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[griseldabanks]

34 for Al and Hawkeye, please?

Let Me Count the Ways ask game

Prompt: "I'll keep you safe."

Maybe they shouldn't have stopped for burgers and shakes. It was pouring rain out there, and the temperature was dropping fast. Might turn into freezing rain before too long.

But Five Guys was their tradition. Riza drove Al to speech therapy, and as long as he didn't drag his feet or have a bad attitude about it, they would stop for a late lunch on their way home. They even had a little ritual they ran through each time, just for fun. “Hmm, where should we go for lunch?” Riza would ask, pretending to think. Then Al would hold up one hand, grinning along with the joke, and Riza would say, “Five Guys?” as if she never would have thought of it on her own. Then they would both laugh like it was the best joke they'd ever heard.

The only time Riza got to hear her foster son's voice was when he laughed. It was worth it.

“Got your scarf and gloves?” Riza asked, opening her umbrella before putting one hand on the door.

Woolen blue fingers wrapped around her arm. She glanced down and saw Al huddling close to her as if for warmth, eyeing the door with trepidation. Riza tugged the hood of his blue coat over his head, then wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “Don't worry, Al,” she murmured. “I'll keep you safe. Let's just run, and it'll be over in five seconds, okay?”

Slowly, Al nodded.

It was more of a huddling jog than a run, and it took more than five seconds because Riza had to juggle both the umbrella and the key fob, but they both made it into the car relatively dry. With a relieved sigh, Riza tossed the sopping umbrella to the floor on the passenger side and turned on the car, cranking up the heat all the way. She swiped her damp bangs out of her face and checked on Al in the rearview mirror. He was buckled in and shivering hard, hugging himself and rocking slightly. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to be instantly transported home. How she wished she could spare him the drive.

Riza decided the best thing would be to get home as fast as possible, so she didn't say anything more to him, just started the windshield wipers and eased back out of their parking space. “These wipers are useless in the rain,” she muttered, squinting through the smeared windshield and turning on the defroster. She needed to text Roy and see if he could pick up some replacements on the way home.

As she headed for the highway, Riza mentally ran through her to-do list. Once they got home, she needed to call the phone company to see if the issue with the bills had gotten sorted out. She should peek into the boys' bathroom and make sure they'd cleaned it like they were supposed to, and then she needed to clean her and Roy's bathroom. By then it would probably be time to start on supper, and oh, was today a karate day and had Roy said he could drive the boys or—

The loud blare of a horn startled Riza out of her thoughts. A semi, slipping out of control from the left. Moving on pure instinct, Riza slammed her foot on the gas and aimed for the shoulder. The semi slipped and slid on its way, and they jostled and bumped over the muddy grass. Riza managed to stop before the ground fell away into the ditch. Hands shaking, she pulled the parking brake and turned on the hazard lights before letting out a long, slow breath of relief.

She looked over her shoulder to find Al hunched over in his seat, his gloved hands clawing at his face as he drew in shaky, shuddering breaths. “Al? Are you okay?” No, that was a stupid question. “Are you hurt?” she amended. “Alphonse!”

The twelve-year-old boy peeked over his hands at her, but she could tell that he didn't see her. It was like he was looking through her, to another rainy day in another car with another woman sitting behind the wheel as a truck came out of nowhere....

“Al....” Riza unfastened her seatbelt and clambered over the center console, squeezing between the front seats to get to the back. It was difficult and inelegant, but she managed. Better than opening the door and letting in all that cold wind and rain.

As she settled into the seat next to Al, she listened to his frantic, choked breaths that came faster and faster with every passing minute. He wasn't looking at her, just staring fixedly at the driver's seat. Occasionally, his eyes slid over to the front passenger seat as well.

Riza's heart clenched tightly as she imagined what he must be seeing. Trisha Elric, forehead resting on the steering wheel, blood trickling down the side of her face, her vacant eyes staring into nothing. Ed, trapped under the twisted metal, blood spreading up his left leg. Still breathing, but so shallow, so erratic, eyes closed. No response to Al's screams. The last words Al had ever spoken, a desperate plea for his family to not leave him alone.

She hadn't been there. She'd only read reports from after the fact, and talked to Mrs. Rockbell and the boys' therapists. And yet, she could see it all as clearly as if she'd lived it herself. She could almost hear those screams.

“Mom...Mom...Mom....”

Wait. That voice, ragged and faint, wasn't just in her imagination. Tears sprang to her eyes as she heard that one word whispered in wheezing gasps muffled behind blue gloves.

She could have listened to that voice for hours, but Al was shaking so hard she actually thought she could feel the car rocking slightly. So Riza scooted a little closer, saying as gently as she could, “Al? Can you listen to me, sweetie? I need you to breathe with me.”

His eyes latched onto hers, and for the first time since they'd swerved off the road, he actually seemed to see her.

“That's right,” Riza said, reaching for his hands. “Just like we always do, okay?”

