TYL BACKLOG POST

[soul_mods]

Characters: OPEN
Location: Everywhere
Rating: R
Time: Between October 2009 to August 2019
Description: What happened between the present time and ten years later?

Comments

2016. Shizuo & Ed's Room. Closed-ish.

[everyonecried]

It might not have been the best of times or the worst of times, but it was the time of something. As long as that something meant kicking back on a sofa, one arm over the back and another resting on a mug - it'd disappear somewhere around the second bottle, splitting up drinks be forgotten - and generally taking an evening off, Hughes was alright with it. More than alright with it.

Actually, it might as well have been the best of times right then, because they actually had something decent to drink and nothing at all, whether it be mole, kishin or witch, had made the roof cave in this week.

Truly, the best of times.

"Hey, Shizuo." And he'd thought those were odd names, once-upon-a-time -- not a time to think on, even though those had a good number of 'best of times' too, because this best of time worked out best for the current situation. That round-about thought passed in and out of his mind in under a second, and all he got out of it was the vague note that hey, I might be getting a buzz already. "Where's your favorite place to be? Ideal time, too."

Best of times, worst of times, whatever-of-times, it didn't really matter. The war was going in their favor at last, this was a nice place (and time!) to be, and he only had to give two rounds of thought to his closer friends. All accounted for. Even Ed. Even Holmes. Even Roy. Probably everybody on Shizuo's end, too.

Yep. It was pretty fine.

What else would they do. Watch football? Pfff.

[everyonecried]

"Everyone, hm." Murmur around the rim of his own drink, foot tapping a bit against the floor. His eyes were up toward the ceiling, as if contemplative, though you could bet he'd be looking back down toward Shizuo's (very girly, if he might say so, which he didn't except for during heightened times of poking-fun) drink. Very soon-- that little moment of quiet evaporated pretty quickly, as he redirected his eyes off of the ceiling, sitting up a bit more when the former bartender pulled out the shaker. And... orange juice?

One eye on that. After all of this time, he still couldn't fathom why anyone would want alcohol in juice. He was still half-waiting for when it turned out to be something else.

"Home sounds alright." Big grin - ten years, and of course he still wouldn't forget his wife and kid - raising his glass part-way up. "I don't know about the here and now, though. Maybe if this were Australia. But I can see why you wouldn't mind."

Ah, moving on quickly from that. (Shizuo's way of thinking was a relaxing one, even if he might goad it now and again.)

"Everything's been pretty stable for a warzone, right? With traveling, those big-hatted ladies, friends, Ed..."

..... They do need Roy to be cool. sob. /stops your violence with Elysia pictures!

[everyonecried]

That was actually... really impressive. It always was, no matter how many times he watched-- kind of like Holmes's mixing of chemicals. Hughes could replicate it all just fine, but actually coming up with what went with what - his expertise in that was confined to the mystery crime scene alone. Still, impressed as he might be, that 'realistically' got a vague hand wave, elbows still propped over the sofa's back. "Alright, true. But if we can change up time, might as well go back eight years, right? Then you'd be home."

Pretending that wasn't a sad topic with a measly, lopsided grin--

Because he'd need to work on his smiles, if he wanted to be able to grin through any talk of Ed. Concentrated instead a bit on the outcome of that shaking-- it was a fruity, amusing drink, but it still looked interesting - before hmming. "No, probably not. About him being the most stable."

A beat.

"How has he been, lately? You tend to see him more than me, what with living in the same room as him and everything."

What!

[everyonecried]

"He's always been the type to try to move along on his own, it's true." Amazing, maybe, that the boy was still alive, but Hughes wasn't going to think like that at this point. That Fullmetal could resonate with Shizuo was a good enough sign to start counting the black sheep.

Tipping both his drink and his head back, there was just a second for contemplation before he could right up again with another lopsided grin.

Inquiring, too. Maybe not a good mix, when it came to Hughes. "You make sure he doesn't just work all the time, right? Not just opening time for sleeping and eating?"

He did his fair share of meddle-in-Ed's-life, but Shizuo lived with the kid.

You would show off pictures of Celty if you had any.......

[everyonecried]

"I wouldn't be surprised!" Sadly. He'd been hell to keep inside of a hospital bed before Death City, when finding the Stone had been an ideal that was vaguely in reach but not something that was as immediately pressing as continued survival-- Hughes would imagine he'd be even more hell with the latter circumstances.

"He probably even dreams about it. It's a good thing you can handle forces of nature alone."

There. The lopsided grin was a full one.

"And speaking of forces of nature, how's your milk supply right now?"

Yet-- /flee.

[everyonecried]

Ahh, yes. Leave it at that. It actually got a laugh from Hughes, but not one of the normal ones-- it actually hag a twinge of nervousness to it. Nervousness for Ed's sake. Shizuo seemed to be the only person who could inspire that to come out in the open from Maes, anyway.

But, leaving it at that-- the nervousness was gone in the next second.

"True, true. I'd rather just have him be out in general. He's going to grow roots in here." Pausing to take another sip of his drink; "But that might be a bit too idealist, even for me.

"Maybe for a camping trip..." Like a survival trip? Not possible with the kishin, but.

He looked like he was seriously considering it. Then again, he always looked like that.

/IT'S GOOD I'M JUST AS SLOW.

[everyonecried]

Hughes respected Shizuo. He did, even if he occasionally liked to stump the man (in the name of teaching the other to move forward, too!) or lead him in a circle or talk with an allegory, he still respected him. So if it had been left to a simple snort, maybe he would have extended his respect to including the fact that the other didn’t want to go-

But it hadn’t been, and so he didn’t

“I bet you could convince him just by being there.”

(He wouldn't have left it at that, even if Shizuo hadn’t commented further.)

“In fact, I think it’d be a great idea. Are the witches slated to attack soon? Ah, they’re always slated to attack soon - we could definitely all take the time to go! Roy, Nanako, Ed, you- say, have you ever fished before?”

Not a ramble, somehow, just a rapid-fire thought pattern put to voice. As for the last question… Well. He respected Shizuo enough to raise his half-full - not half-empty - bottle of beer in a silent ‘I’m good, thanks.’ Still watching closely for a response to his off-the-cuff question, though.