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MIN’S WHY YOU SHOULD READS - PT. 4

Back with yet another collection after half a year! There’ll be a huge 40 banner type round up post by the end of the year, can’t believe it’s been 40 banners and 40 long recs since last December!

In case you missed it:

🌸 Min’s Why You Should Reads - Pt. 1 [X] 🌸

🌸 Min’s Why You Should Reads - Pt. 2 [X] 🌸

🌸 Min’s Why You Should Reads - Pt. 3 [X] 🌸

Full Rec Here ✨

Full Rec Here ✨

Full Rec Here ✨

Full Rec Here ✨

Full Rec Here ✨

Full Rec Here ✨

Full Rec Here ✨

Full Rec Here ✨

Full Rec Here ✨

Full Rec Here ✨

🌸🌸🌸

Plus, don’t forget that there’s a full collection of supernatural, horror themed danmei over here.

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this was supposed to be a panel redraw until i went crazy

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Ranwan 0.5 Timeline

Spoiler Warning

I am putting together an 0.5 timeline because the events in the past just fascinate me dearly. It is quite hard because it requires skimming through the whole novel. Please let me know if there is a mistake somewhere.

15 years old: Mo Ran became Chu Wanning's disciple and a few months later, he was planted with the Flower of Everlasting Hatred.

19 years old: Shi Mei "died", Mo Ran started to secretly learn the Zhenlong Chess Formation and created the Shared Heart Formation.

20 years old: Mo Ran started his conquest with Sisheng Peak then Rufeng Sect.

Speculation: It is unclear when the siege on Rufeng Sect happened but it is safe to presume it would have been some time after Sisheng Peak got destroyed. In chapter 1, Xue Meng mentioned Chu Wanning once waited for Mo Ran to return all alone days and nights (it could mean a very long time).

Chu Wanning was present when Ye Wangxi was killed so it's likely that the battle between him and Mo Ran happened at Rufeng Sect. Then it would have happened closer to his coronation day.

22 years old: Mo Ran announced himself the new ruler of the Cultivation World. He also married Chu Wanning and Song Qiutong the same year.

So many events we learned about happened within the first year he became Taxian-jun: capturing Chu Wanning, the coronation day, Chu Wanning begging for Xue Meng's life, to their wedding.

Speculation: When did Chu Wanning find out about the flower? I found a hint - Song Qiutong resented "Chu Fei" because Taxian-jun once came to her because he was furious to find the letters Chu Wanning wrote to Xue Meng. This was before Taxian-jun celebrated his third year of being the emperor. So Chu Wanning must have made the discovery within the first two or three years after being captured.

25 years old: Taxian-jun got in a good mood since it was the three year anniversary of being the emperor and being married to Chu Wanning.

Their interaction was much different from other flashbacks, more peaceful and loving. Also, Taxian-jun referred to Chu Fei as his beloved and favored consort. And I like to think they had a bit over five years with moments like that every now and then.

30 years old: Xue Meng's assassination attempt happened. Taxian-jun laid waste on Taxue Palace. Chu Wanning passed away.

32 years old: :(

A piece of him then spent 8 years longing for the love he thought had abandoned him.

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So I have loved RWRB since it came out but I've never read fic for it before but then you posted about your lawyer one so I just read it and I loved it so much and I am so excited for the prequel!!!

Do you have any recommendations for other RWRB fics I should read?

(not that I have the time really to be getting into anything new what with all the great Tarlos fics we are getting and my own wips and, you know, life but whatever you've hooked me !!)

Ahhhh! I’m so happy to be your gateway into RWRB fic, there are so many excellent fics out there!! I actually just posted the first chapter of the lawyer prequel last night 😊

Do I have recommendations? SO MANY but I will try to restrain myself and only give you a handful 😅 here are the fics that came to mind first!

