![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
invoking_uraniaTitle: Frighteningly Intelligent
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Rating: G
Genre: Vignette
Words: 475
Notes/Warnings: Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fma_fic_contest's prompt, 'Angel'.
Summary: What was most important to Miss Laura Williams, schoolteacher, was figuring out a way to keep her three brightest students out of trouble.
Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist copyright Hiromu Arakawa/Studio BONES and this derivative work was created without permission.
Laura Williams wondered what, exactly, was in the Risembool well water; if she knew, she could probably bottle it and sell it for parents who wanted frighteningly intelligent children.
Winry Rockbell didn't surprise Laura. Winry's parents and grandmother were all in the medical field, and their daughter looked poised to follow them. But all Laura knew about the Elric boys was that they lived with their mother and Laura wasn't considered 'one of the town' enough to know more about their father than that he had been from elsewhere and that whatever happened, no one thought poorly of Trisha Elric for raising two boys alone.
Whatever happened wasn't important: what was important was figuring out a way to keep her three brightest students out of trouble. Edward, the oldest Elric boy, was the most dangerous in that respect -- her predecessor had warned her exactly how many times she'd sent him home with a note for not paying attention. And he could usually distract his brother, then Winry, then half-a-dozen other children if you let him.
Right now, they were attempting to study Literature, or as best as a grade-school class could manage. Laura had gotten a book of various myths and legends, and they had just finished reading Icarus. Her copy was illustrated, and she had let the students see the print of Icarus, falling to the sea like an broken angel with tattered wings.
"Many of these stories were told after the end of a day's work, like how your families might listen to the radio," Laura explained. "They were supposed to be entertaining, but also a way of conveying history or a moral lesson. What do you think this story means?"
"Don't fly too close to the sun?" someone blurted out, and the class chuckled.
"It's supposed to be a lesson in following instructions," Edward said pointedly. He was looking straight at Laura when he spoke, and she wondered if she was being redressed by one of her own students for choosing this story. "Though Icarus shouldn't have needed a grown-up to tell him that wax would melt if it got warm."
Alphonse looked at his brother. "Maybe Icarus didn't know how close was 'too close'. He thought he could fly higher without breaking his wings."
"Then he should have paid attention. Wax is an amorphous solid." He pronounced the word oddly, as if he'd never heard it spoken. Which was probably true in his case. "It doesn't melt right away. Anyway, you couldn't really build wings from feathers and wax. They'd have to be enormous to lift a person."
"Maybe Icarus got distracted, like a boy I know," Winry piped up, and the class snickered again.
Laura sighed. "Boys, Winry, let's let the rest of the class have a turn at talking." And it wasn't even lunchtime yet. It was going to be one of those days.
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Rating: G
Genre: Vignette
Words: 475
Notes/Warnings: Written for
fma_fic_contest's prompt, 'Angel'. Summary: What was most important to Miss Laura Williams, schoolteacher, was figuring out a way to keep her three brightest students out of trouble.
Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist copyright Hiromu Arakawa/Studio BONES and this derivative work was created without permission.
Laura Williams wondered what, exactly, was in the Risembool well water; if she knew, she could probably bottle it and sell it for parents who wanted frighteningly intelligent children.
Winry Rockbell didn't surprise Laura. Winry's parents and grandmother were all in the medical field, and their daughter looked poised to follow them. But all Laura knew about the Elric boys was that they lived with their mother and Laura wasn't considered 'one of the town' enough to know more about their father than that he had been from elsewhere and that whatever happened, no one thought poorly of Trisha Elric for raising two boys alone.
Whatever happened wasn't important: what was important was figuring out a way to keep her three brightest students out of trouble. Edward, the oldest Elric boy, was the most dangerous in that respect -- her predecessor had warned her exactly how many times she'd sent him home with a note for not paying attention. And he could usually distract his brother, then Winry, then half-a-dozen other children if you let him.
Right now, they were attempting to study Literature, or as best as a grade-school class could manage. Laura had gotten a book of various myths and legends, and they had just finished reading Icarus. Her copy was illustrated, and she had let the students see the print of Icarus, falling to the sea like an broken angel with tattered wings.
"Many of these stories were told after the end of a day's work, like how your families might listen to the radio," Laura explained. "They were supposed to be entertaining, but also a way of conveying history or a moral lesson. What do you think this story means?"
"Don't fly too close to the sun?" someone blurted out, and the class chuckled.
"It's supposed to be a lesson in following instructions," Edward said pointedly. He was looking straight at Laura when he spoke, and she wondered if she was being redressed by one of her own students for choosing this story. "Though Icarus shouldn't have needed a grown-up to tell him that wax would melt if it got warm."
Alphonse looked at his brother. "Maybe Icarus didn't know how close was 'too close'. He thought he could fly higher without breaking his wings."
"Then he should have paid attention. Wax is an amorphous solid." He pronounced the word oddly, as if he'd never heard it spoken. Which was probably true in his case. "It doesn't melt right away. Anyway, you couldn't really build wings from feathers and wax. They'd have to be enormous to lift a person."
"Maybe Icarus got distracted, like a boy I know," Winry piped up, and the class snickered again.
Laura sighed. "Boys, Winry, let's let the rest of the class have a turn at talking." And it wasn't even lunchtime yet. It was going to be one of those days.