#thewalrus

[dlsphjournalism]

THE WALRUS -- The Meeting House: Inside a Megachurch Scandal

BY RACHEL BROWNE (FGJ ‘14) -- Bruxy Cavey wanted a tattoo. It wasn’t to express love for a family member or friend or to commemorate a special moment. He wanted a tattoo to spur religious debate. After mulling over various verses from the Bible, the evangelical pastor at the Meeting House, a megachurch based in Oakville, Ontario, got “Leviticus 19:28” inked along his left inner forearm—the Old Testament verse that forbids tattoos. READ MORE. 

[idiopathicsmile]

tumblr is such a beautiful place because, for instance, long story short, a full-on trio of seemingly unrelated people have hit up my askbox recently, inquiring my opinion as to the terrible but inspiring revolutionary from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (1862) and the heavy-drinking and argumentative but somewhat warm-hearted cynic from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables (1862), and specifically who would be more likely to unsubtly steal cream cheese from their college cafeteria, and who would be more likely to full-on see the food crime happen while laboring as a cafeteria worker but do absolutely nothing to stop it.

i fully support pondering such Great Questions yourself, about your own OTPs. truly there are worse ways to waste an evening.

anyway, my own thoughts below the cut!

so the thing is, and i know this is a magnificent cop-out but it is unfortunately the truth, this is the rare pairing i ship where you could make a strong argument either way.

like, is enjolras taking shifts in the school cafeteria because his parents cut his tuition money due to his extreme political activism and so he resolutely joins the working class of the college community, only to immediately get so burned out about the (i assume) stringent and somewhat nonsensical rules governing the distribution of cafeteria food? maybe! is grantaire filching the cream cheese for what he will gladly describe to anyone willing to listen (and also to many half-willing to listen) as a "piece of gonzo performance art" which just happens to culminate in the distribution of home-made desserts to his floormates (not that he's got a weird complex about how hard it is to make friends using just his personality)? maybe!

alternately, is grantaire burned out on any customer service-adjacent job you can imagine, from day one? sure! is enjolras out there defiantly trying to gather the supplies to make another course of food for the students who can't afford a full meal plan, like feuilly? yeah, you could make that case, i think!

so yeah, in response to the several(!) people who asked (<3), i think this is the exception to the rule where you could kind of just flip a coin.

[theladyragnell]

incredibly important nicholas sparks update: https://twitter.com/kirkpate/status/1839091385028284850

Sir?????

What???????

[copperbadge]

Hi Sam,

Did the signed bookplates for Royals & Ramblers get sent out? I finally started reading it last night (really enjoying it so far!) and it occurred to me that I have no idea where the signed bookplate for it got to. Did they go out? If so, do you still have the address it went to? I moved last year and I'm worried PayPal's address was my old one.

If it turns out I just lost it, no worries and I'll donate for a second one next time you have a book out :D Thanks!

...ahh fuck. I forgot. Fuck! Again!

Well, the good news is they haven't been sent out yet, the bad news is that's because I forgot I was even doing them. :D I do have all of the names and donations though, so I will get on that this week and next. My very sincere apologies and THANK YOU for the reminder!

I'm posting this publicly so the other people who donated for bookplates see it -- I'm not sure which address is yours but if you want to send me your current address, you can send it to my askbox or to copperbadge@gmail.com just to ensure I've got the proper one.

[theliteraryluggage]

Edward Elric, 1 (Why do you like or dislike this character?), 4 (If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?), and 23 (Favorite picture of this character?)

Thank youu!! 💜

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Lol I don't even know where to begin.

I mean, to start with Ed embodies just my favourite character type (genius asshole with a heart of gold), but he's also so much more than that. He's a cronchy onion with many layers and I am still discovering new facets of his character even after more than 14 years and uhh over 320K words in fanfic written. And this is true of most major characters in FMA bc Arakawa is just a top tier writer like that, but none of them quite appeal to me like Ed does.

I'm not gonna pretend it's not in part because of solidarity over our shared height, and the fact that his sense of style aligns so well with mine (and I am therefore convinced that his music taste etc would also align very well with mine). But. idk. the guilt complex. the inner conflict. the competence and intelligence. the snark. the utter devotion to the people he loves. the devotion, tess!!

yes I already had that meme what of it

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

There's a lot of very intriguing crossovers I have already seen, but one that I haven't yet and that's been simmering in my mind for a while now is The Old Guard, actually. I'd be so interested to see what Ed would make of that kind of life. (I've actually started writing a fic with a similar principle, but it's not an actual crossover/fusion or anything, just taking some inspiration from the general idea, still set in FMA canon)

23. Favourite picture of this character?

Oh someone's asked me this before and it was just as impossible to answer then lol

I could just show you my desktop lock screen tbh 😂 these are just from brotherhood, while a lot of my favourite Ed pics are also from the manga, but.. yeah these are all excellent

Thanks again!

