Day 35: Bus 1

[ienvyroaches]

Nny was beginning to suspect that he wasn't dreaming. Interestingly enough, it wasn't the length of his stay that was starting to convince him. It was his goddamn headache. You didn't get headaches in dreams, you just didn't. Not unless you'd been drinking the night before, which he hadn't experienced in, well, a really long time (and that was it's

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[muted_flame]

[Free!]

Somehow, Roy had lost track of time while talking with Junior and Luffy, and before he knew it the nurses were rushing around trying to gather up all the patients. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he made his way onto the bus feeling slightly indignant.

As much as he might tell himself that there was probably nothing of interest to be found in the town, he knew that when it came down to it, every bit of information was important, and he had missed out. He couldn't relent or give up on searching for answers, even if he had found so little thus far.

Finding a seat toward the back of the bus, Roy was glad he was one of the first people to make it on. Meanwhile, he did his best to mentally prepare for the possibility of night coming too soon and forcing them into a trap like last time. He wasn't sure if Landel would try the same trick twice, but he would be as ready as he could be nonetheless.

[lady_general]

[Mind a General?]

Celes had finished her day strolling the streets and tumbling the young man's words in her mind. Meet them? Well, it was not as though she had something better to do. Her herding nurse hurried her along to the first bus and Celes noted the variety of open seats. She smiled somewhat grimly before sliding into place next to a sour-looking man, and planned her escape for when night landed and everything changed.

She wished she still carried the knife she'd gotten from Luxord, but it was too much of a risk of having it be confiscated. Ah well, if wishes were chocobos, beggars would ride. "Evening," she said quietly, with a polite nod of her head.

[muted_flame]

Roy had to admit he was surprised when a young woman decided to take a seat next to him despite the fact that there were so many other open ones. There was a chance that she was trying to avoid someone or at least make sure they didn't sit with her, so he figured he might as well take some satisfaction out of the fact that he didn't come off as a bad bus partner.

And when would he ever deny sitting with such a pretty girl? A smile that wasn't completely sincere touched at his lips as he fell into that half-act that he tended to take on around women he didn't already know.

"Good evening," he said in return, nodding his head to her. "How was your day?" Even if he hadn't been able to look around himself, maybe he could at least get information from someone else. He knew that implication that he was using someone wasn't exactly pretty, but he figured there was no harm done so long as he was as nice and charming as he always was with the opposite sex.

[lady_general]

"Fine, thank you," Celes replied, externally polite and internally wary. Another Edgar, it seemed. Well, that could be handled neatly enough. Celes straightened her bearing without thinking, falling into the ingrained training she'd had all her life. A moment later, she realized how very rude it was for her to sit next to a total stranger who may have already had plans to share his seat with another. Well, damn it all.

"Pardon me for sitting beside you, sir," she added. "I don't mean to interrupt a plan you may already have." Celes apologized neatly, with a little note of sincerity. Men liked sincerity in speech, didn't they?

[muted_flame]

"Oh, no, don't worry about it," Roy immediately responded, waving her off. "I don't have any plans." That was surprising enough in and of itself, but this whole trip business tended to upset all of that. He wasn't too bothered by it, though he did intend to head over to Hughes' room tonight and make sure that he was all right. That was pretty much the only thing he'd planned so far.

Unfortunately, the woman hadn't given him much information about Doyleton, but he could assume that meant that nothing of interest had happened. Either that, or she was keeping secrets. Her curtness and polite behavior was already reminding him a little of Riza.

"And I should apologize myself. My name is Roy," he said, extending his hand cordially. "Colonel Roy Mustang, if we want to get hung up on details." Even if he was trying to be casual, the truth of the matter was that he did want to. He just couldn't kick that habit of listing his rank - not when he had worked so hard for it.

[lady_general]

Celes took his hand and inclined her head gracefully. This handshaking business was somewhat uncommon in Vector, but it was easy enough to get used to. "General Celes Chere, a pleasure," her lips quirked a small smile. So, she outranked him, but ranks were a moot thing in this place. Those that still bothered with them usually ran the clubs.

"I take it you are the same Mustang that heads the 'Cooking' club?" Celes ventured, near certain of her estimate. She linked her fingers together, and looked at him thoughtfully.

