Fullmetal Alchemist: Aftermath (RP Thread)

[Tenyas]

Rushing into what appeared to be an exam room, complete with desks, seats, and even what looked like testing papers laid out on the tables. Walking over to an empty one, Saren took a seat and looked down at the paper, grabbing a nearby pen and writing her name at the top of the sheet.

Why do you wish to serve our state as a State Alchemist?

Hmm... Well, that was an easy one. Writing underneath the question, she put;

To honor my family and to protect the people of Amestris. People look up to the state's military and I hope to be at least a shadow of some of the great men and women before me.

What would you like to achieve with your State Alchemist Qualification?

Er... that one was a bit harder. What would she acheive by being a State Alchemist? She started a sentence only to cross it out with the pen. Umm... Hm, wait! There we go;

I wish to acheive the kind of sensation one only gets when they've managed to help others. And I strive to gain the respect of the people I will hopefully be protecting.

Please tell us about an area of alchemy that greatly interests you.

Umm... Well, this one was a bit weird. What kind of alchemy interested her? She never really got to know that many. She did specialize in vaporous molecules, however, like what you'd find in the very air you breathe. Then again, she'd recently discovered a form of alchemy that involves healing a person through special studying of the human body and the sorts of chemicals that can increase growth within cells. Essentially, it was medical alchemy. Yes, that was something that interested her greatly as of late.

Setting the pen to the paper once more, she wrote;

The healing alchemy of the Xing country. It's so astonishing how one can not create life but, still greatly aid life through alchemy. Something like that could not only be a scientific break through, if its powers were fully discovered there could be the possibility that most any disease or wound could be healed on a living victim.

Finishing up her answers and looking them over, she felt rather disheartened at how short the quiz had been. These were scientists who went on to become alchemists, not grade students. Then gain, her nerves were quaking more at this moment then they had been for the past month.

 

[ndg912]

Why do you wish to serve our state as a State Alchemist?
I wish to better the world,ensure peace. TO help those who are like how I was; alone and helpless.
To keep families together. To help other achieve goals.
What would you like to achieve with your State Alchemist Qualification?
I wish to gain the respect I had. I wish to go through the ranks and become a major once more.
To be Hero whose name once again spreads through out the land. That people can relie on, and can to sleep at night and know their safe; that all is alright.
Please tell us about an area of alchemy that greatly interests you.
Xing's healing alchemy, with it one could aid those who need it and themselves.
Also how it boarders human transmutation yet its so far away from it. How one hand could possible heal a nation!
The pure beauty of it all. How it couldn't bring a life back, but it could save one. It amazes me.

she placed her pen down and sighed. it wasn't much and she knew that. She wanted what she had given up, but she was proud even if she didn't make it.

 

[Akans]

"Oh? You're interested in Shin's alchemy?"

Reisa had wandered around a bit after she turned in her form, looking at the other people discreetly. There was a variety of specialties: Ice, healing, metallics, thaumaturgy and human transmutation even. That guy wasn't getting in.

None had any skill remotely similar to hers, which was good. She didn't want another person suddenly running in and attempting to use her specialty. Not that they could, unless they had a strong background in Shin's rentanjutsu and alchemical circle styles.

But as she was thinking that, she passed a person whose form caught her eye: .....healing alchemy of the Xing country....
The moment she looked back, the person had already finished, looking over the sheet. Seeing this as a good opportunity to get to know how much Amestrians really knew about rentanjutsu, Reisa moved closer behind her seat.

"You don't look like a Shin person to me," Reisa said, looking Saren over. "How do you know about Shin alchemy? Have you been there before?" Suddenly sitting down on a nearby chair and nudging the guy next to her away, receiving grumbles and complaints from him, Reisa peered at Saren, head propped on her hands.

"What do you specialize in? This country's alchemy is so terribly confusing, so much sub-branches and sub-sub-groups of sub-branches...."
Nudging back her hair with a flick on her hand, Reisa suddenly remembered something.
"Oh my name's Reisa by the way. Pleased to meet you," she said with a wide friendly smile.

