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altruistic-meme · 6 months

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twenty questions for fic writers

i got tagged by @irregularcollapse thank you!

How many works do you have on AO3?

currently, I'm at 33 on my main account and another 3 that are under a pseud :)

What’s your total AO3 word count?

166,992 in total!

What fandoms do you write for?

as of right now, i'd say i write for All For The Game, Captive Prince, and Young Royals. i have kind of written a little for Good Omens, but i'm not really counting it bc i'm not sure i'll ever finish it or post it. and i used to write for Yuri!!! On Ice and Hetalia as well, but i don't anymore (and likely never will again).

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

oh man, i was actually kind of surprised about the last two!

the beginnings just another end (Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Yuri!!! On Ice) Victor Nikiforov has friends. He's four time world champion, figure skating god, beloved by most. He's won more medals than he knows what to do with, has more fans than anyone could count, and more money than he could ever possibly spend all of. Only one problem; Victor Nikiforov has no friends. So, he searches for some. And he finds them in a group chat room titled "crazy people talk about figure skating".

(why is there) joy in this poison (Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, All For the Game) Because for as much as Kevin would talk to Andrew about the Ravens, whine about Riko, warn him about Tetsuji, explain to him why he trusted Jean… he had never really mentioned Nathaniel. In a story, once or twice. In passing, perhaps a few times. And Andrew found that he trusted Nathaniel less each and every time he heard the name. Andrew is propositioned at a summer exy banquet, and a deal is proposed.

The Bet (Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, All For the Game) Andrew decides it's finally time to introduce his partner Neil to the Foxes on a summer weekend vacation, but Nicky has a better plan.

running from my heart (Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Yuri!!! On Ice) When Victor arrives the night before the men's short programs at the Grand Prix Final, he's not expecting to run into another skater. Or run into him again. Or again.

Vicchan's Pet Café (Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Yuri!!! On Ice) "It's alright, really. It allowed me to get a closer look at your gorgeous brown eyes." Wow. Wow Victor. Victor Nikiforov, five time Emmy Award winner, actor in countless romances, well-known playboy, just made the most ridiculous pick-up line that could have possibly come from that moment. In which Victor is an actor, Yuuri owns a café, and their dogs just want them to be together.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i try to, but i am incredibly bad at it :') i always want to reply, even if it's something small like just a "<3" or "thanks!" but i often forget to reply for a long time. or at all.

but i always try my absolute best to reply to comments with questions or any that really touch me in some way

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

in general, i do try not to write angsty endings (although i know i've had some ideas for some, just never written the)

however, that said, swaying as the room burned down is still the worst i've written! it does come with the knowledge that things get better, having been written as a missing scene from yr2 which ends better than the fic leaves off, but the fic itself still ends in a pretty sad place.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

honestly? Where There is Love, There is Life. the entire fic was meant to be pure fluff and sweetness. most of my fics have happy endings (when i actually. ended them.) and i do have some other fics that were meant to just be fluff, but i think this one takes the cake.

Do you get hate on fics?

no, i haven't! i've gotten some... sort of mean-spirited comments or comments that come across that way, but i don't think they were really meant as hate so much as the tone fell flat.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

i have not. yet. i have one WIP that will have smut at some point in it, but that's the only one i have planned and i haven't gotten to that point in writing it yet!

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

not really. i think i did, a very long time ago, but i can't remember it at all.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of, and also i sure hope not.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

not that i'm really aware of, but i think it'd be cool!

What’s your all-time favorite ship?

that's tough. it's probably Andreil, though. just everything about their relationship, from beginning to end of the series, is so so good and they've always meant so much to me as characters.

What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

the beginnings just another end. i really wish i could've finished it sooner. it was my first long fic, and it kept the status as my longest fic for years. i still remember how it was meant to end, too. ultimately, if i ever even write YOI again, i think i'd rather rewrite the entire story than just finish it as is. but i really don't think i'll ever complete it.

What are your writing strengths?

