Random Stuff

Jokes, some serious stuff, and stories. Pretty much everyone is allowed to be here, unless you're rude or act like a bigot, in which case, kindly fuck off.

[aroace-ryland-grace]

tried to type "the best friends of all time" on my phone and I say that enough I thought I could just use the suggested autofill from my keyboard to the finish the sentence but apparently not because instead I ended up with "the best friends with adhd." which yeah that too actually

[rakel-on-ao3]

I'm here to tell you that there are real people who are just as bad as Ryland Grace is at wearing glasses. I'm people. I will regularly push my glasses up onto my head, or take them off entirely, only to scramble to put them back on because oh shit daily life requires vision

[deervsheadlights]

ryland grace as a functioning addict. CAN ANYONE HEAR ME.

ryland grace as a functioning addict who is a Scientist about it and measures and monitors his consumption/blood levels meticulously. ryland grace who suddenly lives on a boat in close proximity to people and thinks hes being so so subtle but stratt knows. because he isnt the only one, and she knows what to look for by now. eva stratt, the embodiment of pragmatism, who knows and makes sure there are substances Avaliable for him to "steal" because they dont exactly have time to send their leading microbiologist on rehab. stratt, who comments on it just once, and he takes it as her attacking him but shes just dryly making an observation and honestly she really thought he knew she knew. eva stratt who sends him off to space with the most generous supply possible because hes still her solution, and what if it turns out he does need it to perform at the level they need him to?

ryland grace who wakes up with no memories, drifting alone towards a foreign star and unable to figure out why he wants to crawl out of his skin. you know, besides the obvious. ryland grace as a functioning addict who finds the pills and remembers and suddenly becomes much less functional. ryland grace who gets perilously close to ODing and then loathes himself when he remembers the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. and then there is rocky, and they have a plan, and he needs this to keep going he needs to work this out he needs to focus, but it is so much more difficult to keep to his regimen than it used to be. plus, hes going to die, he deserves this much. and rocky, rocky who is afraid-angry-confused when he begins to grasp what is going on because why would grace impair and endanger himself (them, their mission) on purpose, and why-

please is anyone listening to me

[chaos-manger42]

Someone needs to tell Rocky he just became the next big source of vocal stims for the neurodivergents , or at least my family

Dirty, dirty, dirty, why room so messy? (I tell myself well cleaning my doom piles)

Oh, humor, confusing (my brother says after not understanding a joke)

Good, good, good (we all say after preparing favorite safe foods)

No, it's bad, Grace Rocky dead (my dad after losing a game)

FIST MY BUMP!

Are you feeling it now? (After my brother is overstimulated and wishes to cease all physical contact from anyone)

We'll need much more room for Rocky and much less space for Grace (while clearing a surface for a project)

What think earth? (When asking an opinion)

[aknowwhatyouare]

When Yao commented Ryland Grace speaks like a child, there’s a reason why he’s a good teacher. He’s an adult with childlike wonder who knows how to make everything fun that makes them worth doing.

He tosses a little earth ball and calls it lava, refers to astrophage breeding as whoomp, there it is, plays around in the hardware store and buys a ton of skittles, You’re not gonna believe this… Nothing happened! He’s not hung up on being serious at all. Shit, he’s not even doing the scientific method systematically and skips ahead. He operates on vibes. His maturity is shown through his work and results, not his methods.

That’s why when reality hits he acts very hesitant. Suddenly the situation escalates and his reaction is I’m not doing that. In fact, Ryland Grace was already dodging the important shit in the first few scenes. The students were asking if the sun’s gonna die and it took a lot of reroutes before he finally caved in.

The rest of the Project Hail Mary felt like grownups. He thinks they’re putting themselves out there more than him, making big choices. He might’ve felt like he’s being treated as a resource, a coworker, not a friend. Like he doesn’t belong in the project, that it’s too serious. So he’s fine being in the sidelines. In his comfort zone. Now remove him from the comfort zone.

The reality is not enjoyable so he has to cope with that. He hates moments of dread. He hates darkness. So he acts like sunshine and rainbows as much as he can. Like a child.

I’m not saying Ryland Grace doesn’t know the gravity of the situation he’s in, he just doesn’t want to feel it.

