31 days: August 9, "Anno mirabilis"

[tarigwaemir]

DeWolfe Apts., on the Feast of St. Romanus

Ah! Running late again! I've learned in the past half-hour that I don't know how to write Full Metal Alchemist at all and should avoid it in the future. >_> But for the sake of continuing my miraculous (hah!) streak of keeping up with the 31_days themes...

Child's Play
Dedicated to jaebi_lit, with whom I once discussed the question of effortless genius

That was the year when it was fashionable to dabble in alchemy, and Roy Mustang, even at the precocious age of thirteen, was very preoccupied with fashion. "Watch this," he said to a crowd of adoring girls and sketched out a simple array to transform sand into a glittering string of glass beads.

"How beautiful!"

"Child's play!" interrupted a voice from behind. "A mere application of heat, a few lines to ensure the form. You copied the array from a book, didn't you?"

Her name and face would later fade from memory, but her words remained, and that evening, he stayed up all night reading what thick dusty tomes on transmutation theory he could obtain from his father's library. By the next month, he drew another array, etching it lightly on a circle of glass, and designed a self-focusing lens, one that adjusted its curvature to the object under observation. It shattered in the first half-hour of testing, but he only clutched his hair and went to research glassblowing and internal stresses.

In a matter of months, he had gone from glass and lenses to the study of combustion. At the end of the year, when he applied to enter the National Alchemical Academy--at this point, his experiments had ceased to be a hobby--he had already drawn the first drafts of the array that would become his signature mark.

"Ingenious work," said the chief examiner. "What creativity!"

"You flatter me, sir," he answered demurely. "I hope to accomplish much more under your tutelage. This, after all, is merely child's play."

END

Yours &c.

Comments

[tryogeru.livejournal.com]

EEeee!! Roy-sama! Mr. One-Eye himself!

Luv luv luved this one. Soo~ Roy. All that effort to seem so nonchalant. It's great.

[tryogeru.livejournal.com]

oh man, I don't remember if I ever told you this, but I really like how you have a knack for capturing a character in a line or so, in your drabbles. And I don't know if it is just me being crazy, but I swear the part of the character you capture best are the ones that are like *you*. Um... Don't know if that makes sense...

Whee~ hyper!

[troisroyaumes]

Haha, probably because I write best about things I know? Anyway, thanks muchly Tryo-chan.

[zauberer-sirin.livejournal.com]

A great look at Roy. It satisfies me, and that is saying a lot, I almost never ever like other people´s visions on Roy. But this is a great mix of Roy and alchemy, of how Roy goes beyond and challenges himself and others, and at the same time, he comes wrapped in this shallowness aura that leads people to the wrong conclusions about him. I love how this captures the feeling of Roy always getting things done easily, even if it hurts a bit to aknowledge it. My favourite line is:

oy Mustang, even at the precocious age of thirteen, was very preoccupied with fashion

I don´t think it´s particulary true in my view of the character but I love the ring of it, your writing is always brilliant.

But I digress. In short: excellent work on a hard subject.

[troisroyaumes]

XD I'm so glad you liked it! I remember reading your essay on Roy (linked from obakesan), and part of this may have been influenced by it. I agree that Roy (well, the grown-up Roy) isn't the type to pay attention to fashion, but I speculated that perhaps he in his younger, 13-year old form, may have been the type to keep on top of trends. ^_^;; Thank you for your comments!

[zauberer-sirin.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I´m glad some of what I wanted with that essay came through. I think you manage to capture the feeling of Roy being a complete dork (as seen in the manga) but somehow making dorkiness look cool. Yes, in my mind a teenager Roy is torn between being such a geek (i mean...alchemy! it´s like being in the science club in high school -and to make things worse Roy is also in the chess club!) and being worried about what other people thinks, as all teenagers do.

[measuringlife.livejournal.com]

♥ Very nice introspective of Roy ~ Last line ties it in beautifully :3

[troisroyaumes]

Thanks! Very glad you liked it. ^_^

[marici.livejournal.com]

*grins* Fun snippet, thanks!

[troisroyaumes]

Glad you liked! XD

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

If this isn't how Roy Mustang is, it's how he ought to be. I love that that girl, the catalyst, doesn't even have a name. And that the work is easy only because Roy makes it easy.

[troisroyaumes]

Yes, that's exactly what I think of Roy; he wants to accomplish everything with flair. XD Thanks for commenting!

[geekette.livejournal.com]

How like Roy-sama to be "very preoccupied with fashion"!

Funny line aside, you've really got him down pat in this fic. (:

[troisroyaumes]

^_^ Whew, that's good to hear. I've never written for FMA before so I was nervous about my characterization. I'm relieved that it came off as believable.

[geekette.livejournal.com]

:D

I love it.

Then again, at the expense of sounding like a rabid fanwhore, I love Roy-sama too! -blushes madly-

[ayatsujik.livejournal.com]

I think the girl is brill. Really enjoyed this!

[troisroyaumes]

Heh, anyone who manages to puncture Roy's ego is pretty awesome. ^_^ Glad you liked!

[aetherangelette.livejournal.com]

FMA is popular, too. ~.___.~ Tho I don't see how this and the answer I gave you match up. I like the beginning and the end. The middle seems a bit drawn out... Too long sentences. I feel shorter sentences might have been better for something light and quick, like a transmutation. Iono, going off here. (Shorter sentences to reflect the theme of the drabble?)

[troisroyaumes]

O_o The voice adopted in the drabble requires long sentences. You haven't watched FMA have you? Transmutation isn't light or quick, and I was trying to match the feel of the series. Well, I don't know if I succeeded, but short sentences wouldn't have quite worked. It wasn't taken from your answer; I ended up writing something different after all. (I was originally going to write for Ed, instead of Roy.)

[troisroyaumes]

I forgot to add though that you are right in that I have a problem with wordiness. I just don't agree that shorter would have been more appropriate to the theme. ^_^ (Hey, I do think quite a bit about these things before I write them you know. It's not all slapdash improvisation. XD)