Meet the sweet grandpa who stole me and my friends’ heart in the last two weeks: Mica! He's the most perfect, gentle, handsomest old man & Grace’s eventual third mate. Lore about him after the read more. I did my best to write up most of our discord rants about him; he's really a server OC, but most of this comes from Pep, Cyan and myself
Mica is an old Eridian who never found a mate: he had one great love in his youth, but they died before they could become properly bonded, and by the time Mica’s heart healed enough to open again, he was past his prime and nobody was receptive. There is an empty hole in one of his legs where he removed a piece of his carapace for the bond mark. He is often pitied and/or ridiculed for it since people assume he got rejected. Without mates and children of his own, he dedicated his life to taking care of other couples’ pebbles. (He actually taught Rocky as a child.)
That’s how he comes into contact with Grace: he is a colleague on the Eridian side, caring for the same classes. He has a very deep rumbling voice (due to his age, he can’t quite hit higher registers now) and speaks much slower than most other Eridians – which is perfect for Grace, because he can follow up with Mica’s speech much easier even when new to Erid. Mica falls deep and hard for the sparkling young alien. He is so frail and dainty, but so intelligent and beautiful, and Mica is utterly enamored with him. They’re working together getting the classroom ready; seeing that Mica is obviously tired, Grace goes, “You sleep, I watch”, and Mica is just struck instantly because it’s been so long since someone outside of his immediate clutch has offered to do that for him.
Grace likes Mica a lot: he’s been very kind to him, and when he presents Grace with some small token and a strangely beautiful song, he takes it. Then later Rocky finds him with it, and it’s an uproar because WHAT, no, who made Grace an offer? And why did he accept?! Grace is so confused until Eridian courting is explained to him, and then he just feels the worst. He likes Mica, yes, but doesn’t want to mate him! So he sits down with Mica and explains everything, apologizes for accidentally leading him on. Mica makes a sad whistling song because he is also sorry, he didn’t mean to make Grace uncomfortable with his suit; he should have known he doesn’t understand everything about Erid yet. But he is very fond of Grace and he hopes they can continue to be friends. (Frankly, he was expecting rejection: he’s never had luck in love, and Grace already has two strapping young mates. But he had to try; Grace has the most beautiful soulsong he’s ever encountered, he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he didn’t at least try.)
They do remain good friends. Grow closer, even. Years go by, and Grace is feeling more secure in his relationship with Rocky and Adrian (as they do with him; Rocky in particular needed to calm down and settle to not see danger to his human mate everywhere). And one day, when he’s sitting with Mica and listening to him chatter about something, Grace leans into him and gently taps on his carapace on instinct, the way he does with Rocky and Adrian – the Eridian show of affection, like a kiss. Mica stills, and Grace realizes what he’s done. Mica asks him if it was a mistake; he’d understand if it were.
But Grace examines his feelings and realizes that no, it wasn’t. He does have feelings for Mica. And… he’s open to exploring where they might go.
-
Cue the sweetest courting ever! Mica is an old romantic, one who places a lot of importance on tradition, so he woos Grace in the most old-fashioned way by Eridian standards. The first thing he does is go and ask for Rocky and Adrian’s permission to start courting Grace. Not because it is really needed, this isn’t the proverbial middle ages and Grace can decide for himself - but Mica loves his squishy human beyond words, and he wants to make sure this won’t sour anything in his relationship with his other two mates. He needs to be sure he won’t ruin anything for his little gemstone.
He finds stones with rare, precious textures; makes a bracelet for Grace; composes and sings unique love songs to him; even weaves him a new cardigan from an extremely rare plant he himself harvested hundreds and hundreds of years ago. (He never knew what to use such a precious resource for, so it was just in storage. Until now.) Grace blushes hotly when he receives it, cooes and admires everything Mica gifts him with.
Grace does a buttload of research into Eridian courting traditions so he can appreciate and respond to Mica properly. For example, Mica making some incredibly old fashioned mating trill, the kind that’s barely used anymore even among Eridians. Mica isn’t expecting a response, but then Grace gives the customary response and oh.
(Rocky a little grumpy and jealous about that. “GRACE MAKE MATING TRILL FOR ROCKY, TOO!” “You said it was old-fashioned and cheesy! You said you never use it with Adrian, either!” “That was before you could make the proper sound! MAKE MATING TRILL FOR ROCKY, TOO, COMMAND!”)
