if I feel like absolutely torturing rocky then I sometimes like to imagine a scenario on erid where a few months into The Scurvy Era grace sits him down like "hey pal. there's a chance that the scientists here won't figure out how to meet my nutritional needs any time soon. I would love it if they can! but it might not happen. and I don't want to die very slowly and painfully of starvation. now listen to me. ideally I don't want to die at all. but more than that. I do not want to die. of starvation. I don't need anything from you to help with this, I can address it on my own, but if this becomes a real problem then I am going to solve it. Do You Understand What I Am Saying Right Now." and rocky isn't even allowed to immediately become evil about it.
I imagine that at this point they've had The conversation about how grace got on the ship in the first place and rocky is aware that his friend has some significant issues about having his personal autonomy overruled, so in the moment he just says "hnnnnnn. Iwouldbesadifthathappened but. I can see why you would. feel that way." then as soon as he's out of range he physically attacks the first person nearest to him.
what goes through rocky's head for the following day: absolutely not. absolutely fucking not. I cannot let you die. I don't care what I have to do, I'll threaten biologists, I'll read all the human medical texts eighteen times, I'll break into your living space while you sleep and take anything that I think could be used as a lethal weapon, I don't care, I'll pay for the consequences after you're safe. and I'll do it all without telling you, because I know you need to feel like I'm not taking the choice away from you in order to feel safe. I won't physically stop you, you'll feel like it's up to you, but if I take too long to fix this and make you think that's the only decision you can make then it will actually be my fault.
what somehow manages to vibrate out of his carapace next time he sees grace: "don't need anything from you to help with this" no, stupid. grace clumsy and tired from medical problems, would make errors and do it wrong. rocky much better at working with hands, is my job to fix problems. tell me when time and I Do It For You.
Chapters: 8/?
Fandom: Project Hail Mary (2026), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ryland Grace & Rocky, Adrian/Rocky (Project Hail Mary)
Characters: Rocky (Project Hail Mary), Ryland Grace, Adrian (Project Hail Mary)
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Ryland Grace Is Not Graceful, Ryland Grace & Rocky are Best Friends, Ryland Grace is a Leaky Space Blob, Arrival at Erid (Project Hail Mary), Eridian Culture & Customs (Project Hail Mary), Eridians Love Ryland Grace
Summary:
Grace is dying of all the deficiencies. Rocky is severely traumatized and trying to keep Grace alive and Adrian just had their long lost mate return with their salvation.
[ID: A Project Hail Mary comic. Grace and Stratt stand on the deck of a ship together, backed by blue sky and ocean, and Grace says, "I've been having this weird, reoccurring dream. I'm sitting on a beach I've never been to, letting the tide come in. Then, in the distance, I see a person. It's me, but older, I think. I don't say anything, and he sits down next to me." As he narrates, we see the scene as described; Grace is on the shore of the biodome at sunset, and his older self is wearing a fox cardigan and earrings. "He says: 'It's all gonna be okay.'"
We cut to Grace in his dark room aboard the ship, hand over his face. "And then I wake up." Stratt asks, "Do you believe in signs, Dr. Grace?" and Grace replies, "Only the ones on roads." Stratt: "Then you have nothing to worry about." End ID]
Edit: OP kindly added this ID to the og post, so please go reblog from there instead!!
What drives me crazy about this is that in all three situations, the beach isn’t real:
* The first time, Grace is in a dream.
* The second time, he's in the Don’t Go Crazy room, and he recognizes it, but still doesn’t know what it means.
* And the third time, he’s on that beach, but it's just a facsimile in a biodome.
None of it is real.
But even though the beach is never a real beach, all the fake beaches exist because someone cared enough to make them.
* The first time, the one showing him the beach is himself, reassuring him that whatever happens, he’ll turn out okay.
* The second time, the beach is a projection put there by engineers for comfort and sanity, and Grace use those same screens to show Rocky Earth.
* And the third time, the beach was made by the Eridians, who were doing their best and got enough right for Grace to enjoy.
The beach is fake but the sentiment and love behind it is real. Every time.
"You're never looking at the same beach." What if you were, and it meant something different each time.