Cliffhangers. Dialogue. Humor, at least in my opinion. Ideas galore.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Consistency. i have terrible memory and will often write something in, planning to make use of it later in the story, and then completely forget about it.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

ouhhhh it depends. my opinion on it has changed from when i was younger. i think it can add to the story, like if it's used because the POV character doesn't know the language, but in general i'd prefer not to do it (especially since i'm monolingual rip ;;;)

First fandom you wrote for?

ahhhhhhh Hetalia

Favorite fic you’ve written?

without a doubt, (why is there) joy in this poison. it means so much to me i cannot even begin to explain it. and even aside from that, the story itself is something i LOVE rereading since it was written to my own tastes, and every time i look back in the story to fact-check myself, i end up getting lost in the story again and again. it also makes me feel so good about my writing, it's such a confidence boost and rereading it helps me realize why people actually like my writing!

i'm going to tag @daylightsimon @zee-has-commitment-issues and @spaghett-onaplate for this if you guys want to <3

#tag game #also like. i think somewhere a question was lost bc there are only 19 questions dkhgdg #shhh we will continue saying 20 questions anyway its ok #i cannot believe that tbjae STILL has more kudos than (wit)jitp skvhhrg #then again i guess i started it way back in the height of the yoi fandom and it has been posted for Much Longer #so like fair. i guess. but MAN the difference in QUALITY between those two fics dskhskhg #also being exposed by all of my yoi fics. most of my posted fics are yoi.#literally 24/36 are yoi WOW #ok anyway #i need to try and get some writing done this morning <3 lesgo #shh ac

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deltastorm101 · 3 years

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So, I tried to calculate Control...

... and its Epic Games deal, with the help of my certified smooth brain™ and probably incorrect sources. I started this last night hella tired and with a headache, I have finished it up today hella tired and with a headache, and this is what I produced: bullshit! :D But hey, at least double checked bullshit that’s open for discussion and contribution and expansion. Also, I probably won’t list the sources because a) I’m lazy and b) I didn’t have to dig thaaat deep down to find all this so if you really wanna know you could probably hit google with it as well. Anyhow here we go lol So, the initial thought which got all of this rolling was the 2020-wrap-up-post Remedy linked on their twitter, and Epic’s linked publishing announcement in it: studios Remedy, Playdead and GenDesign will release their next next-gen games with Epic. Now, we all know Remedy are working on some sort of Alan Wake-ish thing as we speak (right? right?? god I hope so), which meanssss our boy will most likely be an Epic exclusive. Which makes me kinda sad because, well. I’m deep in Steam’s ass. Hell, I waited for Control for a full year before I played it because they can pry the Steam version from my cold dead hands. So I asked myself... was it worth it for them? How much money did they throw at Remedy (and 505 Games) to have them play along? Would they have reached more people from the get-go if they had released it on Steam right away? Did the individual programmer, designer, writer, artist, person behind it profit from this at all? (Also, like, about the rights and copyright thing,,,,, you’d think they could have learned from Alan Wake and its IP belonging to Microsoft and so not really being able to do anything more with it because they don’t ‘own’ it and shit) buuut anyway that’s not the point of this post, now it’s time to do some MATH BABEY

Ok, let’s start with some things we know. Facts. Figures. Data. Turns out my initial question, how much money was involved, could be answered by doing one (1) google search: according to Wikipedia, Epic gave Remedy and 505 Games €9.49mio. The total budget for the game was €26.9mio over the course of 3 years of development. We know that as of December 2020, over 2mio copies of the game were sold, with November 2020 being the best-selling month ever since its initial release in August 2019. This is where question 1) comes into play: how many of those 2 million copies were sold in 2019 and how many in 2020? Stay tuned, I think I found out.

We know that Remedy gets to keep 45% of the revenue, which, I assumed, means that 505 keeps the remaining 55% (probably a lot more going on there but shhh). We know that Control’s sales cooked up €17.84mio in 2019 (so months September – December), €17.7mio of those in the first month alone (O.O). Side note: because it came out at the very end of August, I’ll ignore that month and declare September the first sales month.

We know that 60% of sales in 2019 were digital ones (aka Epic Store, mostly), 40% physical ones (consoles PS4 and XB1), while in 2020, only 10% of sales were physical and a whopping 90% digital; which is people on Epic who wanted to get their hands on the first DLC and – you guessed it – the Steam release of the Ultimate Edition in August 2020.

