger?'"

--

"Oh.  My. God...  This thing is amazing!  Just...the meat, and the topping things, and the cheese, and just...  Oh my god..."  Alfred seemed to be having a religious experience.  

Gilbert had told them what a burger was, and the younger twin thought he might as well order one and try it.  He did not regret that decision at all.

Matthew in the meantime, while he had no idea what to order himself, had decided he might as well try one too.  It was good, but not nearly the orgasm-inducing meal that Alfred seemed to think it was.  "Al...  I admit it's good, but...people are staring.  Stop that..."

"No way, bro.  You don't understand.  This thing is like a gift from the gods or something!"

"Uh huh..."

Chloé laughed lightly as she brought over a refill on their drinks.  "I'm glad you're enjoying it.  After Gilbert shared how to make it, it's caught on rather well here.  Would you like another one?"

"YE-"

"Actually, we should probably be going soon.  Gilbert was going to start teaching us about guns.  I think it's something we'll need to know if we're...going to help with your problem."  Matthew's appetite had lessened a bit at being reminded of what they were meant to do.  

Alfred felt he could have had at least another five burgers, but his brother had a point.  He then remembered a part of the conversation.  "Gilbert, you taught them how to make this?"  Stars seemed to have appeared in his eyes and around him.  "That's so...awesome."

"Kesesese.  I can hardly argue with someone calling me awesome, but that's nothing much, kid.  We used to have them all of the time back where we're from.  When we moved here and I met Antonio and the others I just told them how to make it when I wanted one one day.  Anyway...  Let's finish up these meals, and we'll head out for some lessons."

--

Ludwig and Gilbert's metalwork and weapons shop was located not too far from the restaurant.  The group stopped off there to pick up a few different kinds of guns and the necessary ammunition before heading off south of town to an open area that had been set up as a range of sorts for practice.  

Matthew set the bear down a ways off from them and waited for Gilbert who was setting out the weapons on one of the long tables in the area.  

"Okay, boys, we'll start you off with something small.  A revolver can be easily concealed on you and quickly drawn when needed.  The bullets aren't as big as other guns of course, but they suffice for most cases."  He loaded up one for each of them but wanted to finish his explanation before giving either of them one.  

"The basic design for most guns is the same.  There's the butt of the gun that is usually just meant for a grip or to hit someone with if it comes to that.  Next are the chambers where the bullets are loaded.  This," he pointed to the thin piece of metal along the bottom of the barrel, "is the trigger.  Once you've aimed that's what you pull to shoot.  The long part here is the barrel, which is where the bullet comes out.  You don't want your fingers or anything else anywhere near the barrel or the chambers.  When a bullet's fired it comes out fast and pushes out very hot, very fast air that can take off fingers or at least leave burns.  This trigger-like thing on the back is the safety.  When it's on the gun won't be able to fire so long as the safety's still functional.  Just click it like this to take it off or put it back on."  He showed them what he meant then took his gun over to in front of one of the targets set up a ways down the open firing range.

"Okay, have either of you at least used a bow before?"  He nodded when he received a "Yes" from both.  "Good.  Aiming with a gun is sort of similar to that.  Since you're first starting off I'd suggest using both hands even with the smaller guns.  Now hold it like this," and he held it up with both hands to show them the stance to take, "aim down the barrel, and fire."  He shot once at the target tied to the hay bale down at the far side of the range.  It hit a little to the right of a bulls-eye.  "Hmm...  Must be a little out of practice...," he mumbled to himself.

Matthew wondered about that but decided not to comment on it.  

Alfred was almost jumping up and down in his excitement over learning how to use such a weapon.  "That was totally awesome!  Do we get to try now?"

"Calm down, kid.  I don't know if I can trust you with a gun if you keep hopping around like that."

"No, no, I'm good.  I swear.  This is just...  It's really exciting learning something new like this.  This kind of...reminds me when dad first showed us how to use a bow..."  He calmed down and came to a standstill.  "You know...  We haven't really been gone all that long, even if it's our first time actually leaving home, but...I kind of miss it already."  He shook his head and put a wide smile back on.  "But!  Learning stuff like this...  Meeting people like you guys...  I can just tell that this is exactly why we left.  I just know something amazing's going to happen soon.  I can feel it."

