On Chapter 60

[evilhippo]

There's going to be just as much squeeing, though. Gah, I am such a sucker for backstory. What a way to persist at completely, constantly killing me with sympathising for characters I don't usually sympathize with, not to mention all the fangirling I am completely entitled to, stop looking at me like that had to do over Hughes' constant observations on everything. And being thrown into the middle of all the... and the characterization, and...

Okay, so on to slightly more coherent thoughts. As it turns out, I'm rather liking this turn in Roy and Hawkeye's relationship. Because hey guys, if they're not together now, and they've known each other all this time? I want to see someone writing pre-Ishbal Royai. Because I'd actually read that. I mean, gah, she's so shy there. I have this urge to just, like, run along behind her for the entire 10-year or whatever it is stretch between then and the "now" just to watch the character development.

I was also thinking about Roy's awkward haircut, and how awesome it is that Arakawa's got the hang of the whole guys don't often seem to have decent-on-them haircuts until they've actually grown up into themselves. Makes him look so dorky.

I still don't understand why I keep registering Ishbal-era Hughes as just-as-old and occasionally slightly-older-than normal time period. Guess he's one of those people who just always looks the same. Not that I don't know people who are guilty of that sort of thing. People I see every day.

The English major in me is hanging onto every time someone says "human" in this chapter in an odd way. At first I only noted it when someone non-human, or who I expect not to be said it, and I think they have a specific way of saying it that makes it stand out (because everyone else used the word "human" half a dozen times, too, including Hughes)... but goshdarnit, things like that don't work in translation often enough for me to hang on to anything. But mmm, flashback.

Also, I think Kimbley is almost creepier now because he's so goshdarn straight-facedly logical and, well "sane" by virtue of adherance to logic... Rather than just, well, nuts. Then again, we've yet to see the stone brought in, so that might finally tip things a little. He's still a jerkface, though. I am determined to look beyond his unexpected attractiveness.

Also, any bunnies I may have inadvertantly given myself yesterday re: Ishbal and crossovers that may or may not have had anything to do with spawning slightly different crossover bunnies involving a certain earlier chapters and some very mixed-up things that look like each other and... yes, those bunnies will be summarily ignored. They have to be. Though we all know I'll bring them up to some poor unsuspecting person sooner or later and suddenly they'll have to be written down.