FMA BBC: Estvarya, Chapter 5

[mfelizandy]

Title: Estvarya
Author: mfelizandyGenre: Drama. Written for the 2010-2011 FMA Big Bang Challenge

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It's all about Roy...

[mfelizandy]

So far in writing this and Arcanum Familias, I've discovered that the best way to avoid going overboard with disability-awareness-zeal or plopping down to wallow in self-pity is to remember that this is Roy Mustang we're talking about. The brilliant kid who mastered an esoteric and finicky alchemical discipline, joined the military, discovered it was rotten, then pitted himself against the entire structure of the government of his country. He wasn't looking to make a martyr of himself, he wanted to actually change the country for the better on a truly monumental scale. No small goal for a twentysomething kid to set himself. Roy's lost his sight, but his core personality and beliefs are much the same. I'm sure he had his moments of shock, rage, grief, and frustration in those first days after the eclipse. Roy is human, he's going to lose his temper or break down in tears from time to time--but he would do that whether he was blind or not. He's going to continue to be Roy--quick-witted, adaptable, compassionate and protective of his people, and merciless in driving himself toward whatever he thinks is right. Whether he's plotting the overthrow of a corrupt regime, re-learning to read and type, or trying to master a foreign language in record time, he's thinking in the same basic framework. As long as I keep that in mind, he stays in character no matter what I throw at him.

The same logic applies to Havoc. He had some bad days and depression immediately after his paralysis, and no doubt he still does. But he's Jean Havoc. The way his mind works is much the same whether he can walk or not. Give him half an opening and he'll make a wisecrack, show him a pretty girl's smile and you'll make his day, or ask him for miracles and watch him make them happen with casual good humor.

I think all of that was a baroque way of saying that I just ask myself what Roy or Jean would do if presented with this or that, and write that.