SHIBUSEN SIDE
Characters: OPEN, Shibusen side
Location: Shibusen underground barracks
Rating: R
Time: September 1-15, 2019
Description: Both sides have exchanged news about their respective blast from the past. What does everyone think about it?
( SHIBUSEN SIDE )
Location: Shibusen underground barracks
Rating: R
Time: September 1-15, 2019
Description: Both sides have exchanged news about their respective blast from the past. What does everyone think about it?
( SHIBUSEN SIDE )
Maybe tunnels weren't meant to be shouted in, but it wasn't really shouting-- just a raised, projected voice, aimed right to the other side of the doorway. He had a thinly wrapped package of bread under one arm and a raised fist rapping on the door with the other, body tilted so one foot was closer to it than the other, easily able to catch sight of the room and the hallway at the same time. Which was a good thing, seeing as he'd sometimes end up standing out there for a while (through no fault of anyone's).
Five days, only five days - he was restless, wanted to move and think and do and act, but older habits held fast and kept his composure upright, his half-smile in place. His normal hope that it would be a good day for the man on the other side, his normal routine of knocking and waiting for a yell back (occasionally punctured by not waiting, but those were only on the days that he knew were bad). Or a not-yell, because you weren't supposed to yell in tunnels. Or so he'd heard. Once.
When?
Sometime.
"Are you awake?" Continued, too close to the knocking to be normal, but he was restless. Ready. Energetic. Would Holmes have heard about the arrivals? Probably, the man wasn't daft or dumb or deaf, regardless of how Hughes had seen a few of the civilians glance toward the room on passing; but he wasn't there to call names, just get in. That was what doors were typically for, after all. He felt like running to see everyone, honestly, but the chemist was right up there with Roy and Riza (missing the third R), and he wasn't going to break the familiarity he'd taken so long to build up because of-- not because of nothing, but he just wasn't going to do it. Yeah. That worked.
Man, he hoped it was a good day. For once, his patience felt thin.
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Yes, Hughes, the halls were very much not made for shouting in. Even a voice that was simply projected; the echo was tinny and horrible and usually meant someone who would possibly break something was on the way. At least he'd knocked, and Hughes patience was rewarded by the wound of a cane hitting the floor behind the door. It was a steady rhythm and if Hughes had picked up anything from Holmes it was at least a small bit of observance.
Holmes had heard of the arrivals, and knowing one of them was a girl from Hughes' world had expected to either hear from the man himself. Or hear that the other man had done something. There was little question on whether the people that had arrived were who they said they were. It was easy enough to tell at a glance for Holmes and after that, he had scarcely thought of them. Not out of rudeness; but because the women had both been part of the clinic. The clinic that his Watson had run for five year before...
The door opened and Holmes leveled an even glare at Hughes, his tall frame bent over only a few inches today.
"You do know that I can hear you walking down the hallway? You have a shuffle in your gate every tenth step. Every fourth one when you are in a hurry; or impatient such as today."
Stepping away from the door, invitation to come in unspoken, and set about to make something to drink. Possibly only a weak tea but at least it was something.
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He did let himself follow without the spoken command, too, left hand shifting to hook on a jacket (not his Amestrian jacket: that had become his 'formal' wear) as he did so, head tilting just a fraction in curiosity. But the curiosity was always there, when he was around Holmes-- regardless of any returned feelings (they weren't malicious, Hughes knew, nor particularly discontent), the resident chemist never failed to be interesting.
And you're having a good day, he wanted to remark back, but that was just a bit too out of line for Maes. Instead, his voice maintained its cheer.
"I know you've heard about the arrivals, too, given that they're the latest stir. Tea?" Switch of topics, maybe, but that last comment was with a raised eyebrow. With Holmes' memory being somewhat (better than) like his own, he wouldn't be surprised if the other could remember everything about them. Didn't mean they'd make the man look twice, though-- and there was the divide between their principles, nice and clean.
Better that way, honestly.
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Holmes finished setting the teapot on the stove before turning slightly to glance over his shoulder, "I believe this is a rather informal meeting, so I will save the wine and brandy for later." He shifted the cane so that he could turn around, thankful that nothing was seizing up just yet. Maybe it would remain a good day, even with the dankness of the Shibusen underground working against his joints.
"I'd heard the rumors and judged them to be true. They were all to similar to be anything else." He quietly sat down in his normal chair, stretching out the worse of two knees carefully, "I remember those girls quite clearly. There is no one else that they may be, no matter what magic and hokum abounds here."
His eyes never once left Hughes face, though there was an easy look in Holmes' eyes. So he wasn't sizing up the man, simply reading what new things he might receive.
"You haven't been out in a good amount of days, Hughes." He points to the man's leg cuffs with his cane, "The dirt on your pants is only from here. Have these rumours kept you so tied down?"
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The staring didn't unnerve him - he was looking right back, once he'd finally gotten a tight enough reign on his composure to not tap his foot or anything like that. Futile in the end as it was, he liked to try to keep some of the more obvious things out of Holmes' observance. Maybe just a side of challenge, from the old days of being an Investigative Officer himself.
"You're right." Conceding, maybe on both the 'they're true' and 'haven't been out in a while.' Another grin: "Something like that. It's been pretty quiet on the outside, first off. Barely any magic in the air at all."
Secondly... Fingers tapping against a crossed arm. "Plus, I'd say that it's best to know every bit of the rumors you can put an ear to. Especially... eh, with these rumors." Of course. He knew Holmes would understand that point, with the excellent memory of his. Once a detective, always a detective, even if it was only in thoughts alone. Slightly quirked eyebrow, with an imaginary question attached: you don't care to think too much about them, do you?
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