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So a few months back, Chirachirarara and I are talking, and she mentions dogtags to me. In summary:
Her: [insert babble about Roy and sexiness]
Me: ...... [insert Big Nastybad Spoiler]
She wibbled at me a lot, and then ran off to start the dogtag-smut revolution. XD
I wrote this.
MAJOR ENORMOUS HUGE SPOILERS for episode 25 and/or chapter 15 of the manga. Uuuuu. x_x
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dogtags
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Alicia Hughes had two things she never took off: an friendship bracelet that one of her friends had made for her for her tenth birthday, and a set of dog tags that she kept out of sight, under her shirts and close to her heart.
"They belonged to your father," Uncle Roy had told her, when he'd given them to her. "I don't know if he would've wanted you to have them, but they are for you, regardless."
In truth, she hardly remembered the man who'd been her father. Photographs of him still remained in the house, including a large family portrait over the fireplace. In every one, he looked kind, smiling like the happiest man in the world.
"If Papa loved us so much, why did he leave?" she asked her mother once, as they made dinner. She had been very young, she remembered, with the dog tags burning against her skin in a newly-made secret. "Why didn't he stay?"
Her mother, beautiful and lonely and sad, had stopped and smiled with the echoes of heartbreak. "Because, sometimes, our choices are made for us, and no matter how much we argue, it changes nothing. Your father would have given the world to stay with us, never doubt that."
Sometimes, when nervous or upset, her mother would twist her ring when she spoke. It was her wedding ring, and like Alicia's dog tags, it was something she never took off. When she asked her questions, her mother twisted the ring so hard, it turned the skin around it pale, then red. Alicia watched her, and decided to never ask again.
On the anniversary of that day, they went down to the graveyard together, each with an armful of flowers--roses from her mother, lilies for her. Alicia always walked a few paces behind her mother, looking around at the neatly-ordered rows with solemn eyes.
There were so many of them, she thought, every year, and each one had originally been a *person*, with a face and a name and maybe even a family, too. It made her happy to put the flowers down on the grave and to leave that uncomfortably quiet place. Surely, her father had found a nicer, more cheerful place to stay.
She hoped so. She didn't want to think about him being lonely, wherever he was.
Another person might have hidden the dog tags away, locked in the same hidden drawer she kept her diary. Alicia found she liked the weight of them, somehow comforting around her neck. On long rainy nights, she pulled them out of her nightshirt and weighed them in her hand, and let the clink of them lull her to sleep.
--end--
Her: [insert babble about Roy and sexiness]
Me: ...... [insert Big Nastybad Spoiler]
She wibbled at me a lot, and then ran off to start the dogtag-smut revolution. XD
I wrote this.
MAJOR ENORMOUS HUGE SPOILERS for episode 25 and/or chapter 15 of the manga. Uuuuu. x_x
**********
dogtags
**********
Alicia Hughes had two things she never took off: an friendship bracelet that one of her friends had made for her for her tenth birthday, and a set of dog tags that she kept out of sight, under her shirts and close to her heart.
"They belonged to your father," Uncle Roy had told her, when he'd given them to her. "I don't know if he would've wanted you to have them, but they are for you, regardless."
In truth, she hardly remembered the man who'd been her father. Photographs of him still remained in the house, including a large family portrait over the fireplace. In every one, he looked kind, smiling like the happiest man in the world.
"If Papa loved us so much, why did he leave?" she asked her mother once, as they made dinner. She had been very young, she remembered, with the dog tags burning against her skin in a newly-made secret. "Why didn't he stay?"
Her mother, beautiful and lonely and sad, had stopped and smiled with the echoes of heartbreak. "Because, sometimes, our choices are made for us, and no matter how much we argue, it changes nothing. Your father would have given the world to stay with us, never doubt that."
Sometimes, when nervous or upset, her mother would twist her ring when she spoke. It was her wedding ring, and like Alicia's dog tags, it was something she never took off. When she asked her questions, her mother twisted the ring so hard, it turned the skin around it pale, then red. Alicia watched her, and decided to never ask again.