Which begs question 2): what’s bigger, 60% of 2019 sales because ‘ooh shiny new game’, or 90% of 2020 sales because ‘yay steam release’? The answer may look obvious, but you have to take into account the dropping price, which I also researched for your pleasure and enjoyment.

For this I used a German website called idealo.de, which focuses on looking for the best deals for basically anything you can buy on the internet, and it also gives you diagrams that describe at which point in time the product was at which exact price. This is what it gave me: - release price: €60 - December 2019: €41 (PS4)/€44 (XB1) - mid-2020: €30 - Ultimate Edition release: €30 - December 2020: €14 (PS4)/€18 (XB1)/€30 (Ultimate Editions) At this point I was like “lol hold on i need chocolate for this cuz i’ll be here for some time *sweating*”

To continue this mess™, I see more questions: 3) How many employees does Remedy have, which positions do they work in and what are their salaries? 4) How many employees does 505 have, which positions and salaries do they have? 5) What’s the total revenue that Control has generated so far?

And also some more stuff like, are my numbers accurate, am I even grasping these concepts correctly, are there even more people involved or am I just trying to explain complete crap (yes) but let’s just ignore all of that shall we. At that point I went “oh shit what have i gotten myself into, this screen does not get my point across, i need pen and paper” and you know shit is gonna go DOWN when I do math on paper.

My paper math birthed the following calculation:

Following this up, we can calculate the end-of-2019 sales, if we set the price for September and October to €60, for November and December to approx. €45:

Now, you might notice that one of those numbers is big and the other is HUGE. Why might that be? Well...

- Covid19: everyone stayed at home and needed video games to play - More sale months of the year, naturally - dropping price: why get it for €60 when you can get it for 20 - Ultimate Edition: why buy it in June when you get more content in August aaaand... - it comes out on Steam.

With this in mind, let’s see what questions we can answer: 1) 661,110 copies in 2019; 1,338,889 copies in 2020 2) 60% digital sales in 2019 means 396,666 Epic copies; 90% digital sales in 2020 means 1,205,000 copies – most of it from Steam? Some of it? A good chunk? The bigger chunk? There’s no way of really knowing for sure but... you could read this into it. I definitely am. 3) Google told me Remedy had a little over 250 employees at the end of 2019... 4) ... and 505 has less than 100. I found no good sources for this, I think linkedin said 37, someone else said 50. I’ll just use the 50 figure, idk. No idea man. and for 5) I’ll contradict my point that the Steam release is what knocked the sales out of the park and assume that the number of sold copies stayed the same across all 12 months of 2020, which gives us this:

Ok and now we’re getting into the most dangerous of danger zones because I have no idea how companies or capitalism work, so for educated people™, the remaining calculations might read like a toddler wrote them; I apologize profusely and hereby present last night’s brain vomit:

As stated earlier, development took 3 years, but everyone wanted to get paid in 2020 as well so let’s use 4 years to find out the salaries, which is 48 months. Let’s assume the utopian idea that every employee on the line here gets the exact same amount of money (LOL ikr but shhhh, let’s live out our dirtiest equality fantasies for a second ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)). Which would mean...

And now without the Epic Deal™:

Quod erat demonstrandum. Remedy has been selling their souls to Epic for €350 a month since 2017. (I don’t mean this as maliciously as I’m making it sound, don’t worry xD)

OKAY SO, O B V I O U S L Y, I have not the slightest idea what on earth I’m talking about so read this like you’d read a good fanfiction. We don’t know the different salaries across the different positions (and genders HAH), we don’t know if other parties were involved, I’ve completely ignored the sum that Epic themselves get, I have ignored taxes, I don’t know if my numbers are accurate (they’re definitely not I mean 505 must have more employees than 50), if I made mistakes (yes), and also somewhere along the way I forgot to use the €26.9mio budget figure because, uuh, I have no idea where to use it, what it means, where did it come from, where did it go, cotton eye joe - but oh well, I’m not starting over, take it or leave it.

