Disclaimer : I don't Jack. Or Fma
AN: It's a bit A.U. again.
Tagged and Released
The sun shown brightly on that wonderful, spring day morning. It was particularly wonderful For Edward Elric, since it was the first day of being a state alchemist. Things were going very well so far. He had been in a ridiculously good mood all morning, he didn't even think about the mail. Given it was an odd thing to forget about in the first place but luckily Al reminded him. There was a note from Central Headquarters, asking him to come in tomorrow concerning something state issued; forms and the like.
So, despite being mildly irritated at the early hour, that's what he did. As usual, he reported to lt. Col. Mustang's office.
"Ah Edward, thanks for coming."
"Sure…"
"I called you in because you needed to decide on something. Along with the title, every one of us is assigned one of two things."
"But I thought it was just the pocket watch…"
"Nope, Soldiers are generally assigned these blue Amestrian dog tags with their names printed on the back. State Alchemist's have a choice between that or the watch."
"Really?"
"Really."
Ed gave him a curious stare, wondering if he was kidding or not.
"Of course, you might be traveling a lot looking for the stone along with your other Military given duties, so if you pick the dog tag, it would be like we tagged you and sent you back to the wild."
Ed gave an odd look somewhere between dead pan and awkward.
"I'll take the watch sir."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"That you're final---"
"Just give me the watch sir."
"Ok, fine"
Ed left the office for the first time feeling exasperated and just a bit harassed.
Once he was gone, Riza glared at Mustang, irritated.
"…."
"…."
"What?!"
"Are you so bored?
"Maybe."