Ein bekanntes Gesicht

[Kane]

Kane's eyes brightened slightly when he answered her question rather quickly. Not because of the speed at which he answered, but that he answered with the same answer as hers. He was in her class, unlike Alfons. At least I'll know someone in the class... she thought, letting a small smile spread over her face as one had just his. She watched his movement quietly, the tossing of his lunch bag into the trash can. He had decent aim. It was slightly amusing to see someone toss a lunch bag rather than walk it to the trash can. At the school she'd attended in England, the boys would keep their lunch bags, and pelt them at some groups of passing girls to try and tease them or get their attention.

It had been a stupid game, really, and once she'd had a bag thrown at her. She hadnt bothered to listen if it were on purpose or on accident, she had just picked it up and thrown it back, knocking the boy upside the head. She hadnt meant to throw it hard...just enough to get the message across not to bother her when she was reading or thinking like she had been. Sighing quietly, she told herself that if she acted like that around here, people would stay away from her as though she were wishing everybody ill will.

"Do you think we should head out? Alfons left a little early, but we probably dont want to be late. I think it was over by the math room, right?" she nodded a little, thinking to confirm the whereabouts of the classroom when her thoughts were interrupted by his concluding. You know, better safe than sorry." Kane let a small grin slip through her gaze. Her uncle tended to tell her that when she came up with a new idea and wanted to test it. He stood, picking his things up with him and tucking them against him to make sure they didnt fall out. She looked at him before to her bag on the floor, which she bent over at the waist to pick up off the ground and into her lap. "I...think thats the right place..." she said, unzipping the front of it and feeling around the pocket for the schedule. She pulled it out, unfolding it as she brought it to rest atop the bag. "Yeah...thats right..." she said, folding it up again between her fingers and putting it back in the pocket.

She smiled a bit and pulled her bag up onto the table before zipping it closed again. She stood once again, her right arm falling from her lap and to her side as she moved. Tucking another stray hair behind her ear and brushing her bangs to the side, she reached down and slid her left hand along the shoulder strap of the bag until she reached a point where she could lift it to get it over her head. She pulled it over, letting it fall easily against her left hip, and she ran her thumb across the strap that tilted diagonally in front of her chest to undo any twists that came from the slightly awkward movement. She swallowed and looked up at him and spoke again. "We should probably head over, then..." It was true. Though they were in the correct building, they were on almost the opposite side than the hallway with the classroom was.

Turning on her heel, she made her way slowly towards the door. She wouldnt mind talking to him on the way there, and she hoped that it would be the same on his end.

[Ed Elric]

Kane smiled up at him, and Ed kept his own stretched in place for a few more moments, before it dropped off to a more neutral expression as he watched her reach for her bag. The passing thought that he should offer to carry it for her flitted through his head, she had claimed the reason for not using her right arm was soreness after all, but…No. There were a great deal of women that would consider that presumptuous and he certainly didn’t know her well enough to judge, not that he was certain he could have told even if he had known her for years. He remembered Winry could be fickle as hell, one minute she would smack him over the head with her bag for not ‘being a gentleman’ and offering to carry it for her; when he tried to learn from the mistake and next asked to carry it for her, to save himself the headache (Winry kept damned wrenches in her purse), she’d accused him of thinking she was weak and couldn’t handle it. Ed gave a small huff of irritation remembering it, but a pang of upset clenched in his chest anyway.

After a quick second of rummaging through her bag, Kane unearthed a folded piece of paper that Ed recognized as the student schedule, his own was stuffed deeply in his pocket and he kicked himself for not having the foresight to check before picking up his books; which he now shifted beneath his right arm only to leave the other free just in case. "Yeah...that’s right..." She told him, referring to his question about the class’ placement, before returning the itinerary back to the pouch on the side of the bag. As she stood this time Edward paid close attention to her right arm; it slid nearly lifelessly from her lap to land at her hip without a bit of controlled movement, when she shifted again it swung heavily, still uncontrolled. As it was, Ed couldn’t really come to a conclusion based on that, especially not when he had an inkling he was biased towards running into someone else with prosthesis.

Ed pulled his eyes away before what he was doing could be construed as staring in time to see her repositioning her hair behind her ears again and tugging her messenger bag over her shoulder, Edward let another smile quirk his lips a bit, and again felt ridiculous. It wasn’t as if anything had really happened to make him happy, not particularly anyway. He hadn’t made any sort of breakthrough, and he still didn’t know anything about Al, and Germany still wasn’t home. Still, even having known the both of them for less than half a day, having met Kane and Alfons had served to make him feel a little less alone, and he supposed that was worth something. It wasn’t like he was going to lose the progress he’d made or sight of what he hoped to do just because he allowed himself to be slightly happy.

"We should probably head over, then..." Kane stated, turning in the direction of the mathematics hall and beginning to walk. Edward followed after her, tightening his grip on his books and catching up until they were walking side by side. Again, Ed wondered about her English and wondered if it would be a poor choice to ask…Of course, Edward had never really been known for his colloquial tact, and started in anyway.

