daily writing (and the epilogue, of sorts)
Alchemy and Other Lies, archived on AO3.
272 words.
Alicia made Roy a pocket watch, which he keeps on a heavy chain in his left pocket. It is only right at ten to two, but he doesn't mind. She cut a perfect circle out of a sheet of clay with a drinking glass and then smoothed the sharp edges away from the top and bottom with her hands, so that Roy can sometimes find the indentations of her fingerprints. There is one near the four that his pinkie fits in, and another over the eleven that he rubs with his thumb, as if the watch was a good-luck charm.
The back of the watch is glazed blue to match his uniform. The face is stained white, with yellow hands and yellow numbers (carved in Gracie's careful hand but painted in Alicia's, Roy is told) and a yellow rim, with a clear glaze over the whole. Alicia wanted these fixtures to be gold, but yellow was as near as her palette allowed.
The watch was thrice-fired when Roy received it--it went into the kiln once to harden the clay, once for the blue glaze on the back, once for the clear glaze on the front, after the white and yellow stain had dried. It was exposed to fire once more after that in Roy's keeping, causing the glaze to crack along the minute-hand. Roy could have smoothed this hairline fracture with a simple array, but he leaves it as a reminder to himself that his alchemy can so readily destroy so much, even without his intention.
Humans are more fragile than pocket watches, and less easily mended.
272 words.
Alicia made Roy a pocket watch, which he keeps on a heavy chain in his left pocket. It is only right at ten to two, but he doesn't mind. She cut a perfect circle out of a sheet of clay with a drinking glass and then smoothed the sharp edges away from the top and bottom with her hands, so that Roy can sometimes find the indentations of her fingerprints. There is one near the four that his pinkie fits in, and another over the eleven that he rubs with his thumb, as if the watch was a good-luck charm.
The back of the watch is glazed blue to match his uniform. The face is stained white, with yellow hands and yellow numbers (carved in Gracie's careful hand but painted in Alicia's, Roy is told) and a yellow rim, with a clear glaze over the whole. Alicia wanted these fixtures to be gold, but yellow was as near as her palette allowed.
The watch was thrice-fired when Roy received it--it went into the kiln once to harden the clay, once for the blue glaze on the back, once for the clear glaze on the front, after the white and yellow stain had dried. It was exposed to fire once more after that in Roy's keeping, causing the glaze to crack along the minute-hand. Roy could have smoothed this hairline fracture with a simple array, but he leaves it as a reminder to himself that his alchemy can so readily destroy so much, even without his intention.
Humans are more fragile than pocket watches, and less easily mended.

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I am fond of the image of Roy being comforted/held between the Hughes, protected. Alicia's enthusiasm is also quite drawing.
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I now have the wibbles for cute, kidlet made presents!
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*is very flattered*
Also, how much marshmallows can one ingest at one sitting...
Thank you!
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Hn.
Well, it varies. There's a lot of humor, but also room for much angst. See, Ed and Al, the guys who totally weren't in this story at all, are the main characters of this series. They tried to raise their mom from the dead as tiny children and failed miserably and Al lost his body and Ed stuck him in a suit of armor, and it cost Ed and arm and a leg. So then Ed goes on to become the youngest State Alchemist in history (age 12) to try to find something that will let him restore Al's body. And also, Roy keeps sending them on missions. So, you can see where there's room for angst, 'cause a *ton* of crap happened to them. But also, room for fun. Because they're kids. Like, State Alchemists have to get recertified every year, okay. They have to have shown some progress in their research or prove their talents in some way. The first year rolls around and Ed hasn't accomplished anything, so his bright idea is "Hey, I know, I'll duel Roy for the recertification!" Yes, smart kid, duel the experienced military commander twice your age. *G*
I don't think I've done a post of archives and things... hang on a tic.
http://toukakoukan.com/archive/index.html
Here's some Roy/Ed recs, which is like the most popular pairing in the fandom, aside from like, the Ed/Al incest...
*hearts series* fourth volume of DVD just came out. I am expecting it in the mail *any* day now.
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