Ok so at some point on Erid, Grace expresses interest in learning about their fauna, or if they have anything like pets. Rocky describes several, and eventually agrees to arrange an interaction with one type commonly kept as a pet. Grace doesn't want to observe from afar, and requests some kind of xenonite ball/suit situation. Rocky insists on supervising closely, not wanting his fragile alien friend to have his shit wrecked by an overexcited creature.
Things end up going smoothly, and the animal is pretty cute! It looks like nothing Grace has ever seen before, and he's well aware it could obliterate his bones if it suddenly charged at him. But it's quite small, and it makes adorable noises.
All this is my excuse for Rocky to have his first experience hearing the absurd baby talk so many of us do with animals lol.
Grace's voice pitches up and down wildly, cooing and spouting incoherent words. He strokes the barrier between him and the creature, petting it as best he can, and for whatever reason, finds it necessary to say, "Who's a good little domesticated animal?? Yeeesss, it's you!"
When he finally says something to Rocky in his normal voice, all Rocky can say is, "What the fuck was that, question??"
