automailed | [Voice]

[...One year already. The thought occurs to Edward rather suddenly, as he browses through the private journal he's kept on him since his arrival, cataloguing significant changes, arrivals and departures, important dates... height chart. (Shut up, he's allowed to be shallow about that.) It's easy to recognize the rises and falls of his moods- when people were kidnapped or sent back, when the home he'd lived in had experienced some sort of turmoil and he'd felt it via association. When he and Al had reached roadblocks and breakthroughs. When Mom had come.

There hadn't been any notes made when she and Al had left. He hadn't had the heart, and he'd never forget those dates anyway.

One year, though- one year, and he's made an astonishing amount of progress. He's gotten new automail, he's trained more, his alchemy is better than ever. He's learned some alkahestry. ...Sort of. He's sometimes even talked to his father like a human being instead of a bundle of hate and resentment all the time. And, more importantly, he's gone home and survived the Promised Day. He's achieved everything he'd set out to do after he and Al had failed to transmute their mother. And he's happy about it, obviously- ecstatic, overjoyed, victorious.

On the other hand... he's unsure. Because it raises a lot of questions about what the future will hold for him, what he wants to do with the rest of his life. And if he were to be completely honest about it, this is the first time in his life since he was five that he hasn't had a clear goal he wanted to accomplish.

That kind of freedom is almost terrifying.]

...Hey. If you couldn't do what you're doing right now - for a job, career, whatever - what would you want to do with your life instead?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[...Wait, really? And he doesn't seem upset about it? But alchemy was his thing. It'd be like if Hiccup had to give up inventing.]

So that's why you were asking about careers? Trying to see what else is out there for you?

Yeah. I can't even remember a time when I couldn't use alchemy, so it's hard to imagine a life without it.

[Now he just looks more annoyed than upset. Job-hunting is a pain in the ass.]

I guess I'll just end up retiring from the military, so maybe that'll help, but it's not like researching alchemy will get me anywhere when I can't even perform it. And Al can still use it, but I'm not gonna ask him to stay with me for the rest of his life.

Do you have any leads yet? Anything that seems appealing?

[Because Ed doesn't seem like the type to just sit back and enjoy retirement. He'd be up and doing things for sure. But what?]

A few, I guess. Teaching, researching, working at a library or something- there's no shortage of options. I'm just having trouble wrapping my head around it, is all. I think it's harder to decide here because I can still do alchemy until I go home.

That's got to feel weird. [To be able to do something he won't be able to do back home.] Would you stay in one place, or keep traveling around a lot?

Probably travel. But me and Al have earned ourselves a break, helping to save the country and all. We'll probably go back home to Resembool and live it up for a while. After that... I dunno. There's a lot of people we'll have to visit.

Oh, yeah? People you met while you were traveling?

[That would be kind of rewarding, he would imagine. To go back and show that they followed through.]

Yeah... over the years, traveling all over the country, we met tons of people, and so many of them helped us in some way. It'd probably take us forever just to see them all. It doesn't sound bad, though. It's exciting to think about it- everybody likes to hear good news, right? And I'd like to check up on how they're doing.

[And if these people knew all the weight that had been on the brothers during this time? They'd probably be especially relieved.]

I bet they'd be excited to hear how things went for you. No one can argue with a happy ending.

Most of them don't even know the truth, to be honest. Human transmutation is illegal, so we spread a lot of bullshit around to avoid getting ourselves arrested. Still, I think Al would like to show the people who've helped us his true face.

[He nods.] Makes sense. Is your world very big?

Big enough. It took us four years just to travel around Amestris, and we still haven't seen everything.

[Oh, whoa.] Ah. Definitely bigger than my world, then. Or--at least, what we've got mapped of my world. I don't really know what's out there beyond the sea.

Yeah, and Amestris is the smallest country in our part of the world. There's a hell of a lot to see out there, that's for sure.

[And he's itching to see it all, even if he knows it's impossible.]

So you've got maps of all the other countries? We just have charts of the islands around our island, a few sketches of the edge of what I guess must be Britain.

Not all of them, but the ones surrounding mine, at least. Maybe if we had dragons it'd be a lot easier to see the world, right?

[It's a half-tease, but there's some definite truth to what he says: a culture with flying companions could probably get a lot further when it comes to map-making over time.]