@amestrianbrat
Sometimes Alphonse directed his mind toward the dumbest activities. Attaching ideas and imaginative spins on common things, if only to make it all more interesting for a mind that never rested. It was the only thing he could do to remain sane! One wrong move and it could all come unfurled. Of that, he was certain.
But sometimes in doing what he did, it made it seem like he was an outsider, rather than a human part of the world at large.
.... in many ways, maybe he was an outsider. Certainly, he wasn’t involved like he should be.
Still....
For the moment, he sat shuffled off in some insignificant corner of the world, watching soldiers and officers receiving their meal together in a mess hall. It wasn’t always so organized. More often than not, everyone grabbed what they could on the run. But sometimes it was nice to get together and jostle about like they were a united unit! Rather than dispersed throughout the land with a thousand different tasks to accomplish at once.
It was here that Alphonse employed his skills.
There were a few notable qualities to food he noticed during his observations, in trying to understand humanity down to its simplest components. People tended to come together in steady increments to nourish themselves, an array of simple snacks to hold them to the three fair sized portions they devoured later. How did they know when to settle? Did their bodies remind them if they were caught up in duty, too intertwined in what they were doing to realize they were losing track of time? What happened if they missed a meal? Did they lose something else? There were times when their battles ahead would dictate their schedule, when they would be unable to tend to necessities in timely manners. It seemed like a riddle he couldn’t quite put his finger on because.... because he didn’t remember what it was like.
It wasn’t a riddle at all, it was instinct that he lacked.
Sometimes events unfurled without his acknowledgement of them. Sometimes he was drawn into the mess of things unwittingly.
That case was no different.
When he had been just innocently stashed away sorting through ridiculous thoughts about the many courses of meals people took, he was suddenly laden with a meal himself and instructions to carry it to the deaf alchemist. He wasn’t a servant. Everyone knew that, but they also knew he didn’t mind lending a hand where he could. Just another distraction to put him into performing some activity so he didn’t have to address the real issues plaguing him.
Thus he set off.
The door to the mans office was already ajar, giving him entry inside. Still, that shouldn’t permit him to just barging right in without qualms!
The deaf alchemist made him nervous. Not because he was deaf, but because.... well, because the manner of which he had to communicate was lost on him. He didn’t have lips for him to read. And he didn’t quite know sign language well enough to get his point across. So there was bound to be something lost in translation.
Food was something they could all share, right? Except for him...... but.... alas.
He stuck the tray in first.
.... that was a good way to say hello.
He stuck the tray in and then put forth one huge leg. Sashaying in as gracefully as a mighty armored figure could.
He paused a moment, shuffling uncomfortably before finally extending the tray forward.
