coddiwomple

(v.) to travel purposefully toward an as-yet-unknown destination. rho | 20s | she/her | multifandom | ship and let ship slow moving traffic NO ai, man FCK ai

[rhovanhul]

full disclosure on some of my ships ya'll

eye meeaaann, if you see something you don't like - especially if you don't vibe with that first one (◕‿◕✿) - i'd discourage you from following.

Wincest ☘︎ Sam Winchester/Dean Winchester [Supernatural]

HuckleRobby ☘︎ Dennis Whitaker/Michael 'Robby' Robinavitch [The Pitt]

Merthur ☘︎ Merlin/Arthur [BBC Merlin]

McKirk ☘︎ Leonard McCoy/James Kirk [Star Trek]

SuperBat ☘︎ Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne [DC]

Stony ☘︎ Steve Rogers/Tony Stark [Marvel]

Bagginshield ☘︎ Bilbo Baggins/Thorin Oakenshield [The Hobbit]

HealyMarch ☘︎ Jackson Healy/Holland March [The Nice Guys]

JohnLock ☘︎ John Watson/Sherlock Holmes [Sherlock Holmes]

Ghoulcy ☘︎ Cooper Howard/Lucy MacLean [Fallout]

Byler ☘︎ Will Byers/Mike Wheeler [Stranger Things]

RoyEd ☘︎ Roy Mustang/Edward Elric [Fullmetal Alchemist]

Puzzleshipping ☘︎ Yami Yugi/Yugi Mutou

[rhovanhul]

before Project Hail Mary took over my entire life, i was trying to write a Slow Horses daemon!AU. i had got most of chapter one down. but now that the 'give yourself some grace' headcanon thing is done, i can refocus on that and you'll probably next see me in a few months time :D

[rhovanhul]

give yourself some grace | Project Hail Mary Daemon!AU

Martin DuBois and Brylee

Martin had always been very proud of how Brylee had settled: she was a stunning and vibrant blue jay, sporting a truly attractive and striking colour palette that caught and kept the attention of everyone that saw her. during his childhood, he’d been told by the people around him that, with a daemon like that, he’d change the world. going through school, his teachers had said, with a daemon like that, he was destined for greatness and success. now, he was at the top of all his science classes and had been endlessly praised for his intellect, scientific expertise, and for all the research he had done.

so when Project Hail Mary was announced, and Martin realised that he and Brylee fit the proposed requirements of the mission to a t, he was convinced that this was finally his calling to change the world. it must be.

but then he met Ryland Grace and, for the first time in his life, Martin was faced with the difficult truth that there was someone else smarter than himself. someone more intelligent, more brilliant, and more important.

he had wanted to dislike the other man, purely on principle. but that would have been very human of him. and, traitorously, Brylee had taken to Grace and Leona so easily, recognising in them an inherent good and kindness - purely on principle.

so Martin’s plan for a vendetta against the man and his daemon had fallen on its face immediately at the first hurdle.

but that wasn’t so bad, because Martin liked Grace and Leona, too.

they were easy to get along with, compassionate and incredibly gentle. at the same time, they were both mischievous, playful, and would bring with them a pleasantly calm and relaxed atmosphere to classes. too often, Martin found himself in classrooms or lecture halls that were way too stressful and competitive, making the whole experience unenjoyable and anxiety-inducing.

here, when Grace taught, Martin found that a small but genuine smile would slowly break across his face each and every time. and it wasn't just him.

the usually reserved and withdrawn Commander Yáo would feel comfortable enough to interrupt Grace mid-explanation when he didn’t quite understand something the first time, and ask for more elaboration. Jìngshū, his giant flying squirrel daemon, normally so self-conscious and quiet, was entirely unafraid and content from where she would sit in the middle of the conference table, listening in and even speaking up herself. Ilyukhina would feel no shame or embarrassment for snacking during Grace’s classes, unapologetically reaching for something to eat if she needed it. Grace, whenever he noticed the restlessness of her siberian crane daemon, Aleksándr, (the movements of which Martin had come to recognise as a clear sign that Ilyukhina hadn’t had the time to grab something to eat before class started), would pause his teachings and root around in his own bag to give her fruit, nutrition bars, skittles; whatever he had on him. even his own lunch sometimes, if he had nothing else to hand. Annie Shapiro and her crow daemon, who often kept quietly to themselves, would exude a new assuredness in Grace's lessons: his gentle and eager encouragements when she had a theory or idea but was initially too shy to share them would always succeed in building Annie's confidence and assertiveness. now, comforted by the tranquil and fun atmosphere that Grace cultivated in class, Annie moved with an openness and intelligence that caught Martin’s eye.

and Martin, too, realised that he readily relaxed deep into his chair during Grace’s classes; feeling no more need to keep his walls up or heart guarded. and although Grace clearly saw his blue jay daemon, he never expected or demanded more from him than he would any of the others in his class. where everyone else in Martin's life had gone on and on and on about how he must be destined for greatness; must have the answers to everything; must be depended upon; relied upon; demanded upon-

Grace and Leona looked at Martin, and looked at Brylee, and saw just another man and his daemon. doing their best in a world gone mad.

it was nice to be treated normally.

it was maybe why the realisation, when it came, dawned on him so abruptly, and so aggressively, that it left him gasping for air: Martin had always been told what he should be doing, but had never been asked what he wanted to be doing.

oh.

it was in the lab, days before the launch, when he realised that he wasn’t sure that he wanted to do this anymore. it was as he gazed upon Annie Shapiro as she moved between workstations, his affection for her growing deep and encompassing, that he realised that he wanted more with her than just the situationship that had sprung up between them. it was as he watched Brylee and Annie’s crow daemon, Benny, preening each other and talking together in hushed voices, that the puzzle pieces finally fell comfortably into place.

he could make a choice.

