WAHOO, TIME IS A FLAT CIRCLE HAS COVER ART! Thank you so so SO MUCH to the incredible @splasharooni , my bestie for the restie for taking my silly Beetlejuice fanfic commission <333 (they don’t do Beetlejuice art or much human art, but if you are looking for feline / other animal art hit them up!! They are the best!!)
I’ll be doing extras every four chapters or so for Feverroot. So here’s the first four! This post is long as fuuuck under the cut
Chapter One - “And I wash up on the shore / You would find me at the beach / In every life, through every door”:
- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “At The Beach, In Every Life” by Gigi Perez! This song is very frequently associated with BloodyMary for valid reasons. I wanted to imply that perhaps they get to meet in every universe but the ones we know them best from. Also, it’s quite literal! He really did wash up on that shore lol
- “… he was climbing the tree in his enclosure.” - Grace gets bored sometimes, even though he has like literally every movie, show, book, and video game at his disposal. Sometimes he needs enrichment. Sometimes he needs to fall out of a tree
- “In his bed, at school, in the wrong, teaching in the classroom, researching in a government lab, running for his life, in space, light years away, and now- ” - some of these are obvious, but some of these have to do with lore pieces I’ve headcanoned for Grace that won’t be fully explained until later :))
- “What if it isn’t human? What if it is?” - Rocky doesn’t trust humans other than Grace after all he’s heard about them. Especially after learning about Stratt’s actions, and also homophobia.
- “Their head snapped to look at him, glassy eyes suddenly wide with terror and alarm.” - Simon thought he was dead and in heaven for REAL
- “Besides, part of him loved to bicker with Rocky. And Rocky loved to bicker back.” - I love love LOVE how much Rocky and Grace bickered in the movie, and from what parts of the book I’ve read, so I just had to include that dynamic in here. They're like siblings sometimes to me
- “The bloodied stranger was hoisted up easily by the larger Adrian…” - yeah I’m following the popular headcanon that Adrian is larger than Rocky. And also blue/green. They’re big enough to carry a human, if they desired! (Which they do sometimes)
- Pronouns for Eridians - Grace has made the decision to use neutral pronouns for most Eridians, unless they themselves express a desire for otherwise. Not included is him asking Rocky if he wanted gender neutral pronouns and Rocky going “I want to match Grace :))”
- “Human B” - kinda an in-text joke about the Eridians classifying the humans the same way the Hail Mary classified Rocky’s ship and such. Grace would’ve been “Human A”
- “Had to be restrained until Adrian talked some sense into them.” - as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, in this fic Simon trusts the Eridians before he trusts Grace. He’s been screwed over by humans so many times that he instantly trusts a race of rock spider aliens before another human being. Doesn’t help that he’s a blonde man. You should never trust those! Also I think Adrian deserves their own human
- Sirloin - poor Sirloin was named while Grace was starving. They’re about Adrian’s size, maybe a bit smaller, and based on a rock I have in my room. It’s brownish/black on the outside with a red middle. I thought it looked like a steak. I thought it would be funny for Grace to see an Eridian with a similar look and go “mmmm… sirloin…” while half conscious and they went “oh! An English name! Thank you!”
- Moss - bigger than Rocky but smaller than Sirloin, they requested their own name because they liked nature they saw in some of the images on the Hail Mary. A blue-grey Eridian with black speckles and a few more pointed edges than is usual.
- Buttercup - she’s probably close to a citrine in appearance! In my headcanon, it’s more rare for Eridians to be semi-translucent, as perhaps it means they’re more fragile or having a harder time hearing. Not sure about the science there. She’s named after Princess Buttercup from “The Princess Bride”, and her mate is named Wesley, from the same film! That is Grace’s comfort film in this fic. He’s seen it hundreds of times. It will come up more. She's also about Rocky’s size
- Mr. Mistoffelees - a very small (closer to the size of a pebble) black and white Eridian with one prosthetic limb. Named after the character from “Cats”, which I know it’s been said Grace doesn’t personally like / it wasn’t his shirt but I don’t believe that. I haven’t seen “Cats” but that fool sure has. Grace chose the name because of the black and white coloring similar to their namesake’s tuxedo coat!
