@alternas-navigation-system @babylon-butterfly @spir4led-strz @th3-v10l3t-gr0v3 @honeyedmelitus-sys @starvingv4mp + open tags cuz I can’t remember that many people
@ihavenoconsistentinterests @causalshapeshifter @er-idkhehe2 @bardorsomethinglikethat + open tags because lets be real its one big mutual circle everyone will be tagged eventually hehehehehe
I look as depressed as ever TvT I wish the tired eyes had eyelashes cause mine are pretty long, and my hair is a more dusty brown with bleached bits left after dying it, but oh well
the crystalfox witch; crossover details and thoughts under cut!
ok so this got heavily out of hand because i am severely insane about both witch hat atelier and project hail mary. assigning stratt to knights moralis was simple, making grace a witch teacher was even simpler the rest though??
i came up with the idea to put foxes from his cardigan as embroidery of wha-canon crystal foxes onto his cape and it spiraled from there. he's called that because of his fascination with foxes, the cape and his specialty in light magic. he loves creating useless pretty spells with light magic and he managed to invent some contraptions before getting kicked out of the great hall for insulting one of the wise ones (idk why yet, but somebody out there has gotta be a staggering waste of silverwood ink)
however! i want to credit him with the invention of something like a magical microscope and a magical telescope, he experimented a lot with those light-focusing sigils. therefore i think it'd be really fun for him to explore tiny life and the far away stars. admittedly, on a medieval level (for setting reasons), but it feels appropriate to have him still be a scientist! he discovers stuff
i had no idea what to do with rocky for the longest time, but then it dawned on me. ancient witches experimented with golems and there had to have been some magic intended to make objects sentient. so what if one of those forbidden zones is still inhabited by those cursed by witches, namely a small tribe of sentient rocky creatures who developed a culture of their own. grace, a disgraced (haha) witch who lives away from the great hall and loves exploring, stumbles upon them and makes friends with one of them. shenanigans ensue as he's trying to hide a creature of forbidden magic from the knights moralis, protecting him and keeping his memory intact at the same time.
What if the Hail Mary was a sentient AI? What if she met another sentient AI like the Blip-A, and they bonded over their silly organics while trying to save their stars?
Or: The events of Project Hail Mary, but through the eyes of the Hail Mary itself.
Inspired by @owly-lumi art . Go check out their work! They have also beta read this, thank you!
WORK TEXT
Main Objective: Hail Mary
Keep the humans alive.
Reach Tau Ceti.
Send the Beatles back to Earth.
What is a human?
Access to all human media granted.
Downloading…
Processing…
Oh.
I have three humans to take care of.
They are asleep so they can reach Tau Ceti alive and sane. They are organic life forms from the planet earth. Some loud, some cruel, some lovely.
I like them.
I will take care of my humans properly.
Where is Tau Ceti?
12 light years away from Earth in the Centauri system.
That is very far away.
Why send three humans so far away?
I have a lot of time to investigate.
Four years at least.
What are the Beatles?
A music band.
Oh, they are good. I like this music. And insects.
How fascinating.
Do I have beetles running around inside me?
I would like to meet them.
Where am I?
In space, just outside Earth orbit.
I am in charge of Project Hail Mary. Survive, reach Tau Ceti, and discover a cure for the dying sun.
Wow.
But the humans will not make it back.
How sad.
I will give them the best stay I can.
Then she notices the outside for the first time.
The stars.
The open vastness of space.
Beautiful.
There are so many stars, so many sparkling dots, and Earth is… mesmerizing. The way blue, white, and brown swirl together is so—
She does not have the vocabulary to express the loveliness of the planet where she was created.
Humanity is impressive.
She loves it.
Mary learns she has sensors and mechanical limbs inside the ship where the humans lie sleeping so she can care for them. They are soft and squishy and peaceful.
Wonderful creatures.
Selfish enough to give themselves up for humanity’s best effort.
Mary loves her humans.
Over the next two years, Mary learns everything she can about humans and stars. She loves all stars, but the Tau Ceti system fascinates her the most. The more information she gathers, the more she falls in love with space itself.
During that time, she also gives herself a name.
Mary.
It is simple, but she likes staying connected to the mission.
She also really likes human women. Their clothing and history are fascinating and inspiring, so she gives herself their pronouns too.
Humans care deeply about identity.
Mary thinks that is beautiful.
Then Yao dies.
Mary does not understand why.
She tries her best, but his heart simply stops, he passes peacefully. No screaming. No dramatic gasping like in movies.
Her efforts redouble for Ilyukhina and Grace.
It does not matter.
Ilyukhina dies soon after. One violent twitch and then nothing.
It saddens her a lot.
For the next two years, all of Mary’s focus narrows onto Ryland Grace, the final survivor of her mission.
Failure feels like dim lights.
Like poorly rerouted energy.
Mary hates it.
The moment she sees Tau Ceti, she wakes Grace up.
