Me? I'm Here. Nowhere.

If I'm Never Your Hero, I Can Never Let You Down

[ll-0-yd]

So obviously it’s a running joke about Grace not knowing he was basically Stratts no.2, he gave orders and tasks, approved designs and procedures outside of his team (yes in the book he had his own team of scientists) and he still didn’t piece it together.

But,

What interests me about this is, he has power right? He leads people and he gives orders- a lot nicer than Stratt and with more patience but he’s shown to get incredibly competitive and well bitchy right? And he kind of puts a barrier between others and Stratts bluntness, the comedic relief, the reassurance of “you’ll get used to it.”

He tries to comfort people who are obviously caught off guard or effected by Stratt’s attitude and actions.

What if they are both having a bad day though? What if they are both in a sour mood, something went wrong and they are in a funk- how would that possibly look?

Grace isn’t a saint, he can still have negative emotions and interactions with people and is willing to argue with people and so can Stratt but she just kind of tells people how it’s going to go and them complying will just be less embarrassing on their end.

I’d imagine they’d both have NASTY resting bitch faces.

If Stratt isn’t laughing, it’s okay she doesn’t do that,

If Grace isn’t laughing either, oh no you fucked up.

Idk if I was on that boat and I saw that they were both in a bad mood… I’d probably jump off tbh.

Grace would probably use the teacher argument and say he gets more cooperation and useful information from 12 year olds.

And Stratt would do the Miranda and hit you with the “That’s all.” and dismiss you like you’re just water in the vase ocean they are traveling in.

I need to see this scenario play out from other characters perspectives because that’s where all the comedy is.

Edit: IMAGINE IF GRACE KNEW AS MANY LANGUAGES AS STRATT DID, THEY WOULD TALK SHIT ABOUT YOU AND YOU WOULDN’T EVEN BE ABLE TO PROVE IT. But deep down you know.

[hailmarysuggest]

I just want a fic where everyone is all ‘why is Dr Grace so grumpy today? He’s normally so sweet’ and Stratt goes to inspect him for like 5 minutes before grabbing scissors, snipping the tag out of the back of his shirt carefully enough not to leave one of those itchy lines behind, and then he’s a freaking sweetheart again for the rest of the day. Like the princess and the pea. And for some reason only her people watching abilities could figure out why.

Carl probably could have figured it out too, but he can’t be glued to Grace’s side 100% of the time lol.

[thatonegreyghost]

@to-be-kind-takes-work @mxtr3ssquickly @notthemonthbutmarch

[hachinana87]

Tough room

[logy-kot]

trolley operators

[billiamdoor]

like real people do

inspired by chapter five of Equanimity by dkspeace, it made me sick and unwell and you all should go read it

sketch under the cut

[ladylightspectre]

Ryland Grace: Says mean and potentially scary things to Stratt because he is stressed out and scared of dying, saying anything not to go on the mission The Fandom: He's just scared you guys he didn't mean any of it He's just a guy who is so scared, you shouldn't believe him. He's just saying things.

Eva Stratt: Says mean things to Grace because she is stressed out and scared of the whole world dying, saying almost anything to try and get him to agree to the mission

The Fandom: What an absolute massive bitch. I hate her. She deserves every worst possible fate that she can get. What a terrible human being.

[cowardsexual]

the eva stratt in my mind is a conglomeration of movie stratt and book stratt because god fucking bless sandra huller put her entire pussy into that performance, but while weir is bad at character writing (women especially) he IS disconcertingly good at coming up with plots that generate interesting character concepts through circumstances... which due to story cuts the movie sadly missed out on.

it's really interesting looking back at both iterations of the story and how stratt and grace's rapport hinges on unrequitedness. there's obviously the karaoke scene in the movie acting as grace's bid for human connection vs stratt's necessary refusal in order to do her job. the book rarely if ever interrogates stratt's interpersonal relationships in the project and how her sense of duty and utilitarianism extends to them (well, aside from grace. more on that in a sec). She's a History major and an administrator and She Loves Humanity, but it's a characteristic that when analyzed deeper rings pretty hollow (possibly because the author thinks social analysis/critique in science fiction is stupid and thus doesn't exactly have much to say about People like someone in the humanities would. SAD!) so that's an addition to her character from the movie that i'm deeply pleased about. what i don't like as much is that the bid for connection starts from grace.

because book stratt and grace? the one sidedness of their rapport is the driving emotional conflict of the entire pre-launch plotline—and of grace's character development throughout the whole book.

like most scientists on the team, grace was brought onto the project by force, but he's the only one who fulfilled his purpose, was allowed to return to his own life, and then came back of his own volition, out of a sense of personal duty and responsibility. which is the reason stratt takes him back on! and why she begins to rely on him more and more, as an administrator, as a mediator, as a scientist, as an advisor. she has all the more reason to do that when she discovers he's coma resistant, but she was already doing all that baby!

grace spends the rest of their relationship half-assing that sense of responsibility. one thing i adore about book phm is how merciless it is with grace's "modesty" "insecurity" and "social anxiety". children are easy to dote on. they're not stupid, obviously, but on an interpersonal level they're not your equal, they have no way to actually demand accountability from you and call your ass out. he doesn't actually think he's a failure, he's not blind he should know damn well he's not like the other scientists. "science lapdog", "ooo i'm just a little guy cmonnnn i'm just a middle school teacher", he downplays his own importance because if he genuinely grappled with the level of responsibility she holds him to towards the people in the project he'd run like a fucking dog.

