Fanfic: Exile Drabbles (Fullmetal Alchemist)

[nebroadwe]

Titles: Water; Discipline; Leaving Home; Culture Clash; Survival Skills
Fandom: FMA (manga version)
Character(s): Maria Ross, Fu, various OCs
Pairing(s): None
Rating: G
Word Count: 500 (my first five drabbles)
Warnings: Implicit spoilers for manga chapters 40-41.
A/N: Five drabbles arising out of my story about Maria Ross, Forsan Et Haec. My bad for the initial multiple postings; I wasn't expecting five of the things to bunny serially over the course of an afternoon and I'm too new to this for it to have occurred to me to (duh!) edit my original post. Thanks to those who patiently pointed this out. Crossposted from nebroadwe to fullservicefma, hagaren_manga, fm_alchemist, and xing_empire.
Dedications: For evil_little_dog. Thanks for the help! Also for maxxim_huzzah. (I know I said I didn't have anything else to say, but that seems to have changed and it just might be your fault for bringing it up. :-) And, finally, for my sister-in-law, who taught me the Hong Kong version of peek-a-boo.

---

Water

The desert isn't waterless; if it were, it would be impassable. Where springs well up, oases burgeon, green with succulents, merry with birds. Mr. Fu leads the caravan toward Xing not as the raven flies, but as the cheetah lopes: from waterhole to waterhole. At each they take only what they need, no more; greed is as unpardonable as waste. Every night, lying beneath more stars than she ever saw in Central or on the farm, Ross remembers Mr. Fu's words: "We cannot spare a drop from now on."

She hasn't learned not to weep -- only to weep without tears.

***
Discipline

"Never anticipate," declared Master Fu. "When you anticipate, your body tightens, stealing power from your blow or block. Worse, you show your opponent what you intend. Your body should know action -- " a swift series of strikes -- "or rest -- " and he was still again, as if he had never moved -- "nothing else." He walked down the line of students, staring at each of them, until he came to Ross. "Be ready," he said then, holding her gaze no longer than he had anyone else's, "but do not anticipate."

When they call, she thought, trying to stand at ease, I'll be ready.

***
Leaving Home

Fu Ting will marry at midsummer and meet the groom on her wedding day. She blushed when Ross congratulated her; later, Ross learned she should have felicitated Master Fu upon his choice. Zhang Wenxiong is Lawyer Zhang's eldest son -- an excellent match. From dawn till dusk Fu Ting smiled, hemming bed-linens for her dower chest, while Ross wondered how anyone could accept an arranged marriage so calmly.

But that night, behind the screen, Fu Ting whispered her doubts. "It will be hard to go and live among strangers. Sometimes I am afraid."

"I know," answered Ross, enlightened. "I understand."

***
Culture Clash

Zhang Tietie's grandson didn't realize Ross was foreign, so she cheerfully took him on her lap while his nurse visited the necessary. "Peek-a-boo!" she said, covering and uncovering her face.

The baby giggled, so she did it again. And again. "Peek-a-boo! Peek! Peek! Peeek-a-boo -- "

"Ross Xiaojie! What is that?"

Ross looked up into an unexpected crowd of scandalized expressions. Her heart sank. "A game?" she offered, hiding her eyes (half to demonstrate, half to escape). "Peek-a-boo?"

"No!" several voices contradicted, one adding, "You mean, 'Ao-ja!'"

"Ao ... ja?" Ross asked, looking out between her fingers.

Everyone laughed, even the baby. Even Ross.

***
Survival Skills

By the end of the first month, she'd learned to ask questions. Better to feel stupid than act rashly.

By the end of the third month, she'd sworn never to bite unwarily into anything edible she didn't recognize, no matter how small. The Xingese equivalent of the clove was six times more deadly.

By the end of the season, she understood that while she couldn't forget the past, she shouldn't dwell on it. Or the future. Only the present lay within her grasp, as fragile as a swallow's egg.

By the end of the year, she knew how to wait.

---

Translation Notes:

xiaojie: an honorific applied to young women, roughly equivalent to English "Miss".

tietie: an honorific roughly equivalent to English "Mrs." or "Madam".

[Disclaimers: Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) was created by Arakawa Hiromu and is serialized monthly in Shonen Gangan (Square Enix). Copyright for this property is held by Arakawa Hiromu and Square Enix. All rights reserved.]

Comments

[marked-withanx.livejournal.com]

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

[blinks] No one's ever said that to me before. Do I qualify for a mask and cape now? (Publishing fanfiction here under a username has already landed me with a secret identity. :-)

Seriously, I'm glad you've enjoyed these. Drabbles are as tough as haiku, although I was a little startled to discover that 100 words isn't as short a piece as I thought it would be (at least until I started including dialogue -- Culture Clash was a real bear to keep within the limit).

Peace.

[maxxim-huzzah.livejournal.com]

*gladly accepts blame* XD; I like how you write Maria Ross. She captured the blend of professionalism and emotional maturity that works to the best of her motherly nature. (This is from what I've seen of the anime.)

It's really easy for me to relate to Ross' position since living in a different country myself. So all these drabbles really speak to me!

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I like how you write Maria Ross. She captured the blend of professionalism and emotional maturity that works to the best of her motherly nature. (This is from what I've seen of the anime.)

The motherliness isn't explicit in the manga (in fact, she seems slightly younger to me in the manga than in the anime), but the professionalism and empathy are surely there.

It's really easy for me to relate to Ross' position since living in a different country myself. So all these drabbles really speak to me!

My experience of being far from home is all theoretical -- I've visited other climates and cultures, but never at length. I did a lot of research into exile at one point, but I didn't really reference any of it here. Good to know that a very little bit of knowledge and a lot of imagination can get the proper feeling across.

