Because I'm an asshole~ [Closed to the people listed]

[saintedsinner]

Characters: ED ELRIC, Negi, and Rachel
When: Evening of 4/12
Where: Solve and then the clinic
Rating: uuuh.... PG?
Summary: Ed's had time to cool off, and now he has to ~face the music~ Chronologically speaking, He goes to Solve first and then the clinic. Interactions with Negi and Rachel are in separate threads.

Comments

[showchoirstar]

Rachel was seated outside, legs crossed, her journal in her lap. She was composing a new song, idly, her pen between her teeth. Rachel needed an outlet -- music was a prime place to do that. As it always was.

She didn't notice him drawing closer, completely focused on her work.

[saintedsinner]

One apology down, one to go. He didn't want to say it was almost convienent that Rachel was by the clinic, so he stuffed that thought down into the depths of his mind. He saw her outside and walked forward, stuffing his hands in his pockets, letting the fabric support his automail as it ached and demanded a decent bed. Sleep would come later. This was more important.

He stood before her, coming to a stop as he waited quietly, waiting for her.

[showchoirstar]

Rachel felt someone standing there and she tapped the pen against her book thoughtfully.

"I think I may need a new harmony, what do you -- "

She looked up, mouth open to smile, but it faltered into a dark expression. Edward.

Cue her head ducking down to focus on her work.

"What."

[saintedsinner]

That turned his thoughts sour. No, more than sour. But he didn't do more than scowl for a moment. His tone was quiet and level, maybe a little gruff, but nothing that would be deemed cranky or pissy. He made his bed and now he would lie in it. Everything had a consequence, and Ed was fully prepared to accept his.

"We need to talk--I need to talk. You can just listen."

[showchoirstar]

"I can do whatever I want."

She looked up, her fingers gripping her pen tightly, eyes hard.

"Do not make the mistake of thinking I have to do anything."

[saintedsinner]

He deserved that. He knew it. "Right."

He squatted down to her level, hands kept low as he spoke. "Look... Well....

"The electrostatic attraction between two oppositely charged ions are formed between a cation and an anion. The ionic bond happens between a metal molecule and a non metal molecule. Science and art, the physical and the spiritual, practical and romantic theory. But it can only happen if the overall energy change for the reaction is favourable. It's exothermic, burning everything around it and the larger the change of energy, the stronger the bond is. The more explosive, the tighter the bond. That's what I always felt.

"Non-covalent bonding is the attraction between like molecules, or portions within a molecule. It's endothermic, cooling and determined by outside forces. Without the outside forcing them together, they most likely wouldn't. Some would call that fate, but it's not the inner negative ions that pull them together. It's not the molecules themselves that are drawing them together, but the

[showchoirstar]

She listened carefully, her eyes softening slightly at the apology. Contrary to popular belief, Rachel was good at other things besides music, and she was a straight A student, so she understood most of the scientific speech.

"You humiliated me," Rachel murmured, looking away. Even if the broadcast hasn't aired, the entire house would have known. Rachel's private business, everywhere. "And you didn't believe me. Or trust me."

[saintedsinner]

"I know. I didn't mean to." He regretted that. He should have better control over himself. Regardless, something needed to be done about that brat of a kid. No way was he going to put himself into a vulnerable position like that, and like hell did he want anyone else to feel unsafe. But regardless of whether it was Rachel's business, she needed to realize it was also his private business too. "I did it to both of us, Rachel, not just you.

"I know. I don't trust a lot of people here. It's not.." Was it in his nature to be distrustful, or did the events of his life make him this way? It was hard to tell. "I don't know what it is. But it takes a lot to get my trust. I believe you? But then again things have happened in my life that have warned me against trusting too soon." It went beyond Winry and what happened in Adstring. It was everything else in Amestris, too. "I don't really have friends. I have alliances."

[showchoirstar]

Rachel looked away, her hair hiding her expression. She was just as confused today as she was the day before -- but the statement bothered her, the one that kept echoing inside her head. Actions speak louder than words.

"When I left the house, you could have come after me."

Her eyes moved back to her notebook.

"You didn't."

[saintedsinner]

"I didn't know you left. When I left, I didn't bring my PCD with me." Little did Edward know that his PCD would have an alibi by the name of Kurt Hummel and the Ghost of Ai-Ai. "I didn't know you left until a little while ago when I came back home and saw Negi."

[showchoirstar]

That explained that, then.

Rachel's eyes were still fixated on the notebook, the pen jiggling in her fingers as she tried to think. A hand reached up to her neck, to fiddle with a gold necklace -- it was new, something that came with her when she arrived in Adstringendum -- the charm was in the shape of a star.

"For as much as people hate Jesse around here, he is the only one who has not yelled at me or misjudged me or pressured me." She looked up, her hair falling to her shoulders, her hand still fiddling the necklace. "Everyone else has felt the need to tell me that I have no idea what I am doing or jumped to conclusions concerning what I am doing. When Jesse saw that post, and found out everything, he didn't judge me for it."

Rachel paused, closing her eyes slightly, and her tone becomes much softer and gentler.

"If you cannot trust me, or trust anyone, Edward, without constantly wondering what they are doing behind your back, then -- you need to work on that first, before entering anything."

[saintedsinner]

He thought he had, but he didn't say that. Actions spoke louder than words, after all. What he said wasn't what he really meant, and trying to explain now was only going to look like back peddling. The choice to not do anything or make a decision was still a choice. Regardless of all that, she was still right. He needed to get over the past before he could move on. Stand up and use those legs to get him somewhere. "Yeah."

The worse thing she said was that he was judgemental. He wasn't even judgemental on an Ishvallan and here he was with Rachel. Ed stood up then, slipping his right hand into his pocket once more. "Are you staying here, then?"

[showchoirstar]

Rachel tilted her head towards the clinic, eyeing the door with something of a frown. She could move out, she supposed, to drive the nail into the coffin, to truly prove her point, that she is not one to be pushed around...

But like it or not, the people at Solve were her Adstringendum family, and so Rachel closed her notebook with a sigh.

"No. I will be home shortly."

[saintedsinner]

His shoulders slumped in relief. If Rachel moved out and left like Winry and then was sent home, he wouldn't know what to do. But he forced himself to stop thinking like that and tried to play it cool, turning before she could see his face.

"See ya around, then."