“I’ve been in Germany for a few months now, and you’re the first person I’ve run into that speaks English. How’d you get to know it?” Not that he’d run into many people, his social activity consisted of little more than talking to the woman that ran the bakery down the street from his hotel, and the desk clerk at his hotel when the rent was due…well, and talking to the rat that lived in his wall but he was hardly the most stimulating conversationalist. “It’s nice for a change to just listen to what someone’s saying instead of having to analyze it before I can recall what the words mean.” He laughed quietly and looked over to Kane.

Maybe he was simply starved for company, but Ed found himself hoping she would share more of his schedule and he would be able to get to know her better, he only hoped she felt the same.

[Kane]

Kane smiled a little. She could safely say that she was pleased with how this day was turning out so far. The only real hell she'd experienced was the ordeal with the administration followed directly by the Calculus professor. At the time, it had seemed as though it was adding insult to injury, but she finally was satisfied with the way the day was going. She had met two people...Alfons and Edward...and managed not to make a fool of herself in the number of possible ways there were. In fact, nobody had really even come up to her and question her bag. Really, it was a bit of a masculine looking thing, seeing as it didnt have any sort of flashy designs like some of the girls nowadays were beginning to look for. It was straight black faux-leather with silver buckles and zippers. She thought back to her schedule folded in the pocket on front of the bag. It wasnt going anywhere. Thats good...the last thing I need is to loose my schedule... she thought.

Out of the corner of her eye in her peripheral vision, she saw Edward move up beside her. She had heard his footsteps when they moved from the more noisy cafeteria to the quiet of this hallway, and she could tell by the pace he took that he was walking quicker to walk beside her. She turned her head slightly when he arrived to look at him, just as he spoke. I've been in Germany for a few months now, and you're the first person I've run into that speaks English. How'd you get to know it?" It was a fair question. She had expected that it would come up in their conversation at some point, maybe today maybe tomorrow. It wasnt exactly the most common language to know in Germany. Normally, it was some other language that had a bit of a mirroring to the harsh tongue and sounds required to properly produce one's German.

As she was about to reply back, Edward spoke again ”It’s nice for a change to just listen to what someones saying instead of having to analyze it before I can recall what the words mean” He produced a bit of a laugh after that, and she couldn’t help but give a bit of her own laugh along with that. She remembered when she first had to learn English. Though it had come rather easily, probably because of how her brain was developing at the time, she had found herself so lost if someone started rambling on in English. Sometimes it would take her more than a while to comprehend what was said before she could even respond. Giving a small sigh, she smiled a tad.

”I know what that’s like…” she began, forcing as much of the German accent as possible off her tongue to properly pronounce each word in English. ”I was born in Germany, but lived in England for three years. To keep up with my education I had to learn English as quickly as possible, so I spent those three years developing it.” she shrugged a bit. Normally, it took people a number of years, such as it had herself, to speak a language as fluently as possible. But…hadn’t he just said he had lived in Germany for only a few months, and spent just as much time learning the language? That was quite interesting…

”I’m going on a small limb, here but I’m guessing English is your primary language?” she knew it could sound like a stupid question, but her uncle knew more than three languages, simply because he had to for his business to go successfully. ”And you mentioned before…you’ve only been practicing German for a few months. He…Alfons…wasn’t kidding. Its impressive that you’ve learned as much as you know so quickly.” She cast a small smile before looking back ahead.

There was a staircase leading to the endmost classrooms of the wing, going downstairs. She cringed inwardly. Stairs weren’t the easiest things for her to accomplish…ascending or descending, and she tended to be sore afterwards. She moved to the left, slightly, and placed her hand on the rail. She stopped and looked back to Edward after gazing down the staircase. ”It looks like the room is the only one down here…I hope the professor isn’t mental or anything…wanting a room so…secluded from anything else.” her tone was joking, as was she, but her mind couldn’t help but wonder why the hell a classroom would be the only one at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Then again, it is Physics…we might be using the staircase for labs… It was reasonable. Resisting the urge to shrug to herself, she leaned on the rail a bit and slowly made her way down the stairs.

[Ed Elric]

Edward was pleased that his question hadn’t seemed to strike her as invasive, not that he supposed it mattered a great deal, even if he had known it would be invasive he probably would have asked anyway. Whatever the case, she smiled instead of complaining, commiserated, and divulged a short, concise answer. “I was born in Germany, but lived in England for three years. To keep up with my education I had to learn English as quickly as possible, so I spent those three years developing it.” No wonder she didn’t mind answering it, it didn’t seem like a sore spot in any sense of the phrase.

Actually…Ed didn’t understand why he’d expected it to be a touchy subject. Certainly, it was just his own experience and his connection with Amestrian. Or maybe it was the six-foot bubble of personal space that obviously radiated around her. Ed recognized it well; he wasn’t exactly the most open person in the world either, especially not since appearing in Germany…Although, for some odd reason, he didn’t feel as desperate to keep his distance this morning.

