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nebroadweTitle: Drabble: All Who Joy Would Win
Fandom: FMA (anime version)
Character(s): Ed, Al, OCs
Pairing(s): Al/OC (but nothing onstage)
Rating: G
Word Count: 300 (I needed a treble-length drabble; sue me)
Warnings: Implicit spoilage for the end of the series and the film.
A/N: I know exactly what happens to the Elric brothers for the next twenty-five years after the end of the film, but I never expected to write any of it besides "Tick-Tock". I just can't see myself doing the enormous amounts of research I'd need to make the "what did you do in the war, daddy?" part of the story credible. But this snapshot developed all on its own as I contemplated a friend's recent milestone -- and who am I to scorn inspiration? Crossposted from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nebroadwe to Höllenbeck (i.e. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fm_alchemist, fullservicefma, fma_gen, fma_writers and fma_fiction).
Dedication: Forlyricnonsense in honor of her graduation. Excelsior!
Zürich, 1936
By the time they reach the hall it's standing room only, so Ed props up a wall while Herr Brunner negotiates seats for his wife and daughter in the last row. Bargain struck, he bustles back to Ed, who takes a step away under the guise of making room. He has no desire to share this day with anyone -- particularly not a Swiss petit-bourgeois whose wife can't conceal her relief that her bluestocking daughter is about to reel in a husband. He's not sure what Al sees in the girl, either, but he's learned to stifle his doubts. Rubbing at a fading reminder of one such lesson on his left biceps, he hopes she appreciates what a formidable champion she's gained.
Once the ceremony begins, Ed taps his foot through the invocation and the addresses, counting the minutes until the only speech that matters: the announcement of his brother's name among the graduates, now and for all time Alphonse Elric, Ph.D. He picks his brother's black-gowned form out immediately when he rises with his fellows to receive his diploma, but finds it hard to keep him in focus once he steps onto the brightly-lit stage. He squints fiercely, conscious of watching not just for himself but for Granny Pinako and Winry and his mother and even the old bastard whose canny investments paid Al's tuition. See? There he is.
The bluestocking applauds so enthusiastically that her bobbed hair bounces above her shoulders and her mother feels compelled to pass some inhibiting remark. The girl folds her hands and leans away, frowning, but smiles again when her gaze crosses that of her fiancé's brother. See?
Meeting her apple-green eyes, proud and damp as his own, Ed finds unexpectedly that he doesn't mind sharing the moment after all.
Author's Note: In case anyone was wondering, Al is receiving his degree (in physics) from the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH), which began granting doctorates in 1909 and has numbered Wolfgang Pauli among its faculty and Albert Einstein among its graduates.
[Acknowledgments: Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) was created by Arakawa Hiromu and is serialized monthly in Shonen Gangan (Square Enix); the anime of the same title was directed by Mizushima Seiji and story-edited by Aikawa Sho. Copyright for these properties is held by Arakawa Hiromu, Square Enix, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Aniplex, Bones, and dentsu.]
Fandom: FMA (anime version)
Character(s): Ed, Al, OCs
Pairing(s): Al/OC (but nothing onstage)
Rating: G
Word Count: 300 (I needed a treble-length drabble; sue me)
Warnings: Implicit spoilage for the end of the series and the film.
A/N: I know exactly what happens to the Elric brothers for the next twenty-five years after the end of the film, but I never expected to write any of it besides "Tick-Tock". I just can't see myself doing the enormous amounts of research I'd need to make the "what did you do in the war, daddy?" part of the story credible. But this snapshot developed all on its own as I contemplated a friend's recent milestone -- and who am I to scorn inspiration? Crossposted from
nebroadwe to Höllenbeck (i.e. fm_alchemist, fullservicefma, fma_gen, fma_writers and fma_fiction).Dedication: For
lyricnonsense in honor of her graduation. Excelsior!By the time they reach the hall it's standing room only, so Ed props up a wall while Herr Brunner negotiates seats for his wife and daughter in the last row. Bargain struck, he bustles back to Ed, who takes a step away under the guise of making room. He has no desire to share this day with anyone -- particularly not a Swiss petit-bourgeois whose wife can't conceal her relief that her bluestocking daughter is about to reel in a husband. He's not sure what Al sees in the girl, either, but he's learned to stifle his doubts. Rubbing at a fading reminder of one such lesson on his left biceps, he hopes she appreciates what a formidable champion she's gained.
