Looking for something.

[Guest]

Loki always wanted to visit the town of Rasembool. He had heard a lot about it as it's fame was widespread. Even the neighbouring towns knew of it for it's festivals of Spring or something, and well - it was Spring right now. And right now Loki could take a break from all the business he had and all the security, as he visited the town in secret, without even most of the higher-ups knowing.
He wore his usual purple attire that consisted out of a suit, pants, shoes, gloves and a pair of glasses. His hair was released from the grip of the ponytail and was flowing freely. Not that the wind swept it all around - no, right now Loki Dragunoff was lying under a tree on a picnic blanket he made himself. It was crude, yet somewhat cute - and the alchemist was surely proud of his work, even though others would call it too girly.

Loki yawned and stretched his arms, looking at the blue morning sky. Soon the market would open, and the man decided to attend no matter what. But for now... it was time for a peaceful nap.

"Such fine weather, desu ne?" - he muttered to himself, looking at the people moving in the distance.

[Sal]

Salazar inhaled deeply through his nose, then let all the air back out in one large huff. Above him, the sky was absolutely lovely. Sunny, and not too many clouds - just the way he liked it. Though he had to admit, running around by himself in Amestris was quite a crazy thing to do. He shook off that thought and walked down the path. He did get a few looks, which made him a little nervous - maybe it was because someone his age was walking around by himself, or maybe they knew something was different about him. Or maybe, just maybe, they weren't fond of Ishvallan people - he had never heard of any such thing, but he realized that there weren't many people around that looked like him. Just to be on the safe side, he touched the sides of his head. "Still there," he muttered, coming in contact with the hair pins that kept his ears in place. That was one less reason to attract attention, but after a few minutes, he didn't think it would have mattered.

Finally tired of the constant looks, he strayed from the path and took to walking in the grassy areas. There were trees around as well, he noted, and he walked up to one and lightly touched the bark. He'd never had the time to really examine one so far. It was always walk, sell, rest, walk, sell, rest...Until that time when Jie Huan became too ill to move around as much. They were in the desert areas, then.

The boy was lost in his thoughts of the past as he walked, and only snapped out of them when he tripped over something. It couldn't have been an animal, nor did it seem like the root of a tree - it wasn't rough enough to be a tree's root. Luckily, he was able to react quickly enough to do a complete faceplant. His arms came out in front of him, and he rolled to the side after the collision. Maybe the ears weren't just for show, after all. Sal rolled onto his back and sat up to examine the object that he tripped over. To his surprise (not a pleasant one, either), it had been a man's leg. He looked up at the man's face, dismayed. The person before him was wearing a purple suit, which, to Salazar, meant he was important. "Ah! I-I s-sorry, mister..." He looked down at his own feet, embarrassed, but trying to keep his composure. If those pins came loose, that would be one more problem to deal with.

[Guest]

Loki's eyes were slowly closing. With nothing to do and such a relaxed atmosphere the alchemist had nothing to do. Thoughts came into his head at a slow rate, even more slower... his sight became more narrow, and soon the objects were all in a blur, as there was only a few moments before he would drift away to sleep....
Then suddenly a frenzied ferret jumped on his leg, screaming about revenge for his brother and his ice-cream, making Loki jump up, while screaming:

"GYYAAAAAAAAH!!!!!" - the Tzar would fall down, if he had been standing, but luckily he wasn't. He breatherd heavily and looked at his leg. No - there was no ferrets, nor was there a bite mark. It was all a dream - just a dream. But - he noticed someone sitting near him, looking at him. Saying something like "Sorry mister."
So someone did run into his leg, but it was no ferret. That made Loki laugh a little bit. he inspected the one who tripped over his leg. He was just a kid - he was, and he seemed preplexed at the moment. And it would seem he had some Ishballan roots - quite a rarity. Loki reached for his leg, smiling at first, but then his expression turned to fear and nearly tears... he hanged his head, talking quietly, yet loudly:

"My leg.... it's.... broken." - he raised his head towards the boy, Loki had tears in the corners of his eyes. - "I can't feel my leg. It won't move.... oh no. Oh God - why? WHY?!!" - the last words were almost a scream, as Loki used his acting talents to make the kid believe that he broke his leg by tripping over it. Most kids would believe him - adults never lie in situations like this, but Loki wasn't just any adult.

