Grace sends this off as a "fuck you" to Stratt and unintentionally eases 40+ years of crippling guilt.
(40+ factoring in the Hail Mary mission, then the time it would take to get back to Erid and the time it would take for the message to get to Earth. Probably closer to 50+ actually).
(I do think Stratt felt bad. She did a lot of terrible things to save the planet, and obviously felt guilt for sending Grace off. I imagine the time waiting to hear back from the Hail Mary was torture for everyone, but she essentially sent three people off to their deaths, one unwillingly. Hearing that Grace made it out alive would be a huge weight off her shoulders.)
I love a good HFY / Humans Are Space Orks post, and I think one element of Humans we’re sleeping on is an instinctual understanding of ballistics.
I mean, I get why it’s not as popular here on Tumblr dot com, given it’s kinda a jock/military adjacent thing, but like. Our ability to just. Pick up a small, firm object, judge its internal inertia and mass by holding it for a bit, and then flinging it with the kind of accuracy and speed Humans are capable of is.
Like there’s another post about how Humans in an alien zoo would probably be breaking out constantly, since we consider escape rooms to be a fun courtship ritual, but
imagine the aliens who are designing the enclosures just so happen to pick up, say, a devoted amateur baseball pitcher. Not even a legend by any means, just somebody who’s practiced with intention. And one day they’re watching her pass some time and blow off some steam by doing some pitching practice and they realize to their mounting horror that this gal can turn literally anything she can wrap her digits around into a ballistic weapon.
fun fact humans can throw as hard and fast as an adult chimp, as preteens. chimps can mop the floor with any given soldier in agility and destructive force, but their shoulders just aren't right for throwing things, so they can't use their strength effectively for propulsion. humans have funky shaped shoulder blades that let us retain the flexibility of a socket joint while also, at need, locking the arm into the core stability of a bipedal torso. good pitchers throw with their entire bodies, one fluid whip from thigh to hip to shoulder and out through the arm, maximum leverage, and all other primates just can't lock together right for that perfect twisting lash, and rely on the gravitational assistance of 'being up a tree' to hurl a projectile. humans get to briefly turn into their own trees.
Imagine that one day as you're walking on a hot sunny path, your hat jumps off your head and lands into a muddy ditch. And you look at your muddy hat and ask it: "What did you do that for?"
"I don't want to be a burden anymore", your hat answers. "You are always carrying me around, and I can't carry you. That's not fair."
"I don't mind carrying you, little idiot", you tell your hat, "you hardly weight anything at all, and you shelter me from the sun."
"But that's different", your hat protests. "I don't mind the sun scorching on me. That happens anyway. It's literally no trouble for me to shade you too."
"Just the same it's no trouble for me to carry you. But now, because you wanted to stop inconveniencing and bothering me, I am now hatless and you are in the dirt."
You are a knight who practically raised the children of the king. With the throne vacant and civil war rising, each sibling asks you to pledge to them.
hi hi, I should be doing artfight rn, but I saw your reverse au with Simon and grace and instatly went into "I MUST DRAW THIS INSTEAD" mode X,D
Anyways, have doodle!!! I've never drawn Adrian before and I can't draw Simon or grace but I'm trying!!
Have a g'day mate, here's a cookie! 🍪
SO CUTE This is my favorite thing ever and I have been thinking about reverse au Grace being a chronic stress pacer but he can't do that for a while so this is a PERFECT solution thank you Adrian 😮💨
Thought of another comic idea and decided to write it down, might not work to well with the lore since they're describing his appearance despite being blind but it was the best I could come up with