#so when we DID make au versions of her in fma

[dreadlord-mr-son]

It's funny to work through all the implications of us deciding Wynn's dad was Hohenheim's son from a fling Hohenheim had before he met Trisha.

Ed is freaking out about unknown branches on the family tree. Part of him thinks it's awesome but he has so much family-related trauma. Al, who took his trauma in a different direction, is latching onto new family like a bear trap. She cannot escape, she is his now.

[tsukidrama]

hi!! i’ve been well thank you! i hope you’re well too!

(this ask is probably going to be long sorry)

i really like envy too! about that other character i haven’t seen her yet but i can’t wait to see her now. i’ll keep you updated!

i’ve been told to not watch the first version because it’s really different to the manga but now i’m really curious about it lmao. if i like the whole story i’ll probably watch the other version for lust. the difference seems interesting too!

it’s crazy how easy to forget how brutal the difference between annie’s life during the war and annie’s new life is, especially since it’s a positive difference! but it probably makes it harder to process it as the bad stuff is behind her now it’s normal she doesn’t want to think about it, though her dreams aren’t giving her a choice about that.

aah thank you!! well that’s good because i re-read one of your fics 😇! it’s the first part of “cold hands cold heart”, i think it’s one of my favourite fanfic of yours. i know i’ve mentioned your dialogues before but your descriptions are also so well written : “The crack of firelight that had illuminated a sliver of the wall disappears, and the only light in the room comes from the dim moonlight streaming through sheer curtains. The snow falling outside dims the already low light to almost pitch darkness.” and “Your heartbeat quickens as you gaze reverently at the sliver of moonlight outlining her side profile. The illuminated strands that fall across her face glow almost silver.” have to be my favourites, they really help get into the story and picture the scene, and this is a particularly beautiful scene. the story also develops very smoothly and we can feel annie slowly warming up (ha ha) to reader, but even as she opens herself she still feels guilty and need to keep some things to herself. i’m glad she accepted the hug from reader she really deserves all the hugs in the world (and a proper therapy). her stubborness is also funny!

by the way i was wondering, in the road not taken, is it it’s own story or does this exist as a “sequel” to other things you’ve written about annie?

i didn’t expect a full post about squid game thank you for taking the time to answer!! i very agree with your point of view. yelena in a game like this sounds very scary i’m not sure i’d sleep at night lmao. and you did a very accurate analysis of the show!! i usually only see posts about how each character acted, how people think they would act in the game or how their favourites characters would act without mentioning the context, which is vital to the story.

have a nice day!!

-j

never ever apologize!!! i love it so much & it gives me a chance for me to share ideas with people on main! usually i only type super long replies like this to my friends and it's nice to feel like other people are interested in what i have to say

i'm going to put most of my reply under the cut as not to clog anyone's dashboard, lol i rambled like a mf on this one

but first let me answer the question about the road not taken. actually, thank you so much for asking that because the answer is yes! not including this one and the pirate AU. so far cold hands, cold heart & the great hair massacre both share the same reader with TRNT. i have several ideas for more fics with her set during their training days, while annie's crystallized, and even when they reunite for the first time after she's out again. but i just got so excited that she didn't die and would live to be old that all other annie fic has been bumped to back burners.

she's worth the wait lol. i also really love their teacher!! izumi curtis love of my life

personally i really like it, you just can't expect it to be brotherhood or else you'll be disappointed. it's much more slow burn but the story is so deep. yeah it's dark and gritty with a cynical worldview and tons of death, but so is attack on titan. and the sacrifice and death in fma 03 ends up being meaningful more so than the ending of aot in my opinion

poor annie. her life was so horrible and then all of a sudden, it wasn't. reader helps her create a home and a life that she actually finds happiness/peace in. you're right that the dreams aren't giving her a choice expect to confront everything she's trying to leave behind. but she still doesn't want to 😢 she scared

EEEEEEE COLD HANDS COLD HEART IS MY MASTERPIECE SO HEARING FEEDBACK ABOUT IT ALWAYS MAKES ME SO HAPPY! okok ajsbdfjeh thank you so much, i really went off with the imagery in that one i know. i really love when you tell me how certain parts of the story or certain lines make you feel 😍😭 she doesn't think that she deserves to be comforted, but reader wants to be there for her. there had to be times where annie accepted the love. i appreciate you so muchhhhh and im glad you enjoyed the fic as much as you did 🥺

hell yeah, i had a lot of fun answering that actually so thank you for asking! yeah, tbh yelena is very scary always... not gonna lie i think she's actually a psychopath. i catch myself typing "but she's just so charismatic and sexy unf" but it just proves my point lol. thank you! i think the context of squid game is the most important thing about the show & it kinda reminds me of the hunger games how people en masse don't seem to address that

[aobawilliams]

First Line Tag Game!!

I was tagged by @idontonlytalkaboutdcmk

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line, then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

I’ll try to go from more recent to older (date of the creation of the doc will be written in MM/YYYY format), but this might not correspond to the time the sentence was actually written. (I might have missed some stuff but, oh well, whatever.)

1- (04/2021) Aizawa meets Izuku AU (MHA, OS in progress)

It was luck that brought Shouta here.

2- (03/2021) Vigilante Yagi AU (MHA, in-progress, either a long-fic or a serie of OS)

All Might has been a hero longer than he has ever been Yagi Toshinori.

3- (02/2021) Dad For All AU (MHA, various blurb on tumblr so far, most likely a longfic)

Izuku was trying really hard not to panic. One second he was fighting a villain with a still unknown quirk, the next he found himself __ years in the past, according to the news report currently going on TV.

4- (02/2021) Midoriya Inko’s Guide To Good Parenthood (MHA, in progress, probably a serie of OS?)

Midoriya Inko isn’t anything special. She's 30 going on 52, has a really bad case of anxiety, can and will cry for any reasons, and has gotten so many grey hair from her son's shenanigans its a wonder she still has green hair.

5- (12/2020) The Kids Will Be Alright (DCMK, spin-off of Sharpen Your Knives)

Ran was running. Fast, fast, faster, not fast enough. She put all her strength in her legs, went as fast as she could.

6- (11/2020) Before the coffee gets cold - The Sisters (DCMK, OS published on AO3)

It was probably foolish of her to come back to this place. But, on the off chance that the rumours were true, she wanted to give it a chance.

7- (11/2020) Sharpen Your Knives (DCMK, in-progress longfic, won’t be published for a long while)

Shinichi has no idea how things could have gone so wrong, so quickly.

8- (08/2020) The Time Travel Road Trip Case (DCMK, spin-off of Who The F- Is This) (technically not the first lines, but it’s the first part I’ve written)

Shinichi(Conan) felt someone lift him up from the back, he turned his face as he came level with their chest, one look at their face and…

Well, guess he found KID.

9- (06/2020) Who The F- Is This (DCMK, longfic in progress, the first chapters are on AO3)

Shinichi’s head was throbbing. He felt like someone was playing drums with his head. What has happened?

10- (06/2020) Harrinichi Kupotter (DCMK & Harry Potter x-over, longfic in progress)

Shinichi doesn't really believe in superior beings, gods or the supernatural. So far everything in his life could be explained by science and very human tricks.

11- (03/2019) Naobuza & Raphtaku AU (The Rising of the Shield Hero & Naruto x-over, an old baby I keep coming back to)

If you were to ask anyone to tell you about Naofumi Iwatani, those who remember him would tell you that he’s a weird kid. There’s something otherwordly about him, as if he was evolving in a totally different universe from them.

12- (01/2019) The self-indulgent FMA TT au (FMA, an old project that I should go back to, someday)

Somehow, sometimes, Ed felt like there was some being out there, out for him.

13- (01/2019) Nanadaime time travel AU (Naruto, will most likely be an OS, one day I will finish it enough to post it on AO3)

It was a late night In the Hokage office, one of many. As was usual by now, the Hokage was filling paperwork at his desk, his right-hand-man filling his own number of files at his side.

14- (11/2018) Baby Ed saving the world with hugs and punches (FMA, an old project that I will go back to)

On a warm night during the summer of 2005, as the sun left it’s place for the shining stars, Edward Elric went to sleep for the last time besides his lovely wife, in the house he has rebuilt with his own two hands.

15- (06/2018) The roadtrip 03Ed never knew he needed (FMA03/CoS & Fantastic Beasts and where to find them x-over, a serie of OS)

He wasnt sure what brought him back here.

Maybe he just wanted to make sure Envy was dead, one monster less in this world. Or maybe he just wanted to make sure there was no way between both world (no way to go home.)

16- (04/2018) Badass Women Roleswap AU (FMA, I still sometime go back to it, will most likely be a serie of OS)

Ed didn’t have many memories of his father. He could remember a tall man, who always looked sad. A giant who always had trouble when it came to holding him and his brother. A figure always working in his study. A person who always looked sad when teaching them alchemy.

17- (03/2018) FMA TT fic I wasnt planning to expend (FMA, old project, I will get back to it.) (it is, also, the first fanfic idea I got when I got back into writing fics)

Nothing happened as it should have been. No matter everything they’ve done to try and stop him, the dwarf in the flask still managed to bypass it all and, in some way, reach his goal.

And that’s pretty much it for any written stuff I got (anything else is too old)

Bonus: A la recherche du canard (Looking for the duck) - it’s an old assignment I had for french class, where we had to pick an article and write a short story based on it. (When I say old, I mean it’s from 2012 - it’s a good way to see how far I’ve come). It’s honestly really bad but I did have a lot of fun back then. (This is a translated from french version btw) (yes I stole names from Hetalia I was always terrible at finding names for characters)

The sun shined upon the sleeping man face, who opened his bright blue eyes. He got up suddenly, throwing his blanket on the ground. Today would be the day where he, Alfred F. Jones, Yorkville police officer, would accomplish his mission: keeping an eye on the annual fair set-up.

So, observations: You can very clearly see me go through various fandom phases it’s funny. Also my naming skills for the AUs got slightly better (but not that much.) I do tend to drop a name (usually the person from whom the POV is) in those first sentences. The first paragraph tend to get shorter with time (which might simply be because I realised I tend to lose focus when it gets too long.) I also never start on dialogue, generally I go for the POV’s thought uh.

I do quite like the ones for the Vigilante Yagi AU and the Midoriya Inko’s guide, The Kids Will Be Alright too. Badass Women I like it but also am not 100% happy with it.

This mostly made me want to share even more about these stories to y’all.

Anyway! Tagging @whoever wants to do it! I’m not sure whom I follow has already done it/been tagged or not, uuuuhhh, maybe @artistfingers ? If you’re a writer and wants to do it then go for it and tag me I guess.

[catquarry]

Wavedwhelk’s FMA Fic Masterlist

IN ALL MY YEARS IN THE FMA FANDOM I HAVE NEVER MADE A FIC RECOMMENDATION LIST....Well I decided it was about time to fix that

This is what I’ve compiled in the last 9 years. A few of the fics are deleted but reuploaded by me (or others) so the reading format might be a little wonky

Also none of these feature ships (if they do it’s really mild edwin or royai)

PDF version of this list can be found here

Fic Status Key

Active - Updates reliably (Once every 1-3 months or more)

Dormant - Fic updates, but sporadically (Once every 4-12 months) with occasional updates from the author on other websites

MIA - Fic hasn’t been updated in more than 12 months and there’s no updates from the author

Dead - The fic hasn’t been updated in 2 or more years and the author seems to have moved on

Complete - The fic is complete

Harry Potter/Fullmetal Alchemist Crossovers

Circulus by Phenobarbital

Official Summary: 

They're still not sure exactly how they ended up on the magic side of a place called London, but Edward and Roy are not new to dealing with the unexpected.

Needing to find a way back to Amestris, back to their own time, together they figure out how magic energy works, and how it can work for them specifically and in the end, the decision to go to Hogwarts is a mutual one. Edward will have to go to high school and Roy will have to get used to using a wand.

Neither of them are prepared for what they find at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry.

There are secrets, liars, murderers and too many people with very dangerous agendas, no one seems trustworthy, so naturally they should stick together...

...but then Ed starts lying to Roy.

My Thoughts:

THIS IS HONESTLY MY FAVORITE FIC. I don’t want to spoil anything but everyone is written SO well and the plot goes far beyond the standard “FMA characters stuck in the HP world”. Ed’s also kind of evil (partly an act and partly for real in his own Ed way) and that ups the suspense significantly. Basically if you’re not going to read anything else on this list PLEASE read this one

Fic Status: Dormant

Warnings: Tags mention pairings that will be revealed in the future, but for now nothing’s definitive 

The Colours of the World by MiaKusakabe

Official Summary: 

When Roy Mustang went to retrieve his eyesight from Truth, he wasn’t expecting to end up doing a job in exchange. It couldn’t even be an easy job, of course, because Edward’s assessment of Truth was a pretty accurate one.