- Cheeto - a spikey, Rocky-sized Eridian with bright orange and yellow coloring. Pretty self explanatory! Once again, Grace was hella hungry when he met them.
- Robin - a strangely rounded Eridian, about Rocky’s size. Based on a beloved rock from my childhood. Light grey with darker speckes and a particular white marking. Grace thought they looked a bit like a robin’s egg.
- Dune - a big, narrow, tall, sandstone-looking Eridian. Grace named them “Dune” as in a sand dune. And also kinda the books.
- Orca - a solid black, Rocky-sized Eridian whom requested to be named after an Earth apex predator.
- Miracle Max - named after the character from “The Princess Bride”! Because they’re all white, older, grouchy, and a miracle healer. Similar look to a quartz, a bit bigger than Rocky.
- “… and by all his grandparents’ friends.” - I’m following a headcanon I saw ages ago about Grace being raised by his grandparents. Everything about him screams “raised by grandparents”. My Grace was surrounded by old people constantly after his parents passed, and it shows. They all adored him, even if he was weird (autistic)
- “… reminding Grace startlingly of his grandmother’s favorite stray cat when he’d tried to pet him for the first and only time.” - the cat allegations for Simon continue to stack up. Also, I think perhaps Grace got his love of cats from his grandma. In my head, that stray cat was a scrungly, scarred-up black cat named Duke. He loved Grace’s grandma, but didn’t really trust anyone else. Poor baby Grace couldn’t quite read cat body language and got scratched.
- “He was cut off by the feeling and sound of something whizzing past his ear. Then the clatter of an object hitting the doorframe just behind his head, on his right.” - Simon absolutely meant to nail Grace in the head. He’s just thrown off-kilter because of the change in his center of balance (because of the arm) and because of the likely brain damage throwing off his hand-eye coordination. Notice how it was a bit to the right of Grace’s head, since Simon’s accidentally putting more weight into his left side
- “The stranger had, in movements too quick for Grace’s mind to register promptly, hurled a xenonite cup they’d apparently had stashed under their tucked legs at his head.” - they gave him water and he kept the cup hidden under his legs in case he needed a weapon
- “Their brows were drawn together, face screwed up with an almost defiant glare. It wavered, only briefly, something approaching perhaps regret or embarrassment flickering across their features, before the ferocity behind the contempt glare returned and doubled.” - I kinda follow a pattern Simon seemed to in his behavior in the movie. Lash out and say / do something rude or mean or impulsive out of anger, express some regret for it (verbally or non-verbally), then sometimes double down on it. In this case, he doubles down, because he really thinks Grace may be a threat.
- Inigo and Fezzik - both named after characters from “The Princess Bride” who the character Miracle Max was named after worked with, so when Grace met their assistants he decided to go ahead and name them after those two! Inigo is shorter and more pointy and purple-ish, Fezzik is a green-grey, large and rounder.
- “Is okay. Is okay. Friend Grace not with bad humans.” - Simon told Adrian bits and pieces about his past, and some things about the COI. They’re reassuring him Grace isn’t with the COI here.
- “Had they not been breathing that entire time?” - nope! He was holding his breath. Wowza. He’s got great lung capacity
Chapter Two - “He was alone and happy to see someone new / He said it’s nice to spend the night with you”:
- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “Lonely” by Brad Sucks (from the show “Bee and Puppycat”)! It’s a two-parter, for this chapter and the next, so I’ll talk about both here. This song gives me very much Simon Iron Lung vibes, but very much matches Feverroot for me. Ocean themes, some parts very literal for for them and their situation, and stuff later on I can’t talk about without spoiling. “Nobody told me / It would be lonely” is very much Grace btw. Simon thought for sure it would be lonely.
- “Not his favorite comfort movie on his laptop…” - Grace has a few of those, but the primary one is “The Princess Bride”, as mentioned before.
