Shitpost

Your partner since you were young goes on a mission to save your dying planet and doesn’t return as expected. He is assumed lost in space, and everyday things get more dire on the surface. You miss him terribly. And then one day, an ALIEN SPACECRAFT shows up with not only the solution to your dying planet but also your partner.

And you’re probably thrilled but also thrown for a loop because what do you mean 1. Aliens are real 2. They breathe highly flammable gas and 3. Your partner made friends with it. And said alien looks like nothing you’ve ever heard, and has a sense you don’t have at all and is also apparently dying of nutritional loss? And your partner is like codependent as hell with it, and suddenly your entire life changes overnight. Also your partner is himself but also completely different in ways you don’t understand, in ways that are sometimes scary because all that time in space changes a person.

I don’t know how anyone would react to that, cus damn that’s overwhelming, but I think that’s an interesting dynamic to have with an alien. Your partner’s closet companion besides you is an alien. It feels like the alien knows your partner better than you do some days. The alien also helped save your entire planet.

hey mary take a sick ass photo of us

Uh oh, I've got bad news for you, Grace

Grace wasn't sad and lonely, he was happy, he had a good life, he very much did not want to die. They have to do a looney tunes chase sequence and drug him because Grace was *very* unwilling to be the sacrificial lamb. Humanity's savior was dragged kicking and screaming into the role and called selfish for daring to be a coward, as if most of us wouldn't be.

And then he befriends Rocky, who never demands a sacrifice from him, who willingly prolongs his journey home so Grace can go back to his. Rocky has a mate back home and his species depends on his return, and still risks his life to save his squishy human friend. And Grace returns the favor.

Grace wasn't sad and lonely, he was happy, he had a good life, he very much did not want to die. They have to do a looney tunes chase sequence and drug him because Grace was *very* unwilling to be the sacrificial lamb. Humanity's savior was dragged kicking and screaming into the role and called selfish for daring to be a coward, as if most of us wouldn't be.

And then he befriends Rocky, who never demands a sacrifice from him, who willingly prolongs his journey home so Grace can go back to his. Rocky has a mate back home and his species depends on his return, and still risks his life to save his squishy human friend. And Grace returns the favor.

close-ups

very loosely based on the book descriptions lol

Rocky: "why Grace so 🎶🎶🎶 stupid. Question."

Grace: "Excuse me buddy?"

Rocky: "...🎶🎶🎶 stupid. Hmm. Need word."

Grace: "...what does it mean?"

Rocky: "Meant add strength to word. But some Eridians think also .....rude"

Grace: "So a swear word. I'm not giving you the human word for that."

Rocky: "Why not. Question."

Grace: "Because this human thinks they are rude too."

Turns out there's a childhood disease to the tune of measles that erodes the carapace, and the first symptom shows up about a week before any actual damage is caused.

Grace comments to Rocky that one of his students seems to be turning oxidisation-green. About a week later that student has to be hospitalised for this illness.

Eridian scientists realise pretty quick that Grace can detect the illness long before any of their equipment can, and when caught that early it is much, much easier and safer to treat.