#the yearner

Please keep faling in love with Isabeau. He's almost like a muse to me. He always looks divine

Sunkissed. The universe itself stops to stare. Gods I love this guy.

Now have an Isabeau sketch blast because I love him almost as much as I love Loop

And for last- Isa with glasses...

He simultaneously has great charisma but zero rizz. Communicating everything but his feelings. It’s not funny he will explode. Is he gonna say anything about it? At best he’ll drop not-so subtle hints because he thinks he’s sooo slick but he’ll NEVER confront it directly.

             !! Trigger Warnings !!

MAJOR PROJECT HAIL MARY SPOILERS

IMPLIED IRON LUNG SPOILERS

GAYYYYY!!!

Blood / Gore

Heavily mutated Simon (YAYS)

convo of skulls & bone rebuilding itself(?)

Tried to make grace as nerdy as my little brain can do

Swearing

Grace yearning A LOT

Implied future Bloodymary<3

There’s a 65% chance I make a part 2…

No ai<3 fuck ai<3——————————————————————

Grace had lived in Erid for a few months now... maybe a year? Time had a way of blurring together when every day followed the same quiet rhythm. He woke with the simulated sunrise filtering through the biodome, tended to his basic food plants, and spent the daylight hours teaching the pebbles. They were eager students, endlessly curious, asking the same questions in new ways until he found himself smiling despite everything. When the lessons were over, he always wandered down to the beach. Dinner was usually eaten there, sitting on the cool sand while gentle waves rolled over his bare feet. He'd watch Erid's strange horizon shift through shades of violet and gold, listening to the steady hush of the tide. Maybe Rocky would come join, or even Adrian. Sometimes he'd close his eyes and pretend it was Earth, the salt on the breeze, the rhythmic surf, the feeling of damp sand beneath him. It was never convincing, but it was enough. It was the closest thing to home he was ever going to have. His life had become comfortable. Predictable. Every morning was nearly identical to the last. Every evening ended with the ocean. There was safety in routine, even if it came wrapped in silence. He'd stopped expecting surprises long ago.

Comfortable. Lonely... but comfortable. So, when Rocky burst into the biodome with frantic excitement, babbling about a "new human," Grace's entire world seemed to lurch sideways. For a moment he simply stared, convinced he'd misheard.

“New human?! What do you mean new human, Rock?!” Ryland’s head was spinning. ‘Did Stratt send more people? Are they an alien? How alien were they? Were there more habitable planets other than earth? Well yes, obviously... besides the point! Did Stratt not get The Beatles in time?!’ So many questions bounced off each other making more and more than he could or wanted to think about. “Adrian saw plip from observatory. Few day ago now. All clean up and ready for Dr. Grace!” Rocky forced his way into the biodome, chittering gleefully. His protective bubble making the sand beneath his claws crunch. Grace adjusted his glasses still gob smacked by the situation. ‘A few days ago?! Why was he just telling me now?!’ The doctors thought cut off my his companion. “He hallucinates, nightmares like Grace when on Mary. Screaming, shaking, and sad.” Grace’s mind pauses, mentally taking notes. “Human scared, want other human examine rather than Eridians. Not letting us help.” Grace felt his heart break; he knows what it was like. Alone, in a strange place. Surrounded by unfamiliar faces. Far from home. Memories faded or lost from their own head. The loneliness beat down on him for what felt like forever. Okay now, Grace was projecting. He knew nothing about this creature. He didn’t know their story, or life. He adjusted his glasses back onto his nose before bending down to Rocky’s height. “How are they adjusting to Erid?” He tried to sound calm, but his heart was pounding. ‘Why were they here?’  Was the one of the only questions remaining in his head. “Well. Cleaned off while unconscious. Less blood. Comfortable in lab. Adrian looking after, while I get Grace.” Rocky’s body vibrated enthusiastically, awaiting Grace to match him. His felt himself begin to sweat, his hands felt clammy and warm. ‘Less blood? Was there a lot of blood to begin with? Outside of them? Did they look human?’  Rocky grabbed Grace’s wrist before beginning to move him outside the tunnel towards actual Erid.