- “The sheer embarrassment of such a display of emotional deregulation was almost enough to knock him loose from his wallowing.” - he’s being very self-deprecating here. As an autistic person with low-support needs, sometimes I’m very hard on myself for. Y’know. Being autistic. I’m projecting that onto Grace. He’s not “wallowing”, per say, he’s having a strong emotional reaction and feeling the effects of it.
- “So Grace was beyond relieved when Rocky finally re-entered his quarantine room, repeatedly clacking one of his claws as he approached.” - I noticed Rocky fidgets a lot with his claws in this way in the movie, especially when he was counting or thinking. It’s very endearing. I just had to include it.
- “ “What a shame! Seems like you’ll have to keep me around forever, huh?” Rocky went quiet, briefly. He then reached a claw up to grip at the back of Grace’s shirt, keeping pace so he could hold onto it. “Yes. We will have to keep you here forever.” Grace placed a hand over Rocky’s claw briefly.” - Rocky remembered Grace’s lifespan here. He got sad and had to hold onto Grace. Grace didn’t fully understand why Rocky was seeking comfort, but gave it to him anyways.
- “There it was again.” - kinda a reference to “That Funny Feeling” by Bo Burnham.
- “They hate me. And I’m gonna open my big mouth and they’re gonna hate me even more, and- ” - a reference to the song “Bigmouth Strikes Again” by The Smiths, which has lyrics used for chapter titles later in the fic.
- “Watch your favorite stupid leaky princess movie.” - another reference to Grace’s love of “The Princess Bride”. Rocky calls it stupid, but he secretly loves it too.
- “The translating laptop at the foot of the cot must have been turned up significantly since Grace was there last. It was just a little grating to his ears.” - it’s been turned way up to accommodate Simon’s poor hearing. Grace’s sensory issues don’t like that
- “… criss-crossing his legs and placing his palms flat on his knees.” - teacher sit :)) I had so many teachers sit like this and have the class do the same. The hands on the knees was maybe just a me thing, they had me do that so I wouldn’t do things I wasn’t supposed to with my hands
- “He flexed his fingers, clenching his fist before opening it and flexing his fingers again.” - honestly this motion is inspired by the famous hand flex from “Pride & Prejudice" (2005).
- “And, uh, I use he/him pronouns. Mostly.” - my version of Grace is trans!! I like to imagine Statt sent up some testosterone with the rest of the medical supplies on the Hail Mary, buuuut logistically that would probably run out sometime on the trip to Erid. The “mostly” is because he’s absolutely some sort of genderqueer but hasn’t really had time or the capacity to think about it. I imagine being in an intensive PHD program, then fighting with his colleagues, and being a teacher didn’t leave for him to explore his identity outside the binary (and also nonbinary). He certainly is a huge ally to all queer people, he just hasn’t been able to ponder it for himself more. Also do not worry, his grandparents were super supportive! Maybe his genderqueerness will be explored, maybe it will be trimmed due to too much filler. We shall see.
- “His voice was low and rich. A bit hoarse from disuse. Rough around the edges, but melodic in a way all the same. Rocky tapped a claw on Grace’s forearm. “Grace heart rate increase. Grace okay, question?” ” - average reaction to Markiplier’s voice
- “… Hail Mary and Blip A missions.” - I know Blip A probably has a name, but I think it’s funny to keep referring to it as Blip A.
- “They lifted a claw to gesture vaguely.” - an instance of one of the characters picking up on Grace’s habits. Adrian is one of many.
- “Adrian made a shrill little angry chirp, stomping one claw against the floor. “Yes. Adrian sure.” ” - they’re more angry at the implication that Simon is wrong than them being wrong. They trust Simon wholeheartedly, and want him to trust them in turn. So they got a bit agitated at the implication that he didn’t understand what was going on right in front of him.
- “ “Don’t really care to know.” Simon’s voice was a bit quieter, more distant. Like his mind was starting to drift elsewhere.” - he’s just glad he’s out of the sub. I think perhaps he still thinks he might just be hallucinating this all as he dies.