Canon:

Lifelines by @indomitable-love (the emails from everyone else’s perspectives)

all that glitters (is not gold) also by @indomitable-love - the unofficial sequel to the book

Never Truly Leave by @clottedcreamfudge

Those three ^ will probably make you cry, but it’s worth it

Gemma’s husband by Floatingaway4 which is just the loveliest

This series of interviews by th0ughts which delve into the boys’ wedding looks and fashion

AUs

The Lonestar inspired firefighter AU, Such a burden, this flame on my chest by @three-drink-amy

The very meta Hashtags Soulmates by @everwitch-magiks

Speak for Yourself the accidental roommates AU by @welcometololaland

Hit (My Love) Out Of The Park aka the baseball boyfriends au by bleedingballroomfloor

For a dose of magical realism, The Cost of Anything by @clottedcreamfudge

@fuckingyrs has also put together two stellar and very extensive rec lists here and here

Happy reading! 💖💖

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Red White & Royal Blue | movie parallels

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Rereading the manga, I think my favorite thing ever is that Edward looks like he’s a feral animal Mustang just kinda found out back one day. He looks like if he bites you you’re going to get a disease, and he looks like he absolutely would bite a person. They really toned down how feral he is in Brotherhood.

Brotherhood Ed is like some poor cat you found in the alley, Manga Ed is the rabid raccoon you’ve been trying to pull put of your trash since 2013 that Will Not Leave

Like look at him and tell me he doesn’t remind you of some raccoon

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Let’s Talk about Edward’s Disability

Automail - A Means to an End 

So I’m noticing some misconceptions when it comes to Edward’s automail and I just wanted to clear things up for how the world works at the least for my individual take on Edward.  

So the thing I need you to remember when dealing with my Edward is that he is disabled. 

I know Edward can run and jump and flip and kick and do all of these amazing things. 

That doesn’t stop him from being disabled. 

Please also remember that Edward feels everything lopsided, as on the right side he can feel next to nothing from the entire length of his arm - shoulder to the tip of his fingers, and on the left side of his lower body he can feel next to nothing  from the mid thigh all the way down to the tips of his toes. 

I said next to because at the base or ports of his automail Edward can feel the connection of his nerves to the machine. That’s why he’s able to tell Winry that “his shoulder feels numb” in Star of Milos or one of the reasons during lab 5 he could identify that something was wrong with his shoulder. 

However when it comes to Edward’s arm his sense of “feeling” relies heavily on weight. His right side has become dependent on knowing how much something weighs. Edward can’t feel what’s in his hand despite how it may appear. He really just has to trust the object is in his grip whether that be by sight. the sound of the metal gripping or by the weight of it that it adds to his shoulder. 

Edward’s right shoulder and port are the running engine of his automail. If you’ll look at how it’s connected to his body, you’ll see that the port of his shoulder actually takes up a decent portion of his chest. It covers almost his entire right pectoral and moves into his right shoulder blade. 

|| Please get used to these pictures I’m going to use them a lot. ||

Ed’s automail doesn’t just effect his arm - like series constantly pushes. He only lost his arm but in order to even be able to have an arm again he had to sacrifice even more of his body so it had a place to connect. 

If you really look at him you’ll see all the scarring that occurred because of the surgery - surgery that is said to make a grown man scream out or cry in pain over. 

Ed was 11 when they did this to his body. Look  at his shoulder before the surgery. 

It’s there. It’s all there. His chest was unharmed by Truth and so was his shoulder. He ONLY lost his arm, and the series like’s to push that fact but what it doesn’t push is the amount of alterations he had to have done to his growing pre-teen body in order to have that famous automail arm. 

He has bolts grafted into his body - anchored right into his bones to keep that port on his body. 

Three on his chest - two into his side and one into his collar bone

and three into his back - two into his side again and one into his shoulder blade. 

I want you to right now - as you’re reading this - roll your shoulder slowly.  Feel your shoulder blade?  Edward’s got a bolt there.  Do you feel your collarbone as you slowly drop your shoulder forward?  Edward’s got a bolt there.  Bolts drilled right into his bones. 

