Wasted Time

hotarukat @ 2006-06-06T17:49:00

2006-06-06T22:05:21Z

Title: Five O'clock Shadow
Author: hotarukat
Pairing: Roy Mustang/Edward Elric
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Theme: 6 - the space between dream and reality
Disclaimer: FMA is not mine.
Word Count: 267

What was different about the Colonel today?

Ed mulled over this question while he debriefed. Roy’s mocking tone was still there to be sure, hidden by that patented smirk. Roy was sitting behind his usual pile of unfinished paperwork, wearing the same military jacket, and once he stood up, Ed even noted that same stupid long uniform skirt. If something wasn’t missing, something had to be new to the scenario, but figuring it out was driving Ed crazy.

Finally, when Ed finished his report and Roy was two inches away from his face, he realized what was wrong.

“Now, can we properly greet each other after such a long absence?” Roy asked, smirk still fixed in place, but Ed was looking just above that.

“…are you trying to grow a mustache.”

Roy pulled back a little and his arrogance disappeared. “I thought it would make me look more dignified…”

Ed successfully kept from snorting as he stared at the taller man. He didn't feel it was necessary to go into his distaste for facial hair in general (something he assumed stemmed from his dislike of his father) because the Colonel’s attempt at a mustache looked so ridiculous, he assumed that someone was playing a practical joke on him. For a second, Ed almost told Roy that he looked fantastic, if only to knock the Colonel down a few notches once he actually looked in a mirror. Then, Ed had a more practical realization about how this new situation would affect him, and he shuddered.

“I am not kissing that. Period.”

The next morning, the Colonel was clean-shaven.

Title: Lover's Code
Author: hotarukat
Pairing: Roy Mustang/Edward Elric
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Theme: 11 - Gardenia
Disclaimer: FMA is not mine.
Word Count: 246

“I’ll throw ‘em outside. At least they can make some good compost.”

Ed grabbed the blooms, hoping that Al hadn’t thought too hard about what the appearance of gardenias in their room could mean, even if they were dead and dry upon the boys’ arrival. Ed could only guess that was due to the train delays they had faced coming back to Central. Still, the Colonel had overstepped the rules of their relationship by sending flowers. Sending Gardenias.

It wasn’t often that Ed stopped to smell the roses. Such hobbies wasted precious time, and Ed guessed that it wasn’t fair to indulge too much in something his brother couldn’t enjoy. If anything, he appreciated flowers for their pure alchemic lesson: Nature always had the upper hand on creation through equivalent exchange. The Tringham brothers had been all too happy to answer any of his questions about botanical alchemy and tell him more than he cared to know about the symbolism of certain plants and flowers. With this knowledge weighing heavily on his mind, Ed couldn’t be sure whether he was reading too much into the Colonel’s present.

I love you in secret.

Perhaps Mustang just enjoyed the smell of gardenias, Ed reasoned to himself. Even so, he stopped and took the time to look for a few violets on the way to Headquarters. No harm could come from sending Mustang a message of his own, one the Colonel might not even understand.

I return your love.

****
The first one is based on one of the shorts at the end of the manga (I think it was volume four.)

And according to some brief web-research, gardenias did used to mean 'I love you in secret' and violets meant 'I return your love.' Hooray for Victorian flower symbolism!

More Drabbles

2006-05-06T19:51:56Z

I keep trying to make them shorter and more drabble-like, but it just isn't working. I think I really like the word drabble as much as I like writing them.

Title(s): Leaving, Bloodletting
Author/Artist: hotarukat
Pairing: Roy Mustang/ Edward Elric
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Theme(s): #5 - "ano sa..." (hey, you know), #19 - red
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA. If I did, the anime would have a very different ending.
Summary: Two separate drabbles for two separate themes for 30_kisses, featuring angst. Oh the angst.

Drabble Number One for Theme #5

The knock on the door is as forceful as always, and Mustang sets his papers on the floor in anticipation because he knows what will happen next. Fullmetal will waltz in like he owns the place, make an excuse for his visit, then promptly clear the desk of anything that would be a hindrance to them. The office rendezvous have been occurring since Ed returned to East, with no new leads on the Philosopher’s stone. Ed was all too ready to find comfort for his failure in Mustang, who couldn’t find the words to object and hadn’t wanted to.

Like usual, Ed walks in before Mustang responds to the knock, but, for some reason, he pauses two steps away from the desk, eyeing the uncluttered surface with the slightest frown playing at his lips. “Al and I are heading to Sterling tomorrow,” he says without pause and looks at Mustang. “Hawkeye said I’d need to kiss some ass to get the appropriate budget clearance for the trip.”

Mustang slips into his military personae before he can fully process what Ed has just told him. “You’ll need to fill out the proper forms to petition the extra spending money you always burn through. I suppose you’ll want first class train tickets again?”

Ed looks a little relieved, and he immediately goes into a rant about how he deserves as much of the allotted budget as any other research alchemist. Mustang stops paying attention shortly after Ed begins, and the heavy loss he feels twists painfully with each point Ed brings up in his speech. He can tell Ed has been prepared for this argument as soon as he set foot back into East. Ed has always been ready to leave.

“Don't look so pissed just because you know I’m right.” Ed snaps his fingers under Mustang’s nose. “So, do I have clearance or what?”

“You have what you need from me,” Mustang says simply and hastily scrawls some numbers on a piece of paper from his desk drawer. “Just give this to Hawkeye. She’ll know what to do with it.”

Ed pauses when he reaches for the note. Their hands are almost touching. “Hey, you know…”

“Hawkeye will make the rest of the arrangements. You’re dismissed.”

Ed doesn’t try to say anything else, and Mustang doesn’t spare a second thought about what the unspoken words between them might have been because he knows Ed’s fake sentimentality and awkward apologies for leaving would be more hurtful than the silence they shared. Mustang does not want to be coddled by a fifteen year old.
***

Drabble Number Two for Theme #19

Mustang is the first to say something; Ed would later find that alcohol really loosened the Colonel’s tongue about such matters, but even in Ed’s own condition of absolute intoxication, it is a terrible, awkward surprise to hear the Colonel’s words.

“I killed them. I put a bullet in both of their heads.” To illustrate his point, Roy shapes his hand into a gun and points it directly at Ed. “Pop. Pop.” The fake gun recoils with each shot, and Ed can only stare at Roy’s fingers aimed between his eyes. Roy withdraws his hand after a moment, deciding that his ignored vodka bottle needs his attention.

“There was so much blood,” Roy continues when he’s finished and stares into the dark room like he is seeing his past again. Ed tears his gaze away from Mustang’s bitter countenance to see if he can see it too and maybe understand what exactly Roy is talking about. He only notices Fury and Breda passed out on the Colonel’s sofa, and Riza’s silhouette moving in the kitchen. A curl of smoke proves that Havoc is there as well, but the light makes Ed’s eyes hurt, so he turns back to Mustang. The living room is just dark enough for Ed to make out the outline of Mustang’s face from the light cast from the kitchen lamps. Ed almost thinks that Mustang is crying.

“The rest were so much easier. A snap of the fingers and there was nothing left.” Mustang is too far gone to have his fingers make a sound as he rubs them together. Ed downs the last of his rum and coke.

“God, you’re not the only one with a sad past. Suck it up.” Ed waves vaguely towards the kitchen. “My brother is in a fucking suit of armor. I lost my arm and leg.” Ed’s words are only whispers, but he feels like he is shouting because Mustang physically recoils as Ed leans towards him. “Do you know how much blood there was then?” Mustang nods his head slowly, in understanding, but Ed can only see the blood around him and feel the pain of so much emotional and physical loss. He’s covered in red. Ed buries his head in Mustang’s shoulder to make it stop.

“Suck it up, Fullmetal. Have you ever killed an innocent person?”

Ed whips his head back and glares at Mustang hard enough to pierce him, but something in Mustang’s eyes makes Ed soften his stare. Roy is moving his hand along Ed’s arm.

“At least you have parents, Colonel.”

