#there's not really any sisters in fma

[shanastoryteller]

happy valentine Shana!!! I can't believe i made it finally jgfcjjcgjgx i would love to see some fma (Sacrifice is free/ed&ling betrothed/What They Expect) or more of Lord Arthur De Bois, or time travel Jiang Cheng/drarry, or Avengers' Three Faced Goddess! (can anyone tell I Cannot choose favourites? They're all so gooood) and if none of those sound appealing, dealer's choice! thank you!!

continuation of 1 2 3 4 5

It's sort of awkward, because Eden insists on thick tights and long sleeves and keeps her gloves on, but Catherine takes it in stride and doesn't react with anything more than a single raised eyebrow. Maybe she thinks she has some sort of terrible skin condition on her limbs, or something, because she's perfectly fine with plunging necklines and the lacy bras Catherine shoves at her.

She hasn't worn anything besides a sports bra since she's had breasts. They're not exactly comfortable, but compared to the constant, background ache of the automail it doesn't even make a blip on her radar.

Besides. They make her look like a girl, shoving her breasts up front and center, and their size had been an annoyance when passing for a boy and a comfort when she looked at herself naked in the mirror, searching for the girl she was rather than the boy everyone saw, but this is different.

"Wow," Catherine blinks, tilting her head to the side.

Eden flushes and wishes that at any point she'd learned how to talk to pretty girls outside of life or death situations. "I hadn't realized they - I'm not used to wearing, um, girly stuff."

"You look good in it," she says, touching Ed's back and shifting her to face the mirror.

She's in black tights and boots with a chunky heel, taller than the ones she normally wears and sleeker, stopping just below her knees. She's wearing a dark green dress with a deep neckline. She's used to be hard lines and sharp edges, but she looks soft here, her hips and breasts curving out from her waist and the dress somehow minimizing the breadth of her shoulders, or maybe it's just that with all the skin on display in the center, her shoulders just don't get as much attention. She'd had to build them up, to make the automail balanced, to make sure her body could support it, and she'd always hated how masculine it made her look. But looking at herself now, she wonders if that just wasn't in her head.

Green's never been a color she gravitated towards, but the dark color makes the gold of her hair shine, brings out the warmth of her eyes and the pink of her lips.

"You're really good at this," she tells Catherine, throat tight.

Catherine grins. "You are a beautiful canvas, Eden. It was not difficult." Ed's face burns. "Do you have plans for dinner? We could have it at my home. I am, honestly, dying to curl your hair."

Ed hesitates, because her shade of blonde is rather distinctive, then takes a second look at herself in the mirror. No one is going to think she's the Fullmetal Alchemist looking like this. "Okay, yeah. Sure. That'd be great."

~

Catherine knows that Eden is military at first glance, seeing her elder sister in the way Eden stands and moves. She looks young, but she can't be that young, not when she has the stance of someone who's been enlisted for years.

She figures that Eden is looking for clothes to wear outside of her uniform for the first time and something in her softens at how insistent Eden is on keeping certain parts of her body covered. Her siblings have scars too.

When they get to their home, Eden seems slightly surprised at the grandness of her home, but gets over it quickly, which Catherine almost expected. She hadn't looked at a single price tag as they'd been shopping and had paid for her bags of purchases with a nonchalance that spoke of a familiarity with money, although that leaves Catherine to wonder how she ended up in the military in the first place. She hadn't gotten a last name out of her, but Catherine is familiar with most military families, and she would have heard if any of their daughters had enlisted.

"Your bedroom is so pretty," Eden says, looking around at her pink, frilly room filled with flowers and clothes and gilded in gold with a soft wistfulness.

Catherine loves her. "Thank you. Here, sit at my vanity, let's play."

Eden laughs and pulls her hair out of the hasty ponytail she'd pulled it into, letting Catherine run her hands through it and carefully brush out every knot. It's gorgeous, thick and silky and the most wonderful shade that Catherine's never seen on anyone else.

People always act so oddly with her because of her family, even those similarly situated looking down at her for her choices, to be neither an officer nor married to one, but that's just not what she wants right now. It's nice to hang out with another girl that just treats her like a friend.

"MY BELOVED SISTER HAS RETURNED!" booms from what sounds like the first floor.

She sighs.

Eden goes rigid in her chair, eyes wide. "What - why-"

"It's just my brother," she says soothingly, concerned with how pale Eden has gotten. "He's harmless, really."

"Brother," Eden repeats. "Fuck. Fuck! I'm so stupid-"

"It's okay," she says in alarm, "Eden, what-"

She gets to her feet, grabbing her hands and looking at her a desperation that Catherine doesn't understand. "He can't know I'm here. Who I am. Do you understand? It's important."

She doesn't understand. "Eden-"

There's the sound of heavy footsteps heading their way and Eden wrenches herself away, bolting for the other side of the room. She claps her hands together, then presses them against the wall, and in flash of light she's disappeared.

Catherine stares. mouth agape.

She's familiar with alchemy. The skill has been passed down her family for generations.

Eden didn't use a circle.

"I HEAR YOU HAVE MADE A FRIEND, DEAR SISTER!" Alex shouts, flinging open her door and flexing in the doorway. "I WISH TO MEET YOUR NEW COMPANION!"

She picks up a pillow from her bed and lobs it at him, hitting him right in his stupid curl. "We're having girl time, go away!"

"Ah, girl time!" he says. "A storied tradition that has been passed down the Armstrong family for many generations!" He looks around, seeing her empty room, and his eyebrows dip together.

She grabs a makeup brush, holding it up threateningly. "You know what else has been passed down our family for generations? The art of knocking! Go bother Momma!"

"Where's," he starts.

Catherine throws the brush, pointy end towards his eyes.

He ducks, retreating to the safety of the hallway and closing the door just in time for the brush to hit it.

She takes a deep breath, calming her racing heart and smoothing her hands down her skirt. She crosses the room, knocking against the wall and whispering, "Eden? He's gone."

There's nothing for a moment and then there's light and heat and she's looking at the the inside of her house, pipes and insulation, and Eden standing there in the center of it, eyes blown wide and lips trembling.

Eden, who won't let her look at her limbs and doesn't know how to wear girly things and uses alchemy without circles and recognizes her brother from his voice alone.

"I'm sorry," Eden whispers, arms wrapped around herself, trying to make herself small. "I just wanted-"

Catherine interrupts her, reaching out to place her hand over the arm Eden had been careful not to let her touch and is unsurprised to feel hard, unyielding metal. "The art of secret keeping had been passed down the Armstrong family for generations."

Eden's eyes snap to hers and Catherine smiles, squeezing her arm and hopes that she can feel it. Slowly, wondrously, Eden returns it.

[memesmadefullmetal]

Hope you guys are doing well! Do you guys have any headcanons in particular about any fma and fmab characters?

We have SO MANY (mostly relating to Roy & Riza 😅) but here’s just a couple:

Roy has some Xingese heritage. Maybe Xingese royalty on his mum’s side, and his dad was an Amestrian spy 🤔 We just think there’s a story behind his parents’ deaths, and why his aunt never told him about it or them: was it to keep him safe?

Roy being the only boy in amongst all of Madame Christmas’ girls was treated like the baby brother who his “sisters” used to dress up 😌 Being raised in an all female environment also meant he drank respect women juice every morning 🧃

Either Grumman or Roy abolishes the fraternisation rules. Riza is resistant at first as, especially when Roy becomes leader, she wants to remain as his bodyguard, rather than be his First Lady. She also doesn’t trust / like the new bodyguards assigned to Roy 😶

We’ve thought before about the idea that Riza had some Ishvalan heritage. We think her eyes are a REALLY interesting design choice when you compare her to the other characters. We also think it’s interesting given that Arakawa originally intended for Riza to have darker skin, but set that idea to the side when Scar and other Ishvalans came into the story. We think it’s definitely food for thought 💭

Havoc and Catalina start dating after the events of main canon 😌 They’re perfect for each other: they’re the two people who complain that they’re always single and end up getting together. Plus, she wanted a good man in Central and Jean is one of the best 😉

We have an AU but we suppose you could call it a headcanon where Roy and Maria are siblings but were separated when they were young for the reasons in our first bullet point!