His Automail hurts.  Al says in the beginning of the series, that he wants to get Ed’s body fixed first because Edward’s automail is hard on his body. 

The dub line is actually “No Brother, you first - that automail is so tough on you.” 

It’s like this because as I said it’s been grafted into his skeletal structure. 

So when Ed moves, it moves, but don’t forget that automail has no outside power source. it’s connected straight into his nervous system - each nerve, each and every nerve is anchored right into this machine that’s powered through the electrical pulses that come from those nerves. It regulates the power to the pneumatic actuators and electrical motors inside of it.  Ed is it’s power source.

^ It looks like this under all that pretty plating after all ^

Basically, Edward’s brain is still firing the signals to move his right arm / hand - the lost limb(s) and left leg))  So his arm still moves as fluid as it would if it was still flesh and blood because his automail receives the signals sent out by his brain and when his nerves react, his arm amplifies the signals and does the motion his body was trying to tell the lost limb to do. 

But it took rehabilitation to do this. Rehabilitation to be able to use his limbs in the first place - that was supposed to take a whole three years to complete and Edward cut down to one. I have no doubt that he pushed himself. He had to push himself. He had to push himself so ridiculously hard to get himself up to running condition - enough to be fighting his brother - in a year.  I bet he tried to fight his brother in shorter than a year and I bet he was spitting blood just like Pinako said he would be. 

So when I say Edward is in pain constantly, this is why. It’s not a hard pain. It’s nothing that drops him. No it’s like this constant ache that rests between his shoulder blades from his small frame trying to carry enough weight that it’s stopping him from growing. 

Edward’s arm literally puts so much stress on his body it hasn’t been able to grow. His now teenage maturing body got stuck in a time loop basically because there was too much weight bringing it down. He carries that weight on his shoulder every day. 

Personally, I believe his arm has to weight something close to 20 - 25 lbs with his leg weighing about the same. But then like I said, this is for my own personal take on him. I personally believe that his automail adds about another 50lbs to his body weight - making him a firm 160 - 170 lbs. 

(His own body has to be a decent weight considering all the flips and jumps and kicks and stuff he can do because he has to have a lot of muscle on his body to be able to jump high enough to kick his 7′3″ armored brother in the face. Ed alone probably weighs 110 /120 lbs even at 4′11″. ) 

__

Now when we you look at this leg, you can see that it’s still partly there. 

His automail only comes up to mid-thigh / just above the knee.  So he didn’t even lose the whole thing, but he did lose enough that it puts pressure on his hip / pelvis to move it. This port however is different from the shoulder port in the fact it houses the main support rod of the leg in a different way but it’s still bolted into his body. 

The thing you see in the top picture is the outer plating that protects the port, where as this is the actual place of connection and it is attached into Edward’s leg with one large bolt driven into each side.  They have to be large in this case, and heavily reinforced because these bolts don’t just keep the port in place and the leg attached to his body but they also have to be weight bearing.  If the bolts in this port snap - not only does it break the port’s connection and Edward loses his leg taking him down with it - but he’ll feel those bolts snap inside of his leg and they could cause more internal damage that might prevent him from having an automail leg in the first place.  

Also as I said in the sections about his arm, I personally believe that each piece of his automail weighs around 25lbs - so that means his exceptionally small frame is trying to move something with that kind of weight. It strains his pelvis leaving him with sore hips and he has to readjust himself a lot to find the most comfortable position for him to set for long periods (or if he’s been on it a lot - for him to set at all.) 

But that weight is also where the lopsided feeling I mentioned comes into play. Edward naturally ( at this point) has more strength in his right shoulder and left hip due to having to move these solid pieces of steel around for years and years.  

But all and all, it’s set up much like his arm in the way that it turns the firing of messages to his lost leg into energy and instructions for his automail. He just has to train his body constantly to keep himself in proper shape in order to be able to move it. 