So... I can now officially say I have written hot steamy economics fic xD Man I put waaay too much time into this but damn was it fun. Good three-hour-deep-dive (two of them spent munching on chocolate half-asleep listening to psytrance to keep my brain twitchy). Real-life-theorizing. Fuck capitalism. Don’t do drugs. Pet a cat. Wear your mask. Call your grandparents.

If there’s typos in this I’m sorry but also I’m not, I can’t be bothered to proofread again lol. Goodnight imma catch up on the sleep I lost. Gotta love full moons

#this is the first post in ages in which i used punctuation and capitalization are you proud of me xD #dw it won’t stay like this #control #control remedy #alan wake #ok now go yell at me how stupidly wrong and dumb this is i’m ready #do you think my old math teacher would be proud #i think so #my economics teacher... not so much

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ladydragonhawke · 4 years

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Breath of the Dragon Chapter 5: Blood and Grass

A Fullmetal Alchemist fanfic

20 years later after saving all of Amestris, the Elric brothers may have gotten themselves into something worse than human transmutation. Only the strength of their wit and knowledge they gained through their travels can aid them in the trials to come. They'll have to do more than just save Amestris this time, and this time alchemy can do more harm than good.

“Well this is a surprise, normally you’re not dressed till you’ve eaten. Something’s wrong, what is it? The dignitaries?” Lan Fan pondered as she took the nearest seat at a lavishly decorated table. Ling huffed in frustration at the complexity of his royal footwear that was beginning to get him flustered, but that wasn’t the sole reason. “Did you sense or feel anything odd last night?” he huffed, trying to keep his composure.

Chapter 1: A Little Tremor

Chapter 2: It Opens at the Close

Chapter 3: Blood of the Sage

Chapter 4: Only the Scent

Chapter 5: Blood and Grass

After sleeping for a collective twelve hours on the trains to Resembool, Alphonse was the first of the brothers to wake. “How close are we?” he grumbled, rubbing his eyes to remove the slight build up of sleep. Lan Fan put down the book she was reading and looked at him with a fond smile.

“Well good morning. We’re about four hours into the train to Resembool at the moment.” She informed in a hushed tone, pointing to his sleeping brother.

“Oh, when did we switch trains?” he asked in an equally hushed voice after taking notice. He adjusted the blanket to cover Edward more thoroughly.

“I didn’t want to wake the both of you, so these two just carried you both onto the next one.” She patted the shoulder of Zampano who was also reading his own book after losing one too many games of poker to Jerso.

“Sorry Al. You looked damn tired.” He said in a hushed gruff voice.

“Don’t worry about it.” Alphonse waved his apology away with a limp hand as he took note of the books both of them were reading. “Studying up huh?”

“Always a good idea to know ones enemy.” Lan Fan stated flatly, turning to the next page.

“We don’t know what it is just yet. Friend or foe. We won’t know till we can contact it. It’s sentient, that much is sure, but we still don’t know its motivations. It speaks Drachma, that much is also clear. I know Ed visited there for about ten years before he was banned from the country.” Alphonse gave a sigh.

“What? How’d he get banned?” Lan Fan chuckled.

“The real question is, why did they wait ten years to finally ban him? He’s never gone into much detail with me on it. I guess it’s a touchy subject for him.” Alphonse gave Edward a glance of concern and pondered over just what sort of trouble he had gotten himself into.

“You haven’t asked?” Lan Fan clarified, she set the book in her lap keeping a thumb on the page she was currently on as she now took to studying the expression on Alphonse’s face.

“He’ll tell me, when he’s ready.” He sighed heavily once more before returning his attention to Lan Fan who was confused on the matter but decided it was best not to pry. Not yet anyway. “Whelp, time to get some breakfast, or is it lunch/dinner?” he asked in a whisper.

“Dinner for you.” Lan Fan chuckled. “The bar could whip something up for you if you ask them. They were kind enough to let me have some toast earlier.”

“Thanks, come get me when he wakes up ok? I have a few things I need to talk to him about before we get to Resembool.” He moved to open the door of the cabin but was stopped by a slight cough from Lan Fan. As he turned to face her, he noted the expression of worry written on her face.

