sysadmin666

He understands.

They arrive to Erid, and one of the first things Grace does is playing for Adrian a little speech he made in Eridian using his recordings of Rocky's voice. And it's just... instructions. Mostly.

"He has a lot of anxiety about people's health and will probably freak out about yours at some point, don't dismiss it and let him see that you are okay."

"He is terrified of being alone, please make sure someone is physically close to him at all times."

"He is scared of falling asleep and will delay it as long as he can, you need to pay attention to his sleep cycle or he'll be hurting himself."

"He downplays everything bad that is happening to him, mental and physical, please keep an eye on him or he'll be ignoring his health completely."

"He never gave up, but I might die very soon and I'm not sure how he will react to it. Please be with him, even when it's not easy. He loves you. He wanted to return to you so badly. Even though he probably has changed, this is still him. Please keep loving him. He needs it more than ever. He'll need it when I am gone."

...Adrian is very annoyed because a) the fuck do you mean by implying that I'll leave him, b) the fuck do you mean by implying you know him better than I do (Adrian does have to begrudgingly accept this one later: Grace is objectively more familiar with Rocky's trauma responses), and c) the fuck do you mean you're gonna die no one's letting you die shut up and get into the lab we have science to do. They become friends fast, bonding over worrying about Rocky together.

Ryland's first class is about to graduate from "primary" education, and they're all headed to specialization. Some will come back to study with him at a graduate level, essentially, but most need their secondary education with their peers as a focus.

It's also common that they all started acquiring "human" nicknames as they were in his class. Almost immediately on Day 1, they scrambled home to tell parents about Teacher Grace and the cool things he showed off. What they have been nicknamed and what the meanings are.

They're his first class, and he wants to sends them off well.

After trying to figure out what to do, he gets an idea from Eridian culture combined with some Earth classics. He recruits Rocky and gets to work.

On the last day of class, the students show up to find thread and little bowls of beads all about. Eridian letters carved into the surface of some, English letters in others. Stars, moons, mathematical symbols, and more.

Ryland explains the concept of friendship bracelets. He knows Eridians have special jewelry often as part of their culture (courtship, marriage, birth, major life events) and wanted to give them a human version of it. He made sure that each get a packet with their human names as beads, but he leaves the rest to them.

The class adores it, and they make Teacher Grace make one with them. They pick out the Eridian letters for his name and he adds a "year 1" to the necklace. Everyone leaves the class with the coveted gifts.

It becomes tradition. Every class that graduates makes a Charm Necklace with, at minimum, their Human Nicknames on the strands. Ryland makes a new one each year, with later years bringing chips from molted carapaces as beads for Ryland to add.

(When Ryland passes, all of his students come to his memorial wearing their necklaces, tracing out worn and new beads with reverence and love.)

(It continues to be tradition, old students stepping in where Ryland left off. Students who never knew Ryland still find Nicknames along the way, and they make their necklaces as their predecessors had.)

(And, years on, when humans and Eridians bridge the gap of space, humans are a little surprised to see the envoy wearing a necklace with a human word on it. The Eridians have a more advanced version of the translator, thanks to continued work, but, they explain, it was a tradition. Those of Ryland's class and beyond created these necklaces, and they wear them now in honor of him as they meet more of his species.)

(And then, at the end of the talks, once humans and Eridians make their bond official, the Eridians offer necklace and bead supplies and packs of Eridian letters. Just as Grace taught them before, as a token of friendship and care, so, too, do the Eridians do now - bestowing their new friends with Eridian names, carrying them in the form of Friendship Necklaces.)

They wear suits, but they don't even know basic etiquette.

They get to Erid and they finally have a chance to get some much needed space from each other, but they realize very quickly that they Don’t Want That. It’s scary to leave your favorite leaky space blob alone because he’s so soft and fragile and he has zero self preservation instincts and you feel this need to be with him at all times to fix something if it goes wrong. And it’s scary to watch your best friend walk away from your dome and disappear into the darkness of his planet cause the last time you two parted ways he came dangerously close to dying a slow and painful death. But Rocky can't be with Grace in his dome 24/7 and it's not exactly easy for Grace to follow Rocky around outside, so I feel like there’d be a big struggle with that, at least at first.

Grace sleeps too often for Rocky to be there to watch every time, and that Stresses Rocky Out. And Grace, far too often, wakes up from nightmares and has to remind himself through shaking breaths and a heaving chest that Rocky not being there doesn’t mean something bad happened. Grace can’t help but be filled with disproportionate relief when Rocky comes to visit, and vice versa. They spend as much time together as possible, and it’s a balancing act for Rocky, dividing his time between Grace and Adrian.

Captions cover the spot on the screen you put the information I need

The dialogue is captioned but not the song you have playing that the dialogue is responding to

You only captioned the person on the screen, not the person off screen who is also talking

No captioning of critical sound effects (alarms, bells, dogs barking, etc)

Speakers are not labelled at moments where it is not clear on the screen who is talking.

