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(no subject)

Who: Roy Mustang and OPEN
Where: Around Goldenrod
When: first two weeks of October
Summary: Roy Mustang runs into Homunculi, jerks, and makes himself at home in pokeworld
Rating: PG
Log:

Goldenrod was a decent sized city, and Roy preferred that to the forests and roads. They obviously had enough technology for cars and trains, but the absolute lack of them was startling and strange. On the other hand, this was a place where small ledges were completely impassable and music followed where-ever he went, so expecting anything to make sense was a questionable proposition at best. He was also slowly acquiring an entourage of Pokemon. The only one he regularly kept in her pokeball was the water creature, so he could often be seen with a Growlithe trailing behind him and a Hawlucha perched on his shoulder or backpack.

It was ridiculously easy to find a job, despite the fact that he had no work history, and no education, and no proof of identity beyond his trainer information. That was creepy in a way that made him incredibly uneasy in the quieter moments. He found a place to stay located near a library and all manner of recreational diversions, including several he had never even heard of. The game corner in particular warranted further investigation.

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Roy knew that there was a version of Lust here. He just hadn't expected 'here' to be quite so close by. His eyes caught the tattoo in its unfortunately familiar position and his already elevated heart-rate shot up. Fingers twitched, but there were no gloves to reach for, and no need either, if Alphonse was to be believed. It was an extremely unpleasant surprise that brought incredibly unpleasant memories into an otherwise lovely morning.

The only thing that helped was the fact that she was sweaty and dressed to work-out and didn't look quite so put together. There was no little black dress, and there would be no stabbing fingers trying to kill him and everyone he cared about. Roy looked upward at her face. "Lust."

Lust honestly noticed the staring before she realized just who it was.

"Have my breasts somehow wronged you?"

She knew the answer to that damn well, but she wasn't about to change her snappy quip just because she stumbled into the Flame Alchemist. She still didn't know if it was the one from her Amestris or not, but she supposed she'd be finding out. The fact that he knew her name meant nothing, she knew Edward and Alphonse had told the military all about her. Including the placement of her oroborous.

What was he doing working out in her gym? She'd just gotten it back to normal, and she couldn't just plant Rattata feces on him and be done with it.

Roy had to swallow his first two responses before he came up with something suitable to say out loud. "I'm very glad to say that I have never been wronged by a pair of breasts," He said evenly. He studied her face intently. There were differences now that he was looking. More than would be explained by her being completely human and not a Homunculus.

"I've already spoken to Alphonse and had the 'other Amestris' explained to me. It's safe to say you're not the Lust I met." This was not something he wanted to deal with this morning. If Roy was honest with himself, it was not something he wanted to deal with at all. "The resemblance is uncanny, but not perfect."

"That you know of."

Lust folded her arms and gave a small nod. So it wasn't their Mustang. That made it better, as far as she was concerned.

Guttle looked anxiously between his trainer and this strange man, rolling his weight back and forth nervously. Sometimes trainer got into loud fights....

"I never even met the Mustang from my Amestris," she pointed out. She didn't think she had, not beyond once and a while being in the same general place as him or passing him in a hall. "And I'm better looking than her."

What little Lust knew of the other woman who bore her name had left an unflattering impression.

The claim that she hadn't met his counterpart was interesting, and he hoped it was true, even if he was uninclined to take what she said at face value. Even in her current state, Roy had to agree she was the more attractive Lust. The fact that he hadn't been on the receiving end of a murder attempt from her helped in that regard.

Roy spared a glance for the very fat-looking Pokemon looking at the two of them. "You sound like you don't like her very much." That improved his opinion of this Lust, if it was true.

"That's Guttle, he's my starter. And also my yoga ball. It's alright, Guttle." She had no reason to make problems with Mustang. Especially some strange Mustang she wasn't about to blame for anything done by the one from their world.

"And you're right, I don't like what I've heard. You've spoken with Alphonse, so I assume he explained that homunculi are different where we come from?"

