yippee

[gooseplumes]

The “Always muscles?” being so high up on the who am I board is so funny. Grace like ok i just woke up from a coma. First question: why am I Ryan gosling

[nevertheless-moving]

so when i was a kid a read this story where a boy gets turned into a mouse by evil witches. at the end (spoilers) him and his beloved grandmother manage to slaughter all the witches but they do NOT manage to turn him back to a human child. he stays a mouse. the grandmother rebuilds her home to be mouse accessible. and they discuss the fact that he's aging like a mouse, so he probably only has a few years to live; but it's ok, because the grandmother confesses that she ALSO only has a few years to live and they both agree that they wouldn't want to live without the other. So everything is alright then, and they're happy, and that's the end of the story. it's probably been over two decades since i read it and quite frankly i am still processing the intertwining concepts of love and mortality but anyway that's not my point. my point is that Rocky did not die of acute radiation sickness because he spent enough time shielded by astrophage that his body was able to handle the damage, but holy shit does he have every type of cancer. he didn't die entering grace's atmosphere but all of his organs caught fire. I repeat — his internal organs caught fire. he spent several decades in a low gravity environment. Do you know what human bodies do in low gravity? it's not good man. 20% muscle loss in two weeks. 1% bone density loss every month. Maybe carapaces and low organic matter would handle the change better, but idk, it might actually be worse.

anyway my point is, actually, i do think that Rocky and Grace would get to grow old together.

[nevertheless-moving]

i know i'm op but op the idea of Grace arriving at Erid on the verge of death, recovering, and then living a long and full (maybe not especially healthy) life, vs Rocky arriving home a trimphant hero, a miraculous survivor of a thousand calamaties only to at long last have to pay the toll, dying tragically young, I'm.

Rocky and Grace jokingly comparing the pros and cons of bipedal vs pentapedal joint pain. Rocky wearing the xenonite exo-suit because it actually helps keep his carapace from collapsing to the ground. Grace affectionately bumping his cane against it in morse code because of course their stupid ernglish pidgin isn't enough; now that everyone know english they also need a secret language that's just for them.

Grace in his motorized bubble scooter touring the city. Naturally, Rocky's going to keep him company by riding in the stupid sidecar, how would he explain everything if he was walking beside him? And of course Rocky's telling people to repeat things and his voice is weirdly pitchy, Grace is there and human hearing is awful. It would be rude to talk normally.

Rocky pulling out the old hamster ball and curling up inside. And he knows, he knows its bad posture, but right now it hurts less. Grace curled up around him, the exterior of the ball a carefully calibrated 39 C. They are both hiding from well meaning physical therapists. Whispering doesn't actually do anything in that regard, but Rocky finds whispering hilarious for some reason (Eridian equiv of helium infused squeaky voice).

Gravity as Erid's love for them, a painful embrace they wouldn't trade for anything.

They get to grow old together. It's not enough time, but its so much more than they thought they would have; it's surprisingly easy to be okay with it. It's a tragedy from every angle except perhaps the inside.

[ajhasmademistakes]

#whatever you do don't think about adrien ok#adrien got him back. They got to see him again. There's 23 other mates who can't say the same#i think there's a world with pebbles and an affectionate blobby uncle#but in this one the infertility is the first warning that he's maybe not okay#(of course rocky avoided mentioning the chronic pain - he'd been living with most of it for decades at this point)#(and for the first year or 2 he's dead serious about getting Every doctor to work on Grace. Like at first you think hes being hyperbolic#But theres a solid period where rocky is genuinely indignant at the concept of any doctor anywhere working on someone who isn't grace#Yes he knows other people need doctors too.#but also did you consider that they can fucking wait question???)#Anyway#In the end#In the end rocky falls asleep with grace watching. a few hours go by. and then a few more.#and then grace figures rocky won't mind if he rests his eyes for just a minute.#and neither of them have to mourn.

[shrugsinchinese]

Rocky was in space for 50 years of course the recuperation period is long and hard

[toriiavic]

I think long earrings shaped like Rocky's xenonite ball with a jingly thing inside would be very cute. Jingly thing can be Rocky shaped. Also, bells.

Rocky cards his fingers through the earrings, and they make the prettiest sound.

[vahlance]

What kind of problems do you think that gun could create

[toriiavic]

Thinking about how Rocky can see Grace's bones. He can see them, he can come close enough to touching them through skin. Many works have done an excellent job with iliac crests. I would like to see more of teeth ( I know there is a lot, I want more), wrists, and clavicles.

Maybe Grace had broken his hand as a child. Maybe there are still pins. Maybe uneven healing. Maybe he smashed his head in a bicycle accident and now has a sick looking plate mending a hole in his skull. I looked up 3D printed plates, they look kinda like chainmail.

Other people never notice that kind of history, recorded in bone. Unless you tell them. Unless the have an x-ray vision. Past accidents, wounds healed but not forgotten. Unless you experience induced amnesia, if course. So, maybe we get moment of a childhood memory resurfacing after "Grace wtf is that" question.

Perhaps after the fishing incident, or due to effects of increased gravity, grace got a fracture that has gone unnoticed for some time, because of stress and other pains. It was then only noticed when Rocky's voice dropped to certain resonant frequencies, causing intense sharp pain, scaring them both.

Also apparently full body vibration is a legit therapy technique that is used after sport injuries, in cases of osteoporosis (FtM Grace win), and for astronauts who return to Earth after long term space missions to regain lost bones and muscle mass [link]???? I know Grace is in 1.5 g, but like imagine a bone healing thrum. That's basically an orgy. And everyone participating is getting off of Grace's bone fractures. Because of sick resonances. Duh.

Anyways, bones.