- 

On that subject. I have mentioned in other headcanons / things about Edward that the boy suffers from mass pain during rain or thunderstorms. 

Now this is mentioned in the manga / brotherhood, when he goes out with Pinako to dig up the grave of the thing he transmuted - and he ends up on his knees, throwing up he’s in so much pain.  And that’s just a heavy rain storm. 

Now while I think this has something to do with the fact that he just has old injuries and old injuries hurt in weather changes, whether they’re broken bones or what not, I also think this has something to do with the fact that he rushed his rehabilitation by two years.  I wouldn’t be surprised if part of it didn’t heal correctly so it lead to him having extremely painful reactions during poor weather or extreme cold.  So when thunderstorms roll around the the barometric pressure in the air changes he wants to throw up from the pressure it puts on the ports in his body - the bolts in his body. 

Automail does not change that Edward is a double amputee. When poor weather hits, he would have adverse reactions regardless - but with so much metal in his body and his nerves literally connected to a machine that picks up the smallest reactions out of them - thunderstorms and heavy weather just destroys him.  

Edward has also woken from a nightmare during a storm and the first thing he did was hug his leg and declare “It hurts.”  

In no way, shape or form does Ed’s automail give him a magical pain free cure to fix all of his problems.  Honestly, it made it so he was a complete person again and he could function mostly independently. It gave him him hands-free alchemy but it also gave him a ton of new problems.   

I know people rag on Al for ‘mothering’ him throughout the series, but honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a lot more than just  “You’re sleeping with your tummy out.”  It’s probably holding his hair back when he can stop puking, and making sure he stays in bed when he’s so dizzy from pain he falls over.  Al has probably carried him countless times - conscious or unconscious. I wouldn’t be surprised if Al has also had to go in Ed’s place or call in Ed’s place to refuse summons from Mustang - lightly explaining things like ‘He’s not feeling well’ or coming up with every other reason he can so no one else knows how bad it is.  Because Al knows that would destroy him. He knows his brother is trying to be as strong as he possibly can for this - for them - for him so he’d never let anyone know just exactly what that automail does to Edward.

Because it does a lot more than just give him an arm and a leg. 

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“FMA is bad because it portrays war criminals as sympathetic, likable people” bro that’s the point. That’s the whole point. That is THE point. Did you think Ethnic Cleanser is some kind of special category of person that gets separated away from all the Good People at birth? Did you think there’s some kind of barn full of Genocide Doers that only gets deployed into the general public during world wars? Did you think assholes who do terrible shit in real life are never charming or likable or capable of doing good things and helping people? One of the best parts of FMA is how we the audience realize that some of our core protags have made irredeemable choices, and we have to reckon with the fact that they’re still people, with the unalienable rights and qualities thereof. Sorry if the Problematics aren’t constantly wearing a dunce cap and a list of all their crimes and this makes the media incomprehensible to you  

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It's actually so important to me that the first time we see Ed actually cry in Fullmetal Alchemist (Brotherhood and Manga) - apart from the automail surgery - is when Hohenheim offers him his life to bring back Alphonse.

Throughout the entire story Ed doesn't cry because of his misguided love-filled promise to Al. No matter how horrible their odds, no matter how traumatizing their journey, Ed refuses to cry. He comes close. So, so close. When Izumi tells them it's okay to be sad, offering comfort after a long time without. After Nina dies and Ed and Al let the rain wash away their sorrow. When Hughes dies and guilt becomes an even heavier cloak weighing their shoulders down. When death comes knocking on Ed's door and he decidedly sends it packing.

Ed laughs and rages and smiles and screams.

But he doesn't cry.

Just because Al can't.

Ed was eleven when he made that promise. He was a child suffering through something truly horrific when he promised himself and the world that he wouldn't cry as long as his brother wasn't allowed to do the same.

Which is painful to watch - especially since it tells us that Ed knows how much crying is a part of life. He gave something up, not out of some misguided idea of masculinity, but because he knew it would be a sacrifice to keep himself from crying. A punishment since his brother could no longer offer his tears in the face of sorrow.

