Chapter 7
"Well, here she is," Vash said proudly, "The Angela III." He, Rosette (and EVE, of course) and Edward were in what Vash called the "garage" part of the complex- a large, windowless room with all manners of vehicles in various states of repair. Vash explained to the two visitors it was his hobby to buy old or worn-out clunkers and fix them up, so he could sell them back to the townsfolk to buy the few things he and his brother needed that they could not make themselves, such as medicine, new clothes or the occasional box of doughnuts ('occasional' being a relative term- Vash limited himself to one triple-dozen box a week). As Rosette looked around the shop, she could see he did nice work- many of the nearly completed motorcycles and cars looked almost brand-new.
In this instance however, she couldn't see why he was swelling with an almost fatherly pride as he pointed to the car they were to take into town. It was, in a word, junk- the upholstered seats were torn and faded, the windshield was cracked, and the pullover felt hood was dusty and full of holes. 'Not that I'm expecting much in the way of rain, but still, out of all of these nice cars, why do we have to go in that?' She thought privately to herself. Then a thought crossed her mind that made her grin. 'Well, since it's in such poor condition, maybe he won't mind me behind the wheel- after all, I don't think he'd be able to tell the difference if I crashed it.'
It had taken them almost an hour to drive the single ile from Eden to town. Vash had driven, and more than once Rosette had to sit on her hands to keep them from finding their way around his neck for driving so slowly. She was convinced it would have been faster if they had walked. Judging from the muted mutterings coming from the front seat, Edward agreed with her. The only good part about the trip was that EVE stayed quiet, evidently accustomed to her former wearer's driving habits.
When they finally reached their destination and climbed out of the car, Vash gestured grandly. "Here we are, the City of Azure!"
Unlike with the Angela, Rosette thought that Vash's introduction to the city was quite accurate. Where it was by no means a New York or Chicago, it wouldn't be mistaken for a little hick-town, either. She saw ladies in fine gowns and hats milling about the shops, carrying umbrellas with them to shade them from the sun. Men intermixed with the women, wearing bowling hats and three-piece suits, bustling from here to there. The buildings themselves were stories tall, most of them two or more. All in all, the scene looked like it came from a new Sherlock Holmes story that Sister Claire always sent for when it came out in England.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" A gravelly voice behind them growled. Rosette whirled around, expecting the devil to attack. What she saw wasn't a devil, but the sight was frightening enough. Standing before them stood a squat, filthy, and homely man with a cap jammed on his head, wiping his hands on an equally filthy rag. He wore denim jeans and what Rosette thought might have once been a white shirt. There was a scar running down his cheek from his forehead, and the eye on that side of his face was milky white, clouded with cataracts. When he smiled, he showed two uneven rows of yellowed teeth.
To her utter amazement, Vash stepped forward and shook the man's hand. "Hey, Jack, how's it going?" he asked him genially, as if they were old friends.
"Not too bad, Eric. Not too bad at all. Old Man Dithers said the transmission on his car's gone and broke again, and the bigwigs on the Town Council say that the public transport buses need to be overhauled, so I got plenty of work a'comin' to me." He nodded to Edward and Rosette. "Why don't you introduce me to your friends? I don't bite." He added, giving a friendly wink to Rosette.
Vash slapped his forehead in embarrassment. "Of course, of course. Rosette, Edward, this is Jack Chong, an old friend of mine and owner of Jack's Auto Body Repair Shop. When I fix up the cars, he's the one who sells them. Jack, this is Sister Rosette Christopher and Mr. Edward Elric, visitors to my home."
"Eric here gave me my hand back after I lost it in an accident," Jack explained, pulling back one of his sleeves to show a band of metal right around his wrist. He flexed his fingers, and Rosette could here the faint whine of gears and motors. "Because of that, any friend of Eric's is a friend of mine." He said, pumping both of their hands in a sure, strong grip.
'Man,' thought Rosette, 'does everyone here have a metal arm?' It sure seemed like it.