“There was something that happened while you were sleeping. Mustang informed Ed that the dragon had been shot twice during its flight. No one has been injured yet but that’s all we’ve got so far.” She informed quickly.

“Shit!” Alphonse hissed between his clenched teeth. “I hope this dragon doesn’t die before we can get to it.”

“I’m not sure if it can even die at all. Remember the water?” Lan Fan whispered.

“I do. Something to think about. I’ll be back.” At the moment his grumbling stomach called for his attention rather than a long conversation on what this could possibly mean for their relations with the dragon. He cursed again as he shut the cabin door and marched toward the dining car, ignoring the passengers as he went. He took no notice of the three men that were seated close to each other as they watched him travel toward the dining car in a huff. He also didn’t take notice of them talking to each other after he passed in hushed tones.

After deciding to order some scrambled eggs and a bloody mary because, why not, he began to mull things over more thoroughly than if he had on an empty stomach. He suddenly saw a familiar shape in the corner of his eye and turned to face the oncoming person.

“ALPHONSE!” Mei shouted and rushed at him with open arms. He in turn stood and embraced her with a strong hug.

“Shhh, Mei you’ll wake people on the train. Why are you here? I thought you were still visiting the western area of Amestris with Dr. Marcoh.” Alphonse asked while giving his wife a romantic peck on the cheek eliciting her to immediately melt further into his arms.

“I was getting homesick and wanted to visit Hughes and little Nina. But what are you doing here? I thought you were staying home for the holidays this year?” she asked leaning back from their embrace to give him some space so she could look him better in the eyes.

“Well, uh, it’s um. Rather complicated.” He stammered. “But I’ll explain, I promise. Come with me to our cabin, it’ll be a bit cramped and brother is asleep, but it’ll be better to talk there than out here.” Alphonse gave a glance around the car, breathing a sigh of relief that only a few people were in and mostly toward the back of the car.

“Alphonse just what sort of trouble did you two get yourselves into now?” she scolded.

“We don’t go around looking for trouble, I swear!” Alphonse remarked. “Besides I’m not the one banned from a country at the moment.”

“Still hasn’t talked to you about it, has he?” Mei frowned. Inside she had hoped Edward would open up about whatever had happened to him in the north. She witnessed one or two times when he would wake with a start and drenched in a cold sweat. He would wave it off as a nightmare from when Father was trying to transmute all of Amestris to make himself a God, but she knew better.

Without any protests she followed the guiding hand of Alphonse back to their cabin, again taking no notice of the now four people sitting together and whispering amongst each other. Alphonse may not have noticed, but Mei did. Her years of being paranoid while searching for the key of immortality trained her well to notice her surroundings. She took mental note and promised to herself to bring it up to Alphonse when she could. They returned to the cabin to still find Edward slumped against the window completely passed out, and everyone else reading their books. Lan Fan looked up and at first smiled then grew stern, after a beat went back to smiling and greeted Mei in a formal way. Since Lan Fan was a higher member of Emperor Ling’s court, she demanded the most respect of the two. Mei bowed formally in reply with a “My Lady” as pleasantly as she could. While the two had made up for past hatred, they still couldn’t quite stand to be around one another. Alphonse broke up the tension as he tried to scoot the unconscious body of Edward closer to the window to make room for Mei. This of course did nothing to upset his current state of slumber and continued lightly snoring against the cold glass. She took a seat next to him and lightly folded her hands in her lap while keeping an eye on the door of the cabin as she felt a presence pass by rather slowly. Alphonse cleared his throat to garner her attention as she spun her head to look at a now curious Alphonse. He could read her well enough, this she knew as she adjusted in her seat and formulated her words carefully.

“It seems you have a following.” She whispered.

“I’m aware of them.” Lan Fan informed flatly, returning absentmindedly to her book.

“When were you going to tell me?” asked Alphonse.

“When I could gather a bit more information. Why do you think I keep making trips to the dining car? It’s not just to eat and grab a drink. I even go that way to make a bathroom run. I can’t make out anything they’re saying but all I know is they’re watching us very closely. Anything you’re about to tell Mei, you may want to say it in a whisper.”