[Sal]

Salazar tensed up as the man sat up and looked at him, but he didn't yell - no, the man LAUGHED. Wait, laughed? The boy frowned at that response, seeing nothing funny about the situation. Although he was relieved at the same time. He let out a heavy sigh and got to his feet as the man proceeded to look at his leg. 'Thank goodness, I'm still alive...he hasn't killed me yet... Yeah, yet. That was the operative word here. Yet. There was still a chance for him to exact his revenge, but that wasn't the time to be thinking about that - There was something terribly wrong here. The man was no longer smiling, which was definitely a bad sign. No, it was a HORRIBLE sign. A horrible, horrible sign. Instead of a smile, this man's face held an expression of fear. It was an expression that Salazar knew all too well. He could feel his body tense up again. This was definitely NOT good. At ALL.

No..."Broken??" This was becoming a bit too much to handle for the boy. He was all alone, in a strange place, and now he was even breaking legs. There was no way he would get out of this completely unscathed. Great, just great. He had to be making enemies now, of all times. Sal suddenly grew afraid of what was going to happen. As the man's voice escalated, the boy began to tremble. 'No, no, no, no, no... "N-no! I-I! N-no! I didn't! Ahhh!" The boy shrieked, quite frightened at this event, and as the hair pins keeping his ears back came loose, the adrenaline that surged through his body released something that he didn't even knew he had - a tail. He felt the tears well up, and he brought his hands up to his face.

This wasn't something he had hoped to encounter, not at all! The boy was beginning to panic. Normally this wouldn't have produced such a reaction, but with everything that was going through his mind, this made him lose his composure completely. He looked at the man, trembling, on the verge of tears, with his ears and tail now in plain sight.

[Guest]

Now Loki felt real bad. He didn't want the kid to start crying - he was just joking around! The young man rose up quickly, showing that everything's okay with his leg, he ran up to the kid and crouched near him, not noticing the ears and tail yet, his waist-long hair, which wasn't held by a ribbon right now, was thrown around by the wind:

"Hey-hey, I'm sorry - I'm really sorry. I was just joking, everything's fine, see?" - Loki tried to show the most calm and warm smile he could. - "Don't cry okay? Hey stop - I didn't mean for it to turn out this way!" - Loki quickly put his hand into one of his pockets and pulled out a tasty muffin. He bought 4 off some old lady - they turned out to be rather tasty - and he still had two left. He gave one to the boy - just to make him cheer up and stop crying. - "Hey - have this, it's tasty, maybe this way you can forgive me, huh?"
That went not as planned. Loki wasn't doing that in the near future again. The man sat down, sighing hard. Now he caught attention of the boy's ears - and a tail. Could this mean that this boy was a Chimera? It was a second time for Loki to see one - he was very intrigued, and had forgotten all about what happened a few moments ago. Now he was looking at the boy's ears with an expression of pure childish interest. He looked like a child himself now. Of course - Loki was 24, but he looked like he was 19. And with that face - people would give him 15-16 and not higher.

"Are those ears? Whoa..."

[Sal]

Sal thought he might have a total breakdown, but the man suddenly seemed to panic and stood up rapidly, showing his leg was perfectly fine. When he quickly came over and crouched down to calm the boy, he smiled, but it was clearly only a half smile. Obviously, he was just as much in a frenzy as Salazar himself. Noticing the man's long hair blowing in the wind helped calm the chimera down the most, but when this stranger pulled out something that seemed to resemble bread, his attention was immediately drawn to it. He stopped crying so quickly that it seemed as though someone flipped an off switch.