The Eridian science lab was always cleanly organized, no matter the situations. Always multitudes of various shaped rocks, of color and size decorate the stations. Various slides with red blobs sliding around it labeled ‘new human’. Looking into petri dishes, various beakers of dark reds and green colors along with irregularly high thermostats. Grace grabbed his lab coat, goggles, along with 4 sets of blue rubber gloves. He has quick conversations with The Eridian Scientists before stealing wash rags, swabs, extra dishes, and pipettes. And so many more little science things he would need to dissect a human from outer space. He blew into the rubber gloves before putting them on. As he began to pick at his nails through the gloves. He hadn’t talked to a real person in years. ‘What if earth standards changed? What if he was stuck in the past? Was his English good enough? He hadn’t spoken it in a while… jeez…Did this alien species even know English?’ “Grace, okay?” Rocky stayed in his orb, continuing to follow Grace on the human side of the lab. “Yeah bud, just nervous.” Rocky seemed confused tilting his body to the left. “Why? They human, Grace talk to human, yes?” Grace nodded picking at the edges of the gloves. “I give breakdown.” Rocky pointed at a folder resting on a table nearby. Grace picked it up and began flipping through it, quickly reading. “Adrian found creature in sub. Forced sub to land on Erid with chains. Had to cut out of sub, was covered in blood. Cleaned up when unconscious.” Some pictures were drawn out of what happened. A photo of this sub with a long claw of some sorts and a large X-ray camera hanging off the side. ‘Observation sub?’ Flipping the page were all the injuries they had found on the human. His (Grace now knows he’s a man…) face was covered in some sort of half circles (maybe boils?) and burns down the whole right side of his body. Various triangles pointing out of the skin. The same side his arm was pulled, cut or ripped off of. Flipping the paper over to show the same circles and burns but with fins / spines stabbing out of his back. Seemingly already removed by the Eridian scientists. He was fascinating. Grace couldn’t wait to dissect him. Someone from the Eridian side of the lab spoke up through the glass. “Have to start, before anesthesia wears off.” Both Grace and Rocky nodded. “Grace. While taking human inside. Said something with a seed, eel and a blood ocean. Think they’re crazy.” The scientist nodded nervously. ‘Blood ocean…?’  while continuing to walk into another tunnel into a cave room.

Grace held the folder tightly, his palms making a sweaty imprint on the binder. A small table sat in the middle with a blanket laying across it small droplets of red liquid coating the floor. A helpless limp body lay on top. Motionless enough to resemble a corpse. Unconscious, naked, and dripping with red liquid. The Eridians, practical as ever, had apparently removed every article of clothing while treating the stranger. It made perfect medical sense. Burns, wounds, foreign organisms, anything hidden beneath fabric could have killed him. Grace knew that. Of course he knew that. Unfortunately, another part of his brain noticed something else first. The man was... well-built. Very broad shoulders, defined arms despite one ending abruptly at the shoulder. A strong chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven breaths. Years of assumed hard physical labor had carved lean muscle across his torso, interrupted only by scars and fresh trauma. Grace's ears immediately warmed. ‘Ryland Grace. This is your subject. Focus.’ He quickly fixed his gaze on the ceiling. "I am a scientist," he muttered to himself. His eyes drifted downward again. "...a molecular biologist with expertise in speculative astrobiology and the study of extraterrestrial microorganisms.” They immediately landed back on the stranger's chest. "...Come on." Grace pinched the bridge of his nose beneath his glasses. ‘This was ridiculous.’ The man was unconscious. Critically injured. Possibly dying. And Grace's lonely, sleep-deprived brain had chosen this moment to remember what another human musculature looked like. He coughed awkwardly, forcing his attention back on the body in front of him. ‘Medical observations. Medical observations only.’

