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picturejasper20 · 7 months

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Peridot and Lapis Lazuli´s relationship in Steven Universe: An analysis

Lapis Lazuli and Peridot's relationship is, as many relationships from Steven Universe, quite messy and complex and changes throughout the series in more than one way going from somewhat enemies to friends and companions and even then, later gets explored how that dynamic wasn't in balance, showing there how doesn't always have the full idea of the nature of the relationship between two people.

To say that Lapis was upset with finding out that Peridot living in the old barn would be putting it lightly. Peridot was partially involved in keeping Lapis prisoner in the spaceship that brought them to Earth as well as interrogating her. She had more than one reason to not be fond of Peridot and want to avoid her.

In most of ¨Barn Mates¨ Peridot tries to be nice to her to make amends and Lapis turns down everyone of them. While it is understandable the reason of why Lapis acted this way, she went a little to out of the line when she destroyed Peridot's gift, which was a tape recorder, something that was personal for her.

Peridot gets frustrated with this and then goes off about how she gets why Lapis feels this way: She can't never go back to Homeworld, Earth doesn't feel like a home yet and she feels alone in this. ...But she later adds that this is one of the reasons of why she wants to make amends with Lapis, because she gets what Lapis is going through since she is going through the same issues.

Lapis demands for Peridot to leave, to which Peridot does, giving up on trying to make peace with Lapis. That's when even Steven gets tired of Lapis's behaviour and points out that she isn't giving Peridot a chance and is not right to be so mean to her.

Some minutes later Peridot comes back running, being chased by the Roaming Eye Homeworld spaceship that is, of course, looking for her. Lapis sees that Peridot is in danger and decides to help her by taking down the Roaming Eye using her water powers. While it isn't said, her actions indicate that she was trying to make up for how she was so mean to Peridot earlier. Some seconds later she asks to Peridot if she was okay, showing that she was willing to give her a chance now.

In the episode that followed, Hit the Diamond, Lapis helped by distracting the ruby squad to protect Peridot from being taken away. I wouldn't say they were friend at that point but that Lapis seemed to like Peridot at least enough to care about her well being.

For a while we didn't see too much of Lapis and Peridot until Amethyst's arc in the episode ¨Beta¨. In this episode we see them being friends and hanging around. They got into human things. They like watching shows together, they like playing music and making art things with junk they find lying around in the barn.

So for some time it seemed like everything was going more or less well between them. In ¨Gem Harvest¨ they are growing together crops. Peridot believes that they work like gems in the kindergartens but she is dissapointed to learn that crops work differently from that.

So Steven ends up bringing up a dog like pumpkin to life using his gem powers and Peridot and Lapis end up adopting her.

Some fans have described Peridot and Lapis Lazuli's relationship as a queerplatonic relationship, considering that Peridot was written with the intention to be aro-ace. This interpretation could apply as in some ways their dynamic can be read as a ¨old married couple¨ for the way they interact and are living with each other. Pumpkin could be seen somewhat as their daughter with Peridot and Lapis being her ¨parents¨.

Moving on, their relationship seemed to be going well until ¨Room for Ruby¨ showed that Lapis was still struggling a lot to adapt to Earth because of her own trauma. Most of the episode she felt really down, specially by seeing how Navy was supposely adapating so quickly to Earth, making Lapis feel jealous. At the end of the episode it was revealed that this wasn't the case and that Navy was faking it to get her spaceship back.

"Raising the Barn" acts a bit of followed up to ¨Room for Ruby¨ by revealing that well, Peridot often has to walk on eggshells around Lapis and there are things she avoids telling Lapis to not upset her. Peridot has been negleting her own feelings in the relationship, for the sake of ¨being there¨ for Lapis. She tells to Steven that she wants to stay on Earth, that she doesn't want to leave, but she still has ¨to go¨ with Lapis.

The thing with Lapis Lazuli is that while she isn't a bad person... she can be a lot to deal with. From what it was said by Peridot, she felt that she couldn't be fully honest with her more often than not and she was losing herself in their dynamic, having to sacrifice quite a lot to make it work.