Reluctantly, he grabbed the muffin from the strangers hand and sniffed it. It seemed safe enough... He shot the man a quick glance before taking a small bite. It was... "Mmmm, good!" Sal placed the muffin in his mouth and bit down just enough so it wouldn't fall. As good as it was, there was something else that had his attention at the moment: the hair that was being tossed around by the wind. His ears perked up, and without thinking, the boy scooted close and reached over the man's shoulder, grabbing his hair and playing with it. All the while, his tail waved back and forth, and he was content. It was rather soft hair, which was strangely appealing to the chimera.

He even ignored the man's question, but not purposely - he was so engrossed in the texture, color, and length of the hair that even the muffin was starting to become soggy where his fanged mouth gripped it. It didn't bother him in the least. Sal just continued to lean over the stranger's shoulder, absorbing everything he could about his rather interesting hair, and said not a word.

[Guest]

Loki had sighed with ease, as if a huge boulder just fell of his shoulder. It seemed like the chimera boy calmed down, and now was playing with his hair. Wait.... playing... with his hair?! Loki just noticed that it was free of it's rubber band and was flowing around in the wind. Which caused the boy to grab it...

"Ow, hey - don't pull on my hair!" - Loki tried to free himself, but to no avail, since the boy had gripped his hair. - "Let go, hey - I'm telling you to stop, oi!"

Loki tried to shake off the kid by shaking his head, but man - that brought only discomfort and no apparent freedom. Sure - he had hair even more so enchanting and long than most women had, but that didn't mean people could pull on it. Then Loki noticed that the muffin was getting all soggy from the kid's drool. Okay - not the most pleasant sight, but his face was so close that Loki could see all the details. He tried to think of a way to get out of this one, but nothing came to mind. Okay - some things came to mind, but he would scare the kid and he didn't want that, after all.
Loki smirked:

"So that's how you want it to be, huh?" - he said, showing a tricky expression and suddenly grabbed the kid's left ear. Not that it would hurt him - Loki at least hoped that would startle him and he would let go.

[Sal]

As Salazar played with the man's hair, he felt very much unlike his old self. Sure, he wasn't exactly his old self, anymore, but still - It felt strange. His tail was still waving back and forth in a playful fashion, completely oblivious to the struggles of the stranger. It was clear that it would take some effort to remove the boy from the lovely locks, but any on-lookers would not have to wait much longer. Loki grabbed the furry white ear on the chimera's left, and the boy stopped moving, almost paralyzed. There was something odd about the sensation. His ear was being handled by another's hands. Then, slowly, his tail dropped to the ground, and he let go of the man's hair.

This new feeling was confusing to Salazar. One thing was certain, though - It wasn't a bad feeling. It reminded him of his past, when he was only a few years old, when he would be cradled in Jie Huan's lap...Yes, it was a comforting feeling, almost. Although, it was a simple touch, nothing more. Sal suddenly grew limp, and just let his arms hang down behind this stranger, with his chin resting on his shoulder. The original shock of being touched had worn off, and he just lay there, still. His breathing was somewhat heavy, but it was slow. With a thud, the soggy muffin finally gave way, and dropped down to the ground.

The strangest was yet to occur - the boy felt less like a human by the second. His white tail began to move again, but this time, it was only the tip that waved about slightly. It was as though a touch to his ear calmed him down, and at the same time, made him vulnerable. Then a sound came from the chimera. It wasn't a word, nor was it a sound that any human being would make. The sound was akin to - no, it WAS - a purring sound coming from the boy.

[Guest]

That was purring just now - wasn't it? Loki sat there, surprised and taken aback, but then he remembered that the boy was a Chimera after all. A Chimera was an experiment that fused together humans and animals, so it was really no surprise that this boy was fused with a cat. That fact however made Loki sad. Who would be monstrous enough to do something to this boy?! A sudden feeling of sadness overcame Loki - he really felt sorry for the boy and was angry at the people who made him this way.
Loki scratched behind the boy's fluffy ear and then began to stroke his hair. He spoke quietly:

"Poor boy. Poor boy... the world can be a cruel place, desu ne?" - he continued to slowly stroke his head while he continued. - "I... I... umm..." - the problem was that the sound alchemist really had nothing to say right now. He felt like he should say or do something but he could really understand what to say. He wanted to tell the boy that everything was okay,that he would try and find the people who did this to him, that they could be friends if the boy wanted to. But.... he couldn't.
Then Loki mustered up some courage and asked the boy, pulling a little away from him so that he could see his face clearly:

"Hey - what's your name? I'm Loki."

