Hello y'all!
This is another OS, that's set directly after the previous one!
I began with the theme "congé" = "day off", and added the theme "ignorance" (same in French and English, how practical!)
This is purely banter and teasing between the four guys of the team. No one's spared!
Enjoy!
Their travel had lasted one hour but Falman knew that it could have lasted less than that, hadn't Havoc insisted on taking shortcuts that had led them in the middle of cultivated fields. It was a strange way to begin a day off, he sighed as he stepped out of the car parked in haste in the carpark of Leechwood village. The place had once been in ruins but was now an historical center - more like a tourist center, the warrant officer thought when he saw the big ads on the wooden fence surrounding the village.
"Tell me, Havoc," Breda said. "It's not because we're almost the only ones here that you can park your car anyhow."
"I'm not bothering anyone!" The blonde smoker protested as he took a cigarette out of its pack. He was used to smoking when he drove alone and the detours he'd made and the protests of his passengers together had stressed him.
"We must pay for our tickets," Fuery told them. The young man showed them the ticket office where a woman who seemed to be bored was typing on her phone. She briefly raised her head as they approached her and didn't pay them much attention. "Two full fares, one teenage fare and one retired fare, that will do 4100 cenz."
Fuery stopped on tracks, abashed. Havoc snickered as he slapped Falman's back. "Old pal, you must dye your hair if you want people to give you your real age!"
Falman grumbled some protests as he tried to escape the second-lieutenant's hand.
Breda then took out his military card and put it on the counter. "Four military fares please."
The look in the cashier's eyes changed suddenly. It wasn't sorry but seductive as Jean approached. "So it changes everything! For handsome men like you it'll do only 2800 cenz, if you present me with your military card. Even if you work for the glory of our beautiful country I must have proof."
She winked heavily to Havoc who gave her his card with a smile. Breda couldn't hide his wince and Falman held back a not very elegant grunt that represented his thoughts.
"At least this time the Lieutenant-colonel won't steal her," Fuery said as they walked away after they had paid.
"What's that supposed to mean, Sergeant?" Havoc asked, frowning.
"Well, normally the Colonel won't go here so you'll still have this girl when all those who live in East City will have decided that Mustang was a better shot than you,'' Heymans explained instead of the youngest member of the team.
"You don't know what I'm able to do! I will prove to you that I can keep a girl for more than two weeks!"
"Very well, I'll bet against you," Falman said. He still resented havoc mocking his age and his hair and he didn't ignore the chances he had to really keep a girl for longer than a fortnight. They always left him because of or for Mustang. Either because they felt alone when he worked for too long in the office, or because they met their young Colonel.
"Me too," Kain and Heymans said.
Havoc stopped walking and turned to the trio who was turning against him. "You don't know anything about my skills! What kind of friends are you!"
"You're the one who doesn't want to acknowledge that if you want a girlfriend so badly they'll all see it and think of you as an annoying man."
Jean turned away, rolling his eyes. It wasn't useful to protest, they wouldn't understand anyway.
His annoyance disappeared quickly when Falman and Breda began to narrate together the story of Leechwood village. The name came from the swamps that surrounded it centuries earlier, where people could easily - put a foot in the water for five minutes then remove it - find leeches. It had been founded when Amestris didn't exist yet, and the land was under the authority of a lord who obeyed a king. The lord had tried to rebel and marched with his army on the city where the king lived. It had been a bad move, since his men had been killed before they could reach the castle, in Leechwood. The people of the village hadn't waited for the armies to arrive before fleeing, leaving all behind them. The fight had been ferocious and stayed in the annals, even after Amestris' founding. To commemorate the battle, the government had decided to transform the ruins - back then they were even more ruins than today - into a historical and cultural center, to prove the people of Amestris that their country had a history rich of adventures and battles.
Fuery was captivated by his colleagues' knowledge. His ignorance was filled with the details of the battle, told by Breda, and all the political stakes back in the time and now.
"Doesn't that mean that the State is justifying today's wars by saying 'Look, we've always done that even before Amestris, so why should we stop?'"
Vato glanced at the young Sergeant. They were in front of the replica of a trebuchet, and Breda was certain he hadn't read any mention of it as a weapon used during the Leechwood battle.
"I don't know, but I think this kind of thoughts shouldn't be exposed in the middle of a crowd of tourists," he answered, pointing at the people strolling around their little group.
"In that case I'll tell them to the Lieutenant-colonel. It'll give him more motivation to climb the ranks."
"You can keep that for yourself too, Fuery," Havoc called him out with a light bump of his elbow. Then he pointed at a stand where a few children were assembled. "Hey guys, have you seen there's a kid circuit? We could have had Fuery make it since he looks less than eighteen!"
"That was gratuitous, Havoc. To be honest, I thought you were better than that." Breda managed to stay serious for a few seconds before he burst into laughter.
Poor Fuery tried to protest against his colleagues' teasing. "That's not cool, guys!"
Well, he would keep Mustang and Hawkeye's secret even longer than planned. He'd thought for a moment he could tell Breda he knew who stole from his snack stock, but in the end he'd leave him in a blissful ignorance for more time. And he was almost certain he would win the bets that would concern both their superiors in the future. There would be other undercover missions where the Lieutenant-colonel would insist that his adjutant play his wife or fiancée just to pretend to play pretend they were in love. These times the other members of the team would notice something.
Well, Havoc would take more time than the other to realize it. He hid his smile before offering the guys to settle for lunch. "Culture makes me hungry!"
"Have you all taken your picnic?" Breda asked. He didn't want others to take something from his lunch when so many things were already vanishing in his belongings.
"I've got everything I need," Falman replied. "I've prepared my sandwich to match with recipes from several centuries ago."
"Of course you've spent hours reading books," Havoc told him while they settled around a picnic table in the park of the village. "I hope the result lives up to your work. That being said, I'll eat my baguette with all that ham, tomatoes and cheese, with a glass of the beer they serve in the bar here."
"I'm sure they're industrial beers, not one locally brewed by passionate people," Falman replied. "And the souvenirs in the shop have been made in Xing or another country."
"You're the one who wanted to come here, don't complain, Falman." Breda swallowed two bread slices where he'd spread half a tin of paté, and added a slice of cheese. "Oh, Havoc," he added between two bites, "you're allowed to take one drink, no more, since you're the one driving us home."
Jean grumbled his disappointment but still left after he'd asked his colleagues what they wanted. He came back with two coffees, a fruit juice and a beer. He gave the first ones to Falman and Fuery, the second to Breda, and kept the beer.
Once they had finished their lunch - after a long conversation about the latest movies and the best actresses - they participated to all session organized to learn how people lived in the village before the battle happened, they passed a general culture test - of course Falman aced it -, and finally obtained proud as children who've done something good the knight certificate given to all people who had done all sessions.
They spent a good time in the shop, looking for souvenirs for themselves, but for Mustang and Hawkeye too, to thank them for having spent their day working while they were enjoying their day off. They found a chess board for the Lieutenant-colonel, and a real bow made like it would have been centuries ago, with a few round-ended arrows for the Lieutenant.
In the end the day had been good, Falman realized when he sat in the car to go back home. This day off had been full and memorable - he wouldn't be the first to forget what they had talked about today. Neither would Havoc since he'd decided a woman with false blond hair, false nails and makeup spread all onto her face wasn't worth the pain.