Third floor common room, Tuesday evening

[suzotchka.livejournal.com]

Ivanova had a bag of boiled sweets, fuzzy slippers, and Kill It Before It Dies. She kicked back and lounged on one of the sofas, ready for some black-and-white goodness. And, of course, Billy.

Comments

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

Alphonse crossed his arms and shot a glare at Pip. "Don't tell me you don't believe me either!"

[cyclopeanmerc.livejournal.com]

"I have no comment at this time," Pip said.

[maias-notebook.livejournal.com]

Maia looked back and forth between the two of them with a raised eyebrow. Looking at Alphonse she said "Are you an alchemist? Like my friend Roy?"

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

Alphonse blinked. "Yeah, I am," he answered.

[maias-notebook.livejournal.com]

Maia beamed happily "Well don't you think it is just the most amazing subject? I mean to have so many things that are applicable to everyday life only to have them packaged into a bottle and sold over the counter. I think alchemy is much better overall for things that are simple. I found two books in the library and I just cant seem to put them down." Maia said all of this very fast and was still smiling. "Were you born an Alchemist? Did you go to a special school?"

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"Ah, well, no one's really 'born' an alchemist," Alphonse started. "It's pretty commonplace where I come from, and even then you've got to practice in order to get better at it. My brother and I started self-teaching ourselves as kids, but eventually we realized we'd need help in order to progress, so we had our teacher take us in as apprentinces." He smiled back at her. "It is great that someone else has an interest in it! Hardly anyone around here knows much of anything about alchemy."

[maias-notebook.livejournal.com]

"Oh well I didn't really know a lot about it myself until I met Roy last semester. He was so wonderful." She said with a smile. "I met him my first day here actually he was so helpful, I didn't know he was an alchemist at first."

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"Roy?" Alphonse's eyebrows rose at that. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Let me guess... Roy Mustang?" He wasn't sure why he said the name after that-- After all, Roy was a pretty common name, and as far as Alphonse was aware of the Colonel he knew never left Amestris.

[maias-notebook.livejournal.com]

Maia nodded "Do you know him?" Maia said in an excited voice.

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"Um, sorta," Alphonse rubbed at the back of his head sheepishly. "I haven't really seen him since he got deported somewhere up north, but he's called for Winry once or twice. I really had no idea he ever came here, though..."

[maias-notebook.livejournal.com]

Maia nodded noticing Alphonse's reaction. "Yep, he left last term though. He dated my lover for a while...well before we became um..lovers." Maia coughed a little. "But yeah he was here. He's really nice. Are you from the same area?" Maia asked intrigued he would know Roy but not really know him. Perhaps they were enemies...

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

Alphonse stared at Maia oddly for her first statement. Alright, well, he wasn't around and there probably was some logical explaination for it, but it didn't make it any less wierd. "Yes; actually, he was my brother's commanding officer in the military."

[maias-notebook.livejournal.com]

Maia's eyes were wide. "Really...but he's just a boy..." She said in surprise unless of course he was like her, aged without aging.

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"Huh? He's at least twenty-five," Alphonse paused and pondered on it for a moment. Well, if the whacked-up timeline thing worked for him and Edward... "Unless he came here before joining the military..." Alphonse put a hand to his forehead. Really, this place was dead intent on just mucking with everything, wasn't it?

[maias-notebook.livejournal.com]

"It may have been I don't think he really mentioned anything about the military to me...though it's been a long time since we spoke.." Maia hesitated "No I don't think he did. This place is strange." Maia said with a sigh.

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

Alphonse hesitated to even think about asking his brother about this situation, since the last time he decided to about something else? Didn't end up so well. Then again, Edward seemed to grumble on pretty freely about the Colonel, so... he just might. "You could say that again," he agreed, rubbing at a temple. "But, um... If you ever need help on your project, I don't mind lending a hand."

[maias-notebook.livejournal.com]

"that would be great thank you so much." Maia said in appreciation. "It's due I think next week so I might give you a call on monday. would that be alright?" Maia said, she planned on doing nothing but Ivanova that weekend if things turned out the way she wanted them to. She glanced at Ivanova for a moment lost in thought.

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"Sure, Monday works out perfectly," he gave her a thumbs-up gesture. "I might have to look into it a little before hand, so if you don't mind saying, what exactly are you going over? I'm going to guess that since it's for 'Magical' Theory that it might be a little different than what I'm used to." He might or might not still be a little boggled on how that worked out.

[maias-notebook.livejournal.com]

"I am going to lean more towards the practical uses of Alchemy such as how people think it is all about magic when in fact a lot of it is scientifically sound and can be found as the basis for a lot of modern medicines."

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"Oh!" Alphonse was tempted to give everyone else in the room an 'I-told-you-so!' look, but refrained from doing so. Instead he clapped his hands together and beamed, "That I can definitely help with! In fact, I've got plenty of books myself that I stole from my brother up in my room you could borrow when you drop by. But if you've got questions or anything, too, I can certainly answer."

[maias-notebook.livejournal.com]

Maia smiled in relief that someone who knew about Alchemy was going to be able to help her. "Thank you so much Alphonse and I am going to hold you to that." She said with a smile "If I had my things up here I would ask you everything now but I will work on some questions this weekend and then when I see you on Monday I'll have the list up and ready to go ok?"

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

"Perfect," he nodded. "If I'm not in class, I'm usually in my room for the most part, so you can just meet me up there if you want."

[maias-notebook.livejournal.com]

"That's wonderful thank you so much." Maia reached over to take another treat from Ivanova, tasting it carefully on the edge of her tongue she smiled. "Strawberry apple bananna...interesting."

[kitty--fetish.livejournal.com]

Alphonse made a barely noticeable grimace. "I feel like I'm the only one who had a bad first-experience with those things."

[maias-notebook.livejournal.com]

"Ah well I had a pickle one earlier, it wasn't so great." Maia said with a swallow, "That was a right nasty flavor when your expecting something entirely different."