He swallowed hard before forcing himself forward. "I am doing this to help him," he whispered beneath his breath. But as he thought Grace felt curiosity wave over him. Who was this man? Where did he come from? How did he get all these injuries? ‘Holy moly...” Sure, he saw the papers but in person was even worse, the folder failed to prepare him. He again… was completely naked. With this thought Grace decided to focus on the upper half of his body for now. Seemingly where the most injuries were anyway. Focusing on his shoulder the boils piled on top of each other filling in gaps of skin. His face melting off of the bone beneath which looked to be rebuilding itself somehow. The old humanoid skeleton continued to poke out of various sections melting with what seemed to be a fish’s face. He wasn’t a human. His face was too circular, his teeth too jagged and sharp. ‘Unless he was a vampire…’ half of his face seemed normal enough, but you can’t melt your bones with an animal. Grace let his mind wonder, while he attempted to write down ideas. He knew this wasn’t a fracture or a deformity, but it seemed like complete skeletal remodeling. The frontal bone was losing mass while the facial skeleton grew. ‘Human skulls don't do that. It’s stripping away the existing structure while they attempt to rebuild it in real time. The cranial sutures have separated to allow growth, the jaw is reorganizing into a feeding apparatus, and the dentition is abandoning omnivorous molars in favor of recurved predatory teeth. ‘Cheese and rice...’  We’re not witnessing a mutation we're watching a human skull abandon its developmental blueprint and reconstruct itself into the cranial anatomy of some sea creature.'

While what seemed to be newer bones shined and glowed under observation lights. His human skull was dissolving and rebuilding itself into a fish but somehow stopped itself. Grace's mouth hung slightly open. "...Impossible." Now this was exciting. ‘Was it from the blood ocean…’ He gasped out loud like an excited kid on Christmas. “The eel! He’s part eel!” The intercom hummed as excitable chittering came over it. “What Grace find! What Grace find!! Question, Question!!” Grace spun around the room at his first new discovery. "Yes! Look at the teeth! The molars are being resorbed and replaced with narrow, recurved conical teeth designed for gripping rather than chewing.”He explained to Rocky as if mid lecture.“The facial skeleton is elongating as jaws narrow into a more oval profile. Those aren't lesions; they're developing gills. Gill structures are emerging from the neck! It's replacing hallmark human anatomy with an anguilliform blueprint."He spoke to Rocky smiling wide and ecstatically as he pulled out a small red notebook and started a new dissection page. Excitable chittering over the intercom while he wrote.

Afterward Grace worked his way onto his face. Noting the larger tusks pointily ripping apart his face that he had somehow missed in the hype about him being part eel. Going up and into his hairline, getting thicker and wider before stopping above his ear. Said ear being more of a fin now playing into the eel theory. ‘Writing that down for later…’ From cheek to temple, this eel / humanoid creature had grown tusks. Unlike any creature he had known of on Earth. The ivory material jutting out like uneven carrots. One of his eyes forced shut in the process of the teeth ripping through skin. Grace wrote it down with same old pencil from his pocket. Once he finished, Grace carefully got out a scalpel from his pocket before filing down pointed pieces of the tusks and placing them in little jars to the side of the table. Grabbing his pencil again to make bullet points. He was a human… at some point, but he grew into a fish? Did he have to evolve into this? Is he the only one like this? Was he a mix of both? An offspring of human anatomy and an eel… Alien? He put many question marks next to that point. Finally, in the middle of his thought he realized he’d only seen about 40% of this creature. Grace noticed (and remembered) the main part of this creature. He had only one arm.

The man’s arm was fully missing. Firstly, Grace grabbed some tweezers to help move the skin out of the way, but the structure of the tear with the remaining tendrils branched out like the roots of a tree. The skin split into ragged, uneven flaps rather than a straight cut. Torn tendons and ligaments hanging in strands where they once anchored muscles and stabilized the joint. ‘His arm was ripped off. Cleanly out of the socket.’ Was the final conclusion Ryland had come too. He felt himself pause and swallow back something boiling in his throat. ‘No, no you’ve seen worse Grace… probably…’ Grace took a second to breath before turning back around. As he did, noticing just how red his subjects skin was. As blood lightly dripping out of his shoulder. Grace pulled himself back into action as he dragged his fingertips across the man’s shoulder. The burns had become patches of thick, leathery tissue layered over freshly dyed red skin. Scretching across his shoulder like spilled wax, pale and glossy where healthy skin should have been. The tissue caught the light differently than the rest of his body, smooth in some places and ridged in others, climbing over the curves of his shoulder blades.

