~~~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~~~

Mei looked up at Alphonse with an obvious sparkle in her expressive, black eyes. And though the poor, almost confused boy was made completely of metal, somehow... he managed to blush awkwardly at the adoration in her gaze. It wasn't that he didn't share her feelings... In fact, he found Mei to be quite endearing--especially her love for animals, like her companion Xiao Mei--but that didn't stop him from feeling uncomfortable when she talked to him. That voice she used... Al would have said it made his heart flutter, but, again... suits of armor don't quite have hearts, do they?

“... then you channel the energy, focusing on these points,” Mei said, still smiling at Alphonse--with that smile, of course--and snapping him out of his thoughts.. “That lets you make the reaction occur at a distance, giving you much more flexibility with what you can do.”

Al nodded, although he only partially understood what she had told him. Damn him and his penchant for drifting off like that... Oh, well. He was proficient enough in Alchemy to be able to follow what little of her instructions that he had heard.

... right?

Al took one of the small knives from Mei and started to scribe an array in the dirt where they knelt. Edward, lying on his back practically asleep in the grass a few feet away, eased an eye open, giving Alphonse a curious look. He'd been listening to them talk and was actually interested to see how Xingan Alchemy worked. He sat up slightly, leaning back on his hands as he watched his brother. Al's eyes flashed for a second, his anxiety kicking in with both Mei and Ed watching him.

But, Al stayed calm, making sure to replicate Mei's transmutation circle perfectly before he took the other knives and embedded them in the ground, at the points of the circle. Sitting back slightly, he gave a proud look at the design before looking over at Mei.

“That looks right?” he asked.

Mei nodded, closing her eyes cutely as she patted Alphonse's gauntlet affectionately.

“It's perfect,” she said.

Again, Al blushed--how in the hell could armor actually turn red? Though he supposed that wasn't the strangest thing about his body... because, well, the fact that the armor was his body was quite a bit more odd than being able to blush—and he clapped his hands together. Then he pressed them to the edge of the circle.

What Alphonse had intended to do was have a small, stone figure of Xiao Mei form a few feet away. But that definitely wasn't what happened... Edward let out a loud yelp as the ground exploded beneath him, covering him in a shower of dirt and pebbles. Al yelped and fell back onto his behind with a loud, metallic clatter.

“Damnit, Al!” Ed shouted, coughing as the dust settled around him.

Al gave Ed a sheepish look, scooting away slightly, trying to hide behind Mei. Because... she liked him and would protect him, right? At least he hoped so. One thing he knew for sure, though, was that he needed to learn to pay attention to Mei's instructions next time, rather than Mei herself.