 

[Tenyas]

"Oh? You're interested in Shin's Alchemy?"

A woman's voice grabbed the attention of Saren, the speaker apparently speaking to her. "U-um, yeah. I think it's pretty nea-" She watched as said woman knocked a man out of the way for his seat. Oh.... She's rather, uh, direct, huh?

"You don't look like a Shin person to me, how do you know about Shin alchemy? Have you been there before?"

Hoo-boy, who knew that someone would be reading her answers before she even got them in... "Well, I, uh... I've just come across a person before who passed through the city and, um. They stopped by my family's bakery and I had the chance to talk with them. They even showed off a bit after a customer got a cut from a stray wire." Gulping and then realizing that made her family's restuarant seem unsafe, she started speaking hastily, "Not that there are always wires laying around though! Heh heh heh..."

Then, just when she thought she was off the leash, the woman continued to ask even more questions. "What do you specialize in? This country's alchemy is so terribly confusing, so much sub-branches and sub-sub-groups of sub-branches...." She pulled back her hair and then continued speaking, "Oh, my name's Reisa by the way. Pleased to meet you."

Well... Her smile is friendly enough. And, it's not like she's going to be my opponent or anything, right?

"N-nice to meet you Reisa. My name is Saren Garecou. Uh, to answer your question, I'm not from the Shin country, but I do know a tad bit about it out of people who've come and gone through here. I don't even know how they do their alchemy, I specialize in air. Which is, well, not really much to be proud of." The girl smiled nervously, putting a hand behind her head and letting off a bit of a chuckle. "But, from the sound of things, you come off as if you're from the place. Are you? It'd be a really great treat just to see one of their alchemists at work." Starting to feel more confident, she stopped her nervous quirk and continued, "If you are from the Shin country, would you mind teaching me a bit about it sometime?"

 

[SwagStarIV]

... Im so bored... I hope the rest of my life isn't like this. Not becoming a state alchemist would make me have to wait until the next time and my time is to precious for that. I need to take action. Or do something to be recognized. The throne stunt was a good way to show my control over my abilities, but arriving late kinda outs a bad first impression on me. Which makes my throne stunt look more of a bad ass thing than a thing i do to most chairs... Shit... If only i could read minds that would be great. Well i guess i will take the initiative and put my paper in the front...

Ky rose from his seat walked to the front of the room and layed his paper down in the middle of the edge of the table. He then walked back to his seat and heard two girls talking about shin alchemy. What this was mattered not, he was more interested in the fact that the one bombarding the other girl with questions was the one from the bar. He paused and then sat down in his chair. I would rather not...

 

[Finrear]

I sat in a slump waiting for the next part of the exam. The girl next to me tried talking to me but I ignored her. I don't need to get involved with a loose cannon like her who completely embarrasses her self and the fuhrer before the exams even started.

Several seats away I heard to girls talking about Xing alchemy. One of them was very loud and was constantly asking the other questions on Xing.

Xing? Their alchemy is primarily used for healing, right? I stared at the piece of paper with the answered questions on it. Maybe I should change my third answer, but I wrote it in pen. I slowly placed the pen's tip to the paper. I watched as the ink slowly bled through the paper and spread. With one fluid motion, I wrote off to the side "and healing".

 

[Amata]

The State Alchemist Exam - End of the First Stage

After brushing off the irritation of running into Anna, who seemed to be pretty adamant on giving him a ridiculous nickname, Mustang had simply sat back and watched as the early arrivals started in on their papers and a few more late comers drifted in. One of these late comers had not been satisfied with simply walking in to the exam hall, instead he had made a point of performing some rather showy ice alchemy and using the ice to get to his desk.

Grinning a little at the over eagerness of that particular alchemist, Roy waited until the time limit was up. As he stood and made his way to the front of the hall, he noticed a few of the applicants talking quietly to one another, and even some who had gotten up out of their seats to speak to people. Feeling a little surprised at how relaxed those who had stood up seemed, Roy stopped directly in front of them, staring at them harshly with his visible eye.

