So, I'm guessing I'm not the only FMA fan out there anymore? And I finally have somewhere to post my fanfiction, huzzah! XD
If you watch the episode while reading this, you can follow along. The only reason this took me so long was because I was trying to follow the episode as closely as possible while still making it entertaining and mine-which means play for five seconds, write a sentence, rewind, play again, pause, play for three seconds, write, play, pause, play, rewind, play. And all for you guys? You should feel honored XD
This will be your life in the world of Ed and Al, which begins here. They could have used some help on that train to Central-why not you, with your advanced Alchemic skills?
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. If I did, I would be writing another chapter to the story, not writing fanfiction.
Chapter 1: The Girl Who Said Hello to a Bullet
A man rushed past your seat, down the aisle of your train car. Short grayish-white hair, tall, nothing too exceptional about him. Your gaze turned back to the book you held in your hands that you had never actually been reading, pulling your hood over your head, your wrist making a slightly metallic clank as the joint moved. Your mind was on far too many other things for you to be concentrating on much.
Your attention was grabbed once more as a small yelp of surprise was given by the man, who proceeded to exclaim something about the suit of armor sitting in the back of the car. And, apparently, his companion, who seemed to be short enough that you hadn't seen the back of his head over the seat earlier, when you were checking your surroundings. You had seen the large suit of armor, but decided not to acknowledge it until it was necessary to do so. There were also a few thuggish men sitting one seat behind and across the aisle from you, but you felt the need to give them the benefit of the doubt, just as you had for the giant, slightly intimidating suit of armor.
The short blonde boy was now at his feet, yelling at the man-something about his height, or lack thereof. You grinned, amused at the sight. The man stepped away from the boy's wrath, taking a few steps down the aisle, towards you. As he passed the men in the seats behind you, everyone pulled their guns out at once, and he stood between the two, threatened from both sides by cold, grey steel. His own gun was aimed at the man in the brown suit, but both the man in brown and the man in black were aiming at him, one from in front of him and one from behind. His own gun would never be enough to take out both of them, no matter who fired shots first.
Time slowed down for a moment. Nobody moved, blinked, breathed. Multiple men in a standoff at gunpoint in the middle of your train car, yet you felt calm, waiting for somebody to make the first move.
One of the brutish men, the one in black, suddenly jerked his arm forward, slamming the butt of his gun into the back of the light-haired man's skull. He crumpled to the carpeted floor of the car. A few people near you stood, horrified yet captivated.
"No heroes today," the man in the black suit said. "Everybody shut up and get your hands over your heads, or say hello to a bullet."
A peek at the blonde boy and his companion showed that they shared a glance and then slowly raised their hands above their heads. You followed suit as the thugs tied up the man they had pulled their guns on and stowed him in a vacant seat. They walked towards the front of the car and began checking the pockets and seats of the passengers for dangerous objects...like the dagger in your boot, or the gun in your jacket. They wouldn't be happy to find those.
As the men worked their way down the aisle, towards you, a small plan formed in your mind. It was the only option, really, but based on what you had seen of the thugs' talent levels so far, there was a low chance of it failing.
You stilled when the men finally reached your seat, and the one in black began feeling for weapons, making almost no progress before feeling a certain something in your boot. He pulled it out, then stood up and took a step back in the aisle, as if he was afraid of what you could possibly have a dagger in your boot for.
"What do we have here?" he said, pointing the barrel of his gun in the direction of your forehead with his quick attitude change. He spoke arrogantly, a cocky smile on his face-was that really the best he could do at bravado? "What could a pretty little girl like you be doing with a thing like this?" he smirked. Your eyes narrowed beneath your hood.
People who doubted girls had always pissed you off. A lot.
"Don't call me that!" you yelled and stepped onto your seat, vaulting over the back. Your hood flew back, your boots met the thug's face with a satisfying crunch, and he crumpled to the floor just as the other man had. His partner immediately aimed his gun at you and fired off a shot, but the bullet embedded itself in the paneling behind you. His gun flew out of his hands as the short blonde boy from earlier assaulted him, flying forward to knee him harshly in the nose, most likely breaking it, and that man went down as well.
You watched the two thugs for a moment. The only movement you could see was the occasional finger twitch.