Even through his gloves, he could still feel how sandpapery he felt. His skin wasn’t soft as Ryland imagined. Sure, there were burns & scars where he touched, but that doesn’t mean anything. They could’ve been old. ‘Why was he hoping he would be soft?’ Pulling himself closer, the creatures warmth radiated as he attempted to get a sample of one of the boils on his shoulder. “What Grace see?” Rocky spoke over the microphone above. Watching through the observation room window. Standing on the table to access the microphone. He felt like he was back in the lab with Stratt before The Hail Mary mission. Collecting multiple pieces of shedding skin into various newly labeled jars. “Nothing yet rock, just…” It wasn’t like any other human skin he had remembered seeing. It was tough & hard. He couldn’t decide if he was more human or eel. Left was human but right was interspecies. Carefully, he rested his hand against the rough skin surrounding the wounds. Attempting to pull it in opposite directions. But it didn’t move it stayed like thick cardboard with various pointing looking teeth and bone along with protruding skin out of his arms. Smaller scars buried by the amount of bone flying out of him. These mutations fascinated Grace. The scene faded as he went into his head to think. He remembered about the blood ocean; the folder had described the sub he was in… Small bits of hallucinations when they brought this man into an Erid lab. Something about a seed? Rocky had said? ‘Most likely a seed from a plant…’ Meaning there was plant life, which could narrow down the options of where this man could’ve come from.  

This man was severely injured and traumatized, Grace decided to take everything with a grain of salt. Maybe he was just… insane? ‘No, no. No one is insane… yet.’

Grace eventually worked up the nerve to study his neck again, small gills fluttered with the cold air brushing over them. The man’s hair looked soft, it curled slightly at the edges even with the blood still dripping off of it. The curls clung damply to the stranger's neck and forehead, matted with dried blood and saline. Even filthy, they looked impossibly soft. Grace held back the instinct to brush the tuft on his forehead. Making himself lock on the gills on the man’s neck. Brushing a few strands of hair away from the gills. "...Sorry," he murmured. "Need to see what I'm working with." His gloved fingertips barely grazed the stranger's neck. Grace saw some sort of burn mark. Like they did for cattle on earth before the man's eye snapped open. As he threw himself upward into a sitting position. Locking his bloodshot iris onto Grace’s with pure, animalistic panic.

Grace jerked backward placing the scalpel on the side table before putting his hands above his head quickly. The stranger inhaled sharply, every muscle in his body seizing despite whatever anesthetic still lingered in his system. “Grace!” was echoed from the speaker above them as he got yanked by the front of his lab coat. The man eyed the scalpel, “Hey!” Grace had just enough time to squeak before he was yanked closer. The stranger was impossibly strong even with one arm. Maybe years of surviving whatever nightmare had produced those mutations helped him keep up the muscle. ‘Were eels strong? Goodness, he’d need to do so much eel research after this…’ While thinking Grace stumbled chest-first into the examination table. The rock table colliding with his ribs with a matching shooting pain. As he was yelled down at by the creature above. “Where the fuck am I!?” The man’s voice was rough and hoarse. Seemingly from yelling or maybe screaming?

"Oh! Ow.” was the only thing Grace could let out. ‘At least he knew English?’ The stranger's breathing came in ragged, terrified bursts. He wasn't looking at Grace so much as through him, searching for something else entirely. Grabbing grace’s throat as he began to scream. “Did they get the package? You got what you needed, right? Don’t send me back down! If you wanted me dead so badly, why didn’t you just do it yourself, COI bastard!?” Grace felt himself fill with dread. Getting thrown back down to the floor before raising his arms up again he frantically sputtered. “I’m a just a middle school science teacher! I promise! I won’t hurt you!” Every muscle in his body telling him to flee pounded. But he didnt, wonder of the situation grew and grew before the fear was buried beneath it. ‘What the flip, is COI?’ Grace continued to look up at this man the LED’s illuminated this man’s hair and back. Sure, he was petrified of this man but beneath the layers of blood and rebuilding flesh was someone who was also afraid. Every scar hinted at an old battle. Every fresh wound suggested that the fighting had never truly stopped. Grace could imagine the pain it must have taken simply to stay alive. The analytical side of him gave way to something heavier, an aching, almost unbearable pity that settled deep in his chest. No one deserved to be reduced to this. The eel anatomy woven into him carried signs of repeated trauma, as though every adaptation had been forced into his anatomy. Yet somehow the same lonely look lingered behind exhausted eyes.