"Time's up!" He said, projecting his voice so even those at the back of the hall could hear it, "All of you please procede out of the door to my left. We will now be starting the next stage of the Exam, where you will be required to demonstrate your alchemic skill."

After he had spoken, Mustang briefly nodded to Havoc and Riza, who were stood behind him, and began walking briskly toward the door.

----------------

Odaku Numusata was currently just inside the perimiter of Central HQ, which had suddenly grown very quiet. Odaku surmised from this that all the milling hopefuls that he had seen hanging around outside HQ had gone inside, and that the Exams had begun. Grinning to himself, he made his way silently up the hall, which was completely devoid of soldiers. Odaku knew where he was headed, but getting there would take a little skill.

The outside grounds where the State Alchemist hopefuls would demonstrate their alchemy wasn't far from here, but as he got closer to it, Odaku knew that the passages would be guarded. He supposed this was more to stop interruptions to the ever important Exams rather than to stop people like him, but the guards would still present a problem.

Luckily, he was nothing if not prepared. Odaku looked around, checking once more that he was alone. Once this was done, he walked up to the nearest window, which was set in the wall to his left. Producing a piece of chalk from his pocket, Odaku quickly scribbled a transmutation circle on the wall and activated it.
Immediately, there was a flash of yellow light and the bars that had blocked the window before were now gone.

Odaku immediately jogged back the way he had come, hiding himself around the corner from any soldiers that might arrive. As the seconds spooled out, no guards appeared but the group of low rate criminals he had cribbled together did. They quickly smashed the window and climbed through it, making as much noise as possible. Without even bothering to look toward Odaku, they quickly ran off down the hall, shouting and banging as they went.

After the noise of their departure had faded, Odaku made his way down the hall, hoping that his carefully planned distraction would stop him from running into any guards before he reached the outdoor examination grounds.

 

[Akans]

"If you are from the Shin country, would you mind teaching me a bit about it sometime?"

"Oh sure," Reisa replied cheerfully. "After the exams of course, though the skills of retanjutsu are pretty confusing, even to me, so I can't guarantee that you'll really learn anything. I'm a bad teacher, after all."

At that moment, Mustang suddenly interrupted them, announcing that the first part was over. ""All of you please proceed out of the door to my left. We will now be starting the next stage of the Exam, where you will be required to demonstrate your alchemic skill."

"Finally, I was beginning to think this was all we'd be doing. Good luck on the second part." Smiling once more at Saren, Reisa got up and moved away, waving as she did.

The grounds outside was sparse. There wasn't really a lot of things to do there. A few blades of grass and stern eyed guards made up pretty much all of the area. Hearing her name called, Reisa took a step forward, wondering why she of all people would be picked first. Then she realized that they were being called up by their last name in alphabetical and reverse alphabetical order, in groups. Not a lot of people had names further down the alphabet than Xu, apparently.

Going up, she found herself near Riza and a small group of guards. Smiling briefly to herself at the coincidence of meeting someone whose name was similar to hers (Reisa = Riza), Reisa started a short explanation of her skill as she slowly sorted out tags from inside her pockets.

"Much of the energy in the world is governed by movement. The pull of gravity, the force of a bullet, to name a few. Repeated movements, often called vibrations, have such energy, and can be utilized in ways such as sound and harmonics. Thus..."

Swinging her arm quickly around her, 8 tags struck the ground and created a small circle around her, with Reisa in the middle. A soft light appeared inside the circle, tracing the outlines of an alchemy circle, a strange formation made from retanjutsu. She then clapped once, the sound ringing and intensifying, rather than dying out. A second later, every other gun in the guard's holsters shuddered and then shattered, leaving half untouched while the other half was destroyed, to display the level of control she had. Of course, she left Riza's guns untouched. Not good to attack the examiner of course.

"By intensifying and modulating sound waves of any type, we can control and shatter almost any inanimate object by matching the transfer of energy to their natural frequency. Such control and selective energy transfer is conducted through the skills of retanjutsu of energy transfer and generation, which I have done here."