It starts as a competition, trying to up each violent or terrible memory the other has, and Ed aches from the effort, but perversely doesn’t want to lose to Roy. He wants to tell someone for once how hard his life is. They pass Havoc and Hawkeye and Al on their way upstairs but are too busy quietly describing their private tragedies to notice the odd stares they receive. Words spill out of them as if from a freshly opened wound, and they talk at the same time, in between touching, and moaning, and kissing, not really listening to what the other has to say, but finding comfort in letting the poisoned memories out.
***

Drabble Collage

2006-05-01T16:38:35Z

Drabbles have become my new favorite thing, believe it.

Title: Collage
Author: hotarukat
Pairing: Roy Mustang x Edward Elric
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA. If I did, the anime would have a very different ending.
Summary: A separate, totally unrelated drabble for three themes from 30_kisses, featuring practicaljoke!Ed, showoff!(?)Ed, and overprotective!Ed and overprotective!?Roy. Notice the question marks and make up your own mind. ^_^

Drabble #1 for Theme #24- Good Night

In the back of Ed’s mind, he hates how much he loves a high thread count sheet, a luxury he has become all to used to, even after years on the road with nights spent sleeping outside. Sleeping bags transmuted from leaves were never quite comfortable enough for Ed to have a good night’s sleep, not like it really mattered to Al. Still, after Ed has broken into Roy’s house and made himself comfortable in the Colonel’s sheets, he wonders if Roy knows he likes to spend the night as often as possible because Roy’s bed is just so damn comfortable. Ed can barely sleep in his dorm anymore. His cheap military cot is a poor excuse for a bed; it creaks, the mattress is as comfortable as a rock (Ed can attest to that from personal experience), and sleeping under the sheets feels like being wrapped in a burlap sack. He’s been hooked on Roy’s expensive, pillow top mattress and sheet set since the first night they spent together.

When Roy comes back from the shower and finds Ed curled up in his bed yet again, he can only muster a half-hearted glare at the intruder. A part of Ed also enjoys Roy’s mild annoyance when the Colonel realizes that Ed is already half-asleep.

“How did you get in here again?” Roy’s tone is perfect military indifference.

“Like a lock can keep an experienced alchemist out of your house,” Ed says with closed eyes and pulls the blankets over his head. “Don’t worry, I just want some shut eye.”

“Can’t you do that in your own bed?” Mustang sighs and towels his hair a little before pushing Ed over, because the younger alchemist has taken up as much of the bed as possible with his tiny frame. Ed stays wrapped in his cocoon, even after being manhandled, and Mustang simply kisses the top of the blonde’s head, the only part of him not hidden under the comforter.

It’s not until the next morning, when Ed wakes up with Mustang’s arm slung over his shoulder and not-so-subtle snores resonating in his ear, that Ed thinks perhaps he hasn’t just gotten used to the bed. The sentiment is ruined, however, when Ed realizes Roy has taken more than his share of the blankets.

A little later, Ed stirs when Roy stumbles half-asleep out of bed, and he listens with eyes closed to Roy’s tiny panic attack and string of curses as the Colonel realizes that he is two hours late for work. Ed knows all to well the Colonel is always a mess before his morning coffee, and he waits for Roy to leave for the kitchen. Then he sets the clock on Roy’s bed stand back to its original time, covers himself with the blankets, and waits for the impending yell of frustration as Roy realizes that he has actually gotten up two hours early for work. That should teach the cover hog, Ed thinks before dozing off again.
***

Drabble #2 for Theme #1 - Look Over Here

After crashing into the ground for the second time, Ed realizes that he will in fact not be beating Al today in their second sparring match. “You’re changing your style,” Ed rubs a hand along his jaw while he stood up to face his brother’s combat pose.

“I’ve been watching some of the military’s hand to hand practices sessions.” Al can barely keep the glee at his brother’s compliment out of his voice, even as he tries to sound intimidating. His eyes slit in challenge, and he charges.

Ed tries to block Al’s side kick with his auto-mail arm, but just as he tries to raise it from his side, he hears a distinct ripping sound. A loose thread he had ignored earlier in the day somehow had wound its way into his elbow joint. With that hindrance slowing the movement of his arm, Ed gets kicked into the air once again, with his shirt tearing neatly in half as he flails his arms for balance.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Ed splutters immediately after picking himself up off the ground. He waves his auto-mail arm, causing the large piece of black fabric dangling from his elbow to flutter in the wind.

“Brother, what happened to your shirt?”

Ed glances down at the remnants of the shirt that barely clings to his torso.

“I had a goddamn loose thread.”

“It looks like you have a wing,” Al giggles, pointing.

“Shut up! Help me get this untangled.”

Before Al can get close enough to inspect any damage, Ed decides to forget finesse and just tears the cloth out of his joint.

“Be careful! Winry’ll get mad if you break it!”

“Al, if my auto-mail breaks from this this, Winry will be fucking embarra…” Ed pauses when he hears cat calls across the lawn. He glares in every direction, fully ready to beat the shit out of anyone mocking him, but he can’t see who it is until he hears a distinct yell from above.

“Put a shirt on, you’re making the ladies in the office blush!” Havoc is leaning brazenly out the window, hands cupped to yell again, until someone Ed can’t see pulls the second lieutenant backward and out of view. Once the distraction is gone, Ed tries to go back to picking the remaining scraps of fabric out of his joint, but someone else immediately takes Havoc’s place in the window.

“Fullmetal, Who are you trying to impress, standing on the head quarters’s lawn half-clothed?! Please learn some decency!” Mustang, with Havoc at his side, pantomime a blown kiss down to Ed, who returns the gesture with one involving his right hand and his middle finger. Ed only stops when he realizes that other officers and workers have gathered at their windows to see who is causing the commotion. Ed lowers his hand and quickly leans down to gather the pieces of his shirt, face red in embarrassment and anger. A hand clap later, Ed slips his shirt back on and faces the government building.

“Ta da!” he yells to anyone still paying attention. Most of the windows are empty, however, especially the one where Mustang had been. Ed grumbles something about ‘egotistical bastards’ and walks rigidly off the headquarter’s lawn with Al tagging along behind him. He makes a mental note never to spar there again, no matter how much he wants to show off.
***

Drabble #3 for Theme #21 - Violence
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY BROTHER?!!” Ed freezes in the doorway, and Mustang is forced to push past Ed, into the dorm room, to see what has caused the younger alchemist to have such a heart attack.

“They’re obviously trying to have sex.” Mustang spares a glance for Al and Russel, entangled and half-clothed on the far bed before he moves his eyes critically around the room and finally walks toward Ed’s dresser. “Here’s your precious book. Can we go to my place now?”

Ed’s lips are moving, but no discernable sound is coming out, and Mustang edges closer to hear what Ed is trying to say, while Al throws himself backward off of Russel.

“Se..Se…Se,” Ed repeats under his haggard breathing.

“Nii-san!!...I thought you weren’t coming home tonight!” Al tries to put his shirt on but mixes up which arm goes in which sleeve.

Mustang turns around and notices that Russel and Al have finally separated themselves. Al is red as a tomato. That doesn’t surprise Mustang much, but Russel has a familiar smirk on his face. Mustang wonders about it for a second before realizing it’s the same smirk he sees in the mirror everyday.

“Sex,” Mustang finally offers for Ed, so he can breathe again. “And I’d like to be doing the same right now, but I know how you can’t go to sleep without your bedtime reading.” He places the book into Ed’s hand, but it ends up thrown across the room.

“ARE YOU TRYING TO HAVE SEX WITH MY BROTHER?”

“Well, not exactly trying…” Russel brushes the bangs out of his face and flashes that smirk again. Mustang is actually quite impressed by the sight. A phrase comes to his mind…’dead man walking.’

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?! HE’S PRACTICALLY THE CLONE OF YOUR BROTHER! ARE YOU SOME SORT OF INCEST…”

“Nii-san! Please!” Al begs and starts to get up from the bed.

“Actually, there are plenty of differences between Fletcher and Al, but I don’t think I should get into that now.” Russel pulls Al back down. “Plus, Fletcher and that Elysia girl have been getting along quite…”

“I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!!” Ed hurls himself at his one-time impersonator. Mustang doesn’t even notice.

“I’m going to kill him,” he mutters and digs into his pocket. Fletcher better the hell not be doing anything with Elysia if he doesn’t want to end up a pile of charred person bits.