He could find out what a 'yoga ball' was later. Roy nodded at her question. "So you haven't met her. Alphonse outlined the other general differences as well." Roy could only hope that his counterpart hadn't given in to temptation. He knew with the right motivation he would have done it if he thought there was even a remote chance of success.

It was also hard to remind himself that this Lust started out as a human. But there was none of the monstrous cruelty he'd seen in the Lust he fought. The way she behaved when she had no need to fool anyone. Roy had thought of himself as a monster for a long time, until he'd seen what real monsters were made of. "What do you know about her?"

"No, I never met her. She was here a long time ago, but long gone when I arrived." Lust shook her head. Since she'd found herself in a conversation, she sat on a handy bench and pulled out her water bottle.

"All I know about her is that she was a cruel creature who hated humanity and had no redeemable qualities." Lust took a swig of her water and regarded the Flame Alchemist. "Whatever she was...I'm nothing like her. All I want is to have a simple human life, and recover more of my human memories of my home and people. I'm happy being human, it's all I ever wanted. I have nothing against you, Flame Alchemist, assuming you have nothing against me and mine."

That the Lust from his Amestris was here was news to him, but he didn't react to it. He did, however, raise an eyebrow at the next part of what Lust said as he folded his arms and looked down at her. That was an accurate description of the Lust he met in his Amestris.

"As long as we're here, and no one does anything violent, there won't be any trouble on my end." It was just going to take a while for him to fully separate this Lust from the murderous, bloodthirsty monster he remembered. He was genuinely sorry for what happened to her, even though he wasn't the one who performed human transmutations. Roy knew what awful, arrogant creatures Alchemists could be, and that he wasn't entirely innocent on that front.

"I have no taste for violence these days." Lust regarded him a few moments longer. "I don't know the events of your world, I don't know you. But the Roy Mustang of my world..." She paused, searching for the right words.

"I'd be less pleased to see him, let's put it that way, though I have no personal quarrel with him. And there are some who have far stronger feelings than I. I appreciate your assurance that there won't be any trouble."

She didn't know if it would matter at all to Scar, but it mattered to her.

The vague statement that she wouldn't be pleased to see the Roy Mustang of her world, but without having a personal quarrel, was interesting. He did wonder about that other Mustang, but wasn't entirely sure he wanted to dig into it. With Alphonse as the most reliable source of information how much could he expect to learn? Roy hadn't shared a lot of his past with either of the Elrics, although Hawkeye had. How much of it was even the same?

"I understand that the logical, reasoning side of the mind and the emotional part aren't always on the same page." Emotions rarely listened to reason. "All I know about my counterpart is that we've followed similar enough career paths to have both become Flame Alchemists and Colonels at some point."

"Emotions don't have even a passing relationship with logic." She knew that all too well, and waved a hand to dismiss that line of conversation. She wasn't in the mood to get distracted by a philosophical tangent on the nature of emotional response. Which she knew she'd quickly descend into.

"How similar have your career paths been? Do you know?" Lust's expression remained neutral, but her eyes were fixed on the alchemist. "You saw active military service?"

"Similar enough that we both knew the Elrics while we were Colonels, but beyond that, I didn't ask." It wasn't a line of thought that would end well. The questions about his other self he most wanted answered were the ones he was least likely to have answered accurately.

"I did. He did as well?" The fact that Scar existed in both Amestris, and his counterpart becoming Colonel in a similar time frame pointed to that being the same. But it was frustrating, that it had happened in the absence of the nationwide transmutation circle.

"Yes, he did," Lust said simply, her voice still neutral and her gaze unwavering. But she had to know. If not for her sake, for she had little personal connection to the war, for Scar's.

"In my homeland of Ishbal."

