fandomhigh | Revolutions: Week 12, Period 5

Back in the classroom this week, Aly waited until the majority of students were present before breaking off her conversation with a dark-haired man sporting a large eyepatch that covered his left eye and most of that side of his face. She smiled at the class, eyes checking off who was there, then took a seat on her desk to speak.

"Afternoon, everybody. First thing, I'll remind all of you that your exam is in two weeks. No, you aren't going to have to overthrow a country to pass." She grinned. "At least probably not."

"For the rest of the class, you'll not be actively revolting - I hope-" she threw a wink at Mustang. "But General Roy Mustang has agreed to speak to this class today. He has quite a bit of experience in little matters like working within the system - and military - to change it. Two things that I'm less than familiar with," Aly added with a wry smile.

Recognising his cue Mustang stepped forward. "As Miss Aly has already indicated," he paused for a moment and looked down at his blue uniform, "and you quite possibly might have guessed from my uniform, I am a military officer. Even if she had my rank wrong and I am merely an enlisted man, not a General. My country, Amestris, used to be under martial law. Our Fuhrer, King Bradley, was both head of the state and the military. I am certain that you are all aware of the possible consequences such a condition can have."

His features hardened, giving little insight into what exactly he was thinking, but he kept his tone soft as he reminded himself that he was dealing with children. "Fuhrer Bradley used our military for his own personal agenda. A costly one at that. He used a science meant to help the people to destroy an entire population. Good officers were forced to perform acts they could have never imagined. You probably can imagine that this is a hard situation to change and I hope that none of you will ever be in this position. There is no right way of acting or changing the government around you. I can't offer you a 12 step program, but I can offer a few insights hopefully that will help even in situations less grave than the one I have just described," Mustang continued.

"We are each just one person. We can only do so much and influence so many people and yet that is the key. In a world where you can't trust the person above you, you will have to surround yourself with people who you can rely on. Don't assume that you can deal with everything on your own, but trust in them and give them your back. Keep them safe and expect that they in turn keep the people around them safe. Don't trust easily, but when you know that you can rely on them, do so fully and give them the chance to create room around you to come up with a plan to rise to the top." He paused and glanced around the room. "I think that this is the best advice I can give you, but if there are any more questions that you would like to ask, I'll be more than willing to answer."

[OOC: Again, many, many thanks to the fabulous Queen of Pimping herself for playing ~~General~~ Roy Mustang. OCD threads ~~are coming~~ up]

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"You need to have some insight into people's minds," Roy admitted. "It's not always easy, but it's something you learn after a while. In a way I was lucky as you really learn about someone's character in a time of war. There's tests, but you need to know what you're doing for it to work. Throw the unexpected at them and see how they respond."

Parker's eyes narrowed, and she nodded, thinking. "I suppose you have to be ultra-careful about the unexpected yourself, so as not to be caught out. Were you ever at risk for being exposed?"

"Yes," Roy said. "When the stakes got higher and it became harder to keep everything low key, the fuhrer became aware of the risk I could pose to him. It worked out in the end. My whole division was transfered and he thought I was with them while I remained behind in Central. It allowed me to set up a final strike against him."

"Smart," Parker said. "Did you have a new system set up already, after you defeated him? Or are your people still working on that?"

"Before Amestris became a military state we used to have a National Assembly in charge," Roy explained. "They were disbanded when the Furher took over so once we restored peace, we handed power back to them."

"Do you think you had most of the military with you on this? Or did you carry the revolution on popular support?" Parker cocked her head, and added, "And more personally, what are you going to do now?"

"Most of the military wasn't even aware of exactly what fuhrer Bradley was or what he was capable of," Roy said wryly. "I'm afraid my revolution was a more secretive one." It felt strange thinking of his actions as a revolution, but he supposed that it was the correct term for it.

He was more hesitant to reply to her last question however. "My duty. I've been station up North," he said. It wasn't entirely true as he'd requested the position over a higher one in Central.

"More of a coup and a plan, than a revolution. Maybe that's the best kind." Parker studied him, then nodded. "I hope it's easier for you to fulfill your duty, now that the fuhrer is gone."

"Perhaps you are right. A lot of lives, both civilian and military, would have been lost if we had been forced to go a different way. That's not the best way to start a new government."

He briefly glanced down at her last words. "Thank you. I imagine that it will be."

"Thank you for speaking with us today, General Mustang." Parker gave him her brightest smile in appreciation.

"I'm just an enlisted man," he pointed out. "But you're welcome. I hope you learned something from it."

Revolutions: Week 12, Period 5

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