Lessons Learned (A PRIVATE FMA rp)

[ocobeam]

Several hours passed, and as promised, Roy received Hawkeye's guns.
She had left them on the desk when he wasn't looking, and he was suprised to see that she didn't linger around for him like she usually did.
There was just a note with the firearms, saying: "Good luck with your date... I hope all goes well..."
Roy nearly paled at the sight, but he hoped that it would be worth it... She'd realize that.
"I better go find Maes and tell him about this..." the Flame Alchemist thought to himself.

Riza walked home, looking more hurt than anything. It was almost rubbing it in her face that he was dating more women by borrowing her firearms...but she could only hope that he'd come to his senses one day... or she'd move on... either way, she'd be able to live with it... as long as he reached his goals. When she reached her apartment, she opened the door to see Hayate eagerly waiting for her... his green dog bowl clutched loosely in his jaws as he set it down in front of her.
She smiled despite herself.
"Alright boy... let's get you fed..."

[Lierik]

Five thirty found Maes Hughes tucked away in the corner of a seedy little bar three blocks from his office. Right around midday a feeling had struck him that when Roy found him, as Hughes knew he would, he would want to be holding a very stiff drink.

"Scotch on the rocks," He called to the bartender as the man passed by. He turned around on his stool to lean his back against the bar. And then there was Roy, standing in the doorway and carrying no less then four loaded weapons in his arms and looking for all the world like an overeager school boy.

"...Forget the rocks. And make it a double."

[ocobeam]

Roy sat down, putting the firearms aside.
"I'll have what he's having..." he said to the bartender, laying a few bucks on the bar.
He then turned to look at his best friend.
"I got them..." he said, beaming, "It was tough, but I got them... but she left me this note... and I'm not sure what to make of it..."
He slipped it to Maes, letting him read it.
"I mean, I know what it means, but... I don't... Riza never left me a note before... then again... I've never borrowed her firearms before..."
He glanced sideways at the guns.

[Lierik]

Looking over the note for a third frantic time, Maes could say with confidence that he knew what Roy was thinking. It was something along the lines of, 'Riza must be telling me that if I damage any of her guns she'll shoot me.'

But see, Roy was an idiot. Maes wasn't sure exactly what Roy had done, but anytime the love of your life was wishing you luck on a date with another woman, well, you had played a pretty damn bad hand to put it lightly.

He took one deep breath, read the note one more time, and slapped Mustang hard across the back of the head.

"I don't know what you did, Roy... But the gun cleaning won't be enough to make up for it."

[ocobeam]

ROy's head nearly hit the bar, and he shot Maes a glare.
"What was THAT for?!" he demanded, "What did I do wrong?"

He wasn't sure... but he knew it had something to do with that note.

The Colonel looked at his best friend,
"What does it actually mean?" he asked, sounding deathly afraid of the answer.

[Lierik]

"It means," Maes seethed in uncommon anger, "That you somehow gave Riza the impression that her guns, her dearest positions and her means of protecting you, are best used to...to," He pinched the bridge of his nose, "to get you into another woman's skirt."

[ocobeam]

Roy looked at his friend in utter disbelief... to say the least.
"H-how do you figure that?!" He asked, re-reading the note for himself.
He hadn't thought of it that way.
"I-I only told her that I was..."
He trailed off again, realizing his mistake, and instantly looked ashamed.
"I told her... that I was using them to impress a girl at the firing range..."
He breathed deeply as frustration filled his stomach like acid.
"Dammit... I really screwed up this time..." he muttered, "Maybe she is out of my league..."

He rubbed his temple miserably, gulping his drink down in one shot, instantly ordering another one.

[Lierik]

Hughes sucked in a fortifying breath, "It's okay, Roy. We can work through this. Continue with the current plan, but then we're going to have to add on something... a little more drastic." And death defying, but hey, after this, Roy had it coming.

[ocobeam]

Roy sweat-dropped at the word 'drastic'...
"What do you have in mind?" he inquired... his voice trembling slightly as thousands upon thousands of possibilities ran through his mind like scared mice.