Drabbles

2006-04-26T03:08:13Z

High five for my first drabbles!

This may not be a review of Naruto, and I don't even know why I wanted to write this (who likes Hinata anyway???). Long story short, she's only tolerable with Kiba, for some some reason even I don't understand.

***

A shinobi should be able to concentrate on the task at hand, Kiba tells himself vehemently. But no matter how busy his hands are brushing the mats out of Akamaru’s fur, he can’t keep his eyes from wandering over to the field where Hinata is rhythmically going through training exercises. Kiba flushes when he realizes where he has been staring, realizes that Hinata has taken off her heavy jacket and left it in the shade next to the training field. In a recess of his brain, Kiba knows he can’t blame her, having himself taken off his parka ten degrees ago, but still…

Kiba sets his eyes firmly back on Akamaru, who gives a low growl when a patch of fur is viciously torn out with the brush. With a dispassionate pat on the head, Kiba absently tries to console his canine friend, but, before he knows it, his eyes have gone back to Hinata. She’s on her tenth kata now, moving gracefully into ‘Freestanding Tiger’. She flows like water into the next form.

“I don’t believe it is polite to stare.”

Kiba swallows a harsh swear word he knows Shino would also deem impolite along with a piece of his pride.

“Wasn’t staring,” he huffs with a glare at the only person in Konoha who still wears his jacket in the middle of summer. Shino only gives him one of those imperceptible looks. But every look is imperceptible, and Kiba resolutely decides to ignore him as well. He grumbles something about how he wished dogs would actually stop shedding in the summer, and Shino is gone before Kiba finishes the sentence.

By the time Akamaru’s fur is finally tangle free, Kiba notices Hinata has dozed off under the sun with Shino sitting next to her, acting as some sort of chaperone-like guard. Kiba rolls his eyes, but joins them anyway, settling himself and Akamaru a distance he knows Shino would deem appropriate and keeping his glances at the rise and fall of Hinata’s chest much more subtle.
***

This is partly dedicated to the fact that Hinata's 'assets' can now rival Tsunade's. What's with that??
***

And this is for sennuyer. Shigure=scumbag, but since that was too broad, it takes place post Yuki's escape to Shigure's house, but pre-Tohru.

***
Yuki was quiet the first day he moved into Shigure’s house. He was too afraid to speak, too afraid to do something wrong and be thrown out of his only respite, so he chose to remain silent and only speak in monosyllabic answers when spoken to, not like that was too different from how it had been before. Shigure thought it all rather odd at first, but he soon realized it would be better to be able to ignore Yuki as much as possible. The less impression Yuki made in the house, the less used to the rat he would get. It wouldn’t do to get too attached…or annoyed for that matter, Shigure mused that evening, when the longest conversation between them had been Yuki asking where the bathroom was located. The boy hadn’t even needed help unpacking his belongings, having only brought a single suitcase with him.

So the first week passed quietly. Shigure eventually found a way to entertain himself within the silence, and promptly began calling Yuki ‘church mouse’ to get a reaction. But this attempt to bring out some character in the rat didn’t work, and with no actual speech between them, Shigure was forced to actually look at him more. He noted with displeasure that every look from the boy spoke a literal thousand words, and Yuki looked at Shigure like some sort of savior. Instead of feeling pleasure, Shigure felt a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He believed he had heard Hatori describe a similar malady once, and Shigure immediately wanted to get rid of the slight guilt haunting him with every unguarded glance from Yuki.

He is so young, Shigure thought contemptuously as Yuki desperately tried to cook dinner for the two of them the next evening. The rat’s offer to cook followed by another one of those shy looks had sent Shigure into a silent bout of planning. There had to be a way to make Yuki’s stay useful, if not more interesting at the very least. Shigure was barely bothered by the smell of slowly charring food, and it wasn’t until he realized that Yuki’s violet eyes were turned his way that Shigure broke his reverie.

“I just wanted to thank you for letting me stay here,” Yuki said quietly and meekly put down the food he had been preparing. Shigure noticed it was burnt beyond recognition, but when he looked at Yuki, the boy had averted his gaze. “I don’t know why you did, but it really means a lot to me.”

Shigure tapped what he thought might be a piece of broccoli with his chopstick and watched it crumble into bits of rice. “Make sure you say the same to Hatsuharu when you see him,” he said lightly.

“What do you mean?”

The dog chose something he was nearly sure was meat and brought it to his mouth in experimentation. He frowned and spat it into a napkin.

“Did…did he have something to do with this?” Yuki’s voice cracked a little, and Shigure nearly smiled at the sound of it. He made a mental note of what Yuki’s voice sounded like when afraid.

“What did he do? Did Akito…did you make him do something?!” Yuki recoiled from the table an inch, all of his suppressed fear resurfacing while Shigure put his chopsticks down and gave him a meaningful look.

“What would you do to save a friend?” he said slowly with just the slightest smirk playing at his lips. Yuki’s eyes were almost as round as the bowl on the table when he jumped up and ran out of the room. Shigure heard the door slam upstairs. He wondered if Yuki would forgive him his little joke. Part of the dog knew it was better if Yuki didn’t, but the rest didn't care either way.

Shigure waited a moment before picking up the receiver of the telephone in the other room. Yuki’s voice on the line was once again tainted with that pitch of fear, but Haru’s was its usual monotone calmness. Shigure gently placed the phone down again and waited another ten minutes for the line to be free before ordering his takeout.

The next morning Yuki’s eyes had become substantially colder towards his cousin. “What are you looking at,” he growled half asleep as his lidded eyes stared daggers at the dog across the table.
Shigure simply went back to reading the newspaper. ‘what a happy family we make,’ he thought to himself.

Oh...right

2006-04-22T21:37:28Z

Hello livejournal. Long time no see.

In my time away I've:
-Gotten into Naruto...oh lord. I think I owe sennuyer a review. It'll come soon.

-Lost Havoc/Hawkeye but gained Roy/Ed for 30_kisses!

-Started a deviant art account

-Done school work and such

-Forgotten all of the lj code that I had learned. Fantastic.

FMA Music Video!!

2006-03-03T00:35:42Z

OMG, I finally finished it, and after being disappointed with the quality on youtube.com, I uploaded it onto my Syracuse website. I'm not sure how long I can keep it there, though. Oh well, it looks great! (The music video; my website isn't so fantastic.)

Music - In the Shadows
Anime - Fullmetal Alchemist
Characters - Ed and Roy
A/N: This song has always reminded me of the characters because the lyrics fit perfectly.

My music video!

In case the other link doesn't work

Whatever 'meme' means

2006-02-27T03:33:12Z

My Personal Dna Report

Adobe Image Ready Tutorial!

2006-02-27T02:37:44Z

Here is my brief tutorial on how to make an animated icon in Adobe Image Ready for anyone who is interested (and that means you angelogdarknes). It's actually fairly simple, and I hope I don't confuse it all so it seems impossible. Also, I have a mac, so I hope that's not too different.

And here's our example...

This icon has 5 layers

So, there is one layer for each scene of the icon.

Now, what you want to be working with is the 'animation bar'.
Look here it is!

There's a picture of how many frames you have, and underneath that there should be the word 'Forever'. If it isn't this word, click that space and change it to forever. This makes the animation loop continuously.

Alright, so once you have all of your layers made, you just duplicate your first frame in the animation bar (you should only have one at first) by clicking on it and then clicking the button with the paper on it, to the left of the trash can.

Then, you choose what layers are showing for each frame. You can hide layers by unmarking the little eye to the left of them. Depending on what you want, you can have more than one layer in one frame.
For example, for my main icon, I have a picture of roy and the text changes above it. I do this by using two layers for one frame.

Just a note, if you change things around in the first frame, all of the other frames are affected. Dont' worry too much about this you can just adjust accordingly.

Back to our original example -> Since I have the fifth frame selected in the animation bar, I choose to only have the fifth layer showing. Now, since the fifth layer is on top, I could have all of the other underneath it, but that's unnecessary. This is were playing around with your options comes in. You can layer things transparently onto another like in this icon...

Here I just made a new layer for each of the 'anger crosses'.

You can also use the animation bar to decide how long you want each frame to play for. Underneath each frame there should be a number, like each frame is 2 seconds. You just click on that to change it.

