Poetry: Untitled #13, appropriately enough ...

[nebroadwe]

Happy Birthday, evil_little_dog! In honor of the day, Edward Elric and I present the following tanka:

"Just here for the food!"
Loitering beside the cake
As the candles burn,

He won't let you blow them out,
The youngest State -- Arsonist?

Ed claims there's an age joke in there, but I think he's just kidding himself ...

Many happy returns of the day!

Comments

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Ed accepts it, forks off a huge chunk, and waves it at you. "Happy birthday, you old hag!" he says, before stuffing the cake into his mouth.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Winry winces and Al facepalms, moaning, "Brother...."

"Oh, I see how it is." I grin wickedly....

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Ed scarfs down the rest of the cake in four bites, wipes his mouth on his sleeve, and glances at the other plate of cake Winry's holding ...

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"This is my piece, Edward," Winry glares at him, moving the plate out of his reach.

"Oh, let him have it, Winry," I say magnanimously, heading for the pile of gifties....

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

As Winry stares at you, dismayed, Al sighs and says, "You can have my piece, Brother. C'mon." He heads for the cake table to cut himself a slice ...

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I wink over my shoulder at Winry and reach behind the pile of gifts....

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Ed watches you suspciously (and a touch enviously: all that stuff ... )

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Where's Al with that cake of yours, Ed?" I ask, digging around.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"I'm getting it, Miss S.J.," Al replies, also tagging you with a suspicious glance. (Being Al, of course, he's much less blatant about it, but still ... )

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Oh, look," I say blandly, flipping open a heretofore unseen box, "kittens." And kittens go spilling gently onto the floor in a blanket of stripes, spots and mewling....

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Winry squees, dives into the kitten pool, and emerges cradling a black-and-white ball of fluff. "Oh, aren't you cute?" she asks it rhetorically, and then, less so: "Look, Al, isn't she cute?"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Yes!" Al picks up a little calico something. "So is this one. Isn't she, Brother?"

Meanwhile, Roy returns from changing his outfit and sees..."Kittens? I didn't know it was Alphonse's birthday, too, Fullmetal...."

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"It's not," Ed replies, backing away from the bundle of joy Winry's waving in his face. "Al, those are her kittens, not yours. You and Winry gotta get back to Liore for the next chapter, remember?"

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Al and Winry exchange looks. "We'll just take the kittens with us," Winry says decisively, backing Ed into a corner and depositing a kitten into his unwilling hands. The kitten immediately hisses and swipes at his nose....

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Ed takes the kitten by the scruff of its neck and shoves it back at Winry as it mews unhappily. "They're not our kittens!" he insists. "They're her kittens. That batty friend of hers in Ohio probably dumped them on her and she's trying to pass the cen." He shoots a glare at you; you respond with impenetrable blandness. "Besides, we can't take care of kittens when we've ... " He hesitates, eyes darting around a room which is full of far too many people he doesn't recognize, many of them lurking in dark corners, then continues, "When we've got all this stuff going on ... "

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"Edward, be nice to the kitten." Winry takes the little thing back, soothing it with petting.

"Look, boss, it's a party. Lighten up some, huh?" Havoc suggests, picking up one of the kittens as it scampers across the room....

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Al says nothing, but offers his right forefinger to his calico charmer to be batted at ...

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Ed glares at me (This is all your fault!)....

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

You smile in return (But of course!) ...

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Ed huffs and folds his arms as Alphonse gathers up the calico kitten.

"You know, Ed," I say, "there's more cake if you want it. And fresh strawberries, too."

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Ed's attention shifts Pavlovianly to the refreshments table, like a cat distracted by a trailing string, and Al, recalling his previous errand, tucks his kitten into the crook of one arm and finishes cutting his brother a slice from the cake. Ed's brows draw down and his lips compress into a line, the universal sign for disagreement in abeyance but by no means resolved. He accepts the new dessert plate from Al, but it's clearly a toss-up whether he's next going to open his mouth to eat or argue (or possibly both) ...

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Winry, deciding to take matters in her own hands, picks up his fork, cuts of a piece of cake and shoves it in Ed's mouth....

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Ed inhales and chokes ...

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Before Ed can scream, Winry narrows her eyes. "No, I'm not trying to kill you unless you think that you maybe having fun is a death sentence!"

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure he knows better than that, Miss Rockbell," drawls a new and mocking voice, "given everything he's ... seen."