Riza and Havoc were academy besties 😌

Riza worries about Ed and Winry getting married so young: what do you mean you haven’t both spent over a decade egregiously codependent on each other to get to a point where you might just about be ready to acknowledge your feelings for one another?

The whole of Team Mustang absolutely despises the Roystache™️ and conspire to shave it off. Roy feels he needs it to look mature and to be taken seriously in such a high-ranking position 🪒

- Mod Mustang & Mod Hawkeye 🔥🦅

[cobaltperun]

Hi there!

So, I was supposed to be on a break until the end of the month. That is, as you can probably see, over. Things happened and writing is my best escape. I am, however, slowing down the updates, and I'll likely never have the same update speed I did while I was starting Lost.

And in case you didn't see it up in the description.

Main Masterlist

Several things.

Requests will never be closed again and the character list, as well as the requests I'm doing are under 'keep reading' (now also adding upcoming long stories and current works in progress)

I'll keep the list of characters here on this post, but I will be pickier about requests, I do want to mainly write the long stories and add in a request every couple of chapters or so. And I'll only do requests that inspire me.

🔞 next to the character means I will do smut requests as well. However, I only write top reader.

I will do any gender, female, male, gender neutral, trans, anything.

Characters might come and go from the list, but there are some characters that are always going to stay. Those are:

Tara Carpenter (Scream) 🔞

Wednesday Addams (Wednesday)

Natasha Romanoff (MCU) 🔞

Wanda Maximoff (MCU) 🔞

Nami (One Piece) 🔞

Nico Robin (One Piece)

Riza Hawkeye (FMA)

Rin Tohsaka (Fate/Stay Night)

Characters that are currently available:

Mabel (Finestkind)

Korra (Avatar: The Legend of Korra)

Daenerys Targaryen (Game of Thrones)

I will also do platonic requests for

Straw Hats

Most One Piece characters

Most FMA: Brotherhood characters

Most Devil May Cry characters

Most Fate/Stay Night characters

Requests I'm doing

Tara x fem R - playing strip pool (not specified, but I'm guessing smut is acceptable ending to this) 🔞

Tara x male R - smut, Tara gets horny while R is on the phone 🔞

Tara x fem R - set in Scream 6, R gets attacked, angst with happy ending

Sam x fem R (Danny's sister) - R gets attacked.

Wednesday x fem R - enemies to lovers with hellhound R and jealous Xavier

Tara x male R - R, the doctor, helps Tara give birth to their first child. (Sidenote, I'm not getting technical with this, it will get really fluffy though.)

Tara x male R - they are dating, smut happens 🔞

Jerks With Hearts of Gold - first kiss, bed breaking 🔞

Wednesday x R - Opposites attract, though a bit slowly.

Tara x R - They love to hate each other. 🔞 (small smut)

Tara x R - Cute barista crush

Middle sibling Carpenter fem R - things go very wrong very fast

Tara x GP! R - Soft first time smut 🔞

Daenerys x female R - Dany gets a bit jealous when Viserion likes R.

Tara x R - Based on Cop car song

Tara x female R - How deep is your love

Cairo x female R - Poetry reading

Upcoming long stories

Mystery of You - Tara Carpenter x female Reader (She's a mystery, she's more guarded than anyone you've ever met, except maybe her older sister, but you are just drawn to her)

Savin Me - Tara Carpenter x female Reader (A single message changes Tara's life, also probably a sort of a Lost AU)

Endless War - Female Reader (EMIYA inspired powers) x Tara Carpenter (Being a hero was fine, until people you loved became involved)

Unnamed - Vada x female Reader (Vada meets you on the rooftop)

Unnamed - Lorraine x female Reader (Cop Reader comes just in time)

Unnamed - Mabel x female Reader (You and Mabel have secrets, ones you keep even from one another)

Unnamed - Wednesday Addams x Wolverine female Reader (Wednesday ignores Rowan and escapes)

Unnamed - Cairo Sweet x female Reader (A chance meeting starts something neither of you expected)

Leave out all the rest - Natasha Romanoff x female Reader (Starting this again, since I didn't really like where the original was heading)

Works in progress:

Eternal Flame - Jenna Ortega x female Reader

Lost - Tara Carpenter x female Reader

Darkest Part - Astrid Deetz x female Reader

[spidermanifested]

as someone who likes to think hes thought a decent amount about the story of fullmetal alchemist. aka every single day for the past however many years. the thing about the bafflingly prevalent contingent of people who insist that fmas politics are actually very nuanced and leftist is. that i honestly cant figure out what parts of it they even mean?

is it the part where fascism is defeated by war criminal "heroes" who insist that the best way to enact large scale change is to never directly challenge systems, but to infiltrate them and work your way up to the top until you can become the dictator yourself and then tell everyone that actually voting is cool. unless the whole world is about to end, in which case youre allowed to do One coup but then you have to lie to the whole country about what happened and go back to doing incrementalism

is it the part where fascism isnt interrogated realistically as a cultivated product of social unrest, stratification and bigotry, but instead was instituted by a Cosmically Evil Badguy, and all the imperialism and genocide was just kind of a byproduct of that, and if we beat that one guy then everything will eventually be fine

the part where the difference between a Good King and a Bad King is that a good king CARES about his subjects and a bad king DOESNT care >:( but even within the "we need to turn amestris into a democracy!!!" lukewarmly liberal moral framework theres zero discussion of the fact that maybe monarchies are also pretty bad. and the good ending is when the Good King promises to protect the oppressed ethnic minorities in his country but god forbid those minorities actually have any political power themselves

is it the part where the most oppressed ethnic minority in *amestris* is represented by "Religious Terrorist (But Sad)", "Terrorist's Dead Brother", "System-Loving Cop", "Old Lady Who Shows Up Once To Say Not All White People", and "Literally Gandhi. Look At Him Hes Saying A Gandhi Quote"

is it the part where killing people is the worst thing you can do, but if you do mass murder to civilians on behalf of a government but feel really bad the whole time you can still be a good guy, but if you do any amount of killing for any other reason or while feeling an emotion other than sadness youre a borderline-irredeemable monster, unless youre barry the chopper in which case it was funny so its okay (< the only part here thats true)

is it the part where the main character gains the respect of a member of the aforementioned ethnic minority by being racist to him. the part where a black girl has to get scolded by a white girl to realize that stealing is wrong. the part where the only major character to refuse to take part in a genocide is constantly called a coward for doing so by his epic girlboss hypernationalist sister and this is never really challenged. the part where the Sad Religious Terrorist gets guilt tripped so hard about killing 2 people while he was having the worlds most understandable panic attack that he decides hes fine working together with the guys who killed his family, because the System Loving Cop is so heroic, for wanting to do incrementalism, which again, is inherently moral

like the more i think about it the less i get it. this is the most milquetoast "bad things are bad and good things are good" status quo loving political narrative for 15 year olds on earth. where is the super relevant social commentary. because it feels like its just incredibly surface level "the bad guy is like hitler so the author is antifascist and based!!!" 2014 harry potter fandom type nonsense and its REALLY weird that it always comes from people insisting that theyre just that much better at media analysis than all the haters?? and that any criticism must be missing the point. what point. what is the point

[griseldabanks]

For Let Me Count the Ways, 15 for any two characters, of which at least one has not yet appeared in the Foster Family AU, please?

Let Me Count the Ways ask game

Fandom: FMA Characters: Riza and Rebecca Catalina Prompt: "What? I meant it as a compliment."

“So?” Rebecca said, pulling her yogurt and fruit parfait closer and digging in. “How's it feel to know you'll be a mom soon?”

Riza focused on pouring the little cup of creamer into her coffee, watching the white swirl through the rich brown. “I don't. Feel like one, I mean.”

“Mmm.” Rebecca swallowed her mouthful of yogurt, gesturing with her spoon. “My sister said the same thing when she had her first. But hey, at least you don't have to go through all the trouble of actually giving birth, right? My sister was in labor for, like, two days.” She shuddered. “I mean, yeah, kids would be nice, but....”

