rocky finding out about Rare leaking events because grace gets a nose bleed and then he's like i didn't know That was supposed to come out of There and grace says well it's not really Supposed to but sometimes it does. and rocky's like. where does it end. when does it ever stop. the fluids can just come out of anywhere???? any hole????? and grace explains well not any hole and also you can sort of tell how bad things are by the color sometimes??? which is horrifying because rocky can't SEE color. and then every time they're getting freaky with it and grace has an orgasm rocky has to stop and check the viscosity by vibrating it between his fingers and be like what color is it. be specific. is it red. is it green question. and grace is like. this is the worst pillow talk in the whole entire universe and i can actually say that as a qualified expert. and rocky says expert. be serious. two humans an one eridian does not make you an expert. so grace just has to be like. my semen is white.
So choked by my grief for Eva Stratt and having had my entire view of the ending recontextualised by the inherent tone of the last chapter in the book, I can't help but not think of it as a completely happy ending.
The last chapter, numbered in base-six Eridian numerals that Grace instinctively thinks in now, is inherently bittersweet. It's sweet because Ryland loves Rocky, this much is blatantly obvious, this much is a truth of him as a person, but I couldn't see him being incandescently happy on Erid as I came to expect from fandom context.
It's bitter because, well. He just seemed content more than anything. Begrudgingly so. (But I try to stay positive. What else have I got?) It doesn't help that the last conversation in the book between Grace and Rocky (Hey! You're leaking. I haven't seen that in a long-ass time.*) being about how Sol is saved, and if he wants, he can absolutely go home.
And he doesn't want to.
Record scratch! I wish that was true. No, it's not that simple, actually. If it was as cut and dry as that, then I wouldn't have this rotting taste in my mouth; because yeah, he doesn't want to leave Rocky, and Rocky (Speaking from a selfish perspective, I hope you stay. But that's just me.) obviously doesn't want him to leave; but Grace doesn't leave, primarily, because he's too old. Fifty-three. He doesn't think he can brave the loneliness of a four-year journey at his age. He also thinks there's not really people for him to go back to. (It's a long, lonely journey---Erid may not be where I'm from, but at least I have friends here.)
Also, it's important to note that one of Grace's primary character traits was his overwhelming love for Earth. (I hold my head up high. Maybe I will go home someday.)
*all of that being said, this quote does have great things to say about Grace's life on Erid thus far. I haven't seen you cry in a long-ass time.
Now Launching: The Augustellar Official Prompt List of 8/1-8/31!
Drumroll please...
We're so excited to share our official calendar for 31 Days of Augustellar, and we thank everyone who submitted prompts! Choosing only 31 was a difficult task, but we hope the final collection inspires some great ideas for our upcoming event. The above image is a condensed version of the prompts that were chosen; all prompts will be listed in their originally submitted format below the cut, AND for each daily prompt post throughout August. Look under the cut for a full write-up!
Please Take Note!
Augustellar will be running from August 1st to August 31st. We're sharing the Official Prompt List now so that all participants have some time for ideas to percolate or to start one some basic artistic groundwork, but the goal of this event is to create art every day for 31 days. That means no blasting off early!
Keep an eye out for our upcoming posts about how Augustellar will work, our rules and guidelines, and the prize polls! Amaze amaze amaze!
8/1- Patchwork
8/2- Blip-A/Hail Mary Crew
Submitted by: @misplacedsp-ace
1. Grass (inspired by his last scene on Earth)
2. "You're murdering me!"
3. Book Rocky/Grace meet movie Rocky/Grace
4. The Blip-A crew
8/3- Newton's First Law: Inertia
Submitted by: Anon
law of inertia but specifically about stratt and grace! "an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion." some sort of symbolism of how she stays stuck on earth, stuck as the scapegoat, and how he is always on the next thing on erid, and is now a savior for their worlds.
