★

A lot of the organisms on Erid reside in the atmosphere, so just imagine Grace and Rocky are sitting on the beach one day and there’s a loud thunk on the biodime. Grace looks up and does the iconic high pitched gosling scream. It sort of resembles a human, but its limbs are all weird, its flesh is hard, and there are SO many things wrong about it. But it’s humanoid enough to give him nightmares for days.

“Rocky….what the FUDGE is THAT?!”

“Oh, is Erid flying organism! Name is ♫ ♪ ♫. Sort of looks like Grace, question?”

“Rock, I never want to see one of those again.”

They see electricity, the same electricity of your brain. If something is not charged they can't see anything at all, and a room of non-conductive objects would be a complete sensory deprecation chamber. They can see a little bit, but they are nearly blind and only use it to notice sudden changes. If you flash a light at them they scream. Instead they just bring a device that generates a charge everywhere they go. They claim their whole planet is charged, but you have doubts

This apparently allows them to see secrets of the universe. They knew about the big bang through out their entire history, because they can apparently just see the beginning of the universe. They find it beautiful, but not all that interesting. You are jealous

Despite being in space, they have not yet discovered steel or had the industrial revolution. It's basically still alchemists and philosophers, but the alchemy and philosophy works and got them to space. You are no longer jealous

They rely on the temperature being way below 40 degrees Fahrenheit so all the fat stays solid and frozen, and die if it's warm. They consider you burning

They get all their energy from air, like eating, to the point they cannot hold their breath at all. They get other things from food, but refuse to prepare it aside from digestion. They just plop it in basically untouched

They age in dog years, dying a few months after turning 9, and only reach adulthood at age 4. That's an absurd amount of time to spend as a child. The one you met is apparently 5 and considers himself a mature adult. The tantrums say otherwise. Yes, he also has arcane knowledge naturally. You are more surprised they live this long considering everything else about them

They have 4 genders and assigned you one, maybe randomly. Kind of rude, apparently very complex, but they have no idea how to explain it. You aren't asking

but, due to the fog of the amnesia, then the urgency of the mission plus Rocky's appearance, Grace doesn't fully look through every box until they're on their way to Erid. and that's when Rocky wakes up from sleep to see Grace sobbing over a bunch of letters. students telling him how much they enjoyed his class, actually made learning fun and interesting. got them through tough days. made them feel seen and appreciated. quite a few cite his class as being the spark that got them interested in science as a career. and even those that didn't still consider him the best teacher they ever had. fellow teachers admiring his classroom management and lesson planning, and even so his kindness to every student who walked into his room.

one letter is from the principal. when Dr. Grace's involvement in the Hail Mary Project became public knowledge, there was a push from the community to rename the school after him. after discussions with the school board, there had been a secret agreement to do so, even had a new sign made. they were just waiting for him to be released from the project and return to San Fransisco to surprise him. but, with the recent news of his "noble sacrifice", they'd gone ahead and done it. attached the press release with a picture of the new sign, a bunch of his former students standing around it, beaming. a local artist has been commissioned to add a mural to the front entrance over the summer break. and a final note: "Do your work knowing that it will allow the Dr. Ryland Grace Middle School to continue to educate and inspire students for generations."

Lol. Lmao. You think Rocky is going to LET Grace die?? Fuck no. Broski has a team of Eridians cooking up some science as we speak. Throw Simon into that equation with his weird post blood ocean mutations that probably let him live longer and those chances get even lower. Grace I hope you're ready to wake up one morning and realize that for a 100 year old man you don't look all that much past 47.

honorable mentions (internal thoughts only):

i dont personally think hell is much of a curse but considering grace also uses heck i'm putting it here since clearly he thinks it is

The Creation of Adam (à la bloodymary) sketch

Adam may not have lifted a finger to close the measly gap between him and his creator, but these two would move mountains and tear down the heavens to be safe in each others arms.

Or smth like that teehee

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