A good spot to rest (Roy)

[Ember]

Ember had been running all over town since she had eaten breakfast. Right after the meal she had left her aunt and uncles house like she did everyday. since then she had been running. There wasn't much else for her to do. She was always playing alone.

Eventually She needed to catch her breath. When the little girl looked around she found that she had run all the way to the state library. The large building was squarely in front of her now with it guards standing in the entrance.

Ember made sure she was out of peoples way and sat down on the ground in a patch of sunlight. As she sat she gazed up at the giant building. She had always wondered what it was like in there. Well full of books obviously and books that weren't supposed to be read by just anybody.

[mustang]

"I don't think anyone is going to kill me while I'm trying to read a book. If you really insist on guarding me, why don't you just wait here for me to come back out?"

Roy narrowed his one eye at the two guards that he could see were less than happy about his request for them to not be constantly attached to his side. In reality, it was something that he was still having trouble getting used to since he had gained the office of Fuhrer. During his days in just the military, although he usually had other officers around him, they were not bodyguards, and they were not required to be there. However, considering how the last Fuhrer's end had come about, security around Roy was tighter than it had been probably in Amestris' history. But when it came to outings like the short distance from his office to the State Library, Roy wanted to have a bit of time to himself. If he was actually going to work and read for once, he knew that guards would be nothing more than an added distraction he really couldn't handle.

"Gentlemen," Roy's voice was firm, his naturally commanding nature showing through as he noticed the enlisted men not making any moves to stop following him, "That is a direct order, and I don't think you want to defy one of those, lest you find yourselves demoted." It was an empty threat coming from the Flame, but the other men didn't know that, and after exchanging panicked looks, an echoing, "Yes, sir!" finally left their lips and they planted their feet, giving a quick salute. As Roy turned his back to them, he shook his head a bit, only imagining what they were probably thinking.

Roy held his shoulders square as he crossed the short distance from where he had managed to plant the guards - whom he imagined would probably still be saluting when he returned, a thought which made him smile to himself - as he began to think about what he was looking for specifically in the library, dreading the thought of having to spend an entire afternoon pouring over books looking for something specific. As he neared the entrance, his gaze suddenly felt drawn to the side for a moment, where he saw a young girl with startlingly white hair staring up at the library. He glanced around for a few moments, hoping to see someone he could assume be her parents, but to his dismay, saw no one. Roy sucked in a deep breath, rolling his eye as he felt his feet carry him towards the girl.

"The library is for State Alchemist use only," Roy then said to her, attempting to not sound as firm as he had before, but basically failing. After resigning himself a bit more, he knelt down to her level, a weak smile on his face. "That means you need to maybe...err...find your parents, kid," he then added a bit awkwardly. Roy had little to no experience dealing with any children, and actually found himself generally disliking them. Too much responsibility, too much noise, and they ate far too much food for his liking.

[Ember]

And then someone was talking to her.

This shocked Ember so much that her mouth just about fell open. Usually everyone ignored hetr...or yelled at her. Sure this mans voice was firm but by the uniform he was a military man. A person like that was bound to sound stern.

"Yeah I know. I wasn't going to go in." The little girl looked up at him with surprised blue eyes. She frowned to the second sentence he said to her.

"I can't go find them. My parents are dead." There wasn't any sadness behind what she said, Ember was just giving the man the facts that he lacked. Not to say that she wasn't still sad about her parents being gone but being sad every time the thought came to mind wasn't going to bring them back.

She gave the mans appearance another go over. He didn't look like a bad person. Though to someone
Ember's age the eye patch looked a little scary. She frowned again. "Are you hurt Mr.?"

[mustang]

A cold feeling immediately rushed through Roy's body in embarrassment when the young girl stated that she was an orphan. Great, just great - he just HAD to go and bring up her finding her parents without knowing the whole story. That was just...typical. And now he successfully felt like a jerk for one of the few times in his life, and it was to a little girl. This was why he avoided children, because now he really didn't know what to say, especially because her tone had been so calm. He decided perhaps that was a subject best left untouched for the moment. After all, there were a lot of orphans in Amestris after the war....he knew it was a terrible thought to have, but this girl really was just another side effect of war. What could he do for her?