So Steven suggests to Peridot to be honest with Lapis about wishing to stay on Earth. Peridot does this and Lapis gets in part upset that this was brought up in the last minute and hurt because Peridot hasn't been completely honest with her. The two have a bit of a fallout that ends up with Lapis abruptly leaving Earth out of fear of ¨getting caught up in another war¨ again and taking the barn along with her. Leaving Peridot and Pumpkin on Earth.

The consequences of this fallout get explored in the following episode ¨Back to the Kindergarten¨. In this episode Peridot, Steven and Amethyst try growing a garden in the Prime Kindergarten. The whole episode acts as a metaphor for Peridot and Lapis Lazuli's fallout in ¨Raising the Barn¨, how Peridot misses Lapis and the barn and how she has been feeling down lately. The story ends with the idea that while her relationship with Lapis didn't work out, she can still try making connections with other people and start new elsewhere, finally seeing the possibility of moving on from the events of ¨Raising the Barn¨.

On the other hand, from Lapis Lazuli's perspective there is the episode ¨Can't Go Back¨ which explores many aspects of her character but mainly the guilt she feels about having left Earth so abruptly and taken the barn with her, feeling that she can't go back after the way she left. There is also her huge anxiety and fear of getting caught up in a war again due to her own traumatic past. Lapis explains to Steven how she is scared of having to go through the same situation again, believing only bad things are going to happen, something that Steven answers with ¨what if something good happens?¨

Steven's words seemed to have some effect on Lapis because in ¨Reunited¨ Lapis shows up in the battle against Blue and Yellow Diamonds and drops the barn on Blue to distract her for some moments. She has a brief exchange with Peridot, who is glad to see that Lapis came back and is helping them to fight the Diamonds.

It isn't clear what happened between Peridot and Lapis Lazuli after the events of Reunited and during the time skip after Change Your Mind. However, based on some hints and their interactions in the Steven Universe Movie, they seem to be in better terms now.

It's very likely that they had some conversations about what happened in ¨Raising the Barn¨, Lapis apologized to Peridot for the way she left and eventually Peridot forgave her for that. In addition to this, they likely established some boundaries between them and found other social circles to be in during Era 3. In that way they stayed as friends but also avoided going back to their previous status of their relationship by being in more equal (and healthy) terms.

In all, i think what can be taken away from their dynamic is that relationships can be messy and how it is important to avoid losing yourself in a relationship if you are trying to help someone who is going through a lot of problems in their life. You can support someone while establishing boundaries for yourself and being able to be honest with them. And, in part is how about how things don't always work out and people can go through fallouts. That doesn't mean that the two parties have to hate each other and then can even remain friends, accepting that their previous relationship didn't work as they wished.

#steven universe #steven universe future #peridot su #Lapis lazuli su #Su analysis #su pumpkin #barn mates su #back to the kindergarten #Raising the barn #Su reunited #Su beta

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elanorpam · 8 months

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Hey, ive been a fan of your cultstuck series since i first read it 10 years ago and its one that i hold dear along woth toastyglow and their siblings' works. Given that we are all adults now with very busy lives, i dont expect you to kerp up with an old project like writing a fan novel fpr free, but i am curious as what ur current plants for earthbent are, if there are any atm.

(Tbh id be happy with any answer you provide, whether its a detailed outline, an unsure shrug, an excited wink hinting at a deadline or an announcement of permanent hiatus. Youve given so much with your writing, thst i just want you to be happy with whatever plans u have)

hey there! i'm going to go with unsure shrug as an answer here.

see, I did have a detailed outline for cultstuck-- i wrote it all down at around ...2015? very soon after the second eridan chapter, and sent it to my beta, who then proceeded to ghost me forever. I was already sensing she was growing disinterested in the fic/the fandom, giving constant excuses, and I myself was dealing with an anxiety/depression combo that would sharply nosedive by the time the finale came around, so i just... let it go. She didn't care. I wasn't in a good mental place to care. We went our separate ways.

I decided to take a mental health sabbatical, and now, after a few years of sertraline and therapy, the thought of picking it back up is very, very far down my list of priorities. I have so many other fics I want to write, for media which hasn't let me this profoundly down! And also, Cultstuck was conceptualized in the post-cascade hiatus, in chat logs and rough outlines, and was never supposed to take later canon into account unless it dropped any interesting, matching lore...

