Just A Day

[Guest]

Click.

The car door opened immaculately, and two black heels touched against the Central City tarmac. A gloved hand strained inside a suit jacket, and rose to cover eyes clad by simple Osiris sunglasses. Where there would have been rich, tanned Cretan skin, there was simply a second layer of blackness, an abyssal, deep, and metallic tone. Steel. Cold, hard, carbonised steel.

Click.

Almost as soon as it had opened, the door was shut once more. Eames clasped his hands together. He grimaced, looking up at the sun, a single golden iris piercing through the tinted glass and falling then upon the Central skyline. Skyscrapers, department stores, restaurants, even houses... all there - and all being rebuilt. He was due at one of the more... complete ones, this particular day. A business merger which, a rare occurrence, required his direct presence.

He hated these events. He hated business. But as much as he hated it, he needed it. Eames didn't have anything else to fall back onto - sure, he could become an automail mechanic, but for the sacrifice that it cost him, and the money that it made him, ditching the Eames empire would be a stupid decision. It made him feel guilty, and passive, so, unbeknownst to just about everyone, he siphoned off 10% of his monthly profits into a number of charities, but Eames still despised the way these meetings made him feel.

And he despised the other businessmen in their Armani suits with their scantily-clad firm-buttocked secretaries who they were more undoubtedly indulging in an affair with. Ah, well... at least he had Karen to prevent these other scumbags from throwing themselves head-first into corporate espionage, and a world of tactile and legal hurt. These men were gangsters, swindlers, grifters, and conmen, just as much as those on the street. The only difference was that it was legalised.

Eames had decided, however, to bathe his figure with the fresh air before sitting through another dreary meeting where he focused entirely on his pen, or some other random and otherwise insignificant object on his person. Boring, but necessary. Every second he spent in those conference rooms was another his muscles ached for release, ached to fight, spar, practise, tweak, tinker, screw, wrench, fasten... just anything, but be still. Anything.

A walk would do him well. Refresh him. And perhaps he and Karen would meet an interesting figure or two on the way, no?

[Guest]

Ah Central City. You'll never find a greater hive of scum and villainy in all of Amestris. Wait no, that was a lie. This was nothing like East's slums. Less gangs, less poverty, less danger. But there certainly was something here that East's slums lacked, and that was the ever so revered jive cat in a suit, with pockets full of bread. Aishe had never been one petty mugging. No, there was no way to get down with that. But a bit of sleight of hand never hurt, especially when the targets were crumbs with their glasses over their eyes. In that case, it was more like stealing back the cash that was stolen from you in the first place. Never more than fifty smacks, it was the kinda money cats like that wouldn't miss any time soon. Besides, she usually gave it to homeless cats on the street. The Robin Hood creed, if you would.

The Ishvallan girl leaned against the brick foundation of an old building; biding her time as crowds passed by and sizing up her targets. A few minutes pass and she spots the poor sap. A man in a nice suit, nice shades, stepping out of a nice car. Oh, he had heavy pockets written all over him. Time to play, thought Aishe

The girl set into motion, slipping off her brick wall rest, and into the crowd she set to work. Weaving through the masses of people, like a pedestrian on her way, she moved in closer and closer to the sighted man. With scarlet eyes focused on some distant horizon, as to not give her intention away, Aishe moved closer at a steady pace, appearing as if she were just another person passing close by. But when she was finally shoulder to shoulder, deft fingers slipped into his his right suit pocket, having already seen the bulge there. As smoothly as she walked by, the contents of his pockets would drift away. What interesting catch would she make off with today, she wondered.

[Guest]

The sunlight glinted off of the small compacts mirror as delicate fingers with painted nails touched up her lipstick that was a lovely crimson color. Her hands were steady despite the slowing of the car next to the curb, twisting the lipstick until the stick vanished into its depths, the compact snapping closed just as the car door was opened by their driver. Karen slipped the lid back onto her lipstick and let it vanish into a pocket of her white short coat that was so very signature to her just like her red embroidered dress. Except she wasn't wearing that particular dress today. She was wearing the new one that Leon had bought her since he ruined the other one during their sparring match. She hadn't really minded that, she had another copy of it in her closet amongst other pretty clothes. Her dress was far more discreet than her usual clothes, the color black and rather simple. There was a front slit that went high up on her left leg, just barely revealing the holster for her kunai that wrapped around her thigh. Only one for today given what she was wearing. There was some minor embroidery along the edges of the slit, the color a soft lilac that matched the flower also embroidered over her left collar bone above the frogs that held it closed. Black heels matched the whole ensemble, her long hair hanging free per usual and hiding half of her features.