Riza watched the steam swirling up from the surface of her coffee. “Sometimes I can't help but feel...that maybe we've made a mistake.”

Rebecca cocked her head to one side. “How so?”

Swallowing hard, Riza turned her head to look out the window, watching people passing by. Couples walking arm-in-arm, people rushing along on their way somewhere important...a mother walking hand-in-hand with a little girl skipping along the sidewalk, chattering away excitedly about something and gesturing with her free hand.

“They know everything about having a mother...and I don't have the faintest idea. I'm sure I...what if I...they've already been through so much....” She let out a nervous breath, trying to speak past the growing lump in her throat. “If I'm not everything they need...I'll only be making it worse. For everyone.”

“And what makes you think you're not exactly what they need?”

Riza blinked at the unexpectedly soft look in her best friend's eyes. “What?”

Rebecca winked. “Maybe what a couple of unconventional boys need is an unconventional mother.”

Shooting her an unimpressed look, Riza finally took a sip of her coffee. “And here I thought you might actually give me some encouragement.”

“Hey, I meant it as a compliment!”

“Really? Because here I thought you were just calling us all strange.”

With a shrug, Rebecca scooped up the maraschino cherry on top of her parfait and plopped it onto Riza's saucer, like she always did. “Strange doesn't have to be bad.”

Popping the cherry into her mouth, Riza savored its sweetness as she deftly tied the stem into a knot with her tongue, then stuck her tongue out at Rebecca, stem and all.

Rebecca simply took a dignified bite of her parfait.

“Still,” Riza murmured after a moment, as if there had been no interruption in her musings, “this is the situation we face, and I suppose we'll all just have to try our hardest to make the best of things.”

“So, have you met them yet?”

A smile found its way to Riza's face as she nodded, thinking back over the day when they'd all sat down in Mrs. Rockbell's kitchen to discuss the matter. “Edward is so grown-up already. He's just twelve, but he's taken on the responsibility of raising his brother. I think he's of the opinion that they don't need foster parents at all.

“Alphonse is a dear,” she added, remembering the boy's shy smile across the table at her. “He doesn't talk, but he's very kind. And Edward always seems to know what he wants to say. I can tell Alphonse looks up to his brother a lot. I'm glad they get along so well.”

“And Roy?” Rebecca asked.

“What about Roy?”

“Will he get along with the boys? I mean, we already know you're going to rock at being a mom, but....”

Riza took a sip of coffee, wishing she felt as confident about it. “It's going to take a while to adjust, I'm sure. Originally, we were both thinking it would be a baby....”

Rebecca made a sympathetic sound. Their eyes met, and a whole conversation they didn't need to have again passed by in a moment of silence. After letting that silence settle between them, Rebecca lifted the mood with a deftness Riza always envied. “Still, I bet he was relieved that he won't be changing any diapers.”

“Don't tell anyone, but I'm a little relieved myself,” Riza laughed.

“But Roy,” Rebecca reminded her. “Did he hit it off with the boys?”

Riza couldn't suppress a small smile. “If by 'hit it off' you mean he started bickering like he was twelve himself....”

Rebecca gaped at her. “He didn't! What was he trying to do, sabotage everything you've been working for all this time?”

But Riza was still smiling, thinking back to the way Edward had gone from slouching, unimpressed, in his chair to yelling at the top of his lungs and challenging Roy to a Super Smash Bros. match to settle their differences. She remembered the way Alphonse had smiled for the first time, his eyes dancing with glee as he watched them, even as he half-heartedly tugged on Edward's sleeve in a vain attempt at restraining him.

“I don't know what Roy was thinking,” Riza said fondly. “But I think that's what sealed the deal. I think what those boys really wanted to know was whether we could handle what they're really like.”

Rebecca returned to her parfait with a shake of her head. “Yep. You're all perfect for each other.”

[a-iya]

Hiii ＼(ﾟ∀ﾟ)／

Sooo what do you think about the Haikyuu! Movie without knowing anime? 😀

(I'm sending this ask to discuss our impressions in the comments (and recommend this series a bit haha)

Have a nice day ♡

hiiii!! i didn't realize this was going to become a full-on essay so 💀 apologies in advance for the long-windedness. i don't blame you if you don't feel like reading all the way through lmao (there is a tl;dr at the end if that's the case)

my sister actually got into haikyuu after S1 (pretty much a decade ago at this point 😭) so i've at least known about it and understood the gist of it for a while now. i myself didn't get into anime until a few years ago though! so i've been slowly building up my watch catalog. normally i like funny animes so haikyuu definitely fits the criteria, but due to the fact that 1) it's a sports anime 2) i have very little interest in sports and 3) there would be a LOT of episodes to catch up on, it's just been sitting in my to-watch list for years lmaooo

as i started to follow more people on tumblr, i also started to see more haikyuu content, so i recognized some characters just by their appearance (hinata [obviously], but also kenma, kageyama, and atsumu miya [the guy with the undercut, who i don't remember seeing in the movie]). but anyway, my sister had been saying she wanted to watch the movie once it came out. and over the weekend, i happened to see a lot of people posting about going to watch the movie so i told her we should go! and so we did!

the movie was so hilarious and i thoroughly enjoyed watching!! the rivalry between the 2 teams was sooo funny. i knew i was going to like the movie, but it did end up being a little bit fast-paced for me cause i basically dived in with like. 0.4 background,,,, like ya girl was strUGgLinG trying to keep up. but that's no one's fault but my own 😔 i was kind of hoping it'd be like the demon slayer mugen train movie (which is actually what got me into anime! but that's besides the point). where the premise would be simple enough that you wouldn't need that much context before watching. i knew the movie would basically be just one really long volleyball game so i figured it would be fine... alas, i was wrong 😭 i don't know the rules of the game or any of the characters/their positions so it was all i could do to just watch and try to understand everything as it was happening ;-;

another thing i wanna mention is that now that i've long since graduated from my "beginner weeb" phase and become a full-on weeb, i'm familiar with a lot of voices and voice actors so it's difficult for me to see new characters and their voice actors (that i already know from somewhere else) as one entity 🤔 i'm not sure if that makes a lot of sense ><

for example: the whole time we were watching the movie, i felt like kenma sounded a lot like yuki kaji (who voices shoto [mha] and eren [aot])?? but also didn't at the same time. it was bothering me the whole 2 hours but i looked it up after it was over and i was right 😩

i also immediately recognized kuro as gojo [jjk]/hawks [mha]/greed [fma]; so kuro wasn't even kuro to me, he was just a volleyball au gojo with a completely different look 😭 i feel like that kind of gets in the way of my viewing experience personally, because i couldn't pause and think about where i know this voice from (like i usually do when i start a new anime). but it bOThERs mE because it's like on the tip of my tongue and my mind caNnOT rEST until i confirm my suspicions 😩

anyway, going in, the only people i knew about were like. hinata and kageyama... and it was surface-level knowledge at best. but i've seen kenma around enough where i recognized his character design so i thought i might like him. and he ended up being super cute!! i loved him, but i also really loved kuro (he is very handsome 🥰) and the tall glasses guy from karasuno. he was funny as fuck. but i'm definitely interested in watching the show to see what other lovable goofs the story has to offer. i'm always on the hunt for more blorbos

tl;dr basically i loved the movie, i thought it was really funny; now i have to actually watch the show so i can really enjoy the experience the movie had to offer. the production was honestly great. my sister wants me to get caught up so we can watch it again while it's still in theaters lmao. we'll have to see about that... the first 2 seasons are 25 eps each and then there are at least a few more seasons (even if they are less eps) after that 💀 when i got into mha last year, i was able to blast through 6 seasons within a week,,, but that costed me 3 full days worth of binge-watching and several work nights to catch up 😩 idk if i can do that again

thank you for the ask and interacting with me 🥺🫶 i know your day just started so i hope it goes well!! have a nice rest of the week also <3

[lantur]

updates,

I haven't updated in a while!

