Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 86: Discrimination

Being a woman working in a predominately male field was far more of a challenge than Skylar could have ever expected it to be. 

Every day at the office seemed to be filled with microaggressions; passive comments with undertones of misogyny. Assumptions that she was less capable. Her coworkers treating her differently than they treated everyone else. Most of it was subtle, but it added up to the point that she couldn't force herself not to notice it. And it was only getting worse.

"Hey, Skylar! While we're all on lunch break, you should go make us a sandwich!"

She froze in her tracks as her coworkers began taunting her. These two in particular were relentless on a daily basis, especially if they caught her alone during lunch break -- such as now. After taking a deep, steady breath, she attempted to convince herself to just keep walking and ignore them.

"Actually, Barry," the man in the blue shirt began, "I think she could afford to skip on the lunch break. She's kinda fat, don't you agree?" 

Skylar crossed her arms and continued walking, her eyes fixed on the floor. 'Just ignore them, they aren't worth your time...'

"Are you crazy, Kyle? She's not fat, she's thick. Sure, maybe she doesn't have the prettiest face, but she's got a nice rack. Not to mention that big booty..." Barry whistled at her for emphasis. 

Every muscle in her body tensed, with the exception of her tongue, which suddenly loosened far more than she knew it should have. With her fists clenched, she spun around to face them, approaching with surprisingly bold steps.

"What's your problem!?" Skylar snapped. "I really don't appreciate what you're doing, and if you don't stop, I'm going to report you to the boss for--"

"For what?" Barry raised an eyebrow. "Asking for a favor and complimenting your physique?"

Her eyes narrowed. "For harassment." 

"You're just overreacting," Kyle waved his hand dismissively. "Typical women, am I right?"

Barry nodded. "I don't see why the boss would believe you, seeing as how you ladies tend to get overly emotional about dumb things like this. You really should calm down and smile more. That frown isn't very flattering on you." 

"Well, misogyny certainly isn't flattering on you," Skylar was speaking through gritted teeth. "So why don't you smile and shut up?"

Barry sneered. "Why don't you stop being such a bi--"

Another familiar voice chimed in from behind them to drown out his vulgarity. "That's enough!" 

That seemed effective in shutting the two men up, if only momentarily.

"Oh, wonderful, here comes mister perfect," Kyle grumbled.

Skylar turned in the direction of the voice, confusion and surprise quickly etching itself into her expression. "Orion...?"

"Lunch break just started a few minutes ago, shouldn't you be eating? How long have you even been standing there snooping?" Barry asked, sounding clearly irritable. 

"I should ask you the same thing. You have better things to do than harassing her." Orion's eyes narrowed threateningly, but he was hardly intimidating. "I've been standing here long enough to hear the disgusting things you were saying to her."

"Disgusting? Look, from a man to a fellow man, we're all thinking it." Kyle shrugged. "You might act like the nice guy, but above anything else, you're still a man. Boys will be boys and men will be men. So get off your high horse, dude." 

Barry just chuckled. "He's smarter than us, trying to make her think he's "not like the other guys" so he can get in her pants. Classic tactic. Works every time." 

Orion crossed his arms, approaching with an unusual confidence. "That's not what I'm doing. Maybe your standards for yourselves are that low, but unlike you, I have enough basic human decency to view women as human beings and that includes Skylar. You really should try it sometime."

Both coworkers were taken aback by his boldness, but Kyle quickly snickered and tried to dismiss it. "Yeah, whatever. Maybe you should try manning up."

"From what I'm seeing, he's much more of a man than you are," Skylar mumbled.

"This discussion doesn't involve you!" Barry snapped. "Can't you keep your big ugly mouth shut for five minutes?" 

"Just stop already!" At this point, Orion was exasperated. "If you're so annoyed with her, just leave instead of wasting everyone's break causing problems!"

"No one here is being a problem except you," Barry said.

