Grace notices the way Adrian treats him differently than Rocky. Like, differently from the way Rocky treats him, but also differently from the way they treat Rocky. Differently from the way they treat any other Eridian, really. They change their voice to speak in soothing tones; gently excited and encouraging at times, or patiently correcting, or something so soft and fond it makes him ache for something he cannot name.
It isn't until he overhears a cluster of new parents talking to their pebbles that it clicks. Adrian speaks to him like a child -- not in the talking-down-to-him or patronizing way (at least. not very often.) -- but like he is something precious and fragile, that needs teaching and is worth protecting.
Rocky will fight anyone if he thinks Grace is in danger or being disrespected. He makes sure the world is safe. But Adrian is the one making sure Grace feels safe.
Eridians have a full name that they introduce themselves with and use formally, and it’s very long because it includes details like their occupation, role in society, and their lineage. And, once Grace is on Erid, it’s decided by Rocky and the Eridian officials that Grace needs a full Eridian name, because it’s odd to just call him Grace in certain situations. It is easy to figure out part of his new full name, adding in teacher and savior of the stars, but the lineage bit is a little tricky. Grace was never particularly close to his parents so that doesn’t feel right, and he doesn’t feel like attempting to translate their names into Eridian. In the end, for that section, he just adopts parts of Rocky’s and Adrian’s names because that’s really his new family.
On his first excursion out of his biodome and through Erid (because of course they made him his own xenonite suit) with Rocky and Adrian, they get approached by many other Eridians who have heard of Grace. They coo some and praise the human, and add a congratulations to Rocky and Adrian at the end. It takes this happening a few times before Grace picks out the Eridian word for baby or child in the congratulations, and he’s ECSTATIC, making the assumption that his friends must be having a baby. Of course, he has some questions like “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” and “Why does everyone know but me?” and “When will they be here?” and “Actually, how do Eridians reproduce?”. During his barrage of questions, Rocky and Adrian are speaking to each other in low tones, trying to figure out the best way to tell Grace that the name he uses for introductions and official matters translates to Grace, Child of Rocky and Adrian, Teacher and Savior of the Stars.
The other Eridians figure that thirty Earth years and then some is awfully young to tragically no longer have parents, and it’s very kind of Rocky and Adrian to take in a child of an alien species and raise it as their own. Especially since Earthlings don’t seem to take good care of their young, sending them into space.
imagine you're literally the personification of humanity and learning and discovery and teaching and knowledge and life itself
and in your weakest state, trying to help save the earth and all of her life, the life that literally brought you into existence, that life turns on you. that you only really remember who you are while running away, memories and Knowledge leaking back into your human body
imagine fighting so desperately and the humans you were just working with to save the world pin you down and try to force you onto a ship
and they don't understand why you're fighting so desperately. they can't fathom why you're screaming and wailing, terrified at the thought of being forced away from everything that makes you up and everything that gives you meaning, farther than you've ever been before. they don't understand that in this weakened state, you can't make it back to them, you can't get back to earth, not without somehow regaining strength
and you fight so hard and in the end it means nothing because the humans swarm you, jabbing needle after needle into your flesh, the flesh you're trapped within, until finally your eyes close
the humans you love and watch over are unknowingly killing a god to try and save themselves, and they have no idea
Grace finds a phone tucked in a random maintenance hatch a couple years into the Erid trip and starts laughing so hard he's crying because the pictures and videos folder is full of Vat shenanigans.
--
Shapiro drowning in Dubois’ EVA suit. Dubois with Shapiro's suit taped to him and her helmet balanced on top of his head
Grace looking at the camera confused while the core time circle around him like the one girl surrounded by five guys meme
Stratt reclined on a couch looking demure with a coffee mug and using Grace's legs as a lap board for her tablet. Grace is dead asleep, obviously snoring with his mouth wide open and covered in reports. His glasses are on Stratt's head.
Carl walking by the camera with Grace thrown over his shoulder. Grace is visibly pleased and yapping.
Illyukhina walking by the camera with Grace thrown over her shoulder. Grace looks vaguely ill.
Yao passionately doing karaoke with each of the core staff members.
Lamai asleep on a prototype coma bed.
Steve Hatch maternity shoot with the Beatles.
Grace and Dimtri using a centrifuge to make butter.
