( I'm saying this as a left hander come at me and i shamefully headcanoned book ryland as a leftie when i first read it but this is for movie boy who is a right hander lmao )
I think Rocky would find hand dominance interesting. Like, maybe Eridian claws are all specialized, sure. But not to the point of losing competency! One might be slightly better for delicate engineering, another stronger for lifting purposes, but if one is occupied and needs help? Another substitutes in immediately. No hesitation, no awkwardness, no clumsiness.
Rocky can 100% see the asymmetry in muscle use between right and left, the subtle favoring Ryland shows towards his right side. How he automatically turns objects to accommodate his dominant hand before using them. Right hand leads EVERY task while the left stabilizes. It comes to a head.
“Only trust useless hand to hold object, question?”
“It is not useless.” Ryland nearly groaned, not wanting to have this conversation. Again.
“Then why Grace not use it more efficiently, question?”
“...I don’t owe you an answer to that.”
“Because useless.”
So, it comes down to Ryland trying his best to prove Rocky wrong. Just a simple sentence written in his left hand. And it comes out scratched, like he was in the middle of a very serious medical emergency while writing it. And Rocky… Is frankly modified.
“Grace pilot ship with this limitation, question?”
“Well, it hasn’t been a problem yet, has it?!”
“Concerning.”
Rocky notices that Ryland is really good at fine motor skills with his right hand while the left hand is a little bit more intune with stabilizing tasks, helping the right hand in any task. Sort of like Eridian claws, but Ryland is more fumble-y with his left hand. It's more clumsy and Rocky makes his thoughts known on this rather frequently when Ryland needs the use of both his hands. Dominance is useless, why couldn't Humans adapt to use both hands as efficiently?
And then Ryland has to go into the whole 'Oh some Humans are ambidextrous" and has to explain that entire slew of information.
“Less than 1% Humans develop correctly, question?”
Ryland’s mouth flew open, “That’s not--- Wow, okay. I see how things are.”
“What causes failure in others, question?”
“It is not a failure! Other animals on Earth show very clear favoritism towards left or right!”
“Useless.”
And Rocky absolutely keeps calling it the ‘useless one’. It doesn’t matter how many times Ryland corrects him, and Rocky… Does it more because he knows it annoys Ryland and it’s quite funny to see him get peeved sometimes. ( hey it’s a long journey back to Erid, let him live and have some FUN )
“Grace pass Rocky tool.”
Ryland proceeds to hand it over. But with his left hand and Rocky almost physically recoils.
“Not with useless one. Rocky value Rocky life.”
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