He let her take his hands in hers and pull them away from his face. Riza led him in a deep breathing exercise, and found that her own heart rate eased as well. The adrenaline from their near miss was beginning to wear off, leaving her feeling exhausted and limp. She almost wished she'd brought Hayate with them after all. They both could have used the soothing comfort of his soft fur and warm, wet tongue.

“We're okay,” she whispered, reassuring herself as much as Al. “You're safe now. We're both safe.”

Just like every time thunder and lightning put Ed on edge and sent Al skittering into their bedroom to crawl under the covers. Roy would get up to make everyone hot chocolate, Ed would crank up his music so they could hear it faintly through his headphones, and Al would curl up like one of his cats against her side, and they would all cram into the king-sized bed to wait out the storm.

“Mom,” Al croaked again, his voice rough from disuse. “Mom....”

Tears spilled over his cheeks, and Riza reached over to gently brush them away. “I know, honey, I know.” Hot tears stung her own eyes. “I'm so sorry.”

“Mom....” Al raised one gloved hand and placed it on her cheek. He was looking at her so intently, so earnestly, like there was so much he wanted to say, but he was stuck on that one word, choking on the sobs that shook him head to foot. He put his other hand on her other cheek, as if to hold her in place. “Mom....”

A thought occurred to her, as sudden and shocking as the semi that had nearly hit them: He's calling me Mom.

Tears blurred her eyes till she couldn't even see him. “I'm here,” she whispered.

He flung his arms around her, squeezing so hard it took her breath away. She hugged him back, held him tight, squeezed her eyes shut against the tears. She rocked them back and forth, patting him on the back.

Riza had always known motherhood would be strange for her, who had never known the gentle touch of a mother. When she and Roy had first talked about starting a family, she had been plagued with doubts about whether she would be able to manage it. A thousand times, she'd tried to imagine herself rocking a baby to sleep, kissing the skinned knees and bumped foreheads of a toddler or two...and she'd always drawn a blank, since she'd never had that herself. What if she could never get the hang of it? She was a soldier, not a mother.

And yet, sitting in this car on the side of the road, holding a twelve-year-old boy sobbing his heart out...it didn't matter that she hadn't given birth to him. It didn't matter that they'd only known each other for a little over a year. It didn't matter that they'd never once had a normal conversation.

This was her son. She loved him so much she thought her chest might split open with the force of it. And judging from the way Al kept sobbing that name over and over again, clutching at her like his life depended on it...he felt the same.

[griseldabanks]

The devastating difference between how much time it takes to write something vs how fast people read it lol

[griseldabanks]

Tommy

[griseldabanks]

[griseldabanks]

Vince Davison

[griseldabanks]

“It's like...like I'm a piece of paper.” He scowled down at his scars, scribbled across his arm as if by an angry child. “A piece of paper?” Dr. Robbins prompted. “Yeah. It starts out smooth and perfect. Full of potential. But then once you crumple it up....” He clenched his fist, watching the way the scars shifted from the motion. “No matter how hard you try to smooth it out again, it's never going to be perfect like it was before. Or if you write on it, it's never going to look the same again. Even if you write in pencil and you erase it...you can still tell. And no matter what anyone does...there's no erasing this.” He raised his arm to display his scars.

This week’s word is…

✨ MOTION ✨

Find the word in any WIP and share the sentence containing it. Reply, reblog, stick it in the tags, tag us in a new post, or keep it private. All fandoms, all ships, all writers welcome.

[griseldabanks]

William Robbins

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Joe

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Reblog so everyone can hear what they need.

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you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me

[griseldabanks]

Gentle reminder that often creativity decides to hibernate for a bit.

It’s okay.  You’re not broken, you’re resting, and much like spring, creativity comes back.

[griseldabanks]

My cartoon for this weekend’s @guardian books

[griseldabanks]

“I'm so sorry.”

Tagging @sailforvalinor, @dairogo, and @kraytwriter if you've got anything to share!

Last Sentence Tag Game

Tagged by @novelmonger—thanks!!! I’m actually in a position to do it this time! 😂

That fear had faded as he’d grown older, as he got used to the taste of blood in his mouth and learned to throw punches as well as he could take them--but with that newly acquired self-sufficiency and maturity came a growing awareness of the fear he should have been harboring towards his father.

Tagging @novelmonger back, as well as @kanerallels @rainintheevening and @o-lei-o-lai-o-lord

[griseldabanks]

He looked like he wanted nothing more than to be instantly transported home.

Tagging @bunnyscar back, as well as @general-illyrin

WIP Tag Game

Rules: If you are tagged, you have to work on your WIP until you write a sentence that contains at least one word from the sentence given to you by the person who tagged you. Then post that sentence and tag as many people as you want. Tag-backs are not only allowed, but encouraged! >:)

I've been tagged roughly a bajillion times over the past couple of months, but haven't done much about it because I've been on a writing hiatus in the wake of finishing the first draft of my WIP. But I'm trying to get back into writing regularly, so I'm going to start a new thread, and tag back everybody who tagged me! >:D

@rainintheevening

It didn't take a genius to understand what Qui-Gon was getting at.

@winterinhimring

The dead became one with the Force, and the Force was a Jedi's constant companion.

