automailed | [Voice/Action] this is the latest goddamn post

[It’s an abnormally quiet household for Edward and Winry today, now that the third member of their family is gone, and while he’d be content to keep his misery to himself in any other situation, this particular little person has made a huge impact in enough lives that it needs to be shared. So...]

Hey, Edward here. For everyone who knew her, Elicia Hughes was sent home.

[Locked to Sheena, Tony, Katniss, and Law]

There was some stuff here left for you, if you want to swing by sometime and pick it up.

[Ed’s going to be hanging around the house for most of the day, though by late afternoon he’ll be going to the Battle Dome to basically destroy everything he can get away with in the simulations until he drags himself home or is otherwise kicked out. In the evening, however, he's actually going to swing by the bar. Not for drinking, necessarily, it just seems like the place to go when you want to wallow.

He's only just finished his second year in Luceti, and this happens? Yeah, this week totally sucks.]

(ooc: wow like a million apologies for the lateness of this. If anyone has ICly acknowledged Elicia going home previously ~~since this is seriously like three weeks late~~ I apologize extra for that, but otherwise we’re assuming this week is a good time for it. RL business for all involved delayed things.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The first time he hears it, he feels numb. Elicia Hughes was sent home. Five words. Five simple words, and he's numb.

She was gone. The little light that had brought him out of the darkness so many times. The girl who always believed in him as a hero. Healed his wounds when he was too banged up to stay conscious. Patiently wrote him notes when he couldn't speak. Clung to him like her life depended on it when her mother was sent home. Fell asleep on his shoulder after she cried herself dry. And slowly, he can feel the emptiness start to creep into his heart.

Goddammit. He knew it was better this way. She never should have been here in the first place. But the emptiness pervades, and he finds himself at the door of her house before long. If she left things for him, he wanted them. He wanted anything she had to give.

He knocks. ]

[Edward answers the door after a minute, not exactly thrilled to be greeting people but also wanting to get this over with. Where once they might have bickered and snapped at each other, there's only a quiet grief on his part when he greets Tony, mumbling a "hey" and stepping aside, jerking his head to let the man in.]

I've got the stuff in the kitchen, come on in.

[ Even if he had had the voice to open with a quick piece of banter, he wouldn't have. Not this time. His humor was all but sobered up as he followed Ed silently into the house. It was so quiet there, but even still, he half-expected to see Elicia's beaming face appear from around a corner at any moment.

He shouldn't, but he wished it would. ]

[Another visitor, another awkward and miserable exchange. Edward's honestly grateful that Tony isn't speaking - that he can't, he remembers now, Elicia had told him about that - since it means he doesn't need to really talk about what's happened here. Instead he heads into the kitchen, gathering up the collection of little drawings Elicia had done that feature the man, anything that was obviously either for or featuring him. It's only right that he gets some little reminder of how much he meant to her, in case she never returns.

...It would be better if she didn't, he knows. But no one's really going to say it.]

[ He lets the silence run uninterrupted, waiting with his hands clasped behind his back for Edward to finish gathering up whatever he had to give him. He anticipated whatever he had to hand off, whatever small reminder of Elicia's cheer that Tony might be able to glean. But at the same time, he didn't want the finality that came with notes, like they were someone's last will and testament being parsed out.

She was better off now. With her mother. She was better off. Still out there somewhere, just not here. That was good. ]

[After a moment Ed passes the pages over, looking uncomfortable and quietly wondering if he should leave the man alone. It's his house, sure, but he hadn't realized they were so close, and this seems deeply personal.]

It's not much, but- well, here.

[To some people it's probably plenty.]

[ It wasn't much, but no volume of papers would have been enough, to be fair. He takes the pages in hand, but doesn't look at them yet - no, he would wait until he could be with Pepper to do that.

He nods appreciatively, though. Must be tough on the kid. Winry, too. ]

[Edward stands there for a moment in painfully awkward silence, scratching the back of his head as he considers his options. Should he, like, offer something? Talk about her? Ask if- right, right, he can't talk. Uh.

...Wow, this is hard.]

Do you, uh. Want anything? Like- something to- ...or just to talk, or...

[...REALLY, REALLY HARD]

[ Fortunately for Ed, Tony has gotten what he came for, and he doesn't intend to stay. He might have a word or two to say if he could, but they would have been half-hearted at best and he wasn't going to go through the trouble with his translator.

So he just shakes his head, and turns to go. ]

[Well, Edward's not about to stop him. At most he'll walk him back to the door, just as half-hearted and really only doing it out of...duty? More or less. It's the polite thing to do, and he's doing it.

But he'll be glad when this whole business is over, that's for sure.]

[Voice/Action] this is the latest goddamn post

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;