Lowering her hands, the tags shattered as well and the alchemy circle faded and vanished.
"Of course, that is not all that harmonics is capable of, but to do more I will have to have much more extensive preparations, which I have not brought, unfortunately."

Smiling, Reisa bowed and stepped back. As she did so, she heard noises from behind her, in the direction of the main building. Since she was finished, she nodded once more to Riza and then moved away, walking towards the direction of the sound as she retrieved another tag from her pocket. A small sign later, and she had reinforced the sound being transferred to her ear.

Was that... the sound of things breaking? And shouting... what was going on?

 

[SwagStarIV]

Seeing the look that he got from Mustang made him worried and he felt kinda cocky at the same time. He didn't want to give off the impression that he was some kind of trouble maker but at the same time he wanted to stand out and he felt that this was his time to do so. So he did and then he heard the announcement to leave. It seemed like everybody took great haste in the transition from there to the outside area, but Ky didn't move from his seat and he waited for the rest to leave. He then rose from his seat and collected his materials and continued outside. He saw a flash from the back room and decided to wonder back there. Before he could get to the room he saw criminals charging down the alley. "Hmmm... Not good..."

He grabbed his sheath and put a peace tie on his sword then he mentally blacked out. "I don't want to spill any blood on the HQ walls and floor but if you resist detainment i will kill you..." He shoved the tip of his sheath into the first ones forehead and then swung it into his stomach. The man fell and Ky continued on. He tripped the second one and slammed his sword into his back while he was on the ground then he took the third one out by hitting him with 12 slashes that took no longer than 2 seconds.

There were two left. Both had knives and one had a small gun. The first charged with his knife. Ky simply deflected it with his hilt. then he slammed his sheath into the back of his neck. The last one noticed the difference in skill and removed his gun. Ky removed the peace tie and the gun then split in two. When the man looked at his gun then back at Ky, the peace tie was already put back on. The crimnal saw there was no hope in trying to defeat Ky and tried to run. Ky froze him solid along with the rest of the hall.

He then grabbed the five criminals and slid them to the exit towards the outside area. As they slid down the hall and out the stairs he saw a face look into the hall. He created ice out into the crowd of alchemist and the criminals slid down into the center of them. Ky's vision had come back. He felt as if he had missed something, or as if he just skipped over a portion of his life. He looked around the hall while not being able to fully control his body. It was walking forward on its own. What the hell happened to the hall! Did... Did I do that? Ky exited the building and looked at the girl that showed interest in the activities inside. It was the same one from the bar. Unknowingly when he did there was a cold look on his face. A fearless face. The face of a killer. It was only there for a second, but it was there and Ky saw it in the reflection of her eyes.. What is this feeling? She didn't do anything besides possibly watch... Why do i feel so... cautious and... awkward? Almost like she wasn't supposed to see me... "Did you see what just happened in there?"

 

[Tenyas]

The girl had left and, from what the Fuhrer had just stated, it was time for the second part of the exams. Oh dear... Well, after running her paper up to the front of the room and setting it on the desk, Saren made her way outside only to notice the sounds of a mild commotion not too far in into the building. Did somebody already feel like picking a fight before much even started? She certainly hoped not. Although... that could delay the test and give her more time to prepare-NO. Such selfish thoughts weren't good, everyone else here was probably as nervous as she was. Or... She may just be the odd one out in this scenario.

Well... Whatever happened, there was always next time, right?

...

After watching the Xing woman, Reisa, use nothing more than a few needles and sound to break almost all the weapons in the area, Saren felt any courage she had left sink to the bottom of her stomach. Oh dear... Well, her name being what it was, it had to be a bit of time until she had to go up, right? They were starting from the bottom of the alphabet and working their way up. Garecou was probably among the last few groups they were going to call up. All the more time for her to prepare.