“Fuck that.” Remarked Alphonse as he clapped his hands together and placed them on the wall behind him. Suddenly the walls of the room became heavily padded, even the floor and ceiling along with the door itself was padded thickly with a fabric the same color as the seats. He turned back around with a smile. “There, soundproofed.” Mei gave him a look of mild appreciation and proceeded to poke one of the cushions.

“Should’ve done that when we got here.” Lan Fan remarked under her breath, mostly to herself. The only person in the cabin that could perform alchemy was asleep for most of the ride.

“Now we can talk normally.” Alphonse said cheerfully, proud of his thoughtfulness.

“Want me to stand guard or keep watch out there?” Asked Jerso, who was getting rather bored of reading a history book on Xing.

“Just stay in here, I think it’s too late for that at the moment.” Stated Lan Fan. She relaxed more now that there was a sound barrier between them and the people outside the cabin.

Alphonse began with the phone call from Ling, and with intermittent input from Lan Fan, he laid out all that had happened within the past few days. She only asked a few questions here and there that he answered to the best of his ability. She sat in shock of the information revealed to her and mulled it over as she fidgeted with her hands in her lap. After a few moments Alphonse laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and she wasted no time in giving him a loving embrace.

“I’m worried about you two. Just what’s going to happen now? What will you do when you get there?” she asked timidly looking into his eyes for an answer.

“We’re not too sure ourselves. The first thing we want to do is try to make contact with it and see if it’s willing to communicate with us. If not… well. I’m not too sure. Ed had an idea to show her this.” He pulled out a wrinkled picture of his father crying in a family photo with their baby selves being held by Hohenheim and their mother. She inspected the photo and handed it back, she was already familiar with it after it was hung in the Rockbell home nearly every time she visited.

“Why do you have it now? I thought it was…”

“Still at home, I know. I took it on my last stint to Xing, I don’t know why. Just felt like carrying it around for a while. Don’t tell Ed.” He gave a forlorn look at the still sleeping Edward against the wall. “He still holds some resentment against dad, even after all these years.”

“I understand Al. I won’t. Now, you said this thing was heavily injured?” she asked changing the subject so that Alphonse wouldn’t linger too long on a subject he was still tender about.

“Yes, it was. I have no idea if it’s still flying or if it’s died already from its injuries.” He sighed.

“Will this help?” she reached into her clutch bag to bring out a vial with a small amount of red liquid within it. Alphonse turned to her in shock.

“Where did you get that? I thought only Dr. Marcoh carried that. Why is it smaller?” he inspected the vial and turned it over in his hand.

“Dr. Marcoh decided we could cover more ground by separating the philosophers stone into two separate pieces.” She informed with slight pride in her inflection. Alphonse kissed her directly on the lips in a quick and passionate manner.

“I love you, have I mentioned that lately?” he happily remarked. She sighed and melted in her seat at the praise as he continued to eye the vial and the liquid stone within. “I’ll have to ask him how he managed to do that when I see him next, but this should help heal the dragon at least. If we manage to get to it on time.”

Edward then began to stir from his slumber and sat up slowly, cracking his neck as he moved. “Just what the hell is going on? Can’t a guy get some sleep?” he turned to look at Alphonse and rubbed his eyes to remove the foggy filter he seemed to have gained while sleeping. He found that not just Alphonse was sitting next to him but Mei as well. “Oh, hi Mei, didn’t know you were on the train. How’s studying with Dr. Marcoh going?” As he asked, he noticed what Alphonse was holding in his hand and promptly threw the blanket off of himself to try to take it to get a better look. “Where did you get that?” He asked with shock.

For a few minutes they talked about the possible uses of the liquid stone when they arrived at Resembool, it wasn’t long until the intercom finally recited the long-awaited words.

“Next stop Resembool, next stop Resembool.”