My Thoughts: 

THIS IS MY FAVORITE ROY OUT OF ANY FMA FIC. GOD he is written so well here. Unlike most of the other fics here, Roy willingly chooses to go into the HP world, and because of that there’s less stress on Roy trying to get home and more on him living in the world and working around it. Overall a really incredible fic and I highly highly suggest reading it

Fic Status: Dormant - Occasional updates on the authors patreon

Harry Potter and the Eastern Sage by LiteratureWork

Official Summary: 

Nicholas Flamel was famous for creating the philosopher's stone, but like Lockhart's smile it was all a lie. Flamel stole a part of the stone and it took Edward 642 years to get it back along with the souls inside of it, one which was his brother. But after traveling to Hogwarts to retrieve it, Dumbledore has other plans for the ancient hero.

My Thoughts: 

A REALLY interesting take on a HP/FMA crossover. It’s a half-AU where Ed turns into a Philosopher’s Stone at the end of FMA:B (with everyone from Amestris in the stone) and him being flung into the Harry Potter world. The author put a lot of time into worldbuilding and carefully weaving Ed into the HP universe so it seems completely normal that he’s lived in that world for 1,000 years

Fic Status: Dormant

Cerulean Silver vs Amber Gold by hikaranko

Official Summary: 

Edward Elric has been put on his stupidest assignment yet: babysitting. Everyone else calls it undercover work. To Ed, it's babysitting. But there's more to this assignment than what's on file…

My Thoughts: 

A lighter and more fun HP/FMA crossover that centers around Ed and Draco’s interactions. Draco hates Ed and Ed hates his job basically. Not super plot heavy, but the character interactions makes up for it

Fic status: Dormant - Being rewritten on AO3

About a Boy by EstaJay

Official Summary: 

Portkeyed away on the night of his parents' murder, Harry Potter grows up as Roy Mustang. Magic is nothing more than another one of his aunt's stories but after the Promised Day, his past catches up to him. With the Elrics suddenly in London and his dormant magic finally and violently revealing itself, it's a cross continent journey to get the brothers back. If only wizard transportation didn't involve so many explosions…

My Thoughts: 

Was really unsure about this fic initially - the premise just seems too farfetched to enjoy, but after the first chapter you realize the author put in a lot of time to make sure Roy/Harry and the rest of the cast stayed in character. I think it’s a really cool twist on the standard HP/FMA crossover formula and definitely worth a read

Fic Status: Dormant

Penance by Laora

Official Summary: 

The Gate was opening; the black arms stretched toward him and Pride. Ed knew he had no say in the matter. He would be pulled to this parallel dimension, alternate universe—whatever it was—and Amestris would be left to die. Truth merely grinned.

My Thoughts: 

It’s been a couple years since I read this, but I remember I really liked the twist that Pride was stuck in the HP universe along with Ed and Al

Fic Status: Complete

Playing God by The Flamel Cult

Official Summary:

 I thought the dull aching was something other than my demise. As it turned out, I was sorely mistaken. Perhaps I should listen to Alphonse more; maybe then there wouldn't be another bloody tragedy that would, inevitably, end it all. For good.

My Thoughts: 

There’s a twist in this fic that I LOVE, and while I refuse to spoil it I suggest reading just to find out what it is. It rocked my world the first time I read and I’m pretty sure I cried for like 3 days

Fic Status: Complete

Warnings: I haven’t read this since 2013/2014, so just be warned if you decide to check it out

Other Crossovers

More Than Just a Murder by AkitaFallow

CSI/Fullmetal Alchemist Crossover

Official Summary: 

As bodies pile up and evidence remains scarce, the CSI team has to fight against increasingly strange circumstances and an even stranger suspect in order to solve what is likely the most complicated case they have ever encountered.

My Thoughts:

 I know this seems like a weird premise but hear me out: this fic will Change Your Life. It’s so incredibly well written and the character development is phenomenal. If you don’t like CSI (I personally didn’t when I started reading) you can easily substitute random forensic scientists in and it works just as well. The real sell to this fic is watching Ed stumble through 2009 Las Vegas lmao

Fic Status: Complete

Warnings: This fic follows FMA 2003 ONLY, so if you haven’t seen that yet I highly suggest waiting to read.

AU’s (Alternate Universes)

Disorient by Esama

Official Summary:

 Who was he, what had happened to him, why did he have automail - and how was he there, in the past? 

My Thoughts: 

One of the best time travel fics I’ve ever read from any fandom. There’s so much time put in to fleshing out Ed’s new character (Nicholas) as well as his relationship with the younger version of Al and himself. Less plot heavy and focuses more on the day to day life of Resembool with Nicholas there

Type of AU: Time Travel + Amnesia

Fic Status: Dead

Warnings: This was a fic that got deleted in 2012 that I managed to grab before it was gone. If this list goes outside of my own circle and the original author wants me to remove this I will gladly do so (just message me @wavedwhelk on twitter or tumblr). 

A Boy Named Ed by BelloftheSea

Official Summary: 

Ed knew he was different. It wasn't just that he was smarter than the other kids or even that he had automail. No, it had more to do with the way people would occasionally look at him, like they were expecting somebody else. It was the way his mechanic cried the day she met him. It was the way his dad would sometimes slip – and call him Fullmetal.

My Thoughts: 

What I really love about this fic is that it’s a reincarnation AU that makes SENSE in the FMA universe - it doesn’t give a half-assed reason for why it happened, but rather works within the confines of the universe. Also I really love watching Ed go to school and pretend to try and be a normal kid while hiding the fact that he’s the Fullmetal Alchemist

Type of AU: Reincarnation (kind of)

Fic Status: Dead

My Master Ed by Blue Teller

Official Summary: 

Slave number Twenty Three didn't know what to make of his new Master. The strange boy was nothing like other slave owners. Short on both height and temper, yet strangely kind to him, Master Ed seemed to know something about him that he didn't himself. Just what was it?

My Thoughts: 

One of the best fics that takes place in the Xerxes time period IMO. I don’t want to spoil too much but you see a lot of the consequences for Ed’s actions and it can get really really intense (but in the best way)

Fic Status: Dormant

Type of AU: Time Travel

Warnings: This gets surprisingly deep. Prepare Yourself

Men and Angels by Laora

Official Summary: 

Trisha can't understand; she's terrified, but she has to stay calm. Her boys are gone, replaced by her sons from the future...and something, she knows, is terribly wrong.

My Thoughts: 

A time travel fic that changes time for both current Ed/Al AND past Ed/Al (when they were 6). I think my favorite part from this fic has got to be how Mustang’s team reacts to (and tries to take care of) the frightened baby Elric’s. There isn’t a ton of plot but the character interactions drive this fic - if you care deeply about these characters you’ll really enjoy this

Type of AU: Time Travel

Fic Status: Complete

we haunt ourselves by sekalaista

Official Summary: 

"There's something funny about that kid," Maes says. "I just can't put my finger on it."

My Thoughts: 

Literal perfection jam packed into 1000 words

Type of AU: Canon divergence

Fic Status: Complete

and then it wasn't by GentleTouchGinger

Official Summary: 

When Roy notices his smartest student is struggling, he does some snooping and discovers some startling truths about his home life.

My Thoughts: 

Probably one of the best modern AU’s that I’ve found so far for FMA. It follows a pretty normal structure (Ed and Al are in foster homes, Roy notices something’s wrong, etc etc), but the character’s are kept true to their in-canon personalities and the plot is interesting enough to keep you on your toes. Also I cried once I finished reading it so there’s that

Type of AU: Modern/School AU

Fic Status: Complete

Truth Revealed by Fallen Crest

Official Summary: 

A lesson without pain is meaningless...to save their future, they will suffer through the truth. Brought to a room to view FMA:Brotherhood, the FMAB characters learn the dark secrets that surround Amestris. Follow the drama, the suspense, the laughs, the friendships that grow, and the pain they suffer in exchange as their future is laid out before their eyes.

My Thoughts:

 I’m actually right in the middle of reading this right now (it’s 2,500+ pages…...be ready) and it’s SO fun. Not really the kind of fic I ever expected myself to like, but everyone’s in character enough to enjoy their reactions and the interactions in between watching. The pain factor also makes things more interesting. Overall I really suggest checking this out even if it seems like something you wouldn’t enjoy

Type of AU: Characters reacting to the show

Fic Status: Dead (Destroyed by copyright)

Warnings: This fic was taken down due to copyright, but luckily some people managed to save it and upload a download link

Project Rainbow by Missy Skywalker

Official Summary:

 It took him coughing up blood on five different occasions for Edward Elric to finally give in and see a doctor.

My Thoughts: 

I cried for 2 hours after I read this and that’s all I’m saying

Type of AU: Ishvalan!Ed and Al

Fic Status: Complete

Number Twenty Eight by Sevlow

Official Summary: 

As of today, Edward Elric had been missing for four months, two weeks, and five days.

My Thoughts: 

I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW DARK THIS FIC GETS. It’s probably the darkest FMA fic I’ve been able to sit through in its entirety. WITH THAT BEING SAID...if you can manage to read it all it ends on a happy note. I don’t want to spoil too much but basically: Ed gets kidnapped, experimented on, and turned into a dog chimera

Type of AU: Chimera!Ed

Fic Status: Complete

Warnings: REALLY DARK, mentions of rape (not explicit or shown), animal death

Misanthropical by nebluus

Official Summary: 

Alfonse and Eduard are best friends living in Germany. When an experiment gone wrong brings in a new yet familiar face, it will be up to them to get their friend home...and not get killed in the process. 

My Thoughts:

 I ended up finding this fic back in 2012 but it’s surprisingly held up pretty well. It was unfortunately abandoned pretty quickly into its plot, but the worldbuilding that’s there is really interesting and makes it worth it to read

Type of AU: Dimension Travel

Fic Status: Dead

Warnings: This fic takes place in the FMA 2003 universe ONLY, so if you haven’t watched that I highly suggest you don’t read yet!

General Fics/Non-AU’s

Firstfruits by toosolidcuuj

Official Summary:

 For the past eleven years, Edward Elric has been raising his family and recovering from the Promised Day. Some memories are easier to talk about than others, but he's made his peace with them. Of course the one that comes back to haunt him is the one he tried to forget about completely.

My Thoughts: 

This fic treats the topic of rape with nuance; the author admits that they don’t struggle with PTSD, but have reached out and done as much research as they can on the subject. I ended up really liking this fic for what it was setting out to do and what it accomplished, and while I did find it difficult to read at times due to the subject matter I still found myself appreciating it 

Fic Status: MIA

Warnings: This fic deals with the trauma that comes along with rape, however it’s never described in detail and the focus is solely on how the character copes with it. Please mind the tags and rating (mature)

Skin Deep by Batsitousai

Official Summary: 

Trisha and Van's first child, Edith, was born a beautiful, healthy girl. The only problem? Ed knew he was a boy.

My Thoughts: 

IM SUCH A SUCKER FOR TRANS ED I don’t want to say too much but I found it really heartwarming (especially the conversations between Mustang/Hawkeye and Ed) and just overall a really strong fic

Fic Status: Complete

Anything but Normal  by DAsObiQuiet

Official Summary: 

Fifteen years after the Promised Day, Selim Baker leads a life like any normal human. Then an attempt on his life throws his world into chaos and begins to show him just how much of a monster he really is.

My Thoughts: 

I’m not usually one to read fic’s that don’t revolve around the protagonists, but this peaked my interest enough to check it out. The author does an amazing job in fleshing out Selim (both his human side and Homunculus side) and it’s interesting to see how Selim reacts to things post-canon

Fic Status: Complete

An Overbearing Legacy by Missy Skywalker

Official Summary: 

Elicia Hughes was tired of trying to live up to her father's reputation, so on the night of her thirteenth birthday, she decided to run away. Luckily, she gets interrupted by someone who knows what losing a parent is like.

My Thoughts: 

I don’t have a ton to say but I found this fic really sweet and I enjoyed getting to see some character development in an older version of Elysia

Fic Status: Complete

At the Very Ports We Blow by baka deshi

Official Summary: 

Edward Elric has made his way to the University of Munich, where he faces a new challenge in the eerily familiar face of his peer and colleague, Alfons Heiderich. There's just one problem: the two of them have to get along.

My Thoughts: 

This has gotta be one of my favorite CoS compliant fics. I really love the idea that Alfons and Ed actually hate each other leading up to the events of CoS and have to actively work on themselves and their friendship before they can work on the rockets

Fic Status: Complete

Warnings: This fic follows FMA 2003 ONLY. If you have not seen it, I highly suggest waiting to read. 

Where The Corners Meet by sahrmael

Official Summary: 

The year is 1934. The change in the Amestrian government has finally brought great peace and prosperity to the nation. But one eager boy, the son of former State Alchemist Edward Elric, has made it his duty to uncover the tragedies of his father's past, and to correct the mistakes of his own.