...but late act 6 took such a dump on the characters and the setting that it took the joy right out of playing on my patch of sandbox, fenced off as it was. And I couldn't connect with the Retcon timeline at all, but some of its developments are so popular and so deeply entrenched that I hesitate to contradict them even though i kind of hate the whole thing and never meant to take it into account?

Let's take the strongest example: Davekat. Dave and Karkat in Cultstuck were never meant to be anything more than mutually annoying acquaintances connected only indirectly via Terezi-- Dave was to be her moirail, and aro-ace besides. This was because for the entirety of the comic, that was the only vibe I got from Dave as a character, and from his interactions with Karkat as a whole-- he and Karkat felt too similar in mutually unpleasant ways, like a cousin that's just enough like you to give you second-hand embarrassment. So by the point the comic was playing coy with pushing the New Dave and New Karkat action figures together, you couldn't get me to care about Davekat if you put a gun to my head. This really hasn't changed in the least. And that means whenever I think of dealing with disappointed Davekat fans in the future of the fic, I just feel an all-encompassing, soul-deep exhaustion.

but i also don't want to drop the fic altogether, for some reason? Like, I might not feel this way forever. So idk, i'm keeping my options open i guess. Subscribe to the fic/series and maybe 10 years from now you'll get a notification like a holiday miracle. Who knows.

#cultstuck #homestuck #homestuck thinks

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caspalooza · 2 days

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It sounds dramatic, but growing up, I agonized over the fact that I was repulsed by sex. I thought I wanted to be in a relationship but that it wouldn't be possible (or at the very least, not fair to the other person) to be in one without sex in it. I was convinced that romance is The Thing That Completes You, so I thought my options were "deal with sex against my will" or "be alone forever".

When I finally learned the term "asexuality"... well, I didn't really grasp the concept of attraction types, so I pretty much went, "man, I WISH I was asexual, instead there's just something wrong with me" and carried on.

I think I was nearing 17 when I finally decided to look into asexuality for longer than 5 minutes, mostly out of sheer desperation. I had vaguely known that sexual attraction and romantic attraction were separate terms, but I had always thought of sexual attraction as being a hyperbolic term for romantic attraction. And that sexual attraction only actually existed in movies and books and the like for dramatic effect or comedy. I don't remember what made it click, but when it hit me that it was fucking REAL and that most of the people around me had been experiencing it for a LONG TIME I finally felt that moment that I guess every person has at some point in their life of lost innocence. At SIXTEEN. LOL.

It is undoubtedly funny, but it was also scary. Over my life I had experienced things and acted in ways I thought were fine and normal, purely because I was straight up clueless about sexual attraction. It was never taught to me in any form because I guess there's an assumption everybody experiences it and therefore knows for themselves what it's like. So while there was a feeling of elation, I guess, because I wasn't alone and I wasn't broken, there was also a lot of horror and disgust that came with it because a lot of memories from my life were being dug up and put in this new context in a very not good way. And I can be more careful now, but dear lord what I would give to have been taught these things way, way sooner.

The romantic side is a nightmare in a different way. Ages ago, I developed a pretty silly-sounding fear that I secretly had crushes on all the people I met (and/or worse, that they reciprocated) that still won't go away no matter how hard I ignore the voices! That's paranoia for you, I guess. So it's hard to know for sure if I actually have a crush on somebody or if it's just the paranoia, but I think the fact that I know how it feels means I probably have, at least once, even if the thought of actually acting on romantic feelings sounds like the worst thing ever. I used to be really big into the idea of it, though, that's for sure. For years, I lived vicariously through my hundreds of fandom and oc ships. And I do still love exploring romantic relationship dynamics through fiction, but now it's more because I think The Inner-Workings of People and Relationships Are Fascinating than because I have any desire to live it for myself.

At the very least, the realization that I was ace and potentially aro helped me to pull myself out of my sad pit. And though I've never been super involved with the aspec community (out of shyness), If nothing else I credit all the lovely people in it for indirectly teaching me how important and fulfilling friendships and platonic bonds of all kinds can be. And that platonic/romantic/etc. love and attraction shouldn't be tiered as more or less important or fulfilling than one another, just different. It seems like a simple and obvious concept to me now, but it genuinely changed my outlook on life when I was first exposed to it.

