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lovegoodlane · 7 months ago

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Pursuing the Prefect - 4

4k words

18+ only

Warnings: none? No sexual content, only angst/arguing

Summary: Fred struggles to patch things up with his prefect after a disagreement (stubborn Fred)

A/N: The next part as requested. No smut this time, didn't quite fit the storyline. Let me know what you think!

Link to part 1, part 2, part 3

----

It was Saturday morning, and you tore through your drawers trying to decide what sweater to wear to Hogsmeade. It was early November, and the cold air was starting to become brutal.

You settled on a burgundy one, pulling it on over your head and inspecting your reflection in the mirror. You hadn't picked out a pair of pants yet, so you were stood in just your sweater and knickers.

Your eyes wandered down to your thighs where you could still make out the outline of where Fred had left love bites. It made your stomach turn. You hadn't spoken since Thursday night when you disagreed about going on a date during the Hogsmeade trip.

You tried to force it out of your mind, grabbing a pair of jeans and pulling them up your legs. You checked your reflection again, deciding to pull your hair up into a pony tail.

You heard a knock at your door, answering with "come in!"

Beatrice peeked her head into your room. "Almost ready?" she asked, clearly excited for the day ahead.

You exhaled, studying your reflection once more. "Almost ready," you replied.

——

It was colder than you had expected. You bundled up with a puffer jacket and put on a pair of earmuffs, knowing that you were going to be frigid walking from shop to shop.

Beatrice linked her arm with yours. "Where should we go first?" she asked. "I think we should get some chocolate frogs, they're my favorite."

Cho had decided to skip out on the Hosgmeade trip, so it was just you and Beatrice today. You were still struggling to handle Cho's snappiness, so you didn't mind having some one on one time with Beatrice.

You wandered into a sweets shop, looking at all of the candies they had to offer. Sweets weren't really your thing, but Beatrice's weakness was chocolate. Every time you went to Hogsmeade, she always bought chocolate.

Beatrice had picked out a couple of chocolate frogs and some truffles, making her way towards the register to pay for her treats. You waited for her, peering out the window to see the other students who were exploring the shops. You caught a glimpse of red hair through the window, making your stomach flutter.

You really wanted to talk to Fred, but you had no idea how to approach him. A public relationship made you feel uneasy, but the more you thought about it, the less miserable it sounded. You wanted to be with Fred, and people were going to find out at some point.

The silence between you two was palpable, and Beatrice picked up on your change in mood yesterday at breakfast. You explained the situation to her, and she sympathized with you, but she brought up some important points.

"But don't you like him?" she had asked you once you were in your dormitory for the evening. "You've been spending more time with him and he clearly makes you happy."

"I just don't want other people to be so nosy about us being together," you explained to her. "Fred is incredibly popular, meaning that everyone will suddenly be looking at me. I don't need that kind of pressure."

"You thrive under pressure," Beatrice argued. "Fred isn't asking you to declare your love from the rooftops. He just wants to be able to hold your hand in public and not have to feel like he's hiding something. He probably feels like you're ashamed of him."

Beatrice's last comment made something click, and it had been floating around in your head ever since she said it. Even now standing in the sweets shop, you felt guilty about the possibility that Fred thought you were ashamed of him. That couldn't be further from the truth.

Yes, you and Fred were admittedly pretty opposite, but that didn't matter to you. You were a prefect with perfect marks and he was a troublemaker that focused on anything but his academics. It seemed like you two couldn't be more different, but somehow the pairing just seemed to work. Opposites really do attract.

Beatrice approached you, her bag of sweets in hand. "Where to next?"

"I want to get a couple of new quills, I need to replace my old ones," you answered, heading for the door.

A wave of cold smacked you as you exited the shop, causing you to cross your arms in an attempt to preserve your warmth. You and Beatrice walked together down the cobblestone path, heading toward the quill shop.

You entered the shop, a familiar scent and warmth overwhelming you. You visited this shop every time you came to Hogsmeade, as you loved their quills and were willing to spend your allowance on them.

You browsed their selection of quills, deciding on one hawk feather quill and one eagle feather quill. Beatrice hung back by the door, relatively uninterested in quill shopping. She was more interested in sweets and trinkets.

You paid for your quills, giving your quid to the shop owner. He packaged them up for you, giving you a small package to tuck into the tote bag that you had slung over your shoulder.

"Why don't we grab some butter beers? I could use a break from the cold," Beatrice commented as you headed toward the exit.

You linked arms with her as you two set out for the Three Broomsticks. On your way there, you noticed Fred with his group of friends. He was goofing around with George, Angelina, Lee Jordan, and Alicia Spinnet.

You locked eyes with Fred for a moment, a blush forming on your cheeks. He looked away first, pretending like you weren't even there. This caused your stomach to sink, as you could tell that he was still upset from your conversation on Thursday evening.

Fred was disappointed. He was hoping that you were less concerned about your reputation, but after shooting down his proposal of a Hogsmeade date, he wasn't so sure. You were willing to sneak around with him, but public acknowledgment of your involvement was somehow a step too far. This didn't sit well with Fred.

He knew that he was being immature by ignoring you, but he didn't know how else to deal with his feelings. It was a complicated situation, and he felt that you wouldn't understand his perspective. You two ran in two completely different circles, meaning that your lives at Hogwarts were nothing alike. This created a certain tension that Fred didn't know how to bridge.

You and Beatrice walked past the group, entering the Three Broomsticks and finding a booth. You settled in, unzipping your puffer jacket and removing your earmuffs.

"Are you and Fred still not speaking?" Beatrice asked, unzipping her own jacket.

"No," you replied, clearly dismayed. "I think we're both too stubborn to admit our feelings. I know that I let him down, but he needs to acknowledge that my fears about dating are relevant."

"Why do you think he's so upset about you not wanting to be on a date together in public?" she asked, taking off her jacket and setting it in the booth next to her.

"What you said about it seeming like I'm ashamed of him made a lot of sense," you answered. "Fred seems confident on the outside, but that's not always the truth. Him and I have opposite priorities and different reputations. I think he might feel like I'm nervous about tarnishing my reputation by being with him, but that's not true."

Beatrice reached across the table for your hand. "Then what is true, love? I think you need to work that out with him."

"I like him a lot," you admitted, your cheeks flushing. "He brings out a different side of me. I get so focused on my marks sometimes that I forget to let myself have fun. He loves surprising me and being spontaneous, I think he's exactly what I've been missing in my life."

"Wow, that's....a lot," Beatrice replied, letting out a breathy laugh. "You need to tell him that. He probably has no idea that you even feel that way."

You shrugged. "I know. But things feel impossible right now. He clearly doesn't want to talk to me."

"Since when have you been afraid to approach someone?" Beatrice questioned. "You always stand your ground, sometimes I wonder how you didn't get sorted into Gryffindor."

Beatrice gave your hand a reassuring squeeze. You were grateful for moments like these. Beatrice never judged you for anything.

"I'll try to talk to him today, then," you decided. "How about I get us some butter beers?"

——

You and Beatrice had finished your butter beers and decided to simply stroll around Hogsmeade until a shop caught your eye. You walked past a number of couples, trying not to sneer at the way they seemed infatuated with each other.

As you approached a trinket shop, you noticed Fred and his group lingering nearby. The shop was known to sell a number of joke toys and all around bizarre things, so of course the Weasley twins were interested. You watched as Fred demonstrated to his friends the magic of the exploding pen he had just purchased.

You took a breath and looked over to Beatrice. "I'm going to see if he'll talk to me."

She gave you a reassuring pat on the back as you stepped toward the group of Gryffindors. Fred noticed you approaching, and he averted his gaze.

"Oi, hey there prefect!" George greeted, causing Fred to punch him in the shoulder.

The other students in the group snickered, enjoying Fred's embarrassment. Your nails dug into the palm of your hand as you clenched your fists, trying to maintain the courage to speak to Fred.

"Fred, do you have time to chat?" you asked.

"Uhm, not really," he brushed you off.

It felt like a stab to the heart. He was suddenly so cold toward you. That wasn't the Fred you knew.

"You need to make time," you replied, willing yourself to sound assertive.

The Gryffindors stood there in shock, not believing that you would stand up to Fred like that. Fred huffed at you.

"Fine. I'll be at the Hufflepuff party tonight," he said, finally meeting your eye for a moment.

You tried to keep his gaze, but he looked away. You felt so defeated.

"Alright, I'll see you then," you answered, offering the group a tense smile and nod before turning back toward Beatrice.

You felt like you couldn't reach her fast enough, your breathing becoming more rapid with each step you took. You were panicking. Everything you thought was true about Fred was unraveling before your very eyes.

"What happened?" Beatrice asked, noticing the frantic look in your eyes and pulling you to sit on a nearby bench. She wrapped an arm around your shoulder, attempting to comfort you.

"Fred just...he's acting so...I don't understand," was all you managed to get out before frustrated tears began rolling down your cheeks.

"Love, take your time," Beatrice soothed, leaning her head against you.

The Fred you knew was assertive. He wasn't afraid of conflict and he always spoke his mind. Fred was kind and thoughtful, and he had done everything he could to make you feel special. But all of that had changed over the matter of a couple of days.

"He barely even looked at me," you sputtered out, wiping the tears as fast as they fell. You hated crying. It made you feel weak. Your stubborn streak hated giving in to your feelings.

"I'm trying to make things better, and he's acting like he doesn't have time to work things out," you explained, trying to slow your breathing.

"I'm sorry. He's being a git, there's no excuse for that behavior," Beatrice said.

"I thought he cared about me. A few days ago he wanted all of Hogwarts to know we were together, and now he doesn't even want to speak to me," you said, exhaling to try to gather yourself.

It was confusing. Fred had never sent you mixed signals like this before. He was always very clear about his intention to woo you and make you his girlfriend, but that didn't feel so clear anymore.

Fred's group of friends walked past the trinket shop heading toward the Three Broomsticks. They didn't seem to noticed you and Beatrice, as the bench you were sat on was tucked around the side of the shop.

Fred and George were at the back of the pack. You were crossing your fingers that they would keep going toward the Three Broomsticks and not see that you were crying on a bench. But of course, George happened to look over his shoulder and saw you.

He stopped for a moment, crinkling his eyebrows and cocking his head to the side as he tried to evaluate the situation. He noticed your splotchy face, and it was clear that you had been crying. He turned to Fred, pulling him by the back of his coat.

"What?" Fred said, sounding frustrated. George motioned toward where you and Beatrice sat on the bench. You tried to shrink yourself, not wanting to speak to Fred in this moment.

"I think that's your fault," George said, referring to you in your upset state.

Fred nodded, muttering something else to his brother before he began walking toward you and Beatrice.

"What do you want, Weasley?" Beatrice challenged, her voice sounding fierce. She was trying to protect you.

"I just...we need to talk," Fred replied, sounding guilty.

Beatrice looked at you, and you nodded at her to tell her that it was okay. She stood up, giving Fred one last glare before walking off into the trinket shop to give you some space.

Fred sat on the bench, a wide space between the two of you. It felt like you were worlds apart. Just two nights ago, you were in his bed crying out his name. Now you felt like strangers.

Neither of you wanted to start the conversation, but you just wanted to get it over with at this point.

"I'm so confused," you said, sounding small. "You told me that you would never stop pursuing me and now you can't even look at me."

"Birdie...." Fred started, but nothing else came out. He didn't have anything to say.

"I know that I hurt you when I said I wasn't ready for a date at Hogsmeade. I'm sorry for that, but I didn't say no because I'm ashamed of you. I said no because the last time I was dating someone, everyone had an opinion on it. When we broke up, I could hear people whispering about me in the hallways. I don't like that," you explained.

You still weren't looking at each other, choosing to look at the ground instead.

"I don't know how to feel, Fred," you confessed. "You have spent the past couple weeks convincing me that we should be together, and we have one small disagreement and you don't even want to speak to me. That's terrifying, and that's not the kind of person that I thought you were."

Fred laced his fingers together in front of him, considering what to say to you. You were right. The way he was reacting was out of the usual.

