What do we do with a drunken sailor early in the morning?
"Wait a moment," Adam said as he stared at Mereoleona dumbfoundedly, he knew that the woman was brash and quick to act, but this can not be happening, not even she is this brash, right?
She turned to face him, with her hands crossed beneath her breasts she said nothing to his confused face, and just stared at him, more or less telling him to go on with his words.
"How can you decide something like that without asking me? Even more so, why would you even want this?" He asked this is the last thing that he wants to happen, if she goes with him there will be no end to his troubles, even worse is that he would not be able to collect souls for the philosopher stone, something that he considers a necessity to survive.
His words however seem to have hit a nerve or come off too strong and direct, for Mereoleona's face converted into her usual frowning angry expression upon hearing his words.
"We will travel together because I said so! Your opinion doesn't matter! As for why that's none of your business!" There comes the angry lioness once more, not a moment too late might I add, Adam gave her a deadpan look and sighed, this is gonna be tough, no, this already is taught, it will only get worse.
"What would it take to persuade you not to do it?" He asked her, hoping that there is a way to avoid any conflict, yet her wild smirk made him sigh once more, he should have known that it will not be that easy.
"Nothing, I WILL come with you, like it or not, I can't pass up on such a great mage." She said as Adam's face twitched in annoyance, people like her are too stubborn to be persuaded, how troublesome, they are his most disliked types of people.
You can't bribe them, you can't persuade them and more often than not you can't kill them because they are strong or protected, the only way to win is to either deceive them which is also hard because of their instincts, or push back with an even greater force, so his only method of escape is to be smarter than her.
"Fine, I'll allow it." He said, although half-heartedly, he doesn't exactly have a choice in the matter, at least not in her eyes, but he will kick her out, one way or another, that is something he is sure of.
"Good." That is what she said before she entered the carriage, slamming the door behind herself as she got inside, who knows what she is doing in there, and honestly, Adam could care less about that.
'Troublesome.' He thought gritting his teeth, the whole situation was troublesome, his body shook from the annoyance, and unfortunately, that made his wounds erupt, sending pangs of pain through his body.
Another troublesome thing, one that he should take care of as soon as possible, luckily he was mostly naked already so it was easy to assess his injuries, and it was easy to patch them up.
'Looks like I mostly have broken bones and bruises, a few lacerations here snd there, and a few burns, guess I got lucky.' Adam said to himself, a small smirk gracing his face, alchemical healing is best used on broken bones.
Clapping his hands he touched the ground, out of which moments later to his side appeared cubic blocks made out of various materials found in the earth, such as carbon, iron, calcium, and sulfur, among many others.
He made the blocks extend a tendril from them which he connected with his left hand, before clapping once more, with one hand connected to the blocks and the other one touching himself, not in that way you pervs.
Adam began to sweat a little as he began the process of alchemical healing, which at its core is a simple thing to do, just add elements to the right places of the body, and it has happened in the Fullmetal manga, however, the truth of the matter is, alchemical healing is a complicated and difficult thing to perform.
The thing that makes it most difficult is the fact that nothing is static, everything is in a constant state of change and movement, the blood is always flowing, the lungs are always moving, along with the constant squirming, the cells are always doing something, and when healing all of that must be taken into account.
That's the reason Scar's transplant was so smooth, not only was it the hand of his brother, but he was also near death, so all of his body's functions slowed down.
There's also the fact that it does have downsides, most notably that the material must come from somewhere, which is more often than not other parts of the body, thus leaving you as a whole more vulnerable to injury and disease while that one part is repaired, something he can remedy only thanks to his knowledge and sacrifice.
Then there are the injuries themselves, where the broken bones can be healed easily, things like cuts are hard to do, and replacing the blood loss is impossible, so there are limits.
And the healing itself can not exactly be called healing, sure, it repairs the body but more as in just holding it together, rather than getting it back to it's the original shape, that's because no one can 100% know all of their body, only the homunculi who can construct their own body can know that, and Adam is not a homunculus.
Thus alchemical healing is a risque business, not used on the battlefield often, and never used in the middle of a battle, it is only thanks to more than 800 years of knowledge that Adam can perform it the way he has.
'That's the most I can do right now without using the stone.' Adam opened up his eyes and looked at his body, it was better than before, although he is still not 100% good, it will at least take less time to heal, he clapped his hands and sent the remainder of the blocks back into the earth.
