It’s Either Aliens Or The Illuminati

Part 2 where I put Grace in the dress

Obviously, there are Eridian kids with special needs, and a few of them even filter into his classes. But one specific type of special needs kid has never shown up in his classes, and the only reason he even learned of the condition is because Rocky and Adrien's first pebble has the condition.

It's initially quite a struggle for them to deal with, and Grace sympathizes of course, because the child will apparently have huge learning and academic struggles and will likely never be able to live on their own. That is, until he learns the details of the disability.

Basically, it's a condition where the part of the Eridian brain that gives them their eidetic memory isn't fully developed, and so these kids just... can't remember things the way most eridians do. And in a culture where an eidetic memory is the norm, all things cater to that, so not having that is actually a massive disability.

But Grace is like, so... this kid just learns the same way a human does, or something like. Which is nothing new to him, though he is somewhat boggled at how much Rocky and Adrian struggle with their infant and their "slow" learning curve, even as far as initial developmental stages. Grace, on the other hand, simply treats the kid the same way he would a human infant, and Rocky and Adrien are impressed with his patience.

But, through this, it occurs to Grace that there must be other kids out there with this disability who likely aren't getting the attention and chances in life that they deserve, because Eridian culture is particularly hostile toward this disability, and actively views those with it as unable to function in regular society.

So Grace demands that a special course be put together where he teaches kids with this disability specifically. Rocky is hesitant, as most kids with this disability are home schooled and kind of... kept shut away. But Grace insists and as one of Erid's saviors, he gets what he wants eventually.

His first class is super small, maybe only three kids because so few parents were willing to advertise that their children have this disability. And because of the stigma around it, even those who agreed to it are super unsure and want to be present during the lessons, perhaps paranoid about the impression it will leave on Savior Grace, who is so accustomed to only teaching the most gifted students.

But Grace knows exactly how to deal with these kids. Some of them have varying degrees of function when it comes to their memory banks, which isn't so unlike teaching kids on earth. And so Grace is able to introduce all these tools and teaching techniques that were previously unheard of on Erid (though very normal on Earth) like having textbooks for reference with you at all times and having strategies that are less focused on memorization for understanding, and providing these kids with tools like calculators and teaching them the art of taking notes to look back on, etc etc.

Suddenly, with all these tools that most Eridians don't need, these kids are learning at a much faster rate, and succeeding with the help of all their little tools. And because so many normal eridians are ignorant of Grace's actual biology, it's shocking to them that Savior Grace doesn't have an eidetic memory either (shocking to everyone but Rocky anyway)--that his brain functions quite similarly in capacity to these "disabled" children.

Once this news gets around, suddenly there's more kids in his special classes, and there's all kinds of discourse being inflamed because the real reason these kids can't live on their own or function is lack of support from Eridian society.

If Savior Grace, who is well respected as a genius in his own right amongst the Eridians, can function so successfully, they why can't these kids?

Couple of Project Hail Mary doodles!!

The first one was my idea of what he would go for as a jingly celebrations outfit ahah the eridians collect and make him all sorts of beads; even if they're sad that their most resonant materials are toxic to Grace. They settle on some of the lightest metals they have plus porous rocks (trying to avoid extra weight as much as possible because of, well, extra gravity).

Grace has a fun week sorting them by colour which is incomprehensible to them (to the point someone alerts rocky that the human has been pushing the same beads around arbitrarily and is he ok??)

It is not the best sounding outfit anyone has heard but they're happy Grace is well enough to celebrate with them!

I absolutely can't believe anyone would think this is a good idea. Like, congrats, you are making life and career much harder for the person you supposedly are a fan of.

Who would want to hire an actor if their fan base will try to minimise the show award chances?

yes! this is what i learned about this morning!! i'm honestly appalled. like...it's unspeakable. i can't wrap my head around the fucking logic? i don't imagine sg is aware what her fan base tried to do but i feel awful for her. the lengths? the audacity? like it didn't work, at all, but to try and sabotage other actors chances at awards is rancid. but to also destroy your faves image and credibility in hollywood of all places?! i'm baffled.

i'll pop video here for anyone curious:

________

You will be remembered as a hero. ________

it starts with them watching a movie, maybe the devil wears prada, and a little way through the movie rocky asks why miranda has two names. is it because she's more important?

grace, already anticipating a long conversation, says no, all humans have two names. everyone's just scared of miranda because her two names are really well known.

"grace have another name and not tell rocky?!" rocky asks, incensed. "what names mean, question? why two?"

