#ed and mustang final scene is so good

[sincerestpumpkins]

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST - E.48. Goodbye Aired 20 years ago, 09.11.2004

[norellenilia]

Damn, I remember the first time I watched FMA 03, when I was 16 or 17, I stayed up until 1 am to finish it, and today, watching episodes 38 through 42 turned me into such an emotional mess that I have to take a break lmao what happened??? My own emotional traumas, that's what happened

I'm feeling so many things again

In episode 38, when Ed and Al are fighting, Al drenches Ed in water and he says "it's going to rain!!!" and I'm like haha no don't try to pull a Mustang on me I know this episode won't make me cry and GUESS WHAT the flashback with Trisha convincing Ed to go and find Al so they can talk things out and Al looking so happy that Ed isn't upset with him anymore it's so cute I CRIED

I need -- no, I DEMAND a spin-off series where Winry and Scziezka solve murder mysteries together (I'd love to write it myself but I know I'm not nearly good enough at coming up with mystery stories lol), they're adorable I'm so happy they totally get together post CoS

Martel's death hits SO MUCH HARDER than I remembered holy shit, she and Al actually got close, we see more of her, her death is so horrific and hearing sweet sweet baby boy Alphonse cry just BROKE MY HEART I never wanted to hug an armor so badly

Scar's brother's last moments, the way he looks so terrified and desperate to protect his little brother from Kimblee and Scar being so devastated when he dies I just-- *clenches fist*

Sloth using Ed's PTSD against him that's so UNFAIR; also I was thinking that I was a bit disappointed that this anime did not include the nightmare that Ed has at some point in the manga where he sees his mom saying "why didn't you make me right" etc but this is it, this is this scene, and it's worse because he's hearing it for real, he is very much awake, he has the real voice of his mom in his ears and she's saying this to him and I'm-- *clenches fist harder*

Rose's story, I'm still so mad, she deserves all the happiness in the world

Speaking of Rose, it's so funny how the moment Al is like "I wonder how Rose is doing" the show just full on goes "Ed/Rose shipper" mode lmao, with Ed blushing while pretending not to remember her, him being so awkward when he speaks to her just before they go on their separate ways and her son just smiling and giggling when he speaks (first time we see the baby laugh, he had only been crying up until then) :') To be honest it feels a bit out of the blue to me but idk

Dante sporting Lyra's white ass in the town of brown people and speaking as if she was part of them just because she's following Rose around to manipulate her is incredibly cringe, but then again, it's Dante, she's the villain and we're already supposed to know something is up with "Lyra". But still.

Very random but Al pulling objects from or putting objects inside his armor from behind the cloth always looks very awkward lol

I used to never really care about Scar but I have learned the errors of my way as I now realize he is actually one of the best characters in this goddamn series, even with the orb of knowledge and the three arm losses, and Mangahood!Scar being much more villainized and ending up working with the military will never come even CLOSE to 03!Scar using his last bit of strength to save Alphonse to honor his love for his lost brother and take his ultimate revenge on those who murdered his people in the goal of protecting oppressed people, all of this while an epic music is playing (honestly it even feels like Ed is made to be seen as an obstacle as he tries to prevent the soldiers from entering Liore lol)

Sorry but Wrath is annoying as hell, I know that I'll probably have a different opinion if I rewatch CoS after that, but for now I hate him

We're finally entering the "Rewrite" era of the show and I had forgotten how much it rocks (Ed's hair animation at the beginning fhjkfhkdhjk)

I only have 9 episodes left but between Lust and Sloth in the upcoming episodes I'm not even sure I'll be able to watch it all in one go lol. Still excited to see more of Winry and Scziezka and remembering how much Hohenheim is absolutely useless in this x)

[felixcloud6288]

Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 25

The only thing I really care about is the chess game so I'm going to get everything else out of the way quickly.

We now know what happened to Izumi when she opened the gate and why she's always coughing up blood.

Despite everything, Ed and Al are still just children who really miss their mom.

This is the first chapter where we get the names and ranks of Mustang's subordinates in a non-bonus chapter. We already got Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye and 2nd Lieutenant Havok, but now we know Havok's first name is Jean, and the others are Master Sergeant Kain Fuery, 2nd Lieutenant Haymans Breda, and Warrant Officer Vato Falman.

We also get some idea of their skills. Breda is a great tactician, Falman has an encyclopedic knowledge, Fuery is good with communications technology, Jean is a hard worker, and Hawkeye is an excellent sharpshooter.

This is the angriest Al has ever been.

Now onto that chess game and there is so much to talk about.

There are several inconsistencies. Just to start, the General has three rooks, but one was captured. After counting pieces, that captured rook was probably supposed to be a pawn.

From my best guess, this is the state of the board at the start of the scene.

The reason I assume the General's knight is at d7 is because it is one move away from its starting point of b8. It could have been at the other starting point g8, but that would imply the General moved the knight, castled with the rook at h8, moved his king to g7, and then moved his knight back to g8. Kd7 to f6 requires far fewer pointless steps.

Aside from the Rook at d4, all these positions could be pulled off within 1 or 2 moves for each piece. Roy and the General both castled with the rooks on the right.

Several of Roy's pieces are are inconsistent in a later panel which can't be explained by the number of moves made, meaning the author made some mistakes or Roy has been secretly moving pieces when the General wasn't paying attention.

The moves made up to this point were Black Knight to f6, an unknown move by Roy (I'm assuming knight to e5), black pawn to c5, white bishop to h6 capturing a pawn, black king to h6 capturing the bishop. Roy has a rook at e6 and a knight at e5 which would take 3 moves from my assumed layout. So I think this is what the board should have been at the start:

The only odd thing is explaining what happened to the white pawn on the a column. My guess is Roy decided to advance it heavily until it reached a5. Meanwhile the General would have moved a pawn from e7 to e6, then his knight from g7 to e7, then c6, then captured the pawn at a5. Roy would then follow by moving his rook from a1 to a5, capturing the knight and then moving it to e5 and then e6, capturing a pawn and forcing the General to castle to escape check. The General could capture the rook with the pawn at f7, but he'd rather keep it there as a safety buffer.

Here's the state of the board when Roy declared Checkmate:

If you notice, Roy doesn't actually have the General in checkmate. However, the General has lost at this point because regardless of what he does, Roy is guaranteed to win next turn. And every single way Roy can win revolves around his queen.