Edward, however, had a better question to ask. "Mr. Chong, why is it that you call him Eric? I thought his name was Vas-"
Before he could finish, he had one oil-stained hand pressed against his mouth. "Quiet, boy! Do you have any idea what the people around here'd do if they caught wind that the Humanoid Typhoon was walking around right under their noses?" The grease monkey hissed. "First they'd run and hide, which wouldn't be too bad, but then they'd call in bounty hunters and the Calvary, who would raze our fair city to the ground looking for him! Eric is his alias." He eyed the Fullmetal Alchemist meaningfully. "It is imperative that you call him that while you're here, all right? Everyone knows him as Eric, and it would make a mighty awkward situation if you happened to have a slip of the tongue and call him- the 'V' name. Do I make myself clear?" Edward nodded and breathed deep once the hand was removed, coughing at the taste of the oil and brake fluids. Jack turned towards Rosette, who stiffened, expecting the same attack on her. But all he said was, "the same goes to you, Miss Rosette," to which she merely nodded.
After they had left the car with Jack, who promised to look after it while they were in town, they went in separate directions. Rosette and EVE went off to look for a couple of new dresses for her using some money Vash gave them, with Edward tagging along because he didn't want to leave "a defenseless girl" (two defenseless girls if you included EVE) wandering the town alone. Besides, he still felt kind of guilty about bringing Rosette here in the first place, even though neither the circumstances nor the destination were what he had in mind.
Vash decided to use this trip into the city to enjoy a couple dozen doughnuts in the bakery, where he was a regular. In fact, he was such a regular that the bakery (other than the local pharmacy and Jack's, of course) was the only place he went when he was in town. He grinned. It was time to see if the nice waitresses had kept the usual mountain of doughnuts aside for him.
Unbeknownst to the three, a hooded figure watched them go in different directions. The devil turned on his heel and walked away, smirking. It was time to stir up some trouble.
"Hmm- No."
"Don't think so."
"It just isn't what I'm looking for."
"Would you please," EVE hissed through gritted vocal synthesizers, "just grab a dress and put it on already!" She was becoming very irritated- it had been over an hour since they had parted ways with Vash and here they were, still looking at dresses. Edward had gone off after about a half hour, saying something about seeing a café across the road and wanting to go get a drink. EVE thought she'd been more than generous with the girl, but if she didn't find a dress within the next minute, she'd be wearing a helluva lot different kind of suit than a survival one- she'd be showcasing the one she came into the world in.
Just as EVE was about to undo the molecular locks and let gravity take the suit off the nun, she heard her exclaim triumphantly "Aha! Found one!" and was marched into the changerooms, where she heaved a sigh of relief and dropped the hologram. While it wasn't an especially draining task to just keep the image up, it got harder when you factored in all the different things that had to be done to preserve the illusion of a real dress-the way it moved when the Sister took a step, for instance, or what way it would ruffle when the wind picked up. If the dress hadn't acted like a real one, EVE might just as well dropped it and instead had a large illuminated holographic sign right above the nun's head that said "ADVANCED SURVIVAL SUIT- LOST TECHNOLOGY WALKING OVER HERE!" with an arrow pointing down at her.
Rosette shrugged the suit off and folded it neatly, tucking it away in a corner as she tried on the dress. When she had managed to slip it on (a trick, to be sure, because of her broken arm), she had to bite her lip to keep from squealing. While it would never compare to the works of art and lace she saw the women outside wearing, it was a beautiful dress in its own right: made from rich, royal blue silk that match her eyes, with puffed-up shoulders and frilled wrists and hemming. She looked adorable in it. It was plain enough not to draw too much attention to her, yet still looked lovely to those who did notice. There was only one problem with it- there wasn't anywhere to stick the suit so it wouldn't be noticed.