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Project Hail Mary (2026)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ryland Grace & Rocky, Adrian/Rocky (Project Hail Mary)
Characters: Ryland Grace, Original Eridian Characters (Project Hail Mary), Rocky (Project Hail Mary)
Additional Tags: Ryland Grace & Rocky are Best Friends, POV Ryland Grace, Touch-Starved Ryland Grace, Eridians Love Ryland Grace, Eridian Culture & Customs (Project Hail Mary), Eridian Children Are Called "Pebbles" (Project Hail Mary), Planet Erid (Project Hail Mary), Arrival at Erid (Project Hail Mary), Ryland Grace Loves Rocky, Misunderstandings
Summary:
Grace has to handle First Contact with an alien planet with what meager Eridian his one set of vocal chords can make.
This Is Fine. This is totally, completely, utterly fine.
(Grace sounds like a pebble. This, alongside Eridian's extended lifespans, kicks off a chain of misunderstandings that Grace would find utterly mortifying if he knew what the heck was going on.)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 7/?
Fandom: Project Hail Mary (2026), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ryland Grace & Rocky, Adrian/Rocky (Project Hail Mary)
Characters: Rocky (Project Hail Mary), Ryland Grace, Adrian (Project Hail Mary)
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Ryland Grace Is Not Graceful, Ryland Grace & Rocky are Best Friends, Ryland Grace is a Leaky Space Blob, Arrival at Erid (Project Hail Mary), Eridian Culture & Customs (Project Hail Mary), Eridians Love Ryland Grace
Summary:
Grace is dying of all the deficiencies. Rocky is severely traumatized and trying to keep Grace alive and Adrian just had their long lost mate return with their salvation.
He's breathing slightly too hard, nails sinking into his clenched hands.
There's a shuddering to him, like a man staring down a barrel of a gun.
Not inaccurate, given their circumstances.
"I-I need you to coma me early."
He's shaking, from fear this time. This Ryland Grace is more the one she has come to know. Still wrong and distorted but closer.
She raises an eyebrow at him, "Why?"
"Cause, cause, I'll change my mind if you don't."
He straightens up, fear mixing with determination in his eyes.
His hands shake.
He drops his gaze from hers to the floor, "Please, Eva."
She can, she has the resources and the time to induce his coma early, had prepped for it in case of his refusal. She has no real reason to refuse him.
Something in her wants to.
Something in her wants him to stay, both so she can tear apart the mystery of whoever this new Grace is and, selfishly, so he stays for a bit longer.
Eva's wants are inconsequential. The world is all that matters.
She nods.
She pushes herself out of her chair and gestures to him.
"Follow me."
He startles, like a spooked deer.
"o-ok."
He looks even more nervous as they walk through the halls of the complex.
Eva sighs, then loops her arm through his.
They walk, arm in arm to the medical room.
He babbles as they walk, "Um, C-can you make sure they double check the systems for the care during the comas?"
"Already done."
For being so intelligent, her-
Her-
She has no right to claim Ryland Grace.
She had no right before and certainly has none now.
She walks him to his death after all.
Perhaps this change is her miracle.
That God had taken mercy and given her this one comfort.
That Grace and her would walk to his death arm in arm, that he would go willingly, lay his head upon the altar, angry and scared but walking beside her. Rather than kicking and screaming, forcing her to bloody her hands one more time, making it harder than it has to be, harder than it already was.
Her sacrificial lamb, her science officer, her second.
They walk in and Grace sits on one of the chairs, still shaking.
"D-Does it have to be a needle? I don't-", he swallows, "do well with needles".
His hand rubs the back of his neck.
It does, unfortunately, and she tells him that.
He just nods as the doctor walks into the room.
He stiffens.
He's shaking in full force, eyes darting to the windows, cataloging exit points.
No. They cannot have him run.
She sits beside him, entwining their arms, holding his hand. A restraint, but also a comfort.
He startles, both from her actions and from the doctor starting to wipe down his arm.
She hesitates, then quietly, starts to sing to him.
Sign of the Times.
From that night.
Before the explosion, before Grace was doomed to die.
The crew had been happy. And she had been alone.
Grace had sought her out, as he always did.
One show of humanity, one moment to grieve, one goodbye.
