Surprise! Did You Miss Me? (Riza/Roy)

[pie4me]

It had been a long time. A really long time since she had seen Riza Hawkeye. At least, it seemed that way to Winry. The days always dragged on in Resembool and there just wasn't enough action down there. If only Winry could get the satisfaction of seeing her friend from a random phone call. Alas! It was not to be. Phone calls did not cut it. Maybe one day there would be some kind of audio/face call thingy-do that could somehow transmit one person to the other. Unfortunately Winry wasn't that advanced just yet. But maybe one day! Maybe one day. She had said goodbye to her dog, Den, that morning and had set off for the train station. Her suitcase was in hand and her clothes consisted of mostly black mini-skirts and simple white shirts. Winry also wore her old tan jacket that she used whenever she was working with something that might emit sparks and burn her skin. It had served her well over the years and she liked to wear it now just for casual occasions.

After hours of fields and towns rolling past her window, the train soon came to a stop at the Central station. Winry reached up to flip her hair over her shoulder (she had put it into a long ponytail that morning, but it kept insisting on annoying her) and then hopped off the train. She had a big smile on her face as she stopped to breathe in the fresh... well, slightly fresh air of Central. Winry absolutely loved the atmosphere of this place. The hustle and bustle reminded her of the times she would follow the Elric brothers to all the new places. At least, they were 'new' back a few years ago. Now they were just familiar.

After getting through the crowds and traveling down the streets (and of course, stopping by a couple of shops to pick up some screws she didn't have back home), Winry was the very image of someone who was absolutely triumphant. As if she had accomplished something recently. Which... Winry had. Just yesterday she'd figured out a better way to craft her automail. Nothing drastic, just a few tweaks here and there to make it a better process. Plus she had made it here to see Riza! Winry couldn't wait.

"Gosh, this place always gives me the shivers of excitement! I can't wait to see Riza. At least she might be interested in my new developments. Unlike all those other bums back home who can't appreciate my obvious talent!" Winry said to herself, grinning and continuing on. Finally she reached the Headquarters building. A lot of the surviving soldiers from after the Promised Day knew her and remembered her. She'd crafted some automail replacements for a few of them, so it wasn't as if she was a stranger.

Winry waited until an officer walked up to her and asked what she wanted.

"I'm here to see Riza Hawkeye, please. Can you tell her there's a girl called 'The Most Epic Automail Mechanic Ever' here to see her? She'll know who you're talking about, trust me."

Winry was, of course, joking. But she couldn't resist poking a little fun. Riza could always use something to lift her spirits. Heck, everyone needed a surprise visit now and then.

[riza hawkeye]

In a way, today was just another day in the office. The small difference that Riza found in it, though, was that there was an enjoyable aspect to it. It had been awhile since her fellow officers had begun rebuilding Ishval and helping to restore the country they themselves had destroyed, upon order. Today, though, they had been expecting the final report of their efforts, as opposed to just another briefing on the progress. Personally, Riza was absolutely thrilled as she started her day, knowing it would bring good news. However, seeing was believing and she wasn't going to let herself get too excited until she read the document. Maybe it was Mustang's work, but she played her part and did what she could to help. After the guilt that seemed mountainous, this was one of the proudest moments of her career.

Now, the emotion coined by the term 'ecstatic' didn't necessarily appear correctly when it came to Riza Hawkeye. Truth be told, it was completely internal as she contained herself and remained as poised and strict as usual. As they worked through their morning paperwork and had the document delivered, Hawkeye had ceased in her work and began reading it, line by line, her mind bursting with excitement. It wasn't long, though, until she was interrupted.

"Captain Hawkeye, you have a visitor. She claims to be--,"[/b] There was a pause as he pulled out a slip of paper and began reading off of it. "She claims to be "the Most Epic Automail Mechanic Ever". She is requesting your presence at the gate. Now, if you'll excuse me."[/i] He left without another word.

Riza, setting down the thick packet, let out a small sigh as a smile crept onto her face. Despite the fact that she would've preferred to finish her reading, Riza was well aware that Miss Rockbell didn't often visit and it was a cause to depart for the time being. Sliding her desk drawer open, she slipped the document in before locking it up. Maybe the corruption had been driven out, but she wasn't going to let that packet slip away before she could finish reading it.