Looking back at the things I actually wanted (and didn't want) out of my hypothetical "perfect romantic relationship" (no romantic gestures, just cuddling lol) I realized I pretty much only ever wanted an affectionate, possibly committed friendship (something like a qpr) and only assumed it was romance because... well, everybody is supposed to want romance! And seeing as my early friends and family weren't super affectionate people, it was pretty easy for me to believe that physical affection only came from a romantic partner.

All in all though, I've realized that, at least for me, it's not super helpful to think of different relationship types as strict categories or boxes. Humans are just more complex than that. And It's kinda ironic that the same community that often faces the "loveless" stereotype is the same one that opened my eyes to the fact that there are so, so many ways to experience profound and fulfilling love. And I think that's beautiful!!!!! HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!!

#ace pride #the dead speak!#caspar's entire life story #I consider myself aroace because it feels right but i always get paranoid that im faking the aro part haha #bc clearly i have some kind of issue re romance that i guess i should unpack... someday... eventually... LOL #like is it trauma/anxiety related or aro related. i dunno if i will ever know for sure #unrelated but also it is kind of a funny situation to be extremely sex positive but be very sex repulsed #i am sure many aces can relate lol

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pistachorlito · 1 year

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ARO FOLKS I NEED YOUR WISDOM

Could it be that I'm aro?

I visited this site cause I realized (3 months in my first serious relationship. I'm 20yo btw) that being in a relationship makes me anxious and uncomfortable. I thought I could have commitment issues (and I'm going to start going to therapy this monday, can I hear a wahoo?) but suddenly I thought that maybe I'm aromantic.

Here are my responses to every item of the list that site has of common experiences of aro people.

Imagining your future

Marriage/a long term romantic relationship feels more like an obligation rather than something you want and are excited for. ✅

Feeling like your ideal future involves living with friends (or alone) with no romantic partner in sight. ✅ (Imagining myself married feels so off lmao)

You imagine what it would be like to have someone be in love with you, but never what it would be like for you to feel that way for that person.✅ (I thought this one was a maybe but yeah, i did that lmao)

Your “fantasies” of future romantic relationships, if you have them, aren’t really fleshed out or detailed at all.✅

You assume you will be in a romantic relationship someday but aren’t excited for it.✅

If you imagine a future partner, you struggle to picture details about them.✅

Friends with benefits seems like the ideal relationship to you.❔(maybe? Idk because since i'm demisexual... but I've definitely fantasized about being fwb with my actual partner)

Media

You hated romantic subplots in children cartoons/stories.❔(not hated them, just didn't care about it)

You loved friendship arcs in children cartoons/stories.✅

You’re favorite characters growing up never had romance as a major aspect of their character.✅

You love reading romantic stories/fan-fiction, but have no interest in actively pursuing one yourself.✅

You’re generally disinterested in romance stories. ❔(Idk because I like them but I definitely prefer erotic stories)

You assumed that crushes and romantic drama were made up for soap operas and romcoms. ✅ (until I saw real relationships full of drama and I thought they were being stupid but turns out it DOES happen irl lmao)

Being in romantic relationships

You’ve been in romantic relationships, but you’ve always felt like you were acting or playing a role in them.✅ (I agreed to a relationship with my prev ”boyfriend” out of spite lmao)

You’ve felt uncomfortable and suffocated in romantic relationships even though those relationships were seemingly healthy and happy. ✅ (He's just like me fr)

You accidentally said yes to a date because you thought your friend was asking to hang out.❌ (Not really because since people seem to think I'm flirting when I'm just being nice, I started thinking that people being nice to me were hitting on me too so I avoided them LMAOO)

Understanding others crushes and romance

You’ve looked up what a crush is supposed to feel like.✅ (So confused about what I'm feeling lmao)

Once you learnt about asexuals who are romantic you got super confused thinking “isn’t romance just friendship + sex?”.✅

Once you learn about polyamory you got confused because you thought romance was defined by some sort of exclusivity.✅

Romantic relationships seem constructed of arbitrary rules you could never understand.✅

You’ve never understood the difference between a best friend and a romantic partner.✅

Celebrity crushes make no sense to you.✅ (But that could be my demisexual side speaking lmao)

