I love love love the genre of fics about Grace coming to Erid and being mistaken for a pebble so much. It's such a delightful misunderstanding that can be such an interesting vehicle to dive into Eridian culture or the horror of what happened to Grace or to just have some good old crack <3
Anyway, in no particular order, these are the fics about it that I've read these past few days for anyone who also loves these kinda fics! Please do send more recs my way if I am missing out, because there isn't a canon ao3 tag yet (dont be nervous about self promo'ing, I encourage it)
Adrian is a simple creature, they see sad pebble, they adopt sad pebble. by BusyBee (Anonomousdisco360)
Rockabye by Skye_the_Lofty_Nutcase
Speech pattern by Chaotic_aroace, Lizgir12
Of Packs, Promises and Pebbles by C4t1l1n4
Rocky's Guide to Adopting an Alien Space Pebble by Caspyre
Baby Bird by disasterdrow, Taraxinium -> series
Hope from the Silence of Space by WolfeOfLullabies
Can we talk about the fact Rocky literally made Grace a crib to sleep in so Rocky could watch him as closely as possible. I don’t care what anyone says this is a CRIB, it’s like one of those floor crib with the lower guard rails and adult sized beds for toddlers so their parents can nap with them. Applying the head cannon that Rocky views Grace as a baby makes this whole scene more funny because of course Rocky would panic when his new toddler human crew mate says he’s going to go sleep on a ship alone in a atmosphere Rocky can’t get to if there’s danger. This toddler who acts stupid when he’s tired and barely even keep himself from bumping into a scale model every two seconds is now trying to sleep BY HIMSELF! Who knows if there is danger on the Hail Mary!? What if he wakes up from a nightmare!? When pebbles have nightmares they need the reassurance of their parents/guardians and Rocky couldn’t get to him on the ship before his Xeonite ball was constructed. So what’s the solution? Well obviously it’s to guilt trip the toddler into sleeping in the tunnel and while Grace gathers his sleeping cushions Rocky will construct a bed-like structure for the toddler to feel comfortable and safe while Rocky watches him sleep and if this structure just happens to resemble a Eridian style pebble nest…well Grace won’t know either way.
That is until they get to Erid and Grace off handedly mentions the cultural differences of human and Eridian sleep cycles and how Rocky essentially made him sleep in the tunnel connecting their ships in this little Xeonite bed Rocky made for him to fit into and the other Eridians look at Rocky like;
Eridians scientist: You made him sleep in nest, question?
Rocky: Yes.
Eridians scientist: He is savior of Erid and you made him sleep in nest like pebble?
Rocky: Yes, because he is pebble.
Eridians scientist: He is pebble, question?
Rocky: He is BIG pebble, statement. Only in his thirties and stupid when he does not have sleep, trips on things, gets cranky, makes work take longer. So Rocky make nest for pebble….was necessary to save stars.
Eridians scientist: Yes, yes, agree.
Meanwhile Grace is off to the side just nodding along not having understood a word of what they were saying because most of the words they’re using aren’t marked in his translators yet. (I also like to think that MAKING the nest is something only a parent or family member does for a pebble, so Rocky making him a nest is the Eridian equivalent of him signing adoption papers and no one questions it.)
Welcome to the masterpost for my Eridian Pebble Shifter AU, a spinoff AU of my main Eridian Shifter AU!
In this Pebble AU, everything is exactly the same as the main AU. The ONLY difference is that Grace's Eridian form matches his chronological age, so he's a pebble!
Ao3/Fic Links:
Eridian Pebble Shifter AU Series
Rocky the Pebblesitter (ongoing, incomplete)
FAQ below! (A lot of questions can be answered in the main AU's FAQ as well, so this will be for pebble au specific questions!):
So wait, is Grace a child in this AU? - NO. Grace is still a full grown adult human in this AU. He is still mentally an adult. He just has the Eridian form of a pebble! Grace retains all memories, skills, and mental capabilities of an adult in pebble form. Instead of his Eridian form roughly matching Rocky's age (late 200s early 300s (earth years)), he is a pebble in his mid 30s (earth years).
