Edward Elric is the Fullmetal Alchemist (fullmetal_chibi) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-03-03 11:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | edward elric, lina inverse |
Who:Ed and Lina
What:Chatting and alchemy practice
When:Endish of Jan.
Where:Her place
Warnings:They eat a lot of stuff but none really.
STATUS:Complete
Edward was bored. Bored, bored, bored. He’d considered breaking out one of his many alchemy books, but then thought twice. He still wasn’t entirely sure how it would turn out, using alchemy with his new metal limbs. He knew how most other things ended up when he touched them with it, crushed. The automail was damn strong, and Edward never did had the lightest feather touch. He was impatient, and it wasn’t helping. However he was starting to get the movement in them thanks to Riza’s exercises, as much as he hated to admit it. They were helpful. He could move his hand and leg around a bit better now, and the skin around them wasn’t as angry red as before. It was getting more comfortable as the days moved on.
He sat on the stairs that lead up to his and Riza’s place, watching the world pass by. He was still dressed in his new trademark red coat, and had no intentions of removing it. His cheek was resting on his palm and he was nearly falling asleep from pure boredom.
It wasn’t long until Lina drove up in her clunker of a van, the legendary Shagmobile with the inside fixings of a travel machine fit for sleeping and bullet extract surgery. Beaded curtains, comfy beanbags to be used as pillows and all, and look - no bullet holes! Asami was fantastic, and lucky her the girl liked to work on demonic Frankenstein wheels for entertainment.
Lina shut the door and sauntered around it, the sun bright enough to wear sunglasses. Hair was tousled and fiery in its natural wavy state, and she was dressed casually - leggings with a plaid shirt and comfy boots.
And in her hands?
Red Velvet Oreos.
A gift from the gods.
“Yo!” she greeted, waving her hand up in the air in all her enthusiastic glory. “Whatcha doing?”
Ed looked up from the pile of dirt he’d been nudging at with a shiny black boot as he heard a car pull up. What the hell even was that thing Lina insisted on driving? He couldn’t help but think as it came to a stop not far and he raised an eyebrow.
“Hey. Absolutely nothing.” He said with a dead panned tone, expression flattened by boredom as though it were a brick. His new coat and long pants mostly covered his automail appendages, however his hand was still visible. It practically glistened in the sun, and he hadn’t bothered to cover it up today. It wasn’t like he was going to school so there really was no point in hiding it. “What’re you doing here?...More importantly when am I gonna get some of those?” He pointed over at the oreos she was holding. He’d never tried that flavor, or any of the flavors, but he knew they were oreos. Oreos were always amazing.
Lina’s eyes had a penchant for catching onto the shiny, and boy, did she catch that gleam of silver from his sleeve quick. Worst way to break it to someone that you lost your leg and arm was via text, but Ed probably didn’t have a lot of options. “When you ask nicely,” she sneered, holding the package of delicious chocolate and cream cheese against her chest, cradled like a cherished baby. “Was in the neighborhood, figured I’d stop by and take you to my place for some shenanigans.”
If Riza allowed, anyway, as Lina was very careful to not step onto the lady’s toes.
“And you can show off your robot arms, because that’s--that’s still both messed up and strangely fascinating.” Dismemberment wasn’t something someone his age should experience. But the deed was done and all they could do was make sure he had the support to deal with it properly.
This was the best distraction and the worst. Why’d she have to hold the cookies hostage there of all places, so he looked like a weirdo staring at them. “Stingy.” He made a face. Ed’s manners weren’t exactly top notch when it came to food. He folded his arms grumpily and then grinned. “Yeah? I’m bored out of my mind here.” Stingy with her cookies as she was, Riza was busy with other stuff so Ed was left to his own devices.
“Lemme tell Riza,” Neither of them needed his aunt going ballistic again. He leaned in the door behind him and shouted out that he was heading off with Lina. He got a ‘don’t be late for dinner’ in return, which only caused him to roll his eyes. “As if I’d miss food.” And he got up off the stoop.
