Alchemy: Be This For The People?

Another day. The same thing as it always was...No, not the same. A new day, with new things. Particularly, the exam was today...

Standing from his breakfast, Wolf pulled on his shirt and coat, heading out the door with his long black hair tied back in a long ponytail. As he exited the estate, Wolf headed off to the same exam building he'd gone to every day, where he sat down, prepared to finish and become a dog of the military, an attack dog sent in when nothing else will do. Sighing, the young man grumbled a bit as the timer began.

Scott sighed at the prospect of another long day.

She didn't want to go out into the city today. It would be the same as always; beg for work and hope she made enough money to keep going. While she had enough money for three decent meals a day and a night at the inn again, she could never afford to take her own day off. Work was a constant for her, just because she didn't want to go back home.

Still, as she headed out of the inn after a meager excuse for breakfast (the inns never seemed to have anything decent), she found herself lingering outside the military headquarters building. They were doing the exams today, she noted dully to herself. Then she made a face. Dogs of the military. Disgusting. The idea of working for the government left a sour taste on her tongue.

Soon, Wolf exited the building, sighing and sitting on the steps, feeling unrelaxed. That exam had stretched his ability to think. He loved it, though. It forced him to adapt...Next was the physical, the questions, and then the field test...He sighed once more, opening up his lunch and stopping as he noticed a woman about his age near the steps. Giving a gentle wave and a smile, he spoke. "Hello there. Are you lost, miss?"

Scott was just about to leave when she found herself addressed. She looked back at the male in front of the building, glanced around to make sure there was no other miss that he could be addressing, then looked back. She gave a shake of the head. "Oh, no, I'm fine," she replied with a slight smile. "Just kinda passing through. Heard they were doing the exams and all, too, so I just paused for a sec." She looked up at the impressive military building, shoving her hands in her coat pockets.

Wolf nodded in response. "Yeah, it's a pain, the exam...I'm not really sure if I can keep going. But I have to...There's so many people counting on me..." Wolf's words trailed off, then he shook his head, offering what appeared to be a few rice balls out to the woman. "You look starved. Want some? It's homemade, so it might be a bit burnt."

Scott blinked once at the stranger. Random kindness from people she didn't know was something that she wasn't quite accustomed to at all. Normally she ignored everyone else and they ignored her.

Still, not wanting to be rude and knowing that eating now saved her the money she would have spent on lunch, she felt inclined to agree. "Um . . . sure, I guess," she said, going forward to accept the offered food, then taking a seat on the steps a couple feet away from the male. "Thanks."

Wolf gave a soft nod. "Of course. That's how it works, right? Alchemists, be thou for the people? What kind of alchemist would I be if I didn't try to help people I noticed looked down on their luck?" Smiling, he ate one ball of rice, then began to pick at a few slices of pork.

[And now, I'm off for now. Might be back later.]

"Well, one may question why you're applying to be a state alchemist in that case," Scott said before tucking into a rice ball. Around a mouthful of rice, she added, "Though I guess that depends on your viewpoint. Personally I don't see how you're being for the people when you're working for the government, which isn't exactly a democracy." She swallowed thickly, then shrugged. "That's me, I guess."

Wolf was quiet as he set down his food, looking to the sky. "I can't really explain it, but I am for the people. The State isn't all bad. You just need to make sure you know who you can trust...And besides, I don't care about politics or democracy. You think that becoming a State Alchemist automatically makes you a monster...But I won't become a killer." Standing, he left the entire box of lunch where it was, walking off in a huff. It pissed him off how people had their automatic opinions about the government just because of a few things done by a few particular members of it. Not all people were bad, not all State Alchemists were murderers...

Scott blinked once when he got up and stormed off. She hadn't meant to insult him. In fact, she thought she'd worded it well enough that it wouldn't be insulting.

Then again, she had been wrong before and she wasn't good with people at all.

She set aside her food and jumped up, chasing after him and hoping he would accept a hasty apology. "Wait!" she called quickly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that!"

Turning to face the woman, Wolf folded his arms across his chest. "Just be careful what you say, alright?" he then turned away, looking again to the sky, and reached his right arm out to the sun, as if trying to grasp it in his hands. "There are good people in the military...Unlike him." At the mention of that thought, Wolf growled angrily. "My father was a State Alchemist once...He did it for the right to kill anyone he could, so I never really trusted the State. Still don't, but that doesn't mean I can't join anyway. I've got an agenda to fill, and only by becoming a dog of the military can I fill it...Understand, miss?"