"You dumb kid," one of the passengers said to you accusingly. "What are we supposed to do now? Don't you think they'll notice that two of their men have gone missing? And what's going to happen to us then-they'll want retribution! We would have been safe if we had just cooperated until we got to Central!" Varied cries followed.
"That's right!"
"What were you thinking?"
"What do we do next?" the giant suit of armor asked, and you were only halfway surprised that it was the voice of a young boy. You hadn't been able to think of any logical reason for someone to wear armor, besides either they wanted to or they were required to, and you had a hard time believing anybody would volunteer to wear something like that for any length of time.
"I didn't plan that far," the blonde boy said, and he and the suit of armor exchanged another glance.
The sound of a cocking gun drew everyone's attention to the man in the black suit. Previously lying mostly motionless on the floor, he was now aiming his gun at a woman and her daughter. The suit of armor quickly stepped forward onto the man's back, and he reflexively pulled the trigger, the bullet losing itself somewhere in the walls of the train car. You toed the gun up and out of the man's reach, and the blonde boy caught it as it spun in the air.
He turned to the woman and her child, who had shrunk farther into their seat, eyes closed as if awaiting death. "Are you guys okay?" The woman picked up her head to look at him, shaking. "Yeah," she said quietly. He smiled slightly, then turned to look at the rest of the passengers in the car. They all seemed to be watching him, waiting for him to make a decision. His gaze hardened before he turned back to the woman and child in the seat next to us. "Sorry about that," he said, smiling at the girl despite the situation. "Your big brothers here will take care of this somehow, okay? And your big sister will help." He looked back at you, question in his eyes. The girl nodded slightly, tears of fear idle in her own. You nodded, confirming that you would help.
"Let's get started," he said.
"Wait! Over here!" a voice called from the front of the car. The tall man with greyish hair from earlier pushed himself into the aisle with his feet, rope around his torso binding him. The blonde boy rushed forward, kneeling to untie him.
"How embarrassing," the man said. "Who are you guys? Freelancers?"
"Just two old-fashioned alchemists," he said, "and-"
"And a stupid girl who decided to say hello to a bullet," you interrupted, grinning.
"You don't say. Well, I'm Falman, state warrant officer."
"A soldier, huh? You don't look like one."
Falman chuckled. "Yes, well, there's a reason for that. We've got a special passenger on board. You know, the front-car kind."
The short blonde boy sucked in a breath. "So that's why these thugs are here, isn't it?" Falman gave a small nod. "Huh. So they decided to drag us down with them." He stood as the rope fell away from Falman's torso and turned to the suit of armor.
"Al, I'm going up top to throw a surprise party with..." he looked to you.
"I'm (name)," you supplied.
"I'm going up top to throw a surprise party with (name). You go with him from below."
"Al" seemed to have a moment of indecision before agreeing. "Uh, yeah."
Al and Falman stood at the door they would use to get to the next car as you and Blondie swung out the window closest to the front of the car, using the ladder on the back of the next car to climb onto the roof. The blonde climbed the ladder first, and you followed him up. As you planted both feet onto the roof of the train, your hair whipping around you, one foot slipped, sending you reeling backwards, arms pinwheeling. A hand somehow managed to grab onto one of yours and pull you back to a standing position. You found wobbly yet sure footing as the boy looked back at you with a smile.
"Hold on to me; I won't let you fall."
You struggled across multiple cars, the train heading away from land, across a wide expanse of water, then back toward a landmass that suddenly ended in a sheer drop-the train tracks were on a thin strip of rock that jutted out part of the way down the steep cliff. The wind was almost strong enough to rip your hand from your new companion's, let alone send you flying into oblivion.
"What should I be calling you?" you yelled into the wind, hoping that the boy would somehow hear you.
"My name is Edward, but everyone just calls me-"
A large branch appeared around the corner as the train tracks curved around, following the land. "Ed! Duck!" you yelled, opting for a shorter version of his name for fear you wouldn't have time to finish the sentence. You pushed him down to lay flat on the roof as the branch came too close for comfort, and suddenly you were tumbling through the air, flipping over and over across the roof of the train. You felt yourself drop into the space between two cars, heard someone in the distance yell, "Dammit (name)!", and braced for the impact of either the train tracks or the ocean below.
It never came.