But at that second, a feeling of confidence ran through him, and he knew that he wanted to win her back... He had hurt her, and he was determined to make amends for it... after all... she was being hurt by a woman that didn't even exist!

[Lierik]

Hughes contemplated a moment before saying resignedly, "We're going to need rope. Lots and lots of rope." He threw back his drink like the old hand he was, "And keeping a grappling hook in reserve couldn't hurt either."

Pausing to look over at his friend and noticing he was fingering his empty glass as well, Hughes rose two fingers into the air to call the barman over. "I'll buy you another, Roy. By the time we're through, you're going to need it."

[ocobeam]

Roy looked at his friend, not understanding completely... but he knew something was up...
"What'll I need those for? To kill myself?" he asked, his voice damp with misery.

[Lierik]

Within the hour, Roy found out exactly what the rope (and grappling hook) were for.

Hughes, calling up encouragement from below where Roy Mustang was scaling the wall of his female subordinate's house, called out drunkenly, "An' remember, Ro~y, get Black...Black...Ol' Blacky and throw him down to me~!"

Roy turned over to blink down at his best friend in the whole world, "...Are you s'ure abou'..."

Hughes giggled until he tipped over sideways, at which point he laughed outright. "Yeah! Cour'sh I'm sure! Women lo~ve men who are good fathers!" He smiled angelically, "Why my Gracia~" He blinked hard, "Wha' was I talkin' abou' again?"

Roy blew a rasberry at him.

"Oh yeah! Women lo~ve good fathers! Ya gotta show Riza tha' you can take care o'...Blacky..."

[ocobeam]

Riza had been sleeping with Black Hayate curled under her arm... the place where the dog always slept to keep a keen eye on his master.
The dog's ears perked as he heard yelling coming from outside.
Wriggling from the comforting contact, the dog went to the window to see Roy climbing towards the window.

Roy's groggy eyes fell upon the dog, and he broke out into an almost malicious grin.
"Hey boy..." he slurred, "Come here..."
He reached out, grabbing the dog and was about to make his way back down the building when...

"Bark!Bark!Bark!Bark!"
Riza instantly sat up in her bed.
It was dark, and late... and as she followed her dog's voice, her eyes widened.
She reached for the gun that she usually kept under her pillow, and realized that she had lent it to Roy.
"DAMMIT!" she snapped with an uncharacteristic rage, as she ran to the window.


She was wearing her pajamas, Roy noticed with another drunken grin.

Riza grabbed a knife that she kept in the drawer of her nightstand and was about to at least startle the man into getting her dog back, but the man's hands seemed to slacken and he fell to the ground.
"Black Hayate?!" She called, her eyes wide with fear.
The dog barked up at her, and looked at the man, sniffing him.

Roy groaned as his back hit the pavement. He felt the dog's cold nose digging into his cheek.
"Got 'em!" He said, "Now... le's go..."

[Lierik]

Maes looked from the small dog licking at Roy's cheek to the dark silhouette of the women with the knife in the window and decided that he may have made a slight miscalculation. As such he did as any good military man would. He stood up, grabbed their objective under one arm, and shrieked, "Retreat, retreat!" while weaving drunkenly towards the bushes.

Only once he was safely abscond in the nook of a tree did he realize he had left Roy behind. "...Nooooooooo!" He looked back the way he had come with a broken heart. "It's too late for him now." A single tear fell down his cheek, "I'll always 'emember you, Ro~y!"

[ocobeam]

Roy scrambled clumsily to his feet as he leaned against the wall for stability and looked around for his best friend who had seemed to dissapear.
"Hughes...?" he asked, feeling disoriented and rather nauseous, "Where am I s'posed to put 'im?"
He stumbled out of sight, making his way back...away from her apartment.

Riza donned a robe as she headed down to the street to find the man who was kidnapping her dog.
Her eyes burned with a rare emotion of anger as she held the knife tightly in her delicate hands. She looked around, the streets seemed to be clear.

The Lieutenant nearly cursed the heavens.
Could this day get any worse?

Taking one look around again, she went to her phone to call the Colonel and tell him what happened.