- “Adrian’s body language relaxed in an instant, shifting back to their usual calm and composed demeanor.” - I think it’s a nice fun opposition to Rocky’s whole vibe to have Adrian be fairly monotone, calm, and professional most of the time.
- “He looked down at the cot, breaking his gaze away from Grace for the first time since he’d walked in.” - trusts him just enough to not need to constantly watch him! But only that much.
- “Oh. He was actually trying to hit me. He didn’t miss on purpose. “Grace heart rate increase again.” ” - Grace freak, statement.
- “Great googly-moogly.” - honestly, I got this phrase from the show “Phineas and Ferb”.
- “… and pectorals that were-” - I couldn’t quite figure out a way to say that he has fat tits within Grace’s narration. But GOD DAMN. HE DOES.
- “ “Whoo, boy, it is hot in here!” Adrian tilted their carapace just a bit. “Is normal temperature. Friend Grace just strange.” ” - Grace tried to use the “Eridian planet is super hot” excuse. Adrian is hyper aware of the fact that the environment that humans are in is not super hot, because they’re one of the folks in charge of making sure it’s not.
- “Adrian held a claw out to the other human, their notes strangely gentle. “Adrian and team can make Simon his own dome.” Simon blinked, halting in his slow reach for Adrian’s claw.” - Adrian picked up on the hand-holding way of comforting from Grace. Simon assumes it’s an Eridian thing.
Chapter Three - “Nobody told me / It would be lonely / Maybe we’re going / Where we’re supposed to be”
- Title source for this one were covered in the previous chapter’s first bullet point!
- “… Grace chuckled a little, gathering up his things. Laptop, favorite quilt and pillow…” - like one of my dear friends (and also me sometimes), Grace cannot just sleep anywhere on any bedding. He needs his own specific pillow at least, maybe his Earth-made quilt too.
- “He was excited to be back in his own home, to sleep in his own bed. To return to cherished routine.” - autistic people liking routine and their own living space is a stereotype. But it’s unfortunately correct for a bunch of us lol
- “Dragged his feet in the way that used to drive his grandma crazy, hummed “Skrimbleshanks: The Railway Cat” to himself at an elevated volume.” - again, “Cats” fan! Also a lowkey reference to Benoit Blanc listening to the same song in “Wake Up Dead Man”. Also also, his grandma not liking him dragging his feet is based on my own mother and grandmother losing their minds whenever I dragged my feet. Grace’s grandma was nicer about it. She was more upset that he was wearing his socks and shoes down faster.
- “Across his nose, then spreading out over his left eye and temple.” - I know this is a wee bit inaccurate to his wound in the movie, but after staring at a lot of pictures of Mark in the makeup behind the scenes (for this fic and also for my own enjoyment of seeing that man’s face), I decided perhaps the wound would be a bit bigger / impact his eye after. All the stuff at the end there.
- “The skin around his left eye was tight, the eye itself not seeming to be able to be fully opened. It looked clouded over, unfocused and not quite following the careful tracking of Grace’s movements along with his right eye.” - I’ll be so honest. The visual is totally inspired by Zuko from “Avatar: The Last Airbender”. Aside from the eyeball. I researched for a good few hours trying to figure out how this sort of trauma would impact his eyeball, but I had trouble finding a source that would tell me what being irradiated and burned by acidic mutating blood and chomped by a giant blood eel would do to a person’s eyeball. So I just took my best stab at it! (Not literally)
- “Were you the one who picked all their names?” - this is one of four times Simon tried to get Grace to yap before he gave in and asked him why he wasn’t lol
- “ “.. I heard about those.” Simon drummed his fingers on his thigh. He opened his mouth to say more, it seemed, but closed it after a moment of thought.” - I don’t think movies would’ve been a priority after the Quiet Rapture, but I’m sure even way in the future he would’ve either known of or seen fleeting glances of them before it.
- “ “It’s nothing new. My hearing’s been pretty shit since-..” he clenched his jaw. “… for a few years.” ” - he was gonna say “since Filament Station”.
