[fic] State of Mind - Chapter Three
Title: State of Mind
Author: elric_ward
Rating: M
Genre: Survival.
Word count: 1,653
Summary: Ward never liked the world, but he was content. Then life decided to turn things around and make it difficult for him.
Author Notes: We’ve officially caught up to where my old fic “ended”. The old one was really rushed, so I’ve tried to pace it a little. Finally getting somewhere! Even latent instincts fire up between cats and dogs. (Dogs would speak in a different dialect? I think I’m borrowing the idea from another zoofic, I can’t recall.) This guy is hard to write and I’m not sure I’ll be able to fit as much of him in as I want to. Oh, if anyone wants to be eljay friends, give me an add! :D It’d be cool to make new friends. My other eljay is all RL friends and epically close online friends but we don’t share many fandom interests. On with the Story!
Prologue | Chapter One | Chapter Two
State of Mind
A Fullmetal Alchemist Zoofic by Elric ‘Hunter’ Ward
Copyright:
The Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) and all its respective work and ideas are copyrighted by Hiromu Arakawa and her distributors.
Comments and critique welcome.
Chapter Three
He frowned deeply in the morning light, refusing to open his eyes. He was dirty, hungry and he smelt. Altogether Ward felt very unpleasant and didn’t want to get out to face the world. However, his stomach was growling persistently at his third day with nothing but three apples. Sighing, the Edward reluctantly made his way out of the den and gave a quick look around. There were no apples waiting for him today. Ears lowered dejectedly as Ward gazed at where food had been yesterday.
Great. Now he has to actually look for food himself. Ward looked around the clearing. He had no idea about what he could and couldn’t eat.
Kicking the ground in frustration, he limped stiffly in the direction of ‘his’ river. He could at least get a nice long drink before trying to find food. Not that there was anything edible out here. Muttering under his breath, the Edward kicked rocks out of the way. <‘Stupid rocks with the stupid grass and the stupid world!’> He scowled as threateningly as he could at the river.
The river flowed gently in reply, undisturbed by his crudeness.
Sighing, Ward quickly lapped up the fresh water and splashed his face. <‘This river is the only good thing about this place.’> the elric grumbled at the air.
Sitting back on the edge of the bank, he looked around for anything that looked remotely edible. There was…nothing. Everything was just as unattractive as everything else. There were no apples or bowls with dry food. Just trees, grass, trees and yet more trees.
Licking his chapped lips, he regarded a stick near him. It had green….moss? Maybe that was edible? Hesitantly he gnawed on the end of the twig and spat it out in disgust. That was foul! It was bitter and disgusting and…
There was a sound. An amazingly aggravating sound that sent shivers up his back, raised the hair on his neck and sent a reflexive snarl crawling up and out of his throat. It was a sound that made a tingle of energy course all through his body and gave him the weird desire to clap his hands like the Masters visiting-masters. Strangling down the twitching of his hands together, he whipped his head around in the direction of the noise and crouched as low as he could, tail lashing furiously side to side.
Quick and furious eyes targeted in on the source of his unexpected and extra aggravation. There it was, on the opposite of the river. It was a…he didn’t know what it was, but it was laughing at him. It had blue pelts, tattered black ears that flopped and a crooked tail. It was a…it was a…not-Elric, that’s what it was. An overbearing and pompous not-elric that was laughing at him.
<‘WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!?’> he practically screamed from his position pressed into the ground. What was it?! Was it dangerous? It looked dangerous! Everything in this place was dangerous
The not-elric continued that grating chuckle that made Ward’s ears twitch frantically until he had to hold them to stop the movement. That smug smirk was practically mocking him.
The Edward drew himself up to the highest stature he could and bared his teeth at the not-elric. <‘What the FUCK is so funny?!’>
It…HE continued to ignore him, standing there cockily with a stiff tail, oozing smugness and insults. How dare he be laughed at in this manner by some…not-elric!
<‘Stop laughing at me!’> he threw his stick at the figure across the river. <'I’ll bite your face off!'>
<‘You have got to be the most dirty and smallest Elric I have ever seen,’> drawled a smooth voice. <‘I can smell you from here.’> Ward froze, his whole body going rigid as the definitely not elric raised an eyebrow at him. Smallest? SMALLEST?! Ward exploded into a ranting frenzy, pacing as best he could on his side of the river.
<‘Come over here and say it, bastard! I’ll turn you into nothing but a pathetic chew-toy!’> he hissed, frothing at the mouth. Who the hell did this guy think he was? Coming into his…his territory and insulting him. He would rip him apart; he would carve his carcass into so many pieces the mice wouldn’t find them all! He’d punch him in the face and-
<‘Just as I thought. All mouth, no action. If only your size was as big as your ego,’> the not-Elric rumbled, his eyes glinting with amusement. <‘Or your smell.’> A dainty nose wrinkled at him.
