FMA: The Real World (Part Four)

[aspiredeathe]

Markus got to his feet and followed the girls and dog down to the hallway.
With wide eyes, he walked around the suit of armor, touching it every now and then.
He'd never really seen anything like this, in the house anyway. He'd been to a museum before when they had a medieval exposition.
"Maybe he's a knight. A bad one." His voice was gleeful. His parents were gunslingers if he knew any, but the idea of a metal blade twice his height hacking away at dragons (Dad said Dante was one in disguise and that Scar had tamed her) was just too cool not to like.

Jean flipped more meat, pondering the question.
"Well, Kimblee was the one who started this..party, so I guess he bought the stuff. But where he got the money from.." He didn't really want to know "Still, a free meal is hard to resist." He flashed her a bright grin, his attention moving to the house for a moment as barking reached his ears.

Denny let out a sigh, giving Riza a wry smile "Very little gets by you. Anyway, I think Jean's managing just fine." A hand waved to the barbecue as the aforementioned male piled cooked meat onto a plate, tossing another steak on.
"Yeah, but this is the last lot I'm doing, or I won't get any." The 2nd Lt motioned to the already half empty plates of meat he'd only just filled.

[amouri]

Barry narrowed his eyes in concentration, as he slowly found the places where it could be taken apart.

He unflicked the metal cinches that held the arms in place, and let them drop onto the floor.
The black leather straps which held the breast-plate in place were undetectable at first sight, fashioned in a way that concealed them, so as not to spoil the overall look of the armour with such fickelties.
He found them however, and having undone them, he lifted off the heavy plate with a groan.
Letting it almost fall to the floor with a heavy clang, he straightened up once more.

He turned around in surprise as he heard the angry yappings of the dog.
As Bandit came bristling towards him, he wasn't quite sure whether he should run or not.
He had seen what that dog could do, especially when ordered to by its mistress.

He looked up as Arden, Dahlia and Markus toddled in, and glanced back at the now partly dismembered armour as they spoke.
"Yeah...I'd actually like to know that too. I reckoned at first that your mom might have bought it Dahlia, turns out she didn't-"
He stopped, blinking once in surprise.
There it was again.

He stared at the armour for a few seconds, then shook his head as though trying to rid himself of water, and turned to the children again.
"-So I'll be looking after it for now." He smiled at Arden's comment, and was mildly surprised when the dog continued to show mistrust.
Bandit normally trusted it's owners judgment.

As Markus walked around it in awe, he laughed.
"Ya never know, he might have been. Now he's just condemned to being an artifact of decoration."

He sighed, and went towards the armour again, picking up the breastplate and one arm, staggering slightly under the weight.
"Alright you kids, buggar off, I need to get this monster upstairs where it won't block the hallway."

[Zolf J Kimblee]

Riza

Riza helped herself to a nice cut of steak, listening to Jean as he spoke.

"Kimblee bought this?" She was surprised that he'd spend so much on food, considering his tendency to wander off for weeks at a time to gamble and drink.

"You know, the man actually has a job. Didn't you know that?" she said to Jean, "Demolition crew or something like that. Hard to believe the lazy bum would actually lift a finger and do an honest days work."

She picked out the best cut of steak from the plate and got some fresh corn. "Don't worry, I'm making you a plate now." she said and gave him a peck on the cheek before passing Denny to get some potato salad from the fridge. "You better shake a leg if you want some of this steak, Denny. It would serve you right."

Sarai

She watched in wide-eyed interest as Barry skillfully dismantled the armor. "You sure know how to handle armor, Barry." It was a rather obvious observation considering his past, but it was still somewhat impressive. She wanted to help him, but she was sure it was heavier than she thought. She gazed behind her, spooked by the creepy thing. It was strangely beautiful and ornate, but she expected it to come to life and start a massacre. "How silly." she mused to herself as she followed Barry upstairs.

[velinda]

*Hikari*

Hikari watched the scene with the armour in mild interest, but the armour soon lost her interest. She wasn't into that kind of stuff anyway. She was going to go outside when she noticed that the eyes seemed to light up. Maybe it was a trick of the light, as she thought she saw that out of the corner of her eyes. She didn't know what to think, but instead went over to the man with the armour, and said, "Umm..." she said, before pausing for a moment, trying to find the words to describe what she saw, "Uh... nothing, never mind..." she said quickly, before shaking her head and walking away in an equal pace to her words. There was no sense in trying to tell him something that even she wasn't sure that she saw. Once outside, she saw that there were steaks on a plate, and the military men from before were still cooking, plus now another military lady. She walked over to the plate and grabbed one of the steaks, looking around quickly to see if there was any herbs or something to put on top of it. She looked to the female, and gave a small bow to her. She didn't know why, but she felt some respect towards the female- maybe because she was a female in the military ranks. However, she quickly found a seat next to the cooler, where Kimblee had been before running off with Roze, and sat down. She began eating in silence, unsure of what to say to the military officers in front of her. That, and she was still thinking on what that bitchy woman had said to her... It was almost as if she was trying to push her buttons...