Brylee felt this realisation the same time that it settled like freedom somewhere behind Martin’s ribs, and she looked up to meet his eyes evenly.

he smiled.

neither of them noticed the blinding white flash as it went off, and nor did they understand what they were feeling as the raging heat of flames seared across their bodies and blistered their faces.

not until the roaring inferno engulfed them both.

give yourself some grace daemon au masterpost

[rhovanhul]

give yourself some grace | Project Hail Mary Daemon!AU

Olesya Ilyukhina and Aleksándr [Алекса́ндр]

other than wanting people with bird daemons, the other optimal requirement was that said daemons be small. the reasoning was that smaller avian daemons would have it easier moving about through a ship in space compared to a larger bird. and that they would hopefully be less likely to develop claustrophobia issues that something bigger may experience, like an eagle, for example.

unhelpfully, Aleksándr was not a small bird. he was a siberian crane, and stood at nearly 5 foot in height, and sported a wingspan on the larger size at 8.2 foot. still, Olesya was so confident in herself and in her abilities as an engineer that she threw everything she had into her application. besides, who else would be a better fit forProject Hail Mary than someone with a daemon whose name meant “defender of mankind”?

when her designation as the primary engineer for the Mary came through, she was ecstatic, and Aleksándr hadn’t been able to stop his energetic chirps and restless wing flaps for hours.

they had both been so bouncy when they met the rest of the team, even though everyone else had been much more subdued by comparison. Stratt was cold and distant upon their first meeting (and every time after that) and as far as Olesya could see, she didn’t seem to have a daemon at all. which was weird, but whatever. commander Yáo had been polite, but reserved, and had given her a very firm handshake before stepping back. Jìngshū observed them both quietly from his shoulders, saying nothing. apparently they’d be meeting Dubois and his daemon later. she’d shaken the security man's hand - Carl - beaming brilliantly, and had received a business smile in return. Amity had stood as tall as she could at Carl’s side when meeting Aleksándr, trying (and failing) to beat his height.

only the lead scientist on all things astrophage, Ryland Grace, and his fox daemon, Leona, had matched Olesya and Aleksándr’s energy; meeting them both with bright eyes, an even brighter smile, and barely contained energy. he rocked back and forth on his heels and launched into science mumbo-jumbo talk that Olesya tried her absolute utmost to keep up with, Leona’s tail flicking back and forth restlessly, her ears twitching like a live wire.

Grace quickly became her favourite person on the project. he was easy to fluster and catch off guard in a charming, boyish kind of way; always so excited to talk any and all things science. there was a wealth of knowledge within him, but also an eagerness and willingness to learn: adn Olesya was ecstatic to find out that he was capable of keeping up with and understanding her engineer talk. so, yeah, he was very easily her favourite person to talk to and be around on the project. it definitely helped that Grace was smart, open-minded, easy-on-the-eye, and very cute. it wasn’t something that she’d ever admit out loud, of course, but she knew for a fact that a lot of people thought it. thought that Grace was endearing and gorgeous and (not that he knew it) but he turned a lot of heads when he walked into a room.

though maybe that was in part because he was the second-in-command of the entire thing. which was kind of insane and almost laughable to Olesya: Ryland Grace outranked commander Li-Jie yet he had no idea.

Leona was an absolute dear as well and Olesya found herself feeling no small amount of cuteness aggression towards the bubbly and spirited daemon whenever she bounded into the room on Grace’s heels. Aleksándr enjoyed her presence greatly as well, because despite being so much smaller than him, Leona was entirely unafraid of him.

which turned into a bit of a concern after a while: both Grace and Leona were seemingly oblivious to literally all the dangers around them. it wasn't long after meeting the man, that Olesya had been quick to join the ranks of 'Grace’s silent protectors', a group of people that had taken it upon themselves to keep the man from harm. and there had been more times than Olesya could count when she’d had to step into a situation that could have quickly turned sour. she and Aleksándr would swoop in with loud voices, boisterous behaviour and a steady hand on Grace's elbow; a protective wing over Leona's smaller, furry body. together, they’d steer the two away from the threat and back to safety as Yáo provided the distraction, Carl lurked, and Stratt watched.

both she and Aleksándr felt a distinctive familial affection towards Grace and Leona, and so although it hurt to hear Grace's reluctance to join the Hail Mary mission, (despite the fact that it would mean being in the merry company of Commander Yáo, Jìngshū, Aleksándr and herself), Olesya found that she felt immense relief knowing that he’d be living the rest of his life out on earth.