Grace had seen that look in the mirror during those first months aboard the Hail Mary, when every decision carried the weight of an entire planet. This stranger's suffering in his mind went far beyond anything he had experienced. But perhaps they shared one thing in common. Neither of them looked like men who had been allowed to choose their own fate. Grace found himself quietly hoping he was right. Before any other thought could load the man spoke "No..." he growled, voice cracked raw. "No, stay away. I’ll get you killed; I’m from Eden!” He sounded exhausted as he clawed at his own back.  

Grace stumbled back before lifting both hands again. "Okay! Okay! I'm staying exactly this amount away!" Seemingly in that moment, the man realizes he only has one arm to comfort himself. His voice hitches as he began to sniffle. He grabs himself as his nails dig into his shoulder blade, making them begin to bleed slightly. ‘Good heavens.’ Grace could feel the strength in those fingers through layers of gloves and a lab coat. His scientist brain desperately tried to catalog everything at once. Elevated heart rate. Extreme adrenaline response. Disorientation. Incredible grip strength despite catastrophic blood loss... The other part of his brain, the one that had apparently been lonely for far too many years, supplied an entirely less useful observation. ‘...Strong hands.’

Grace blinked. ‘Why... why was that the thing I noticed?’ Grace tried to shrug it off. ‘Come on Ryland, he’s in distress.’  Before he could do anything, the stranger tried to push himself upright and off the bed. Revealing it to be a spectacularly bad idea. Pain seemingly ripped through his body. He hissed through clenched teeth, tusks scraping together as fresh blood seeped from half-healed wounds. Dripping down his neck and down his chest. His gill ear drooping down like a startled cat. Every muscle in his torso tightened as pain ripped through him. Another strained hiss escaped between newly grown tusks, the sound sharp enough to make Grace wince. Newly ripped scaring welled from half-healed seams running across his shoulder, torso and neck, winding over defined muscles before dripping down the center of his chest. The body's impossible decomposition couldn't quite keep pace with the punishment he was putting it through. His remaining arm planted against the table, shaking violently under the effort. Every instinct in him supposedly screamed to collapse, yet he dragged himself higher anyway.

Grace instinctively reached to steady him, standing back up and timidly walking towards him. Crossing the ‘get away’ boundary almost instantly. Grabbing the creatures good shoulder to help steady him. "Easy," Grace said softly, stepping forward. "You're going to tear everything open again. And Rocky would be very annoyed at me for that…" The subject attempted to swing at Grace. As he ducked just in time, teaching middle schoolers had helped him know when to dodge flying things. The fist sailed over his shoulder before the stranger lost balance entirely. Laying the arm over Grace’s shoulder with his head sloppily facing downward. Grace caught him under the shoulders before he could tumble off the table. Grace felt his eyebrows sadden as he fixed him to be back in the lying down position once more. The other creature, already exhausted even from this brief movement, glared up with his one eye. A dark chocolate brown with some glow of golden hazel below it due to the lights in the room. Grace blinked back quickly.  "...You have a very pretty… eye," Grace blurted. Looking down at him with the projection light behind his head. The creature attempted to stutter something intelligible as the room fell silent. Grace filled it with yammering nonsense. His soul briefly leaving his body. "I…I meant your pupil!" ‘Ryland Grace. You absolute idiot.’ He stammered, trying to think of an excuse. "It's... reactive! Which is medically encouraging." A quick thumbs up to end it off. ‘Shoot, does he even know what a thumbs up is? Shoot, shoot, shoot!’ The stranger squinted somehow with one eye continued staring. Grace remembered something his kids used to say. But somehow, he made it even worse.  "...And, uh... aesthetically pleasing…?" He wanted the floor to open beneath him. Grace immediately went into his head. ‘Why the frick would I say that?!’ Turning around and readjusting his glasses taking a calm breath before turning around. To find the man already leaning up again, with his legs dangling off the medical bed shaking.

The loopy stranger brought his arm up to Grace’s shoulder again. "Are you with the… Are you an angel?” His voice slurred together from exhaustion and various drugs. Soft tears fell out of his eye. Grace didn’t know how to answer, so he just shook his head confused. The man didn't talk more. Instead, his hand followed down to the collar of Grace's lab coat and tightened around it. His knuckles whitened. His shoulders stayed squared despite trembling with exhaustion. His jaw remained clenched, tusks bared just enough to look dangerous. He held himself like a cornered wolf desperately trying to convince the world he was still the biggest thing in the room. Grace noticed something beneath the anger. His tremors, rapid breathing, eye that never stopped searching every corner of the room.

