just here to save my favs @eridian-sam - Tumblr Blog

I wrote my very first fanfic! Project Hail Mary has possessed me and taken over my mind the way nothing else ever has.

This fic is for everyone who has wondered "How would Grace deal with remembering he refused to go on the mission? Would he stew in self-loathing and guilt while avoiding telling Rocky?"

My answer to this: absolutely. That man loves a lie of omission. It's his favorite.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Summary:

On the trip back to Erid Rocky is excited to spend quality time with their favorite human, but Grace is acting…strangely. They are unbearably quiet. The longer it goes on the more certain Rocky is that there is something very wrong.

“I trust you with my sad experiences. I tell you about crew deaths and how it make me feel. Rocky trust Grace. Now Grace trust Rocky.”

“What— what if I wasn’t a good person like you? What if I was actually a coward and a liar? Would you still trust me?”

#project hail mary #fanfic #my writing #baby's first fanfic be nice #rocky phm #ryland grace

seeingteacupsindragons

”Ryland Grace’s life was valued less because he was single,” is such a weird take because it depends entirely on the idea that Eva Stratt might have hesitated if he weren’t.

Eva. Stratt. Eva Stratt is a bulldozer who takes out Antarctica and the Sahara and commanders an entire Chinese naval aircraft carrier.

Eva Stratt would have thrown his ass on that rocket if he had ten wives.

snoobinn

i liked when they fake sparred

#project hail mary

biocrafthero

diagram of using social media

kerink

do you think the eridians think grace is fucking with them when he goes over all the grooming products humans need? toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, lotion, moisturizer, lip balm, lube, first aid ointment, burn cream. yes i know humans are wet wet wet soft soft soft already but no yeah we need to add this stuff to maintain our health. bad to have an organ exposed to the elements, you know. oh also let's talk about humidity-

and then the dry products on top of it. tooth brush, floss, comb, sponge, towels, q-tips, tissues, maybe he can get away with a bidet instead of toilet paper but boy is THAT a conversation.

all of this is probably already aboard the hail mary, but they're finite resources. he's going to have to have some degree of replenishment so the eridians are gonna need to understand it.

and then when grace drops that this is at or close to the minimum humans need and that there's a ton more of optional products most humans just like to have the scientists all turn to rocky like are we fr rn

#project hail mary

aislinceivun

farewell, but return again to your loved one, weeping here

#project hail mary #BONDED PAIR DO NOT SEPARATE

ventresses

This is a perfect time to read the brilliant and unforgettable graphic novel(s) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, about growing up in Iran during and after the Iranian Revolution, and the rise of the oppressive theocracy that persists to this day.

Both graphic novels are available free online (Persepolis vol. 1, Persepolis vol. 2)

It also was adapted to a wonderful film (co-directed and co-written by the author) which is available to watch for free on Sundance Now (sign up for the free trial)

luxlightly

Grace making a joke about how grossed out Rocky will be if he ever gets a cold, only to remember that he's likely never going to come in contact with another being remotely close enough to him, genetically, to possibly infect him with an illness.

"Grace leaking! Grace upset, question?"

"I taught at a middle school. I got sick every single cold and flu season. Now I'll never get another cold. These are tears of joy."

#I had this exact thought as someone with a chronic illness that worsens horribly with viral infections #please shoot me into space in the clean room ship #no more viruses please

thecraftgremlin

I surprisingly haven't seen any fanart of Rocky hanging on to Grace's tape measure, so I guess it's up to me.

Full disclosure, the original context for this in my brain was incredibly angsty and waaaay too involved for me to do right now. So Rocky just gets a fidget toy and relatively little existential dread.

#project hail mary #I mean...the angst comes through #I'm immediately picturing him obsessively fiddling with it while he's on the trip back to Erid and thinks he'll never see Grace again #just treasuring all the items he has to remind him of his best friend

truncated-symphony

I've seen Project Hail Mary a truly absurd number of times now. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it hits me just as hard every single time. I laugh, I grin, I cringe, I hold my breath during That Scene. And by the time the credits roll, I'm ugly crying. Every single time?!?! Either I'm just insane about this movie (definitely) or it's a really really good movie (also definitely).

