Fic - Tincture of Madness
Dec. 29th, 2011 10:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessTitle -- Tincture of Madness
Author--![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cornerofmadness
series -- First anime
Disclaimer -- Arakawa owns them
Rating -- PG-13
Characters/Pairing -- Roy pov
Timeline/Spoilers -- set during the flashback to Roy working with taboo transmutation circles
Word Count -- 787
Warning -- Roy's bad frame of mind and the suggestion of something rather disgusting in the buckets in his home.
Summary -- He's just a little bit mad at this point
Author’s Note -- I had figured to do something with Al then I thought, no there are one or two things in the first anime that captured my imagination, and this is one of those scenes. I haven't really done much with first anime in a long time. Thanks toevil_little_dog for the beta and to bay115 for finding the screen caps of the room for me (I'll be using them in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fmabigbang as well. Written for fma_fic_contest's 'failed transmutation' prompt and it won second place. The banner is by sonjajade 
XXX
Roy let his head fall back against the edge of the cabinet. Next to him, foul buckets brimming with thick crimson gave off a cloying stink. Above him, his gun rocked on the wood surface. In the back of his mind, Roy still contemplated using it. Every so often, ever since Marcoh had stilled his hand as he stood over the blood stained flooring, ready to pay the price of callused murder, Roy considered kissing the barrel of his service revolver. He knew thousands of Ishbalans would cheer him on.
He couldn't quite get the transmutation to work even though his floors looked as if a lunatic had scribbled on them. That was close to the truth. His home smelled like an abattoir and his body reeked. Oily hair clung to his forehead as he poured over the design once more. Roy couldn't remember the last time he had failed so badly at alchemy. His master had often commented on him being a child prodigy, had grown to fear him when Roy all too easily understood the theory of human transmutation as a child. He'd lost his parents. It was natural that he had wanted to see them again, and he had found those ancient Xerxes tomes in his master's library. His child self had been sure he could do it, up until his master caught him studying it and screamed him stupid. So stupid apparently that he was having difficulty retrieving the suppressed memories of the design.
This was the only way to repay his debt. Whom to bring back first? The doctors he had been ordered to kill? Surely the little girl in the photo he fished from their blood would want to see them again. The little boy he had burned? Why did that boy have a gun? He was far too young. Had he found it? Had older teens given it to him to hold, figuring a kid could get away with it? Why hadn't Roy just targeted the gun? Because he couldn't control his flames that well yet. He had worked on his control feverishly ever since.
Could he bring back all the Ishbalans he killed? No, it probably wasn't feasible, no matter how strong his desire. It would take a life for a life. He wondered if pig or stray alley animal could substitute for human. That's what the buckets were for. If it required his life, then he would only have one shot at it. Maybe the lady doctor. A little girl needs her mom. Roy squeezed his eyes shut, momentarily remembering his own lost parents, then went back to work.
He dipped his pen into the inkwell, but when someone knocked at the door, his exhausted hand scrawled an incoherent line. He abandoned it. There was no point in trying to recover the page. He was on the wrong track. His boots clattered across the floor marked with varying colors of chalk as he tried to make sense of the taboo. Boots? Oh right, he hadn't changed once he got home two days ago. Who the hell would visit him without calling? Riza, of course not. She was more discreet. No, it could only be one person. Roy scrubbed an ink-stained hand over his stubby-ridden chin, then opened the door.
Hughes stood there in an ill-fitting suit, no tie, shirt pulled out. How did Gracia let him out of the house like this? The man never did have any fashion sense. Why the hell was he even thinking about it? He didn't need to ask why Hughes was there. Riza had sent him. She knew what he was up to. He had left enough clues. If he let Hughes in, this would all end. Isn't that why he have even given Riza the smallest of hints? He couldn't stop himself. He needed another Marcoh to stay his hand. If he let Hughes in, his friend would knock sense into him, extract promises in a way that Hughes had and Roy had never understood. He should tell Hughes to go away, take his basket of - was that pie? God it smelled good - and leave him to his work. There was a debt he still needed to pay. It would go forever owed if he let his best friend in.
Hughes's usual cheer frittered away, something grim and horrified flickering in his eyes. Of course, Hughes was taller than him, could see over him. He might not know exactly what Roy was doing, but Riza would probably have filled in some of the details when she asked Maes to check on him. Send him away. Do your penitence.
Roy stepped aside, letting Maes in. Letting the pain, the soul-rending madness, go.
Author--
cornerofmadnessseries -- First anime
Disclaimer -- Arakawa owns them
Rating -- PG-13
Characters/Pairing -- Roy pov
Timeline/Spoilers -- set during the flashback to Roy working with taboo transmutation circles
Word Count -- 787
Warning -- Roy's bad frame of mind and the suggestion of something rather disgusting in the buckets in his home.
