"Interesting," Ruby murmured. "You talked to him?" She knew that much, but asking was likely to get her more information.

"Yeah," Garnet replied, nodding and sitting down. "He seems friendly enough. Open. Amestrian, like you thought, and a State Alchemist, judging by the watch hanging from his belt." And as far as she knew, there weren't all that many State Alchemists that young who were certified to have the watch. "Said his name was Al."

"Al." Ruby frowned. "That name sounds familiar. Al. State Alchemist, huh? I feel like I should know who he is."

"I remember there being an Ed who was a State Alchemist," Garnet said, nodding. "Elric. Didn't he travel with a brother?"

"Alphonse," Ruby said as soon as she heard the name Elric. "Edward and Alphonse Elric. They were pretty big for a while."

"Yeah," Garnet agreed. She was quiet for a moment, thinking. "Were they both State Alchemists, do you remember?"

"No, only one, the older one," Ruby said, shaking her head. "I think his title was something metal."

"Well, what are the chances of this one being the other one?" Garnet asked. She couldn't remember the alchemist's title, either, and she didn't care to guess.

"I'm not sure," Ruby said with a shrug. "You said this one had an alchemist's pocket watch. So this one must be the state alchemist, unless things have changed."

"I don't know," Garnet said. "Which one was the whatever-metal alchemist? Edward or Alphonse? I think it was Edward, wasn't it?"

"I think so, that sounds right." Ruby frowned. "But if this one is Alphonse then he's now a state alchemist?"

"I guess so," Garnet said, shrugging. "Maybe he wanted to do the same as his brother. Last I heard, he wasn't a bad alchemist himself." At that, she frowned a bit. Where had she heard that from? She couldn't remember, but she couldn't help but feel it was true.

Ruby shrugged. "Well, we may find out later," she said. "For now, I want to see if I can finish this book. Then we can find out more about him."

Garnet nodded.

"I offered to compare notes with him," she said. "He agreed, so we have a reason to go over."

Ruby nodded. "Okay, cool. We can go see him in a little bit, then."

Garnet nodded and settled back in to read. She still needed to take notes, after all.

Ruby kept reading as well for a while, until she got to a good stopping point for the day and yawned, stretching.

Garnet set down her own book, closing her notebook at the same time.

"Done for the day?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Ruby stretched. "I think I'm done for now."

"Ready to head back to the apartment, or do you want to see if that other alchemist is still here?" Garnet asked, stretching a little as well.

"We might as well check and see if he's still here," Ruby said with a shrug. "Then we can head back."

"Well, he was right around the corner," Garnet said, picking up the books they were using. "I'll put these away if you want to go check."

Ruby nodded and stood, taking her notes with her as she rounded the corner. She approached the alchemist sitting at the table, moving around to the front of the table so she didn't startle him.

Al looked up when he heard someone approaching.

"Oh, hello," he said with a smile.

"Hi. My name is Ruby. You were chatting with my cousin earlier." Ruby smiled as she held out her hand to him.