- “Twisting with anxiety, sending up painful signals like a physical ailment.” - it’s been pointed out to me by my beta reader that in all my writing, I treat emotions like physical ailments. They impact my characters in visceral, painful, physical ways. That's because this is how I experience emotions. They impact my body just as much as my mind. My therapist says perhaps this is due to my neurodivergent mind experiencing them so strongly, and sending sensations elsewhere in my body? I don’t remember the exact explanation. But I like to inflict that on Grace! :))
- “… slowly tilting his head as he watched the other man seem to struggle internally. “Too much. I’ve- I’ve been told I’m a lot.” Simon’s frown deepened, and he looked to Grace with narrowed eyes and furrowed brows. “Who told you that?” ” - he does not trust Grace yet. But he was absolutely ready to throw hands with whoever told him he talks too much already. He cares so much even for a mistrustful (to him) stranger but he is not ready or willing to admit it.
- “Like, everyone, I guess? Except my grandpa. He liked to listen to me talk.” - Grace’s grandma only told him he talked too much because she was worried it would get him in trouble in school and socially. Grandpa loved to hear his boy talk about all that microbiology bullshit and such
- “He scratched at his forearm under his sweater, then pinched its skin to get some relief from the emotional intensity of the conversation.” - based on two semi self-harmful (not on purpose) stims I do when emotions get too strong. Redirecting my attention to physical pain helps ground me
- “He shuffled so he was fully facing Grace, criss-crossing his legs. “But it’s not… too much. To me.” He motioned stiffly with his hand. “I don’t like the quiet.” ” - him criss-crossing his legs is him trying to imitate Grace’s body language. So is the awkward hand motion. He’s trying so hard to adapt to Grace so he wants to keep him around. Also, he doesn’t want Grace to be afraid of him.
- “The teacher opened his mouth to chide Simon for his language, but thought better of it. He had to remind himself he wanted Simon to like him, not be annoyed by him anymore.” - Note the “anymore”. Grace thinks Simon is already annoyed by him. He’s not
- “It’s something that helps keep your hands-.. er, hand busy so you can focus better!” - he forgot Simon only has one hand for a sec.
- “ “So you’re not thinking about how still- or, er, so you’re not doing wor-..” he frowned a bit, chewing on his lip as he tried and failed to think of the best way to explain them.” - he was gonna say “so you’re not thinking about how still you have to be” or “so you’re not doing worse (more harmful) things with your hands”. Because those are two reasons he uses fidgets.
- “His fingers brushed against Grace’s for just a moment. His skin was warm.” - I’ll be so honest. This moment was lowkey inspired by the moment from “Silence of the Lambs” where Hannibal and Clarice brushed hands. Visually only. Although technically Grace is also a cannibal!
- “It was the same humiliating sensation he’d experienced when his grandmother had teased him about another kid he spoke frequently of in high school. A burning, tingling just under his skin. Souring his gut with anxiety. “Has my little Rylie been bitten by the love bug?” (He barely remembered her voice anymore. Just some phrases. Just the bare outlines of her. He did his best not to think about it.)” - okay. This isn’t a crush yet. It’s just a sort of hyper focus on one person. Limerance, I think the term is? Grade is fixated on Simon because he is the only other human, and he also wants him to like him so bad. My version of Grace is on the asexual and/or demi spectrum, so he has had crushes and relationships in the past. His feelings for Simon will certainly evolve beyond this, don’t worry. Also, the grandma calling him by his preferred name isn’t anachronistic, he came out and chose his name in middle school. Also also, yeah, confirmed his grandparents are dead. They have been for at least a decade or two at this point. And since Stratt knew Grace had no living family, she didn’t send him up with pictures of them. So he’s slowly forgetting their faces and voices.
- “And it definitely wasn’t the phrasing, nor the implication that this complete stranger could and would beat Grace up.” - GRACE FREAK, STATEMENT.