Megan Thee Stallion concert on Tuesday night was incredible. She's a great performer and dancer. My favorite moment of the whole night was singing along to Savage as the closer - the song I played on repeat in winter 2020 while writing my royai fanfics ❤️ that song has a really special place in my heart because it was one of my first two Meg songs and I'm SO happy I got to enjoy it live!

Work this week was much better than work last week. I made progress on two projects I enjoy!

Things have been going really well at the gym. 4-mile runs feel easy, and I've upped my pace. I've gone up on all my lower body lifts too. Getting serious about strength training and building muscle for functional fitness purposes is absolutely the best thing I've done for myself physically, and the mental benefits are so real. There are so many times I wake up feeling off and my mind is totally cleared and my mood is so much better after the gym.

I finished reading the Dungeon Meshi manga this week, and I'm obsessed. I like it even more than FMA, and that's saying something! I'm also watching the anime with David. I can't get enough of Laios's party and all the characters and that whole dungeon.

I'm all caught up with season three of Abbott Elementary and I can't wait for the season three finale next week 👀

Book stuff has been exciting! My mother-in-law and my cousin-in-law both finished the novel and they were so kind and posted it on their IG pages. ❤️ I'm so happy they enjoyed it. Getting feedback has sparked so much joy. I'm also up to 44 paperback copies sold, which is so incredible. I never expected that. I won't have any idea about my April ebook sales until the first week of June unfortunately, thanks to IngramSpark's ebook sales reporting structure.

I enjoyed celebrating Mother's Day with my mother-in-law last weekend and emailing the moms in my work department, my friends' moms, and my sisters-in-law to wish them a happy day. I used to have such complicated and negative feelings about Mother's Day because of my own family issues, but I've really come around to seeing Mother's Day as a way of celebrating the people who do (and have done) the amazing and difficult work of raising the next generation (and our current generation). I perceive the holiday now as not just about my mom on an individual level of "celebrating my mom for Mother's Day", but about recognizing mothers on a societal level and I really appreciate that.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Volume 9 Trailer

Hello, everyone!

There’s no real need for introductions anymore, so let me dive right in by saying it bluntly: I don’t think this is a good trailer. Not just when it comes to the story we’re getting, but also in regards to the construction of the trailer itself. It tells us incredibly little while merely looking like a complex, exciting adventure.

Let’s start, as always, with our opening shot.

We saw the whole of this Wonderland in our teaser, but this time the map is accompanied by Weiss narrating all that’s happened to them since they were separated. This tells the audience that a) the girls reuniting will not be a focal point of the Volume’s conflict and b) the journey is highlighted by its comedy rather than its hardships. We learn that Ruby has befriended a talking mouse, Weiss and Blake dealt with killer vines (and were rescued by an army of more talking mice, so presumably Ruby finds them?), and Yang had her arm stolen by a purple raccoon carrying a wagon full of trash.

Do I really need to point out how misguided the tone is here?

Let’s recap: the group just fought their oldest enemy to the ‘death’ and lost, horrifically. Ruby watched her sister fall into a void and Blake had an actual reaction to that presumed demise. Weiss knows that Penny is Really Dead, having been there when Jaune killed her, and last any of them saw Cinder was waltzing off with two of the relics. They may not know that their portals opened into the hostile desert, but the questions of, “Did we succeed? Are the people safe? Where is Salem now? Where is Jaune? Did he make it?” should be haunting them. I literally don’t care if each girl gets a mini-moment of thinking Sad Thoughts pre-reunion---insert Weiss’ wet eyes here

---because the stakes of the story are now so high they simply can’t go back to that lighthearted ‘Look at all these wacky hi-jinks🤪’ tone. These four girls know they just destroyed a kingdom, they know Salem is out there taking out more of Remnant, they know they’re lost in a strange and hostile world, one of them knows a friend was just killed by a teammate... and the best we can do is a deadpan, “Yes. That.” when they come back together? 

The problem doesn’t solely lie in the girls’ comedic attitudes, but in the writers deciding that the follow-up to Volume 8 should be comedic situations. Imagine if post-Volume 3 the girls immediately had some Wacky Adventures following their school’s destruction, Penny’s death, Yang’s lost arm. Imagine how badly that would have come across... and know that we are getting that kind of contrast six Volumes later.

All this aside, the situations themselves look far from engaging to me. Unless there’s some magic at work, you’re telling me Weiss and Blake can’t break away from some vines, even without their weapons? The girls who frequently put craters in the earth with their aura? The teammate who can create a copy of herself to get out of a (literal) bind? And no, we don’t know the whole context, but this isn’t presented as a high stakes situation... which, again, is the point. We’re supposed to laugh at these quirky problems, not grapple with the avalanche of emotions Volume 8 introduced and now seems inclined to ignore.

Don’t even get me started on Yang having her arm stolen. I’ll head off any push-back by saying that no, the problem is not in having her lose the arm, or even having someone else take it. I’ve been saying for years that RWBY should have taken a FMA approach (or, you know, followed their own in-world rules when they introduced Maria’s eyes as being in need of frequent repair) and introduced the obstacle of Yang’s arm breaking down in the middle of fights, reacting badly to the cold, in need of specific parts she can no longer get once she makes an enemy of Atlas’ general, etc. Other characters can also display ableism as a form of commentary, so having someone else take Yang’s arm---especially a non-human somebody that has presumably never seen a person before and is ignorant of their needs---could be really compelling. All that’s okay.

The problem is we’re treating this as a joke.

The takeaway is not that Yang losing her arm is a deeply uncomfortable experience for her that highlights her struggles as a disabled person and may well have put her in legitimate danger, considering she doesn’t know how to fight one-handed. The takeaway is ‘Lol her arm was taken by a raccoon! A purple raccoon! And put with the trash! Everyone laugh at the idea of someone’s assistive device getting stolen and discarded like that! You know what makes for a cool flash-back gag? Having Yang play tug-of-war with her arm. That’ll get the audience laughing after the horrors of Volume 8!’

In another show I’d be more forgiving and say only that they need to make use of sensitivity readers. But after Volume 8 turned our most physically disabled character into the villain, killed off the android after making her human without her consent, and plain forgot about the blind fighter? I’m not feeling charitable towards stolen arm jokes.

The fact that the raccoon looks like an auctioneer type with the ‘trash’ being things he’s collected to sell may add another layer to this mess.

After Weiss’ voice-over we learn that the girls are trying to reach the tree because they think it may help them get home. This is what I mean about the trailer being badly constructed because that’s all we know about the central quest. It’s staggeringly simple and the journey there is riddled with just a few scenes (and numerous side characters we’ll leave behind) getting broken up into small, re-arranged chunks to make it look like more content than it actually is. We have Blake dealing with the killer vines---trapped, reaching for her weapon, pushing through them at the start---which is something we know happens very early in the volume, likely the first half of the first episode:

Yang standing atop that bridge and perhaps coming across Neo in the mountains:

Ruby finding the pile of leaves, with the creature emerging later in the trailer:

And we see the majority of the encounter with this queen-like character. Ruby is playing fantasy chess with her teammates as the pieces, they battle, get thrown off the board, and then the queen is defeated. As I’ve done below, we can rearrange the quick shots to see the structure of many interactions, all of it spliced up to fill the trailer with a ‘variety’ of content.

Given that I just watched the show + given the obvious Alice allusions, I’m tempted to compare all this to Alice in Borderland’s trailer, a text which actually hints at a lot of the conflict while giving very little away, actively encouraging the viewer to come back after they’ve watched the show because many shots mislead you... but I don’t have time for that tonight lol. The point is: others do it better.

Moving on, we see this version of the Cheshire cat who hurts my eyes, continuing the misguided tone, is introduced to us via a butt joke. I mean seriously, imagine something like this back in Volume 3 and early Volume 4. Picture Qrow coming in to talk to Ruby about her rare silver eyes and the destruction of her school... and leading with some fart pun. It’s so juvenile and while there’s nothing wrong with juvenile on its own, following what we got in Volume 8? It simply doesn’t mesh.