"I'm not so sure the boss is going to agree. Maybe you think he wouldn't believe a woman, but certainly he'll believe me when I tell him everything you've said?"

 "Fine, we'll leave. But the boss shouldn't believe you either, pretty boy. You're even more of a pansy than any woman I've met." With that, he turned and walked away, followed closely by Kyle.

For a moment, Orion watched them go in a mixture of disgust and disbelief, until he remembered that Skylar was still there. Hesitantly, he turned to face her, concern overpowering any other emotions that he was feeling. "H-Hey, um.. are you okay?"

"I..." Skylar's voice trailed off. Truthfully, she didn't know how to answer the question. "I guess so. You really didn't have to do that, you know. I-I had the situation under control, and I was perfectly capable of--"

"I don't doubt your capability," he gently interrupted, "but I couldn't just stand there and let them do that without saying something. I just wanted to help... s-sorry if I made things worse."

Her expression softened. "...no, you didn't make it worse. Actually... I should thank you. They probably weren't going to leave me alone no matter what I said, so..."

"D-Don't thank me. Friends... stand up for each other, right?" Orion's stammering was a stark contrast to the attitude he'd had only moments ago, and he nervously ran a hand through his hair as he spoke. "I-I mean... assuming that you consider us to be friends."

"I'd say we are." She smiled slightly. "Hey, um... do you... want to go grab some lunch together?"

"M-Me?" Orion's cheeks flushed slightly, especially when he remembered there was no one else she could be asking. "Um, sure, I-I... was just about to head out to get lunch before I overheard what was going on, actually."

Skylar nodded. "Did you have somewhere in mind?" 

"Yeah, the same place I usually go. Unless there's somewhere you want to go? I-I'm fine with anything, really..."

"If you go there all the time, it must be good." She shrugged. "I'm down for it. Let's go."

---

"Are you really sure it's safe for you to be here without the... um..." Skylar paused mid-sentence, trying to remember what their boss had called the human form he was wearing when she'd first met him. "...disguise form?"

She'd been overly concerned about it ever since they left the office. Orion had put it on while they were outside -- which was odd to see -- but as soon as they came into the restaurant, he took it off as though the staff wouldn't even notice. Interestingly enough, they didn't seem to when they came over to the table, but it wasn't enough to settle her nerves. Although she hadn't met any aliens prior to working at NASA, she knew very well that the government had it out for them.

"I'm sure. As long as there's no one else here, it's fine, and that's why I always come here. Usually other people don't show up around lunch... fast food's much more popular. The boss recommended me this place because it's an alien-owned business. His brother runs it, actually." Orion smiled reassuringly. 

She sighed. "Alright, if you're sure... but if I see someone else come in--"

"I'll go into disguise form, don't worry." He paused for a moment, forgetting about the food in front of him. "So, I've been meaning to ask you something, and right now seems like a good time since we aren't working. What made you want to become an astronaut?"

"W-Why do you ask?" Skylar didn't expect him to actually be interested in getting to know her. After all, no one else in her life really was. 

"O-Oh, um, I've just been wondering." His smile quickly faded. "Sorry, I don't mean to pry--"

"No, it's not that, it's just... not many people show interest in getting to know me."

Orion frowned. "Well, I'd love to get to know you."

"Are you sure?" She looked away, her voice lowering. "...It's... a long story."

"I have plenty of time to hear it."

"Well, if you'd really like to hear my entire life story that eventually leads to the astronaut thing..." She hesitated. Deep down, she was worried that he might be judgmental of her past in some way, but part of her already knew better. He seemed so easy to open up to if she'd just let her walls down for once. "...For starters, my family immigrated here from the Middle East before I was born."

Orion smiled. "Oh, really? Where from?"

"Al Simhara," Skylar replied. "The thing is... they were very... strict. Traditional, if you will. Even when I was a little girl, I took an extreme interest in science, particularly astronomy. I loved learning about it in school, I'd bring home books from the library about the solar system and read them until I absorbed everything I could manage to understand at that age. Even my teachers told my parents that I was very gifted in the field of science."

