k.g.j. bean

And he always has his red watch and red lined converse !

Fated for the petrova like since the beginning

I get a lot of versions of this question, and I answer it seriously every time, because it’s both important and not important at all. Anyone who asks respectfully gets my whole ass answer.

It’s just not really about that. My job isn’t about defending the idea of hurting someone else. It’s about stopping the state from inflicting further hurt, torture, pain. It’s about pushing back for some fairness against a monumentally stacked system. And it’s about stuff that’s normal human stuff that counts as crime for some reason.

Yeah, it’s hard to do a sex abuse case. Sometimes the images stick around and it bothers me. But honestly? Mostly those cases have real plausible theories of innocence or they’re cases that I will lose because the evidence is there, and the question is not whether the perpetrator will go to jail but how long.

Those cases are so rare, though. I get so much pointless bullshit. Felony of a teen taking mom’s car without permission. Two kids that try to break into a car and get so scared by the alarm that they run away. Trespassing on dad’s house because his new girlfriend wants you to stop coming around. It’s just human stuff, and the violence of the state is not necessary or helpful.

I also reject the idea of punishment completely. The state has a responsibility to stop people from hurting other people again. But inflicting pain doesn’t do it, we know this by now. So I argue for mercy and for real solutions to real problems. I’m here to build a future, not get caught up with doing violence to someone because of the past.

So yeah, sometimes it’s hard, but mostly my conscience is dead clear: I’m not responsible for the crime. The damage has been done. I want to start the healing process, and I want it for everyone involved. When that’s not possible, I just want to tell the authorities they don’t get to just Do What They Want.

The more I do this job, the more I am a genuine pacifist who is against violence in all forms, and actually I don’t see a contradiction between that and what I do for a living. State violence is a pervasive evil that tears apart families, communities, and countries, and it’s far more damaging and awful than any individual crime. The average prosecutor has more blood on their hands than a serial killer, but it’s invisible: people who died in jail, who froze to death on the street, who were shot in a drug deal. Their violence begets violence.

When I get blood on my hands, it’s because I put my hands over the wounds and try to stop the flow. I’m okay with it.

Grace wears a yellow raincoat because the flight suits for the mission are yellow. He wears it from the start, when he meets (and tries to escape) Stratt, and is still wearing it when the lab explosion happens and when he's having a panic attack out on the communications array. Hell, he's wearing it when he tells Stratt no and runs for his life. He was always floating around the task force in the colors reserved for the flight crew.

Adrian: No, don’t be mean.

Rocky gently swaying Grace: Leaky space blob.

Adrian: No!

Grace grinning as Rocky sways them in the air: Very leaky, squishy blob.

So "Project Hail Mary" has utterly consumed me, and I have so many head cannons of what Grace's life on Erid would be like. I may flesh this out into a full fic someday, but for now, I'm dropping this bit of ramblings here for you all to chew on. (I'm mostly going on the movie canon, since Grace gets a far happier ending than he does in the book in terms of his quality of life, though some book canon may sneak its way in here.)

I can totally see Rocky and Adrian formally adopting Grace into their family/cluster. It begins with Rocky introducing Grace to his other siblings (since most Eridians give birth to multiple kids according to that Andy Weir document floating around). Said siblings, of course, have kids of their own, and when the little ones hear the story of how Grace and Rocky saved the world, Rocky and Grace off-handedly call one another "brothers in arms" at one point. (Grace even privately feels that Rocky is the brother he never had). Cue the family visiting Rocky often (because of course they want to reconnect with the sibling they almost lost out there in the void and make up for lost time). Naturally, this means frequent visits to Grace's house as well (via xenonite suits of course---yes, they make tiny ones for the kids too). After one random day of fun and merriment, the extended family is leaving, and one of Rocky's nieces/nephews casually says, "Bye ##### Grace!"

Afterward, Grace is like, "What did they call me?" And Rocky's like, "New word. Elder who is the sibling of your parent." And Grace mentally blue screens and is like, ".....you mean.....they just called me UNCLE Grace?"  And Rocky gently tells him, "What's wrong with that? You're my brother from beyond the stars."

Grace, in true Grace fashion, has a happy cry fit after that.  From then on, from time to time, Rocky will affectionately call Grace his "star brother" or "brother from Sol".

Eventually, the day comes that Grace is set to meet a ton of ambassadors and dignitaries from all across Erid. Rocky and Adrian try to prepare him as best they can in terms of formality and manners. But there's one lingering problem; something that's been low-key bothering Adrian for a while----the fact that they know that there's more to Grace's name, but there's no translation since it's a proper noun. They just got lucky that "Grace" also happens to be a translatable word, but Adrian believes that Grace deserves to have his full name spoken. They ask him if there's any meaning behind his first name, to which Grace has to admit he doesn't know. And that's not due to any lingering amnesia----he honestly, in all his life, never bothered to ask or look up what his first name is derived from. But luckily, of course, the Hail Mary's computers have just about EVERY piece of info there ever was, so out of personal curiosity (and some gentle pressure from Adrian), he investigates.....and buried in a book of baby names, he finds this:

Ryland: derived from the Old English phrase meaning "land where rye is grown". The name is often interpreted to represent agricultural abundance, growth, and resilience.

The coincidence of all that isn't lost on him. He has the perfect first name for someone who gave life back to two different planets. Adrian especially likes that last meaning, considering all he went through on his mission. As for "Grace", they already know it typically means "elegance in movement", of which he's most certainly not.....but there IS a second definition:  "receiving blessings, mercy, or salvation".

Then there's the matter of his title of "doctor". Eridians have different ways of splitting up and defining areas of study. If you call someone a "doctor", they take that to mean a doctor of medicine and healing. Anything else is classed as a "scientist", which is what Grace actually is.

It's Adrian who finally gives Grace his full, proper, Eridian name, to be used in the most formal of settings. His first name is a combo of cords that combine the words "abundance", "growth", and "resilient" (similar to how portmanteaus are made in human language). Similarly, his last name is a combo cord of "blessing" and "mercy".  Adrian then tacks on one other cord that Grace is unfamiliar with, and they explain "It's our cluster's clan name, similar to your surnames. This will identify you as belonging to Rocky and mine's cluster."

Grace breaks down sobbing. Adrian says it's the least they can do for the person who brought their true love back home, safe and alive. Rocky just snarks and is like, "You've been helping to babysit my siblings' younglings. I've been calling you "brother from Sol" for months now! And you STILL haven't figured out that we made you part of this family ages ago, question? Sometimes, you're the dumbest smart person I've ever met. How long since you last slept, question?" (Of course, Grace knows Rocky's teasing him.)

Grace has a microphone clipped to his shirt that translates his speech to those who haven't learned English yet. When he finally meets any and all political figures, what he says is, "Hi, I'm Ryland Grace."

What the programmed translator says is:

"I am Scientist Resilient-Abundant-Growth and Merciful-Blessing of the #(Rocky/Adrian)# Clan."

Hey, @lordsfromelsewhere, remember how I said I'll paint more bilbies?