Grace studied him for another long moment, and something inside him quietly gave way. He wasn't angry. He was terrified. The snarling, the bared tusks, the desperate swings with his one good arm, it was instinct. It was what he felt he needed to do to survive this situation. The frantic, exhausted reflex of an animal that had learned the world only brought pain. Every movement screamed don't touch me, don't let me be helpless again. Grace felt a ping of pain with this realization. ‘How much had this man endured to react like this? To wake from unconsciousness already expecting another fight? Already expecting whatever attacked him before to hurt him again?’ Beneath the burns, the blood, and the impossibly, intricate, body rebuilding itself was someone who had survived by never letting his guard fall, not even for a second. The observation room's speaker crackled overhead, breaking the silence. He'd almost forgotten Rocky was watching. "Grace, okay question? New human not hurt Grace? Question?" Grace kept his eyes on the stranger, his voice quiet with a sympathy that surprised even him. "No," he murmured. "He's not trying to hurt me. He's just... scared." Rocky cut in unsympathetically. “Have anesthetic, when ready. Statement. Assumed Grace could handle new human while scientists prepare. Statement.”

The stranger gave another rough tug, pulling Grace forward until they were only inches apart. Grace stumbled, one knee knocking against the table. "Ow.” The stranger looked ready to tear his head off. Grace, meanwhile, became painfully aware that this man was... rather handsome. ‘I know, I know not the time…’  Strong jaw with sharp pointed teeth with wet tears lightly drying, ridiculously deep eyes that sunk deeper into his skin tone, messy dark curls plastered against his forehead. Curly soft black hair that went down to his shoulders. Dripping with the last remaining blood onto his shoulders. Scars he yearned to learn about and help him heal from. Even covered in blood and alien mutations, he looked like he'd walked out of some action movie.

‘Seriously? Now? He is actively threatening your life.’ Grace swallowed and he felt his face burn.

‘Cheese and crust… Ryland Grace!! This man is critically injured, horribly traumatized, and currently deciding whether to throttle you. Stop admiring his complex bone structures.’

The stranger let out another low growl. ‘No. Absolutely not.’ Trying to hide his thought. He smiled the smallest, most apologetic smile he could manage. "...Hi." The stranger's expression promised violence still holding onto his collar for “support” and or “comfort.”

"I'm Dr. Captain Ryland Grace. Welcome to Erid!”

The glare only intensified. Grace's ears turned pink. They were close. Close enough to feel each ragged breath against his cheek. Close enough to see the trembling in his eyelashes. Close enough to notice that beneath the grime, the old scar across his nose towards his temple along with a matching one on his lip buried beneath the new. Older scars, that had briefly healed before the mutations had even happened. Grace took a mental note for later and no other reason.

His eyes were beautiful. A deep, warm brown. Not one flat shade, but countless tiny flecks of amber catching the laboratory lights. It darted wildly around the room before snapping back to Grace, suspicious and frightened all over again. Grace blinked slowly like before.

He was shaking. Not with rage. With effort. He was barely holding himself together. Grace's smile disappeared. "...Hey." His voice became almost painfully gentle, like he was talking to one of his students again.  "You don't have to prove you're dangerous." The stranger stared. "I believe you." A flicker crossed those exhausted brown eyes. Grace slowly lifted both hands where they could be seen. "I'm not going to restrain you. I'm not going to tie you down. I'm not going to hurt you." The stranger's breathing caught. Grace blinked slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements.

"It's okay," he whispered, though he wasn't entirely sure who he was trying to convince. The stranger's pupil remained blown wide with panic. His breathing came in ragged, uneven pulls, each inhale catching painfully in his chest. Grace didn't fight his grip. If this grip was all that was keeping him anchored to reality, then Grace could spare a lab coat.

The stranger's gaze searched his face desperately, as if trying to decide whether Grace was another monster wearing a human face. Grace held himself steadily. "You're safe." Another growl. "...I know. You don't believe me. I didn’t believe it either…"

The man's eyelid fluttered. Just for a second. Then softly again. “But I promise you are.” His blinking began to increase, pupil beginning to dilate, his breathing began to slow as Grace's scientist brain immediately noticed the signs. Tremors increasing, loss of muscle control, delayed focus. His grip wasn't getting stronger anymore, it was slipping.