My Thoughts: 

Like the warning says, I remember really liking this fic, but since I haven’t read it since 2012 I can’t remember if there’s anything weird in it or not. I’ll reread it soon to make sure

Fic Status: Dead

Warnings: I haven’t read this fic since 2012 and debated whether or not I should even add it on here, however I remember REALLY liking it back then so I ultimately decided to. Basically proceed with caution because I can’t remember all of what happens in this fic

[wordstrings]

Inbox dump 

(brace yourselves, I’m including the timestamps because these have been sitting forever and you may literally forget ever having sent one of these because they’re from so long ago 😬)

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Anonymous said: March 11th 2014 *Clears throat* Non-canon verse, uni AU probably *strums guitar and takes a deep breath* DUEEEEE TO A COMPUTING errORRR, dean and gabe are stuck as roomatesssssssss, whilesamandcascanbestucktogethertoo that'snotaneccesitybutitwouldbegreaaaaaaaaattttttttt, and veeery soon it turns into something of a friendship BUT THEEEENNNN dean fights with saaAAAM and gabe is like "dude stop being so upset" aND FLUFF HAPPEeeeeeEEEEEEeens! *stands up and bows* tyvm for accepting debriel though like omg <3

I’ve been rewatching some of Supernatural seasons 5 and 6 this past weekend, and it reminded me how much I love and miss Gabriel. I still maintain that Debriel is a super-underrated ship. The manic-chaos potential is *muah*. (see: #Debriel)

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Anonymous said: August 7th 2018 psst... light back tickles while cuddling in bed are pure™ and wholesome™

Good shit good shit good shit

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Anonymous said: September 19th 2018 I love science and go to public seminars as often as I can. I walked in to the most recent one (which I had picked at random), and it was on the science of tickling. There were demonstrations. There were hand gestures and finger wiggling. There were in depth descriptions of the anatomy and physiology behind ticklish spots. It was legitimately your Amateur Production’s fic, and I was Kevin. Worst of all it was 2 hours long. I think I died during it and my soul was sucked into hell.

Uhhhhhh where can I get a copy of the slide deck?? Asking for a friend. (see: #series: Amateur Production)

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Anonymous said: September 23rd 2018 your art skills have me shook in the best possible way

aaaahh thank you! Fun fact: I went to art school and even took illustration as a concentration area but I’ve hardly drawn anything for like ten years. When I do draw, it’s usually because there are feelings that I don’t wanna do words about. (see: #strings does art)

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Halo!anon said: September 27th 2018 A small, sinful part of Castiel had the urge to gloat. It was somewhat dampened by the fact that Dean was still under the impression that being abducted is peak romance."I can't believe you went out of your way to set up our second date!" He'd squealed, as Castiel tightened his restraints. - little excerpt of a sequel to Date Nights with Demons i had planned for months but abandoned. halo!anon

Your demented version of Demon!Dean is so entertaining 😄 (see: Date Nights with Demons)

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Anonymous said: November 6th 2018 Aaaaah your Gabriel / Kali drabble was adorable, I can't help but love seeing our mighty archangel reduced to a mass of giggles, and you write Gabriel so so well <3. I love your writing your stories always brighten my day ^^

It’s so rare for him to let his guard down, isn’t it? But when he does, he has a grand old time of it. :) (see: this drabble)

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sarah-lou-who said: November 8th 2018 1/4 Boo! The ghost of my online presence in the community is peeking its head in because I need help. I don’t have a platform or following to sound an alarm, so I’m using my platonic tumblr wife’s platform and following for me, because that’s what platonic tumblr wives do. Right? Anyway, I’m very actively fixated on Attack on Titan atm. You know this very well. You also know my predicament. I seem to have exhausted the entire supply of tickly AoT content I’m interested in that exists currently. 2/4 So, if you’re willing to publish these for me, I’m crying out into the vast TFB lands hoping that there’s someone out there to answer the call. I am in desperate need of tickly AoT content. I don’t know if anyone around here writes for it much these days. I haven’t found anyone. And I know beggars can’t be choosers, but it can’t be helped; I really only care if Eren is involved. Even better would be Levi, but I haven’t found ANYTHING involving him, so I feel like asking for that is futile. 3/4 I digress. Even after all this time I can’t keep my asks less than 50 parts long. So my goal here is that someone, somewhere, will by chance come across these, and be able and willing to either write fic of the tickly variety for Eren and/or Levi from Attack on Titan, or direct me to someone who can, if they know a person who knows a person who knows a person. (Sidenote, hi anyone who still remembers me! It’s Sarah, the more ticklish half of Leerah. I’m doing good and I miss you!) 4/4 (I hope you’re all doing well!) Thank you for letting me take advantage of your devoted followers, Strings! Love yaaa!!!

Ah, my platonic tumblr wife Sarah returns! (Digitally, anyway. Reality-wise, we hang out all the time and it’s probably very rude of me to have not published this ask for so long!) I keep teasing her that she has a Type, and that is dark-haired sulky badass who’d probably make a wicked ‘ler – AoT Levi, SPN Cas, FMA Roy, etc. So anyway, if anyone knows of somewhere I can point her to find the content she’s (still) craving, lmk!

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Anonymous said: October 23rd 2019 I’m sorry if this is invasive in any way, but how is Sarah doing? I’ve been absent from Tumblr for a couple years and I see that her blog is now deactivated. I was just wondering if she’s doing alright and if she’s still around here on a different blog maybe?

See above! She doesn’t have a TFB community blog anymore, but she’s doing well. We’re quarantine buddies and helping each other out a lot. Very kind of you to ask! <3

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Anonymous said: December 2nd 2018 Hi, sorry to bother you but do you know what happened to prodigal-anon’s blog? It seems to have been deleted. Sorry again if you’ve been asked this before

No worries, friend! Here’s an answer for you!

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Anonymous said: December 13th 2018 I LOVE THE LOOPY SERIES! I love it so much, is there any chance you’ll be doing a part four? I’d give anything to see Cas and Dean tickle each other, it would be so cute 😍

Despite all evidence to the contrary, I haven’t entirely stopped writing... and Loopy 4 is one of those unfinished pieces that has seen a few additions lately. :) I’ve learned not to make promises about when something might get finished and posted, but I genuinely do believe this may be one of the first things that shows up once I’m ‘back in the game.’ Stay tuned... (see: #series: Loopy)

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Anonymous said: January 1st 2019 No no no you can't just stop there! I need more fluffy destiel with tickles and kissing! Pretty please?

I believe this is in response to Wonder whose arms will hold you good and tight. Don’t you worry, anon – Dean and Cas are not done being fluffy on this blog!

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1832wasalongtimeago said: January 25th 2019 Hi I just wanted to pop in and say the Maintenance series is amazing!! The second part was doing things to my poor heart I’ve read it like 5 times already. You’re such an amazing writer and thank you fo writing for us!

I’m very flattered, but I can’t take credit for the Of Maintenance series – that’s the lovely work of ask-flip-frost! It does things to my poor heart, too, so you’re in good company. :)

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Anonymous said: January 26th 2019 Sam Winchester can take a lot of things. The one thing he CAN'T take? Someone using baby talk on him when he's being tickled. He collapses into a puddle of helpless giggles faster than a house of cards in a stiff wind.

Precious Sammy just needs to laugh and be held, doesn’t he? <3

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Anonymous said: May 17th 2019 Thor needs tickles. So. Damn. Much.

Oh this was from right after Endgame came out. Thor did make me feel some sads there. :( Poor bab.

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Anonymous said: July 25th 2019 hi! i’ve read your wonderful fics forever but i’ve never really sent anything like this before so i don’t really know what to say.. but i had a destiel tickly thought and really wanted to share it with somebody, so here goes i guess- dean is taking too long in the shower so cas decides to use his mojo from the other room to speed things along. and listens to dean’s echoey laughs through the door. that’s all. sorry if this is weird! okay bye have a good one

This is not weird and I may have delayed in telling you any of my feelings about it but I definitely have a doc somewhere that has some vague notes about how I’d like to write this because I like it!

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Anonymous said: August 6th 2019 Anhhgff your Good Omens tword fics are so cute snvfddf i never knew I needed that of my favorite husbands till now😳😍

I know, right?! They’re just dying to be dropped into every fluffy situation. (see: #Good Omens)

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Anonymous said: July 25th 2019 Poking my head in to say hello, hope you’re doing well still! I just got into Good Omens and I absolutely loved your fic! (I watched the show first because my book was taking too long in the mail lol) Also, the other week I somehow talked myself into making a tfb blog, after all these years of almost doing so before chickening out (this ask isn’t from it because I just hopped in here briefly in a private phone browser to say hi, it’s literally just august-anon though) ~August!Anon

August!anon, I’m always so happy to see you stop by! Tagging your (not-so-new anymore) blog so everyone can check you out: @august-anon​

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hey-teenblog said: August 4th 2019 I love your fanfiction very much! They give me a lot of pleasant emotions. And most importantly, they, saturated with tenderness and love, gave me to accept myself as lee!! sorry for my english, i'm russian Love you 😘❤️

I will never tire of hearing things like this! Thank you for telling me. “Saturated with tenderness and love” is a such wonderful compliment about my writing – thank you very much! No need to apologize for language differences; I’m always impressed with anyone who manages to pick up English because it’s bonkers. 

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Anonymous said: August 23rd 2019 Hi! Just found this blog and wondering some basic info. ** What fandoms do toy write for? ** Do you accept prompts? ** Do you write reader insert fics? Thank you lovley ❤️

Anonymous said: August 29th 2019 Do you write tickle fics for bnha?? Asking for a friend 👀👀

The only fandoms I have reliably been able to write for are Supernatural and Good Omens – but even Good Omens is a rookie player here. Supernatural is my main jam, and Destiel is my favorite flavor. I don’t do reader inserts, but I’m always “accepting” prompts. I just haven’t written many of them for quite a long time now, so you’re welcome to drop them as long as you’re okay with them collecting dust. (see: this selfsame post)

My About/FAQ page is very dusty right now, too, but there might be some useful tidbits in there for you.

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Anonymous said: November 12th 2019 okayokayokay. Have you watched Lucifer? It's on netflix, it's great, so much emotions and pining. (Also, y'know, reg. Luci stuff. He runs a club. Bad jokes. It's great.)

I haven’t, but it’s on my Netflix watchlist, so I’ll get there eventually! I saw a gifset once where he actually did the thing I see in winged fanfic all the time, where there was gunfire and he sheltered someone he cared about with his manifested wings. And honestly, that was the deciding factor for me.

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Anonymous said: November 16th 2019 Oh Man U listen to Critrole as well! Nice! Campaign 1 was awesome but also heartfelt and really gut-punching at points. Who is your fav so far, anyone you aren’t fond of? (& Out of interest do you have any tickle related thoughts on the main crew or upcoming Fics we can look out for? As you said it’s tumbleweeds out here for this fandom’s tickles and I’ll take anything really 😂!) Hope u enjoy!!!!!

It’s STILL tumbleweeds out here and it’s making me crazy! My heart belongs to Vax primarily, Percy secondarily. I don’t really have cohesive thoughts or headcanons about anything, unfortunately. I do have this one mental picture that keeps coming up that I keep wanting to see art of (who knows, maybe I’ll commission somebody someday?) – of ridiculous brute Grog just lifting Vax straight up in his arms and gettin’ wiggly with his fingers while all Vax can do is laugh and pry and kick while absolutely nobody helps him.

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Regarding #series: Accessor:

Anonymous said: August 31st 2015 I would like to see accessor!verse cas using feathers on Dean!!! and NIBBLES and RASPBERRIES and TEETH and TONGUE and WOWWWWWW

ME TOO, FRIEND. It’s been aaaaages since I published anything new for the Accessor AU, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been going back to my unfinished docs every once in a while to add a few lines here and there. ;) 

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Anonymous said: October 29th 2016 Prompt: Cas is put in charge of getting a treaty with a neighboring country that shares a lot of the same customs, including Accessories, with certain... twists (think Bracelets AU) and treats their personal slaves (like Accessories) like people (listening to opinions, giving proper care, etc.). The foreign diplomats keep bringing that up and talking to Dean. Cas isn't sure he can make it though the diplomatic proceedings. Also, he might be having improper thoughts about that custom and Dean...

I’m posting this here, but I’m definitely keeping this filed elsewhere because it’s FANTASTIC.

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Halo!anon submitted: June 4th 2018 I can’t help but imagine how tickling must play a part in other aspects of society in the accessor ‘verse, besides the sessions between master and accessory. So here’s some imagines and headcanons, with a touch of worldbuilding. (Warnings, besides the usual for this AU: death mention, reference to past trauma.)

- Among the high class, during parties and other celebrations, it’s seen as a common courtesy to string up one’s personal accessory in the center of the room and let the guests entertain themselves with them. Lord Castiel never does this with Dean, much to his fellow nobles’ disappointment; the mere suggestion had Dean quaking as things he’d rather forget came back to bite him.

- Every so often, a petty criminal(the poor man’s accessory, if you will) is placed in stocks in a small town’s square and left at the mercy of the very people they used to menace. What happens next usually involves honey, some sheep, and plenty of begging. A guard stands by to warn people, “No hurting, only tickling. Everyone please wait your turn, they’re not going anywhere any time soon.”

- Certain monastic healers perform tickle therapy as a treatment for anxiety, stress, and other “diseases of the soul”, as they call them. Balthazar himself proposed the idea, because of course he did. The rich usually indulge in this kind of therapy secretly, due to its undignified nature. Some contemplate the possibility of training accessories to tickle in the future, but it’s still a big taboo.