because Grace had gone on endlessly about the wonders of the planet that they all called home. he would excitedly talk about the genius of life, explaining his fascination of natural molecular structure; chemical processes; and describing how it all interacts and comes together to create life on earth. he gushed about the sky and nature and wildlife, and Olesya knew that there was nothing that Grace loved more than a walk along the beach on a foggy spring morning.

so when Grace was wheeled into the room, she had just barely laid eyes on his and Leona's unconscious bodies before she had fled from the room and found the nearest toilet bowl to throw up in. Aleksándr ruffled his feathers in distress at her side, eyes wild and noises of anguish tearing free from his beak. all that he managed to voice out were denials.

Grace and Leona had become dear friends and colleagues during their time together, and Olesya and Aleksándr had prided themselves on their ability to observe, act, and protect the two from those that would wish them harm. turns out they couldn’t save them when it mattered most.

give yourself some grace daemon au masterpost

[rhovanhul]

give yourself some grace | Project Hail Mary Daemon!AU

Yáo Li-Jie and Jìngshū [静姝]

the mission statement had called for crew members for the Hail Mary to be ideally accompanied by bird daemons. the report clearly cited that winged daemons were preferable because they would have it easier than those that were flightless, when navigating a spaceship whilst in zero gravity. Jìngshū wasn’t a bird, per se, but she was a chinese giant flying squirrel. and although she couldn't technically fly, she could glide, and her way of coasting through the air using her patagium was close enough. asking for avian daemons made full sense to Li-Jie, and yet, knowing that he’d be disadvantaged, he still applied for Project Hail Mary optimistically.

Li-Jie had lost his wife in a hit and run years ago and had never remarried. he also hadn’t tried dating again and saw no reason to. why would he? his wife had been the love of his life and a part of him had died with her the day she'd taken her final breath in the hospital. they’ hadn't any kids together, either - she'd been taken from him too soon for that.

but Li-Jie did have nieces and nephews, and he wanted for nothing else in life than to do everything in his power to ensure that they grew up in a world that wasn’t actively trying to kill them. it’s what he would have done for his own children, after all.

to great relief, his application seemed to be enough, and he joined the Hail Mary as her commanding officer.

Stratt was… interesting, if Li-Jie were to put it politely: she commanded every room she entered with practiced ease, and carried herself as though the end of the world wasn’t a very real threat lurking on the horizon. she also didn’t have any obvious daemon to be seen; Lie-Jie had even heard enough whispers in passing to know that a lot of people thought that she didn’t have a daemon at all. maybe, they would conspire in hushed tones, that was how she could make such difficult decisions like paving over the Sahara Desert and nuking Antarctica. only someone without a soul could have thought to do those things.

but Li-Jie had seen the hints of a necklace plenty of times to know that Stratt did, in fact, have a daemon. just one that was obviously as reserved and aloof as Stratt herself was. yes, he was intrigued to know what the infamous Eva Stratt’s daemon was just as much as everyone else, but he had thought himself in enough circles about the entire situation to wind up feeling sympathy for the lady instead: did she have any more freewill than Grace? could she have said no, when the powers that be came to her with this impossible task? what would have happened if she had?

and speaking of Grace, that man was an awkward oddball himself. endearingly so. he spoke softly to everyone, and when his voice rose in volume, it was never in anger; always in excitement for scientific breakthroughs and the progression of astrophage research. Grace was more than happy to speak to everyone and anyone, no matter what daemon they had, or their proficiency in science. and if they did struggle, then he would explain it again and again and again - in increasingly simple steps - until they understood.

Jìngshū had taken to Grace far quicker than she had taken to anyone that hadn’t been Li-Jie’s wife. and she simply adored Leona; had inquisitively sniffed down at the small fennec fox when they first met, appearing far more interested in the small daemon than she had been in anything in a while.

the first time that Leona had tried coaxing Jìngshū into playing a game of tag, Li-Jie found himself freezing in surprise, stumbling mid-step as he watched Leona’s attempts: no one ever approached his daemon so earnestly and casually. most people - and their daemons - were intimidated by her size and “weird” and "strange" form. chinese giant flying squirrels weren’t common, go figure. though when Jìngshū unexpectedly, but very readily, gave chase, bounding off the walls and gliding after the fleeing fox, Li-Jie’s mouth dropped open in pure, unguarded shock.

somehow, Leona had managed to draw out Jìngshū’s playful side.

