[fic] honooko: Variations: Roy and Thomas
Entry: Variations Arc
Title: Roy and Thomas
Author: honooko
Rating: PG
Warning: More name-changing confusion.
Summary: In this world, he was just getting started.
“Alright,” Roy Mustang said for the umpteenth time. “Name?”
“Thomas Elric,” ‘Roy’ responded smoothly. He leaned back on the black leather cushions of Mustang’s couch. He’d give the bastard one thing; he had damn fine taste in comfortable furniture.
Mustang glanced at the boy in front of him as they went through the list of questions. ‘Roy’ had changed his name upon meeting Mustang, and had refused to say why. He’d simply shrugged and announced he was actually named Thomas. Thomas Elric, in fact.
Edward had given his father a shocked look; clearly he hadn’t missed the implication that Thomas was Hohenhiem’s son. Trisha didn’t seem to register anything strange, and hugged the boy goodbye as if he was her own child. Then Thomas and Mustang had taken the next train out to East City. The two had spent the last three months preparing for the National Alchemist’s Exam; Thomas stayed in Mustang’s home, and studied while Mustang worked.
“Name the elements, and the Three Principles of Alchemy,” he said, watching Thomas carefully for any hesitation. There was none, and Tom happily rattled off the list as if he’d been saying it since he was 8 years old.
“Air, water, fire, and earth. The three principles are ‘decomposition’, ‘recombination’, and ‘composition’,” Tom named rapidly. He glowed with an intense focus that Mustang envied. In fact, the boy seemed to excel in every aspect of alchemy presented to him. More amazingly, he possessed the uncanny ability to improvise. If he didn’t know how to do it, he guessed. And 99% of the time, his guess was spot-on.
If he’d had any doubt about Tom’s ability to pass the exam, they were long gone now. The boy had more collective intelligence than most other applicants put together. Not to mention that little clap-trick of his that removed the need for an array. From a military standpoint, the boy was a born weapon.
But as a somewhat grudging friend of Tom’s, he was worried. Mustang didn’t need to know his life story; one look at the boy told of enough struggles for a lifetime. And no one was that good in a fight without ever having been in one.
Mustang didn’t want to protect him; but he did want to help him.
Title: Roy and Thomas
Author: honooko
Rating: PG
Warning: More name-changing confusion.
Summary: In this world, he was just getting started.
“Alright,” Roy Mustang said for the umpteenth time. “Name?”
“Thomas Elric,” ‘Roy’ responded smoothly. He leaned back on the black leather cushions of Mustang’s couch. He’d give the bastard one thing; he had damn fine taste in comfortable furniture.
Mustang glanced at the boy in front of him as they went through the list of questions. ‘Roy’ had changed his name upon meeting Mustang, and had refused to say why. He’d simply shrugged and announced he was actually named Thomas. Thomas Elric, in fact.
Edward had given his father a shocked look; clearly he hadn’t missed the implication that Thomas was Hohenhiem’s son. Trisha didn’t seem to register anything strange, and hugged the boy goodbye as if he was her own child. Then Thomas and Mustang had taken the next train out to East City. The two had spent the last three months preparing for the National Alchemist’s Exam; Thomas stayed in Mustang’s home, and studied while Mustang worked.
“Name the elements, and the Three Principles of Alchemy,” he said, watching Thomas carefully for any hesitation. There was none, and Tom happily rattled off the list as if he’d been saying it since he was 8 years old.
“Air, water, fire, and earth. The three principles are ‘decomposition’, ‘recombination’, and ‘composition’,” Tom named rapidly. He glowed with an intense focus that Mustang envied. In fact, the boy seemed to excel in every aspect of alchemy presented to him. More amazingly, he possessed the uncanny ability to improvise. If he didn’t know how to do it, he guessed. And 99% of the time, his guess was spot-on.
If he’d had any doubt about Tom’s ability to pass the exam, they were long gone now. The boy had more collective intelligence than most other applicants put together. Not to mention that little clap-trick of his that removed the need for an array. From a military standpoint, the boy was a born weapon.
But as a somewhat grudging friend of Tom’s, he was worried. Mustang didn’t need to know his life story; one look at the boy told of enough struggles for a lifetime. And no one was that good in a fight without ever having been in one.
Mustang didn’t want to protect him; but he did want to help him.