Ward gaped at him, his pupils dilated and ears held so far back they disappeared but for the tag. Never had anyone spoke to him like this. The masters never called him small or smelly! His eyes narrowed into slits as he hissed at the offending creature.
<‘Though, you’re soooo small…I suppose I could let you live here in MY range.’> the animal continued, <‘After all, something your size can’t possibly eat enough to really hamper my hunting around here.’> A smirk showing too much teeth twitched upwards even more at him. <‘Or I could eat YOU.’>
That…was enough! Grabbing a nearby rock and snarling, the Edward threw it as hard as he could at the offending stranger. His dirty missile forced the new annoyance to step to the side.
<‘I’m not fucking small! I don’t smell!! Shut the fuck up and leave MY TERRITORY’> he yelled, throwing dirt and twigs across the river over and over. He wanted this aggravation gone, out of his life, to shut up and have blessed silence in this dirty place of a world. <‘Go away!’> he snarled tiredly as exhaustion crept up on him. His leg collapsed beneath him and Ward sat down quickly into the dirt, glaring at the interloper who stood there, unruffled and clean. He wanted the strange looking annoyance gone so he could continue his survival in peace.
<‘Bravo, well done [enemy civilian].’>
His eyes narrowed at the stranger. Why wouldn’t he shut up and go away? The almost silence was being shattered by slow clapping as Ward hunched down even further with his hands over his ears, teeth grating. Shut up, shut up, shut up! The clapping sounded wrong! It felt wrong! The not-elric was clapping wrong!
<‘Now why don’t you fight back properly? Give us a real challenge!’> Ward stifled down more of the resentment and anger, settling for just growl-hissing in his throat at the intruder. Eyes narrowed, ears back and covered in mud, he didn’t care how dirty he looked in comparison, he just wanted the bastard gone.
<‘Come on, attack me! Clap us!’> The annoyance was spreading his arms wide, head cocked. Ward frowned back at him in confusion. Us?
<‘No? Then you must stay away from my [border lines]. Or we’ll eat you.’>
<‘I don’t see any territory markings!’> He growled back. This was getting frustrating again. He was tired and hungry, not in the mood to deal with old bastards and friends.
The dog was talking, <‘He doesn’t know the markings? He’s a stupid [pup]…What? I haven’t renewed them? You should have told me earlier…’> The bastard was rubbing his fingers, <‘I see. I’ll renew markings and then he will know and others will know and I will be a good [commander]. The pack will be safe from the dangerous Edward.’>
Ward stared at the stranger. Was it crazy? Maybe it was ill.
<‘Oi! Small [pup]! I will show you my territory lines!’>
The threatening stranger snapped his fingers and there was a crack… Ward startled down into the ground with a squeak, terrified. There was fire shooting out and burning across the trees. Blazing hot fire from the laughing stranger. The not-elric had made fire. More fire than he had ever seen! It was hot and burning and made an arid smell. Hissing, he slowly backed up away from the crazy fire-creature, eyes wide with confusion and tail stiffly out. He needed to…get away. Safely without burns or injury or...
The stranger's laughter had cut out and Ward flattened himself against a tree warily. Something else had shown up. Another not-elric in a blue pelt with brown hair, eye decoration and a camm-err-raa. What was happening? Was it here to make fire too? Was he being attacked??
<‘[Commander]! What are you doing?!’>
<‘Uh, well. I was…I needed to renew the markings and there’s an [enemy civilian pup] in our land…’> the stranger was looking everywhere but at the Elric or newcomer. <‘[Defensive manoeuvres]?’> He whined.
<‘You know you’re not allowed outside of our territory! You’re very close to leaving! What have we told you?!’> scolded the newcomer at the fire-bastard who had all but wilted on his arrival.
<‘You forget your place, [suborbinate]!’> Was the fired reply, the fire-one drawing himself up stiffly.
The new stranger gave a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his neck. <’Haha, of course [commander]. I saw the fire and I was wondering why all the fire. I thought you were checking the food storage? So I came to check on you like a good Hughes!’>
The Hughes looked over at Ward. <‘Hi there! Aren’t you cute? I’m so sorry about this. You know how Mustangs are, all [border lines], markings and fire. Just ignore him in the future. Clap him into the ground or something. Don’t worry about it, you’re in no-one's land. Stay as long as you want. Sting just gets a bit …enthusiastic… at times! He’s really okay once you get to know him.’>
Ward blinked back at the fast-speaking explanation and the funny words. What? Mustangs? And…
<‘Oh! I’m Flash by the way! Might see you around, we live here. We have a Havoc too, but don’t worry! He’ll leave you alone. Won’t we?’> Flash punctuated the question by tugging on the bastard's…Mustang’s ear.