- Every town has a folktale about a tickle monster. Curiously, many of them involve controlling plants and attacking through dreams. The southern communities still have a giggle remembering that one time six years ago when Michael offered to hunt down one such monster and came back with Crowley, a sleazy drunkard with a fetish and a dream, sitting in a cage and wearing a mask.

- The Masters sisters, Lillith, Meg and Ruby, have a long history with law enforcement. Their favorite pastime is snatching unlucky merchants off the roads and tickling them into coughing up everything they have. Everyone is sure they had a hand in Fergus"Crowley" Macleod’s untimely demise by ferocious attack hounds, but they’re very good at covering their tracks. They’ll help you cover up your tracks too, if you’re a friend- ask Bela Talbot.

I might make a second part if I get any more ideas. I hope you enjoyed this! -Halo!anon.

I am very fond of you indeed, Halo!anon. These are so creative!

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hypahticklish submitted: July 24th 2018 Accessor!Ideas:

~ Gabriel leads a furious rant regarding Prince Lucifer/Sam to Castiel, relating back to perhaps dealings he has directly had with the Prince between their two unstable-yet-truced Kingdoms. Castiel relates with similar views shared by Gehenna’s councilor(s).

~ Dean and Sam BM where the audience learns more about their homevillage. Dean starts it after a rather morose remark from Sam and ends with Sammy smiling and stealing my heart.

~ Balthazar helps Sam in several ways: 1) Learns the Sam was originally a psuedo-Advocates apprentice, as well as herbalist nephew when Sam identifies the components to some salves/medicines he’s making (he had been explaining what he was doing in an attempt to spare himself being attacked like the first couple times) 2) Calls Sam out on being intelligent and making a recklessly stupid choice by selling himself to find Dean. 3) Removes Lucifers mark. And maybe perhaps: 4) Allows Sam to assist in his own healing/medicine making under his careful observation, feigned as needing two sets of hands to do correctly and his assistant was running an errand, to assess his skills. 5) Offer he work in the hospice under him, apprenticing, should Gabriel allow his intelligence not go to waste. It’s not what Sam really wants to do/learn, but it’s better than doing nothing.

~Dean officially thanks Castiel for saving Sam. I’m talking full feels, single man tear sorta thing. And Castiel says “there was never another option” and then its schmoopy sweet with the kisses and the tickles and the Cas saying he loves Dean back!!!!!!!! swoon.

~ Kali!Likes!Sam’s!Spirit! Give me a dinner scene with Gabriel, Kali and Sam where hes holding his own in a diplomatic conversation with them when he nearly crosses a line (maybe something classist? Making it clear that Cas and Gabe are the exception to his experiences) and she says “I like this ones fire. He reminds me of you, my love.” *grabby hands*

~ Prince Lucifer sends a message to Gabriel requesting (threatening) his Helpmate be returned to him for a handsome reward. Sam somehow sees letter and gets spooked because DRAMA. Gabriel responds to Lucifer with the Chief Advocate equivalent of “Fuck Off”

You, my friend. YOU. All these feelings about Sam? Top-notch, and I shall be borrowing them, yes I shall.

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Regarding #android!Cas:

hypahticklish said: January 23rd 2016 Android!Cas deciding today is the DAY. Dean has been teasing him lately that he likes these strange sensations that have him using all his back-up generated power to not accidentally break Dean's bones and challenging him with that cocky smirk and relaxed confidence. Android!Cas practicing during time while Dean rests with holding objects with similar density to the human wrists with enough gentle force that they neither fracture or slip from his grasp. Android!Cas surprising Dean by turning the tables and pinning his wrists over his head while settling himself on Dean's thighs. Android!Cas not necessarily tickling at first so much as just touching like he had been wanting to so as to catalog how his best friend feels with his new technology. Android!Cas feeling that bubble of FEELS in his chest as he listens to Dean swear at him with positive physical actions negating his harsh words, growing more amused as the bubbling giggles begin. I love Android!Cas 

Anonymous said: January 23rd 2016 Android!Cas figures out his own strength comes in handy for more than just retaining himself during tickle fights. When he surprises Dean, Dean tends to squirm and fight back a little (even though he told Cas to get him back as part of the experience), so Cas uses his strength to gently hold Dean down while ticking him. Dean's never been held immobile before so it's a new experience for him, but he ends up liking it. Cas notices how Dean relaxes into his hold after a minute or so. Cas doesn't fail to use this knowledge about Dean, coming up with teasing words and methods of ticking to make Dean all squirmy and giggly, taking special notice of how light tickles effect Dean even more than most other touches, using that specially designed soft brush meant to gently clean Cas' delicate computer chips.

Anonymous said: February 17th 2016 I'm joining in on the Android!Cas thing, if not too late. Perhaps Android!Cas has detachable parts, like a foot, and Dean is a jerk and runs off and hides with it all the while tickling it and making fun of Android!Cas's increasingly desperate attempts to get it back.

Y’all, careful deliberate curious determined ‘ler Cas is LIFE. And, reserved confused helpless adorable ‘lee Cas is also life. Detachable and extensible parts are probably key to both of these things.

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Regarding current personal circumstances:

Anonymous said: January 14th 2020 I pray that you’re able to find peace during this difficult time. You are loved more than you will ever know. I know it’s hard to believe, but there will come a time that you are thankful for this experience, because it will have turned you into the person you are truly meant to be. Be strong and be hopeful. Keep your faith and keep knowing that you are going to be okay. Don’t let this dark time destroy the magnificent light inside of you. Sending you so much love

Anonymous said: January 17th 2020 I’m so sorry you’re struggling. Hang in there! We’re all here for you!

Anonymous said: February 11th 2020 all my love, thoughts and prayers are going towards you right now. also wanted to just drop a little thank you note in your inbox for all the light and joy i've found in your fics over the years. im sitting half way through my first year at uni currently but ive been a fan of yours since early highschool and i feel like ive almost grown up with your writing and fanfics in a strange way, so thank you so much for that. sending all my love to you once again- you are so strong x

I love you all so much.

[alwaysupatnight]

Since you sent me an a bonus two, I am taking that as a greenlight to send even more! How about Kate Fuller and looking through your tags: Joel Hammond (Santa Clarita Diet) and Edward Elric (Full Metal Alchemist) 💖

omg this took forever!! lmaooo Thanks for all the characters though!! :D

Kate Fuller

Why I like them: My love!! I went into FDTD already a fan of Madie’s but Kate quickly became one my fave characters!! I love that she’s so small and cute but will absolute wreck you if you mess with her or someone she cares about!! lmfao She’s so fierce when she needs to be and doesn’t take shit from anyone, but she’s also so nurturing and forgiving and I think we all need a little of that in our lives. Absolute sunshine, not to be taken for granted.

Why I don’t: Sometimes she goes a little too far tbh. She doesn’t know when or how to say no. It’s not that I don’t like that about her, but it absolutely gets her into situations that could otherwise be avoided.

Favorite episode (scene if movie): Again season 2 episode 1!! I love how she sasses Seth in that episode. lol

Favorite season/movie: Hmm... maybe season 1.

Favorite line: “...So you’re gonna put this car into drive, and you’re gonna step on that pedal, or I’m gonna Bible-thump your ass all the way back to Kansas! NOW!” LMFAOOO

Favorite outfit: I think her black American Eagle jacket and jeans with the black boots outfit has become so attributable to her character in my mind. When I think of Kate she’s wearing either that outfit or the one she wears at the end of s1. I think those are my faves. Also Amaru’s outfit looked totally amazing on Madie!!

OTP: Sethkate obvs

Brotp: I’m gonna go with Kate and Rafa. He was too good!! I totally would ship them romantically too ngl. They were precious together!!

Head Canon: Ugh again with the head canons... lmao I kinda always believed she’d wanna study engineering of some kind if given the chance to go to back and finish school. Everyone always wants to make her a nurse or a teacher or something, and I can totally see that. But I like the idea that she’s interested in how things work. I totally wanna write a mechanic Kate au one of these days.

Unpopular opinion: idk that I have any unpopular opinions about her... She made some questionable decisions in season2, but I forgive her for making me suffer.

A wish: That she hadn’t mf DIED!! BECAUSE I SUFFERED OKAY. WORRYING FOR MONTHS THAT IT HAPPENED TO ME YET AGAIN AND THAT MY FAVE WAS DEAD. Also that she had gotten more screentime in season 3. She barely had a few minutes. It wasn’t fair. And I wish that Richie had owned up to his part in her death.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: Romantic tres geckos. No thanks!!

5 words to best describe them: Too good for this world

My nickname for them: Seth’s badass beautiful young wife. That’s my tag name for her. :P Also Kate Gecko.

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Joel Hammond

Why I like them: OMFG I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!! lmao I love that he’s so dedicated to his family. And he LOVES Sheila more than anything, even though she’s become a zombie and her entire personality changes on him and eats people now, but he stays with her and never gives up on her. Even though he’s highkey stressed 100% of the time. :P

Why I don’t: I don’t think there’s anything I don’t like about him tbh??

Favorite episode (scene if movie): Ughhh idk I loved all the episodes tbh. But one of my favorite scenes was in season 3 after he and Eric do the zombie killing training and Eric says “Joel touched me” XD

Favorite season/movie: IDK. Maybe a tie between s1 and s3.

Favorite line: haha idk I can’t remember any in particular except “You’re killing it!” when he finds out Abby soaked his iron skillet in the sink :P

Favorite outfit: I don’t think I have one? I never really paid attention tbh.

OTP: Joel and Sheila!! They belong together!!

Brotp: Joel and Eric!! forever dying at those two. I love their relationship so much!!

Head Canon: I never thought about it tbh...

Unpopular opinion: Don’t have any!!

A wish: THAT THE SHOW HADN’T BEEN MF CANCELED AND WE COULD’VE GOTTEN TO SEE WHAT ZOMBIE JOEL WOULD’VE BEEN LIKE. FOREVER SCREAMING AT NETFLIX FOR CANCELING ALL MY FAVE SHOWS WTF.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: that his personality would be really different from his original one after turning into a zombie

5 words to best describe them: Best husband in the world

My nickname for them: don’t have one!!

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Edward Elric

Why I like them: I really loved his relationship with Alphonse!! They meant everything to each other!! I haven’t seen FMA anything in a long time, or I’m sure I would remember more things I liked. :P

Why I don’t: Okay I found the Brotherhood anime Edward pretty goddamn annoying sometimes with all the screaming and cartoony reactions to things...

Favorite episode (scene if movie): idkkkkk

Favorite season/movie: I definitely preferred the 2003 anime... Brotherhood might be canon but idgaf!! I still haven’t read the manga. :P

Favorite line: “You’ve got a good, strong pair of legs, Rose. You should get up and use ‘em.” haha idk I haven’t seen either anime in so long but that one comes to mind... there’s so many different versions of it. :P

Favorite outfit: He literally always wears the same thing. lol

OTP: ehh... I mean everyone ships him with Winry but I didn’t really ship him with anyone? I know he and Winry are canon. idgaf though. I hated that she was always fucking hitting him in Brotherhood and though I did think they were really cute in the 2003 series it didn’t really go there?

Brotp: Ed and Al forever!! Their relationship is my favorite thing about the series!! omfg I cried when I watched the Shamballa movie when Al says “brother” in his sleep, stuck in the other world. T_T I know it’s not “canon” but the brothers’ relationship is developed soooooo much better in the 2003 series and movie.

Head Canon: don’t got any!!

Unpopular opinion: NGL I loved the 2003 anime soooo much more than Brotherhood because they didn’t cut every potentially emotional scene off at the knees with some comedic BS to lighten the mood. The 2003 series really gave the story and characters time it needed, and it really allowed us to get to know the brothers and grow an attachment to those characters. That series just had wayyyy better character development imo and I really grew to love Ed and Al so much because of it!! I haven’t actually read the manga still after all this time. lol I’ve been meaning to.

A wish: idk... I haven’t been in that fandom for ages...

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: I can’t think of anything...?

5 words to best describe them: haha I hate this question

My nickname for them: don’t have one :P

[cornerverse]

Honeybee AU

Okay, so, I know I probably still have some followers around from my Miraculous Ladybug days, especially from writing The One Where Chloé Knows. While I haven’ t really done much with that fic in years now, I have said that one day I will come back and work on it. I want to at least finish The Price We Choose before doing that, but who knows.  

That said! TOWCK was written between Season 1 and 2. It also takes place right after Volpina. So it is Canon Divergent in both the adventures they go on, and the lore/worldbuilding that was revealed later. 

I was debating about what to do with this. Whether I should try to stick to Canon, even retconning things, or go full AU and keep what I originally had and not waste the stories I had planned. It’s been... complicated. And I kept putting it off because of my MLP fics and more recently my FMA fics. But I’ve decided to make if a full AU, calling it the ‘Honeybee AU’, for reasons I hope are obvious. 

So, I’m making a post to address some things in the story/lore/worldbuilding/etc. that either will or won’t change when I eventually get back to it! Feel free to ask questions if you want to know about more specific events, but this should cover a decent amount!

