Professional Lurker™️

Girl, but only coincidentally. Older than I was, younger than I could be. Unwilling to be perceived in any way, shape, or form.

[penandinkprincess]

Not to make everything in your life about HR, but…. Massage therapist Shane?

“You are a side sleeper aren’t you.” Shane mused. Ilya turned his head off the table, eyes round with disbelief. He splutters out. “How the fuck do you know that, Hollander? You have cameras in my home? You are obsessed?”

Shane scoffs. “You wish, the evidence is all right here in your spine. Easy to see.”

“Easy for a witch, you mean.” Ilya retorts.

Shane rolls his eyes. “You sound like my dad.” He mutters under his breath.

i love this, but imma be honest: my brain fully stalls out at trying to imagine shane as anything other than a hockey player lol

[skaylanphear]

Okay but teacher Grace on Erid having very little say in which kids get filtered into his class, though he is aware that the selection process is super specific and that most of the kids he gets are high performers with star academics and some even with influential parents. He isn't quite comfortable enough with Eridian culture yet to object to the selection process and make it more inclusive, however. That is, until he learns about the special needs kids.

Obviously, there are Eridian kids with special needs, and a few of them even filter into his classes. But one specific type of special needs kid has never shown up in his classes, and the only reason he even learned of the condition is because Rocky and Adrien's first pebble has the condition.

It's initially quite a struggle for them to deal with, and Grace sympathizes of course, because the child will apparently have huge learning and academic struggles and will likely never be able to live on their own. That is, until he learns the details of the disability.

Basically, it's a condition where the part of the Eridian brain that gives them their eidetic memory isn't fully developed, and so these kids just... can't remember things the way most eridians do. And in a culture where an eidetic memory is the norm, all things cater to that, so not having that is actually a massive disability.

But Grace is like, so... this kid just learns the same way a human does, or something like. Which is nothing new to him, though he is somewhat boggled at how much Rocky and Adrian struggle with their infant and their "slow" learning curve, even as far as initial developmental stages. Grace, on the other hand, simply treats the kid the same way he would a human infant, and Rocky and Adrien are impressed with his patience.

But, through this, it occurs to Grace that there must be other kids out there with this disability who likely aren't getting the attention and chances in life that they deserve, because Eridian culture is particularly hostile toward this disability, and actively views those with it as unable to function in regular society.

So Grace demands that a special course be put together where he teaches kids with this disability specifically. Rocky is hesitant, as most kids with this disability are home schooled and kind of... kept shut away. But Grace insists and as one of Erid's saviors, he gets what he wants eventually.

His first class is super small, maybe only three kids because so few parents were willing to advertise that their children have this disability. And because of the stigma around it, even those who agreed to it are super unsure and want to be present during the lessons, perhaps paranoid about the impression it will leave on Savior Grace, who is so accustomed to only teaching the most gifted students.

But Grace knows exactly how to deal with these kids. Some of them have varying degrees of function when it comes to their memory banks, which isn't so unlike teaching kids on earth. And so Grace is able to introduce all these tools and teaching techniques that were previously unheard of on Erid (though very normal on Earth) like having textbooks for reference with you at all times and having strategies that are less focused on memorization for understanding, and providing these kids with tools like calculators and teaching them the art of taking notes to look back on, etc etc.

Suddenly, with all these tools that most Eridians don't need, these kids are learning at a much faster rate, and succeeding with the help of all their little tools. And because so many normal eridians are ignorant of Grace's actual biology, it's shocking to them that Savior Grace doesn't have an eidetic memory either (shocking to everyone but Rocky anyway)--that his brain functions quite similarly in capacity to these "disabled" children.

Once this news gets around, suddenly there's more kids in his special classes, and there's all kinds of discourse being inflamed because the real reason these kids can't live on their own or function is lack of support from Eridian society.

If Savior Grace, who is well respected as a genius in his own right amongst the Eridians, can function so successfully, they why can't these kids?