The General could move his king to g7, h7, or h5; or capture the knight by moving his rook to f7.

If the general captures the knight, Roy will move his queen to g6. The only thing the general can do is capture the queen by moving his king to g6, which means the bishop will capture it next turn.

If the general moves his king to g7 or h7, Roy will move his queen to g6 and every position for the king can be captured by the knight, bishop, or queen.

If the general moves to h5, Roy will move his queen to h3 and every position is covered by the queen or knight.

One final note for all the Royai shippers: The general said he wants Roy to marry his granddaughter. As revealed in one of the databooks, his granddaughter is Riza Hawkeye.

The chess screenshots were generated at lichess.org.

back

[kattythingz]

3, 8, 19, 29 pleaseeeeeee my beloved wife

Why, husband-mine, of course!

3. In your opinion, what’s your best fic?

Oh easily my latest fic and magnum opus, A Crown with Gems and Gold. Setting aside the sheer word count (and growing!), I've experimented a LOT with this fic, particularly as far as writing several actions scenes (the bane of my existence), writing believable characters to a scenario that's easy to fuck up (established relationships shouldn't magically change the characters!!), and having some fun with an unreliable narrator (Ling bby...). I've also been the most self-indulgent I've ever been with this; see: aroace ed, dark ling, edgreed, etc. Overall it's my pride and joy, so yeah, I do think it's my best!

8. What’s the oldest (longest since last update) fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)?

Oof, that has to be my pitch pearl fic Of Starlit Pearls. I was going for a similar "canon but established relationship" kinda plot, but looking back on it, Danny's character could use a lot work, and I stopped at such a compelling part?? Like I finally got to the Freakshow arc, which I remember being out-of-my-mind excited for. Buuuut I'm not really in the DP scene anymore (*cough* for several fandom reasons *cough*), so that's not actually gonna happen lol.

19. If you had to pick one fic/scene/chapter of your work to describe your entire portfolio to a stranger, which would you pick?

Hmmmmm this is a toughie. I dunno if I can pick a single scene. A single chapter tho... maybe ch2 of Crown. Cuz that one really has it all: action, emotional turmoil, established relationship goodness, and good ol' character development between not only ling and mustang but ling and al too. I'd say it's my best chapter, tbh. So, that!

29. Does the division of your writing across fandoms line up with your reading? What’s the biggest discrepancy?

I'm guessing this means do I read exactly as much as I write for certain fandom...? In which case, absolutely not. I've written the most for DP, and I already said I'm not involved there anymore. FMA is the runner-up, and, um... I don't really read as much there anymore either. Due to several popular fanons that I don't personally agree with. And other fandom reasons. On the flip-side, I read A LOT of rottmnt when I was hyperfixating on that and I only wrote one fic for it, same for httyd. So, yeah, overall, there's def a discrepancy across the board.

Thanks for the ask!!! 💛

[roseunspindle]

Edward accidentally becomes Furher

Silly idea that keeps coming back, where shit blows up, perhaps before the promised day, because political upheaval awaits no man/god/eldritch horror, or perhaps there is an invasion from some country, only it was done sneaky like, so a great deal of the brass has left central (perhaps for safer areas/or to actually fight in whatever war) but central is also under attack and the current highest ranking officers are majors alexander louis Armstrong and Edward Elric, now Armstrong in a goodman and an excellent soldier, but he does better with clear orders (and orders that don’t involve “kill everyone” would be nice) so when Ed shouts a random “hey Armstrong can you do such as such...” Armstrong obeys, because he has a clear direction, which means to the minds of many of the soldiers, that Ed, who is being his usual flashy self, is in charge and maria ross and Denny Brosh are on scene and they both keep calling him major elric and seem to also think Ed’s orders are for following, and in a scary invasion situation...the leader matters and having someone in a clear line of command and in charge is good and reassuring. 

So eventually, Mustang, who had been running things probably at the main part of the invasions hears about this and is both amused (take that fullmetal, you try being in charge!) and worried (are ed and al okay? they have armstrong at least...he knows they’ll do their best to keep central standing.

anyway, he ends up getting in communication with ed and by potential by passing a great deal of the chain of command they get the amestrian army actually organized to protecting the people of the country, repel invaders.

then of course, it’s court martial time...because “oh dear furher king Bradley died in the line of defense (cough he went up in a lot of fire cough) and a great many of the top brass were pretty much blatantly part of the invasion or had run away during it. 

So General Grumman is one of the few generals they actually have left and he does some quick promotions to actually have a tribunal council to charge the captured defectors and traitors. So Ed (who is hissing and spitting about it finds himself up to the rank of brigadier general (as he’d essentially served as one during the invasion on central no one argues) armstrong refuses a promotion though (ed whines that why can armstrong do that but he can’t but roy only pats him on the head) maria is raised to captain and denny is a 1st lieutenant now, Scheizka is a second lieutenant (she’d ended up as sort of Ed’s attaché) roy is a lieutenant general while grunman is furher at present. 

Only the hommunculi and father are not happy with events and try to push the promised day ahead and fail, though Grunman has a heart attack from age and stress, and roy is out of commission for awhile...

when he is finally fit for duty, Ed has been left as acting Furher (he didn’t want to run a damn country, he wanted to spend time with his now restored little brother Ed pretty much used father as equivalent exchange for Al.

Ed had tried to call Olivier armstrong down to be acting furher but she “would melt in she left briggs” according to her. 

Mustang could take command, but Ed has a better reputation that him and the goal was to de-corrupt the military and Ed is never going to be “corrupt” so... he happily takes his place as Lieutenant general again in support of Furher Elric. (Ed is never going to forgive this ultimate offense) 

of course ed does a good job (who are you calling so short and dumb he can’t even reform a country and start leading it towards demilitarization!!?)

(now if only the emperor of xing and the furher-president of amestris could stop having food fights during diplomatic dinners...)

https://www.pinterest.com/roseunspindle/fma-aus/fuhrer-edward-elric/

[novelmonger]

Thoughts on FMA: The Final Alchemy

tl;dr - All the live-action FMA movies suck like an industrial-grade vacuum cleaner, and watching them will only not be a waste of your time if you do so with friends who are already familiar with FMA so you can have fun bashing them with each other. Still, this one managed to suck ever so slightly less than the previous one...maybe???