"I'm sorry, birdie," he finally said. "I just...when you said no, it felt like proof that you thought you were too good for me."

"But Fred, I have never once said that to you," you said, turning to look at him. "You know that I don't think that. We're different people, but neither of us is better than the other."

Fred sighed. Once again, he knew that you were right.

"I know. I get in my own head sometimes. I guess it's just the way that I feel about myself. I feel like you're better than me, and I've been trying to find ways to prove that you think that too," he said, sounding defeated.

You dared to reach across the bench to hold his hand. He let you.

"Freddie, it's not possible for me to think something like that. I'm sure that people will say that you're too good for me. Every girl at school would be chuffed for the chance to date you. You're cracking at quidditch. You know how to make anyone laugh," you listed out. "There are things that you will always be better than me at. And I am better than you at other things. But that doesn't mean that I want to compare us to each other. It only reminds me of why I admire you and the ways that you inspire me to want to improve myself."

Fred finally looked at you. It seemed like he finally understood. The soft look that you were familiar with had finally returned to his eyes.

"I'm so sorry that I made you upset," Fred said. "I was being a git. I didn't know how to handle my feelings, so I just tried to ignore you. Clearly that didn't help either of us."

You nodded your head in understanding. It felt nice to be able to talk like this again after over a day of silence and turmoil.

"Will you let me make it up to you?" he asked, squeezing your hand that was still holding onto his. A hopeful smile played at the corners of his mouth, causing your own smile to spread across your lips.

"Alright," you agreed, leaning your head onto his shoulder. You still probably needed to work a few more things out before all could return to normal, but Fred was making steps in the right direction. You knew that you tended to hold grudges, but you wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Free scooted closer to you on the bench, wrapping his arm around you. "Is it too late for that Hogsmeade date?" he asked, a light chuckle punctuating the end of his question. "You and Beatrice can join us at the Three Broomsticks. We're going to get lunch and have butter beers."

"Bea and I already had butter beers," you confessed, leaning into his warmth. "But she always loves chatting up Gryffindors. I'll see if she wants to go."

You stayed like that for another moment, cuddling on the bench before going to find Beatrice inside the trinket shop.

——

You and Beatrice were going to the Hufflepuff party tonight, and you felt nervous for some reason. Not nearly as nervous as you were when you were getting ready for the Gryffindor party, but being with Fred in a semi-public space was brand new.

Beatrice had once again lent you a t shirt of hers, cropped just enough to hit along the waistband of your low rise jeans. She was perfecting her makeup, stationed at her desk while you stood in front of the full length mirror.

"Are you really doing this again?" she teased, referring to your struggle with getting ready earlier today. "It's just Fred. I'm sure he thinks you look great in anything. Or rather, maybe he'd prefer it if you wore nothing at all."

Beatrice chuckled deviously at you, and you picked up a pillow from her bed and threw it at her. This just made her laugh even harder. You cracked a smile, knowing that there was probably a bit of truth to her statement.

"This is the first thing we're doing together where other people can see," you said, sounding stressed. "I don't want to be the topic of gossip for the next week."

Beatrice turned in her chair to look at you. "I know love, but that's just what it's like to be with someone like Fred. He's always up to something. If you want to be with him, you'll have to get used to it."

You huffed. "You're right. It's just...being with Adrian was so peaceful. No one batted an eye until we broke up."

"You've never been someone who likes when things are easy," Beatrice commented, raising her eyebrows knowingly at you.

You shook your head at her, smirking because she was absolutely correct. You loved a good challenge. This usually meant in your academic life rather than social life, but you would try to embrace the uphill battle nonetheless.

"Let me at least put some lip gloss on you if you're going to be despised by every girl at Hogwarts for the next week," Beatrice joked, getting up to join you at the mirror.

You let her put the gloss on your lips, something sparkly but not over the top. You pressed your lips together, checking your reflection with satisfaction. "I think it's time to party," you declared.

----

You and Beatrice wandered into the Hufflepuff common room, already packed with upper year students. The music was loud, and most people were dancing in the middle of the room. Fred spotted you immediately, joining you and Beatrice near the entrance.

"You look....I have no words," Fred commented, chuckling and shaking his head. It made him flustered when he saw you out of your uniform. Especially when you wore shirts that showed off a little bit of your stomach.

"Thanks, Freddie," you replied, taking his hand and giving him a grin.

"Oh yuck," Beatrice joked, sticking her tongue out. "Why don't you make yourself useful and get us some drinks? We're going to hit the dance floor."

Beatrice eyed Fred up and down, waiting for him to depart to get drinks. He looked at her for a second, seemingly unsure if she was serious. She gestured toward the makeshift bar, prodding at him to fetch the drinks. He obliged, turning on his heel toward the bar.

Beatrice looped her arm through yours, dragging you to the dance floor. "I know you've got some moves, little miss prefect," she joked. "Let's see those hips move."

You scoffed at her words, scandalized by the idea of dancing in such a way. You always just did a simple sway from side to side, dancing wasn't your personal specialty.

You tried to stay on the beat, hesitantly moving your hips from side to side. "Alright! Get it, girl!" Beatrice encouraged, giggling with you as both of you danced.

You felt a hand on your waist, and you instinctually leaned back to meet the person behind you. "I missed you, Freddie," you joked as you danced up against him.

"Freddie?" the voice asked. It was not Fred's voice.

You turned around to find Adrian behind you instead of Fred. You felt your face heat up instantly, embarrassed at your actions. You had assumed that it was Fred coming back with your drink.

"Adrian--" you started, unsure of what to say.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," he said, his voice raising in volume. The other students at the party began to stare at you, only making the situation feel worse.

"You've been shagging Fred Weasley?" he asked, almost yelling at you. Everyone definitely heard it, with conversations coming to a halt to watch the confrontation.

It felt like your voice was stuck in your throat. This was a scene from your nightmares. All eyes were on you, and your private life was being exposed for all to see.

You saw Fred over Adrian's shoulder, still hovering near the bar where he had a drink in each hand for you and Beatrice. He met your eyes for a moment then looked away, assuming that you were going to deny Adrian's allegations.

You cleared your throat, trying to gain some semblance of composure. "So what if I am?" you replied, squaring your shoulders.

"You've lost your bloody mind," Adrian said, shaking his head and laughing.

"Might I remind you that I have something called free will?" you shot back. "You don't own me. Now fuck off and mind your bloody business."

You crossed your arms, a fire burning in your eyes as you stared Adrian down. He huffed, seemingly unable to find a snappy reply. He pushed past you, exiting the circle that had formed around the two of you.

Everyone was still staring, and instead of staying in the middle of the crowd, you headed toward Fred.

"Fred, I'm so sor--" you started before he cut you off by slamming his lips into yours.

Fred pulled you into the kiss, one hand cradling your head and the other wrapping around your waist. You hesitated for a moment before returning his kiss, trying to ignore the attention that was on you.

For some unknown reason, the other students began to cheer. You pulled out of the kiss, absolutely confused by the commotion. Then you realized that they were cheering for you and Fred.

You had just stood up to Adrian, which is something that almost no one would fathom doing. And you were snogging Fred Weasley, everyone's favorite prankster. It was a combination that inspired awe in your fellow students.

"Want to get out of here?" Fred asked, leaning close to your ear so you could hear him.

"Please," you said, holding his hand. He led you through the crowd and out the door, heading straight for his dormitory.

----

Link to next part

#smut #fred weasley #fred weasley fanfic #fred weasley fanfiction #fred weasley fic #fred weasley smut #fredweasley #harry potter #the weasleys #weasley twins #wizarding world #angst #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley imagine #fred weasley x you #fred weasley x y/n #fred weasley fluff

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starlightervarda · 2 years ago

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I can't sleep so Star Trek TOS/SNW dashboard simulator

🪆 chekovsgunman Follow

to this day I can't understand why they're called the Three Musketeers if there's FOUR of them? Did Dumas just forget his own main character???

🪴 plantdad Follow

You've got to be kidding me

🪆 chekovsgunman Follow

I know right? A mistake like this would never happen in Russian literature!

5,324 notes

🩺 therealmccoy Follow

After months of taking care of everyone else on this giant tin can I really earned this shore leave. Now I get to drink, relax, flirt with some lovely ladies and sleep until noon 😎 Just what the the doctor ordered!

🩺 therealmccoy Follow

Update: A fucking purple tree ate five crewmen. Again.

955 notes

🖖 iamspock Follow

Despite being among humans for close to a decade, I still find their tendency to overcomplicate and avoid aspects of social situations to be confusing at best and infuriating at worst. So much time is wasted on tedious matters such as who gets to 'make the first move' or 'not come off too strong'.

For example, everyone aboard my vessel is keenly aware of Lt. Uhura and Engineer Scott's 'budding romance'. But their need to extend their oddly avoidant courtship ritual, rather than outright state their interest in one another, is pointless, as well as frustrating to witness.

Why do they do this? Why not 'get it over with', as they say?

I encourage answers from all cultures, human or otherwise.

💅 janicethemenace Follow

I'm sorry Scotty and Nyota are WHAT

💉 xtinechapel Follow

DELETE THIS

💖 ofmanytongues Follow

SPOCK NOOO HE DOESN'T THINK OF ME LIKE THAT 😭

🔧 scott-free Follow

But I do! I thought you knew and were just being nice about it!

💖 ofmanytongues Follow

DMing you rn 😳

🖖 iamspock Follow

You're welcome.

24,103 notes

🌟 j_tiberius_k Follow

PSA: If you visit Antares VII, stay clear of any yellow plants, their pollen can have some...inconvenient effects on the biology of humanoid peoples.

My XO and I suffered through troubling symptoms until it was almost too late. Thankfully, we figured out a cure in time.

🪴 plantdad Follow

I can only find info on the symptoms. What was the cure? 👀

🌟 j_tiberius_k Follow

Do I really have to say it?

6,322 notes

💊 mmmbenga Follow

The galaxy if Klingons didn't exist

⚔️ glorytotheempire Follow

Wow. Humans are openly advocating for our disappearance yet Klingons are the bad guys? I thought your federation stood for peace.

💊 mmmbenga Follow

Cry harder you genocidal wrinkly-faced bitch I hope your planet gets sucked into a black hole

#If you think a joke is on par with what they do then book an MRI because you might have brain damage #fuck Klingons and anyone that sympathizes with them

35,007 notes

😎 ortegaaaas Follow

So I can either skim through this asteroid belt on Warp 2 for 3 hrs or on Warp 5 for 15 mins

🚀 mitchiemitch Follow

Erica no! That's not how navigation works!

😎 ortegaaaas Follow

FLOOR IT???

🚀 mitchiemitch Follow

ERICA NO

😎 ortegaaaas Follow

HOW ABOUT WARP 7 FOR 15 SECONDS?

💖 ofmanytongues Follow

ERICA YOU'RE GOING TO CRASH THE SHIP

😎 ortegaaaas Follow

I AM GOING TO HARNESS LIGHT-SPEED TO ZIGZAG THROUGH THE VOID

🚀 mitchiemitch

ERICA P L E A S E

112,517 notes

🐴 sirsilverfox Follow

I know some species are very private, but you'd think they'd share the important stuff, esp when we should trust each other by now.

How are we supposed to enjoy my weekly dinners if you all don't tell me what to watch out for :/ This is the third time this happens to the same person and I had to get the answer why from our CMO

💫 numerouna Follow

Wait what did I miss while I was gone

🐴 sirsilverfox Follow

Spock got wasted on my chocolate fudge cake and hit his head on the counter ://///

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readychilledwine · 5 months ago

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Call My Name

Nightmare Prompt Drabble -“How long have you been having nightmares like this?”

Summary - War leaves a last mark on all who see it.

Warnings - Mentions of loss and death, mentions of war, reader is spiraling in secret.