First off, names! Some character names are different in the fic, due to them not having Official Names when I wrote it. I decided to keep them the same instead of going back and editing in some cases due to how much I’d have to edit. Major examples include:

Alya’s Hero Name is ‘Vixen’ instead of ‘Rena Rouge’. This is difficult to edit, as there are a few jokes involving her choosing Vixen, so just using find and replace functions won’t work. 

Nino’s Hero Name is ‘Jade Turtle’ instead of ‘Carapace’. While this could be fixed with find and replace, I chose the name to honor/reference TheLastPilot’s “The Weight of Jade”, which inspired me to make TOWCK in the first place. 

the Bee Kwami is another one. We now know her name is ‘Pollen’, but I have the name ‘Lancee’ planned out and I’m keeping this for two reasons: 1. Pollen is the outlier among Kwami names, having a name directly relating to her ‘animal’, and 2. I named her ‘Lancee’ after Delancy Devin from Barbie: Princess Charm School, who was another inspiration to write this fic. 

Mrs. Agreste. I used the name “Felicia” back then, as we didn’t know her name. While it’s been revealed to be ‘Emilie”, I like “Felicia” better. Petty, I know. But fuck it. 

I might change Chloé’s Mom’s name. We learned more recently that it’s “Audrey”, but I have used “ Élise ” in the past. And considering a later bullet point, “ Élise ” might as well be a different character. 

Actually, I’ll address this now. Some of the future plot does involve Chloé’s mom. I had this part planned since the fic was started. And “ Élise” is very different from “Audrey”. That entire plot point actually hinges on this. I’ll be keeping her version of the story instead of the version in the show. 

Lila is another thing. In TOWCK, the whole class is already aware of Lila’s lies. No one trusts her. I will be absolutely bringing her back as a minor villain of sorts, but we’re completely skipping the show’s plot point of ‘the whole class loves her and thinks Marinette is just being a jealous bitch”

Episodes from Season 2 and 3 that involve Chloé being mean and causing Akumas either don’t happen, or would be changed completely. 

I’d like to introduce Luka and Kagami and maybe some other later season characters into the plot. Although as we already had an Akuma named Silencer who was Akumatized because of music and had the ability to take people’s voices, we’ll have to think of something else for him :) (No. I’m not bitter. I know it’s a coincidence but damn it why am I good at  predicting plot points what the fuck i didn’t even get all psychic like what happened August 1, 2009 this was just me making my own self-insert!)

Powers! Some things with the Miraculous and their powers are a bit different. 

The Bee Miraculous is pretty different. Chloé will obviously still get it eventually, but her Hero Name will be “Honeybee” (Hence, Honeybee AU). Her weapon and powers are also different. I’ve talked about them before, but for now I’ll keep quiet. 

The Turtle Miraculous has a different power, since a bigger shield doesn’t make much sense to me. Instead, Jade Turtle can slow down Time for a few moments. 

People cannot be Akumatized again after Ladybug purifies the Butterfly from them. (tbh, that’s something I complain of directly in the series, but we’ll talk on that another day!!) Anyway, this might have some loopholes involving Lila, but for the most part they can’t. 

The Peacock will also have different powers. I don’t know what they’ll be yet, but the Canon version is a little too similar to the Butterfly’s powers. (So far I’m thinking they get helpful visions of future or past. Well, helpful if they figure it out in time...)

Also, instead of the show’s thing of ‘when they need extra help, Ladybug hands out the Fox and Turtle Miraculous”, Nino and Alya keep their Miraculous from the moment they got them. They also got them the same way Marinette and Adrien did, with Master Fu subtly sneaking them into bags or their rooms or whatever. So Ladybug doesn’t know who they are. 

I might end up involving the extra Miraculous like the Snake or Mouse or whatever, but idk. Although I do have ideas for the Snake and it is not Luka.  

I can’t think of much more right now, but I’ll add to this if I think of anything else. And again, if you want to know more details on anything, just shoot me an ask. Seriously. Go for it. If you ask the right questions you could probably clip through the walls and get me to rant about the entire plot. 

[angelgirlsko12]

On A High Note (2)

FMA/BNHA AU. Took longer than expected to post this second part, but here’s the Kamijirou-centric stuff!

AO3

Toccata in J minor

He’s only in Central to take his state alchemist exam, but as he walks around the hustle and bustle of the city, Denki can’t help but think he’d like to stay here forever. Something about the hum of the streets here beats the safety of his home back in Resembool.

It is a bit overwhelming, though, seeing so many people. He knows his father came here for the same purpose when he was a kid, and he can’t imagine what that must’ve been like, being so young. He was definitely not mature enough to travel so far by himself at age 12.

Even now, he supposes his maturity is...questionable. Luckily he isn’t entirely on his own—Dad apparently has a lot of friends in high places—something that he’s always nonchalantly mentioned in passing—and Denki can’t help but be excited because he’ll get to spend time at the Havocs. Fuhrer Mustang’s rather busy these days trying to run the country (and he’s heard from his father there’s already another boy who’s been a temporary-turned-semi-permanent guest at their home). While it would’ve been cool to live at the Fuhrer’s estate for a few days, Denki knows he’d feel out of place somewhere so grand and regal as that.

Besides, he really likes Uncle Jean. Uncle Jean is down to earth and from the country much like himself and always has a lot of advice to offer him.

Especially when it comes to women.

“How did you and Aunt Becca meet, anyway?” He asks his first night there. He’s realized that, although he’s known the both of them for most of his life, there are still a lot of questions about them that have been left unanswered.

The aforementioned woman sets dinner on the table and pulls out her chair to find her husband’s legs comfortably propped up on it. She doesn’t hesitate to push them aside, taking a seat as she giving the man a sidelong glance.

“Military,” he smirks, gazing back at his wife.

“Your Uncle Jean and I had a thing when we were both stationed in East City,” she responds, shifting her attention to him as she passes him the vegetables. Denki carefully spoons some onto his plate as she continues. “Then, of course, Mustang decided to transfer his entire unit with him to Central so that was the end of that.”

“But fast forward a few years, and Becky was transferred to Central as well,” Jean adds, pausing to take a long sip of his coffee and leaned in closer to Denki. “I suspect she pulled some strings to come here, in hopes of rekindling things between us,” he whispers nondiscreetly.

“Don’t flatter yourself!” Rebecca retorts, punching him in the shoulder. “No self-respecting woman would be crazy enough to follow a man halfway across the country in the name of love!” She huffs as she crosses her arms.

Uncle Jean almost chokes on his water in his attempt to hold back a laugh. “ Really? You can’t think of anyone crazy enough to do that?”

She sighs. “They’re a special case, ok?!”

“Who’s a special case?” Denki asks curiously as he brings a forkful of food up to his mouth.

The man chuckles and shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it, kiddo.”

Aunt Becca shakes her head as well, gesturing with her fork as she talks. “If anything, you should thank Grumman for transferring his whole unit over when he moved to Central. He’s the real reason we’re together.”

The grimace on Uncle Jean’s face makes Denki choke on his food. “Yeah, I think I’ll stick to my version of the story. Sounds more romantic than what you just suggested.”

“As if Grumman isn’t Amestris’ secret matchmaker,” his wife mutters under her breath, just loud enough for Denki to hear. He contemplates asking what she means by that as well, but as the two of them continue their lover’s spat while he silently looks on, he decides that maybe there are some things he’s better off not knowing.

The certification exam is still a few days away. Denki had made sure to come a bit early—he’s been to Central before, but in the past it’s always been with his family and for “important matters” which have left little time for sightseeing. And Central is quite a big city—especially compared to the likes of Resembool—so there’s a lot to see.

While he could very well explore all of Central by himself, he’s glad when Uncle Jean offers to take him around the city. It is the weekend, after all.

Denki’s up surprisingly early on a Sunday, excited for what the day has in store. His personal guide is already by the door, and he approaches him with a spring in his step.  “Good morning, Uncle Jean! Where are we going first?”

He’s a bit perturbed when the man hands him a large box. It’s heavier than he expects and he staggers backwards from the weight.

The man hoists an identical-looking box into his own arms with no problem, and Denki’s face heats up from embarrassment at his own lack of upper body strength. He’s always been on the skinnier side, but to have a man several years his senior be clearly stronger than him certainly isn’t helping his self-esteem.

“We’ve got to run a quick errand—then we can do whatever you want, kid.” He grins. “Gotta drop these off at the bar. It’s not far from here—just a few blocks.”

“Oh—ok, sure!” Denki responds, groaning inwardly. He hopes he can still feel his arms by the time they make it there.

Their destination is actually closer than he expected. He follows Uncle Jean up the stairs to the back entrance of the building. The door opens up to a well-furnished bedroom, and he watches as he walks to the foot of the bed and sets his box down.

“You can set the box down anywhere, Denki,” he grins. “Thanks for the help!”

“Ok, great!” He can feel the relief in his muscles when the weight in his arms is finally transferred to the ground. Uncle Jean gestures for him to follow him, and walks out through another door that leads out to a walkway overlooking the 1st floor of the bar. He excitedly leans forward on the railing to take a good look at the place. It is quite a sight to behold. He was expecting some run-of-the-mill establishment, but everything from the expensive-looking tablecloths to the chandeliers delicately draped with crystals to the sound of jazzy piano music proves that is not the case. The entirety of Resembool doesn’t have any place even close to this. “Wow! Everything’s so fancy. How did you guys end up with a place like this?”

“It was bought by Fuhrer Mustang awhile back,” the man responds, crossing his arms. “A gift for his foster mother. She’s not as spry as she used to be, and since Becks and I had been helping her run the place already she had us take over for her.”

“By the Fuhrer himself?! Whoa.” Denki marvels at the idea that the man would do something so generous. His own interactions with Fuhrer Mustang hadn’t been very telling, but his father had given him the impression he was a stingy old man who had once demanded he pay back 520 cens.

His eyes suddenly lock on the grand piano from which the jazzy piano music is emanating. More specifically, that there’s actually someone there playing said music. And that the person playing is a girl.

And while the piano’s on the other side of the room and he can only see a profile of her face from his current position, Denki can’t help but think that she’s...kind of cute. And, of course, the music she’s playing sounds magnificent.

“Hey Uncle Jean, who’s that?”

The older man glances at the young woman seated at the piano.

“Oh, her?” He looks back at the boy with a good-natured smirk and a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “She’s the daughter of our bar’s pianist. Girl takes after her mother in talent, but since they don’t have space for a piano in their apartment, your Aunt Becca agreed to let her practice here during the day before opening hours. She's here from time to time.” He gently nudges the boy with his elbow, eyebrows raised. “I think she’s around your age, actually.”

“Huh.”

Uncle Jean starts walking back towards the door to the bedroom. “I’m going to put this stuff away, but why don’t you take a look around? Maybe start a conversation with Miss Jirou, if you’re up to it.”

“Miss Jirou…?” Oh, the girl.

Right.

“Mmhmm. Be cool, be yourself. Meet me by the front when you’re done.”

He nods in response, but the man’s already turned his attention to the boxes. Denki quietly makes his way down the stairs, taking a passing glance at the flower arrangements atop purple tablecloths as he walks around the tables towards the piano. As he draws closer, he notices that her hair, which had looked black from far away, is actually tinged with purple, a stark contrast to her porcelain white skin. It’s decidedly short for a girl, but the asymmetrical slant of her bangs frame her face well. What strikes him the most, though, is how tiny and doll-like the girl looks next to the grand piano she's playing. Uncle Jean had suggested they were around the same age, but he thinks she could pass for a child if she wanted to.

He hovers at the peripheral of her vision and listens intently as her fingers fly across the keys, not wanting to interrupt her current piece.

She glances over and finally notices him standing there and the music ends abruptly. The silence is deafening and Denki grins nervously in response. He hadn’t meant to startle her and isn’t sure what to say now.

Fortunately, she speaks first, and with a surprising amount of calm.

“Uh...what are you doing here?”

His brain starts functioning again after a few seconds and he’s glad words finally make their way out of his mouth. “I’m here with a certain Mr. Jean Havoc,” he says, walking forward to lean on the edge of the piano in what he hopes is a cool pose. “You could say we’re pretty close.”

“Oh.” She nods, a hint of recognition in her voice. Her eyes narrow at him. “Aren’t you a little young to be loitering at an establishment like this?” She takes her hands off the keys and crosses them defiantly across her chest.

He scowls at her. People tend to assume he’s younger than he actually is since he’s...not particularly tall. Much like his father, his height has always been a sore spot for him.

“First of all, this place isn’t even open yet. Second of all, speak for yourself,” he shoots back.

She seems unfazed by his comeback, bringing a hand up to play with the ends of her hair. “How old are you anyway?”

“Almost 18.”

She snorts, and he retorts rather defensively, “How old are you?”

“15.” Her eyes flick up to the top of his head. “What’s with the weird lightning bolt in your hair?”

“Oh, this? It’s stylish, obviously,” he grins back, puffing his chest out proudly as he strokes the streak of black amongst his otherwise golden hair. He's glad she could tell it was a lightning bolt. The symbol had kind of become his signature ever since he had chosen to specialize in lightning alchemy. Aside from that, a lot of his current outfit had been inspired by his Dad when he was around the same age. Denki had admired the all-black attire and more or less mirrored his outfit. With the addition of white lightning bolts. He wasn’t a fan of his father’s trademark red coat, though. Red had never really been his color.