“I’m going on a small limb, here but I’m guessing English is your primary language?” Kane continued, startling Ed a little. He’d received his explanation and hadn’t expected her to go any farther, it forced him to remember he was having a conversation (alien thought, that) and not paying the bill at his hotel room where the clerk would take his money, ask why he was late and deem it unnecessary to say another word. “And you mentioned before…you’ve only been practicing German for a few months. He…Alfons…wasn’t kidding. It’s impressive that you’ve learned as much as you know so quickly.” Edward smiled slightly. Apparently people were seeing that as quite the feat, which was nice, maybe he didn’t need to beat himself up for not having mastered it perfectly yet. He knew learning took time, but generally he could grasp a concept immediately and roll with it. He had never attempted to learn a different language before German and had assumed he’d pick it up quickly, after four months of grueling study he felt inadequate for having learned only the most basic vocabulary.

“…Yeah, I’ve spoken English all my life the quick snap to German has been a little on the, ah, rough side.” He laughed some, recalling his first encounter with a book on German linguistics…he wondered if Hohenheim had ever been able to replace that book. Not that he cared. After he had spoken, Edward realized they had come to a steep flight of stairs. Weird, he didn’t remember noticing them when he was on this end of the building earlier. He had been in rather a rush, though.

“It looks like the room is the only one down here…I hope the professor isn’t mental or anything…wanting a room so…secluded from anything else.” Ed let out a short bark of laughter and looked slightly incredulously down the stairwell and figured she might not be that far off the mark. She began to descend, resting against the thin wooden rail that lined either side of the staircase and he followed quickly after, forgoing the support of the railing.

“He’s probably a fuckin’ nut-job.” In all reality, it made perfect sense for a class that was likely to be making a great deal of noise during labs to be set so far off the rest of the classrooms, but, still…

Besides, Ed had seen his fair share of crazy-ass scientists. For a second Lab Five flashed through his head and he paused, a cold shiver running down his spine. After a moment, he managed to push the image to the back of his mind and with a quick shake of his head, brought himself back to Germany.

Upon reaching the classroom, Ed was relieved to find they were, in fact, early, instead of late. A few students milled about but most of the seats remained empty. A speedy perusal of the room led Edward to the second row from the front and the third chair in. Edward sat and looked up at Kane, he pointed to the seat next to him. “Care to sit?” He asked, smiling disarmingly. He had a feeling she would.

[Kane]

"...Yeah. I've spoken English all my life. The quick snap to German has been a little on the, ah, rough side." She was right, not that it was too hard of a guess. He spoke English as a primary language. She gave a faint smile. She had known very few people that spoke primarily English, let alone picking up German as a second language. From listening to what her uncle had told her of multi-lingual people, if they spoke something like English, they would more likely pick up French or Spanish, an "easier on the tongue and throat", or "romance" language as he had called it. Personally, if she'd been given the choice, she would have tried taking up one of those languages, probably French. However, given the rather "unstable" time period, and that her uncle's buisness sent him to England, it was probably best that she only learned English. Normally, she would leap at the chance to learn something new, but she wasnt going to add another language onto her relatively full plate, given the time.

She was pulled from her thoughts when he voiced his opinion on the professor. "He's probably a fuckin' nut-job" he said, following up with a bit of a laugh. She smirked, her lips curling slightly in the expression. She hoped this class would be at least partially amusing...she was a Physics major, so she could expect many classes like this, and only some variation when it came to actually getting prepared for the field she wanted to specialize in. If all of her classes were going to be dull, it would be a long time at college. She smiled a bit softly and re-focused her gaze on the stairs she was making her way down. Edward got down the stairs first, and made it to the classroom door. She stifled a slight sound as she made her way to the bottom, half pushing off the railing she'd leaned on as she started walking again.

'You seem to be grasping the hang of getting around with these legs fairly easily...' the doctor had said. 'Its a bit impressive, really. Even the veterans that these were built for complain about the discomfort it causes them when they move certain ways. I'm still going to warn you to avoid stairs...no matter what you do, it will probably remain discomforting simply because of where your legs were amputated, and how these prosthetics are designed. Descending stairs will probably be the easiest, but going up stairs will be the more challenging, and more painful because of the pressure each step will put on your balancing leg's end--' She'd cut the doctor off at that point and responded with 'I'll be fine...' She knew the doctor had only been doing his job, but she didnt want to hear about what any challenges she faced would cause her, or what they'd be like. She only wanted to deal with it when it was a road block in front of her.

She eventually dragged herself out of her thoughts and looked around the room she had half-sub-consciously followed Ed into. There were a few other students milling about, socializing with each other. Edward had led them to a desk nearer the front of the room than the first class of the day, and away from the other students. Didnt particularly want to talk to anyone else, anyway... she thought, a small, amused, smile trying to quirk at her lips. Edward sat and she met his eyes again as he looked up at her. "Care to sit?" he asked, offering her a smile. She let the small smile that was trying at the corners of her mouth to take control, and she smiled herself.