I dunno, I just think it's an interesting premise.

[penandinkprincess]

I can’t stop thinking about Miko. Like at all. So I propose to thee:

I know we said Shane is Miko’s little brother whom she loves very dearly (read: heckles and annoys the shit out of him), but don’t you think Miko deserves a little sister? A girl HAS to have a sister!!

Yuna, who is part of a group of avid bird enthusiasts, learns about another bird who needs a new home. She’s the same species as Miko and her previous owner was also Japanese (this bird speaks Japanese!). There is no one else more perfect to take her then Yuna. So, one of Yuna’s friends from the group obviously had the great idea of mentioning this to her. Now Yuna can’t help but keep thinking about this bird who is all alone and needs a family.

“David! We have to! It’s destiny! Shane just moved out!”

(In this verse this obviously happens when Shane starting his rookie season)

So empty nesters Yuna and David acquire a second bird, Miko’s brand new little bird sister, Keiko.

Shane is not very happy when he ventures home for a long weekend and is swarmed by two birds shrieking his name.

“SHANE. SHANE. SHANE. SHANE.”

They sound practically demonic. Shane is very much NOT pleased at all. He now has to deal with double the trouble and teasing from his bird sisters.

Bird sisters. BIRD SISTERS. SISTERS. Sisters plural. He could cry.

Keiko has been learning from Miko, so now double the chaos ensues.

OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SO MUCH

i love keiko the parrot (in multiple senses lmao) who doesn't know WHY they're screaming this word, but miko started doing it when this strange man walked through the door so sure!! she'll join!!! SHANE! SHANE! SHANE!

shane goes home to visit for the first time after they get keiko, opens the door to a wall of noise, and then just. shuts it.

he has to take a walk around the block before he's ready to try again.

[penandinkprincess]

in actual fucking TEARS cackling about this

shane going through personal relationship war and can't even have the initial, "hey this is ilya. i love him." conversation beCAUSE THESE LOUD ASS BIRDS!! WON'T SHUT!!! THE FUCK UP!!!!

conversation gets derailed and poor ilya is now just. standing there. (because also didn't get a warning about the birds existing because shane didn't think about it when The Everything Else was more pressing, and also he played it off for shane's sake, but i do think he was a little nervous, too, about how this would go.) because now shane has to go over and greet the birds so they'll shut the fuck up and everyone can hear each other, but miko is mad they came to House Where Shane Comes Over Often and shane didn't come over often, so she starts climbing down her perch and extending her lil foot and going "SHANE! step up? up? pretty bird step up?" and shane is trying and failing to negotiate with the fucking bird WHO CAN'T READ A ROOM.

so now he has to be holding miko, and obviously keiko doesn't want to get left out if her sister is going to be hanging out on someone, so she skitters down, too, and pulls a "up? up? step up? SHANE! step up?"

like tbh might ultimately be good for shane in the long run from the tension broken by the accidental physical comedy of having to try and come out while holding two big ass birds who are also curious about New Person and keep going, "hello" "konnichiwa. hiiiiiiiii" "hello hello pretty bird? hello" "hiiiii" at ilya, who does not. know how to help shane rn.

[penandinkprincess]

I can’t stop thinking about Miko. Like at all. So I propose to thee:

I know we said Shane is Miko’s little brother whom she loves very dearly (read: heckles and annoys the shit out of him), but don’t you think Miko deserves a little sister? A girl HAS to have a sister!!

Yuna, who is part of a group of avid bird enthusiasts, learns about another bird who needs a new home. She’s the same species as Miko and her previous owner was also Japanese (this bird speaks Japanese!). There is no one else more perfect to take her then Yuna. So, one of Yuna’s friends from the group obviously had the great idea of mentioning this to her. Now Yuna can’t help but keep thinking about this bird who is all alone and needs a family.

“David! We have to! It’s destiny! Shane just moved out!”

(In this verse this obviously happens when Shane starting his rookie season)

So empty nesters Yuna and David acquire a second bird, Miko’s brand new little bird sister, Keiko.