Elaborating slightly on the notes I took while watching, here are my thoughts:

I can't get over how unbelievably stupid and nonsensical the title is! "ThE fInAl AlChEmY" What does that even mean? Not "The Final Transmutation," oh no; we can't make the title be an actual reference to a line Ed actually says in the original ("the last transmutation of the Full Metal Alchemist" or however it's worded). "The Final Alchemy." I ask you -_-

There were so many scenes where they didn't play any music at all, and it was super awkward! What kind of creative choice is that? Instead of it being used to make a statement or ramp up tension or whatever usual reasons people have for not putting music in, it just came across like they forgot to add any music in some scenes.

What on earth is up with Raven's actor? He was overacting so much, it was distracting - especially when contrasted with Mustang's complete lack of expression, lol. It's like Raven's actor just saw that one panel of Raven guffawing and decided that was his entire character. Like...there's overacting like some of the villains in the Rurouni Kenshin movies...and then there's this. Super weird and out of place.

Not that I'm surprised at all, but the CG looked really bad for the most part in this movie. By far the worst was Sloth, though. I can't remember when the last time was I've seen something that bad x.x Not only did it look super fake, it just looked...really low-quality even compared to some of the other stuff in this movie, like a child's scribble next to an art student's painting. All of the effects around Sloth (like broken pillars and crumbling walls) looked terrible and fake too, like he was infecting the entire VFX team with his mediocrity or something.

But on the flipside, I actually thought the effect of Ed, Ling, and Envy flaking away as they went through the Portal of Truth was really good! Guess that's where all their VFX budget went.

Al's actor was nowhere near emaciated enough. Sure, they didn't go into the whole thing about Ed eating and sleeping his share, and I get that they wouldn't want to make the actor starve himself or anything...but still. Just sayin'. Also...he had zero emotion, even after soul and body were reunited. What's up with that?

And speaking of which, just like in the other two movies, they hardly had Al do anything at all, nor did most of the other characters act like they cared about him much at all - not even Ed most of the time. If I didn't have such a wealth of other versions of this wonderful character, I'd probably think he was super boring. Which is a crime, I tell you! He's one of my favorite characters ever!

So many of the sets were so empty. You could really tell when they were using greenscreens.

When they showed Greed inside Ling's head, they made him blue??? When it's supposed to be depicting the torrent of souls that is a Philosopher's Stone, and the Stones are red??? Just...why?

Oh, also...when the Stones were in a liquid form, it totally looked like sweet-and-sour sauce you get from a Chinese restaurant ^^' It was like...almost pink! Weird. I always assumed the Stones were supposed to look red like blood.

Yet again, the way they messed around with the timeline is paying dividends of confusion in this movie. Because they shoved all of Scar's character arc into the second movie, and everybody's okay with him now, they have him just come out and show Ed and Al his brother's research notes, which is how they find out about the country-wide transmutation circle, and only after that discovery does Ed decide to go to Briggs. Or how about Greed just immediately deciding to leave Father practically the minute Ling accepts him? And Father doesn't do anything about it? And later on, Greed joins up with them for literally no reason other than "lol I'm a rebel," because there was nothing about Devil's Nest or the previous Greed, so he didn't have the realization that Wrath killed his friends.

Wait. They didn't do Devil's Nest, did they? They didn't do Devil's Nest. THEY DIDN'T DO DEVIL'S NEST HOW DO YOU MESS UP THIS BADLY ALDKGFJSLKDGJSLDKGJSDKLGF

Also, because they never bothered to put Yoki into these movies, Mei's brainwave for the secrets within the notes make waaaaaay less sense. Sure, you could say her figuring it out because Yoki sneezed is too convenient, but she had even less reason to think along those lines in this movie. Oh, and they never even tried to explain why she's the only one reading the notes, and Ed and Al can't.

Buccaneer's head looks just as lumpy and bulbous as Armstrong's. Why didn't they just shave these actors' heads instead of slapping a bald cap on top of their hairy heads, or whatever they did? It would have looked a million times better.

Okay, Olivier is practically perfect in every way. A+ casting job for once. She looks about as natural as a blonde Japanese woman can, and she gets across the disdain, poise, and hyper-competence of the character really well.

They never explained why Ed can't speak freely with Olivier about the Homunculi, etc. The revelation that Winry's being used as a hostage isn't revealed yet when Ed first shows up, and Raven's not there yet, so why did they have to go to the trouble of going into the underground tunnel to talk? Yet another example of the film creators trying to condense and simplify while still keeping in iconic moments from the anime, but showing a glaring lack of understanding of why those moments happened the way they did. Because now you've got a bunch of disjointed scenes that are supposed to be iconic, but will make no sense unless you already know the story.

Speaking of which...why did Ed go to Briggs in the first place? Because he already knows about the country-wide transmutation circle at this point, his stated purpose is to stop them from carving the last crest of blood they need at Briggs and completing the circle. And yet...the crest gets carved anyway, and Ed just sort of...leaves? Without much, if any, protest? At first I thought they were going to do the whole Briggs arc because they wanted to show what I would definitely classify as an iconic moment: Ed getting impaled. But they never did that scene at all! Kimbley is absent from this movie, so there's no scheme to get Winry away from him, Raven disappears as soon as he shows up (yeah, they don't even do the memorable scene of Olivier stabbing him and shoving him into setting concrete), so they don't even need to get Winry away from him, there are no chimeras (probably because it would be quite taxing on the budget, which I kind of understand), and they've already covered the whole Winry-forgives-Scar scene in the previous movie, so I guess they decided there was no way to work in Ed falling down a mine shaft, getting impaled, and then closing his own wound by using his own soul as a Philosopher's Stone. Nope, instead they just abruptly shift to a goodbye scene between Ed and Winry whose dark hair still bugs the heck out of me whyyyyyyy is she special like that.

Wait, let me reiterate: Kimbley is absent from this movie. I actually don't remember if he was in the second movie or not (it was that forgettable if he was). Yeah, they just decided that one of the most interesting and memorable characters from FMA didn't need to be in their movie. Besides the part I mentioned above, Kimbley's absence also throws a wrench into a very important part farther down the road: Ed defeating Pride. In the original, Pride eats Kimbley to take advantage of the extra souls he has in his Philosopher's Stones, but because he absorbed such a strong, rebellious soul, Kimbley is actually able to help Ed overpower Pride in the end. This is a very important factor in Pride's defeat, because he looks down on humans, while Kimbley points out that the way he's acting is actually dishonorable. "You are nothing to be proud of," I think is how he puts it. If you consider the thematic implications of the Homunculi and how each one dies, you'll realize that this is the only way Pride could be defeated, because Homunculi are defeated by their opposites. But then, I don't think the people who wrote these movies would recognize a theme if it smacked them in the face. Many of the events are the same in these movies as they are in the original, but they're stripped of any subtlety or significance.