This cat---who can apparently move pieces of himself independently---says,“You do not go to the tree, the tree goes to you, unless of course you’re me… you see” and an unamused shot of Blake and Yang shows that no, they don’t see and they probably don’t care. Really, I haven’t been a fan of the girls’ attitude for several Volumes now, but I’m with them on this one. I wouldn’t be in the mood for riddles after everything they’ve been through either.

Beyond the tree and a few stretched out interactions, the trailer gives us only a bit of internal struggle by having a woman (that knight?) proclaim, “You were never the hero” and asking Ruby if she wouldn’t like to shed her identity like an old coat. Now, on the surface I really like this. From the shot of Ruby facing her old self

to the implication that this Wonderland might capture people by offering them the chance to shed their previous lives---has Jaune fallen victim to this after killing Penny?---it’s a compelling setup to finally, finally give Ruby some emotional growth. And it could be great! The only reason I hesitate to applaud it early is because such setups usually herald the revelation that the protagonist is the hero. Rarely do we end on the idea that they could become a hero if they put significant effort in moving forward (again, Alice in Borderland...) and never, to my knowledge, does the story say, ‘Yeah you DO suck and that’s where we’re leaving things.’ 99.9% of the time a ‘Am I a hero?’ question is answered with an emphatic ‘YES!’ by teammates, friends, family, saved victims, the narrative itself bestowing a power or a relic or anything else that only the Chosen One can wield. Coupled with the fact that it’s likely our antagonist delivering these lines, there’s very little chance that Ruby is going to come out of this experience with the drive to radically change her behavior. Because this trope AND the show’s history is firmly on the side of proving the heroes’ doubts wrong. This Volume will likely work as a reassurance. Like Yang confronting Ren out in the snow, Volume 9 will tell us that Ruby did the right thing, actually, and don’t you feel sorry for her, doubting herself needlessly like that?

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m not invested in a story that’s going to push that perspective even harder than it has in the past, not when the heroes HAVE made horrendous mistakes and the show continually wants us to ignore that. 

What else? Much of the dialogue feels stilted to me, particularly Weiss’ “Let’s try to be more logical, shall we?” There’s no mention of Volume 8’s tragedy except for 1. them trying to get home and 2. a brief shot of Penny, again making me worry that grappling with the biggest defeat of the series is going to take a backseat to Wonderland’s silly, distracting nonsense. I question why Blake thinks they’re in a fairy tale when nothing seen here reflects the in-world stories Remnant has, so are we going to end up with another Volume that simply tells the audience how we should be interpreting things, rather than doing the work to show us? The animators have clearly put a LOT of work into the backgrounds, but I’m personally just not jiving with their look. I can’t even articulate yet why I dislike many of them... the color palettes feel off, there’s this odd mix of chaos and order like they couldn’t decide which to go with... I like the thematic implication of the girls not fitting the art style of the world anymore, but actually watching that give me a headache. My preferences aside, no one is going to be watching this Volume unless they pay Crunchyroll for the access, or wait a whole year. If that was RT’s attempt to nudge more people into paying, they’ve failed spectacularly. Anyone not already eager to get First access to RWBY (which, of course, isn’t First anymore) isn’t going to shell out another subscription when faced with such a wait time. They’re just going to pirate it, the exact thing RT is begging fans not to do. That, or they’ll drop RWBY entirely.

Honestly, I’m struggling to name things I like about this trailer--and this situation in general. I admit freely that in a show with less drama going on, I’d likely be more forgiving of the nitpicks and optimistic about the ambiguous stuff, but here everything the Volume 9 trailer has given us feels like it’s reinforcing the franchise’s problems. They don’t have a coherent story to tell. They don’t know what tone they’re going for. They’re not stable and outright admit that, pleading with fans to keep them afloat. All of this is arriving years late as more horrific stories about the employees’ treatment continues to surface. RWBY needed a stellar trailer to capture the imagination of everyone who’s not a devoted, with-you-until-the-very-end-no-matter-what-you-produce fan and, frankly, I think they failed to deliver.

The last thing I want to say about our trailer is that it perfectly highlights RT’s tendency to repeat tropes from more popular media without understanding why those writing choices worked in the first place. Alice in Wonderland is not a ridiculous, nonsensical acid trip meant to show how ~crazy~ the world is. It’s a commentary on what it’s like to be a little girl navigating an adult world. Everything Alice goes through is an exaggerated, metaphorically-laden version of real life: here’s a rule, here’s a different rule, these two rules contradict, someone’s mad at you, you don’t know why, you’re trying, it’s not good enough, here’s a new rule, it still doesn’t make sense, you want to cry, you want to scream, you want to go home to your cat, your body is so small in this massive world and then it’s suddenly it’s too big and then you’re small again and your tears will surely drown you and through it all the adults are telling you to do better and you don’t know how.

Take, for example, Alice and the Cheshire Cat:

“Please would you tell me,” said Alice, a little timidly, for she was not quite sure whether it was good manners for her to speak first, “why your cat grins like that?”

“It’s a Cheshire cat,” said the Duchess, “and that’s why. Pig!”

She said the last word with such sudden violence that Alice quite jumped; but she saw in another moment that it was addressed to the baby, and not to her, so she took courage, and went on again:—

“I didn’t know that Cheshire cats always grinned; in fact, I didn’t know that cats could grin.”

“They all can,” said the Duchess; “and most of ’em do.”

“I don’t know of any that do,” Alice said very politely, feeling quite pleased to have got into a conversation.

“You don’t know much,” said the Duchess; “and that’s a fact.”

Alice did not at all like the tone of this remark, and thought it would be as well to introduce some other subject of conversation.

Alice is timid because she’s speaking to an Important Adult and she knows how easy it is to mess that up. Is she even allowed to speak first? She has a good, genuine question, but is dismissed with an indifferent “they all can” and the non-explanation of “and that’s why.” She’s startled by the sudden violence, scared, and then relieved when it’s not directed at her, though it easily could have been. Through it all Alice stays polite and is thrilled that she’s managing a real conversation... until suddenly a cold tone and an insult tears her down and she tries again to navigate an ever-changing, confusing, intimidating world. Alice in Wonderland is not nonsense for the sake of nonsense. It’s a commentary on how we treat our children.

What is RWBY commenting on?

[ask-the-noahs-ark-circus-crew]

Dunno if you did this already, but family headcannons for the circus troupe: How would they treat their kids? Spouse? Would they all still keep in touch?

I honestly don’t know if I’ve done this or not, but hey I’ll just do it again anyway! An updated version, even!

Just like they say in those Fast and Furious movies: “there’s nothing stronger than family”. While each of the members may be out living their own lives and taking care of their own families, they’d all still be close as hell no matter what - it’d be like all of their kids are brothers and sisters! And with their respective spouses they see no differences between having their own biological kids or adopting kids - they see all kids as their own no matter what!

Dagger would absolutely treat his spouse like royalty and would absolutely fawn over them, reminding everyone “HEY I’M IN LOVE WITH THIS PERSON! He would love doing everything from menial everyday tasks to super time-consuming projects with his partner, this man is Golden Retriever energy personified! Absolutely would be the type of man to not be embarrassed if his partner gave him a big kiss on the cheek and left a kiss stain, nor would he be embarrassed about having some lipstick from his partner transfer onto his own - he works at a circus after all, he already wears makeup! You know Maes Hughes from FMA? Dagger would RIVAL that man when it comes to loving his children: shoves pictures of his kids in people’s faces, blathering on about how they’re growing up so much and so fast, and will proudly display any of his kids’ artworks! Overall A++ husband and father!

Joker is, comparatively, a little more toned down than Dagger when it comes to his declarations of love for his partner. He prefers a more quiet and intimate environment, but absolutely loves PDA and giving them flowers out in public just to see their cute reaction. Mans would be head-over-heels in love with his spouse. He would be worried about becoming someone like Father, but once he held his child for the first time all of those fears vanished as he realized there was nothing he wouldn’t do for them. If his kid did his hair and makeup, he’d happily go about his day with a silly hairstyle and lipstick painted over his eyes. Joker would wanna be there for all of his kids’ big moments: learning to walk, saying their first word, all of it! Basically would be Bandit from the show Bluey lmao.