A/N - My heart is so sad because I got bumped while drafting this and accidentally deleted the anon 🥺

So, if this is familiar to you and you sent me this, losing someone you lose to cancer is one of the hardest things to live through. I am so sorry, Anon. I wanted this to be perfect and warm. I wanted it to be filled with comfort. I held onto it for a while because I was worried about it not filling that need, but as someone who can sympathize with that loss, it hits where I think it needs to in a very short and sweet way.

🦊Lucien Masterlist🦊Master Masterlist🦊

The feel and scent of blood was still so real as you calmed yourself and strong hands helped you sit up. It felt as if a weight was on your chest, closing in and seizing the very breath from your lungs.

“You're alright,” a voice deep with sleep stated. “Breathe. Take a deep breath. Breathe.” Lucien sat in front of you, his normally perfect hair a mess, his pajama pants wrinkled from moving as he slept.

“Lu?”

“You were screaming,” even in his sleepy state, his voice was like a silk that soothed your fears. “I could hear you from my room. I think we could all hear you, actually.”

Shame filled you. You normally could contain your nightmares to your own space, warding and shielding out the world from the visions that haunted your mind. “I apologize. I try to keep it in here,” you motioned to your room. “Rhysand taught me to shield, and it appears they failed me tonight.”

He shook his head. “Never apologize to me for being afraid. You are young and have already lived through so much. You have seen far too many things,” his voice was soft with sympathy as he settled down in your bed, pulling you to lay beside him. “How long have you been having nightmares like this?”

That sentence, one no one else had bothered to ask, opened the floodgates. “Since the war. Since-” You could finish, couldn't allow your mind to slip into that haunted place.

“I understand,” he stopped you as if he did not want you to bear that pain. Soft hands moved to your face, stroking your cheek bones. “I know that feeling. That piece of you leaving this world yet lingering in your nightmares and dreams. It makes you feel trapped. Like you can't move on no matter how desperately you try, and the hardest thing is no one has real advice.” He made sure his eyes found yours, the soft moon highlighting his own jawline and cheeks. “Other fae will tell you time heals all wounds, but I've learned that isn't always true.”

“Wounds like this fester, my spark. They infect and slowly kill. They rob you of your joy, your safety and security, your light,” his voice broke. “I cannot stand the idea of you losing your light. Not so young. Not so fresh to the magic of our world."

He waited for you to breathe before he spoke again, "I know it is hard, but you need to talk to someone. Me, Rhysand, Nesta. Any of us. We may not be able to replace them, but we can help you as you reshape your world around this loss. We can help you find another kindling to keep your flame alive."

You could only give a whimper as tears began to fall freely. You had not felt so seen, so safe, in months. He pulled you closer, wrapping you in his warmth and scent. “You don't have to decide now, but we will speak again in the morning. Sleep, my dear, I'll keep you safe tonight.”

#elizabeths.updates #send asks #send anons #acotar #acotar x reader #lucien x reader #lucien x you #lucien x y/n #lucien vanserra x you #lucien vanserra x y/n #lucien vanserra x reader #lucien vanserra acotar

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marshmellowtea · 3 months ago

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apparently ace discourse is allegedly returning so a few things on that:

i feel like we learn this lesson every couple months but a significant chunk of the popular funnyman bloggers on this website are just bigots and bullies and your dash will be way more peaceful if you just block them on sight and stop giving them the time of day lmao

aro/ace exclusionists in general are, again, just bigots and bullies and again, you don't have to give them the time of day, and

tbh i think the only thing keeping these kinds of people from being outright conservative queerphobes is because they're queer themselves in some way--they're able to empathize and/or sympathize with what they consider "normal" lgbtq people but not anyone else who falls outside of their limited scope of "acceptable". also lbr a lot of them are homo/transphobic as well just in ways the larger tumblr community finds "funny" or "ironic" or they target the weirder queers who are considered acceptable to attack, and we need to stop giving them a pass for this and then being surprised when it turns out they actually do hate trans people or ace people or bisexuals or pansexuals or whoever else they like to target as a "joke".

i'm not saying any of this to downplay how harmful aphobia is, what i am trying to say is that aphobes are fucking losers and we have history and solidarity on our side. most of the queer community doesn't give a shit about this stupid terminally online discourse and will choose to support each other, don't let assholes online let you forget that fact. bigots are not going to win, no matter how much they try lol.

#ace discourse #<- tagging that for filtering purposes but use that tag in 2025 feels so bad ugh #aphobia #asexual #aromantic #marshy speaks

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fallout-lou-begas · 8 months ago

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i have immense and great sympathy for the unique difficulty of accessing testosterone. i really and genuinely do and i don't want to diminish it. but can people who see posts by trans women encouraging people to stockpile/do DIY HRT—especially if the post happens to be intentionally directed toward other trans women specifically—please stop lashing out at those women for not being able to include as practical of advice about acquiring testosterone.

i know it sucks i KNOW but please listen to me. it is not trans womens's fault that testosterone is a controlled substance, or that that control extends to potential legal consequences for so much as openly or publicly explaining how to access it. that is why the HRT Cafe etc. only covers feminizing transition. if they faced those legal consequences then what they are able to do would be completely compromised. it is not because DIY trans women are a bunch of high school mean girls laughing at the lunch table, rubbing their hands together and relishing the fact that they have it so much easier as they pull the ladder up behind them. there is no fucking ladder.

do you think trans women like the fact that anybody anywhere can't get the hormones that they want? and do you think their own access to hormones is immune to legal danger, perfectly protected in perpetuity, to where they can't sympathize with anyone else literally at all? i know that everybody's nerves are frayed and raw from the election but it's depressing me to log on and see so many people yelling at trans women who are already sticking out their necks as much as the very limited medium of posting on tumblr dot com allows them to, or assuming that their inability to hand-deliver testosterone to those who need it is coming from a place of malice and not constraint. every trans woman i know wants hormones in the hands of those who need them, no matter who, no matter what.

#louposting

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moonstruckme · 2 years ago

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Hellooo!!! I have a Spencer Reid request, but feel free to ignore it if you're not up for it hahaha! I was thinking about BAU!Reader and maybe her and Spencer starting to mimic each other because they've been together for a while and spend so much time together? Like the way they talk, etc! I think it could be so so cute, especially if they don't realize they're doing it and the team noticing it for them? Thank you so much, I love everything that you write 🤍

Thanks gorgeous!

cw: discussion of tongue preservation methods? sorry in advance

Spencer Reid x bau!reader ♡ 560 words

You gaze lovingly at your boyfriend as he goes into detail about how to preserve severed tongues.

“So the fact that this unsub is purchasing equipment actually shows a lack of medical expertise, since he seems to be going overboard with preservation measures.” Spencer’s nodding as he talks, a tiny scrunch between his brows. “It’s pretty silly actually. It’s probably only a matter of time until he figures out he just needs to keep them on ice.”

Rossi’s eyebrows raise, and Morgan chuckles quietly.

Spencer blinks, eyes refocusing as he comes out of his brain and back into the conference room. “What?”

“Did you just say the unsub was silly?” Prentiss asks, and his eyebrows refurrow.

“Did I?”

“Let’s stay on task.” Hotch is all business. “If he were as inexperienced as that would suggest, he probably wouldn’t make clean cuts. This skill level indicates some level of expertise.”

“Well, actually, I’m not sure it would necessarily be medical expertise,” you say, cringing at your own knowledge. “The process he’s using doesn’t sound dissimilar to how I think they preserve cow tongues. Maybe he’s preparing them to eat.”

You’re doing your best not to squirm, and Spencer can likely tell, placing a slender hand on your leg under the table. “That’s a good point,” he says, “he could have experience as a chef or in the meatpacking business.”

Prentiss frowns. “Yeah, but how many chefs know how to preserve tongues?”

“Maybe we could start by looking into restaurants that serve those kinds of delicacies,” JJ suggests.

“Good.” Hotch closes his binder, standing. “Garcia, you get started on that and we’ll touch base with you from Atlanta. Wheels up in two hours.”

“Yes sir.” Garcia looks a bit green—you sympathize—as she hurries out of the conference room.

Morgan’s giving you one of his knowing looks, collecting his things extra slow, until finally you sigh. “What?”

“Well, actually,” he mimics, lips curving into a grin. “You and pretty boy must be getting serious if you’re taking on his signature phrase.”

You roll your eyes, but Spencer smiles, looping his crossbody bag over his head. “Actually, language style matching is only one form of mirroring. If you’re paying attention, people who spend a lot of time together can mirror each other down to their breathing rhythms or how many times they blink within a minute.”

You look at him interestedly. “So what does that mean? Just that we’re spending too much time together?”

The look Spencer gives you threatens to liquefy you with its softness. “There’s never too much time.”

Morgan’s laughter is hooting, and you want to find that as cheesy as he does, you really do, but the place within yourself where you usually reach for sarcasm has gone mushy and useless. You rearrange some things in your bag unnecessarily, head down to hide your blush.

“Wow,” Morgan sighs happily, “I don’t know which one of you is more whipped.”

This would normally be your opportunity to think of a retort, but luckily you don’t have to. JJ pops back into the room, looking frowny.

“We just got a call from Atlanta. The unsub killed again overnight.”

Spencer grows serious. “He’s accelerating?”

“Yup.” She nods. “Hotch wants us there now, so it’s wheels up in twenty.”

You and Spencer nod in tandem. “Sick.”

Morgan’s eyes roll straight up to the ceiling.

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integer115 · 3 months ago

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Ashes of the Academy quick reaction

Ursa blames everyone but herself for Azula's problems raising her. Azula was in a war? What war? She's just pure evil!

The world around us doesn't matter! Brainwashing is the absolute remedy - yeah.

There is no difference between stopping the war and losing the war, losing everything that was won during a hundred years of war.

The aristocracy has power and influence but does nothing with it because… Because between the scene where Azula is in chains and the scene where Zuko is standing on the balcony there is a script black hole!

Zuko is both powerful and powerless. The plot black hole obliterates any sense of who is responsible for what in the post-war Fire Nation and how society functions in general.

Mai's claim sounds really absurd. Mai is your boyfriend and you actively tried to make the Fire Nation lose the war, remember?

Yes, precisely because Azula burns everything for no reason, it is she who, even during her breakdown, did not throw fire at her servants. On the other hand, we have Zuko, who was constantly throwing fire at innocent people. Starting with his subordinates on the ship and ending with Aang. Simply put, the comic screws Zuko's characteristics to Azula.

So Mai didn't want to hang out with Azula. Okay. So Mai is just a hypocrite. Great character development.

So Azula lives to multiply suffering and destruction. Okay. Then again a banal question. Why the hell did the entire cast of the show survive Azula's captivity alive and well? And in Hokoda's case, even recovered? Why did Katara spill water under Ba Sing Se and not blood? Pathetic.

The writers themselves don't know why this whole idiotic circus with Kemurikage was needed. Perfect.

The Fire Nation is waging a war to acquire colonies. That is, it is implementing a full-fledged program of development of new lands. So how do the inhabitants of the colonies end up in someone's minds as sympathizers of the Earth Kingdom? What kind of nonsense is this? These are literally the same people of the same nation. Why, in The Promise, they showed us that the inhabitants of the colonies themselves consider themselves to be part of the Fire Nation. And this is logical. So how on earth did they turn into traitors during the war? Where did this nonsense come from?

Azula didn't trust her friends. Okay. Then why the hell she didn't burn them in the original show and went to get new ones? If they were just tools to her, she'd just get new ones and that's it. In the last Hicks comic, Azula almost did the dance with Ty Lee just to avoid turning the girl into a roast, so what the hell? This is literally a pluralism of opinions in one head and we are not talking about Azula's head.

So why did Azula lose her temper like that if she didn't trust her friends from the start and didn't even consider them friends. Again?

What the hell is a children's academy? Am I the only one who remembers about the war? Okay, writers, I get it, the war had no effect on anything. It's all the fault of a bad school and a bad Ozai. One question, on who is this intended for?

Oh yeah, let's boil it down to evil for the sake of evil. Literally!

Writer! You yourself mentioned a crowd of traditionalist aristocrats at the beginning of the comic, and now it all comes down to an old granny with a Sith Lord complex. Is it so hard to just watch your own writing?