*Clause*
She came by the house rather by accident. Since she was too young to work, she had been taken to a small orphanage by a rather nice young lady, and was attending school here. She hadn't known anything about this world, so she seemed quite out of place to the school staff and students there, but she quickly caught up. She still had her tomboy attitude at times, but she was much better about it now, thanks to Ed. She smiled at the thought while walking "home" via a different route today, and came across a rather interesting looking house. Now, she wouldn't usually bother with such a thing, but this time, something pulled her curiosity. She entered the yard without pausing, like this was her normal house she always went into. She walked up to the door of the house, and knocked three times, before ringing the doorbell. She wondered if anyone would notice her there. After all, in the orphanage, nobody seemed to want to adopt her, and she wondered why. After all, she thought she was acting nice enough...

[amouri]

Barry smiled weakly as he somehow got the plate hauled up the stairs, the arm dangling in his free hand.

As he reached his room, he opened the door with his elbow.
"You're welcome to come in." He said to Sarai "But be warned, it isn't that tidy."

The bed was still a mess, and a few dirty clothes were dotted here and there.
A few books were resting on the windowsill, though the only one he had actually been interested in was the book "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut.
Even though the book itself hadn't been what he had expected, it was nonetheless an interesting book.

With a sigh he dumped the plate and arm ontop of his small chest of drawers, straightening up with a moan of pain from his back.
He couldn't imagine how he'd manage to get the rest up.
He'd probably have to pop the legs off or something...

[Zolf J Kimblee]

Sarai

She followed him into the room, thinking her late father would roll in his grave had he known she'd gone into a mans private room. She clasped her hands modestly in front of her, offering him a weak smile as she blushed.

She glanced around at the disarray, noting the small collection of books, none of which had familiar titles.

"So, do you share this room with anyone?" she asked.

Kimblee

His mind wandered off in a thousand different directions at once and he glanced at Roze occasionally on the ride home as if he half expected to look over and find her suddenly gone.

The car sputtered and stalled as he pulled into the alley as it often did. He climbed out of the driver side window and walked around to open the door for her. He took her hand and hastened through the backyard, passing Havoc and the others and straight into the house, mindless of the food he'd bought, but not eaten.

He glanced around and not seeing Barry anywhere, he bounded upstairs with Roze, hand in hand, flushed with excitement. He poked his head into a few doors, heedless of others' privacy in his state of mind and finally found Barry with the woman he'd only too recently made lewd remarks too.

He paid her only a passing glance and approached Barry directly, "Hey Barry...got a favor to ask." he said with a smile, "Me and my pretty little flower here are gettin' hitched tonight and I need a witness... and a best man. Care to do the honors?"

[velinda]

Roze didn't know what was overtaking her, but she was sure on one thing- she knew it couldn't be too bad. She passed through the backyard, giving a glance to the military personelle and the female that always seemed to be around her. She followed the man upstairs, and saw Barry. "I-i guess that's the jist of it..." she said, rather shyly about the way he was talking. "And... you're not too bad of a person either, Barry... Besides for maybe Scar, I don't know who to trust..."

[amouri]

Barry looked at her, noticed her shy manner, and the flush of color which had reached her face.
He smiled warmly at her, though still rather hesitant.
He could tell she was slightly nervous...And what was worse, it seemed to be catching.

He laughed nervously.
"Nah, no-one would want to share room with me." He shrugged. "Guess I'm just not that type of person. They can't help but think that I'll flip one day..." And personally, he feared that too himself.
Once the dog has bitten, his mother had once said, it is sure to bite again.
He was secretly afraid...Or at least just slightly apprehensive...That he might just lose it again.
Of course, he couldn't help but think what a relief it would be, to just be unhindered and crazy again.

He glanced up in surprise as Zolf popped in, dragging the liorian girl with him from before.
He cocked an eyebrow questioningly, but was quite taken aback by Zolf's words.