Snake is another one who shows his love and affection behind closed doors, just because he’s super anxious in general. But he’s slowly getting better at opening up to PDA with his spouse, and especially if their kid wants to hold his hand as they walk or something. He adores his kids and partner and really enjoys all of the domestic sides of being a parent: cleaning, cooking, looking after the kids - basically is the perfect house-husband/male wife.

Jumbo is and absolute dad. That’s all my brain can think of when I see Jumbo. He can do the hair, the little outfits, the bow in the hair! Not saying that he wouldn’t love his kid no matter their gender, I’M saying this for ME lol. It always makes his spouse laugh to see him wearing makeup, sitting on the ground and still being too tall for the little tea-table, wearing a little tiara and maybe a dress or something while also holding a too-small tea cup and pretending to drink tea with his daughter. Also is another one who would be the best house-husband and is very much a mother-hen to his partner and kids whether anyone is sick or injured or perfectly healthy.

Peter would 100% pull goofy pranks on his kid, or would encourage if their kid said something like “fuck!” when they mean to say “truck” (Peter: Ooo, what’s that over there? Peter’s Kid: A Fire Fuck!) Beast almost lost her damn mind when she heard his kid drop an f-bomb so casually. While he plays harmless pranks on his kids he would never go overboard with them or traumatize them, just silly pranks that gets laughs from everyone involved. He also absolutely would fight for his kids and his spouse, literally would throw hands or stab for them.

Also: y’all know that tiktok of the older brother playing dolls with his younger sister? And the kid goes “use your girl voice 😠” and the older brother goes “how you doin’? ✨💅🏻”, then gets mad at the person recording? That’s Peter and maybe Dagger/Wendy coded lmfao.

Wendy is a mother who loves wearing matching outfits with her kids. She never thought that she would even like kids, but once she had them she absolutely fell in love with the kiddo! She loves doing all sorts of fun little activities with her kids and tries to get with everyone else together for big get-togethers. She never thought that she could be in love with someone like her spouse and their kids, and yet here she is, happier than she has ever been.

I mentioned the show Bluey before, so I imagine Doll would be much more like a Chili kind of mom: super silly and generally chill. Not a traditional mom. She’s not super great at cooking and cleaning, but she takes care of her kids and her spouse.

Beast would probably be the most strict parent out of everyone but that’s only because she was basically everyone’s ‘big sister’. Very much “I’ve only had this baby for five minutes but if anything were to happen to them I will kill everyone in this room and then myself”. Having a baby would make her fall more in love with her spouse: this is something they made together, or a decision that they made together (in the instance that they adopt) and she couldn’t be more happy or content. Very type-A when it comes to cleaning and has a fairly strict feeding schedule for her baby.

[patron-saints]

tell me more about Antoinette. what is her favorite color. does she have any siblings. gow quickly did she fall in love with miles. thank u love her

what does Olivier think about Antoinette both as an individual and as Mrs miles and NOT as a soldier don't be boring

fma oc hours….. i love her too.

antoinette is a mechanical engineer who grew up in north city. she's 29, her and miles have two kids, and she's just as much of a briggsman as he is. she has a sister in north city who watches their kids a lot, but they do also visit and spend time with them there and it's not unheard of for the whole miles family to be at briggs together, on occasion. it’s not like a “oh they’re too busy for their kids” thing it’s more like a communal family raising thing. cuz antoinette and miles take care of her sister’s kids too.

oh. lol just saw the second question! yes she has two older sisters, she's the baby of her family. she was always the tinkerer even as a kid, playing with any spare scarp of technology she could get her hands on, much to the annoyance of her parents and her sisters, but it paid off, and she's one of the highest ranking engineers at briggs now. when an engineer is talking about miles, they mean antoinette.

her favorite color is orange, but red is a very close second.

i think we talked about her and miles meeting because they were assigned to the same chore rotation, and then continuing to run into each other randomly for a while after that, and i also think i said something to you about her asking him out first. which i maintain. i think she fell in love with him like… like that old cliche of like, slowly and then all at once? i think she actually may have had her kids younger and miles is their step-dad, and so i think like. i think she was really cautious about getting too attached to him at first, even though she approached him and liked him, i think there was a part of her waiting to see how he was with her kids. and he was. fantastic. and then it was just. immediately. i think they got married after dating/being partnered for three years, so they've been married for two when ed meets miles.

(additionally. the kids probably saw buccaneer as a very fun and cool uncle and he probably spoiled them and played insane dangerous SEEMING games with them but always made sure to keep them safe)

(there's a world where he lives and where they get to bring him into the family more in a different way) (but this is not that world)

and okay. bonus round. olivier. obviously i made the joke in recognition that both antoinette and her husband were in love with olivier and they told each other that when they told each other they loved each other. and i don't think. i don't know how much olivier KNOWS that them and everyone else is a little in love with her, but she might have like. some idea lol. i think she thinks that antoinette is solid, reliable, and witty, and i think she appreciates that she has someone she trusts running her engineer dept. i am TRYING not to be boring but olivier is so work based it's hard not to talk about work!

i think it means a lot to her that miles has someone. and that that person is good for him and good to him. i think they don't get to talk all too often but i think she likes her pretty well. not that she would ever SAY that. god forbid olivier mira armstrong show approval. but you know. she does.

[humming-fly]

datasheet

Tagged by @hyrulianpirate ayy haven't done one of these in an Age haha

Last Song: I've been rewatching Arcane so last would've been Dynasties and Dystopia~

Favorite Color: I really love the turquoise shade of blue and pretty much every color the sky turns, pale pink is also a really nice one

Last Book: System Collapse! That one was sort of funny in that it was a christmas gift for my dad but I delivered it a few days late so I could finish it first lol (he owns all the other books and lent them to me when I first read 'em)

Last Movie: uhhhh wow legit can't remember that much. It might've been the Boy and the Heron?? I feel like I've seen something since then but maybe not!

Last TV Show: like i mentioned still rewatching Arcane haha, other than that really enjoying the new episodes of Dungeon Meshi as they come out! My sister also got me to watch some episodes of severance over the holidays so that was fun

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: prooobably sweet>savory>spicy? i def have a sweet tooth for better or worse

Relationship Status: (stealing this from prev lol) perfectly content ❀⸜(˶´ ˘ `˶)⸝❀

Last Thing I Googled: "murderbot diaries series in order" (i genuinely can never remember what the names for each book are XD)

Current Obsession: i mean ongoing obsessions are rather unchanged from the usual haha, still lots of fma and kirby stuff rattling around in my head, I also have some elden ring doodles I keep meaning to get back to. In terms of Really recent obsessions as of the past couple weeks have enjoyed diving into league of legend's lore lol, every time they release a cinematic i get curious and start dipping in and every time i'm Shocked how much stuff they have (though that might soon run out given how riot just laid off a lot of their creative team h a)

Looking Forward To: finishing my qualifying exam'll be nice!

Taggin: oh hmm, howsabout @alagaesia-overlord @aseuki @nymphofnovels @shubbabloggin @phantomrose96 @post-it-notes7 @angelfrost, in case any of you or anyone else wants to play!

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

To spoil you, Fuegoleon 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 12, 15, 17, 18, 20, 23 and 25 for the ask game (sorry, I went a bit overboard^^')

FUE FUE FUE FUE

(7,8,23 and 25 have already been answered ^^)

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

That he builds people up! He's the definition of a good man in my books, and one with true strength which comes from lifting other up, rather than push them down. If I could be half the woman he is a man, I'd be happy.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

I find these very difficult for some reason, but ... hmmm... actually, I wonder how he'd fit into FMA. I imagine he might get well along with Alexader Armstrong, and would find a talking point about strong older sisters.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

...Maybe? I find having roommates a bit awkward, and it's different from moving together with someone that you are attracted to. I feel like this might get messy, unless we'd both either develop feelings for each other, or not. I could probably be roommates with him, but I also think that it could get messy. I just prefer either living alone, or then with a partner.