8/4- Newton's Second Law: Force
8/5- Newton's Third Law: Reciprocal Action
8/6- Pale Blue Dot
Submitted by: Anon
Would love to see a prompt for earth's new climate/ice age before the beatles make it back, and how eva + the phm team post-launch lives! Are they renegade scientists aboard that ship in the arctic? Was Stratt condemned by all of earth for her role in the phm mission and forced to escape imprisonment, or did she continue the mission afterwards with gov't approval? what do all our cities look like during an ice age? just ice age earth and eva + co. trying to save humanity while grace + rocky are out saving the stars!
8/7- In a Galaxy Far, Far Away
8/8- To Boldly Go
Submitted by: @hellomynameisalias
how about a Star Trek AU? Could go many ways. Maybe eridians are part of the federation, and Rocky and Grace are a chief engineer and chief science officer aboard a starship. Or maybe the eridians are more like the klingon (or the borg? 👀) hostile to anything Federation........ until a landing party gets attacked and Grace has to rely on the help of an also-marooned enemy! Or maybe erid has just broken the lightspeed travel barrier, and a first contact entourage is sent down to interview the genuis engineer who invented their first warp drive...
8/9- Many Universes
Submitted by: Anon
1)favorite quote/bit from favorite tv show, but redone as phm fanart, 2)seconding the crossover prompt <3
8/10- First Contact
Submitted by: @blue-gears
First contact -> Grace in the lab, naming and discovering Astrophage biology, or any other character or OC first learning about Astrophage or the Petrova Problem, or stuff about the ArcLight probe :)
8/11- Culture Exchange
8/12- Cosmic Mythos
Submitted by: @nebulae-astros-official
Graeco roman mythology or pjo crossover!! Bc yk astronomical objects are usually named after greek/roman mythology figures and ryland grace, son of apollo will not get out of my head ALSO grace and Rocky Orpheus and Eurydice parallels AND adrian and Rocky odypen parallels
8/13- Homesick/Earthsick
Submitted by: @doodlesthedragon
Homesick
Downtime
The Crew's All Here
Touched Starved
8/14- Radiation Damage
Submitted by: @specialagentartemis
Prompt submission: radiation damage. (Grace gets a ‘sun’burn during a beach day on Erid? Fic about the Patrova taskforce attempting to find other ways to kill astrophage closer to home? The bittersweetness of the Hail Mary quilt fading in the dome’s “sun” over time? Rocky’s 46 Year Long Cosmic Horror Nightmare? yes)
8/15- Laser
Submitted by: @rocky-core
port.. prom.. pomt..
Thingy:
Grace is playing with a Lazer pointer as rocky is trying to catch it
8/16- Petrova
Submitted by: @starinthegarden
i love the petrova lines so much they’re so pretty… there’s also the petrova taskforce, irina petrova, the petrova frequency.. there’s a lot of things lolol
8/17- Xeno-Veterinarian
Submitted by: @fan-stuff-and-things
Grace's Eridian doctors are large animal veterinarians. There are some awkward adjustment periods.
8/18- Rainbow
Submitted by: @j-atticus
Prompt submission: rainbows!
Another: red string of fate
8/19- Extra-Spectral Colors
Submitted by: Anon
Grace describes something as magneta and rocky is confused as to why the light-to-texture device reads it as green. (Middle rough)
Cue Grace having to explain that magenta happens when the average wavelength of an item falls into the green section but the item itself actually reflects exclusively red and blue light so our brain interprets it as magenta instead of green.
Rocky baffled that the human brain just straight up invented a color that doesn't really exist.
Submitted by: @delyth88
Prompt suggestion: Grace has spent nearly a decade on the Hail Mary by the time he gets to Erid. Like him its survived far longer than was ever intended and is looking a bit worn around the edges.
How does he feel leaving the ship? Is it a relief, or does he miss it? Is he sad to go? Scared about leaving its safety even though it's cramped? Or is it falling apart when he gets to Erid and no longer a safe haven?
And what does Rocky think about all of this?