“Automail.” He corrected, though probably in vain. now it was likely Lina was going to call them robot arms forever. “Hurt like hell at first, now it’s just kinda weird. I don’t know..” He couldn’t feel much in them anymore.
Robot arms it was, forevermore! “Awesome! To the Shagmobile, then!” Lina got into the driver’s seat again and before revving up the engine, she pulled open the tab and pulled the glorious thing that were oreos open. These were a bitch to find, and since she couldn’t find the seasonal pumpkin oreos, she wouldn’t give up until she found these babies.
She gave him a couple, because she was nice like that.
“Not surprising that it hurt to begin with,” she said, wrinkling her nose at him. “Losing an arm and leg isn’t a walk in the park. Anything cool you can do with them?” Turn them into machine guns and shoot people? Sounded like that Machete movie, though she was sure it was a robot gun machine bra in that one.
‘I’m so not calling it that.” He said the equivalent of a verbal eye roll but followed her anyway. She was interesting, and didn’t give him shit because of appearances or anything else really. She also didn’t treat him like a kid and to him that was basically the best thing ever. Ed hated being babied. He wouldn’t tolerate that bullshit.
He grinned at the cookies but they didn’t last long, in seconds they were inhaled and he was back to staring at the bag longingly.
“Do? I don’t think they do anything.” He commented with a raised eyebrow. “I’m not actually robocop. Though I guess I haven’t tried....” He’d been a little too weirded out to do anything like that since they were attached to him and had hurt so much in the beginning. “ I’ve basically just started being able ot move them like my other hands and feet.” That sounded lame, he had automail. It had to do something cool. Maybe.
Hands off the merchandise, Eddie. Lina was helping herself to the rest, her mouth and clothes soon littered with a rain of little red crumbs. The house wasn’t that far off; she shared it with a weird array of roomies (Booker, Rogue, Elizabeth), but it was a definitely homey abode. It always smelled like cooked food and the backyard had just been modified some with the addition of a tire swing, a couple hammocks, and a fire spit.
“What’s the excuse for school going to be?” she hopped out of the car when they arrived, the thing of oreos practically emptied. Food didn’t last long when it came to these two. Someone should scientifically study the correlation between short people and a ravenous appetite. “Got into a freak accident, look at these cool prosthetics?”
Inside they went, and she tossed the keys into the bowl next to the door.
“Ah come on! You didn’t have to eat them all!” He protested as he tried to reach for one but then pulled his hand back, afraid she might actually try to bite it too. He made a face, eyebrow twitching some with mild worry. He needed his hands. They were essential for alchemy, he didn’t want to lose them to a ravenous magic weirdo. Ed followed her even though he thought she was a little odd. She was still fun to be around. His eyes swept her place and he raised an eyebrow. He didn’t expect her place to be so quaint. He expected it to be a little less common, but the back yard was pretty cool. He could get comfortable back there.
“Well..Raven said she could make some kinda glamor.. but I’m not actually sure I wanna hide it?” It was sort of odd, but the metal limbs brought with them a sense of pride. “I don’t know.” He rubbed the back of his neck and then slid his hands into the pockets of his coat.
Oh, yes she did! The last oreo was thrown into her mouth, chomped on with the most devious look on her face, and then discarded the wrapping in the kitchen. Lina would stick her tongue out about it, but noming on the last treasured cookie was priority.
Anyway, she was pretty damn proud of her home. They all banded together to make it exactly that, and it definitely had the ‘lived in’ kind of look. Nothing terribly messy, but things were naturally out of place and a bit rumpled. “Well, it depends if you want the attention. Because an arm like that?” His leg wasn’t mentioned yet - she hadn’t even seen it. “Everyone’s heads are going to turn, and high school kids are nosey.” A beat. “No offense.”
