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✿ "Oh, so..." Kari laced the tips of her fingers together, keeping her pace up with the two brothers. She didn't know what she should say but from the look on Ed's face and the aura from Al's 'body' she knew that they were uneasy as well.





✿ "Hm? The Elric brothers?" Kari stopped and turned her head, reaching forward and grabbing onto some part of Al, just to make sure that they stayed with her. From where she looked she saw a man in a white button down shirt, the sleeves pushed up while his eyes strained. In his hands he held some sort of device, but put it down once he saw them and jogged over.




✿ "It is you!" He wiped his forehead and smiled a bit, sticking out his hand and grabbing Ed's to give it a quick shake. His eyebrows went up as he saw Kari letting go of Edwards hand and putting his own on his waist, "Oh, I'm sorry. Usually it's just Edward and Alphonse, I'm second Lieutenant Falman."

✿ Kari blinked a bit as Falman stood back and smiled before rubbing the back of his head and sighing, "Yeah, he thought I should be here and help out the place. I was her a long time ago and then I left, when I came back...well it just wasn't like this before I left." He shrugged and put his hand back onto his waist.





✿ Kari paid attention to what he was saying and looked around a bit but quickly looked back and turned pink when he quirked his eyebrows again. "Hm, do you guys have a place to stay? You can stay with me if you want, the house isn't very nice but it's good enough."




✿ Kari looked back at them, watching as Alyss stretched her hind leg before trying to knead her paws on Al's hand.

✿ Falman gave a small nod before turning a bit, leading them over to his house. "I know it's getting later, if you haven't eaten anything I'll whip something up."





✿ Kari followed after them, Falman leading them to his home which, nicely enough the inside looked better than the outside. It was cozy, with only a couple of rooms. "You guys can stay in here, sorry it's messy I usually just keep it for storage. Theres only one bed right now, but I'll pull out an extra one." He led them to the room that was closest to the front entrance, showing them inside he was right, it was pretty messy. The air seemed stale and there were books lying around with one matress sitting under the window.




✿ Falman left the door open for them to set their things in before leading them to the table. Kari peaked over and took Alyss from Al, keeping her to herself so she didn't feel so out of place. "Well, you're probably wondering what I know. Mustang sent me here to see how the town was doing and obviously it needs some work. But a few weeks ago was when the 'strange' things started happening."

✿ Falman leaned against the doorframe and leaned in a bit, "The villagers have said that they've seen a 'strange' light comming from just on the skirts of the city. I checked out the area but there's nothing there but some rocks, and of course...blood. But how it got that way, I don't know."





✿ Kari took a seat on the bed and pet Alyss' tiny head while she yawned and looked around, blinking her big cat eyes. "Lieutenant Falman!" Kari turned her head, looking at Falmans front door, which was opened, and a tall man stood. He had glasses which covered both his eyes and short brown cropped hair, "Oh, I'm sorry you have company." He readjusted his glasses and looked at the three, this was when Falman pushed himself away from the table and stood. "It's alright, they're from central working on the same case as I am." The mans face grew grim and he gave a curt nod, "Yes, well I hope you find him. But that's not what I came over for, I wanted to borrow some utensils."




✿ Falman nodded and extended his arm out into the air, "Yes, it's fine." The man stepped into the home and looked curtly over Kari, "I'm sorry, I must seem rude to interupt on your conversations." She sat up straighter shaking her head before he smiled, "I know it may seem weird by why don't you come to my home and I'll make it up to you?" Kari could feel her stomach drop with uncertanty, the man chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm not some weirdo, my name is John Leguizamo. I'm sure if I was, your friends could save you anyways." Kari looked back at the boys, before pushing her own body away from the table, "Well, alright" John smiled and walked out, leading Kari to his own home which was two houses away.

✿ Falman nodded and watched as Kari left, looking on as John was babbling to her about something. "It's strange really, it doesn't happen so often but what's even stranger is that it's all females." He looked back at Ed and folded his arms across his chest, putting one hand under his chin as he thought. "Two have been found but the rest haven't, so one has to wonder where the other three are." Falman arched his brows as he heard his small clock tick, turning around and looking at his dinning room table where it was temporarily plugged in. "Well it's getting a bit late, I'll start dinner and drag out the second bed after." He smiled, letting his facial expression go from serious to melancholy once again.





✿ Kari walked with John, keeping Alyss tight in her hand; wondering if it would have been better to leave her with Alphonse. "Here it is," Kari snapped back to reality, angry at herself for not focusing on what was going on around her. Of course at that moment she didn't trust him, with her experience with relationships she didn't trust most - she even suspected Ed and Al at first. But the whole nervous feeling with John went away for a moment as she stepped inside his house. It was welly furnished, something that surprised her for a resident that lived there, but it wasn't overly furnished. Nothing expensive was in his home and most of the things that adorned the shelves were knick-knacks. John smiled curtly once again and tapped his knuckles on his table that laid in his 'dinning room', "It's pretty old." Kari looked back at him and shook her head furiously, pressing Alyss close to her chest. "N-No! It's quaint." Her voice went from excited to quiet, the colors on her face flushing out her cheeks. John chuckled at her and sat down in his nearby chair, "Hm, my wife decorated it." Kari smiled a little smooting out her lips till they became a tight line, as she leaned in and looked at everything on his shelves. His antiques were a bit weird, most of them featured places like the ocean or islands. Kari leaned in on the island, looking at it intently to give her something to do but she started blinking quickly - making her eyes water - as she leaned back a bit; the islands sand floating into the air and getting into her eyes as she sneezed. "Oh, I'm sorry." John tapped his fingertips on the table and slouched, "It's not a problem, the air around here is full of pollen, are your eyes alright?" Kari nodded before continuing to look at his decore, only a few pictures were on the shelf - one in particular catching her eye. It was of John and a girl, sandy colored hair with big eyes, their arms happily around each other while they stood infront of - what she guessed - their home.