12. What’s a headcanon you have for this character?

I headcanon that sometimes, not often, but sometimes, when he is at his lowest, late at night, he ponders about getting back at William. He thinks about what it'd be like, to get some retribution, a sense of justice, even if he'd have to grant it to himself. At the end of the thought, he always concludes it not to be worth it. But the thought lingers. And it occurs to him, from time to time. He deems himself human for having such thoughts, but he also deems himself sensible enough to keep it as just a thought. Even if there might be some that couldn't blame him, if he did.

15. What’s your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn’t matter if it’s canon or not.)

Can... can I say my own? Because I am VERY biased towards it, because it brings me joy. As in, I will support anyone who wants to make an OC ship with him too, but my self-indulgent content is in Fue/Oc content. If not with an OC, then... hmm... Hmm... Maybe... uhh.... Fragil? She's a hard worker and cares about the people around her, but also has a gentle side to her.

17. What’s a ship for this character you don’t hate but it’s not your favorite that you’re fine with?

I once saw someone in passing shipping him with Charlotte? So, perhaps that one? I'm indifferent towards it, so I can't say that I hate it, but it's not my favourite. And I'm fine with it.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

I adore his relationship with Mereo. I think that these two have such admiration and respect for one and another, even if Mereo doesn't say it out loud. She's a woman of action, and struggles to give verbal affirmations, but the things that she does say, like "there are people who'd never let me forget it if I was defeated", or along those lines, show that she is thinking about her family, her little brothers and the CLK. She feels that she needs to protect them, but also that she needs to drive them to be strong enough to fend for themselves, if all hell breaks loose. And Fuegoleon, who is very verbal about his admiration for his aneue, clearly adores her. He looks up to her. And to him, Mereo will always be the brilliant older sister, who seems to understand what to do intuitively, whereas he has had to study for it. I just love these two. They have such amazing dynamic, and they fuel each other up, despite the bickering. And the bickering is there, because... they're siblings, and only 2 years apart. Of course they bicker.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn’t matter?

Hmm... I think that him and Randal could actually be really good friends. As in, sure, they've worked together for many years, and judging from the way they interact, I think it'd be safe to say that they are on some level of friendship. But I also think that one of @/cradestoryteller 's fics (if my memory serves me correctly) in her series "100 ways to say 'I love you'", I saw some of that friendship and it really made sense to me. I chose to take the "I love you" as a platonic one, because I believe that it's okay to A. say "I love you" platonically to one's friends (at least in English, because different languages have different connotations when it comes to the word 'love') and B. it's always okay to show that you care about your friends. They're both calm, reasonable and responsible gentlemen, who care for others, so I think that they have a lot in common. They also take time to asses a situation without charging head on. But I feel like Randal might make more jokes. That's not to say that he would be making too many, but relatively more than Fue. So, there'd be a kind of a difference as well. So, I think that Randal is a high contender as Fue's best friend.

[angstandhappiness]

Hi, do you have any theories about Rumble and Savage? How do you think they could appear on the show?

I would love to hear your theories/ideas on Rumble and savage

Hello! Keep in mind I am not exactly a dedicated fan, more of a lurker. If we start at how Rumble and Savage came to be, I theorised that they were made from Macaque's remains, because that monkey DID die, whether SWK was the culprit or not, so the two monkeys were made from his flesh and bones, with some bit of DNA from SWK maybe a stand of hair, for his power. I want at least one of them, preferably Rumble, to be vehemently hostile towards Macaque the same way he was towards SWK previously, for funny irony, because they blame him for their existence, because being created into life as someone's tool with no say over your own life and ending up with your progenitor's emotional baggage as your own would send anyone into a bit of rage really. And LBD is definitely involved with their creation, directly or indirectly.

While the project succeeded, Rumble and Savage's creation was NOT intended. The entity that was supposed to be the end result ended up splitting into two to stabilised itself and the overwhelming power it was infused with, so the twins were created with their powers halved from its original strength, which they make up for with innate telepathic mind link they have with each other and extremely resilient healing. They looks so similar to each other that the only way to tell them apart outside of battle is how they carry themselves.

The twins were born with Macaque's traits but divided between them, so you have Rumble, who ended with Macaque's baggage and anger issues, and Savage, who got his more quiet traits and introspective nature. Think of the Elric brothers from FMA Brotherhood anime. Thought born at the same time, Rumble declared himself as the older twin while Savage is the younger one, and looks after her in his own way.

Rumble is a he/they, slightly shorter than his twin, and isn't shy about being loud and venting his anger at anyone he can get away with. He lashes out very easily, but also would run out of steam for it quickly if the situation doesn't provoke him constantly so. He tends to stew on his emotions if not given an outlet for them, but is surprisingly more open with his thoughts and feeling, whether asked about them or not, though very violently. He's picks fight very easily and quite enjoys it, and is confrontational enough to seek them out if he feels ignored. Though he does have a soft spot for his "sister", and is more likely to listen to her first. Uses a chain whip as a weapon and his shadow powers to keep his opponents off balance while he attacks them easily.

Savage is a she/they, a bit taller than her twin, is seemingly ironic with her name as she's quite hesitant and more polite compared to her twin, but as she doesn't enjoy fighting and dragging things out the same way her twin does, despite her timid and meek demeanour, she'll act on her missions in a brutally efficient and ruthlessly relentless manner, just to get them over with. She holds herself back quite often when it comes to her thoughts and opinions, repressing herself until it boils over into something explosive. Rumble was the only at first who can spot her tipping point before she snaps and get her to let it out before that happens. She can be quite surprisingly cruel and terribly blunt with expressing her opinions even if she doesn't realised it. Uses sickles as her weapons and her shadow powers to keep her opponents in place for her to attack without them moving away.

They're both incredibly bitter due to being forced into a life of servitude against their will since birth, with a deep existential anger about their existence on Rumble's part. Rumble has a deep hate towards Macaque, seeing him as the reason for their painful creation and will not rest until the Macaque is dead or at least suffers for their pain. Savage is more open to cooperation and truce than her twin and does not share his violent fixation on Macaque and is less likely to be aggressive from the get-go, but is just as wary in letting others in. They both have an unhealthy co-dependancy with each other due to the nature of their lives, and while Savage really wants more to her life and not be alone, she's just as afraid to be let down.

If they were introduced into the show, they'd be the antagonists lackeys, tasked to obtain items and fight the enemies, in this case the Monkie crew. They'd hint themself by only being seen in mobs and in the background at first, until the first "quiet" adventure happens and they reveal themselves fully. In the fights, Rumble would be more focused on Macaque if he's involved, but would strongly enjoy himself toying with his opponents while Savage is less likely to get carried away by her emotions and would focus more on completing the mission hand.

For their redemption arc, it's more of a healing arc, with Rumble learning to let go of his hatred and rage towards Macaque as an unhealthy coping mechanism, and Savage would try to learn to let her guard down around other people other than Rumble.

Rumble and Savage both enjoy savory food, though the former has quite a sweet tooth. Rumble has Macaque's love for the theatre and enjoys acting out the roles, while Savage is content to be merely a spectator. They both can be very dramatic, especially more so when they feel safe, with inside jokes only they get. They both can be quite mischievous and enjoy pranks as well, though Savage is better at covering up their tracks.

That's all I've got! Sorry if it doesn't reach your expectations. Have a good day!

[littlebear1537]

Mira Annabeth Armstrong - FMAB Oc

OBVIOUSLY Olivier had to have a hot, rich, lesbian aunt!! AND GUESS WHO GAVE HER ONE??? YEP- ME- KGFJDJLKG

OK HEAVY HEADCANON TIME!

My sister and I actually had a hc for awhile that Olivier had an aunt and that's where she gets her personality from! AND HERE I FINALLY DREW HER!!

A little bit about her and how she connects to FMA and my Oc Sam's story!

She is a HUGE Lesbian (Literally- She is like 6'10)

She is the Older sister to Phillip Armstrong (Olivier's father)

She wasn't apart of the military because of the discrimination against women in the military, HOWEVER she was hired as an agent for different missions that were not instructed by the "public military". This is how she learned how to use a sword and to fight.

