shanastoryteller:

JUST CAN I SAY that the grunman-mustang-elric line of mentoring when it comes to reputations means so much to me. by which i mean:

grunman is a shrewd, calculating ambitious man who masks his true self by appearing to be silly and frivolous and easily distracted. roy was serious and forthcoming about his emotions and political views during the ishvalan war, but i think it was under general grunman that he learned that crafting a devil may care, harmless air was more beneficial than being honest and forthcoming. and ed was the same i think, serious and intent with his goals when he first joined military, and he had his moments of childishness, sure, but he was on a serious mission and he took himself very seriously.

but what if he saw mustang, and he knew what mustang had done in the war, if not specifically, could see the wariness he was greeted with – and saw the way that wariness gave way to incredulity when mustang acted like an idiot. ed is very, very clever when it comes to people. he picked up on roy’s ambitions by the end of his state alchemist assessment with bradley. so i think it’d be pretty easy for him to pick up on how people relaxed around roy and didn’t take him seriously because of his reputation and how that actually made it easier for roy to get away with a ton of crap.

so ed does the same – he’s a child soldier, emphasis on child, talking too loud, making a mess. he crafts the reputation of always being too much trouble, bratty and annoying and a terrible subordinate. and the brass leaves him alone. people go from envying roy his child genius to pitying him, and ed always, always completes his mission. just in the most destructive and immature way possible, and no way in hell is that an accident. ed is playing a delicate balancing act for both al’s safety and roy’s.

ed does this by being brat, just like roy does it by pretending to be a ladies man and grunman does it by pretending to be an old coot. but actually all three of them are incredibly ambitious, focused, powerful, clever men.

but putting all them in room together produces the biggest headache in the world, because until they drop they’re guard they’re just straight up obnoxious with each other, grunman waving fans about and roy waxing poetic about imaginary women and ed pouting and shouting and stomping his feet

then like a switch being flipped they’re intent and sober and terrifying like few other people could ever be

just. some hilarious and scary shit all wrapped up in one package, and a method unintentionally passed down to now encompass three generations of dangerously powerful morons