Character Ask Game

[seanconneraille]

#plz tell me the blorbo you think i'm super fucking mentally unwell about <- reigen mobpsycho

you are absolutely correct

[lanwangjihouse]

tag of the week:

#need wang yibo hitting the babygirl anime eyes Very Hard for a single frame at a time on my blog ✳ @thewalrus-said #yibos puppy dog eyes are fucking unreal ✳ @autisthottygoth #also this video is so funny 〰 becase as LWJ yibo had to always keep the hooded eyes somehow 〰 and here he goes 🥺 ✳ @mbjw #yibo's bts expressionism continues to be a gift 〰 omg he made the funniest faces and i think part of it was just to flex his face 〰 the struggle of playing wangji ✳ @vegasandhishedgehog

[rosie-posie1313]

Aemond Targaryen Fic Recs Part 2 I 🐉

Part 1  

Your beauty never scared me By yourwonkywriter

Your beauty never scared me pt 2 By ^

You make it better By star-girl69

To young for war, too beautiful for battles By simpingland

Wolfs and dragons, both have claws and teeth By ^

A new life  By demiguisemoon

I know yours  By bookofbonbon

Love Lost  By ^

a welcome distraction good4olivia

don’t you love me? By endless-ineffabilities

possessive Aemond By factorydefaultlu

aemond showing his sapphire eye By gay-dorito-dust

Tell me the story By yourwonkywriter

A Good Wife By afro-hispwriter

Savior, Part 4 By thestoryden

I’m the mess that you wanted By thegreatestsandwich

I’m too wicked, I want to take all of your heart By ^

The Dragon Dance By dreamcatcher2113

The Dragon Dance By ^

UNLIKE HIS FATHER By sansaorgana

DRAGONS BANE By house-strong

Keeper of his Heart By factorydefaultlu

in the still of the night By saltywritings

Uncle Aemond to the rescue? By cryptaris

“the dreamer” part 2 By yummycastiel

My Fierce Lady By runningmunson

A Good Life By ^

Monster in The Stories By ^

So Much More By ^

The Rise By ^

A divine tribute and a divine prince. By yzzart

A dragon knows a dragon. By ^

Now I’m here, with you. By ^

Blood of my Blood By ultralightpoe

Salt the Earth Behind You By ^

No other remorse By shawty-writes-a-little

His Darling Wife By august-diehl

𝐁𝐄𝐍𝐓, 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐄𝐍 By milliesdiary

Bound.  By hs-is-loml

Aemond Targaryen x cousin!reader By justanamesstuff

Look After You By awearywritersworld

waking up to you By theship-thewalrus

𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭-𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 By delicrieux

Apple Of His Eye By ultraintrovertedgryffindor

Labyrinth  By endless-ineffabilities

Meant to burn together By wickedcanary

you vex me  By artemiscrocksgf

you’ll learn to hate me By leviathanspain

his blood, his pain By ^

Lessons  By aemonds-sapphire

Before the storm By aemhoe

Happy wife By onemillionpeopleinone

He takes off his eyepatch By ninetailedfoxmanchi

To Have and to Hold By lilibethwrites

A Curse and a Blessing  By ^

Distraction  By queers-gambit

“bigger than the whole sky”  By sourcherryandsprinkles

Love Spiral  By blayresmuses

cute aemond headcanons By vhagarsback

you are daemon & rhaenyra’s love child By hansensunshine

Eye of the storm By lxdyred

The Lovers: By anangelwhodidntfall

"bad to everyone but you" By cambion-companion

Little mouse part 2 By eddiemadmunson

[theliteraryluggage]

it's from out of the woods and into the fire!

“You should go back to sleep,�� Viktor said. “You went through an ordeal yesterday, you need rest.” Yuuri shook his head. “I’m alright,” he said. “I wanted to show you something.”

but yeah, with so many works, it's gotta be impossible to keep track of everything.

