Absorber of coffee and chocolate

You can't see it, but you can feel it

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.

I might translate this article later today. This one was the most complete one, even in Italian news it's not talked about that much.

And, while I have no idea if James communicated that intent to the sound designers, it seems like it's reflected in the sound design with Rocky's echolocation noise.

He makes this sound when he's trying to "look" closely at something, usually objects. The cool thing is, he also does it when he feels insecure. Whenever he gets vulnerable and uncomfortable he pings this noise at Grace. It's like looking really closely at someone because you're anxious to know what they're thinking.

He goes from doing it before and after every sentence, to less and less as they get familiar with each other. He's suddenly doing it non-stop again for the whole one-way trip conversation, when Grace is actively hiding his emotions from him. It doesn't show up again after that until the end when he hesitates before calling Grace "brave".

Tenna art by @9Aaaalt29 on twt