You opened your eyes to find that there was an arm around your shoulders, keeping you from falling from the train. Your feet rested lightly on one of the rungs of a ladder to the train's roof. Looking to your right, you found that a man in a purple shirt and slacks had caught you as you tumbled over the edge.
"You know, there's a real art to train-walking." the man said. "I'm shocked you two made it this far."
"Thanks...I guess." you replied.
"(Name)!" Edward's voice sounded, not so far off.
"Edward!" you yelled back in reply, grabbing the rungs of the ladder and climbing up a step. You saw him near the front of the car you had just tumbled across, near the spot you had originally been standing with him, before that damn branch swept you from the roof. He was staring, wide-eyed, to the back of the car when your face appeared above the ladder. He smiled in relief when he saw you, and took a small step towards you.
"Don't! We'll come to you!" you yelled, and he stopped, nodding. You didn't have the slightest idea how he had heard you against the wind, but were grateful for it anyways. You and the man in the purple shirt made your way slowly across the car to Edward-the slowness mainly your own fault, since it seemed to you that this strange man must have been train-walking for years before this.
"I'm Major Hughes. And you're Edward Elric, is that right?" the man said as the two of you reached Edward.
"Yeah, that's right," Edward yelled back, over the loud whistling of the wind.
"Mustang told me about you and your brother. I'm an old friend of his."
Major Hughes was a friend of Mustang's? He must know why you were on the train, then.
Edward seemed surprised. "Lieutenant Colonel?"
"Yup." Hughes looked towards the clouds as if thinking about something else. "He's always bragging about that silly promotion, too." he paused, then looked back to you and Ed. "Come on, you two, we'd better work as a team."
You and Edward exchanged a glance, then looked back to Hughes and nodded simultaneously. Why not? You could use all the help you could get.
FMA~TT
Inching your way across the final car before the engine, Edward, who was in the front, spoke. "I'm going to look in a window, see what's going on in there. Be ready, stick to the plan." He swung himself onto the top of the engine without waiting for a reply, poking his head over the edge to peek in through the window.
"I still don't think it's a very good plan," you mumbled under your breath, but Hughes noticed, grinning knowingly down at you.
You swore for a moment you saw Edward make a silly face at the men inside the car as Hughes moved into position beside the other window. Edward pulled himself back up to the roof, gave a quick "okay," and Hughes swung into the other window. You heard a muffled yell of surprise and possibly pain before Edward slithered back in on his side. A few more grunts and the car was relatively silent, before you heard the chilling sound of someone cocking a gun, for the second time that day, a relatively small distance behind you.
"Well lookie here, a sitting duck."
You turned, pulling your gun out of your jacket as you moved, slowly so as not to get blown away by the wind, if you didn't get blown away by a bullet first. You whipped your gun out in front of you as you faced the back of the train to aim at the large, bald man that was aiming at you from a small door on the train's roof, and he fired at you in response. You stepped carefully away from the shot, firing back as it grazed your cheek, flying off into oblivion. A shout of "Hey! You okay?" sounded from behind you, unmistakably the voice of Major Hughes-but if the question had been directed at you, you didn't have time to answer. The bald man ducked into the train for a moment as your bullet flew past him, then appeared again to fire off another shot at the same moment you did. You stepped back, inches away from the edge of the roof, to avoid the shot-then suddenly Edward was at your side, hair whipping in the wind as he transmutated part of the roof into what appeared to be a cannon.
The absence of a transmutation circle was not missed by you, but you decided that it was something to be noted and questioned later-there was only one way transmutation without a circle was possible, and that was something you didn't want to think about at the moment.
The bald man stared for a moment, dumbfounded, before his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and he ducked once more into the train, the cannonball missing his head by centimeters and knocking his gun out of his hands and into the water far below.
"Oh, man!" Hughes yelled as he stuck his head out the window of the engine car. "That was smooth!" The train's conductor stuck his own head out the window, pushing Hughes back to yell at Ed.
"Hey, you! Don't mess with that tinder! It's the life of this train!"
"Right, sorry!" Edward called back sheepishly, then stopped for a moment in thought. He continued much more quietly. "Box of tinder...hm..." Then a wicked grin lit up his face, and he turned to you. "Let's flush them out."
You couldn't have possibly thought of something better yourself, and you were sure your grin must have looked slightly evil in that moment as well. "Sounds like some surprise party."
