[Action]

[eventohell]

"G-gone?"

"Yes, miss."

Riza stood there for a few seconds, processing the situation: Instructor Mustang was gone.

"Thank you." She said softly. Riza picked up her laptop, the few books she's borrowed and left the library.

She had just seen him right before the Homecoming Dance. How could he be gone already? Doesn't Mustang know that he's not suppose to go anywhere without her? They had made an agreement. How was she supposed to keep an eye on him if he was just going to take off? Was their agreement still valid in the first place?

As these thoughts occured to her, she dropped unceremoniously onto a couch in the Lobby area. Riza suddenly felt what it was like to be in the Elric Brother's friend, Winry's, shoes for once. But then again she's been there before. Cradling her head in her hands, Riza wonders what she should do next?

Comments

[rewritethis]

...Speaking of.

That, over there, was a face he recognised... which didn't necessarily mean he'd be at all familiar with anything else about her. He knew that well enough these days. The question, then: did he want to deal with her? Right now, on break, and more homesick than ever?

For a few seconds, he hovered around the entrance, uncertain. Before long, though, he made up his mind and strode straight past that couch, hoping fervently he could get out of the lobby before she noticed him. If she did happen to know him, anyway - or at least some parallel-world idiot who could pass for him.

Unfortunately, whatever else it might be good for, a red coat doesn't offer much in the way of camouflage.

[eventohell]

She just barely lifted her head when she heard the familiar sound of uneven steps and caught the tail end of red. Looking up completely, she saw him. He was here too?

"Edward?"

[rewritethis]

He froze in his tracks. Well, that answered one question. There were plenty of others.

Slowly, reluctantly, he turned to face her - and to get more than a fleeting look at her, too. Something about her didn't look quite the same way he remembered. Was it his imagination? If it wasn't, did that necessarily mean anything? After all, it's pretty normal for people to change their hairstyles...

"Lieutenant..." He hesitated, unsure whether he was supposed to salute or not. "So the general wasn't the only one, huh?"

[eventohell]

"No, he was not."

The last time she saw Edward was when he was dragged into some sort of portal/eye by several small black hands. Is this where he ended up too? And what happened to Scar?

[rewritethis]

"You ran into him already, then? Okay. That's... good, I guess."

Actually, now he thought about it, he hadn't - not for a little while. The last time they'd passed each other in a corridor and exchanged sarcastic remarks... that had been before Homecoming, hadn't it? Not that it was hugely surprising, considering how hectic things had been around here leading up to break, but still...

It didn't matter, though. Ed didn't care. Of course he didn't care. The guy could take care of himself. He was probably just out on another mission or whatever.

"Well, when you next see him, could you tell him to get in touch? I wanted to ask him a few things."

And he turned to walk away again, before the conversation could encroach on any awkward questions about parallel universes. It wasn't a topic he felt up to rehashing right now.

[eventohell]

"O-okay...." She sputtered off....

Riza was hoping to get at least a little information from the young alchemist, but clearly he was as stumped as she was. But then again, Edward Elric was always taking off without explanation. But she couldn't help but think there was something different about this Edward. Something wasn't right.

Maybe she'd figure it out when she saw him next....

[manslut]

It hadn't been something Reno hadn't noticed, despite the way he acted most of the time he was one to keep tabs on just where people he gave two shits about were at. Thus he'd been rubbed the wrong way as soon as he'd heard the news, hoping that he'd at least been able to get back home instead of just disappearing out there in who knew where. But he knew Roy better than that, to get himself into that kind of trouble. He'd worked with the man long enough to figure things out, since he himself had a knack for learning everything he could about his partners whether he was trying or not. Hell, he'd been a pretty decent temporary replacement for Rude, which was a pretty high regard.

Reno wasn't the type to not notice what was going on around him, thus he'd put two and two together about certain little relationships or lack thereof. Thus he'd paused in the lobby, a few feet from Riza. His head tilted just a bit to the side, running through the list of names in his memory to make sure he had the right one, or something close to it.

Slowly he made his way over, hands buried in his pockets.

"No sign of Pony, huh?"

[eventohell]

There was once upon a time she would consider killing herself if anything were happen to Mustang, because what was the point in living in a happy and carefree world where Flame Alchemy would drive the people close to her insane? But in his own way, Mustang made it perfectly clear that "it wouldn't due". That she shouldn't give up on life no matter what. In fact, he had told her that not long before she ended up here. Its unusual how things work like that, isn't it?

Instantly, upon hearing a male voice interrupting her thoughts, she looked up to a red-headed man standing very close to her. Riza had seen him around. Word has it that he could be a bit of a cocky asshole, but she had learned long ago that there was always a reason behind a man having that kind of disposition towards people. Riza looked at him in a somewhat confused manner. What did he mean by "Pony"?

"Excuse me?"

[manslut]

Hah, well, word around Garden wasn't wrong on that one. Though it certainly wasn't due to his position, even when he was a Cadet he was a cocky asshole about pretty much everything. How in the hell he managed to get any of the... friends he had was still up for debate, really. Either way, he wasn't one to debate those sort of things, finding amusement in the gossip and rumors that floated around instead of being annoyed by them like others would be.

Shifting a bit he fished a cigarette from his pocket, one he'd bummed off of someone in return for a favor. He didn't bother lighting it, but merely let it hang from his lips. Should have figured she didn't know him by the nickname, sometimes he forgot that he was the only one who understand his naming scheme.

"Roy. I forget that people don't know what I mean sometimes."

[eventohell]

Riza looks at the man for a moment-processing his words. Was he calling her commanding officer a ....?

Riza could almost imagine the look on Mustang's face every time he was called that. That deadpanned look of "Really? Are you really calling me that?" A look that was always closely followed by some sort of comment towards Lt. Colonel Hughes or the Fullmetal Alchemist. A small chuckle came out of her mouth, slowly followed by a light laugh and then into her sobbing into her hands.

Riza couldn't remember the last time she cried... Well, actually she could. And again, it was over this stupid man. Wiping the tears from her face, she sighed.

"Sorry... I usually don't act like this." Maybe it was something in the water?

[manslut]

Well, Roy had played along with it by calling him Sparky and other ridiculous nicknames during their time. He remained silent for the longest time, not entirely sure what to do in this situation. He'd seen people crying, sure, it was part of the job but when it came to comforting anyone he was more or less absolute rubbish. Thus he remained silent, merely shifting his cigarette around some more due to that oral fixation he'd never bothered trying to get rid of, it did wonders for moments like this where he was absolutely antsy.

Luckily she stopped crying, giving him a bit of an open to talk without having to do that comforting bit. A small bit of a grin tugged at the corner of his lips, taking his fixation from his mouth to speak to her again.

"Nah, don't worry about it. It's normal to react like that when someone you were close to ends up disappearin' like this, no one's gonna judge ya for it," he replied, pulling out his lighter to light his smoke and take a long drag from it.

He took the moment to exhale the puff of smoke, glancing back to her with a curious look. "Y'know, he spoke pretty highly of you. If you're who I'm thinkin' you are."

[eventohell]

Riza watched him roll the cigarette around in his mouth through the last few tears that fell down her face. Its been several months since she had seen these actions but they were still fresh in her mind. She cast him a nicely placed glare before wiping those last few tears away. It didn't matter to her whether or not he had seen the glare, she still hated the smell of cigarettes.

She looked down at her hands while he spoke in between the familiar shick of flint against steel. Of course Mustang would speak highly of her. He always did.

"If he mentioned a babysitter somewhere along the way, that would be me." She means it to come out as a joke, but it sounded otherwise to her at least.