Duke knew Dick was being a dick by taking his sweet, sweet time eating his soggy gross cereal. Then making a point to get them both a hot cocoa because, and he quotes, ‘We don't need two caffeinated manic people at large in the manor!’
He would be getting back at him for even insinuating that this breakthrough is even close to one of Tim's manic moments.
Dick managed to make it to 7:00am before they went down into the cave and informed Danny of their new plan. Then finally called his magic teammate, though he did warn him that she might not answer until later.
Unsurprisingly, none of their calls went answered. ,Surprisingly, though, she did text back with:
“Kori has demanded a ‘Girls Day’”
Dick winced. “Ya, Raven will be M.I.A. for at least another day.”
“WHAT!” Duke screamed.
“Dude, do not ever try to ruin Kori's ‘Girls Day’ best case, she uses you as a sparring partner for a full week. Worst case, you ‘join’ them.”
“How is joining them the worst case?” Duke asked, anger deflating at the comment.
“You really don't want to know, but one aspect is being judge for any bake-offs they may have.” Dick shuddered.
Duke stared in disbelief at Dick. “What did you guys get up to in the Titian's Tower?”
“Mainly attempting to survive Kori's attempts at sharing her food culture.” Dick deadpanned.
—
Danny was not sure if he wanted to meet this ‘Kori’ person. If what Dick was saying about her attempts at cooking are true, she and his mom would get along like explosions in the lab. Something that Danny would not want any part of, the turkey was enough, thank you.
But he is sad that their other magic person wasn't available. Being a car was cool and fun of course, but it has been like, two days now…. And wow what a two days it has been. If. When he gets out of this, he is kicking Jason on the shin with some ghostly strength, and demanding his cookie recipe.
Danny tuned back into the conversation Dick and Duke were having in the back seat. He found it sweet that they moved there to include him in their recountings of insane mission stories. He wished he could actually talk and share some of his own stories. Seems like he will have to be content with playing laugh, groaning, and other reaction soundtracks until the magic users stop by.
As I am "severely the target audience for project hail mary" I have to point out. The thing about Grace's theories the scientific community hated so so so much re: life not necessarily having to be water/carbon based............ In Real Life Astrobiology this has already been pretty extensively discussed and largely discounted. So. Watching the scene where he's talking about like "the only original idea I ever had" I was kinda chewing on my lips like oooooh it's worse actually LMAO
Like. I need you all to understand. He's not getting laughed out of the room because it's this outlandish new idea, it's that in the theoretical biochemistry world this is *already outdated* and he's just like "NO LISTEN IT COULD STILL HAPPEN" & the scientific community is like can you shut the fuck up
To be fair I would like to stress that it's *largely* discounted not Entirely 100% ruled out. There are some ongoing arguments about this afaik. But it really adds something to my enjoyment of this movie like oh buddy. It's so much worse than it sounds. Fully not a new idea he's pulling kind of a "here's how bernie can still win"
It's Weir going "what's something embarassing he could be obsessed by" and also he spends the rest of the book introducing Grace to aliens who don't SEEM to have water but turns out they do. Just straight up torturing his creations lol.
Look, I don't think Rocky would judge Grace for not wanting to go on the Mary. Like, it's a terrible situation that I don't think anybody knows how they'd react to (including Rocky, remember his mission wasn't a suicide mission, he was always meant to come home) and also it's an obviously traumatic and upsetting incident that happened to a close friend.
Rocky can be an asshole (affectionate) at times, but I think he knows when not to push certain subjects. Grace doesn't make light of anything to do with radiation around Rocky, Rocky respects Grace's complicated feelings about the whole kidnapping thing. It's what friends are for.
I do, however, think that Rocky would be fucking merciless about ragging Grace for the whole 'didn't realise he was second in command' thing.
I mean, originally when Grace tells him that, I think Rocky would accept it. Rocky knows basically nothing about human social structures, after all, and absolutely nothing about the hierarchy of the Petrova Task Force. Maybe it's normal for people's exact positions in human hierarchies to be somewhat ambiguous. Maybe there were multiple second in commands so it was easy for Grace to not realise he was special. Rocky doesn't know.
Then, over time and the journey to Erid, more stories start to emerge and… wait, why was Grace at the copyright court case thing? What does Grace mean, Stratt just took him everywhere, question?
Huh, Grace was also in charge of helping the crew choose their suicide plans? And trained alongside them every step of the way?
