Hee, today's a fic-ful day! First I posted an FMA fic, Winter, for those of you who missed it. Second...

This was written at halcyonjazz's prodding. Sequel to Popping the Strawberry

( Strawberry Jam )

...this one's also halcyonjazz's fault, though I haven't figured out how, yet.

Bleachfic, Ichigo/Orihime, PG to PG-13.

And now, bed. *g*

( The Dad-In-Law Party )

Watching FMA with cythraul - we've made it from 14 to 26 today so far! - and just, well, rewatched 26, obviously. And, you know... I'd always been confused why, after the FIRST time I saw it, people were saying that it made Winry out to be sucky, because I hadn't seen it at all. And so I thought I'd watch for it this time, right? And, uh... I still think it might be being blown way out of proportion?

1) Winry doesn't say she wants Ed to say HER automail is incredible - she says he wants him to recognize it in *general*. Like, quoting Panina. Like... Panina said that she wanted to prove that Dominique's automails were incredible and I think Winry wanted to prove that too - for Panina's sake first of all, but also because if someone with automail can beat Ed in something small then perhaps he'll realize that it's more than just his arms and legs - it's a gift that's his arms and legs. And even though Panina loses, Ed says it. This... I mean, it's important. Yeah, stealing the watch was a bit sucky, but to a mechanic who was his childhood friend and who has discovered that this is the only thing she can give him that he can keep - it's something I think she wants him to know but can't get through to him with words. But, okay, I see how someone could interpret this as her trying to override his will with hers - even when he engaged in an automail contest and beat it with alchemy instead.

2) ...she never asks him to come home perminantly. This outright SURPRISED me because I'd heard people repeat this as a complaint against her time and time again. But she doesn't do it - She says that he's growing, so he will "soon" need new automail - and does he want to go to Rizenbul to "do that". At NO point does she tell him to stay in twenty-six. In fact, when he says he doesn't want to go back to Rizenbul to get new automail, and in context with the fact that he never takes care of his automail, that he breaks it frequently (though once was his fault), that even just when she saw him enter a contest for his automail, it was all about alchemy to him... she asks him if automail's not important to him. This is, again, the only thing she can give him, and she's just found out, she believes, that while it's incredible, yeah... he doesn't much care about it. His quest's to get his body and Al's body back - and while she can understand that and at NO point does she ask him to stop the quest for AL'S sake, she wants to know why he wants to get rid of HIS automail. (This is a person who's learned doctorly stuff and has seen automail as the best equivalent - better, in her opinion - when a limb gets lost; it stops there. For a medical person, to look for a miracle is... well, admirable, but at the same time, isn't it rejecting what current science has to offer?) Again, at no time does she ask him to stop the quest. At no time does she ask him to return home and not take care of Al - ALL she asks, in canon, is if the automail's not enough. She swears to study more, to be able to make automail that satisfies him. And perhaps, yes, this implies she wants him not to change his limbs back - but she never asks him to come home to stay and she never asks him not to change Al back. I mean, this is what happens in canon - those things I keep hearing levelled as character attacks DON'T happen in canon.

This isn't to say Winry's flawless. She behaved immaturely, having Panina steal the clock, and perhaps she should have kept medical detachment and allowed him to do as he would with the limbs, whether it's abuse them, use them, like them, hate them, whatever; she hasn't been able to detach why she made it from how he uses it.

But she HASN'T done the stuff that people're saying she is - and I'm not sure where people're getting it from, unless they're extrapolating things she hasn't said. The only one who refers to Ed and Al is *Ed* - Winry never says it, and it's been proven several times that what Winry means and what Ed hears aren't necessarily the same thing.

(Direct quote, for reference:
Winry: "I just noticed, but perhaps you've grown a little."
Ed: "Of course."
Winry: "That means I'll have to prepare a new arm and leg soon. Do you want to go back to Rizenbul to do that?"
Ed: "Let me think. ..... no, not now."
Winry: "Why?"
Ed: "Mm."
Winry: "Are you not satisfied with automail? I'll do my best. I'll study more, so that you'll never have to be inconvenienced. So... so..."
Ed: "Winry... We still want to regain our normal bodies. We have to."
Winry: [silent crying]

...unless I missed something, she doesn't say anything that asks them to stop. Ed might interpret it that way, but I see 'soon', 'to do that', and Winry only referring to Ed's automail and what *it* means... and that interpretation, that Winry only wants Ed to keep the only thing she could give him, and come home once in a while to maintain it (Hell, if the automail's the only way she can ensure he'd visit)... I'm not sure why that interpretation wouldn't be as valid a one as the 'Winry wants Ed to come home and doom Al' one, if not more so, based on everything we've seen of her and the brothers so far.

Or I could be totally on crack and misreading things. I've seen a helluva lot of episodes in a row today, I could be confused. *g*