The other two just quietly looked at him for a moment.  Matthew could understand where his brother was coming from though.  "I miss mom and dad, but I understand what you mean, Al.  It is interesting learning so many new things that would never have happened had we stayed back in our little village.  The people we've met here have been some of the most interesting so far too."  He chuckled lightly.  "This is just a lot of new things to take in at once, I guess.  It's not a bad thing though.  So far I can't really say I regret going on this journey."

Gilbert studied the two blonds for a moment longer before letting out a small laugh.  "Well, you two certainly are different.  I think you'll fit right in around here.  So you ready to try?  Who's going first?"

"Oh, me!  Me!" Alfred waved his hand around in the air.

"There you go again, kid.  What did I just say about that?"

"Oh, right...  Sorry..."  He forced himself to calm down.  "Can I try first though?  Matt?"  He looked to his brother to see if he wanted to go first instead.

"I don't mind either way.  Go ahead, Al."

"Yes!"

"Okay, okay.  Hold on.  Come up here."  Gilbert waved Alfred over to where he'd been standing and gave him the gun, though he'd put the safety back on for now.  "Now stand like I did, all right?"

"Okay.  Like this, right?"  He held up the gun in both hands and spread his feet like he remembered the other doing.

"Yeah, but hold on."  Gilbert leveled Alfred's hands a bit and shifted his feet a little before standing back behind him again.  "Okay.  Aim carefully first, but don't fire.  The safety's still on."

"Aim.  Right.  Okay..."  He aimed his sight down the barrel like he would an arrow, but he had a hard time fully focusing on the target in front of him.  It was a bit blurry.  He blinked, squinted, and tried to focus better.  It still wasn't helping much, but he thought he could do all right for his first shot.  "Okay, can I take the safety off?"

"If you think you have your target set, go ahead.  Then aim again and try a shot."

"Okay."  He clicked the safety off like he'd seen Gilbert do and took aim again.  When he thought he had the center of the target in his sight he fired.

It sailed over the top of the target but luckily slammed into the trunk of a tree a ways behind it.  Gilbert expected something like that to happen, but it made the twins jump.

"Oh, crap!  I thought I had aimed right.  Um...  Maybe I should try again?  It was my first shot and all..."

Gilbert raised an eyebrow at him but shrugged.  "Sure.  You have five more bullets in that gun.  Try again, kid."

"Okay.  Okay, I can do this."  He took a deep breath, let it out, and aimed again.  

It slammed into the ground in front of the target.  

"Damn!"

"Try again."

"Yeah, okay."

This one managed to nick the side of the target to the right of the one he was actually supposed to be aiming at.

"What the...??"

"Try again..."

"Okay, I'm totally going to hit it this time."

This one joined the first one in the tree beyond the court.

"Crap!"

--

They continued on like that until Alfred had run through at least another dozen shots.

Matthew was starting to think it was something other than his brother not being able to aim properly.  He'd always been able to with a bow until...  "Al...  Why didn't you say that your eyesight wasn't allowing you to aim properly...?"  How had he forgotten about that?  How had both of them forgotten about their eyesight?  Damn his random scatterbrained moments!

Alfred lowered the gun and laughed nervously. "What...what makes you think that's what's happening?"

"Al..."

"...Okay!  Okay, yeah...  It's all blurry...  I can't aim properly..."

"You idiot!  Why didn't you tell me you had eye problems??"  Gilbert took the gun from him and smacked him in the back of the head.

"Ow!  Well, I didn't know it was going to be such a problem!"  He rubbed the back of his head.  "I can still aim with a bow just fine."

"No, you can't."

"Shut up, Matt."

Gilbert put the safety back on and rubbed at his eyes like he had a headache...which was likely going to actually happen soon at the rate they were going.  "If you're eyesight's so crappy, kid, why don't you have glasses?"

"Well, we don't have those where we're from either.  The first time we saw them was on Harriet and Roderich."

"I don't suppose you need them too then, Matt?"

"Oh, well..., maybe...  I...have trouble seeing things up close and focusing on things for too long..."

"Great...  Why didn't either of you mention that before we started?"

Alfred puffed out his cheeks in annoyance.  "Why didn't you think to ask us?"

"That's true.  You could have."

"Don't gang up on me.  How the hell was I supposed to know you two can't focus worth a damn?"

Alfred turned to fully face Gilbert so he could glare at him properly.  "Hey, shut up!  Matt and I are new to this, okay?"  His expression lightened.  "Are you saying we can get glasses though?"

"Yeah, I know a guy who sells them.  Sells pretty much anything really..."