Li-Jie felt so much affection for Grace and Leona after that, eager to talk with them both and leaning forward to listen intently on the rare occasions that Grace was feeling especially talkative. like everyone else, he became incredibly protective over the pair, particularly because Grace could be impressively oblivious at times; clueless of the other scientists working on the project growing spiteful and jealous of his expertise and talents. but causing more worry, was the fact that Grace could be equally unaware of the people who approached him on a late evening aboard the carrier, asking leading questions about astrophage and molecular biology, but harbouring less than innocent intentions.

every time, Grace would grow excitable and launch into science talk, and Li-Jie and Jìngshū would hover at his elbow, making sure their presence was felt. Jìngshū would pin a soul-searching glare on the other party from where she perched on Li-Jie’s shoulder, and Li-Jie would inch closer by the minute the longer the conversation went on without the interested person taking a the hint. always, during those situations, Li-Jie would notice Carl and Amity in his peripheral vision, the pair moving more purposefully into the body of the room. always, a heavy weight would prickle the skin at the back of his neck, and Li-Jieknew that Stratt was keeping an eye on proceedings from wherever it was she was lurking. sometimes, Ilyukhina would sling an arm over Grace’s shoulders and force her way into the conversation. but normally, before it came to that, the unwelcome person would scurry away, thoroughly discouraged. every time, they knew they'd done good by protecting Grace and Leona, and every time, Li-Jie was reassured that joining Project Hail Mary had been the right decision. had been an honest and just decision.

so, he'd felt broken and helpless when Grace was wheeled into the room unconscious, an oxygen mask covering most of his face and Leona curled up comatose on his chest.

for the first time in a long time, they had looked well-rested; free from the pressures and anxieties that came with being Project Hail Mary's second-in-command. like Jìngshū’s namesake, they’d looked so quiet and beautiful like that.

it hurt to know the very violent and ugly methods that had taken place to put Grace and Leona on that gurney, looking so peaceful.

give yourself some grace daemon au masterpost

[shamebats]

"it's just stress" oh thank god, it's just the silent killer that slowly kills you, perfectly harmless, no need to worry

[rhovanhul]

give yourself some grace | Project Hail Mary Daemon!AU

Carl and Amity

dog were one of the most common form for daemons to settle as, right up there with the other domesticated animals like cats, small mammals, farm animals, and certain birds. it was fully justifiable (in his own mind at least), that Carl felt nothing but disappointment when Amity settled as just another dog. even if she was quite unlike any other dog that Carl had seen before.

Amity hadn’t given Carl the time of day: scoffing at his childish reaction; growling as his complaints continued long after her settling; and eventually snapping at him aggressively when he’d threatened to never touch her again unless she changed form. the bite hurt them both, and then throbbed for days after, but the sharp and savage way her teeth had torn into the soft flesh of his arm was a shocking - but much needed - reminder to Carl of her ferocity and prowess.

he had felt quite a bit better after that.

and then they had met Grace, and his fox daemon, Leona, and the dread had settled hot and heavy in both of their stomachs. and when they were assigned to guard the two, the unease developed into full blown panic. it felt like tempting fate. felt cruel and inhuman; like leading a lamb to slaughter.

why? neither Carl nor Amity really knew why, but they could both feel it.

they met Grace and Leona for the first time at Grover Cleveland Middle, and had braced for the distrust and suspicion and aggression: all attitudes that often met security personnel and their dog daemons. but it had come as a shock when Grace abd Leona had instead met them warmly; neither batting an eye at Amity’s animal form and the very obvious demarcation line that separated Amity as Predator and Leona as Prey.

no, the four of them got along like a house on fire, trading banter and friendly jibes back and forth, with Amity and Leo’ causing havoc throughout the lab as they played together like puppies.

an apprehension still hung over Carl and Amity like a heavy rain cloud, but as days turned into weeks, turned into months, turned into a year with nothing happening out of the ordinary, they could feel the pressing weight slowly falling away from them like the first breath of spring after winter. Grace continued his research and Carl kept voicing his propositions; Leo’ relentlessly played chase with Amity, and they all continued attending meetings together; Grace and Leona unknowingly as Project Hail Mary’s second-in-command, and Carl and Amity as their protective shadow.

but then the explosion happened and Dubois and Shapiro were killed and Carl was going to be sick.

Grace had ran with Leo' clutched protectively in his arms, body cowering, eyes confused and ears pinned back in terror.

the order came down from Stratt, and Carl and Amity had given chase, bile crawling up Carl’s throat and uncertainty cautioning Amity’s steps.

there was nowhere for Grace and Leo’ to go, Carl realised, horrified, and it was as they closed in on the fence line that Amity had turned to him as she ran, chest heaving and eyes wild. my name, Carl, she had cried, my name means “friendship”. we don’t have to do this. please. don’t do this. a real friend wouldn’t do this.

she had sounded so wrecked and a half concocted plan began forming itself in Carl’s panicked brain. maybe he could go for Grace’s pursuers instead and tackle them to the floor. Amity could intercept the other dogs and warn them away from the pursuit. together, they could give Grace and Leo’ the chance to escape.

fuck, he reached blindly for his gun. he could shoot them if it meant saving their friends.

but someone else got their first, and Carl watched numbly as another man threw his full weight into Grace’s side to topple him and pin his body to the ground. watched with his heart in his throat as the man’s terrier daemon made a beeline for Leo’ as she struggled back to her feet from where she had fallen from Grace’s arms in the struggle.

watched frozen as their friends fought for their lives as men and daemons alike surrounded and trapped them; watched as a needle was plunged into Grace’s neck, knocking both him and Leo' out cold.

