Fic: Wrong Turn, Chapter Three of Three

[bob_fish]

Last chapter of my fma_ihop kinkmeme fic for sara_rojo. First chapter is here, second chapter is here. I had a ludicrous amount of fun writing this, so thanks for the prompt, Sara! I've ended up having so much fun with these versions of the characters that I'm very tempted to get to work on a sequel - in which of course I'd be honour bound to resolve some of this

Comments

[sara_rojo]

I had forgot about that conversation, you're absolutely right. I mean, parallels between the two are drawn many times, but I didn't remember some of the cast adressed them. They respect, possibly admire, and definitely trust each other. Their relationship is pretty complicated, I think. All these layers you're talking about go from all kind of close family members (Roy being somewhat of a father figure at the beginning, brotherly because Roy teases him like older brothers do, a case could even be made for motherly RoyXD), and "friends" (in the sense that they regard each other as equals toward the end), and there's subtle canon UST too, not to mention superior/subordinate officer dynamic. Like you said, whatever the case, they connect

[sara_rojo]

First, there's a new piece by you AND I DIDN'T KNOW?? What is this faggotry

[bob_fish]

New piece=up at fma_fic_contest. It's about Al and jazz and cartoons

[sara_rojo]

I'm off to read it then (NSI took priorityXD).

Glad I convinced you! Maybe I discuss in English better than I think? (or maybe I was pretty inspiredXD)
I didn't know the 20's were also a very radical generation of youths. Interesting. I suppose it explains a lot of the awesome things going on then in my countryXD

I think you make a fantastic argument about electronic music and experimentation. It's completely believable that it should develop earlier on than here, given that background (possibly, our culture didn't develop as fast because of the drepression, but it was going that way). Since Amestris is very rich and has no apparent financial troubles, and is just culturally blossoming, it would make sense. And goth! Of course it was in fahsion, how could I forget German Expressionism? (huge cinema nerd here)

How FMA is that? Very. I think whatever Ed would listen to would involve a lot of industrial-sounding noise, which he would defend as "awesome" and "kickass" when questioned.I couldn't agree with you more. I now want to read

[bob_fish]

Look at the stack of records in the gramophone. XD

[bob_fish]

Yeah, I've been thinking this one over more - was looking at lots of post-punk and Goth stuff on my ipod today and noticing all the references to Expressionism, Futurism, and so on. Bauhaus, for a start! Also Cabaret Voltaire. And of course an entire Goth male aesthetic comes from Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. And Expressionism is so FMA! I've been thinking about the kinds of instrumentation, musical style, etc

[enemytosleep]

Re Xing and Gender Roles: Imperial China was all about men producing heirs (not just royals of course). If a man was away from home as a merchant or whatever, he could and would set up a second/third home in another city with another wife and family. China wanted babies! On that vein, it was acceptable for a man to take a male lover so long as he was also producing children. So as long as a man had at least one wife and was doing his manly duty, society would turn a blind eye to what went on in his bedroom

[bob_fish]

Ooh, I didn't know that about boysex in Imperial China! Research is fun.

When you say, "if it struck him to", you of course mean, "if he could manipulate the situation to get information on the Philosopher's Stone". Right?

Btw, sara, I think Mei is about ten or eleven, as I recall - ridiculously young, I know, but hey, Ed and Al still out-prodigy her.

Doesn't Ling mention the Emperor's daughters early on? I got the impression Mei is officially a candidate for the throne, just a highly unlikely one since her clan is so weak. I still find it utterly lol that she's Ling's half-sister.

[enemytosleep]

"Or a free meal," Ling tells me. I think he enjoys all sexual encounters, though.

I know he mentions the daughters, but I'd have to go back and look to see if they are actual candidates for the throne, or if they are just royal heirs. Of course, Mei's clan is so poor it drops her likeliness as a candidate anyway.