Scott sighed deeply and rubbed her eyes under her glasses. "Look, I'm sorry, but I have my own views of the military due, coincidentally, to my own dad, too," she said tiredly. She hated explaining herself every time someone took something the wrong way. "Simply put, I've never trusted the military and I think patriotism is crap, so . . . yeah, that's my view on it. I know there are exceptions, though, so please don't take it that way. I don't think everyone in the military is a murderer or anything . . . just most of them. And lastly, please don't call me 'miss.'"

Wolf sighed once more. "I'm not trying to be a patriot. I'm just trying to save what little part of my family is left..." Turning once more, he walked off to a nearby restaurant, a habachi-grill type of place, and sat down at one of the booths, preparing to order a few rounds of beef and vegetables.

Curious more than anything, Scott found herself tailing after him. "What do you mean by that?" she asked. She then quickly added, "I mean, unless that's something you don't feel is necessary to tell a random stranger . . ." Feeling foolish, Scott rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry. I'm probably getting to the point of being annoying, right?"

Wolf scooted over in the booth and shook his head. "Not really. And if you must know, I'm the only one left in my family. The rest of my family is dead, been that way for about 10 years now...All I have left of them is the estate where I live, and this locket." Pulling the chain on his neck up to reveal said locket, he cracked it open to reveal what appeared to be a picture of a little girl, about 4 years old.

Choosing to stand rather than sit, Scott rubbed the back of her neck at the end of his story. "Wow. So . . . joining up with the military is your way of helping?" she said slowly. "I guess I see how that'd work . . . somewhat." Admittedly, Scott thought there were a thousand better jobs that could support a little girl and her older brother, but she wasn't going to say so.

Sighing, Wolf gave a gentle laugh. "Science has advanced the world so much, particularly in the medical field...I want to save people with alchemy. To do that, I need to be able to research the best methods. And to do that..." He didn't continue, letting the locket drop into his shirt again. "My sister is dead...My whole family is dead, murdered by a man I still don't know the name of. And all I could do was lay under the bed and watch with my sister. She died because of the wounds she received when the man tried to burn our house to the ground. So all I can do is keep her close to me. I'll protect what's left of my family, even if it means becoming what I hate most...I know, it doesn't make sense, but still. Anyway, let's get off that unhappy subject...My name's Wolf Hamilton."

Scott blinked once when she realized she was making a very slight face.

"I'm . . . Scott," she said slowly, unsure of exactly what she was expected to say after hearing his life's story. "Scott . . . Collins. And . . . wow, that's a hell of a backstory. Not many people even like to tell me the time the first time I meet them, so that's a little, um, new."

Wolf shook his head. "Nah. I don't mind telling anyone things about myself. And I thought Scott was a guy's name?" Lifting a hand, he summoned a nearby waitress. "One double-order of beef and pork with vegetables and a glass of tea, please?"

Smiling, the waitress bowed her head, then turned to Scott. "Your order, ma'am?"

"Yeah. According to my dad, my mom wanted to give me a gender-neutral name or something. I don't know. I've always assumed I act more like her, anyway, but I wouldn't-" Scott was cut off by the waitress's question. She shook her head. "Nothing for me." Scott couldn't afford to spend her money on decent eateries at the moment. She told herself again that what little Wolf had given her earlier would have to tide her over until the evening.

Wolf laughed. "Gender-neutral. Sorry to say it, but Scott is a guy's name, no matter how you look at it...Ya know, I can pay if you want something to eat. I don't mind, and I won't take 'No' for an answer."

"Like I said, I don't know. I never really knew my mom so I can't begin to tell what she was thinking. But it's fine with me, I've yet to hear a girl's name I'd actually like anyway." Scott shoved her hands in her pants pockets and shook her head. "And I'd really rather you didn't. It's a weird thing with me, I don't like people buying me things. Particularly food."

Wolf's eyebrow raised slightly, and he looked to Scott. "You should enjoy it. You're scrawny as hell, and you need to get some food on your bones. How do you keep in health?"

Scott raised a brow. "I do eat, you know," she said. "I normally manage breakfast and dinner, lunch on slightly rarer occasions but enough. And I do a lot of physical work around town nowadays, so I tend to keep weight off no matter what I do anymore." Granted, it probably was true that she needed to eat more, but Scott didn't see too much problem with how she lived at the moment. It was better than nothing.

Sighing, Wolf pat the mat next to him. "Then just sit with me, even if you don't want anything." He smiled up to Scott, then took the tea the waitress had gotten him, sipping quietly at it and humming.