8/22- Recovery
Submitted by: Anon
i feel like not a lot of people talk about grace's starvation near the End of the trip to erid and I think that it should be more delved into with more impact such as the obvious more medical reasons such as unable to gain weight or muscle ect ect, but I would like to see more ED rep, especially because personally I head cannon grace as on the spectrum, and I, who is on the spectrum, suffer from mild arfid. so its something I'd like to see :D
Submitted by: Anon
i want more of grace gaining weight on erid! i want him recovering from starvation (and if you so choose, an eating disorder) and gaining weight and being happy!!
also! physical disabilities. maybe grace has to use a cane or a wheelchair or crutches or compression clothes. maybe rocky has chronic pain or joint issues or chronic fatigue. (we should make the rock disabled too)
8/23- Celestial Divinity
Submitted by: @volswaidkman
So i saw an au where Grace is just an angel sent down to earth to help humans save their universe and i liked it but i dont remember the og creator s uh....
Angel Grace AU as a prompt?
8/24- Humans/Eridians are Weird
Submitted by: @catboy-artist
Silly Eridians, Sleep, Humans are weird, Eridian wildlife, Scary aliens, Culture shock, Give Grace a reason to cry, The Blip A crew dying of radiation, Crossover?!, Lovingly parody a fanfic trope you like, Cat distribution system (yes even in space), Angels/Be Not Afraid, In-universe RPF about Grace, Draw something that gives you cuteness aggression
8/25- Thermodynamic Disequilibrium
Submitted by: Anon
prompt in honor of this heat wave. put that man in a 95° spaceship. let him cook
8/26- Astronomical Arts & Crafts
Submitted by: Anon
almost all of Grace's clothes are falling apart. he also needs a new hyperfixation. so he gets really really into fiber arts and makes so many clothes that the eridians get genuinely concerned.
8/27- Planetary Surface
Submitted by: Anon
prompt: surface of Adrian!!
8/28- Eridian Biome
Submitted by: Anon
Eridian biomes? I know they're under a ton of atmospheric pressure, but what about at different altitudes of the planet? Or how about Eridian civilization, like do they have villages or cities, what do their space elevators look like? Landscape prompt?
8/29- Eridian Exploration
Submitted by: @psychicdelusionblizzard
Prompt submission!
Grace leaving the biodome and exploring the dark surface of Erid, and the cities developed to operate in the pitch black. Now, Rocky's the one guiding a be-hamster-balled Grace through a foreign world.
8/30- Eridian Xenonite
Submitted by: @collisionofworldswrites
Grace's rock garden on erid! maybe he figured out eridian plants too lol, or made a patio umbrella out of xenonite XD
8/31- In Memoriam
Submitted by: @strangledbabyduck
another: monuments/fanart back on earth in memoriam of the PHM crew
so many great things about the “i’d let him do open heart surgery on me if he wanted” quote, but i love that it’s another case of grace displacing his wants onto the other person. so he doesn’t have to be rejected. does stratt want me to work on the project? do my friends want me at the party? does the scientific community want me at the conference? does rocky want to do surgery on me? mf do YOU want these things?? can you take ownership of your own desires…
speaking of grace and medical trauma, after watching 2 hours of central line placement videos for fanart reasons, i think it would be a really juicy hell scenario for him to deal with. grim posted before about how he'd likely have one of those for the coma, and since those are REALLY dangerous to rip out on your own we can assume armando removed it before he fully regained consciousness... but.... what if it was placed back after the adrian adventure near death experience.... or some other medical complication on the road to erid... or even ON erid, after they transfer the hail mary's robot nurse system on the ground to monitor grace's deteriorating health better. he should be so not normal about it. he should be SO not normal about it. something IN his body that gives anyone 24/7 access to him for liquids and antibiotics and anaesthetic delivered straight to his heart and it's just. there. available. can't rip it out without risking an embolism or bleeding to death. the corners are literally stitched into his skin. it should make his skin crawl
Whumping Ryland Grace is the greatest thing because you get to explore Grace's fear of dying and Rocky's trauma around watching his friends die, all at the same time!
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