Shane is not very happy when he ventures home for a long weekend and is swarmed by two birds shrieking his name.

“SHANE. SHANE. SHANE. SHANE.”

They sound practically demonic. Shane is very much NOT pleased at all. He now has to deal with double the trouble and teasing from his bird sisters.

Bird sisters. BIRD SISTERS. SISTERS. Sisters plural. He could cry.

Keiko has been learning from Miko, so now double the chaos ensues.

OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SO MUCH

i love keiko the parrot (in multiple senses lmao) who doesn't know WHY they're screaming this word, but miko started doing it when this strange man walked through the door so sure!! she'll join!!! SHANE! SHANE! SHANE!

shane goes home to visit for the first time after they get keiko, opens the door to a wall of noise, and then just. shuts it.

he has to take a walk around the block before he's ready to try again.

[oberonsson]

Dame Archer kicks McDougal’s Scots ass there in the rain at the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire - August 11, 2018 - Photo by Douglas Herring

[anarcho-wormism-deactivated2019]

😮

[garrettauthor]

Oh NO.

[treacleaergia]

me, a sheltered noblewoman: Pray who is that brave knight? Dame Archer:*turns around* me: gasp! *instantly in love*

[dirtyriver]

Alicia Archer

[ex-sang-uination]

my bi heart………

[ohmightysmiter]

I’VE NEVER SEEN THE ADDED PICS

[hrefnatheravenqueen]

[nyx-belial]

*dies*

[garrettauthor]

Oh shit.

[notlostonanadventure]

GAY KNIGHTS

[unicornofdarknessstuff-deactiva]

Fellas I’m real gay

[thecarrott]

@0hheytherebigbadwolf HELP!!

[0hheytherebigbadwolf]

Every June this inevitably winds up back on my dash. And I appreciate that. And I will reblog it. Every time.

[rockitcat]

Hey, it’s @archerinventive, and the Pride Knights!

[wolfythewitch]

Dog years

[saltedcaramelreblogs]

@sorbusaucuparia

[hgedits]

now it's only me. only us. correction.

[justabigoldnerd]

I SAW "PROJECT HAIL MARY" WITH THE DIRECTORS' COMMENTARY AND HERE'S WHAT I WROTE DOWN

The voice of the Hail Mary was recorded live on set with Ryan so they could react to each other in real time!!

Ryan was so nervous and intimidated by the kids in Grace's class (who were played by children of the cast and crew 🥹)

The dots of astrophage Grace shows his class??? That was done by filming burning steeling wool, inverting it, then PUTTING IT IN BLACK AND WHITE

Ryan didn't know what was going to be in Yáo and Ilyukhina's bags, and they were real photos of the actors. He was told to "remember who these people are" and a lot of the emotions we see from him in that scene were real 🥹

The walk outside the classroom was one of the first scene Sandra and Ryan shot together. Sandra whispered "You wanna race to the bike?" And they DID and they KEPT THE SHOT which is why they're doing that hysterical little speedwalk I- ajdgsjshsj

They purposely emphasized reflections to reflect the themes of the movie. They loved glass, they loved light, they loved reflections.

They called the hardware store "off brand homedepot" LMAO

When talking about the shopping trip they said they wanted to show that "Playfulness and creativity are intertwined" 🥹

Grace's goggles that he uses to find the astrophage in the box in a box are literally made from an iPhone duct taped into makeshift goggles. And the infrared footage of him finding the four dots was actually shot ON an iphone!!!

There's a bright orange sticker that reads "CIVILIAN" on the back of Grace's flight helmet and the directors don't know if thats something they actually do but they found it hilarious

When Grace is shoved in front of the room full of world leaders to explain the astrophage, they said, "One of the many times we demonstate Ryland Grace's social anxiety by having people stare at him" ajdgsjdgsjjs

There was a team called "The Poetry Unit" who's job was just getting beautiful shots. And goddamn did they do a beautiful job. Also I've been talking nonstop about the inherent poetry of space travel since Artemis II launched and this just solidified it for me.

