Agent Rouka's Blog

My asoiaf canon speculation playground. House Stark. Sansa. Jonsa. Stark Sisters. Arianne. Elia. Young Griff. Theon. Targaryen critical. Game of Thrones critical.

[mulberryjumper]

Obsessed with them. Based on Klimt's The Kiss.

[nordreys]

james ortiz provided some of his own personal rocky backstory on the sag aftra podcast, transcribed by me because we all have to be miserable about it together.

link to the podcast, this section below is from timestamp 24.35

“andy weir provided a packet to the creature shop that was like a packet of eridian biology and stuff but there wasn’t much about eridian culture or eridian sociology and i made a bunch of choices going in because i just needed to have like a ‘who am i?’ right? 

[…] and i made a decision that rocky’s species, that eridians are really social animals that in fact are like a beehive or a pod of dolphins - it’s a unique and really integrated ecosystem of everybody doing their [specific] part. and the fact that rocky had to fly that ship for about 45 years - longer than grace has been alive, i wanna point that out - he’s been alone on that ship, having to run that by himself and- ryan and i would talk about that, one day we sat down and he was like “so what’s the movie from rocky’s perspective?” and i was like “oh it’s like ‘alien’, […] like he’s in a ‘contagion’ movie by himself and he has no idea what’s going on.”

he’s basically in castaway by himself which of course ryan is too but like, one reason why we never cut to the past of rocky is like, i think it was really horrifying! i don’t think rocky has slept in however many years and so a thing i was really struggling with is this idea of like “rocky must watch sleep” because how do you make that a need as opposed to like, a cute idea? and i just had to make the decision that […] he has a lot of unprocessed trauma around the things that he doesn’t understand and how much he is blaming himself because he’s the guy who fixes, he’s the guy who fixes and there was something really freeing about deciding that rocky was a deeply emotional, deeply anxious, deeply horrified person - being - that is trying to move through that in some way and how that affects the early scenes with him until there’s a point in the story where you can see we’ve physically softened rocky’s behaviour, because he’s finally feeling more safe and ok but all of that lore, all of that information [was essential].

i also decided, this is just a small nerdy thing, that there was actually some of his family, was on that ship too.”

[hyperrbolic-orange]

babygirl I don't know how to tell you this but there just isn't a way to do mass dehumanization in like, a "progressive leftist" kinda way.

[prideling]

I keep thinking about the fact that Eridians seem so much stronger and sturdier than humans, so what humans-are-space-orcs thing could Grace even do that would freak Rocky out... and then I remembered humans are persistence predators.

So picture some years in the future when the xenonite suits are so safe that Grace's class can now take field trips into his biodome. Rocky's there because this is a big moment for everyone involved and also he just loves listening to Grace in his element. One of the more mischievous kids tries to sneak off from the group and there are plenty of chaperones but Grace is the first to notice.

His posture changes, goes focused but loose in a way Rocky's never seen before as he peels of from the crowd. Rocky just stands there, stunned, as he watches his sweet, gangly, goofy, clumsy blob of a friend turn into a hunter. Grace circles around the pebble, slightly crouched, head turned and honed in, arms loose to the sides, and maybe the little one notices and does that nervously excited giggle-squeal thing kids do when they're being chased and tries to get away, but Grace expertly corrals them. He doesn't even have to run for it, he just pens the kid in, lunges-

And takes the little pebble by the claw to lead them safely back to their peers. And just like that he's Grace again, smiling and joking and tripping over his improvised shoelaces. Rocky hasn't been scared of Grace since first contact. Have you seen the guy? ... but for a second there his instincts were telling him to run.

