Stanford "Ford" Filbrick Pines (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cryptograms) wrote2021-09-04 07:34 pm
cryptograms) wrote2021-09-04 07:34 pm
Entry tags:
[ 'Big old' makes it sound like it was quite a lot of blood, but if Fiddleford insists that he's fine then Ford will believe him. ]
Alright. Just be mindful of the blood pollution, then.
It's annoying trying to work around an area that's already absorbed too much.
Alright. Just be mindful of the blood pollution, then.
It's annoying trying to work around an area that's already absorbed too much.
I did have to chip it up with a blade but I'd say the damage is minimal. It's hard to absorb a solid.
You'd think it wouldn't be a problem if it's my own blood.
[He is torn between being incredibly glad that Ford didn't press the subject so he doesn't have to discuss The Horse Issue and being incredibly annoyed that Ford didn't press the subject because he ought to be more worried. Part of him knows that it's just that Ford Pines is bad at reading subtext and will take a 'yes, I'm alright' at face value, but it's easy to let himself be uncharitable.]
You'd think it wouldn't be a problem if it's my own blood.
[He is torn between being incredibly glad that Ford didn't press the subject so he doesn't have to discuss The Horse Issue and being incredibly annoyed that Ford didn't press the subject because he ought to be more worried. Part of him knows that it's just that Ford Pines is bad at reading subtext and will take a 'yes, I'm alright' at face value, but it's easy to let himself be uncharitable.]
[The image that flickers onto Ford's Omni is that of a large, nearly building -- but not one Ford is likely to have ever seen before. A nervous-looking man stands on a sort of dais as Qrow walks in alongside several teenagers.
The man--Leo--starts to act more and more squirrelly as the conversation continues, apparently uncomfortable with both the number of teens present and the fact that they are armed. Qrow, the one adult in the group, looks increasingly impatient with the pleasantries and cuts them off with a crabby demand to know whether or not they would be receiving support from "the council", but Leo doesn't get the opportunity to answer before one of the teens notices a little black bird perched on a railing, and calls it to it as her mom.
Qrow fires a shot to see if he provokes a reaction; indeed, the bird touches down on the ground and becomes a woman -- one that looks practically a mirror image of him.
"If you're going to shoot me, shoot me. That was insulting."
"What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing. You've been scheming, little brother," she responds, that particular cadence to "little" that might be recognizable to one familiar with having a twin, "Planning to attack your own sister."
He doesn't deny the accusation, yet all the same, he looks shocked, turning to face the man on the dais as though betrayed.
"Leo, what have you done?!"
The woman answers for him; he remains silent, as though ashamed. Qrow makes one last ditch attempt to get her to reconsider, to work together--we can beat Salem, he entreats--but she won't have it.
"All that time spent spying for Ozpin, and you still have no idea what you're dealing with. There is no beating Salem."
It's Ruby that interrupts, then, with her own impassioned speech about the impossible things they've all accomplished because they weren't alone.
"Work with us. At least I know we'll have a better chance if we try together. ...Please."
All the woman has to offer in response is contempt. "You sound just like your mother."
And then she opens a portal behind her, a fireball launched at Ruby before four figures emerge from it. Three of Salem's minions and a fourth unknown. A fifth steps in from behind to close the door behind everyone, lock them in.
(This was all a trap. Leo is a traitor...and so is your sister.)
"Sorry, brother. Sometimes family disappoints you like that," drawls her voice, dripping ice and poison.
(There's the familiar burn of exertion in your muscles as your blades clang and clash in deadlock, refusing to lose ground but failing to gain any -- but the more painful burn is in your chest. You were a fool for hoping she might ever come around. Did you ever really know her at all?)
"We're not family anymore."
"Were we ever?"
Maybe not. Maybe it was stupid to have thought they could've built something better than what the bandits had to give them.
"I thought so, but I guess I was wrong."]
The man--Leo--starts to act more and more squirrelly as the conversation continues, apparently uncomfortable with both the number of teens present and the fact that they are armed. Qrow, the one adult in the group, looks increasingly impatient with the pleasantries and cuts them off with a crabby demand to know whether or not they would be receiving support from "the council", but Leo doesn't get the opportunity to answer before one of the teens notices a little black bird perched on a railing, and calls it to it as her mom.
Qrow fires a shot to see if he provokes a reaction; indeed, the bird touches down on the ground and becomes a woman -- one that looks practically a mirror image of him.
"If you're going to shoot me, shoot me. That was insulting."
