dracadraca

Rocky and Adrian sleeping dynamics before and during the astrophage mission

Exploring Eridian’s biology. Most of it are taken from the book, but I want to add to it :)

My headcanons:

-Rocky and Adrian had kids before Rocky went away. They are now in their (human equivalent) 20s.

-Adrian and Rocky used to be around the same age, now Adrian is MUCH older.

-Baby Eridians are called pebbles (like baby goats are called kids). Yes, this is all Grace doing.

-Eridan’s eggs are like geode.

-Eridian’s eggs (canonically) are laid together when mate and then merge. I however, also think that they would usually go for two at a time for protection (they can watch each other sleep as they get older).

-Rocky name his two new pebbles after Grace and the Hail Mary.

-I’m not a geologist and very much not knowledgeable about rock, but I believe that the green/blue we see Eridians have (movie ver) could be caused by the various level of metal element on their rock layer, like copper and bronze, interacting with the elements over time (Verdigris).

-Baby Eridians are smooth rock. As Eridians grow, they became sharper and more complex looking, caused both by natural aging and external elements.

Grace gave his deceased crewmates a burial in space. Do we think Rocky did the same? What is the respectful thing to do for an Eridian?

Would Eridians bury their dead, given that they are mostly inorganic materials and wouldn’t decay as human bodies do?

They wouldn’t cremate them, given that it’s apparently impossible to make fire on Erid without a lab. (Anyway, Eridian bodies are stone and metal, so you’d need a blast furnace. Not practical.)

Would they give the bodies to the sea?

Would they place the dead in catacombs, maybe with someone to ritually watch them sleep?

It raises a lot of interesting questions about the paleoanthropology of human burial customs. How and why did we originally start doing what we do? We’ve been burying our dead for at least 78,000 years. What made that seem like the right thing to do?…

I found an interesting article from 2018:

Paul Pettitt; Hominin evolutionary thanatology from the mortuary to funerary realm: the palaeoanthropological bridge between chemistry and culture. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 5 September 2018; 373 (1754): 20180212. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2018.0212

the teachers salary is ONE reason he doesnt have a car, sure, but even if he had the money, he would chicken out and keep riding the bike and citing traffic & exercise as reasons. there is one time he and some other teachers are chaperoning a field trip or w/e and he has to drive a van full of kids from point A to point B for some reason. it wasnt planned and he almost has a panic attack because he hasnt sat in the drivers seat for like a decade, but when they asked whether he had a drivers license he said yes because its true. but also he probably shouldnt have one. someone should probably take it away.

everything turned out fine and nobody was injured. except the kids could totally tell he was freaking out the entire time and ALSO, two of them heard him hyping himself up in the bathroom right until they were meant to leave. needless to say, they are merciless about it (because they know hes cool and will go with the bit). none of them will ever let him forget "youre a regular guy you can drive a car. youre a regular guy you know how to navigate traffic. youre a regular guy you can merge lanes". some particularly funny kid gets him one of those "please be patient - student driver" bumper stickers for his birthday. and whoever is running the schools most popular meme account is photoshopping him into the background of fast & furious scenes saying stuff like "guys cant we just bike there?" and "uh the engine is making this weird humming noise are we sure this is normal?" and "mr toretto i think we should stay at least 5mph under the speed limit just to be safe"

if they hadnt shot him into space, he wouldve gotten his license revoked at 46 on some technicality and his students would have congratulated him on the successful transition (into being the non-license holder he always was at heart). maybe its some underlying diagnosis (adhd), maybe his spacial thinking isnt that great, maybe he just sucks ass at operating a motorized vehicle. AND some part of him probably believes any machinery with more than 2 horse power is only meant to be operated by trained professionals, like trains and planes and cranes and forklifts. its kind of insane that they let just let anyone (including him) get their hands on a go-fast explody-machine with minimal supervision!

the above memories are the ones he recovers at the very beginning of learning to pilot the hail mary. it for sure does not make him more confident in his abilities, and yes, he has a minor crisis about it

rocky, being helpful, reminds him that "is not comparable. explosive earth transport machine only move in two dimensions. ship go three." this does not help.

yes, he has jacob wysocki's "regular guy" speech memorized because there was a week when a few of his kids were playing it on repeat before class and making up increasingly ridiculous alternate versions

he can tell you all about the physics of a combustion engine, no problem, but he famously knows jack shit about its day-to-day operation. if a red indicator light comes on and hes driving theres a 50/50 chance he'll immediately slam on the breaks out of instinct (RED = BAD = STOP DRIVING)

the second driving-related memory he recovers is of his driving instructor being a bit of a dick about him expressing discomfort & being anything but a natural-born driver (something something masculinity youre supposed to be excited about/into this)

he barfed before his first driving test. he also failed his first driving test.

he does get road rage. but only while facing off with commuter traffic on a bicycle. because somehow being in the vulnerable position makes him less anxious?! (there isnt a lot of adrenaline to be had in his life. being reckless idiot because he's running late and pissing off drivers is how he gets his kicks)

the closest he ever gets to engaging in a physical altercation is during a roadside yelling match with a guy driving a giant truck who wasnt checking over his shoulder when he turned & grace came out of nowhere weaving through traffic like a mad man. (neither of them were model road users and neither of them were able ro admit it. hence the escalation)

also, what the heck is wrong with people? who still drives stick shift willingly?!

when marissa breaks up with her boyfriend, grace rents a minivan to help her move and he is So Brave about it. she appreciates it even though hes sweating profusely the entire time and they have to crank open the windows. (she knows about the driving anxiety, he told her while in the midst of studying for finals, running on 2 hours of sleep, eight shots of espresso & maybe something else too)

he does enjoy the charms people put on their rearview mirrors because those are like windows into the soul if you think about it.

also, new car smell? fantastic. and for some reason he really likes those fragrance hangers. like maybe he even buys one just to carry it around and smell it sometimes. because hes Weird like that

when he finally gets himself a new (used) bike, he gets a lot of comments about his 'sweet ride' from students and faculty. a lot of jokes are made that go right over his head because he doesn't know any motorsport jargon & has never watched top gear