[Close] One day, this guy will be in a good mood.

[ceilingitou]

Characters: Kamotaro Itou, Roy Mustang
Content: Itou likes work and being in bad moods. Roy likes bugging that type.
Setting: Navigation room
Time: Before Victoria leaves for wherever
Warnings: Sulking.

Comments

[thewarisover]

"Comes with the job. Any little engagement can be tough stuff depending on who's there and how stable they are."

Odd of Itou to be sympathetic, but Roy kind of got it. They were both military men - that had to count for something, scheming aside.

"How about you, sir? Were you in any campaigns?"

[ceilingitou]

He supposed that was true. Itou had always looked farther ahead of him than anyone else that he had met in the past, and motivation like that always made the present easier to bear with.

"A few," he nodded. "But mostly monster hunting and protection detail. It's easier to deal with enemies when they aren't human." Like that one time he and his platoon members had to stand their ground to protect Clairborne from monsters. That had been painful.

[thewarisover]

It was much, much easier, actually.

"Clairborne, I'm guessing?"

Roy had heard the stories before.

[ceilingitou]

"Yes. And some pirate round ups in the past. Things have been much more peaceful lately, hasn't it?"

[thewarisover]

"As peaceful as they can be, anyway. The Parliament did just get bombed, you know."

[ceilingitou]

"Before that," was what he meant, but he waved the annoyance aside in favor of drawing a line on paper. This must be boring for the major. Itou wondered if there was any way to make it even more boring for Mustang.

[thewarisover]

On the contrary, Roy wasn't bored at all. He had always had a fascination for maps, and all of his years of soldiering and traveling left him with a memory for pretty much every name or place that he recognized.

"So where are you from?"

[ceilingitou]

"Isling," he answered, and then pointed at a small mark on the map right between the three biggest cities in Ivona, just at the tip of the Sarysa River. "It's a small town. Lots of traditional peasant farmers."

[thewarisover]

"Huh."

Roy peered at the location Itou was referring to.

"Don't think I've ever been there before."

[ceilingitou]

"I'd be surprised if you've even heard of it, actually," he shrugged. The only thing that made it stand out even a little was the business that his family had set up in the town, shuttling people to and from the three cities around it. "But I moved to Bellcius when I was a student. I only go home for Lunasa to visit my brother."

And then he was walking off to fetch another chart from another shelf.

[thewarisover]

"...You have a brother?"

[ceilingitou]

Itou paused. He could have sworn he'd mentioned it to Mustang already before, but he must have been mistaken. "Yes, older by a year. We look about as similar as you and your own twin are to each other."

[thewarisover]

"Huh."

The thought of someone like Itou having a family still sort of amazed the alchemist, quite frankly.

[ceilingitou]

Itou gave him an irritated look. "What?"

[thewarisover]

"You just looked like the type who was born out of a rock and already aged, sir. With all due respect."

[ceilingitou]

His eyebrows rose further in vague disbelief, half amused and annoyed.

"Both my parents are still alive," he put in. "And my brother has a completely normal personality," at least compared to him, which he admitted freely. Not that there was anything wrong with him, but his brother was so frighteningly normal sometimes despite being bedridden for most of his life.