<‘…Yes.’> was the grumbled reply. Ward didn’t hear it; he was already fleeing through the forest
Next Chapter ->
Author: elric_ward
Rating: M
Genre: Survival.
Word count: 1,653
Summary: Ward never liked the world, but he was content. Then life decided to turn things around and make it difficult for him.
Author Notes: We’ve officially caught up to where my old fic “ended”. The old one was really rushed, so I’ve tried to pace it a little. Finally getting somewhere! Even latent instincts fire up between cats and dogs. (Dogs would speak in a different dialect? I think I’m borrowing the idea from another zoofic, I can’t recall.) This guy is hard to write and I’m not sure I’ll be able to fit as much of him in as I want to. Oh, if anyone wants to be eljay friends, give me an add! :D It’d be cool to make new friends. My other eljay is all RL friends and epically close online friends but we don’t share many fandom interests. On with the Story!
Prologue | Chapter One | Chapter Two
State of Mind
A Fullmetal Alchemist Zoofic by Elric ‘Hunter’ Ward
Copyright:
The Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) and all its respective work and ideas are copyrighted by Hiromu Arakawa and her distributors.
Comments and critique welcome.
Chapter Three
He frowned deeply in the morning light, refusing to open his eyes. He was dirty, hungry and he smelt. Altogether Ward felt very unpleasant and didn’t want to get out to face the world. However, his stomach was growling persistently at his third day with nothing but three apples. Sighing, the Edward reluctantly made his way out of the den and gave a quick look around. There were no apples waiting for him today. Ears lowered dejectedly as Ward gazed at where food had been yesterday.
Great. Now he has to actually look for food himself. Ward looked around the clearing. He had no idea about what he could and couldn’t eat.
Kicking the ground in frustration, he limped stiffly in the direction of ‘his’ river. He could at least get a nice long drink before trying to find food. Not that there was anything edible out here. Muttering under his breath, the Edward kicked rocks out of the way. <‘Stupid rocks with the stupid grass and the stupid world!’> He scowled as threateningly as he could at the river.
The river flowed gently in reply, undisturbed by his crudeness.
Sighing, Ward quickly lapped up the fresh water and splashed his face. <‘This river is the only good thing about this place.’> the elric grumbled at the air.
Sitting back on the edge of the bank, he looked around for anything that looked remotely edible. There was…nothing. Everything was just as unattractive as everything else. There were no apples or bowls with dry food. Just trees, grass, trees and yet more trees.
Licking his chapped lips, he regarded a stick near him. It had green….moss? Maybe that was edible? Hesitantly he gnawed on the end of the twig and spat it out in disgust. That was foul! It was bitter and disgusting and…
There was a sound. An amazingly aggravating sound that sent shivers up his back, raised the hair on his neck and sent a reflexive snarl crawling up and out of his throat. It was a sound that made a tingle of energy course all through his body and gave him the weird desire to clap his hands like the Masters visiting-masters. Strangling down the twitching of his hands together, he whipped his head around in the direction of the noise and crouched as low as he could, tail lashing furiously side to side.
Quick and furious eyes targeted in on the source of his unexpected and extra aggravation. There it was, on the opposite of the river. It was a…he didn’t know what it was, but it was laughing at him. It had blue pelts, tattered black ears that flopped and a crooked tail. It was a…it was a…not-Elric, that’s what it was. An overbearing and pompous not-elric that was laughing at him.
<‘WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!?’> he practically screamed from his position pressed into the ground. What was it?! Was it dangerous? It looked dangerous! Everything in this place was dangerous
The not-elric continued that grating chuckle that made Ward’s ears twitch frantically until he had to hold them to stop the movement. That smug smirk was practically mocking him.
The Edward drew himself up to the highest stature he could and bared his teeth at the not-elric. <‘What the FUCK is so funny?!’>
It…HE continued to ignore him, standing there cockily with a stiff tail, oozing smugness and insults. How dare he be laughed at in this manner by some…not-elric!
<‘Stop laughing at me!’> he threw his stick at the figure across the river. <'I’ll bite your face off!'>
<‘You have got to be the most dirty and smallest Elric I have ever seen,’> drawled a smooth voice. <‘I can smell you from here.’> Ward froze, his whole body going rigid as the definitely not elric raised an eyebrow at him. Smallest? SMALLEST?! Ward exploded into a ranting frenzy, pacing as best he could on his side of the river.
<‘Come over here and say it, bastard! I’ll turn you into nothing but a pathetic chew-toy!’> he hissed, frothing at the mouth. Who the hell did this guy think he was? Coming into his…his territory and insulting him. He would rip him apart; he would carve his carcass into so many pieces the mice wouldn’t find them all! He’d punch him in the face and-
<‘Just as I thought. All mouth, no action. If only your size was as big as your ego,’> the not-Elric rumbled, his eyes glinting with amusement. <‘Or your smell.’> A dainty nose wrinkled at him.