When you realized people actually want to act on their crushes you were shocked.✅ (YES-- I wasn't going to tell my partner I liked him, I just didn't want to regret doing nothing but now I regret doing it LMAO)

Whenever people described a crush it sounded like discomfort or a panic attack to you.✅

You never understood people being sad about unrequited feelings. After all, couldn’t they just flip their crush feelings off? ❌(No, what I don't understand is people that NEED to be in relationships)

You never understood the trope of friends with benefits vowing not to develop feelings and then the drama when one of them seemingly inevitably does. ❔ (I don't really read that kind of stories, but I do get it, I've talked about jealousy and love with a lot of people, but Idk)

Your ‘crushes’

You think you’ve had a crush on every single one of your friends.✅ (SO TRUE)

You frequently thought you might have crushes on people you actually were uncomfortable around. ❔

You *theoretically* wanted a romantic partner but anytime anyone showed interest in you you would avoid them.✅ (SO TRUE HOLY FUCK)

You’ve only ever had feelings for someone if they showed interest in you first.✅(THIS ONE IS SO TRUE )

You’ve only ever had crushes on celebrities, fictional characters or otherwise unattainable people that you knew could never actually turn into relationships.✅

When asked about your crush you would randomly and arbitrarily pick a person.❌ (I just said no lmao)

You came up with a list of things you would probably like in a partner and then found someone who fit those criteria and decided to have a crush on them. ❌(Not at all, I don't even have a type, but I've decided to be in a relationship with my actual partner because we've been friends for years and he seemed to be the perfect match for me so I thought “I don't have to waste an opportunity”).

Flirting

You’re oblivious to people flirting with you. ❌ (Sometimes yeah, but most of the time I confuse them being nice with them flirting with me because of the next item in the list...)

You’ve been told you were flirting with someone when you thought you were just being friendly.✅ (All the damn time, for a couple of months I stopped being nice because of THIS reason)

Understanding and explaining yourself

You thought you were bisexual/pansexual because there was no difference in how you felt about people, so you assume you’re romantically feeling the same for everyone.✅ (Pan and demi)

When someone asks you why you don’t date, you reply that you have more important things to concentrate on.✅

You thought the reason you’ve never had a crush or fallen in love was because you had super high standards.✅(no one seemed to make me feel in love like everyone describes what it feels like)

You thought you were a late bloomer and that eventually you’d experience some inkling romance long after most of your peers have started dating.✅

So that's the list. Now I'm asking aro folks if you're so nice to tell me, do you relate? Could it be that I'm aro, or could it be that I just have commitment issues? LMAO either way i'm talking about this with my therapist, but I'd love to hear your opinions.

#aro #aromantic #aroace #asexual #lgbt #demisexual #pansexual #bisexual #relationship advice #pride

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remus-thecreative · 2 years

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Its such a long song we will just split this into 2-3 parts lol ANYWAYS enjoy part 1 of this late thing for #AroSidesWeek

Give Us Euphoria PART 1

Songfic (Euphoria by MUSE)

Every side is aro-spec in these fics we create; this focuses on Remus and Patton. Obligatory disclaimer: this is based on both the source material AND our fictives (Rat and Frog were collaborators actually lol). They made sure to get each other's consent/permission to team up and write this, as should anyone writing about ppl they know irl.

Content Warnings: minor injuries, self deprecation, talking about depression and dissociation, suggestive nicknames.

Anyways, enjoy!

Shut down

We are growing spiritless

If no one cares, then who is gonna save us?

Give us euphoria

Remus was really, really fucking bored. Not just in general, but emotionally it felt like someone had squeezed out every drop of water from its octopus appendages and left it to dry in the desert. More literally, he hadn't moved from underneath his own bed in… yeah he wasn't even going to try counting. Groaning pathetically, the side glanced over to its right, relishing in the sudden pain due to the fact its eyes had not moved much for hours. Pain was good in these times, was grounding and very real unlike far too many dark fantasies Thomas would never bother even considering. But, that wasn't the main reason he had looked to his right; no it was…. shit, why had Remus-

"FUCK! This is just sad, and I don't do sad shit unless it's paired with grotesque horrors!"