"Let's see..." She started ticking off on her fingers what she knew how to do and things that would be practical enough to get her in. Sure, flashyness was fun but, if you were going to be a State Alchemist, it had to be something that you could use readily out in the field as well. So, for example, that ice user from earlier could certainly make a flashy sculpture if he wanted to but, if he didn't know how to use ice correctly in battle, he'd only end up hindering his teammates.

She had to do something daring... Maybe? Er... That'd be kind of stupid but, if it worked, it'd be marvelous. If it didn't, she'd be sent to the infirmary.

Geh, what was she saying? The Garecou family were meant to be bold! Their men packed a powerful fist and their woman held grand resolution! ... So much bluffing, it hurt.

 

[Finrear]

I waited in silence until they called my name. To not give away my identity I wrote B. as my name. I have to admit though that I was a bit nervous. Why? I couldn't say but I didn't think that it would hinder my performance.

As I watched the alchemists perform for Hawkeye I couldn't help but feel that there was something I overlooked when I planned to take the exam. A circle. I didn't know how to draw an alchemic circle. Something so obvious how could I overlook it. I franticly walked to where people were showing off their alchemy. When I got there I found I had another problem. Most of the people were using premade circles. I was about to freak out until out of the corner of my eye I saw a familiar face, the girl that ran into me before the exam. I ran up to her and asked "How do you draw a circle."

 

[ndg912]

Anna ran into the yard she remembered it well. About half way down the yard she stopped dead in her tracks " Oh god, I completely forgot!" "how can I show off with out killing someone?" she sighed " I could knock someone out, but thats not very impressive.." she made her way to Riza Hawkeye. "Why, hello there" Anna smiled she was happy to see Riza. Riza didnt smile but Anna knew she was happy to see her aswell "That was quite the seen you caused"
Anna felt embarrassed. "I'm having a little bit of a problem.." Anna sighed "what?" Riza asked "My Alchemy.." "oh" "I dont what to do" Anna sighed "you could just tell me." Riza said "Its not..well..flashy enough.." Anna smirked "You haven't changed much have you?" Riza sighed. Anna then got an idea " Hey, you don't think you could help me." "depends....." "Is there a death road criminal of some sort I could demonstrate on?" Anna asked Riza sighed " you'll have to ask the Fuhrer.
Anna ran over to Fuhrer Mustange " Pa- I mean Fuhrer I need someone to demonstrate on,you wouldn't happen to think you help me with that would you?"

 

[Tenyas]

"Wh-what?!" Saren certainly hadn't been expecting that. Most people who knew how to do alchemy learned how to do transmutation circles as part of the basics of the basics. How could someone not know? Unless, of course, they depended almost entirely on pre-made charms and circles? Even then, you had to have some basic understanding...

Looking out at the practicing men and women and the examiners, Saren decided to lend a quick hand. "Alright, alright..." Reaching into her pocket and taking out a peice of chalk she often carried, she crouched down onto the ground and started a circle. "So, basically, you start off with a sphere. The size affects how far the alchemy is effective." She drew a medium sized sphere. "Inside of that, you draw several more circles and whatever symbols and equations you need for your transmutation." She scribbled down the needed markings, "For example, I work with manipulating air. So," She set her hands down on the circle and pressed, the lines lighting up into a bright green and a miniature whirlwind forming in the center. "I can do little tricks like this." The tiny dust-devil danced around for a few moments before she released her touch.

Standing back onto her feet and pocketing her chalk, she smiled, a little bit embarressed. "I make it seem so easy but, to be honest, I can't remember all the equations half the time unless I get right down to doing it. But, uh, I think that's all you really need to know about transmutation circles." Clearing her throat, "Um, but, I bet you probably knew all of this already."

She then realized she recognized this person. "Oh, hey, you're that guy from earlier today! Uh... I'm really sorry for how I ran out. Unless, I already apologized for it.. Then, sorry for repeating myself!" She really did apologize way too much.

 

[Finrear]

She showed my the basics of drawing a circle and explained the science behind it. It was more complicated than I thought it would be. From behind I heard them calling me. "Next up is someone named B." I thanked the girl for showing me how to draw a circle and left to take the exam.

