A/N: Thanks Tobu. You make my day. This one is short and remarkably... squishy. Sorry.
IIX. Proximity
The wind rolls off the grass, gaining momentum as it plummets down the hills and stirring endorphins as it climbs back up. Could Wind giggle, she would. She is having a smashing good time, spending an early spring evening in Risemburg. She wishes she could live here until she remembers that she does. And it's a good life.
The slope of the hill leading up to the Rockbell front porch is just enough to curl the gust into one chilly, blustery fastball that the landscape pitches at the house's face. There is no better place to dry one's hair than the Rockbell front porch, Edward has found. But the best place to perch, with the wind broken just enough to be pleasant and the vista expansive enough to win over any seasoned porch connoisseur, is the second floor porch. Pinako calls it a "widow's porch," and Winry calls it a "Romeo porch." Edward does not care for dramatics; "porch" is good enough for him.
"What are you doing out here?" Winry asks as she slips outside, holding a sweater around her shoulders.
Mourning my dead husband while being serenaded in iambic pentameter, Edward thinks. "Enjoying the view," he replies.
"It's a little late, don't you think? There isn't much of view without light."
"Not that view. You don't see stars like this in East City," explains Edward. He gestures to the sky. "With the street lamps and all."
"Oh," Winry says. Not sure of what else to do, she lowers herself to the boards next to Edward. He has his legs dangling through the posts of the railing. She mimics him. "I don't really notice them anymore."
Still looking up, Edward replies, "You can only really appreciate something with infrequent proximity; otherwise, you take it for granted."
"I guess," says Winry. She notes that Edward is in only his navy pajama pants. She shrugs out of her sweater and drapes it over his mismatched shoulders.
"What're you doing?" he asks, looking down at the gray sweater.
Winry smiles and looks upwards. "Just appreciating the stars."