Two dumb PHM G/t ideas percolating in my mind at the moment.
I haven't had the chance to read the book yet, so a few things are coming from fandom osmosis and whatever tidbits I remember my sister telling me several years ago.
Number one:
Bloodymary where Grace and Rocky are nearing Erid.
Grace is in a very bad way due to malnutrition, and has been for a while. He's asleep more often than he's not.
Rocky has by now developed the more flexible xenonite suit and is pretty much maintaining the whole ship and the taumoeba farms by himself.
Grace is severely depressed and Rocky is at his wits end.
One day while in the cockpit, testing to see if they're close enough to Erid to make contact yet, a new blip appears.
Rocky investigates and discovers the SM-13 (because of course it is)
Simon has just had his horrifying one on one with the ignorant god, and somehow in the chaos and utter shredding of reality, he fights his way through the cracks and ends up free floating in his disabled sub, somewhere in space. He's delirious and plenty banged up but not yet a tumor ridden half mutated fish tooth man. (I mean he probably does have hella tumors at this point in the film, but for simplicity's sake, I'm pretending the COI put just enough shielding on the sub that he's not doomed today)
The new blip is not that big. Smaller than Grace is tall.
Trying to make a long story short, the Hail-Mary is able to pick up a radio signal and connect with the SM-13 (human tech to human tech).
Rocky is completely shocked to discover there is another human all the way out here. And it's begging him to get it out of that thing.
Rocky manages to retrieve the sub (I'd give details but this is long enough already)
Somehow in his excitement, Rocky completely forgot to tell Simon he was an alien. Also, upon examining the ship in person, he discovers the human inside is pretty small.
He did not realize size variations could be this pronounced in humans. Amaze!
Simon is extremely freaked out by the noises and the rumbling outside.
Even more so when his new "friend" Rocky uses some kind of huge F- off lazer to cut open the hatch the COI had welded shut.
Rocky enthusiastically tries to reach in to set Simon free, Simon (metaphorically) sees god for the second time that day and, much like first time, executes desperate escape.
Cue chase scene with confused Rocky and out of his mind on fear and head trauma The Convict. His Eldritch insanity meter is all full up, thanks.
Eventually Simon does get cornered, but instead of reaching for him again, Rocky just sits down and apologizes for forgetting to tell Simon he was an alien. He forgot how much he accidentally scared his friend Grace when they first met. Apology apology apology.
After some very strained and loaded conversation, Simon comes to understand that one; he's not on a giant ship, but is for whatever reason, small. Two; there's another, normal sized human on this ship who is not doing so well. Some kind of scientist? And the living landscape over here really wants Simon to keep his other pet human company while they travel to Erid. Probably the alien's home station, since he's never heard of it before.
Simon is not enthused by the idea of being some giant guys hospice cat, but he's savvy enough to know when playing nice is the smart option.
He asks about after they get to Erid. Would he be allowed to go free?
Rocky is a little confused by the question, since he doesn't see himself as holding Simon prisoner. He had just rescued him from space, after all. But he agrees that after they get to Erid, when the ship is repaired and ready for the trip, he can go home (which he assumes is Earth).
Simon is HIGHLY dubious on the legitimacy of this deal, having been burned pretty badly by the COI. But while undignified, even he has to admit, it's leagues better than being sent into a blood ocean to die.
So, Rocky thinks they have made a new human friend,
Simon believes that he's a prisoner and a pet,
And Grace is 100% sure he's hallucinating when Rocky wakes him from one of his endless naps to present him with a little guy.
I cut out a bunch of details to keep this short, and I still went on way too long. But that's the general idea. 😅
Number Two:
Grace from the future somehow finds himself teleported to the past, back on Earth.
But he's not in his old body. For some reason he's tiny, and staring up into the face of bewildered (and incredibly freaked) Grover Cleveland middle school science teacher Ryland Grace.
Long story shorter than the last, Grace has to convince his younger self that he IS real, he IS from the future, and eventually, to volunteer for a suicide mission to Tau Ceti. Because Rocky is out there, right now. Alone in the silence, surrounded by his dead crew.
(or is he? Dun dun dun)
Features much arguing with oneself, Past Grace struggling to keep tiny future Grace hidden from Stratt (and everyone else) while tiny Grace guides him through things. Tiny Rocky on his own parallel adventure (not the least bit shy about letting everyone know he exists, because Eridians aren't jerks like humans. Adrian thinks he's cute cute cute!) two fully living crews, emotional reunions, ECT ECT.
AAAnd those are my two cakes so far. Now I just have to figure out what bit to draw...
Giants using tinies as pieces for a board game. The tinies move when the giant commands it. Two tinies sharing a space and getting a moment to catch up and be buddy buddy. Maybe using tinies for one of those tabletop war games like Warhammer 40k and have everyone scaled to size with the environment they have on the table and the tinies all in cosplay with prop weapons and stuff. Having the vehicles and tanks that have working doors and you can see your tiny troops dismount from it or enter and occupy it. The tinies doing a little bit of RP while on the battlefield like idle chatting to their nearby allies and responding to their giant commanders accordingly. The giants breaking out measuring tapes right next to the tiny to see how far a unit can travel before watching them skitter ahead to take their new place at the end of the measuring tape. Tinies playing dead when their character runs out of health and just getting up and dusting themselves off after the battle.
Or the tinies as stand-ins for tabletop rpg games like dungeons and dragons. A game master making a whole little dungeon and areas using cardboard and paper and the tinies in cosplays going around and doing their thing.
Okay, as much as I love Rocky extending Grace's life without telling him, consider: Rocky *does* tell Grace, Grace just then somehow manages to like. Horrendously misinterpret what the treatment is actually for. Like.
Eridian Doctor: We went through the human genome and found a bunch of places with old broken DNA repair mechanisms so we came up with a gene editing therapy that fixes them in order to extend your lifespan.
Grace: *flashbacks to when Rocky found out that humans can experience long term effects from lower doses of radiation exposure and Grace wasn't being as careful as he should have been back when they first met because he still thought this was gonna be a suicide mission*
Grace (internally): Oh, so cancer prevention! Got it!
took me forever but here are the emre portraits i started a while ago, based on the redesign sketched back then. Similar to the ones i painted for freja, the design might change once i get to make the fullbodies versions, but we'll see!
turnnoffyourmind
jimmyeatworldofficial
blakekathryn
yousharknotpass
ellievsbear
