troglodytes troglodytes

spek | she/her | somehow still 20-something | vegytiszta idióta | writer and pseudo-alchemist | phm pilled at the moment | AO3 | poems | follows from @snipcaps

[spektre-writes]

PHM Fanfic Masterpost

Ki i te tau e tangi atu nei The last leg of their journey to Erid is filled with despair; Grace's health deteriorates and Rocky' own trauma flares up drastically. Prolonged space travel with only an alien for company changes a person, maybe even beyond recognition. The one returning home might not be the one you knew before it all began. How do you bring someone home who got lost among the stars?

Stories about love, desperation, codependency, trauma and hope. About people you'd die for. And people you'd live for. And most of all, about people you love to the point of invention.

Main Tags: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Sick Ryland Grace, Worried and Protective Rocky, Journey to Erid, Malnutrition, Psychological Trauma, Codependency, Decompression Sickness, Threeworld, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Eridian Science Thrum

PART 1: ROCHE LIMIT Roche limit: the distance from a celestial body within which a second celestial body, held together only by its own force of gravity, will disintegrate because the first body's tidal forces exceed the second body's self-gravitation.

As the distance between the Hail Mary and Erid shrinks, as the language and cultural barriers disappear, Grace's health deteriorates and Rocky's worries skyrocket. Scurvy, cabin fever, malnutrition, tension and arguments – their friendship is put to the test when they are faced with challenges they cannot science their way out of. When a sudden Taumoeba emergency disrupts their journey just as they are about to reach Erid's radio range, they are forced to take a detour to Threeworld's Petrova-line to prevent Grace from starving to death. It's one thing to complete a mission when at full capacity… but how do you tackle obstacles you cannot fix with math and engineering?

PART 2: TWO-BODY PROBLEM Two-body problem: A problem of classical mechanics to calculate and predict the motion of two massive bodies that are orbiting each other in space.

“Adrian, just a small warning: the Rocky that came back might not be the Rocky you know. It’s classified, but my friend is one of the comms specialist on the space elevator. They told me things. He acts… weird. He doesn’t sleep, and neglects the medical and psychological exams. I’m not sure he’s here, if you know what I mean." “Where is he, then?” Adrian’s musical notes come out discordant. “Wherever his human companion is stuck. If the alien dies, Rocky might never come down from the stars.”

THEMES my fanfics (try to) explore detailed under the cut:

The last leg of their journey to Erid: Both the movie and the book gloss over this part, even though it has so much heavy angst and whump and trauma bonding potential. I didn't plan to explore every single year because it would've been redundant, but I'm tapping into the heaviest period, in which Grace gets dangerously close to starving to death, while all of Erid works feverishly to save their savior. Definitely an eventful period.

Rocky's trauma: He watched 22 crew members die a tragic and mysterious death. And the proceeded to spend 46 human years alone, never giving up on his mission. The guy's traumatized to hell and back. So, when Grace might face the very same fate… Rocky's trauma response might not be such a pretty sight.

Codependency: Bordering on the very toxic kind. Yes, they are soulmates, your honor, but they also underwent an extremely heavy and traumatizing period. And as a response to that… some heavy-hitting codependency happens. And they have to be pulled out of this state before it consumes them.

Space changes you: Or the homecoming. Rocky might not be the same Eridian he was before the departure. Adrian tries to cope with the fact that an alien might know his mate of 183 years better than them. Because the Rocky that returns is so familiar but so foreign at the same time.

Pre-mission Rocky: We got to see who Grace was before his ass got sent into space. But what about Rocky? Who was Rocky before the weight of the universe morphed him into the person he is now?

Fishing 2.0: We are in space! We need more dangerous space action! Risky EVAs and maybe some decompression sickness as a result…?

When cultures collide: Grace and Rocky spend so much time together it's impossible not to influence the other in good (and bad) ways. It's more than just bridging cultural and language barriers. They bring two species together; customs, mannerisms, culture. If mimicry and mathematics are the way to connect, you bet these two have developed a language and habits only the two of them can depict. It's especially amusing from an outsider POV.

[katzuken]

Orbit

Finally done this after a couple days! I love drawing movie stills.

When I initially started this I hadn't seen any art of Grace as the sun with planets orbiting him, now I see so many!!! It's an obvious idea so I was wondering why no one had done it. People had LOL. Anyway, here he is <3

I tried very hard to make the constellations Canis Major and Vulpecula (Greater Hound and Little Fox) (accidentally said that the constellation was Sirius whoops.)

[aceofwhump]

Project Hail Mary (2026) - Ryland Grace crying

[t00-many-eyes]

Grace tells Rocky jokingly that he thought his message (blip B) was a bomb, and Rocky is genuinely confused because why would Rocky throw a bomb at Grace ship, question. And Grace tries to explain that back on Earth people are afraid of aliens and consider them a threat (which is weird, now that he thinks about it, because at the same time people have been desperately looking for any sign of alien life for decades. That's exactly why he's here). And Rocky is even more confused because why consider someone a threat if people have not even met them, and Rocky would never hurt anyone. Universe is one, and everyone is a friend.

