my dear Art,—

Imma be honest. I did not predict this finale, like, at all. So...let's see how this goes!

There is an arc where Kim Soleum is a cat.

A cat. In the ocean. Reading a necronomicon. On a spy mission. While witnessing the horrors. A very good and nice cat.

Imma be honest. I did not predict this finale, like, at all. So...let's see how this goes!

Limited Time Only~~~

Imma be honest. I did not predict this finale, like, at all. So...let's see how this goes!

Pick a Soleum, then vote to adopt your new son! All forms come with a free Rabbit Plushie

Looping (Trade)

Chasing after him personally to bring him onto the project, to watching him run, having neither the heart to stop him personally nor the choice to let him go anymore.

Going from needing two coffees to function and heading straight to work, to sharing one cup each and simply being still for a moment, together.

From bringing him into rooms and making everyone there appreciate him, to leading the room that is fully aware he is their only saving grace.

From “Must be hard, having to ask everybody to… you know.”

“Actually, it isn’t.”

To... “Don’t make this harder, please.”

The first and last time he makes her smile, by acknowledging her intelligence, (and being snarky about it).

By being surprised that she knows he was fired for calling the leading scholar in his field a “staggering waste of carbon,” rather than for standing by what he said as he tried to imply. And years later by throwing the phrase, “You’re smart, you’ll figure it out,” right back at her.

there's an explosion nine days before the launch and he's the first thing she's worried about.

you know she immediately is freaking out over how she let this happen. it's her fault. they shouldn't have been there and she didn't spot it.

and who can she rely on to find the answer she needs?

but immediately once she knows the stakes she cuts him off.

doesn't speak to him for four whole days. the person she has involved for everything. and then when she does!!!!

she says the first of very many mean things to him. and I know she doesn't mean it because it's one of the first things she says about him to the others!! all the way back in chapter 5 before they even knew he had the coma gene!!

Everyone finds out differently. Some are religiously reading everything about the mission and go still in the darkness of their beds, phone glowing in front of their face. Some of them get sat down gently by their parents, maybe even with a counselor or therapist, to explain what's happening. Still more feel like a bolt of lightning has hit them when their friends whisper the news in class.

Undeniably -- and many of them try -- the fact that haunts them is that he went up for them. For their future. For everybody's future, some manage to rationalize, but those who think too hard cannot ignore it. Not for any faceless group of children -- their names and faces and laughs and questions must have been on his mind when he said yes.

It becomes a solid weight between them all. Ex students of his feel it too. If you know someone used to know and love Dr. Ryland Grace, you drop everything to help them when they fall, even if it's just a silent hand. The older students in particular latch onto the class he disappeared on, becoming fiercely protective. New kinship is formed. When they're old enough (even 16, if their parents relent), many of them get tattoos to remember him, even as they're covered up by the increasing layers they need to go outside. A beanie ball of the Earth. Laika the dog. His glasses. The date he left. Sometimes, just a red Petrova Line.

The first year that ex students of his graduate high school, he's mentioned in the Valedictorian's speech. She wasn't even a student of his, but she's grateful that he saved her best friend's life with his care and compassion. She says she hopes that his dreams are sweet. Ryland Grace hasn't even woken up yet.

When his class graduates, there's a seat saved for him in the teacher's row. The principal, throat thick, says that Dr. Grace would be proud of all of them. People leave flowers on the seat and his students get a special tassel.

Babies start being named after him, this time by people who actually knew him. Grief doesn't fade, but the space it occupies gets smaller, turns into an extra jolt of pain when they look up at the darkening sun and know that someone very smart is up there, trying to fix it.

On his "wake-up" day, a bunch of them get together again. They forget old grievances and brush past the awkwardness that time has grown. They show how their tattoos look now. They tell stories and try to guess what alarm clock music he would pick. They try to think of how he'd react to their lives. Many of them are teachers now. One of them has a framed selfie of them on their desk. They laugh about how embarassed he'd pretend to be while being deeply touched.

this rest of the thread continues after the third tweet from the reblog.

like THE FULL THREAD is genuinely so reassuring.

sometimes, it is not enough to just know, sometimes you might need that reassurance of "do you really think of me when i'm away?" and someone reassuring you that yeah, they do. and evaluate that! trust that! just like op did.

and then learning that ykw, it's NOT any of my business really. and finding comfort in that trust that like. whether they are or aren't thinking of me, they really do love me.