Arguably, his biggest reasons for doing things are curiosity and care. Curiosity is easy. Caring is harder especially when most people you’re with mostly care about what you can do and not who you are. Rocky cares, he cares about Rocky. That’s enough for him to be fine with the dread, do something about the darkness, all while acting like sunshine and rainbows.

[augmentedchordsofficial]

PHMovie Grace is so adhd coded I don’t even know how to explain why but just in particular how they show the flashbacks. Like the first one where the world is spinning and coming into focus until we see him staring off into space. And just the specific things we see. It feels exactly like coming back from a long daydream

[lordbaba]

This is very important to me. Grace is not a coward.

Everyone calls him a coward because he tried to run away from the Hail Mary, but wanting to live is not a sign of cowardice, it’s human.

A true coward wouldn’t have continued his mission after waking up and remembering being betrayed, a true coward would’ve sat in the Hail Mary and died, feeling bitter towards the others.

A true coward wouldn’t have been curious enough to make contact with an alien, let alone become its best friend.

And a true coward wouldn’t have risked his own life and happiness for Rocky.

Grace is by far the bravest person in that movie/book.

[stardustandmoonlight23]

ADHD Ryland Grace Headcanons

*Minor spoilers for PHM book

Definately a 'disorganised organised' person. He needs to have certain things in his life clean or his brain will just stop working. His apartment is clean (in the book) but his desk draw at work? A mess. There's things in there he put in like 2 years ago, will randomly find them, go YAY then shove them back in. But He. Needs. His. Apartment. Tidy.

Will have very tangental thoughts in regards to microbio and loves when he thinks of something and NEEDS to research it

Will purse his lips and tap his fingers to thumb to help him think

Gets pissed off when someone interrupts him while teaching or reading about microbio

Can't be assed cooking, hence all the microwaved meals. It's just too much after a long day of teaching. He does not have the execuitive functioning to figure out what sits in the middle of the vendiagram of 'food he wants to eat' and 'food he can cook' so he just buys a bunch of them at the start of the week. It also gives him more times to do research

Will ramble when he's nervous and compulsively tell the truth

RSD bites his ass constantly. He dodges parents like there's no tomorrow because he will just internalise everything they say, even if they're wrong and he knows it. Will overthink looks people give him, feels visceral fear of talking to his principal because he's worried they'll be angry or upset at something he's done even if he hasn't done anything.

Not a fan of rules at school as a kid and neither as a teacher so he's a bit more relaxed about the ones he doesn't think are necessary- if kids need to go to the toiles they just get up, make sure he sees them and nods to acknowledge he knows why they leave for a bit.

Will stim incessantly if he needs to sit for a while and is bored. Shilfting in his seat every two seconds, tapping, bouncing his leg. Sometimes he'll verbally sigh, not to be rude but because bro has energy and needs to move.

Overwhelmed by intense emotions. He cries easily, gets angry at the flip of a switch (though is good at managing that particular one because he hates being anrgy) gets viscerally happy and jumps up and down.

Will always- I mean always forget one thing when leaving for work. It's not even the same thing everyday. Keys, phone, wallet, school ID, papers he needed to bring in, his lunchtime book, nothing is safe from the ADHD forgetfulness.

^He tries different strategies, leaving the items in his bag, a checklist, phone alarms but nothing competes with the chaos of trying to get to school on time

Has meds but will sometimes forget to take them, doesn't take them while teaching because he likes that it helps him be an energetic teacher. Will, however take them if he has parent-teacher meetings or staff meetings to stop him from getting out of his seat and interrupting people, or wants to get things done that he knows damn well he doesn't have the focus to do.

Has taken them and not done the task he intended to do, but hey, staring at a wall for four hours thinking about getting that one ratbag kid into trouble is fun!

Hope you enjoyed!! I want to do a part 2 of how his ADHD impacts him in space with rocky but don't have the energy rn

[sketchjay]

I think Ryland Grace has ADHD

[sketchjay]

I know Ryland Grace has ADHD

[stardustandmoonlight23]

ADHD Ryland Grace in Space HC's

*hehe Grace and Space rhyme

once he's mostly settled after coming out from the coma he realises something that makes him freeze. His meds, His meds that were the reason he got through his undergraduate then post graduate degrees. He doesn't think he has them.