Grace had an office on the Vat. Grace was responsible for most of the science team and was present for every important new hire's first interview.
Grace was part of the decision to PAVE HIS PLANET'S DESERTS AND USE RADIATION ENERGY WEAPONS TO DESTROY THE POLAR ICE CAPS??? And yeah, the explanation of what nuclear weapons are is not a fun discussion for either of them.
Oh and even less fun discussion: Grace was the one who ultimately persuaded Stratt to put the crew into comas for the journey.
(This reveal causes one of their few major fights on the way to Erid, because Rocky is not a fan of things that put Grace at risk or of forced, unobserved sleep in general, and because Grace is very defensive and guilty about making a decision that killed two of his close friends. Lots of yelling and subsequent sulking at opposite ends of the ship ensues.)
But yeah, Rocky is starting to doubt Grace's reliability as a narrator, statement. And Rocky is going to express this doubt loudly and frequently whenever Grace mentions his surprise at being second in command on the Task Force, because that is also what friends are for.
When they get to Erid, and Grace is inevitably a part of multiple projects, both to support his own survival on Erid and to improve Eridian science, Rocky is going to pointedly ask Grace if he's sure he's aware of exactly how important he is to these projects, as the only alien on Erid.
Would Grace like Rocky to ask the head of the science thrum to clarify Grace's exact place in the hierarchy again, statement?
Would Grace like Rocky to make him a badge with that information on it, question, to aid his weak human memory?
Rocky can probably manufacture some version of a human marker pen should Grace want to write the info on his hand. Wouldn't want any confusion there.
(Grace puts up with the teasing both because he's willing to put up with a lot of teasing from Rocky, and because it actually is helpful for him to be constantly reassured of his exact status and role in the project. He hasn't reminded Rocky yet that the last time he was allowed to gloss over that kind of thing it was because his superior was planning to secretly send him to space…)
I love seeing people dissecting how Eridians being ambush predators and humans being persistence hunters ends up affecting how Grace and Rocky interact and I think this goes for what they think is “cute” about the other.
Grace coos over Rocky “loafing” because to him that’s a sign of rest, trust, and vulnerability (even knowing full well that Eridians sleep on a pin cushion with everything spread out). Eridians probably take being low to the ground as a sign of aggression- like you’re trying to hide and get the better of them.
Rocky loves Grace’s bad dance moves because to Eridians, being splayed out and making yourself as big as possible is trust, rest, and vulnerability. He’s making himself well-seen. But if Rocky ever tries like- walking on two legs or shows his underside to Grace while walking Grace freaks out because on EARTH, making yourself big is the sign of aggression.
Eridians are apex predators. Humans, despite considering ourselves the top of the food chain, actually fall into the same trophic level as pigs and anchovies—tertiary omnivores.
But humans are pursuit predators. And Eridians seem more likely to be ambush predators.
What I'm saying is on that years-long trip to Erid there were absolutely several instances of Rocky & Grace doing something that was absolutely terrifying to the other one and then having to be like "oh yeah no that's normal. Sorry."
Danny dyed his hair white one day. His adoptive family thinks its teenage rebellion, but really his ghost side Has been acting up, so now he's got to commit to the bit
Bruce does a double take when Danny walks in. His newest son was much more reserved than his other children. He didn't like having attention on himself- unless it was the popular kids at school but Bruce thought that was just something every teenager went through.
Danny spent most of his time locked away in his room, playing video games, writing for his blog, and watching documentaries about space. He was the most normal and well-behaved ward since Jason, and Jason was so grateful for being able to go to school that he used to ask to skip patrol to do homework. Danny had no interest in getting into the life of crime fighting, despite his previous ghost-fighting days.
He mostly stopped the ghosts from attacking because there was literally no one else in Amity Park who could handle the ghosts. In Gotham, however, there were plenty of heroes who were trained and on top of whatever issues were going on. Danny saw no reason to jump in, despite the Waynes each taking time out of their days to give him training in thier respective areas.
Jason and Alfred were happy to report Danny was one of the best shots in the household, while Damian and Cass both agreed his hand-to-hand combat was his weakest point. Duke and Bruce were the ones who helped him the most with his powers, which Danny preferred to use and were his strongest.