You mouthed the words "be ready, go below" to Hughes, who sent you a thumbs up as Edward got into position. He transmuted a small section of the roof into a two-way speaker setup.
"Attention, gun-toting extremists!" he yelled. "Can you hear me alright, or did you blow your ears out playing target practice?" A pause, and you heard a voice come through to your side from inside the train car.
"What the hell is that?"
"Let the hostages go! You've got no right to drag these travelers into your personal politics!"
Another, slightly deeper voice this time. One of authority. "You're one of Colonel Mustang's secret agents, aren't you? Interfere and I'll kill these hostages, one by one."
Ed answered. "You're just itching to draw blood, aren't you? Alright!"
Edward raised his hands to begin a transmutation, but you quickly transmuted a large pipe into what was hopefully the right place. You hadn't wanted to reveal the fact you didn't need a transmutation circle any more than he did, but you were done letting him do all the work. Edward hesitated for a moment, staring at you.
"So you're an alchemist? And you've seen it, too?" he said, but it seemed like he was speaking more to himself than anyone else. "Huh, and I'm always telling people I've been through worse than they have. Guess we're on equal ground." He finished bitterly, then turned back to his most recent transmutation.
"Okay, passengers, please hold onto your seats, and get ready for some turbulence!"
You pulled the water through the pipe and into the car, and you and Edward watched water stream out the mostly-closed windows. After a moment, a flood gushed out the back of the car, and you realized that someone must have opened the back door. Al.
Edward stayed back for a moment to clean up after your transmutations, and you moved over to the small opening in the roof of the extremists' car.
"What's the matter? Don't like my company?" You heard a man with an eyepatch and long, dark hair say to a partially-closed door. That same voice of authority that had spoken through Edward's two-way speaker system. A flash of purple caught your eye, and you took in a sharp breath. Hughes was behind that door. "Before I finish off the General, I'll take care of you."
"Me first!" you yelled, leaping feet-first into the car. Your boot connected with the man's face, and he stumbled back a few steps as you pushed off his face into a back handspring to land on your feet, his hand to his eye as he cracked his neck back into place. His other hand was actually a gun, hopefully automail attached as a necessity and not for pleasure. You stepped forward to jam your elbow into his nose, but he moved quickly and unexpectedly, slamming his automail arm into the space beneath your ribcage and sending you flying. You hit the door where the pipe had been, dropping to the carpeted floor with a dull thud. You couldn't breathe, couldn't move from your spot on the floor, eyes wide. He stepped toward you with a slightly crazed look in his eyes, his automail arm raised high as he quickened his pace.
You couldn't look away as he neared you. He was only a few steps away when something flashed by, and suddenly Ed was in front of him, holding the man back by holding both of his arms in front of him, pushing him back in a test of strength.
"Move, (name)!" he said, his voice strained.
And suddenly, your diaphragm re-expanded and you breathed in sweet air. You pulled yourself up and away, dropping to your knees in a coughing fit as your lungs struggled to regulate the amount of oxygen you were suddenly taking in.
"Huh," Ed said. "Two automailers, go figure."
The fact that Edward had an automail arm was pushed back into your mind for later, just as many other things had been already, if you ever got the chance to ask him your questions. After all, he had to have lost something if he did what he had to have done, and it couldn't have been any worse than what you had lost.
"You're just a couple of brats!" the man with long hair said. "Don't tell me the army is feeding kids into its chophouse now."
"You're going to pay for that brat comment," Edward said. "And no one's feeding me into anything, I'm on my own."
"A little piece of advice, kid. I used to be in this military too. It was fine as long as I was pissing on cue, but then I wanted this upgraded arm. They didn't like that, felt I'd be stronger than my superiors." He pushed forward a bit more, and Edward fell back a bit before compensating for the extra pressure. "You see, the queen bees don't like it when the workers have a sting they can't control. Shortly after the procedure they discharged me. Since then I've gotten a taste for destroying them and the nation they command."
His eyes were crazed, you could see as your lungs finally got used to the oxygen once more. You pulled yourself up to standing as Edward struggled to keep up with the weight advantage the other man was using against him.
"You understand, kid. You've got an arm just like mine. You've wanted to be stronger, too-and the military, they'll just get rid of you as soon as you're not convenient."
