S.Z

* New student, very small. Grace said it was pebble. Pebble is small Earth rock. Pebble likes name.

* He found out Eridians have no gender rules.

* Students brought him mineral sample. After he stopped crying he said he loves show-and-tell game. Human naming conventions oddly literal.

* I told him Earthsun grew bright.

* I took him up atop atmosphere bypass elevator to look at stars.

* He woke up from nap and found me still with him. I did not wait on his chest; he says I am heavy like “elephant” and he “couldn’t breathe.” I laid my arm over him instead, kept him close, feeling safe. He said “cuddle” was warm.

* Before class he heard younglings singing.

* He has plants in house from sprouts on ship. Plant grew “bud.”

* Engineers got seawater temperature right. He took off shoes and stood in water, sighing. He didn’t care about pants getting damp. Cried until shirt was also damp. Humans very endlessly wet.

* He missed “Doritos.”

* Adrian helped food scientists make taumoeba dried paste. Made it crunchy after heating. We fused it into triangle form. Told him it was Tauritos. That made him laugh-cry. Laugh-cry is rare and precious.

* He remembered Eridians have no gender rules.

* We made him celebration outfit. Used metals he calls pretty. He can see frequencies named “colorful” and “shiny.” These make humans happiest.

* I gave him hug when he wasn’t expecting it. Easier to hug close now with exosuit. Hug when Grace sitting down so he does not fall over.

My girl was being sexualised at every single interview, being asked if she wore underwear under her black widow suit and even being groped by interviewers. Natasha’s background was only slightly explored and her fighting style consisted of wrapping her legs around men’s heads in order to further appeal the male audience.

Yelena has the story arc she has and the ability to grow as a character because Scarlett fought for her to when she was producing the Black Widow movie. It makes me so upset that she knew she would never get the superhero experience that the men around her had, so she put aside her own spotlight in order to give Florence the standing that she couldn’t have.

I will not accept Natasha slander because Scarlett put everything she had into that character for a decade and had to go through so much just to be a part of that franchise.

When the translator is working, you can still hear the musical tones of his natural voice in the background (a detail a lot of franchises have missed, I’ve noticed.) In the scene where Grace is pinned to the control panel and the translator doesn’t work anymore, you can clearly hear Rocky saying his name in a higher octave, panicked.