"I wouldnt mind..." she said quietly, going to stand next to the chair on his left. She raised her arm, reaching to the strap of her bag and pulling it over her head. Truly, she thought it was a slightly awkward manner of motion to watch from somebody else's vantage point. Normally the front of strap could be grabbed and slipped easily over one's head, but maneuvering with one arm made things different. Placing the bag quietly on the floor beside the chair, she slid into the seat next to him a bit stiffly. She let out a quiet sigh as the weight was taken off her legs. Blinking, she cleared her head and sat back in the chair, staring at the desk a bit absently.

[Ed Elric]

Ed rocked back precariously in his chair, balancing it on the two back legs, and looked straight ahead in an attempt not to stare at Kane; her arm particularly. He was excessively curious now that Alfons had mentioned her lack of movement with it, as well as his own brief study of it. It was stupid, he knew, to be looking for something that probably wasn’t even there. Her arm probably was just sore, for whatever reason on top of lugging around her fairly heavy-looking bag all morning. So instead, he found himself scanning the front of the room for the professor. A while of weeding out students later, he spotted a tall skinny man in the far corner hanging something on the wall, from behind Edward couldn’t place much but the heavy veins of gray streaking through dull brown hair distinguished him from the rest of the class.

Satisfied in his search, Ed glanced over in time to see Kane sitting beside him. She had removed her shoulder bag again and placed it beside her chair, Ed cast a small smile her direction before solemnly turning to his books to find the textbook for physics, apparently it was hidden amazingly deeply in his stack. Frowning somewhat, he finally unearthed it as the second to last among them. He sighed, set the others aside and flipped his notebook open to the newest clean page, laid his hand gripping his pen next to it, and awaited the start of the lesson.

Edward took a deep breath, still waiting for the rest of the students to finish filing in and taking their places. He was personally a bit anxious to begin the lesson, physics and engineering were almost solely responsible for his attending college in the first place, they were all about rocketry, and rocketry was all about getting to that world beyond the sky they spoke of…it might be his world. Amestris, home, Al.

After a long while, the teacher finally stepped to the head of the class and rapped a meter stick across his desk, the loud crack sent the room spiraling quickly into silence, the professor smiled. “Good afternoon, students, I am Professor Ewald,” he began, and, while a little on the creepy side, Ed sort of liked his smile. Ewald reminded him precisely of a mad scientist in a children’s book he used to read to Al when they were younger… Once he had finished his short introduction, he plunged immediately into the day’s work…unfortunately a moment later Edward realized he was speaking pure gibberish. Truly, it was still German, but he was rambling and ranting on quickly enough that Edward found himself completely lost. He picked up the occasional word and knew ‘class’, ‘year’ and ‘lab’ were in his speech somewhere but besides that, Ed was dumbfounded. Fuck.

He assumed a great deal of his confusion was attempting to slip back into German after talking to Kane for such a long while in Amestrian, but that didn’t eclipse the fact that the teacher was teaching and Ed wasn’t going to learn a damn thing if he didn’t slow down. “Fuck,” he thought out loud in Amestrian and glanced at Kane. He didn’t want to interrupt her studies but…it was that or continue to be lost as to what was being said. Edward bit the inside of his lip and wrote “The professor is talking too fast, I can’t understand a bloody word, would you help?” He wrote in Amestrian, assuming the professor wouldn’t be able to read it even if he wanted to, and seeing as Kane had specifically said she learned English for her education he assumed she could read and write in it. Carefully, he pushed his notebook towards her and gave her another slightly helpless look, hoping she wouldn’t mind a great deal.

[Kane]

Kane was still for a minute after she sat down, keeping her gaze glued to the table as though something interesting were crawling around on it. It was a sufficient while before she finally looked up. She watched the people in the room mill about. Some seemed more excited than others, some seemed to already know each other. There were a few groups of people that seemed like they would form what was close to a "clique", in the greatest sense of the word, within the college atmosphere. Kane groaned inwardly. She'd had enough of that in England, and one group tried to push her to do something they wanted, in midst of critiscizing her for whatever reason. To get her point across she'd slapped one of the boys that pushed her, and thrown a pencil at the back of one of the girls.

Rolling her eyes, she dragged her gaze away from the groups. So long as they didnt bother her or disrupt the class, she wouldnt have a problem with them at all. She transferred her gaze around the front of the room instead of the sides, and soon picked out who she assumed was the professor. At a first glance, one could probably mistake him for a student, but upon further observation, Kane could see the gray that highlighted his hair, signifying his age advantage compared to the other students. Her attention was taken away from the professor when Edward shifted some. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a small smile from him before he continued shifting. After a minute of watching in silence, he finally pulled out a textbook. Oh...duh... she thought. She had just sat down, not bothering to get anything for class.