I'm not sure what the button with the little circles does. Looks like I haven't experimented enough yet!

When you want to save, make sure that on this bar

the colors are set to 128. You can make them less, but it cheapens the quality. Sometimes, that can give an interesting quality to the icon and it makes it smaller, but icons usually aren't that large in the first place.

Okay, go to File -> Save Optimized As
then just save it with some name that you'll remember.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask me any questions. I'll try and help, but I'm clearly no expert at this. I stick to the basics.

Roy's Scars - fanart

2006-02-23T02:51:19Z

We watched a movie in History of Illustration, and it made me cry a little. It was about combat artists in WWII, who were part of the fighting, but also were hired to make paintings of the war around them. It was ridiculously powerful, paintings full of gore and death and fear. Plus, all of the artists they interviewed were (of course) old now, and the whole thing just made me really sad.

I wanted to draw something, so, I turned to anime because that's what I do. And, Roy was a perfect subject because I wanted to show him with his scar, and I wanted it to seem like he was embarrassed about it. I was thinking about the Kakashi fics I've been reading how how in a lot of them, he's portrayed as wearing his mask because he doesn't like his face. And, waking up is an intimate moment, which is why he's in bed.

I might have tried to be a little to deep for my good, and I don't really think this picture shows how affected I was by that movie (I don't have enough artistic motivation to produce a picture to show that.) Overall, however, I'm happy with how it turned out. I mean, it didn't exactly spend much time on it.

Things

2006-02-19T19:31:23Z

Wow, it feels like forever since I've been on livejournal. I've been up to so many things that I can't post here...well one thing: my FMA music video. I'm about three fourths done, but it takes so long to upload episodes, so I can edit them, I don't feel like working on it anymore. I've also been trying to write my fruits basket fic, which I did get up finally. The last chapter is really becoming long, and, of course, I'm having trouble finishing it.

I did find more unfinished Havoc/Hawkeye comics, which I had totally forgotten about. I should really get to those before I lose my couple for 30_kisses. I think I have another month, but I'm not really sure. I just can't get motivated for much anymore, even though I whipped out a Kakashi/Iruka pic for my sister last night, which I'll be posting. (I should probably actually start watching Naruto.)

I also might start posting in deviantart, since I made an account awhile ago, and it doesn't let you delete them. So, I basically have an empty account and I might as well use it for something I guess.

Birthday fic

2006-02-19T19:20:11Z

Birthday fic

2006-02-12T03:54:32Z

Trio Going on Thirty

Author: Hotarukat
Rating: R, just to be safe because of hints of threesomeness

Summary: Everyone turns thiry eventually, even the Mabudachi Trio. Their reasons are different, but none of them is really happy on their birthday. Thankfully, Ayame, Shigure, and Hatori can rely on each other when they are down..

Disclaimer: I don’t own Fruits Basket and whatever I do with the characters, I do for fun with no profit.

A/N: I have no idea when Shigure’s birthday is in comparison to the others. I wrote them as Shigure, Hatori, and Ayame in order from oldest to youngest. (It was funny for me to think of Shigure as the oldest, even if only by a little.)

A Particular Day in April

All of his silent prayers hadn’t kept the sun from rising. From his bed, Shigure could just see the first rays peek over the trees, and, in a futile attempt to block out the light, he turned over to face the wall and pulled the blankets over his head. Lack of oxygen almost immediately forced the dog back out again into the horrible day, the one that would change his life forever in all of the worst ways imaginable.

Today Shigure turned thirty.

Shigure sat up, throwing his blankets onto the floor. He had a look of utter defeat on his face as he glanced at the clock. Five thirty-three. His young life had ended five hours ago, and all hope for miracles had disappeared. After thoroughly pinching himself, Shigure decided with disgust that it wasn’t worth getting up and curled back up on his blanket-less bed. A few more hours of sleep couldn’t hurt him today. If anything, he wanted time to go faster. As the minutes crawled by, however, Shigure slowly realized that the universe as a whole would do him no favors today. Sleep eluded him, and time still didn’t go backwards, no matter how much he wished it with all his birthday wish might.

xxx

About two hours later, Shigure woke up with a start. Surprised, he sat up and checked the clock again. Seven fifteen. Shigure sighed and admitted defeat as soon as he smelled the sweet scents of Tohru’s baking waft in from the kitchen. He rose sleepily to meet the terrible day. Visions of high school girls danced through his head as he made his way downstairs, and, with a metaphorical tear, Shigure realized that now he would truly be lecherous in his teenage desires.

Yuki and Tohru greeted him when he arrived in the kitchen.

“Happy Birthday, Shigure!” Tohru smiled, and it took all of Shigure’s strength not to grimace. He glanced at the homemade cake on the table. At least they had abstained from using the correct amount of candles to decorate it.

“Would you like something other than cake for breakfast? I know cake isn’t really a nutritious breakfast choice…” Tohru trailed off, and Shigure suddenly realized he had been glaring at the cake.

“Cake would be wonderful! I just can’t believe you went to so much trouble for poor old me…Thank you so much, Tohru,” Shigure said and flinched. He was old now. Yuki was blessedly quiet, and only Tohru’s buzzing as she cut a piece of cake and handed it to him reminded Shigure this was real.

After a few moments of eating in silence, Yuki finally looked up from his cake and stated matter-of-factly, “You’re not taking this very well.”

Shigure faked nonchalance and waved his fork around dramatically. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Hatori said you wouldn’t want any recognition of your birthday, but this is ridiculous. You’re acting like you are dying.”

“I most certainly am not. Tohru, am I being moody?”

“Oh no, of course not!”

Shigure nodded and flashed his best smile to put Tohru at ease and annoy Yuki a little. “Well, if you don’t mind,” Shigure murmured as he pushed his empty plate away. “The birthday boy, who stayed up far too late last night finishing a chapter, would like to go back to bed.”

“I don’t see how that would be different from any other day of the week,” Yuki said snidely to Shigure’s back after he got up. Shigure let the barb slide off him like water and headed back to his room to celebrate the holiday the way he wanted: asleep.

As soon as Shigure was out of the room, Yuki caught Tohru giving him the tiniest reproving look. He sighed. “He needs to hear that. Life is staying the same. Everyone turns thirty eventually.”

Tohru’s brows slowly unknotted, and she sighed too.

“I guess you’re right.”

After absentmindedly patting Tohru’s hand, Yuki grabbed another piece of cake from the platter. “Don’t worry about him. He just needs some sense pounded into him.” Yuki smirked while he stabbed his cake with relish. For some reason, that did not ease Tohru’s worries.

xxx

Shigure awoke to a dull ringing. He pulled his blankets over his head and willed the sound to stop, but the noise continued on as if to spite him. Shigure glanced at the clock from under his covers: one thirty. After silently thanking his biological ability to sleep in, the dog sat up and rubbed his head. Then the sound of the telephone finally registered, and Shigure jumped up to answer.

“Hello, Shigure.” Shigure’s mood brightened slightly at the sound of Hatori’s voice. But it soured as soon as he realized Hatori was still a youthful twenty-nine. At least the doctor wouldn’t rub it in, Shigure told himself.

“You’re just the person to make this day better,” Shigure said truthfully.

“I was hoping you could do me a favor.”

“What kind of favor?” Shigure asked, not sure whether to be pleased or annoyed at the doctor’s lack of a ‘happy birthday’ or even a semi-cheerful tone of voice.

“Kisa has gotten ill at school, and I’d appreciate it if you could escort her home for me. Her mother is also sick, and I can’t get away at the moment.”

“Well, who says I’m not busy?” Shigure asked incredulously.

“I’m sure wallowing in your birthday misery is a full time job, but this favor would be very much appreciated.”

“I’m not wallowing…”

“Please do this for me,” Hatori stressed, and Shigure realized that arguing would not work with Hatori in one of these moods.

“You don’t have to sound so annoyed, Hari,” Shigure whined. “It’s a rough day.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t,” Shigure muttered and rolled his eyes.

“Drop her off with me when you get to the main grounds. I’ll see you soon.”