As for a prize, you don't have to write me something, no pressure! But if you want to maybe a little something about Phichit, since it was his birthday the other day? Or you can send me a line back 😘

“I wanted to show you something.” for the fic line guessing game

Been thinking on this for 24 hours and you've stumped me, Ace! Come of having *checks* 178 works on AO3, I guess, haha.

Let me know what you want your drabble-prize to be, and thanks!

[kaylasficrecs]

benedict bridgerton recs

childish infatuation | imagine, fluff | @heloisedaphnebrightmore

en garde | one shot, fluff | @delphispoeticals

forgive me | one shot, fluff | @benedictscanvas

they're not the only ones | series | @maximoff-pan

you are a menace to society (affectionate) | drabble, fluff | @starryeyedstories

wallflower | imagine, fluff (bit of angst) | @in-my-feels-probably

to be loved and to be in love | one shot, fluff | @desertno3

whatever the poets say | series | @pagesfromthevoid

all the love (under the mistletoe) | au, one shot, fluff | @seasonsbloom

irreparable | imagine, angst | @purelyfiction

thin ice | one shot, flangst (more fluff) | @starryeyedstories

audacity | one shot, flangst | @celestialnxva

piece of a puzzle | imagine, fluff | @deargenevieve

slide | au, one shot, flangst | @eleanor-bradstreet

avoidance | imagine, flangst | @theship-thewalrus

not for him | imagine, fluff | @iwritefandomimagines

(be)longing | one shot, flangst | @fayes-fics

i'll be seeing you | au, one shot, angst | @eleanor-bradstreet

the field | au, series | @eleanor-bradstreet

can't bear it | imagine, flangst | @benedictscanvas

little things | imagine, fluff (bit of angst) | @leviathanspain

jealousy | imagine, flangst (more fluff) | @jswizzlewrites

middle of the night | imagine, flangst | @bennybridge

one last summer | one shot, angst (some fluff) | @tea-stained-notes

see yourself as i see you | one shot, trifecta (smut/angst/fluff) | deactivated blog

comfort | imagine, fluff | @fayes-fics

i was made for lovin' you | imagine, fluff (some angst) | @auroracalisto

with child | imagine, flnagst | @leascorner

keeping a secret in a courtship | imagine, flangst | @jswizzlewrites

over the garden wall | series | @homeofthepeculiar

mr. bridgerton and the baker | one shot, fluff (slight angst) | @murdockparker (small tw)

to know you... | one shot, fluff | @fayes-fics

an american in london | one shot, fluff | @gogobootz1

if there is no you | imagine, flangst | @paracosmic-murdock

[miindfucked]

benedict bridgerton fic rec

nsfw fics are marked with🔞. all work has been credited to their respective authors.

It Had To Be You by @fayes-fics 

Summary: Modern AU romcom. A love story heavily inspired by When Harry Met Sally.

Chapters: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, (ongoing)

Whatever the Poets Say by @pagesfromthevoid 

Teaser: “What if I wanted to wait for you, Benedict?” She repeated, finally using his name. The way it felt on her tongue was almost sinful; but she loved it. “What if I am willing to walk to the ends of the earth and back, simply to see if you could love me?”

Chapters: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen🔞, eighteen🔞, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two🔞, epilogue.

Foolish Endeavor by @murdockparker 

Summary: Benedict Bridgerton was certainly no fool. Bad at cards, sure, a bit taller than most, that was a given, but he was seldom called a fool. Though, one could argue that falling for your best friend was a foolish endeavor, indeed.

Chapters: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven🔞, (ongoing)

Somewhere Only We Know by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Five hours of snowfall, four miles from the nearest paved road, three weeks before Christmas, two old friends and one bed….

From A Father To A Son by @thebabblingbrookenook 

Summary: Benedict has held his father’s words close to his heart for his entire life. The model of love that his parents provided set an uncompromising standard. All of the pieces to the puzzle didn’t fully align until he fell in love with you. Although his father is gone, Benedict gets to experience the love of his life through the lens of his father’s parting sage wisdom.

(Be)Longing by @fayes-fics 

Summary: Mutual rescue, mutual jealousy, longing and belonging.