Bending down, she picked up her bag off the floor and placed it in her lap. Luckily, she only had four textbooks in it, and not the more minute ones she figured wouldnt be essential to the class on the first day. She also had her one notebook. Pulling out the physics text and notebook, she pulled a pen from the side pocket and twisted the cap. She closed her bag again and set it on the floor, picking up the pen in her hand and flipping through the pages quietly until she came to a clean one. She sat in silence, leaning against the chair with her arm across her ribs. The small buzz of other voices set in the classroom over the ever present silence for a while. More and more students filed in in the remaining minutes between lunch and the final bell toll. After the echo of the ring faded, the professor took his place and began to speak after rapping a meter stick upon his desk in an annoyingly loud manner.

He introduced himself, with a bit of a smile that made Kane feel a bit wary. It wasnt anything bad, but it made him appear as though he was...slightly off his nut. Kane let a partial smirk curl across his lips. This class was starting to look a bit brighter than she'd feared it would be. With a professor that didnt seem totally right in the head, and with a subject such as Physics, this would perhaps turn out to be an amusing class. After the introduction, he didnt waste a second plunging into what he hoped to accomplish today, for the semester, and for the rest of the year. He was speaking fairly fast, and Kane had to zero in on what he was saying so she wouldnt miss any of it.

To her side, she heard Edward swear in English. She blinked once or twice and glanced over after a second or so. He began writing on his own notebook before he pushed it over. Reaching to the right to pull it closer to her so she could read, she glanced down at it.

"The professor is talking too fast, I can't understand a bloody word, would you help?"

Kane stared somewhat blankly at the page for about half a minute. In spite of herself, a small, amused huff escaped her lips. She didnt know why it was amusing, perhaps it was just the way he had written it, but whatever the case she would help him. She knew how damn frustrating it was to not know what was being said or what was going on, especially in a setting such as a lesson, so she pressed the side of her index finger to her lips for a minute before she began writing on the page in English, just as he had.

"Glad to. He's basically stating the goals for today, the semester and the year, and is mentioning the topics we'll be covering, and about halfway through this month is going to be asking each of us what we intend to achieve through phyiscs for his own curiosity to be settled. He's a bit weird, really...considering..." she glanced up at the professor, who had taken to a small bit of pacing in front of his desk" "...he's pretty much arguing with himself right now. He's debating whether or not to have us do an easy introductory lab to measure speed and velocity...and how it changes with different amounts of force. Its a bit amusing, really...but we're not going to get anywhere today if he keeps this up." Her handwriting was a bit slanted from the angle she bent her wrist to write, instead of right in front of her, a bit to the side, but she turned her ben around so the writing side was pointing towards her as she quietly pushed it back.

Twisting her pen in her fingers, she glanced back at the professor. It seemed like he was going to settle on the lab...have the students partner up, grab a tennis ball and a stopwatch, and go somewhere within the room or on the stairwell...somewhere with a small slope, and throw it back and forth about ten times, then change positions to see if the time varies with throwing it more often and with the angle. It was...easy enough, relatively speaking.

[Ed Elric]

Edward watched warily as the professor began pace in front of his desk, each step sent him zigzagging more quickly and Ed couldn’t help but compare it to his rambling sentences. It seemed no matter how hard Ed concentrated he couldn’t make sense of the words strung so closely together they sounded like one, and a bit anxiously he glanced to the side. He breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw Kane responding to his plea; and realized he was extremely lucky.

He thought back to merely that morning, having crashed into school late, and grumpy from lack of sleep, he hadn’t expected to talk to anyone he didn’t have to and figured he would float through the school day, year as well, gleaning as much information from his lessons as possible and avoiding all conversation and confrontation. Ed smiled a little in spite of himself and thought maybe when he arrived home he should thank his faulty alarm clock instead of throwing it out the window as planned.

Out of the corner of his eye Edward saw Kane finish writing and return her attention to the front of the class. Stealthily, Ed slipped his notebook back to rights in front of himself and read: ‘Glad to,’ which immediately quirked his traitorous lips back into a grateful smile. ‘He's a bit weird, really...considering...’ Ed chuckled quietly to himself at that, and cast his gaze back to the professor momentarily. He could believe that, certainly. Quickly, he finished reading her short passage and set his pen back to the paper to ask another question when a harsh smack gave him a start and he looked up to see the professor clasping his hands together, a wide grin spread across his thin face. Ed frowned, wishing he knew the meaning behind the clap was when Ewald finally said something he could understand.

“Now, grab your partners.” He enunciated each word particularly and a little strangely but Ed could definitely live with that if it meant he would be able to comprehend what was going on around him…although, those few words still put very little into proper context for Ed. The other students packed away their books and stood; each apparently looking for old friends to partner with. Edward scanned what Kane had written again, ‘…easy introductory lab…’ came to the forefront and he could assume that was what was going on. He sighed a little and looked to Kane.