Now he sat there, the crackling fire his only companion, thinking about his situation, he has a few ideas as to how to get rid of Mereoleona, but many of them are particularly, fiery, and would not be good for him in the long run.
His thinking was interrupted by the carriage door opening up, he didn't even spare a glance at what was happening, for his nose told him everything he needed to know.
'God damn drunkard.' He thought to himself as said drunkard sat next to him on the log, a barrel of alcohol in hand, with her taking a swing now and then.
Looking into the fire Adam narrowed his eyes once more, releasing a sigh as well, he will try to persuade her one last time, if this fails, he has no other choice than to resort to force and deception.
"You know, this whole idea about traveling with me is bad, we don't even know each other's names," Adam said, which is partially true, he does know her name, but she doesn't know him, so he isn't exactly lying.
"Mereoleona Vermilion." She stated not even seconds later, at least her tone was gentler than before, she next turned to face him, expecting his introduction.
He was put a bit on the spot, what name should he choose? Adam was his name from his world, but now he can shape himself anew, create a different image, a different man.
Crave out his way and his name, not one assigned to him at birth by parents, yet to just discard it does not feel right, it feels as if he would lose a part of himself if he did that.
"Adam Van Hoenheim, but that still doesn't change the fact that we know nothing about each other." He took in a long breath after saying those words, he decided to continue using his old name, although as a way to pay his respects, he decided to put Van Hoenhein as his last name.
"We will get to know each other on the journey." She stated as a matter of fancy, Adam agreed with this sentiment, everybody is a stranger until you get to know them, which made him all the more bitter that her answer was so good.
"Yes, well, do you even know where I am headed?" He asks, maybe the unfamiliarity with the terrain will shake her off? He knows that she hates nobles so this might make her rethink her decision.
"Most likely to the Magic Knight exam." She's deceptively smart, Adam nodded at that, yet his eyes narrowed once more, she's smarter than expected, adding on another layer of hurdles for him to overcome.
"Aren't you afraid that I will attack you in your sleep? Or, that I may not be a good person?" This was his final resort, the questionable morality of a stranger you just met, and the possibility of personal danger are his only other ways of escape.
"You are free to try." She said, grinning at him, absolute power breeds absolute confidence, nothing seems to shake her, and Adam released a groan at that.
He gave up, he just looked into the fire and breathed, trying to formulate other plans of escape, however, Mereoleona had other plans in mind.
"Hey, how do you make liquor this good?" She asked him, pointing at the barrel which was laying nicely snuggled between her legs in her lap, what would the weebs be willing to sacrifice go have this position?
"Using my magic and some family recipes, where I come from everybody drinks, and everybody makes alcohol, what you are drinking is a traditional drink called rakia." He said, his usually hard and cold face morphing a little, it softened up for a moment, the alcohol bringing back fond memories of his past life.
He remembers when he was 6 and tried to stuff for the first time, let's just say that he did not like it, then he thought about when he was 16 and shared a bottle of the stuff with his stepdad, fun times.
Mereoleona lifted an eyebrow at his expression, is it possible that this guy is a fellow alcohol lover? Even though he is so young, he might be someone worthwhile to drink with.
"So you've got quite a tolerance, huh?" She asked, a feral grin once more appearing on her face, Adam's face hardened back up as he looked at her from the corner of his eye, an idea popping up in his head as to how to escape from her.
'If I get her drunk, I can escape her more easily.' He thought, if he gets her drunk, as impossible as that may be, her instincts would more than likely dull, and with her instincts dulled, escaping became just a matter of time.
This plan truly only has 3 flaws, one is that this is still an anime world, so anime logic like someone getting stronger while drunk may apply, secondly is that he can do this only one time due to his limited alcohol supply, and finally is the fact that he is gonna have to "sacrifice" himself and drink some alcohol as well, woe is him, right?
"Yes, I was always a good drinker." With his plan laid out, he smirked as he responded to her, it only made her smile even more once she heard the good news coming from him.
"Then how about a friendly competition about who can drink more?" She asked him in a jolly tone, since they can't fight they might as well competent another way, drinking is also a part of survival.
Adam's response was immediate, he said nothing as he hurried into the carriage and brought out the last 4 barrels of alcohol he has.
He had an expression that said 'Say no more' as he cracked open all of the barrels with his bare hands, presenting delicious liquor to both of them, the aroma alone was enticing enough.
"How about this, who can chug down all of his barrels faster wins. I get 2 barrels, and you get 2." He said, already acting before her and taking 2 barrels to his side, she looked at him with a funny expression.