This Is My Idea by @theship-thewalrus 

Summary: based on the song 'this is my idea' from The Swan Princess

This Book Is Dedicated To... by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Modern AU. Benedict helps cure some writer's block.

to be loved and to be in love by @desertno3 

Summary: You had been best friends with Benedict for as long as you can remember, your relationship forged during the years your mothers were preoccupied with the youngest children and your fathers were busy instilling leadership qualities in the eldest children. It seemed to be a perfect match for a future marriage, or so everyone had thought. However, your first season had come and gone and Benedict had not been as active a participant as his mother had hoped he would be. You had left London betrothed to someone else and that was that. But news about your disastrous betrothal reaches Aubrey Hall in the spring. And it changes everything.

When The World Is Free by @fayes-fics

Sypnosis: It is late summer 1939, when you arrive in Paris from New York to begin a year of adventure. A deal struck with your parents to see a little of the world before settling down and marrying your ‘childhood sweetheart’ Stanley.

You soon find yourself with a spirited young English housemate Eloise, enjoying all that the cosmopolitan European city has to offer…. Until a few weeks later when war is declared. In this newly uncertain world, Eloise’s mother dispatches her brother to bring her home. Your plan is to board a ship back to America… but circumstances conspire to leave you possibly trapped in France with no way home. Eloise refuses to leave the country without you, even as you secretly grow attached to her beguiling brother, Benedict, who is everything Stanley is not.

There appears to be only one solution to your dilemma to ensure safe passage out of the country as invasion seems imminent…  but it will mean your life is forever changed, even when the world is free again.

Chapters: one, two, three, four, five, six, (ongoing)

Innuendo Bingo by @fayes-fics

Summary: Someone knows a LOT of stupid synonyms for orgasms…

Truth or Dare by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Modern AU. A drunken game of Truth or Dare leads to an interesting development.

Rhythm by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Modern AU. Filthy talking and dancing with Benedict.

All The Love (Under a Mistletoe) by @seasonsbloom 

Summary: modern!au. you have been in love with your best friend's older brother for years. on Christmas eve, things finally come to a head.

Summer Nights by @murdockparker 

Summary: Benedict was born to be a father, she was sure of it.

Waking Up by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Modern AU. What is the best way to be woken up…?

In the Oven by @murdockparker 🔞

Summary: She was never all that good at baking, so perhaps a bit of assistance from her husband would be a sufficient help?

Inspiration by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Benedict just needs a little inspiration to complete his artwork.

Happy Birthday, Mr Bridgerton by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Benedict's wife gives him the best possible birthday gift.

Transitions by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Modern AU, friends to lovers, it’s very distracting when a Bridgerton becomes a triathlete…

Breaking and Fixing by @fayes-fics

Summary: Benedict’s wife likes to fix things (and break them).

Mine by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Benedict's wife gets lots of male attention at a party and he gets very jealous.

A Treat by @fayes-fics 🔞

Prompt: “don’t be shy; come sit on my face, love.”

Acting Up by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Your husband Benedict gives you a treat during a Bridgerton family dinner.

Sonnet #29 by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Your husband Benedict and you have a late night tryst in the billiards room of Bridgerton House.

Lightening & Lilies by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Simply put, greenhouse sex during a thunderstorm.

Tell me (all the ways you missed me) by @fayes-fics 🔞

Summary: Having been apart for 3 weeks, you share an eventful carriage ride.

[film-in-my-soul]

another regular appointment | 906 | softestpunk / @softest-punk

Summary: The bricks of The New Inn, slick with rain, bite into Dream’s back even through the insulating layer of his coat, but any momentary shock of pain is instantly swallowed up by the warm sanctuary of an eager mouth. It is unprofessional, of course, making repeat visits to the dreams of a particular dreamer without proper cause.

Recompense | 1,445 | Lilibet

Summary: In hindsight, pressing the King of Dreams, an endlessly immortal being of unfathomable power, against the wall of The New Inn is probably not one of Hob’s best ideas.

verdant, fertile, and blooming | 1,893 | softestpunk / @softest-punk

Summary: The Dreaming enjoys Hob's visits very much—to Dream's increasing distress.

lonesome nights are over | 1,934 | thewalrus_said / @thewalrus-said

Summary: Hob's restraint broke at the one-year mark, six months since the start of their odd, circumstantial friendship. "Tell me truly, Dream, have you ever paid for a drink in your life?" Dream blinked, looking down at his half-empty glass. "What?" he asked, a rare loss of words from him. "Every month, someone pays for your drink for you, and you've never taken them up on it," Hob said. "Were you really not interested in any of them?" "Interested?" Dream's brow furrowed, like he was trying to understand and couldn't. "Interested in what?"

let me in before the rainy season starts again | 2,633 | tiltingheartand / @tiltingheartand

Summary: “Oh shit,” he says, eyes wide. And then, “oh fuck,” as he’s scooting backwards as quick as he can, “sorry, sorry, I’m sorry,” because what else can you say when you realize, oh, that’s not just a version of your friend that your brain conjured up, that’s your actual friend, the anthropomorphic personification of dreams, in your actual dream. The dream where you’re naked and waiting for him to come be naked with you.

