#wang chong

[envythepalmtree]

IT'S UP FOLKS

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Rating: T

Category: Gen

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga

Tags: Character Study, Xingese Roy Mustang, Pre-Canon, Race, Genocide, Technically Canon Compliant, (that's a new genre I invented where everything that happens in canon happens in the fic, BUT the fic narrative challenges or directly contradicts the canon narrative), ADHD Roy Mustang, Autistic Riza Hawkeye, Short Chapters

[Image description: Graphic that reads, "don't you dare look away, a Roy character study." Faded in the background are pictures of water flowing and flame. End ID]

Summary: Roy Mustang grows up as a Xingese child in Amestris, where utility is everything. An ownvoices Xingese Roy fic, and a pre-canon character study that follows him from his childhood to his war crimes.

~~~

Spring 1890

Roy was almost five, and Mommy was cutting his hair.

Snip snip.

“In Xing, the women of the Chang clan treated hair care as an important ritual. Even letting someone brush your hair meant you loved and trusted them,” she said. “Once, I had a friend in the Chang clan. Her name was Yuan. She let me braid her hair sometimes.”

Snip snip.

“Will I ever visit Xing? Will I ever see your friend?” Roy asked.

Mommy sighed. (Even back then, it was Mommy. Not Mama.) “Don’t worry about that, okay? You’re my good little Amestrian boy. Focus on doing well in this country.”

Snip snip.

“I thought I was your silly Roy Boy!”

Mommy giggled. “That too.”

Snip snip.

“You know why I named you Roy?”

“Why?”

“Back when I was in the Han clan, my last name was Wang. Although it wasn’t really a last name, because it came first!

“In Xing, family is super important, so we put our family names first. Wang means king, and so does Roy. I named you Roy because you’re my little king.”

“That’s so cool!”

Snip snip.

“Just. . . don’t tell other people about my clan or my last name, okay? I don’t know who has connections to Xing and I don’t want any trouble.”

Keep reading on AO3

~~~

Huge thanks to @miakwat for beta-ing, @wawayu and @spoopy-sloth for their incredible artwork, @fmabigbangs for organizing this event, and everyone else who helped me make this fic amazing 💚💚

[fuckyeahgreatplays]

Second show today!

[envythepalmtree]

Oh, oh! N vs W for Wang Chong! I'm so excited to meet her!!

Oooh this is an interesting one!

N. Negative: What does your OC believe is their worst flaw?

It's very reasonable for her to assume that her worst flaw is anger. It was anger that led her to commit treason against the Xingese emperor. She was caught, she had to leave her family, and she got the girl she loved killed.

When she comes to Amestris, it's not like she doesn't resent how she's treated because of her accent, or her lack of knowledge about Amestrian customs, or the fact that she could have gotten a very prestigious job if she wasn't obviously foreign-born. Who wouldn't? But deep down she thinks she shouldn't, so she pushes those feelings away. She raises Roy to think it's fair because she thinks it's fair.

W. Worst: What is your OC’s worst flaw?

She runs away.

Okay, yes, fleeing your country in order to not get killed is reasonable. But once she gets to Amestris, she tries to pretend that she was never Xingese, and only tells Roy things in order to teach him what not to do. She made sure to fall in love with a man and not a woman because! other than homophobia, which she doesn't want to deal with, a husband wouldn't remind her of the girl she once loved.

(Loving the fascist military state is a big runner-up though. Lol. Instead of "why am I being treated as inferior despite being a literal alchemical genius" it's "lol it's okay my son will be fine!" Instead of "why did my husband die in a battle to expand this dumb empire" it's "yay he died for his country!" And I think, if she were alive when Roy goes to commit genocide, she'd make excuses. And if Roy told her his plan to go to the top an then execute himself she'd say hell no and drag him all the way across the border to like. . . Drachma or somewhere. Or maybe drag him through Aerugo to get to Dahab, which is a country I made up for the fic. Just. Far away from Amestris. She may not be a martial arts superwoman like Chang Mei is but she's strong enough to drag someone across a country or two. Lol.)

don't you dare look away promo post

[envythepalmtree]

X

X. X-ray: Does your OC believe that they’re a good person? Would you consider them a good person?

I'll answer for Wang Chong / Julie Mustang, Roy's Xingese mother who you'll meet soon in don't you dare look away.