- “ “You can- you can keep that one, if you want.” He paused, raising an eyebrow as he looked to Grace. “… why?” ” - Simon is confused as to why Grace would give him something without an exchange.
- “Simon was quiet for a few moments, regarding Grace with an expression he couldn’t quite decipher. He clicked the fidget a few more times. “.. what the fuck was a school teacher doing on that… big ‘star-saving’ mission?” ” - Simon has a different definition of what a teacher is than Grace does, but those sorts of people in his society still wouldn’t have ended up being sent on huge missions like Project Hail Mary. Hence the callback to Rocky asking a similar question in the movie
- “… well, I’ll be in this cot for-” - He wanted soooo bad to hear that story. He was gonna say “I’ll be in this cot for a while, I’ve got time”.
- “ “It-it is.” Simon sounded just a bit frustrated. Maybe.. maybe confused? Afraid? Grace couldn’t read his tone properly just yet. “Didn’t you.. feel them coming?” ” - Surprise! One of the resulting mutations from the whole Iron Lung experience was that he has a sort of echolocation similar to the Eridians. He could “feel” Adrian approaching through the vibrations in the floor.
- “Pointedly ignored the little jab in his chest when the sight of them seemed to cause Simon’s shoulders to relax.” - once again, Simon is still more comfortable with the Eridians / Adrian.
- “I thought you’d be eager to return to your own space. I could tell you haven’t been sleeping as well here.” - like mentioned earlier, not being in his own living space has impacted Grace’s ability to sleep. Also the whole situation in general isn’t helping
- “Grace looked to Simon, who was watching him with a softer look in his eyes than he’d ever seen in him yet. “You’re looking for your glasses. They’re on your face. Just… lower than they should be.” ” - I think perhaps this is the moment Simon fully realized Grace wasn’t a threat and began to find him endearing. Still not trusting him, but starting to enjoy being around him more.
- “He leaned his weight into the large Eridian’s side, taking in a slow breath as the ground tilted under his feet. He closed his eyes to try and negate some of the dizziness. “My bad. Didn’t realize how wobbly I was.” ” - Grace has a TBI, as Adrian kinda explains in a few lines after this! There’s no way the fishing incident didn’t leave him without some sort of permanent brain trauma. No way. The side effects are based on my own TBI as well as some research, so it doesn’t fit everyone’s experiences. He has bouts of vertigo that make him unsteady and dizzy, some balance issues all the time but he can usually self-correct except during flare ups like this. It makes him even more clumsy than he already was. He also gets migraines, which again is mentioned in a few lines. They make him more sensitive to light and sound and can be debilitating. It also, as readers may have noticed, gave him somewhat of a stutter. He just fumbles over his words way easier and has a harder time articulating himself during times of stress.
- “Friend Grace need cane?” - it’s canon to the book that he needs a cane due to the increased gravity on Erid, which is true here but he also somewhat uses when he has bouts of dizziness and vertigo like this.
Chapter Four - “You’re the sun, you’ve never seen the night / But you hear it’s song from the morning birds”
- The lyrics for this chapter’s title are from “Your Best American Girl” by Mitski. It’s somewhat of a reflection of how Simon views Grace at the moment!
- Donnie - Grace named them after the TMNT character, because they’re purple.
- Magma - because they’re red and black! Fun fact, both of these pebbles are based off of ones you can see at the end of the movie :))
- “Grace held his hand up, the chittering and stomping going quiet within moments.” - a reference to the “my hand is up” thing teachers do and also Grace did to Rocky in the film.
- “Have any of you heard me use the word ‘color’ yet?” - I want you to know that Grace explaining color after this did blow the pebbles’ minds. Some of them are devastated, like how I was when I realized shrimp could see more colors than us.
- Laptop messages - as you may have noticed, I write what Grace understands when Eridians speak and what comes out of translators very differently. The laptop messages from Eridians are all “speech to text” of sorts, hence why it’s bold and has the grammar of a translator.
