In theory, the Eridian children have come to Grace and Simon's biodome to participate in a hands-on (clawtip-on?) physics experiment that doesn't translate well through a xenonite wall. In practice, its field trip day for the pebbles, and they are having an absolute blast exploring Grace and Simon's habitat in their teeny little xenonite envirosuits. They're picking up rocks, poking at the waves, and climbing every surface they can find. It's absolute chaos, and Grace is loving every second of it, but he's also a little bit anxious that some of the pebbles might hurt themselves. Thankfully he's not the only one keeping an eye on them. A couple of Eridian educators are there as well.
More importantly, however, Simon has apparently assigned himself as the pebbles' caretaker. He's following them around like a mother hen constantly watching over her chicks, nudging them out of the water before they can go too deep and helping them pick out the best rocks from the beach. Grace is enjoying watching Simon interact with his class; it's giving Simon a chance to unknowingly show off his gentler and more caring side.
He is surprisingly very good with the kids.
And then, one of the pebbles manages to climb too far up one of the cliff sides and starts to fall. Before anyone can panic, however, Simon rushes over and manages to catch them before they hit the ground, despite the fact that the pebble has to weigh well over a couple hundred pounds and Simon only has one arm. It's awkward and the pebble crashing against him knocks him on his ass, but Simon still sets them down gently, and makes sure the pebble is okay.
Suddenly Simon is swarmed by all of the pebbles, eager to climb all over him instead. He only has a moment to squeak in surprise, and then he's buried by a gaggle of overeager Eridian kids. Grace starts to rush over in concern, but then he hears something that completely stops him in his tracks.
Full-bellied laughter. Simon is lying there, laughing so hard he's got tears in the corners of his eyes, as the pebbles crawl all over him. Even though they're getting way up in his face, Simon is still being so, so gentle with them. He's letting them pet his hair and poke at his scars and the stump of his arm, their curious questions coming so quickly that there's no way that Simon is keeping up. But even still, he's smiling, and he's careful of their little bodies as he tries to sit up.
And seeing Simon sitting there, surrounded by his class, his kids, Grace just has a moment of growing awe...and dread.
Dread, because he knows those butterflies that just burst to life in his stomach. He knows these sweaty palms and dry mouth and shaky knees. His heart must have just done something weird because every Eridian within five feet of him just turned to him in alarm. Grace's face is feeling flushed, his head is spinning, and he kind of wants to throw up a little bit.
He knows exactly what all these symptoms mean.
"Ah, gingersnaps," he says weakly to himself.