So, Chong/Julie has a pretty traumatic past. Idk how much spoilers I want to give (on one hand, the fic's not posted yet, but on the other hand it's about the execution not the surprise, y'know?) BUT!! when she's seventeen, her actions lead to a loved one getting killed, and she flees Xing as a refugee. Because of why she had to leave, she believes very strongly in Amestrian propaganda and has a very assimilationist mindset.

Even though she carries guilt, she does think she's a good person. Maybe not good enough, but good. And she thinks Roy can be what she couldn't.

I think I'd consider her a good person, at least at heart. I definitely adore her as a character. But she washes her identity away and raises Roy to do the same. And raises Roy to love Amestris, to believe that he needs to do everything possible for the Amestrian state. That didn't turn out well; most of the adults in Roy's life meant well but they did something wrong.

Ask me about Chong (Roy's mom) or Hypatia (Roy's adopted sister and first alchemy teacher)!! I would love to talk about them!!

[virovac]

Interesting read.

[iheartvelma]

[londoneventliggers]

Meet Wang Chong. Chong is a wine ligger, allegedly with a doctorate, so it makes it official. An absolute joke of a ligger who's been banned from trade wine events but who still crashes for the free food and drink. From the fictitious Wangi Wines, Chong is a well known ligger.

[envythepalmtree]

For the OC ask game: H & Y for Wang Chong and K & O for Erbe Heathcliff?

Also I'm really excited to read your fic! I love the hc that Roy is Xingese (tbh I consider it canon) and I read your excerpt and it was really good 👌. So definitely looking forward to reading the full work!

(to clarify for anyone who didn't see my tags on the last post: no, Heathcliff's not an OC, he's from an OVA, but I want to talk about him because I believe he deserves a personality!!)

H. Honesty: How often does your OC lie? Do they believe lying is ever justified? Describe a time your OC told a lie, or told the truth even when it was difficult.

Chong lies when she needs to. Once she loses her accent, there's no need to say she's a foreigner when she's asked where she's from; she says she's from Resit in the South Area.

She thinks lying is justified if it'll help you get by. And I don't necessarily think she's wrong.

A time she told a lie? Mmm let's just say. Roy got inspiration for his Yes I Definitely Killed Maria Ross project from somewhere.

Y. Young: How has your OC been influenced by their past? Are they a better person because of their past, or a worse one?

Ohh Chong's past is everything. As much as she likes to say she washed it away and started anew. It's the reason she ran from Xing. It's the reason she did everything to give Roy her version of a good life--raising him to be useful to Amestris.

I feel like everyone in FMA and most of the characters I made for FMA fics are all pretty morally gray. Chong's no exception. I guess I'd say she's a worse one because of it. Her bitterness towards the Xingese government is one of the reasons why she can't see flaws in the Amestrian government.

K. Knack: What is something [my version of Heathcliff] is skilled at?

Have you noticed that everyone in FMA is a math nerd? Well Heathcliff is our one (1) artist! He can draw beautifully with both hands! And not because he's naturally ambidextrous, no. He's right-handed. But as a child he went "well if my right hand gets amputated, I need to know how to use my left." So he taught himself to be ambidextrous.

Also, he was a chess champion when he was little. He told Roy that he quit chess voluntarily, because he wasn't interested, but that's not true.

O. Outlook: Is [Heathcliff] more optimistic, pessimistic, or realistic? How likely are they to believe a bad person can change?

Oh, when he meet him, he's a bright-eyed optimist just like Roy. Yes, it's an amazing idea to join the Amestrian military, which is violently racist against my race, so change it from the inside! /s

Has anyone noticed that in the Yet Another Man's Battlefield OVA, no one mentions the Ishval war despite it having started two years prior? I know that was probably a mistake on the part of the writers, but the solution I used was that most Amestrians had been taught that Ishvalans were dumb and not a threat, so they weren't taking the war seriously. Heathcliff was thinking that once the war ended, there'd probably be peace, and he could help make change happen.

I'm just gonna drop a snippet here:

“You know,” said Roy. “We’re so cool.”

“We are,” said Maes.

Roy continued, “People might complain that our generation is lazy and dumb, but you guys are some of the smartest people I’ve met. We’re all going to climb the ranks to high places and make our country better.”

“Yeah!” Heathcliff grinned. “It might be bad now, but the future is so beautiful.”

Spoiler: the future was not beautiful.

Also thank you!! I'm so proud of this fic and I'm so excited for y'all to read it 💚

don't you dare look away promo post