GOLDEN TIME LOVER ― PROPOSAL, RIZA NEEDED

[Roy Mustang]

It's been a long past few days lately. When Roy wasn't spending time with Aaliyah, Riza, or any of his friends here, the male was thinking. He was thinking back to what Margaery and Suiteheart suggested to him- advice on marriage. They were the only ones who knew what Roy was thinking of doing- proposing to Riza. Roy was well aware that he has feelings for her, and that she has them in return. He's definitely taking a huge risk of skipping the whole dating part, but that wasn't necessary for them. Their relationship, the bond between the two, has gone back for years. Roy trusts his life in Hawkeye's hands, even to a point where he gave her the permission to shoot him in the back if he ever went down a dark path. In their past life, the sense of dedication and loyalty they had for one another was strong, and even here Roy can feel it. When Riza said she'd 'follow him into hell', she really meant it, huh?

There was one more thought that ran through his mind. "What will we do now, Colonel?" Roy could almost hear Riza's voice ask him, thinking back to their conversation they had before Roy went to Margaery and Suiteheart. Back there, Roy wasn't entirely sure what to say. Whatever life they had before coming here was over- everything they worked for went down the drain. She was no longer a Lieutenant and he's no longer a Colonel. He knew if he told her that they could finally live their lives together right then and there, it wouldn't have gone well. The two lived their lives understanding what they wanted was illegal, and nothing could be done about it. Back there, it would still have felt impossible to do. But now, long days of thinking have past by. He can't let these old thoughts plague his mind, he has to do it before it's too late.

Roy made his way over to Riza's room, biting back a sigh as he stepped into the doorway. Roy took one step forward, gaze instantly landing on the maned lioness. Roy's face wore a serious, authoritative expression, as if he was her commanding officer once again. "Lieutenant," He spoke with a commanding tone, "I need to speak with you, follow me." Without leaving room for an explanation, the bobcat quickly turned around and began to pad out of the doorway, heading to the grand circle of the observatory. It was probably weird that Roy mentioned he wanted to speak with her, especially in a public area. He was certainly hiding something, but hopefully she'd follow his orders.

Roy would find himself sitting down on the ground, hiding an earring box behind him. Roy made sure it was well hidden- he wasn't about to allow Riza to see it and ruin the surprise. Roy had something special in mind, his proposal to Riza involved some flame alchemy. It wasn't much to worry about- he'll make sure the observatory doesn't set on fire and hopefully Riza will say yes. Now, Roy can only wait for her arrival.

[ [member=942]Lt. Hawkeye[/member] ]

[Suiteheart]

SUITE
HEART

[will delete if needed!!]

To say the white feline was ready and excited for this little proposal was a huge understatement. With bated breath, Suiteheart had sat quietly by, eager for the moment one of her closest friends, Roy, asked another of her friends, Riza, if she would like to marry him. Days had passed, and every time she spotted the former humans together, a giddy feeling arose in her chest. The conversation she and Margaery had had with him had been a good one. She hoped the already wedded couple had given Roy good advice too.

Unbeknownst to her, today was finally that day.

Suiteheart was padding into the Observatory as Roy and Riza headed into the Grand Circle, where their paths would align. Petite white paws came to a halt as she noticed the bobcat and lioness. A knowing (or better yet hopeful) smile curved her pink lips, and Suite found herself wandering just a few feet away from what must be happening. Joy burned in her baby blues as she looked on.

A happy gasp sounded in her mind. 'Oh! Oh, bud, I love love! Do... Do you mind if I watch?' It was Hyacinth. Well, that was interesting, wasn't it? Hyacinth was one of the few past lives that never seemed to surface. A little smile was brought on by the presence of the (more) childlike version of herself. The Admiral permitted Hyacinth to stay, to watch, but she focused her full attention on Roy and Riza.

Today was special.