On the anniversary of that day, they went down to the graveyard together, each with an armful of flowers--roses from her mother, lilies for her. Alicia always walked a few paces behind her mother, looking around at the neatly-ordered rows with solemn eyes.
There were so many of them, she thought, every year, and each one had originally been a *person*, with a face and a name and maybe even a family, too. It made her happy to put the flowers down on the grave and to leave that uncomfortably quiet place. Surely, her father had found a nicer, more cheerful place to stay.
She hoped so. She didn't want to think about him being lonely, wherever he was.
Another person might have hidden the dog tags away, locked in the same hidden drawer she kept her diary. Alicia found she liked the weight of them, somehow comforting around her neck. On long rainy nights, she pulled them out of her nightshirt and weighed them in her hand, and let the clink of them lull her to sleep.
--end--
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From:
no subject
I'd go nuts without my dad. He used to be in the army too. I'm so so happy he isn't anymore. I'd be a wreck if he was after this whole thing. Hum, but does the Canadian army use dogtags? If my dad has any, I want them.
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Meep. U_U
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For the first time and against my better judgment, I downloaded the raw.
*cries*
This is perfect. Especially right after that episode. It's really sad to think that Alicia probably won't remember her father, because he died while she was still pretty young. It's even more sad that she won't remember, and she was the center of his world. I can really see this happening. Once again, the little details shine in this - how Gracia never takes her ring off and twists it around when she's nervous. Twist the knife a bit deeper, eh? This fic makes me sad, although it's comforting at the same time.
Thank you! *luvluvluv*
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I'm glad you liked it, and thank you for commenting! :D;;; Even if it was angst and spoil-tastic. :D;;;;;;;; [luvs back!]
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[loves]
I'll... be able to say more. Sometime. Right now, just - know that it's excellent, and it hurts JUST like it should. ;___;
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Meepity. @_@
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Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. [offers kleenex]
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I already fangirled at you, but eeeeee. this hurts. Especially after this ep :D;;;; Eeeeeugh
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♥♥♥♥♥ It's weird--I'm glad it was good enough to impact, though I'm sorry it hurts. :D;;;;;;; Meep.
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I'm so glad you liked it! :D :D [huggles back!]
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On a (slightly) more coherent level, I think you did a great job with the characters, from Alicia's point of view, to Gracia's words (which was where the snifflies really started to come), to the little bit with Roy, in the beginning.
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But, meep, thank you. :D I'm glad things came across as strongly as I wanted, though I'm sorry I made you cry. [offers kleenix and hugs]
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.........................
Sweetie, in case me yelling over AIM didn't register properly, this fic rips my HEART out. Touching, bittersweet, lemme reach for the box of Kleenex oh my GOD Alicia.;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
We all tend to focus on how she's such a cute child... thank you so much for drawing out this side. *hugs*
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But meeeeeeeeep, I'm glad you liked it. U___U Alicia's one of those characters I think could be explored a LOT more than we ever really see, and while I think I PREFER her happy and cute and sparkly, there is still this part. [snuggles] I'm really glad you liked♥♥♥
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Sorry, going to go off hug a pillow and try and put the sad little pieces of myself back together, 'cause this hurt.
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I'm glad you liked it--I think from now on, I will very firmly stick to the Happy Land Of Denial and keep Hughes alive, because even if the memory of his love is remaining--it's just fucking WRONG that Alicia grows up without him, and that Gracia no longer has him by her side. U________U [wibbles]
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must. be. strong.
.....
.....
*breaks down*
And I just got over thinking about the end of the series
*knows Ed has as much a chance of living to the end as Kamui and Fuuma do*
and now I'm thinking about X/1999 :(
Not your fault! I was thinking about that before
{just about any FMA stuff makes me think of how it'll end; bittersweet}
Good story, but you need to do more happy stuff, m'kay?
I need a fav FMA fic that *isn't* sad.
*thinks about Klunk and Equivalent Trade on FF.net*
...
..I'll be better eventually
GStar/TBQoR/SS-chan
~~Off to find non-angst FMA~~