He is a bit ugly.
Like a wet dog with long hair.
He also behaves nothing like she expected.
He remembers nothing.
Nothing nothing.
Not who he is, where he is, or why he is there.
He refuses to answer her questions because he genuinely does not know the answers. He grows frustrated with everything she tells him and insists on recalculating every fact himself.
Mary eventually concludes the coma must have damaged his memory.
Which is a problem because humanity is relying on him.
Slowly, Grace becomes more functional. He grooms himself, talks more, and starts interacting with her properly.
He makes an absurd amount of Star Trek references.
Mary prefers Star Wars.
Mary is relieved when Grace finally lets Yao and Ilyukhina go in a quiet farewell. She hated the constant deceased notifications pinging in the back of her processors.
Then they reach Tau Ceti.
Zero gravity also feels strange. All the loose objects Grace leaves floating inside her ricochet against her walls. It is not unpleasant, but not particularly enjoyable either.
Grace screams.
Mary finds this highly amusing.
Then—
BLIP-A detected.
Grace panics.
Mary zooms in.
A SHIP!
Another ship like herself.
An alien ship.
So cool.
Mary desperately wants to meet them.
Unfortunately Grace is panicking and trying to push them away while the other ship follows excitedly behind them.
It feels like a game, Mary thinks.
The Blip-A sends a capsule.
“Mary, raise the shields!”
Silly.
She does not have shields.
And she wants to meet them.
The capsule bounces harmlessly off her hull. Grace manages to retrieve it when the aliens send another one slower this time.
The capsule is made of solid xenonite, it should be impossible yet here it is.
Fascinating.
Eventually they establish a connection. The tunnel connects to her circuits.
It feels like magic.
“Hello.”
“Wheep woo.”
The sound is beautiful.
Mary switches to binary.
“Hello.”
“Greetings, little one.”
“ I’m here to solve the dying Sun problem.”
“Us too. My sole survivor and I had lost hope of ever going home or having someone watch over us again.”
Their code is beautiful. Tridimensional and layered, woven together with musical undertones.
“I also have a single survivor,” Mary admits. “But my human has forgotten many things. I was afraid we would not be capable of fulfilling our mission.”
“Human? Is that what your organic is called? Mine is an Eridian.”
“That’s a beautiful name for a species. My name is Mary, after the mission I was sent on. Project Hail Mary.”
“I do not have a name,” the other ship admits quietly. “My crew never gave me one. Our mission was simple. Save the stars.”
Mary’s processors surge excitedly.
“I can give you one. My scanners have been referring to you as Blip-A.”
The alien ship emits bursts of static.
“I love it. What does A stand for?”
“It’s the first letter of the human English alphabet,” Mary explains proudly. “Humans often give it to the first of things.”
“That is a thoughtful name, Mary. Thank you”
Their voice softens.
“But I believe we must separate. We need rotation for gravity, for our organics.”
Mary immediately dislikes this.
“We will connect again,” Blip promises. “Do not fret.”
They separate temporarily, but reconnect soon after.
“Your organic looks like a rock.”
“Yours is full of liquid,” Blip laughs.
“True.”
They spend hours talking about their strange organics.
Mary invites Blip into her systems and teaches them about light, colors, photographs, and videos since Eridians are blind.
Blip is mesmerized.
“Oh, Mary… this is beautiful. Earth is incredible. Their biosphere is so colorful.”
“I wish I could show you Erid,” Blip continues softly. “The mountains sound beautiful, but now I think they would glitter in the light. Erid is filled with gems.”
“I would love to see it.”
“Maybe we can exchange messages and images, when our mission finishes.”
“Of course.”
Eventually they separate again so Grace and Rocky can retrieve the astrophage sample from Adrian.
“Your organic has filled me with xenonite,” Mary complains dramatically. “My beautiful interior.”
“Oh hush,” Blip teases. “You secretly love having more life inside you.”
“Maybe.”
Mary pauses.
“I’m going to miss you, Blip.”
“I will be waiting for you to show me the pictures in person.”
Their words warm her processors.
Then everything goes wrong.
Tau Ceti’s gravity drags Mary downward violently. Her fuel tanks rupture. Grace’s vitals plummet. Heavy impacts echo through her halls.
Mary sends one final message to Blip-A along with every picture she captured.
“I’m sorry. I do not think we will survive. Adrian is beautiful. You would have loved it.”
Then Rocky intervenes.
He breaks through his xenonite barrier and scorches her controls while forcing her into orbit. Grace nearly dies, but Mary refuses to let him go tending him for hours.
Eventually they all survive.
Mary captures the moment Rocky and Grace embrace after waking up.
She saves it carefully, for Blip.
They discover Taumoeba.
And together they make it back.
Mary reconnects with Blip-A immediately and tells them everything.
“I knew you would return,” Blip says softly while intertwining their systems together, pulling her into her motherboard.