She stares at the streak of hair, blinking incredulously. “...where did you say you were from, again?”

“I...didn’t?” Is his perturbed response, and she gives him a pointed look in return. “Oh. Resembool.”

“Ahhh, I see. Country boy, huh?”

“Excuse you.”

She shrugs. “I didn’t say that was a bad thing.”

"Oh. Uh..."

While he’s a bit surprised by this girl’s demeanor, there’s something about it he finds kind of charming. Of course, he’s quite the charmer himself. His Dad would probably be upset if he told him that hearing about the suave and popular with the ladies Flame-Alchemist-turned-Fuhrer Roy Mustang was what inspired him to go into alchemy in the first place, but that’s at least partially true. Denki clears his throat and attempts to make his voice sound deeper. “So it seems you know a bit about me now, and I hardly know your name. The law of equivalent exchange would dictate that—”

“Ahhh, you’re one of them,” she says, fingers pensively at her chin, seemingly unaffected by his attempt at flirting. Evidently she gets where he’s coming from, but he’s not sure what her disposition towards alchemists is based on that reaction. Still, he’s glad when she extends her hand to him. “I’m Kyouka Jirou.”

He blinks back stupidly before extending his own hand to shake hers. “Denki Elric.”

“Oh!” Her eyes widen as she draws her hand back and gives him another once over. “You’re an Elric? As in, Edward Elric?”

He grins. “Yup! I’m his son! So you’ve heard of me, then?”

“Something like that,” she chuckles, then mumbles under her breath, “More like, that explains why you’re so short.”

“HEY!”

She waves her hands in front of her. “Sorry, sorry, I’ll stop now.” She clears her throat. “Your family is close to Fuhrer Mustang’s, right? I’m good friends with his daughter so I’ve spent quite some time at their place. The name Elric comes up from time to time.”

“Fuhrer’s daughter...you mean Momo?” It’s a stupid question given Fuhrer Mustang only has one child, but it’s too late to take it back now. Luckily, this time she doesn’t respond with a sassy comeback.

“Yeah. You know her?” She asks, genuinely curious.

“Uh, yeah!” It’s been awhile since he’d last seen her but it was almost a given that the Elric family would visit the Fuhrer’s estate anytime they were in Central. He wasn’t sure if he could say he and Momo were friends, but they were on friendly terms, at least. He always tried his best not to make enemies out of anyone he met—his mother had always placed a lot of emphasis on that.

She leans back on the piano bench. “Wow. What a small world.”

They settle into a momentary silence that is just the slightest bit awkward. This time, he’s the one to break it.

“The music you were playing was really beautiful. I just wanted to tell you that.” In retrospect, he should’ve started this whole conversation off with that, but it’s too late to think about that now.

“Oh, uh…” For the first time since they started talking, she actually looks flustered. “Thanks, I guess…”

The look she gives him makes him feel slightly bolder. “May I listen to you play something?”

She swallows. “Well…”

“Whatever you want. Your favorite song or something,” he continues excitedly, then falters when she seems to shrink into herself. “O-or not! you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“No it’s fine, just, uh...” She takes a deep breath and gracefully places her hands upon the keys, rolling her shoulders back. “Act like you’re not there.”

He’s...not really sure how to do that, but resolves to stand as still as possible as she presses down on the first note.

Miss Jirou starts off slowly, hesitantly, and Denki isn’t sure if that’s the nature of the piece she’s playing or her feelings about the current situation seeping into the keys. There is no sheet music in sight and part of him wonders if this is someone else’s work or something she composed herself. The tempo picks up as does the overall tone of the song, and he is once again blown away at how quickly her fingers fly across the keys yet maintains an air of gracefulness.

He gets so lost in the music that he just stands in stunned silence as she plays the last note. She looks up at him expectantly and he tilts his head to the side as he hums in approval. “That was great! Thanks for letting me listen.”

“Thanks for listening,” she says, looking away as her hand comes up to tug at the ends of her hair yet again. He notices the slight dusting of pink on her cheeks and feels heat rush to his own face. Denki looks away. Perhaps now would be a good time to make his exit.

“I have to head out, but uh...you said you spend a lot of time at the Mustang residence, right?” He smiles. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah,” she says, shoulders relaxing. “Yeah, maybe.”

He gives her a funny little half-bow. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Jirou.”

“Likewise,” she responds with a half-smile, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “And for future reference, Kyouka’s fine.”

He nods. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

He gives a final wave. She returns her attention to the piano as he slowly makes his way to the front entrance, mind on the events that had just transpired more than his current destination. Luckily, he doesn’t do anything so stupid as tripping over one of the tables on the way there.

Denki pushes open the door, and is blinded by the brightness of the sun outside. He blinks repeatedly as his eyes adjust, searching for a familiar-looking tuft of dark blonde hair.

“Miss Jirou usually doesn’t play in front of strangers, y’know.”

He turns to find Uncle Jean leaning against the wall, lighter flicked open near the cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth. The man gives him a curious look. “Sounds like it ended on a high note?”

Denki glances back into the bar and makes eye contact with Kyouka who had apparently just finished playing. She looks away, but he catches the smile playing at the edge of her lips, and feels his own face stretch into a grin.

“Yeah.”

[reconditarmonia]

Dear Rule 63 Author

Hi! Thank you for writing for me! I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3. I have anon messaging off, but, er, I can answer any questions you might have about my requests in my mod capacity if you contact the exchange email ;).

Fullmetal Alchemist | Machineries of Empire | Moby Dick | Spinning Silver | Wolf 359

General likes:

– Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

– Loyalty kink! Trust, affectionate or loving use of titles, gestures of loyalty, replacing one’s situational or ethical judgment with someone else’s, risking oneself (physically or otherwise) for someone else, not doing so on their orders. Can be commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms.

– Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

– Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff (possibly while crossdressing).

– Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

– Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

– Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

Smut Likes: clothing, uniforms, sexual tension, breasts, manual sex, cunnilingus, grinding, informal d/s elements, intensity.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex; embarrassment; focus on pregnancy; Christmas/Christian themes; infidelity; unrequested polyamory; focus on unrequested canon or non-canon ships; unrequested trans versions of characters; swapping female characters to male; unequal levels of investment in the relationship (including concerns about same that turn out to be unwarranted), or the idea of a character accepting something they're unhappy with as the most they're going to get.

A note: if we matched on an / ship, I generally don't require you to include a kiss, sex, or overt romantic language if you feel that you'd have to shoehorn it in. I'll trust that you wrote it with shippy intent.

About Rule 63 Exchange specifically: I have no strong preference for character names, with a slight preference for sticking with their canon names; it’s up to you whether you want to justify any resulting names that would be unusual for women or just gloss over it. As far as characters’ personalities and gender expression are concerned, I tend to want to see them as similar to their canon selves, just female. I’m probably fine with unrequested characters also being swapped to female, but feel free to check if you’re not sure. I don't expect, nor particularly want, a big deal made over characters' strong gender identity qua identity as female or whatnot.

It's a little confusing to tell with the AO3 interface, but I've requested General Audiences on everything, and additionally Explicit on FMA, Machineries, and Wolf 359.

—

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist

Ship(s): F!Roy Mustang/Riza Hawkeye

I love Roy and Riza's loyalty kink in canon so very much, so...what if they were lesbians

There are definitely some worldbuilding-y places this could go - the Amestrian military obviously has female soldiers in it, but not as many as male, especially at the higher echelons, apparently, and we don't see any female State Alchemists; does Roy's status as a powerful alchemist also vault her into a position of command and influence that most women, barring Olivier, don't get to? With regard specifically to how their relationship is different worldbuilding-wise, some kind of document or documents (newspaper, history book) or other outsider perspective on President Mustang and her decades-long professional relationship with Riza Hawkeye, so close they even live together/travel together/entertain guests together, neither of them ever married, that sort of thing? Is Roy's obfuscating public image in this AU still about going with a lot of women, or are they men? (butch or otherwise known lesbian Roy is great, but also not necessary)

But I'd be equally happy to see a fic that didn't deal with that, and that was just canon dynamics but more so and with lesbians. I love their trust and competence and stoically hidden but very very intense feelings, the willingness to risk oneself or the other person, or to stake a lot on the other person’s competence (and willingness to hurt or sacrifice the other person because their shared cause says it’s right, too, all the times that comes up), the fighting together in tandem. Is there a dangerous mission (or intelligence-collecting situation) where their deep familiarity/trust/awareness of each other’s presence and fighting style and communication come into play (god, that bit in canon where Hawkeye shoots two guys right over Mustang’s shoulder), or where they worry about each other’s safety? I love the "protect my back" exchange so, so much (I'm particularly interested in fics set during a time when that is already part of their relationship history, rather than fics set in Ishval or shortly after, and I am not really interested in fics set when they were children or young adults at all) and the way that, eventually, ends up playing out with regard to Envy. I love the intimacy of their work relationship and personal history, on levels from casual to very intense, and would love it with sexual tension in how they notice and appreciate each other’s physicality and presence and competence (hands??? muscles?) Pining up to 11, or resolved sexual tension? (I would prefer Riza as dom if you write a d/s take on this.)

Fandom-Specific DNW: framing of the Ishvalan genocide as a bad situation that happened to the Amestrian characters; canon-typical loss of body parts.

—

Fandom: Machineries of Empire

Ship(s): F!Shuos Jedao/Ajewen Cheris; F!Shuos Jedao & Ajewen Cheris

I know sound like a broken record throughout this signup, but I love Cheris and Jedao’s friendship and loyalty kink (“Now and forever, I’m your gun” and the kneeling! aaahhh!) and, you know, what if that, but also Jedao were a hot woman.

I don’t have a lot of specific plot prompts - just a general interest in intense feelings, “codependency” as understood by fandom, loyalty and trust holding up under strain, deferring to someone’s competence or sense of ethics even though you don’t know how it will turn out, making difficult choices, verbal or nonverbal displays of loyalty like the kneeling and swearing and the WHOLE KEL GLOVE THING. I’d be excited to read something set during the Ninefox timeframe when Jedao is in Cheris’s head, but I think I would be most interested in something set post-Glass Cannon when oh my god, they were roommates telepathically bonded, after all the plot events that create that strong Jedao->Cheris loyalty. Jedao’s canonical kinks are *thumbs up* (I’ve requested general audiences fic as well as explicit, so it’s also fine if they don’t come up or if they’re referred to but not, er, acted out onscreen).

Fandom-Specific DNW: I’m aware that there’s a lot of torture and dubcon in canon. I don’t mind if you mention that they exist but I’d like to reiterate that I absolutely do not want any onscreen, or any details of torture even mentioned. DNW (explicitly) male Kujen or Ruo in this AU; if you don’t feel like swapping them to women I would rather they not be mentioned.

—

Fandom: Moby Dick

Ship(s): F!Captain Ahab & None; F!Captain Ahab & F!Pequod Crew; F!Ishmael/F!Queequeg

I'd love to know more about these female sailor(s) and what drives them. A female Ishmael might still decide to sign on to a ship whenever she gets the blues, but it'd be socially fairly different, mightn't it? (Worldbuilding-wise, I'd be more interested in a world where sailing and whaling are still typically male things as in our world, even if you make them a little less exclusively male, than an egalitarian or matriarchal world; something that women might do, without necessarily disguising themselves as men, but a GNC thing to do.) Would her already diverging from the "expected" female path in this regard affect her reception of Queequeg as someone who's an outsider to Nantucket society, and the intimacy she offers? What does she still find outlandish? As for Queequeg herself, is her life a typical female life for her home culture, or not?

As for Ahab - just imagine this fanatic, tragic, vengeful character as a woman - with the willpower not only to do all the things canonical male Ahab does but also in a society where women aren't really supposed to sail or kill or lead! Is she the odd one out in an otherwise male crew, or are there more women in the crew by the time she's captain? Was she already a whaler when she lost the leg or, in this AU, did this drive her to become one?

—

Fandom: Spinning Silver

Ship(s): Miryem Mandelstam/F!Staryk Lord

I love Miryem, and I’m so interested in the ways that making the Staryk Lord a woman would change Miryem’s entry into the Staryk world and the romance that eventually develops between them. Maybe same-sex marriage is common among the Staryk, and that’s one of the customs that are new and unfamiliar to Miryem in this new world. Would this be a Miryem who had never imagined being attracted to a woman before but comes to fall for the Staryk Lady, or one who simply couldn’t have imagined being able to marry one and have that be a normal life? (For values of “normal” that include ice lands and gold magic!) How does the fact of the marriage being same-sex affect Miryem’s initial understanding of it as a business arrangement, or for that matter, affect her understanding of the offer of queenship as a marriage at all? What makes them fall for each other?

Canon Miryem wonders what her role as queen is, thinking that she’d know about managing a household and having children and sewing if she were married to a human lord - is it the same if she has a fairy wife instead of a fairy husband, more so because there’s not even the hope of a gendered complementarian aspect to fall back on, less so because the Staryk Lady is there as an example of what a female monarch in the Staryk lands does? Does Miryem try to be more like her, or to find her own accounting-powers-and-personal-bonds niche?