She slid out of the car after her employer, her eyes immediately darting about the area to judge for potential threats while appearing as demure as possible. She held a few folders in one arm to aid in her assistant look, for the moment remembering all she could about the country they found themselves in. She knew Amestris held a great many alchemists, was very military based, and was still rebuilding from their war with Creta. Other than that, she knew pretty much nothing aside from the language. The gold bangles on her wrists clinked together as her eyes turned upwards towards the buildings to judge if there could be snipers or not aside from admiring the view. At least... as much as she could. She had thought previously that parts of Xing were bad given how old certain sections were, but this made those places look like a ritzy part of town. Creta had certainly done a number on them, hadn't they?

But now back to the task at hand. Karen turned her attention to Leon as they began to walk down the street, wondering just how *thrilled* he must be to have to part take in this particular affair. Probably about as much as watching paint dry. He lacked the liveliness that he held when they sparred, or when he was working on one of his inventions. It made her... uncomfortable to see that. He was the heir to a great company, should he not be excited in some way by it? Then again she had absolutely no experience in these matters whatsoever. She was merely a tool for her government, and Leon's assistant/bodyguard. So she decided to do her best to keep this trip at least somewhat enjoyable for him no matter how hard that might be--

A white haired woman had bumped into her employer, Karen immediately taking a high alert interest in her. Only certain types of people would bump into a man who clearly held power and had a woman like her next to him. Thieves or oblivious fools who weren't paying enough attention. The fact that the woman hadn't apologized for bumping into him was only increasing Karen's concern to the point that a hand lashed out and gripped the woman's wrist in a steely grip with the speed of a snakes strike. "Excuse me," she shifted her grip on her folder as she turned to face this potential threat, "But you should apologize when you bump into someone." Her other hand slid down to check the womans right hand that she held so tightly, finding Leon's wallet there. With a charming smile, her eyes bored into the thief as she regained possession of her employers property. "If you apologize now, I won't cut off a finger or two for this." Her voice lowered to a murmur, carefully observing the Ishvallan woman for her reaction.

[Guest]

Eames had indeed noticed the Ishvallan woman, of a fine, milky complexion, brush past him, and thought it rude that she hadn't apologised. As his hand went to his jacket pocket all-too-late, he realised that he had indeed been robbed, and growled, spinning immediately into action; no matter how disgusting he found corporate executives and their ways, grimy thieves and lowlifes were no better. Perhaps he hadn't exactly earned his money through his own blood, sweat, and tears, but he'd more than make up for it in the end - and even if he didn't, that gave nobody a right to steal from him.

Before Eames could swing into action, however, Karen had already gripped her wrist, and spun the Ishvallan towards her. "If you apologize now, I won't cut off a finger or two for this." Eames' anger turned to relief, and his growling into a sigh; his jolting towards the pair of them slowed to a brisk walk as he shook his head and chuckled lightly. "I was going to take care of it, Karen,"

He moved back up to her, and took his wallet, folding it back into place and slipping it now into an inside pocket of his jacket, for security. Karen still held her tight, just in case Eames did have a little something else to say to her, or if it was a particularly bad day for him, and he decided that a finger would be an adequate penalty. In this area of Central, with a lowlife like her, the man wondered whether it would really be passed by or not...

"I'd apologise, if I was you," He said drearily. "She meant what she said - about the finger. It's not pretty, trust me," Eames chuckled, and went through a routine pat-down of his jacket once more; all the pockets were full, it seemed-

Eames' one good eye narrowed beneath the sunglasses. His growl returned; and all colour faded from his face. He grabbed the girl once more by the shoulder, and grasped her other hand as quickly as he could, pulling her grip open over a small black pouch. It was simple, and fairly humble; two black strings pulled to open and close it, and inside it contained... something. Eames snatched it back once more, growling at her, and holding the pouch up. "Why this?!" The grip of his steeled fingers tightened on her shoulder once more, tapered fingers starting to press into her flesh beneath the glove. "What do... why?!"

Beneath thumb and metal finger, Eames vigorously rubbed the contents of the pouch, trailing his fingers over small, beaded chains, and a few metal rectangles within, numerous letters and numerals stamped into it. He clenched a fist around it; it was possible she'd just taken it accidentally along with the wallet - but this? This deserved more than an apology. For this, he'd have an explanation.

[Csilla Angelis]

{BUMP}

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