There was a lot of tension between us and a nation of people we annexed a while back. Someone on our side accidentally shot a kid on their side in the face, and that's what set the actual fighting off. A combination of things followed by one incident that set off the powderkeg.

As for what we did to pass time...it was surprisingly normal, when we weren't actually on the battlefield. We'd talk about our girls back home, we'd play stupid games with each other. Sometimes we'd discuss the war, but most of the guys didn't like that. Sometimes we'd all talk alchemy, because it was one of the few things we all had in common. Some of us just tried to sleep everything off, that was an option too. That sort of thing.