Day 33: Lunch

[tsunagari]

There was a knot in Sai's stomach as he was led back inside to the cafeteria. It was an unfamiliar feeling, and he tried to ignore it. What was it? Was he actually uncomfortable with his decision? He couldn't afford to be. This alliance with Itachi was crucial, and he'd just have to try and make sure the others saw it that way

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[only_logic]

[Unwittingly waiting for Lust]

Well, that had most certainly been an interesting outdoor adventure. It appeared that Dante had failed in one aspect - or perhaps alternate reality - to completely cover up the Philosopher's Stone. He wondered if Ling knew the cost for the Philosopher's Stone? In order to became Emperor of a country, the young man would technically have to sacrafice enough people to fill it. There was a kind of sick irony surrounding the Stone.

After washing up and checking the state of his bruises, Hohenheim was pleased to be escorted to the growing hussle and bussle of the cafeteria. He rather liked it in here because not only could he observe, but he tended to be faded into the unyielding masses of the other patients. There was both a sense of community and anonyminity as well, something he was more than willig to indulge himself in.

He wished he had been able to get to the library for a book, but he had instead brought the little notebook with him. His plate of fish and chips sitting next to him, he busily scribbled down notes about what he had learned about this place so far and the people he had already encountered. He would need to build his hypothesis soon... and perhaps contact Roy Mustang... he could do that last one later.

[lustful_thing]

Lust wasn't in an impressively better mood at lunch, but some of her anger had faded after her discussion with the mind-reading woman. She even took the offered food, familiar enough with it, and glanced around the cafeteria. She was looking for one of her allies, or even Edward or the colonel, but her eyes fell on a different familiar face.

Hohenheim of Light. The Elric boys' father, Dante's adversary, and the man she knew Envy to hate above all others - though the reasons were murky. Now that man would be a valuable ally to have on her side.

Tray in hand, Lust drew back her shoulders and crossed the dining hall, hips swaying as she moved.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked, innocently, remembering if the man would remember her from the brief glimpse he'd gotten as she was pinned by Pride's swords to the wall of her master's mansion.

[only_logic]

Eileen aside, Hohenheim found that the alchemists or at least people from his world were gravitating to him. He had wanted to keep his presence a little more low-key, but he had met with three people already in his first day. He wondered if such a tred would continue.

Lifting his head at the sound of a female voice, Hohenheim found recognition dawn on him at this woman's appearance. Something was different though, something... changed from the last time. She seemed much more... human looking in his opinion, though he was fairly certain they had not really been formally introduced to each other.

Ah yes, now he remembered. The homunculus who went against the master. She had been hanging on the wall in Dante's little mansion.

He pushed his glasses further up his nose and managed a smile. "And for what honour do I owe the pleasure of such a fine woman's company? Please, sit, sit," he said, gesturing with a hand to the seat she indicated.

[lustful_thing]

Lust slid into the seat, setting her tray before her. She settled herself in, giving no hint to her inner emotional turmoil. Despite recent events, they were still trapped and she still needed powerful allies.

She knew little of Hohenheim, other than that he was powerful, well known, and Dante had loved him once. But that was enough for her.

"You're alone. I'm alone. Need there be any other reason?"

[only_logic]

Watching her, Hohenheim finally placed the feeling of oddness from this woman. She was, in fact, a woman it would seem. There were differences in her appearance and even in the way that she seemed to hold herself that he picked out. She was probably not wholly homunculus, if at all.

Though, he was given the distinct impression that she knew him, so her change had to have come after they had seen each other. Did the institute really have the ability to turn one back to a lost being?

"How human are you? Did you attain what all homunculus desire or is this a temporary wish granted by this place?" He decided that it wouldn't hurt to ask, even if it seemed to forward. He was curious.

[lustful_thing]

"My, my, aren't you one for small talk?" Lust arched an eyebrow, a bit put off at being barraged with questions in that manner. So he did remember her - not that he bothered to mention that like a normal person. She picked up her utensils and began carefully and deliberately cutting up the breaded fish on her plate.

"Generally, when two people come together over a meal, they make idle chit-chat first, perhaps catch up, ask how one another are, and then they delve into the probing, personal questions."

[only_logic]

Shrugging his shoulders innocently, Hohenheim finally allowed his fingers to move from the small book in front of him. He pressed a hand to the cover so that it closed firmly and slid it over towards his elbow.

"Such things would first indicate we have been formally introduced to each other in the first place," he said and smiled again. He pulled his meal over in front of him but didn't yet touch it. "We only really saw each other from opposite sides of the room. I, as I'm sure you know, am Hohenheim. And you might be?"

That scientific curiosity still knawed at the back of his brain, eager for information. How was she human?

