Fic: The Phoney War, Chapter Twelve of Twelve

[bob_fish]

Title: The Phoney War, Chapter Twelve: The Signal Flare
Setting: Fullmetal Alchemist, mangaverse, post-series, slight ending AU.
Characters: Roy/Ed, Havoc/Rebecca, Riza/Miles, Al, Winry, ensemble.
Rating/content: NC-17 overall, this chapter R for violence and gore at about canon levels. Also, character death.
Word count: 12410 this chapter,

Comments

Re: WordPad has this really accusatory little "CAP" box to pass judgment on serial caps lock abusers

[bob_fish]

Thank you so so much for these lovely comments again. They really do make my fannish day - and after a last chapter that has inspired more WHOAH ... D: than YAY \o/, I really appreciate the cheerleading. *hugs on you in hopefully non-creepy manner*

- I am going to call them all Team Fist Bump now. I'm picturing that epic whole-cast fistbump in my head (in which, in my silly shipper way, I totally enjoy that Roy is giving Ed a really sweet grin while their fists are almost touching).
- dire straits is a good time for bromance of all flavours!
- A+ there, Hakruo, you miserable piece of SHIT. Yes, for all his shittiness and occasional not-getting-it stupidity, the guy has some brass balls: taking on Roy, countering scary alchemy with scarier alchemy. It can be a surprisingly deadly combination = second-rate mind + brass balls. I could nerd out like Roy and talk about how in a destabilised country, a dude like Hakuro can sometimes beat a better opponent to the top, although whether he can hang onto that power is a very different matter - but instead I will just say GAME OF THRONES.
- I couldn't have Armstrong BAMFing it up and leave out the inexplicable shirt loss. XD
- ha, I'm now remembering that moment. "Don't tell the elf." Oh, Helm's Deep. <3
- thank you for enjoying that moment so much - I enjoyed writing it a lot, in a kind of heartbreaking way. XD

Haha, that's quite all right! Enthusiasm is lovely and flattering, and for the record, I thought it was pretty coherent enthusiasm! FMA does get me right in the emotions, consistently and brilliantly, and I strive to do it even partial justice in my fic! Which I'm so happy you're enjoying!

Re: WordPad has this really accusatory little "CAP" box to pass judgment on serial caps lock abusers

[tierfal]

1. I would like to add a little more YAY \o/ because I am all kinds of YAY about this chapter. idk, I… well, I'm a huge sucker for happy endings; personally I almost never write anything else, and I actually resent fanfic authors who make rocks fall at the end. But that's not what this is; this is a story about immense personal and political risk and a very dangerous, high-stakes game, and it's very authentically canonical-feeling, and one of the huge points of FMA is that there are things worth dying for, and… well anyway I knew this whole sequence was going to go like this, because that's how Final Battles work, and much as my heart was in my throat and of course I was rooting for the easy victory, I couldn't wait to see what would go wrong and what horrible shit would ensue. XD

2. I am probably too affectionate on the internet; there is no such thing as a creepy internet hug!! :DDDDD I've probably offered to elope with at least half of my F-list; I'm pretty much this gif incarnate:



XDD

(in which, in my silly shipper way, I totally enjoy that Roy is giving Ed a really sweet grin while their fists are almost touching)
ajfkldsjfkldsajfldka MY HEART

I could nerd out like Roy and talk about how in a destabilised country, a dude like Hakuro can sometimes beat a better opponent to the top, although whether he can hang onto that power is a very different matter - but instead I will just say GAME OF THRONES.
I went from nodding sagely at the general brilliance to dying of the lulz. XDDDD

…I think I saw "Two Towers" five or six times in the theater, so my brain still really likes to reference it. XDDDD

*more flailing everywhere* I was so sad at the prospect that this massive amazing journey of epic and win was going to end with this chapter, so finding out that I get MORE is just… I am all of the happiness. :3

Re: WordPad has this really accusatory little "CAP" box to pass judgment on serial caps lock abusers

[bob_fish]

1. I feel like endings which aren't happy can be challenging to make satisfying! So I'm really glad to hear that both the set-up got you on board for shit to go down and that you enjoyed the actual shit going down. Also, the things you say about the scale of it and the risks and the high stakes and that they go in knowing that not everyone might make it out is ... well, exactly 100% what I was going for, so it is so utterly delightful to me that you not only described it like that but felt like it work and really dug it. <3 <3 <3

2. Haha I love that gif!

I'm so glad you're looking forward to more!

Re: WordPad has this really accusatory little "CAP" box to pass judgment on serial caps lock abusers

[tierfal]

1a. omg, I would feel like such an asshole if somebody read through thousands of words of me being all me-ish, and then rocks fell and all of their favorite characters ended up unhappy. XDDDD I write short unhappy things, especially about Alfons, HELLO, insta-tragedy!, but if I'm going to commit to a sizable fic, it's probably because I'm setting out to fix something anyway. ...uh, /ramble, haha. XD

1b. One of the things you do brilliantly in your magic, amazing, ensemble-juggling way is give every individual character something to lose, and it just... aaaaaaaaahhhhhh. :D

Re: WordPad has this really accusatory little "CAP" box to pass judgment on serial caps lock abusers

[bob_fish]

1a. Alfons is great for that. XD I really want to reply more to this, but I feel like I can't until the final chapters of TCR are out and posted. XD

1b. Thank you, I try really hard with that! Often I find myself liking genuinely heroic characters better when teamwork and nakama is emphasised, over the ONE MAN approach where the hero is ultimately isolated and sidekicks are just that. I like that Arakawa's characters, even the one-scene wonders, all have their own motivations and problems and reasons for doing things. So I've tried to go with that! I want to know something of why Ross and Brosch and Rebecca and Miles and Private Fieseler are taking these risks and making these commitments. I feel like all the characters can counterpoint each other in pleasing ways, too.