The difference between tag and hide-n-seek on Earth versus Erid has been taking over my mind for some reason. Humans are persistence hunters, so we are built to have a high stamina and endurance. Eridians, on the other hand, are ambush predators (can’t remember if that’s a headcanon or was in the actual Eridian doc by Andy Weir), so they are extremely stealthy, quiet, and good at hiding. The two prime examples for how these species hunt are with the children’s games hide-n-seek and tag. I like to think Erid also has those games.
Grace decided to have a type of field day with his students and explains the two games to them. They tell him they already know how to play, since they have basically the same games on Erid. They choose to play tag first per flip of coin. Grace is “it”, and the pebbles immediately start going in all different directions. They are fast in the beginning, but it doesn’t take long for them to lose stamina and slow down. Grace easily catches up to the slow students and chase after them until they practically collapse. They are a bit terrified by his stamina. The pebbles who are it, however, find it almost impossible to get Grace. How is he able to be so fast for so long? They give up on him after a while and go after the other Eridians instead. Grace notices that the pebbles play tag a lot slower than children on Earth do in order to keep their energy. How intriguing!
Next is hide-n-seek. Grace is “it” again, per the pebbles’ request. They are playing in a very rocky area in the biodome. He counts to 20 and opens his eyes. Grace looks around and sees about three students immediately, but only because they are wearing the clear xenonite suits. They are perched up against the rock formations, almost perfectly laying themselves over them in a way that they become part of the rocks. If they didn’t have the suits on, Grace doubts he could’ve found them as easily. It was a bit scary how well they blend in. Later on in the game, he finds all the pebbles, but not without extreme struggle. God, they are pros at hiding effortlessly! Grace now gets to hide, and he is found immediately. He guessed as much, but it was as fun to try.
Grace goes home after their field day and yaps to Rocky about all his observations on the persistence hunter humans and ambush predator Eridians. Rocky tells him that as Eridians get older and larger, they can barely play tag anymore. Also, it is so hard to find pebbles during hide-n-seek that there have been occasionally been children who just get forgotten. Eridian echolocation(?) doesn’t pick the hiders up, and instead “sees” them as part of the rocks. Their hard carapace blocks any sound of their insides.
Sorry about the long post, I have been absolutely been obsessed with Eridian culture and biology lately. It’s all I can think about :p Side notes that I didn’t know how to include: Rocky is secretly terrified of Grace chasing him until he collapses, and shivers when he sees him chasing someone down. Eventually Grace gets to see how Eridians hide without the xenonite suits, and it’s a bit off putting. They blend in super well. The only downside is that Grace can see their color, which ruins a bit of the effect for him. He doesn’t tell the Eridians though.
vaporwave
gummygunk
snowghoul
stormborns
izzy806
kaledo-art
andulkaphoto