She pushed her chair back and stood, glancing over to her commanding officer. "I will be taking my leave early today. If I finish with Miss Rockbell early enough, I will return." Riza picked up her jacket off the back of her chair, draping it over her arm. Looking forward to their encounter, Riza began to make the trek through the maze of hallways until she finally exited Central Command and proceeded to the gate.

Spotting the familiar, long-haired blonde, she just shook her head and smiled. "Long time, no see, Miss Rockbell. I'm off for the afternoon, if you'd like to get something to eat. What brings you to Central?" A call would've been nice. Although she thought it for the sole purpose of having made time to read the Ishval document, she really was glad to see Winry had stopped by to see her.

[mustang]

Today was one of the few days where if an unsuspecting passerby had looked into General Mustang's office, they would've actually seen the man at work. He had spent three solid hours pouring over a few indecipherable documents about Ishvalen Rectification Act. The territory of Ishval would become an extremely important trading post between Amestris and Xing, if the Flame Alchemist had anything to say about it. He circled the parts of the documents that needed to be elaborated, eliminated any loopholes that allowed the stricter generals to suppress the Ishvalens under "Intelligence Risks." With his sight restored, Mutang felt as if he had to bring the entire nation of Amestris to a glorious image- including Ishval- so that he may look upon it and be proud. It was only when a lone Central officer entered his room that Mustang looked up from the document. Sweat beads were pouring down his forehead- the penance for sin was always paid in hard work.
"General Mustang, sir!"

Mustang looked up without much thought. His mind was still in the Ishval packet. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Captain Hawkeye took her leave early today due to the unexpected visit of-" The lieutenant looked back to his piece of paper. "'The Most Epic Automail Mechanic Ever.' I figured you would like to know."

Winry? I guess I'll take a break too. I'm not even on the clock right now anyways. Mustang thought. He needed a break from all this mental labor anyhow- he couldn't risk making any mistakes because he was tired! "Thank you, Lieutenant. I'll be leaving as well." Mustang straightened the papers out without much thought and put them inside his desk drawer. He clapped his hands, and pressed them onto the desk. Those papers would never be found by any other than the General himself. This clap alchemy is extremely useful... Guess I should visit Selim and give him a treat for his inadvertent assistance. Mustang bitterly remembered how he was forced to "see the truth." No matter, today would be a good day.

---

"Miss Rockbell, I'm almost upset that you didn't ask for me as well. Almost." Mustang let his voice ring loud and clear across the green lawn of Central Command as he saw the long-haired blond and, in his opinion, the much cuter short-haired one. It had been awhile since he had seen Edward's girlfriend, and it's not like he could just forget her. Mustang still remembered how sad she looked the day he came to see what had became of the Elric brothers- only a few days after they performed human transmutation. Mustang pondered how Winry felt about him- but only for a moment. Truth be told, he really didn't care that much.

Approaching the dynamic hair duo, Roy waved politely at his Captain. "Seems like you're making use of your day off."

[/b]
[/blockquote]

[pie4me]

Winry waited patiently on the front lawn as the officer went to deliver her message to Riza Hawkeye and - without her knowing it - to Roy Mustang as well. She looked happy enough, though it was the familiar presence of this building that made her a bit thoughtful. Two years ago... that's when it ended. I've been here so many times and yet... it seems different somehow. Calm... peaceful. I'm so afraid that something is going to happen. Something horrible that will set everything off again. She sighed, twirling a lock of blond hair around her finger and letting it trail down over her shoulder again. She had been growing it out even more these days, unwilling to cut it off. Winry knew it was an annoyance, especially in her work, but... somehow it was too familiar to cut. She loved her hair. It was like her pride, sort of. A little stupid considering everything else she had, but still.

Suddenly a voice that was and had been so consistent in years before this time rang out loud and clear. Riza was her old friend, and so were a lot of people in this city. It was a great comfort that Riza was still alive. A great miracle that either of them had survived before two years ago when everything had gone haywire and when so many others had died. "Riza! Its so good to see you!" Winry said, running over to her and grinning all the way. "Since Edward left I don't have much to do. I've been hanging around Resembool for a while but I figured it was time to come back and visit with some people. After all, I haven't gotten to travel here much since my work has kept rolling in. Rockbell Automail is actually getting pretty popular now that most of the fighting is over."

Another voice was soon heard, the voice of Roy Mustang. In her very early years, Winry might not have liked the sound of that voice very much, but these days it was just as welcome as Riza's. "Hello Roy! Sorry I didn't send a message for you too. I thought you'd be really busy during work hours. Its great to see you, though."