The phone clicked dead, and Shigure marveled at Hatori’s practiced ease in ignoring his complaints.

xxx

The trip to the school was fast enough. Shigure made it there in ten minutes flat; he had walked as quickly as possible so he could just go back home and crawl into bed again. Once in the lobby of the school, Shigure paused, realizing he wasn’t sure where to go from there since he had never been to the nurse’s office before. He looked around for the main office, but instead he spotted a girl walking past him who was obviously trying not to stare.

“Excuse me, miss. Could you point me in the direction of the nurse’s office?” He didn’t even bother to put his best smile on. He was in a hurry; his bed was waiting.

The girl flushed when Shigure spoke and stopped dead in her tracks, turning around slowly with her eyes fixed on the books she was carrying. “It’s just around the corner.” She motioned vaguely to her left with her head and flicked her eyes up to Shigure’s for a split second. “I’m going there to drop off some homework for a classmate of mine.” Her blush turned two shades redder.

Shigure couldn’t help but smirk as the girl continued to stand in front of him with her face pink, unsure if he was finished with her or not.

“Well, thank you so much. It’s quite a pleasure to receive help from such a beautiful girl! Since we’re headed in the same direction, would you like me to help you with that load?”

The girl looked taken aback, but she hesitantly handed the books to Shigure anyway. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Anything for a lovely lady,” he beamed. “Now if you don’t mind leading the way?”

She nodded and scampered in front of him. Shigure took a moment to admire the view, and when the girl turned to look at him over her shoulder, she turned pink again and looked quickly away. After turning a corner, they were inside the nurse’s office. Shigure glanced around and quickly noticed Kisa sitting on the edge of a cot. She saw him too and gave a small smile. Then Kisa looked to the girl standing awkwardly next to Shigure.

“Hello, Kisa,” Shigure’s guide said. “I brought your homework down for you.” She paused and looked at Shigure. “Well, this gentleman helped me carry it.”

A slight look of surprise passed over Kisa’s face, but it was gone in an instant.

“Thank you, Tomoko.” Shigure noticed Kisa’s voice was quieter than usual, and she was usually fairly soft-spoken. “This is my cousin Shigure Sohma. I’m glad you two met.” Kisa coughed dryly after she spoke and quickly took a drink from the cup of water next to her.

Tomoko nodded and, after thanking Shigure again, quickly left the nurse’s office.

Shigure placed the books next to Kisa and looked down at her. “Feeling a bit under the weather?”

“Thank you for picking me up, Grandpa Shigure,” Kisa said with a tiny smirk before taking another drink of water.

Shigure didn’t think he liked Kisa’s sudden use of Hiro’s sense of humor, but, as much as he hated to admit it, she was cute enough to get away with it.

xxx

“Thank you again, Cousin Shigure,” Kisa said when they finally made it to Hatori’s porch. Shigure was relieved she had dropped the ‘grandpa’ business.

“No problem, sweetheart. You just get better.”

Both of them jumped in surprise when Kisa’s backpack began to play the ‘Mogeta’ theme.

“Oh, it’s my cell phone. Hiro probably wants to make sure I’m okay.”

“Answer it. I’ll get Hatori for you.”

Shigure slid open the door and heard Kisa answer her phone. Hatori, who was sitting at his desk, turned around in his chair.

“I hope it wasn’t too much trouble for you,” he said with the smallest hint of actual concern.

“It was a delightful outing, actually,” Shigure grinned.

Hatori rolled his eyes, but then he smiled too. “I hoped it would be. If it’s one thing that brightens your mood, it’s high schoo…” Hatori stopped mid-sentence when Kisa came in from outside, closing her cell with a flip of the wrist.

“It was Hiro,” she said in a quiet whisper and then looked at Shigure. “He was complaining that all of the girls in class are suddenly talking about my handsome cousin.”

“Make sure you tell them I’m too old for them,” Shigure said dramatically with an eyebrow waggle.

“Come here, Kisa. Let me check your throat,” Hatori had once again decided to ignore Shigure while he examined Kisa, but Shigure simply waited anyway.

“You should be fine in a day or two. Don’t talk too much and eat plenty of ice cream to make your throat feel better,” Hatori said, smiling at Kisa. She smiled back, muttered another thank you to each of them, and left with a bow.

“You were too old for high school girls ten years ago,” Hatori said to Shigure once Kisa was out of earshot.

“Oh, you’re ruining my fun! The girl I met was enchanted with me!” Shigure sang.

“Well, she should be,” Hatori said evenly while returning to the paperwork on his desk.

Shigure rushed over to nudge Hatori’s shoulder. “Aww, you do care.”

Hatori stopped reading just long enough to glance at Shigure. “Happy Birthday, old man.”

Yes

2006-02-08T01:26:32Z

Wow, I had way too much fun taking these.

Your Hagaren Storyline (Girl version!) by hitokiri_ninie

Name:

People Involved in your Storyline:

Roy is your father

Your Alchemist Name:

Rainbow Alchemist

Your Date of Birth:

July 18, 1896

What are you Using:

Fire

Your Military Rank:

Gunsho — Sergeant

Your Storyline:

You grew up in Rizenbull. You were Ed, Al and Winry's childhood friend but you moved. You finally meets them again in Roy's office. You're a state alchemist and now you are traveling with them! -the end-

Your Importence in the Real hagaren Storyline:: 48%

Quiz created with MemeGen!

I was taking that one a couple times, and it's really interesting to see all of the different alchemy styles this person came up with! I'm impressed.

-Hagaren- Your Alchemist Story by Manslayer
Your name:	Chie
You are	Riza's twin and confident
Your alchemist name:	Paradise Alchemist
Your biggest skill:	You can take control of someone's soul and action during few minutes
Your interest:	Old alchemy books
You are friend with	Riza Hawkeye
Your ennemy is	Alex Louis Armstrong
Your love interest is	Alphonse Elric
Why?:	You love to chat with him/her
First date:	At Lior during a fight
Your storyline:	Your Mary Sue... You were born, your parent were killed. You suffered and suffered again and then became a state alchemist to take your revange on someone.
Put your name here:

Quiz created with MemeGen!

Fullmetal Alchemist/Hagaren Sex Quiz by utsusasuke
Name:
Skill:
One lovely	morning
you fell in love with	Black Hayate
who proposed by	attending a formal dance with you
Soon you got married to	Munich!Edo
who fathered/mothered	Fury
and	King Bradly
with you. Later you commited adultery with	Havoc
which led to birth of	Roy
who	later re made the homunculi.

Quiz created with MemeGen!

Kyo desktop

2006-02-04T23:35:53Z

I finished this one a little while ago, but decided to wait to put it up.

I'm not sure how I really feel about the composition. I think it could have been better. Plus, there's really no high contrast to make it as interesting as the others. Even though the lettering ended up vertically, I think it looked the best that way. Plus, it made a great place to put that adorable little cat figurine. So, I guess some things turned out well.

Hatori Desktop

2006-01-31T16:58:03Z

I finally got some time to make another desktop! I've been so swamped lately, I think I need to drop a class. That way, I can concentrate on Japanese (and having som free time.)

It's starting to become hard to think of new layouts, but it's fun at the same time. It makes me think that maybe I could perhaps go into graphic design? I don't know. But, I thought this desktop would turn out poorly, until I added the interlocking lines, which I love! The font is Times because it seems to fit Hatori's character the best, a little stodgy and boring, but classy and simple. Sadly, I can't seem to make good splatters anymore. I used to be able to set a brush to scatter, and it would give a great blood-like effect. This time I didn't work quite as well as I would have liked.

A kyo desktop is in the works, and I'm probably going to a Haru one just because I love him (and I have a lot of great pages with wonderful pictures of him.) It was hard finding good quotes for Hatori, because none of the chapters I have are from his POV, thus no inner musings. Lastly,I erased one of his speech bubbles and put, "what absurd talk" because I didnt' like what was there already.

Oh and just for fun...(I made this awhile ago.)

"Lessons in Borrowing" fic

2006-01-29T21:52:34Z

Title: Lessons in Borrowing
Author: hotarukat
Genre: Mostly Gen...in my mind it's Roy/Ed
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Ed easily 'borrows' one of Mustang's gloves. The problem is, how to give the glove back before Mustang notices it's missing.