Luckily, she moved the subject on herself quite quickly, which gave Roy a bit of an escape hatch away from a situation he had only made awkward himself. At first, he was confused by her question about whether or not he was injured, and a confused look flashed across his features until he followed her gaze to his eye patch. A bit of a lop-sided grin then replaced his confusion, and it touched the black fabric lightly. "You mean this?" he asked her, trying his best to sound more playful as he considered the fact that...what if she lived on the street or something? Hard to tell what kinds of thoughts were going through her mind. "No, its nothing much."

Roy glanced around once more, seeing the two guards he left giving him obviously confused looks from where they were standing near the bottom of the stairway, but no one else besides other military personnel were within sight. He turned back to the girl, uncertain of what to do - she seemed okay, he thought. Not hungry or hurt or anything...did that mean he could just leave her there? He found himself wishing that Hawkeye was there - she may not have much experience with kids, either, but Roy assumed all the same that as a woman, she might have SOME insight. Or...something. Well, she would at least know better than he did what do with the white-haired girl. "Um, what are you doing by the library anyway?" Roy finally asked the girl, hoping that her answer might help him decide what to do with her.

[Ember]

Embers face got curious as he brushed off the injury. Obviously something had happened to his eye. That couldn't be nothing like he said it was. But by the way he acted she really believed that to this man losing an eye could be not to big of a deal. The thought confused her a great deal.

When the man looked behind him she peered around too. There were two others in military uniforms at the bottom of stairs. She blinked a few times. But his next question brought her full attention back to him.

"I was running! I got all the way here from home with out stopping!. Then i got tired so I stopped. It's big." The last part was to explain why she had been looking at the library. She was smiling brightly up at him. The white of her teeth offset against her bronze skin.

[mustang]

Running from home - well, at least that meant she had a home. In reality Roy doubted he would have been able to leave a homeless orphan standing on the steps of the library, and though he would not have known what to do with her, either, he just knew he could not have turned away like he saw nothing. Not only would that be a bad choice as Fuhrer, it would also be riding a little close to the line of 'inhuman,' closer than Roy wanted to place himself. Her answer thus put a slight smile back on his face, both at the fact that she did indeed have a home, and because he was unable to stop from smiling at her childish antics. Not that he thought she wouldn't have them, considering her age, but still.

The thought did remind Roy about the fact that he really did not have any experience dealing with children at all. His own younger brother had disappeared early in Roy's history, and he had no other siblings. He had grown up alongside Riza, and had not met the likes of people like Maes until he was almost an adult himself. Since then, the closest thing Roy had to dealing with kids was technically the Elric brothers, but he was not naive enough to think that most kids acted the way those two did. That left only Elisia Hughes, and Roy saw her a lot less than he knew he probably should, and usually paid most of his attention to Gracia rather than the small girl. And yet, he still found himself staring into the bright eyes of another child, one he did not know, but couldn't seem to get himself away from.

Just think of this as another mission, Roy thought to himself, and a determined look inadvertently crossed his features. "Well, do you know your way back home from here?" he then asked her, his questions now fuelled by a similar style of thinking he used when trying to deal with problems that arose during his assignments, especially those from his younger days in the military. Figure out all parts of the equation, and from there try to make an analysis before solving it. Step by step, just like alchemy - he could do this. And without Riza's guidance. "After all, this isn't a very good place to...err...play." Well, that did not come out as smoothly as he had intended it to, but it was better than nothing.

[Ember]

Ember frowned. Was he actually going to send her home? "yeah.... I know how to get back home." After all she had gotten here in the first place. But she didn't want to go home yet. either way she didn't have anyone to talk to. At least outside she could find random things to entertain herself with and she could run as far as she wanted. After all her aunt and uncle didn't care if she got to far away from the house. Infarct by most parents standards for girls her age she was probably already to far away to be out alone.


She looked down and shuffled her feet a bit. She didn't want to be disrespectful but she didn't want to go home. Though that was clearly what he was telling her to do she was going to pretend that she didn't quite get that fact.


Something else about this man was bothering her.... What was it? Something was different then everyone else she had encountered in all her memory, well besides her parents. What was it. It was right there just she couldn't put her finger on it.

[mustang]

Again, Roy smiled weakly at the young girl, rather relieved once more that she seemed to know where she was going - that hopefully meant less of a problem, and less responsibility reflecting back to him. He raked his fingers back through his messy raven-coloured hair for a moment in thought, frowning a bit as he brought his gloved hand back before his face and noticed a few of those dark hairs had come out with the action. That was never a good sign, but he decided to attribute the phenomena to all the stress he had to endure as Fuhrer (paperwork, sadly, didn't do itself, after all) rather than his age. Why did that keep coming into his mind so much lately, anyway...?