When the din became enough that his speaking wouldn’t draw particular attention, he mumbled, “Thanks,” in Amestrian and tapped his notebook with an index finger, “for the explanation. I didn’t really expect that to happen, of course it shouldn’t be humanly possible to talk that fast and make sense to anyone.” Ed made a bit of a face, frustrated more by his incompetence than the professor’s way of speaking. “Partners, huh? What’s the lab?” Looking around again, Edward saw that most of the students had already paired themselves off and with a deep breath he turned his gaze back to Kane. “And, uhm, neither of us really seems to have a partner,” he said avoiding outright asking her, but he smiled a little and hoped he’d gotten the picture across well enough.

[Kane]

Kane had zoned out temporarily after she slipped the pad of paper back to Edward with her response. The professor’s voice rapidly going away in German, half muttered under his breath, soon became a dull buzz in the background and his pacing became a pattern that could be ignored without piquing any sort of interest. She was thinking, simply about the line of classes she was taking and how she hoped to have the year progress. Initially, she had come to college intending to simply learn and not bother or be bothered by anyone, and mind her own business. She hadn’t expected to take any sort of liking or interest to any person, let alone two different people.

She was pulled out of her silent mind when a sharp clap rang through the place, making her jump a little. She looked to the professor, a grin growing across his face. She blinked some as he announced to the class the decision he had come to, and how to go about performing the introductory lab. ”Now, grab your partners…” he said, to conclude his little ramble. Glancing to the other side of the room and slightly behind her, the other students didn’t appear to waste but a moment following the directions. The sound of shuffling papers met her ears as the students packed their books away.

Rolling her eyes slightly, she picked up her bag yet again and messed with it for a minute until she had taken a pencil from the pocket, returned the pen, and left her notebook out on her desk. Being a lab, the professor would probably expect them to record the results. The lab was simple enough, so any calculations would be fairly simple, so to speak. Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Edward looking at her. ”Thanks…” it was a mumbled sound that came from his mouth, and she turned her head to look a bit more at him and the notebook which he tapped. ”…for the explanation. I didn’t really expect that to happen, of course it shouldn’t be humanly possible to talk that fast and make sense to anyone.”

Kane gave a small, almost silent puff of laughter through her nose. The professor had been talking rather quickly…and not that many people could blabber away as easily without loosing their train of thought. ”Partners, huh? Whats the lab?” Edward asked. Kane turned her gaze to the room again. People seemed to have made their choices as far as partners went, and spaced around the room. It was a bit crowded, actually. Tossing tennis balls back and forth in the closed area was bound to get a bit hectic, and interfere with some data. It would actually be best to go outside… she thought.

”And uhm, neither of us really seems to have a partner…” Her gaze returned to Edward and a small smile that was on his face. Kane’s lips twitched some into a small smile of her own. ”Yeah…” she said. ”Give me a minute…” Rising from her seat, she made her way to the professors desk like half of the other students, and picked up a stopwatch and tennis ball laid out for their use. Walking back to Edward, she picked up her pencil and notepad with her last two fingers and curved her grip slightly so she wouldn’t loose them. ”Basically, we need to find a small slope…I’m thinking the stairwell outside…and toss the ball back and forth a few times, timing it to see how long it takes, then switch positions and repeat the process. I think he wants us to see what effect the different angle has on how long the ball is in the air, and how much our arms tire as we go on…” she said.

Biting the inside of her lip, she stared at her notebook for a minute before looking back at Ed. ”If we stay in here, the data will probably be a bit screwed up because we’re bound to cross paths with another pair throwing their ball. We should head outside. He’s giving us the rest of class to complete this.” she shrugged a little and without really waiting for a response, turned and made her way slowly to the door, giving Ed time to catch up or protest, whichever he chose, before he got there.

[Ed Elric]

Ed gave a small sigh of relief when Kane answered his poorly implied question, not that he had expected her to say no, of course, he hadn’t really expected her to say yes either, he just didn’t know her well enough. But...it seemed like she was giving him the chance to get to know her better, and he nodded in agreement when she excused herself for a moment and walked to the head of the class. She returned after a short while carrying a stopwatch that automatically made Ed frown, not that there was anything wrong with it but it looked exactly like the stop watch they’d used to time his state alchemist’s exam and sent memories of that grueling day flooding back into his mind. However he shook them away, glanced to the fuzzy ball she was also carrying, and lifted his gaze back to her face with a questioning quirk to his brow.

“Basically, we need to find a small slope…I’m thinking the stairwell outside…and toss the ball back and forth a few times, timing it to see how long it takes, then switch positions and repeat the process. I think he wants us to see what effect the different angle has on how long the ball is in the air, and how much our arms tire as we go on…” Not at all, was Ed's immediate thought. At least, not if he was using his right arm…but he assumed in order to complete the lab properly he’d have to use his left, though he’d never been as good a catch with it, but maybe the catching part didn’t matter. It was a simple enough lab and he supposed it was a decent indicator of the laws of physics. However, it felt a bit too simple…not that he didn’t understand it, he was merely impatient to begin learning, and this lab would teach him nothing that he hadn’t known upon the start of the day.