She smiled widely, closing her eyes and tilting her head - the afternoon light reflecting off her bright yellow hair.

"Oh be nice!" Winry said. "Of course she has a day off! I'm here, right? Its not like I make it a habit to come down to Central, so geez."

'The Crazy Gearhead' was not part of the military, so she didn't mind being her usual blunt self for both Roy and Riza. Roy Mustang especially. It wasn't as if she cared what he thought of her either. In fact, Winry didn't really care what anyone thought of her. If all else failed she could always go back to her automail and that was what seemed to forever cheer her up anyway. Her face became cheerful again almost immediately. "Well we don't have to stand around here all evening, right!? Lets go do something fun! Like, maybe grab a coffee. I don't know, whatever you guys want."

[riza hawkeye]

"Glad to see the business is doing well. I'm sure your customers are thankful." Though she herself knew little of automail, it had to be comforting to have someone to turn to in times of need. Riza would vouch for the girl's sincerity, disregarding the outbursts when she was dealing with the Elrics. Some people just required a bit more violence, and Riza was all for those methods when the situation called for it.

Hearing the voice she'd been working under for ages, Riza couldn't help but shake her head. "Sir, last I checked, you had a document to work over." Though she was in the same position, her opinion on it wasn't nearly as important as Mustang's. Then again, he did get to make his own hours if he really wanted to. If she was going to skip out on her work, she really couldn't berate him for doing the same thing. Taking a breath, Riza just shrugged. "People who do their work in timely manners should have the privileges of leaving early." It was a bit of a low blow, knowing that her superior had never been all that great at pushing through his work. She had to give him credit, though, his diligence had improved since his promotion.

"You know, I do have to agree with Miss Rockbell. She doesn't stop in often, so we should set aside time to at least catch up." Riza appreciated the small break in her work, even if there were a few things she wanted to be finishing up. The opportunity to catch up with the her young counterpart wasn't presented often, and she'd rank it as a rather important activity on her agenda if she really needed to.

Facing the both of them, she contemplated the options and easily agreed with Winry's idea. "Well, since we're both off, we might as well make the best of this. Besides, I could go for some tea." Riza began to lead the way towards a small, local cafe. She really wasn't worried about Roy's opinion, particularly considering that he'd be outnumbered anyways. As she recalled the last time she'd seen the young Rockbell, she figured there were plenty of things to discuss. "Still relatively on the topic of work, I'm sure you'd be glad to hear that the Ishval Rectification Act is going rather well. Your Ishvalan friend has been putting in quite an effort." Riza was speaking of Scar, though she wasn't sure how to refer to him even now. Though he still likely went by that, she was also mildly aware that he just preferred to have no name at all. She did her best to respect that.

[mustang]

The Flame Alchemist chuckled as his captain poked at his supposedly casual work schedule. He hadn't told her that he had never went home last night so he could more- Mustang eventually had ended up sleeping on his desk. No matter, though- if Mustang appreciated one thing about Riza, it was that she kept him on his toes. He couldn't give himself too much time off for fear of suffering the fury of a woman's scorn. "Well Captain, it seems as if we both need a break from the paperwork."

Roy didn't notice how he easily followed along his trusted Captain in a change of plans. Both of the lovely women wished to go to a local cafe and he didn't really have any objections to it. He would most likely end up paying for the entirety of the meal anyways, seeing as he had got his paycheck just the other day; Riza, being only a Captain, got her check a week or two after he did. Amestrian military payment was a complex, bureaucratic mess of numbers and seemingly nonsense rules. The General didn't mind wasting a few measly parcels of tender for a good time, though. He didn't really care too much about Winry, but he certainly was wondering how things were going back at Resembool; more importantly, he wanted to know about that short little brat.

"Scar, or whatever his name is, has been quite useful in the past few months..." Mustang admitted out loud. He still wasn't sure how he felt about the former serial killer- though Roy knew he could trust the man to a large extent, he still needed to sort out views of Scar as far as his past moral acts were concerned. Could Scar be forgiven for his wrath? Roy needed to ponder that question deeply- he had also once been nearly overtaken by wrath as well. Had it not been for Scar, he might have actually gone over the edge... No matter. Scar wasn't a very large concern at the moment; though he did provide plenty of information about the Ishvalen people, he still had only a minor role in the grand scheme of things. Somewhere between a pawn and bishop. The former Fullmetal alchemist was a much greater piece- or he had been once upon a time. "Excuse me for the sudden change in subject, Ms. Rockbell, but where did the little runt head off to this time?"