Roy realized that he had been standing in a strange silence knelt before the young girl for several long minutes now, and saw her awkwardly shuffling on her feet. He quickly cleared is throat, rising back up to his full height before reaching out and ruffling the girl's hair a bit roughly and saying, "Well. Then. Um. I expect you to keep up the good work, citizen of Amestris." Well, that had come out a wee bit cheesier-sounding than he had meant it to, but at least no other adults had been standing nearby. Roy assumed that as a child, the girl liked cheesy, so he didn't think much of it before he gave her a quick salute, a wink with his remaining eye, and turned to head towards the library.

What had he come to research again? Roy's pace slowed as he thought hard, trying to recall exactly what he had come to look up, but the girl and the thoughts that had accompanied her presence had distracted his thoughts in a completely different direction. He glanced back over his shoulder at her, still a bit perplexed about why she had chosen the State Library as a good place to play, or relax, or whatever it was that kids did when they weren't running around like crazy or bothering their parents, which is what he typically associated them as doing.

[Ember]

Ember couldn't help but beaming up at the man again. She wasn't used to being treated like this. That was what had been bothering her earlier. He was treating her like she saw most people treat kids her age. This Had never happened. Not since her parents died anyway.

She giggled when he ruffled her hair and watched as he started to go on his way. When he looked back she waved cheerily at him. "Bye Mr.!"

The little girl turned and made a game out of hoping down the stairs on one foot. She gave the two military men a wide berth and once she hit the bottom started to run off to one side. She ducked besides the stairs. How long was that man going to be in there? She wondered it didn't matter though she had all the time in the world. Her aunt and uncle would never realize she was gone.

She was determined to sit here and wait until that man came out.

[mustang]

Roy only glanced back out once more after he had passed through the gate into the library, and he saw that the girl had disappeared - perhaps she had gone home. That was for the better, he knew, and he shook his head a bit at the entire encounter. Really, he was glad that no one else had been a witness, because he felt rather foolish and awkward about the entire thing, and thought it could have gone a lot better. He continued to lightly shake his head as he passed further into the library, considering again just what he had come to research...

The Flame Alchemist did not emerge from the library again until the sun was beginning to set low in the sky. As he stepped back out into the cooling night air, he took a deep breath of it, stretching his arms behind his back and then up and over his head with an over-dramatic yawn. Roy was actually feeling rather self-satisfied with all the research he had been able to do, but had decided that he more than deserved to simply head back to the State Headquarters simply to close things up for the night, and that he was not going to get involved in any more paperwork after all the books he had just had his nose in for who-knows-how long. No, all Roy Mustang wanted to do was take an early night and head home - there had to be something better he could do with his time than pour over reports about things he really found himself not taking as much interest in as much as perhaps he should.

Suddenly, a thought came to Roy's mind, and his eyes quickly glanced down the steps for a couple of familiar faces. His gaze finally rested on the two guards that had been insistently trailing him around all day, who had finally left their saluting positions and were waiting against a wall near the bottom of the library steps. Roy just knew they were only going to be an obstruction that would keep him from getting away from Headquarters as early as he would like, so he walked down the steps on the opposite side they stood on as quickly, and yet casually, as he could manage, hoping that the half-darkness and his typical military uniform would help him go unnoticed. A small smile crept onto the Fuhrer's face as he imagined the panic the two guards would probably go into when they closed the library in a few hours and they realized they had lost Roy, and he picked up his speed slightly when he hit the sidewalk, his feet dutifully taking him back towards Headquarters, this time alone.

Or....so he thought.

[Ember]

Ember waited, and waited, and waited.

He was in there a long time. A very very long time. But the little dark skinned girl didn't leave. She took a small nap once on accident and after that started to make up odd games that she could play with pebbles that she found on the ground to keep herself amused. It was times likes these that she liked playing by herself. She could make the rules as complicated as she wanted and no one could object.

She was getting to the point where she was getting tired and could barely remember her original rules when she hared hurried foot steps. He'd come out. Ember shrank back in to the shadows as he passed by, then looked back at the other two military men whom unknown to them she had been keeping company all day. They hadn't seen the man leave. Were they waiting for someone else or had he ditched them? why would he?