[b]suiteheart folie-mikaelson . ecliptic admiral . the ascendants . tags

© [color=black]MADI

[Shininglight]

[div style="font-family: constantia; font-size: 13px; text-align: justified; width: 70%; margin: auto;"]
Marriage wasn't a common sight in the feral world. Shining had only ever attended one wedding- a grand, royal display, with multiple groups present. A bit over-the-top in his opinion at the time. Too showy, too flashy. He would have preferred something more relaxed, quiet, intimate. Such displays of love were quite rare, and Shining wasn't sure if he'd live to experience that himself. He was afraid to grow that close to someone, for good reason.

Shining was returning from a little walk when he spotted a crowd gathering around two creatures. He didn't know either of them yet. The feline looked at everyone's faces, seeing the hint of excitement. Was something going to happen? Shine decided to sit down off on the side, watching.

[glow=black,2,300]IT WON'T LAST.[/glow]

[lessa]

✯ — The scrawny Halo had attended a wedding once.  She had not seen the proposal but she had been there... Lessa bit her lip, her one visible eye flickering from Roy to stare ahead at seemingly nothing.  Perhaps she had pretended she felt happy that day; her emotions had... Confused her that time.  It hadn't worked out anyway. He'd gotten himself killed.  The two split up.  She lost track of both them and their children.  Sometimes, she wondered if he was still out here; he'd been in one of her last homes but... Disappeared.

They all disappeared.

Lessa believed in love, or she rather thought she did.  Perhaps it was the idea she was fond of, since everytime she tried it, it turned and laughed at her face.  The marten had never gotten close enough to anyone to even consider a relationship as official as married.  It was special, she supposed.

Maybe it would work out for them.

Quietly, she shuffled off closer towards the walls of the Grand Circle, deciding to stay out of the way, ignoring the inquiring look Calum gave her as the hawk tailed her movements.

code by spacexual

[VERSAILLESPALACE]

Versailles... doesn't know what a wedding is. She knows about relationships forming together out of need for survival, need for an heir, need for a closeness that can't be shared with another. Her mother had been mated several times when she was still alive, however it had mostly been out of survival need than love. She knows about unions, she knows about mating, she knows about partnership - but a wedding is a completely alien to her.

There's something in the air that she can't quite put her paw on, and it's that sense of not knowing that draws her closer to the small gathering, quickly finding her place somewhere behind Sutieheart. She notices that Lessa and Shininglight have joined the crowd and flash both Ascendants a curious, tentative smile. She wonders if they can already perceive what's going on, see something that she can't.

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]/tw for italicized section: guns, blood, mentions of genocide

  It had indeed been a long week, over which Riza had been thinking quite a bit too.

  The pieces, and even the rules of the game had changed. There was still a king, and a queen, and the goal of the game was to protect the king- but she was protecting him for his own sake now, not for their country, they were very likely outnumbered, and neither they nor the opposing side was limited in terms of what they could do to get ahead. Even setting aside the matter of strategy, they had no laws governing them, no rules that they had to follow lest their entire scheme fall through.

  Through thick and thin, they had always been at each other’s side- if not literally, then at least proverbially. The world could come to a violent end, but as long as they had each other, they knew they would find a way. Perhaps it was presumptuous to say so about Roy, but by now she knew him so well that she felt such predictions would be spot-on.

  She recalled specifically that in the one moment when she thought he was gone, that Lust had finally stopped the man she knew was unstoppable, everything had come crashing down around her.

  She could hear nothing besides the ringing in her ears.

  One bullet became two. Two bullets became four. Four bullets became eight as she unloaded the entire clip into the advancing homunculus, each shot intended to kill. Two bullets struck its forehead. Three hit its exposed chest. One landed square in the stomach. Two hit the side.

  All would have been fatal for a human and yet it just kept advancing. Nothing changed.

  Unholstering her second gun, she fired again- eight times, all eight landing in the vital areas, and yet it kept advancing, unfazed, unchanging.

  The third gun was strapped to her back. Even with her shaking hands, she took it and fired again.

  One shot, directly to the forehead. A tall bald man toppling over, as she watched the wound mar his hardened face.

  Four shots into the chest. Four men- perhaps family, perhaps not- aiming their pistols directly at her, despite knowing they could never hope to strike true at this distance.