With the tire swing currently unoccupied, Lina made a jump for it and landed her feet on it a bit clumsily, but held on to the chain rope. No shame for being a kid at heart still, even if she was a few years shy of being a decade older than him. “You can still do your alchemy, right? I have an open yard. We should practice a thing or two - you in the mood?”
That was a wise move. Ed was still eyeing her box trying to figure out where to make a move-but he was too late. A huffy scowl passed her way as he looked around her yard and tugged at one of the hammocks. “Yeah..they already stare at me..”Ed really wasn’t a fan of high school. “The sooner this High school bullshit is over the better…” He paused with a grumbly frown. “Why can’t I just go be a vagabond?” Nevermind in this day and age it’d probably just get him killed faster than orange county would. Technicalities.
He watched her with the tire swing and tilted his head curiously as he sat in one of the nearby unoccupied hammocks. “..Don’t wanna wreck anything.” He was a little afraid of it, he didn’t know if it was the metal hand that amplified things or everything else he’d been through in such a short time. “I’d probably wreck your yard.”
“A little thing or two,” she clarified with a snorted giggle and stuck her legs into the tire’s hole, wiggling her butt on the swing until she got comfortable. Lina wasn’t a stranger to accidental damage anyway - she had blown a hole in her bedroom, set fire to the grass a few times and other things here and there. She was trying to be more careful, but the yard was big enough for a minor accident or two, she wasn’t concerned.
A magic dojo for magical training sounds divine right about now, and Zee had been toying the idea. She’d have to hit the lady up for any progression reports. Maybe she could pull some Agency strings, who knew.
“Besides, wouldn’t hurt to see how the alchemy works with your arm the way it is, would it?”
He raised an eyebrow at the little comment, but let it slide. This time. So long as Lina had an idea of what she was getting into..Ed folded his arms uncomfortably. “What if it hurts someone?” That was his main concern. He knew she was powerful but he didn’t know how powerful he might be now. He’d done some weird things in the dreams so far.
“Somehow in the dreams now I can do alchemy without a transmutation circle..” He added, but he hadn’t yet tried it here. “I’m still drawing them now though, I don’t really know how to activate it.” He hadn’t gotten that far maybe.
“Okay, see, the whole ‘practicing without a transmutation circle’ is the kind of thing that might turn my backyard into a disaster zone,” Lina quipped, giving him the stink eye in a playful sense, and she swung on the swing. “Now, you can practice with the circles. Get that down right. And probably when that’s all mastered, you’ll have an easier time without the circles. If we don’t have some awesome training place up soon, I’ll have to take you to Death Valley. You can visit my gigantic crater.”
“I don’t even know where to start practicing without them..so I think you’re safe. In the dreams anyway it sounds like it shouldn’t even be done, but it is.” Somehow. That meant Ed was eventually going to figure out how, but he just didn’t know how to do so yet. He dared to sit on one of the hammocks and sank way down deep into it thanks to the extra metal his body was now carrying. He held onto one of the tree trunks just to make sure he didn’t break the damn thing and fall on his ass instead. “You’ve got a crater?”
She had to snort a laugh at the sight of little Ed sinking into the hammock, and at first glance he wouldn’t even look like he weighed much. But metal limbs surely added some excess weight. “Yeah, crater. I tested out one of my big gun spells there, and...uh, it made a giant crater. Got the feds on it, so I split.”
And since the place was fenced, Lina grabbed a pebble from the ground and chucked it at him. “Okay, since we’re here now, you gotta show me the arm. Let me see, Edwardo.”
He still looked like a pipsqueak, but he weighed nearly as much as a car. He failed about hugged the tree trunk the hammock was tied to so as not to go any further, and then gave up on it. Sticking his tongue out at Lina he stood and sat on the ground in a huff instead. “This is better anyway. I wanted to be here.” He scoffed and folded his arms like a petulant child that he was. “Hmm. You’re proud of your crater aren’t you?” He snickered the way she spoke of it so fondly.