✿ "She's gone now." Kari stopped and stood straight, her stomach coiling within itself as she turned and looked back at him but John just waved his hand in the air - dismaying anything she was thinking. "No, it's fine. She was killed in cross fire at war but it was a long time ago." Kari pulled her emotions back and sighed, sitting down across from him. "I'm sorry." John readjusted his glasses and waved her words off once again, "It's alright, it's alright. You know, you kind of remind me of her. It's the shape of your eyes. Here, wait." Kari blinked, feeling meek and touching the area under her eye with her fingertips while John stood up and walked away - comming back a few moments later with two boxes. John set them on the table gruffly, sighing with a bit of exhaustion. "I know this may sound strange but you can have these, they were my wifes clothes and I don't really want them here anymore." Kari blushed and stood up, feeling herself get flustered once again. "Oh, no! I couldn't thats crazy!" John shook his head, smiling a bit before running his fingers through his hair. "It's fine, here I'll take your cat and you can take a look" He reached forward and pulled Alyss out of her arms, the small kitten mewling and blinking wildly at seeing a new face. Kari watched as Alyss sniffed his hands, taking in his sent before relaxing. There wasn't anything too strange about him, if Alyss could trust him why couldn't she? Didn't cats have a sixth sense? Kari opened up the boxes and shifted through the clothes, it was mostly made up of skirts and dresses but it did have some pants and shorts. From the looks of it they did appear to be her size, some appearing a bit bigger; but it wasn't too bad. "Thank you," she looked up and smiled at him, not surprised to find him smiling back. "It's fine, I don't have a use for them."

✿ Stories were told and John didn't seem that bad, he had even given her some juice. They mostly talked about his wife, Johns voice was mellow but with a twinge of sadness; something she expected.





✿ She took a glance at his clock, something she had kept an eye on the whole time she was there. "Oh, well I think I should be going." Kari stood and grabbed Alyss, scooping her up and away from her bowl of milk. It was at this moment that John stood up as well, his aura off-kindering and a bit nervous. "Well, are you going to take the boxes?" Kari had already made her way to the door, turning back a bit and glancing at them. "Oh, well I'll come back for them tomorrow." She smiled at him and he gave one back, but he seemed more nervous than before. "Alright, good. I'll see you tomorrow." Kari waved him off before she walked out, making her back to Falmans temporary home.




✿ Even though she was outside she could already smell the food cooking from within, she stepped inside taking a quick look in the dinning room; the area of the house smiliar to John's. She closed the door, hearing the kitchen's bubbling food. Kari turned and opened the door, feeling as it thunked against some books and knocked them over. She swallowed and looked up, seeing Ed furiously searching through them. Kari fretted and put Alyss down, bending down herself and starting to pick things up. "S-Sorry Ed!"

✿ Kari picked up more books, piling them up and pushing them against the wall. She took more into her arms, piling those up as well, "Huh? Well, why wouldn't I be back?" She pulled her eyebrows thinking for a minute before snorting and pushing more books against the wall. "Mr. Leguizamo is nice but he's a bit old for me Ed, besides' he's still hung up on his wife."





✿ Falman came through the door, smiling a bit. "Dinner's ready," Kari looked around a bit, deciding that two piles were good enough before getting up off the floor. She walked into the dinning area and sat down at the table, seeing that they had made a basic soup with some ingredients still in it. "How did everything go?" Kari looked up, turning pink just a bit before looking back down. "It was fine, he's nice."




✿ Falman nodded and dipped his spoon into the bowl, spinning it around a bit. "I heard you talking about his wife with Ed." Kari nodded, spinning her own spoon into the soup and watching as the steam floated upward. "Yes, she died a long time ago in cross-fire. He still seems to be mourning, he has all her things still." Falman nodded and took some of his soup, "Yeah, apparently he was an architect and dabbled into herbal medicine, but when his wife died he put all that behind him. But everything was alright then?" Kari kept spinning her spoon around the bowl, thinking about it for a moment. Towards the end he did get a little creepy but she took it as he hadn't talked to too many people for a few years. "Yes, everything was fine."

✿ Kari ate her soup in silence, mostly staring at the table and what was on it; everyone's bowls. Falman finished quickly, something she didn't notice or expect since he seemed fairly humble.





✿ He pushed himself away from the table and stood, "I'll go get the extra bed." He rubbed the back of his head, making his grey-silvery hair stand up in the back. Kari didn't look but she heard, she listened as he grabbed his bowl and went into the kitchen cleaning it off before going out the front door and - to where she suspected - some sort of shed in the back to pull out the bed.




✿ Most of her thoughts were on John and the things he talked about, all his wife. The photos and items in his house that commeorated her and still kept her alive to him. She chewed on her spoon a bit thinking about the boxes of clothing he had offered her, it was true that he didn't need them but why not sell them? Her thoughts went away as the front door slammed open, her sitting up and looking over to watch Falman as he brought in the extra bed and set it up on the floor of the other room.