Soup Mode Baby

But he also,

Throws fits when things don't go his way. Not a "I'm a bad bitch" destroying everything-type fit, but tossing a trash can, breaking a screen-type fit.

Cries. A lot.

Pleads. He begs.

Doesn't answer the call to action.

Shows weakness. Being a coward and being fearful are two things he defines himself with.

Doesn't end up with the girl. In fact, that girl isn't even interested and he isn't, either.

Cherishes friendship over a romantic plot or something stereotypically brave like, "I'm going to save Rocky so I can save his world." No, he wants to save his friend, first and foremost.

Squeaks. He squeals. He screams, loudly and very high pitched. He whines. He complains. He physically struggles to open a jar. He's clumsy as hell. He makes some of the least graceful noises one can make.

Is not afraid to be the primitive species lowkey.

They were invested in the mision and dying even before they could fulfill their roles for the Project Hail Mary must be reason enough for them to have uncomplete things to do.

I like to think that they were accompaning Grace through his mission, giving him strenght to not lose his mind. That those moments in which he learned something about himself out of nowhere, or those sparks that lead them to solutions related to how to navigate Hail Mary were motivated by the efforts of Yáo and Ilyukhina to guide and help him.

Imagine with me:

Yáo and Ilyukhina not understanding they are dead at the start and thinking that they just wake up earlier (Yáo die first so he realize first in thinking this, when Ilyukhina dies Yáo explains to her that she did not survive the induced coma).

Yáo and Ilyukhina knowing that is cruel to wish for Grace to wake up sound and safe, just for him to be complete alone, but he is the only hope they have left.

Yáo and Ilyukhina feeling more at ease after Grace gives their corpses to the stars.

Ilyukhina been the most excited one about Rocky apparition, because she was an engineer and is just fascinated by what Rocky can do.

Yáo and Ilyukhina been indignated to have lost their chance to be part of the first contact in life.

Yáo trying to pass his knowledge as a captain to Grace, to ease his way with the controls.

Ilyukina been that little voice in Grace head of giving a chance to the Blip- A, that maybe they are friendly.

Yáo been a quiet force that supports Grace. There is point, at least in the book in which Grace seems to think that maybe he was brave, but he doesn't remember it, maybe that thought came from Yáo who believed that anyone could be brave.

All those little moments of luck been Ilyukhina and Yáo trying to influence so Rocky and Grace can have a successful mission.

Both ghosts, but specially Yáo bringing bad energies the moment they realize that Grace was sent against his will.

Ilyukhina crossing to the other side in peace the moment that realize that Rocky is the new engineer and that Grace has made the taumeba been able to survive Venus and the eridiani-2 planet.

Yáo crossing to the other side in peace when Grace decides to go rescue Rocky, because he can finally see Grace been truly brave for someone he cares.

Extra + Rocky

If Grace has 2 ghosts taking care of him, Rocky has 22.

22 eridian ghosts noticing the Hail Mary first and making it more noticiable for Rocky (maybe they made subtle sounds or vibrations so Rocky would have a better picture of it).

The Blip-B and Blip-C having a perfect trajectory to the Hail Mary thanks to the 22 eridian ghosts.

22 eridian ghosts celebrating that their single survivor has been able to be part of the first contact.

The Hail Mary been the home of 22 eridian ghosts who come in all the sizes and shapes.

22 eridian ghosts been fascinated with the alien that Grace is and how leaky he is.

22 eridian ghosts concentrating their efforts so Rocky is able to recover after been burn by the oxygen.

22 eridian ghosts using their best clothes (they are ghosts they can wear whatever they want) as a celebration for having succed in doing the taumeba.

22 eridian ghosts not knowing what to do once Blip-A starts failing and Rocky is left without astrophage.

22 eridian ghosts crossing to the other side in peace once they hear the knock outside the Blip-A, because Grace is here.