Fortunately, EVE noticed this too and had an idea. "Psst, Sister," she whispered to Rosette, "slide me under the wall into the next changeroom!" Rosette looked and sure enough, there was a gap at least a foot-and-a-half wide between the partition that separated the changerooms and the floor. She slid the bundled-up suit underneath it, wondering what the Personality was going to do.
She got her answer when she left her own cubbyhole. Walking out almost simultaneously from the changeroom next to hers was a woman with long black hair and slanted eyes that were the most beautiful shade of green, wearing a carbon copy of the dress Rosette was wearing, save that hers was a green to match her eyes. She came out carrying a much fancier dress over her arm. Seeing Rosette, she winked as she hung it up on the rack and said aloud, "Oh well. I guess I'll just have to ask James later to let me get this dress, because I just have to have it!" Rosette nodded dumbly, wondering who in the seven circles of Hell 'James' was and wishing they would just pay and get out of there. After they left, no one in the store noticed that the fancy dress faded into thin air.
Sure enough, there was a café across the street, with Edward sitting at a table on the open veranda, sipping a glass of ice water. He looked rather bored until he saw the two girls, whom he waved to come and join him, looking a bit surprised at the sight of an EVE solid enough to support the suit. "Isn't that taxing your energy reserves?" he asked her, curious. When he had been first introduced to her he had proceeded to barrage her with a million technical questions. While she had at first been pleased by the attention, she had quickly grown weary and then annoyed by Edward's constant questioning. He had only shut up when she promised to give him her full schematics at a later date.
EVE nodded. "A bit more than maintaining just a hologram, but I can maintain it for a little while without any large concern, as long as I recharge later." One of the myriad questions of Edward's had been about her energy needs and replenishment ability. She had told him that the suit took in whatever energy it could find- solar, electric, even the wind could turn special conductors in the suit to make energy- to cover the basic functions of the suit, such as its water retention ability, which it did quite efficiently. However, when more power-draining functions were used, such as hologram projection, EVE needed to power-down the suit and allow it to collect energy while outputting as little as possible, saving up until her reserves were at their peak. "Think of it like when you go to sleep," she had said to simplify it. "That's why I call it 'hibernation'- it's my version of sleeping."
"Besides, I don't mind if it gets me out of the house." She went on as the waitress came over to their table. "I like it outside with the people."
"Hello, and welcome to the Typhoon Café!" the waitress said. She looked to be a couple of years shy of thirty and was quite tall, perhaps as tall as Vash, with the same colour eyes. Her hair, a sort of dirty blond, was shoulder-length and framed her face. However, despite her size and age, she had all the youthful exuberance of a ten-year-old. "My name's Millie, and I will be your waitress today! Is there anything you'd like?" She struck a pose as if trying to remember something. "Lesee here… we have coffee, tea, milk, juice, uh… oh, I always forget this one- oh! And soda, too!" She seemed inordinately pleased to have remembered them all herself.
When Rosette had placed her order (EVE begging off, saying that she wasn't thirsty), Millie turned towards Edward. "Anything else, Mr. Scientist?" She asked him sweetly. He gave her his empty glass and she quite happily wandered away in the general direction of the kitchen, they guessed.
When he turned around, he saw Rosette and EVE staring at him. "What?" he asked defensively, unnerved.
"Who is she?" Rosette asked. "She seems to know you pretty good."
Edward snorted. "While I was waiting for you two to hurry up and get a dress, she brought me an ice water. We got talking, and she said that her and her friend started this café from nothing five years ago, and now it's one of the most popular places to eat in the three cities closest to this one. I said I was a scientist, that's all." He got up. "I have to leave you two ladies for a moment. Be right back," he said as he went inside the café.
"So," EVE asked awkwardly when he left, "How did you two get to be V- er, Eric's guests?"
"It's a long story," Rosette said guardedly, "I'll tell you later."
EVE nodded, but didn't look happy. Even though they were sitting outside in the middle of a desert under two blazing suns, the air around the table the two women sat at dropped a good few degrees below freezing, and stayed that way for a while.
That is, until the café exploded.