Captions cover the spot on the screen that you put the information I need!

Other d/Deaf people welcome to add.

Don't mind if I do!

AS SOMEONE WITH AUDIO PROCESSING DIFFICULTIES...

Since apparently those are the only voices that get any sort of attention, can everyone shut the fuck up and stop speaking over d/Deaf voices?

Your annoyances at captioning issues have been noted, and it sounds very inconvenient! But this post is specifically talking about the issues that d/Deaf people face, because while caption options are useful for everyone, and are an accessibility aid for the hard of hearing or those with audio processing issues, they are an accessibility NEED for the d/Deaf! Captions are the only way for the d/Deaf community to access audio information in video format. Inadequate captioning can shut d/Deaf people out completely from information and entertainment, and that's a much more consequential than your inconvenience.

He was certainly closer to her than most people got to be, and he clearly made an effort to reach out to her as a human being, but they didn’t exactly hang out.

Stratt was Grace’s boss. She made an effort to support him and believed in him when others didn’t, but it was a workplace relationship.

Carl and Grace were actual friends. Like you can debate how close they were (since Carl doesn’t get too much screen time) but they indisputably enjoy hanging out together in the scenes they share.

Carl and Grace muck about together, mirror watch other’s body language and act much more like peers than Grace and Stratt ever do (because, again, she’s his boss).

Carl is professional and very much Here To Do A Job, but he’s having fun with it.

And like, how often do we think he gets to have fun at work? Dude’s job is kidnapping scientists to help avert the apocalypse. He’s probably CIA or something. Carl has likely seen and done Some Shit.

But hey, sometimes you get to take a breather. Sometimes you get a cushy job goofing off with a middle school science teacher and you get to do a bizarre craft project and justify putting candy on your expense account.

Oh, what’s that? The fate of the world now rests on killing the fun science teacher? While he screams and begs for his life?

Okay then.

Like I keep thinking about how Carl ended up by the fence. When Stratt picks up her phone and says “yep he’s running”— wouldn’t it make sense for the person on the other end to be Carl? One of her main security guys? Also someone Grace explicitly trusts?

And now he has to watch the guy fall and listen to him beg for his life while knowing that he can’t help him. The stakes are too high, it’s the whole world vs one man.

But also the guy just wants to go back to teaching kids, something he would be doing right now if Carl hadn’t encouraged him to take those dots.

Stratt is furious with Grace for his cowardice, and honestly I think with herself for allowing this catastrophe to happen. Like maybe if she’d put in more failsafes when designing the trolley, she wouldn’t now be stuck holding the lever.

Her last words to Grace are meant to hurt.

Carl, on the other hand, does try to give him some comfort. He can’t save his life, can’t spare him from the horror he’s about to go through, but why not let the last words he hears on Earth be something kind?

“You know who you are. You’re gonna do great.”

Carolina Milanesi, an independent technology analyst, said Google is trying to make its cash cow business — search — richer and more personalized, and it will make shopping easier. But there is a risk that users may have fewer choices about what to click. "Right now it's: I ask a question, I get a bunch of answers and I feel that I'm in control as to which answer I take, or if I'm looking for something, which product I'm going to end up buying. That is going to be less so going forward," she said. Milanesi envisions AI-enabled search and agents proposing products to consumers — perhaps even those they have requested — but with less clarity or choice around where it's coming from. "If you're going to say: 'I want a pair of Jordans, go find them,' you're not necessarily sure what steps have been taken and whether the AI has used a source or a store that was paid for and therefore came up in the search results," she said, "or if AI actually went and did their due diligence and picked the best for me as a customer."

And here's one from Time magazine (May 20, 2026):

While Google already has “AI Mode,” the company will now power the whole search bar through its new Gemini 3.5 Flash model.  Instead of the classic list of blue links, Google Search will now also generate a custom page with an AI-generated summary of what you’re searching about, which will then trigger a conversation with AI Mode on the main page, allowing users to ask follow-up questions—similar to the kind of layout you would see when opening ChatGPT.

And a little more from Time's article on how this may affect the websites that we are trying to search for:

“It will severely cut into the main source of revenue for most publishers and it will disincentivize content creators who rely on organic search traffic, which is millions of websites, maybe more,” she told Technology Magazine.  

I'm seriously thinking: web rings. And following personal blogs that talk about what you are interested in and suggest things to you. Like oh, Livejournal. Or any of its many many clones.

Verily, we are heading back to the 90s, folks!

so here's a few things humans are particularly good at for all your 'being human is pretty cool actually' needs!

1. swinging on your arms

humans can climb pretty okay, but eridians have more limbs than us and their muscles are steam-powered! they can hold on for longer, and they can do so more easily with more points of contact. what they DON'T have are clavicles and rotation support on their shoulders or lower limbs. see, primates are capable of swinging under the branch, called brachiation, and it's a pretty unique locomotion style!

so imagine them being on centrifuge but the settings are off so things are all kind of upside down. Rocky watches Grace monkey bar over to the right controls and fix it, and is kind of baffled he did that at all. or just Grace somehow turning on a hanging bar, that's pretty impressive!

