fable

INTENSE Project Hail Mary fixation rn… you’ve been forewarned Fable || they/them || 21 new account, long-time tumblrina main blog of misc fandom & textposts my favorite color is orange!

[wolfythewitch]

Listen you're the only person on the Internet equipped to answer this question. If Ryland Grace is the Jesus figure who died for humanity's absolution, what does that make Eva Stratt? Like allegorically, is she Judas because she betrayed him? Is she Pontius Pilate who put him to death? Somebody else? Multiple people?

Oh ! Uhm I might come back to this when im less sleepy. This doesn't really answer your question but she's always been like Eve to me (eve, eva, haha) gives Adam the fruit that dooms them both, punished with the pain of labor

[wolfythewitch]

Reblogging with my own tags because the more I think about it the more that is my answer yea

[penumbralwoods]

every time someone realizes they dont have to pick between being a boy or a girl an angel gets its wings btw. and also extremely loud cheering can be heard in the distance from me specifically

[penumbralwoods]

btw if you've ever wondered why i make posts like this and get really obnoxious about nonbinary positivity. this is why

and for all of yall that are still figuring it out or aren't getting the support you deserve:

[cheaphalloweencostume]

this puppy currently being fostered by a rescue i follow makes me feel like. like. i don’t know. she’s a bug

[cheaphalloweencostume]

her name is Primrose. jesus christ man

[cheaphalloweencostume]

i cant fucking do this

[dailybuglebunny]

Realest post fucking ever

[citrusfables]

Everyone always says they identify with morally grey, complex characters. Well not me. I strictly identify with

1. Doe-eyed do-gooder

2. Worst monster on the entire fucking planet

[ick-the-clown]

watched the gay hockey show and enjoyed the gay hockey show...but i needed them to be women. Heated Rival-yuri.

[cranity]

hey girl

[djinnkala]

Happy pride month, statement!! 🏳️‍🌈

[atomikats]

my personal take on the matter

[cloudabserk]

it wants to be close to me. probably because it is so cold and soft & it knows i am strong and warm

[bstrdr]

Eridian Grace, as in culturally Eridian, not the species Eridian, is so important to me.

Grace who does jazz hands and taps when he's asking a question and says some words three times like Rocky. Grace who makes chirps and trilling noises when he's happy.

Grace who starts thinking and dreaming in Eridian, who sometimes has dreams that are just sound, no visual. (Grace who, if he ever goes back to Earth for whatever reason after years on Erid, forgets some words in English and speaks in the sentence structure of Eridian because he has to translate from Eridian to English when he speaks outloud).

Grace who does scarification (even if Rocky protests at first) - I've read some fics where he does the Voyager pulsar map, or dots and lines showing his route from Sol, to Tau Ceti, turning around towards Sol, and then the line going all the way back to Erid. Even though he already has the scars from Rocky saving him, maybe Rocky's family crest. A scar showing his rank as Captain of the Hail Mary - maybe something to represent her, too.

Grace who wears Eridian gems, as earrings, in a chain for his glasses, in strings draped over him that clink together when he walks - the most important ones, like the earrings he wears all the time, the color of the blueish-green gems (or spots?) in/on Rocky's carapace.

Grace who wears a bracelet on each arm that have ribbed marks like on Rocky's arm so he can properly say goodbye (not something he had to do, but something that felt right to do, something that made him feel more like himself), sound included.

Grace who considers himself an Eridian!! Grace who IS an Eridian!!

[pap3r-love]

you get me… i need eridian grace so bad. i definitely this his body movements and cues would become a lot less aggressive and hed lack some facial expressions, not just from like.. the pressure and stuff hes living in, but also because everyone around him doesnt need those as much more pronounced movements, hell he could twitch a muscle and theyd know.

he speaks quieter, using sound cues a lot that dont particularly make sense to any normal human. most eridians who spend a lot of time with him have developed these sound cues as well, which is definitely strange. since grace cant make all the sounds they can make i like to think he has a sorta like.. sound board? not one he uses a lot but if hes talking to a not well known eridian hell use it to indicate tone and other things like that when necessary, he likes to use it while teaching cuz he doesnt want to have kids growing up and talking weird from the get go (they usually do anyways)

i like also thinking about how rocky is probably so much different than everyone else. he not only spent 4 decades alone with no company, but then spent the next 8(?) or so years with a complete alien with VERY different cultures. he’s probably a lot different now. :3

[avoid-avoidance]

Imagine a newly-arrived-to-Erid Grace, sealed in a small oxygenated observation room, lying asleep on a cushioned platform. So far, Rocky has been the only Eridian bold enough to put on a xenonite suit and join Grace in the room; other Eridian scientists are gathered just outside, listening to the alien shifting about -- in its sleep!!! -- and occasionally mumbling.