At first he assumes it's fine, because he can just ride the stress wave that is being alone in outer space with the future of his entire race on his shoulders, right?

Kinda. He can generally stay on task but he keeps losing the threads of his thought processes.

Sometimes he forgets why an idea wouldn't work, then wastes time on them only to come back to the original conclusion and then remember that he'd already figured out why it wouldn't work

He gets mad at himself for it a lot, which just makes everything worse

Rocky is confused, because on the one claw, he knows Grace is smart, and can do amazing things but he also sees that Grace is messy, and forgets things a lot but Rocky just assumes that's all humans and they are just forgetful.

Ryland absolutely, without a doubt will zero g stim. Curls into a ball and pushes off a wall to roll in the air, makes air angels, sometimes will just chill upside down, pushes from wall to wall like a human pinball, or bounce from floor to ceiling back to floor

He will vocal stim by making bubble sounds and humming

It takes him a bit too long to even think about asking Mary if he has meds onboard. He does. Stratt knew he would need them and packed them.

He feels relief and starts taking them again.

Rocky notices the difference and asks Grace about it and Ryland has to figure out a way to explain neurodivergence to Rocky

'So it's like uhh, well...most human brains kinda work in a similar way to each other, but uh some some brains develop differently and because of that they can have trouble with lots of different things like uh for me its staying focussed, being still, losing train of thought, not acting on impulse. That's called ADHD, but theres heaps of different ones, like um autism, where people struggle to naturally understand social cues and feel comforted by repetition, sometimes they also struggle with- uh sensory stuff like uh if light is too bright or clothes feel funny or sound is too loud. But there's loads of others too.'

Rocky is intrigued by it and they discuss it further.

Rocky sometimes bumps into Ryland when he notices the human has stopped talking and is arbitrarily staring at nothing.

Rocky will remind Ryland of what he was saying if Ryland loses track, and doesn't mind repeating things if the human asks him too.

Ryland gets emotional easily. The existential dread his sometimes, he gets happy when him and Rocky make a breakthrough, gets emotional when he realises that Rocky is the first entity to just accept him for the way he is

[amerileste-cressderqueen]

Why is colt the twin they went with for ryland. Why not the driver??

Has no name, COULD be a grace

Ending change where he dies: why ryland has no immediate family

Autism/ADHD solidarity

Driver occasionally sends money from his jobs to his struggling teacher twin

Not much contact after parents died, perhaps? Perhaps parents died when they were younger and they were separated in foster care systems?

Idk I just think it's Neat

[stardustandmoonlight23]

Teacher Ryland Grace and his Disabled/ND/Deaf students headcanons

I had too much fun writing this. Also please note that if I have used incorrect wording please let me know so I can amend it :) I tried my best to get the language right form research of what each community prefers but it can be wrong. Thanks!!

Genuinely tries to accomodate all of his disabled/neurodivergent/deaf students

Man will regularly look over their IEP’s and even ask the kids if there’s anything else he can do to support their learning.

Dyslexics

He will make sure any dyslexic students worksheets are made in dyslexic-friendly font and if they need different coloured paper he’s on it.

He will let the student use text-to-speech technology and encourage it

He will write any notes on the whiteboard clearly, in large font, spaced well.

Will provide aural versions of any books or other materials required for learning

Autistics

For his autistic students he makes sure to keep any loud, sudden noises out of the classroom, encouraging students to modulate their voices during his learning games.

Will advocate to get more sensory-friendly lights

If he notices a students struggling socially will help them by giving conversation starters and ways of keeping conversations going

He will also place students in pairs who he thinks will work well together to facilitate social interactions

Will openly stim while teaching to show that stimming is ok, normal and healthy

Has a sensory toy and silent fidget basket for all students to use (ND students get priority tho)

Encourages students to use ear plugs or ear defenders if they need to and normalises it by having some on his desk.

ADHDers

For his ADHD students he will write down numbered instructions on the board, in addition to verbalising them (in the same writing used for his dyslexic students bc they also can have trouble with working memory)

Lets them take body breaks- will often encourage the whole class to have body breaks where they might do star-jumps, arm movements for his wheel-chair users or any kind of body movement depending on the mobility level of his cerebral-palsey students. Everyone moves. (The adhders just can do it more frequently)

Will try to make the worksheets with lots of visuals and the words in multiple colours s (dyslexia-friendly for his co-occuring adhders and dyslexics)

If he notices a student struggling with deadlines he won't punish them for it but instead work with them to create a realistic game plan to complete the assignment.