But by the end of the story Ed has cried. And it's not tears of joy, like the ones he promised Winry. No, Ed is angry when he cries - and Alphonse is no longer there.

In a way Ed kept his promise to Al - he only cried when the person he made this promise to (be it silent and secretive) was gone.

As far as they knew Al was dead.

But that truth alone didn't bring tears to Ed's eyes, though it certainly shattered his heart and made him quiver in desperation. No, in the end it was Hohenheim who finally allowed Ed to spill tears kept locked away for four long years.

And I love it.

I love that Hohenheim trying to do something truly loving, something completely selfish, something absolutely sacrificial was the thing that pushed Ed over the edge.

Because Ed never forgave his father for leaving, but by the end of the story he understands why he left.

Because Ed is so unbelievably angry with this man who abandoned him, and he still cares for him - partially because he knows Alphonse does.

Because Ed was never forced to forgive Hohenheim, but we still know that Hohenheim loves his children and his wife and would do everything for them.

Even, no, especially if it means dying.

And Ed can't take it.

So many others have died by this point, they are all painted in blood and pain, and Ed has lost his only constant - and now his father wants to make an ultimate sacrifice?

No.

So, Ed gets angry. And he cries. And he saves Al on his own - with the help of all of his friends, and Hohenheim.

Because no matter Ed's feelings on the man who gave him life, he doesn't want to see anyone else die. He doesn't want anyone else's blood on his hands.

And he wants Hohenheim to get a chance to be a rotten father - because at the end of the day Hohenheim is someone worth crying over even, no, especially by the boy who promised he wouldn't cry.

(there is something to be said about Hohenheim crying on their family portrait, only to be mirrored by Ed grinning while holding his own child - there is something to be said about Hohenheim willingly offering his life, only to be stopped by the tears running down his son's angry face - there is something to be said about Ed's anger and Hohenheim's soft grief and their shared past)

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I've just realized something about General Olivier Mira Armstrong.

Finally, I've come to understand the reason why she hates Mustang so much - and why she still respects his men.

Olivier Armstrong is a military woman down to her very core. In that she is an interesting character because she is in many ways complicit with the military dictatorship ruling Amestris while also condemning it. She's a political moderate, a mediocre politician, a fierce warrior, and a great leader.

We don't know much about General Armstrong outside of her military career - and her relationship to her brother. We know she's the only female general in the upper brass, we know she's been nicknamed "The Northern Wall Of Briggs" and "the Ice Queen", we know she cares greatly for her soldiers... and she despises cowards.

Now how does she define a coward?

That's were things are starting to get interesting. Because General Armstrong called her brother a coward multiple times because he failed to do what was right in Ishval - but, important to note, it wasn't the heinous acts themselves that she condemned (though it is implied that she does indeed condemn them) but the fact that her brother didn't follow his own principles. He didn't abandoned the Amestrian army to fight for the people he had sworn to protect even though he wanted to. He just went home. And that's what makes him a coward in her eyes.

This aligns with everything else we see about her. She calls Mustang a "sniveling coward" multiple times and notes his lack of a backbone. And yet her dislike of him doesn't seem to run as deep as her disappointment in her brother. Some of that might just be that Alex is family and that means personal relationships do indeed play a role... but some of it is probably the very simple truth that Mustang is trying his best to make up for what he did.

He also failed in her eyes, following orders he knew were wrong, but where her brother fled, Mustang had the strength to stay and look his victims in the eyes as he killed them.

Mustang's team on the other hand did something that General Armstrong very much appreciates: they chose Mustang and his goals the same way the men of Briggs chose her.

Mustang might be a coward and a fool in her eyes, but she can respect the choices his team made.

