Herewithstupid

Rocky: "Hasn't been neccessary."

Grace: "You havent cleaned up once since we met?"

Rocky, huffy: "Rocky doesn't have 7-10 holes producing gross gross gross liquids! Doesn't need daily clean up!"

Grace: "...And your species doesn't have a sense of smell. Doesn't matter if you're unwashed and stinky all the time."

Rocky: "I am clean!"

Grace: "Even after being set on fire? C'mon, buddy. You can admit it if all that time alone left you a little sloppy. I certainly did."

Rocky: "Yes, I saw."

Rocky:

Rocky: "Fine. Rocky will 'bathe.'"

Grace: "...and I'll watch!"

Rocky: "...That! That was Grace's scheme! No, no, no! Not watch Rocky bathe."

Grace: "It cant be worse than you eating, and besides: you know its valuable for our species' shared future. We need to understand one another fully."

Rocky: "First ask watch eat, then Grace ask wash, what next? Getting ♪♬♫♩♪♪? ♩♫♫♪♬ an egg?? Fucking 𝄞??"

Grace: "I mean, if you're offering..."

Rocky: "Bad bad bad!"

Grace, laughing: "Sorry, sorry. You really dont have to show me, your comfort is important."

Grace: "But you do listen to me shower every day."

Rocky:

Rocky: "Point taken."

Rocky: "Grace can watch."

This is how Project Hail Mary went, right?

Like his language consists of noises that are simultaneously very simple compared to the overlapping eridian notes, and weird clicking/hard sounds that no one could even begin to try to imitate. To begin with, that's a weird combination.

And there's a popular headcanon going around that Grace can pronounce certain simple words in eridian without his piano thingy, and he would sound like a pebble learning to speak. Let's make it creepy and assume eridians also have a fear of the uncanny valley.

Grace getting better with time at imitating simple words, therefore accidentally making himself sound more and more like a pebble, sounding right enough, but not quite. That shit would be creepy as fuck.

Imagine an alien that can imitate the way the children of your species sound like. At first you'd freak out! Yeah he saved your planet but. It's like a fucking mimic. Then you'd see him trip over nothing and fall face first and you'd calm down.

See hi-res version here: patreon.com/posts/bloody-mary-im-158703620

Updating every Tuesday: Bloody Mary (Project Hail Mary x Iron Lung) short story