in the end, they had just stood there, frozen; a realisation dawning. understanding, when it came, was like a frigid wall of water that drowned them both:

because they finally understood just why Amity had settled as an american foxhound.

they didn’t touch each other for years after the Hail Mary launched with Grace and Leo’ unwillingly onboard. and when they talked, it was out of necessity, and always in clipped, short sentences. only when the Beetles were first sighted on the edges of their solar system, rocketing towards earth with hope and faith at their hearts, did Carl and Amity finally start to feel a semblance of whole again. after years of separation.

that night, they held each other so tightly it hurt.

give yourself some grace daemon au masterpost

[rhovanhul]

give yourself some grace | Project Hail Mary Daemon!AU

Eva Stratt and Anneke

it’s a rare thing for a daemon to be the same gender as their human. it’s considered weird and different and wrong, and everyone knows it. same gendered daemons become a point of derision and contempt amongst adults, and the subject of cruel games and teasing by children. they become the thing that horror films are made from; the thing that politicians target for scare-mongering and to build their empires upon; the thing that incites violence and opinions from reactionary people that don’t understand (and don’t care to understand) the situation and therefore fundamentally shouldn’t even be a part of the conversation.

people are ignorant like that. they’re malicious and vicious and barbaric, and so Anneke never speaks to anyone that isn’t Eva. if she did, people would be quick to find out that she was, in fact, a female daemon. Eva’s daemon. Eva, who just so happened to also be a woman.

so she never speaks. not that it matters much, because no one ever sees Anneke, either. which only adds to the mystery that is Eva Stratt. adding to the general unease that her presence creates when she walks into a room. sure, people can see the chain around her neck, attached to a locket that is tucked safely into the neck of whatever shirt she’s wearing at the time. so they know that she has a daemon, obviously, and they can assume that it’s an insect of some sort, certainly. but still, humans are visual creatures and it would make us feel better, if we could see your daemon every now and then.

always, they are met with silence. not even a cursory glance gets spared their way for their troubles. besides, Eva was well aware that, while people were dumb, they weren’t all that dumb. some were even smart. and she knew that certain people would need only catch a glimpse of Anneke to recognise the differences between her and a normal bumblebee; to realise her for what she was: a bumblebee queen. and therefore, female.

it had been so long that Eva couldn’t remember the last time that Anneke had spoken to anyone that wasn’t herself. so, it had come as a shock to Eva when, out of the blue, Anneke greets Grace and Leona with an easy “hello” not even a month into knowing them, and flutters out from the safety of the locket hanging around her neck. it takes all of Eva’s self control to hold herself still and not give into the sting of tears threatening to fall.

yet, her hands still shook at her sides.

and when Grace excitedly shouted a “hello” back from the other side of the lab, springing up from his seat and sending things flying; and as Leona crashed through experiments and skidded on the loose sheets of papers scattering table surfaces, all just to get closer to Anneke, Eva’s heart climbed its way into the back of her throat. neither Grace nor Leona had stopped, stared, or looked the slightest bit disgusted at the distinctly feminine voice that had come from Anneke. both hadn’t even batted an eye. instead, they had merely been elated that the small bumblebee daemon had felt safe enough in their presence to show herself.

idly, as she willed her heart rate to slow and return back to her normal resting baseline, Eva thought that Grace really must have been a great teacher: non-judgemental, open-minded and easily-accepting of everyone around him. she’d seen the unprejudiced way that Grace and Leona had greeted Carl and Amity when they’d first met, even despite the clear threat that the other two had posed. instead, it had been Carl who had been stand-offish, as though expecting the worst.

Eva had never cared much for the animal forms that daemons took. to her, it just was. that didn’t stop Grace and Leona from gushing over Anneke. the two went on and on and on about how bumblebees were a vital keystone species for the existence of most terrestrial life on earth. how they were absolutely necessary for plant reproduction and how they were integral to the food web: supporting birds, other wildlife and the general ecosystem at large.

it maybe stood to reason, then, that it was Eva who had been given the world’s authority.

and though it wasn’t wildly known that she was a history major, Eva unfortunately knew exactly just how quick, and just how ugly, humanity could turn when food started to become scarce. knew all too well the fate that awaited them when the planet that they all call home becomes uninhabitable. it was this understanding that gave her an immovable sense of duty to ensure the survival of the entire human race.

but then the explosion happened and Eva was faced with a choice. Grace and Leona had become constants in her and Anneke's lives. obviously, they were there during strategic and logistic meetings; when meeting governmental officials; and when talking to the press. but they were also there during the quiet moments: during mealtimes as they traded back and forth anecdotes and quips about history and science; during the moments of waiting between experiments and test results; during the endless sunsets and still nights out on the open sea.

her one friend, and she had to choose between him and humanity.

it should have been easy. it wasn’t.

later, after everything, a warring, angry, righteous part of herself felt unjustly wronged that she ended up being punished for doing exactly what she had been given the authority to do.