Oh, also Pride's death is much stupider in this movie because it looks like he just stands there and lets Ed do it, rather than it being an actual fight with the shadow-spikes and everything, and Ed getting the drop on him because he knows what it's like to be shorter than his opponent....

Okay, but one thing I will say in favor of this movie is that Ryosuke Yamada was by far the best actor in the whole cast. He captured the various sides of Ed's character, and there were far fewer moments where it felt like he was an actor on a stage than anybody else. I believed him. I've thought that in both of the previous movies, but I don't think I realized just how good of an actor he was until this installment. Because he doesn't just have to play Ed. He also has to play teenage Hohenheim in the flashback, and Father's final form on the Promised Day. And in both instances, Ryosuke Yamada utterly killed it. He didn't just do a good job of delivering the lines with appropriate emotion and expression. He also made the characters feel like completely different people. Everything, down to his stance and the way he talked, was different! And I could tell that he'd studied the way Seiyo Uchino had done his performances as both Hohenheim and Father, and was trying to match them in his own performance. That was so cool to see. I've never seen Ryosuke Yamada in anything else, but now I kinda want to.

Oh, and while we're praising the cast, Kokoro Terada did such a good job as Pride! It's a tall order to ask such a young kid to act like such a creepy monster, but he did an excellent job. That kid's got a future in acting for sure.

They cut out soooooo many of the best scenes about Mustang and his team, and what they didn't cut out was so rushed and just gutted of all emotion T_T They didn't even bother taking the team away from him, which leaves the Homunculi looking a bit stupid and lax. Because the whole fight with Lust went down differently (in the first movie a;ldkjfa;dlskf;sdlkfj DX), Havoc isn't even paralyzed! I never thought I would be upset that he didn't get paralyzed! But because we don't go into any of that, a huge chunk of character development is just gone completely. And though they did do the whole showdown with Envy, which is one of my absolute favorite parts of the story, it was taken out at the knees by the actors being terrible and emotionless. Oh, and the coup is introduced very abruptly and just as abruptly forgotten about, and there's nothing about Mrs. Bradley. And the moment with Hawkeye's neck getting sliced open? Blink and you miss it. Mustang barely reacts, and they don't even use Hawkeye's life being threatened as a way to try to coerce him to do human transmutation! Hawkeye doesn't give him the signal with her eyes, Mei doesn't close up the wound...I honestly have no idea why they bothered wounding her at all.

They already did the zombie things in the first movie (ad;lkjfgda;slkjg;sdklfj;dskfl), so they show up in one scene in this movie, have little to no impact because we've already seen them, and then are never heard from again. What even.

Why in the name of Flamel did they wait the entire movie to reveal that Miles is part Ishbalan? Why did they bother revealing that at all? They literally could have just said they were going to help Scar rebuild Ishbal, and left it at that, instead of having Miles dramatically take off his sunglasses and make the audience try to figure out why because it's not immediately obvious that his eyes are red because they made the color much duller than it is in animation and a;lkdjfg;ladkjhg;dlksgjlsdgj;ldksfjdslg

Oh, and you wanna know what the biggest kick in the teeth is? THEY DIDN'T EVEN HEAL MUSTANG'S EYES. Marcoh isn't in this movie - I can't remember if he died or what in the first movie, and can't be bothered to check - so there's no one to use the Stone on him. So Mustang's storyline in the movie ends with Hawkeye saying, "Maybe we'll find a way to heal your eyes somehow." Maybe. MAYBE?! -_-

So yeah. To sum up, this is a terrible movie and an even worse adaptation. I didn't think it was possible to take such a phenomenally good story and butcher it this badly. FMA is one of my very favorite stories of all time, and even though I've read and watched it more times than I can count, the fight scenes and tense moments still grab me to this day. But I kept on finding myself bored while watching this movie, and checking to see how much time was left. I never thought I would be bored watching the Briggs soldiers or the Armstrong siblings fight Sloth, or Wrath and Scar duking it out, or the last stand against Father.

But here we are.

[griseldabanks]

Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?, Link your three favorite fics right now (please), What is your most and least favorite part of writing?, and Have you had a writer you admire comment on your fic? What was that like?

1. Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

I always think of myself as a novelist, and that carries over to fanfiction as well. Granted, I've written more oneshots than chapterfics, because it takes a lot less time, but I really do love sinking my teeth into a hefty chapterfic. I suppose one of my favorite ways to compromise is to do a collection of oneshots. It's great for when I have a bunch of ideas for a certain relationship or AU, but don't necessarily want to devote the time and attention an actual chapterfic would require.

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

This is...really hard. There are so many good ones! I couldn't possibly rank all of my favorites, because every fic that earns its way onto my faves has something uniquely wonderful about it, and it's really hard to compare. (Also, what is "right now" supposed to mean? Do other people...stop loving their faves? With very few exceptions, once a fic makes its way onto my faves list, it's there to stay.) But here are three from different fandoms:

Tempest by Bookwrm389 (FMA) - Parental!RoyEd fic involving Ed and Mustang fighting Scar during a thunderstorm, gobs of angst and hurt/comfort, everyone so perfectly in-character, some truly epic moments as well as some great humor (very fitting for FMA), and overall it's just impeccably written in every way. I thought of this one when answering question 60 below, and knew I had to mention this fic, because it was the first time I ever saved a fic to my hard drive that was written by someone who wasn't a personal friend. I'm not very good or consistent about saving the fics I really like, but I knew immediately that if I ever lost access to this one, I would regret it forever.

John Plays Hooky by chappysmom (Sherlock) - A fun, shortish chapterfic about John taking an unplanned day off to just enjoy himself, and unintentionally leading Sherlock on a wild goose chase as he tries to solve the mystery of where John suddenly disappeared to. The characters are written excellently, there's so much fun irony in knowing both sides of what's going on when the characters don't, and it's also an excellent display of what sort of person John Watson is. It's a fic that just makes me smile every time I think of it.