Talking about Daniel Pemberton's masterful soundtrack, they said, "He would not be alone in the soundtrack. In fact, two different planets would be rooting him on." 😭

THAT SCENE ON THE BEACH IN THE DONT GO CRAZY ROOM WHERE SOMEONE IS WALKING TOWARDS HIM??? THATS HIS FUTURE SELF ON ERID. (They also said "we dont know how they let us keep this in the movie" which is very funny but im very glad its there)

The scene where he catches the canister took ELEVEN takes for him to actually successfully catch it and everyone on set cheered

They call song that plays (or maybe they're were referring to the scene? A little unclear) when Rocky's ship starts spinning "The Gravity Tango" because "as Rocky spins his ship, its an invitation to dance."

They had 3 ramen ship models on set and every single one broke at some point 😆

Some of Ryan's reactions to Rocky copying his dances are his live reactions of being "absolutely delighted" by the puppet team

Rocky is 200 years old!!

The "Close Encounters" joke was pitched by STEPHEN SPIELBERG HIMSELF

Rocky's carved patch has the petrova line, as well as the base line six number for 23, the number of crew on his ship

The overlapping blue circles on Rocky's arm is his wedding band!!

When Rocky puts his forearms together, he's displaying his family crest!

Rocky has a lot of nonverbal communication cues, and one of them is that every time he says "Question" to form a question, he stomps twice!

They had a deaf consultant for Rocky's nonverbal communications!

Quote from one of the directors: "Its a movie about looking, witnessing one another."

In the scene where Rocky is bossing Grace around telling him how to build his enclosure and Armando and Mary get involved, one of the directors says, "Mary, Rocky, Armando- he's [Grace] creating his space family!"

When Stratt sings "Remember everything will be alright" it is confirmed she is singing it directly to Grace. They talk alot about how much she cares and loves but cannot care and cannot love, and how much she believes in him. How much she sees in him. I just. Man. Wow. They also say that this scene is a bit of an exchange. Grace is daring her, "Come, be human with us." And Stratt is accepting that dare, as much as she can.

I have seen this film three times (counting today) and until the directors' commentary pointed it out, I didn't notice the little HEEL CLICK Grace does when he comes in from collecting the astrophage coming from and going to Adrian AHHHH

"I love how on the spectrum Rocky is" CANON AUTISTIC ROCKY also the director who said this is a parent of a child on the spectrum which makes this all the more authentic and heartwarming 🥹

A lot of the scene where its revealed to Grace that he is the back up is improvised by everyone at the table

After Rocky saves Grace. The little model of himself that Rocky made that he holds up. The little item he holds up beside it? Thats a model of the device that opens the orb that caught the Taumeoba. Its Rocky telling Grace to finish the job. I'm in tears.

"As Rocky wakes up, the lights turn on, the movie warms up. Its like day breaking." 😭😭😭

They built the flexible panel on Rocky's ball MAINLY so Grace could give him the Earth ball akdhjshd

THE RAINBOW WHEN GRACE IS GETTING SEDATED IS REAL IT HAPPENED WHEN THEY WERE FILMING THAT SCENE IT APPEARED IN THE SKY JUST WHEN THEY WERE FILMING AND THEY HURRIED TO CATCH IT IT WAS JUST TOO PERFECT

"Even though he's going away from his home, Earth, he's going towards his real home, which is Rocky." HIS REAL HOME IS ROCKY Y'ALL MY HEART

When Grace and Rocky reunite on Rocky's hull, the translation of what Rocky chirps at him through the transparent xenonite is "You came back for me, question?" 😭😭😭

The tattoo Stratt has at the end means Life In Prison Without Parole

The beach in the Earth Dome on Erid is so rocky because the Eridians got the scale of sand wrong 😭 They're TRYING OKAY