"Say wha?" He spluttered in shock.
"Hitched? Married ya mean? Good Lord Kimb...How do you expect to throw that one off?"
He glanced uneasily at the girl, but was at least glad to learn that it at least wasn't something only Zolf wanted. He could imagine Zolf to be the type of person who would marry someone with force, without thinking twice.
Still, it seemed this time the guy really was on the right track.

He grimaced uncertainly, running his fingers through the tuft of hair above his forehead.
"Geez...I dunno Zolf...I don't reckon I'd be the right person for that sort of thing..."

[Zolf J Kimblee]

"Why the hell not?" he blurted before he took time to think, "Well...I mean if you don't want to, then..." he trailed off. "I supposed a bailiff could fill in as a witness."

He really just wanted someone he liked to be there to share his moment. It wasn't every day a man got married and a man like himself wasn't likely to ever marry, but here it was.

He slipped his arm around Roze and kissed her cheek. "Gotta go get us some rings." he said to Barry with a slightly goofy grin.

[velinda]

Roze glanced at Barry. "I... I understand... It's just..." She trailed off, glancing at Kimblee. "Scar could fill in, I guess, if he doesn't mind you... I think he's been calmer as of late..." She shrugged, and blushed at the kiss, and kissed back. "Or Havoc or Riza. I guess I could ask Riza to be the best lady." she smiled. "I'm sure Riza would be good as a best lady." She turned to Barry. "Thanks for listening to us, though. And at least considering it." She turned back to Kimblee. "Shall we go, then..."

[Zolf J Kimblee]

"I'm gonna buy you the biggest, fattest, most obscenely huge diamond ring you ever saw!" he said with a chuckle. He took her hand and they went back downstairs. He'd really been hoping Barry would come along. No one else liked him, but Barry at least had more than two words to say to him on any given day.

They walked back out to the porch where everyone was enjoying the steak he'd bought. "Don't count on Hawkeye or Havoc coming along," he said quietly to Roze, "No one has too much of a liking for me around here. But you can try, maybe she'll do it for you if not for me."

Riza was busy eating her dinner and Havoc was finishing up with the rest of the steaks, piling the last few on a large plate.

"Maybe I'm a cowardly cad, but could you ask? Maybe if you ask, she'll be more likely to say yes." he asked with slight embarrassment.

[silverviper2134]

"I dunno what's wrong with you, Bandit" Arden said as she got out the door. She placed her dog on the ground and she lunged at the door, barking like a mad dog. "Bandit....wanna go find a corpse?" the young girl offered her pet, which instantly calmed the terrier. She turned her head and began running down the street, towards some nearby woods.

[velinda]

Roze blushed at his remark about the diamond, and she mumbled something that sounded like, "You didn't have to do that..." However, as he talked to her about who could be with them, she nodded. She saw his point, but she figured they'd be more likely than some others in this place, since they had both been in the military. She walked up to Riza and said, "Riza... would you mind being a witness and best lady for Kimblee and I?" She didn't say why, but by her words, she might have figured it out. Havoc might not be as suprised, judging by her earlier actions, but it still might be quite a shock to them...

[amouri]

Barry was still slightly jumbled in thought at the information he had just gathered, but before he could say another word the couple had left the room.
With a sigh he sank onto his bed, a protesting creak from the bed-springs reached his ears.

Things normally went at only two paces in the house, either extremely slowly, or just too fast to comprehend without slight panic.
There they two were, gonna get married...Who would've thought?
Now that he considered it, he probably wouldn't have minded standing witness.
But it would just be awkward to run out after them now, announcing his consent.
Ah well.

He looked up at Sarai, and gestured weakly at the now empty door-way.
"You'd better get used to things like that. Stuff like that seems to be happening alot lately. You learn to take it with ease when it comes though."

[Zolf J Kimblee]

She folded her arms in consternation. "Well it would seem so!" she exclaimed, "I hope that young woman knows what she's getting into."

"She's certainly not the type of woman I would have expected him to like at any rate." She suddenly grasped his hand. "Barry, why don't we go?"

It was rather spontaneous, but like he said, that seemed to be the rule rather than the exception in this house. She laughed, "When they say, 'speak now or forever hold your peace,' we can shout on her behalf." she joked.

Riza

Her mouth was slightly agape and she didn't answer at first, looking first at Roze, then at Kimblee and back at Roze again. "Married.." she said in flat disbelief. "Let me get this right..you're getting married?"

Zolf bounced impatiently on his heels a couple times, "Yes or no, Hawkeye." he said testily. "Just a simple yes or no."

She looked at them both again for a moment, then sighed, closing her eyes for a second. "Fine." she assented, "But if you hurt this girl, I will personally have you keel hauled, Kimblee."