What kind of people will Zuko be trusted with? Where did these people come from? Who let this people into positions of power? How did all this even happen again? The plot black hole keeps coming back to haunt us.

This granny was really going to kill the teacher with a Dai Li agent? An agent who would just attack in broad daylight? Why would he? Why would she? Okay… Let's say it's designed for children under one year old.

But now there's a bunch of Dai Li sitting in the Fire Nation and waiting for Azula. What? What kind of nonsense is this? How many years have passed since the show ended? Are these agents infinite? And they work for themselves! What nonsense this all is...

I apologize for the confusion and emotionality. But it's just…..bad.

#atla #atla azula #princess azula #Ashes of the Academy

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bakuhatsufallinlove · 7 months ago

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"Queer-coding" is only useful for a narrow range of media and it'd be great if we could stop using it for literally everything

Here's my problem with it:

The term originated to discuss negative media depictions of cultural stereotypes for LGBTQ people in the United States. It is inherently tied to the conditions of media censorship at play in the USA during the 1900s, with the Hays Code restricting depictions of anything it deemed "immoral."

Now, for whatever reason, people are using it to refer to literally anything they see as "kind of gay."

The term begins with the premise that making the audience see the character as queer is the creator's explicit intention. The creator knows the stereotype, you know the stereotype, so they are using the stereotype to convey to you something they can't say outright.

However, you can see how this goes awry, right?

The second we cross language, cultural, or even generational lines, this gets messy.

What traits are deemed queer? What behaviors or characteristics are seen as gay? The reality is this is a huge spectrum, and every culture has a different relationship with queerness in its history. For that matter, every nation has its own unique issues with censorship. A viewer from the USA may interpret a Japanese character as exhibiting stereotypically gay characteristics, but does that mean the Japanese creator intended it to be taken that way?

But then, if we try to account for what stereotypes Japanese media might use for queer characters to ascertain what the Japanese creator might have intended, we arrive at the same dead-end: the implication that queerness is only really portrayed via (usually negative) stereotypes.

This suggests that if media does not contain enough "clues" to imply a character is queer to the broadest possible audience, a queer reading of their story is out of the question. "Queer-coding" is treated as a metric of validity, a way to "prove" queer interpretations are allowable, yet it is based in stereotypes, censorship, and presumption of authorial intent.

The way queer-coding is continually brought into discussions about art essentially creates an ultimatum: media needs to be "explicit" by using direct (usually English language) terminology, or characters need to engage in things like kissing, declaring one's love, sexual activity, etc., yet even those are dismissed at times.

This creates a dynamic where art which is intentionally subtle or multifaceted may be seen as exhibiting cowardice rather than artistic complexity. It implies that if something is not "confirmed queer," queer themes cannot be read into it, queer subtext cannot be interpreted from it, and queer people are not allowed to identify with it.

This limits art. This builds walls that diminish human connection; it creates a situation where queer people are discouraged from seeing themselves in media not explicitly designated for them. Because, obviously, queer people are a completely different species from "normal people," right? Their feelings and experiences are so alien and distinct, there's no overlap anyone else could sympathize with.

You don't need permission to see queerness in art. You don't have anything to prove. Queer interpretations are just as valid as any other, and anyone who tells you different is selling something.

As I spoke about in this post, authorial intent is not more important than audience perception, and trying to infer the creator's intentions is a fool's errand. Especially in a situation where censorship is supposedly at play, any public statement from a creator could be reasonably disregarded as dishonest, which leaves us alone with ourselves and the work.

Which, by the way, is the only real way anyone experiences art. It's not you and the creator, it's you and the work. When people try to infer authorial intent, they are not discerning real, objective truth. They are sorting available information through a filter of what they consider believable before arriving at a subjective conclusion, which they then project onto a mental image of the creator.

In literary analysis, we select a "lens" through which to view art. This means that we decide to accept certain ideas as given fact and explore what the works says once we look at it that way. For example, we could accept as fact the idea that a number of the core cast are queer in some way. It posits the question: once we dismiss heterosexuality and cisgender identity as the only options, what do we see?

This is an intellectual concept, but the reality is that everybody naturally applies their own lens to art when they view it. This lens is not nearly so rigid or clearly defined, but it is a lens nonetheless, defined by their experiences, values, and individual personality.

I would love for people to stop using the phrase "queer-coding" quite so freely. It centers a need for validation and hinges that on "what the creator intended."

If you want some ideas for different language about this, consider these:

A theme might be queer by exploring broad topics queer people often struggle with, such as secrecy, shame, or self-acceptance.

The subtext of something might be queer in that one could read a double-meaning or deeper implication to the narrative device or scenario.

A work might contain allegory, symbolism, imagery or parallels that could be interpreted with queerness.

I don't think it's interesting to try to "win" by convincing you I personally know what the creator intended. That leaves the art static, unchanging, and lifeless. I would much rather tell you how I personally see the art and why, because that dynamic allows all of us examine the work more deeply.

In the end, it is not an author's edict in some external statement that gives art meaning. It is the audience. Our feelings are what give art meaning, and connecting with other people about what it all means to us is what keeps art alive.

#I said I'd talk about the queer-coding thing at some point so #here ya go #anyway let's get back to those cute boys and how in love they are

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shana-reviews-tmblr · 1 month ago

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-Goofy and Stolas, Two Flawed Fatherly Goofs-

And how understanding the former, helps us understand and sympathize with the latter.

Before reading I would like to ask that if anyone has watched Helluva Boss and both Goofy Movies, you can skim through the first part of this thread and go to: Character Analysis and Comparison as I will be recapping the some key episodes from Helluva Boss as well as both Goofy movies for any newcomers who may not know about either.

Now I've watched Helluva Boss since it debuted back in 2019 and at first, I wasn't too keen on it being anything more than a comedy series centered around a group of assassin demons from hell called I.M.P (Immediate Murder Professionals) getting into hijinks.

Tl;dr: I.M.P is an assassination company run by Blitz, the main protagonist of the series, as they take on contracts from sinners who died and went to hell but seek revenge on anyone they hated or were wronged by back on earth. In order for them to get to earth they needed to use a magical grimoire that Stolas "loans" to Blitz in exchange for the two spending 1 night on the full moon each month getting down and dirty in the sheets so they can have access to Earth as Imps are not normally allowed to that level of magic.

all of that changed in S1 ep2 "Loo Loo Land"

In the 2nd ep of the show, we were see that the series would be more than just wacky hijinks and that this would be a story with a heart to it as we are introduced to Stolas, I.M.P's benefactor, and his family life.

We learn during Loo Loo Land that Stolas has a somewhat strained relationship with his daughter, Octavia.

this is mostly due to the fact that when she was younger, her and her father were extremely close, however after some time after she grew into her late teen years, Stolas had gotten into an affair with none other than Blitz.

Things became hostile within the household as Stella would throw tantrums and wreck everything that was Stolas' all the while Via was watching the family she had thought was happy being together, fall apart.

To try and remedy this, Stolas takes Via to an amusement park, the titular "Loo Loo Land" which she use to enjoy going to when she was a child, however things do not go as planned as Via had to spend the day watching her father flirt with Blitz, whom he hired as a bodyguard.

At her limit and frustrated with watching her father act this way, Via storms off until Stolas catches up with her and the two have a heart-to-heart moment where Via opens up to her father about her fears of him leaving her for Blitz and while Stolas struggles to and is ultimately unable to tell Via the truth about why everything is happening and explain to her the relationship he has with Stella, he assures her that he would never abandon her.

The episode ends happily as Via and Stolas' relationship was saved from being burned down, even though everything else around them was being burned to a crisp courtesy of Blitz...um, Foreshadow?

Stolas and Via's relationship would be touched on again in S2 ep2 "Seeing Stars"

The episode sees Via running away to Earth after she tries to remind her father about a promise he made to her when she was younger about how he would take her to see Azathoth's tears (a meteor shower) as it only happens once in a great while.

But because Stolas was caught up arguing with Stella, who is moving out of their mansion and is having her things delivered, he had forgotten about his promise which causes Via to become rightfully angered and leads into the events of the episode.

At the climax, Via has another heart to heart conversation, not with Stolas, but with Loona, Blitz's adopted Hellhound daughter, where she talks to Via about how Dad's tend to mess up and make big mistakes almost all the time, but that it doesn't mean they don't care and that them trying to do better is what matters as long as they don't stop trying. as well as telling her how Stolas came with them to look for her himself (Stolas got caught up with Blitz as the two were dragged away and got into their own situation).

The ep ends happily as Via forgives her father and the two families (Via/Stolas & Loona/Blitz) enjoy watching fireworks go off.

After Seeing Stars, we wouldn't get any episodes or story plots that involve Stolas and Via's relationship for some time as by this point Stolas' romantic relationship with Blitz was becoming more of the center focus of the series as they both come to question how their relationship is and if it can be more than something that's merely transactional as both parties wish for something more intimate than simply having sex in exchange for Blitz being able to have a means to keep his business open. I made a thread on this earlier if you want to read the FULL detail on this development because this thread is going to be long enough as it is already lol From Truth Seekers to Mastermind: How we've reached the halfway point of Stoliz – @shana-reviews-tmblr on Tumblr The only thing you have to keep in mind from the thread that connects to Stolas is that he has been in a crappy marriage and for the first time with Blitz he feels like he's found someone he has genuine feelings for and wants to have a genuine relationship with someone. Because of this when Blitz is accused of stealing from Stolas, Stolas rushes to Blitz's rescue and takes the fall to save the person he loves and as punishment Stolas is stripped of his powers and title for 100yrs, no longer being able to see Octavia or come to his own property, Stolas has been banished.

This all culminates in the S2 finale Sinsmas where, after trying to get a hold of Via for over a month, things now begin to fall apart as Via endures her mother's cruel attempts to intercept Stolas trying to call her and explain everything, all while mocking him to Via's face.

Via also unfortunately finds her father's medication which he had been taking in order to cope with the abuse Stella had been putting him through for years.

When Stolas and Via finally get a chance to talk, Via completely shuts Stolas out as she assumes the medication Stolas took was because of her and thinks that all the good times they shared was a facade he was putting on and that Stolas would rather be happy with Blitz than with her and that the love she thought he had for her was also a facade.

the two of them are unable to communicate properly about everything and the misunderstanding between them causes Stolas to lose the one good thing that came from his marriage to Stella.

and we are left on a very bittersweet ending as Via has completely shut Stolas out of her life and all he can do is fall to his knees in tears knowing he will not see his daughter for the next 100yrs, and by then she may never recognize him as her father and just see him as a stranger.

And with Stolas' story summed up (for now) we can look into the other character this thread is covering.

That being Goofy and his adventures with Max in both A Goofy Movie and An Extremely Goofy Movie.

Like with Stolas I'll be summing up the events of both films, after which is where I'll get into the meat of things and try to show how Goofy's story and his own arcs will give us an insight into Stolas.

We begin Goofy's summary with the very first Goofy Movie, where Goofy, after being told a VERY exaggerated story by Max's principal about Max "Dressed up like a gang member" and was "causing a riot at school", decides to take his son on a road trip across country to spend quality time together in hopes of strengthening his bond with Max and helping him to stay out of trouble and avoid being put on the electric chair.

Unbeknownst to Goofy however, Max isn't the troublemaker his principal made him out to be and prior to being taken by his dad, was planning to attend a party where Max would hope to win the heart of Roxane, a girl he has a crush on.

Despite the rocky start the two have on the road trip, from Max rejecting any quality time with his father to Goofy taking some questionable "tough love" parenting advice from his friend Pete, the two slowly do make progress in becoming closer.

However Goofy learns a dark secret Max kept from him at the start of their trip. That being that Max changed their map so that they would end up in LA instead of Lake Destiny (the original destination Goofy planned to take Max too).