It was his first time back in two weeks, and of course the first thing Edward Elric had to take care of was his tortuous debriefing with ‘I am God’s Gift to Alchemy’ Colonel Mustang. Ed scowled as he stood outside of Mustang’s office door. Usually, he would have just barged right in, with no warning, happy that he could fuck with Mustang a little by messing up his concentration on whatever stupid paperwork the Colonel would be filling out. But for some reason, this time Ed idled outside with his auto-mail hand poised to knock. His other hand began to fidget with the chain of his alchemist’s watch, which hung loosely from his pocket.

He better not give me hell because I’m back too early with nothing to show for the effort, Ed thought briefly before he realized his stalling in the hall had gone on for more than five minutes now. He wasn’t scared of Mustang, goddammit. At that thought, he then became angry enough that his hand swiftly moved to the doorknob, and he swung the door open so forcefully it almost ripped off the hinges. The door hit the wall of Mustang’s office with a satisfying thud.

“So, Colonel, you needed to see me?” Ed asked sweetly before realizing the room was empty.

“What the hell?” He spun around quickly. He half expected Mustang to try and surprise him from behind in some sort of messed up retribution, but all that was behind him was the open door and empty air. Ed slowly peeked over his shoulder at the abandoned desk again. It was weird. He had never been in Mustang’s office alone before.

Ed got the distinct feeling he should leave, but he quickly got over the feeling. It simply had to be a joke. Ed pushed aside his uneasiness at being in Mustang’s office by himself and decided to walk around the room, checking every possible spot in the office where Mustang could be hiding, which was really only behind the desk. Of course there was no one there.

Like he’d be playing hide and go seek with me. Ed sighed mentally at his own childishness. He gave up his search and walked back towards the door.

“So…I guess he made me walk all the way here FOR NOTHING!!” Ed yelled aloud, then quieted down when he remembered the door was still open. “Fucking bastard, fucking making me come here…” Ed kept muttering to himself until an interesting idea occurred to him.

He wondered if any of the papers Roy was constantly working on might have some useful information in them. His eyes flicked to Mustang’s desk, totally devoid of files at the moment, but Ed was almost sure something had to be in the closed drawers. At least that would make this trip worth it. Glancing at the door, Ed sidled closer to the desk. Then he reached very carefully to dig through each drawer quickly and skillfully to look for anything and everything Mustang might want to keep under wraps.

After the first two drawers, Ed began to that this was another wild goose chase. His search so far had revealed an old coffee mug, an empty bottle of water, two fountain pens, and a pencil, the end of which looked like it had been chewed on. Ed gagged a little at the thought as he carefully placed everything back where it had been before closing the drawer. He eyed the bottom drawer with a dying hope and tried to open it.

It was locked.

His curiosity was reignited. Ed paused to a second to ponder what type of locking mechanism as being used and how to unlock it. Then he tapped his hands together with relish, touching the keyhole of the desk. His guess worked, and he was able to pull the drawer open smoothly when the alchemic reaction fizzled away. And there, at the bottom of the drawer, neatly folded, were a pair of Roy’s white, ignition cloth gloves. Ed just stared at them for a second. He was afraid they might explode if he even laid a finger on them, but then his intellectual curiosity kicked in. He picked a single glove up, feeling the heavy roughness of the fabric and studying the red array stitched into the back.

He had to admit they were pretty damn cool.

For a second, Ed almost succumbed to the desire to try one out, for the pure learning experience and just for the hell of it. But even he realized it would not be the best idea to torch the colonel’s office…

“Edward?” a distinctly feminine voice caused Ed to stuff the glove in his pocket and kick the drawer shut immediately. He tried to keep a ‘kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar’ look off his face as he glanced up from the floor to see Hawkeye looking down at him measuringly.

“Yes, sir?”

“Are you waiting for the Colonel? He went out a short while ago. I’m sorry.” Hawkeye glanced at Ed’s pocket, and he squirmed a little under the scrutiny.

“What were you doing?” she asked suspiciously and arched an eyebrow.

“Waiting, like you said. I thought I might be able to find something interesting in the colonel’s desk, but he only keeps shit in there. Plus, the bottom one is locked.” Ed hoped being slightly honest would keep Hawkeye from checking to make sure everything was in place, though from the slightly amused look he received, Ed suspected Hawkeye knew the Colonel kept nothing important in his desk. Still, Ed prayed to any god listening that she wouldn’t try to open the bottom drawer, because he hadn’t reset the lock.

“You shouldn’t be going through somebody else’s things,” Hawkeye said disapprovingly, but Ed could tell from her tone that she was just saying what she thought she was supposed to in a situation like this. Her personality couldn’t just let him go without saying anything chastising.

Ed gave her a small smirk and stuffed his hands in his pockets to make sure Mustang’s glove didn’t fall out at an inopportune moment.

“Yeah, well, tell the Colonel not to leave his things so unguarded,” he shrugged.

Hawkeye gave him the tiniest of smiles. “I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.”

Ed managed not to snort. “If you say so. Well, I guess I’ll see you whenever his majesty decides to come back to work.” Ed walked past Hawkeye carefully, refusing to hunch. He suppressed his desire to run.

“I’m sure the Colonel didn’t intend for you to come here for nothing.”

Ed managed to return Hawkeye’s level gaze with a Cheshire grin.

“Heh, heard that, huh?”

Hawkeye nodded slowly with the amused smirk she must have picked up from the Colonel brushing her lips again.
“Next time, come see me if you want to see the Colonel. It’ll save you some trouble.”

Taking this as a dismissal, Ed slowly walked out of Mustang’s office, only breaking into a sprint when he turned down the corridor. He knew he was probably in for some trouble very soon.

***

Ed sat under a tree waiting for Al at their usual meeting spot outside the training fields. Considering he had only spent a cumulative fifteen minutes in Mustang’s office, (instead of the usual half an hour of bickering), Ed wasn’t surprised that Al wasn’t waiting for him yet. He only managed a few minutes of sitting quietly before beginning to fidgit. Ed stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out the stolen white glove. He again ignored the desire to try it out and just looked at it, wondering how the hell he was going to stick it back in Mustang’s desk. Maybe if he went back now…

“What’s that?” Al suddenly loomed over his brother, and Ed jumped.

“Al! Don’t fucking creep up on me like that!!” Ed put a hand over his heart to make it slow down while his younger brother sat next to him.

“Is that one of the colonel’s gloves?” Al asked with extreme interest.

Ed took his hand away from his chest and glanced down at the glove he was still clutching in wonder.

“Yeah,” he said, still not quite believing it.

“Why did he give it to you? Can I see?” Al reached for it.

“Sure, whatever.” Ed tossed the glove to his brother and watched out of the corner of his eye while Al examined it with a critical eye.

“It’s such a simple idea,” Al whispered to himself, turning it over and tracing the array with a steel finger. Then, his intellectual curiosity sated, he spoke again. “So, why did the colonel lend it to you?”

“He didn’t exactly lend it,” Ed muttered.

“….you stole this?” Al’s voice shifted from incredulous to extremely entertained as he finished his question.

“It’s not like I did it on purpose!” Ed seethed and tucked his knees under his chin.

“Whatever you say, Brother,” Al said lightly, and Ed could tell he was humoring him.

“Shut up! And give it back!” Ed snatched the glove out of his brother’s hands.

“You do have to return it you know.”

“I know. But, how the hell am I supposed to sneak this thing back into Mustang’s desk drawer?”

“You were going through his desk?”

“Nevermind, Al.” Ed pouted for a second, but then he simply looked upset. “I really screwed myself over this time. The Colonel’s going to have my ass for this.”

“That’s an…interesting way to put it,” Al agreed mildly.

“Whatever. The point is that I either have to put this back or make him think that he misplaced it on his own.”

“How are you going to do that?”

Ed experimentally slipped the glove onto his hand, over his own glove. It was still too big.

“I don’t know. I’ll have to slip it into his pocket or something.”

Al’s incredulous gaze gave Ed the impression his brother was not impressed by this plan.

“Well, Al, what’s your suggestion then,” he huffed.

“No,” Al’s red eye’s slitted with mirth, “I guess that’s the only thing you can do.”