And Grace thinks about this conversation a lot.

[kerink]

a lot has been said on the topic of "grace hiding that he was forced onto the hail mary so rocky doesn't think he's a coward" but i'd love for us to spend a moment meditating on grace hiding it so rocky doesn't think he's a bad person

[ozth]

fuckkkkkk I cleared the time loop first try

[ozth]

I woke up in the morning and everything was different

[aughtpunk]

Shout out to all the Project Hail Mary fanartists who are very aware that Rocky weighs 370lbs and cannot live in our atmosphere and then completely ignore those facts to draw Rocky hugging/snuggling Grace and sleeping on his chest no problem you're doing the Lord's work

[keyfili]

PROJECT HAIL MARY 2026 • dir. Phil Lord & Christopher Miller

[trenchkoat]

[djpachipikachu]

who even cares about this movie

do you think grace would name his fox fursona “laika”

[inkskinned]

Every day I handle more money than I will ever make. Every day.

At the start of my employment, my boss showed me videos of people stealing, and we both had a chuckle about it. How silly they were! There was a camera overhead, and it’s not to watch the shoppers. See, we can’t actually stop shoplifters. They get away with it maybe nine out of ten times. But we, who are watched and tallied and witnessed? We are always caught.

At first it was hard to hold one hundred dollars bills. An amount I had never seen before. An amount that didn’t exist in my household. It’s normal now. Here is something that is not for me.

“What the hell, I’ll take another,” says the man, pondering our 200 dollar watches. What the hell. Total comes to 580 and not even a flinch in his face. I have been working for 11 hours today and made only 110 dollars. It will go to my rent. Today I work for free, it feels. When I get my check, I will have 35 dollars left for food and saving.

The six hundreds he hands me go into the cash register. For a moment, I imagine having money. Then I put it away, counting out his change.

I know for a fact we sell our products for double what they are worth. That I could be making commission. That they could hand me those 580 dollars and change my life and not even mark the difference in their checkbooks. He’s not the only sale they make today, but I am the reason they made it. He’s not the only one spending 600 dollars, but if I hadn’t spent two hours with him telling me about his life, he wouldn’t have spent any. I go home. I don’t own a watch.

I have watched and rewatched a video on how to make salmon four ways. My shopping list is always the same. Pasta. Rice. Tuna. If I can afford butter it was a good week. I dream of the world I will never walk in, where I can throw the best fish fillet in the cart with a shrug. I hold hundreds in my hand and look up at the camera. I put them under the cash drawer.

I go to work. I scrap together my savings. I eat my bowl of rice slowly. My manager takes a paid week off from work just for his birthday. He owns a yacht. 

I’m not worth the cost of a watch.

[inkskinned]

i wrote this while i was working at orlando’s walt disney world parks.

i was part of their college program. i moved to the state for it. they legally owned the building i was living in and still charged me rent. i ostensibly was being charged to work for them. it was a 2 bedroom apartment and they placed 6 adult women in it in forced triples.

as many as one in ten disney employees have experienced homelessness while working for the company. despite huge efforts to unionize, strike, or otherwise demand fair treatment; disney has refused to increase employee quality of life.

disney admits publicly that a good portion of their success is because the employees (“cast members”) are dedicated, passionate, and selfless. this is never reflected in pay. even “face” characters (ie those that are princesses etc) make barely above a minimum wage.

at the time that i worked there, i made $8.50 an hour. at one point i was asked to create a human shield around a bag because a bomb dog had alerted to it. for eight fucking dollars an hour.

i now work a very cushy office job. i have bought the salmon and cooked it all four ways.

i go to the store. i am nice to the person behind the counter. she looks up at the camera while she counts out my change. there is nothing fundamentally different about her and i.

we are both worth more than the watch, anyway.

[spektre-writes]

since eridians have perfect memory, does that mean later, once they break down the language barriers with grace, rocky can translate all those words he didn’t understand back then?

[spektre-writes]

how come there isn’t a single phm pilled individual in my close vincinity? tsk tsk tsk nobody with good taste around here aside from me

[scienceviewscreen]

Project Hail Mary // Incorrect quotes 3/?

Bonus:

[loubuttons]

actually @ every fanfiction writer whether you wrote something that got thousands of reblogs and comments and became a staple in your fandom, or you wrote one fic and deleted it, or you write mutilchaptered fics that never get a final update, or write short fics, or long fics, or used to write and now you don’t, or you deleted/orphaned your works, or you only share with friends:

thank you.

sharing your writing is hard. and sometimes it’s thankless. sometimes it’s such a negative experience that I wonder how anyone does it at all. but you are needed; you are wanted. whether or not we properly acknowledge it, you are a vital part of fandom culture. thanks for sharing.

[the-irreverend]

And stay safe everyone!

[glowcowboy]

i love re-consuming media i used to love when i was younger. like wow! child me still is in me i am holding her hand and keeping her safe and doing her favorite things with her!!!!