A_tired_reader



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  1. Public Bookmark *

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    “Grace consider dating on Erid question?” Rocky asks in a tone I can’t decipher.

    “What’s with the sudden interest in this topic?” I reply in lieu of answering.

    “Grace avoid question question?”

    “I’m not avoiding anything, bud, I’m just wondering where all of this is coming from, that’s all.” And avoiding. Definitely avoiding.

    or, alternatively: rocky confesses and grace freaks out.

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    14 Jun 2026

  2. Public Bookmark *

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    “...nope.” Grace pulled the quilt farther up on his shuddering body, then turned his back to him. “Nope- oh, no, no, absolutely not. Nope.”

    “For sci-encee,” Rocky whined, actually whined, practically pawing at the edge of the bed, and Grace whipped back to face him, eyes squinted in the dark.

    “I don't buy that, Rock.” Rocky wilted with the sentiment. God, he was pushy- and if Eridians could evolve to have puppy dog eyes, Grace was convinced Rocky would be at the forefront of that development. “Not for a second. Y’know, you’ve been-”

    “How will Rocky possibly know how to please, if no?”

    ---

    Doctor Ryland Grace feels as if he's being hunted. Rocky is very aware of Doctor Ryland Grace's feelings.

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    14 Jun 2026

  3. Public Bookmark *

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    8 months after Grace and Rocky arrive on Erid, Adrian and Grace have an important talk. Without Rocky.

    That’s on purpose.

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    14 Jun 2026

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    "I-" his words turn into a jumbled mess and I feel my claws clench. It's more than a little frustrating the way Grace keeps using new vocabulary without offering a translation for it. It probably has to do with grammar structure, but we've barely established +λ++ words.

    He can handle some grammatical sacrifices for the sake of ease, can't he? I definitely have.

    Grace presses one of his dull claws to his carapace. "-sleep now. I come back in +∀ +λ++ seconds."

    He takes another (clumsy) step backward and this time I do push my carapace into the barrier. He can't leave, the tunnel is too long for me to hear him whenever he's back on his spaceship. He's going to vanish and take that steady percussion beat within his chest with him. What if something happens to him while he's on his ship and he never returns? I need need need him.

    Erid needs needs needs him.

    "I observe."

    Grace is so caught up with making himself look trustworthy that he forgets aliens might be able to lie just as well as he can.

    OR

    Rocky lies about Eridian culture. What's Grace gonna do? Call an alien a liar?

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    14 Jun 2026

  5. Public Bookmark *

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    "Grace stay with Rocky forever, question?"

    Uh—well, not really, I want to say, maybe my forever. Like a family pet—here for a portion of Rocky's life and gone in the next. Except there's no human humane society for Rocky to get a new me from. Not unless the science Eridians can make an interstellar highway to Earth. That'd be neat.

    But that's if there even is an Earth by then. For all I know George and Ringo ran out of fuel prematurely and are suspended in the middle of space, two ugly alien objects that nobody will know hold what could have saved an entire planet from another ice age.

    That'd suck. Both for humanity and Rocky. Then I'd really be irreplaceable.

    Grace forgets to tell Rocky about the average human lifespan. It comes up again on their flight to Erid.

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    14 Jun 2026