[/b][/blockquote]

[pie4me]

The little runt!? Winry huffed and rolled her eyes, but she had to admit that Edward had been a runt for a long time. That kid hadn't grown but two inches in a year and when he finally had gotten tall, well, Winry was relieved to say the least. To put things lightly she had been a little miffed herself when she'd found out that Ed was leaving once again - along with his younger brother Alphonse. The two were like brothers (Edward, of course, being a little more than that) to her and she hadn't exactly been thrilled with the idea of them skipping out after only two years! Still... one had to do what they had to do and Winry was no wimp. She let them go with all the poise and nonchalant behavior that befit an automail Mechanic... and yet, when that train had pulled out of the station, Winry had watched it go with a lump forming in her throat.

She hadn't heard from either of them since.

"To the west," she answered slowly, shutting her eyes and sighing. "He said... something about gathering information together so the Promised Day wouldn't ever have to happen again. Or... at least, I guess thats what he meant."

Honestly, the only thing that had been going off in her head when he had told her he was leaving were the words 'traitor! Idiot! Stupid head!' and had blocked out all else from her mind - including most of his explanation. He really is an idiot sometimes... but this was for the best, maybe. Those were her thoughts now and she tried with everything in her not to take them back. Winry ordered coffee when they finally sat down at the nearest cafe. The mechanic propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands. "I..." miss him. "I'm sure he can take care of himself."

Winry had never been one to spill all her feelings out and let people pat her on the back. She was much too hard headed and stubborn for treatment like that. Besides, the girl was pretty sure Riza and Roy wouldn't exactly understand anyway. They were military and they were used to sadness and depression, most likely, so it wasn't as if they hadn't seen worse.

"It's on me."

Winry barely even heard what she, herself, was saying, so lost in thought. Hmm... wait a minute! She had forgotten to ask the most important question of all time! "SO! How are you two getting along?"

Okay, a little awkward, but Winry was desperate to change the subject and if that meant embarrassing her friends then she could live with that. Her mischievous grin was evident and whether or not they'd get the drift was unknown. Winry remembered all the jokes she had shared with Edward while he had been home - after the war was over - about Roy and Riza. They were perfect for eachother! Sorta. Hm.

Wow. Kinda a scary thought. Heh heh.

[riza hawkeye]

Rather than spiral off on their schedules, Riza shrugged. "I suppose you make a reasonable point." Though we'll definitely be making up for it later. She was glad that these days were riddled with paperwork rather than battles, to say the least. Although she took pride in her abilities, it wasn't very rewarding to kill. Riza would prefer to sit behind a desk any day.

"You know, you could afford to call him by his actual name. It won't kill you, sir." Maybe it was useless prodding for him to change his ways, but even Riza was aware of the changes the boy had gone through over the past two years. "Runt" just didn't even fit him anymore as he'd finally sprouted. As she listened to his destination, though, she was curious to hear about his purpose when he returned. "The west? I'm sure he'll have plenty of tales when he gets back. How has he been handling without the alchemy?" Although she really couldn't relate, she had made an effort to understand the difficulty. In her mind, at least he'd given up his abilities for something worthwhile.

Riza hadn't been worried about paying for her share, but she wasn't about to argue with the young girl. If she'd learned anything over the years, it was that Winry didn't enjoy hearing opposition, so she just crossed her arms and continued on. As they neared the small building, Riza made the decision to take an seat outdoors, hanging her coat on the back of a chair as she took a seat. It was a lovely day and Riza was thankful to be out of the stuffy Command Center. She wasn't about to stick herself back indoors if she had anything to say about it.

After placing her own order for just a small cup of tea and watching their server head off, Riza listened patiently to Winry's next sentence. Although the words provided some internal shock, she kept her external composure. "Fine, I suppose. He has a habit of lagging behind at times, but he's gotten better lately. Otherwise, I don't think much else has changed." She wasn't oblivious to what Winry was really asking, but she also wasn't stupid. As far as she was really concerned, their was little to no relationship beyond their military partnership. Such things weren't allowed, obviously, and she wasn't going to fuel the fire for her own personal desires.


((Assume the server stayed to take all of their orders. Just trying to establish an order of events))