Is this AU age play? - NO. This is NOT age play. Grace may act childish, and Rocky may experience parental instincts, but neither of them are doing age play. There is an in world explanation for why Grace is acting a bit childish or child-like at the start of this AU, and it has to do with the biological differences between his bodies. Rocky's parental instincts are a mix of all Eridian's natural instinct to want to protect/help a lost/abandoned/stray pebble, but also because prior to their departure to Tau Ceti, he and Adrian had been talking about having a clutch. The combination of that conversation, natural instincts, and the fact that Rocky was already protective over Grace in human form combine to make him go a little wild over pebble Grace. They do not and will not develop a parent-child relationship.
What does Pebble Grace look like? - same post I linked in the other masterpost. Eridian Shifter Grace and Pebble Grace look identical except for size and carvings. Pebble Grace's carapace is in fact slightly smaller than the Earth beanbag.
How will his two bodies age? - essentially, this is sort of/kind of/not really the same answer as the question in the main au's FAQ. Pebble Grace will not age quickly to "catch up" to match his mental age (like to match Eridian Shifter Grace's size). It's really hard for me to write out, actually? His human form will not wither and die and leave him only with his Eridian form. Now that I'm thinking about it more, I sort of realized I have to even more handwave this. Anyway. Yes. This does mean that Rocky and Grace will not age the same. One of them will always outlive the other. (I don't actually think this answer makes sense so uh. pretend it does)
Is this au meant to be about reparenting? - I talk about this in this post here. The short answer is that it's not intended to be, but I don't mind if you read it to be! I also discuss some thoughts on Grace's backstory, but nothing solid beyond him being AuDHD and aroace.
Why does Grace act a bit wild as a pebble? Why does he experience things like meltdowns and tantrums? - I explain this in chapter 2 of the fic, but also a bit in this post here. The gist is that while he is an adult, his body is that of a pebble, and just like human children, pebbles tend to struggle with emotional regulation! So even if he knows that he's sad or upset, his body goes into overdrive.
Fanart!!!
THE wenber1234 drew pebble shifter grace!!! including several moments from chapter 1 of Rocky the Pebblesitter!!!
Feel free to ask me about this au! It wasn't originally planned to exist and then people latched onto the brief mention of it and boom it happened. I wasn't lying when I said you guys begging and asking and bothering me about stuff will make me write more!
the formatting is not great because the website keeps cutting off the names/heights i dont know why
but guys. guys. if i stick with pebble grace being 6" (15.24 cm), he is fucking TINY. orange is human grace, 6' (182.88 cm). blue is adrian at 4'6" (137.16 cm). purple is rocky at 1'10" (55.88 cm). white is eridian shifter grace at 1'6" (45.72 cm). pink is pebble shifter grace. at 6" (15.24 cm). SIX FUCKING INCHES. he barely reaches his human form's ANKLE.
i needed to put pebble grace into the height chart to help me visualize the scene im working on to post today and holy shit. holy shit. pebble grace is so smol. he is so so so small. like if human grace could pick up pebble grace, pebble grace would fit into one of human grace's hands EASY. even eridian grace towers over pebble grace.
pebble grace is 3 times smaller than eridian grace. pebble grace is nine times smaller than adrian in my au. pebble grace is TWELVE times smaller than human grace.
i knew he was small but i didnt realize just how small pebble grace is until i put it into a way i could visualize.