Because earlier in the film before Goofy took Max out on the Open Road, Max wanted to stop by Roxane's house and try to tell her he wouldn't make it to the party after he had promised to go there earlier when they met at school, but in a panic out of fear of losing his chance with her as she was walking away thinking Max wasn't interested in her, he lies and says that his dad was taking him to said concert, to which he then promised he would be on stage to wave too her, thus he changed the map in an attempt to cover his lie.

And when the time came for Max to direct his dad on where to go, Max in a panic chooses the route he picked, which then leads to Goofy and Max getting into an argument causing the two to crash off the road and be stranded in a river (roll with it) as the two now have no choice but to talk things out as they are literally stranded together with nothing to distract them.

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after clearing every misconception up, Goofy now understands his son better and any doubts he had from his principal to even Pete telling Goofy his son is a bad kid are dispelled, while Max, after spending all this time with his dad, is now more open to his father and seeing him as more than just "Goofy".

In the end the two manage to see Eye To Eye as Goofy gets Max to the concert and the movie ends with Max confessing to Roxane, after telling her the truth and apologizing for the lies he said, before formally introducing his dad to her.

Happy Ending

So, with the first film covered we now go into the 2nd film, which now sees Max heading to college and Goofy, after being fired from his job for losing his focus as he struggled with depression from Max being gone, needing to go to college as he must earn a degree if he is to find a better job.

An Extremely Goofy movie shows us Goofy and Max's relationship struggling once more as, with Goofy now attending the same college as Max, starts to try and spend so much time with Max that he is smothers him not helped that Max is planning to enter the College X games and face against one of the rival teams, The Gammas.

(Goofy Movie Tournament Arc, BEGINS!)

Things come to a breaking point as, after Goofy was recruited by the Gamma's, albeit with Max encouraging to his dad to join as a means to hamper the Gamma's and participates in the qualifying rounds, Max is shown up by his own father, who is unknowingly being used by the Gammas to cheat in the event and get under Max's skin.

This causes Max to blow up at his father because with all the smothering and parenting his dad has been putting him through while ignoring the ground rules they agreed upon was building up a lot of resentment with what happened at the preliminary rounds being the breaking point and Goofy is sent in a spiral of depression, he was failing his courses, not staying in touch with his new girlfriend Sylvia (who was the librarian of the college he was attending) and eventually was prepared to just accept his fate and quit college.

it is only thanks to him realizing he was losing his focus and in a sense being a hypocrite (as he had taught Max a similar lesson about Staying Focused on Your Goals earlier in the film) that Goofy makes a comeback and when the finals of the X games are happening, Goofy aids Max after the two make up with each other and their team defeats the Gammas.

At the end, Goofy and Max share a few words of love, understanding, and respect as Goofy is now able to fully let go of Max as he is able to graduate with enough passing grades to get his diploma and find another, hopfully better job.

And we see Goofy driving off happily into the sunset with his new girlfriend, Sylvia as he can move forward with his life while knowing his bond with his son is now stronger than ever before.

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Alrighty!

so, with both Stolas and Goofy's stories summarized we now can come to:

Character Analysis and Comparison

If you've read the above summaries or know of both Stolas and Goofy's stories, you might see there are some small similarities.

Goofy and Stolas both:

Single Parents

Have Teenage kids

A strained relationship with said kids

Both have issues with communicating with their kids

Have romances with someone

are both doofuses in their own way

On a surface level this would be all the similarities that the two have and if so, how does that even remotely help anyone sympathize with and understand Stolas?

For this we have to dive a bit deeper and examine some of the differences between them along with their similarities.

Differences:

Unlike Goofy, who is a working-class citizen, Stolas was born in a more privileged life as he is heir to the Goetia family, from birth Stolas was raised to see himself above others who were beneath his social class while also being denied any sense of autonomy, identity, and life outside of his identity as a Goetia it was only thanks to his relationship with Blitz, an Imp who is seen as FAR beneath him on the hierarchy, that Stolas began his journey to recognizing his own privileged life and the inequality that surrounds the world he lives in.

Goofy meanwhile is your average joe. He's an middle-class worker who tries to be a good loving and supportive father to his son, not to mention he is also a widower. Simple, yet easy to understand.

Another big difference is in how their stories are told, Goofy's story revolves around his relationship with his son, while for Stolas his story revolves around his relationships with Blitz (Romantic) and Octavia (Familial) but also includes somethings that are far more adult and nuanced than what Goofy is allowed to tell as Stolas' life includes but not limited to:

Spousal abuse at the hands of his ex-wife

Possible addiction to medication

The closet one can say Goofy and Stolas both have as far as "heavy topic" material is that both have had states of Depression.

This now leads us into their:

Similarities

For Goofy, the cause of his depression was Empty Nest Syndrome as Goofy came to the realization that his baby boy is off starting his own life while Goofy is left alone after being with him for so many years.

For Stolas, his depression is tied to the Spousal abuse he suffered from Stella.

But let's examine some other things the two have in common:

Miscommunication

This is something that shows up in both Stolas and Goofy's stories.

With Goofy, it's the miscommunication of him assuming he knows the story about what Max did in Highschool and rather than talking with Max to get his side of the story, Goofy believes what the principal said and, against Max's will, takes him on a trip thinking that this is the solution to helping Max when it didn't.

It was only when Goofy and Max were able to sit down and talk that Goofy got the whole story that he finally understood his son better which helped to mend their relationship and make it stronger.

This also happens with Stolas as I mentioned above.

Because of how Heavy a topic Stolas' situation is, this is something that isn't as easy as one thinks.

Because it is NEVER as easy as some will think it is for a parent to tell their child how much they've been suffering because of their spouse, made worse if the child is close with that spouse or if they have a good relationship.

and it's because of this lack of communication that Stolas is unable to explain things to Via properly to help her see him eye to eye and understand her father.

To Via she's only seeing her dad cheat on her mom with someone she doesn't know about, and it didn't help either when Stolas forgot his promise to Via to spend time with her like he said he would.

Both times Via forgave him but ultimately Stolas being unable to tell Via about her mother is what bit Stolas in the end, not helped that he never even told Via too about how Stella tried to have him assassinated.

So as we see, both Goofy and Stolas have had bad communication skills with their kids, while for different reasons, the fact is NEITHER of them were able to or were to talk and get things straightened out, which for both characters would find its way to bit them in the end.

which now leads into another trait both share that I might get push back from, but it's a hard truth.

Goofy and Stolas BOTH make selfish choices

How does Goofy act selfish? what blasphemy do I speak?

In a Goofy Movie, Goofy makes the decision to take Max on a trip without even once hearing Max out or even asking if he wanted to do this at all not helped that the first place they stopped at was a tourist spot where in Goofy gets into hijinks as well as doing things that makes Max feel embarrassed in front of crowds of people, despite Max trying to tell Goofy how he felt but Goofy was too lost in his own fun to listen.

Believe it or not On the Open Road, the music number that happens when Goofy and Max are on their journey, works and functions the same as a villain song singing which makes Goofy something of, if not, an Antagonist of the movie (and before anyone says anything Antagonist and Villain are not synonymous)

If you want to understand WTH I'm going on about, I highly recommend watching Sideways video on the music of a Goofy movie it is an amazing video and will better explain why Open Road is Goofy's antagonist song among other things you might like to find out about A Goofy Movie.

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So, if you watched the video already then you should see why I mentioned Open Road as an example of Goofy being selfish, this is because the song revolves around Goofy saying what he plans to do which is something that hinders Max's goals as Max, in this movie, is trying to win the heart of Roxane, but now he can't be there with her like he had hoped because he's now going across country spending days and weeks apart from her.

The selfish choices Goofy makes also does not stop here as in an Extremely Goofy Movie, where Goofy this time is sort of the focus point.

In the sequel, Goofy attends the same college as Max and it's made very clear Goofy is trying too hard to cope from his Empty Nest Syndrome by wanting to spend more time with him that he never bothers to adhere to the ground rules Max and him agreed to, even though Max was very understanding and sympathetic to his dad for coming to the same college and genuinely wanted him to get his degree so he can get a better job.

But throughout the film Goofy is constantly smothering Max which caused so much friction to build up that when Goofy, unknowingly, shows up Max during a sports event it's what causes Max to finally snap at Goofy and call him out.

and in the end Goofy acknowledges his own wrong doings when he recognizes that he lost his focus on trying to spend time with Max when he should have been focusing on trying to get his degree, to which he tries his best to make things right by apologizing to those he wronged and work to get his grades up and help Max win the College X games tournament.

This leads us now to discussing Stolas' selfish choices.

With Stolas, the selfish choices he makes are tied to both his romantic relationship with Blitz as well as Via, due to how one affected the other.

Stolas was so emotionally damaged from growing up being molded and groomed to be the ideal Goetia and never feeling an ounce of genuine affection from either his family or his wife (save for Via) that when he met Blitz as children the fun memories he had was something he held dear, so much that after 25 years when the two met up again Stolas had misunderstood Blitz's attempts to distract him so he could steal his grimoire as an attempt at "Romancing" him, which he himself also contributed too when he was so drunk and in an emotionally vulnerable place after Stella belittled him in front of her friends, that he felt Blitz was showing genuine interest and love, or at least what he assumed was love.

Not helped that when Blitz gave Stolas petty sex it further pushed the miscommunication which got further muddied when Stolas made an arrangement with Blitz

As a reminder i made another thread that tries to five into Stolas and Blitz's relationship so if you want to re-read that, pause reading here and scroll back up to the link.

If not no worries, the only thing you need to take away from that thread is that Stolas, for the first time in his life, met someone, who isn't related to him, that he connects with who makes him genuinely happy and in a desperate attempt to have that, he makes the selfish choice of wanting to have Blitz in his life as a lover.

This also causes friction with his daughter as mentioned earlier how Via watched her family fall apart and her father chasing after someone who she doesn't know and thinks is a homewrecker, when in truth she doesn't understand nor was told how close Blitz was to Stolas or sees how much of a good person Blitz actually is.

Loo Loo Land showed Stolas made the mistake with how he was ignoring Via's emotional state when he constantly flirted with Blitz instead of really talking to Via, a mistake that was in a very well placed part to show the irony, was done to him by his father Paimon when he saw Stolas in distress over what he told him his life will become and rather than deal with him, he took Stolas to the circus instead, there it was an attempt to distract Stolas and not deal with him.

With Stolas' it was a genuine attempt, if misguided, to try and make Via happy even if his own want for Blitz caused him to lose his focus on trying to help Via work through her emotions and properly explain things to her.

It just goes to show how Paimon's upbringing of Stolas affected his parenting skills:

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It's the lack of communication that Stolas has with his daughter that makes it harder for Via to see her father's plight and truly understand him, and this leads to her believing he might lie to her, not helped that any chance Stolas DID try to communicate with her like in Sinsmas when he tried to call her to explain everything, Stella ran interference FOR A MONTH which caused Stolas' window of opportunity to explain things to vanish and she calls him out on it.

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much like how Max, for all the times Goofy was making his own selfish choices, did the same.

But make no mistake, even if Stolas and Goofy's stories are not one to one the same, what similarities they do have and any differences between them DOES help paint a bigger picture.

that picture being parenthood and how much of a spectrum it is with how parents can be loving, supportive, and well-meaning, while also being very flawed and human in how they try to handle situations that come up as there is no 1 specific or "right" way to parenting or how some problems parents face can be different in some details, yet still have the same root cause/issue and not all have the same solutions or can be solved the same way.

Which leads to a topic that Stolas and Goofy both share that can't be denied, no matter what:

Their Love for their Children

It's no secret that Goofy loves his son, it's one of the driving forces of both movies, heck even taking into account the show Goof Troop and the Mickey's Once upon a Christmas special, Goofy's bond with his son is unquestionable strong and is core part of his character.

Case in point this moment here from the movie where, despite him and Max having friction, Goofy shows his love for his son by having a real moment with him as the two bond over somethign from the past they use to have fun with:

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And just as Goofy has undying love for Max, so too does Stolas have undying love for Octavia.