“Okay then!” Ed jumped up. “This’ll blow over, and Mustang’ll be totally clueless that anything happened in the first place.”

***

Ed tried to avoid Hawkeye as he made his way back to Mustang’s office. He hoped Mustang was still gone, but didn’t want Hawkeye to tell him so. Then maybe he might be able to get the glove back in the desk easy as pie. Without a doubt, trying to reverse pickpocket Mustang was probably the stupidest idea he could come up with. But the limited options presenting themselves made this whole situation difficult.

Ed wished he had never stolen the stupid glove in the first place.

Plus, he hadn’t even tried it out.

Even with the desire to unleash an alchemic firestorm worming it’s way into Ed’s thought process, he realized the longer it took to replace the glove, the more certain it was Mustang would realize it was missing. And then he faced the door of Mustang’s office again and couldn’t believe he was doing the same thing he had done this morning. He stood outside, with an uneasy feeling gnawing at the pit of his stomach. But at least this time, he told himself, I have something to be worried about.

Ed’s polite knock was met with a commanding, “Come in,” from the other side of the door, and Ed followed the order, almost hesitantly swinging the door open. Mustang was, as per usual, busy sorting several stacks of papers that had magically appeared on his desk since Ed’s last visit. After a few seconds, he finally looked up from the piles.

“Oh, hello, Fullmetal…something you need to tell me?” Roy placed his chin on his hand and pretended to look interested.

“Yeah…I have to report to you, remember?” Ed cursed his voice for faltering and Mustang for looking goddamn disappointed, especially since Ed didn’t understand what he could have done wrong…oh, fuck, Ed cursed mentally.

“Sit down,” Mustang said after quickly slipping into his professional persona. “I’ll hear from you in a minute.” With a vague gesture to the couch, Roy returned to arranging the files into semi-neat piles.

Ed took the opportunity to brainstorm while surreptitiously studying Mustang. This wasn’t going to be difficult…it was going to be impossible. The only time Mustang left his desk when talking to Ed was to pace the room if he was annoyed. Or sometimes, he would stand up to glare down at Ed more effectively. Both these opportunities didn’t lend themselves well to stuffing a glove in his pocket without him noticing…especially if he already knew.

“Alright.” Mustang looked up from his work again. “Tell me how you failed to find the Philosopher’s Stone this time.”
Ed bristled and momentarily forgot his real objective for this visit.

“The rumors of the stone were totally false in Himley. Turns out their version of a Philosopher’s Stone is just a rock some crazy old medicine woman uses in her incantations,” Ed said, letting his disdain and frustration seep into his voice.

“And you couldn’t have found that out without actually going to Himley? There are such things as telephones nowadays. Even a letter to the outpost a few miles out would have been able to tell you that.”

“I felt like going. Needed some air.”

Roy sighed heavily and stood up, circling to the front of his desk. “Needing some air is not a viable reason to waste the military’s money.” He leaned back and sat just on the edge of the desk as he continued to lecture Ed. “If you just planned a little more, you wouldn’t waste so much time either. If you would just think…”

Ed eyed Mustang, ignoring the Colonel’s words. He wasn’t even sure where the pockets were under that skirt thing they called a uniform. They had to be there though, because Mustang always put his hands in his pockets….

Roy noticed Ed’s scrutinizing stare. “Edward, eyes up here,” he commanded in a tone that only betrayed a hint of amusement and pointed to his face.

Ed flushed briefly but quickly recovered. This was his chance.

Without warning, Ed surged up from his seat to stand straight in front of Mustang, putting himself two inches from the older man’s face while he yelled, “I’m fucking sick of the way you talk down to me, sir! Don’t treat me like a kid!”
Ed tried to stealthily slip the glove into Mustang’s pocket while he was close enough, but he couldn’t even concentrate enough to get it out of his own. He stood there frozen for a second as Mustang gazed down at him.

“How would you like me to treat you, Fullmetal?” Mustang asked quietly, seriously, and Ed’s mind blanked. He opened his mouth to say something, only to then forget what it was and close it again.

After a couple seconds of Ed being dumbfounded, Mustang sighed and gently pushed him away. Ed just let him, the glove burning a metaphorical hole in his pocket, totally forgotten.

“Because,” Roy continued, switching to his lecturing voice, “you don’t act like an adult.”
Ed was still speechless, but didn’t understand why. Yelling at Mustang, looking at Mustang, shouldn’t make him feel…guilty.

“Fullmetal, don’t you have some whiney come-back?” Mustang tilted his head to the side.

Ed could only shake his head slowly and look at the floor. He really wasn’t an adult. He couldn’t look Mustang in the eye, and he couldn’t return that fucking glove.

“Do you have anything to say at all?” Mustang prodded gently.

Ed glanced up from the floor and found Mustang giving him an even look with no hint of emotion. That somehow relieved and disappointed him.

“…am I dismissed now, sir?”

Roy coughed into his hand. “Actually, I need to step out for a minute. I’ll be right back.”

With that, Roy walked out of the room, and Ed just stood there, unable to keep the surprised look off his face.
Roy was letting him put the glove back.

Ed remained firmly planted in front of the desk for a second, half expecting Mustang to come back in the middle of returning the glove to the desk drawer. But, nothing happened, and that was somehow worse.

Sighing, Ed turned around to face the closed door. Then, with resolve, he sat down on the couch, pulled the glove out of his pocket, and waited for Mustang to come back.

After two minutes, the door clicked open and Mustang entered his office.

“Oh, you’re still here. Didn’t I tell you that you could leave?” Mustang asked lightly before his eyes settled on the glove in Ed’s hand. “Ah, I see.”

Ed stood up and practically shoved the glove into Mustang’s face. He kept his gaze firmly fixed on the wall to his right.

“This is yours. I’m…sorry I took it.”

With no hesitation, Mustang took the proffered glove, while Ed kept talking hurriedly.

“It’s not like I did it on purpose! It’s your fault for keeping such a simple lock…Plus I didn’t even try it out, though I wanted to…” Ed wanted to add ‘please don’t crucify me,’ but he didn’t think it would be appropriate. His eyes flicked to Mustang’s face to gauge his reaction.

“You should have stopped with the ‘I’m sorry.’” Mustang moved back to his desk and sat down, reaching to the bottom drawer to open it.

Ed paused. Finally, he asked quietly, “What’re you going to do?”

“About what?” Mustang returned to shuffling papers around.

“I took something from you! I could have set half the city on fire! You have to do something!!”

“Fullmetal, do you have a masochistic streak in you?” Mustang smirked to himself as he kept his eyes on his work.

“But…”

“Well, if you really want some sort of punishment, here,” Mustang said before he picked up the three largest stacks of files. “Arrange all of these by date.”

“That’s not punishment, that’s torture!” Ed grumbled, secretly trying to maintain the casual atmosphere. He definitely didn’t think he would react as well if someone had taken something from him.

“Yes, it seems I also have a masochistic streak,” Mustang sighed dramatically.

***

An hour later, Ed was staring at a huge stack of papers, perfectly sorted from newest to oldest. He had worked silently next to Mustang for the entire time, and it had been not quite awkward, but not quite relaxing either. He shuffled through his pile again, just to make sure nothing was out of place and then glanced up at Mustang.

The Colonel was solemnly reading one of the files and taking notes on a pad of paper. Just as Ed began to wonder if he should interrupt, Mustang’s eyes moved up from the paper to meet his own.

“Finished?” Mustang said lazily and went back to writing.

“Uh, yeah. What do you want me to do with them?”

Mustang sighed, looking slightly worn out. “Try and fit them somewhere.”

Ed managed to carefully slip his stack of reports onto the edge of Mustang’s desk, without disrupting any of the other piles. He couldn’t help but glance over what Mustang was writing.

“I’m seeing if there is a rising trend of violence in the area around Malins. Once I’ve read all of these, I have to decide whether to send in the military,” Mustang explained without Ed even asking.

“Oh…well…I guess I’ll see you…later then,” Ed finished lamely, not sure what he was supposed to do now.

“Edward,” Mustang murmured without even looking up just as Ed turned to leave.

“Huh?”

“Next time, why don’t you try asking?”

“About the reports?”

Mustang glanced up and quirked an eyebrow.

