Funny thought I just had where Grace time travels back to pre-launch or whatever. He lowkey missed Earth but now misses Erid, where he’s lived for decades at this point, even more. Sure, all the teeth that fell out when he developed scurvy are now back, his bones don’t hurt all the time any more (even after they grew thicker to compensate for Eridian gravity), and he has better range of motion now that his arm isn’t covered in burn scars, but— by time traveling, he left behind his friends and family, his students, his platonic soulmate. Obviously, he needs to be on the Hail Mary when it’s time to launch if he wants any chance of seeing Rocky and Adrian and everyone else again.
From an outsider’s perceptive, Grace is… acting strange. He turned up one day wearing a flowing skirt and rocking pierced ears, heavy with earrings that were a deep brown, interspersed with a beautiful shade of green. He seems to bounce slightly when he walks, like when astronauts walk in low gravity environments. He suddenly can’t stand to eat around other people, and looks somewhat squeamish when others eat around him. He becomes teary eyed at the weirdest things and he couldn’t stop staring at DuBois and Shapiro (which some speculate is because he finally accepted the duo’s invitation for a threesome), or Olesya and Yáo (which people are more confused about).
Moving on, Grace obviously volunteers to become the science lead after it’s “discovered” that he has the coma gene, and people, especially Stratt, are like “???” When she asks him about it, he tilts his head and responds word for word what she told him in her office way back before (later?). He even smiles slightly when he says, “I don’t even have a dog,” though the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. He understands why she did what she did, but still hasn’t forgiven her.
Anyway, I think it’s just so hilarious that Grace randomly talks about someone named “Rocky” all the time but no one knows who this person is. He’ll go offhandedly, “Oh, Rocky would love this!” Or “Shit, Rocky would tell me I’ve been up too long, I’m going to bed.” When someone tries to ask for more details, he looks uncomfortable and clams up. Or, alternatively, he’ll say, “Oh, he’s my best friend! My other half, really. I can’t wait to see him again,” with a bittersweet look on his face. Through some miscommunication and other shenanigans— maybe Grace lets something slip while drunk or sleep deprived or whatever— people come to the conclusion that Rocky is dead and Grace volunteered for the mission to “speed up” their reunion.
(sending it outside the community for you @achillbeing!!)