Edward, Alphonse, Lan Fan, and Mei all gathered the lighter bags and possessions and began to file out of the train, leaving Zampano and Jerso to get the few heavy bags that were left. The soldiers that were escorting them also got off with them and informed Edward and Alphonse of their orders from Fuhrer Roy Mustang. As Alphonse was changing the cabin back to its normal state, he turned to look through the cabin, he couldn’t see anyone suspicious of note as he hopped off the train. He wouldn’t notice because the men in question were off of the train before they were. Waiting patiently in a far corner, watching them intently. As Edward went to the ticket booth to ask for a phone, he was stopped by a soldier from the Resembool station.

“Evening boys, just wanted to let you know something big crashed near your house Ed. We sent some guys down to take a look about twenty minutes ago and should be coming… hey where are you going?!” Edward took off toward the awaiting car that Jerso had ready and everyone that could fit filed in. They screeched out of the station at full speed toward the Rockbell home, not stopping for anything. The soldiers that were assigned to accompany them hurriedly arranged for a car to be brought to them. No one noticed two black cars with men inside follow the brothers at a distance.

***

After stuffing another two towels into the bowels of the bloody dragon she began using a small rag to disinfect the wound in small dabs. Granny Pinako appeared at her side holding a glass of water.

“Granny go back inside, I’ve got this. I just want you to watch the kids.” She whispered softly, still trying her best to not upset the passed-out dragon.

“Nonsense, I’m not staying inside while you risk your neck for a monster. I’ll help in whatever way I can. Drink this, my arm is getting tired.” She whispered back.

Setting down the cloth on a stack of towels she gratefully accepted the glass and downed it entirely in one long gulp. She handed it back to Granny Pinako and immediately went back to dabbing around where she had left off. “I can’t even begin to know where to start on this thing Granny. Just look at it. How’s it still alive after taking this much damage?”

Before Granny could answer the head of the dragon stirred and slowly lifted, it coughed more blood and spittle as it limply looked around.

“ya zdes'. Gde ty? Pozhaluysta…” it coughed again, sending blood splattering on the side of the house. It then turned its attention to the two foggy beings at its belly. “pozhaluysta, voz'mi menya k nemu. YA dolzhen uvidet' yego.” The two beings stepped back as one began talking to it, but its sound was muffled, and the language was in a tongue it didn’t recognize. Frustrated the dragon huffed and attempted to stand on its legs. It could hear loud shouts coming from one of the beings below, but it had to move. The scent was so close, so near to where it had landed, crashed to be more accurate. It managed to stand on its forelimbs, but the hind legs would not respond in kind. It craned its neck to examine the state the hind legs were in but couldn’t focus. Everything was in a fog that couldn’t be shaken off, no matter how hard it tried. Panting hard from the effort it attempted to drag its hind legs in the direction of the scent. It felt the touch of something small on its right foreleg that looked to be one of the small beings. It was saying something in a calm and soothing voice. What it was saying was unknown, but it was reassuring to the dragon.

“YA dolzhen nayti yego.” It stated with a grumble. Blood dripped from its open maw as it continued to drag itself to follow the scent. Without warning its left forelimb gave out and the dragon toppled over onto its left side, thankfully avoiding the smaller beings on its right side. It merely grumbled as it fell, not having the strength to roar in pain. Its left wing laid limply across the open field and the other arched over its body in a protective manner. An instinct that could never be shaken. Two bright white lights appeared to be coming closer at a rapid rate. The dragon growled low and deep in its throat but couldn’t manage anything more than that. The small being that was speaking soft and sweetly to it began running toward the bright lights. The dragon wished to move in a way to try to protect the small being but all it could do was slightly lift its head and bare its fangs.

“Wait! Don’t shoot! Please!” Winry shouted at the top of her lungs at the oncoming car. It stopped directly in front of her as Amestrian soldiers filed out of the car and gawked at the bloodied dragon laying on the ground and snarling at them. “Winry Elric! Just what the hell is going on? What happened? What the hell is this thing?” A soldier that Winry recognized walked toward her while never taking his eyes off the dragon.

“Please, whatever you do don’t shoot it. It crashed here not too long ago and is bleeding extremely bad and can barely move. I’m doing my best to give it aid but I don’t want you all coming in here and shooting at it. It’s not attacking anything, please. Is my husband with you?” she spoke quickly and tried to peer into the car to see if Edward had accompanied them. She was 60% sure he had something to do with this dragon on their front lawn. The soldier shook his head so as to redirect his attention to Winry.