Summary -- He's just a little bit mad at this point
Author’s Note -- I had figured to do something with Al then I thought, no there are one or two things in the first anime that captured my imagination, and this is one of those scenes. I haven't really done much with first anime in a long time. Thanks to
evil_little_dog for the beta and to bay115 for finding the screen caps of the room for me (I'll be using them in fmabigbang as well. Written for fma_fic_contest's 'failed transmutation' prompt and it won second place. The banner is by sonjajade 
XXX
Roy let his head fall back against the edge of the cabinet. Next to him, foul buckets brimming with thick crimson gave off a cloying stink. Above him, his gun rocked on the wood surface. In the back of his mind, Roy still contemplated using it. Every so often, ever since Marcoh had stilled his hand as he stood over the blood stained flooring, ready to pay the price of callused murder, Roy considered kissing the barrel of his service revolver. He knew thousands of Ishbalans would cheer him on.
He couldn't quite get the transmutation to work even though his floors looked as if a lunatic had scribbled on them. That was close to the truth. His home smelled like an abattoir and his body reeked. Oily hair clung to his forehead as he poured over the design once more. Roy couldn't remember the last time he had failed so badly at alchemy. His master had often commented on him being a child prodigy, had grown to fear him when Roy all too easily understood the theory of human transmutation as a child. He'd lost his parents. It was natural that he had wanted to see them again, and he had found those ancient Xerxes tomes in his master's library. His child self had been sure he could do it, up until his master caught him studying it and screamed him stupid. So stupid apparently that he was having difficulty retrieving the suppressed memories of the design.
This was the only way to repay his debt. Whom to bring back first? The doctors he had been ordered to kill? Surely the little girl in the photo he fished from their blood would want to see them again. The little boy he had burned? Why did that boy have a gun? He was far too young. Had he found it? Had older teens given it to him to hold, figuring a kid could get away with it? Why hadn't Roy just targeted the gun? Because he couldn't control his flames that well yet. He had worked on his control feverishly ever since.
Could he bring back all the Ishbalans he killed? No, it probably wasn't feasible, no matter how strong his desire. It would take a life for a life. He wondered if pig or stray alley animal could substitute for human. That's what the buckets were for. If it required his life, then he would only have one shot at it. Maybe the lady doctor. A little girl needs her mom. Roy squeezed his eyes shut, momentarily remembering his own lost parents, then went back to work.
He dipped his pen into the inkwell, but when someone knocked at the door, his exhausted hand scrawled an incoherent line. He abandoned it. There was no point in trying to recover the page. He was on the wrong track. His boots clattered across the floor marked with varying colors of chalk as he tried to make sense of the taboo. Boots? Oh right, he hadn't changed once he got home two days ago. Who the hell would visit him without calling? Riza, of course not. She was more discreet. No, it could only be one person. Roy scrubbed an ink-stained hand over his stubby-ridden chin, then opened the door.
Hughes stood there in an ill-fitting suit, no tie, shirt pulled out. How did Gracia let him out of the house like this? The man never did have any fashion sense. Why the hell was he even thinking about it? He didn't need to ask why Hughes was there. Riza had sent him. She knew what he was up to. He had left enough clues. If he let Hughes in, this would all end. Isn't that why he have even given Riza the smallest of hints? He couldn't stop himself. He needed another Marcoh to stay his hand. If he let Hughes in, his friend would knock sense into him, extract promises in a way that Hughes had and Roy had never understood. He should tell Hughes to go away, take his basket of - was that pie? God it smelled good - and leave him to his work. There was a debt he still needed to pay. It would go forever owed if he let his best friend in.
Hughes's usual cheer frittered away, something grim and horrified flickering in his eyes. Of course, Hughes was taller than him, could see over him. He might not know exactly what Roy was doing, but Riza would probably have filled in some of the details when she asked Maes to check on him. Send him away. Do your penitence.
Roy stepped aside, letting Maes in. Letting the pain, the soul-rending madness, go.
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no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 03:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 04:10 am (UTC)thanks
no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 04:03 am (UTC)I love that Hughes brought pie to his little intervention. It's the little things.
I like that Roy's willing to bow to the inevitable once he realizes that Hughes has seen inside. He knows that even if he tried to send him away, there's no way he'd go.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 04:19 am (UTC)I'm at least hoping it's pie (I couldn't quite remember that detail of the scene)
definitely no way Maes was leaving and Roy had to accept that
no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 04:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-30 04:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-01 05:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-01 05:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-01 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-01 06:42 pm (UTC)thanks
no subject
Date: 2012-01-02 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-02 02:36 am (UTC)