"Don't I have 3 barrels then?" She asked with a funny tone, lifting her arm which in which she still had the first barrel, it was only half empty.
"Are you complaining? Trying to chicken out?" He asked her, lifting an eyebrow as well, 101 in how to provide short-tempered and stubborn people like her, make her seem like a coward or weak, something he did in this sentence.
"Me? Chickening out? Ha, that's a good one boy! Come at me boy!" She said, excitement shooting thru the roof, she loves to drink, too bad that she lives most of the year in the forest so she has no one to drink with.
And now, this boy with amazing alcohol appears before her and they are about to have a drink of? She would not miss this even if it killed her.
Adam smiled like a Cheshire cat at her response, it went off without a hitch, he turned to face the barrels of alcohol before him while rubbing his hands together.
Now, this might seems like a harmless gesture on Adam's part, as if he was just very excited to drink some alcohol, but it was a way for him to use his alchemy and cheat.
No man can drink this much, at least no normal one, let's not mention that this was all hard alcohol, so using alchemy to survive is his best option, the fact that he is cheating is inconsequential because you're only cheating when you get caught.
"Ready?" He asked, his hand already on the barrel seemingly out of anticipation, the other hand was touching his waist, a smile on his face as he asked that question.
"Start already!" Mareoleona yelled out as she posed, she reminded him of Jojo for some reason, shaking that bizarre thought out of his head Adam yelled out the words, the words that set her free, the words that she wanted to hear.
"Go!" He yelled out, immediately lifting the big barrel with one hand to 'chug' down the alcohol.
In reality, he was cheating, he created a "flesh tunnel" in his throat, re-routing the liquid, instead of going to his stomach a hole opened up at the back of his neck, making the liquor rain down his back to the ground.
Luckily they were surrounded by the smell of booze so Mereoleona didn't notice the smell, and because she was focused on drinking her batch she also didn't notice how wet Adam's back was.
In contrast to Adam, Mereoleona, on the other hand, was honestly chugging it down, and she was damn scary while doing it, even with Adam cheating she was drinking at an unprecedented rate, making the alcohol practically disappear.
'Anime logic.' He thought, she already drank half a barrel yet she didn't seem bothered by it at all like her stomach was a black hole that devours all that comes near it.
Adam felt a pang of pain at having to throw away so much alcohol, yet he knew that it was for the greater good, he had no other option, he must do this if he wants to get away.
The whole competition lasted around an hour, by the time they were done, night had started to creep upon them, and as expected, even when cheating, Adam had no chance, Mereoleona won.
"Ha ha ha, I won boy!" She yelled out in joy as she wobbled a little on her unsteady legs, even she felt the effects of so much hard liquor.
"I guess you did, congratulations, I, unfortunately, have no prize to give you." He said with a deadpan emotionless face, yet exactly at that moment Mereoleona rushed over to him and leaned on him.
"Who says that you have nothing to give, boy?~" Her tone sounded weird and wrong, Adam soon found out why though, as her hands began to roam around his body.
She visited his abs first, gently stroking them with her fingers, going on and in between, she transitioned to his sides, which she full-heartedly hugged with her whole body, then she went to his pecs, giving them a squeeze.
"I like what you have here." She said licking her lips, squeezing his body hard, apparently not being able to control her strength all that much in this inebriated state.
"I don't think that this is a good idea," Adam said, gulping audiably, she is a beautiful woman, no doubt about that, but if he were to lay with her there would be no end to his troubles, he'd rather not experience that.
"Shush boy, the lioness is hungry for some fresh meat." She grabbed his arm with full force, opening the carriage with force before throwing him on the bed.
"We are going to have fun~," She said in an aggressive voice as she laid her body on top of his own, smothering him in her assets.
Adam just closed his eyes and awaited his seemingly inevitable fate, yet as time ticked on nothing happened, cracking open one eye he saw that Mereoleona was asleep on top of him the alcohol had finally gotten to her.
She mumbled out something about mating, fighting, and sleeping as he watched her, he felt a little, empty? And horny, he is a young man, after all, still, he knew that this is best.
Kicking her off the bed with his legs she fell on to the floor below like a sack of potatoes, that didn't wake her up though as she just curled up into a ball and went to sleep, she is more like a dog than a cat.
'At least I know how it feels like to be molested.' He told himself as he looked up into the roof of the carriage, his emotions were a bit confused snd conflicting so he will just let them settle down for a moment.