Peace.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

These are just gorgeous but then, I've learned to expect nothing less from you.

"Culture Clash" is my favorite of the grouping though each has a certain resonance.

And if these are your versions of haiku, I want more. *grin*

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

These were wonderful. I just gave writing Maria a bash for the first time a few weeks ago. She's sadly underutilized.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

These are just gorgeous but then, I've learned to expect nothing less from you.

Dang. Now I have a reputation to live up to. You're all just setting yourselves up for disappointment, you know ...

"Culture Clash" is my favorite of the grouping though each has a certain resonance.

I think the one I like best right now is "Leaving Home" -- I feel like I got closest there to making the structure and the language do what I wanted them to do, without waste or hurry. ("Culture Clash" does feel a little underwritten to me now, if you can say that about a drabble. But I still enjoy the joke.)

Re: your icon -- you don't really believe in Harry/Hermione, do you? Say it ain't so, Joe!

Peace.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

I just gave writing Maria a bash for the first time a few weeks ago.

I caught that. I was in the middle of this, so I didn't comment because I wasn't sure I could be properly objective. You weren't quite satisfied with what you had, right? I remember thinking that maybe what it needed was a clearer sense of place and action, so that her thoughts about her situation could thread in and out of what she was doing, but since that's what I did with my story, my imagination may be stuck in that track.

She's sadly underutilized.

FMA has such a huge cast of characters, all of them interesting, that I'm surprised that the secondary figures don't attract more attention. But the fandom is still young; plenty of time to exhaust all the possibilities yet.

Peace.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Action, it could have used a sense of action probably since it was all taking place inside her head that wasn't exactly an easy thing to do. That and the size restraints (I'm not good with ficlets)

Hmm yes good point about the fandom being young. Heck I've only been writing for it for about 9 months myself.

[threeonetwo.livejournal.com]

Wow, all of these were really well-written. You captured her perfectly.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'd never written a drabble before I started on these. Discipline was a leftover bit of drafting that didn't make it into Forsan Et Haec (http://nebroadwe.livejournal.com/4420.html) proper; there didn't seem to be many words to it, so I thought, "What the heck?" The others followed swiftly after. I tend to be a very discursive writer, so I never thought I could do a drabble properly. Writing fanfic is teaching me all sorts of new skills. :-)

Peace.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

... since it was all taking place inside her head that wasn't exactly an easy thing to do.

I hear you. That's why Forsan Et Haec ended up starting with Ross practicing Xingese calligraphy, entailing yet more research into a topic about which I knew almost nothing. It did give me something to hang all the interior monologue on, though.

Heck I've only been writing for it for about 9 months myself.

I started on March 30 -- I have the email to my offline beta admitting that yes, it's true -- I'm committing fanfic. In the middle of Lent. What kind of penance does one do for that? She didn't know and now she's reading the stuff herself. Oh, well -- if you've got to slide into the pit, you might as well do it in good company, ne? :-)

Peace.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Mwahahahaha, a rep! They're awful things to get rid of, almost as bad as...bunnies.

As for your comment about the icon: believe in H/HR? No. But I think they're pretty together. *grin*

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yes I'm reading your longer Ross story now and appreciating the research (i always do)

Fanfic won't kill you, trust me. I've been writing it longer than most FMA fans have been alive.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Fanfic won't kill you, trust me.

It'll just make you wish you were dead? (No, no, I don't mean that. I'm over the whole embarassment thing now, although there are still certain people to whom I do not admit this hobby. You know, the ones who only read about it in the newspapers and think it's all slash written by near-illiterate fifteen-year-olds. Sigh.)

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Mwahahahaha, a rep! They're awful things to get rid of, almost as bad as...bunnies.

I can write the bunnies out. The rep just trails along behind me. Time to get moving again on "Winry and Paninya go to the movies" or at least "Ed and Al encounter some very confused drug dealers" (which will be a complete departure for me: no angst, no foreign languages, an action sequence and a humorous punch-line. I refuse to be categorized! :-).

As for your comment about the icon: believe in H/HR? No. But I think they're pretty together. *grin*

Phew. I've spent more time than seems reasonalbe since HP2 was published informing people that it was screamingly obvious Harry and Ginny were going to end up a couple. They never believed me. I'm glad to be vindicated by the author at last.

Peace.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yes those people. You know luckily in real life I've not actually met those people

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Mmmm...bunnies. I wish Al would stop trying to tell me a story that he's desperate to tell me. Really. It'll be highly depressing. And I keep telling him to go pester someone else with it but he keeps waving that angst-carrot in front of my face and I'm like the little donkey, wanting that carrot. *grin*

[c-b-syndrome.livejournal.com]

"Ed and Al encounter some very confused drug dealers"

All sorts of hilarious images are flitting through my ehad at that. I can hardly wait to see it!

btw... Apologies for missing these! How, I don't know. They were all lovely!

[hieronymousb.livejournal.com]

Yo. Sorry, this isn't going to be a comment on your fics (I have been meaning to comment on some of them, but I've just been busy lately; I'll try to get around to that later), but I dropped your name to mikkeneko as a recommendation for Scimitar Smile, and she told me to invite you on her behalf (http://hieronymousb.livejournal.com/157027.html?thread=654179#t654179), as she's currently without internet usage. So, erm, consider yourself invited. :) (I'm Ambre on the archive)

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

[briefly becomes inarticulate with delight] Thank you very much! I accept, of course: Scimitar Smile has a very high excellence/KB ratio, so I'm honored to have my stuff considered worthy of admission. What do you need me to do to submit?