song drabble meme
Via seatbeltdrivein, a_big_apple and enemytosleep. All the cool kids are doing it.
1) Put your iPod / mp3 / music-player / blah blah blah on shuffle.
2) Write a segment to the first twelve songs that play. Doesn't matter how long the segment is, you have to end it when the song ends, and no, you can't use the repeat button.
A variety of characters and pairings and stuffs here, as is my wont. Everything is labelled for your reading convenience. All FMA, apart from 11, which is D.Gray-Man. All around the PG mark, which amazes me. Why no rudeness, Bob's brain?
1. "I've Been High", R.E.M (post-manga, Riza/?)
Riza had no idea what was in most of those boxes any more; it had been so long since she'd packed them, back in East, before everything. And now she was shipping them, unpacked, to another new home. She hesitated, considered opening them up enough to be able to scribble an accurate label on the outside. But what did it matter? This time, though, she knew they'd all be opened in a day, because she was moving with someone who'd make her open them up.
So she just wrote her name on them, neatly, and piled them up for the removal men.
2. "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," Ella Fitzgerald (twenty years pre-manga, Chris Mustang, belongs in same 'verse as my fic Notorious)
The cat was back again. Ginger and ratty-furred, it sidled into the bar and watched Chris and Iris wrestle with wallpaper paste and hang paintings. In Chris's book, this was the sort of job you hired a fella for, but she was starting up this business on a budget. If she complained, Grumman would wing a cheque her way; but there was no way she was going to do that.
The cat miaowed. "Have you been feeding him again?" asked Chris, arching an eyebrow.
"I know," sighed Iris, "he's just gonna keep coming now. We might as well stick a collar on him."
"What's one more?"
3. "Everybody Hurts," R.E.M (post-manga, Roy/Ed, set during The Phoney War)
Ed was starting to feel tired, and tired felt weird. Exhaustion was fine, normally: you sleep, you take a break, and you get up and move on. But something was bothering him this time. It wasn't so good, this feeling that they were doing it all again. Another Homunculus, another dictator, another war. Was this how it felt to get old? He was starting to recognise that weariness he sometimes saw in Roy's eyes, or in Major Hawkeye's face at the end of the day.
He put down his pen, locked up his desk. Then he wandered over to the desk at the end of the empty room. "Hey you," he said. "Pizza."
Roy tutted and shook his head.
"C'mon. Pizza. Let's get out of here for an hour or do. C'mon. It'll help." And because they were alone, he slid a finger under Roy's collar at the back, scratched his hairline, gave him the cheeky grin.
Roy returned it.
4. "The Music Goes Round and Round," Tommy Dorsey and the Clambake Seven (post-manga, Havoc/Rebecca. In my head this is Wrong Turn 'verse and they're just talking about regular PT, but you can take this where you will)
"Are we getting appetisers?" asked Rebecca.
"Sure we are," said Jean, as if it wasn't even a question. "I'm starving."
"Good session?" It obviously was, because Jean was smiling and hungry, the good kind of tired, rather than the kind that made him ready to drop into bed or doze off stretched on the couch.
He just nodded. "You want the peppers with cheese in 'em?"
5. "How Much Are They?", Jah Wobble (Paninya and Winry)
"I'm trying to work out how they get that echo effect," Winry yelled above the music. "Do you think they put the mic in a box, maybe, and -"
"Quit being a nerd!" yelled Paninya. "It's a club, you should dance!" She illustrated her point with a wiggle of her shoulders and a stomp. Paninya's dancing style wasn't exactly girly, but she was attracting her fair share of admirers.
"I'm proud of my nerdiness," Winry yelled back. But she danced anyway. She could use it. Too much time sitting down at the workbench. It was good to shake the tension out.
Huh,, she thought, checking out a guy dancing a few feet from them. Who did that arm, that elbow articulation looks real smooth. I wonder whether - Dammit, she guessed she couldn't escape her own brain after all.
6. "L'Etat," Yann Tiersen (Roy)
It's 3am, and it's the bad kind of 3am. Just like that, Roy finds himself wide awake, with no memory of any nightmare or stray sound.
At times like this, the world will look more unpleasant than usual.
It's pointless to think of useless things, so he puts the gramophone on - quietly, for the neighbours' sake - and gets out a book.
7. "Waiting for the Heartaches," The Coral (Greed 1.0, Martel)
"What's with the face?" asks Greed. He attempts an imitation of Martel's sad little pout: pulls the corners of his mouth down and widens his eyes.
Martel just gives him a sharp look.
Greed slaps her on the back. "Cheer up! You work for the greatest boss in town." When she doesn't reply, he adds, "Huh?" Just to jog her along, so she remembers how awesome he is.
He has no idea why she bursts out laughing, so he decides to attribute this to his powers of persuasion, which are, of course, impressive.
8. "You've Lost that Loving Feeling," The Righteous Brothers (Riza, Rebecca)
"I'm going to die alone," says Rebecca with what she feels is justifiable drama. She sighs, splayed out on the rug, and waves her wine glass for a top up.