[Sal]

Salazar purred more as Loki began to actually pet him. This was a wonderful sensation for the chimera. He wondered what it would have been like for him if everyone treated him this way. That was to say, he felt as though he hadn't had enough close contact with anyone like this. Even when he met Ryuichi, all he did was grip the man's shirt - but this... This was entirely different. In fact, when Loki pulled back from him, he almost felt a bit sad about the fact that he was no longer within reach of his body heat. Then again, it could have been a possibility that this came from the warmth-loving cat in him. Either way, he had enjoyed it.

The kitten-like boy looked at the man feeling somewhat drowsy and comfortable, which was a combination guaranteed to lead to nap time - or rather, a cat nap. With a yawn, he responded to the question of his name.

"Salazar.....I'm....Sal." The boy rubbed his eyes a bit and yawned again, stretching his arms into the air. After a short pause, he looked up at Loki and reached his arms toward him. He plopped forward, not caring how he landed, and yawned once again. As he began to fall asleep, he quietly muttered, mainly to himself, but just loud enough so that the other would be able to hear it. "Loki..." His ears twitched a little, and his tail waved around lazily. "Mmm... Loki..." The muttering was a combination of memorizing the name, as well as a sign of acceptance. It was another one of the boy's strange habits. If he accepted someone as a friend, he would repeat their names to imprint them into his memory for good.

His eyes slowly started to close as he repeated the name once more.

[Guest]

"Ummm..." - Loki hardly kept sitting as the boy fell down on his lap. Okay... he was a cat alright. At least he had told the man his name. Salazar - a very unique name, if you really think about it, but right now Loki wasn't thinking much about it - he was thinking how to prevent the boy to sleep. But then again - he was about to sleep 15 minutes ago. Why not let the boy have a nap for a few hours anyway? It wasn't like Loki was needed elsewhere right now, and the festival would start closer to the evening.
Loki looked at Sal, listening as the boy repeated his name a few times. To some - it would only be muttering, but Loki could hear everything clearly. He smiled. No one ever repeated his name like that before, unless he was spacing out and someone called out out him... but that was different. There were different emotions present.

Loki continued to pet the boy chimera as the latter dozed off to sleep. The alchemist himself looked up, staring at the sky through the shadows of the leaves of the big tree they were under. He smiled again.

[Sal]

-- 2 hours later --

Sal slowly opened his left eye before blinking vigorously. He felt good after taking his nap, and more relaxed than ever before. It was a pleasant experience and he hoped he would be able to feel this way more often. The smell of the greenery filled his nostrils, and the cool breeze brushed his skin. As the wind blew through the trees, the sound tickled his ears. Maybe this is what it was like to live in a place like this, with trees and grass and a perfect sky.

When he was more-or-less awake, he opened both eyes and looked down. Realizing that these were legs that he was seeing, he slowly tilted his head upward until he recognized what - or who - he had been sleeping on. The boy felt a little embarrassed at first, and his face had a slight pinkish tint, but he buried his head behind his arms, which were now crossed on Loki's legs. Why hadn't the man woken him up or moved him? After all, they didn't know each other for more than--

"The time!" Sal shouted suddenly, lifting himself up with his arms as support. "Uhh..." The boy pointed at the sun and thought for a moment. "How many times?" he asked, as he continued to gesture at the sun. He knew how to ask the time, but what he wanted to know was how long he'd been asleep. He then repeated his question, pointing at his wrist instead. Hopefully Loki would be able to understand what he meant.

[Aurelius Schwartz]

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