Due to Mica’s age, his carapace is worn and prone to chipping, and needs a lot of care: regular brushing, gentle filing, conditioning with oils. He used to go to a group with other unmated elderly people where they all groom each other, but it’s not the same as having it done by a mate. Grace takes this task very seriously, and he can reach all the good spots! It’s like a luxurious massage, and he is so so careful and loving. Imagine Grace touching Mica’s gold patches like…. we match…. and then having to explain that it’s the same color as his hair, and Mica trembles a little in delight at the idea that him and this lovely human have something in common. Grace explains that Mica is glitterly and sparkly, and people on Earth have fought wars over the ability to mine such sparkly minerals because they’re so valuable and pretty. Mica shyly asks if Grace likes looking at him, to which Grace replies that he likes looking at him more than any view on his home planet.
-
Mica and Grace officially mate. Grace now wears a mate braid in his hair for Mica, too, and in turn Mica receives a tooth from him, one Grace has lost to scurvy when he was still new to Erid. Mica doesn’t fill the hole he carries in memory of his lost love, but he embeds the tooth next to it. Once mated, Mica rarely calls him by his name: it’s always endearments like “beloved” and “song of my heart” and the really old-fashioned “the-twinkling-of-beautiful-gemstones-on-a-pleasant-morning”.
Adrian and Rocky are happy for them: Mica deserved to find love at last, and they can see how happy he makes their Grace. Mica isn’t mated to them, but they share their love of Grace. Grace is fully indignant that nobody found Mica’s intellect attractive or valued his gentleness or found him beautiful enough to mate him. Grumbling at Rocky and Adrian all “how the FUCK is it possible that nobody ever snatched Mica up, he is literally perfect?! Are you Eridians all BLIND” Rocky: “You do know we don’t have e—” Grace: “It’s a saying.”
Mica is too old to really feel the urge to mate, but he adores Grace getting flustered and needy around him. He’s incredibly flattered, and beyond happy to help take care of Grace’s needs. He’ll hold Grace’s free hand and trills soft and loving praises at him while Grace leans against his carapace and takes care of himself. Lovingly touches every part of his soft squishy human and showers him with affection. (Grace fucks NASTY with Rocky and Adrian, but with Mica, it’s always slow and tender lovemaking that has him blushing more than the wildest kinks he tries with the others.)
Grace always finishes so fucking fast – he can’t help it, his praise kink is going mad. He’s used to rough sex marathons and this is nothing like that, but Mica just coos at him and tells him how beautiful he is, how happy it makes him to be pleasing Grace, how he will be honored to give him even more pleasure, and sure enough Grace comes like 7 times to Mica’s one, hard-earned one <33 Sometimes Mica isn’t up for sex, but he will still absolutely talk Grace through humping him to completion, or very carefully stroke him. He has the sweetest, softest service dom energy: he just enjoys taking care of Grace when he’s needy. He loves pleasuring his beautiful mate! His songs are so delightful when he’s in the throes of extasy. Physical pleasure could never compare to the thrill that runs through him when Grace sings for him just so.
In return, Grace will sometimes devote an entire afternoon to carefully working Mica up and over the edge. Mica just has to relax and let Grace touch him, no exertion needed. Combined with carapace grooming for a really lavish experience.
Sometimes, Mica is invited to join Grace, Rocky and Adrian. He rarely participates in the sex itself, and he does NOT get the kinks (the first time he heard how rudely Rocky talks to Grace during sex, he was ready to challenge the younger Eridian to a duel before it registered that Grace was clearly loving it) but seeing his beloved taken care of and pleasured is a joy, and Grace undoubtedly loves having all three of them close. Especially when they can all cuddle together in the aftermath.
-
Eventually, Grace’s age catches up to Mica’s. They take long old men naps together, take slow strolls along the beach, Adrian and Rocky taking care of them both. Mica passes away first, and the pain of that must have been great indeed, because Grace follows not even a year later.
Adrian and Rocky find some comfort in this – in the knowledge that Grace isn't alone in the afterlife. That their beloved has Mica to keep him company until they, too, join them in the everlasting thrum.