"What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing. You've been scheming, little brother," she responds, that particular cadence to "little" that might be recognizable to one familiar with having a twin, "Planning to attack your own sister."
He doesn't deny the accusation, yet all the same, he looks shocked, turning to face the man on the dais as though betrayed.
"Leo, what have you done?!"
The woman answers for him; he remains silent, as though ashamed. Qrow makes one last ditch attempt to get her to reconsider, to work together--we can beat Salem, he entreats--but she won't have it.
"All that time spent spying for Ozpin, and you still have no idea what you're dealing with. There is no beating Salem."
It's Ruby that interrupts, then, with her own impassioned speech about the impossible things they've all accomplished because they weren't alone.
"Work with us. At least I know we'll have a better chance if we try together. ...Please."
All the woman has to offer in response is contempt. "You sound just like your mother."
And then she opens a portal behind her, a fireball launched at Ruby before four figures emerge from it. Three of Salem's minions and a fourth unknown. A fifth steps in from behind to close the door behind everyone, lock them in.
(This was all a trap. Leo is a traitor...and so is your sister.)
"Sorry, brother. Sometimes family disappoints you like that," drawls her voice, dripping ice and poison.
(There's the familiar burn of exertion in your muscles as your blades clang and clash in deadlock, refusing to lose ground but failing to gain any -- but the more painful burn is in your chest. You were a fool for hoping she might ever come around. Did you ever really know her at all?)
"We're not family anymore."
"Were we ever?"
Maybe not. Maybe it was stupid to have thought they could've built something better than what the bandits had to give them.
"I thought so, but I guess I was wrong."]
[ Sometime after the deadly showdown, after washing up to heartbreak and to Augustine's absence, God— pacing jittery circles in his house, scrubbing the bare phalanges of his fingers through his hair, gnashing his fucking teeth while Pyrrha tries to keep a leash on him— indulges in the ancient self-soothing technique of shitposting at all the friends you've lost. ]
So no session on Friday, then?
[ Ha ha ha.
He doesn't expect a reply. ]
So no session on Friday, then?
[ Ha ha ha.
He doesn't expect a reply. ]
[ why is he like this
Ford is at least back in his body again, but he still leaves John on read until he's had a chance to drag himself downstairs and put something that bears at least a passing resemblance to food in his mouth. Then, finally. ]
No, there's not.
I'll tell Sayo.
Ford is at least back in his body again, but he still leaves John on read until he's had a chance to drag himself downstairs and put something that bears at least a passing resemblance to food in his mouth. Then, finally. ]
No, there's not.
I'll tell Sayo.
[He is doing this over text because like hell is he doing it over video. With text he can dip a lot easier, and he's still not sure he won't have a heart attack and die.
It's just that after the previous month he has... questions? Concerns. Concestions. And, unfortunately, he is only aware of one person that he thinks might be able to answer them.]
Stanford, I have a somewhat personal question I'd like to ask you if you don't mind.
It's just that after the previous month he has... questions? Concerns. Concestions. And, unfortunately, he is only aware of one person that he thinks might be able to answer them.]
Stanford, I have a somewhat personal question I'd like to ask you if you don't mind.
[ ... Hm. That's... a question alright. The lack of details is a little concerning, but Fiddleford isn't a bad person. Ford's sure it'll be fine. ]
Of course. What's on your mind?
Of course. What's on your mind?
oh probably warning on this thread for 70s-era ignorance about sexuality
terribibble
2022-08-24 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
[It takes a while for him to actually respond because he is typing and then deleting and then typing the same question in as many different permutations as he can think of and all of them feel Weird. Finally he figures it's best to just be concise, direct. Rip off the bandaid.]
You like men, right?
You like men, right?
1/3 cw: also references to various forms of discrimination
cryptograms
2022-08-24 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's not the 70s. It hasn't been the 70s for a while, from Ford's perspective. He has not only not been immersed in culture of America in the 70s in just as long, he's spent that time in a lot of literally alien cultures with a huge variety of perspectives on gender, sexuality, and romance.
Even so, his first emotional reaction is a panicked, How did his know?! Ford hadn't even known until after he'd fallen through the portal! ]
Even so, his first emotional reaction is a panicked, How did his know?! Ford hadn't even known until after he'd fallen through the portal! ]
[ He gets a grip on that reaction a moment later, though nervousness still persists. This isn't a conversation he's ever needed to have before. The subject went comfortably unaddressed between he and Stanley, and the kids and their modern Californian sensibilities meant that neither hiding nor addressing it were ever necessary. He has no idea what Fiddleford's own perspective on the subject is, either, which means he has no idea where to start with his response.