[muted_flame]

"General," Roy echoed, trying not to sound too shocked. She looked to be barely over twenty - how could she have that sort of rank? He couldn't help but feel like he had been knocked down a few notches, but he did his best to hold his composure and focus on the topic at hand.

"I am," he responded, somewhat delayed. He was used to people knowing who he was by now, so it didn't make him feel much better about the fact that this young girl was a general. He tried to justify it, thinking that maybe it was easier to climb the ranks where she came from, or that she had some sort of connection that had gotten her the rank, but it wasn't helping much.

[lady_general]

Celes couldn't say she was unused to the reaction, but had the modesty to look down at her hands a moment before affixing her eyes on him again. Other, older people in the Emperor's Army had also balked at both her age, her gender and her rank. She decided it would not be wise to expose her age as that of an 18 year old. His ego might have been unable to take it, however fairly she gained her rank.

"I appreciate your efforts, Colonel, I can imagine it is difficult work, creating weapons." How he was doing it was something she would have been interested had she still been deep under the Emperor's rule. Cid, especially, would've been pleased she was looking at it so scientifically. Celes never had been one for the child-like curiosity required for such work.

[muted_flame]

As much as Roy wanted to further question Celes about her rank, she hadn't said anything about it despite the fact that he had expressed some amount of shock, and that probably meant that she didn't want to discuss it. Either that, or she thought he didn't, but he knew better than to make a woman uncomfortable. It was obvious that she was capable in one way or another, which made him interested in her on more than a basic, superficial level.

"It's more tedious than anything, actually," he admitted. It was hard on him simply because it took a lot out of him, but it wasn't particularly difficult. The arrays were all basic, the transmutations simple -- the toll it took on him was what made it rough.

He wondered now if this girl had asked for a weapon, but he couldn't remember off the top of his head. It was entirely possible, though.

[lady_general]

"I've been watching the board posts, but I admit some trepidation in asking," she said quietly. What if she disappeared before her weapon was created, or worse, what if the ones in the cooking club vanished instead? If she wanted to be realistic, it would just be more intelligent to try to find a weapon she could make (or disarm from some unlucky enemy) herself.

"How do you do it?" she asked, and looked from Roy to the bus window, then back again. "Where I'm from, we've not a way to create weaponry without proper factories and smithies." Though, her world was on the verge of revolution, and revolution was the best time for innovation. That's what they'd taught her as a child, and the proof was in the Witch Terra and the Magitek armors her country had developed.

[muted_flame]

If she would rather not rely on someone else for a weapon, then Roy certainly had no problem with it. He had enough on his plate as it was, and he supported the idea of patients finding other ways to get themselves armed. It was never a good idea to rely on someone unless there was no other option, but he could also understand how he could come across as a helpful resource

[lady_general]

"Something like the Magitek industry, then," she replied, mostly to herself. Creating magic out of technology had to be similar to creating scraps of metal into weaponry. Cid, certainly, supported all things scientific. Even if the old man did experiment on the young and the Espers. Celes could attest to that quite easily. "Someone from my homeland would likely enjoy learning about it a great deal. My," a slight hesitation in her voice came through as Celes struggled with how to properly code him. "Grandfather, actually."

The general seemed fairly comfortable in her ramrod position. "Correct me if I am mistaken, Colonel," Celes gave Roy the tiniest of true smiles. "Does it not mean that you are a Scientist of the Military, as an Alchemist?" She wondered briefly as to how one could attain such a rank, but still call themselves 'Scientist.' The only alchemists she knew of made potions and antidotes in both backwoods towns and grand cities.

[muted_flame]

The terms Celes had mumbled didn't mean much of anything to Roy, of course, but he knew how everyone needed to anchor the strange things they heard about here back to their own world. He'd done it enough times himself. When she mentioned her grandfather (but only brought up the relation as an afterthought), all he could do was nod.

At her question, though, he frowned in slight confusion, not entirely sure what she meant. "Not exactly," he responded. "Alchemists are somewhat common where I come from, and many people in the military are alchemists, as it can be used offensively, like a weapon." He glanced down at his hands, missing his gloves for a moment and then feeling slightly guilty for doing so. "Making weapons like I do here isn't my normal job by any means. I fought in a war some years back, and I used my alchemy in battle far more than any gun or sword." The position he had been forced into here was somewhat humiliating, actually, seeing what he was normally capable of.