‘Oh no...’ The stranger gave one last desperate yank, pulling Grace flush against him. A hug with only one arm, their foreheads nearly collided.Grace froze, feeling the heat radiating off him. The creature looked less comfortable and hot than when he first came into the lab, he was feverish. Burning alive beneath battered skin. He smelled faintly of copper, antiseptic, smoke... And something oddly earthy beneath it all. Grace hated that his first coherent thought wasn't this poor man but the wonder of what was causing that smell? His brain immediately started constructing variables. ‘Blood explained the copper. The antiseptic was external from the clean lab. Smoke likely clung to damaged tissue and the sub being cut open. But the earthy undertone... that was biologically intriguing. A new pheromone? Altered skin creating a new scent? His curiosity was so immediate it bordered on inappropriate, and he silently scolded himself for mentally drafting a research paper while the man was still bleeding.’ Grace didn’t know how to take his new information. It skipped around in his head, a new thing about him to latch onto.

The stranger's fingers twitched bringing Grace back to the situation. The subjects glare softened not willingly, but because he simply couldn't keep it focused anymore. His breathing hitched in his throat seemingly losing the ability to suck in air at the necessary speed. Horror sank in Ryland’s stomach "...Woah wait, hey!" Grace said beginning to panic, every trace of humor disappearing from his voice. "Hey, stay with me!" The man's lips parted as though he wanted to speak. Nothing came out except a weak, broken rasp. “Live…” His hand loosened. "...Shoot, you’re crashing." The realization hit Grace like ice water.

"Rocky! Get in here please!” The stranger tried one final time to keep himself upright. His arm gave out almost immediately followed by his entire body sagging forward.

"Oh!" Grace barely managed to catch him before his face slammed into Grace’s own. The impact drove the air from Grace's lungs as nearly two hundred pounds of exhausted, bloody, injured man collapsing against him. "Easy! Easy now…" The stranger's grip finally released. His fingers slid down Grace's chest, catching briefly on the fabric before falling limp as he had passed out.

"...umm, human?" Silence only filling with slow, uneven breaths beneath his weight. Grace’s arms were stuck under his pits. Knowing he can’t move him by himself. He felt himself begin to panic as his knees began to buckle beneath him. ‘No, no!’ Quickly falling onto said knees. Immediately the pain shot through his bones right as the laboratory doors burst open. Three Eridians hurried inside, along with Rocky leading them with hurried, discordant chords that echoed through the room. "Grace, okay Question!?" "I'm doing great, Rock!" Grace grunted, still awkwardly supporting the subjects weight from the floor. "He's just... considerably heavier than most other unconscious people are." Rocky clicked his claws together in concern before kneeling beside the examination table. "Human sleep?" Grace checked the man’s pulse with shaking fingers. Accidentally placing them onto the burn from before. Feeling two lines intersect before fraying off into three edges. Grace pulled himself together and check his pulse.

Strong. Too fast. "More like his body forced him to stop." Grace swallowed. "He's exhausted. His blood pressure probably crashed. Adrenaline finally wore off." Rocky gently rested one claw against his shoulder. The unconscious human flinched even in his sleep. All four Eridians froze. "He still fear," one of them murmured softly. Grace's chest tightened. Even unconscious... He was still trying to fight. "Let's get him lying down," Grace said quietly. It took all of them. Rocky supported his spine with incredible care while another Eridian cradled his legs. While one of the other scientists adjusted the blankets beneath him. Grace never let go of his head. Absentmindedly, he curled strands of dark hair around his fingers. It was just as soft as he'd imagined, surprisingly so, considering everything else about the man seemed to be the opposite of what he expected. Scientifically speaking, physical contact was known to reduce stress responses in humans. Lower cortisol. Slower heart rate. Increased oxytocin production. Perfectly reasonable. ‘Mmm, perfectly reasonable…’ He frowned thoughtfully as he continued absentmindedly combing through his hair.

"Interesting. His hair texture appears largely unchanged despite the alterations..." he muttered under his breath. His thoughts trailed off as the man unconsciously leaned ever so slightly into the touch. Grace froze, letting the moment freeze with him. ‘That... probably wasn't a scientific variable.’ Heat crept up his neck melting him out of the moment. He stared at the sleeping man for another second before awkwardly clearing his throat and pretending he'd been examining his anatomy the entire time.