Please see below for more recommendations!

all i want is to be a bit warm for you | 7,848 | im_not_corrupted / @im-not-corrupted

Summary: Upon escaping Fawney Rig, the King of Dreams does not feel anything. His skin is numb to feeling. Desperate to feel something other than the cold that became a constant companion since he was so cruelly caged, he makes himself bleed. Still, he doesn’t feel it. During one of their weekly meetings, Hob notices. And he watches as it becomes a pattern. Concerned, he inevitably brings it up, only to learn more about where his friend had been in their century apart than he expected.

How Adam Loved Eve | 9,761 | Moorishflower / @moorishflower

Summary: It's said in the Bible that when the Lord took the rib from Adam and used it to craft Eve, there upon her breast, where the rib rested beneath her skin, was Adam's name writ in the old language of angels and higher powers. Hob wonders, sometimes, if Adam bore Eve's name somewhere upon his person, or if she spent the rest of her life wondering if God had chained a man to her that would never love her back. Everyone is born with the name of their soulmate as a mark on their palm. Hob Gadling is born with a thousand titles in looping scrawl on his arm and a name on his palm that no one can see but him.

Real People | 9,781 | spqr / @andthepeople

Summary: Desire’s blood red lips curl into a smile so knowing and devious that Dream’s heart drops into his stomach. “I know,” they say, nearly purring. “As an apology, dear brother, I’ll give you the one thing you want most in the universe. The thing you don’t even know you’re yearning for.”

À Cœur Vaillant | 10,156 | WyvernQuill / @wyvernquill

Summary: The young man turned, and asked, determination and cowardice both flickering in his eyes, “Professor, do you think it’s wicked to help the devil?” For a moment, Hob thought - and tried to not let his mind dwell overly long on an entity he had long thought demonic. Is it wicked to help the devil? Less than to love one, surely.

What Manner Of Creature | 13,727 | Myrocongridae (Anguilliformes)

Summary: Hob's had a number of theories about his strange friend over the years. They are all, of course, completely incorrect.

Terms of Endearment | 13,871 | BeholdingTheGaytimes / @beholdingthegaytimes

Summary: It’s been somewhere between two or three months, he reckons, since Hob started consistently having domestic dreams about a man he hasn’t seen in about a hundred and thirty years. It’s only a bit mortifying. Dreams and the subconscious are odd, and he’s not going to start judging himself now for any wanton desires.

Hope and Stubbornness Endure | 14,028 | icarus_chained

Summary: There are consequences to being caught in nightmares not your own, in the tormented memories of beings infinitely more powerful than you. Hob Gadling doesn't care. Nightmares can't kill him. And if this was ever real, he has no choice but to try and fight it now. To show ... to show his friend that he would have rescued him. If he'd known. He would have tried, no matter what it cost.

I have lately learned the difference | 18,085 | Chthonion / @chthonion

Summary: While Dream is imprisoned, Hob dreams of prisons, until, one by one, all of them take the same shape: a glass cage. Hob doesn't realize why until he meets Dream again, and the dreams don’t stop afterward.

In the Arms of Morpheus | 18,473 | Kavute / @mashumaru

Summary: In the year 1916 the sleepy sickness struck the world. Over the years millions of people were affected with no real cure or known cause. Hob Gadling, currently known as Robert Gadlen, a respected neuroscientist, uses his time to try to solve the mystery of sleepy sickness and missing dreams. When the old familiar Stranger returns to his life, Hob's understanding of the world shifts once more.

Get Lonely | 19,058 | Moorishflower / @moorishflower

Summary: It has been four months and two weeks since Orpheus died. Struggling to come to terms with his role in the death of his son, newly-divorced ghostwriter Dream Murphy finds solace in an ASMR YouTube channel run by a kind, faceless man. When he starts to feel more than gratitude for the man to whom he credits his recovery, he must make the difficult choice between standing sentinel over his son's memory, or moving forward with his life.

string of pearls (by fate's design) | 21,642 | youcanseethecosmos / @youcanseethecosmos

Summary: He knew of Roderick Burgess. Every man, woman, child, and dog has heard of The Great Collector and his labyrinth of mythical creatures. Hob had never been rich enough to get invited to the shows and parties Burgess would throw at his mansion. Nor was he ever sneaky enough to attempt pretending he was a nobleman. But Hob knew what happened at those parties by observing others. Listening in on drunken rambles of the aristocracy who enter The White Horse to escape their totally miserable lavish lives. What a bunch of cunts they are. But again… a job is a job.

