This is a Project Hail Mary AU where Eridians can shapeshift. What happens when an accidental insult from Grace forces Rocky to remodel his biology into human form?
In this AU, Eridians have the natural ability to reshape their rocky carapace and shift their internal organs to mimic almost any form. Because it wasn't relevant to saving their stars, Rocky never mentioned it to Grace. That changes when Grace cracks a thoughtless joke, calling his companion a "loafing space cat." Severely offended, Rocky retreats into a crystalline cocoon. Wanting to be perceived as the apex predator he is, and an intellectual equal to Grace, he chooses to undergo a total cellular remodeling into a human shape, a process that takes sixty agonizing days, leaving Grace completely in the dark.
Two months of total radio silence sends the human scientist into a dark, isolated spiral. The guilt is maddening. Grace is left haunted by the belief that he managed to completely alienate his only friend in the universe, damning himself to finish this grueling voyage alone.
When the iridescent capsule finally cracks open, Grace is met with a shocking image – a striking compromise between human aesthetics and rugged Eridian functionality. Rocky has no actual eyeballs. Instead, his face features the chiseled eye sockets of a Greek statue. Unable to abandon his biological need for three-point gripping, his new fingers are merged into pairs that resemble a permanent Vulcan salute. A long, heavy prehensile tail serves as his fifth limb, tipped with his original claw for balance. Sharp bursts of toxic ammonia steam escape with high-pressure force from venting slits carved underneath an imitation of human ribs, along his neck, and out of his sculpted nostrils. To crown the entire look – a massive, wavy rock pompadour with a sharp side part.
Naturally, though his voice is still shaking from the shock of the last two months, Grace can't help but immediately question Rocky's styling.
Grace: What's with the insane hair choice?
Rocky: Not insane. Reasonable. Rocky brain large, needs space. Rocky do not want to look like Megamind. Would intimidate Grace, statement.
Rocky: Rocky is smart. Rocky is clever. Spent months mapping human geometry. Stored extra brain mass inside hair structure. Is full of brain. Full of swag. Grace likes, question?
Grace: Okay. That's it. You're banned from Earth pop culture.
Little do they both know, this new shape will soon force them to test the absolute limits of human-alien proximity, triggering a shift in Grace's feelings that neither of them anticipated.
gummygunk
2087
turnnoffyourmind
romaincrisis