"Completely normal field observations," he whispers to absolutely nobody. His fingers, however, never stopped gently carding through the subjects hair. Slowly and painfully, they had eased him back onto the examination table. The moment his shoulders touched the soft blanket, Simon's face twisted. A whimper escaped him. Not loud. Barely even a sound. His hand clawing at his face. But it made Grace's stomach knot. "He hurts," Rocky observed. "I know." Grace brushed damp curls away from the creature’s forehead before he even realized he'd reached out. The softest thing he had touched so far. ‘Goodness Grace…’ He quickly withdrew his hand. One of the Eridians made an amused clicking sound. Grace's ears immediately went pinker. "I was… checking for a fever." Rocky's front lingered on him tilting to the right.

"...Question." Rocky said mockingly.

"No." Grace cut him off. Knowing the questions that were about to follow.

"I not ask yet, bitch. Statement." Rocky stomped his feet for intimidation. Like they were back on The Mary arguing. Grace stopped immediately, slowly turning around with his mouth agape, turning to face his companion. “Where the flip did you learn that?!” Grace brushed his hair back, trying to think of anytime he would’ve exposed Rocky to swearing. “New human said it earlier. When bringing into lab, Statement.” Grace felt anger bubbling. “He spoke English and you…” Grace let out a huff, taking the gloves off and ringing his fingers out. Remembering who he was talking to. Grace mentally put a pin in that conversation for later, he changed the conversation back to the question at hand. "I know where this is going." Rocky's chords took on the unmistakable rhythm of amusement. "Grace like new human, Question?" One of the Eridians began preparing a needle for more anesthesia on the other side of the examination table.

Grace let out a scoff. "I have known him for approximately…” He briefly looked down at his watch pulling his lab coat sleeve up. “…twelve minutes!" "You pet hair." "I brushed his hair out of his eyes once!" "You stare eye." "I’m taking pupil samples!" They had this argument while Grace packed up his findings. Attempting to avoid all eye contact by labeling and placing the findings for him to test later on a table in the corner of the room. "You call handsome." "I did not say that! Out loud… Shoot did I…" This was the only time Grace looked down at Rocky. Somehow on his stupid, rock face, he was smug, his silence was devastating. "...Question." Grace buried his face in his hands. "Oh, goodness..." One of the other Eridians produced a series of curious clicks. Rocky translated with entirely too much enthusiasm. Even though Grace could understand her the first time she said it. "She ask if human courtship on Earth usually begin with attempted strangulation. Statement." Grace made a noise somewhere between a groan and a laugh. "I sincerely hope not." "...This human certainly made an impression." Rocky rumbled happily. Grace sighed. He turned his attention back to the man, relief replacing embarrassment. He felt his cheeks blush red.

Drawing up a measured dose of sedative, one of the scientists found an uninjured section of his arm and injected it carefully. "There." A taller, white and gold Eridian spoke softly. Rocky tilted his head. "Medicine make fear go away?"

Grace watched the man’s face as the medication slowly took effect. The hard lines around his eyes eased, along with his clenched jaw relaxing. His breathing gradually lengthened into something deeper, steadier. "No," Grace said softly. "It just lets his body remember how to rest." The man shifted atop the blankets. Without opening his eyes, his hand weakly searched across the mattress. Grace hesitated only a heartbeat before placing his own hand within reach. The moment his fingers brushed against Grace’s, they curled loosely around two of his fingers. Just...holding. As if somewhere, buried beneath terror and pain, his exhausted mind simply wanted proof that someone was still there. Grace felt something warm settle painfully in his chest. It fluttered with human touch after all these years. Kind, gentle human touch.

"...You've been alone for a long time, haven't you?" No one answered. He was already deeply asleep. Grace found another blanket beside the table. Grabbing it and placing it comfortably on the subject. Pulling his hand to lay atop it still intertwined with Grace’s. The Eridians began to leave, to test the new “findings”. Grace looked down at the hand wrapped around his fingers and smiled despite himself. "...Yeah," he murmured, unable to stop the tiny, fond smile tugging at his lips. "Me too." Rocky's amused chords echoed through the quiet laboratory. Apparently staying nearby for this opportune moment.  "I hear that, bitch statement." Grace closed his eyes.