Grace and Dimitri getting yelled at by Lokken for using a centrifuge to make butter.
Dubois carrying Grace and Shapiro under each arm to the cafeteria. They all are talking like this is a normal occurrence.
Yao hanging upside down from a simulator that glitched with a straight face while Illyukhina is crying laughing on the floor below him.
Compilation video of the world's greatest minds dropping tools, tripping, and running into the glass walls.
Videos of the astronauts defeatedly drifting away from the mock ship in the buoyancy tank after losing their grip. The others are dramatically reaching out for them.
Redell teaching the Russians about New Zealand bombing dives in the training pools.
Shapiro, in formal wear, standing next to a slideshow titled “How I Cloned and Replaced the World Leaders”
Dubois - “My Alien Seduction Tactics"
Grace - “Middle Schooler vs Scientist”
Dimitri - “Using the Incorrect Equipment for Correct Results"
Hatch - “Yoko Ono: First Contact?”
Lamai - “How Not to Use a Coma Robot”
Lokken - “Grace is an Idiot”
Leclerc - “The Ice Age and You”
Stratt - “Things I DO NOT Have Time For”
Carl - “Securing a Home Depot for Idiots”
Yao - “Worst Times to Make a Joke”
Illyukhina - "Benefits of Vodka in Space”
Reddell - “What I Did in 1989”
Illyukhina passed out on top of Dmitri (also passed out) surrounded by a minefield of bottles none of which are for alcohol.
Leclerc looking upset and holding a penguin plushy.
Horrible mishmash of memes from all over the world plus some homemade memes of various quality.
Imagine Grace defined his name as the elegance definition of grace and Rocky spends years thinking how fucking ironic this clumsy leaky space blobs name is.
Until Grace slips out a sentence along the lines of "could you give me a little grace here" and Rocky immediately points out he used a word wrong so Grace has to explain that yeah, grace means elegance but it can also mean mercy sometimes too.
And Rocky has to suddenly reconcile that the clumsy leaky blob that saved his life twice, that almost certainly doomed himself to come back for him, name is Mercy.
I find it so funny that people are shocked and freaking out that Mark knows about the bloodymary ship as if he wasn't saying shit like this on this very site back in 2015
This came to me in a vision and I simply must share it immediately.
Eva Stratt doesn't go to jail for the things she did during the creation of the Hail Mary. She doesn't go to jail because she forced Ryland Grace aboard the ship against his will. No, she can't. She has diplomatic immunity concerning anything to do with the project.
What she goes to jail for, is releasing Ryland Grace's full video logs to the public after the World Government Leaders decide to try to edit and bury them.
She lets them put handcuffs on her, lets them carry her off to spend the rest of her life behind bars because she refuses to let the memory of Ryland Grace, the man who saved Earth (and Erid) be tainted. She's a historian, and this is her way of making sure the man she betrayed gets his story put into record properly.
It's the least she can do for him, after all she forced him to do.
Big fan of Adrian being just as overprotective about Grace as Rocky is.
Rocky brings home this squishy, pathetic, severely malnourished little thing and Adrian has decided that Grace is hers, now, too. She makes sure he's well fed. She makes sure he's comfortable. She makes sure the biodome is perfect at all times.
Sometimes she'll send Rocky in there to make sure all is well with their little guy, but also because she adores watching her mate have a little playdate with his alien best friend.
here's the thing. i've started drawing this parody a year ago, but didn't even manage to finish the sketch. then i redrew it two times, still no luck. but now i have fucking finally finished this, and this is probably the biggest piece i've ever made.
some parts of it are not drawn properly because i've been drawing this for 17 days and frankly i grew kinda tired of drawing it 🥀
I think that in the first meeting between Grace and Simon, Grace should be allowed to bite and fight dirty.
I know that Simon would win a fight against Grace, they are made different and all that. However, it seems that when they meet Simon always goes ready to kill (which is justificable given his past), and Grace just there been like "Hello I'm Ryland Grace..." and PUM! Simon is over him ready to suffocate him and Grace is like fighting to breath, but never hurting Simon, just struggling against him, and the fight ends usually by: 1) Simon is able to heard reasons and gives Grace a chance but is very suspicious of him, 2) he just passes out, because pain and exhaustation would do that to your body, or 3) (and the funniest one to me) Rocky appears (like the saviour he is) and knocks Simon out.