#project hail mary #yesssss #I'm never like this with TV or movies #usually I need like a year minimum before I rewatch or it's boring #but PHM? Every rewatch is just as amazing and emotional??#I'm grinning ear to ear the whole time #on the edge of my seat for the fishing scene #I don't know what they put in this movie

annabelle--cane

if I feel like absolutely torturing rocky then I sometimes like to imagine a scenario on erid where a few months into The Scurvy Era grace sits him down like "hey pal. there's a chance that the scientists here won't figure out how to meet my nutritional needs any time soon. I would love it if they can! but it might not happen. and I don't want to die very slowly and painfully of starvation. now listen to me. ideally I don't want to die at all. but more than that. I do not want to die. of starvation. I don't need anything from you to help with this, I can address it on my own, but if this becomes a real problem then I am going to solve it. Do You Understand What I Am Saying Right Now." and rocky isn't even allowed to immediately become evil about it.

annabelle--cane

I imagine that at this point they've had The conversation about how grace got on the ship in the first place and rocky is aware that his friend has some significant issues about having his personal autonomy overruled, so in the moment he just says "hnnnnnn. Iwouldbesadifthathappened but. I can see why you would. feel that way." then as soon as he's out of range he physically attacks the first person nearest to him.

#project hail mary #already reblogged but I need the addition #AHHHH so good #very good post OP

Just thinking about how Rocky was certainly TRAPPED in Tau Ceti for 46 years. That's not explicitly said in the book, but he was an engineer just there to repair things. He has absolutely none of the training or knowledge required to pilot the Blip-A. Not only that, Eridians have no computers. Piloting the ship must be incredibly manual and meant to be done by specialists, maybe even multiple of them at a time.

Through painstaking trial and error Rocky figured out how to do very small maneuvering within the Tau Ceti system, but there's absolutely no chance he could fly the ship back to Erid. Plotting a course home would require complex knowledge of astrophysics that Rocky absolutely does not have. In fact, in the book Grace is the one who plans the course back to Erid for Rocky when they are parting to go back to their separate planets.

All this to say, Rocky must have felt HORRIBLY trapped and helpless for 46 years. No way to move forward in his mission: the astrophage sampler broke off on the way to Tau Ceti and he can't figure out how to make a new one. But he also has no way to get home to get help. There is NOTHING he can do, but wait. Try to make himself useful taking down observations about the Tau Ceti system, hoping that another ship of Eridians will show up someday who can make use of the data.

Nothing to do but wait. Wait for people who almost certainly aren't coming... It's been 46 years. They probably all think he's dead. And sometimes Rocky wishes that he were...

#project hail mary #rocky phm #rocky the eridian #I just want to put him in the torment nexus #TRAPPED HELPLESS #phm #sam thoughts

annabelle--cane

if I feel like absolutely torturing rocky then I sometimes like to imagine a scenario on erid where a few months into The Scurvy Era grace sits him down like "hey pal. there's a chance that the scientists here won't figure out how to meet my nutritional needs any time soon. I would love it if they can! but it might not happen. and I don't want to die very slowly and painfully of starvation. now listen to me. ideally I don't want to die at all. but more than that. I do not want to die. of starvation. I don't need anything from you to help with this, I can address it on my own, but if this becomes a real problem then I am going to solve it. Do You Understand What I Am Saying Right Now." and rocky isn't even allowed to immediately become evil about it.

#project hail mary

crownsspades

grace’s hierarchy of needs:

#project hail mary

easyt0find

official ao3 tiktok account knows ball

valtsv

while i know he doesn't really gaf about boundaries or have a human sense of shame like that i do think that rocky realising that he's come to find grace perversely, sincerely desirable and developed an entirely reasonable but still uncomfortably intense degree of starvation for physical touch during their extended confinement together works better if he's not immediately fine and okay with it. i mean, he literally lives in a glass house, and the only time he could reasonably get away with processing his uncharted new feelings (up to you if that's a euphemism or not) is while watching over the already precariously easy to disturb sleep cycles of a fellow PTSD survivor who does have certain hangups and may not even share his attraction. let's all hope and pray that eridians don't ovulate or he's in for a hideously miserable four years on the return trip to erid.

valtsv