  Two shots into the stomach. A mother, fleeing desperately into the wilderness, her wounded child clinging to her back- turning to look back for just one moment.

  A small white-haired girl staring up at her mother’s killer, her lone red eye widened in panic.

  One shot through the eye.

  No amount of bullets could fix the damage she had done.

  No amount of bullets could put an end to the creature right in front of her, Mustang’s blood staining its dress, a wicked grin on its face- not even the remnants of a bullet wound on its pale skin.

  The plan to expose their crimes to Amestris had been entirely Mustang’s idea. He had given her a reason to live, if only for long enough that she could be properly tried and, almost certainly, executed. Yet, she suspected that this encounter would have ended with her broken, on the floor, without a reason to live regardless of whether or not there had been any plan to begin with.

  Without him, what was the point?

  Perhaps she had known even before then that there was more to their relationship than what was on the surface, but all of it could be rationalized easily enough. Their secretive looks, their conversations on the phone, were all to service the plan. Their trust in one another was because of the fact that neither could expose the other without exposing themselves, no more and no less.

  There was no mistaking what she had done in the Third Laboratory. People didn’t lose hope entirely at the mere suggestion that an accomplice was dead. People like her, especially, didn’t scream simply because their plans had been foiled.

  Someone like her would not have given up the will to live and then regained it the moment that partner arrived in a blaze of glory, if that partner was just a partner.

  She hadn’t known what to do about it then. Even now, she didn’t know where to begin. The two months spent out in the wilderness had offered some time to process what was going on within her mind, when she wasn’t trying to figure out how they were going to return to Amestris, but even then all it had told her was that she most definitely was in love with Roy Mustang.

  Which a) she had subconsciously known for a long time, and b) was no help at all.

  Part of her had wondered if the anti-fraternization laws were the only reason they had never even gone on a date, and that if the laws were abolished, they would be all over each other. Evidently, it was not that simple. Maybe in a regular relationship between civilians one could just bring up the idea of romance and the two would progress from there- but she and Mustang were war criminals in all but name, had agreed to a pact where she would kill him if he turned away from his ideals, had been thrown out of their home world due to a transmutation accident... so much had happened that up to now, such a thing had seemed a frivolity.

  Maybe Mustang had a better understanding of the matter than she did- and the fact that she even had to think that proved her point exactly.

  When Mustang opened her door and ordered her to follow him, Riza did exactly that, one brow raised curiously. He wanted to speak to her, but didn’t want to do it in her room? Did he wish to discuss it in his room? She couldn’t imagine any scenario in which one would be preferable, but he must have had his reasons (and if he didn’t, she could give him a difficult time later).

  As he stopped in the middle of the Grand Circle, she couldn’t help but notice several others gathering nearby- all of whom seemed to be watching them, as if expecting a spectacle. Turning her gaze back to Mustang, looking him in the eyes, she asked, ”And what did you need to discuss that everyone has to be present for?”

  Suiteheart’s smile would suggest that she was in on... whatever Mustang was about to pull. Was he going to confess the way he had felt for (presumably) years? If so, why was he going to do so publicly? It would be just as binding in private.

[Roy Mustang]

While Roy waited for Riza to make her way over, Roy quickly thought through the process of proposing to Riza one last time. He wanted to make sure his thought process was completely correct, that his idea wasn't extreme(at least in his and Riza's eyes- the lieutenant has seen him perform large amounts of flame alchemy before), and that nothing will go wrong. As the maned lioness began to make her way over, Roy glanced at their gathering clanmates for a moment. He noticed a few familiar faces in the small crowd- Suiteheart, Shinninglight, Lessa, and Versailles. For the moment Roy glanced at Suiteheart, he caught that smile on her face- she knew what was about to go down. Hawkeye was completely right on assuming Suiteheart had a part in Mustang's plan- as he went to Suiteheart and Margaery for advice earlier in the week. The other three, now they probably don't know what exactly is going to happen- but perhaps Suiteheart's excited expression drew them over.