How?

well the picture you see above with him holding a newborn Octavia shows that he was there for her since her birth, we never get any pictures of Stella being there for Via or pictures of Stella and Via by themselves, we only see pictures of Stolas and Via together from him being there for her on her birthday to playing horsey with him having her riding on his back, heck in S1 Ep2 the episode begins with a young Via crying out to her parents, but only Stolas goes to check in on her and her nightmare was soley about her losing him.

The only thing that Stolas did that we never see Goofy do, and this is more a result of how Disney locks Goofy behind a G rating; Was when Stolas, after finally standing up to Stella, talks about how he endured so much of her vitriol, cruelty, and malice even when he tried hard to make the marriage neither of them wanted, work. ALL FOR VIA'S SAKE.

Even showing how he would have felt terrible for what he did if his actions had hurt Stella emotionally, but the only thing of hers that was hurt wasn't her heart, but her pride as a Goetia.

He endured so much for Octavia and all to let her have some kind of a normal life that he was denied and to be honest if Goofy was in Stolas' position he'd do the same for Max.

In Conclusion

I do not know if this thread will enlighten people on Stolas' character or if people will agree with me or my points.

My goal with this thread was to show the similarities between these two as I have seen countless times people decrying Stolas as an unlikable character, that he deserves to be miserable, or worse deserved to be killed.

To which I strongly disagree, Goofy reminds me so much of Stolas and vice versa, sure they have plenty of differences, but that shows how Stolas isn't a carbon vopy of Goofy and that he stands out as his own character.

Stolas may not be A-Hyuck-ing all the time or getting into slapstick moments with a "YAAAAAAAAH-HOO-HOO-HOO-EEEEE!" holler at the end, but he is silly in his own way and his arc only differs from Goofy in that Stolas is a privileged prince who has to unlearn the aristocratic upbringing he was molded into.

But where Stolas and Goofy are similar is in how they are as father's trying to be there for the children they love so dearly.

Goofy's journey lasted 2 full movies, not counting any specials or the TV series (Goof Troop), it roughly tells a story that is 2hrs and 42mins total, in that time span of each film things had to be set up, lead into the conflict, and be resolved by movie's end.

Stolas' journey as a character is lasting what is to be a 4 seasoned 52-episode series that has to stretch his development to where it is needed story wise, in other words Stolas' journey (in terms of his relationship with Via) is a slow burn compared to Goofy's and it isn't completed yet, so it is unfair to say Stolas or Goofy's journeys are superior or inferior to the other rather we should look at their story as two different takes of the same goal they both set out to accomplish.

So the question is, with all that we've discussed in this thread

If we can sympathize with and cheer for Goofy to have a happy ending with his loved ones, despite the mistakes, and selfish choices he made...

Then why can't we do the same for Stolas, when after everything that's been shown in this thread, do we see so many similarities that are irrefutable even if there are some differences between them that makes each character have their own identity?

Why can't we sympathize with and cheer for Stolas to find happiness and outgrow the upbringing he was forced into?

Regardless if anyone agrees with me, I hope at least this thread gives you all something to think about regardless if you watched ether characters story. Because if Stolas and Goofy can have similarities...how many other characters out there are similar that also might be unfairly hated?

In the end I see Goofy and Stolas as similar characters and as I said earlier are two shades of what I see as a Parenting spectrum.

They are Fathers

They are Lovers

They make mistakes

"They may not always get it right, but they're trying...

that's more important than you think."

#helluva boss #Stolas #HelluvaBossStolas #Goofy #a goofy movie #an extremely goofy movie #disney #vivziepop #vivienne medrano #character analysis #Spindlehorse #Shana Analysis

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zzthekaiju · 2 months ago

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So...Lumi's out

First of all, my initial thoughts:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT'S PEAK! GO WATCH IT NOW, THE REST OF YOU! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!?!

Okay, how about a bit more detail.

Let me get something out of the way here. The fact that this pilot is mostly an animatic as opposed to a fully-completed animation...is an absolute non-issue, and in fact a blessing. We need to take this mindset of "if it's not as crisp and borderline industry standard-looking as something like Hazbin or Lackadaisy then it doesn't deserve attention", put it in a casket, and BURY it so far below the ground it makes the remains of Precambrian lifeforms jealous.

Besides, the animatic release of the recent indie pilot, "Pretty Pretty Please I Don't Want to Be a Magical Girl" is absolute proof that you don't NEED to have a fully completed episode to wow others (Seriously, we all need to thank @kianamaiart for being such an inspiration). You just need a good concept, endearing characters, a ton of effort on full display, and a can-do attitude.

Lumi delivers on all of those fronts.

First of all, Evan Besser, AKA @starteas, needs a titanic pat on the back for releasing this during Autism Acceptance Month. Because simply put, speaking as someone on the spectrum, this is a cartoon made by autistic people, for autistic people.

Take main character Siona for instance. Aside from being canonically autistic, she really feels like the neurodivergent experience personified. She has really niche interests, tons of knowledge/enthusiasm regarding said interests, and struggles with expressing that in a society not quite built with people like her in mind. It's quite relatable when you think about it.

Other major autism-coded aspects include just the fantastical setting/characters in general and the themes of finding acceptance and belonging via friends. I'm not going to act like a total expert on the matter, but I do speak from experience.

Now what about the pilot itself? Well, what can I say except it's everything I wanted it to be?

Ah, I can do it in note form:

-I...did not expect to sympathize with Hala like I did by the pilot's end. I don't want to give anything away, but my opinion of her did a complete 180 upon seeing the big twist. From "you are terrible" to "you don't deserve this, but you're out of control". Impressive!

-Siona is such a treasure throughout. Just a cute kindhearted autistic slug girl doing her best. I vibe with her immensely. She'd be my favorite character if not for someone else having that title.

-Davin...what can I say, I've been in love with this character's design and personality since Day 1, and they did not disappoint. It was heart-melting seeing them being so supportive and close with their best friend. Their hugs are just so casual and warm and aughghghgh...I wish I could be more like them.

-Holden kind of felt like he was constantly skirting the line between "lovable rogue" and "unconcerned brat", but we don't watch these things for everyone to be squeaky-clean, now do we? Either way, I like the dynamic he provides with the others.

-I know I've spent the longest time bullying Felicity for being the typical rich brat, but I was honestly surprised by how emotionally vulnerable she turned out to be. Yeah, she still has the hallmarks of characters I detest, but I ADORE how it's shown right out the starting gate that she's capable of being a multi-dimensional person who clearly has a lot of baggage AND is capable of being a good person.

-Mika is NEVER going to beat the simp allegations. And he sounds like Hermes from "EPIC: The Musical". He's hilarious and I love him for that.

-Lumi...OH MY GOD THEY'RE SUCH A LITTLE BABY THEY'RE SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't take it, they were so adorable with the smallness and the "pyu" noises and the way Siona is so gentle and welcoming with them. The way they bond with Davin is a major bonus as well.

-...yeah, this whole pilot is basically "Exhausted parents give their gremlin son a little sibling while aggravating the royalty". I will accept no counter-arguments.

-Spoiler alert but, to a certain character I thought I was going to support every step of the way...

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If you know, you know.

-I should also note that the expressions in this thing are just as funny as they would have been fully-animated, if not funnier. Below are the ones that had my sides hurting from laughter:

-Background aliens were really neat, some REALLY amusing Easter eggs if you know where to look. But I find it rather hilarious that one of the aliens is literally Just A Penguin. Reminds me of the bear gag from "Avatar: The Last Airbender".

Altogether...I'm so happy to have been a part of this journey. As some of you probably know, I've done a sizeable amount of fan-arts/fan-comics for this show since I really started getting into it last year. I've worked really hard on them, and I'd highly recommend you check them out (plus for those of you who want to dub the comics I've done, you are VERY welcome to do so provided you give proper credit and such).

But this isn't about me. This is about the artist who has inspired me and undoubtedly so many others. Evan, if you're reading this, I want you to know that you have come SUCH a long way, and I am more than glad to have discovered you and known you as a fellow artist. You may have your doubts and your resignations, but you need to look at where your hard work has gotten you. You've made something that not only radiates creativity and charm, but helps neurodivergent people like us feel more seen than ever. You and your crew(mi) deserve every bit of praise and support you've received and more, and I don't think the latter could have done this without you at the helm. And it's paying off in ways you probably couldn't even imagine. That writing gig you got at none other than Glitch Productions is a clear indicator that the next generation of animation is looking upon you with a bright smile and a guiding hand towards the future.

So rest for awhile. You've more than earned it. Maybe the wait will be short, maybe it'll be long. Either way, when you're ready to once again break out this amazing great big galaxy you've crafted, we'll all be there there. And until then, we'll support whatever decision you make.

You're gonna truly rattle the stars, one day.

(Oh, and I'm going to be making a Vo Memes -style tribute video with some help over the week, just thought I'd let you know that).

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jessicalprice · 2 years ago

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So I've spent a lot of time untangling Christian exegesis of parables and talking about how the way Christians interpret parables almost always ends up being antisemitic.

But aside from how it makes them think about Jews and Judaism and Jewishness, I also want to talk a bit about how it makes them sympathize more with abusers than with victims.

The easy-to-point-to culprit here is the trilogy of parables that culminates in what most Christians know as the Prodigal Son story.

The common interpretation of these parables is that God does (and therefore Christians should) value a repentant sinner over someone who's never sinned.

The problem here isn't the stories themselves--they're pretty enigmatic as far as their actual meanings--but Luke's gloss:

"Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance."

(Mark says, "So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost," which is very different.

So on its face, in 2023, that's a blatantly dangerous, abuser-supporting belief. What is it like to be a child sexually abused by your youth pastor and to hear that the fact that he hurt you is part of what makes him somehow spiritually "better" than you?

And we can see it play out in the way Kevin M. Young, a popular progressive pastor on Twitter (who describes himself as "post-evangelical" and was the senior pastor at a Quaker congregation) responded to being told one of his tweets was antisemitic, and then jumped in to support a woman who responded by identifying herself as a fan of John Chrysostom (the literal author of "Against the Jews" and the most antisemitic of the Church Fathers, which is saying something).

I'm not going to transcribe the whole thing, because it's not all that important for what I have to say about this, but I am going to call out a few lines:

"The American Christian approach to t'shuvah sees the victim's spirit, character, and speech as equally important to the offenders. I.e. in Christendom, the victim can exceed the sin of the offender simply by their reaction (if it be in sin or acted in a way that is not Spirit led)."

So, to be clear, if someone assaults you, and you don't meekly forgive them in a "Spirit led" way, you're somehow worse than they are.

The uniquely Christian brain rot here is in seeing every sin as an opportunity for forgiveness. After all, if being a repentant sinner gives you a higher spiritual status--if there's more "rejoicing in Heaven" over you--than that of your victim, then you have to sin to get there. It treats other people as props in your salvation journey, not as fellow humans whose suffering matters. (Combine that with the Christian idea that suffering is somehow virtuous in and of itself, and you've got a very toxic recipe. Not only, by abusing others, are you guaranteeing your own value as a repentant sinner, but you're giving your victim the opportunity to ennoble themselves through suffering.)

Of course, a key word here is repentant. Put a pin in that.

These sort of exchanges on Twitter--a Christian being outright genocidal toward Jews, and a supposedly progressive Christian figure jumping in to defend the Christian, with seemingly no ability to comprehend that the Jews in the conversation are human beings who may have their own trauma around violently antisemitic language, with boundless empathy for the Christian abuser and none for the Jewish targets of their abuse--happen frequently and just as frequently leave Jwitter baffled in addition to angry.

Why all this empathy for the abuser and none for the victims?

I think a lot of this comes out of progressive Christian exegesis of parables, which is frequently looking for the radical "twist" to the story.

E.g. in the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, the assumption is that the audience of the time would have empathized with the Pharisee, and thus the twist is to make them empathize with the tax collector. In the story of the Good Samaritan, the assumption is that they would have seen the Samaritan as a threat, and the twist is to make him the hero.

The thinking goes that the audience would have had empathy for certain groups and none for others, so the stories push them to feel that empathy for the latter, and that this was needed to balance the scales, to make sure everyone was receiving love and empathy and care.

