Infinite space and yet Rocky and Grace met

27+ he/him. Infy. Really big fan of Project Hail Mary right now. antis DNI, I know it can feel good to push others down but it is not the vibe.

[infyni-taumoeba]

Flavour translation for Eridians:

feeling unhinged about the idea of Grace comparing tastes to chords and music in order to get Rocky to understand how important food flavour is.

Sugar is a note of sweetness, and Caramel is a chord of sweetness.

Notes of savoury, or earthy.... like how we describe wine and fancy foods and perfumes.

It's also worth thinking about how to translate tastes in general, since Eridian language would have no equivalent.

Sweet is... happiness. romance. too much and it feels dangerous, too little and it feels lonely.

Salty is... Movement. The ocean. it's the waves on the beach lapping at your ankles. too much and you can't breathe, too little and you're not truly living.

Bitter is... Comfort. Connection. Family. The way the ground supports you. Too much is like medicine, too little is uneasiness.

Umami is... Mathematics. Solving problems. The satisfaction of the hunt. Too much is tiring, all blending together into a single boring note. too little is hollow, lacking in purpose.

Sour is... Friendship. Liveliness. Dance? Too much makes you want to cry (Grace is running out of ideas, he's doing his best ok) and too little is depressing.

Spicy is... Heat. Mating. Too much is bad for you. (Grace blushes after saying that and refuses to elaborate. He's done actually. This whole thing took a lot of thinking for a scientist.)

do I want to write my own food-fic? listen. maybe.

(Thoughts brought to you by me reading the first 2 chapters of Settled on Ao3)

[scarlct-vvitch]

happy pride to everyone but specifically happy pride to ryland grace, aroace icon of all time, patron saint of literally saving the world with the power of friendship

[jorolle]

"And it seems like it's worth your time, right? And, by the way, there's actually- the superpower inside of feeling alien is admitting that you might be an alien."

Into the Mud Podcast Ep. 81: The Superpower of Feeling Alien with Project Hail Mary's James Ortiz - What James Ortiz would say to people who feel foreign and alien

[infyni-taumoeba]

What if Rocky's pebbles are the first ones with genetic adaptions for handling radiation

What if one of his pebble hides in Grace's Vitamin-D-Making room and gets blasted the next time Grace uses it and Rocky is terrified and Adrian is terrified and everyone is terrified but the pebble gets a bit sick, then *changes colour* or some shit and then is fine.

And grace is wondering if that was a below-lethal dose for a lil baby pebble or if that was an adaptation that saved it.

And also wondering how to pebbleproof his sun room.

[skopostheorie]

It is true that people in fandom equate top bottom with dom sub and probably mean the latter when they "headcanon" the former but I also think people need to be more open to the idea that D/s doesn't necessarily get indicated from personality either. Like for example a shy person who gets pushed around easily very well might enjoy having a dominant role with a partner they trust. That can even be affirming. Like BECAUSE of this issue you have in your real life to feel like someone will submit to YOU and defer to YOU is special for example. I think the idea that you just play the role that suits your personality in real life is part of why these same people seem to genuinely think being a Dom is like, kind of bad and scary

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

I see your “Rocky swears like a sailor but only in pitches humans can’t hear/refuses to teach Grace what those words mean” and raise you “Rocky swears like a sailor and now has to explain to Grace that ‘bad bad bad’ isn’t actually a sequence you play on your Eridian speech piano in polite company.”

Grace is both horrified and amused to realise that a more accurate translation for what Rocky’s been saying is “shit shit shit”.

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

Eridian government representative: Greetings Rocky, Saviour of Erid, and Grace, Saviour from Beyond the Stars. We are pleased to welcome you home.

Grace, haltingly on the keyboard Rocky built for him: Wassup bitches. Fucking jazzed to—

Rocky: GRACE STOP TALKING NOW NOW NOW I EXPLAIN LATER

[faint-taste-of-almonds]

Ryland Grace has got to have one of the funniest scientific careers of all time:

Research

Dissertation (piss off your entire field)

Teach middle-schoolers

Be the first person to be in contact with alien life (non-sentient)

Have your dissertation (also what killed your career) be proven wrong

Kill and also breed alien life

Become expert in said life

Become first person to be in contact with alien life (sentient)

Successfully communicate and solve the universe’s biggest problem with sentient alien life

Live the rest of life on alien planet as the savior of the universe

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

I’m used to media where when a betrayal happens it casts every previous friendly moment in the shadow of that future betrayal, every close conversation and word of encouragement becomes tinged with the fact they were keeping secrets, this was the plan from the start, you can see in their eyes now, but with Eva Stratt it’s different.

Somehow, her betrayal doesn’t erase the friendship they had. It doesn’t make the relationship any less real or tangible, it doesn’t even really end it, or twist it into something else in hindsight. What makes Stratt still feel like Grace’s friend at the end of the movie despite the betrayal is her honesty. Eva Stratt never pretended to be anything else than what she was, she never hid her methods or what she was willing to do or what she was willing to sacrifice— anything, anyone, for billions, for the world—and Grace knew this about her. This betrayal wasn’t the plan from the beginning, she had her plan and her scientists. And the moment they’re gone she sits Grace down and she tells him.

