"Dear Mei...", Equivalent Exchange

[sonjajade]

Title: Dear Mei…
Artist/Author/Gift Granter: sonjajade 
Request: For cornerofmadness - prompt: ‘Al, post 108, his new body and his first cat thereafter.’
Rating: G/K
Disclaimer: I don’t own the series Fullmetal Alchemist or the characters within, nor do I make any money from these writings.
Notes: Wallpaper image included.  Preview is under cut, view image lets you see the big picture :D  This was so much fun to do, both in photoshop and in word.  Hope you enjoy it :)  I know Al wouldn't use emoticons in a handwritten letter, but I wasn't sure how to make them appear any other way, so hope that's alright  :3

 

 

 

 

May 9, 1915

Dear Mei,

I’m so glad you finally got time to write to me!  I didn’t know if you would ever get the message I sent from the hospital before Ed and I left Central, I’m glad to see that you did!  What a sad and yet exciting time for your country.  I’m sorry about the passing of your father.  I don’t know if you really knew him or not, but he was still family.  Was Ling able to take the throne?  In Amestris, we don’t know if he did or not, but that’s probably because we don’t get much news from Xing yet.  As far as I know, our diplomatic relations are still a little shaky.  If Ling is the next Emperor, then I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before they improve, though.

To answer the questions you asked me in your letter:
‘How are you feeling?’  I feel great!  My body’s getting stronger every day.  I’m just beginning to be able to walk without a cane, so that’s great news.  I’ve gained fifteen pounds since I’ve been home.  I know that doesn’t seem like a lot, but the doctor wants me to gain it back slowly so I don’t overwork my weak muscles.  My doctor in Central said I should talk to a psychiatrist to help get over the nightmares I was having when I first got my body back.  I never went, though.  There’s not one close to home and the nightmares stopped once I came back.  Other than my body being so thin and atrophied, it’s like I never left.

‘What was the first thing you ate when you got back home?’  The day we returned, Winry went all out and made all of my favorites for me.  She made quiche like Mrs. Hughes’, an apple pie that she’d been promising to make us, chicken and dumplings, corn on the cob, peas and carrots, those drop biscuits like my mom used to make…  She also made some sweet tea and Granny let Ed and I have our first taste of whiskey to celebrate our homecoming.  I don’t think I care much for the liquor, though Ed really enjoyed it.  In fact, Granny’s already threatened to kill him if he comes home drunk again.  Thankfully he’s a silly drunk and not one of those who sit and cry about everything or the kind of drunk who beats on people.  I wish you could’ve been here to see it!  He was singing really loud and off key and asking Winry to dance with him to this song he’d made up.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen Winry so frustrated in all her life!

‘How are you passing the time?’  Mostly, I try to work on getting back in shape.  I try to walk as much as I can, and I can’t wait to run with Den (that’s Winry’s dog).  Sometimes I lift weights.  When I have to rest, I read.  And I don’t care what I read, either.  I read the newspaper every day, I’ve read some of Granny’s fiction and classics, I read some of Ed’s alchemy books (he still does research even though he can’t do alchemy anymore), and once I even read one of Winry’s dime-store romance novels.  Let’s just say I now know more about kissing and sex than I even knew existed.

Sometimes, I like to go outside and just feel everything.  I know it sounds stupid, but after spending all that time as a suit of armor, just feeling the breeze on my arms can give me chills of excitement.  I only wear shoes if I’m going into town, because I like to feel the earth under my feet.  I like to wiggle my toes in the soft, cool grass, and lots of times Ed or Winry have had to wake me up because I’ve fallen asleep under a tree somewhere in the yard.  One time, a rain storm came through and I stood outside in it, smelling the rain and tasting it and feeling it soak me to the bone.  It’s one of my favorite memories I have since I’ve gotten my body back: standing with my arms spread wide open in the middle of the side lot, the rain coming down in buckets, and just feeling it all.  Granny nearly whipped me and accused me of trying to catch pneumonia, but it was so worth it.  Every time it rains, I have to fight the urge to stand in it.

As for alchemy, I’m not ready yet to use it.  I’m scared of it now, though Ed says I shouldn’t be.  I told him I might just not ever use it again, be like him and do everything ‘the hard way’.  He doesn’t understand, says I’m wasting my talent, but tries not to push me too hard.  Maybe one day I will use it again, like once I start learning how to do alkahestry, but that’s still a long way off.  After all, my teacher is in Xing, and I am in no condition to travel to her yet. ;)

Oh, I nearly forgot!  I found a cat!  See, my sleeping schedule is still out of whack.  Sometimes I’m up during the day, sometimes I’m up at night, like my body can’t decide when it should rest.  I was up late one night and I heard something in the garbage bins outside.  When I went to look, it was a beautiful black cat with a white tipped tail and ears.  I stuck my hand out to pet her and she came right to me!  I brought a can of sardines out for her to eat and after that she never left.  Winry helped me bathe her and get the fleas off, and then I got her a collar and now she’s a housecat.  I named her Slinky.  Den likes her and they get along really well.  Slinky likes to curl up in my lap and go with me when I go walking around the property.  Ed doesn’t like her much, but Ed doesn’t like anything very much (except for Winry, and that’s a letter for another day).  Slinky’s first visit to the veterinarian went well.  She needed some shots and the doctor told me he thought she was about a year old.  She’s very healthy for having been a stray.  I wish you could come meet her sometime.  She’s very soft, her coat is so black it’s nearly blue, and it’s so shiny.  The little white parts of her are almost translucent.  Her eyes are a lighter shade of gold than mine, and they look like pools of mischievous sunshine.  And she’s so sweet, too.  She sleeps at the foot of my bed, and no matter when I go to sleep, she wakes me up almost exactly nine hours later.  She does this little kissy face thing where she puts her nose on mine until I wake up.  But the best part about Slinky is that even though she’s a cat, she acts like a dog.  I can play fetch with her and have taught her some tricks.  Maybe that’s why she and Den like each other so much: they think alike!