It’s so important to canon Miryem to have a Jewish wedding with the Staryk Lord - what would that look like here? What happens when she comes back to the human world not only the queen of a magic country, but married to a woman (and in love with her, depending on when you set it)?

—

Fandom: Wolf 359

Ship(s): F!Daniel Jacobi/F!Warren Kepler, F!Daniel Jacobi/F!Warren Kepler/Alana Maxwell

My new fandom this year! The SI-5 trio are my favorites, and I'm absolutely wild about the way they openly value and prioritize and trust each other over everyone else who's nominally on the same side. So much of the Kepler/Jacobi dynamic goes directly to my id almost from their first introduction (of Jacobi as Kepler's "good right hand"!) to Jacobi trusting Kepler with his life and following whatever orders Kepler gives and getting angry about Kepler treating him like one of them, not to mention the weird d/s vibes. But I also love their dynamic with Maxwell, not only Jacobi's devoted friendship for her but also the trust and respect Kepler has for her and vice versa (I love the conversation they have about fixing Hera, and the whole episode where Kepler has Jacobi blow up the door to save Maxwell, at the risk of the whole ship because Maxwell is that valuable and Jacobi is that good, and "maybe you were my friend but the Colonel and Daniel were family"). So...f/f? I'd love to see them on some sort of mission or in the aftermath of some sort of mission where that mutual loyalty, even as fucked-up as it can get, comes into play, with Jacobi, Kepler, and Maxwell deferring to one another's judgment and/or orders, protecting each other or deciding when they can risk each other for the sake of the mission, sorting themselves out after... Or just some d/s-y sex, possessiveness etc. Anything really about how they're the only people to each other.

I suppose I envision Jacobi and Kepler fairly similar to their canon versions presentation-wise, which would make them somewhat gender non-conforming as women - there's possibly something interesting there with whatever flavor of performative masculinity canon Kepler has going on - but honestly I haven't particularly given much thought to how they might be different as women, other than that I would find it hot and enjoy a three-way relationship with Maxwell (if that is what we matched on/what you're interested in - I'd be just as happy with Kepler/Jacobi and Maxwell just a friend) more than I would with their canon versions.

Fandom-Specific DNW: role reversal or "subbing to let go/relax" Kepler

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[natsubeatsrock]

My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Fairy Tail’s Ending

To start with, stop.

I don’t care what you think about the ending. I don’t care what you think about the series. I kind of care why you’re reading this post. (Hi.) Just stop.

Now, do me a favor and take a deep breath.

Before I start to talk about this chapter, I just want to say that this has been a crazy ride. I started Fairy Tail in October of 2014 and I never would have thought that I would be running a blog about Fairy Tail and such a relevant name in this fandom back then. I’ve had tons of fun running this blog for years and if it weren’t for Fairy Tail, I probably wouldn’t be an anime/manga fan. Even though this series is nowhere near perfect and this arc is nowhere near the best, I’m glad that I’m a Fairy Tail fan. And this ending hasn’t changed that for me.

Also, I actually did make a Quick Notes about this chapter. So if there’s something you think I missed in this post, check that one. I also talked about my thoughts on Nalu’s ending in a separate post, which goes exactly how well you’d think a post about it from me would be. This was supposed to come out the same week, but… 

Life.

So, with that out of the way, let’s talk about this chapter.

When I saw that this last chapter was going to be 45 pages, I was pleasantly surprised. Consider that the end of Naruto is simply two normal length chapters that came out at once. Likewise, the last chapters of Bleach and Death Note are about as long as a normal chapter. So seeing that this chapter was going to be that long gave me the hope that more ground will be covered than in those endings. Though. Rave ended with more than 20 pages more than this and, looking back, I’m not a huge fan of some parts of that ending.

Speaking of those series, the last chapter starts with a jump to the future. This is a weird trope for me. My only real issue with the Naruto ending was that it felt like there was a huge disconnect between the Last, which I had just finished, and this chapter. However, the ending of the other series (yes, even Bleach) worked so well for me because we got to see how the world moved on after the events of the previous chapters.

I’m glad that Lucy won an award for her novel. I’m also glad that the popular fan theory that Lucy was writing the events of Fairy Tail out for a story is also proven wrong. I never liked that theory and I’m glad Lucy won by coming up with her own original story.

Even though the main character based off her.

And seeing how the guild is acting at this party makes me realize that Lucy’s friends are jerks to Lucy. I said this before, but I’m shocked that they’re even worried about other people ruining their reputation when they’re so good at making themselves look terrible. I have to believe that Erza and other members of the guild are genuinely concerned about a thief pretending to be a Fairy Tail mage. But hey, she was worried about other people in the guild at her introduction.

And Juvia is still stripping…

You know, I remember when Juvia stripped to join Gray during the anime for a thing she didn’t need to. It was messed up, but it was kind of funny.

Only kind of.

And then Gray and Juvia stripped together in the Avatar arc. Like I thought it was cool back when I shipped Gruvia. But looking back, it’s weird that Juvia developed the same habit Gray formed that after training in fewer clothes to get used to the cold and doing ice magic that even the person who had the idea to do it thought was unnatural…

Because Gruvia is a “good ship”. Like, why else did this need to be a thing? Mashima should have stuck with the water body thing because that’s awesome and only kind of comes back later on in the series.

Anna is in this timeline as a teacher which is kind of cool. I guess, since she wanted to teach the dragon slayers, she gets to teach another group of young kids. Gajeel jokes to Natsu about liking Anna and…

I’m conflicted. 

See, in pretty much any other case, I’d be totally fine shipping Natsu with anyone that people joke about him liking except Lucy. But, aside from not even thinking he actually liked her the way Gajeel meant, I’m not sure I can be comfortable shipping Natsu with anyone when the age difference is much bigger than that of Jerza-

I mean Graytear.

So we learned about the other guilds. Lamia Scale has a thing called Thanksgiving Day and they dragged Wendy into performing with Chelia. I’m actually excited for this to be animated. I hope we get an actual full song from the earlier performance of these two. For those who might be wondering why, Wendy’s Japanese VA, Satomi Sato, has also been in some roles that have involved her singing.

And then there’s Mermaid Heel. (Get used to this phrase. I’ve used it a lot.)

So, out of everything that happened in this chapter, I’m shocked that this didn’t get more people angry. What even is the point of having Mermaid Heel be exclusive models for Sorcerer Weekly? That was never important to them before. Kagura even questions what the point of this was. It’s almost as if Mashima was saying, “Screw anyone who thought I was going to give the only all-girl guild a dignifying ending! This is Fairy Tail!” 

Oh, but it’s okay because not many people cared about them and of course we’re going to have sexy girls in outfits so we can appeal to the target demographic of teen boys and where do I stop?

The other guilds did stuff. Like, I know that a lot of people love people outside the guild and I have my favorites from outside Fairy Tail. But, I don’t have much to say about what we learned about the other guilds.

And then we got a block of ship moments. Oh, the boys.

We started with Gajevy. And, man, I wish I had anything to say about them. I really don’t want to continue the trend of not talking about them. I have a few posts for them in the works, but for now…

I guess they had sex?

And then there’s Gruvia. 

I can’t just leave it there, right? No?

So I’m not actually sure that Gruvia is actually canon.  Yeah, me having a view that seems very different from most of the fandom. Shocking, right? I mean, there’s a lot of noise on both sides and it was a weird scene to include. But I didn’t see that conversation as a “Gruvia definitely is/isn’t canon” moment.

When I saw Gray say that Juvia’s body belongs to him, my mind immediately went to chapter 499, which I’ve had to look at multiple times for a post I’m going to get done on August 30th. When Juvia (somehow) revealed to Gray that she (somehow) used Water Make Magic, she told him that her life belongs to him. So Juvia’s body does belong to him.

Kinda.

So, the questions I think a reader of this should have to answer is whether Gray feels awkward about this because he likes Juvia or because even kind of owning Juvia freaks him out. As you can tell, I’m not really sure how to answer this question. Of course, this doesn’t mention that Gray might also be hesitant in making a statement Juvia may think is either offensive or romantic, as different people in the fandom have been arguing it is.

At any rate, this was the kind of ambiguity I was afraid of. I wanted to voice my fear that we’d get an ambiguous Gruvia ending. However, I was assured by the Gruvia fandom that Gray would definitely give an answer and that that answer would be yes. So, while I disagreed with the latter, I bit my tongue on the issue. It turns out, neither was the case and I was right to be worried.

Elfgreen is probably canon. I don’t think it’s a huge leap of faith to say that. (Yeah, that’s all I got.)

All the popular guy-girl Laxus ships have been de-confirmed in one go. I’m actually impressed that Mashima did that. I said this before, but I find it hilarious that Mashima made sure to empathize Miraxus as a rumor. I feel like the Laxana camp is as huge, but he had to take shots at that other ship. I’m honestly not sure what that means for Fraxus. And to be honest, I don’t really care Laxus ships.

And then there’s Jerza.

Like many people in this fandom, I’m actually shocked by Jerza in this chapter, but for a different reason. I was actually shocked that any time was given to Jerza at all in this chapter. I honestly wasn’t expecting Mashima to address this issue in any way at all. But, oh the boys, did he address it. While I understand the frustration of the Jerza fandom, I actually pretty cool with this ending. I figured he would give Jerza a non-canon ending. 

This kind of situation feels reminiscent of Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye’s relationship from FMA. They’re nothing like each other, material wise. However, in both cases, it looked a lot like they liked each other. However, the series ended without them hooking up. (At least officially.) I figured this kind of thing would happen a long time ago so I’m not surprised by this.

What did surprise me was about 5 pages spent on Mashima’s Zervis AU. Or any time at all spent on any version of Zervis at all post ‘taking Nalu’s One Magic” a while ago. And I kind of liked it. It makes no sense to exist in any way shape or form, but it was kind of cute and I think this is better than real Zervis.

Somewhere in all of this, we learned that Makarov lost the ability to use his legs. Well, something had to happen because of Makarov’s return. I’d actually be disappointed if everything was fine. My big complaint about the Rave Master ending, without spoiling much, a lot of losses and sacrifices made in chapters prior were rewritten. So, in this one aspect, Fairy Tail’s ending is better than Rave Master’s ending.

But, similar to Rave Master’s ending, Chelia can use magic. This is was one of the other big things I was afraid of Mashima doing in the last chapter of the series. To be fair, it’s only to a limited ability, but it’s still pretty annoying. I hinted at this, but I didn’t say it out right because I was in a fight with someone who thought I hadn’t read Rave at the time and I wanted to be petty.

So, Lucy blanked out and wakes up in her house. And, pretty much everything about this scene up until the flashback annoys me.

After 541 chapters and almost a decade of both real world and in-universe time, Natsu still breaks into Lucy’s house. Happy decides to polish Lucy’s newly acquired trophy with his claws. And this is all played for laughs. Like I’m actually supposed to look at this and think that this is funny and not sad.

Keep in mind that people were able to get past this point and still think that Natsu was going to confess romantic feelings. Look, I think that Natsu and Lucy have an amazing bond, but it would be really bad if this was just before a romantic confession. I can understand people who were disappointed with the Jerza ending. If you thought this was going to lead into a Nalu ending, you played yourself.

Luckily, there’s more to be annoyed with. Lucy ends up remembering the embarrassing stuff she did when she was drunk. A while ago, I made a post about being annoyed with the way things were made up. This is a great example of this.

Why did we need this? This isn’t funny and I didn’t learn anything about Lucy. I don’t like these “I’ll never get married over this” jokes in anime unless it’s over something legitimately embarrassing enough to warrant the reaction. She’s not ashamed because she was teachers yelled at her for promoting a club she was dragged into while being forced to wear a sexy red bunny outfit. (You either get this reference or you don’t) She did some stupid stuff in front of two people while she was drunk. (And apparently, she liked one of those people.)

But Natsu uses the joke to segway into a reminder that they can still work together. And Lucy remembers many of the missions they shared together. Considering recent events on my blog, it’s funny how there’s nothing from the Galuna Island, but she remembered being wrapped in towels with Edolas Lucy. At any rate, she thanks Natsu and Happy for changing her life for the better.

It’s times like this that I have to remember that Lucy’s dream was to join Fairy Tail. (A point I had to remind fic writers of.) It’s only because she met Natsu that she was able to. Recently I’ve been rereading the old arcs and it’s crazy to see how much has happened since Lucy has joined Fairy Tail specifically because Lucy has joined Fairy Tail.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: you don’t have Fairy Tail without Lucy and Natsu. They don’t meet, they don’t go on adventures. They don’t go on adventures, the world would probably cease to exist at about the time we would get to Edolas. Remember, Mystogan needed her and Gajeel to help Natsu and Wendy. If Lucy’s not in the guild, Gajeel’s not in the guild. So assuming everything else is the same, which would probably be a stretch, they’re screwed.

Anyway afterward, Natsu takes Lucy on the mission with him saying that the fact that their lives are different doesn’t matter. And yes, I think it’s a jerky thing to have done. Of course, if you thought this was going to be a lead-in to a Nalu confession, I can’t help you. But that doesn’t mean he did a good.