it didn’t matter, because Anneke never forgave her. the bumblebee daemon kept building the distance between them, year on year, getting farther and farther away until she was capable of putting space between Eva and herself that most people would find agonising. Eva felt it. she felt every damn bit of it: her self-loathing manifesting itself into physical distance from her soul.

because Eva could never forgive herself, either.

because the answer had been staring her in the face the entire time and things could have gone so differently if she had just thought it through: there would have been more failsafes in place and more scientists waiting in the wings that could have taken over the mission instead of Ryland. right from the start, Eva should have seen it coming.

because the name Anneke meant “grace”.

give yourself some grace daemon au masterpost

[rhovanhul]

give yourself some grace | Project Hail Mary Daemon!AU

Ryland Grace and Leona

sometimes, daemons were given a name prematurely, in the hopes that they’d eventually settle as something specific later. it was a bone of contention in modern society that some names were given in the eager anticipation that a daemon would later come to resemble a member of the family’s favourite animal, or as something popular and impressive like a bird of prey; an exotic reptile; or a wild cat or bear. Lark, Paloma, Avis, Björn and Arthur were all very popular choices, and, for a time, after the film Bambi’s release, Fawn became fashionable the world over.

there were endless debates about how choosing names in such a way was setting the child up for failure. for a lifetime of ridicule and indignity. what kind of teasing and bullying would a kid and their daemon named Lupin expect to endure when they settled as a worm or as a water-bound form? something so far removed from a wolf that it wasn’t even funny? that, of course, then fueled an entirely new argument about the inherent negative bias against insects and aquatic daemons, and answers were demanded on just why there was a need to compare them at all; or why there was a need to insist on the uselessness of a person depending on the form that their daemon took. it all got very political, very fast.

so, when Grace was born and his parents and their daemons decided to call his unsettled daemon Leona - and when he became old enough to actually understand the world - he felt no small amount of anxiety. because Leona was a name of Latin origin meaning ‘lioness’. it was a nice name, sure. a vibrant name that rolled off the tongue and was fun to say; a proud name that implied an inherent bravery and strength. but it was also a bold choice, and when she didn’t even settle as a feline in the end, and became, instead a canine (a very small one at that), Grace nearly died from embarrassment.

because Leo’ settled as a fennec fox. as a canine. something that was arguably the complete opposite to the striking and imposing presence of a wild cat. Grace missed an entire week of school when Leo’ settled. he didn’t even leave his bedroom for days if he could avoid it, only scurrying back and forth to the bathroom, and into the kitchen for a drink and something to eat.

his parents and grandparents, though, weren’t nearly as upset about Leona’s settling as he was: fennec foxes were smart, adaptable and intuitive, all traits which described young Ryland to a t. the little kid was also a menace; mischievous and playful, just like fennecs were; full of life and with a deep curiosity of the world. Ryland himself maybe couldn’t see it yet, but to the rest of the family, Leona’s settling was perfect and they couldn’t be prouder of the pair.

they took to calling Leona their ‘Little Lion’.

but it took Grace a bit longer to calm down and feel comfortable in his own skin again; to feel comfortable with Leo’. but eventually - with his family offering assurances and kind words every moment they could - things became easier. fennec foxes were small, yes, and they tended to avoid conflict, but they were also impressively versatile and resilient; thriving in the face of adversity and impossible circumstances. they were unique, beautiful and were even a sign of good fortune in some cultures. but, most importantly to Grace - something that he latched onto with grinning pride: fennec foxes were a symbol of an inner strength and fire.

it helped that Leo’ was just as rascally and wayward as he himself was: she was inquisitive about everyone and everything and would stick her nose, and then her small frame, into places that she really shouldn’t. she loved exploring and learning and, much to their family’s chagrin, the two were always getting into trouble together.

it wasn’t uncommon for people and their daemons to fall out - it’s a fact of life and of growing pains. of figuring yourself out. daemons could act as a voice of reason to the knee-jerk reactions that everyone has, but they could equally be rash and recalcitrant themselves: becoming the reason for bad and dangerous behaviour. daemons were the manifestation of a person’s inner-self, after all.

sometimes, a person and their daemon may never see eye to eye; remaining eternally incompatible and antagonistic towards each other for the rest of their lives.

but thankfully, that wasn’t the case for Grace and Leo’. the two were quick to become fast friends (much to the grief of their family), and they caused endless mayhem together. Leo’ would often egg Grace on as he conducted crazy experiments, adn they'd explore places that they definitely shouldn’t be exploring.

they were as bad as each other, and it didnt’ help that when Grace called that one guy a “staggering waste of carbon” at a UNESCO conference in Denmark, Leo’ followed it up with, “some babies were dropped on their heads. you were clearly thrown at a wall.” she then doubled down by loudly saying directly to the man’s stick bug daemon that he was "the daemon equivalent of a participation trophy.”

later, when the dust had settled and Grace’d had a moment to himself to calm down in the aftermath; had dwelled long enough onhow the leading scholar in his field had uninterestedly rejected his dissertation without even taking a glance at his work; without even pausing for thought about his unique hypothesis. later, when he’d been fired from the scientific community and it was hitting Grace all at once as he sat at home with his head in his hands, kicking himself for not biting his tongue in the face of such ridicule, mockery and dismissal; hating himself for not just sitting there and taking the insults and scorn on the chin without reaction, Leo’ had come to sit next to him quietly.

later still, long after he’d buried his face into Leo’s fur and breathed through the disappointment and the tears and the hurt, when he felt that he could finally face his family again, Grace had been left confused confused when they’d told him that they were proud.

he’d sat there, shocked into silence, as they told him that they were proud of how he had stood up for himself; proud of how he had defended his studies and research; proud of how he had looked the other man in the eye and advocated for the hard work, time and effort that he’d had put into it all. proud of him.