[lustful_thing]

"That's a touch more like it." Lust continued cutting her food. "I'm Lust. And you don't seem as though you're a man terribly concerned with formal introductions, considering your conversation choices."

She wasn't offended, she simply wasn't sure what it was she wanted to tell him. She didn't understand entirely how it had been done, after all.

"But your observation was correct," she said, after swallowing a bite of her lunch. "I am, for all intents and purposes, human."

[only_logic]

Her control of the path for their conversation was not really a concern for him. He figured that she had come to sit with him for a reason, and it would come out sooner or later. He suppose it was simple enough to have a pleasant conversation, and it wasn't often he could speak freely with a once-homunculus. The last one he spoke to had not been so eager for his company.

"Lust..." he repeated. It fit into the mold that Dante seemed to have created when gathering all the lost little children together. "At one time I was, but... that was some time ago. I suppose I have lost my touch of proper formalities." He had once been so formal it was almost painful to remember.

He wanted to know how that had happened, but he held off for now. "You finally have what you want... no need for Dante's help."

[lustful_thing]

Her eyes flashed a moment, dangerously, and she focused her gaze on Hohenheim. "I will thank you to not mention that woman's name to me." The word was spit out like a vulgarity, the seething hatred that Lust held for her old master obvious in her words and tone.

"And yes, I have. This place did it, over the course of weeks." She shrugged. She'd grown used to it, after time. It wasn't all she had imagined it to be, but it wasn't horrible.

To prove her point, she pulled down the collar of her uniform to show the smooth, pale skin where the mark of the homunculus used to be.

[only_logic]

The corner of his lips upturned slightly at her obvious dislike for Dante. He leaned back in his chair to regard her fully before shaking his head a little. "I'm surprised you waste such emotion on a name and the person it represents. Living is more than that afterall... unless you are looking for vengence of some kind?"

So, an Institute with the ability to create a human from a soulless monster? He tried not to idolize the thought of another particular homunculus being eclipsed by humanness again. No, it was his sin that he bore in whatever form the boy came in.

"Interesting..." he murmured as he stared at the spot where the mark of a homunculus should have been. "A place that can twist the very laws governed by The Gate. It can draw back little lost children and give them back the soul they lost in the transition from living to dead." So, even The Gate could be beaten?

[lustful_thing]

"I already had my vengeance." Or enough to tide her over, anyway. Lust had had, at least for a brief moment, her former master bowing at her feet. A pity the woman had disappeared... Lust had had plans for her.

"If you take a picture, I'm told it lasts longer." She snapped her shirt back in place, one eyebrow raised. She knew what he was looking at, but the scrutiny made her slightly uncomfortable.

"I will give you a piece of information," she went on, calmly, "because I have respect for you as a master of your craft." And for other reasons, but those didn't need voicing.

"This place gave me nothing I didn't already have."

[only_logic]

That was an interesting piece of information. So, Dante had been in this place before him then? He wondered if their paths would meet again, even if he hoped that she would not come. For now, he had to fix the wrongs previously committed from the shadows; he could worry about Dante at a later date.

"I would but I don't feel it is within my best intrests to alchemically create myself a camera," he said. He almost chuckled at his own humour, but it seemed like a poor reason to break into laughter over. Besides, his nurse would probably not appreciate his efforts.

Tilting his head to the side, he considered her words. It was only because she was being honest that he felt the need to be the same. "I have my doubts of that, actually. It is because we strive for something that we find peace. What you have gained will probably have come at some form of loss." He leaned back. "You're still searching for something. What it is, I'm sure only you know."

[lustful_thing]

"Feeling profound, are we?" Lust shrugged. "No. I'm no different now than I was before. Whatever soul it is that I possess, it is my own. Not that which was lost when the man who made me attempted to revive his dead wife." Those memories were still there, some clear and focused, some murky and lurking, but they weren't hers. She wasn't that Ishbalan woman she had promised Scar she would be. She was only Lust, but no longer the sin.

"But besides that, I thought we could speak. I'm friends with your sons."

[only_logic]

Hohenheim raised an eyebrow, but he thought differently. His own experiences with the homunculi and studying them seemed to point towards a more logical build to her words. It seemed impolite to talk her down though, so he would not. She must have had her reasons for saying such things, and it had been a long time since he had been in any position remotely similar.

"Yes, Edward seemed to mention something about that," he murmured. He wondered if she was allied with the other homunculi in the building. "Is there something particular you wish to speak about?"

[lustful_thing]

"I will confess I was closer to your other son than Edward." Lust pushed aside her plate, done for the moment. "But he and I have helped one another since before this place. And as I would have noticed you beforehand, I can only assume you're quite new to this place.

She folded her hands on the table before her, watching him.

"Have you had much luck in finding yourself reliable allies?"