Goodness, I feel like I’m rambling!  Nothing exciting is going on here.  Resembool is a sheep farming town, and it’s the same thing every day: someone is either shepherding, shearing, breeding or selling sheep.  Oh, and now it seems there will be a pair of sisters who will do spinning and dying of the wool.  Ed sold the property our house was on to them and they’re going to open a textile shop.  I think one of the sisters works a loom and the other works the spinning jennies (they’re like spinning wheels, but they makes lots of spools at once) and the dye vats.  We decided to give all the money from the sale to Granny, since she pretty much raised us after mom died and then took care of Ed’s automail for so long.  We didn’t get as much as we would have if we hadn’t burned the house down; they had to pay to have the lot cleared of the debris and they took that out of the sale.  It’s nice to see a new building there, and they’re really nice people.

Geeze I did it again!!  Rambling is easy to do with you.  I know you want to hear about everything that’s going on.  I really do need to wrap this up, though.  As a surprise, Winry thought you should have a picture of me since the last time you saw me I was so bony and pale and awful looking.  I am enclosing a picture of me and Slinky in the front yard at Granny’s.  That’s Den in front of the house (yes, even the dog has automail!).  I don’t normally wear my shirt like that, but Winry insisted you would like the way she had me posed.  I hope you do.  I can feel myself getting red faced thinking of why you would enjoy seeing me like that.  (And there go the butterflies in my stomach!  I knew I shouldn’t have read that romance novel!)  Anyway, if you sent your letter the same day you wrote it, then it takes 13 days for it to get here.  I’ll be watching for your next letter!
 

Miss you,

Alphonse

 

Comments

[ladynorbert.livejournal.com]

This is absolutely adorable! Love the picture, too.

[sonjajade.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!

[syolen.livejournal.com]

This is so sweet! I love that you had Al include a smiley face in his letter. It's the little things... Very sweet.

The picture looks great, too! Winry sure knew what she was doing. ;)

[sonjajade.livejournal.com]

I like to think that any relationship he and Mei would have surely begins with little letters like this. And it only gets sappier from there XD

Glad you enjoyed it!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yay thank you very much. THis is so adorable. I love it both the picture and the story. It is so sweet.

Thank you again for my story and so quick too.

[sonjajade.livejournal.com]

YAY!! I'm so glad you liked it!! and as for the speed, I was struck with inspiration, and thankfully had my hands free to do it all! You're very welcome :D

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

heck it took me longer to get the vgift there.

I really enjoyed this.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

This is really cute and I love the wallpaper you did to accompany it!

[sonjajade.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I did the shoop thing, but it worked really well for the story. Al's body and the kitty are from Darker than Black (Hei and Mao). Took the Rockbell shop from an episode on netflix, had to continue the wall and shadow on the road (OMG what a daunting task!!) then filled in the grass for a little hill nearby and voila! I reshaded Al's face and fixed his eyebrows, also made him look thinner in the face too. Actually did the wallpaper before I did the fic!

guh, sorry I ramble (like Al!!)

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

It's really sweet piece.

[bay115.livejournal.com]

Hehe, this is very sweet. It's really nice Al is doing so well now. :) And the wallpaper is very nice! Go Winry! XD

[sonjajade.livejournal.com]

Thanks!! The wallpaper was so fun. I tried to make it look like an old and faded picture, like what it would look like maybe after years of Mei kissing his face while she waited for him to show up but I didn't like how it was turning out, so I opted for a fresh pic instead XD

[ishte.livejournal.com]

Aw kyoot! I love how Al rambles in his letter. I especially loved the artwork though. Very nice. And Den standing in the background is cute too. She probably wanted to be right up in the picture. Her posture indicates to me that Winry probably shooed her back so she could take the picture, but Den wouldn't stay out of it completely. All the details of the Rockbell house are very well done too. Very nice.

[sonjajade.livejournal.com]

It's a shoop; I didn't draw any of that on my own except for bits of the wall and the road where the screencap didn't cover. The background is from episode 6 (Brotherhood). Al and Slinky are shoops of art from Darker than Black (Also produced by Bones in the same style) of characters Hei and Mao (the kitty). Al's head is taken from an image I found on google. I changed the color of Al's shirt and darkened Slinky, drew in the grass, but I really didn't draw much of anything in this.

I'm glad you liked it though, and glad you enjoyed the story. It was a ton of fun to write!

[lalikaa.livejournal.com]

Eeee this is precious! I absolutely adore Al's letter! I giggled my way through Ed discovering alcohol. Very fun read! Awesome shoop too! :)

[sonjajade.livejournal.com]

thank you! I knew you'd love it :D