Familiar Faces

[armoredboy]

Al had gone to the compound to get some things for the cart residents' dinner, and hand come away with a slew of instructions from Duo to be delivered in as firm a tone as he could manage (so Duo had specified) to Ed. He stretched, holding his bag over his shoulder, as he walked, breathing in the afternoon air. It was a great day, and warm enough

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[burninghorse]

Roy's evening walks around the island had become almost tradition by this point. He wasn't so much looking for anyone as he was hoping that Someone would find him. He hadn't, of course, because things like that just didn't happen to Roy Mustang.

He glanced up at the approaching figure and the familiar voice. For half a heartbeat, Roy faltered. A moment of weakness as his memories flashed bright as life behind his eyes. How long ago had it been now since he'd held that blonde body to him? How long since he'd let him go and made promises that he'd been unable to keep? One week? Two? Three? Roy was shit at time without a calender right in front of him.

The moment passed though and without missing more than that solitary beat, Roy drew himself up to his full height and gave the alchemist coming his way a weak salute.

[armoredboy]

Al lost the grip on his bag, though he caught it back again before it could hit the ground.

He was gaping.

It was the salute, really, only one person saluted with that sort of maddening combination of superiority and casual ease.

"Colonel-?" Al started, then broke into a run. He stopped short before the older man, practically beaming.

"Colonel! When did you- Hi!"

[burninghorse]

Roy couldn't help but smile coolly at Alphonse. He hadn't expected this sort of reaction from the boy, but then again, Al had always been a bit more level headed than his brother.

"Two weeks ago, I think." It wouldn't make sense for Al to have been here any longer than that, of course. And Roy, being the marginally self-centered man he was, naturally assumed so.

"Though I'm told that this isn't where the gate leads after all." It was the closest he had ever come to admitting that he was in any way out of his element.

[armoredboy]

"No," Al said, expression sinking into what was probably a very familiar one of studious contemplation.

"It doesn't appear to be, though alchemy doesn't work here, either. There are other kinds of sciences, mostly that work with magnetic fields, and its' interesting, but it isn't alchemy." He flashed the colonel a slightly pained smile.

"It could be worse though." He belated noticed the eyepatch. That meant that...

"You're from that time," he breathed, feeling a lot less crazy. "Brother arrived here from two years before. The chronological inconsistencies can be sort of confusing. I've been here for more than four months. Almost five, I think, now."

[burninghorse]

Roy pointedly ignored any inconsistancies in time that may have fallen out of Alphonse's mouth. Clearly this place just made you delusional.

"No, there isn't alchemy," he agreed. "The bookshelf in the compound decided to taunt me the other day by providing a book on it though," he remarked in that sort of offhanded and dismissive way that had become his trademark.

He nodded in confirmation of Al's assertation that he was from 'that time'.

"I destroyed the gate in our world and then...here."

[armoredboy]

Al nodded. He hesitated, then said, "Thank you for letting me go after him."

[burninghorse]

The corner of Roy's mouth turned up in a smirk. "Just don't tell anyone. It'd ruin my reputation."

He found himself winking quickly with his remaining eye, not even thinking about how strange it must look.

[armoredboy]

Al smiled, and as far as smiles from Alphonse went, this one was practically wry.

"Aah," he agreed. "I'll make a point not to let that slip. Where have you been sleeping?"

[burninghorse]

"In the compound," he answered simply. The boy didn't need to know the specifics of anything right this second. And Roy didn't think Alphonse was the one to be disgruntled at for the poor quality of the beds in the place.

[armoredboy]

Al hadn't seen much of Roy Mustang in his life, but he knew a lot about the Colonel- now Colonel again, it seemed, which was good- and of course...

Well.

He flushed a little.

"Sorry for my behavior the last time we saw each other," he said, and hesitated, "but thank you for letting me go."

[burninghorse]

Roy chuckled softly. "You've thanked me for that already, Elric," he said, a fond sort of smile spreading across his face. "Do I want to know why you're blushing?"

It wasn't the sort of reaction he'd expected from an Elric, though if from any it was probably more likely to be this one than any other.

[armoredboy]

Al straightened a little.

"I'm- not!" he protested earnestly, and then did blush, a little, waving a hand defensively in front of him.

[burninghorse]

There went that brow again, arcing of entirely its own accord.

"You are," he added with a smirk and then waved dismissively. "In anycase, where are you and your brother staying?"

[armoredboy]

Al tried not to give him a look of too much consernation. Instead he turned slightly and pointed.

"Up the beach a distance that way, from the end of the path. We live in a large cart that a traveling singer used to go around in but there isn't anywhere to go, really, here, so he's picked that spot to leave it. It's Moril's cart, he's a good friend."

Al paused.

"We have a kitten," he added.

[burninghorse]

"Moril," he said, appearing to give the name some easy thought. "A dreamy looking young man with red hair, yes?" He was right. He didn't really care that he was right, because he was, most often, right.

He couldn't help but chuckle at mention of the kitten. "Do you? And what's this kitten's name?" Roy had always preferred dogs himself; kittens were almost too independant for his taste.

[armoredboy]

"You've met him!" Al said, nodding a little.

"Rua. She belongs to Moril's older brother, Kialan. There's four of us staying there. I like it more than the compound, but maybe I'm just used to not sleeping in regular buildings anymore."