Can We Just Not?

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

thought about Grace’s eureka claps

+ bonus:

via @ninjahijabimuse​

OKAY so idk if this is canon cus I can’t find the post but someone made a post about how Eridians apparently don’t have a spacial memory/recall/remembered spacial awareness like we do, and therefore if they walked through a room and “saw” it, then tried to walk through the room “blind” aka deaf and unable to echolocate, they’d be totally lost. They don’t retain awareness of how to navigate that space. Unlike humans, who can mentally visualize the navigable area of a room they can no longer see, allowing us to walk around in the dark with some semblance of where things are. That post mentioned how confused Eridians would be seeing Grace walk around his house in the dark and not run into Everything, he actually seems to know where he’s going.

And then I had a realization while rewatching Iron Lung. THEY WOULD FIND WHAT SIMON DID INCONCEIVABLE. Absolute freak of nature shit. And what I mean is his ability to map his surroundings and learn them and navigate them. Simon literally could never effectively see things while moving, all he had was a proximity radar and occasional shitty photos that would only ever be “how things looked 3 seconds ago”, and he mapped the area in the blood ocean with decent success and at certain points no longer even needed his map. He managed to gain a sense of his surroundings outside the ship, and understand those surroundings, navigating essentially blind. Only knowing/discovering if something is in front of him once he’s right there almost up against it, close to collision. Building a visual of the space by approaching a direction until he is stopped. And that method of navigation?

In all reality, what most accurately describes the way Simon navigated is by feel. Simon navigated by touch.

Simon who isn’t used to being full. Simon who doesn’t know what getting resources without strings attached means. Simon who just wants to live.

Grace, fucks up an experiment he was doing: "Aw, shoot darn."

I also like to think that in Eden giving seeds, leaves, or anything related to a tree and nature to someone is a well know, and quite fancy, way to ask someone to marry you, since trees are not only something super weird, but also has a lot of religious meaning for those who grew in Eden. If you give someone something related to a tree and they return the favour, at the eyes of Eden culture, you got married.

So when Grace gave Simon those seeds and little tree sprout, Simon broke in tears, for the emotion of having his own tree and been seen as spouse material, Grace's spouse. In a rush Simon took a leave of one of the trees of the forest and gave it to Grace, as a way to say that he accepts Grace purpose and hugs him with all he had.

In Eden kisses and anything carnal is seen as a waste of energy, resources and time, and probably sinful, with all the cultish- religious guilty-sacrifice mentality, so a hug means a lot.

Simon, super emotional and very happy, drowning in his tears, hugging Grace as if he wants to squeeze the life out of it: I promise you that I will be worthy of this honour.

Grace, thinking "wow, he really loves the nature, good for him to have a pasion", trying his best to return the hug without losing his breath, nor squashing the tree sprout: I know, I know, you are already worthy, buddy.

Simon just cries harder.