on a 'mission' [open]

[Selim Bradley]

He didn't know where he was. He had never bothered to listen to his mother when she was explaining where they were going. No, he was too focused on the moving landscape beyond the glass that separated him from the rest of Amestris. His face was pressed up against the glass with his hands on either side of his face, his breath creating warm fog on the smooth surface. The scenery outside blurred, the different shades of greens, browns, and blues mixing together to form one big mess of lines with random pops of colors whenever they passed flowers or people. The car wasn't even going that fast, but with your face so close to a foggy window and your vision beginning to blur, anything could happen.

Feeling a sharp tug on the collar of his shirt, the boy was pulled back down to his seat. He let out an oomf! at the impact, a frown forming on his face as he turned toward his mother, a pout forming as his bottom lip jutted out. His pouting got him nowhere, so he settled with crossing his arms across his chest and staring out the window once more. The narrowing of his eyes didn't last for long as he was once more captivated by the moving colors as the car turned and began to slow down.

He didn't know where he was. It was a town, that much he knew. It wasn't one he knew about, however, but it was a town nonetheless. The driver got out of his seat, moving to open the door to let his mother out. Normally he would have slipped out after his mother, but his excitement got the better of him. He gripped the handle, giving a great push to force open his door. Out, out he went, the door hanging open as he shot off to explore. He could hear his mother calling after him, but the grin on his face was enough to let anyone know that he wasn't listening.

He was on a mission: find the most interesting thing or person.

[Lieutenant Yoki]

His feet hurt from walking, and it was getting hot out. He squinted up at the sun, wishing it could tone it down just a bit. Unfortunately, the sun didn't take orders so he opted to look for some shade instead. He had recently come to a small town not too far from Central- his destination- and stooped into a rather shady alleyway. It wasn't even that dirty; he deemed it a rather satisfactory alleyway. He had left Heinkel and Darius about three weeks ago and had managed to catch rides most of the way to Central, but he had been on foot for two days- two days too many in his opinion; he hated walking and pretty much all other forms of physical activity. Sitting down and leaning against the wall he removed his pack and rummaged around for his water canteen. Finding it he grew rather disheartened at how light it felt. He unscrewed it and turned it upside down over his mouth. Nothing. He shook it a few times to make extra sure. Nope, it was definitely empty. Frowning, he tossed it back into his pack and pulled out his wallet instead, not expecting much better. He had a little bit of money left, maybe enough for a ride to Central or some food, he looked through all the little compartments twice to make sure. Nope, no extra hidden money. He sighed and let his head fall back against the wall- a little too hard- his eyes watered a bit and he rubbed the back of his head as he pouted.

It looked like he would have to choose between walking to Central or dying of starvation or dehydration. How long could you live without water? Three days? Or was it three weeks? He counted the days off on his fingers, but in the long run that didn't really help him at all since he wasn't sure what he was counting. Damn it all, I'll just walk, I'm starving. he thought to himself, stuffing his wallet back into his pack and gathering it up, ready to get up and find some cheap food stall.

[Selim Bradley]

It was amazing how fast his legs could take him, despite how short they were. He whizzed past different people of various shapes and sizes, eyes barely sparing a glance toward them. He was kicking up dirt, dust, gravel, and whatever else found itself underneath his shoes, probably spraying the legs of the strangers he passed. He didn't care. If it upset them, then they could take it up with his mother. Only then would he care. For now, however, he would just have to focus on his mission.

The young boy slowed his pace down to the jog before he was walking. Well, walking with a slight jolt of speeding up his pace before slowing back down once more. It was finally occurring to the boy that, in order to fulfill his mission, he needed to actually take the time to look at everyone, peek into every corner. And that he did, wide black eyes changing direction every few seconds. There was a woman sweeping the porch, boring. There was a dog sleeping in the shade of a building, boring. There was a dark alleyway... Better.

He had been told on several occasions never to run off alone, something he tended to do regardless of who he was with. He had also been told never to wander into alleys. This rule didn't apply to today, he concluded. Picking up his pace, he jogged over to the building, running his hands along the rough stone material covering the walls as he neared the alley. The child paused, slowly leaning forwards so he could peek into the alley. Bingo. Someone was inside. A grin split across his face, childish naivety keeping his mind from screaming stranger danger! Well, he thought it was a stranger. A lot of people back in Central City seemed to know him without him knowing them, so they weren't strangers.

