[closed]

[nebensonne]

Characters: thewarisover & nebensonne.
Location: Roy's Office. /FLINGS FILES ASIDE AND SPRAWLS OVER DESK.
Rating: G for now.
Time: After this. Backdated to the late evening of the 19th.
Description: Giovanni has questions he needs answers to.

Comments

Giovanniiiiiiiiiii~~~~~

[thewarisover]

Roy looked up immediately at the door opening, every inch of him going perfectly still for that crucial split second that it took for an old veteran him to assess the situation, determine if he was in danger or not. It didn't seem like he was. Yet.

He recognized that voice, although this was the first time he was going to see the face behind it. The dark-haired man smiled, remained seated at his desk.

"Giovanni."

Must-taaaa~ngo!

[nebensonne]

He didn't say anything to answer that, no reaction to Roy smiling back except to step deeper into the room, stopping short of coming close to the desk itself. His hands remained static at his sides, inoffensive and harmless, and behind his glasses his eyes shifted across Roy, along the edge of the desk where his elbows rested, up to his face and that unreadable expression.

... The quiet of the building and the lack of intrusion didn't mean he wasn't hiding a Weapon, after all. Though there wasn't much on the surface to imply wariness.

Somehow, looking at that office, he felt like he'd expected something more grandiose. Something more like there'd be at home, somehow, tall windows and long shadows and that shape, the shape of him thrown long and black across the floor, crosscrossed with metal panes.

But maybe he's drawing too many irrelevant parallels, assuming too much.

... Still, it was reasonably sized.

"Does this satisfy your expectations?" He spreads his arms just a little bit, palms open. "... You owe me an answer to that

[thewarisover]

"I tend not to carry expectations for first meetings."

Roy turned his seat away, reaching into his pocket for his cigarettes.

"Want one? ...Why don't you have a seat?"

Which was, effectively, an open invitation to take his time and look around. There wasn't anything to hide, for the moment.

[nebensonne]

"I don't smoke."

... It probably would've been too much to expect an easy answer. Giovanni watched him pull the cigarette packet out, obviously a little bit put out by Roy's relaxed ease about all this, and slowly, stiffly moved closer to the desk. It didn't particularly suit him to sit, but Roy didn't look like he was going to talk any time soon. Being difficult probably meant they'd be here longer, if he understood anything about this.

So he hitched the fabric of his trousers and sat down on the chair, resting his palms on his knees. He looked about as at ease as he did when he was standing.

"It's not really our first meeting, is it?" ... In a sense.

[thewarisover]

"Good for you."

If Roy had noticed Giovanni's slight disappointment, he made no indication of it. The one-eyed man blinked at the other's statement, then offered another small smile.

"No, I don't suppose it is. Always different, though, seeing someone face-to-face for the first time."

[nebensonne]

Maybe it was. If nothing else, it didn't give him time to easily find the verbal advantage - but it assured a physical one, as far as he was concerned. Roy might've been a colonel, but he obviously favoured a desk, these days.

Giovanni studied the black space where Roy's left eye used to be, just some impenetrable sweep of material. He'd noticed it before enough times, but it seemed somehow more distracting in person. Or maybe it just gave him something to focus on that wasn't his smile, wasn't something he could easily envision himself beating in with a gun barrel.

He didn't have a gun, after all.

Or a reason, really.

"It must be. For you." He smiled thinly. "Or you wouldn't have suggested this.

"... Or did you just want to see my face?"

[thewarisover]

And that was part of the reason why Roy insisted on having people meet him in his office - to give them the impression that he really couldn't do much, beyond push pens and mouth off orders. He lived on being underestimated, at times.

"You got me there."

And he's bringing his ashtray out, thumbing one stick, putting it to his lips. Might've been polite to ask his guest if he minded, but well.

/editeditedit And I'm so sorry for the lateness of this. 8(

[nebensonne]

Giovanni watches him go through the process silently. It wouldn't have mattered, even if Roy had asked; his ability to die hasn't made him a great deal less reckless with his body, and cancer isn't high in his list of concerns.

He sits back slowly, until his back feels the smooth wooden bars on the chair, that ambiguous smile still in place.

"... You could have asked. If you were that interested."

No worries! :3

[thewarisover]

"I suppose I could have."

But Roy had had his reasons not to. In his experience, it was counter-productive, at times, to draw people who rather obviously avoided showing their face or any indication who they were out.

Cloak and dagger, perhaps, but that was how politics went in his world.

LMFA HELLO. 8)

[nebensonne]

Giovanni goes silent. For about a month. Just studies Mustang's face, his expression fixed, that smile unmoved. Another non-answer; this man is full of them, it seems, but it's not a surprise, any more. He's spoken to him long enough to expect this kind of thing.

... But there is one answer he'll get, before he leaves. The only one he really came for.

He lets the silence stretch. For about a month. And then he tilts his head up a little bit. Cloak and dagger is a normal expectation; aren't most things best done with a view to the big reveal, the curtain coming up on something unexpected?

... Although he's not particularly happy to have it done to him.

"It feels like you're stalling."

SCREAM, THE PHANTOM BACKTAGGER!

[thewarisover]

"Only because I wanted to give you time to study me." Smooth and confident - two things Roy Mustang had never stopped being, in spite of everything. "I'm nice that way."

Still, there were things that needed to be said. He didn't have much to hide anymore, nor any real reason to do so - or so he thought. One had to wonder.

[nebensonne]

"... Then it's pointless." He was unmoving. He just slowly dropped his chin again, looking at Roy straight. "Since you won't act naturally when you're observed."

But it didn't matter. And that was something intrinsically understood between them, that it really didn't matter.

"... And now that I've observed you thoroughly." He could've been frozen still in the pause between his words, as static as a photograph or a painted portrait. With his neat posture and crisp suit, it was quite believable. "Your answer."

[thewarisover]

"Ah, yes."

Now Roy was looking away - to the ceiling, specifically, while taking a nice, good drag of that cigarette.

"Shibusen, right? What they've proven to me." Just a minute pause, while he tried to find the words. "For starters, they admitted they were wrong. You haven't been around as long as I have here, right? If not, then you wouldn't have seen what they were like before."