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a Luar in Fullmetal Alchemist
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"Will do!"

And now that she has a specific short-term concrete task, get to it she does. Things are so much easier when there's a clear goal in front of you. She is going to make an excellent clerk.

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She is!

 

Automail is hideously complicated. Some of the books Mr. Tucker had on-hand are helping her understand it, but most of learning it is rote memorization of hundreds of parts. How is she at that?

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Better than most people would be from the same starting point. She has a good memory and a really intense work ethic.

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She now has an encyclopaedic knowledge of automail anatomy and a working understanding of the train system and its stations! Her boss, whose name is George Hoover, quizzes her and is pleased with the results.

 

On her eighteenth day of working, Mr. Hoover sends her out of East City. "I need a second opinion on these pictures for a client of mine. You'll be taking them to a Mrs. Pinako Rockbell in Resembool. Say that I sent you, and give her this --" he shoves a bundle of notes into her arms. 

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"Sure thing!" she says cheerfully, accepting the bundle.

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When she looks in her book tonight she'll see that it wants her to leave tomorrow night. After dark.

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It's kind of heartening to have such a weirdly specific and seemingly pointless directive to follow. Makes her feel like a real Wildmage again.

She gets on the appropriate train.

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And who does she meet there but Mrs. Tucker. "Anne! How are you?"

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"I'm doing well! I got a job clerking for an automail mechanic. How are you? How's Nina?"

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"We're both well -- Nina spends most of her time at home with Shou -- Shou made a formula so I don't have to breastfeed her, which freed me up to look for a job myself -- the one I got is pretty far from East City, but it pays well. Nursing work." She smiles.

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"I've been a little worried about you," she admits. "I'm glad you're doing okay."

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"Oh, you don't have to worry about me," she says. "My job takes me all over and Shou stays at home. I have more independence than he does."

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"It's just—he was kind of scary, with all the yelling."

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"I can understand that." She frowns sympathetically. "I'm so sorry you had to -- tell you what," she says. "I can talk to Shou about giving you some of the beginner alchemy texts so you can study them on your own time. And I have one here."

She pulls out a book on human chemistry. The Composition of the Body: a Theoretical Perspective

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"Oh—that's really nice of you! Thank you so much!"

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She beams. "He's due to try for the state alchemist exam in September of next year. I just have to support us until then and we should be fine."

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"Well, best of luck to him, I guess. You're sure you're all right?"

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"I like working, and it's nice to be able to travel. And I can trust Shou with Nina."

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