About all the imperfections of Grace's habitat: "Really, all that matters is that he's with his best friend." 🥹🥹🥹

The song choice for the end credits, the "Hallelujah", is because Grace has ascended 😭😭😭😭

THEY REPLACED THE MGM LIONS ROAR WITH ROCKY'S CHIRPS FOR "AMAZE AMAZE" AWWWWWW

[rosenkranz-does-things]

movie so nice I watched it twice. in two days

[dreamingeternally]

"The fun thing for us for that end sequence was his costume -- what he would have left over from the ship. I don't really think you see it in the film but the trousers that he's wearing, they're cut from one of the flight suits. And we've done a belt buckle that's made of xenonite that Rocky would've made for him. And all of the sewing on it is a little bit - it's nowhere near as good as Jenny would normally do, so we had to purposely ask Jenny to do bad sewing at the top of his trousers, so it'd look like he would've done it.

And then our brilliant breakdown department, run by Tim Shanahan, they break everything down to look like it's 10, 20 years old. So his cardigan and the t-shirt's all faded. And even on the laces -- the laces in his chuck taylors -- because your laces always break after a certain period of time, so we found stuff that was on the ship, like elastics and stuff. There's a nice big close-up actually in the film, so you can see that they're not normal laces, they're like stuff that he would've got from the ship that he's made as make-shift laces."

Glyn Dillon, one of the costume designers on Project Hail Mary

[halethleia]

[rageagainsttheapathy]

WAIT WAIT WAIT

Imagine... decades have passed since the Hail Mary made its final voyage to Erid. Dr Grace passed away peacefully in his sleep, leaving behind two planets of mourners, a legacy of bravery and kindness and love, and Rocky.

Rocky, who has been working on the Eridian-Earth space program. Rocky, who is given the unquestionable right to be on the first manned space flight between the two planets.

He lands on Earth, which is still recovering, still rebuilding, but which has been holding its breath waiting to meet the being who helped to save it from extinction.

After the wars and the famines and the freezes, after the horrific atrocities commited by people who were honestly doing their best in the worst circumstances, I like to think that humans might have become just a little kinder. A little less concerned with spectacle.

And so, when Rocky arrives, filled with grief and excitement and scientific curiosity at finally seeing the birthplace of his best friend, his first true interaction - after the landing and logistics and atmosphere testing that had to happen to keep him safe - the first humans he meet are all middle-aged to old. There's dozens of them. They all have different careers, different homes, different lives. Many of them have never met each other before.

But they're all Dr Grace's old students, and they all have stories to share with the being who saved him from his lonely fate in the unrelenting dark of space, working to save a planet that betrayed him.

Imagine that conversation. Imagine Rocky knowing their names, sharing stories, because Grace loved his students and made sure that people knew that. Imagine these apocalypse-hardened survivors of humanities darkest hour turning oh-so-briefly back into tweens delighted by science and space and the wonder of learning.

I think they would laugh. I think they would cry. I think, for a moment, in that achingly sweet place between joy and devastation, that every person in that room would feel like Grace was back with them. Close enough to touch.

[rageagainsttheapathy]

Whatever you do, don't think about what happens to Grace's biodome after he dies. Don't think about it becoming a monument to the first inter-planetary friendship. Don't think about the generations of Eridian scientists who will visit it to learn about Earth and prepare for visits when they work out the whole space-travel thing outside of an extinction-level emergency.

Any whatever you do, do NOT think about the little Eridian schoolkids who go there on class trips and play in the water in their special exo-suits and listen to lessons that Grace pre recorded while he was still alive and become inspired to be biologists and astronauts and teachers themselves.

Don't imagine Rocky joining them, so that he can hear his old friend teaching children about the wonders of science once more and pretend, just for a moment, that he's still there with them.

[rageagainsttheapathy]

Apparently this is hurting everyone else as much as it hurt me when I first thought of it, but guys. Grace is so loved. He will be so loved, for so long. There won't be a single person on two entire planets who won't know his name for the next thousand generations.

