WHAT EQUALS THE VALUE OF A HUMAN SOUL? // OPEN, TASK

[Roy Mustang]

What came as a surprise to Roy's ears was the voice of Bastillepaw, who seemed to hear what Roy had been muttering about to himself. "Well, what were you thinking when you got yourself killed?" He heard the young Cosmic General's voice say, causing the male to freeze for a moment. He didn't say a word yet, awaiting for Bast to finish up, having a feeling the tom had more to say. And he was correct. "I'd imagine he was thinking the same thing you were, ya know?" Those words came not too long after his first, causing the male to look over his shoulder and face the tom. Roy was having a hard time accepting the truth- that he was really dead like Hughes. It was hard to handle, that flashback had been so livid- he remembered every moment of it. He didn't activate the array, and nor did Fullmetal or Alphonse. He wasn't sure who was to blame. But he certainly didn't approach that array back there like he intended to use it! No, he wanted to investigate it, the military had been summoned for a reason! Bastillepaw must be thinking Roy willingly attempted the taboo like Hughes almost did. "What was I thinking? Confusion, shock, despair- considering it was an accident and that I didn't activate it." He certainly can name more, a lot of emotions ran through his mind during the experience.

It might be hypocritical of him for calling out Hughes when in the end, Roy accidentally did the same thing. Roy has seen the truth, he's gone through that gate and paid for it with his toll. So Roy, who knows far more of what happens when someone commits the taboo, is going to call out his friend about it in a heartbeat. If that manages to convince his friend to never attempt it again, or stay away from alchemy all together, then he'll feel a million times better. He doesn't want Hughes to see the truth. He doesn't want his friend to pay a toll that might cost him his life and be forced to go through the gate and take up information until it becomes too much to handle. He didn't answer the second question, instead the melanistic bobcat went back to his task, focusing on scrubbing the chalk away.

He didn't get to focus that long on his task when another voice spoke up, this time being Suiteheart. He looked over towards the Polar Bear, who thankfully wasn't pressing questions on him like Bastillepaw did. Instead she was offering her assistance to him. He thought about it for a moment, but then decided on his answer. "I appreciate the offer, but no." He said to her with a flick of his ear, before glancing over at Lunafreya, who padded in next. Roy didn't say a word to her, wondering why she assigned this task to him rather than Maes himself, but he knew it had to be done. He can safely remove it before it can hurt anyone ever again.