A particularly pessimistic and irritating Eridian is pontificating to the others, insisting on the highest degree of caution when interacting with the alien in any way, even if that comes at the sacrifice of speed in treating the alien's ailments. Rocky is furious at the implication of "even if that comes at the sacrifice of the alien, period", but silent, unwilling to express his counterargument at full volume and risk waking Grace. Still, he is almost vibrating with anger where he sits on the makeshift 'human-style' bed beside his friend.

"This creature moves about even when supposedly at rest! It's unnatural! Perhaps Rocky-hero only survived the journey here at all because he was safely on the other side of a barrier of xenonite and ammonia, out of this creature's reach. Who knows what violent urges and instincts are contained within that bizarre body?"

The collective attention of the gathered Eridians shifts to focus in on Grace's slumbering form.

As if on cue, Grace rolls onto his side, still snoozing away, and cuddles his whole body in a curve around Rocky's, in a shockingly-close mimicry of a parent [Eridian-cat-equivalent] curling around its [Eridian-kitten-equivalent].

Rocky is quite annoyed when the resulting chorus of [Eridian-"awww"-equivalent] IS enough to finally wake his human friend from his much-needed rest.

[diary-of-a-digital-dinosaur]

DONT YOU DARE HIDE THIS IN THE TAGS

[avoid-avoidance]

I also like to imagine a small subset of Eridians — maybe not bad people necessarily, but freaked out by a rapidly-and-suddenly-changing world and grasping for anything they can do to try and exert control over their circumstances? — jumping down Rocky’s figurative throat about him choosing to share so much potentially-sensitive information about Eridian anatomy and Erid’s culture, government, etc. with the first random sapient alien Rocky found floating out in space.

And then Rocky has to roll his figurative eyes and patiently (or not. Actually, definitely NOT patiently, that’s funnier) point out to those Eridians trying to scold him — the ‘random sapient alien’ freely chose to give ROCKY a massive data dump of information about the alien’s own race, including the precise location of the alien’s planet and instructions for how to build horrific weapons that could wipe out all life on that planet.

[agentrouka-blog]

I love Carl's introduction. It's such a great establishing moment.

Ryland Grace has made it all the way to his bike with Eva Stratt at his heels, so her trusted security team has correctly assessed it's time to move in the cars, and Carl is approaching off-screen.

Grace comes out of the little "I don't know why that makes me such a nut!" rant, and there Carl is, stepping up into frame exactly next to Stratt. Tall, broad, unimpressed, unmistakably a force to be reckoned with, unmistakably a trusted professional.

But also a nameless goon at this point. An extension of the threat Stratt seems to represent to Grace. A depersonalized tool.

Grace clocks the cars, his presence, the unfolding situation, instantly and incredulously. And he does something clever, something he always does, which is to call attention to the absurdity of the unspoken threat by trying to force the situation into a normal mold.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

Turning Eva's nameless goon into a person with agency. Trying to force a relationship that hinders coercion.

Ideally, this would force them all to acknowledge how abnormal they are acting and retreat a little to keep up the appearance of normality. Or admit to what they are doing by refusing. Either way, the ball shifts out of Ryland's court into theirs.

Neither happens, though.

Carl sees exactly what he's trying to do with that and interrupts him mid-question. "Carl." And then keeps staring at him the same way as before. One word, and we already know so much about him.

He is not a nameless goon. He is an individual named Carl.

And he fully supports what is happening there. Because nothing is normal and it's stupid to pretend that what is happening isn't happening.

So yes, while he bonds with Grace over silliness and is the astrophage-coparent and instigator of Carl's Hypothesis... he is also entirely introduced to us as the man who will wish Grace the best of success on the mission while he's being sedated on the ground. Because Carl has a personal opinion about what is at stake.

"Sun's really dying, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

[skelerangart]

You Know Who You Are

[palesweetdeeer]

I love the idea of Rocky extending Grace’s lifespan to Eridian levels without telling him

[wolfythewitch]

Honorary eridian

[3000s]

at the gym telling everyone the weights would be easier to lift if we all work together

[trixthebee-deactivated20260601]

I. WHY.

[dragongirlsweetie]

the more people you have lifting an object the less amount of force each individual person will need to apply to it to lift it