Shades Of Pink.
Author: Invader Johnny.
Summary: Irkens have a different perspective when it comes to colors, as Gaz found out when Zim gave her something that represents bravery for his people but for humans, it means everything the Irken Empire doesn't stands for.
Disclaimer: As we all know, I don't own the rights to Invader Zim, Jhonen Vasquez does, I'm just a fan of his work.
Author Notes: This idea came to me after noticing that the colors pink, purple, etc seem to be very significant for the Irkens since the technology they use, their uniforms, etc has a shade of what are considered "girly" colors on Earth but on Irk might have an entirely different connotations, which got me thinking that it is possible for aliens races to have totally different meaning when it comes to colors such as red, pink, etc.
This story is not to be taken literally or in any negative way since we have no idea the reasoning behind their tradition of everything on Irk having shades of the aforementioned tints, I simply do this for fun and because the meaning of coloration is a fascinating subject for me.
"You sexist moron!"
"Eh... What?"
Zim and Gaz were sitting on a bench in the park.
The pale girl raised an angry eyebrow unimpressed and quite pissed off with what the alien was giving her, he claimed it to be a show of respect, but she thought otherwise, and it wasn't surprising that she believed why, given the coloration of the Irken's so called present.
"Are you fucking kidding me Zim?"
"I fuck you not Gaz-Beast!" He screamed loudly.
People nearby looked up from what they were doing and stared in the direction of the disguised Invader.
Embarrassed (or more accurately filled with irritated rage) Gaz roughly grabbed Zim's lips with her hands to shut him up.
"What have I told you about that mouth of yours?"
The Irken said something unintelligible because of his girlfriend's hand keeping him from speaking clearly.
Amazingly, Gaz understood him "Yes Zim, humans have swear words too!" She hissed "So while on Irk, the F-word isn't considered a profanity, here on Earth it is, so watch it! The last thing I need is for you to be arrested for disrupting the peace, One big headed idiot in my life doing that is enough!"
The pale teenager released him once she was sure her boyfriend wasn't about to yell his guts out again, once she did, Zim began massaging his lips.
"I still don't see why you don't like the gloves I gotten you Gaz-Human." Zim said confused "They came all the way from my home world!"
Gaz menacingly got to an inch of Zim's face. "Have your ocular implants suddenly rendered you color blind or have I been hitting you in the face a little too often since we started going out? They're pink Zim. I don't do pink."
"Pink is a GLORIOUS color my love pig!" The Irken said pumped up "The almighty Zim wears it!"
"And what does that say about you?"
"That I'm an unstoppable killing machine!"
"Wait... Zim, you do know what the color pink represents, right?"
"That's a stupid question Little Gaz." He sneered "Pink is the color of bravery, Blood, murder, determination, courage, anger, and above all dangerously evil! WUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Zim, that would be red." His annoyed girlfriend explained. "The darker more manly version of pink."
The Irken would stop laughing long enough for him to say "Eh?"
"Here on Earth, the color red represents all those things you just listed."
"Really?" He asked "On Irk, red only means doom, doom and more doom!"
"On Earth, I guess doom would be black since it is kinda unknown what will cause it." She shrugs "In all honesty, I don't care, like death will have any significance once you stop breathing."
"I see." Zim said, processing this new piece of information. "Nevertheless I'm giving you gloves that have the color that on my planet represents all the qualities that make the mighty Irken race quite deadly."
Here, he grinned like a proud little maniac... Which he is.
"Sorry to burst your bubble Zim." Gaz said in a tone that clearly said she wasn't apologetic at all. "But here on Earth, pink has a very different connotation, one that hardly means intimidation, ya know, everything the Irken Empire stands for?"
"Well with what do you pitiful humans associated such a powerful color as pink then?"
"Powerful isn't the word I would use." Gaz said with an eye roll "Try... Feminine."
"Eh?"
"It means delicate and prettiness."
"De-lu-cua-te?" He tried to pronounce the words, which were quite foreign to the Invader "Pre-ta-nuts?"
"It's a color for girls, Zim."
"But Gaz-Beat, you are a girl." The Irken pointed out bluntly "You are a girl, right?"
"Yes you idiot!" She snapped "You should know the differences in genders by now!"
"My mistake, all you humans look the same to me."
"Zim, I'm this close..." Gaz growled making the universal signal for a tiny space between her fingers "Of tearing out your vocal cords and beating you to death with them!"
"Eep!"