Wander into My Mind by SergeantToMyCaptain (Captain America) - Go ahead, accuse me of favoritism, but this fic written by my bestie is just...phenomenal. It's in an AU in which Bucky comes to Steve, who is helping him recover from everything Hydra did to him, and in which Steve and Sharon actually get a chance to go somewhere with their relationship. The fic is about one of Bucky's bad days, and how Steve helps him deal with it. Basically it's just a huge ball of hurt/comfort and some of the most exquisite angst and tenderness you'll ever read. Not a story for everyone, I suppose - you have to be comfortable with men being very soft and affectionate with each other, without even a smidge of romance between them. But if that's a pill you can swallow, do yourself a favor and go read this masterpiece.

27. What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

Well, they're definitely related. I'm not very good at coming up with ideas on my own, so the brainstorming stage is often my least-favorite. It's much more fun, and much more effective, when I have someone to bounce ideas off of, but even so, what I really love is when the whole story is figured out, I know the basic gist of how things will play out, and all that's left is for me to sit down and find the words to write it. I love that. Sure, sometimes I end up staring at a blinking cursor even when I have a plan in mind, but it's just so satisfying to finally be able to put down on paper the scenes you've been daydreaming about. It never quite turns out exactly the way I think it will, and sometimes I need to take several passes at it before it gets to where I want it to be, but that part of the process is when I really feel like I'm in the zone. This is why I work best as part of a team, really - if someone else can help me with ideas, I'm perfectly happy to be in charge of actually writing those ideas out in the form of a story.

60. Have you had a writer you admire comment on your fic? What was that like?

Sadly, this writer seems to have disappeared and taken down/orphaned her fics, but one of the greatest moments of my fanfic career was when Bookwrm389 commented on my FMA fic "Silence-Carved Scars" and gushed about it. It's a Parental!RoyEd fic that was originally inspired by her Parental!RoyEd fic "Gold from Lead." Both fics involve a misunderstanding about the nature of Ed and Mustang's relationship, but she said I went farther than she'd dared to do. I was walking on cloud nine for a while, believe me ^_^

Fic Writer Asks

[xoxopandapanda]

Edwin Week 2022: Day 5: Time

@503week

(I’m so late it’s almost Edwin Week 2023. lolololololololol)

Day 1  Day 2  Day 3  Day 4   Day 6

Characters: Edward Elric, Winry Rockbell, Alphonse Elric

Fanfiction

AO3

Time had always seemed to go so slow for Edward Elric. He wanted to grow up. He wanted to get across the country fast. He wanted to be able to be where he wanted to be without the waiting that time required of him.

His journey with this brother seemed to only drag on and on, days seemingly like years as he tried to get Al’s body back. Sleeping sometimes felt like just an excuse to have time pass, because if he could, he would simply keep going without ever resting.

Broken automail often meant periods of time with waiting and not moving. He hated it. He knew that Winry worked as fast as she could, and even sacrificed her own sleep to get him back on the road as fast as possible, but it still felt so slow to him.

Al had confided in him that his recovery felt slow when he got his body back. Ed had understood better than even Al had imagined.

“Time is needed, but it’s so damn slow, right?” Ed grumbled out, helping Alphonse settled down in the soft bed for a much need midday nap.

Al’s eyes fluttered closed, but he whispered out one last question. “Did you feel this way when getting used to your automail? Like it was taking too long to get better?”

Ed patted Al’s head, silently let him know his response.

Alphonse believed it Ed would take forever to finally ask Winry to marry him. They had never really established a relationship or dated, but Winry had started introducing him as her boyfriend one day, and he hadn’t denied it.

He watched them dance around the topic of marriage, taking their sweet time to move forward with the next steps on their journey together.

It dragged on and on – sometimes Al wanted to just plan their wedding without them, just to tell them to show up. That way at least it would get done.

But he knew he needed to let them figure it out on their own, no matter how long it took.

Just as he was about to lose his mind and just conspire with Granny to sort the issue out himself, he overhead Edward on the phone.

“She wants a spring wedding. Is there a week you can come? It’s real important to her that you come.” Al didn’t know for sure who he was talking to but the word ‘wedding’ got his attention. He quickly whipped back around the corner as to not be discovered and continue eavesdropping. Whomever he was talking to caused Ed to audibly growl.

“Well maybe I want you there too. We are getting married and it’s kind of a big deal.”

Ed paused before letting out a huge huff. “No, we don’t have a guest list yet.”

Al peaked over his shoulder to try to gauge on his brother’s mood. He was glowering and hunching over. Not a good sign for this conversation to go well. “I’m not a state alchemist anymore. I don’t think I have to wear my uniform for the ceremony.”

Al’s eyes widened, realizing who exactly he must be talking to. Ed? Reaching out to invite Roy Mustang to a spring wedding? Between him and presumably Winry?!

Ed stomped his foot in annoyance. “If you’re going to be a dick about, don’t come.” He paused, grinding his teeth. “But at least tell me what week works for you and Lieutenant Hawkeye to come up. It’s important to Winry.”

Al shifted on the balls of his heels to run away and find Granny, quite pleased with his discovery of a potential wedding. He had aimed to leave the scene before Edward hung up the phone, but he was too slow. He felt his brother’s hand land on his shoulder, pulling him back.

“Don’t tell anyone what you heard.” Edward hissed in his ear. “I haven’t made anything official, just testing the waters and seeing what I might be getting into.”

Al looked at his profile incredulous. “Winry doesn’t know that you called Mr. Mustang about a wedding?”

Edward blushed fiercely, before shaking his head no. “She doesn’t need to know either. Until I get the ring back from central.”

Alphonse’s eyes widened in shock. “Ed.”

Ed stood up straight and blasted past him, refusing to acknowledge his brother.

“ED!” Al took chase. “YOU CAN’T JUST SAY THAT AND LEAVE.”

But leave he did, because with this, he would do it on his own time.