for common references, here are some things that are 6 inches/15.24 cm tall/wide/long. if you look at that, that is how tall grace is. (and when i say how 6 inches tall, i mean that is pebble grace is standing straight up on all 5 legs as much as he can. usually he does not stand that tall, he bends his limbs because he is clumsy and thats not how organisms walk)
a USA dollar bill (6.14" / 15.5956 cm)
a standard #2 pencil, unsharpened, unused (6" exactly / 15.24 cm)
the BLADE of an average butter knife (5.9"-6.1" / 14.986 cm - 15.494 cm)
a computer mouse (5.5" - 6" / 13.97 cm - 15.24 cm)
im making sure i have a bunch of towels ready so I can give my cats a bath in a bit
and i just had a vision of rocky giving pebble grace the eridian equivalent of a bath after a science experiment gone wrong
like i dont know if eridians would use a solvent or like steel wool or water or what to clean off their carapace but whatever it is, im picturing rocky struggling to keep grace contained and in place while they scrub at him with whatever tool or brush and grace is just flailing and yelling and afterward he looked like a wet cat and gives rocky the silent treatment until finally he crawls over to fall asleep with rocky
cause in both the regular eridian shifter au and the pebble shifter au, grace's eridian form is cooler than a regular eridian. so rocky's a comfortable space heater for grace
I can't help but wonder how Adrian would react to finding out about Grace being sedated and forced into a coma and on the mission. Like especially hearing it from someone they know are a grown human but looks like a pebble. The vulnerability!!
Idk I just think their rage would be unstoppable at how unfair it was, even if Grace was the only option. They're so protective in the shifter fic and I adore it <3
(anyways I just wanted to say I love this au and have so many thoughts about it <3)
oh yeah. if adrian (and erid) was protective of grace in the eridian shifter au already, him turning into a pebble (even if its one with the brain of an adult) would send them all into ORBIT. grace is gonna have to do everything possible to stop them all from declaring interstellar war on stratt (and those who assisted or stood by. in erid's eyes, that means most of humanity).
The second chapter of the pebble au gives me so many thoughts.
Like, since Grace is in a more pebble-y emotional state, could his childhood memories potentially return more easily in this form? We never got childhood flashbacks in canon but this au makes me wonder if he could get something back from that time.
So like maybe the way Rocky cuddles him reminds him of a happy moment.
Or maybe (more angsty) he breaks something (or does something else triggering a memory) and is hit with the memory of being scolded and yelled at for being clumsy. The premise of Grace both being his adult self but simultaneously having pebble emotions!! Rocky being faced with his friend re-experiencing those childhood memories in a tiny pebble body and just going, fuck it, can't stand watching him like that, and just going full comfort mode.
Them trying to navigate the new dynamic in this au in general just speaks to me
mmmmmmm honestly ive considered the idea of more memories coming back from his childhood while being in pebble form, but haven't actually written anything for a couple of reasons
the main one being i havent decided on what i want grace's backstory to be!
i do think that by the time he was in grad school, both of his parents are gone. i dont think he had a lot of family, or if he did, he's not very close to them no im definitely not projecting what are you talking about
the other reason is because while he does remember stuff from pre-coma/amnesia drug while in eridian form, the memories from that time are a bit funky because an eridian's body is literally not built to process things like sight or the human versions of taste or smell or touch or even hearing. he remembers things but theyre off, warped a bit, as a combination of the drug's effects and his crystal brain struggling with how to process things.
but he would DEFINITELY have slightly different reactions to a memory depending on the form he's in. regardless of what form he's in when he remembers something, he's gonna feel emotions and his body's gonna react to those emotions in different ways
i also personally headcanon (and therefore it's canon in both the eridian shifter and pebble shifter aus) that grace will never recover all of his pre-coma/amnesia drug memories. most of his memories are from grad school, academia, teaching, and the taskforce, and even then he doesn't remember everything. he has bits and pieces from childhood but those memories are fewer and far between, often they're more like flashes of emotions or thoughts or brief moments of sensory input, like hugging a fox stuffie to his chest (because of course), or splashing in a puddle, or curling up in the corner of a library surrounded by piles of books, or the first time he looked through a microscope in science class, stuff like that.
but anyway.
regardless of how i do it, grace and rocky are gonna be clingy no matter what lol. grace seeks comfort from rocky (in both forms) and rocky hovers from both best friend and "thats a pebble" instincts.