"I'm sure you're not," says Riza irritably as she pours. Why did Rebecca call her again for the girly commiseration session? She sucks at it. "I always thought he was a bit of an idiot, anyway."
"He was not," says Rebecca, sitting bolt upright and sloshing white wine on her own rug in the process. Then she snorts. "Hey, wait, you're right."
Riza snorts back.
"Now I know why I invited you over."
9. "Boston," Piney Gir (post-manga, Ed, Al and Winry)
They nearly miss the train, in the end. It's Al's fault, totally. He's such a fusspot now that he actually has stuff to take, a suitcase of his own to pack. All three of them end up running down the platform together. Ed leaps up first, holds his arms out for Winry's case, and catches it the next moment as she hauls it at him hard. Then he takes her arm and pulls her up as the train begins to move and Al springs up to the next door along.
10. "Not the Only One," Michael Nyman (post-manga, Ling and Ran Fan)
The quiet is lovely this time of the morning, before his duties start, before anything. Ling is as quiet as he can be, too, because he's never seen Ran Fan so serene, and it both pleases and fascinates him to see this new centred-ness to her, as she stretches and holds those fluid poses in her morning exercises.
11. "Monkey Gone to Heaven," the Pixies (D. Gray-Man, Lavi, Allen, Lenalee)
Lavi wants to say, "Penny for your thoughts?" But he knows he'll get nothing, so he just bugs Jerry for an out of hours carrot cake and presents it to Allen. Of course, being a well-brought-up young man, he offers a sliver to Lavi and Lenalee before scarfing down the lot in ten seconds flat. Impressive.
12. "Rhymes of Goodbye", Scott Walker (post-manga, Roy, Havoc, Breda, Miles, Wrong Turn 'verse in my head but doesn't have to be)
Here they all are, then. Boxes have been unpacked, Riza has been installed to rule over her own office next door, desks have been assigned, and work has been commenced. Still, Roy doesn't really feel quite fully at home, until, on Havoc's second day back, he walks in from a meeting to find him and Breda debating, in great detail, which out of two brands of potato chip are the pinnacle of the art. The chips lie on Breda's desk. Miles is brought in to referee, and he boggles at the pair of them while Roy represses a grin and tries to think up a really, really good quip.
***
Phew, that was fun! I have to admit I groaned when "Everybody Hurts" came up on the shuffle. Edit: I just read these back while fixing a couple of html snags, and they are apparently all variations on the same theme?
1) Put your iPod / mp3 / music-player / blah blah blah on shuffle.
2) Write a segment to the first twelve songs that play. Doesn't matter how long the segment is, you have to end it when the song ends, and no, you can't use the repeat button.
A variety of characters and pairings and stuffs here, as is my wont. Everything is labelled for your reading convenience. All FMA, apart from 11, which is D.Gray-Man. All around the PG mark, which amazes me. Why no rudeness, Bob's brain?
1. "I've Been High", R.E.M (post-manga, Riza/?)
Riza had no idea what was in most of those boxes any more; it had been so long since she'd packed them, back in East, before everything. And now she was shipping them, unpacked, to another new home. She hesitated, considered opening them up enough to be able to scribble an accurate label on the outside. But what did it matter? This time, though, she knew they'd all be opened in a day, because she was moving with someone who'd make her open them up.
So she just wrote her name on them, neatly, and piled them up for the removal men.
2. "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," Ella Fitzgerald (twenty years pre-manga, Chris Mustang, belongs in same 'verse as my fic Notorious)
The cat was back again. Ginger and ratty-furred, it sidled into the bar and watched Chris and Iris wrestle with wallpaper paste and hang paintings. In Chris's book, this was the sort of job you hired a fella for, but she was starting up this business on a budget. If she complained, Grumman would wing a cheque her way; but there was no way she was going to do that.
The cat miaowed. "Have you been feeding him again?" asked Chris, arching an eyebrow.
"I know," sighed Iris, "he's just gonna keep coming now. We might as well stick a collar on him."
"What's one more?"
3. "Everybody Hurts," R.E.M (post-manga, Roy/Ed, set during The Phoney War)
Ed was starting to feel tired, and tired felt weird. Exhaustion was fine, normally: you sleep, you take a break, and you get up and move on. But something was bothering him this time. It wasn't so good, this feeling that they were doing it all again. Another Homunculus, another dictator, another war. Was this how it felt to get old? He was starting to recognise that weariness he sometimes saw in Roy's eyes, or in Major Hawkeye's face at the end of the day.
He put down his pen, locked up his desk. Then he wandered over to the desk at the end of the empty room. "Hey you," he said. "Pizza."
Roy tutted and shook his head.
"C'mon. Pizza. Let's get out of here for an hour or do. C'mon. It'll help." And because they were alone, he slid a finger under Roy's collar at the back, scratched his hairline, gave him the cheeky grin.