[synthyk]

Saw your rb about piercing and immediately thought about Grace getting his ears pierced by Rocky. Lovingly, erotically. Maybe more then ears. Rocky for sure would enjoy piercing the flesh of his leaky space blob, and then putting eridian jewelry in.

My question is, have you, perchance, stumbled upon fics with such elements, or willing to entertain the though yourself?

I knowww that I have read at least one fic of Grace getting his ears pierced, but iirc it was Armando doing it, and rocky only provided the earrings afterwards. (If I find it i'll link it but I lost it when my phone died, sorry!) Piercing shows up in fanfic sometimes, but more as a vessel for the jewellery once its healed more than the piercing itself.

Which is a shame, bc piercing is already a very intimate process. And while I don't personally see Grace as someone who would come up with the desire to pierce his ears on his own, I can still see avenues for it to happen.

Example: Rocky learns of the practice on his computer and imagines piercing Grace's soft skin, on purpose. For Grace to be vulnerable beneath him. Grace trusting Rocky, purposefully allowing Rocky to injure him intentionally, to PIERCE a HOLE into his flesh and for Grace to intentionally heal the wound wrong so it stays open. forever. Which he will then decorate with various charms and stones. That Rocky will provide him with, of course.

I think this is something that would greatly appeal to Rocky for various reasons. Most of them perverse.

And Jewellery is a very special part of Eridian culture- he could use this as a way to present his idea to Grace with a plausible, non-horny facade! You would be able to wear celebratory chimes, if you did this. Yeah we could just hang them off your ears or something but like. wouldn't this be cooler. Wouldn't having an ear piercing be convenient. A blend of cultures or something. Work with me.

And Grace (a guy who canonically would trust rocky to perform open heart surgery on him) would probably agree after a little thought, because he trusts rocky very much and thinks it would be a beautiful way to merge their cultures :)

(Grace is a very typical white american man... I don't think he would come up with the idea himself. But if ROCKY suggested it... well. He would agree. because he loves Rocky. And who else is going to care?)

So Rocky gets to position himself over Grace's head, and with some repurposed medical syringe tips from the Hail Mary and some custom platinum (Grace is too good for steel) studs, he carefully, carefully positions the needle over the soft, soft skin of Grace's earlobe and-

[sunglasseshorse]

The inherent intimacy of letting your alien best friend do dental work on you because you’re in space and your options are limited. Or something

[whyenn-reader]

make love not sense

[toriiavic]

I have been practicing sketching Ryland Grace and now I have a bunch of horrible ryan goslings just staring at me.

I discovered that Ryan Gosling and Markiplier do in fact have quite similar facial proportions, which might explain something about bloodymary fandom.

I also discovered that Ryan Gosling has really pretty ears #mypreferences. This is relevant to the conversation.

[toriiavic]

I think eridian scientists would try to shoot Yao's gun at each other. For scientific purposes.

[doomedblade]

okay but to tie atticwife grace in to sci-fi canon. sorry im #posting about this now... required reading for this post is the ones who walk away from omelas by the love of my life, ursula k le guin. go read that and come back

whether he means to or not, weir is writing in response to le guin with his frictionless utopia (1. le guin wrote omelas in 1973 so she came first; 2. omelas is also short; and 3. is a foundational text, so i have little doubt he's read it). therefore, on erid--which is by weir's own estimation a frictionless utopia--there has to be suffering offscreen

that's the positionality we have to take on sci-fi utopia post-le guin: for a frictionless utopia to exist, the child must be in the hole. le guin's suggestion is that suffering in sci-fi utopia does indeed exist no matter how much you argue otherwise, and that said suffering is simply offscreen

grace is on erid, which is a frictionless utopia. there is a child in the hole. grace therefore has three options (and this is not a superposition; he must exist as one of them):

he is IGNORING the child in the hole. and don't say "he doesn't know the child is in the hole"--no, no. he's got a phd. he's not stupid. his obliviousness can't extend that far. even if he is oblivious, that obliviousness is intentional, maintained with care and attention.

he KNOWS the child is in the hole, and due to to nature of being on erid, he CANNOT LEAVE. this is interesting. he knows there is suffering and he cannot do anything about it. perhaps he is the child in the hole [shoves my whumpfic aside].

rocky WILL NOT TELL HIM about the child in the hole. this is like 1, but much chewier--rocky knows, but it is impossible for grace to gain the real truth of the matter when filtered through rocky. he cannot even be intentionally oblivious; the agency is taken away from him.

this is very fun to think about! i like putting grace in one of these positions! this is the agony of the atticwife! will he never set the attic alight because he wants to ignore the child? does he set the attic alight as punishment for the child's suffering, or his own suffering? is it worth setting the attic alight to get a better idea of what's happening below?

i think it would be cool if people talked about this! it would be fun to play with our shared dolls!

anyway. because weir explores none of this, i therefore get to ask the question "what about grace and the kid in the omelas hole" and overthink it forever and ever and have lots of fun holding hands with other people about it <3 and you can also hate it if you want too <3 wheeeeee

[howling-wizard2]

carnivore on carnivore ccomfort

[toriiavic]

Wanted to say PHM filler beach episode when?? But then I remembered

[thatdassie-evil]

they call him joe codependency.

based on that one xitter post where rocky gotta go down to erid alone without grace. Why? Because the universe loves making him suffer.

[khaliarart]

Just finished reading Andy Weirs book Project Hail Mary and I would die for Rocky

[toriiavic]

Got myself a set of acrylic markers. The urge to slap the paint on literally anything you can reach is unstoppable.

Can't control the line well enough yet though. Blessed not to be a perfectionist.

[toriiavic]

i WILL be covering all my mountain gear with these. I WILL cover all my friends gear with this. I WILL perhaps refrain from covering communal gear with this.