[machiroads]

Welcome to the volume that permanently altered my brain chemistry

It’s time for Machi Rereads FMA: Volume 6

ilu arakawa

;~;

I love this sequence so much

this scene has lived rent free in my brain for approximately the last decade, not even joking when I say it’s probably the closest I’ve gotten to a true religious experience

idk why but this panel of Ed putting the blood that crosses their souls into the mom soup really called out to me this time

The design of the portal of truth (and the fact that everyone’s gate that we see has a different design) has fascinated me since I first laid eyes on it. I’m sure someone’s done a deep dive into the symbology here but man I really want to know what’s going on with it

Truth’s introduction here slaps every time

oopsies!

if I posted every banger page from this chapter it would basically just be the entire chapter, but holy shit dude, this chapter

T I M E V O R T E X

oh ;~;

the juxtaposition of Hawkeye’s and Mustang’s monologues on top of each other here is so masterfully done

the juxtaposition of Hawkeye’s words with tiny broken Ed here is also masterfully done

dying

this is the most relatable mustang has ever been

;;;~~~;;;

Sig with some good old fashioned dad advice

shitting my pants at Havoc’s reaction to getting the callup

oh no seeing these guys again made me sad ;~;

ASJKDHAJDSHGAJSH

And finally: this volume’s top tier tiny weirdos:

[zetalial]

All this.

I feel like Xerxes exists basically to give Hohenheim this really tragic backstory too. He acts all haunted and guilty for the destruction of Xerxes hundreds of years ago but it also refuses to show him actually doing anything bad. Rather than being a morally dubious scientist who creates a homunculus. He's an unwilling subject and innocent slave who nonetheless is treated as important purely because the homunculus was created with his blood. And then the homunculus goes on to destroy Xerxes without Hohenheim's input at all.

Then I believe the story implies afterwards this golden eyed figure became the western/eastern sage who spread alchemy and alkahestry to Xing and Amestris. So I think we're supposed to be in awe of hohenheim specifically as the one who spread the mystical art of alchemy, sharing the world this wonder of Xerxes civilisation.

By the end of the show, I think Ed's been kinda pushed to the side in the narrative despite nominally being the main character in favour of hohenheim. The narrative seems to love Hohenheim and a lot of the ending is about him. He's literally the one who saves the day. (Ed letting go of his 'childish anger' at being abandoned and calling him dad is one of the key poignant moments!).

He's like a really tragic character because he was just an innocent soul and then a literal monster was created and killed his whole civilisation so he's the only one left to feel guilty and connect to all the souls inside him who are still alive in a sense and he came to know every of them.

And it's in the same series as a genocide having happened very recently this time conducted by people. (The soldiers weren't really to blame of course, it's really the monster controlling the military who made it all happen.) Though the Ishvalans were also turned into stones, their stone is used by Marcoh to absolve himself of his guilt, helping heal people (including Mustang). We don't get a scene where we see the dead Ishvalans still living in the stone at any point. (Ed and Al make a big deal of refusing to use a stone to get their bodies back but this isn't the case for any other character.) The ishvalans in the finale work together with the military to help defeat the evil monster. If I recall right, Scar's brother mastered alchemy and alkahestry and combined the two to create a new circle which undid Father's circle which prevented alchemy from working.

So the culture that was suspicious of alchemy in contrast to the Xerxes people who created it, they are treated as heroes when they use alchemy to help the military who previous massacred them in order to defeat the real culprit (a monster). Good thing they learned to get over their hatred of alchemy and the massacre! Anyway here's an end credit sequence showing the wonderful Xerxes people.

can i be an fma (manga by hiromu arakawa) hater on main rn. more than usual i mean

[rainflamestudio]

Was working on this for Father’s Day, but LOOK WHO’S LATE, I know, you’re all shocked xD Trying out a new coloring technique in an attempt to satisfy my need for saturated colors and make art faster. Thoughts?

A little Parent Trap AU that lives rent free in my head where the bros are separated at birth. Roy adopts Al and Riza adopts Ed, and when the kiddos meet one day, they figure out that they are long lost brothers and work to get their parents together, some less enthusiastically than others. You see, Ed’s first dad walked out on Riza (*cough* Hoho *coughcough*), so now the boy is a bit suspicious of any potential suitors she might bring around. Thankfully Alphonse wins him over and convinces him that Roy is a Good Guy :D

This would be the end right before the ✨ wedding scene ✨ after Ed finally allows Roy to marry his mom c: Roy is helping the kid learn to tie a tie, and Ed is about to admit that if his mom has to get married, that Mustang is not the absolute worst option.

Close, but not the worst.

God Bless,

-RainFlame

Art by me

FMA (c) Arakawa

Commission Info

[bipirate]

I know the way the ishvalans are portrayed in fma has many problems... But my god is it good storytelling. I finally got to the episode where hawkeye tells ed about the war and it's just so well done. It's fucking awful. Also im still blown away by the arakawa's decision to have some of the protagonists be actual war criminals who are explicitly condemned for their actions in the story. And the scene with kimblee laying it all out to mustang and hawkeye about how killing civilians is all part of a soldier's job and that they shouldnt act surprised because they signed up for this??? That is Such a good scene and establishes his character so well. Dont get me wrong he is an absolutely disgusting and vile piece of garbage. But he's well written. Heartbreaking: worst person you know has a point and all that

[yaboylevi]

FMA FES - Roy & Edward

I’m a bit seiyuu fan, so when I heard there were original Roy & Ed moments in it, I had to buy the “Fullmetal Alchemist FESTIVAL” DVD released in 2004 (a recording of a live event with voice actors and other artists of the FMA03 series). As far as I know, there hasn’t been an english translation yet.

Below are the new narrations by Ed’s and Roy’s voice actors together, respectively Romi Park and Okawa Toru. Sorry for the crappy quality of the videos, I had to take them with my phone while I was watching the DVD on TV.

                            --- FMA 03 end of series spoilers ---

Edward, alone, has a brief monologue about coming to understand that he cannot turn a blind eye to all the wrongdoings committed by others anymore, only focusing on his own dream. That’s a monologue that is similar to the one in the final scene he has with Mustang in episode 48, “Goodbye”.

And that’s the same scene Okawa and Park re-enact live right after. You can rewatch the original scene here:

Immediately after this anime scene’s live dubbing ends, they let us hear Roy and Ed’s thoughts about their last interaction, those good-byes. Video here.

Ed: “What else was I supposed to say at that moment?” (enjoy Romi Park’s voice cracking here…)

Roy: “I thought that one day, we would have walked the same road. But I was wrong, our paths were very different.

Ed: “You think so? In the end, I feel like they were the same after all. But there's no use in realising that now...

I died, and was brought back by Al’s sacrifice. So there was only one option I had left.”

[the anime’s actual scene resumes with Ed sacrificing himself to bring back Al.]

As soon as Ed “dies”, Roy’s monologue begins. 

It’s the one that can be found in this magazine. Up until now I only presumed it to be Roy’s, based on the speech pattern used, but now I have confirmation that I was right! Find the video here.

