Theme 5: Library

The doorbell rang and a blond haired girl in her mid teens went to let the customer in. The client of the Rockbells' automail shop was a man, roughly 40 years of age. His right leg was made of automail. The mechanic welcomed him in. Being a customer of Pinako's for more than 10 years, the man was a familiar face. Hennings, or the Library Man as some children called him, lost his left leg during the Isbalian rebelion. Once he was disabled, he had retired from the military and started working as a librarian. If he hadn't told the Rockbells that he was a soldier, they wouldn't have known; who would've guessed that a book-loving person was a soldier?

"Hello, Winry-chan," Mr. Hennings greeted, "Any new customers today?"

"Nah, not really," Winry, the blond mechanic, replied, "Although I just ADORE automail, I sometimes can't stand seeing people missing arms and legs. I'm not saying that in a bad way, though. It's just that-"

"Ahh… I get it, Winry," the man replied, "Pinako-san isn't here today?"

"She went out to get the materials for your leg. We also ran out of oil. So, I'm afraid you have to wait for a while, Hennings-san" Winry said, "I'll get something for you to drink."

A few moments later, Winry was back with cool water and she set them on the table for Mr. Hennings, and sat down opposite of him.

"So, how was this week?" The man asked politely.

"Pretty good, except that some people were quiet moody. And even moodier when we reconnected the nerves," Winry informed him.

"I see. Well, I can teach you a trick on how to predict people's moods and know they're habit," The man offered.

"Really? That'd be nice. Maybe I can try it on that shrimp…why he is always wreaking my automail…"

"Haha. You mean Edward-kun?" He laughed.

"Yeah…"

"Very well. You see, predicting a person's mood is like reading a book," The librarian began, "Once you know what the plot is about, you can pretty much predict the rest. But then again, I've read a lot of books."

"So…how do I begin?" Winry asked, curious.

"You could begin by observing their habits, usage of words, actions. Put that together, then you basically get a short book. More in depth, their hobbies, how they dress, their politeness towards people. There are many more things Winry, but if you can do this. Then I think you can work as a 'people interpreter'."

"Ahaha," Winry laughed at Hennings-san's comment. The doorbell rang again and again and again. This time, Winry applied her newly found skill. It was Pinako. Being impatient at times, Pinako hated to wait for someone to come get the door. Hmmm… then that made her an impatient granny? She laughed at her thought. Impatient granny. That rings some thoughts. Didn't Edward call Pinako that? Impatient granny? So, that made Ed…a sarcastic brat who didn't care about her precious things? The door bell rang again. Winry quickly went to help Pinako. After a while, they started to fix parts of Hennings' automail, which was slightly damaged. Then a while later, they waved goodbye to the 'Library Man'.

Later in the evening, Winry started to 'read' people. She started with Pinako, then to Al, and finally to Ed. Edward, however, even though she knew a lot about, was the hardest. It wasn't as easy as it seemed. Or at least, like how she found Al's and Pinako's. Edward was, well, not a book. It was like a whole entire library. Probably, the size of Central HQ's library. Big, huge, wide, wonderful to explore, even though she didn't like reading or going to the library that much. Winry looked forward to exploring this one.