All Comments on 'Founders Ch. 16'

And jealousy raises its ugly head. Not so much Zack, well a little bit, but for sure Ayana. She needs to get on the same page, and share. She's supposed to be a lesbian? Aren't we supposed to recognize the sexual attractiveness spectrum? Aren't we supposed to be accepting of our partner's spectrum? Especially in the plot of this story, you'd think the lesbian of the group would be non-possessive. It would be an interesting twist to give Ayana the possessive traits of a stereotypical straight male ( monogamous, possessive, territorial, jealous, threatened ). That behavior doesn't seem to jive with the plot, unless we're looking at the first major conflict. Zack better start expressing how he really feels, and soon. He does have the right to feel his feels, and the right to be heard. So far, it seems, he's not equal in this... he's just a tool. He's a confusing character to me. I suspended disbelief in the first chapter, but I'm still not feeling this guy.

Ayana is being influenced by her scarcity conversation introduced in Ch. 2. She fears she is facing a rural life for the rest of her days and probably slim pickings. That said, she's genuinely trying to help Khushi, and that's her primary motivation. She wants Khushi to be able to sort herself out. What she's asking is not extreme. Khushi comes from a culture with a great deal of cultural bias against homosexuality. I've seen some of my own friends from similar backgrounds spend many emotionally painful years sorting themselves out. So there is a method to Ayana's madness. Unfortunately, Ayana's integrity is out, as you can already see. Character development ahead.

Zach doesn't feel like he has any right to his feelings of jealousy for a number of reasons. 1) Jealousy amongst the crew is verboten; these are astronauts who are supposed to have all the self-controls. 2) Generally speaking, he's a pretty extreme people pleaser at this point in the story. 3) He's in love with Ayana and genuinely wants to bend over backwards for the sake of her happiness. 4) He sees that Khushi is happy with Ayana, and his better angels want to do anything to support that relationship. The list goes on.

There's overtly a constructive Zach at work here trying to do the right and generous and serious thing. Under the surface is a destructive Zach you're seeing glimpses of. Character development ahead.

You're right to feel this way about Zach at this point. He's trying to be what others want him to be instead of genuinely himself. This makes him a cipher personality-wise. Plot and character development ahead.

Zach seems selfish and cry's a lot, think he needs a good kick in the balls.

I think Zach is crying a lot because he is autistic himself, all these women are strongly pushing their expectations on him, and he hasn't had the time or space to think about his own needs. He is eventually going to have to tell everybody stop, because he has limits. He can't provide everything to everybody at this pace for long without burning out. At the very least, he is not getting enough sleep.