Mirror Seventeen
Koko came to get them precisely thirty minutes later. Edward had cleaned up a bit more since then. He had threaded his belt through the trouser pants and tucked the dress shirt in. He had contemplated wearing his gloves to dinner, but realized that the Armstrong family was trustworthy enough. They probably knew about his automail already. It didn't make him any less paranoid about not wearing his gloves, though they wouldn't look very nice with his clothes.
'I think Winry is finally getting through to me,' he thought as he stepped out into the hall. Koko was already knocking on Alphonse's door. Alphonse stepped out, tugging at the cuffs of the dark gray dress shirt he had appropriated from Edward's closet. He had also found a black vest, which he wore, open over the shirt. "Follow me, gentlemen," Koko said, leading down the hallway. Edward fell into step beside Alphonse, who was still fiddling with his cuffs.
The dining room was in the center of the manor. Koko led them through large double-doors, where they found several people already there. The other Edward and Alphonse were seated beside each other, heads bent together like they were scheming something. That worried Edward. Katherine was seated beside some sour-looking blonde chick that was wearing a dark violet long-sleeved dress. Edward's gaze skipped over that side of the table when he saw whom he presumed was Alanza, seated opposite the other armor.
"Edana?" Alphonse was quicker than Edward.
Edward's gaze immediately went back to the girl in purple. Her hair was down, too, but she scowled and was suddenly recognizable. "If I hear even so much as a snicker from either of you, consider yourselves castrated," she snarled.
Edward and Alphonse looked at each other, looked back at Edana, then both burst into hysterical laughter.
"I warned you," Edana snarled, halfway out of her seat when Katherine Elle grabbed her arm. Abruptly, Edana was seated again, although she didn't look pleased about it.
"Welcome, welcome!" Armstrong said, standing up and gesturing towards the two chairs beside the armor.
Alphonse sat closest to the armor, who leaned backward and bobbed his head at Edward. "'Hey, 'niisan!"
"Hey, Al," Edward said, seating himself beside the flesh Alphonse. Unfortunately for him, that meant that he was seated directly opposite a scowling Edana. He smirked at her, and she scowled deeper.
Armstrong's father and mother soon joined them, and they had a full table. Edward, seated closest to Armstrong's mother, made some polite albeit uninteresting conversation with her. He complimented Edana, which made her scowl even more and resulted in Armstrong's mother scolding her for not taking compliments properly. The first course of food came and went, and Edward realized that when the Armstrong family sat down to dinner, they sat down to a FEAST.
He was muttering something to Alphonse when Edward heard a familiar clap. He glanced at Edana, who had a fork in one hand and an innocent smile on her face as she talked to Katherine Elle.
The smile made Edward shudder. He glanced at Alphonse, who looked as disturbed as he felt. "Did you…?" he asked quietly.
Alphonse shook his head negatively. "Wasn't me."
Edward glanced at his Alphonse, who was looking blankly at Armstrong while Armstrong waxed poetic about ... well, edward wasn't sure and didn't really care.
Edana caught the fact that he was glancing around the table and caught his eye. She grinned, all teeth, and he felt even more nervous. Edward grabbed his water glass and took a deep drink.
By the time the smell registered with him it was already in his mouth. Edward gagged and immediately retched, the vinegar still burning in his mouth. Of course, his violent gagging caught everyone's attention, and Alphonse grabbed Edward's dropped water glass and sniffed it, then glowered at the innocent-looking Edana. "Vinegar," he said.
"Oh, my," Armstrong's mother said, looking concerned. "Did one of our servers…?"
"I'm sure they mixed something up, it wasn't intentional," Alphonse said, sniffing his own water glass before handing it over to Edward, whom drank it down in one gulp. "I think we need more water, though."