"well," grace explains, "your first name is the name your parents give you at birth. usually people call you by your first name, especially if you're close. except in... some situations, i guess," he says, remembering stratt's vat. nobody had called him ryland there, but he still felt pretty close to all of them.

"and second name?" rocky prompts.

"right - last names correlate to your family. when you're born, you take your family name so that people know who you're related to. it also helps differentiate between two people with the same first name."

"so what grace last name, question?" rocky asks. grace blanches a little.

"uhh... grace is my last name, rock," he says, sheepishly.

"what?!" rocky yells. grace winces. "grace not tell rocky grace first name? grace not close with rocky? grace hate rocky?"

"no!" grace protests. "of course i don't hate you! don't say that!" maybe it's stupid, but grace does actually feel a little hurt by the insinuation.

"then why not tell rocky?!"

grace sighs. "i don't know, rock. i mean - when i met you i barely knew up from down, much less what my name meant to me. and i kept getting these memories and everyone kept calling me grace, and i just, i haven't been called ryland in so long it doesn't really feel like my name anymore."

rocky ruminates on this for a moment. then: "...ryland is grace first name, question?"

"yeah."

"rocky like grace better." grace deflates with relief. "yeah, me too, buddy."

"but," rocky says, "rocky want last name too now."

huh. okay, then.

"i guess i could figure that out," grace agrees. "we could give you movie rocky's last name? you wanna be rocky balboa?"

"mm, no," rocky says.

"okay, well we could go region based, i guess. where'd you grow up? i can make up something fitting, or i can look something up on my computer, i'm sure there's places on earth that are similar to places on erid -"

"no," rocky interrupts. "want grace."

"...huh?"

"rocky want grace last name."

grace is suddenly feeling very, very flushed. "you what??"

"last name is family name, question?"

"well, yeah, but -"

"and rocky grace family now. so rocky want grace family name!"

...well, when he says it like THAT, it's so much more innocent. grace... well, he agrees, because what else is he gonna say? that rocky should know that that that's as good as a marriage proposal?

no, that takes too much cultural context, and a longer conversation than he wants to have right now. easier to just let rocky have it. it's not like there'll be any consequences to bite him in the ass, right?

and grace is trying so hard to not accidentally be sexist or assign gender roles to a monogendered species, so like, trying hard not to call someone he/him just because they like sports, or she/her just because they seem caring, or whatever. and he's having a hard time about it because he's like oh man why am I assigning the pronouns I'm assigning, i hope I'm not bringing any of my biases into this. just absolutely eating himself up over it

he tries to fix this by starting to roll a die, or throw darts at a dartboard, but his students immediately throw a fit because the point of the word-gifts is that they are specific, picked deliberately for them, right? and grace tries to explain gender bias and so on, but it becomes clear these kids could genuinely not give less of a shit, they just want to know what their AGAG (assigned gender at grace) is, alright? why is this so hard for him to understand??

eventually grace comes to the conclusion that he's on a different planet, and severely overthinking this, and that his kids really just are having fun--they really don't see the grace-given pronouns as categorization, he figures they see them as something more akin to astrology. or an eridian tiktok trend. when grace learns they call the assigning a word-gift he probably cries tbh

"teacher grace!!! what my pronoun question???"

"hmm. getting big they/them vibes off you"

They find the body of an Eridian who has recently passed away (don't ask me how) and transplant Grace's mind into that body (don't ask me how)

Grace of course has a WILD time adjusting to being an Eridian, learning how to "see" the way Eridians do, how to speak, how to walk around with five legs, but he and Rocky finally get to actually hug! And Grace gets to see all the parts of the planet that he was never able to while human!

"A Thread of Stillness"

One of my three latest paintings from a connected series, available on my website

Each piece feels like part of the same quiet passage, tied together by light, water, atmosphere, and a subtle sense of transition.

Babes, I’m gonna tell you what I wish someone had told me when I was starting lab work as a young kid. They are fuckin’ with you and hoping you give up. It’s a room with hoods, you are not ruining anything by sitting in a fuckin’ chair to do your work.

See, those job descriptions are ableist as fuck on purpose, because science as a career field changes about as fast as a glacier moves. If you’re an American, you’re covered by the ADA to get what you need. If not, you need to remember your worth and that the steps to accommodate you are beyond worth it to have you. Have a list of what you need, see the space during the interview if possible. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. You have a right to be there, you are an asset. It doesn’t ruin anything for you to sit in a height adjustable chair.

I wish I could tell you it’s gonna be easy. But it’s not. The room you’ll be working in is going to be the easiest part of this. You are going to have to prove you belong in there a countless number of times, but you do. I promise. ❤️

Here are some resources, please ask me anything anytime: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01889-4