Hey everyone,

This was written in response to another challenge on the Fullmetal Alchemist: A Bit of Everything forum, the details are included below.

…

Xyloid, noun: A woody plant is a plant that uses wood as its structural tissue.

Roy Mustang sighed in irritation as he was up to his eyeballs yet again in paperwork. Personally, he didn't think that someone of his rank should have to be subjected to such torture. It was so boring, and his wrist cramped like crazy when Hawkeye finally let him off the hook for the day. She'd usually loom over him at regular intervals, and when he was slacking off, she'd threaten him with her gun again.

It was a happy coincidence that she had other duties to perform that afternoon, so he was free to procrastinate to his heart's content. Maybe he should burn a pile of them, just for the heck of it. Roy grinned; it was a brilliant idea. Hawkeye couldn't prevent him from doing it now, could she? And what she didn't know wouldn't eventually piss her off. Roy frowned. Maybe he should hide the evidence, just in case…

Setting a stack to the side to be turned into ashes, he reached into his pocket for his ignition glove. Roy blinked in confusion and searched his other pocket, but both turned out to be empty. He always kept his gloves in his pocket, unless he handed them to the Lieutenant for safekeeping – and he was certain that hadn't happened today.

After searching the drawers in his desk and underneath the paper on top of it, Roy eventually had to concede defeat. He peered out of the doorway to his office, where the rest of his team was working diligently on the other half of his files to be processed, and called out to them:

"Alright, who messed with my gloves?" He was met with silence as they all stared at him for a moment.

"Have you lost them, sir?" Furey asked from his place at the radio controls.

"No," Roy replied, folding his arms. "I had them with me earlier. And I don't lose things."

"It sounds like it to me, Colonel," Havoc muttered through a cigarette, leaning back in his chair. He righted it again after a brief moment. "Well, now that you mention it – my cigarettes kept disappearing for a while."

"I heard last time he was here for his report, Ed claimed that someone took his pocket watch," Furey added, to a few strange looks from the others. "Although I'm not sure if that was true or not."

Havoc rolled his eyes. "I doubt Chief would let anyone near it."

Roy agreed with Havoc's statement, although if things were suddenly going missing then who was behind it? He sighed. He would have to ask Hawkeye about his gloves when she came back in later that afternoon. For now, he'd have to actually do the paperwork himself – something that he wasn't really looking forward to.

…

Hawkeye passed by a large oak tree that stood close to the back of headquarters. Black Hayate recognized her and barked happily, tail wagging as he left his spot by the base of the tree. Behind him was evidence of a freshly dug hole that the dog had just finished filling up. The barest hint of white cloth peeked out from under the soil, showing off part of a design in red ink. She smiled at this and pet Hayate affectionately.

"Good boy."

…..

This was written for:

reminiscent-afterthought's Alphabet Prompts Challenge – Xyloid

I hope you like reading this, and until next time – peace out!

Shadowcaster01