“N-no he’s not. We were only ordered to keep track of an unknown aircraft flying in this general direction. We thought it crashed when we felt the rumbling. No one said anything about a fucking dragon! I’ll have to get on the horn and ask for further instructions. Not too far behind them another car could be seen barreling toward them.

“Is that one of yours?” Winry pointed at the new oncoming car.

“Not sure, get back Mrs. Elric. Continue with, whatever the hell it was you were doing. We’ll run interference. Just please try not to get eaten.” He began giving orders to the few soldiers with him to spread out and secure the surrounding area as he waited on the road for the car to arrive. Winry ran back toward the dragon who turned their head towards her and growled lowly. She panicked and began softly talking to the beast.

“Shhh, it’s alright. It’s only me. I’m here and I’m not going to hurt you. All I want to do is help you.” She spoke softly. This seemed to calm the dragon who lowered its lips over its fangs and instead tried to focus its attention on the other foggy beings that the other was talking to. This proved difficult as its eyes grew heavy with sleep and its head slowly lowered onto the ground.

Winry tried to keep it awake by shouting at it but after a few minutes and realizing it was only just sleeping she returned to address the now free bleeding wounds that had opened up after its attempt to stand and walk. The blood was flowing steadily and in streams, she placed a hand over her mouth and let out a choked cry. She didn’t know what to do, it was too much. She didn’t have enough cloth and not enough supplies to even address most of what she was looking at. While the holes were still packed with towels, they did little to block the organs that shifted during the move. More of what could be guessed was intestine dangled out of the lower hole nearly wrapping around its hind legs. Granny Pinako was by her side in moments and laid a supportive hand on her lower back.

“I’m not sure this is one we can save Winry.” She said softly, knowing it would upset her.

“I can’t give up, but Granny,” she paused to wipe away a few tears, “I don’t even know where to begin now. It’s even worse than it was before. What do I do?” She looked down with tears streaking down her cheeks for some words of comfort or encouragement. Just then a familiar voice shouted behind her.

“Winry!” Edward called from behind the first parked car. He ran up but stopped halfway between the car and her to stare at the downed dragon. “Holy shit.” He mumbled under his breath. Winry ran to him and hugged him in a strong embrace that they both shared for more than a few minutes. “I see you tried to patch it up. Never change Winry.” Edward gave her a kiss on her forehead as she let out a choked sob.

“I don’t know what else to do. I had everything under control until it tried to get up.” She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands as she looked to him for guidance. He took her by the shoulders and gave her a smile.

“Don’t worry, we ran into Mei on the train here and she has something that should help us.” He smiled and turned to let Winry see Mei walking up to them while focusing on the sight of the dragon before her.

“You weren’t kidding Al. This thing is massive!” she exclaimed. Edward tried to make a motion for her to be quieter but Winry shook her head at him.

“I couldn’t wake it up when I screamed at it. I think we’re ok for the moment. What is it that you brought?” Winry asked giving a sad smile to Mei who brandished her philosopher’s stone. Winry gawked at it for a moment then turned to Edward.

“But I don’t know if it’ll work. It’s worse than it was before, will it be enough?” she asked with a slight hoarse voice.

“I certainly hope so.” Said Alphonse as he joined them. “Or we’ll have slayed a dragon that didn’t need slaying just yet. Ready Mei?” He extended his hand to Mei who took it firmly, ready for the task at hand.

During this, no one noticed two vehicles with their headlights turned off drive around behind the Rockbell home. No one noticed the dark figures that filed out of the cars and peered around the edge of the house to take in the scene. They readied themselves, whispering to each other and going back and forth from the car carrying weapons. This wasn’t the sort of homecoming party that most people would look forward to, but one that was sure to leave an impression.

#fullmetal #fullmetal alchemist #fullmetal alchimist brotherhood #Fullmetal Alchemist fanfic #Edward Elric #Alphonse elric #Winry Rockbell #pinako rockbell #alex louis armstrong #lan fan #Emperor Ling Yao #the power went out #but it's fine

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