He's crying, now.
"Just stop your crying, it's a sign of the times.."
A makeshift funeral dirge.
A lullaby for a bleating lamb.
The world blurs out, tunneling down to just Grace.
He lets out one desperate, choked sob as the needle enters his arm.
He starts to slump and she catches him.
He grasps at her, desperate.
She returns it.
He's still awake and aware and will be for a few more seconds.
"You will be a hero. I will ensure it."
"Thank you. Thank you."
She says, both to him and the ceiling.
He goes boneless in her arms, fully sedated.
She stumbles through a prayer, both for his and the crew safety and to God for giving her this.
She passes his body to the doctor, as the process to prepare him starts beyond the doors of this room.
"Ensure I am not disturbed. And never speak of this."
She commands.
The doctor nods, then carries the body of Ryland Grace away.
(This is a snippet of something I needed to get out of my brain.)
There is something wrong with Dr. Grace.
Stratt doesn't know exactly when it happened.
She theorizes it was in the moment after the explosion, in the moment she ran to see what happened. This only spanned a few minutes, and she only didn't have eyes on him for that time-frame.
He had frozen. She had run ahead to see what had happened.
There was something in his eyes. Something alien.
She cannot define what it was, what emotion, what thought it was, which frustrates her.
He had been acting strange ever since.
Oddly distant, looking at the world around him like he hadn't seen it in years, but walking almost in step with her regardless. He wasn't surprised by the quartermaster's mistake, didn't even seem horrified as she expected.
Shock, potentially.
Witnessing a explosion that killed multiple people, people you had worked with for a time would be traumatizing but something about it didn't sit right.
Something about the Ryland Grace in front of her is wrong.
He's sitting across from her, body wound with tension before she even speaks. His eyes drag along the others in the room, quickly looking away from Carl. Carl flinches, barely noticeable. He shifts his gaze back to her.
He looks angry. Trying to hide it and failing.
This man is closer to the Ryland Grace who got himself all but barred from academia by insulting someone he shouldn't have, than the one she has come to know. He lacks the youth and the bull-headed stubbornness of that reckless man, but the rage in his eyes matches.
"So, what's your solution?"
He asks. Monotone and almost knowing.
His eyes are sharp. A blade pressed against her neck.
She is silent for a moment.
"You are."
He draws a shaky breath in, the noise rattling oddly. His hands are gripping the armrests of his chair, knuckles white. Not fear. She had expected fear.
(Ryland Grace was a coward after all. )
But rage. Rage was new.
He stares down at the table, eyes tracing the grain of the wood. He runs his hand down the side of his arm in a odd motion, tracing in a odd pattern. He hums, a low drawn out thing.
Self-soothing perhaps?
She had prepared for this possibility, that Grace would need to replace one of the crew. She had prepped for his agreement, she had prepped for his refusal. There was a security team on call, a doctor waiting. Dr. Ryland Grace would be on the Hail Mary, no matter what.
One man vs. billions. Simple math.
He stands slowly, pushing his chair back form the table. His gaze is piercing as he stares into her, past her. He walks to the window, gazing up at the sky. His hands are shaking.
"Fine."
A flicker of surprise rises in her that she stamps down.
"Is that a agreement to board the Hail Mary? You agree to replace our lost science officers and all that entails?", she asks. She needs official, clear agreement.
"Yes.", he glares at her.
The others in the room leave, to start work on salvaging this utter disaster, so they can launch on schedule. Which leaves her alone, apart from Carl, with this stranger in Grace's skin. She had known him. Having access to functionally all public and private data about a man gives you a very good sense of who he is in private, in public, who he respects, and how he reacts to situations. She had also lived with him for a decent amount of time in relatively close conditions, as had everyone.
It was part of why this would be so damaging. Beyond the obvious loss of personnel, morale was difficult thing to balance with a project like this and this would crater it.
But she had known him. She though she had enough to be able to predict him, as she did before. Grace's anger was always explosive. It had ruined his career after all.
He was not a man that was silent in it.
His fingers were pressed against the window.
"What more do you want from me, Eva?"
Tired. Angry. Bitter.
"You have been very opposed to the idea of going on this mission. You have stated multiple times you cannot or would not do it. Why agree now? What are your reasons?"