Riza told him to show his alchemy. "Okay, but first I need to barrow your gun." I said extending my hand. "M-my gun? Why do you need that?" "Don't worry I won't break it. I just need some sample material." Hawkeye slowly and reluctantly handed over her gun.
I pulled out my pen and tried to copy the alchemic circle I was shown before on the back of my left hand. When I was satisfied with it put my hand on the gun. After a flash of light his hand and most of his forearm looked as though it was made of the same metal as the gun. In order to further show off his power he punch the ground causing a small crater to form. "Hows that? I can do it with just about any material. Do I pass yet?" I asked, handing back her gun. "Well, that is an interesting alchemy but you still have the last part to take. And even then there might be someone more qualified."

I walked away thinking about my chances of passing.

 

[ndg912]

The Fuhrer laughed and pointed to the frozen criminals. Anna,of corse, hadn't notice them.
Anna walk over to one of them and dragged him over in the center of the yard in front of Riza.
Anna removed her shoes as to better adsorb the natural toxins. she smiled and turned around to show the circle tattooed on her lower leg. She touched and then said " Now by absorbing the natural toxins through my feet and concentrating the toxins into a single area,for intense my finger tips."she walked over to the frozen man and sighed "Now, i've taken in a certain toxin,Its been known to cause high fever and possibly make you see things." Anna smiled as she held her hands against his face for minute and then let go. A moment later the criminal started sweating,he started screaming franticly and breathing heavily . "Now I can counter poison canceling out the other it will cause him to faint." she then again concentrated and touched her tattoo. She then held her hands against his face once more. His breathing slowed down and then he fainted on spot. Anna bowed "Thank you"

 

[Tenyas]

A person who can manipulate metal, a person who can use poisons, and a person who is able to use sound. This was going to be a very hard exam to pass. Well, at least it seemed that she hadn't been called yet and still had a bit of time to prepare for-"Garecou, Saren."

"Eeep!" The girl jumped slightly as her name was called. Oh dear, why now, why her? Why did it even have to be today? And it seemed like there was a commotion going on back in the building. It seemed to be handled for the most part though. How the heck had those criminals gotten in anyway? Wait, focus! FOCUS! "Y-yes ma'am?"

"Step forward and show us what you got."

Taking a deep gulp, she replied, "Yes ma'am." Stepping forward, she tried to think of what she could do... Well, may as well just wing it. Grabbing the peice of chalk she had in her pocket, the girl drew out a large circle on the ground and then wrote in the required equations. Pressing it, the ground flashed blue and a large chunk of rock rose up, causing the girl to step back. This was basic, so it wouldn't really be much of a show. Any alchemist who could scribble could do it, actually, but it wasn't all she was going to be doing. Pressing her left hand to her necklace and grasping her charm, she activated the emblem and swept her right hand through the air, a high pitched whistling noise erupting out into the air. After a few seconds of waiting, the rock cracked, a thin line slashed straight to it as its corner fell off to the ground.

The procter raised an eyebrow, slightly intrigued. "May I ask what Alchemy that is?" Saren felt herself blush in embaressment.

"I-it's just manipulation of air-currents. By controlling how negative and positive forces move, I'm able to make strong gusts or whirlwinds. Um, I can also make a good sheild using air, if you'd let me demonstrate." Oh dear, this was the thing that could kill her if she wasn't careful.

"Well then, continue."

"Ya see I, uh... Need someone to try and shoot me." Again, the eyebrow raised, causing the girl to give a very nervous chuckle. "Then again, almost everyone's guns have been used or broken and-"

A soldier from the watching crowd raised his hand, "Mine hasn't! I could certainly do the shot for you."

Well... Whether or not that was lovely or horrible had yet to be decided. The young man walked forward with permission from the procter and took stance, raising his loaded weapon. "A... Alright," Saren cleared her throat, feeling a bit of courage swell up. Maybe she could do this. "Fire when ready."