He reached a hand out to block the pebble she’d tossed his way and raised an eyebrow. With a hint of hesitation he removed the temporary glove that was covering the automail. It was a half assed way to hide it when he didn’t have Raven around, but it worked so far. The blond shed the deep red trench coat and let it pool into the grass. Underneath it he wore a black tank top, so the arm itself was an easy reveal. It looked nearly like the inside of a real human arm-only made of metal. A highly advanced prosthetic. Carefully he also removed one of his boots on his left leg to reveal an automail foot, the entire leg was also metal but was a bit more personal. He wasn’t about to take off his pants to show that one off. “I think I’ve just about got the hang of moving them like regular limbs now.” He added as he moved his fingers individually. It’d taken some practice.
Hop went Lina off the tire swing now that the metal was exposed in the sun, and she sauntered over for a closer look. “Damn,” she breathed, both eyebrows poking up as a sign of being impressed. It was neat in a way, but also still pretty shitty - he shouldn’t have had to gone through the loss of two limbs. Wait until he went to prom first, OC. Or at least when he’s legal enough for a damn tattoo, geez.
“Hey, it’s badass, right?” Brightsides, brightsides. The only way Lina got through life, so that’s the view she was taking. “Can’t see anyone messing with you at this rate, yeah?”
Ed was getting used to it, he’d even nearly accepted the way it happened. He didn’t like it of course, but he couldn’t change it. There was no use in being pissed off all the time. Frankly it was exhausting. “Automail was apparently rare in my dreams too, but there were some cases of it from what I’m understanding anyway.”
Ed smirked at that. “Anyone who does will be in for a painful surprise. “ He couldn’t help but hope one of the jackasses at school tried something. “I doubt they will anyway, most of those assholes at school would sooner pretend I don’t exist.” He shrugged, it was all for the better probably.
“Don’t get too carried away,” Lina advised, trying her best to not step into the role of ‘nagging older sister,’ but it was easy to lose a temper in an environment like high school and do something impulsive. And stupid. “Save it for someone that deserves the ‘painful surprise.’”
But before he killed her hammock, she patted him in the shoulder. “C’mon, buddy. Rogue probably made a shitload of food, so there’s a shitload of leftovers. I don’t know about you, but when I practice something, I need to do it on a full stomach. Does alchemy even burn any calories?”
What? Valid question. Magic tended to sap her energy a lot. Thus, yes, copious amounts of food and a need to sleep. She was a monster in the mornings.
High school was definitely a practice in Edwards patience. He wasn't exactly Mr. Popular as he'd told her, it'd been severely tempting to use some of his new found strength to take care of some annoying school problems, but he'd also promised Riza. So far he'd done okay. "Hey I haven't gotten into a fight in weeks." He said with a shrug. They ought to be grateful for that much.
He stood and nodded. "It does. Mainly cause I don't really know what the hell I'm doing entirely just yet..." Ed admitted, which he hadn't told anyone yet. He always just put on an air of knowing. Truth was everything he did was based on his knowledge of science, cause and effect and a hell of a lot of luck. He followed her to the kitchen. "I'm starvin anyway." He often was. It was probably a sign of hell freezing over if he wasn't.
If their stomachs weren’t rumbling often throughout the day, then yes, the world and all natural order of things was likely doomed. Rogue had the motherly habit of stuffing the fridge with all sorts of goodies - nothing ever went to waste when you had a human garbage disposal as a roommate - and Lina withdrew a couple containers. Spicy creole jambalaya, a thing of dwindling cheesy grits and a box of homemade cheesecake with some red in it. Either strawberry or raspberry, she wasn’t sure.
“More comes the more you dream, trust me.” Lina pulled out some plates and spoons, readied the microwave. “We’ll just keep practicing so you’re prepared for the bigger stuff that comes along, alright? Because there’s always bigger stuff.” All dreams were stories, with beginnings and middles and ends. Conflict filled the gaps in between. And he wasn’t alone in it either, not by a long shot. “Food, then practice. Then maybe a food coma,” she said, grinning.
Hammocks were out there for a reason.