the rest is confetti

to armand, vampirism impedes his ability to care for daniel; he wants nothing more than to be more human for him. armand wants to perform this small kindness for his boy, but it's rendered ineffective by his lack of body heat. meanwhile, the gesture clearly still meant something to daniel if it stuck in his mind all those years and he thought it worth mentioning to lestat for his book. armand trying to warm the locket mattered because armand—who has also only ever been treated extremely callously himself—loved him enough to think to do it, not because it actually made a physical difference.

what is wrong danielbug ? why are you covered in armands blood ?

Well... Yes and no.

The last time Ryland Grace was CONSCIOUS of any human touch was when he was knocked out. Absolutely true.

But the last human contact he would have had was Yao and Ilyukhina. Who were told that he was scared about panicking during launch and asked to be sedated. Who did all the pre flight checks before the Hail Mary launched. Who would have carefully, gently carried Grace to his bed in the dormitory, made sure he was secure, and initiated his coma procedure.

There would have been love there. Remember Ilyukhina throwing her hands high and saying "welcome to crew!" Remember Yao saying how he hoped Grace would say yes. Remember how much the crew trusted Grace, Stratt's First Officer, the guy who helped them so much, and was so kind to them, and was the one who they entrusted their preferred methods of suicide to. Who thought they were wonderful and brave.

They would have tucked him in. Maybe brushed his hair out of his face. Maybe said something kind to him before initiating their own coma procedures.