Master Reclist · Personal Masterlist · Blog Nav.

[jamesleech]

michael lista for @thewalrus

oil on yupo, 8 x 11 in, 2024

400 CAD

[theladyragnell]

well, since you mentioned it, how about daine/numair?

You and an anon both asked for this one!

My feelings on this one are mixed!

Going purely on character interactions, before we get into any of the Baggage, I really enjoy their banter! They've just got a really nice easy relationship where they really clearly care about each other, and there's enough give and take that there's never really a point when that care (whether platonic or, late in the series, romantic) feels one-sided.

But then, of course, there is the age difference, and the teacher/student thing, wherein I am of three minds, all of which are, as far as I'm concerned, valid.

First: this is a book written for an audience of teenage girls, who often fantasize about being with older people or figures of authority for a variety of reasons I don't care to go into right now. I did, when I was a teenage girl! So it's a fantasy for teens and that is fair and valid. We aren't meant to read this as unwise or even predatory behavior from Numair when he starts to be infatuated with Daine, because this is Daine's POV, where being the object of his desire makes her more powerful.

Second: I am an adult who works with teenagers, and I simply cannot IMAGINE a universe where I could be attracted to a student. This is also the mind that remembers all the ways real-world relationships like this tend to work out.

Third: Tamora Pierce ... is not always great about writing people to seem like the age they are. By which I mean, Daine fully acts like she is 16 in the first book, and Numair fully acts like he is 22, and no matter what the narration says that is how I persistently read them as I went along because their progressions from those ages were logical, which means when they got together they were reading as 20 and 26 to me, and that is the kind of age gap I don't really care about.

So, in conclusion, my opinion is that Pierce got their ages wrong.

[copperbadge]

Hi Sam. I lost my sweet baby tortie today, and would like to request extra love and treats for the Cryptids, but especially Deebs, if you don't mind 🤎🤎🤎

I'm so sorry! Keeping thoughts for you. I dread the day I lose one of the Cryptids. (I've begun to realize I am also overly emotionally attached to the cats on my dash, and will be devastated when they pass.)

In any case, I have given Dearborn some extra pettings and a breakfast of The Food Only Dearborn Likes (turkey primavera wet food). I offer you this from a few days ago, her in her happy place curled up in my lap on the Second Best Blanket.

[ID: Dearborn the tortie is lying on her side on the Second Best Blanket, head curled over her chest; her front paws are stretched out to hold her back paws in place, and her tail curls over all four paws. She looks like she's just the softest, because she is.]

[theliteraryluggage]

Ed, 9 + 25?

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Oh dear... I was just talking the other day about how I'm not sure Ed and I would actually get along very well IRL... but I think for the purpose of this question, it depends on how we ended up being roommates. If we already know each other and were friends and decided "hey fuck this shit rent is expensive let's live together", I think we'd be fine. There'd be some conflict for sure (what's the point of having a roommate if you can't ask them to get stuff off the high shelves for you? Also Ed stop eating all my snacks) but we'd work it out.

I think if we were thrown randomly together as roommates in a dorm or idk via craigslist or whatever, he'd drive me absolutely fucking insane. He's loud and rude and eats all my snacks and clearly thinks--no, knows--that he's smarter than me (made worse by the fact that he's right). I'd hate him. But I'd be too intimidated to say anything about it and just seethe and suffer in silence. Maybe a little passive aggression if I'm feeling bold. We'd probably bond over music, though.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Oh man my first impression.... Tess, it's been 14 years since I first read FMA. Like I remember anything from 2010. I do know though that he was my favourite from the start. I'm a basic bitch who always gets stuck on the protagonists. But tbf Ed has the height thing going on which was an immediate point of solidarity between us. You and me both, dude.

As for now... well. He's my skrunkly little blorbo, my punching bag and my comfort character, the source of about 40% of my self-confidence (and like 10% of my income lol) and my favourite pastime.

Thank you so much for the questions 🥰🥰🥰