How Ryland Grace got his name back
So "Project Hail Mary" has utterly consumed me, and I have so many head cannons of what Grace's life on Erid would be like. I may flesh this out into a full fic someday, but for now, I'm dropping this bit of ramblings here for you all to chew on. (I'm mostly going on the movie canon, since Grace gets a far happier ending than he does in the book in terms of his quality of life, though some book canon may sneak its way in here.)
I can totally see Rocky and Adrian formally adopting Grace into their family/cluster. It begins with Rocky introducing Grace to his other siblings (since most Eridians give birth to multiple kids according to that Andy Weir document floating around). Said siblings, of course, have kids of their own, and when the little ones hear the story of how Grace and Rocky saved the world, Rocky and Grace off-handedly call one another "brothers in arms" at one point. (Grace even privately feels that Rocky is the brother he never had). Cue the family visiting Rocky often (because of course they want to reconnect with the sibling they almost lost out there in the void and make up for lost time). Naturally, this means frequent visits to Grace's house as well (via xenonite suits of course---yes, they make tiny ones for the kids too). After one random day of fun and merriment, the extended family is leaving, and one of Rocky's nieces/nephews casually says, "Bye ##### Grace!"
Afterward, Grace is like, "What did they call me?" And Rocky's like, "New word. Elder who is the sibling of your parent." And Grace mentally blue screens and is like, ".....you mean.....they just called me UNCLE Grace?" And Rocky gently tells him, "What's wrong with that? You're my brother from beyond the stars."
Grace, in true Grace fashion, has a happy cry fit after that. From then on, from time to time, Rocky will affectionately call Grace his "star brother" or "brother from Sol".
Eventually, the day comes that Grace is set to meet a ton of ambassadors and dignitaries from all across Erid. Rocky and Adrian try to prepare him as best they can in terms of formality and manners. But there's one lingering problem; something that's been low-key bothering Adrian for a while----the fact that they know that there's more to Grace's name, but there's no translation since it's a proper noun. They just got lucky that "Grace" also happens to be a translatable word, but Adrian believes that Grace deserves to have his full name spoken. They ask him if there's any meaning behind his first name, to which Grace has to admit he doesn't know. And that's not due to any lingering amnesia----he honestly, in all his life, never bothered to ask or look up what his first name is derived from. But luckily, of course, the Hail Mary's computers have just about EVERY piece of info there ever was, so out of personal curiosity (and some gentle pressure from Adrian), he investigates.....and buried in a book of baby names, he finds this:
Ryland: derived from the Old English phrase meaning "land where rye is grown". The name is often interpreted to represent agricultural abundance, growth, and resilience.
The coincidence of all that isn't lost on him. He has the perfect first name for someone who gave life back to two different planets. Adrian especially likes that last meaning, considering all he went through on his mission. As for "Grace", they already know it typically means "elegance in movement", of which he's most certainly not.....but there IS a second definition: "receiving blessings, mercy, or salvation".
Then there's the matter of his title of "doctor". Eridians have different ways of splitting up and defining areas of study. If you call someone a "doctor", they take that to mean a doctor of medicine and healing. Anything else is classed as a "scientist", which is what Grace actually is.
It's Adrian who finally gives Grace his full, proper, Eridian name, to be used in the most formal of settings. His first name is a combo of cords that combine the words "abundance", "growth", and "resilient" (similar to how portmanteaus are made in human language). Similarly, his last name is a combo cord of "blessing" and "mercy". Adrian then tacks on one other cord that Grace is unfamiliar with, and they explain "It's our cluster's clan name, similar to your surnames. This will identify you as belonging to Rocky and mine's cluster."
Grace breaks down sobbing. Adrian says it's the least they can do for the person who brought their true love back home, safe and alive. Rocky just snarks and is like, "You've been helping to babysit my siblings' younglings. I've been calling you "brother from Sol" for months now! And you STILL haven't figured out that we made you part of this family ages ago, question? Sometimes, you're the dumbest smart person I've ever met. How long since you last slept, question?" (Of course, Grace knows Rocky's teasing him.)
Grace has a microphone clipped to his shirt that translates his speech to those who haven't learned English yet. When he finally meets any and all political figures, what he says is, "Hi, I'm Ryland Grace."
What the programmed translator says is:
"I am Scientist Resilient-Abundant-Growth and Merciful-Blessing of the #(Rocky/Adrian)# Clan."
....it feels good to finally have people address him by the name his parents gave him.....parents who sadly never got to see all that their son would accomplish, and couldn't have imagined how befitting their son's name would turn out to be. <3