The words were nearly ripped out of its throat that was rather dry, frustration almost palpable. A fit of coughing was followed by the admittedly theatrical creaking of the duke's joints as the side crawled out from underneath the bed. Ew, physical exhaustion of the depressed variety. Whether he had the energy or not, he was going to get to the bottom of this problem that was becoming disturbingly clear in its source. Not bothering to check on the state of its outfit and grimacing at the still extremely empty 'dark sides' living room, Remus took in a deep breath and put what it hoped was a winning and deranged smile on its face while giggling out:

"I hope someone is ready for a visitor from hell…"

Worn out

Everything will fall apart

So shine a light and warm up this heavy heart

And give us euphoria

It hadn't been the best week for Patton, and if he was going to be honest, the near future wasn't looking that much better. Despite the continuous progress with everyone figuring out how to work best with each other, all the new discoveries about Thomas' sides, and the growing acceptance of many… it had taken a lot of emotional energy he hadn't expected.

Honestly, his own shortcomings regarding being morality stung worse than what was left of his strained relationships; relationships in general had always been confusing and difficult for Patton. Never sure when the exact moment a person becomes a friend or lover, so he had always tried to be equally affectionate to everyone. Lost when it came to what's supposed to happen when a relationship ends or changes. Unaware if the annoyance or exasperation he felt from others at his puns were simply in the moment or a sign he had made a significant overstep, so he kept them all as harmless and cute as he could. Yes, Patton had done his best! Only, that wasn't actually the correct action. The right thing to do. He supposed it was all connected after all, morality and relationships.

Which brought him to the present, a tired chuckle making its way past his lips as he realized he'd spaced out yet again instead of getting ready for the day.

"At least I'm already dressed to impress! Well besides my glasses, where did I set them last night…"

Patton started off cheerfully, voice getting quieter as he stood up and searched the room with the enthusiasm of a cat sensing an oncoming bathing in a tub. Although leaving his room was a must when he wasn't feeling his best, it was tempting. Then again, he had plans to talk to a certain snake today, and really didn't want Janus of all sides to get worried about him, or even worse, disappointed. That should have been enough to speed up the finding process, but strangely enough he still couldn't find his glasses. Brows now furrowed, Patton put his hands on his hips and almost let himself get upset, brown eyes widening in fright as he caught himself.

"No no no, I cannot be doing that! Not after the frogger incident-"

"-I think you mean the coolest shit ever that you should do more often, Patton-With-The-Cake!"

The shriek that left Patton was quite mild compared to the jump his body performed as Remus popped into his room.

#Aro Sides Week #arosidesweek2022 #therez the tag #ts remus #ts patton #🐙 the duke #🐸 frog man #think this would fall under Free Day or uhh Discovery if that was a prompt. idk we r just aro jfgdgxgff #OH AND CHECK OUT MY COOL PRONOUNZ HEHE 🐁

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acewithapaintbrush · 2 years

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I wish every closeted aro/ace person, who is constantly being pressured by family to finally get into a relationship, the same experience upon coming out that I've had with my mother:

Since the moment I entered the age where you are supposed to become interested (in my case) in boys, my mother had been a real bloodhound about it. Every boy that crossed my path was a potential boyfriend.

The older I got, the worse it got.

Some man asks me if I want to take turns on the equipment in the gym with him? "Ohhh, he was totally flirting with you! Go talk to him!"

A waiter is nice to me? "Did you see how he looked at you? Wasn't he awfully nice to you? I think he likes you!"

It never went farther than comments, but those were quickly becoming very annoying, especially since I had known for quite some time by then who I am.

One day, some years ago, we are watching TV and there is a lot of talk about sexuality and stuff and suddenly I'm like 'Fuck it' and turn to her and ask: "Do you know what asexuality is?"

"No."

So I explain it to her. How I don't feel any sexual attraction. How, for the longest time, I didn't even know what sexual attraction was supposed to be like, that I thought it was a fabrication of the media.

"I'm not interested in sex. Actually, I'm not interested in a relationship at all. That's arosexual. I have no desire for a partner. Having kids would be the worst thing that could happen to me. I'm happy alone and I want to stay alone."

"That's who I am."

And she sits there and listens to me and I don't even know what I expect. She is a loving and open minded mother, but for years her only goal seemed to have been getting me into a relationship.