2. throwing things

so we know apes and specifically hominids have some really specialized hands for fine motor control. but did you know humans have a special adaptation on the wrist just for throwing things like a spear? other apes can only throw things by big arches of the whole arm, they can't direct throws or make them go as far as a human can. we are superbly good at throwing!

now when it comes to eridians, they have a lot of raw strength on their limbs. again, steam-powered muscles. but how can they aim throws when they can't even rotate their forearms, much less have wrists at all?

I can just imagine Rocky's surprise at Grace somehow aiming a paper ball throw from across the lab, why bother yknow? but then the thing sails and just barely misses?? how?!?!

3. mimicking

sure, humans aren't lyre birds, but our ability to produce and mimic sounds is pretty damn impressive. we can not only mimic each other, but we can also figure out ways to mimic animals and even inorganic noises. Eridians are described in the book as using a similar system as whales, pulling air back and forth through their vocal chords instead of just one way. them not having lips and - i assume - a tongue would also limit them quite a bit.

not saying that Grace will be a very good mimic, it's a skill to be trained like any other after all, but I think Rocky will be pretty amused at whistling, and then beatboxing and imitation competitions.

4. teeth! chewing!

as i mentioned above, eridians don't have teeth! they manually tear up their food as much as they can and pop those suckers in right away. if you wanna stretch the whole 'exotic eating habits bit', you can have Rocky be very put out by the concept of a mouth with weird boney protusions.

not only that, but the oral fixation humans have must be rather absurd. what do you mean they just, stick random shit on their mouth and chew on it just because?? no Grace put the pen down stop slobbering on it, it's been all over! and what do you mean human mouths are full of harmful bacteria if they bite each other and break skin??

that's freaky stop that!!

5. horrifying immune system

we know Erid has single-cell life, and it's not a stretch to think there are illness inducing bacteria out there. jury's still out if they have stuff like viruses but whatever. Eridians use their hot system as a way to sterilize their own food when they eat, so i imagine their immune systems are a little handicapped when it comes to biological attacks.

meanwhile humans are leaky space blobs that easily coexist in symbiosis with unrelated bacteria for stuff like digestion, and you could say humanity has domesticated bacteria responsible for fermentation. we eat rotting stuff all the damn time! bread, pickles, aged meats, kimchi, beer, we can't get enough of it. no wonder Rocky thinks humans eating is gross!

we have all seen how israel responded to the icj verdict earlier this month. they have all but intensified their attacks on palestinians, their favorite of whom seem to be children. this will end in a bloodbath. palestinians, already malnourished and living in literal tents, will be bombarded, they will be shot, they will be slaughtered. and when i say palestinians, a lot of them are actual toddlers. the videos coming out of this are proof enough.

at this point, it has been made amply clear that palestinians will never experience safety in their own homeland. a lot of the families in gaza are trying to raise funds to get out of it, because there's nowhere left to go.

there is nowhere left to go. if these people don't get the funds necessary to escape, they will die.

Executive at Sunlight Entertainment: Hello Kang Sajang-nim! Did you have a good weekend?

Celine: Oh yes, it was quite peaceful. Rumi and I spent a day in the garden, then she had a long nap in the sun while I got some reading done.

Executive: Oh that’s nice! Good weekend with Rumi!

Executive, turning to his coworkers after Celine leaves: Ok Rumi… Is that Celine’s daughter or her cat?

Coworkers: *turn and look at each other with uncertainty*

Celine’s secretary: Wait no one knows?

Head of Marketing: I mean…she’s notoriously private.

Secretary: I think Rumi is her daughter. Spent the day gardening? You do that with kids.

Accountant: What if it’s an outdoor cat?

Marketing: Fell asleep in the sun? That’s a cat.

Assistant: Kids do that all the time. Mine did that just the other day.

Executive: Ok I guess we’re doing this. Time to play Cat or Daughter.

*Celine walks back in*

Executive: Hey Kang Sajang-nim, I was just wondering: what do you do with Rumi in the garden?

Celine: Oh not much. Rumi usually gets distracted by catching butterflies while I do most of the work.

Secretary: What’s Rumi’s favourite food again?

Celine: Kimbap, especially the kind with tuna.

Marketing: And how old is Rumi?

Celine: Six. Her energy’s finally waning a little but she still finds new ways to get into mischief. The other day she got stuck in a tree.

Assistant: Chasing a bird?

Celine: No I had left the back door open for a moment and she bolted. Started climbing immediately. Although once she realized her mistake she cried and cried until I climbed up there myself to get her down.

Executive: Ok this is getting us nowhere. Is Rumi your daughter or your cat?

Celine, offended: How could you ask me that? *storms off*