Except that this, in modernity, has the effect of simply reversing the roles, not balancing them. The groups that are assumed to be in good social standing get no empathy, even become the implicit villains, and the groups (supposedly, since this is now a Christian-dominant society) traditionally looked down on get all of it.

That might still be a balancing act if the "looked down on" groups were actually marginalized. But in the Christian imagination, that role is filled by sinners in need of Christian grace, not necessarily demographically marginalized groups.

The idea seems to be that the victims are getting sympathy from elsewhere, so it's the Christian's job to make sure the abuser/sinner gets sympathy too.

But I'll point again to that pesky word "repentant."

Ultimately, when it comes to treatment of Jews and Muslims and anyone else who points out that a Christian has in some way harmed them, Christian sympathy goes immediately to the offender before the offender has even expressed any repentance.

The repentant sinner is so much more valuable, at this point, than their victims that they must be preemptively forgiven, that they are more valuable purely because they now have the potential to repent.

And this seems to be lurking under not just how "progressive" pastors act on Twitter, but in a lot of our cultural narratives around, say, college rapists and their futures, around white people who are publicly called out for racist acts, etc.

#jumblr #tshuvah #christian forgiveness culture

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nonsscrapheap · 5 months ago

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TFP: Universal Observations

AND THUS WE RETURN! you are not ready for this reaction, i wasn't. kind of, this premise has been on my mind for a while.

i'll be adding in the word count now! 4.1k words!

time for the revelations of the very vague polls! or at least one of them!

Optimus and Megatron Working Together (Wholesome) is... Actor Au.

WARNING! LONG POST!

ACT 1: Show Acting - I -

[ ----- TP : UO ----- ]

[ ENTER KEYWORD TO START UNIVERSAL OBSERVATION ]

Omega Outpost One

"Key word?" Ratchet hears Rafael murmur as he and the humans gathered together by Optimus' side.

The Prime still looked downcast, the look of horror on the mech's faceplate was something Ratchet never wanted to see ever again. He'd seen it before of course, each time was just as terrible as the last but there was just something even worse, knowing why Optimus had looked so horrified in the first place.

It wasn't everyday that you watched another version of yourself perform a horrible act that had taken a friend from you. That Optimus Prime, Evil Optimus Prime, was no Prime that Ratchet would ever have followed and Optimus needed to get it in his helm that despite looking similar to the mech on the screen aside from the obvious differentials, Optimus himself would never enforce Empurata on anybot. Not even the Decepticons.

Then again, Ratchet could sympathize with Optimus' feelings on the matter. Although his own counterpart hadn't exactly done anything on screen aside from attacking Other Knock Out, the implications of his words and actions alone… It disturbed him to no end.

The knowledge that in another world, an alternate version of oneself could be so different from you… It's a lot to take in.

Another thing that was a lot to take in, was the existence and the function of the sphere.

As far as Ratchet has come to realize and gather from what's obviously been shown, the sphere was nothing more than an observation device. A very powerful one, capable of showing alternate worlds and cataloging them for repeated use.

If the sphere fell on Decepticon servos, Ratchet feared just what the Decepticons would see and how it would work in their favor. So despite its mysterious appearance, it was a blessing to have it show up in their base, but Ratchet still needed to know just where it came from and how it got into their storage without any of them knowing.

It couldn't have been the humans, Fowler already had a catalogue of their Cybertronian tech and items since he was their liaison. The children obviously couldn't have been the culprit, seeing as they had no idea what it was…

But they were connected to it now. They were in control of the sphere, not completely though.

"Okay so, remember how Miko said something about shatter and glass? That's what triggered the whole thing in the first place! So we just um, need to say words and see if it triggers something else?" Rafael exclaimed with shaky confidence, unsure about his own suggestion but it was solid in theory.

"Uh, Monkey? Apocalypse? Music!" Miko shouted, trying Raf's idea.

.: Cybertron. Iacon? Racing! :. Bumblebee bleeped in offering as well.

"Uh… if that's the case, then it would have already taken in anything that we were saying by now." Jack said with a frown, watching the younger boy give a look of thought.

"Honestly, I don't know if we should keep messing with it." Arcee admitted, looking at the sphere with obvious distrust and lingering unease. "Sure, the only function we've seen so far is what, looking into alternate worlds where the Decepticons are good while we're…" She couldn't finish, glancing at the still silent Optimus who grimaced at the reminder. "We should probably just- put it back into storage."

"Aww, c'mon Arcee!" Miko exclaimed, hands on her hips. "Sure, the first world we saw wasn't- wasn't that good but like- this is an opportunity to see alternate worlds! Who doesn't want to see stuff like that?!"

"I'm actually with Miko a bit here Arcee, this is- it's pretty cool. The world it showed us wasn't that peachy but like. Wasn't it really weird to see the cons acting like the good guys?" Jack laughed a bit awkwardly, and he had a point. It had been really strange to see the Decepticons act like—

[ KEY WORDS ; SHOW ACTING ]

They all glanced over to the screen in shock as it accepted two random words from what Jack had been saying. "Just what is with its intuitive parameters?!" Ratchet growled out, unable to make sense as to how exactly the sphere was parsing through speech to gain the 'key words'- Bumblebee and Miko had been suggesting things off the bat but it was Jack that triggered its function this time?!

("It seems the Autobots have finally chosen something." Starscream muttered in disdain, eyeing the key words and wondering just what was going to be shown this time. Megatron said nothing, his optics narrowed and frame tense.)

[ The screen flared before catchy music played, the words 'TERRAN-TRON LIVE' plastering itself over the screen and then disappearing. A large femme was sitting on a couch with a human woman sitting beside them on a platform built onto the couch. "Good evening everyone! Welcome back to Terran-Tron Live! Your late night show interviewing celebrity guests and more. I'm Polly." The human exclaimed, wearing a suit and waving at the camera.

The femme smiled with her, waving as well. "And I'm Caster, and we're here tonight with some very special guests!" ]

All optics and eyes blinked at the sudden showing of two people, a Cybertronian femme and a human woman, that they knew nothing about. "What in the…" Bulkhead trailed off, confused as to why they were watching what seemed to be a late night talk show.

"A human and a Cybertronian? On television? Live?" Ratchet muttered, the implications of that was... Pretty positive, actually.

Optimus, though still a bit downtrodden, couldn't help but perk slightly and look at the screen with intrigued optics.

Miko was practically jumping in place with excitement, "Oh! Since this is a talk show with both Cybertronians and humans then humanity must like, know about you guys now! You're famous heroes!"

.: I guess? I don't think I'd like to be on tv though. :. Bumblebee said nervously, a bit self-conscious over his voice box. Millions of people, humans and maybe Cybertronians listening to him beeping? Half the audience wouldn't know what he was saying! He huffed when Raf patted his helm in comfort, the little human giving him reassurances that he appreciated.

("What exactly is this?" Megatron deadpanned, unimpressed by the showing so far. 'Terran-Tron Live', a cybertronian and a human working together like this? Reminds him far too much of the Autobots, not to mention the fact they were working with humans of all species…)

[ "Humans and Cybertronians, give it up for- the cast of Transformers: Prime!" Polly exclaimed, gesturing to somewhere and the screen changes to show four bots on a large couch. Two mechs and two femmes, on another platform close to the couch, there were three humans sitting on a smaller couch like Polly. All of them waved at the camera and audience, smiling. ]

Jaws were dropped at the sight of Optimus, Megatron, Arcee and Arachnid sitting on one gigantic, Cybertronian-sized couch while nearby, Jack, Miko and Raf sat on a smaller couch on screen.

( "WHAT?!" )

Optimus' backstruts straightened at the sight of him and Megatron on screen, sitting close together in such an amicable setting- things were obviously different though. For one, Other Optimus looked more like Orion Pax instead of Optimus Prime. His frame was more civilian-like, but a bit bulkier than the data clerk had been and his colors were red and violet with silver instead of his own colors. Other Optimus was sitting back against the couch with his legs spread slightly, arm hanging on the back of the couch and had an amused smirk on his faceplate. He seemed so young compared to Optimus.

Other Megatron was so much more different, gone were the spikes that were the kibble for the warlord. Instead, standard kibble with a shinier silver plating. Gone were the scars and scuffs that Megatron wore with ease, and his optics weren't red nor were they blue. They were a honey-like gold instead, pairing well with the polite smile on the mech's derma. He too, seemed so much younger than he or even Megatron, his frame less bulky as well- not warforged, that much was obvious but still slightly bigger than Other Optimus.

Other Arcee looked the most similar, but the sharp edges of her frame and armor were softened and instead of a mostly blue finish, there were sections of magenta and pink that decorated her plating.

Other Arachnid didn't look nearly as menacing as the Aracnhid they knew of, but nor did she look as gentle as the 'Shattered Glass' Arachnid they just saw. Her edges were softer, her extra legs were nowhere to be seen and the sheer fact she was just sitting there besides Arcee? Absolutely mindboggling.

The children looked quite different as well! Jack's hair was a bit longer, and he was dressed in a more formal suit. Raf's usually untamable locks were brushed down, also in a formal suit, and Miko— they had all gotten so used to the girl's wildness, to Miko's signature pink-coloring on her head that seeing her hair curled and completely black actually made most of them do a double-take. Especially since Other Miko was dressed in a dress-suit combo in soft colors.

[ "Go on guys, introduce yourselves to the lovely audience!" Caster encouraged, and the camera's changed focus accordingly.

"Hey there everyone, I'm Orion Nox, I play Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobots in Transformers: Prime." Orion said with a salute and a grin aimed at the camera.

"Hello, I am Dion, I play Lord Megatron, Leader of the Decepticons in Transformers: Prime." Dion greeted with a smiling nod.

"Hi there, I'm Cycla, I play Arcee, warrior-scout of the Autobots." Cycla winked at the camera with her arms crossed as she leaned back against the couch.

"I am Venami, I play Arachnid, spider-bot Decepticon defector at your service." Venami said with a slight nod, chuckling when Dion playfully called out 'Traitor!' to her.

"Hi! I'm Rumi Atsuhashi, I play Miko Nakadai, Bulkhead's human charge." Rumi said, waving excitedly at the camera.

"Antonio Garcias, I play Rafael Esquivel, Bumblebee's human charge!" Antonio chirped , seeming to be just as, if not MORE excited than Rumi.

"I'm Jackson Darby, I play Jack Darby, Arcee's human charge. Yes that's my real name, no I didn't get it changed at any point of my life. I have always been, Jackson Darby. The only difference between me and Jack Darby is that I prefer to go by Jackson instead of Jack." Jackson said with a crooked smile, exasperated but amused, laughter was heard from his cast members, the hosts and and the audience.

With each introduction, there was a brief clip from the show that showed them acting in Transformers: Prime as their respective characters. ]

"OUR LIFE IS A TV SHOW?!" Miko screamed loud and clear, eyes bugged out of her head as she saw herself- or well, her actor?? On screen? "OH MY GOD!"

"I-I need to sit down." Arcee said, feeling more than a bit nauseous- not by the whole 'in another world our life is a tv show' thing though it was part of it, but by the sight of her and Arachnid- doppelganger actors be damned - just… sitting there. On the couch, not trying to maul each other to death.

Even weirder; Optimus and Megatron were sitting on the same couch, looking much younger and different, very different in Megatron's case. Or, Dion? What the frag even is this world.

The fact there were clips, clips of moments that had happened that showed besides each one…

( Arachnid had no words, she simply left. Or tried to, but Soundwave wouldn't let her leave. All the other Decepticons, even Megatron, were trying to process what they were seeing. However, the warlord did give Arachnid a glare, remembering how her counterpart introduced herself. She grimaced, but said nothing. )

[ "Unfortunately we could only invite a few cast members here, some had conflicting schedules or other things to do and we only had a limited amount of room on set. Even with mass displacement, we'd get a crowd here going." Caster explained to the audience and onlookers, she turned to look at the actors. "Thank you once again for joining us here, it's a pleasure to meet you and an honor to have you guys on the show!"