So I watch and talk and she sits and listens and at the end of it she is like:

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, I get it. I mean I always wanted family and kids. But that's me. I can totally understand not wanting any of that."

And while I'm still sitting there, not exactly shocked, but definitely pleasantly surprised by her easy acceptance, she goes on and on.

"Kids are hard work and they completely change your life and they are expensive. If you don't want any, you definitely shouldn't have any."

"I can see every day how happy you are with your life the way it is, and I'm really glad. There is nothing worse than wanting a relationship and not finding the right one. But there is also nothing worse than forcing yourself into a relationship just because you don't know how to be alone."

"Everyone should live the life they want. Isn't it great that you young people can do that now? Not even 50 years ago you had to be married, you couldn't even open a banking account without a husband! But today women don't need a man for anything!"

And the conversation just slowly peters off and it is finally done. From then on, I am known and understood.

And wouldn't you know it? The matchmaking completely stops. Not one more comment. Not a single one!

Going from a mother who couldn't ignore even the most vague interaction between me and a man without making a comment, to a mother who never brings anything like that up again, was quite jarring, to say the least.

But very appreciated.

Some weeks ago we once again (as we sometimes do) get to talking about this and I'm like "I was actually kinda surprised how well you took it. I expected more of a pushback."

"What? Why would you think that???"

And I'm incredulous, because "You spent YEARS throwing every man who so much as looked a little too long at me my way, insisting that every smile and glance meant that they were flirting with me. And you ask me why I thought you would take my complete disinterest in a relationship badly?"

And my mother sits up straight and grows very serious and says with conviction:

"I only did that because I couldn't understand how you never noticed the attention you were getting!"

"Huuh?"

"Boys and men would flirt with you and you never noticed! Never! And I thought, how can she not notice? It's so obvious! It was driving me crazy!"

"Let's ignore the part where I still don't think smiling and being nice equals flirting… You're telling me that you were only constantly pointing these things out to me, because you thought I was being an oblivious idiot and you needed to… help me?"

"Pretty much, yeah." She doesn't even sound sorry. "How was I supposed to know that you actually weren't interested at all? I just thought you were being dumb and not picking up on some veeeeery obvious signs. Of course I had to help my little dummy."

So, to make my long story short: Her comments were never meant to pressure me into a relationship because she thought that's the only way to live your life. She simply thought her daughter was an oblivious idiot.

I wish you all parents like my mother. Whose weird matchmaking is just an expression of their belief that you are hopelessly unaware of social and romantic cues and that you idiot need all the help you can get, but who, upon learning the truth, will accept you for who you are and will be proud of the person you are.

#aro/ace #aroace #asexual #ace pride #asexuality #arosexual #coming out story #This is very personal but I've wanted to put it into words for a while now and finally managed #Thanks for your attention

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thetimelessdreams · 3 years

Text

Jack's last battle | Radioactive

Inspired by this guy, his powers and his appeal. He has always been my accurate representation of what I'd be as a guy. And he got no screen time. :(

Two days ago I found one picture on my phone, it's from 2018, the year that the sequel to The Incredibles released. It was a picture of Gamma Jack that I was showing around my elementary school asking what kind of emotion his face is supposed to portray. Maybe happiness or ignorance. We never figured him out.

So, I nostalgically rewatched the movie and the 2nd DVD with the heroes talking. I also downloaded LEGO The Incredibles and unlocked Gamma Jack with the cheat code.

There aren't many stories about him as I checked. (#justiceforgammajack)

Moving on to the actual story...

*******

- Jack, welcome home! - Thanks, darling. The day was hella tiring! - Why so? - I had to be a questor for a Spanish exam. It was exhausting since Spanish isn't a language I know. The students are always so happy when I teach about radiation rays. So being a questor made me think a little about my overuse of power recently. When I demonstrate the various types of materials, they disintegrate. Yet I see my students being interested in listening and watching. I enjoy being around them so much. Hahaha. - Jack, you really have changed since our glory days. Remember them? You used to be so reckless. I was so worried. - Yeah, I sure do. Thanks for always believing in me when no one else did. Thanks for making me the happiest man and most importantly, thanks for being here still.

Then they hugged. The warm embrace of his wife had always made Jack happy. The hug was longer than expected. Jack went to his children's room. His son and daughter had already had dinner since Jack comes back late from work every day. So, they have to dine without him.