"No, I don't understand," Ed said, pushing harder towards the other man. "And don't you ever lump in my reasons for this arm with yours!" He pushed the man back, and you leapt forward, catching the man around the waist and pushing him to the floor. He struggled for a moment before you landed a square hit or two to his nose.
"You shouldn't go around assuming things," you said to him, eyes narrowed. "It's bad for your health." You stood when you noticed something behind him and took a step away as he scrabbled to get up, only reaching a crouching position before Al put a hand on his shoulder. He stiffened, turning his head slightly in time to see a large fist slam into his face. He flew past you and Ed, landing on the floor in a twitching heap, his cheek red where Al's fist had connected.
Ed sighed in relief, turning to give you and Al a thumbs up, smiling.
FMA~TT
"So, Edward, I've wanted to ask you a few questions." you said, watching the scenery fly by through the window of the train. Ed and Al had decided you should sit with them so you could talk after helping them with the attempted train heist and almost murder of the General. Helping Hughes was no problem, since he had only suffered a small amount of blood loss and he had already stopped bleeding. A bullet had barely grazed his shoulder. You had finally sat down a few minutes ago next to Edward, as Al took up a whole seat for obvious reasons.
"Please, (name), I've already asked you to call me Ed," he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"No, you said your name was Edward, and then I called you 'Ed' when I was pushing you down to lay on the roof of the train so you wouldn't get killed. You never asked me to do anything," you replied, grinning slightly, your gaze never moving from the trees outside the window. Your grin disappeared for a moment. "What did you think?"
"Huh?" Edward asked.
"When I went over the edge. What did you think?"
"I thought you had sacrificed yourself for me. I was pretty pissed," he said sheepishly, and you turned to look at him.
"Pissed?"
"I don't like owing people. I would have felt guilty for a long time if you had died and it was my fault."
You looked back out the window. "That was an impulse decision. I don't know what I would have done if I had had time to think about it first. Still pushed you out of the way, I would hope, but...I don't know."
"I'm sure you would have done what you thought was right." Edward said, and your gaze turned back to him.
"So you've seen it, too?" you asked, and you could see that he immediately knew what you were talking about.
He looked down and spoke quietly. "Yeah. When we attempted something we shouldn't have. I lost my leg," he pulled one of his pants legs up so you could see the metal that made up his ankle. "and Al lost his body. I gave my arm to bond his soul to that suit of armor."
"Guess that explains the arm, and the armor," you murmured. Then, more loudly. "I tried the same thing you did. I lost my right arm, like you did when you bonded Al's soul to that suit of armor. I also lost my nine-year-old cousin in the process. I tried to give myself up to bring him back, but..." Your feet suddenly became the most interesting things in the room. "I was too late. He had already gone through the gate."
"Sounds like you went through a lot. I don't know exactly how that feels, but I'm probably pretty close. If you ever need help, you can always come to me." Ed said, a hand on your shoulder.
"I might just take you up on that offer someday."
Silence for a moment, before Ed decided it was his turn to ask you something. "What bothered you earlier, when ther man was speaking to you?" he said, seeming genuinely confused. "All I heard was 'pretty little girl.'"
"The whole thing, especially the 'little girl' part. I don't like people who think all women are weak. I usually try my best to prove otherwise without violence, but the situation had called for violence, so I had the opportunity to add emphasis to my argument."
"Remind me not to piss you off."
"I'll warn you next time I'm about to go on a feministic rampage." you replied, rolling your eyes.
Silence for another minute as Edward contemplated this new information.
"Hey, are you sure you're okay?" You turned, once again, to see a look of concern on his face. "You never did wash off that blood."
"Yeah," you said, touching the spot where the bullet had grazed your cheek. You had far more serious things to worry about. "I'm sure."
FMA~TT
You, Ed, and Al stepped onto the concrete floor of the train station and turned in the direction of a bunch of people who seemed to be military, as well as the extremist (who was known as Bald, you had learned) and his thugs. You recognized one of the military members as Lieutenant Colonel Mustang, whom you had spoken to multiple times over the phone for various reasons. He seemed to be exchanging pleasantries with Bald-if you could call them that.
Bald suddenly leapt up, the ropes that had previously bound him falling away from his wrists. He raised his automail arm as if to bash Mustang's skull in, but Mustang simply raised his gloved hand in front of himself, and snapped. An inferno consumed the air in front of him, and Bald screamed, dropping to his knees, his eyes and mouth open in anguish.