Pushing aside her questions she started after the man. Sticking to the shadows and staying far enough back that he quiet footsteps hopefully wouldn't be heard. Every once in a while she would dive or dart behind something and wait a moment. But she always made sure to keep him in site.

[mustang]

Roy had the strange, unmistakable feeling that he was being followed. It was an instinct that he had developed from his many years of military service, and one that had proved quite useful in the past. It was even more critical now that half of the world was always in darkness for the alchemist, making him much more vulnerable to surprises, especially when he did not have another set of eyes helping guard him - like Hawkeye's. Every once in a while, he would glance over his shoulder back down the sidewalk behind him, but Roy was not able to spot anything. Although he was suspicious, he decided to shrug it off for the moment - he was almost back to Headquarters, anyway.

However, as he neared the guarded gates for Headquarters, the feeling was still persisting. Roy slowed his pace a bit, straining his ears in an attempt to hear something, anything behind him, and yet he heard nothing out of the ordinary, the streets quieting as the sun continued to set. And then, suddenly, he heard it - a quick, light sound that was unmistakably a footstep. He spun around where he was, his hand held up before him just a split moment away from sending an alchemic spark lest his dark eye fall on anything, and yet, he still saw nothing.

A frown formed on the Fuhrer's features as for a split moment, he considered the fact that leaving the guards at the library might not have been in his best interest, but he quickly pushed the thought aside - regret had gotten him nowhere in the past, and this was hardly the time to start it again. He did not lower his hand from an attacking stance as he narrowed his eye, squinting to try to see anything in the darkness. "Who's there?" his voice finally sounded, his tone rather demanding and strong, showing nothing but confidence despite the fact that he knew little about what was happening.

[OOC :: Sorry, that sucked - I'm really tired, but I wanted to reply before I left! See you Saturday!]

[Ember]

Ember dived behind the corner of a building just as he turned around. That was close. He'd almost seen her! The girl waited but his foot steps didn't start again. Did he know that she was following him?

'Who's there?'

Well that answered that question. Either she wasn't a quiet as she thought she was or he was good. Now what was she going to do? She could either stay hidden or show herself.... She didn't want to scare anyone. And people got pretty creeped out when they thought someone dangerous was following them.

Slowly she stuck her head out around the building to stare at him shyly. After all She had just been caught stalking him.

[mustang]

Roy blinked a few times as his gaze fell on an all-too-familiar face - it was the young girl from before, with the strange white hair and even stranger sounding situation. Roy slowly lowered his hand from its attacking position in something between confusion, and actual surprise. What was she doing following him around Central, especially now that the sun was setting? Did her family really care that little about the whereabouts of a girl that young that they allowed her to freely run around the city? The thought made Roy frown - though he liked to believe that under his reign as Fuhrer the streets were safer than they had been before, he knew that to be less than the reality. The streets of Central were still lined with dangers, especially to those most vulnerable, which was not a happy thought for the raven-haired man as he regarded the small girl before him.

And it didn't help his mood that he felt rather sheepish that he had gotten so worked up and paranoid over the appearance of someone that barely came up to his waist.

Again, Roy found himself glancing around the area, hoping against reality that someone would suddenly run up, exclaim to the girl how happy they were to see her, and then take her home. Somehow, though, he doubted he could ever be that lucky. After letting out a heavy, semi-defeated sigh - no wait, just a tired one, Roy Mustang was never defeated! - he approached her, kneeling down to her level once more with his hands resting on his knees. "Don't you think its a bit late to still be out on your own?" he then asked her, giving the weakest of lop-sided smiles.

[Ember]

Ember continued to stare at him as he approached her again. He kneeled down in front of her again like he had in front of the library. The question of if it was to late was ridiculous of course on so many levels.

Her face turned indignant. "I'm eleven years old." Her glare was only a little fierce. "I can take care of myself." Besides her aunt and uncle wouldn't notice that she wasn't there unless she didn't show up for breakfast after not showing up for dinner. She liked being out at night more than the day anyway. All the stores closed and there was no one to stop her from looking in the windows. In the daylight people tried to keep her away from their stores. They were always yelling that she would scare away their customers.

"Sorry." Her face softened. After all she had been following him. And he deserved an apology after being stalked by a kid. she was debating whether or not to ask the question that was burning in the back of her mind. She knew exactly what had bothered her about this. What was so different. And she didn't understand it.