“Oh.” Ed paused for a second, torn between an odd fear of humiliation and really wanting to try that glove out. Finally, he caved in to his desire. “Could I try out your glove sometime?”

“No.”

Ed tensed, but ultimately blamed himself for even hoping. Mustang is and will always be a bastard, he thought sullenly.

But, as Ed left Mustang’s office, he couldn’t help but think that maybe he’d ask again sometime.

Kureno Desktop

2006-01-28T15:56:32Z

My second desktop, since the Shigure one was so well liked!! This one's for miyabita13 because she loves Kureno so much!

This one turned out a little more like a page in the manga than I might have liked it too. Perhaps that's because I got most of the pictures from one or two chapters ^^; When I realized the manga page was happening, I tried to at least make the speech bubbles make a little bit of sense, which kind of made it *more* like a manga page, but might as well go with what's happening. I really liked the font though (It's called Caldera I think), and making feather brushes was fun.

I hope I'm making these the right size ^_^

Shigure Desktop

2006-01-27T19:06:22Z

I made this for Diana's birthday because it was easier to email her something than actually hike to the post office in the snow with a box of presents. I'll get to it eventually. -_-

Anyhoo, images from around chapter 101 in the manga becaues Shigure is smexy as hell. I'm actually kind of hating on him right now, but Diana doesn't need to know that as she has only seen the anime. Maybe I'm just hating on the manga bc I can't get into it as much. I'll get into that at another time...

I attempted new brushes again, but decided not to even bother saving them. It's fun taking some of the beautiful patterns from the manga pages.

Havoc/Hawkeye comic #3

2006-01-25T19:48:53Z

This the last entry for 30_kisses that I have lying around from vacation. After this, I'll have to make some new ones. But, this one is finished, and it's three pages long, the longest yet! I hope there's no major spelling mistakes...

Title= In Harm's Way
Pairing= Havoc/Hawkeye
Fandom= Full Metal Alchemist
Theme= #6 - the space between dream and reality.
Disclaimer= Nothing from Full Metal Alchemist is actually mine. I just borrow for fun.

shiver

2006-01-18T21:28:52Z

My window isn't doing it's job and it's starting to annoy me, mostly because my room is near negative twenty right now. My hands have nearly turned to ice.

That being said, I've finally been able to download furuba manga, and I read Volume 13 *squeees* I can't believe Momiji plays the violin! It almost makes me want to play the violin again (although it's a little too much like Quatre. What's with blonde violin players?) I also had the realization today that jyuunishi breaks down into jyuuni and shi (jyuuni meaning twelve). I only figured this out because the manga literally wrote "12shi," and I was like OOOOHHH!! Looks like japanese class is really helping out ^^;

I tried making new brushes last night in photoshop and while the making part isn't hard, saving them is the devil. Plus the batteries in my mouse died, so I just stole Jamie', but she hasn't actually wanted it back yet, so I suppose it's all good. The wind and rain/snow isn't really making me want to walk to the bookstore, though I have to buy new flashcards to study japanese with. I should really be studying now, heh. At least the rest of the people in the class can't really remember much either. We're all in the same not remembering-anything-boat. Annnd, their are other people who like anime and discuss it openly! (people other than Jackie and me, although Jackie is still keeping it a secret from her roomate *shakes head*) What a novel thing.

Lastly, I had a dream the night before last that was a mix between FMA and oddly enough Scryed. Alchemists were being hunted like Alter users, and Mustang was the kind of evil, Ryohou like character. And I (as Ed) was trying to escape from him, but was very sad because I was in love with him, or used to be. Heh heh, I love anime related dreams.

hotarukat @ 2006-01-18T15:35:00

2006-01-18T20:53:44Z

I finallllly made enough icons to post. First I only made animated ones becuase I found how to in Adobe Image Ready and had way too much fun with that. Eventually, I thought I should Photoshop some too and I even made some new brushes (is saving new brushes supposed to make me want to kill myself?) Oh, I also made a couple color bars.

I hope you enjoy them!
teaser-->

Fruits Basket= 1-12
Full Metal Alchemist = 13-19

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9.

10. 11. 12.

13. 14.

15. 16.

17. 18.

19. 20.

Roy is ~~red, orange, and yellow~~ love.

Roy is ~~too hot to handle~~ love.

Ed is ~~too small to see without a magnifying glass, but don't tell him I said so~~ love.

Please...
1. don't hotlink.
2. credit where appropriate
3. link the color bars' text back to this page

Thanks and enjoy ^_^

A Lame Knock, Knock Joke

2006-01-16T20:02:42Z

This comicbunny attacked me at three oclock in the morning a few nights ago. I just had to draw it.

back to college life

2006-01-15T05:53:32Z

So, without to much hassle, I'm back at Syracuse and livin' the high life with my fast internet connection *hugs ethernet cable* Annnd since I can now watch my newly downloaded Bleach (and await the FMA soundtracks I'm downloading), I've been putting off unpacking a little bit. I got most of it done, and christ, I have a lot of stuff! My room is still mainly covered with things I haven't put away yet because I haven't picked out a place to put them. I have this little dream that if I find a place for everything, I'll never have a messy room because I'll always put it back to its perfect spot. Needless to say that never really happens...

I'm not sure when Jamie is coming, so I probably should get back to cleaning up. It is really cleaning up at this point since I just basically took everything out of my suitcases to 'unpack' them and placed it on the floor. The girls across the hall are here already and I probably should go be social or something, but I just never feel like it because I don't like them well enough to make the effort.

I've also been thinking of a bunch of ideas for little FMA comics because they seem to get good responses and I enjoy doing them. I'd like to branch out a little into other anime though (OMG I just remembered I have a link to download furuba manga!!~XD).

But, cleaning should really be my priority right now.

Hatori is happy in his new home I think. I'm glad he didn't die during the car ride here. He's sticking close to the light was. I put it on a timer, so it's off right now, poor thing. He needs to adjust to a normal animal schedule because lizards in the wild don't stay up until two in the morning. I think he's green though *thumbs up* It'll be nice having a pet, but I think my room still needs a plant. Hopefully Jamie won't mind the new roomie.

I also spent a bunch of time messing around with the look of my lj page and I just switched it back to how it was. I hate how the picture a the top of the page looks okay on my computer, but it was messed up on my sister's computer (which was smaller.) Gaahh!!! I couldn't fix it.

Havoc/Hawkeye comic #2

2006-01-12T21:30:12Z

Title: Awake
Pairing Havoc/Hawkeye
Theme #17- KHz
Rating PG 13 (don't drink alcohol, kids)
Length Two pages with speech bubbles and a couple of sentences
Summary Too much to drink leads Havoc to be a little loud.

A two page comic for 30_kisses. I added a few sentences at the end because I didn't think the conclusion is quite right by itself.

Hawkeye finished counting to ten and put her gun away before ushering Havoc to bed. He fell asleep as soon as he hit the mattress while Hawkeye breathed a little sigh of relief. If Havoc did have alcohol poisoning (which she now doubted) at least he was quiet now.

Riza expected more than a few complaints from the neighbors the next morning.

Jolt!

2006-01-08T06:16:58Z

A new 30_kisses submission. I made this comic short like at the end of the manga. Except it became five panels instead of four. Oh well.

Title: Discipline
Artist: Hotarukat
Pairing: Jean Havoc/Riza Hawkeye
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Theme: #3- jolt!
Rating: PG

It's based on the side story "Dog of the Military?"

I hope it's obvious enough that she shot the cigarette out of his mouth ^^;;;

Wasted Time

hotarukat @ 2006-06-06T17:49:00

More Drabbles

Drabble Collage

Drabbles

Oh...right

FMA Music Video!!

Whatever 'meme' means

Adobe Image Ready Tutorial!

Roy's Scars - fanart

Things

Birthday fic

Birthday fic

Yes

Kyo desktop

Hatori Desktop

"Lessons in Borrowing" fic

Kureno Desktop

Shigure Desktop

Havoc/Hawkeye comic #3

*shiver*

hotarukat @ 2006-01-18T15:35:00

A Lame Knock, Knock Joke

back to college life

Havoc/Hawkeye comic #2

Jolt!

shiver