She needs to know. She had had Ryland Grace mapped out, he had made moves she knew he would make before he did, he had been predictable. A stable constant in the sea of variables she contended with. A brilliant man, but a coward. Personable but isolated, with no major family or pets. No ties.
She knew Ryland Grace.
She did not know the man in front of her now.
He turns to face her. Something spins behind his eyes, calculating. He is blank, distant, caught up in whatever process runs in his skull.
Then it snaps back into place.
His eyes are burning, tears starting to roll down his cheeks.
"Is it so hard to believe that I realized that I've ruined my own life?!"
He yells.
"I was laughed out of academia, then barred because I couldn't handle it, got myself wrapped up with you", he spits at her, " to the point everyone thinks I'm your second-in-command."
He laughs, bitter and wild.
He tilts his head to the side, never breaking eye contact, "And we both know your head is going on the chopping block as soon as this is done. And I'm your second."
"I might as well die a hero rather than a coward who'll spend the rest of his life in cell. Beside you. Even if I don't, I'll starve with the rest."
He gestures wildly to the window.
"I'm screwed either way!"
He is a few inches from her face now.
"I won't be a coward. If my life is nothing either way, might was well die fighting."
They hold eye contact for few unbroken seconds.
He drops his voice to a whisper, "Don't act like you would really give me a choice."
He starts walking towards the door.
He stops at the doorway,
"Oh. Stratt? Do me a favor and put a hydroponic garden for edible plants and a life supply of nutrient powder on the ship, please. Consider it my last request."
"And I'd like whatever the quickest and least painful option is if you're letting me pick how I die."
She nods.
She watches his back as he leaves.
There is something deeply wrong with Ryland Grace.
Chapters: 6/?
Fandom: Project Hail Mary (2026), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ryland Grace & Rocky, Adrian/Rocky (Project Hail Mary)
Characters: Rocky (Project Hail Mary), Ryland Grace, Adrian (Project Hail Mary)
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Ryland Grace Is Not Graceful, Ryland Grace & Rocky are Best Friends, Ryland Grace is a Leaky Space Blob, Arrival at Erid (Project Hail Mary), Eridian Culture & Customs (Project Hail Mary), Eridians Love Ryland Grace
Summary:
Grace is dying of all the deficiencies. Rocky is severely traumatized and trying to keep Grace alive and Adrian just had their long lost mate return with their salvation.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Project Hail Mary (2026)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Adrian/Rocky (Project Hail Mary), Ryland Grace & Rocky
Characters: Ryland Grace, Rocky (Project Hail Mary), Adrian (Project Hail Mary), Original Eridian Characters (Project Hail Mary)
Additional Tags: Protective Rocky (Project Hail Mary), Ryland Grace & Rocky are Best Friends, Ryland Grace and Rocky are Platonic Soulmates, Minor Violence, Minor Injuries
Summary:
There's a sound of movement from the the tunnels then Rocky-brilliant, amazing, best engineer on Erid, best friend in the entire universe-Rocky is barreling into the intruder with enough force to crater the ground where they land.
(Someone breaks into Grace's dome. This goes about as well as you would expect it to.)
Chapters: 4/?
Fandom: Project Hail Mary (2026), Iron Lung (2026)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung) & Ryland Grace, The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung) & Ryland Grace & Rocky, Ryland Grace & Rocky, The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace
Additional Tags: Ryland Grace & Rocky are Best Friends, The Convict | Simon Lives (Iron Lung), The Convict | Simon Needs a Hug (Iron Lung), Touch-Starved The Convict | Simon (Iron Lung)
Summary:
Grace forgets that most humans don't speak in a mish-mash of English and Eridian and Simon has a slightly different misunderstanding than the main one I've seen.
What do we think about body modifications for eridians? The scarification/ tattoos and mate stones are already canon, but what about like..
inlays in the tattoos? Ones with interesting textures / resonances, sorta like the Japanese pottery technique of filling cracks with gold (blanked on the name of it)
or embedding various stone in their carapaces like earrings or other piercings for humans?
or having crystals growing on them, or like what would the be the equivalent of rust or other surface changes?