There is a new sentence, though, voice-acted by Okawa, that isn’t in the magazine spread. It’s the one I highlighted in bold:

When I heard that you vanished, Somehow I immediately knew That you were not dead, but alive.

You might have meant to give up your life as a price for your brother’s, But you had learnt that lesson once already: Nothing can be given in exchange for another’s life.

You had just gone on a journey Away from equivalent exchange, Away from the atonement towards your brother, Free from the force known as Alchemy. You had become, for the first time, Edward Elric.

It was you who decided to undertake that journey. That’s why I believe, Someday, We will meet once again…

[Anime resumes with episode 51, the dialogue that we already know of is not voice-acted live.]

Ed: I had meant to give my own life as the price for transmuting Al. And yet, I’m still alive. Maybe I did obtain something without paying the price after all. Or maybe Al is still in there…

Hohenheim: You two have been journeying together. The people you met during that time, the things you saw, your pain, your effort, everything that you have experienced… That could be the price you paid, couldn’t it?

[cloverandstuff]

Episode 17:

Me: Mustang, you fucking bastard, why the fuck would you do that? God, she was so nice and cared for the brothers. She tried to protect them and this is what she gets??

Me: ...Why don't I remember hating him though? I should hate him, why don't I?

Show: "....something... dental records... something..."

Me: ...Wait-

Also, those poor kids thought that another person who got involved got killed for being involved right after they found out about the first death.

And Armstrong was fully prepared to kill Mustang if it wasn't going to risk so much. That poor man.

Episode 18:

COLONEL MUSTANG YOU FUCKING LEGEND

YOU TOOK YOUR PIECES AND YOU PLAYED THEM ALL SO WELL, YOU HAVE ALL MY RESPECT SIR

Ahh, and the backstory of "the Sages". I only remembered that there were sages who taught the East and West different things. I was too young to understand the rest of it. It was too much for my tiny brain.

Armstrong is so happy. Good for him, he deserves that. He's been through alot too. He also has my respect, fully prepared to help the brothers through it all. Sad she had ti go though, that was painful but neccessary.

Ah, the true tramsmutation circle for th philosphers stones originated at Xirces. Curious.

The Rockbells being killed by Scar was another thing I forgot. Now i understand why he was so morally conflicting when I first watched him.

Edward is having people he know being killed in so many unjust way, poor thing.

Meanwhile, Barry is just having fun messing with his human counterpart. He just wants to chop him up.

Riza is the main MVP here though, fucking legend.

Episode 19:

The squad finding out about homuncuki and being absolutely distracted to the point that Mustang nearly crashes the car makes sense.

Ahh, I was so scared that Jean was gonna die here cause I couldnt remember whether hw lived or not. I grew attached to him, it would hurt so bad if he died.

Mustang using the power of sheer stubborness to kill Lust was brilliant though. Fun little scene where she's burnt again and again until she just dies.

Barry was also wonderful, for the little chaos gremlin he is. I liked his whole arc and how it came to a close. With his human counterpart being the one to end him.

Bradley shows some semblance of humanity here, I think. He doesn't do needless killing, he only follows order and does what is neccessary to fulfill his father's plan. If it doesn't require killing, he won't. I think that's wha makes him so morally gray. He's just an obedient dog.

Haweye crying over Mustang was something I vaguely remembered but her screams of oure anguish were somethjng else, goddamn.

All in all, love this episode. 10/10

Episode 20:

I can not explain to you how much I wanted Ed to punch his father. Holheheim is so complex and I love the way he looks at his sons woth so much guilt but also love. He fucked up. He's still fucking up. But he cares so much, and that's why I want him to get a punch to the fave to knock some sense into him.

I do remember the whole thing about the transmutatef bodies not being the actual people who were supposed to be revived. I distinctly remembered the whole scene with Izumi who was so happy she didn't end up killing her kid twice.

Ah, and I have to say that the end scene was a bit cringey, but it also was meant to show that Ed had finally let go of the past mistake and was maimly focused on helping Al now. He had grown in an important way and it was visible to Winry.

I liked this episode. It was hoeful but also Holheheim was forboding.

I'm rewatching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood cause it's been literally a decade since I've watched it.

So cheers, I have a reaction thread (because I'm a sentimental bitch)

Episode 1:

God, I've forgotten how it immediately just got to the action in the first episode. Like, it set up everything and gave a glimpse of nearly all important character.

Poor Isaac, was probably manipulated, but ultimately led himself to his own demise. Very bold though.

And god, I think I was too depressed at the time of watching it, but the Eldric brother's backstory was so painful with that small glimpse.

Episode 2:

I cannot for the life of me understand why this shit didn't affect me as much as it should've as a kid. It might've depression that numbed my emotions, but I guess we'll never know.

Anyway, my point is, this is is traumatizing, and that's me saying this as an adult. The backstory and the short glimpses of the mom, as well as the clear love and dedication they had for her? The way that Ed didn't even hesitate to try and find more truth? The way he dragged himself, bleeding leg and all, to the armor to shove it down, and connect his brothers soul to it???

And god, the way I just kept whisper-shouting when they came to recruit him, cause I didn't remember shit, going-

But man, as someone is is now so much older than Ed is in the anime, they make him act a kid. A very smart, powerful and purposeful kid, but a kid nonetheless. He's so young and you can just feel it in the little things he does. He does not have his shit together and is still figuring some shit out.

Episode 3:

I love the comedy this anime has. It has the funny little pauses and the interuption of what should be serious moments without ruining the actual serious moments.

It is exactly my cup of tea, with a silly joke that just poked fun at a kid or being, well. A kid. He's small, and that joke may remind He's small but I can also remind you that he is so much younger than his peers.

I am an atheist so I do have the same kinda mindset about God that Edward has. Rose has this sort of annoying mindset of God and his priests being this answer to all suffering and anyone who disagrees will suffer divine Punishment. It is frustrating at the start.

But I can fully understand where she's coming from by the end. She clung onto this hope, this prayer that someone she loved so much will eventually be revived. Rose then meets the brothers who lost someone they loved, and tried to being back as well. She saw the consequences and felt terrified. But she spent so long just clinging onto this hope that she desperately wants it to be true. So she argues, trying to convince herself that Cornella was telling the truth and she didn't waste so long praying for something that didn't exist.

People can find comfort in the idea of God(s). The idea that there is someone looking after everyone and offering guidance is reassuring for some.