Ed was about to ask further question when she started in again, looking oddly at her notebook. Ed missed the first few word’s she spoke as he carefully noted she was carrying four different items and had yet to employ the use of her right hand. Stop making shit up and pay attention, he scolded himself mentally and snapped back to attention. “…screwed up because we’re bound to cross paths with another pair throwing their ball. We should head outside. He’s giving us the rest of class to complete this.” Ed managed to fill in the blanks of what she said and nodded, before quickly commanding his feet to follow after her as she headed immediately for the door.

He caught pace with her again, and asked: “Does he want us to pick a specific degree of incline or distance?” Pulling ahead of her somewhat Ed pushed the door open and stepped through, holding it open for her to follow. He almost let it slam shut before looking down and realizing he’d forgotten to grab his own notebook. “Shit, sorry, hold on a second,” he muttered and disappeared into the classroom. He ducked beneath a flying ball though it brushed his hair. For a moment he considered apologizing for possibly screwing their data but he looked up and the student to his right was giving him a dirty look for intruding and he decided he didn’t feel like it.

Having reached his seat Edward grabbed his notebook and flipped it to a clean page before coming to the conclusion that he might as well gather his other things also. He picked up his pen and without thinking gripped onto it with his teeth so he could hold his books with both hands while maneuvering through a battery of flying objects. He ducked back through the room until he was once again at the door and he stepped out to meet Kane. Finishing shutting the door behind himself he shifted his books to one arm and pulled his pen from between his teeth. “Sorry about that, forgot my notebook and…well, thought I’d grab my other stuff, too.” Even if he had to return to the classroom to return their date if he left his books by the stairwell he would avoid the hassle of attempting to wade through rushing students to his desk. He gave her a small smile before going to set his things beside the bottom step. “Anyway, you wanna start at the higher altitude or lower?” He tossed back over his shoulder before standing upright again and facing her. He leaned easily back against the wall and crossed his arms, waiting for her reply.

[Kane]

Truthfully, the lab seemed a bit simple to Kane. Although the professor had expressed that the labs would increase in difficulty rather noticeably as the year went on, he still said this was an “introductory” one. She bit her lip a bit. She was slightly anxious to begin learning the more advanced concepts of what one could call “basic” physics, so she could move on and branch out in her studies to astrophysics by means of independently studying astronomy or finally convincing the dean to let an “underclassman” such as herself into a class intended mainly for those in their last two years of college studies. She knew the latter option was a bit of a longshot, but it was worth a try.

Seconds before she reached the door, she saw Edward pass her to the side, first out of the corner of her eye and then when he pulled ahead of her. He pushed through the door and she stifled a bit of a relieved sigh. If she had opened the door herself, she was afraid he would have asked her why she didn’t use her other hand to do it, and she…didn’t really want to let anyone know the truth over such a stupid thing such as a doorhandle or a matter of opening a door. Shaking herself from her thoughts, she almost said Oh…what? before she remembered what he had said. ”Does he want us to pick a specific degree of incline or distance?” She passed through the door and was about to respond when Ed spoke again.

”Shit, sorry, hold on a second.” She turned to see him vanish through the door quickly, leaving her alone for at least a short while. Walking over to the floor near the base of the flight of stairs, she set her notebook and pencil down. It wasn’t going to be too hard to remember the five times before they swapped positions. Of course, the professor would probably want them to do something like create a chart displaying the change in speed based on the two different variables of this “experiment” if one could even call it that.

The door opened once again and Kane turned, stepping away from the wall about a step or two. ”Sorry about that, forgot my notebook and…well, thought I’d grab my other stuff, too.” Edward said as means of quietly announcing his return. He dropped his materials close to hers and turned around with a small smile. Anyway, you wanna start at the higher altitude or lower?” Kane wanted to kick herself for a second. Sure, their data may have been a bit screwy if they had remained inside, but she wasn’t keen on stairs, either. Pushing the thought away, she responded.

”I...dont think he wants any specifics for this experiment…if anything just estimate the distance and degree of incline. I think…maybe halfway up the stairs would be sufficient for both of those aspects.” She looked between where she was currently standing, the wall, then about halfway up the stairs before looking back at Edward. ”I think I’ll start on the lower, if you don’t mind….and…do you want to keep time for both tests?” she asked, hoping he would say yes. She couldn’t catch and time with one hand and get accurate results. She was fine at catching, her reflexes were decent and she could move a few feet quickly if needed. But, catching something and clicking the nob on a stopwatch with one hand wasn’t very easy.

She moved a step closer to him and held out her hand, letting the stopwatch dangle from her grip by its short chain. ”And also…” she said, letting a small grin show on her lips, ”If you bite your pen like that too much it will probably burst. Believe me when I say it doesn’t taste too great.” She let her grin slide into a smirk. She had had that happen more than once, and neither time was she too happy about it. If anything, she hoped her small attempt at humor would be a bit disarming. Looking at him, she waited for his response.