She is a skilled fighter and has mastered the sword

I believe that the person who "Passed down Olivier's sword through the generations" was given by her aunt!

Also - Olivier's middle name was given to her by her aunt. Both of them are the oldest siblings!

Mira took Olivier under her wing throughout her childhood because she didn't think her mother was a good fit for someone so strong willed

Olivier's mother blames Mira for how Olivier turned out (aka - Mira is very much a lone wolf in the family and rarely gets along with anyone - Yet she is one of the most loved and respected among the elders)

Mira was very proud of Olivier for joining the military! Yet Mira doesn't fully agree with the military, she is glad that her niece is able to kick ass like she always wanted to!

Mira 100% knows that Olivier is in love with Sam and purposefully brought Sam along on any trips with them!!

Some physical features:

She has an automail leg. She lost it during an undercover mission in Aerugo. No one knows how she lost it except herself. Some say she was out hunting and got mauled by a bear. Others believed she fell really badly. And even some say she just wanted a cool leg... Only she knows what actually happens and she will never tell a single soul.

She has a cane that she uses! Some believe she uses it for her automail however it's actually her other knee that's bad and she laughs at people who think her automail isn't working properly!

She has scars across her body however she likes to cover them. No one knows about her past so showing scars that are clearly Not From Hunting is a lot to explain... Though if she could brag about her battles, she would do it in a heartbeat! She does however have two scars above her eyebrow that were a lot bigger when she first got them!!

(She has a necklace with two rings which symbolizes her marriage with her partner 0,0,,,, Yet no one knows they are together - They are just "good friends")

I WILL BE ADDED ON A LOT MORE TO THE LORE AS TIME GOES ON BUT THIS IS THE MAIN THINGS!!!

[milekael]

💚 and 💀!

HELP I will throw out there several fandoms I like because whynot ASDFGH excuse to talk

What does everyone else get wrong about your favorite character?

FMA: I mean for Riza is the whole "xd mean serious girlboss who has to control her manchild husband" I hate it will all my soul and sours everything I hold dear SDFGH In the same vein people taking this interpretation as if is more "Progressive & Feminist" as if it also didn't center her characterization around the man LOL

Cosmere: For Shallan huh absolutely everything <3 If there is one way I can summarize it all is that Stormlight is a series that deals with very human morality and is very sad that most people I see take Shallan's own perception of being "A terrible person who has done irredeemable stuff" at face value and run as if thats the intended takeaway and not "This woman is extremely traumatized to the point any mistake she makes her extremely anxious to the point she keeps digging her own holes deeper and deeper". Again head too full of thoughts and anger I am taking her away

Ace Attorney: For Maya is the people that treat her like an baby child LOL like YEA she is A Teenager she is immature and all but also she is someone who every single responsibility was put on since her mother's disappearance and sister leaving. I think is a perspective thing because she acts more carefree around Phoenix but that's because... that's the point. I think people usually diminish her input and role in Phoenix's life and narrative as a whole and she ends up just at the funny quirky girl that third-wheels the attorney yaoi

One Piece: See with this one I just don't go out looking for anything anyone has to say about Nami or Robin or Sanji❤️ or literally anything I understand the One Piece fandom is not a place I should ever lay hands on if I want to keep my sanity ❤️❤️❤️

If you had to choose one major character to die, who would you choose?

FMA: Huuh Note already for this whole question in very much a guy that usually doesn't like to see characters die LOL And in FMA I really can't think of anyone SDSFGH I think in canon manga every death is perfect and in 03... Idunno, I don't wish for Roy to have died I mostly just wonder how did Archer shot him in a way to only take his eye but not killed him?????? Idunno I don't care as much LOL Cosmere: I want Dalinar dead and gone in book 5 thank you

Ace Attorney: Lmao no main characters die here lol although I think they should have kept Phoenix in his Apollo Justice characterization and out of the spotlight. But like, this is an extremely lukewarm take lol One Piece: Again I don't want any of my wiwis to die </3 HOWEVER I do have the take that if someone has to die... it would be Luffy or Luffy AND Zoro. Idunno how to explain it but if just the captain dies it makes sense that the crew has to go on with their lives, but only Zoro dying feels... oddly asymmetrical? Idunno, it feels wrong and not even for any particular story reason it just does lol. If Luffy AND Zoro die it feels fitting because both their goals have an specific end point and it just so happens that end point is connected. Also heaven and hell symbology... The God and the King of the Underworld.... AGAIN I DON'T WANT THEM TO DIE and I really don't think they will but if it has to this is how I see it going down shrugs

[bardengarde]

SHAKES FIST!! I need to know more about your FMA Ocs!! I don't have any specific questions SO JUST- INFODUMP GKLFDJLKGF,,,, Anything about them THEY LOOK SO COOL,,,,,

JDJGJGKGKDKD JEEZ I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG FOR ME TO ANSWER THIS BUT IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME THANK YOU SO MUCH AAAAAAA

I have about 6 FMA:B ocs at the moment and tbh they can be split between a group of kids I have from Leore and two Briggs folks (though one is retired from the military) But without further ado!!

Damaris is one of the first fma ocs I've made!! She's from Leore, her mom is Amestrian and her dad is Xingese and they run a flower and tea shop, respectively. Damaris is a hugeee nerd as well as a tomboy and she's not afraid of getting her hands dirty and was known to brawl with neighborhood bullies, especially if they picked on any of her friends. She's 19 by the events of the series, and uses medicinal alchemy as well as a form of alchemy that allows her to change the chemical makeup of metal and wears a set of bangles and rings she turns into a knife and brass knuckles, respectively. She's also Bi 😗✌️Her introduction into the series occurs shortly after the Elric brothers expose Father Cornello as a fraud, when she returns from her studies of alchemy and alkahestry in Xing on word that her mom is seriously ill.

This is Sylva Cartwright! He's one of Damaris' childhood friends and they are opposites in almost every way between her extroversion and his introversion, her recklessness and his anxiety, etc. They are besties tho and she defended him a lot from people picking on him when they were kids. His dad is a Colonel at Briggs who works in Intelligence, and his stepmom is a school teacher in Leore. He works in Damaris' dad's tea shop and is also 19 during the series.

Rena is another of Damaris and Sylva's friends. She's also 19 in the story. Her mom ran a bakery and pastry shop in Leore and her father was a tailor. They were both murdered in the Ishvalan massacre, and she and her younger sister Miriam were separated. Rena holds onto hope that her sister survived, however, especially after she's given a crumpled letter in her handwriting meant to tell her that she's trying to find her. She has significant burn scars on the left side of her face and her shoulder and torso.

Rena eventually returns to Leore and finds Damaris and Sylva who are both equally shocked to see her again when they'd feared the worst for her, and there was a tearful reunion between the three of them before Rena explains that she's looking for Miriam, thinking she'd tried to go home too and when she's not able to find her in town, Damaris and Sylva both agree to travel with her across Amestris to find her.

And this is Miriam! I can't tell you very much without spoiling the story I'm wanting to write with her, but do know that she's alive. She's 16 during the story.

One of my (former) Briggs oc's! This is Laurel Enfield, he is currently a foreign languages professor at a military academy in Central. He holds the rank of Brevet Colonel, and is retired from the military after receiving a very serious injury that cost him his right arm and left him with a permanent limp. He's about 33 during the series and is prematurely graying because he went through a lot of stress with u know.... almost dying, and having a particularly brutal recovery process.

Despite how I drew him here, he's very sweet and a huge nerd about history and languages and eventually becomes bf's with @decoloraa 's William Thorne! He actually only had a minor role in my story but my friends decided he was babygirl so I was able to really flesh out his story and give him a larger role!

Whew! And finally this is Dr. Antony Fairchild! She is a psychiatrist who works at Briggs and is a huge lesbian. I don't have any colored drawings of her unfortunately so this will have to make do😭. She comes from a family of doctors in Central and is a bit of the oddball in that she chose psychology as her specialty- which I sort of view as holding a lot of uncharted territory with current studies in Amestris. She's sweet and got a corny sense of humor, and I look forward to writing her shenanigans with the Briggs medical team!! I also ship her with Patricia 👀