Roy returned it.
4. "The Music Goes Round and Round," Tommy Dorsey and the Clambake Seven (post-manga, Havoc/Rebecca. In my head this is Wrong Turn 'verse and they're just talking about regular PT, but you can take this where you will)
"Are we getting appetisers?" asked Rebecca.
"Sure we are," said Jean, as if it wasn't even a question. "I'm starving."
"Good session?" It obviously was, because Jean was smiling and hungry, the good kind of tired, rather than the kind that made him ready to drop into bed or doze off stretched on the couch.
He just nodded. "You want the peppers with cheese in 'em?"
5. "How Much Are They?", Jah Wobble (Paninya and Winry)
"I'm trying to work out how they get that echo effect," Winry yelled above the music. "Do you think they put the mic in a box, maybe, and -"
"Quit being a nerd!" yelled Paninya. "It's a club, you should dance!" She illustrated her point with a wiggle of her shoulders and a stomp. Paninya's dancing style wasn't exactly girly, but she was attracting her fair share of admirers.
"I'm proud of my nerdiness," Winry yelled back. But she danced anyway. She could use it. Too much time sitting down at the workbench. It was good to shake the tension out.
Huh,, she thought, checking out a guy dancing a few feet from them. Who did that arm, that elbow articulation looks real smooth. I wonder whether - Dammit, she guessed she couldn't escape her own brain after all.
6. "L'Etat," Yann Tiersen (Roy)
It's 3am, and it's the bad kind of 3am. Just like that, Roy finds himself wide awake, with no memory of any nightmare or stray sound.
At times like this, the world will look more unpleasant than usual.
It's pointless to think of useless things, so he puts the gramophone on - quietly, for the neighbours' sake - and gets out a book.
7. "Waiting for the Heartaches," The Coral (Greed 1.0, Martel)
"What's with the face?" asks Greed. He attempts an imitation of Martel's sad little pout: pulls the corners of his mouth down and widens his eyes.
Martel just gives him a sharp look.
Greed slaps her on the back. "Cheer up! You work for the greatest boss in town." When she doesn't reply, he adds, "Huh?" Just to jog her along, so she remembers how awesome he is.
He has no idea why she bursts out laughing, so he decides to attribute this to his powers of persuasion, which are, of course, impressive.
8. "You've Lost that Loving Feeling," The Righteous Brothers (Riza, Rebecca)
"I'm going to die alone," says Rebecca with what she feels is justifiable drama. She sighs, splayed out on the rug, and waves her wine glass for a top up.
"I'm sure you're not," says Riza irritably as she pours. Why did Rebecca call her again for the girly commiseration session? She sucks at it. "I always thought he was a bit of an idiot, anyway."
"He was not," says Rebecca, sitting bolt upright and sloshing white wine on her own rug in the process. Then she snorts. "Hey, wait, you're right."
Riza snorts back.
"Now I know why I invited you over."
9. "Boston," Piney Gir (post-manga, Ed, Al and Winry)
They nearly miss the train, in the end. It's Al's fault, totally. He's such a fusspot now that he actually has stuff to take, a suitcase of his own to pack. All three of them end up running down the platform together. Ed leaps up first, holds his arms out for Winry's case, and catches it the next moment as she hauls it at him hard. Then he takes her arm and pulls her up as the train begins to move and Al springs up to the next door along.
10. "Not the Only One," Michael Nyman (post-manga, Ling and Ran Fan)
The quiet is lovely this time of the morning, before his duties start, before anything. Ling is as quiet as he can be, too, because he's never seen Ran Fan so serene, and it both pleases and fascinates him to see this new centred-ness to her, as she stretches and holds those fluid poses in her morning exercises.
11. "Monkey Gone to Heaven," the Pixies (D. Gray-Man, Lavi, Allen, Lenalee)
Lavi wants to say, "Penny for your thoughts?" But he knows he'll get nothing, so he just bugs Jerry for an out of hours carrot cake and presents it to Allen. Of course, being a well-brought-up young man, he offers a sliver to Lavi and Lenalee before scarfing down the lot in ten seconds flat. Impressive.
12. "Rhymes of Goodbye", Scott Walker (post-manga, Roy, Havoc, Breda, Miles, Wrong Turn 'verse in my head but doesn't have to be)
Here they all are, then. Boxes have been unpacked, Riza has been installed to rule over her own office next door, desks have been assigned, and work has been commenced. Still, Roy doesn't really feel quite fully at home, until, on Havoc's second day back, he walks in from a meeting to find him and Breda debating, in great detail, which out of two brands of potato chip are the pinnacle of the art. The chips lie on Breda's desk. Miles is brought in to referee, and he boggles at the pair of them while Roy represses a grin and tries to think up a really, really good quip.
***
Phew, that was fun! I have to admit I groaned when "Everybody Hurts" came up on the shuffle. Edit: I just read these back while fixing a couple of html snags, and they are apparently all variations on the same theme?