He elbowed Roze excitedly, "That's a yes!"

He took her hand and they walked back toward his car. He turned back to Riza. "Oh hey..thanks." he said, "And if Barry comes down, tell him he's still invited, of course."

"Shall we, little lady?" he said, offering Roze his arm.

[velinda]

Roze watched the exchange, and nodded to Riza's first question. However, the man took over the reins, and she put a finger to his lips to quiet him before he made her angry. However, even though she made a threat, Kimblee interpreted it as a yes; after all, the woman was strict, and she knew it was a yes, too. She took Kimblee's arm, smiling quite brightly. "It's going to be soon... Hawkeye-san." She didn't know why she was formal, but that showed how thankful she was... And she walked with the man towards the car.

*Hikari*

Hikari watched the females talk with the Crimson Alchemist, and she sighed. So the pink-haired lady was getting married with him? She shook her head, actually feeling bad for the alchemist- because either the female was a puritan, or the female was stricter than the officer in front of her to deal with the man. By her actions, though, Hikari had to guess Roze was a puritan. She stood up, throwing the paper plate away, and walked over to Riza. "May I come, too? I mean... there's nothing else to do..."

*Clause*

Clause waited at the front door in her dress, but then she noticed two people walking towards a car together. They seemed quite joyful, so Clause ran as fast as possible without ruining the dress towards the couple. "Hey, where're you guys going?" she asked. She wanted to know because this might be the way into the house. After all, there was nowhere else to go, right?

[Zolf J Kimblee]

Riza glanced up at the young girl who seemed alone and out of place. She simply smiled at her, "Well, as you can see, he's run off again. Probably taking her to get rings or a dress or something. Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be back."

Well, she could at least hope he planned on giving her a proper ring and a modest white dress of some sort. After all, a girl only got married for the first time once and if it was to a clod like Kimblee one could only hope for the best and expect the worst.

Kimblee

The approaching girl irritated him slightly. He was impatient to get a ring on his lady's finger and get married before she came to her senses and changed her mind or something.

"Well, you're more than welcome to be at the ceremony, but right now we're kinda doing private stuff...like getting a ring for her pretty hand."

He shouted over his shoulder to Hawkeye, "Hey! Can you feed this poor waif and make her at home?"

Riza

She gave a resigned sigh and beckoned the girl to her. "Not a problem Kimblee." she answered. It always seemed that she, Havoc or Scar were always the welcome wagon. Either that or Dante, who's approach was rather anti-social and harsh to say the least. But if anyone couldn't stand up to the strict, no-nonsense woman, then they didn't need to be here at all. She rather liked Dantes reserved approach. She cut to the chase and laid out the ground rules without icing the cake.

Kimblee

He held the door open for Roze and hopped into the drivers' side through the window again. "You know, I'm thinking two words," he said, making the quote/unquote sign, "Mini Van."

"I can't very well have you driving this rattle trap around town. What would the neighbors think?" he chuckled. He didn't plan on doing things that would make her ashamed of him or choosing to marry him. "I'll have to talk to my boss too," he added as they took the streets to the mall, "Bout damn time I got on the payroll and got all them goodies like a medical plan and that 401 K..thing."

After a short drive, they pulled up to the crowded parking lot. He hated these places. The buildings were blocky and had no real architecture like back home. And the building materials? Cheap! He was stunned when he learned that drywall was actually a building material. He'd thought they were insane when he first learned how disgustingly cheap houses were made here.

He was even more surprised to learn that the Masonic Guilds were just fraternal orders for practicing archaic rituals that had nothing to do with actual masonry. The fraternity ring on his hand, with it's compass and square was the only thing he valued of the strange order. That and their strange and hushed whispers of alchemic symbolism. "Hey Roze.." he asked as he opened the door for her, "Wanna be a member of the Ladies of the Eastern Star?"

Maybe if she mingled with the women of the auxiliary womens order, she'd make new friends and find charities and all that good stuff.

[aspiredeathe]

Denny sniffed indignantly, wondering why the hell no one ever made him a plate of food, as he climbed to his feet.
Filling his plate with sausages and burgers, he tossed some salad onto his plate, sticking a piece of celery into his mouth.

Jean smiled as Riza kissed his cheek, letting out a small cry of victory as she went about preparing a plate for him.
"I'm more surprised that someone actually hired him and still hasn't fired him yet." A small grin that he was quick at hiding when the man himself walked out.
He nearly dropped the food he'd been turning when Roze made her request, being quick to close his mouth.
"Uh, congrats.."He managed, sending Denny a worried look as the man made choking noises.