That was not Rose's situation.

Rose's situation is more akin to having a loved one suffering from a terminal disease and convincing yourself that prayers and God will be able to do what science could not. You can not pray for the impossible. You can pray for hope, for guidance or for even a fast recovery. But you need to understand that even if you wish for something impossible, you cannot spend your life wasting away on these prayers and refuse to do anything else.

Rose needed to stop clinging in general because she was clinging on to something impossible that compelled her to try and attempt awful things. She needed to learn to stand on her own. Maybe she could one day find hope in God again, but it wouldn't be anytime soon.

Man, I went on a rant there.

Anyway, I just wanted to type all that put because my mind just felt like analysing for a bit.

I forgot what the philosopher stone even did until now. I remembered that it was powerful but I that was about it. Now I remember, it was shit about defying the rule of absolute equivalence.

I am kinda happy I forgot majority of the lore of this anime, it makes it fun to put all the pieces together again as an adult who can process things and analyse better.

Episode 4:

This hurts.

This hurts so much. They were so happy, and acting like actual kids. They played all sorts of games with Nina and Alexander. It was so bright. They were so bright.

But Tucker, the motherfucker, only saw what he was bound to lose instead of what he had. He tried to work his way through it, but eventually just gave up.

My heart sank when I heard him ask Nina to play the next day. It broke even more when heard Nina say, in that voice that doesn't belong to a kid, "onii-chan".

He sacrificed everything just to save his title pf State Alchemist. He gave up his wife and then his daughter and the respect of these kids.

God, I hate him. I understand him and his desperation and I hate him.

Scar is back though. We love scar man. He's weird but core to the story and has every right to hate State Alchemists.

Again, when I was a kid, I didn't feel much. This episode never hit me as hard as it does now. Back then, I though the Eldric brothers were being dramatic about the whole thing.

Now it just strikes me so hard how fucked up it wad to be willing to experiment on your own kid for a stupid title. To mutate her into an existence that was nothing like her human one.

Brotherhood didn't make it blatantly, but it was mentioned time and again, just how painful it was to be a chimera in the original. Nina was in pain and Tucker knew this.

I fully understand why this hurt the Eldric brothers so much now. That was horrid. And to be able to even see a semblance of yourself in that was painful.

[thefunofit37]

Random Update No One Asked For!! Part 3

I did it. I finally finished the brotherhood anime. It was wonderful and wholesome and I loved it. So here’s my thoughts since the last post:

-the May Chang and Scar relationship is really neat, i love how well it translated over into the anime. its not something you see everyday and i enjoy it

-Shrimp envy is my favorite envy

-the whole sequence with envy and Roy’s RevengeTM was incredibly hot (pun entirely intended)

-roy mustang’s character development was so cool. they stuck with the ‘i’m-only-involved-in-this-shit-because-it-helps-my-career-and-avenges-my-best-friend-but-also-i’m-secretly-a-nice-guy’ thing and did it really well, but also used him as a foil to both scar and ed by having him learn from others and listen to their advice

-JEAN HAVOC COMING IN FOR THE WIN ON PROMISED DAY

-king bradley’s death. the whole fight was really cool and i enjoyed it, but when he’s telling Lan Fan how she missed her chance for revenge and how he’s glad he had a life worth living. it was just MMMMMM

-the thing with envy and hawkeye. “he calls me riza when we’re alone” “so you two have that kind of relationship” “I lied” And then she just empties not one, not two, but THREE full mags plus some rounds from her rifle into envy with absolutely no hesitation. so much better than the manga sequence in my opinion

- i forgot to say this earlier, but i actually love kimblee as a character. like thats a psychotic character i can get behind

-ed’s subtle transformation into an adult

-hohenheim wears glasses just for the aesthetic

-greed is my guy. he and ling were the best and i loved all the scenes they had

-the maria ross entrance was beautiful

-general grumman just being general grumman 

-ed fist fighting god will never not be funny

- animal instincts

riza’s little “im under orders not to die” while LITERALLY BLEEDING OUT FROM HAVING HER THROAT SLIT, then getting up and continuing to be a badass after some medical alchemy like she didn’t just loose three pints of blood

-every time scar just stands there glaring at someone

-royai exists! The unspoken communication between roy and riza when she’s bleeding out. Him clinging to her when he thinks he’s going to lose her. Them fighting together when he’s blind. and my favorite, sharing a hospital room

-olivier and alex fighting Sloth and arguing over who’s too hurt to keep going

-ed’s proposal to winry is the funniest shit. like this guy cannot for the life of him express any kind of important emotion without alchemy

-alphonse being back in his body!! so cute and very wholesome. he’s a good boy who wants to see the things

-the part in the hospital when Team Mustang is helping roy study about ishval

All in all it was great. Highly recommend. Now i’m going to watch the 2003 Fullmetal Alchemist series. 

[weirdoldmanhoho]

hey can i share this headcanon about alphonse that i need to get out of my brain? just watched the show and rlly like ur blog, by the way.

so one of the things al realizes as he watches people celebrating in the streets after the promised day (from his hospital room window, of course), is how much he misses dancing. in resembool they used to have barn dances pretty often, and he got pretty good. when he’s discharged and mustang takes the boys out for drinks with his team to celebrate (assuming the drinking age is 16 like in germany), al spies a busker playing a fiddle in the street. and the urge now that he’s outside and walking again is too great, even with his cane. so he drops the cane, stumbles over, and dances there on the streets of central because he finally can. when mustang jokes that the kid’s embarrassing them, ed says ‘well are you any better, old man? show me your moves!’ and soon, the whole squad is pressuring the colonel. whether he caves or not... im not sure.

I love this! Resembool absolutely would be a town that has huge barn dances, and they're a MASSIVE affair, and Alphonse would absolutely be the kind to throw himself into the dancing and love it.

I can so picture this scene of him dropping the cane and dancing in the middle of the street, a little wobbly, a little uncoordinated - Ed is hovering a couple feet away ready to jump in and steady him if needed, but Al looks so happy he can't bring himself to stop him. He nearly goes down a few times, but he's still so carefree.

Honestly don't know if I can picture Roy joining in the dancing or not, but he would be happy to watch Al dance, this kid who's been through so much and still came out of it smiling.

And the rest of Team Mustang would absolutely start dancing. Havoc's gotta try out his newly healed legs, after all.

Thanks for sharing!!