Murky

let me raise you

Grace who is relieved to never be touched by another person again

As a kid, he didn’t like hugs but was raised by parents who pushed the idea of “hug your _ they won’t be around forever” so his boundaries were constantly crossed. Touch became associated with fear & reluctance & his aversion went so far as to when someone even pat his shoulder he would flinch away.

As he gets older he never learns to say “I’d rather not be hugged, it makes me uncomfortable” he just grits his teeth & takes it, because touch is a norm of human connection.

In college, with his implied crazy days of taking drugs from strangers, he’s touched a Lot. At parties he makes out & has sex because he thinks he’s Supposed to. He fears rejecting touch because he doesn’t want people to think he thinks he’s above it.

Then, the cherry on top, he’s forced to the ground, pinned violently & sedated to go on a suicide mission he BEGGED not to go on. The ONE time he put his foot down he was told “no”.

In space on the Hail Mary, while he’s lonely & scared, he relishes in the fact that there’s no one around to randomly poke or prod at him. His skin isn’t crawling in anticipation for the first time in his life. When he meets Rocky & Rocky offers to give him away home, he hugs him because he’s So Relieved & because Rocky is behind glass. Hugging his best friend doesn’t feel like a fight for his life. He hugs Rocky when he comes back from the brink of death, not necessarily because he wants touch, but because he wants him Close, & close enough is on the other side of the orb.

On Erid, Rocky makes the suit Specifically to hug Grace, because he thinks that’s what Grace wants. But he sees him barely recoil at the mention of it. He’s disappointed, but respects Grace of course, he’d never hurt him.

+

Ilyukhina being absolutely APPALLED by the haphazard craftsmanship of the Iron Lung, “THIS is what they sent you down into an ocean of blood with??? The welding is phenomenal, I’ll give them that but there is NO pressure compensation on this thing,,, XRAY CAMERA!? They couldn’t even wire it properly!?”

& Yao being fascinated with Simon as a person, where he’s from, what the space stations he lived on were like, asking endless questions about the Quiet Rapture & going on about how brave Simon must have been to go through with his mission (willing or not)

+

all of them looking at the downloaded data from the SM-8 & SM-13, freaking the FUCK out at the Eel

(TW self harm (in a way?)) (Grace being depressed & depraved on the way to Erid)

One “night” on the Hail Mary on their way to Erid, Grace is watching Rocky sleep. Rather than being in his tubes or his typical “bedroom” Rocky is in his ball on Grace’s bed & they’re propped up against each other

Grace is letting his fingers idly trace the Xenonite that encases Rocky while he jots down notes/does a task. His skin starts to feel a bit warmer around a certain spot of the orb, he knows it’s the containers airlock but he’s just distracted enough that he accidentally burns himself on it

At first he jerks back, pain sears & throbs over his knuckle. Then he notices Rocky’s carapace/leg(s) pressed right up to that little airlock. He wants to put his whole hand there so bad, to touch, to feel, to be as close to Rocky as can be

Grace shakes off the thought, remembering (barely) how tremendous the pain was when Rocky had last touched him, how it would be such a bad idea to go through that again, so he goes back to tracing the safe parts of the xenonite

But he can’t help it, when the warmth blooms over his skin again his touch falls towards the airlock. His whole attention is on Rocky now, carefully watching, moving his hand closer to the cluster of smaller xenonite shapes, taking the back of his knuckles & brushing them over Rocky. It hurts, it hurts so much, but it feels cathartic. The pain is comforting & safe because it’s coming from his Best Friend, his Soulmate who was willing to give 6 years of his own life to get him home

Grace’s eyes squeeze shut as he tries to push himself further, he wants to touch Rocky’s body, to run the rippled pads of his fingers over the dips, creases & cracks of Him

The sound of flesh sizzling eventually snaps him out of it, the adrenaline in his body plummeting in seconds. He grabs his fingers, pressing them to his lips & he cries hard. Choking on his own throat trying to suppress noises (even if they wouldn’t wake Rocky anyway)

Dr Ryland Grace, PhD, saving the world: Ooooo, alien box??? Made of a somehow solid gas??? This should be fine to open without any safety equipment :) Better give it a Big Ol’ Sniff! :D *nearly gives himself chemical burns in his lungs*

-The American South/Rodeos

-Warriors by Erin Hunter

-Spiders (obviously)

-Music/Musicals (human language + “speech” patterns similar to Eridian = hell yeah)

-5 Minute Crafts

-Markiplier FNAF let’s plays

-Wattpad/Ao3

-Surgery procedures (Everything was Wrong with Grace after years on tauomeba diet, they must’ve had to bust him open)

-Dungeons & Dragons (Grace plays with his students)

-Nature documentaries (Eridians LOVE whales & elephants)

-Drag shows

-Twilight

-Hatsune Miku/Vocaloid

-Christmas movies, specifically Elf & National Lampoons Christmas Vacation

-Vine

Rocky: “WHAT!!!??? QUESTION!!!???”

Rocky: “I’m not mean to you, Grace is just dumb, statement”

Ryland Grace will have the biggest funeral of any human ever

He already was the reason for the 2nd largest Eridian Thrum

When he passes, two entire planets will celebrate his life. (Head cannon) Eridians view funerals a bit more light heartedly than humans. While the passing of a loved one still hurts, it also concludes an experience so sacred within the universe. They throw a rager in Graces honor. Rocky commissions a memorial & for WEEKS it’s surrounded with food, dancing, tributes & speeches reminiscing everyone’s experiences with one of the saviors of Earth & Erid, but most importantly their memories with their Friend Grace

Earth will get the memo in an Eridian probe years later. Someone, probably a younger friend of Stratt/a descendant of PHM will give the news. There won’t be quite the collective celebration, but everyone, everywhere, will pay tribute to him somehow. Some families include him in their ofrenda, others whisper to his spirit in the wind, some name their pets for him

Statues are built, of course. On both planets. The two largest are one right outside of Grover Cleveland Middle School & the other is in Grace’s biodome on Erid. He’s wearing the fox sweater in both

I feel very strongly that Rocky would fuck heavily with “crazy frog-axel f” — and all of the Just Dance/DDR games, except Rocky playing DDR would just be *Rapid Tippy Taps*

If Eridians ever learned to fabricate or acquire hot chip, i think Graces students would go Nuts about them — every adult Eridian would think they’re disgusting but a little one would get its claws on some & Grace would simply not hear the end of it

Grace shows his Eridian students Hatsune Miku & regrets it for at least the next 5 years because every student greets him with “miku, miku BEEEEEEEEEAM” (it’s a really fun “vocal” stim for them)

Every birthday celebrated on Erid is treated like a quincenańera/the biggest party possible

Adrian’s favorite earth music artist is Lindsey Stirling

When Grace gets old & his body is in a lot of pain most of the time, Rocky learns how to fabricate CBD/THC for him & Grace becomes an avid Old Man Stoner™️

When Eridians go to Grace with questions about Earth, they don’t just see him as a library of human knowledge, but as an individual — this leads to Grace having a lot of close & strong bond with many Eridians, by the end of his life, there are hundreds of Eridians that be considers family

Grace refers to himself as an Eridian after a couple years on Erid

Grace has to teach Eridians the concept of “pranks” & they are BIG fans

Similar to great white sharks, Eridians like heavy metal music because it has strong vibrations

The most prized metal for jewelry on Erid is Bismuth