"Clearly you never heard of these words." The scary girl sighs in annoyance "Let's try something else, see Zim, here on Earth pink is associated with feelings such as affection and nurture, not war and revenge."
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
"It's true, why do you think I never wear it?" Gaz asked retorted "I'm not sure how things work on your home planet, but pink is a color meant for girls."
"You assign colors to the genders of your world?" Zim asked disgusted "That's primitive! But what can I expect from such a lowly species? On Irk, we have no need for such trivialities, both male and female Irkens do not waste time over what you called sexist pig, on my world, gender is not an issue, shortness is."
Gaz couldn't help but smirk at the irony since the Irken race while technologically advanced, still had some form of discrimination and while it wasn't directed at females like on Earth, Irk was quite prejudice against the literal smaller population.
"Guess no race is perfect."
"Out of curiosity Gaz-human, what color does your species assigned the male population?"
"Blue."
"BLUE?!" Zim was aghast "That inferior coloration is not even deserving of being under the gum in my shoes!"
"Ok... I'm guessing your people have negative opinion of it then?"
"You bet your brain meats we do!" The Irken hissed "Back on Irk, blue is considered the universal meaning of peace!"
"And that's bad because...?"
"Became we Irkens have no need for peace!" Zim said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world "We conquer! We kill! We fight! Peace is a sign of weakness, if you can't reign doom down update n your enemies, then what are you good for?!"
"And what if there are no other races to conquer?" Gaz asked "What will become of your race then?"
"Gaz-Human." Zim said evenly "The universe is vast and unexplored, there are races out there that even the Irken Empire hasn't discovered yet, as long as there are other inferior races out there to conquer, my people, my Empire has a purpose, a meaning! Just like you, whose purpose is to slay those accursed vampire burritos."
"Vampire pigs." She corrected "So, you're telling me, that all this Invading is a result of your race having the need to conquer other worlds to feel superior to others regardless wether or not the civilisations you're destroying have not done anything to cause an intergalactic incident?"
"Irken ARE superior to other races." Zim said proudly "But there are a few exceptions to that rule."
"Oh really?" Gaz questioned, crossing her arms "Such as?"
"... You."
"Come again?"
"See Gaz-Beast, pink doesn't just mean evil and danger to my people, it also means that you're above others, in short, that you are superior if you will, so the pink gloves were not meant to be a form of disrespect, quite the contrary, it was meant to be a show of respect!"
Once again Zim holds the pink gloves for Gaz to grab.
"So you're saying I'm by your standards... A soldier?"
"Not anywhere near my amazing level but yes, had you been born an Irken you would have been one impressive Invader."
Gaz rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's ego but now she looked at the gloves, not with contempt but with mild interest, after all, if by Irken standards, pink was not only considered a color of death but of respect, then she was going to accept the gift, because now she knew that while Zim sometimes sent some very derogatory names towards the human race, in his eyes she was above them.
... And that was good enough.
The scary girl grabbed the pink gloves and puts them on.
"Umm... Whatever these things are made off, I can't feel the texture." She mused "Almost as if I'm not wearing anything at all... Interesting."
Gloved fingers soon interwoven, She looked down at the bench, the. At the owner of the arm.
"Want to cause some doom?" Zim asked cruelly.
"I thought you'd never ask." Gaz grinned evilly.
Both Human and Irken walked out of the park, still holding hands.
Black and Pink.
What did you guys think of this story?
Truth be told, it's something I had in the back of my mind for quite some time now, see colors have different meaning all around the world and as I mentioned above, it's possible that alien races could have a different view of colors as we do and considering that the color pink seems to be one of the most important, if not the primary color on Irk, since the Sky, the technology and the clothing has some tint of the aforementioned color and Irk itself is believed to be Red, pink or magenta in coloration and even Tallest Red during "The Nightmare Begins" wore pink, clearly telling us that Irkens do not associate colors with genders since they have no idea about "gender discrimination" since in the work force both male and females are treated equally.
Something that also inspired this story was the fact that way back in the late 19th century and early 20th century, it was a generally accepted rule that pink was for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, which was seen as a "softer" red was worn my boys to signify childhood and when they took into adulthood, they wore red, which was a sign of power, while blue, which was seen more "delicate" and made the girls look "prettier."
Funny how times switches the meaning of something as simple as colors, eh?
Anyway, what are your final thoughts on this... I want to say unique idea, any constructive criticism is always welcomed.
Invader Johnny Signing Off.