- Father, I have B+ in Chemistry today! I am so happy!! - We are both proud of you, son - Jack said. - Thanks, mom and dad! - Dad, and I got a boyfriend. He is from my class and is a big strong boy. Please say I can date him. - What? You have a boyfriend before I had my first girlfriend now? I was in fifth grade and you are in third. Ah, you are growing up faster than ever, don't you? - Yes, dad! - his daughter said with a smile.

Even if superheroes weren't allowed to breed, most still had children. One day, many years ago Jack had been contacted by his old colleague, Robert, who announced that he had a daughter, regardless of the rule. Simon and Lucius decided to not violate the law and remained without children.

Before his hero days, he was known as a bad teenager, who spent some time in jail. The walls of the prison never stopped him and he was soon taken by the NSA. His powers were strong and could kill, unlike others' abilities. He was always watched to not misbehave.

But the NSA stopped all superhero acts after heroes' big prohibitions and suings.

After the ban, Jack started working as a physician at the local university. He was giving lectures almost every day. Until he found a new theory about a natural phenomenon that wasn't explained before. The whole thing won Jack a lot of fame and a Noble prize nomination. He used his real name, and he changed his hairstyle and his persona completely. No more prioritizing women and selfishness. All of their friends and relatives can proudly say that he is a completely different person.

The rest of the superheroes that had problems sticking to normal lifestyles envied Jack and his wife. They had excellent lives. Everything had been fine for them. They were never sued for superhero acts in the past.

At the university, he was talking about how weird he felt when he realized he can throw radiation bursts around. His wife on the other hand was also a lector at the same university but in a different subject. She also demonstrates using her powers. That doesn't cause suspicion which is odd for anyone who talks to them. The students even love having them around. Both joke a lot and are really understanding people.

Sadly, for some time, they missed being superheroes. No more battles. Just them using their powers for education which isn't something bad or useless. But that doesn't bring the same passion, joy and excitement as in the glory days. No more groups of women wanting autographs from Jack. No more champagne for the brilliant wins over the forces of evil.

Until one day something weird happened. Jack's wife was invited to a weird island. There she had to help with the killing of a dangerous robot. Seemed like an impossible task to her, so Jack came along.

He could sense it was a trap and told his wife, but money made her not listen to him. She flew to the island without him. Fortunately, Jack can fly fast.

But it was too late when he reached the island. His wife was dying, after being smashed by a big robot. - Noooooooo! - Huh, Gamma Jack? You also are here! How convenient of you to show up for the big surprise! Syndrome said as he saw the blonde flying to his precious woman. Jack was silently sobbing, as he felt his radiation grow stronger. The anger inside of him made him more powerful. Deep in his bones, straight from inside he shot only one shot on the damn machine and it pierced through it easily. - You destroyed my expensive robot! You will be sorry! I am Syndrome and- Before he could finish his sentence, Gamma Jack was gone in a cave with his wife. She was cold like ice, her body wasn't moving, her heart wasn't beating, and she was bleeding internally as her whole body was crushed like a cockroach.

He wished she was alive. He wanted her to listen to him. Then he found someone's skeleton in the cave. It was Simon's body and goggles. He had written on the wall: "Kronos". - Ah, partner, what is this Kronos leading to?

Jack waited several hours and decided to fly off to his home already. But he was grasped by a giant hook-looking thing. It was just like the robot from before, but this time he had no way to destroy it like before. The claw was so strong that it was suffocating him. He couldn't concentrate at all. The robot shot him with a laser in his head. He might be strong to defeat a robot but is not immortal to kill its next version. Such a sad moment. The third strongest hero died. Syndrome was watching from a camera in the robot and Mirage's heart was aching. She was tired of seeing her childhood heroes dying, especially Gamma Jack.

- Hey Mirage, what's it? You seem unhappy as if you knew this jerk from before. That damn sexist learnt his lesson, didn't he? - Shut up. Two birds down (with almost) one stone.

********

That sounds like a death that Ivan Vazov would write, to be honest. And this was it for today. Tell me if you want more stories about superheroes from The Incredibles, cause I'd definitely enjoy writing more!

July 3rd/4th 2021.

#gamma jack #the incredibles

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