You pulled your hood up as Ed shielded his eyes with his arm, pulling it away as the flame abated, eyes wide in awe. "That flame, that's awesome!"
Bald's skin steamed, black smoke still dissolving into the air. His skin slightly charred, he didn't move from his position on the ground. Mustang spoke.
"I controlled myself. The damage to your skin isn't nearly as bad as it feels. You can call me Roy Mustang, or just Lieutenant Colonel." A half grin replaced his slight frown. "Hell, you can call me the Flame Alchemist. Whatever you do, remember the pain."
"So he's Mustang," Ed said, his brow furrowed. He didn't move for a moment, as if in thought, then suddenly sprinted forward.
"Ed!" you exclaimed, wondering what he was up to. Provoking the Flame Alchemist wasn't a good idea.
"Hey!" he said, stopping a few feet away from Mustang. "You knew. That's why you made us take this train. You put us at risk on purpose!"
Mustang had put them on that train? What could he possibly have hidden up his sleeve? He knew you were going to be on that train-did he make them take that train so they could help you with Bald and his accomplices? Or was there an entirely different reason?
"Come on, Ed, you think I've got the the whole world on strings?" Mustang replied with a barely noticeable grin. It was a bluff, you could instantly tell. Mustang put Ed and Al on that train on purpose.
"Asshole." you muttered.
Mustang continued. "Anyway, you should focus on the good news here. The General heard about your exploits saving the train and agreed to make a special exception. He's letting you take the State Alchemy exam. You're going to be the talk of the military, kid."
Ed had come to Central to train for the exam? At his age? You brushed the thought off for later. He would be there for a while, if he was taking the exam-maybe you would see him again sometime after all.
"Exception? But you always said we could take it-that's the reason we came!" Ed yelled, pointing accusingly at Mustang, who replied readily.
"Be realistic, Ed, the State's never let a kid take a military exam before." He leaned forward conspiratorially. "But luck's on your side-good thing you took that earlier train, don't you think?"
Ed seemed dumbfounded, putting a hand to his forehead as if he suddenly had a headache. Mustang placed a hand on his shoulder as he passed by. "Whether or not you take the test is still up to you. I'm not trying to run your life." He let go, walking away from Ed, his company following him.
Ed whirled around after a moment. "Of course I'll take it!" He said determinedly. "And I'll pass! I would have done it anyway!" He pointed at Mustang's back as he walked away.
Mustang stopped next to you, putting a hand on your shoulder this time. "I'll be waiting for you. You know where to find me." His eyes moved to the trail of blood on your face. "Try not to die in the meantime." You didn't move as Mustang pulled away after expressing his own special way of caring. Moving your gaze slightly upwards, you saw Ed's expression change to one of consternation from just under the edge of your hood.
Hughes chuckled before turning to follow Mustang as he passed by. You and Al walked over to where Ed stood in the middle of the station.
"Those people had us dancing right in the palms of their hands, didn't they?" Al said, his voice echoing inside his metal helmet. "I guess it doesn't matter what we do. We'll never be the ones in control." Ed sighed.
"There they are!" a little girl's voice. "Over here! Hey!" Following the sound of the girl's giggles, you turned to see the woman and her daughter who had been in your original car on the train, when those two thugs had pulled a gun on Falman, who was now with Mustang and his company. The girl was waving, her smile wide and her laugh cheerful.
Her smile seemed to be contagious, as you soon found yourself smiling, and a quick glance to the left revealed that Ed was smiling too, and Al was waving back at the girl, a strange happiness emanating from him.
"Thank you big brothers, and big sister! I'll remember you!" the girl yelled across the station. "Thank you!"
Soon you found yourself waving as well, and Ed joined in, laughing.
A great end to an interesting day.
5.8k? I'm impressed with myself. :3 The next chapter should be out in a few days, maybe earlier if I get extra time. Leave constructive criticism so I can improve this chapter or the next. Leave flames so I can barbecue my fewds.
Regs, Eve
Edit 1/31/14: THIS HAS TAKEN ME SO LONG. Luckily for you guys, I'm almost done with the second chapter, which will probably come out to around seven- or eight-thousand words. Sounds like fun, right?