Melting in the heat

((Sorry!! I was making my automail arm and I forgot to come on!! Sorry!!))

"My excuse?" Alexander suddenly asked after zoning out for so long, after all, he really did like that song 'brothers' by Vic Mignongna, so he went off into his own world to listen to it... so obviously he didn't catch anything that was said par the greetings, "Er... I wear my hair longer because I like the feeling. Besides, my great granpa's brother wore his hair long too! Remember? Edward Elric, THE Fullmetal Alchemist? He had long hair and no one, not even that Colonel Mustang, asked HIM about it. I just like it, there's my answer. And no, Mustang, I'm not wearing it up to look like a girl to imperss your god-complexed ass, so suck it up and deal with it: I'm not interested in a guy like you. Hell, I'm not GAY!"
He then groaned and adjusted his skort lightly. Yes, he'd been doing some research into Great Grandpa Al's journals and sketchbooks when he found an old picture of a guy wearing the same tight shirt and skort he was wearing now. Ok, so the guy in the picture looked like a palm tree, but none the less, Alexander liked the outfit and after getting it himself... Well, it was understandable why that guy wore it. It's comfortable.

"Fullmetal alchemist? That sounds familiar." Yuan thought for a moment. "I think I've seen the name in the historical texts of Xing at one point or another." he frowned, racking his brain for where he had heard the name. "This is going to annoy me all day." he muttered, fighting off a scowl. Yuan had never been one to let others see his feelings. When he was little, before his parents deaths, he ahd been very happy and excitable, but now... not so much.

Tobi shrugged. "Whatever you say, Al," He chuckled, "I still say you want me."

"You keep acting as if YOU want ME!" Alexander yelled back at the colnel with a slightly flustered look on his face. Whether it was from the desert heat or just being embarrassed in front of some slitty-eyed guy, we'll never know, but there was an obvious pink tinge on his cheeks to say the least.

Yuan raised an eyebrow. "That is... odd. You don't seem to..." Yuan trailed off, trying to think of the proper word "like each other." he said after a moment. "But looks are decieving." he added in Xingese, not wanting to get on their bad sides just yet.

Tobi smirked. "Alexander here pretends to hate me, but everyone knows the truth," He said, shaking his head sarcastically. "The little guy's been all over me since the first time he saw me. Honestly, though, I don't blame him. Who could resist?" He grinned at Al, patting him on the head.

Alexander shook in anger before he used all of his strength to head-butt the man -yes, I said headbutt and I meant it- in the chest before pulling a feminine pose -he does that alot- and dusting off his skort some. He then scowled at the man.
"You're lucky we're of equal rank, jackass, otherwise I'd fire you on the spot... stupid jerk..." The boy said, obviously not mentioning that he once WAS a rank higher than the colonel, he just stepped back down because he thought 'Colonel Elric' sounded better than 'Brigadier General Elric', and besides... the kid hates paper work.

"Are you in the military?" Yuan asked, raising an eyebrow. Jun chattered something and yuan nodded. "I can't say i disagree." he told the rat.

Tobi blinked. "Hey....did that rat insult me? I don't take that crap from rats!" He tried not to laugh.

"Insult is not the word for it." Yuan answered as Jun chattered something else. "No I'm not telling him that."

Alexander snickered and nodded.
"We sure are. We're national Alchemists, actually. This jerk goes by the second name Whiteice and I go by the second name Toeblade. They're lame names, but hey, it's the fuhrer who chose them." The boy said with a light shrug before looking at the rat, "So tell me, what did the rat say? I could use some more insults for the pompous bastard of a comrad of mine."

"Jun said he seems like an arrogant moron who wouldn't be able to tell salt from pepper." Yuan answered very camly. "I don't exactly agree with her." he added. Jun squeaked something else. "I am not dumb!" he yelled at the rat, who led to his shirt pocket, not realizing she could be caught there.

Alexander began snickering uncontrollably at that, before saying, "Tell Jun I said I agreed with her, hehe."

Tobi scowled. "Man," He complained, "And I was nice to that rat, too! And, for the record, I can tell the difference between salt and pepper. First off, because they come in different packages. I'm not an idiot, you know!" He muttered under his breath something containing the words 'rat stew' and 'no respect' as he kicked sand at Al.

Jun chittered something like agreement in Al's direction. "I never said she wa spolite." Yuan stated as Jun squeaked something else. "I'll make you walk!" he threatened. Of course, he didn't seem to notice he was having a conversation with a rat...

Tobi scowled at the rat, still sore from the insult. He hated being insulted!

Jun squeaked out something very like a long phrase. "No, I don't think he eats good poo." Yuan argued in Xingese. "Will you shut up, he didn't do anything to you." he added in amestrian. Jun sqeaked soemthing else and sharply bit his ear. Yuan yelped, blood dripping from the wound. "Stop it!" he snapped, grabbing the rat by her tail and dropping her to the ground. Jun let out a shocked squeak and clung to yuan's pant leg.

Alexander blinked in confusion as the wound seemed to almost heal up on demand and scowled. He wasn't stupid.
"Yuan, that's your name, right? Do you by any chance have any tattoos?"

"Yes, Yuan is my name." Yuan said, eyes going wide at Alexander's second question. "W-what does it matter to you that I have a tattoo?" Yuan's voice lost some of the firm clam it contained, the calm gave way to something like fear in his voice.

"You know, a small tatto, about the size of a 200 cen coin ((A/N: that's the size of a 50 cent coin in Australian terms, or about a penny in American terms)) somewhere on your body... Looks like a winged dragon wrapped around a star... tell me, is it purple or red?"

Yuan dropped his voice to something a little above a whisper so that Tobi couldn't hear him. "Purple. Why would you know about it?" he asked, a hand running over the back of his neck, feeling the tattoo, though it looked like he was just scratching his neck.

Alexander let out a sigh of relief as he heard the colour before grinning.
"Then it's all good! If it were red I'd have to kill you, but no problems now! Purple = good!" He said loudly with a grin before standing n his tippy-toes to whisper in the xingese man's ear: "Besides, don't worry, I have one too... and yes, it's purple."
He then jumped back and sat down on the ground with a massive grin.
"I'm so glad they haven't come to get me yet, phew! I was worried for a second! Well, you better be on your guard, my pal, because they're gunna be after the both of us soon, since we purple-marked ones are what they want the most, par what they really want of which I have a good hunch is a nice big shiny stone, or whatever." The boy said with a light chuckle before turning to Tobi with a grin, "Don't worry, we're not homunculi or anything, me and Yuan go way back, we got a bit drunk once in Yous Well and we went and got purple tattoos on us, and the big shin stone I mention was a nice big shiny diamond, you know, the one they keep showing at museums? All is well, and it's just a rebel group trying to catch us because we accidentally beat up half of their men while drunk. Haha! What a fun night!"

/He's... resurected as well, interesting./ Yuan thought after a moment. Who are they? his expression seemed to ask. "Yes, it was a very good time indeed, though I regret the tattoo a bit." Yuan laughed, easily masking his aprehension. Of course, he worried to much, he always had.

"Yeah, me too, it's an ugly thing." The boy said with a light laugh before turning to Tobi with a cocky smirk, "So are you still mad that a rat insulted your big ego?"

Jun squeaked something. "I swear, you are the rudest creature on Earth." Yuan rolled his eyes at the rat. Jun sunk her claws deeper into his pant leg, knowing Yuan would soon get very, very irritated.