Bat's Note:
This is Spidey's fault. Entirely. Yeah.
Greed's gang needs more love.
---
'What the hell is this?' Kimbley asked, holding up the yellow blob.
'It looks like Greed has given you a rubber duck,' Martel noted dryly, grinning madly at the Alchemist's sad face.
'Bah. Useless thing.' Kimbley threw away the duck, deciding to explode it later that night.
A flash of beige followed the duck, and the next thing they saw, was Dorchet, sitting on his knees, his hands on his lap, the yellow duck in his mouth. Martel and Kimbley just stared at him. Dorchet took one great leap, and was a moment later at Martel's feet, offering her the duck. Martel raised an eyebrow, and took the duck from the chimeiras mouth.
'And now what do you want me to do with it?' she asked, holding the toy between her thumb and middle finger. Dorchet cocked his head, smiling widely at Martel.
'Throw it?' he asked. Martel frowned, but threw the duck. Kimbley was standing in the doorway, smiling gently at the scene in front of him. As soon the duck had left Martel's touch, Dorchet shot after it. A couple of moments later, Dorchet came back, proudly holding the yellow duck between his teeth.
'Again?' she asked.
'Uhuh,' he nodded, nuzzling against Martel's shinbone. This scared Martel, for Dorchet was usually very strict and quiet, trying to avoid all sort of physical contact. Martel threw away the yellow toy, with Dorchet following it. When he had reached it, he began letting it roll around, pushing it with his nose. This looked so silly, Martel started giggling. When she did this, Dorchet looked up, blushed, and started to scratch his ears.
Martel looked at Dorchet for a couple of minutes, until she heard hushed talking. She looked up, and saw Greed and Kimbley discussing something. Greed was bent over Kimbley, who was leaning against the doorpost, grinning smugly.
'Ah, well, Mr Boss, I have no idea what might have happened to him,' she heard him say.
'What's my duck doing there?' Greed asked, leaning closer to Kimbley, staring at him with half-closed eyes.
'I threw it,' Kimbley hissed. Greed smiled, and moved away from Kimbley. He took three long steps, and looked at Dorchet at his feet. Then the homunculus slapped the dog-chimera hard over the face twice.
'Greed!' Martel got up from her chair. 'What did you do that for?'
'Heh,' Dorchet grinned, looking up at Greed, while rubbing his cheek. 'That hurted, you know.'
'Dorchet?' Martel asked uncertainly. He was slowly getting up, staggering as if he was drunk, apparently shaken after the slaps. He looked up at her, and grinned. Greed had taken his distance from the chimera, but still looking at him.
'Kimbley told me that you ran around as if you were a dog.' Greed said, smiling. Kimbley had to fake a cough to not start laughing. Dorchet ran a hand through his hair, embarrassed.
'Erm... Did I really?' he asked, and blushed deeply when three heads nodded. 'You know... It gotta be a bi-effect of the experiments.' Dorchet shifted uncomfortably.
'How come Martel doesn't go all 'Ssszhhh' then?' Greed asked, folding his arms.
'I was the first one they experimented who survived. I told you that, didn't I?' Dorchet let his eyes pass from Greed to Martel.
'I know,' Martel smiled sadly.
'You never told me.' Greed said. 'What relevance does that have to your fairytale?'
'Dunno. I was somewhat a failure. But just good enough to be kept.' Dorchet said, Greed's eyes resting on him. Then the homunculus shrugged.
'Whatever. I'm going out. I'll be back tonight.'
'Mr Greed?' Dorchet asked.
'Yeah?'
'May I keep the duck?'