Grace had laughed hollowly, mumbling back that it had been a stupid thing to do. idiotic and careless. he called it foolish and a mistake. his family didn’t agree.

they’d called it brave.

⦮ ⦯

Grace had always been incredibly open-minded, and so Rocky’s lack of a daemon doesn’t phase Grace nearly as much as it probably should. instead, always incredibly empathetic, Grace wonders how alien and strange he and Leo’ must appear to Rocky.

⦮ ⦯

it gets a bit confusing at times, being on board the Mary: Grace calls Leona Leo’, and she calls him Ryland; but Rocky calls him Grace, and calls Leo’ Leona; Leo’ calls Rocky ‘sweetie’, ‘sunshine’ and ‘bestie’, but also ‘goofball’, ‘stupid’, and ‘dumbass’ - all terms of endearment that she also calls Grace. so Grace feels that he should be justifiably forgiven for forgetting sometimes that it’s actually just the three of them up there, floating around in space, and not fifty.

⦮ ⦯

Rocky’s loose xenonite ball during time to go fishing rolls and crushes Leo’ against the Mary’s console. Grace is struggling for breath and feeling the same agonising pain that Leo is well before the centrifugal force eventually slams his chair against him, squeezing the life from his lungs.

⦮ ⦯

kids know that it’s wrong to touch another person’s daemon like they know it’s wrong to swear and and talk back to adults. they know that it’s wrong in principle, but not in practice.

Grace learns this the hard way.

it didn’t help that Leo' was undeniably cute and looked, essentially, like a Pokémon to the kids that looking like a Pokémon mattered to.

a new kid, a boy who had obviously never been told no by his parents, constantly made it a point to bring it up in every single class, and Grace was at the end of his rope telling him that, no, she isn’t Pikachu, and, no, you can’t touch her.

Leo’, normally so comfortable hopping from desk to desk to help out kids and their daemons, would always remain safely perched up and out of the way across Grace’s shoulders whenever the boy was in class.

this time, though, she had noticed Lily’s daemon, Basil, shifting his weight uneasily as he kept looking back and forth between the board at the front of the class and the work paper on Lily’s desk, growing increasingly agitated. Grace had felt Leo's familiar weight leave him as he'd turned to help out another student that had just called his name when it all went wrong.

the only warning he got was the desperate cries of no! you can’t do that, before pain exploded from a point somewhere on his back. it quickly spread out in rolling waves to consume the rest of his body as a bright light whited out his vision. the next thing he knew, he was lying on the floor, chest heaving.

he hadn’t even realised that the screaming he was hearing was his own.

someone had touched Leo'. someone had reached out like it was nothing and brushed a hand over the fur on her back without a care in the world.

yet somehow, Grace suddenly felt her soft fur beneath his hands. he didn't know how, with the agonising pain that they were both feeling, but Leo’ had made her way back to him. she was so strong.

as though trying to climb her way back into Grace's very being, she limped into his arms and shoved her head hard into his sternum. she was trembling, unable to speak, and making primal and wild whimpers.

and they had to get away.

clutching Leo’ to his chest protectively, and entirely out of his mind, Grace had shuffled away from all the voices and reaching hands until his back hit a wall. he could vaguely hear the sound of crying children, but repulsion clung to him like a second skin and he was too busy fighting the nausea that threatened to curl up his throat to give a damn about them for the time being.

he didn’t know how long he stayed there, cowering against the wall with Leo’ comatose in his arms until other teachers flooded the room. it might have been minutes, it could have been hours, it felt like days.

Leo’ stayed especially close after that, and Grace became incredibly guarded; aware of his surroundings to a paranoid degree.

it was a wonder to him, then, when he's half awake and unable to control any part of his body, that the wave of hurt doesn't come as he sees Rocky holding Leo’s unconscious body directly. even as Rocky struggles to drag Grace behind him gently; even as the Mary's atmosphere is actively killing him, Rocky is doing his best not to jostle Leo' in the calloused and hard surface of his hands; holding her as delicately as possible.