Roy didn't react immediately. He'd been on his guard for this conversation, and held back the immediate reactions. The fact that the other Mustang was in Isvhal wasn't a surprise, the fact that Lust, this Lust, was from Isvhal? That was. He wasn't sure about her, but he could continue on with the assumption it was true without any risk.

He took a moment to put his thoughts in order before he spoke. "I would not have guessed that you were from Ishval. But I can confirm he and I have that in common." It wasn't something he spoke about often, but it wasn't something he hid from, either.

"It's the nature of the homunculus. We all of us turn pale and black of hair in death and rebirth. And for whatever reason, I didn't return to my human tones upon regaining my humanity here." She shrugged. It bothered her, being well aware she'd been stripped of her very skin, but there was nothing she could do but lay out in the sun in the warm months.

"But I was born and I lived and died and was born again in that desert city, before she fell to tragedy." She looked away then.

"I would keep that information to yourself, Flame Alchemist."

That was an interesting quirk. He was a little relieved to hear that Lust hadn't been killed in the massacre, but not by much. "It's not something I usually include in my introduction to other people... are you saying that because of Scar?" Roy wasn't sure how different their Scar was from the one he knew. Any amount of difference likely amounted to a negative impact.

Her eyes widened and her jaw tightened, shoulders drawing back in a defensive stance when he brought up Scar's name. That didn't bode well.

Then again...he obviously knew Scar was here, and had said and done nothing.

"And what if I am?"

Roy shrugged and glanced away after he saw her reaction to the mention of Scar. That was interesting, although he had quickly learned how tightly knit Ishvalans were as a group. Shared heritage was a strong bond, but perhaps not that strong?

"I've had more than enough surly company from the Scar in my Amestris. I'm more than happy to keep my distance." He would definitely take the Scar he knows over the Scar he doesn't know. The way Alphonse asked him to leave the man alone didn't bode well for any potential interaction.

"...surly company...?"

Lust repeated the words with raised eyebrows and a blink, without even thinking. The idea of Scar being in th Flame Alchemist's company without unmaking him entirely was impossible to comprehend. That pointed to great differences indeed.

She shook her head, just taking that to mean she could put some trust in the alchemist's words.

"Good. Leave him alone. He deserves a good life."

"The Homunculi gave us a couple common causes to work towards," Roy said, deciding to leave it at that. He wasn't inclined to say more just yet, but he did want to outline the drastic differences. He also couldn't say he agreed that Scar deserved a good life, but he also wasn't one to judge. If Roy was allowed to try to make things better, Scar had to be too.

"However long this little break from reality lasts for me, I don't want to fill it with the kinds of problems I have to deal with in Amestris."

"Then we're in agreement. None of us want any of the problems of where we came from."

This entire situation was a second chance for so many of them, they weren't going to ruin it over old grudges that meant nothing anymore.

She felt better for having spoken with the alchemist, despite hoping to avoid him in general. She had her answers, and they were satisfying enough.

"Do you plan to be here in Goldenrod long?"

"I had planned on it," Roy said. Plans had to be open to alterations, at the very least. "Is everyone here?"

Repeatedly running into Homunculi was a definite point against the city. He wasn't ready to simply leave for the sake of avoiding them, but it would be a factor in his decisions.

"Greed and I own a house here, Envy lives with us. And currently Alphonse is staying with us as well." Along with their human friends, but there's no sense in mentioning people the alchemist doesn't know.

After a moment, she added to the statement.

"And Scar and I have a home in Violet, we spend a good deal of time there."

If Mustang were looking to avoid them, he should know where he ought to avoid.

That was slightly alarming. Alphonse living with the Homunculi, especially Envy and Lust. But the Alphonse Elric he knew had good judgment, and so far Roy had seen nothing to make him seriously question this Elric's.

He nodded in acceptance of that information. "That'll make it easier to avoid crossing paths with him." And her. He accepted that she was a different Lust, but even then he wasn't eager to spend any amount of time with her. Since she was Ishvalan, he doubted she wanted anything to do with him either.

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