She explains it, she gives him as much information about the reasoning as she can. She sends him to save the world and then die, and she doesn’t lie to him about it to make it easier for herself or for him or for anyone, and lying definitely would have made it easier. She betrays him and it doesn’t change the fact that they were friends, it doesn’t warp the softer scenes beforehand, it’s a long-shot to save the world, the lives of billions weighed against the life of one friend, Ryland Grace knew who she was. Eva Stratt was always going to pick the world over anyone, including herself.

And, because of who she is, the moment where she made him think he had a choice doesn’t feel like cruelty, it feels like the proof they really were friends. Up to this point everything she's done has been for the world, but this… this was Eva Stratt’s only allowed bit of selfishness, giving her friend three hours to choose to go so she wouldn’t have to choose for him. I’m fine about Eva Stratt I swear—

[juliana-jones]

When you are being a little shit to your bestie and he turns his subwoofer on right under your ass

Rocky can make all kinds of cool bass vibrations and I think we as a fandom may be sleeping on this fact

[macabro]

If eridians had ao3 this one would go crazy.

[darkkittyart]

Rocky never realized just how soft his human Grace is.

He’s gotta hold onto him… for science 🦊🪨🚀

[infyni-taumoeba]

I think that eridian scientists would really enjoy testing Grace's ability to see. I feel like echolocation is Comprehensive but Limited in range. Like, sure, through doors and walls but only up to uhhh maybe 50m? (i dont know how to guess scale in space scenes. 100m?)

In the book somewhere in the tunnel scenes (so I hear) rocky freaks out that grace returns later than he agreed because he slept in. That implies that rocky couldn't hear the ship from his part of the tunnel.

Compared with humans that can see for MILES unless something gets in the way.

They're absolutely chucking lampposts in all kinds of weird places to see if Grace can see them from the edge of his biodome at night.

Grace: "Oh yeah, I can see Adrian at lamp 58"

Scientist: "this is bullshit"

[belanekra]

y'all gotta stop leaving all the cool shit in the tags

[infyni-taumoeba]

Can confirm there's very cool shit in the tags. I have read the tags of some rebloggers multiple times and it makes me so ridiculously happy.

(I repeat: Tags and comments have made me so very happy. If you reblogged and added your thoughts or a lil joke, know that you made me giggle or laugh or smile or all three.)

[dmitridish]

look out, world, here they come

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

Grace being kind of a pushover due to a combination of conflict avoidance, low self-esteem and the amount of stuff he had to put up with while working for Stratt (eg, “you live on this aircraft carrier now”).

Rocky and Grace being in some kind of meeting with the science thrum on Erid's surface (Grace in his xenonite suit), shortly after they arrive, when Rocky notices that Grace is being even more clingy than usual. Like he's constantly got at least one arm on Rocky's carapace, and has not moved away from Rocky since the meeting started. He's much stiller than he usually is— even accounting for his weakness from the malnutrition— and his light sensing organs keep rolling around in their sockets, meaning that he's anxiously scanning the room.

Rocky begins to worry. Is Grace getting sicker? Is the higher gravity having a worse impact than they thought? Or is he just nervous to be around strange Eridians? (Though he hasn't had this reaction to anyone else? Is there something up with the science Thrum??)

Rocky is like spiralling into anxiety until they have to move to a different part of the room for some reason and Grace, slowed down by the suit, briefly loses his hold on Rocky.

Immediately, he crashes into a table. And then backs into a wall. And then nearly knocks over some important Eridian science equipment. And then stands in the middle of the room, looking confused and slightly freaked out, both hands stretched out in front of him, opening and closing like he's grasping at the air.

Wait.

“Grace.”

“Yeah Rock?”

“At which point during meeting did light emitting devices in room stop working question?”

“Uh… like two minutes after we got in. Sorry, didn't want to be a bother.”

Never mind. Turns out humans are just idiots.

[kerink]

to me, grace's house on erid looks like it was inspired by organic modern/japandi interior design styles with industrial elements. which makes sense from a set designer's stand point because it has to look like it was made with both natural materials and metals.

but i have so many questions about it. is this grace's interior design style? is this how interior design is on erid? did grace and rocky set up a joint pinboard and spend the trip chucking jpegs in there? he has so many vases, are they gifts from the eridians? is it an eridian cultural thing? did grace take up pottery?

i also adore how many windows he has and how big they are. the house is physically small (which makes sense, grace doesn't seem like the type of guy to want a bigger space than he needs) but having so many large windows makes it feel bigger than it is. it also allows him to enjoy the ocean views, provide lighting (it's possible he has recessed lighting, but i didn't see any lamps), and help him feel less trapped. after being kidnapped and forced to live in such a small space for so long, it would be good for him to feel physically safe but not contained, and this is a great way to do it.

[raointean]

From chapter 21 of Andy Weir's "Project Hail Mary"

[hailed-marys]

imagine remembering you forgot your meds 11 light years from home