Grace had expected an ungodly amount of pain, had braced for it, but it doesn’t come; only an overwhelming sense of safety and contentment.

it’s as he finally succumbs to the darkness creeping into the edges of his vision, that he realises that he and Leo’ have found a home - found a family - in Rocky.

give yourself some grace daemon au masterpost

[rhovanhul]

give yourself some grace | Project Hail Mary Daemon!AU headcannons

Ryland Grace and Leona (fennec fox)

Eva Stratt and Anneke (bumblebee queen)

Carl and Amity (american foxhound)

Yáo Li-Jie and Jìngshū [静姝] (chinese giant flying squirrel)

Olesya Ilyukhina and Aleksándr [Алекса́ндр] (siberian crane)

Martin Dubois and Brylee (blue jay)

because i've made up shit about everyone and managed to give them all a sense of self-loathing, i decided to call this little au 'give yourself some grace'.

i'd also meant to write just one paragraph for each of my daemon headcannons, but have written about a thousand words for everyone instead. i don't know how i should post them though ;-; do i do a single big post? or post them one by one? do i not post them at all?

AND, for those who don't know, the concept of daemons comes from Philip Pullman's fantasy book series, His Dark Materials. daemons are the physical manifestation of someone's inner-self, outside the human body. essentially, they are a person's soul in the form of an animal that can speak, and that everyone else can see. typically, daemons are the opposite gender to the person, and there are various different headcannons out there about what it means when someone's daemon is the same gender as their own. it is also taboo to touch another person's daemon outside of love; whether that be familial, platonic, or romantic love. touching the daemon of a stranger, for example, or with the intent to harm, causes great, physical repulsion and pain. also, quite notably, if harm comes to a person, their daemon will feel and suffer that very same pain; and vice versa if it's someone's daemon being injured. (for example, Grace getting crushed by his chair during the fishing scene would be felt by Leona as well (◕‿◕✿))

also i'm not a native chinese or russian speaker, so i do apologise if i've made mistakes in the spellings of any names, or if i've misunderstood their meanings in any way.

[rhovanhul]

i'm writing out Project Hail Mary Daemon!AU headcannons and these buggers are getting looonnnngg. i genuinely have no idea how best to post these things without making each post too long.

would one by one be too extreme?

[rhovanhul]

Project Hail Mary | "you just need to find someone to be brave for."

i made dis.

i don't really know what this is, but it took forever.

i just needed to make something that tried to show how Ryland Grace chose to be brave for everyone. he may think that he's a coward, but he truly is the bravest of us all.

also, Project Hail Mary is the best film ever and it better win all the awards or there will be hell to pay. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[rhovanhul]

i wish we'd get more of Ryan Gosling as Courtland Gentry. a tv series would have been glorious! (ಠ ∩ಠ)

uugghhhh, i'd so love for a tv series of the Gray Man that stars Ryan Gosling back as Courtland Gentry - a six episode season like Slow Horses could be spectacular; bring greater depth and complexity to Court's character; and also be suitably and plausabily paced.

it's frustrating to know that the likliness of this happening is well below even a single digit percentage (especially because there seems to be zero news about a second film, anyway) but UGH, Ryan played the cool, calm and collected action hero so goddamn well. and, like, Court took hit after hit and lost so much blood over the course of the film but it was all so compellingly and exceptionally portrayed by Ryan with pained grunts, grimaces, and gradually growing lethargy that it was entirely believable.

i watched The Gray Man when it came out in 2022 and remember thinking at the time that it was very entertaining and enjoyable, if quite predictable and outlandish. but, then again, that tends to be par for the course with grandiose action-thriller spy films that feature a larger than life character who's the best in his field and that haunts the narrative despite being very much alive and well.

being so Project Hail Mary and Gosling pilled right now, i watched it again and it was just as fun and wild as i remembered. just constant action and chaos and you can absolutley tell that the actors must have had so much fun while filming and on set.

only, this time, i wanted more Courtland after the film finished and so have begun reading the books. and it's only when you do, that you realise just how far the Russo brothers went awol with their film adaptation of the source material. i'm still just on book one and yet i'm already seeing that so many characters and storylines were changed or done away with completley. in just one film, the Russo's killed off important characters that I'm aware are still alive in later books. i mean, Claire even has a twin in the books, and no heart condition. it's like they took these characters and their names and then shoved them into a fanfiction - which is decidedly not what an adaptation (especially the first in what could be a potential film series) should be doing.

maaaaannnnn, i'm so mad about it because this always happens: adaptations so often go entirely off the rails because the source material wasn't celebrated for what it was, and nor was it referred back to in the adaptation process. look at what happens when film makers actually love, respect and follow the source material (Project Hail Mary and Slow Horses being good examples). you get brilliantly adapated and beloved content, and any changes that are made actually make sense! the changes are made in order to suitably fit the new medium and they often even add to the story: providing a certain substanc and depth that only a visual storytelling form can provide.

the best adaptations balance faithfulness and creative freedom and i'm feeling no small amount of frustration and disappointment that we didn't get that with The Gray Man.

oh Ryan Gosling's Courtland Gentry, you are so dear to me ;3;

[johnssoap]

<brave>

[spidermeek]

dean winchester boyfriend headcanons ⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡

1. he leaves you for his younger brother

[thefriendlypigeon]

❤️💙💛GRACEFUL💛💙❤️

⭐[my social media links]

[itckhmart]

wolf cubs sam and dean 🐺

— Sammy 😋 — It's Sam 👿

om nom nom