He does know Fiddleford, though, and hateful isn't a word Ford's ever associated with him. Petty and stubborn and contrary and mean all at various points, sure. But Fiddleford is also one of the few people in Ford's pre-Deerington life that's never treated him poorly because of, for example, his hands, his social status, or his culture. Surely Ford can trust him now as well? ]
He does know Fiddleford, though, and hateful isn't a word Ford's ever associated with him. Petty and stubborn and contrary and mean all at various points, sure. But Fiddleford is also one of the few people in Ford's pre-Deerington life that's never treated him poorly because of, for example, his hands, his social status, or his culture. Surely Ford can trust him now as well? ]
[ Still, it takes him a while to craft a response - several literal minutes, in fact. Much like Fiddleford he types and deletes and then retypes the same answer, then finally decides it's best to be blunt. ]
Yes, I do.
Yes, I do.
[No wait heck darn that is not that way to phrase that.]
I mean. How did you figure it out. What tipped you off.
I mean. How did you figure it out. What tipped you off.
[ The question of 'why' should be off-putting, but it's actually a really interesting subject. While it's by no means Ford's area of expertise, it's something he thinks would be interesting to discuss.
It's almost disappointing when Fiddleford switches to a question that's easier to answer, even though it's going to make for an easier conversation. ]
I don't mind answering, but that is a somewhat long story. It wasn't just one thing.
It's almost disappointing when Fiddleford switches to a question that's easier to answer, even though it's going to make for an easier conversation. ]
I don't mind answering, but that is a somewhat long story. It wasn't just one thing.
[Frankly he's free to do both. Fiddleford will take any crumb of information right now, and he'd prefer to not have to keep formulating questions when it's very clear he's not good at it.]
Stanford with all due respect I know you well enough to know that when I ask you a question I'm going to get a long response. That won't be a problem. You say however much you feel's important.
[He readies himself for a dissertation.]
Stanford with all due respect I know you well enough to know that when I ask you a question I'm going to get a long response. That won't be a problem. You say however much you feel's important.
[He readies himself for a dissertation.]
Thoroughness and clarity are important, Fiddleford.
[ But okay. He can do this. He can be a little vulnerable and a little emotionally intimate if it's in the name of summarizing an old anthropology dissertation.
Still, he does just as Fiddleford expects and presents him with a wall of text. ]
After we parted ways, I wasn't able to return to Gravity Falls for years. I traveled a lot, and I spent a lot of time with a lot of different cultures. Some were similar to American culture, and others were so different you can't even meaningfully contrast them. Many weren't even human cultures.
There were some that had three or more 'primary' genders, or none at all, that didn't have binary sexes, or that didn't have any consistent links between their sex and gender at all. So of course, in some of them sex and romance were treated in ways I'd never considered before. I probably would have figured it out just from that, eventually.
Early on in my travels, I met someone and I ended up getting along well with him. His culture was one with largely binary sexes and genders, like ours, but the criteria for taboo relationships was based far more around social status and genetic potential. It only took a few weeks in that area before same-sex relationships started to seem common and normal to me. And he and I were both male, and he was a low-ranked commoner while I was a drifter that technically wasn't even the same species, so none of the taboos applied to us anyway.
It did turn out that courtship and dating worked very differently, so he thought we were already romantically involved for three full months before I did.
But once we cleared that up, accepting his advances felt more natural than I would have thought. And that was the first time I was consciously aware that I was attracted to men.
[ But okay. He can do this. He can be a little vulnerable and a little emotionally intimate if it's in the name of summarizing an old anthropology dissertation.
Still, he does just as Fiddleford expects and presents him with a wall of text. ]
After we parted ways, I wasn't able to return to Gravity Falls for years. I traveled a lot, and I spent a lot of time with a lot of different cultures. Some were similar to American culture, and others were so different you can't even meaningfully contrast them. Many weren't even human cultures.
There were some that had three or more 'primary' genders, or none at all, that didn't have binary sexes, or that didn't have any consistent links between their sex and gender at all. So of course, in some of them sex and romance were treated in ways I'd never considered before. I probably would have figured it out just from that, eventually.