Roy didn't look at the four for very long. His glance at them lasted mere seconds, before snapping his head back in Riza's direction. His gaze instantly landed on the maned lioness- his lieutenant, assistant, bodyguard, and queen. The two of them, have gone through so much together throughout the years until now. They knew each other when Roy began to learn flame alchemy from her father, and then later on, completed his studies from her father's notes tattooed on her back. They've been sent to war, both ordered to kill their own countrymen in a mass genocide. They were the only two in Roy's unit in East & Central who knew each other before the civil war. While their dedication and loyalty to one another back then was strong, there were laws that barred them from ever thinking of each other as more than just subordinates.

The anti-fraternization laws. As badly as he wished those laws were abolished while they were in Amestris, it wouldn't have been easy. The anti-fraternization laws were set in place for years, and the military had to plans to remove it anytime soon. It certainly wasn't going to be abolished under Fuhrer King Bradley, that's for sure. And if there was some kind of miracle and they were abolished, they wouldn't be in a sudden relationship with the snap of his fingers. It wasn't that easy in a military standpoint, really.

But it's different here, which Roy began to realize that the moment he learned they were stuck here. This world is different from Amestris. There are so many components to this world that Roy Mustang could point out that wouldn't be the same back at home. One example is the society in this world- not once has Roy seen a human, this society is full of species of animals, and they can communicate to one another. Most importantly, the anti-fraternization laws do not exist here. Never once has Roy come across a rule that bars anyone from marrying someone else or being in a relationship with another. Not only that, but everything they worked for- their plan, unit, country, and most importantly military ranks are no longer of use to them. While Roy often refers Riza as 'lieutenant', they both know she is no longer a first lieutenant, and that they're calling each other their old military ranks from a force of habit.

Without the anti-fraternization laws in place, it got Roy to think more and more about their situation. Roy knew in the past that he cared about Lieutenant Hawkeye, and she cared about him in return. It wasn't everyday one almost breaks down at the thought of the loss of their commanding officer. Back then, Roy wouldn't have dared to admit her feelings to him, and he knew she'd do the same. Any kind of hints that were suggested, any conversations they had in person or on the phone, they had to make sure that they gave no indication to anyone that there might be something more going on between them. But here, those thoughts in his mind began to get louder and louder, until he knew he couldn't ignore them any longer. He had to talk to people he could trust, and put aside those thoughts that wanted to give him doubt. The thoughts that wanted him to conditionally believe what he's thinking is wrong, while it isn't anymore.

Roy kept his gaze locked on her, ears pricking up as he listened to her speak up. She had every right to question why he was bringing her out in the grand circle- rather than his or her room. While he could have easily proposed in private, the size of their rooms wouldn't have been enough. If he did his plan in either of them, without a doubt a large fire would have broken out. Instead of giving her an answer she'd like to hear, he decided to push his plan forward. She'd quickly learn why he brought her out here in a few short moments.

"Riza Hawkeye," The melanistic bobcat spoke up with a loud, commanding voice, blue eyes gleaming with seriousness, "We are no longer barred from Amestris's anti-fraternization laws!" She could probably get a sense of where Roy was going to take this from here. Simultaneously, Roy quickly pulled the earring box from behind, opening it as his flint claws snapped. Roy was a master at flame alchemy- he knew how to create explosions, pin-point aiming, and even the understanding of keeping his flames under his control. There was more he could do, such as kill flames, or even raise the oxygen density around someone to make them dizzy. There were a few sparks, and not even a few moments passed by as his controlled flames went into the air. The flames quickly began to form letters, that would quickly change to words and then, to a question.

Will you marry me?

Not once did Roy's flames touch any surface of the observatory, he kept the fire strong and going- not once did it shrink or grow in size. It stayed as perfect as Roy Mustang imagined it to be. Roy's gaze didn't even tear away from Riza, Roy was that confident in his flame alchemy. Roy held the open earring box in his paw- a beautiful, single diamond earring shining under Roy's firey message. Considering Riza couldn't wear a ring, Roy hoped a earring would suffice- he'd even pierce his own left ear if she says yes at their wedding.

