what even am I doing

the incredible ✨Walrus✨, he/him 21

[bulkhummus]

i know for a fact you have to sign in to enter any school if you do not work there, and especially if you are not a parent, so at some point Eva Stratt had Carl hold up his badge so she could march past a retired cop who acts as a security guard for the school and everyone watches, mouth agape, as the woman walked into Grace's classroom

it was end of day - teachers stay late. kids have afterschool activities. Stratt and Carl are not familiar faces, which would have every adults head on a swivel who worked in a school. people would notice.

and i just know the rumors in the faculty room went fucking HARD the next day when Grace didn't show up to work

[bulkhummus]

thinking more about grace as a teacher

Avoids the faculty room like the plague

His classroom is NOT organized, there is shit everywhere - but he knows exactly where everything is

Goes out for lunch every day to eat his sad little sandwich on a bench in the sun

his prep is a lunch period so kids are ALWAYS in his room while hes trying to like grace and do other shit

Gets to work pretty early to prep for the day but leaves the moment the EOD bell rings which gets looks from other teachers

will speak up at faculty meetings - he never has a problem being an informative bitch at a faculty meeting and everyone loves and hates him for it

will always raise his hand to go on stage when they ask for teacher volunteers at an assembly

his do nows all have to do with relevant and contemporary research that he himself is interested in and keeps tabs on

he always 'forgets' to take attendance so he can have kids who need a break from sitting to bring it down to the office

his coworkers are convinced he's gay because he doesn't talk about his personal life and has no kids and teachers are gossip junkies

he only makes administrators who come in and have no idea how schools actually run use his Dr. title, everyone else can call him Mr.

He gets stuck with teaching health so he treats the human body and all that it does like its alien and the kids go nuts for it

all tests are open book because he firmly believes in utilizing resources

[almondcroissantsandink]

I've seen this with Stratt and Grace but not Grace and Rocky lol

[diphowell]

the future is clear

[rbtlvr]

the whole trip back to erid rocky can hear grace's heartbeat and then suddenly he's required to go down to erid to discuss really important things like the taumoeba and grace biodome which are important and he and grace agree they're important and that he needs to go and they'll both be okay and neither of them will die if the other one can't see/hear them for five seconds

and then the second rocky can't hear grace's heartbeat anymore he has twelve consecutive panic attacks

[avoid-avoidance]

Maybe the way it plays out is like this:

The Eridians figure out how to safely dock the Hail Mary to the top of the space elevator structure. A greeting party of Eridians gathers to welcome Rocky back. Introductions to Grace are made (if this is a version of the story where Grace is in a state to introduce himself, health-wise). The Eridians escort Rocky further in and down, leaving Grace safe in the Hail Mary for the time being.

At the exact point where Grace's heartbeat starts to peter out of Rocky's constant spatial awareness, Rocky just. Stops walking. Completely stops dead in the middle of a hallway with no warning. The other Eridians keep going for a step or two before realizing he's stopped and also stopping, confused. They ask him what's wrong. He doesn't answer.

From the instant that the outer hull of the Hail Mary came between Rocky and Grace, Rocky has been fighting the impulse to sprint back into the ship and double-triple-quadruple-quintuple-check that Grace is still okay. That impulse has been growing stronger and stronger with every step he takes, until this moment, when one more step will carry Rocky out of the range where he can keep tabs on Grace without even consciously thinking about it. It feels like Rocky physically can't move his legs. What's happening to him? Is he going to sleep, and that's why he can't move? He can't be -- he just woke from sleep barely 1.5 Earth days ago.

Adrian steps toward Rocky with a croon of concern. Their carapace tilts away, in the direction the group had been headed. Aren't you coming?

Old instincts kick in and Rocky automatically moves toward his mate, one step, two steps, three--

Grace's heartbeat is gone.

And Rocky breaks.