he is a good man AND he is a coward. stratt's relationship with him verges on the tension between those coexisting truths. he is both someone she wants to respect but can't, someone she can rely on but has to act behind his back least he realizes. she WANTS them to be equals, she WANTS him to understand. on the day the hail mary is scheduled for launch she paces HIS prison cell like SHE'S the caged animal, trying to get through to the glimpse of the man she saw that day, the one who barged into an FBI guarded facility, looked atlas in the eye and told her scoot over, i'm carrying this with you. she cares about him. she wouldn't feel so betrayed if she didn't. please understand why i'm doing this to you. please understand why i need you to be that fundamentally good man. i am tied to the tracks right next to you. and as far as she is concerned, ryland grace dies on earth saying "no".

[lyovpple]

Algún día sabré qué hacer con el cabello de Ryland

[digitalmyyth]

you should draw something related to grace and stratt being weird and really always attached at the hip

their relationship is special to me

she needed. a chair

[slyandthefamilybook]

I love Eva Stratt... that scene on the ship where Grace tells her she's mysterious and aloof and you can tell that kind of hurts her. she really does care about humanity, she's just not very good at showing it! she sings her one beautiful song to try to connect with everyone else, not to prove anything to them but so she can feel a moment of connection and camaraderie. and then she gets overwhelmed and goes "okay I'm done bye". I love my autistic friend Eva Stratt

[justshipsandstuff]

Stratt on Erid AU!

Self indulgent AU where I save my favourite woman who has done NOTHING WRONG EVER! from imprisonment and ostracization by shooting her to space with her ambiguous dead wife, whom she killed

[annabelle--cane]

stratt gets to her monthly scheduled half-hour for "feeling things" and lets herself descend into cheeky little bitter envious frenzy over not having the coma resistance gene markers. oh, to not have to face the rest of her life on earth and be locked away helpless while everyone starves, and instead just wake up, work for a single month more, eat the best food available, fix everything with her own two hands, die in satisfied peace, and be remembered with reverence. she's just getting into a proper spiral about how grace has this opportunity but can't even seem to comprehend why this would the most beautiful thing and why, why doesn't he? does he not care? about the world, about me, about himself? what's wrong with him? he has the capacity to care, I've seen it, it's there, but he refuses it. why won't he do this for all of us? if I could just reach into his brain and fix-- and then her alarm goes off and she has to go to her next meeting.

[annabelle--cane]

*administering retroactive amnesia drug so he forgets core elements of his personality like his survival instincts, insecurities, and anger at the project* eva fix :)

[daredevil-vagabond]

I won't forget how you looked at me then

[reggiemess]

Sometimes people think they're dealing with a Torment Nexus but what they actually have is a Jumanji. And sometimes people think something's a Jumanji but oops it's a Torment Nexus.

[reggiemess]

Now. Sometimes you have a third thing- you'll have yourself a Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. And buddy, I can't help you there.

[reggiemess]

So a Torment Nexus is something that is either a metaphor for a larger societal problem (e.g. The Platform, The Long Walk) or a social issue/trend taken to an exaggerated extreme (e.g. The Purge), with a lot of shades of grey in between (e.g. Squid Game). If it isn't about a larger societal issue/trend/structure it isn't a Torment Nexus.

A Jumanji can be dangerous and high-stakes (to the characters), but it doesn't need to have a metaphor or lesson, it can easily just be a "Would this be fucked up or what?" situation (e.g. a lotta Goosebumps stories). If there IS a lesson/metaphor, it will be on a smaller scale like psychological issues (e.g. Magnus Archives), family/relationship issues (e.g. Zathura), or about a specific topic (e.g. Magic School Bus). Large-scale social issues may be present (after all, Everything Is Political), but they take a definite backseat.

Now. A Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory is a trap based around morality and vices. These can be cultural, religious, or bonkers bullshit like "children shouldn't chew gum." There is generally not discussion or criticism of this morality system. Regardless of the morality system used, if it's not a trap, it's not a Chocolate Factory.

[pingintech]

examples of a willy wonkas chocolate factory include:

saw

the cabin in the woods

labrynth (1986)

and

[arieswizard]

[image description: A GIF of Sam Reich on the Game Changer set, triumphantly striking a pose then kicking. Three unimpressed contestants look on. Confetti falls. End description]

[luna-la-luna-99]

Eva Stratt is clearly similar to Eve from the Bible obviously but I raise you: Eva Stratt holy Mary parallels

Was given no choice was forced to be a part of God's plan and was given no choice was chosen to save the earth and be a scapegoat.

Both were hated and seen as sinners during their lives

Both had to sacrifice someone they loved/cared about for God's plan (hail mary project) and knew they could not save them. Forced to bare the burdens of the plan and doing everything they can to save people even if it means sacrificing someone they love.

There are so many religious character you can tie stratt to bro she is literally everything

I will die on this hill that she is absolutely a hero.

[starrierfoxgloves]

she needs both, okay?

[cloudabserk]

eva stratt x judas’s death from jesus christ superstar