Once the ceremony begins, Ed taps his foot through the invocation and the addresses, counting the minutes until the only speech that matters: the announcement of his brother's name among the graduates, now and for all time Alphonse Elric, Ph.D. He picks his brother's black-gowned form out immediately when he rises with his fellows to receive his diploma, but finds it hard to keep him in focus once he steps onto the brightly-lit stage. He squints fiercely, conscious of watching not just for himself but for Granny Pinako and Winry and his mother and even the old bastard whose canny investments paid Al's tuition. See? There he is.
The bluestocking applauds so enthusiastically that her bobbed hair bounces above her shoulders and her mother feels compelled to pass some inhibiting remark. The girl folds her hands and leans away, frowning, but smiles again when her gaze crosses that of her fiancé's brother. See?
Meeting her apple-green eyes, proud and damp as his own, Ed finds unexpectedly that he doesn't mind sharing the moment after all.
Author's Note: In case anyone was wondering, Al is receiving his degree (in physics) from the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH), which began granting doctorates in 1909 and has numbered Wolfgang Pauli among its faculty and Albert Einstein among its graduates.
[Acknowledgments: Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) was created by Arakawa Hiromu and is serialized monthly in Shonen Gangan (Square Enix); the anime of the same title was directed by Mizushima Seiji and story-edited by Aikawa Sho. Copyright for these properties is held by Arakawa Hiromu, Square Enix, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Aniplex, Bones, and dentsu.]
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 11:46 am (UTC)*giggles* I think
When the plot's incoherent, focus on the characters. When the characters make no sense, focus on the plot. When neither makes sense, pound the table and scream.
Screaming is not a bad thing, no. (Remembers, "A Boy and His Cow" almost fondly.)
no subject
Date: 2007-05-21 01:24 pm (UTC)Me, I find myself abruptly nostalgic for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which got me forever banned from sitting next to one of my dearest friends at the theater. (He almost got himself banned from ever sitting next to anyone at the theater by remarking during the opening sequence of Disney's Hercules, "Is that white I see on that black-figure vase?" :-)
no subject
Date: 2007-05-22 12:10 am (UTC)*DIES*
(Coming of Celtic bloodstock [well, presumably; if not, I've decided that my body shape and coloring fits in with theirs very well], as well as Playing A Celt in SCA, this tickled me all too pieces.)
no subject
Date: 2007-05-22 02:13 pm (UTC)Yeah, if you put that in a room with Rosemary Sutcliff's book, say, there'd be this huge explosion and we'd all be walking around afterward singing the ballad of William of Cloudesley instead.
The only redeeming feature (besides The Sheriff of Nottingham) is when My Hero, the Sheriff, says something along the lines of, "Get me the evillest, most vile, disgusting people to hunt down Robin Hood." And Guy of Gisbourne makes big eyes and says, "Not, not...?" And the Sheriff shows all his teeth and says, "Yes. The Celts."
I'm a medievalist and I can remember totting all the errors in the opening scene where the
Ku Klux Klanwitches surround the castle. At least one of which you don't have to be a medievalist to notice: YOU'RE IN A CASTLE, DUDE. SHUT THE GATES UNTIL THEY GO AWAY.I swear, if that movie didn't have the dialogue it does ("Why a spoon, cousin?" "Because it's DULL, you twit. It'll hurt more."), I wouldn't have lasted five minutes in that theater.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-23 01:47 am (UTC)YES. OH, YES. VERILY YES.
The sad thing - I'm well known for my Robin Hood squeedom - so what happened after that movie came out, but I wound up with tons of paraphenalia from it. I think I've got action figures, posters, trading cards...all for a movie that isn't worth watching again as far as I'm concerned. *sighs*