Early on in my travels, I met someone and I ended up getting along well with him. His culture was one with largely binary sexes and genders, like ours, but the criteria for taboo relationships was based far more around social status and genetic potential. It only took a few weeks in that area before same-sex relationships started to seem common and normal to me. And he and I were both male, and he was a low-ranked commoner while I was a drifter that technically wasn't even the same species, so none of the taboos applied to us anyway.
It did turn out that courtship and dating worked very differently, so he thought we were already romantically involved for three full months before I did.
But once we cleared that up, accepting his advances felt more natural than I would have thought. And that was the first time I was consciously aware that I was attracted to men.
[Alright. Okay. He reads that wall of text -- honestly shorter than he thought it would be -- over several times to make sure he's got it sorted. It takes a couple of times because there's some hurdles there he has to jump, mentally. He's never considered the concept of genders that aren't male or female, and certainly he's never considered that gender and sex and sexuality are not all essentially the same thing.
But if men can like men then clearly they aren't, are they, and the rest of it follows logically enough. That's the one good thing about him: he's simply too mathematically-minded to not intuit logic when it's presented to him. It's just the equation is a lot more complicated than he thought it was, and he hasn't learned the theory behind it yet, and also this specific type of math scares him, and the metaphor is getting a little confused but that always happens to him when he's discombobulated.
Now of course the Trench corruption is making him more likely to purposefully engage with things that scare him, and for the first time that might be... good? At the very least, not immediately dangerous. Just awkward.
Which is all to say, he has this very thoughtful inner monologue but what he winds up writing is:]
Are you telling me I knew you were a queer before you did
But if men can like men then clearly they aren't, are they, and the rest of it follows logically enough. That's the one good thing about him: he's simply too mathematically-minded to not intuit logic when it's presented to him. It's just the equation is a lot more complicated than he thought it was, and he hasn't learned the theory behind it yet, and also this specific type of math scares him, and the metaphor is getting a little confused but that always happens to him when he's discombobulated.
Now of course the Trench corruption is making him more likely to purposefully engage with things that scare him, and for the first time that might be... good? At the very least, not immediately dangerous. Just awkward.
Which is all to say, he has this very thoughtful inner monologue but what he winds up writing is:]
Are you telling me I knew you were a queer before you did
thats what you got from this
[ Fucking really, Fiddleford?
Which would Ford would like to leave it but that comment has caused a surge of his greatest weakness: curiosity. ]
When did you know? And how?
[ Fucking really, Fiddleford?
Which would Ford would like to leave it but that comment has caused a surge of his greatest weakness: curiosity. ]
When did you know? And how?
That's not ALL I got from it but there was a lot to get, let me tackle it one bit at a time.
I've known since college. I figured it was obvious and I never asked because it wasn't my business to pry.
[And why was it obvious?]
You never brought girls back to the room, you never even talked about them. You didn't talk about ANYONE. So I figured you weren't talking because it wasn't the sort of thing you talk about in public and that was fair enough.
Also I had to sleep every night across from that poster of Carl Sagan making bedroom eyes. You cannot possibly tell me you bought that and didn't know.
I've known since college. I figured it was obvious and I never asked because it wasn't my business to pry.
[And why was it obvious?]
You never brought girls back to the room, you never even talked about them. You didn't talk about ANYONE. So I figured you weren't talking because it wasn't the sort of thing you talk about in public and that was fair enough.
Also I had to sleep every night across from that poster of Carl Sagan making bedroom eyes. You cannot possibly tell me you bought that and didn't know.
Edited (how could i forget our good friend carl) 2022-08-24 03:45 (UTC)
[ Those...
Are all some pretty solid points that Fiddleford just made, which is the worst part. It's very hard to argue when you don't have a solid counter-argument!
There is at least one point on which he can defend himself, though. ]
That is not why I bought the Carl Sagan poster.
Are all some pretty solid points that Fiddleford just made, which is the worst part. It's very hard to argue when you don't have a solid counter-argument!
There is at least one point on which he can defend himself, though. ]
That is not why I bought the Carl Sagan poster.
Oh, sure. And I didn't watch Cat Ballou for Jane Fonda.
It wasn't! I just told you I didn't even know for years after that.
Alright, alright.
It seems to me that that's the kind of thing a man ought to have figured out before he hits thirty-something.
[Mainly because if it isn't, that is a troubling data point in the 'you might not be as straight as you think' evidence pile.]
It seems to me that that's the kind of thing a man ought to have figured out before he hits thirty-something.
[Mainly because if it isn't, that is a troubling data point in the 'you might not be as straight as you think' evidence pile.]
Page 5 of 9