So, so, so sorry for the long wait! Please enjoy this mostly uneventful, but humorous and informal chapter.

You might have noticed that since Dorochet didn't appear too much in the seriese, I kind of gave him a personality. A very goofy, childish personality.

Chimera Ed

Chapter 20

Homanimoids & Carnarians

"Aaaaand... This is where we eat! You can grab a snack whenever you're hungry." Dorochet announced, enthusiastically. The three adult chimeras were giving Ed a tour of their 'house'. And it really was a house. Just underground and invisible to even the people in the pub known as the Devil's Nest.

Dorochet led them even farther downstairs, where there were four doors. He pointed at them one at a time and listed off their purposes. "That's a closet, that's the bathroom, that's where the girls, or in this case girl, sleeps, and that last one is where the boys sleep. That would be me, Loa, and you."

He opened the last door. The room was pretty dull. There was a well used, king sized bed in one corner, obviously Loa's. On the other side of the room, there was a set of bunk beds. "And just so you know," Dorochet gave Ed a challenging glare. "The top bunk is mine!"

Marta groaned inwardly, which suggested that she had to deal with such childish antics on a daily basis. Ed had to choke back a mocking laugh. The man sounded just like a child.

"So, anyway," Marta interjected, "That's the grand tour."

After they all sat back down in the living room, Marta spoke up again. "There's another order of business we need to take care of. In order to officially be part of the Homanimoids, you need the mark."

"The mark?"

"It's a tattoo that each of us have, of the main animal in our genes."

"A tattoo?! I don't know if i'm ready to get a tattoo..." Especially for the sake of a group that i've only just met that are already keeping secrets from me...

"Aww, come on! You can't be part of the team if you don't have the mark! Besides, it's going to be in a place that's usually covered in clothing." Dorochet willed.

"For example," Marta continued. She inserted her thumb into the waistband of her pants and pulled them down a bit, to reveal a striking cobra centered on her right hip. Ed stared in awe at the amazingly sophisticated design of this cobra. It seemed to come alive. Ed's eyes widened as his eyes traced the pattern of it's scales. It was creating the illusion of slithering across her skin, hissing and spitting it's deadly violet venom. It was hypnotic just looking at it.

She let go of her pants, letting the waistban slap her skin, back in it's place, covering up the cobra. That gesture jolted Ed out of his trance. He blinked several times, until his blurred vision cleared up. He looked back up at her face. "Did... you draw that yourself?"

Marta nodded. "I draw all of the tattoos."

All of Edward's anxiety about getting a tattoo quickly dissaparated. Marta was such an amazing artist. He was soon looking forward to having a tattoo of a creature that would seem to come to life on his skin, just like Marta's.

"I... Alright. I'll get a tattoo."

"Wonderful." Dorochet stood up abdruptly. "I'm hungry. I'm going to go get a snack. Wanna come, Loa?"

Loa grunted, then stood up and followed Dorochet out of the room.

"They were quick to leave..." Ed mumbled.

Marta snickered. "Yeah, well... you'll see why."

She walked over to a desk in the corner and pulled a drawer open. She pulled out a pouch and set it down on the desk. Ed couldn't see, since she was facing away from him, blocking his view of the object, but he heard her open it and pull something out, then tinker with some things. Curiosity willed him to lean to the side, to try and get a view of what she was doing.

That's when she turned around to face Ed with an insturment of doom in her hand.

Ed hissed, his hair standing on end and his ears folding back against his skull. He jumped ontop of a bookshelf against the opposite wall and hissed again. "You didn't tell me you had to use a needle!"

Slightly startled at his feline reaction, she shook her head and said, "Oh, come on. It's not going to kill you."

Ed didn't budge.

"Don't you want a cool tattoo like mine?"

Still no movement.

"You do wan't to be part of the Homanimoids and learn to control your instinces, don't you?" She tried again.

Ed shifted slightly. "Yeah, but..." He trailed off.

A long silence followed until Marta finally went back and put the needle away. She then sat down on the couch "Okay, you win. Come down here. Don't worry, I just want to talk."

Ed glared at her suspiciously, but he climbed down slowly. She patted the couch cusion next to her. He complied by sitting down.

"You know you need to get a tattoo of a cat, so that you can be distinguished from a Carnarian."

"A what?"

A look of shock appeared on Marta's face. "You've never heard of the Carnarians?"

Ed simply stared at her in a confused manner. Marta shook her head in awe. "I thought Greed would have told you. Must have slipped his mind..."

Marta took a deep breath. "There are two teams of chimeras. The Homanimoids, that's us, and the Carnarians."

"Tucker told me that there were only you guys." Ed interrupted.

"You don't actually believe Shou Tucker of all people, do you?"

"Good point. Continue."

"Anyways, where was I? Okay, the Carnarians think they're better than humans. They prey on humans and kill any unfortunate person who crosses their path. They're every bit the wild monsters that people make chimeras out to be.

"We, the Homanimoids, are different. We try to live among the humans and fit in to prove that we're all equals. And Greed is the leader of it all."