"Hi, mister!" He chirped, keeping the lower half of his body concealed behind the building while he allowed one hand to jut out, waving at the man with the funny facial hair.

[Lieutenant Yoki]

Reaching down, Yoki grabbed his pack and was about to sling it over his shoulder when something caught his attention. There seemed to be a small person just outside the alley trying to talk to him, but his eyes were adjusted to the shadows by this time and it was difficult to determine any details. He blinked a couple times as they came into focus. Oh. It was just a kid. He narrowed his eyes and grumbled under his breath; he didn't have time to be dealing with lost brats today. He adjusted his pack and was prepared to just walk out of the alley and ignore the kid, but something made him stop and look again. There was something familiar about the boy, he just couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The realization hit him all at once, and his first instinct was to jump back and raise his arms defensively. "Y-you stay away from me you little demon."he stammered, backing up some more and making a shooing motion with one of his hands. So this was it, he was going to die alone in an alley, eaten by a small demon child. This really wasn't how he had expected to go, he hoped it wouldn't be too painful. Tensing up he prepared for his last moments- which honestly seemed to be taking too long. Opening an eye he saw that nothing had changed, and upon closer examination the kid looked a bit smaller than last time. Surely the Elric brothers wouldn't have let one of those dangerous monsters free without warning everyone first? The thought made him feel a little better, but he was still sure it was the same boy. Allowing himself to relax just a little he lowered his arms, making sure to keep a close watch on kid- who did seem a bit too cheerful for an evil monster about to kill someone. He wasn't quite sure what was worse, kids or monsters.

[Selim Bradley]

He blinked, staring up at the man, trying to lock his eyes with the stranger. Due to height differences, this was only a futile attempt especially since he couldn't see past his nose. What?The man's mustache was distracting him! He had never seen someone with such hair protruding from their upper lip. There was the urge to reach up and tug on it, but he knew better than that. His mother would scold him if he even tried to do that. It was rude to pull on hair without permission, even with permission as they might get hurt.

His grin fell from his face at the man's reaction. He seemed to recognize him, but Selim, for the life of him, couldn't remember who he was. Had he met him before? This man obviously had, or he was confusing him for someone else. He did call him a--Hey! Wait! A frown formed on his face, eyes narrowing up at the man. He crossed his arms across his chest, taking a step away from the cover of the building. "I'm no demon, mister funny hair!" His childish instincts took over as he leaned forwards, sticking his tongue out at the man. His mother would scold him for doing such a thing, but she wasn't here right now, was she? No.

Slipping his tongue back into his mouth, he unfolded his arms. He brought one hand up to his head, fixing the bangs that only provided some sort of shield for the red symbol on his forehead. Mother never told him what it was, so he just assumed it was some weird birthmark. She did say to keep it hidden, so he might as well try to do so even though he forgot his hat at home today. Looking back up to the man, he dropped his hand to his side, that pouting frown still upon his face.

[Lieutenant Yoki]

Huh? He appeared dumbfounded at the kids reaction. This definitely wasn't that Pride thing or whatever its name was, it was just an annoying little boy. His fear quickly changed to insult at the kid's comment. "Excuse you, there is nothing funny about my hair!" He crossed his arms in front of him and looked down his nose at the boy. Then the kid had the nerve to stick his tongue out! "Why you little-" he growled, stopping when a couple of people looked over at the two of them with worried expressions. This was stupid, he didn't have time to be arguing with a child, he dropped his arms and narrowed his eyes at the boy who was now pouting. Looking away he let his eyes wander the mostly empty street, then the bricks of the wall next to him, and then back to the kid. Still pouting.

He couldn't help but feel a little bit bad- despite the hair comment- especially since the kid didn't appear to be a monster after all. However, there was no way he was going to give in to his little pouting guilt-trip and apologize, so he just stood there for a couple moments- looking rather disconcerted. "Shouldn't you be with your mother or something?" he snapped, trying to change the subject. Curiosity about the boys identity was nagging at him, but he doubted the boy would be much help as he hardly looked old enough to tie his own shoes. Taking a few steps forward he stood in the entrance of the alley, caught in a moral dilemma between leaving and making sure the kid wasn't lost. He sighed and looked down at the boy- who was messing with his bangs- and decided to at least make sure his parents were nearby or something. He muttered under his breath about how inconvenient it was to be nice to people; he'd grown soft over the last couple of years. He wasn't quite sure when it had happened, perhaps going through a lot of hardships had allowed him to empathize with people. He wasn't quite sure if he liked it or not.