[stixy]

Bro is cooking

[hailed-marys]

how to get out of your own way

[nebulations]

[ID: A Project Hail Mary comic. (Edit: OP kindly added this ID to the og post, so please go reblog from there instead!!) Grace is frowning as he works on a report, and Carl asks from offscreen, "Have you ever thought about getting out of your own way?" Grace, confused: "Huh?" Carl, unimpressed: "You're smart, man, but you cut yourself off halfway through all your sentences. Why?"

Grace hunches in and says, "Guess I was bullied a lot growing up, haha-" Carl cuts in. "So was I." Grace: "What? Really?" Carl pops Skittles in his mouth as he replies, "I grew up fat and black, I got my fair share of shit. Sure, it got to me, but I came around to the idea that those teenage dipshits were wrong about me. What's your excuse, man?"

Grace says uncomfortably, "I never- Uh. I, well-" Carl looks very unimpressed and says, "See? You're doing it again. Say what you mean to say." Grace slumps. "I guess I never thought about it that way." Carl: "Yeah. I know. That's why I said it. Get out of your own damn way."

We see the first panel in color: Grace floating outside the Hail Mary, surrounded by the red glow of Astrophage, as Carl says, "And once you do that? Hoo, man. You'll be unstoppable."

Back to black and white, Grace smiles emotionally and says, "Thanks, Carl." Carl stands up to leave and points at his paper. "Remember, Stratt wants that report by end of day." Grace hunches again and scowls, "Thank you, Carl." End ID]

[mintsky420]

these miis are driving me nuts

[ntrlily]

big fan of when cute boys are harmed physically and/or psychologically

[verenakauer]

"Grace refuses to add the swears to the vocabulary" WRONG! Rocky refuses to add the swears to the vocabulary. Grace (book!Grace, at least) is in his thirties. It's like a four-year-old baby by the Eridian standards. Rocky is not teaching the baby the swears, it would be so irresponsible!!

Also, it's so funny to think about how this conversation went. I'm not sure what mental image I love more: a) Rocky stopping in the middle of the rant to explain what he is saying so that Grace can add it to the dictionary or b) Rocky interrogating Grace on the Earth insults beforehand so that he can go on his rant uninterrupted. In any case — oh, to be a fly on that wall. I love them.

[teashadephoenix]

eridians don't have a long history of sea and space travel, so they don't have the affinity for naming their vessels that humans do.

except rocky, who has watched and read every single piece of media grace has with him on the hail mary over the four year trip to erid, decides to start naming stuff when they get back

and the other eridians are like ???? "he was lost in space for 50 years, let him do it, it makes him happy"

i also kinda like the idea of him being like "retroactively my ship was called [eridian name of a mythical hero who was gone for a reallllly long timer but came home eventually]" and grace is like "yeah The Odysseus is a way better name than blip-a"

[thisbibliomaniac]

Gatekeeping is so good and important

[msburgundy]

[kirkendauhl-v2]

What's she saying in the photo

[thisbibliomaniac]

[helpmepleaseicantfindaname]

[fiollaigean]

[zipstick]

eridian children probably start out really small because they hatch from eggs. imagine being ryland grace and walking into a room full of tiny rocks and they all love you because you are their favourite teacher

[tinymintywolf]

some long overdue phm fanart bc i wanted to make a new print for future cons! 🌎💫

[garaks-sewing-gun]

it’s so embarrassing to watch tos for the first time and be like, whoa !! 👀spock and kirk❓is anyone else kinda getting 😏some vibes 😳 as if they aren’t the founding fathers. as if they didn’t build the yaoi dimension with their bare hands. as if the current cathedrals we call home aren’t predicated upon their humble shadow puppets on the walls of plato’s fucking cave, and as if our ancestors were fools to fall for those puppets instead of geniuses, innovators, and prophets ????

[aphrostiel]

he looked so cool while directing

[aphrostiel]

data 🟡 _ 🟡 😼

[laterkiss]

i have [gestures vaguely] my tendencies