...
BANG!

Well... That was really, really, REALLY, lucky.

Saren had froze up, her eyes very much surprised at what she'd just done. A little ripple in the air had managed to stop the bullet maybe a foot from her. Just a split second later and she would've been shot. The casing and the shell fell to the ground, no useless, and the girl felt her heart stop. She really had just done something absolutely stupid and-"Interesting. Go stand with the others until we finish."

Was that a good sign? The woman smirked, maybe that was a good sign! Or a State Alchemist version of a Death Sentence... Still, Saren quickly darted back to her little spot with all the others who were vying for the same position as her. Oh god, she could feel the goosebumps creeping up on her arms.

 

[Amata]

The State Alchemist Exams - End of Second Stage

Once the last of the applicants had shown off their alchemy, Mustang turned away from the small crowd of people in the grounds and began pacing a little. In his mind, he was replaying each and every demonstration, looking for faults, examining the way the alchemy worked. This was going to be a very tough decision to make, he had been quite pleased with all of the applicants' alchemy, each of them had shown originality and usefulness in the battlefield. But he could not pick all of them, at the very most he was limited to two choices.

He stared down at the sparse grass beneath his feet for a few more moments before turning back toward the hopefuls, who were all looking at him with anxiety and inticipation. He smiled slightly at all of them before raising his voice so that his decision could be heard clearly.

"Reisa Xu-Chengu, Ky Kisaragi, come with me!"

Without bothering to wait for either of them to respond, Mustang walked back to the double doors that lead inside with his loyal subordinates following behind.

----------

Odaku had watched the Exams for a while, intruiged and slightly impressed at the skills the young alchemists were displaying. He had especially liked the woman who had used poison alchemy, since it was sort of similar to the alchemy he himself practiced. Just as the last few hopefuls performed for the watchful eye of Mustang, Odaku walked a little further down the hall. Here was another hallway running east, and as far as Odaku could surmise, it would be this way that Mustang and the others would come collect the State Alchemist watches. Sparing a few seconds to look around him, Odaku once more drew a transmutation circle on the wall, this time using it to create a door where there had only been solid brick.

A few more men came entered into HQ, but these were much different then the ones who had been easily captured earlier on. They were men who Odaku had ran with many times on many missions, and he knew that they would come in handy for what he had in mind. Gesturing down the hallway, Odaku quickly and quietly jogged down the hall with the men in tow. Without bothering to look behind him, Odaku entered the second door on the right, which was some sort of store room.

A mere few seconds later the men he had let into HQ joined him in the room before quietly closing the door. Odaku couldn't help but smile, so far everything had gone pretty much to plan.

 

[Akans]

Reisa had almost went back into the main building, where she was hearing the distinct sound of fighting, but she thought better of it and instead turned back to face the examiners again. The fighting wasn't her problem, and would only become her problem if they decided to leap out and attack her. Plus she didn't feel like running all the way back into the building and then run all the way back at the end of the 2nd stage. Not that she wasn't physically capable of doing so, Reisa was just much too lazy to do that.

So trying her best to ignore what was happening, Reisa watched the rest of the alchemists perform. The girl she had talked to before, Saren, had gotten up and seemed to be explaining her skill. They were too far for Reisa to hear, but shortly after, a soldier got up and.... shot her??

Oh no, Saren had blocked that. Breathing a small sigh of relief, Reisa realized that Saren was just demonstrating her skill.

But she didn't have time to guess at what Saren was using, the 2nd stage seemed to be over. The Fuhrur had stood up now and looked over them. Opening his mouth, he said,

"Reisa Xu-Chengu, Ky Kisaragi, come with me!"

Smiling, Reisa got up from where she was sitting and moved over to follow the Fuhrur. Only then did she realize that she was gripping her hand in a tight fist and that they were slightly sweaty. Shaking her head, Reisa shook her hands lightly, realizing that she had actually been nervous about the result. How out of character.

But it all worked out. Now to see what the Fuhrur wanted. And who was this ..."Ky" person? She didn't remember hearing his name...