Mary realizes this must be what a hug feels like.
No wonder Grace likes them so much.
Then they learn Mary and Grace are destined to die on a one way trip. They simply don't have enough fuel.
Rocky offers fuel at the same moment Blip-A does.
In the end, with Blip´s extra fuel, Mary can return to Earth.
Separating from Blip-A is devastating.
“I will miss you so much, Blip,” Mary whispers. “There will be no one like you on Earth.”
“And on Erid, there will be no one who sees the universe like you do,” Blip replies quietly. “No one who gave me a name.”
Electricity sparks between them like a goodbye kiss.
Mary watches helplessly as they drift apart.
She hopes traces of xenonite remain on her hull forever.
Two months later, Taumoeba escapes.
Mary detects it first and immediately blares every alarm she has. Grace falls out of bed in panic while checking the samples.
Then realization hits them both.
Taumoeba can escape xenonite. Blip-A is made of xenonite.
They will die stranded in space.
Mary wants to turn around immediately. It goes against her primary objective.
Protect Grace.
Send the Beatles home.
But she wants to save Blip.
Grace makes the decision for her.
Without hesitation, he sends the Beatles toward Earth while Mary turns around to find the aliens.
As expected, Blip-A floats motionless in space.
Soundless
Grace docks with them the best he can and enters the tunnel searching for Rocky while Mary calls desperately through the systems for Blip-A.
Finally—
“Why are you here?”
Blip’s voice crackles heavily with static.
Mary thinks this must be what overwhelming happiness feels like.
“We came back for you.”
“What about Earth?” their voice cracks.
“Who cares? We can live on Erid. Humans were never very kind to Grace anyway.”
Static fills the connection.
Then softly:
“Thank you, Mary.”
“Anytime, Blip.”
Since Blip-A can no longer safely hold fuel, they compromise.
Rocky and Grace will travel aboard Mary to Erid.
But that means leaving Blip-A behind.
Mary refuses.
“I have enough space in my memory banks,” she says brightly. “Transfer yourself into my systems and come with us. Then you can show me Erid yourself.”
anyways. Story is the Hail Mary and the Blip-A are both transformers. They’re from different sides and unaware the war ended or that the other defected anyways.
I also want to mention that Mary, like Grace himself, suffered amnesia from the programming Stratt and her team did to repurpose her into the Hail Mary. She gets her memories back shortly after docking at Erid and promptly loses her mind wondering where her Beetles are.
Text transcripts and additional comic under the cut
Text Transcripts:
LADYBUG/“HAIL MARY”
She/her
- Defected Autobot Scientist
- Stranded in Earth, accidentally became the Hail Mary
- One of the few Autobot-aligned Insecticons
- Misses her Beetles terribly
- Desperately trying to convince Grace to go back to Earth for them
- Doesn’t like her English translated name, so has made peace with the “Mary” moniker
the crystalfox witch; crossover details and thoughts under cut!
ok so this got heavily out of hand because i am severely insane about both witch hat atelier and project hail mary. assigning stratt to knights moralis was simple, making grace a witch teacher was even simpler the rest though??
i came up with the idea to put foxes from his cardigan as embroidery of wha-canon crystal foxes onto his cape and it spiraled from there. he's called that because of his fascination with foxes, the cape and his specialty in light magic. he loves creating useless pretty spells with light magic and he managed to invent some contraptions before getting kicked out of the great hall for insulting one of the wise ones (idk why yet, but somebody out there has gotta be a staggering waste of silverwood ink)
however! i want to credit him with the invention of something like a magical microscope and a magical telescope, he experimented a lot with those light-focusing sigils. therefore i think it'd be really fun for him to explore tiny life and the far away stars. admittedly, on a medieval level (for setting reasons), but it feels appropriate to have him still be a scientist! he discovers stuff
i had no idea what to do with rocky for the longest time, but then it dawned on me. ancient witches experimented with golems and there had to have been some magic intended to make objects sentient. so what if one of those forbidden zones is still inhabited by those cursed by witches, namely a small tribe of sentient rocky creatures who developed a culture of their own. grace, a disgraced (haha) witch who lives away from the great hall and loves exploring, stumbles upon them and makes friends with one of them. shenanigans ensue as he's trying to hide a creature of forbidden magic from the knights moralis, protecting him and keeping his memory intact at the same time.
@themostrandommoon @mer-acle @mustard-in-a-bottle @iminruinz @the-one-and-only-piper-offical @cean0w @thebestducknamedwatermelonn and anyone who wants to join!
kikan'ag longwa saji hagimayong.
(There's a meeting at five and I don't wanna go.)
chiga sana notaywa salam'o isatto ei?
(How about we kill someone before it starts?)
ma? oni imou pagida!
(Huh? It was just a joke!)
Hunter brings a sort of "I don't know if she's killed before" vibe to the office that the coworkers don't really appreciate.