There is one scene near the end of the show that showcases that beautifully. In episode 58 (or 57) Izumi and General Armstrong get the general to confess the brass' plan to sacrifice the Amestrian people in front of a bunch of soldiers and - after hearing their own death sentence uttered by a commanding officer - the soldiers are unsure how to proceed.

And Armstrong gets angry at them.

Because they are simply following orders. They were killing her people and condemning her country - simply because of some orders that they never learned to question.

And in General Armstrong's eyes that's the actually unforgiving act. Killing and slaughtering for the army is not something she has any problem with (as evident by the Briggs soldiers bloody takeover during the Promised Day) but it needs to be an act of conviction. Looking away and hiding behind orders is what Armstrong sees as cowardly.

It's what Mustang did in Ishval and what his men failed to do when they followed him willingly. It's what Alex couldn't see through, but Olivier made sure her soldiers knew before joining her.

She wants to change Amestris and it's military, not because she's an idealist like Mustang, but because she wants a military in which each soldier is responsible for the people they kill.

It's fascinating because General Armstrong doesn't have the moral high ground - she doesn't see the military as rotten the same way Mustang does, and she doesn't see killing as wrong the way Edward does. She doesn't even contemplate her own kills with shame the way Hawkeye is prone to, or judge the system as harshly as Izumi does.

But she does have a strong moral core as a character, one that would perhaps even agree with Kimblee's famous quote: "Look straight at the people you kill; don’t take your eyes off them. Do not ever forget them because they won’t forget you." - and if you don't agree with an order given? It is your duty as a soldier to defy it.

That's why she can trust her men to plan a coup without her being there to lead them - because she knows every choice they make will be one they can live with. Just as every order they follow is one they can justify.

She is an interesting character because she questions the system while endorsing it - and that puts her at odds with both the military complex and Mustang and his team. It achieves complexity in what could very easily have been a simply narrative.

Olivier Mira Armstrong hates cowards - but she respects those who stand up for their believes, even if those believes defy her.

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I'm surely glad it's Alphonse in the armor instead of Ed after this omake

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2003 alphonse’s pronouns are built/different

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if 03 alphonse’s pronouns are built/different then 03 ed’s are miserable/bastard

successor to this

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🌈Them gay shows 🌈

Finally did it guys! BL Drama recommendations flowchart catered to me. Me only. ME people who might have the same taste as me. Enjoy

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"Without your past, you could never have arrived- so wondrously and brutally- by design or some violent, exquisite happenstance.. here."

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Pines and Cedars Up On Mountain South (COMPLETE - AO3)

After drinking tea with Rong Pei in the courtyard of Yi Kun Gong, Ru Yi falls asleep and wakes to a different Rong Pei, in Kun Ning Gong.

A Legend of Ruyi and Huan Zhu Ge Ge crossover, where after dying, Ru Yi transmigrates into an alternative universe. In this universe, Ru Yi mourns Hai Lan, tries to ignore Ling Fei, makes peace with a Yong Qi who has no memory of being loved by her, teaches Han Xiang the merits of survival in the palace, grapples with the confusing conundrum that is Xiao Yan Zi, wonders if there is anything to be salvaged with Qian Long, and saves Zi Wei from nearly dying. Not necessarily in that order.

Chapter 1: A Whole New World | Chapter 2: The Many Faces of the Inner Palace | Chapter 3: Assimilating | Chapter 4: 万寿 (The Emperor’s Birthday) | Chapter 5: Among the Bending Poplars | Chapter 6: Who Lives, Who Dies | Chapter 7: Who Tells Your Story | Chapter 8: Fireworks | Chapter 9: Han Xiang | Chapter 10: The Emperor’s Woman | Chapter 11: Chrysalis | Chapter 12: Metamorphosis | Chapter 13: Family | Chapter 14: The Boat | Chapter 15: After the Fire |  Chapter 16: Interlude: Xiao Yan Zi & Yong Qi | Chapter 17: As If a Dream (END)

Seguir leyendo

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Nirvana in Fire fic recs in Chinese

All jingsu centric