The good sergeant was apparently choking on food, the news being to much for him to properly run his breathing and eating functions.
Putting the utensils down, Jean manoeuvred his way towards his fellow blond and proceeded to slap his back rather hard, at which the criminal vegetable flew a good few meters into the garden.
With a throaty gasp, the cab driver thanked his friend, walking over to the cooler to grab another beer, washing the taste of near death from his throat.
"I never really liked celery anyway."He said to no one in particular, though Hikari was closest, so it may have been to her.

Jean just sighed, taking the plate from Riza and settling himself on the deck "I saved your life, you can save the meat from burning." A fair trade in his eyes, he thought with a grin as Denny sighed before positioning himself by the barbecue.
The 2nd Lieutenant was about to pull his lover down with him when a new face came round the corner.
"Hi." Was all he said before taking a bite of his well deserved steak.

**

Markus smiled brightly, glad that someone else thought that he may be right. Instead of listening to Barry, he followed the man, eyes never leaving the shiny armor.
"Why do you keep looking at it funny?" The boy asked with a curious look.

[velinda]

*Roze*

Roze looked at the little girl, and smiled. She was so cute! She was about to say yes, but Kimblee answered back, rather harshly. "Kimblee... you didn't need to do that! Don't you think that was a little harsh?" Her tone wasn't too angry, but somewhat reprimanding the male. She kept following him to the car, and shook her head. "You know, this actually is just a tad worse than my own car. So don't feel too bad. " She watched him pull up to the place where she'd get her ring... When Kimblee asked his next question, she seemed confused to what he was saying. "What's that?" she asked. Some kids at the school she taught at asked if she was on that... and she just shook her head to them.

*Clause & Hikari*

Clause shook her head at the man. "You always this rude?" she asked in an accusitory voice. It completely belied the previous speech, before walking away to the female called "Riza." Her gait returned to the good little girl that she was dressed up as. She walked up to the female and another female, who bowed to her. Hikari hadn't known what to say to Riza, but now she was quiet again, until the young girl came up to them, and Hikari bowed to her. "Welcome... this place may not be the most welcoming... but, I'm guessing you're from Amestris? If you are, then this is probably the best place to be..." Hikari said, to which Clause nodded. "Yeah... I figured as much. Was that man, now that I had a closer look at him, the Crimson Alchemist? I've heard of him, but not really known what he looked like." She looked from female to female, then continued, "I'm Clause, by the way." Clause was talking to the males as well, shown by her nod in their direction. Hikari nodded and said, " Hikari, Krystal." She spoke her name in the traditional Japanese way, but she didn't mind if they wouldn't catch it and call her "Hikari" instead of "Krystal." She liked either name.

[Zolf J Kimblee]

Before sitting down next to Jean, she prepared two plates for the young girls. She showed them to a nice covered patio table and got two cans of soda from the fridge for them.

"Don't mind the rude people," she said, "some people just seem to be born with no manners."

She returned to Jean and sat next to him. She snorted at Denny who'd taken up at the grill. "Hmmph..serves you right for being lazy enough to eat laying down." she teased.

[Omg...I forgot who Claus was. >.< I was thinking she was a teenage kid for some reason. Kimblee wouldn't have acted that way xD]

He had a look on his face like a bad dog who'd chewed his owners shoes when she reprimanded him. "Sorry, Roze...guess I'm just so excited I got carried away. I'll stop at the store and get all the youngsters some ice cream."

As they walked into the mall, he explained the Ladies of the Eastern Star, "Oh, it's just a fraternal order. Freemasonry for ladies..and offshoot of the Masonic Order. They have their own rituals and ceremonies and stuff. Mostly they do charity work for poor people."

They walked into a jewelry store and he peered through the glass displays at the various sets. He'd promised her a huge diamond, but they all looked so...pretentious and immodest. A carat was too obnoxiously large, but a quater carat seemed a bit small for what he wanted her to have. The 3/4 carat rings seemed generous without being so ostentatious for a gentle lamb like Roze.

He saw a design that really caught his eye. It was yellow gold with a rose design etched into it. The stem and leaves were etched in white gold and the rose itself was etched in the pink-ish toned Black Hills gold. Perfect. The rose itself swirled in a circular pattern around the diamond, and the matching mens ring was set into the band and marquis shaped. The girls band had the traditional four pronged setting.

He looked at Roze excitedly, "Do you like it?" he asked, "Wanna try them on?"