Orion nodded. "I guess that's something I can relate to. A childhood love for astronomy, I mean. But... that's pretty typical for aliens for obvious reasons."

She sighed. "Unfortunately, to my parents... it wasn't typical for girls. They wanted me to be a proper young lady, to wear frilly skirts that I despised, to mind my manners and and stop... acting like a boy. I wasn't feminine enough, I didn't conform to their standards... and they hated me for it. T-They said that something was wrong with me, that I'd be worthless if I didn't change my behavior and learn to be obedient and submissive like women are "supposed" to..."

He sat there, speechless, as she spoke. In some ways, he knew how she felt -- he'd been the victim of his fair share of insults relating to his masculinity, or rather lack thereof. There probably wasn't anyone else in her life that knew more about society's prejudice or love of shoving people into boxes and gender roles than he did. Tiffany, his coworkers, even people he barely knew -- they'd all made passive comments about it at some point. "...Skylar, I'm so sorry..."

"They forced me into performing femininity," she continued quietly. "I wasn't allowed to pursue my dreams. As I got older, they basically banned science from our house. No more books, no cool space documentaries or building model rocketships for class projects... instead, they'd take me shopping for dresses and makeup, or hammer domestic skills like cooking and sewing into my head until I mastered them. My dad... he was the worst. He'd always say their goal was to prepare me for married life, because my place was in the home, raising a family and serving a husband... and if I tried to refuse to get married at some point, that he'd find a way to force me."

"That's... that's messed up," Orion sighed heavily. "Your parents were wrong, Skylar... your place is exactly where you are now. You're going to be an amazing astronaut when you complete your training."

"But... I've never had confidence in that." Skylar sighed too. "Several years ago, my parents died in a car accident. After their passing, I took the opportunity to abandon the life they chose for me and walk my own path. But it wasn't easy... I never expected that so many other people would have their same mindset. I'm always dealing with sexist remarks or people underestimating me. It was really bad in college, honestly..."

"Don't listen to what anyone says. People can be ignorant and mean, but... people like that aren't worth even acknowledging." He tried to smile at her. "You're so accomplished at such a young age. If people have a problem with you, they're just jealous."

"Young age? I'm twenty-seven." She laughed lightly. "Slightly older than you, I assume?"

Orion's sudden nervousness was suspicious. "Uhh... actually, I'm forty-three?"

It was at that moment Skylar had finally decided to take a bite of her pasta, only to nearly choke on it. "W-Wait, you... what!? You're lying! You can't be a day over twenty-five!" 

He averted his gaze. "I guess you could say I'm that young. Physically, at least... technically speaking, I'm immortal." 

"Wait, is this about the alien serum thing? I heard about it at work." 

"Yeah. I took it a long time ago... although it wasn't exactly my choice." He sighed. "That's another long story, though. Don't ask."

"Well, I'm asking anyway." She raised an eyebrow. 

"...my ex wife sort of... forcibly gave it to me," he hesitantly said.

Skylar's eyes widened. "You've been married before? I had no idea."

"Yeah. I have two sons by her, too, but they're adults now. My life has been a mess ever since I met her. That's the last time I ever try love," he laughed, but didn't really sound amused.

She turned to look out the window, seeming thoughtful. "...I'm really sorry to hear that marriage didn't work out for you. But honestly? I get where you're coming from. After years of listening about my parents go on about my wifely obligations, I think I'll pass on romance. I don't have time for it anyway, and I definitely didn't come this far for my career to be overshadowed by a man."

"Love is overrated." Orion looked down. "Sure, the idealized version everyone wants you to believe in sounds nice, but... the truth is that in reality, there's no happily ever after." Despite saying it, maybe there was something deep down inside of him that refused to believe it. Yet even if there was such a thing as happily ever after, it certainly wasn't meant for him.

Or was it?