And finally, feeling the heat against his fur, the Flame Alchemist spoke up one last time.

"Riza, I want you to be more than just my lieutenant."

[Verdigris]

  [font=trebuchet ms]The meaningful look he shared with the other four, combined with his lack of an immediate answer, could only mean he intended for there to be a spectacle. Hopefully whatever he had planned had included fireproofing the Grand Circle- the drill the week before had caused enough damage on its own. Still, why would he need to use his flame alchemy to make his point, and why did he specifically need to make sure she was there?

  Then he spoke her name, forgoing her rank entirely. Abruptly, Riza snapped to attention, standing up straight- primarily due to force of habit. His voice was bold, as if knowing that his declaration went against every law in Amestris’ books.

  The anti-fraternization laws, in particular. In that moment, realization dawned on her- realization of why they both were in public, why the Colonel was so serious, why everyone was gathered around. She barely had time to shield her eyes from the blast of the flames, the light harsher on a feline’s vision than on a human’s.

  Once upon a time, a spark of ambition had led a young man to her father’s home. “Roy Mustang,” he had introduced himself as. He had wanted to learn alchemy, and thought Master Berthold Hawkeye to be the best teacher he could find. (In hindsight, she almost certainly would have disagreed, but at this time she did not know the half of it.)

  Once upon a time, a flame of hope had led Mustang back to their home, wishing to enlist as a State Alchemist following his time at the academy. He had found instead her dying father, whose last words became a curse on both of them- giving up the location of his notes on flame alchemy. Then he had found her, naive enough to show him the truth: the secrets carved into her back. (In hindsight, part of her wondered if she could have spared them both by denying him.)

  Once upon a time, the inferno of war had left them both scarred for life and beyond, and thousands more dead, their souls stored in crimson stones. Seeing the horror that her father’s discoveries had indirectly caused, it was all they could do to render the last of the evidence unreadable. If nothing else, they could prevent any others from gaining the cursed knowledge. (In hindsight, she could see it hadn’t really mattered. There was nothing left of her to retrieve her father’s notes from, even if she and Mustang hadn’t attempted to burn every last symbol away.)

  Once upon a time, the embers of their broken society had driven them to act, to expose all who had had a hand in the destruction of Ishval. She had sworn to follow Mustang into hell- a promise she could not take lightly if she tried. A promise she might have fulfilled too early, had it not been for the blazes that heralded his intervention in the Third Laboratory. (In hindsight, she should have known better than to give up. If nothing else, Mustang would have wanted her to get Alphonse to safety through whatever means necessary.)

  Everywhere they went, the flames seemed to bring them guilt and remorse.

  As she looked up at the words etched in fire, though, she reflected that this time, there was nothing to regret.

  Marriage was a promise to protect the other person for the rest of your life- and in this case, even beyond that. It meant sacrifice, loyalty, determination, and more than anything else, pain. It was a promise to follow the other person to hell and back.

  In turn, it was an understanding that the other person was the one being that you could trust without regrets.

  The flood of emotions threatened to overwhelm her, to drag her under the surface where she would never be seen again. Since Ishval, she had taken any feelings she could detect and buried them, where they could not be used against her. The stakes were high, too high for her to risk their mission on temporary impulses. Even if she had no use for that facade anymore, it just came naturally now.

  Yet, though Riza habitually attempted to keep a straight face as she looked down at Roy and the box he held, she could feel herself choking up. ”Colonel,” she began, meeting his eyes- as always, so confident he didn’t even need to look back at his handiwork.

  Then he spoke again.

  He was right. They were not Colonel and Lieutenant anymore. That was the past. This was the future- a time for moving forward, without regrets.

  She reached forwards and placed her paw on his, meeting his bright blue gaze directly as the flames raged on above them. ”Roy Mustang,” she spoke, his full name sounding simultaneously wrong and oh-so-right on her tongue.

  ”Yes. I will marry you.”