Ward gaped at him, his pupils dilated and ears held so far back they disappeared but for the tag. Never had anyone spoke to him like this. The masters never called him small or smelly! His eyes narrowed into slits as he hissed at the offending creature.
<‘Though, you’re soooo small…I suppose I could let you live here in MY range.’> the animal continued, <‘After all, something your size can’t possibly eat enough to really hamper my hunting around here.’> A smirk showing too much teeth twitched upwards even more at him. <‘Or I could eat YOU.’>
That…was enough! Grabbing a nearby rock and snarling, the Edward threw it as hard as he could at the offending stranger. His dirty missile forced the new annoyance to step to the side.
<‘I’m not fucking small! I don’t smell!! Shut the fuck up and leave MY TERRITORY’> he yelled, throwing dirt and twigs across the river over and over. He wanted this aggravation gone, out of his life, to shut up and have blessed silence in this dirty place of a world. <‘Go away!’> he snarled tiredly as exhaustion crept up on him. His leg collapsed beneath him and Ward sat down quickly into the dirt, glaring at the interloper who stood there, unruffled and clean. He wanted the strange looking annoyance gone so he could continue his survival in peace.
<‘Bravo, well done [enemy civilian].’>
His eyes narrowed at the stranger. Why wouldn’t he shut up and go away? The almost silence was being shattered by slow clapping as Ward hunched down even further with his hands over his ears, teeth grating. Shut up, shut up, shut up! The clapping sounded wrong! It felt wrong! The not-elric was clapping wrong!
<‘Now why don’t you fight back properly? Give us a real challenge!’> Ward stifled down more of the resentment and anger, settling for just growl-hissing in his throat at the intruder. Eyes narrowed, ears back and covered in mud, he didn’t care how dirty he looked in comparison, he just wanted the bastard gone.
<‘Come on, attack me! Clap us!’> The annoyance was spreading his arms wide, head cocked. Ward frowned back at him in confusion. Us?
<‘No? Then you must stay away from my [border lines]. Or we’ll eat you.’>
<‘I don’t see any territory markings!’> He growled back. This was getting frustrating again. He was tired and hungry, not in the mood to deal with old bastards and friends.
The dog was talking, <‘He doesn’t know the markings? He’s a stupid [pup]…What? I haven’t renewed them? You should have told me earlier…’> The bastard was rubbing his fingers, <‘I see. I’ll renew markings and then he will know and others will know and I will be a good [commander]. The pack will be safe from the dangerous Edward.’>
Ward stared at the stranger. Was it crazy? Maybe it was ill.
<‘Oi! Small [pup]! I will show you my territory lines!’>
The threatening stranger snapped his fingers and there was a crack… Ward startled down into the ground with a squeak, terrified. There was fire shooting out and burning across the trees. Blazing hot fire from the laughing stranger. The not-elric had made fire. More fire than he had ever seen! It was hot and burning and made an arid smell. Hissing, he slowly backed up away from the crazy fire-creature, eyes wide with confusion and tail stiffly out. He needed to…get away. Safely without burns or injury or...
The stranger's laughter had cut out and Ward flattened himself against a tree warily. Something else had shown up. Another not-elric in a blue pelt with brown hair, eye decoration and a camm-err-raa. What was happening? Was it here to make fire too? Was he being attacked??
<‘[Commander]! What are you doing?!’>
<‘Uh, well. I was…I needed to renew the markings and there’s an [enemy civilian pup] in our land…’> the stranger was looking everywhere but at the Elric or newcomer. <‘[Defensive manoeuvres]?’> He whined.
<‘You know you’re not allowed outside of our territory! You’re very close to leaving! What have we told you?!’> scolded the newcomer at the fire-bastard who had all but wilted on his arrival.
<‘You forget your place, [suborbinate]!’> Was the fired reply, the fire-one drawing himself up stiffly.
The new stranger gave a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his neck. <’Haha, of course [commander]. I saw the fire and I was wondering why all the fire. I thought you were checking the food storage? So I came to check on you like a good Hughes!’>
The Hughes looked over at Ward. <‘Hi there! Aren’t you cute? I’m so sorry about this. You know how Mustangs are, all [border lines], markings and fire. Just ignore him in the future. Clap him into the ground or something. Don’t worry about it, you’re in no-one's land. Stay as long as you want. Sting just gets a bit …enthusiastic… at times! He’s really okay once you get to know him.’>
Ward blinked back at the fast-speaking explanation and the funny words. What? Mustangs? And…
<‘Oh! I’m Flash by the way! Might see you around, we live here. We have a Havoc too, but don’t worry! He’ll leave you alone. Won’t we?’> Flash punctuated the question by tugging on the bastard's…Mustang’s ear.
<‘…Yes.’> was the grumbled reply. Ward didn’t hear it; he was already fleeing through the forest
Next Chapter ->