This certainly took Ed by surprise. Greed, the good guy? That just didn't seem possible. Or was it? People's intentions seemed to be mixing into a crazy swirl in Ed's mind at the moment. Maybe he was wrong and Greed really was leading a good cause. If that was true, though, why did he try to rape Ed?

"Any new chimeras thast pop up, wether they be made by Tucker or some other person or thing, they are almost immediatley swept into one of the two groups. Usually, they are completely obvious, but you've managed to hide your changes very well.

"So far, the Carnarians have ten members in their team. That's twice as many as us, so we're pretty desperate. That's why you are so important to us. We need you."

"Need me...? Hmm..." Ed realized that this was bigger than he thought it to be. "Alright." He sighed. Then he suddenly realized something. "Wait, twice as many? But there's only three of you, right?"

"Actually, including you, there are five."

"Who'se the fifth?" Ed questioned, practically dying of curiosity.

"Annabelle..." She spoke with great fondness. "Uhh... I mean Greed! He's part of the team too."

"Annabelle? Tell me about her."

Marta sighed. "You can forget about Anabelle."

"No, tell me about her." Ed insisted.

"She's rarely ever with us anymore. Almost a year ago, that's when the Carnarians started to outnumber us, she went on a mission. She goes everywhere, scouting all known chimera labs, looking for new chimeras. You might not see her for a long time."

Ed hoped it wouldn't be too long. He really wanted to meet this Annabelle. What kind of animal was she fused with? What kind of powers did she have? Was she friendly? Ed hoped so.

"Are you willing to get the tattoo now?"

"Yes. I'm willing." Ed said, bravely. Then he added, "This isn't going to hurt, is it?"

Marta smiled coyly. "Just close your eyes and count to fourty. It'll be over before you know it."

"FOURTY?!"

"I know juuuust where to put it..." She mused. "Okay, drop your pants."

"What do you mean fourty? Are you... Wait, did you just tell me to drop my pants? Wait, are you a pervert too?" Ed glared acusingly.

"No, i'm just going to put the tattoo on your left buttcheek."

"WHAT?!"

"Oh, come on! It's the perfect place!"

After more arguing, Ed finally agreed to Marta's choice, grudgingly. But he only pulled his pants down as far as he needed to.

"Ow! That hurts!"

"Stand still, you dummy."

When Marta was nearly halfway through drawing the cat, the door slammed open. Ed craned his neck to see who it was, all four of his cheeks blushing red at the scenario.

It was Loa, finishing the last bites of a sandwich in his hand, which looked miniscule compared to his giant bulky body.

He stopped and stared at the scene for a long time. Marta never looked up fron her work. Ed continued attempting to endure the pain of getting a tattoo.

Loa walked around them until he stood face to face with Ed. He unbuttoned the top few buttons on his shirt and pulled it out to reveal his left breast.

It was a ram. A goat with twisted horns on it's head, in mid leap. Ed stared at it in as much awe as he had for Marta's striking cobra. The picture jumped to life before his eyes as the ram leaped forward, galloping down an invisible path and then leaping up an invisible mountain, all so majestically. He could see the creature standing proudly atop the rock overlooking the rest of the world, chest puffed out and bearded chin tilted upwards twords the sun.

"Done."

"Huh?" Ed was snapped out of his thoughts, once again by Marta. He turned his head and saw her putting away the needle. "You're... done?"

"Yep. But don't pull your pants up yet. It needs a few minutes to dry." Ed was shocked to say the least. He was so absorbed in the image of the ram on Loa's chest, that he hadn't even felt the pain of the tattoo needle.

The door slammed open again and Dorochet came shuffling in, chewing on some chips. He toosed the bag aside an whistled lould when he saw Ed's now ripe red as a tomato buttcheek, which now had the picture of a little yellow cat with green eyes. He started howling and hooting. "Sexy!"

Ed blushed and pulled up his pants.

"Nice place to put the tattoo. Kinda like mine!"

Ed looked at Dorochet quizically. "You have a tattoo on your left buttcheek too?"

"Actually, mine's on the front. Wanna see?" Dorochet then proceeded to unzip his fly.

Ed waved his hands infront of his face defensively. "No, no! I don't need to see that!"

(OMG!CHOCOLATEPICKLESWILLEATTHEENTIREPLANETATMIDNIGHT!!)

Dorochet snored. It's not like it bothered Ed. He snored just as loud as Winry, which Ed could only hear because of his cat ears. It's that any reminder of people he knew made his thoughts drift over to Russell. This was the first time, since he and Russell got together, that he spent a night without Russell's warm body pressed against his, arms entwined. It made Ed shiver. He felt bare and cold now.

He wondered what he got himself into. In one day, he had joined a group of chimeras, gotten a tattoo, and left his mission of restoring his brother's body. But this was necessary too... the Homanimoids would know a lot about controlling animal instincts.

And what about Greed? Was he good or bad? Ed used to think Greed was bad, but now he wasn't so sure... Later, he thought. I will confront Greed and find out just what's going on with him...

To Be Continued...

A/N: So... Good chapter? Bad chapter? Is it too OOC? Please review and let me know!