Extra Extra:

DOG

dog dog dog

dog dog dog

i finished the audiobook in 4 days, saw the movie the day after, and have dragged everyone else i know into the Project Hail Mary pit by their ankles. so, y'know, i feel TOTALLY NORMAL ABOUT THEM!!!!

my drawings are a fusion of the book and movie aesthetically, but I decide to keep Rocky's little shirt + the horrible burn scarring of the "lets shove Rocky in the airlock to save him" scene.

i also designed this sticker, and if anyone wants to buy one, lmk:

like it is actually very important that you learn about who initially came up with the centrifuge design system for the Hail Mary and that she was one of the scientists that disagreed with Grace and he still doesn't like her for it and the feeling is mutual but he still acknowledges how fantastic her idea is because of course it is. She is the whole reason the ship works in a way that is vital to the mission.

It's important that you understand that Strat finds the world's leading climatologist to tell her exactly what mandmade catastrophe would increase greenhouse gases exponentially because it doesn't matter that it fucks with the world's ecosystem as long as it buys the earth more time while the sun actively cools down due to the astrophage infection.

It matters that you know she took a man out of prison for involuntary manslaughter because of his idea to pave vast amounts of land with solar panels to breed astrophage faster. It matters that you remember with Grace that paving a vast chunk of the Sahara Desert with these solar panels fucked up weather all the way up to Europe.

It matters that you understand the gravity, the desperation, and how all of it was necessary because there just wasn't enough time to work with without sacrificing something. Someone. Anyone.

It matters that you know how quickly Strat hired these people, blew off court appearances, hired convicts, and ordered bombings of the Antarctic to release gases into the atmosphere to make global warming worse. You need to understand the level of urgency, how Strat moved through these hurdles and approached solutions. How she was a history major in college and it's why she knows damn well how bad it's about to get for Earth.

Because once you know how little time the earth has, how limited the resources are, how risky the science is, how so few people are well equipped for this particular mission that is well and truly the world's only shot at surviving, you understand a lot better why forcing Grace to go was their only option after their other scientists died due to a simple, fatal flaw. Even with one scientist left in the world who was willing to go.

Grace who does jazz hands and taps when he's asking a question and says some words three times like Rocky. Grace who makes chirps and trilling noises when he's happy.

Grace who starts thinking and dreaming in Eridian, who sometimes has dreams that are just sound, no visual. (Grace who, if he ever goes back to Earth for whatever reason after years on Erid, forgets some words in English and speaks in the sentence structure of Eridian because he has to translate from Eridian to English when he speaks outloud).

Grace who does scarification (even if Rocky protests at first) - I've read some fics where he does the Voyager pulsar map, or dots and lines showing his route from Sol, to Tau Ceti, turning around towards Sol, and then the line going all the way back to Erid. Even though he already has the scars from Rocky saving him, maybe Rocky's family crest. A scar showing his rank as Captain of the Hail Mary - maybe something to represent her, too.

Grace who wears Eridian gems, as earrings, in a chain for his glasses, in strings draped over him that clink together when he walks - the most important ones, like the earrings he wears all the time, the color of the blueish-green gems (or spots?) in/on Rocky's carapace.

Grace who wears a bracelet on each arm that have ribbed marks like on Rocky's arm so he can properly say goodbye (not something he had to do, but something that felt right to do, something that made him feel more like himself), sound included.

of course grace is delighted! but it'd be very funny if rocky had just. a massively specific regional accent. and now grace has it too. all the eridians from that area are like OMG THE ALIEN IS ONE OF US - we're adopting it. that's an honorary member of the clan. listen to it. it might as well have grown up here.

...actually i'm gonna do it. fuck it. rocky is space scottish. to me. he's mine now, i'm taking him out to look at the kelpies and the falkirk wheel and climb up ben ledi. he can go fishing in a loch. and now grace's eridian accent is their equivalent of scots. he says stuff to adrian's family (posh motherfuckers) and theyre like 'i think it's trying to communicate with us..?' meanwhile adrian, well used to rocky's accent by now, is like 'it's giving you a compliment. be nice to my spouse's alien, please.'

Grace was put into coma by the people who cared about him. They (especially Yáo being Yáo) probably double-triple-quadruple checked everything. They watched him sleep for those first few days — I doubt they went into coma immediately after leaving Earth's orbit. They probably talked to him, assuring him that he'll be okay.

Ilyukhina's coma procedure was probably supervised by Yáo. He made sure that everything was in order, but — he is just one man and he is not a doctor. There was much more room for mistakes.

When Yáo went to sleep, he was alone. He had to rely on the technology completely.