@pickledoesthetumbling @inkyrainstorms
OOOOH OK SO I ACTUALLY HAVE A FEW WAYS THIS COULD GO!!! but for the swap it'd be ryland and rocky!! :))
info on the swap itself just for context: it would go down like in yumi and the nightmare painter but just in case you haven't read it (strongly recommend if you haven't, it's my favorite book!! well, tied with phm lol)
so in yumi and the nightmare painter, it's a body swap but they still see each other as themselves! for example, rocky's soul is in grace's body and grace sees rocky (in grace's body) as rocky. but if stratt were to look at him, she'd see grace and not rocky. instead of being fully swapped (like in the anime your name) the other is there in spirit form! so while rocky controls grace's body, grace is there in spirit form and only rocky can see him. so they can still talk and stuff but only rocky can interact with the physical world! and then grace is in rocky's body and, rocky is there in spirit form as well. BAH I'M SORRY THIS ISN'T WORDED WELL!! it makes more sense if you've read yumi!
but as for when they swap, it could either happen two ways!! the one that could be the most fun to explore would be if the swap started right after stratt found grace, so after he does the first test on the astrophage! i don't really know how everything would go on, but it could be interesting to explore how differently the project would have gone down had rocky been there as well! when it comes to the sciencey stuff, grace would probably speak through rocky in discussions and stuff though i do wonder how not having ryland PHYSICALLY there to do the experimentation. what culture and rules would rocky struggle to match, like yumi not being used to life in torio city and just... being a person, but x100 since rocky is literally on an ALIEN planet filled with ALIEN creatures dealing with ALIEN senses!! would rocky be able to actually see in ryland's body??
and then when ryland is in rocky's body, he's in the blip-a and gets to learn about tau ceti and do all the exploring!! so he gets to do all the sciencey stuff there, plus he gets to be INSIDE the blip (his inner nerd is freaking out after realizing he's inside an ALIEN FUDGING SPACECRAFT WHATTT???) so it may lead to the hail mary not even needing to be launched?? but it really depends on what he can accomplish without Rocky physically there and helping him. in theory though, it could lead to him piloting the blip to adrian and collecting the taomoeba earlier than in canon!
and since both of these are happening simultaneously it could lead to discoveries happening much earlier and differently. in yumi, whenever nikaro's in yumi's world he's just sleeping in his own so they skip a day but i think for plot's sake that wouldn't be realistic to happen because stratt wouldn't put up with grace only showing up every other day to work.
i do wonder how they'd handle telling stratt and the crew about everything, how could they explain what ryland and rocky are learning aboard the blip without sounding insane? would they be able to talk about the swap without getting sent to the insane asylum lol
so yeah i think it'd be cool having them navigate everything!! it would alter everything a bit because ryland would have more knowledge on earth leading to them potentially not needing to send the hail mary? instead they could just send a probe or something to get the taumoeba from the blip or maybe the blip could send it over to earth!
as i;m sure you can tell i don't actually have many plans it's just fun to think about!!!
the other swap scenario that would be interesting is if they started swapping right after grace wakes up from the coma. i don't really know how it would work, but imagine you wake up with no memories, then right when you finally remember your name you wake up in an alien ship with a weird incorporeal rocky dude beside you lol
I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE HONESTLY I'M JUST KIND OF RAMBLINGGGGG but yeah!! fun to think about! go read yumi it's so good :)))