[Selim Bradley]

He couldn't help but giggle as the man tried to defend his hair. There was everything funny about his hair! From the weird shape it made on his forehead to the mustache. Mainly his mustache. Come on, who had facial hair like that? It stuck out, probably due to too much gel or whatever adults used on their hair, and there was even the little whatchamacallit on the ends! This is a three year old, here. One can't expect him to know what everything is called.

Selim ducked behind the wall once more, squealing like a giddy child, when the man looked like he was about to charge him. Well, he thought he was about to. The why you little part made him think that. When he was sure he wasn't going to have to run for his life, the boy stepped back out to grin at mister funny hair man. His mother? Oh, yeah. He had kind of just left her back at the car. The boy turned his head, looking over his shoulder. He could see his mother in the distance, talking to some of the locals, probably looking for a nice place to eat or something.

He pointed towards her, looking back at the man with a big, toothy smile on his face. "I don't need to be with her. She can see me!" She probably didn't want him running around and getting into trouble, but it was kind of hard to keep a child on a tight leash without a physical leash. If she didn't want him running off, then she should put a harness on him or something. For now, though, he was perfectly content with his self-given mission: annoy mister funny hair man!

[Lieutenant Yoki]

He grumbled, completely unsure of how to deal with a child. Something about them made him uncomfortable, they were too happy and moved too quickly and had no personal boundaries. The way the kid was staring at him was making him kind of nervous, it reminded him of the last time he was in charge of kids at that Ishvalan slum up north and had gotten a chunk of his hair ripped off. He rubbed his head at the painful memory and shot a glance at the boy- he had better not try anything. His thoughts were interrupted when the kid pointed down the street, apparently in response to his question about his mother.

"Hmm?" He leaned forward so that he could see around the wall of the alley, and noticed a car parked a little ways down the street. There was a woman standing by it that looked a lot like... it was- Mrs.Bradley. So this is the same kid... He cast a suspicious glance back down at the boy. "Selim right...?" he asked quietly, mostly to himself. At least if his mother was nearby that meant there was no reason for him to stick around. His stomach growled fairly loudly, forcing his attentions to turn back to the task at hand. "Well kid, I don't have time to babysit you, I need something to eat." There was one flaw in his plan however, and that was that he had no idea where he was, and there didn't seem to be any food stalls on this street. He took a step or two out onto the sidewalk before realizing this and stopping to look around. I don't suppose that kid knows where any food is. He thought to himself. Maybe he had money though- he was from a wealthy family- and Yoki definitely wasn't above mooching food. "Er, you haven't happened to have lunch yet have you?"

[Selim Bradley]

He stared up at the man, dumbfounded as to how he knew his name. Perhaps he was a friend of his mother's? He wouldn't doubt it as many people seemed to know his mother, but why would his mother hang around people who liked to lurk around in the alleys? Then again, he was socializing with the man from the alley. All questions were cast aside as a bright grin pasted itself on his face. "Yup!" He glanced back at his mother before focusing once more on the strange man when he spoke up once more.

No time to babysit him? Selim folded his arms across his chest, his grin turning into a frown. He was not a baby, so why would he need babysitting? The thought was so offending to the boy that he didn't even take into consideration the fact that he was the one who started pestering this man in the first place. Technically, babysitting was a good term to use when it came to being in Selim's presence. He had a tendency to get into trouble, despite not wanting to upset his mother, as his childish urges tended to get the best of him. Oh well, he would just have to ignore the 'baby' portion of what the man had said.

His grin quickly returned at the man's next question. He shook his head, uncrossing his arms to allow them to fall to his sides. "No, but we did come here to eat!" He jumped a few steps back, beckoning for the man--whose name was still unknown to him--to follow. "You can eat with us, mister funny hair! I bet mama already found a great place to eat!"

ooc: sorry this is late. i've been busy.