However, I like the reasoning. Natsu isn’t worried about the past. He’s excited for what the future is going to bring them… 

…and the rest of Team Natsu…

On the Century Quest!

This is probably my favorite thing from the chapter. I actually screamed after seeing that they were going on the quest. Forget Nalu, this is probably one of the most Natsu things that Natsu would be excited for.

But I have two big problems with this.

First, if Gray’s conversation really was a confession, does that mean he left Juvia after confessing to her? Even if he told her that he was going on the mission, that’s still a pretty messed up thing to do. By the way, if you think that Gray’s scar comment was bad, this would probably make it worse.

Funny enough, I saw a comment on this. OP questioned whether or not people really believe the Century Quest would actually last 100 years. And my response is…

That’s the other problem: we don’t know how long this quest is supposed to take. Now, chapter 165 tells us that Decade Quests take at least 10 years to beat and so it should stand to reason that Century Quests will take at least 100 years to beat. However, consider everything that we’ve been told about the Spriggan 12 at the beginning of this arc and how free they ended up being. So will this take shorter than expected or will it actually take 100 years?

As a side note, is this the same Century Quest Gildarts failed or is it another Century Quest? It’s referred to as “The 100-Year Quest” and we’ve only known about one Century Quest? And why is it 100-Year Quest here instead of Century Quest? 

The fic writers are going to have a field day with that.

So, overall, what did I think of the chapter? After reading the chapter a few times and thinking about the things that have happened in order to make this post, I feel good about it. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of issues left unresolved. I totally understand (some of) the reasons people don’t like this ending and I absolutely think we could and probably should get more. However, I’m fine with this being the way the series ends. And, as I’ve said before, I’d happily reread this series again.

Now comes the main reason that I want to talk about the ending in this format. Fairy Tail has officially come to an end. I feel as though there is two knee jerk “my series ended” reactions I want to address.

The first is the feelings over everything in the ending.

As I said in an earlier post, nothing is wrong with feeling sad or happy or angry over anything about everything that has happened in this series. Nothing is wrong with expressing or explaining those feelings. That’s fine.

What isn’t fine is getting mad at or blaming people for the things you don’t like about the ending, including and especially Hiro Mashima. What isn’t fine is destroying everything Fairy Tail related you own out of spite.

I’d even say that it’s not okay to feel betrayed by the ending. Mashima doesn’t owe you anything. He doesn’t owe you ships. He doesn’t owe you moments. He doesn’t have to bring characters back. He doesn’t have to kill anyone. About the only thing Mashima had to do for his fans was get the next chapters of the series out on time. Even though those chapters weren’t always necessarily good, that was about all he owed us.

The second one is a desire the series to continue on, either it should continue on as a spin off or just never end. Some of you might want him to get to working on his completely new series right away.

Not so fast.

I get the desire to want to see more of a series or writer you’ve enjoyed for however long you have. I get that you might think the series didn’t have a proper ending. I get that you may have no idea what you’re going to do now that Fairy Tail is over.

That being said, I think Mashima should take a break.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d also love more Fairy Tail, even as I’ve ragged on some of its failings. But this guy’s been writing Fairy Tail for more than a decade. It’s one thing to be an artist whose job depends on how much you’re able to create. Having to create something new in an ongoing series every week is baffling to me as a musical composer. It takes me weeks even months to get works done to a level they can be called finished.

Mashima’s work on Fairy Tail is nowhere near the best thing in the anime/manga world, but I’m not going to accuse him of not working hard. I want this guy to enjoy the break he’s getting for now before he launches head first into his next series. For now, I’d like to see what fans do now that the story is complete(-ish).

Speaking of which, many people might be wondering what I’ll be doing on this blog now that the series is over. I still have things to say about Fairy Tail as a series and I’ll definitely have some things to say about this fandom as the dust settles. I have some posts I’ve been working on specifically to show after the end of the series and, thankfully, I only have to change a few paragraphs because of this ending…

I don’t know that I’m going to start throwing my focus onto any one other series. I’ve said this before but despite any and all problems this series has, Fairy Tail is the only series I feel comfortable running a blog for. I’ve seen other series I think are better and I have things to say about them you might see on my main blog. But I don’t see myself getting so into another series that I could do everything I’ve done with Fairy Tail.

To that point, I do have series I have been reading. To give a sense of the time I’ve been planning this post for, when I started writing this post, I had over 100 chapters of Bleach left to finish. I’m sending this off having finished that series and (as I promised) started reading My Hero Academia. Incidentally, I’ve started writing posts for those series I may post to my main blog as well and I’ve had to pull myself away from reading MHA to finish this post.

I’ve also been reading Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches and, once I’m done, I’ll finally be able to catch up with Twin Star Exorcists (yes, I’ve decided to turn to the dark side). I’ve also started reading  Astra: Lost in Space. I’m not sure this will be the next breakout hit in the manga world, but I’m enjoying where this series is going.

Somewhere along the way, I started reading Yona of the Dawn through the volumes and collecting Bakuman volumes which I will read all at once. And of course, I’ll still be buying the volumes for Rave Master and Fairy Tail until I’ve collected them all. 

To wrap it all up, there is one more question some of my followers may be wondering that I want to address: When will I read One Piece? 

Soon.

At the very least, I want to catch up with the currently running series and get all of that I’ll be following weekly and get/read all of Bakuman before getting into the beast that is One Piece. At the latest, I’ll end up following my Big 3 tradition of starting to read the series at about the time it’s starting to end. And if your fandom causes another stir over ships, I think I’m actually going to go crazy

In Conclusion:

Fairy Tail’s ending was pretty messy, but I’m fairly happy with the ending we got. But even though Fairy Tail ended, I’m still going to have fun talking about it and other things. 

I’m all fired up!!!!

[hawkeyedflame]

tag, i’m it!

RULES: Always post the rules. Answer the questions asked, then write 11 new ones. Tag 11 people to answer your questions, as well as the person who tagged you.

I got tagged for a fullmetally thing by @ladywiltshire​ ~ thanks!!

[readmore because this got really long .-. ]

Do you remember your first time watching or reading Fullmetal Alchemist? What was your first impression? I watched it just this past December (i know, i know) and the second episode made me cry. I proceeded to scream about it to Robyn for the next week and a half. At first I was like “this is kinda weird but it’s cool,” and then by episode 19 I was like “this is the best thing I’ve ever watched and I can’t believe I didn’t listen when my ex tried to make me watch it three years ago.”

Tell us about The Fave™. Do you mean my queen Riza Hawkeye? *deep breath* I...I just...I love her so much. Her strength of character, her commitment to making the world a better place, her realistic attitude, her motherly attitude towards the kids. She’s such a good goddamn person and it physically pains me to know how much blood she has on her hands and how it eats away at her soul. She is so kind and gentle in spite of all the things she’s been through, all the unforeseen and unintended consequences of her choices. Christ, this girl permanently wore one of the most dangerous secrets in the world on her back by the time she was ~16/17. She grew up lonely and estranged from her relatives, had to care for a rapidly deteriorating father, had to find her own path after he died, entrusted her tattoo to Roy in hopes of helping him achieve his dreams (an incredibly serious decision for someone so young), joined the military hoping to make a positive difference, was sent to the front lines of a war by the time she was ~20 to participate in a mass genocide, had to live with the fact that she killed hundreds with her sniper rifle and thousands more indirectly because she gave the deadliest alchemy in the world to a dog of the military. She had to live with all of this pain and suffering that the world forced upon her and she still chose to be by Roy’s side as he made the climb to the top, protecting his back and ensuring that he remained virtuous. She still chose to work every day to make the world a better place. When everything she went through showed her that the world was an ugly, unforgiving place, she chose to make it better instead of laying down and accepting the abuse. I cannot find words to express how much I love and respect Riza Hawkeye. She’s honestly such an inspiring person and if I could have an ounce of the backbone that she possesses, I would feel accomplished.

Do you have a favorite fan work? Fanfics? Comics? Oh god fucking Here Dead We Lie by mebh will haunt me for the rest of my life and probably beyond the grave too. No other work of fiction I’ve read has come close to how badly that fanfic fucked me up. I love anything super angsty, especially with Royai. God I have way too many fics I loved to even begin to list them. I also love literally everything that the artists on here draw.. Everyone is so talented and I am so thankful and inspired. I don’t want to call out specific people because I don’t want anyone I forgot to mention feel bad so suffice to say I LOVE ALL OF THE ART AND FICS.

Hit me with an analysis/opinion you have on the series or characters! Ooh I have one criticism that still irks me! I love volume 15 of the manga, okay? Love it. I wish more than anything that Brotherhood had focused more on Ishval because holy shit that volume made me cry so many times. But Brotherhood did do something I like better than what Arakawa did in the manga, and that’s scattering a few of the scenes from V15 into other episodes of the anime. The scene that really sticks out to me is the one where Riza asks Roy to burn her back. It’s in Volume 15 of the manga but episode 54 of Brotherhood. The reason I prefer Brotherhood’s version is implied audience. Volume 15 is a flashback to Ishval as told by Riza, to Edward. That means that everything we read in that volume is assumed to have also been told to Edward. And I simply cannot believe, not even for a second, that Riza would have told Ed about her tattoo. She may be a realistic and honest person (ex. she told Ed and Al straight up about Shou/Nina Tucker being murdered, while Roy and Armstrong lied about Hughes), but the flame alchemy secret is highly confidential for many reasons, not the least of which it suggests a potential for fraternization. I just really cannot see a situation in which Riza would willingly tell anyone, most especially a volatile teenager, about the array on her back. Brotherhood excised that scene (where she asks Roy to burn her) and transplanted it into episode 54, where there is nobody else around except the viewer to bear witness to that intimate (and frankly, chilling) moment. Placing the scene there, right before That One Big Scene between her and Roy really drives home how deep and complicated their past together is and puts all these emotions fresh in the viewer’s mind, and if you ask me it made That One Big Scene all the more raw and devastatingly powerful.

Tell us about a project you have going on! Or if you don’t have one, maybe something you’ve always wanted to write or draw? Oh god. Well I’m trying to teach myself how to draw and it’s...well it’s stop and go, mostly. As far as writing goes, I have a few one-shots kicking around and I’m now playing with the idea of an AU where Envy impersonated Riza instead of Maria Ross when he murdered Hughes. I don’t know if I can commit to that, but talking with a few friends has really opened up some crazy possibilities. I’d certainly like to write a longfic for FMA but my life is kind of hectic right now.

Favorite opening/ending number and why? My favorite opener is easily Rain (season 5). Even before I knew the English translation, the colors and imagery of it coupled with the singing successfully made me feel unsettled and nervous. SID is an incredibly talented singer and the lyrics, even in Japanese, just give me chills every time. I remember saying to Robyn the first time I saw this opener that the little snippet of Roy spiraling down/Riza hugging Hayate and crying made me feel this overwhelming surge of dread. It’s a very visceral opener and sometimes I watch it on its own because I just like it so much.

Tell me about a scene that really touched you or made you realize something about yourself. One of the scenes that still gets me every time is in episode 5 when Al punches Ed and then grabs him by his shirtfront and gives him that speech: “Survival is the only way, Ed. Live on, learn more about alchemy. You can find a way to get our bodies back and help people like Nina. You can’t do that by dying! I won’t allow you to abandon the possibility of hope and choose a meaningless death!” It chokes me up every single time. I mean there are a bunch of scenes that make me feel things but I’ve talked so much about Roy and Riza that I thought I should give Ed and Al a chance. ;)

OTPs! Who are they? Why are you WEAK FOR THEM?? ROYAI FUCKING RUINED ALL OTHER PAIRINGS FOR ME. I am so weak for how much they love and support one another and god the tragedy of their circumstances. It’s just devastating and it makes me feel so many things. I am so weak. I honest to god don’t have any other OTPs in FMA that I care about as much as Royai. I’m not even joking when I say they r u i n e d other pairings for me.

Funniest headcanon you’ve ever seen. Go! I rarely have the privilege of seeing a lighthearted FMA headcanon but if anyone has some I’d love to hear ‘em!!! 

What spurred you to join the fandom? My friend Maddy finally convinced me to watch the show (she was the fifth person to insist that I needed to see it and I finally caved) and then Robyn found out I had started watching it and asked me to talk to her about it as I watched and I sorta ended up in the fandom through her, which is honestly one of the greatest gifts anyone has ever given me. This fandom is absolutely incredible and I am very happy with the friends I’ve made in my short time here.

Definitely the same question… have a fandom meltdown here and tell me why you love your fandom or show/comic so much! I pretty much had like four meltdowns already in this post so I feel like anything more is like...really extra lmao. Although I noticed I baaarely talked about Roy in this and I just want to make it clear that I love Roy just as much as Riza. It was impossible for me to decide which of them to talk about for question number 2 and I ended up flipping a coin.

I don’t know who to tag because pretty much everyone has already been tagged! But if anyone reading this wants to do it too then feel free to recycle these questions (which are honestly really good ones and I definitely couldn’t come up with any this good) and consider yourself tagged.