Day 19 - Lunch.

[_sixth]

Time for lunch

Comments

[muted_flame]

The day got worse and worse.

Breakfast had come with finding out that Greed was once again around, but a completely different version of the one he'd gotten to know (and yet still damned and determined to exact some sort of claim on him). The showers had instilled a sense of overwhelming paranoia and a desperate attempt to not be seen which had failed miserably--and then there had come the irritation when Greed had gotten pissed at him for something that was hardly his fault in the first place.

And now...

The nurse was standing before him with the outfit he was apparently supposed to wear, smiling widely. "Come on, Raymond. You'll look fantastic in this!" she insisted.

Roy couldn't believe this. The institute got worse and worse each day. What was the point of making them dress up in ridiculous costumes? He'd never even heard of this holiday--chances were they'd made it up. "No

[muted_flame]

Though Roy was not exactly pleased that someone else had finally figured it out, he could tell that Elena meant no harm. And they were being rather touchy about it, though he felt that, at least, was for good reason.

He shook his head at her. "We're not trying to chase you away or anything," he assured her. "It's just... We've been trying rather hard to keep it to ourselves, and we were sort of getting to the point where we felt that no one would figure it out." She did have a good explanation for why she'd known--and hopefully no one else would be quite as observant.

At this point, Roy was just tired. He pulled his hands up to rub over his eyes a few times before sighing. Scooting his chair away from Hughes a few inches or so to make sure they didn't look quite as suspicious, he glanced at the girl again. "I'm sorry. We didn't intend to make you uncomfortable."

[felled_hero]

"Yeah, no, you don't have to leave." Hughes shook his head. "I'm sorry if I came off as... uh... ahem." He cleared his throat, not sure how to say what he meant. "It's just been a long time since Roy and I had a chance to talk, and... well...." Roy was in a short skirt and Hughes was a physical person.

In a way, it was a relief that someone knew. At least here and now, Hughes didn't have to worry or wonder or be on edge about someone finding out. It was a nice change.

"You know, that makes a lot of sense. Hell, half the time I do feel like a teenager again when it comes to... well, this." Whatever the relationship with Roy was. He still didn't know how to define it.

[muted_flame]

Yes, Roy had his own urges, but he was much better at keeping than under control than Hughes ever was. He wasn't sure why his friend was so crazed in that respect, though he got the feeling that there was only one way he'd get over it.

Still, when would they ever have the time for that?

Speaking of which, now that he actually had a chance to speak with Hughes, it was probably best for them to work out their plans for the night. Roy knew that he didn't have to wander the halls with his friend--they had been separate the previous night, after all--but he still liked to know what Hughes would be doing with his night, even if they didn't meet up.

Ignoring the girl's comment (that involved a word he'd never even heard), he glanced to his sheet-covered friend. Honestly... Why didn't he just take it off? Though Roy got the feeling that if he did, a nurse would be at their table quicker than he could snap.

"What are your plans for tonight?" he asked his friend, figuring that was a reasonable enough change of topic.

[felled_hero]

"What's a chocobo?" Hughes asked. "Is that some kind of dog? Some places race dogs." Pointless and useless chatter, but it was moving the subject away from an uncomfortable one. And then Roy moved it even further.

"No plans so far," he admitted. "I was going to see about talking to Adelhied and a guy named Eric about what happened to them last night - if it hadn't been for Haru turning into a cow, me and him probably would have been out in the courtyard with them. I don't know what they ran into, but it was bad. I haven't seen either of them yet, though. Of course, if they got stuck in costumes, I may not have realized it yet." He shrugged. "I probably should have figured something out with havoc earlier, but I don't think either of us were in a planning mood." It had been more light jokes and an attempt to cast off the oppressive gloom of the place.

"What about you?"

[muted_flame]

An over-sized chicken? That was utterly bizarre. Roy raised an eyebrow at Elena for a moment, not quite sure he believed her. And they were used as transportation? Not even as food? He supposed each word had its oddities, though nothing from Amestris was that strange. Then again, quite a few people had been perplexed by their alchemy.

