Getting His Bearings.

[Guest]

Clack, clack, clack! Kierian's black boots rang out through the halls of the Southern HQ as he walked with purpose. It'd been a nice long few months of training and from there a long time spent away from anything that remotely looked like civilization. All in all it'd been at least two years since he had joined the military and in those two years his reports back to Southern HQ had given the higher ups vital information that would help in battles that were on the horizon and battles that were to come. Oh yea, Kierian was in a good place but it wasn't without a few battle scars and even more time where the young man could have been caught or killed. The spy walked the halls knowing he might not be around here for much longer so it was imperative that the man took in the sight of other human beings while he could. The alchemist moved to the window and looked out at the spring day with a heavy sigh. He missed the world, he missed Xenotime, he missed his hard candy, something he hadn't had in about a year. Outside he could see South City moving about hustling about. Children were playing and the wind was blowing the leaves of the trees that had been budding it seemed for only a little while. Wow, it'd been a year since Kierian saw anything that remotely looked like a tree as well, two long years in desert operations, not exactly what the alchemist signed up for, but it was better than being a street thug in Xenotime. Earlier in his week he'd gotten a letter saying he was to report to South HQ, to report the the Head of Operations. It seemed he had a good twenty minutes before that meeting, so for ten minutes the man would stand there and look out the window, remembering his home town and all the trouble he got into; though most of his thoughts came back to his teacher Von Hilde. He wondered if he'd see the man, in all truth he wondered if he'd see him sooner rather than later. Without noticing it, Kierian noticed that ten minutes had gone by and it was time to head up for his meeting. The young man made his way through the halls and all the way up to the top floor in which he'd find himself walking into a grand room that he was told to wait in. He wondered what the general was like, how she would speak to him, how his upbeat attitude would go over with the woman.

[Shula Brighton]

Guuuuuuuuurrrrrrnnnnnn~~~

At this moment in time, Shula's stomach was a very tiny monster, and if it continued growling and gnawing at her from the inside, the tiny Ishvallan conceded that she may very well be foreced to eat her own desk to satisfy it. Perhaps skipping lunch and running just on tea and a handful of grapes all day hadn't been the best plan of attack, but dammit stuff needed to get done! The stacks of work weren't doing themselves, and Shula had a full schedule again today, but that had become fairly normal as looking after South HQ and South City tended to have a lot of paperwork to do. She sat there at her desk, her cheek resting in a henna-stained and patterned palm. So much paperwork... There were only three things Shula would openly admit to being afraid of: slugs, her mother, and the ominous stacks of paperwork amassed between South and Central HQ's. Sure there was a whole department she'd dedicated just to handling any of their overflow, but recently her own piles had been, well... piling.

There hadn't been time to have lunch that day, at least, not a lunch more than what she'd been munching, and normally she could get by on just hot tea for a while, but even on her best days t some point she new she had to surrender and eat something. Shula had been doing well to slowly get her weight up and try and get it to a healthy number; Ishvalla only knew how many well-meaning nosy old Ishvallan ladies in the area had complained that if she didn't eat and look healthy her groom would be dissatisfied, and worse, she wouldn't be able to have all the sons they were trying to bless her with. At the rate they were going, Shula was starting to wonder if they were either confusing her with a vending machine, or intended for her to single-handedly replenish all of Ishval herself. At least they'd all stopped trying to offer up their sons and grandsons.

Grrrrwwrwrwrrrffff~~

....Her stomach had grown teeth and was devouring her from the inside-out, and soon all that would be left would be her bracelets and her bindi! She looked longingly at the door, and then her window, shooting a quick prayer that a magical pastry fairy would apparate, or that Spade would burst through the door and serenade her with promises of dinner. Shula loved what she did now for all its frustrations and as terrifying as getting used to it had been, but dammit if there weren't days when she needed another her to get it all done. A faint, playful smirk ran across unglossed lips. Much like phone and iPad apps, there was an alchemical study or science devoted to and possible for nearly everything... just not making a clone to do help unbury her from her own desk! She couldn't help but laugh. Even if I COULD make another me, like Hell I'd get suckered into doing all this, especially by ME... Shaking her head, Shu rose from her desk, stepping over to her tea kettle to put a fresh one on, bracelets tinkling on her wrists. Was Spade rubbing off on her? Maybe.... But that wasn't something she'd ever complain about.

The door to her office opened, Rose's head popping in. "Shula? Your next appointment's here." Shula nodded at Rose as she zipped into the large office, walking past the small sitting area to put the file onto the desk and made her way back out.

"Awesome, send him in." Shula made her way back to her desk, sipping at the deep red tea that nearly matched her eyes and the blood-colored gem that sparkled on her forehead. Meetings with new department heads were always interesting at least. She took a few long, slow sips as she looked over the file and felt her stomach grow still, placated for the time being. Shula waited a moment for her new hire to come in to her office, watching Rose close the door behind him. "Welcome! Come in and have a seat."

[Guest]

Crunch!
The loud sound rang out through the large waiting room as Kierian brought his teeth through his fifth jawbreaker that day. The sugary candy made Kierian let out a small Mmm as the sweetness traveled down the back of his throat. Without missing a beat the young man popped another jawbreaker into his mouth and began to suckle on it as he waited. Sheesh it'd been such a long wait so far, when was he going to be called already? It wasn't like Kierian had anything to do at this point in time, but he had wanted to go out and spend some time in civilization before having to hit the grind stone once again and it felt like he was sitting here for an eternity and damn it the more time he spent here was more time he had to spend away from finding the nearest candy shop or comic book store. Oh yes, the red head hadn't been able to read a comic in months and it truly bothered him to not be able to get into his most favorite past time. Another crunch was heard as the jawbreaker was chewed through almost as fast as it was popped into his mouth, a sign of how impatient and antsy he was getting, hell the young alchemist was even beginning to fidget in his seat a little with how long he had been sitting in that comfy chair. Just who the hell did this Brigadier think they were to be eating his free time like this! The red head had half a mind to get in there and give the higher up a big piece of his mind. Through that thought though, came the voice of Von Hilde, telling him to remain calm and that like the wind he must flow with the changes around him. It wasn't like he was a civilian anymore. No, Kierian was a man of the military, a man of order and justice; he had to learn how to play ball or learn how to be on the bench which was something the young man really didn't feel like doing. No, he had promised old man Hilde that he would become the next hero of the people, the next Full Metal no matter what it took and no matter how hard he had to goosestep in line. A small whistle came from the man as he sat there, trying to keep his mind off the wait as much as he possibly could in order to keep himself from flying off the handle. After that it didn't seem to be so long before the receptionist had motioned for him to follow her in. As the door closed behind him, the care free alchemist had begun to make his way over to the large desk when he had noticed that this Brigadier was a woman and to top it all of, she seemed to be Ishvallan too! The young man smirked a bit deciding this would be a great moment to try out the Ishvallan he had picked up when the military assigned him to be a spy. As he sat down, still smirking, the once thief from Xenotime spoke in his usual tone of voice, high energy ad extremely excited. Good afternoon Brigadier General, how are you today? He asked, though it seemed his accent was still a bit shaky, the words were near flawless. The young alchemist took his seat and yawned a little, his hands moving behind his head as he sat there, waiting to be spoken to.

[Csilla Angelis]

{BUMP}

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