Occationally I experience A Thought

another wip because I can’t do one thing at a time

:3

I like writing nonhuman characters a lot. The way you write Grace, as a Borrower, almost screams instinctual fear of a prey animal to me (POSITIVE)

Borrowers may not be literally preyed upon by predators, but the way you write his reactions to things that humans do and how wary he is of them, especially hands, is realistically terrifying. Even with people he trusts, it takes a while for him to feel safe in their care.

I don’t know if you wrote him with ideas of like. Actual small animals in mind, but him being called Mouse feels even more accurate to me. You gave him all the anxiety and fear and it correlates so well with how actual small (non-sapient) animals act and it is catnip to me

Putting that guy in SITUATIONS

I think if I drew a creaturifed version of Borrower!Grace Borrowers might actually resemble mice more

Oh for sure, definitely intended for him to come across that way, whether or not he'd want to admit to the designation of "prey animal". The fact is that borrowers are little and more vulnerable to all kinds of predators than even humans are. The number of borrower families that had to move out when their resident humans decided to get a cat must be impossible to count! To say nothing of the ones that needed to flee once their humans started looking for them. Guaranteed not everyone had an easy time with that.

Grace is very much aware of his vulnerability there. If he hadn't been the one to let the word get out, someone would have been discovered in the resource pinch, and then they'd all be in trouble. So he put himself in a precarious spot with a fairly reasonable human in hopes to set a good example.

I write a whole lot of stories where the characters have to confront a size difference, because that dynamic has been interesting to me for a long time. Characters might have varying levels of confidence when they have to face a relative giant (or a relative tiny), but that imbalance is always there no matter what. It really depends on both sides for their interactions to actually be safe, and it's the learning curve of those interactions that end up being my catnip.

Grace has a lot of little guy energy already in canon. It was so simple to take that to its extreme and make him into an actual little guy. Bonus, PHM has such a wide variety of characters in it, I have so many options for how the aforementioned interactions can go. From Easton just hauling him into the air to Lokken and Carl realizing that Grace is more comfortable if they move more carefully around him. And of course, Rocky learning how to conduct himself around this very small, fragile, no-carapace-having alien.

There are so so so many situations left for me to throw borrower Grace into. Some of them good, but most of them terrifying to some degree. I even have some non-canon What If ideas written down to get to eventually.

Ah thank thank thank! I'm so glad you're enjoying it so far!

For all the times Stratt tells Grace he's perfectly safe on this project, there sure are a lot of horrors on the way. Whoops.

It is extremely weird to work in a familiar lab with a very unfamiliar presence in it. I’m glad for the lack of gravity; Rocky isn’t as likely to accidentally roll that Eridian hamster ball over on me.

I really have to stop imagining stuff like that. Rocky crossing our usual barrier has flustered me more than I anticipated.

I get my translation setup running again and finally turn to look up at him. Surrounded by the cabinets and drawers of the Hail Mary, and with the large lab window behind him, Rocky makes for a very strange silhouette. One hand holds his magnet against the panel keeping him secure to the table. The others fidget and twitch as he turns his carapace this way and that.

Adrian: Rocky, what do you have?

Rocky:

(Imagine the legend of zelda item get sfx) (i tried to get the scale right the best i could but idk how accurate it is but i couldn't get this img out of my head)

Little Guy acquired 

Oh look at that. Little Guy acquired!!! He is safe in his little hamster ball, time to meet Rocky's mate!

This is sososo cute 😭 thank you for drawing this and sending it in.

Lmao I’m back- my brain is still chewing on your fic like a squeaky toy- Look at that successful cowboy/space thermos wrangler go!! I really debated whether the American flag should still go on his jumpsuit before I decided that haaaah yeah the US government WOULD do that- Good job as always!!!

Ahhhh thank you! I love this! We've got his space uniform (courtesy of the US of A lol)

YOU'RE A GENIUS YOU KNOW THAT RIGHT

Don’t think about fabric being impermanent. Like yes nylons and polyesters technically last a hell of a long time being plastic and all but they still break down. And that quilt? All that quilting cotton? Don’t tell me you sincerely believe that Grace hasn’t worn so many holes into that fabric over the years striving for a little taste of home, of warmth, trying to imagine the scent of earth and humanity that was inevitably sterilized out of it upon boarding the Hail Mary.

Don’t worry about his yarn cardigan unraveling with wear, and the shitty patching he doesn’t know how to do. His shoelaces being replaced with ship’s cord because he’s been on that ship so long it has to become part of him.