[sara_rojo]

I loved that bit of insight in Imperial China for two reasons: 1)ironically the opposite concern of nowadays China; and 2)reminds me a bit of the japanese mentality nowadays, in that, as long as you appear at job properly attired and do it well, and are a proper citizen with a family and honour traditions, whatever you do with your private life is acceptable

[enemytosleep]

I find Ling to be an exception to many things, and therefore have no problem seeing him getting involved with foreign males before taking the throne/a wife XD *hopeless Ed/Ling fan speaking*

But yeah, Imperial China was an interesting place. I've been doing a lot of reading on it lately, and am always open for more views on it (not that Xing is an exact replica of China, but it does draw heavy influence from what I've seen).

I always thought of Mei in the 8-10 range, but then some Asian girls seem a lot younger than they are (recall on of the more recent Chinese Olympic teams where everyone believed they were 12 instead of 16...not sure if that was ever confirmed, but still).

I confess I am not a fan of Mei's and haven't paid as much attention to her story as I should have. That is bad of me. XD

[sara_rojo]

Hey, I'm a hopeless "let's make Ed my wife" fan (I mean, as Emperor, he makes the law, right?XD)

Yeah, I think Mei is like those girls (or the japanese girls I got to meet in my trip there). Not only because of the way she interacts with others and her inner thoughts and worries, but also the fact that Ling is taken to be older...would totally make sense that, in a scene similar to the train Ling scene, someone would ask about Mei's age and it would be revealed that she's, like, 16 or smthXD

You're a Xing freak and don't pay attention to Mei? tsk tskXD. I think she's interesting as a free woman (Ran Fan is not free, the way she speaks she belongs to Ling in a master-servant relationship). And she's the only link we have to rentanjutsu, besides Scar and his bro. And she wants some Elric assXD. And she has a freaking diminute panda with growth problemsXD

[enemytosleep]

Yay Ed/Ling! :D

[sara_rojo]

Yeha, I've been to Japan. I went last december, for fourteen days. The best trip of my life, I will never forget it. If I could, I would go back tomorrow

US citizens rarely go out of their country, I think. Very few north americans have a passport, not even ex-president Bush had one (god, how we europeans laughed at him for itXD, he was so provincian -I don't even know if that's a wordXD-). You were indeed lucky; but most of those who do travel abroad go to either Australia, France, Italy or UK. How unoriginalXD
When you say "strict" you don't even know how right you are. Japan has the second highest suicide rate in the world, and it's partly due to the extremely severe social rules and strict schooling they receive.

Do tell us, if you feel closer to Mei after your re-read! It's so sad that a great author like yourself doesn't feel close to her...specially consider the Xing megafan you areXD
Do you like her, bob-fish?

[bob_fish]

To be fair, though, the US is *huge* geographically and very culturally varied - and it's more of a slog to get to somewhere else (unless you live on the Mexican or Canadian border), whereas you or I can just pop over the border by train for a weekend. The word's "provincial"- and I bet Barack Obama's got himself a passport. Plus, have you seen his fly-killing technique on that news vid? COOL.

I like Mei okay - most of all, I find her fangirling of Scar hilarious, the way she completely destroys his attempts to look like the dark avenger of doom.

Oh yeah, and if you're bored, enemy and I are RPing filth again in the comments thread to her "Do It [Click on a Dragon Egg] for Ed" post. *cough* Don't know how that got started.

[sara_rojo]

You're totally right about the geographic jump for them (not about the "culturally varied", since you can't top Europe thereXD). But north americans salary is WAAAAY over ours, at any rate, and Spanish go to the States. But it seems a study revealed that Spanish are among the most well-travelled europeans, which is weird, given our lower earnings
Obama didn't have a passport before reaching presidency? 0_0 Don't tell me that, dude, you'l destroy the illusionXD
I haven't seen the technique, but I'll be looking it up after lunchXD

Haha, that's one of my favourite Mei things too. But I think Xiao Mei does it even betterXD (I love the fact that Scar just barely controls his urge to pet herXD)

Thanks for the tip. Just reviewed the Insane and Hot RP of Sex (and DoomXD)