@rainintheevening

And yet, Obi-Wan still couldn't shake the feeling of abandonment.

@authortobenamedlater

And if he didn't leave even the slightest crack open for the Force to seep through, that meant Qui-Gon couldn't reach him either.

@winterinhimring

A child with his fingers in his ears, demanding to know why no one would talk to him.

@bunnyscar

Accept the shame, then let it go.

@winterinhimring

Learn from them, and they will help you grow.

@bunnyscar

Taking a deep breath, Obi-Wan envisioned his lungs filling with stale air from the years he had languished here on Tatooine.

@kraytwriter

Opening eyes he hadn't realized he'd closed, Obi-Wan turned to look at Qui-Gon again.

@kraytwriter

“I was there.”

@kraytwriter

All he could see was his master's eyes, full of sympathy and compassion, understanding and acceptance.

Lol, all of the words I chose were very boring and generic, but there you go XD And yes, if I mentioned your name multiple times, consider yourself tagged that many times.

[griseldabanks]

He was buckled in and shivering hard, hugging himself and rocking slightly.

Tagging @bunnyscar back, as well as @thetreasurechest if you have anything to share :)

WIP Tag Game

Rules: If you are tagged, you have to work on your WIP until you write a sentence that contains at least one word from the sentence given to you by the person who tagged you. Then post that sentence and tag as many people as you want. Tag-backs are not only allowed, but encouraged! >:)

I've been tagged roughly a bajillion times over the past couple of months, but haven't done much about it because I've been on a writing hiatus in the wake of finishing the first draft of my WIP. But I'm trying to get back into writing regularly, so I'm going to start a new thread, and tag back everybody who tagged me! >:D

@rainintheevening

It didn't take a genius to understand what Qui-Gon was getting at.

@winterinhimring

The dead became one with the Force, and the Force was a Jedi's constant companion.

@rainintheevening

And yet, Obi-Wan still couldn't shake the feeling of abandonment.

@authortobenamedlater

And if he didn't leave even the slightest crack open for the Force to seep through, that meant Qui-Gon couldn't reach him either.

@winterinhimring

A child with his fingers in his ears, demanding to know why no one would talk to him.

@bunnyscar

Accept the shame, then let it go.

@winterinhimring

Learn from them, and they will help you grow.

@bunnyscar

Taking a deep breath, Obi-Wan envisioned his lungs filling with stale air from the years he had languished here on Tatooine.

@kraytwriter

Opening eyes he hadn't realized he'd closed, Obi-Wan turned to look at Qui-Gon again.

@kraytwriter

“I was there.”

@kraytwriter

All he could see was his master's eyes, full of sympathy and compassion, understanding and acceptance.

Lol, all of the words I chose were very boring and generic, but there you go XD And yes, if I mentioned your name multiple times, consider yourself tagged that many times.

[griseldabanks]

They even had a little ritual they ran through each time, just for fun.

Tagging @bunnyscar back, as well as @captaingondor

WIP Tag Game

Rules: If you are tagged, you have to work on your WIP until you write a sentence that contains at least one word from the sentence given to you by the person who tagged you. Then post that sentence and tag as many people as you want. Tag-backs are not only allowed, but encouraged! >:)

Starting a new one of these because I kinda slacked off when my computer exploded, and in the meantime got tagged a whole bunch. So here goes, consider yourself tagged as many times as I mention your name!

@winterinhimring

They were so close; he could feel it.

@winterinhimring

You saw what he did in D.C.

@winterinhimring

Maybe that was all he could think about, every time he looked at Bucky Barnes’s face.

@winterinhimring

He’ll be with Captain America.

@bunnyscar

There was something about him, even just in the way he held himself, that made it easy to believe he had it all under control.

@bunnyscar

That went a long way towards convincing him that there was more to Barnes than just a deadly assassin.

@bunnyscar

He stared down at his hands, clasped on top of the table in front of him.

@bunnyscar

His leg jiggled up and down nervously.

[griseldabanks]

But Five Guys was their tradition.

Tagging @winterinhimring back, as well as @catkin-morgs-kookaburralover

WIP Tag Game

Rules: If you are tagged, you have to work on your WIP until you write a sentence that contains at least one word from the sentence given to you by the person who tagged you. Then post that sentence and tag as many people as you want. Tag-backs are not only allowed, but encouraged! >:)

Starting a new one of these because I kinda slacked off when my computer exploded, and in the meantime got tagged a whole bunch. So here goes, consider yourself tagged as many times as I mention your name!

@winterinhimring

They were so close; he could feel it.

@winterinhimring

You saw what he did in D.C.

@winterinhimring

Maybe that was all he could think about, every time he looked at Bucky Barnes’s face.

@winterinhimring

He’ll be with Captain America.

@bunnyscar

There was something about him, even just in the way he held himself, that made it easy to believe he had it all under control.

@bunnyscar

That went a long way towards convincing him that there was more to Barnes than just a deadly assassin.

@bunnyscar

He stared down at his hands, clasped on top of the table in front of him.

@bunnyscar

His leg jiggled up and down nervously.