[lokihiddleston]

PROJECT HAIL MARY (2026)

[astrotheyge]

I'm obsessed with this little moment where Stratt is like reaching out to say Hi to Grace but instead of patting his shoulder or something she pats his tiny little chair. and filmed from behind a barrier

[astral-phag]

I realize i haven’t posted, good morning london

[gayfertilitygoddess]

Grace: this party is so weird (and sad) 😞

Stratt, thinking: perhaps if I sing him a tender yet melancholic love song in front of all of our coworkers it will help

[starvariety]

i love this shot they’re all so weirded out

[rosedavid]

PROJECT HAIL MARY (2026) -> Silhouettes

[cedardivine]

no wait yknow what. it gets its own post

everyone gets onto eva stratt for the "think about it long time" vs. "you have three hours" thing but

operating on book canon a little bit: if grace couldn't do it-- if he said no*-- the alternative was to scramble and fly in the next most qualified volunteer, who had 0 training, 0 knowledge of astrophage, and was not an astronaut. three hours could have been three hours of training for that replacement. three hours could have been three hours of preparation for grace, if he said yes

eva stratt gave grace three hours. not to decide, necessarily, because the decision was going to be made the way it was no matter what. but three hours to come to terms with it, to grieve, to mentally prepare himself. three hours that could have been spent giving humanity a better chance to survive

she borrowed three hours that she didn't have to give grace space to process. to get himself together and come to her, teary-eyed but resolved, and say yes.

and he still said no to her. she gave him everything and he said no. he forced her to force him. she gave him three hours she didn't have. i feel so sick about eva stratt

[gronknuts]

I literally don't even understand tne logic behind eva stratt haters. at all. unless you are so unhealthily attached to fictional character ryland grace that you can never see her in a positive light it's just pure misogyny.

she had approx five years to figure out a plan to save the entire earth, collect the best minds on the planet, get astrophage bred, the phm built, the sahara paved. dubois and shapiro died nine days before launch. if eva hesitated even just a little, and they missed the launch window, earth would have died. was murdering grace wrong? yes. the alternative was eva being responsible for the death of 8.3 BILLION people. and that's only if you're a speciesist and don't count the trillions of different animals plants fungi all over earth. eva stratt they could never make me hate you

[agentrouka-blog]

Of all of Eva's team, the one she trusts the most would undeniably be Carl.

He's who walks up to stand beside her when recruiting Grace. A seamless team. "I need you to come with us."

He's in the observation room with her and all the other important officials, watching Grace make first contact. He's privy to that pivotal moment. She must think he's entitled to partaking of it. Because this is his mission too.

She trusts him to oversee Grace's experiments with three (and a dead) invaluable astrophage cells. How he does it is up to his own judgment. With an expense account and plenty of leeway for how to use it, no questions asked. He's entirely confident in the authority he wields in her name. "Which government?" "All of them."

He's in the room at Baikonur when they present Grace with his role as replacement science officer. He knows. Of all people she thought would be appropriate to have there, the flight team, the lead scientists who have worked with Grace all this time... he's there. Shaking his head in disappointment. Expressing what Eva doubtlessly feels beneath her ever so calmly presented arguments.

He's doubtlessly the one she calls from her office to let him know they predicted correctly and the final stretch of corralling their wayward savior will be up to him. He'll do it right. He'll do it.

Just... unspoken, implicit trust and faith in his ability to do his part in their greater purpose. She believes in Grace but can't fully trust him. Carl? Zero doubt.

I want to be a fly on the wall during the job interview. Must have felt like two kindred spirits meeting. Sun's dying? Not if we can help it.

[t00thpasteface]

what i like about rocky hailmary is that he is incredibly generous and deeply empathetic but he's also rude and difficult on purpose because he thinks it's funny. he'll do anything you need but he'll also just do whatever he wants. he just says things. he wears his hydrostatics on his exoskeleton at all times. winner of the most autistic alien award

[corrya]

Pulling a sneaky move (commenting on fics in hopes of making the authors feel appreciated for their work)

[vrakhiri]

I can give you a chance to prove them all wrong. Joke's on them because I don't even care.

Project Hail Mary (2026) dir. Phil Lord & Chris Miller

[caprart1]

i DO believe that a good writer can make mischaracterization work. oh there's a character who doesn't normally cry? figure it out!! dissect the character. make the situation cryable for them. make that character cry ugly tears even if it goes against their very nature. YOU CAN MAKE IT WORK!!!