And when Rocky finally follows him into the great unknown, he won't have to feel afraid because he knows that Grace is waiting for him. Because Grace has always been the one thing standing between Rocky and being alone and he isn't going to let a little thing like death change that.

That doesn't seem so bad to me.

[rageagainsttheapathy]

Whatever you do, don't think about what happens to Grace's biodome after he dies. Don't think about it becoming a monument to the first inter-planetary friendship. Don't think about the generations of Eridian scientists who will visit it to learn about Earth and prepare for visits when they work out the whole space-travel thing outside of an extinction-level emergency.

Any whatever you do, do NOT think about the little Eridian schoolkids who go there on class trips and play in the water in their special exo-suits and listen to lessons that Grace pre recorded while he was still alive and become inspired to be biologists and astronauts and teachers themselves.

Don't imagine Rocky joining them, so that he can hear his old friend teaching children about the wonders of science once more and pretend, just for a moment, that he's still there with them.

[fagcrisis]

enough of your middle aged man blorbos whos your specialest middle aged woman. if anyone tags a woman under the age of 40 on this post ill kill you in real life

[teashadephoenix]

rocky switching between the dry sarcastic tone "i make chain. i make long chain." / you can do that? / *yes.* (like duh. in the book he says "obvious i can do that.")

AND

the slightly childlike "what's that?" tone when grace calls it fishing

AND

full on excited screaming when grace shows him what fishing is. "OOOHHHHH OHHHH!!!"

in the span of literally six seconds is what makes him the character of all time. he is a middle aged nerd mechanic pairbonded with a middle aged nerd scientist and they are scream besties and clock bros together

fuck i love this movie so much

[hauntedhowlett]

grace finds a camera and a stack of film in addition to the polaroid (of himself, alone) that was tucked into his personal belongings. the first picture he takes is of himself in the lab holding up his cup of surprisingly perfect space coffee in a “believe in the hail mary” branded mug. he scribbles, “time to get to work” across the bottom.

he takes a picture of yao and ilyukhina’s name patches that he’s pulled from their flight suits. another picture of the empty control room. two more pictures of the view from outside the airlock — the vastness of space and the twinkle of stars.

when rocky shows up, he’s found a much more interesting subject to photograph. he’s got some pictures of the alien tinkering with something, giving him a thumbs “up” (“no, that’s down”) or jazz hands. rocky can see him holding something up, can hear the click of the shutter and the whir of the internal components that spit out the photo, but grace has to explain the entire concept to him.

“we take photos to remember things,” he says.

“human brain weird,” rocky replies. “can remember some things, but not all. eridian remember all.”

grace’s collection grows. pictures of rocky in his enclosure, goggles and gloves drawn on the clear xenonite. rocky sleeping and grace in the corner, holding up a peace sign. rocky moving across the tunnel in the lab so quickly he’s just a brown blur.

he’s still got some film by the time they make it to erid. he documents the progression of his ecosphere on the alien planet, from tiny bubble to full on habitat. he’s got a picture of him and rocky, standing proudly in his new and improved life support suit. rocky and adrian, standing by the water. his first class of students, standing behind him in their celebration clothing for the first eridian-human graduation ceremony.

rocky will occasionally sneak away his favorite photos to transcribe them onto small stone slabs that line the walls of his home with adrian. in each of the pictures, there are noticeable changes to grace — more grooves in his face, a dip to his posture.

when grace’s eyes can no longer see light, rocky gifts him with one of these slabs. it’s a picture of grace flanked by rocky and adrian. in front of them is a smaller eridian, half the size of its parents, its carapace made up of marbled grey and brown stone. grace is laughing, watching as the young eridian tries to find its footing in the life support suit.

grace traces the grooves of the stone with his fingers.

“it’s us,” he says. “it’s a picture of us.”

“it is memory,” rocky replies. “for grace.”

“thanks, buddy.”