Le Present

Dear Mother,
I'm doing great here... Though I really miss home. Too bad I have to finish all ten years of this school.
How are Dad and Rhino? I hope they're okay, and I hope Rhino has some of her herbal leaves when I get back, because I have a heck of a lot of scrapes.

I love all of you a lot,

Reyn

Silver smiled at the letter and pocketed it, spinning around in her chair. She fingered her necklace lightheartedly, inspecting the transmutation circle there.

"Mom! Mom, come here! I want to show you something!" Silver smiled at the voice and turned around.

"What is it, Rhino?" The girl laughed and showed her a piece of paper decorated with a carefully drawn transmutation circle. "Alchemy!" Rhino said, and put the paper down on the floor. Soon little sparks of lightning danced across the paper, crumpling it a little bit. Once the girl was done, she laughed and said, "Ain't it cool?"

"Ain't isn't a word, Rhino... but yes, it's wonderful!" Silver laughed, picking up the child and swinging her around playfully. "It's an airplane!"

"An airplane! It's an airplane!" The kid repeated, laughing hysterically. Silver grinned and put her down.

"Did your father teach you that?" She asked, addressing the previous alchemy charade.

"Yeah! Daddy's a great alchemist! He's the one who powers all the houses!" She laughed. "Even this one!" Silver grinned, and at that very moment the door swung wide open.

"Oh! Don't you know?!" His voice rang across the hall in song as he came in. Silver laughed, and he continued, "That's the sound of men working on the chain gang!"

Silver joined him and sang cheerfully - "Oh! Don't you know?! That's the sound of men working on the chain gang!" Rhino laughed, and her father picked her up swiftly, ruffling her hair. "All day long, they work so hard. Until when?" He sang, waiting for her answer.

"Till the sun goes down!" The child laughed. She smiled.

Radius beamed. "Whoa, I work, work so hard!" He sang, turning to Silver. "See my woman, who I love so dear? That's what I work for!"

Silver blushed and sang, "That's why he works so hard!"

-

"So why'd the kid fall off his bike?" Reyn asked the group. It was lunchtime, and everyone was following the tradition lately; tell a really lame joke.

"I dunno, why?" A blonde boy asked. This was Nevy Vladin, and Reyn's first friend.

Reyn stifled a laugh. "Because his mum threw a refrigerator at him."

The group burst into laughter, and Nevy spoke, his cheeks red. "Okay, okay. How would an octopus go to war?" He chuckled, and one of the kids raised his hand.

"I know! Well armed." She sputtered, and the group began their cycle of laughter once more. Nevy frowned a bit though, and he placed a wheatle stick in his mouth, composing himself like a philosopher. "Alright, question." He spoke in a deeper voice, as if he was older than he is. "Why are we here? I mean, come on. We're like, eight..."

Reyn laughed a bit. "Because we graduate at sixteen."

"Because our parents are stupid." Another child chuckled. Nevy looked confused. "But seriously. It's an academy, right? For the disabled?" He questioned. Reyn laughed, and Nevy turned to her.

"I'm not disabled," She bragged. "It's just that I only see in one color."

Another girl laughed out loud. "I'm not disabled either," She said, holding up her permanent crutches, "The world just wants to help me walk. I couldn't help but let it."

Nevy laughed. "Yeah, me neither," He joined in. "I just have metal feet."

Reyn chuckled a bit. "Automail isn't a disability. It just means you have metal feet."

"Exactly!" Nevy called. At that point the bell rung. It sounded more like a church bell than a school bell. But it was a bell nonetheless. The group stood and Nevy chuckled, "Wait, one last joke - What do you do with a sick boat?"

They answered as a whole. "You take it to the dock!" They roared.

-

"Wow," Reyn groaned. "This is such a boring class... I can't wait until I'm thirteen." She was sitting in the middle of an alchemy class, and it was nowhere near over. Her fingers brushed over the patterns lightly.

"Geez," Nevy called, leaning over Reyn's shoulder. "I wish I was as smart as you. You already know alchemy and you can read Braille."

Reyn sighed, closing the textbook. "Of course I can read Braille," She sighed. "I'm blind."

"Well," Nevy whined. "You never seem like you're blind. You look at people straight in the eye." He sighed. "What happens when you're thirteen, anyway?"

Reyn grinned at him. "That's when you can start taking self defense classes."

Nevy laughed a bit. "Okay, I'm bored. Tell me a joke." Reyn sighed, and turned to him. "Okay, okay. What did the fish say when he ran into a wall?"

Nevy thought on this, and at moment he was called upon by the kids' instructor.

"Damn!" Nevy shouted, turning around to face the board, and he blushed red. "Uh... That's what the fish said when he ran into a wall!" He covered quickly, and proceeded to answer the question.

Reyn leaned over to him once all this was over and whispered, "Nice save."
Nevy blushed. "Thanks... So what did the elder chimney say to the younger one?"

Reyn shrugged. "What?"

"You're too young to smoke!" Nevy laughed quietly. Reyn chuckled, and turned back to her book. "Get to work," She whispered.

Nevy made an inhuman whining sound. "That's so boring!"

Reyn looked over to him and frowned. "Then write down some more jokes, or something!" She whispered. "I'm trying to study."

"But you know everything!" Nevy whined.

"Do not."

"Yeah, you do!" Nevy grumbled. "You never do your work, yet you never miss a single question, or do a single transmutation wrong."

Reyn turned back to her book. "Well then. I guess I'm just too smart for school."

Nevy nodded and tried doing a simple transmutation on his desk. He failed... and whined. "Why can't I transmute solids?" He muttered. Reyn shrugged. "Maybe it's just not your thing. I can't transmute anything but air very well." Nevy sighed and sat back in his chair. "You wanna hear a secret?" He whispered.

Reyn nodded. "Yeah?"

Nevy leaned in closer, whispering in Reyn's ear.

"All I can transmute is blood."

-

You're all lucky I have friends who push me into updating...

Just joking.

Now review.