I love the idea that Rocky while trying to communicate with grace has been teaching him essentially the Eridian version of baby Sign language because it was the easiest way to connect to grace who picked it up very early(I also like the idea that Grace thinks he is smart for picking up Eridian body movements so quickly when in fact he was actually just signing simply phrases like “want more” “hungry” “sleepy” “nap” “boo-boo” “please”)
Rocky doesn’t tell Grace when they arrive to Erid which leads to a mix of confusion and cuteness overload when the anxious squishy space blob following Savior Rocky around like a shy pebble and signing things like “Hi-Hi!” “My. name. is. G-R-A-C-E” “nice. to. meet. you”.
A whole group of Eridian scientists hold back their coos as ‘pebble Grace’ signs the Eridian equivalent of “Bye-bye!” after every health check. Grace is none the wiser when the other Eridian besides Rocky and Adrian start to speak to him with a gentle lilt (think cooing and babytalk voices when they speak to him) thinking that Eridian must just be a little awkward about speaking to an alien for the first time, he struggled to find his footing a little the first time talking to Rocky so it makes since to him.
Thus ensures;
“Wow human Grace is a whole (number amount) heavier than last check up, someone is getting big and strong.”
“Human Grace is very very very brave human, injection will only last (small number amount)…and…all done! Good job human Grace! Grace must pick out prize.”
“Has human Grace had any owchies since last check up, there is medium sized scrap on human Grace leg? Did Human Grace get boo-boo from problem with Bio dome.”
It takes quite a bit of resistance not to make Grace’s bio dome a giant padded nursery for a delicate pebble and the argument to add more and more safety proofing is a never ending conversation. If Adrian is asked permission to build pebble gates around the shore and every possible cliff side again They will go insane. They once fired a lower level official for arguing the necessity of essentially adding a pebble monitor to every corner of the bio dome.
A many Eridian higher up officials don’t quite understand how savior Grace can be so smart and yet behave so child-like, thinking surely earth would not send a child on such a mission. However that logic goes out the window when they learn that Grace is only in his thirties(the Eridian equivalent to a 4 year old). This then leads to a major misunderstanding where many Eridians start to despise earth for sending a baby into space to die, Rocky lets the misunderstanding stand for a little longer than needed(still having mixed feelings about earth since they sent his best friend to die) before interviewing to explain the human life span.
Rocky once approved of the creation of an Eridian Bib made of a soft canvas-like material of Xenonite after commenting on how disgust Grace is when he eats, not to the mention all the other times Grace begins leaking for one reason or another.