"Thank you for having us Caster, it's a pleasure to be here." Dion replied with a respectful nod.

"I've always wanted to be on a late night talk show- especially Terran-Tron Live! You guys are the best human-cybertronian night show hosts out there!" Antonio gushed, practically bouncing in place.

Polly laughed, winking at Antonio, "The very first in fact, well, not really me but my ma. Bless her soul. She established the show almost forty years ago after the Cybertronian and Earth alliance. My ma wanted to host a show with a cybertronian the moment it was possible."

"And here I enter the scene." Caster preened, servos framing her faceplate before she waved her servo. "But enough about that, let's talk about you! And YOUR show- Transformers: Prime!"

A picture was shown on a floating screen, of Optimus and Megatron posed for battle with several other bots in the background. Transformers: Prime was in blocky text above. "It's you!"

"It's us." Both Orion and Dion chorused with amusement, glancing at each other. "Look, you can even see Cycla and Venami in the background." Orion called out, pointing to where Arcee and Arachnid were in the picture.

Cycla laughed and pointed as well, "And if you squint really hard, you can even see the kids hiding behind that boulder in the corner." The picture zooms in to see Raf, Miko and Jack hiding behind a boulder with Jack holding Miko back from leaving the boulder.

Antonio giggled wildly while Rumi and Jackson grinned. ]

Despite the boggling situation, a few of the team and even the humans couldn't help but snort at the sight of the bit with the humans- it was so like Miko to try and leave the boulder, and of course Jack was holding her back.

Optimus in the meanwhile, couldn't get his optics off of Megatron and himself on the screen. Or rather, Orion and Dion. They looked so at ease with each other, sitting side-by-side with no care in the world aside from being interviewed.

Seeing the Other Megatron had been surreal enough, that mech reminded him too much of the old Megatronus that Optimus still secretly craved to see once more. But this? This made his spark ache as it reminded him of the good times Orion Pax and Megatronus had together as close friends. Yes their frames were different, their names and even their mannerisms but the fact they 'played' Optimus and Megatron and looked incredibly liked them…

Not every world has us as enemies, old friend. Optimus thinks to himself in private, feeling incredibly emotional for reasons he cannot, would not, explain. A sense of aching relief yet bitter longing and resignation settled in his frame that he kept to himself. Struggled to keep from showing on his faceplate.

No one but Ratchet would be able to spot it, and luckily for the Prime, his medic was preoccupied with gawking at the screen.

( On a warship miles away, a warlord is assaulted with unwanted memories at the sight of Orion Nox. His thought process similar yet different, tinged with anger and contempt that hid the nostalgia and other emotions that he deemed unimportant and frivolous. )

[ "Question for the bots here- we've got two of the most infamous rivals in the show sitting right here. And both pairs have had histories in working together, tell me, is there an actual rivalry here in real life, like in the show?" Polly asked, peering at the Cybertronians sitting on the gigantic couch.

Orion laughed, "Not really, at least for Dion and I- we've worked together before in other projects and sure we've been casted as rivals as some but honestly we're pretty chill." He glanced over to Cycla and Venami, "Now Cycla and Venami on the other hand—"

Cycla reached over Dion to smack Orion's knee, only to gasp in betrayal when Dion spoke up with an amused expression. "Oh there's definitely a rivalry going on between them. Not as bad as in the show but, they've been competing against each other for roles in other projects. I distinctly recall Venami being quite peeved when Cycla was chosen instead of her for one project."

"Dion!" Venami exclaimed with annoyance, glaring at the silver mech who burst out laughing alongside Orion. ]

Was it incredibly petty to feel pleased that another version of herself, even as a bizarre actor in a bizarre world, managed to one-up the alternate version of the Con that killed one of her old partners? Probably, yet it didn't stop Arcee at all from feeling just the tiniest bit smug. She couldn't help it.

Just like how Optimus couldn't help but feel warm at how close Orion Nox was with Dion, and at the fact they've worked together before. Or at the fact, while still rivals, 'Cycla' and 'Venami' weren't fighting each other as Autobot and Decepticon. It seemed like neither faction existed aside from within the show.

( A spider bot while not really impressed, couldn't help but be annoyed at her counterpart's failure of gaining whatever role it was that the other femme managed to get. A warlord stews in unsettling silence. )

[ "Question for the kids! How's it feel to work alongside your Cybertronian co-actors? Must be pretty exciting huh? Are you as close to them as you are in the show?" Caster asked, leaning forward to address the small beings who beamed at her and the camera.

"It's been great!" Antonio gushed, "They've been so kind to Jackson, Rumi and I and the other humans on set too! They're really careful in making sure we're okay."

Rumi nodded in agreement, smiling happily, "I'll admit, I was nervous at first since this is the first time I've um, I've worked with Cybertronians who are really, really big most of the time but it's been fun! I'd like to say we're as close to the bots on set as we are in the show?" She gave the metal giants a shy smile and they all grinned back at her with affirming nods.

"Not just the 'Autobots' either, the 'Decepticons' are pretty great too." Jackson laughed, "My favorite Con is Pulsebeat, aka Soundwave in the show- they and their cassette Glider, aka Laserbeak, like to pick us up and hoard us sometimes because I think we remind them of minicons and cassettes. It's really funny."

Dion laughed, "And here I thought I was your favorite Con Jackson!" He said playfully while pressing a servo against his chestplate in faux offense.

Jackson looked back at him, "You thought wrong! I mean- just look at them!" Jackson gestured to the screen as it suddenly showed Soundwave, or Pulsebeat? Without their visor on, grinning widely as they cradled a laughing Jackson, a giggling Rumi in his servos while Antonio beaming as he hung upside down from a cable claw. Their bird-cassette was perched atop Pulsebeat's helm. Another picture showed Pulsebeat mass displaced, but still big enough to carry all three children on his frame while they all sat on Glider who was in the air. ]

.: I don't think I will ever get used to 'nice' cons. :. Bee beeped, both somewhat awed yet perturbed at the sight of the relaxed and joking 'Megatron' and the pictures of 'Soundwave' playing with the human kids. Not to mention the sight of Soundwave's face- or rather, Pulsebeat? It looked extremely similar to the 'Shattered Glass' faceplate that Soundwave had but at least… at least this time, it was happy and not… The yellow muscle car bot shuddered, shaking his helm and focusing back on the screen.

"You and me both, Bee." Bulkhead muttered in agreement, optics squinting. "And I don't think I'll get used to shy Miko." He added in with some mirth, it was bizarre to see the girl smiling shyly at the bots (two of which were Cons but they kind of weren't because they were actors??) and not being as energetic as his charge.

"I know right?! Still, she must have some Wrecker in her to play me!" Miko exclaimed, looking up at Rumi with determined and curious eyes.

Raf looked over to Jack, still on Bee's shoulder. "Soundwave? Really?" There wasn't any judgement, just genuine curiosity.

Jack still felt the need to throw his hands into the air, "Don't ask me! Apparently other me likes Soundwave! Pulsebeat? This is just- too weird." Not to mention the casual banter that other Megatron, or uh, Dion? Had with Jackson. Jackson who was him, who still had his name but went by Jackson instead of Jack.

How come Raf and Miko had other names while Jack was still just, Jackson Darby? Unbelievable.

( An ex-gladiator and now communications officer stayed silent, as always, but there was a relaxed air around him now. The warlord notices, does not comment, just stares at the screen with growing displeasure. )

[ "Question for everyone! Was the season one finale surprising to find out, film, just- anything? I understand that Transformers: Prime was an original scripted show without being based on anything aside from the old Autobot-Decepticon civil war on Cybertron eons ago but fictitiously set on Earth." Polly questioned, leaning in with interest as the bots and humans glanced at each other.

"Oh definitely! The show's original writer, Rung, a great guy, surprised us halfway through the season's filming to reveal to us all dramatically of what the season's ending was and I just- I couldn't believe it." Orion said, actually sitting up straight as his co-actors nodded in agreement.

Cycla snickered, "Yeah! We're all just sitting there, reading the script, baffled with how our show's first season ends. Which really shouldn't have been THAT much of a surprise I guess? When you start off the season killing off Cliffjumper- Revmaul, Cliff's actor, would NOT stop sending me jokes about his character's death by the way so screw you Rev, stop that - and THEN revive him as a zombie bot—"

"Terrorcon." Venami interrupted, Cycla rolled her optics but continued.

"Terrorcon, and then the Dark Energon kind of persists throughout the season… Naturally I guess, it all leads to the natural conclusion?" ]

"Season finale?" Ratchet murmured, optics hardening as he immediately realized the implications of what was going to happen. If 'Transformers: Prime' was a show about their current life then… "Optimus." He said sharply, gaining the attention of the Prime who seemed to realize the exact same thing.

"I know, old friend. Autobots, pay attention. We may be learning important information pertaining to our future." Optimus instructed with a hard look on his faceplate, his frame tense as he readied himself as to whatever was going to be revealed. A part of him was slightly interested at the fact that apparently in that world, while the Autobots and Decepticon war had existed, it had obviously ended long ago. Long before Cybertron made contact with Earth, long enough that someone, this Rung person- a Cybertronian perhaps? Had made a fictitious retelling of it, was interesting…

The fact that retelling was apparently all about their lives on Earth was encroaching somewhat dangerous yet hopefully helpful territory.

His Autobot team tensed, and even the humans watched closely with somewhat anxious eyes. Especially when Cycla mentioned Cliffjumper, Arcee hissed between gritted denta, feeling conflicted at the grief as well as unwanted jealousy and unfairness at the fact that Cliffjumper over there was alive. An actor who's character had died. But for Arcee, Cliffjumper was truly gone… His corpse, desecrated and turned into a monster…

Her servos curled into fists, clenching tightly.

There was a sense of tension in the air.

( The same could be said for the Decepticons on The Nemesis. The warlord quirking a ridged brow in obvious interest. )

Just what was the natural conclusion?

[ "The natural conclusion of Unicron, The Unmaker, Cybertron's version of Satan- being Earth itself. Or at least the core." Caster finished with a slight laugh, sounding somewhat but only a little bit hysterical.

"Cybertron's Satan is the Earth's core, yeah." Jackson nodded with his fellow humans, "No one was expecting that." ]

No one was expecting that indeed.

Chaos came to the Cybertronians of both Omega Outpost One and The Nemesis.

[ ----- TP : UO -----]

WAHAHAHAHA i spoil tfp season 1 to early tfp season 1. what a way to go. hehehehe, i wonder how that'll all go- but at any rate! i hope you guys enjoyed!

brief ocs of Caster, femme show host along with her human co-host polly! fun fact; polly is the daughter of Caster's original co-host who started Terran-Tron Live!

the actor's names were somewhat random- orion nox and dion are a nod to another fic of mine, called Twice The Primes where there are two sets of Optimus and Megatron, kind of. The other set of Optimus and Megatron, O-14 and D-16 were recently, officially redesignated as Orion Nox and Dion, so i decided to do the same here for the actor au.

cycla is just, motorcycle, i couldnt think of anything else for arcee. venami, just- venom, spider's venom but anami.

pulsebeat and glider- on the spot alternative names for soundwave that wasnt just... soundblaster and something else- i wanted to give him another name for his actor.

rumi astuhashi and antonio garcias- just random names and i just thought itd be extremely funny if jack was still jack darby but he goes by jackson. it'll get funnier when it's revealed that orion nox has to play orion pax in season 2 XD like human like prime hm?? hahahahaha

and yes, rung is the show's writer ;)

but yeah, this is the Wholesome Optimus and Megatron working together choice of the poll! they get to be co-actors with all the kids :D

what's the Serious version? we'll get there eventually! whenever that's picked out anyway. i don't know how many segments i'm planning to do for the actor au, at least three??? but yeah, this is... this gonna fun

i hope you guys enjoyed!

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#transformers #maccadam #transformers prime #tfp #fanfic update #transformers prime universal observations #tfp uo #tfp kids #tfp fanfic #actor au #i spoil season one tfp to early season one tfp #im a riot

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