[Fic] "At the Very Ports We Blow" (Premovie, 4/5)

[cryogenia]

Title: At the very ports we blow (Part 4 of 5)
Author: cryogenia
Pairing: None (gen)
Rating: R (rating has increased)
Prompt: For 7stages, set 3, #4: "draw a line in the sand"
Spoiler level: Post-series, pre-movie
Warnings for this fic: References to ethnic tensions, both fictional and historical

A/N: Huge chapter is huuuuge D: One more to go (I hope)! (And

Comments

[orion117]

First of all, this made me laugh: "exciting, budding field of rocketry" . It's comforting to know that Ed's flair for showmanship isn't dead

[cryogenia]

Thanks for the info! I was looking for that quote, but couldn't find it, so I concluded perhaps it was not real :) And yes, poor Ed...he really is having to grow up even faster than normal without Al/Roy/etc around to help him navigate his world :( Poor kid.

[hieronymousb]

Mmmm, done. Now let's see if I can remember everything I thought while reading this!

I like Sommerfeld. He seems like a straightforward guy with a good head on his shoulders. Heh, you know, somehow I was expecting that no matter which way Ed turned, he would have to end up working with Alfons again. I figured you'd set up a situation wherein Edward had to apologize to Alfons in order to necessitate his own plans, and I'm glad, because that's only fitting. Ed needs to learn from his mistakes. It's part of the growing up process. I was also happy to read Ed's conversation with Jean and to note how Jean explained that Alfons too was at fault. I think Jean may have overstated this a bit, but given what he wanted out of Ed, I can understand why he would play up sympathies with Ed's side. He coaxed very skillfully. The ending was a nice touched. Liked the mon capitane -- haha

[cryogenia]

Yeah >.> I mean, to be perfectly honest, the first thing I thought when I saw that Ed was pursuing *rocketry* at EoS was a great big WTF. It just...didn't make sense. I hope later in this series to have further addressed this issue, and in particular, the reason Ed drops out of the aeronautical program. I think he does at some point have to face the reality that physics is just different here, the laws of the natural world around him are different. Laws of conservation, hello! I have some geeky theories that Ed *could* use -- in fact, I kind of want to write a fic in which Ed and Al do have a final fight with the Gate, and win -- but for now, Ed is solidly focusing on rocketry because it's canon and because I'm trying like hell to explain canon :F

[hieronymousb]

Yeah, the rocketry thing always struck me as one of the WTF elements of the movie, and I can see why you're exploring it here both because of the canon and because rocketry = Heiderichgasm, but this has gotten me thinking it might be interesting if someday someone wrote a fic wherein Ed tries (and perhaps succeeds) to get home via some other means. Or for that matter, it'd be interesting if this came up at some point during the sequel to this fic series.

Only thing there is, my mind keeps looping around the fact that while rocketry won't help Ed, it IS still Heiderich's dream -- but hey, there's a whole 'nother can of worms/conflict for your OTP if these characters ever do reconcile. That's something they could have more fighting/angst over: the fact that one day, Ed might realize he's been barking up the wrong tree all along, maybe even once he's close to helping Alfons realize *HIS* dream. *g* You know me. I do so love a good, interesting conflict.

[nithela]

Oh. My. So many intelligent comments/commentators here. I'm waaay behind you people O.o ... So I'll continue being a stupid non-genious here and say that I still love this fic, the impressions and subconscious messages puts another dimension to it, a nice exception from maaaany other fics that exists. And one's got to love Alter!Jean

And, um, it keeps nagging me so I'll have to ask: what did Jean say back there? I understand Mon Capitane but the sentence before that?

Btw, you're my new idol.

[cryogenia]

Hey, thanks so much for letting me know what you like about this :) It helps me judge if I'm missing the mark or not.

The French line, btw, is a set phrase that means "that's like the pot calling the kettle black".

[ankoku_tenshi]

^^ +sdquee+ Yay! More AtVPWB!!! I liked the little comparisons between Havoc and Jean, espcially the 'Mon capitan!' part; it made me indelibly happy.

[cryogenia]

Thanks...I wasn't sure if I should throw that in or not, but I'm glad you liked it :)

[doomcake]

I had fully intended to leave a comment on this when you'd posted it, but somehow managed to get dragged off to work before I got the chance to.

As with the previous chapters, you continue to show some serious insightful brilliance with the characters. They are so pristinely well-written that I can't even begin to say how much I love them.

And that doesn't even include the fact that I think you write some insanely awesome educational!politics. You're reminding me about how much education is affected by internal politics within any given university - and especially considering the historical context here, you've done an outstanding job of incorporating such a complex situation into a short fic like this. *Guh.* Absolute love.

I'm looking forward to the conclusion; the confrontation between Alfons and Ed sounds extremely promising (and rather painful on both ends - but that's what makes it so fun to read about!). :D So much love right now. ♥

[cryogenia]

<3 Thank you so much. I wasn't sure if the politics were going to put people off or not :-/ They're kind of important in the sequel tho, so I wanted to start it now :O

[doomcake]

Oh, I love politics of just about any kind, almost to a creepy-geekish level. Hehe. I may not be good at thinking of political situations myself, but I can appreciate a well-written political intrigue of almost any kind. :3

... Wait, did you just say sequel? *__*

[cryogenia]

XD Yeah, I said sequel :) This fic has spawned its own arc, but I am not sure how gen said arc will remain.