Encourages body-doubling to help students complete homework- will encourage them to get together after school in the library to do it together then eventually makes it an official club, him being the teacher in charge of it.

Is always gentle when giving constructive criticism as he knows RSD can feel horrible.

Wheel-chair users and motor skills

For his wheel-chair users, he makes sure that all desks are far enough apart so his wheel-chair user students can sit where they want instead of forcing them to sit at the front

^Advocates for desks that work with wheelchairs in all classrooms

Makes sure any students with motor-skill issues have the right tools to complete work and engage

Will get a larger version of 'earth' for 'earth is lava' ganes so it's easier for students to catch, or will get students to roll the ball too

Deaf/HoH students

Will make sure all videos have subtitles

Does his best to learn ASL and make sure his deaf students can see his face and hands at all times

Advocates for ASL interpreters in the classroom

Will make sure that any background noise is reduced

Advocates for hearing loops in classrooms

He will mostly talk so the interpreter can translate that, and will give the student a copy of what he is planning to write on the whiteboard so the can read it first, then follow the interpreter

Gives the students copies of his classroom notes

Hope you enjoyed!!

[cedar-is-a-nerd]

I'm bored so I'm listing down all the relationships Ryland Grace has and my interpretation of the canon

Rocky: Symbiotic relationship, do not separate, if you do one starts crying and the others starts fighting. Probably "kissed" once just to see. Rocky thought it was disgusting and Grace cackled.

Adrian: Friends through Rocky, sometimes they'll hang out and talk about science or sci fi Earth media, but other than they're probably pretty neutral on a day to day basis. See's Ryland more like a weird fucking horse they accidentally adopted that can also speak and have philosophical opinions.

Eva Stratt: Pre operation "get rid of that guy," autism 4 autism friendship. They've definitely stared deeply into each other's eyes just to go "We should play Mario Kart" and then fall into the most insane infodump ever. Post operation "get rid of that guy," Eva stared at the spot in the sky where the Hail Mary was launched for hours, probably days after, every chance between saving the world. She forgets to eat because of it before she simply tears out and forces herself back into work because people are dying and she doesn't have time to mourn. She lets herself cry over three decades later when the astrophage crisis is over. She's an old woman, she just escaped jail, and she's on her knees infront of Shapiro and Dubois' graves because they're the only ones with graves, sobbing that they did it. They won.

Carl: They kissed at least once. This is canon to me. Did it lead anywhere? Probably not, Grace is still aroace canon to me. Like "What was that for?" "I don't know, we made astrobaby, saw it in a movie." "Okay." "Let's not do that again." "Agreed." And then they name the astrobaby together and Grace credits Carl with the hypothesis in the paper he writes on it. Post launch, it's been a week since he saw Grace pinned and sedated, he barely talks, he hasn't smiled at all. He goes to his room at the end of the day, right after seeing Hail Mary take off. He knows Grace was on there and he knows what got him there. Carl breaks down, and cries himself to sleep. That was his friend, and the last thing he saw was him standing over him.

Yao: The man seems like the type to pat people on the head. Everyone. You've done a good job? You get a pat. Grace is forever confused but also feels strangely cared for

Ilyukhina: She's definitely sent Grace fanfiction. Of what? I don't know. But she has, trust. Probably tried to offer Grace her own ADHD meds.

Dubois: They've probably had some sort of informal battle for who knows the most science stuff. They've definitely infodumped to eachother, thought Dubois is more of the "pulls out a slideshow for every topic" he likes and Grace is more "Okay I'm going to tell you but it will have 17bajillion tangents, let's get started." Autism v autism. Maybe he has like one really niche interest he goes feral over and infodumps more insanely, but he DEFINITELY also has a slideshow for that. Has probably willingly read Ilyukhina's fanfiction recommendations.

Shapiro: Yet another yapper. Shapiro, Grace, Dubois yapping circle, science geeks 🔛🔝. She yaps the same as Grace, 17bajillion tangents and 0 breaks. They bond over this.

I probably missed someone but I don't rembemebr...

