#restlessmuse

Happy holidays from the ultimate Dirk

Ryland Grace if he were a Page of Light from homestuck. No this was not just an excuse to draw Ryland in orange shorts.

I ended up fighting a lot with the background and lighting and landed on this. Full break down of his class and aspect tomorrow.

Some extras

Playing Tomodachi Life and my two cat girls fell in love. They are going on dates and are married.

I love Roxy and Meulin so much they have become my Crack ship. So I needed to draw fan art.

The milkshakes were placed holders until I could draw them but considering the game i might just leave them in.

Ryland Grace, the Page of Light

His aspect is Light, the aspect of knowledge, understanding, and fortune. Light governs what people know, what they seek to learn, and what information ultimately proves meaningful. On a literal level, Light players often display an affinity for light itself or extraordinary luck. Metaphorically, they embody the pursuit and application of knowledge.

For Ryland Grace, this feels almost to on the nose. A molecular biologist turned middle school science teacher, thrust into the role of astronaut to investigate the Petrova Light emitted by Astrophage. Every major conflict in Project Hail Mary is solved not through brute force, but through observation, experimentation, deduction, and education. His greatest weapon has always been his ability to understand the unknown and share that understanding with others. Light feels like the obvious answer and I genuinely struggle to imagine Grace belonging to any other aspect.

His class was harder to settle on. I spent a long time debating between Heir and Page, since both are passive classes. Ultimately, I landed on Page.

Pages are the passive exploration counterparts to Knights, the active exploitation class. They are described as beginning their journeys as weak and insecure in their aspect while possessing nearly limitless potential once that aspect matures. Their immense potential often feels like a burden, either because they fail to recognize it themselves or because everyone around them does.

Grace repeatedly rejects the idea that he is the right person for the Hail Mary mission. Despite being one to figure out Astrophage, despite training alongside professional astronauts, and despite repeatedly demonstrating that he is uniquely capable of solving problems no one else can, he insists someone better must exist. He spends much of his story trying to convince everyone, including himself, that he isn't the hero they need.

Another trait that is speculative on my part, pages seem to have a deep relationship with mentor figures. Pages frequently attract individuals who attempt to shape them into what they are capable of becoming, most of the time through force. For Grace, that mentor is unquestionably Eva Stratt.

Stratt strikes me as a Doom player. She takes control a dying world and dedicates herself to managing humanity's inevitable extinction, making impossible choices so that everyone else might survive. When she discovers Ryland, she immediately recognizes the potential he refuses to acknowledge in himself. She doesn't simply recruit him. She forces him onto the path she believes only he can walk, sending him on what is effectively a suicide mission. A doomed mission.

His growth as a Page of Light doesn't come from accepting his fate. It comes from rejecting it. (And a small helping of Rocky's hope abilities). He uses his knowledge to communicate with Rocky, Aquire Taumeba, send his knowledge to earth, save Rocky from his stalled out ship and make it all the way to Erid. Grace lives despite everything through his knowledge and a damn good amount of luck.

The design for Ryland's God Tier outfit came from CoffeeCat900

For my own self indulgence here are the twins together. A Knight of Breath and a Page of Light.