#li talks

Rocky then learns that the human body is really fucking weird and magical sometimes. He’s even more worried about Grace.

One day, Grace stretches after being hunched over all day, checking on some experiments and other things. Then Grace sits up and does a big ol’ streeeech. And his back snaps, crackles, and pops. Rocky startles with a screeched note, turning to Grace.

“Grace okay, question? Grace, hurt?!” Rocky asks, looking through to his bones. They seem…fine?

Grace stretches some more and nods despite an ache in his back and knees.

“I’m fine, buddy. Sometimes air gets stuck in our joints and it makes a popping noise when we stretch. Happens more to older adults and people with bone problems. Like arthritis.”

“Grace not broken, question? Grace have poor posture, statement.”

“I know, Rock.” Grace smiles sheepishly now. “But I’m fine. I’ll try to sit better.”

Grace does not try to sit better and Rocky wonders if he can get Mary to remind Grace to stretch.

Another time, Grace finally gets some cleaning in and the Hail Mary is a bit dusty in some places. Grace is cleaning things down while Rocky helps collect trash. He’s happy the ship looks cleaner now.

Then Grace gets a whiff of some dust and suddenly,

“AAACHOO!”

Rocky startles again. The human body sure makes a lot of noises.

“Grace?! Why Grace yell, question?”

Grace laughs, wiping his nose with a rag.

“That wasn’t a yell, pal. That’s what we call sneezing.”

“No understand, statement.”

“It’s an involuntary thing our bodies do when germs or other things irritate our nose. Like dust. It sends a signal to our brains to make us sneeze in order to get rid of said irritant. And if a human were to have a dust allergy, the sneezing is even worse.”

As Grace continues to clean and diverge into what allergies are, Rocky makes a note to make sure Grace’s new bio dome isn’t too dusty.

Another time, Rocky had quite the scare.

Grace had been up later than usual, ignoring Mary’s reminders to sleep and denying her offers of sleep aids. Apparently she came with Melatonin alongside the pain killers as well some tea. Grace was too wrapped up in some experiment and working on next week’s food rations.

Rocky had tried to get him to sleep but he was too stubborn so Rocky decided to wait by his sleeping corner, even cleaning it and making it comfy. Then as he was waiting some more, Rocky heard a loud thud and skittered over to him, getting the shock of his life.

Grace is slumped over the table, glasses askew and not moving an inch. Panicked and worried for the worst, Rocky tries waking Grace but he’s not waking. He checks his heartbeat and it’s slow. But what if something’s wrong?

One check from Armando and Mary later and Grace is just…asleep. Out cold asleep. Rocky chirps in relief and with Armando’s help, he brings Grace to his sleeping next and tucks him in.

“Don’t scare Rocky like that again, Grace Friend. Rocky can’t fix if Grace die, statement.”