Despite all of this, Danny only jumped in as Phantom if it was an all-hands-on-deck or a last-resort situation. He would rather live as a civilian, which was a huge load off of Bruce's and Dick's shoulders. His eldest had turned many young people away from the cape life, but he never managed to get his own siblings to agree. Danny was his first success story.
Danny had no problems in school. He was one of the top students- not the top, but definitely in the top ten. His teachers had nothing but praise for his insightful and well-mannered behavior. He didn't speak too much in class, but he wasn't dismissive of assignments, nor did he leave all his part of group work to his classmates.
Alfred was working on getting Danny's mannerisms and etiquette up to par for the elites, but he was easy to mold, willing to learn, and sort of natural when he was relaxed.
Danny didn't steal; he didn't drink or do any kind of drugs (Bruce knows; he had him tested. Whether that test was done with Danny's knowledge or not was no one's business). Really, the only issue Bruce had with Danny was his social life, but honestly? In a city like Gotham, having his son home, safe and sound, behind the best security money could buy, and the best of minds could build, was much more relieving.
He hadn't thought Danny was capable of rebelling.
Which was why his son, walking in with pure white hair, was so jarring. Bruce tried to find a way to tactfully ask about it-
Tim glanced up from his phone just as Danny was taking his seat and gasped. "What happened to your hair?
-but that was not how he would have done it. Thankfully, Tim always handled things he didn't want to.
Danny smiled, running a hand through his hair, unbothered by the horror that had slipped into the CEO'S voice."Felt like a change."
As he moved his hair, Bruce realized that Danny had gotten piercings as well. Not just one or two, but six, from his lobe to the top. They were small, tiny stars and dots, and one moon at the very top as a flat. Bruce's eyes widened.
That was... surprising because, in thier state, one had to have parental permission until one was eighteen to get piercings. Danny is sixteen, and Bruce had not given any form of permission. Where did he get those piercings?
"This felt right," Danny concludes, leaning back in his chair. As he did so, his shirt rose a little, and peeking from the small slip of skin was an ink image. Tattoos. On Danny's frontal hipbones.
Bruce felt faint.
Tim gasped, knocking over his drink when he sprang up, pointing at Danny accusingly. It was the most animated Bruce had seen his son in the past week, but this was obviously a worthy cause. "Do you have tattoos?!?"
The now white-haired boy smiled warmly, almost proudly, as he lifted his shirt to show off two strips of black and white galaxy-themed tattoos. They tilted from his hip down to his private parts and were honestly a masterful work of art, but Bruce was shocked beyond words.
None of his kids had tattoos. None. Not even Jason. Oh gods, Danny was never going to get a real job now.
"Where?" Bruce croaked, "Where did you get those?"
"Johnny did them for me." Danny chirps, letting his shirt fall back down.
"Who is Johnny?" Tim gasped, falling back into his seat like his heart was being ripped out of his chest and stomped on. He was ready for children. He had the you're going to put me in an early grave act down pact. Bruce was honestly impressed by it.
"He's my friend." Danny shrugged. "He's cool."
Bruce opened his mouth, but once again Tim beat him to the punch.
"Cool? Is it cool to be running around looking like a delinquent?!"
"Didn't you use to skip school to go skateboarding and then break into buildings at night for a photography session?" Danny popped his fork into his mouth, raising one eyebrow. Tim sputtered for a second, looking for an argument but falling short, so he turned to Bruce.
"B. Control your son!"
"I don't need controlling from a man who actively breaks the law. " Danny cut in. He swallowed the salad in his mouth before putting his fork down and raising his hands to create the distinctive bat ears of Batman's cowl on his head. Bruce felt like he'd been slapped.
Tim slammed a hand on the table. "You're breaking your father's heart."
Danny, sweet and innocent Danny, rolled his eyes at Tim. "It's not that big of a deal."
Bruce thinks his heart actually may have shattered. Tim glanced at him before facing the teenager at the table again. "You're killing your father."
"Good."
Danny continued his dinner, humming peacefully in the utter shock silence. He retreated to his room to continue playing his latest game, leaving two of the brightest minds in the Wayne household utterly stumped on what to do or say. It would take hours before either found the will to move, and that was only because Alfred got home from bingo with his friend to find the two staring at the wall.
the aroace read of ryland grace is so personal and haunting. "you don't even have a dog." was it not enough to love the world for the sake of living in it. was it not enough to live for the thrill of discovery. was it not enough to smile at your students. was it not enough to be afraid.
