ryland grace aroace realisation moment but it's not grace driving it at all... grace is in his forties and now thinks of himself as a guy with a very low sex drive (which does Just Happen, he's a biologist he knows these things vary. maybe his mother didn't drink enough milk while pregnant with him, maybe it's a genetic mutation, mostly it doesn't matter that much) who doesn't want someone in his house. he IS an incredibly lonely person but that's because he doesn't have FRIENDS because he has the autism cptsd where you would rather peel off your own skin than let other people See You. like he is a bit fucked up about not having a spouse but it's cuz a spouse is supposed to be someone who understands you and is on your side anyway. he wants a best friend. he started writing this off as impossible while still in high school and oh boy is he in way too deep now to start interrogating how he's maybe made a self-fulfilling prophecy
rocky who has never met a human and who has been alone for forty-six years and who is thinking about four different things at once always. rocky who has a best friend he had to leave behind, a best friend he's been missing like a limb. rocky who has absolutely no cultural frame of reference for living Alone, apart from the four and a half decades he just spent living alone that have made him just a little bit (very very very) insane. grace live alone on PURPOSE question? no one watch grace sleep ON PURPOSE, QUESTION??? earth not have psychology, question?????
like. rocky learns grace doesn't have a mate and is like, yeah not everyone has One Person who ticks all the boxes i can get that i have a frame of reference for that. personally i did meet My Person while young enough i can't really comprehend being an adult without them but that is notably lucky at home too. but he learns grace doesn't have close friends and is concerned. he is very concerned!!!! grace you are a pack animal!!!!
and grace has to be like, look my specific subset of human culture works in this specific way. where there isn't actually a lot of social pressure to form long-lasting friendships because-- well, okay, so i am not a social sciences guy but when we invented advertising, companies realised they can sell more things if everyone has to have their own individual thing so then they started going all in on reasons to have Your Own Individual Thing, and if all households only have two adults-- that's a gross oversimplification, there are a lot of factors. you have a society you know how it works. my point is the focus is on finding one person to fill all your pack animal needs, and i tried that once and it didn't work and, y'know, it just seemed like more effort than it was worth. and anyway i DID have friends, okay, we were all grown adults with jobs, MOST people don't see their friends that often!
and rocky says. wow earth sound terrible. and grace says well maybe a bit yeah. and rocky says need word, like mate but friend. grace says friend??? rocky says no i know friend, friend But More. friend meaning-intensifier deepest-affection-indicator legal-obligation-indicator. grace says well partner i guess but that's not exclusively platonic and you aren't usually. married? eridians marry friends???
rocky says SOME friends. best friends. most best friends. rocky marry grace question?
rocky says grace stuck with rocky forever ever ever statement. grace know this. rocky marry grace statement
rocky says grace willing DIE for rocky but not marry rocky??? grace many psychological problems.
grace says typically you wait longer. on earth. before proposing.
(they're like two months into the journey to erid)
rocky says yes yes wait until sure. grace willing die for rocky. how much more sure does grace think can rocky get, statement. grace rocky save stars.
and grace is like okay. right. i need to, uh. i'm gonna lay on the floor for a bit. and rocky says okay have fun i look for better word
and then rocky goes on an internet deep dive so he can find 'queerplatonic' (rocky's language is like german with compound words and he's fascinated that english doesn't do this more and he's been reading the dictionary for fun), and then when grace returns from floor time rocky's like new words! queerplatonic! amanormativity! aromantic! asexual! and grace says. no you reproduce asexually, humans definitely do not do that. rocky says yes english confusing. same word mean something else. asexual: english word for human with notably low desire for sex. grace: human with notably low desire for sex. grace aware thinking machine has information beyond serialised visual fiction songs question?
and grace says, i didn't NEED a word, rock, there does not have to be a word for absolutely everything. rocky says miscommunication major plot point of all serialised visual fiction songs because humans never miscommunicate question? strange novel experience for humans question? grace says having a million specific words does NOT prevent miscommunication. rocky says yes because humans can't do enough tones. rocky grace queerplatonic question? grace leaking, grace full of shit, rocky find grace good important words grace be GRATEFUL. command.