[Ed Elric]

Ed had to admit, he was rather pleased with himself which seemed…odd, felt odd really. But he was happy with the way the day had gone (for the most part) and surprised by how normal he had managed to remain. He had been relatively certain the last few months of being a recluse would have impaired his already inept social skills, and he was certain it had on some level, but he didn’t seem to be putting Kane off, which was a relief. If he was going to live through college in a strange world he would need someone to talk to and it seemed he would have at least two people that didn’t shy away from his social awkwardness and he was grateful for that much…although it probably wasn’t going to help her opinion of him if he continued to become lost in his own thoughts instead of listening to what she was saying.

”I...don’t think he wants any specifics for this experiment…if anything just estimate the distance and degree of incline. I think…maybe halfway up the stairs would be sufficient for both of those aspects.” Ed nodded, glancing at the stairs. Halfway up seemed reasonable, he scanned the stairs and managed to estimate it was about a forty-five degree angle and hallway up was going to put them roughly seven feet across, he was just guessing of course. ”I think I’ll start on the lower, if you don’t mind….and…do you want to keep time for both tests?” Kane held the stopwatch out to him and he gave a bit of a smile, reaching for it without hesitation. He didn’t mind keeping the time, although the fleeting thought that it would be awfully hard to keep time and catch a tennis ball with one hand, he let the assumption pass. He couldn’t possibly know if that was the case, he was just being paranoid because of his own situation.

“And also…” Kane grinned suddenly and Ed felt his cheeks go a little warm; he swallowed and pushed whatever the hell that was aside and looked away from her and at the stopwatch, flicking the button on to start it before stopping it immediately, simply checking to see if it worked. “If you bite your pen like that too much it will probably burst. Believe me when I say it doesn’t taste too great.” He looked up again and laughed a little.

“Yeah, I’ve had that happen…I was in a bit of a rush, tripped and it broke, my bro…” Edward paused, feeling himself well up a bit at the memory. Pull yourself together. “It…wasn’t the most pleasant experience.” Quickly, Ed turned around and headed up the stairs, blinking back a wave of nostalgic nausea. Al…

After a few moments he manage to collect himself and turned on his heel to face her again, he tugged on a smile and help up the watch, his thumb poised over the start button. “Ready when you are.”

[Kane]

Ed took the watch from her and looked up as she grinned slightly at his pen-chewing. He then looked away from her quickly, as though slightly embarrassed by something. He gave a small laugh after she spoke and responded, the slight…embarrassment seeming to dissipate. ”Yeah, I’ve had that happen…I was in a bit of a rush, tripped and it broke, my bro…” he stopped short after that, calling Kane’s attention back to focus on him, just in time for him to turn quickly away. ”It…wasn’t the most pleasant experience” was all she heard before she found herself looking at his long ponytail as he made his way up the stairs away from her.

That was strange… Kane thought. To her, it sounded as though he was about to say something before he cut off and turned away. She wasn’t sure what, though. The time that it took for him to climb the stairs seemed to drag on. Truthfully, it was only a few steps, and it took about a minute, but to Kane, it seemed like so much longer. She couldn’t quite figure out why, but for some reason she felt color enter her cheeks. She blinked rapidly and swallowed, trying to rid the feeling from her face. Why am I blushing? she wondered. She tried to force it aside but didn’t find herself fully capable of doing so. Im not…attracted to him at all, am I? she asked herself, a bit stumped by her own blush. The only reason she jumped to such a conclusion was because she hadn’t blushed in ages…not since she had last seen her brother.

Within seconds she found herself simply standing idly, watching a memory go by as though it were happening before her. She had been in the hospital…after the accident that claimed her arm. The events that had unfolded starting catching up to her, and the realization that she’d never have that arm again. It had been upsetting to her, because she’d barely began trying to think of how she could get along without a limb, but more focusing on the fact she no longer had it. He’d stepped in to see her, knowing she wanted to see him more than anybody else. They sat and talked for hours, her pent-up emotions and thoughts about the whole incident finally flowing over, and him comforting her about everything. He told her that if he weren’t her brother, he’d think she was beautiful…even without her arm. But, because he was her brother, he’d only let himself settle on “pretty” because he needed to use what pride he’d have left tease her. She’d sat for a moment to figure that out, before blushing and beginning to laugh.

He always pulled her from whatever sort of not-so-great mood she was trapped in rather easily. The memory made Kane smile a bit unconsciously at the thought. Aloysius…you always acted older…even though I was born before you…. she thought, the smallest shadow of a frown crossing her face. Where are you now? she wondered.

”Ready when you are” Ed’s voice broke through her memory and thoughts like a rock through glass. She felt herself flush again, this time in embarrassment with herself for getting so lost in her thoughts and to be found staring at the railing of stairs and smiling a bit. That has to come across as weird… she thought, giving her head a bit of a shake, and looking back up at him. ”Oh…yeah….S-sorry…I got side-tracked.” she said, stuttering a little. She shook her head and failed to suppress the blush for a few seconds. ”Okay…” she said. Raising her hand, she cocked her wrist before saying ”…Go.” as she threw the ball forward for him to catch.