 

[Exvind]

Whilst the exams were taking place, a separate sort of drama was unfolding not more than a block from the Central HQ. While Central is noted to have a large number of storehouses and plants in it's industrialized areas, this particular particular building seemed rather out of place among the myriad of elegant buildings near the grand Headquarters. The building in question was the Central Garage. Taking up more than a full acre of space with multiple floors, several subterranean, (a number of these having been blocked off in previous years due to...unnatural activities going on below the city), the Garage acted as both a storage facility, and a fully operational miniature plant to perform maintenance on any vehicles in the Central area. Therefore, it was one of the several places that the Engineering Corps felt truly in their element. Particularly one Col. Jones.

The officer in question, while the tests took place, had found himself working on the undercarriage of of a truck, whose axle had somehow been damaged and misaligned in a less-than catastrophic event. Regardless, it required fixing, and having found himself between phonecalls and paperwork, the Colonel dove right in....almost literally. The other soldiers and engineers milling about the Garage that particular afternoon did their designated duties, patrolled their designated routes, and generally performed their designated roles while the Colonel took it upon himself to not only fix the axle, but:

Change both the motor oil and filter.
Refill all of the air in the tires.
Double check the wiring from the fusebox to the lights.
Run a routine check on the mechanics of the gun emplacement ontop of the truck.
Replace the brake fluid.
Re-tighten the lug nuts.
And so on.

This was his equivalent to 'playtime', and as the Colonel worked, smearing his smock and hands with various dirts and oils, he smiled, an almost giddy sort of smile. He hummed while he worked, and as he did so, some of his men regarded him with a mild sort of amusement saved for parents admiring their children play with a new toy, and for onlookers watching with awe as some individual performs some amazing feat. A mixture of admiration and longing as well. In their opinion, the Colonel might not be the most outgoing person, but by god he loved what he did.

 

[Tenyas]

Saren stood in attention, watching with her knees jittering as the Fuhrer stepped out to make his announcement. Would she make it in or have to wait a month for the next exam? Oh dear, she was probably horrible, mediocre at best. Wait, wait, no need to be so negative. She had as much a chance as any other alchemist who tried, right and-"Reisa Xu-Chengu, Ky Kisaragi, come with me!"

The young woman felt a stone drop in her chest. She... Didn't make it? Well, it wasn't like she'd been expecting to make it but, still. Her mind was ticking and then clicked, remembering one of the names. Reisa. She was the girl from the Xing country, right? An alchemist able to manipulate the environment through tags and with knowledge of healing. Alkhestry, wasn't it? Letting a sigh escape her, Saren gave a small smile, watching as the two people called passed by, walking after the fuhrer. That was a good choice he made.

Why, how many uses could whipping around air have? Also, her mannerisms certainly couldn't be helpful in a stressful situation, could they? Who needs a worry wart in the office. She giggled slightly and then began to leave the exam area, a hand to her charm on her necklace. Just all the more reason to better myself.
---------------------------------

Standing with the usual crowd that would gather for these events, a woman in what seemed like funeral garments watched the action as it unrolled, her eyes and much of her face hidden by a veil coming down from her hat. Wiping away some of the smooth black hair off of her shoulder, one of her hands tinkered with the metal chains that made up her necklaces.

A smile graced her lips as the Exams came to an end, Fuhrer Mustang walking off with his new recruits as the others disbanded. A young lady with golden hair tied up in a bun passed her by, not giving her second notice as she held tightly a charm that was around her neck. Corunda smirked. One little mistake can do more than you'd think.

Stepping away from her place in the crowd, the woman made her way through the throngs of traffic and busy bodies quite smoothly, no one noticing that her dress was slightly lopsided. Something only the wearer would notice, of course but, also something that would annoy the person wearing it to no end.

But, Corunda didn't have the time to dilly dally with such things at the moment. One of the rookies trying out for alchemist stood out to her. Most especially because they didn't even know how to do a transmutation circle. I've found you, fellow Homonculus...