- “A stranger in his living space did not sound like a fun time.” - autism moment! Someone in your space :(( feels bad when you’re not ready for it
- “Long floral-patterned skirt bunched up in one hand, Grace high-tailed it to his house.” - I like to think after wearing Ilyukhina’s skirt, he explored wearing more of them. Maybe even had the Eridians make him some more!
- “Moss made a low, garbled sort of noise. “Don’t talk to me right now.” They were clearly struggling to both speak and carefully maneuver their half of the cot through the biodome’s terrain, in the direction of Grace’s house. “Why didn’t we build the house closer to this door?” ” - to clarify, Moss isn’t struggling because the cot is heavy to them. It’s not, Eridians can lift that amount easily from what I’ve read. It’s not because they’re carrying it “backwards” since they can technically face any direction. No, they’re just being dramatic for the love of the game. Embodying a dad carrying something heavy, getting pissed the moment you speak to them.
- “Oh. Grace glanced down at his shirt, which depicted a cat sitting on the Golden Gate Bridge. Not again. He crossed his free arm over his chest, gripping at his backpack strap.” - a reference to a scene in the movie where he gets embarrassed that he’s meeting important people while wearing this same shirt.
- “… eyes stuck on the way the artificial sun caught in his dark hair.” - okay I’ll be so honest this was inspired by a line from the song “Hellfire” from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. “The sun caught in her raven hair / Is blazing in me out of all control”.
- “Simon was squinting hard against the light, his left eye completely closed.” - I think growing up on space stations with dim lighting and also a world with ghost light for stars means he’s never really been in an environment super bright before, so this is probably a flashbang for him. Also perhaps he has some mutations pertaining to night vision and light sensitivity…
- “Great! You need a h-.. help?” - he almost said “you need a hand?” before he thought better of it.
- “The shirt was very tight.” - I think I’ll take almost any opportunity I can to have Grace be astounded by Simon’s rack
- “Adrian let out a loud, wordless chirp. They then pointed to the door with one of their claws.” - that noise was basically a “hey!” or a whistle to get attention in Eridian.
- “Mi casa es su casa.” - this is partially because I think Grace would say this and then cringe about it. But it’s also a lowkey reference to Ryan Gosling's role as Ken in “Barbie” because I love that movie.
- “Rocky suddenly perked, tapping a claw against the ground. “Did you eat during your break?” ” - Rocky could hear the empty space in Grace’s stomach, and was tapping his claw to “see” again and double check that’s what he “saw”.
- “Sometimes, eating a normal, healthy fill made him sick to his stomach. The idea of any texture and/or taste, no matter how lackluster, sometimes made his stomach churn. And sometimes, more often than not, he was so wrapped up in any and all of the work he kept himself busied with that he didn’t notice his body’s signals that he needed to eat or drink until the situation was dire.” - the first one is definitely from the starving incident. Once your body adjusts to a certain amount of food, it’s hard to get back up to a normal amount. The other two are autistic / ADHD things. The first one being perhaps a sign of AFRID. Sometimes food just seem gross for no reason
- “Simon softly repeated “peckish” to himself with a raised eyebrow.” - in this moment, Simon is amused that he ever found Grace threatening.
- “ “You hungry?” Rocky made a grumbled noise of disgust. “That’s our cue to leave.” ” - a bit of a mix of book canon and movie canon. Rocky thinks humans eating is disgusting and he doesn’t wanna watch. He trusts Simon to make sure Grace eats.
eurydice’s longing for a quiet life rips my heart out. all this girl wanted was a place to stay, a permanent home. a place she can come back to. she probably wanted a cozy, humble home, maybe a family with the boy she adores. she did not want to save the world, not like orpheus did (though she loves him for it), she just wanted to take a nap. life has casted her out, and all she wants is to be let back in.
the story is about her but also it’s not about her at all. also it turns out the entire story is because of her, but not really. she’s the main character but she’s been dead for a year. she’s the key to the narrative but the narrative doesn’t even know her. if you even care
(trying to give relationship advice) from a narrative perspective i think both of you dying together would be the most emotionally satisfying resolution but i’m guessing that’s not what you want to hear
