Edward Elric is the Fullmetal Alchemist (fullmetal_chibi) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-10-14 15:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | edward elric |
Who:Ed and Caleb
What:Ed visits Cleopatra and meets a human :o
When:Recently
Where:The ranch
Warnings/rating:none/low
STATUS:complete!
Ed was visiting the ranch again, but this time not because of anything bad-but he actually missed the horse he’d befriended. He’d asked Riza to drop him off. This place was something special to him still, nobody avoided him because of his differences, he was just accepted. It was nice and calming. He still found himself alone more often than not, but this time it was out of choice and not pressure or worry. He wanted to see the mare and see if she remembered him.
“I brought you something, but don’t tell anyone.” He mused, as if the horse could really tattle on him for bringing her a sugar cube. He sat on the fence with a red trench coat waving in the gentle summer breeze beneath him as he held out his hand with said sugar cube for the horse to come claim the way Neal had shown him. There were strings of tall yellow grass around, and the horses were corralled by a wooden fence, but inside their running space was vast. They had plenty of room to move. There were a few in the pin, but the one Ed had come to know was Cleopatra, a painted horse that nuzzled his palm even once the treat had vanished.
Caleb had yet to stop by the ranch, but Neal had made it sound somewhat appealing and he had nothing better to do. As strange as it was he was trying to make a life for himself here. Stick around for longer than just a few months.
Considering it was his first time at the ranch Caleb had no idea where to find Neal, so he was just wandering around the property, a little lost. It was then that he found himself in the stables. He watched as a guy a few years younger than him probably talked and fed one of the horses. Caleb had never witnessed anything like it before. Granted he had never really been around horses before either. “You’re good with him,” he finally said.
The blonde hadn’t been expecting anyone, but he wasn’t on guard or anything none the less. This was one of the few places he actually felt relaxed in, that he didn’t need to put up walls of defense for. Especially not with the mare making cuddly sounds at him and causing him to shake his head in amusement.
The voice caused a quirk of his eyebrow as he looked over his shoulder. “Her actually. Her name’s Cleopatra, heh. But thanks. Uh..you new here?” He hadn’t seen that guy before, but that didn’t mean much. The ranch was big.
Caleb had no idea how to tell the difference between a girl and boy horse. Well looking underneath he supposed but he wasn’t about to go to all that trouble. “Right. Sorry,” he shrugged.
“No. Just visiting.” He still wasn’t sure why he was at this place. “It’s my first time here. You come here a lot?” It seemed like he did considering how good he was with the horse.
“S’okay, I had no idea either until the other day.” He mused as he slid off the fence and let the horse return to her grazing. “Yeah, I’m friends with the guy who’s running the place. Neal showed it to me, ever since he did I guess I’ve been kind of attached.” It seemed a little ridiculous considering he was the opposite of a farm boy, but the ranch held a certain sense of peace to him. “I’m Edward, just Ed is okay too though.”
Caleb wasn’t a farm boy either. Far from it. He had never even seen a horse up close before today. Hell he had barely even seen any movies with horses in them, but that was beside the point. “Caleb,” he replied giving the kid his name as well. “How do you know Neal?” he asked raising a brow. “I met him back East,” he didn’t often offer up details about his own life, but Ed seemed harmless enough.
“I met him when I moved here, but it’s kind of a complicated story..” It wasn’t entirely his to tell either. He let his voice trail off slightly to indicate that. “He’s a good friend though. Probably one of the few adults that doesn’t suck.” So elegantly put. Caleb seemed okay though, besides that even if he was one of the adults he didn’t seem like a bad one yet. “Whatcha doin all the way out here?”
Caleb got complicated. Maybe not in the way Ed was referring too, but he wouldn’t push the issue. Granted he didn’t know the kind of complicated the OC brought just yet. “He’s okay,” which was actually high praise coming from Caleb. He didn’t talk to many adults or anyone really. Caleb always looked out for himself and therefore kept to himself. Making friends and trusting others? It was all new territory for him.
“Came to see Neal actually,” another shrug. “But I ended up finding you and the horses,” stating the obvious good job there. “This place seems all right. I don’t know much about ranches.”
"Yeah, it's not really my story to tell either. " He wasn’t sure how Neal felt about him and his demon father as an opening meeting story, so he leave that up to him. Ed nodded and gave him a friendly smile.
"I didn't either, hadn’t been on one before I met him. But it's pretty okay. There's lots of stuff to do at least. " He was definitely looking at a city boy. "My mom had a big ranch type house before, but no animals or anything. " Ed explained.
Caleb got that too. It wasn’t like he wanted Neal sharing how they met so he wasn’t going to press Ed for details on how he met Neal. “I know how that goes,” he merely agreed.
“What else is there to do?” Caleb couldn’t imagine there was much for him here. He was a computer guy. He didn’t want to dig up horse shit or move hay or whatever people did on a ranch. “So what did you do at that ranch house without animals?” Fortunately for Ed, Caleb no longer got jealous when he heard of people actually having a childhood.
Ed was glad he didn’t have to explain anymore, it felt a little awkward already saying it wasn’t his place to. He was pleased with the results of that.
“Mostly studied I guess. We always had a lot of books since we couldn’t leave the house much for a while.” When his moms illness spead up that was basically all Ed got to do between taking care of her and Al, but he was okay with it. “There’s a lot of places to go, oh and there’s the Danger Room? It’s kinda like a practice room for stuff.” He wasn’t sure if Caleb had any abilities, but if he did he’d probably spend time there. “How much do you know about this place?”
Danger room? What the hell? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know anything else about this place if it had a room just for danger. Caleb already had enough of that thank you very much. “Not much,” he replied honestly. “Neal just told me he works here so I thought I’d stop by. I should go find him. Nice meeting you.”
Ed raised a blonde eyebrow as the other guy made a weird and hurried exit. “...ah...all right, you too?” He was confused, and even a little frustrated. “Check the main house..he’s sometimes in the office? but rarely.” Ed admitted with a bit of an awkward tone, he was rubbish at meeting others and annoyed with himself for being so terrible at it. He turned back to the horse, suddenly glad she couldn’t talk back and gave her a gentle pat to the face.
“All right, thanks.” Caleb replied and he genuinely meant it. Even though the encounter had been a little awkward he could tell the kid meant well. Maybe Caleb would run into him some day when he was more settled and actually understood the whole Orange County strangeness. “I’ll see you around,” he added before he turned and headed in the opposite direction.