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MOODTHEME - Roy Mustang
by Leni

calm

Falman read through the official report from Central. His steady voice never betrayed his thoughts; but his eyebrows shot up and then burrowed as he followed the latest news from the Elric brothers. Even Hawkeye sucked in a breath when it was revealed that Ed's injuries had not been as light as the boy had recounted initially.

"I can't shorten their leash. Not now," Colonel Mustang mused. He had his fingers steepled on the desk, the tips of his forefingers tapping each other as he absorbed the news. "Is that all?"

Falman swallowed his 'I hope so'. "For the moment."
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cheerful

His glass clinked against Maes'. "I hope that baby takes after Gracia," he teased, drinking down their third glass. "Otherwise we'll have a hard time keeping it from being harassed at school."

"I never was harassed," Maes stated, but he smiled as he noticed that his best friend had included himself in his child's future. "And of course it'll take after Gracia. It'll be too smart a baby not to."

"Smart?" Roy chortled. "Definitely Gracia's child, then."

Maes shrugged, too happy to defend his intelligence. "My wife is the loveliest woman ever," he sighed in contentment, "Wanna see a picture?"

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chipper

The men in the anteroom forgot their current assignments as their boss walked past them and disappeared into his office. Three heads consulted the clock. There was utter silence as each man tried to comprehend what they'd just witnessed.

"It's before eight." Fuery laid down a screwdriver before it fell from nerveless fingers. "Was he… whistling?"

"Indeed," Falman corroborated.

Havoc fished for a new cigarette. "He was damn skipping," he said around the stub. Which was an exaggeration, but so close to the truth that neither colleague contradicted him. Havoc smirked. "Well, now we know what was making Hawkeye late."

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cold

He rubbed his arms, trying to create some warmth. Riza - no. Sergeant Hawkeye pointed at the gloves peeking from his coat pocket. "I'm fine," he barked. Didn't say that his ignition gloves offered no comfort.

"It's shocking that it should be so hot in the morning, and almost freezing after sunset," Maes commented later, offering a cup of coffee.

Roy took it. Allowed the hot beverage to drown the protest. It didn't matter if it was day or night, not to him.

If he had known that the Ishbalan desert could be so cold, he'd have never come down here.

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complacent

All these years. All that effort to translate generations of alchemic wisdom into something a boy could assimilate. All his ambitions and hopes.

Wasted.

The boy had become a man. An untried, cocky, idealistic one; the kind that thought the world was at his fingertips. In Hawkeye's eyes, Roy had never been more of a child. "You have learned everything from my library, haven't you?"

A nod, just shy of arrogant.

The self-confidence melted into confusion as Hawkeye reached for his daughter, patted lightly between her shoulders. "Yet you know nothing."

Roy's puzzled frown deepened when Riza fled the room.

16/06/09
TBC