I would want to introduce the idea of Grace fighting back.
Grace may seem like a stable person at first in comparison to his companions; an alien who had live in solitude so long that has separation issues, and Simon who is his whole case of study with mentions of cults, facing god and been a child soldier. However, Grace is an anxiety bomb, who has a bad history with people, I think that if Simon just jumps over him, Grace would fight like a mad man.
It doesn't matter which Grace you know or like the most (personally my mind have just make an amalgam of the book and the movie) he would have the motivation to fight; Book!Grace, who was drug in the spot and sent to a cell to wait to be sent to die would fight now that he can, because he knows what kind of stuff happens if he doesn't react fast enough; Movie!Grace is a person who panics, but after a moment of shock he reacts as we saw in the movie doing his best attempt to dodge guards and ran as fast as he could. Besides, Grace wants to live, that is the origin of his determination to get through things, so if he thinks that Simon is going to kill him he would fight.
Of course, he can't win, and he knows he can't win, but he would try, bitting and scratching, kicking and squirming. Let him play dirty; If Simon's amputation is fresh, let Grace prick the exposed nerve; if Simon has raw, sensible skin from the mutation, let Grace scratch there; If Simon is close enough, let Grace poke his eyes.
He can ask for forgiveness later, when he is back to be Grace, right now he is just a scare man who wants to survive.
Simon and Rocky slowly discovering that Grace's ex girlfriend was actually horrendously abusive, violent, and awful...
"Now she's with Mark," Grace had joked. And Rocky had played along with, "Rocky hate Mark." But as time goes on, the two of them slowly begin to realize that maybe this girl was far worse than they'd initially realized.
At first, it starts with Grace blaming himself for things.
"She said I had my head in the clouds and she was right."
"She hated the way I did things and, honestly, I get that. I was a mess."
"She thought I wasn't good enough. I really wasn't. I was a bad boyfriend." And he laughs at that.
"She couldn't stand me sometimes. I can't blame her, you know?"
But then sometimes, especially with Simon onboard now, Grace seems to get spooked, or scared, or stuck in the past.
Simon will raise his hand too high too quickly and Grace will jerk back with a shaky little self-deprecating giggle. Simon will disagree with Grace on something and Grace will shut down, apologizing fast and turning away as if slapped. Simon will yell at an inanimate object and Grace will go very, very still.
Over time, the more they hear about this ex girlfriend, the more they realize she must have hurt him.
When Grace flinches away from Simon's hands, he'll tack on, "Dang, I thought you were going to swing at me! Wouldn't be the first time!"
When Grace startles at Simon's anger, he jokes, "Don't get so mad you throw something at me! It'll suck to have to dodge in zero gravity!"
When Grace gets into an argument or disagreement, his eyes will well with tears as he'll croak out around a smile, "It's my fault. I shouldn't have said that. That's on me. Really. It's my fault. I'm--" and he'll stop himself as his gaze goes distant.
Eventually, Simon will hear it from his own mouth. "She'd, uh, get really mad. Sometimes. It's fine. I'd get mad at me, too." But it's like prying teeth to hear the confession. "And sometimes she'd throw things at me. You know, pots and pans, books, remotes...maybe a hand or two."
Simon and Rocky had been treating him gently, had been careful about their disagreements or arguments. But, now, Simon is extra careful. He keeps his hand(s) where Grace can see them. He tries his damnest not to scream around Grace or, worse, at Grace.
And now Rocky doesn't just hate Mark.
He fucking detests this girl, too, and so does Simon.
If this is your thing, this'll be explored in future chapters of my fic, We Three Amongst the Stars as well as other fics / oneshots I write, too! Stay tuned!
just watched an interview with james ortiz (rocky’s puppeteer) where he’s like “they were torturing ryan gosling for this movie. it was killing him. he was developing isolation sickness in real life from being the only actor on set for 6 months. i needed to be there for him even when rocky wasn’t in frame to serve as his guiding light and the sole thread tethering him to the concept of love. i was kneeling at the altar” and what
and then in ryan goslings interviews he’s like “i was struggling in the depths of hell. until a beautiful puppeteer angel lifted me up out of the darkness and saved me so completely and understood the character so well we had to make him play the role for real”
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