[hailed-marys]

the most important thing to understand about grace is that the only thing hes really afraid of is starting. once he's in the middle of something he's all momentum. he doesn't stop his spacewalk once he's out there, because he needs to get it done. he doesn't stop researching astrophage, he actively asks to continue researching because he just doesnt do things by half measures. time go fishing, he doesn't abort the mission because he dropped the collector, he risks his life to grab it. sure he mopes around a bit after waking up, but he pulls himself together and gets it done.

while yes, he is a coward, most of that comes from his crippling self esteem issues. he doesn't believe he can do something when he's faced with a task, but once he's started, he sees it through. that's what stratt needed, and that's what stratt saw in him. and he delivered that perfectly.

[echora-aura]

Ryland Grace:

[aknowwhatyouare]

Another tragic thing about Ryland Grace is that he is definitely touch starved. He’s a very physical person. First evidence is when he danced with “someone” in the projection room. He had to make a person to hold knowing that he will never have the touch and company of another human being. (We all cry about how his last “alive” human touch was when he’s being chased.)

Probably an overlooked aspect of Ryland Grace is how he expresses anger. He takes it out on a yellow garbage bin when he found out his entire theory about life forms not needing water was wrong. (Tangent, the yellow garbage bin can be represented as himself bc he’s got a yellow coat, a coward to some, and we all know how he beats himself up for things). He also punches the screen when he finds out there’s a leak and Rocky’s compromised. He feels intensely. The same level of physical expression is seen whenever he’s happy.

He punches the air a lot, spins, claps. When he’s teaching he needs to move around as much as he can. He works better when he moves around, he will not sit still. That shadow shot of him holding Rocky’s first contact message up speaks volumes of who he is as a person. If he feels something, whether it be joy, anger, sadness, fear, he will physically show it. He feels so much and I love a hero/protagonist who’s gonna cry because well, he’s feeling things.

I’ve talk a lot about how Ryland Grace also has a tendency to deflect despite him being talkative and expressive. That scene when Rocky offers his fuel which made the scientist cry. Rocky wondering, “I thought you made peace?” and immediately him saying “I didn’t mean any of that.” He can conceal all he wants but his body will betray him. He can put a brave face on but we all know he’s afraid. He can pretend all he wants, as Carl said “you know who you are.” Ryland Grace is a man of science and the purpose of science is truth. Truth will come out whatever happens even when it’s as ugly as his emotions.

Now the most obvious: He holds Rocky a lot. A hug is not complete when Rocky’s not leaning in. Fist bumping is a ritual to them. He puts his hands on his xenonite ball a lot especially in that montage of them celebrating. He’s been alone a while even when he was on earth. No barrier will stop him to show how much he cares about Rocky. He’s also allowed to be himself without judgement. Talking too much? That’s fine. Lashing out a bit when Rocky was pressuring him? No hard feelings. Rocky is a grounding presence to him. He can hug him whenever. Touch starved no more. Rocky is literally his rock.

[celisconfused]

I’ve got his Project Hail Mary head cannon going that it was actually easier to get heroin for Ilyukhina than Grace’s ADHD meds. Eva had to buy them off 3 college students and 1 high schooler. Even then she only ended up with 37 days.

Grace: so… um… in the next couple of days I might be more distracted than usual. And that’s just how I’m going to be from now on… Rocky: Grace not sleep question? Grace sick question? Grace: No, no, I mean kinda, but no! Rocky: Oh Grace is...need word. Eridians have time when they stop laying eggs, get cranky, very distracted. Grace: MENOPAUSE?! No Rocky I'm not that old yet and besides- Rocky: Humans have short short life, short short mating period. Rocky help Grace with menopause.

[verenakauer]

Okay, but imagine if something happened to Rocky on the way to Erid. Radiation exposure gets to him or an accident happens or something like that. He dies.

Grace is still going to his planet: he owes him that, and it's not like he has enough food/fuel to return to Earth anyway. He is resolute to save his friend's world and then probably die.

He needs to communicate with them though.

It's a bittersweet thing that he has so many recordings of Rocky’s voice. He can make a message, he can explain.

Imagine Eridians hearing the "I'm here to help you" message in the voice of a member of the crew they sent all these years ago.

Imagine Adrian hearing the voice of their mate and having so much hope for the first time in decades.

...imagine them realizing that this voice is long gone.