SHUT THE FUCK UP IM COOKING GOD DAMMIT
Eridian mating where, when they mate, they cuddle close together. I mean, not a seam or gap between them.
Their bodies stay there for days into weeks even. This is the final step in the mating ritual.
Where their bodies touch, a chemical reaction is happening over this period, where their bodies are basically meeting one another on a molecular level.
The pair can stay as long as they want, and it's normal, even expected, for your mates carpapace to be swapped for your own.
This explains Rocky having bits of his mate, Adrian, on him. And Adrian, bits of Rocky.
I like to think they call it Melding, and they did one last Meld before Rocky left Erid.
Imagine Rocky 'seeing' his claw mark on Grace, and feeling so guilty to have accidentally Melded him, when Grace has no way of knowing.
God, can you imagine how it'd eat him up inside? He loves Grace with his whole heart and soul, and to see something so intimate on him...
It tells any Eridian that Grace is Rocky's, and Rocky wants that to be true. But in the same breath, he feels that he has no right to him.
Even after everything they've gone to. Nevermind that Grace likes it, because that is somehow worse.
The closer they get to Erid, the more anxious Rocky becomes, before he comes clean.
He sits Grace down and explains how Eridians mate, and how he got the "medium rough parts" (or green to Graces eyes) on his carapace. How, when Rocky grabbed him and pulled him out, the scar he left on Graces arm looks like an Eridian Melding mark.
"You did not know." Rocky tells him, humming in a low tune, his body tilting down. Grace has come to recognize this as a guilty stance.
Grace crouches to be closer to his level, something he did when comforting his students.
He understands where Rocky is coming from, it would probably be the equivalent of coming home covered in lipstick stains. Despite reassurances that it had healed right and he was not longer in pain, well, that was the physical side to it. They hadn't even begun to discuss the emotional ramifications of it all.
Rocky shakes his body, low and slow back and further.
"It is not that. Melding mark for mates," He stresses. "For lovers."
Grace takes a deep breath, gathering his thoughts, before speaking lowly and quietly.
"Does that bother you?" He asks.
"Yes..." Rocky's voice is still low, guilty, and his body is tilted towards his scar. Grace knows that he has his 'eye' on it. "You did not know..."
"You're right, I didn't know." Grace begins. "But, I don't mind it. I like it even. It shows that you saved me, despite the damage that you received. We saved one another. Isn't that beautiful?"
Rocky makes a low sound, soft and melodic, that sounds like he's rolling the thought around in his head.
"Beautiful, yes, but what about the mark? Looks like Melding mark, for mates. Grace, Rocky, not mates."
Grace looks thoughtful, and the silence does nothing for Rocky's uneasy mind.
"So then I guess we're mates." He has the audacity to say it with that damned reassured smile that Rocky believes wholeheartedly in.
"What?" The translator speaks, but it doesn't catch how his tones are higher, almost squeaky. Like someone who can't believe they just hit the lottery. In a way, Rocky had.
"I mean- that is to say- if you'll have me." Grace laughs, and it's soft and sweet and melodic, like the warmth of spring day.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Rocky is jumping back and forth on his side of the wall, occasionally hopping back and forth between his left and right legs.
"Ah, but now you need one to match." Grace points out with a teasing tone.
This has Rocky standing to his full height than crouching down, up and down, clearly at war with Graces words, working him up.
"How would work, question?!" He asked, slipping back into a familiar vernacular of when they first met. He's tapping one arm in clear agitation.
Grace knows that Rocky must be thinking of ways to make such a thing possible, how the temperature difference alone would make it difficult. The only thing Grace called immediately to mind was possibly giving him a tooth, as bone might be the only thing to survive on an Eridian body.
"Rocky's carapace too hot for human bodies! Grace is stupid, question?!"
It makes Grace laugh regardless.
"Mates... wow... i mean, tell me more about Eridian mating culture! Teach me everything!"
