"Grace said humans are persistence predator. Wearing down taumoeba until it's exhausted, question?" Rocky asks as Grace contemplates the taumoeba shake in the cup before him. He's been staring at it for fifteen minutes, trying to find the courage to actually take a sip.

"New rule, you can't make fun of me while I'm eating. It's rude." 

"No problem. I will stop making fun when you start eating." 

"I'm working on it. It's not exactly pleasant, you know. Imagine if it made you sick to... do whatever with your gelatinous mush?" 

"Never would happen. Eridians more efficient, not eject nutrition for no reason." 

"Usually there is a reason. Just... sometimes it's stupid."

"And this is stupid." 

"I'm aware," he snaps a little hotter than he wants to, "but I can't help it. It's not like I want to be throwing up after every meal. I'm just not used to it." 

"I know. Sorry. Not mean to make Grace mad." 

Grace sighs, swirls the drink in the mug. "You didn't. I just... really don't want to do this again." 

He hates that the taumoeba shake has made him feel like a petulant toddler who doesn't want to eat their vegetables, but learning to stomach it isn't going well. Now, he has to deal with Rocky serving as the strict parent who won't let him up from the table until he finishes his plate. It's not Rocky's fault any more than it is Grace's--he just wants to take care of him, and this is part of that. Neither of them like it, but joking about it sometimes makes it easier.

Not the case right now. Grace's stomach is already turning in anticipation of the shake hitting his tongue, much like the six months after his 21st birthday when he couldn't smell fireball without gagging. 

"If Grace insides are one long tube, why can't you just open throat and pour whole taumoeba shake inside, question?"

"This is like 350 mils, bud; I can't just toss it back like a shot. I'd choke to death. It has to go in my mouth, first, which is the problem."

"Tube is stupid. Long and complicated and picky." 

"Pretty much." He takes a deep breath. "Okay. I'm gonna do it. Here I go. I'm gonna do it."

"How Grace drink shake if mouth too busy talking?" 

"You're not even pretending to give me words of encouragement." 

"Encourage Grace to not throw up," Rocky cheers. With one more steadying breath, Grace holds the cup to his lips and knocks back as much as he possibly can in one go, chases it with a sip of water, then clamps his hand over his mouth and doubles forward, like that's going to help anything. To Rocky's credit, he's quiet and patient while Grace breathes heavily through the intense nausea and restrained gagging. With as repulsive as he finds eating, he's sure that vomiting is infinitely worse. Rather, he knows it is, because Rocky told him multiple times. Still, he's stuck by him, never making him do it alone even though whether or not it stays down is a real grab bag. 

When he's sure that his first mouthful is good and swallowed, he opens his eyes. Rocky is there doing jazz hands, and the cup is there, too, containing almost as much taumoeba as he'd just barely managed to drink in his first gulp. This is one scenario in which calling the glass half full is not a sign of optimism. 

"Grace drink shake!" Rocky celebrates. He grimaces. 

"Grace drink half of shake. There's still more."

"Is good! Just do same one more time, easy!" 

"Ugh. The second half is harder. My stomach is angry, now." 

"Sip water. Remind tube who's boss." Grace chuckles as Rocky throws a few air punches his way. 

"I've been showing you too many boxing movies." He pushes his glasses up as he scrubs his hands over his face in exhaustion. "There's got to be something we can do to this that we haven't thought of." They tried diluting it with water, but that just created more disgusting liquid to drink. Chasing it with anything sweet made it worse, like orange juice and toothpaste. 

"When we get to Erid, scientists will find a way to make calories taste pleasant for picky picky picky friend." 

"Looking forward to it. This still sucks." 

"Drink rest of shake. Then we can watch movie." 

"Bargaining, huh?" he asks, amused. "Okay. The longer I draw this out, the worse it's gonna be. Here goes." 

The second half is, indeed, harder. He only manages to choke it down for a few seconds before he's leaning over the trash can and coughing it right back up. 

"Bad bad bad," Rocky laments. Despite his revulsion, he scoots his ball closer and taps the xenonite in a way that Grace knows means is meant to be comforting, like patting him on the back. "Is okay. Grace breathe." 

Grace groans. 

"Is okay. Be calm." 

"It's not okay," he replies after he's finally able to wash his mouth out with water and spit it into the trash can. "If this won't stay down--"

"Taumoeba shake new to Grace. Still have time to learn to drink. We will find way to make it work. Promise."

Grace sighs. "Okay. If you promise."

"I do!" he chirps. "Rocky is sure sure sure. Grace Rocky get to Erid. Make food Grace like." They have no ideas, but Grace has done harder things than this. They saved the stars. He can learn to drink a shake. 

"Yeah. Okay."

"Grace want more shake, question? Try to drink again?"