"Haru did," he explained to the girl. "If he comes in close contact with a member of the same sex, he changes into a cow for a brief period of time. It's a curse." The fact that Hughes had been roaming around with Adelheid upset Roy to a small degree, but he understood that come nightshift, you had to travel with the people you ran into first--and Adelheid knew how to fight, at the very least.

"I need to figure out if the keys I have open any doors now that things have shifted again," he explained. "I didn't get a chance to last night..." It was rather obvious why, but he didn't want to make Elena uncomfortable. Hopefully he hadn't already.

[felled_hero]

"Yeah, Haru was trying to get over the wall and Adelheid grabbed him and then there was a cow," Hughes explained. "He and I headed back inside while we waited for him to change back, but we couldn't make it to the courtyard." He shrugged.

"Well, you want to go for that tonight? I mean, I'm not set to do anything and if those keys can open anything..." And if they opened anything useful or that they'd been looking for, he wanted to be there. He knew Roy would tell him first chance he got, but that wasn't quite the same.

[grabby_hands]

Greed found himself feeling like a fool for calling the grey uniform from earlier "ridiculous-looking," given the girly getup that the crazy-ass staff of the place had forced him to wear after the showers. As soon as they'd pushed him into the cafeteria, Greed had tossed the red-head wig and ridiculously poofy hat aside, though that didn't change anything about the fact that he was in a dress.

These fucking people.

The homunculus wasn't quite yet done with his questions for the alchemist with the violet eye and the stolen marks, though given the weirdass clothes he now wore, he was willing to put off another confrontation for just a little more------oh.

Greed's eyes rested on the guy, who was currently sitting with some girl and another guy, and he realized he was in clothes very similar to the ones the homunculus had been forced into wearing. Although this didn't give Greed a higher ground to insult him on, it did make approaching him much more feasible

[muted_flame]

"Sounds like a plan," Roy told Hughes with a nod. Meeting up was simple for them, seeing that their rooms were so close to each other. He was still thankful for that--neither of them had been moved apart from each other, even after all the shifting.

"If you were set there to deter me from opening any doors, that could almost be good news," Roy responded, focus now on Elena. He hated having to be set back again and again, but hopefully a night would come were things would actually be accomplished. The brainwashed patients and nurses and creatures certainly didn't make it easy, though.

Roy felt Greed's presence the moment he entered the room. He couldn't stop himself from searching out the homunculus--and when he saw his outfit, he almost felt like bursting into laughter. Greed was such a large, well-muscled person. The dress didn't work in the slightest. He looked cramped and even more ridiculous than Roy felt

[felled_hero]

"I'll see you when the lights are out," Hughes said with a nod. "Should we check there first, then? I mean, we don't have anything else to go on..."

And then they were interupted. Hughes' mouth tightened into a thin line the moment he saw Greed. It didn't matter that Greed was in a ridiculous dress. It was Greed. And he knew he was stupid to be jealous, but something about the other man just rubbed him the wrong way.

"Hey, don't you have other people to bother?" Hughes began immediately, and then he focused on what Greed was saying. He cast a curious look to Roy, wondering what this was all about.

Of course, the sheet over his head dampened the effect some.

[grabby_hands]

Greed smirked at Roy but found himself frowning at the man who was currently underneath what looked to be a weird white sheet. The homunculus might have had a hard time taking such an angry and unwarranted outburst from someone had he himself not been in such an absurd getup, something which the teenage girl across from them seemed to be pointing out all too easily with her laughter.

"Hey," Greed hissed at her, scowling with narrowed eyes, "don't compare me to yourself, babe."

He looked back to the sheet-man, ignoring the girl's laughter.

"No, not really." he smirked once more, nodding at Roy. Looked like the two of them were buddies or something, and those kinds of connections could prove to be either very good or very bad when it came to recruiting people. Greed gave a light shrug. "Roy here has some attributes I consider very personal, is all, and I'd like to know how far they go