Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Despite Opal's promises, by the time lunch rolls around, Grace hasn't seen even a hint of them. Adrian and Rocky both assured him they were fine, and he's pretty sure those two wouldn't actually lie to him, so even as unsettled as he was by their sudden disappearance, Grace lets the issue drop.

Besides, he ends up pretty busy in the meantime anyway.

While Opal never shows, Grace does get some other visitors!

And by 'some', he means basically the entire medical crew ends up flooding into his room, drop by drop. Or eridian by eridian.

Starting with Frank, who surprises Grace by coming not even an Earth hour after Opal leaves. It still wasn't lunch time, surely? And normally they inform him ahead of time if there's a check-in.

"Hey, Frank!" He still greets eagerly. He didn't see Frank yesterday at all and he has a few new details for the notorious gossip.

"Hello, Savior Grace!" They greet in return. Throwing him for a loop.

Some of the eridians are very particular about his title. Grace doesn't love it, but Rocky said over and over that it was an ordinary sign of respect. That titles are pretty important on Erid. (Like they aren't on Earth, Grace.)

Most of the eridians he knows personally he has gently prodded into dropping the title. Even just on occasion. It makes him a little uncomfortable for everyone to call him a savior. Just an odd feeling, being so singled out like that when Grace certainly doesn't feel like the kind of person who should be called a hero or a savior. He's just Grace! Sure, he did one pretty darn important thing, but it still feels odd for the title to be like. A constant thing.

Some of the medical team has adamantly refused to stop using his title (Ignaz) or seem to try and sneak it by him like he's not going to notice (Opal and Rufaida)

Frank though, they reacted differently. They seemed pretty delighted to be granted the privilege of being casual with an alien. Which Grace can't exactly blame them for, he can tell you honestly that it's a pretty darn cool experience.

Almost since the beginning, Frank was willing to let the title drop in favor of letting him be just Grace. It had been refreshing, feeling a little more normal.

So what brought this back??

"Is everything okay?" Grace asks hesitantly, watching as the middling gray eridian skitters into the room, a couple of metal bracelets wrapped around their upper arms, tight bands that don't make much noise. At least not to a human, maybe they are more noticeable to an eridian. Grace feels like they added some since a few days ago; one of them looks like slightly discolored, like it's a different metal from the rest of the set. Or it could be older and the color changed?

"Oh yes! Everything is okay!" Frank cheerfully responds, rasing a hand to jazz it around, the bracelet knocking against their own carapace in their speed. Huh… Grace is pretty sure that he hears some hesitation in there. Oh man.

Half propped against Rocky, Grace can feel the vibration of Rocky's own doubt buzzing in his side. Good to know he's reading that correctly.

"Does Savior Grace need anything, question?" Frank whistles.

"Oh, no I'm all good—"

"Anything at all, question?" Ah—

Grace just blinks at them. Dumbfounded by the weird behavior. Seriously, what is happening with his rocks today? "N—No. I'm fine." He shoots them a smile, "Hey, did you see Opal today? And their arm?"

Immediately Frank drops low on their legs, that strange tension running away from their voice as they lament, "I know! Opal partner coward." Whoa! Strong words!

Laughing anyway, Grace feels a little relieved at Frank's— Well. Frankness.

"They will not propose soon. No, no." Frank insists, clearly annoyed. "At least… a month. Earth month." Oh, a bet is it?

"I think they'll get there!" Grace protests, "Opal talks about them all the time. They love each other a lot." You can see how close they are, even by getting just one side's perspective. Grace has never met their mate, but he thinks it's a solid relationship. It reminds him a little about how Rocky would tell him about Adrian. Like they hung the moon in the— Uh. Not applicable on Erid, huh?

"Yes. But Opal will propose before 🎶🎵 ever gets the courage back." Now that's a possibility Grace could consider.

The weird vibe hovering over the beginning of the conversation lessens as Grace and Frank giggle over the course of their gossip session. Rocky and Adrian mostly stay quiet, although Rocky enthusiastically joins in the teasing when Grace gently prods Frank to tell them all more about the whole situation they've gotten themself into.

"First mate wonderful. Second mate wonderful. No more details." Frank says firmly, like that's going to stop Grace wondering.

"I just figured that you might want to brag—"

"No more details." Ah.

So that's going badly. Grace has a few terrible dating stories of his own, so he's not without sympathy here.

"Sorry!" Grace apologies with a still-lighthearted laugh, "Sorry to pry, Frank."

"Rocky not sorry to pry, but respectful of boundary." Ha. Nicest he's been to the doctors for while!

…Huh.

Giving Adrian a suspicious eye, turning his head to be sure they can hear it, he sees them calmly standing by his bedside nonchalantly. Only the tiniest whistle coming from their carapace when he looks at them. Clearly having nothing to do with their mate's new politeness. Ah, whatever. It's probably good that Adrian gave him a talking to. Who else would Rock listen to?

Before he knows it, Frank is whistling as well, a quick goodbye after double-checking (Well, triple checking, technically), that Grace is totally fine and doesn't need anything. It's odd, but Frank drops his title in their farewell, so it's certainly better than when the doctor or nurse or some-kind-of-medical-professional came in. Though Grace gets the sense that… Frank had been trying to figure out a reason not to leave the room for some reason? Or more like they dreaded going back to something. Maybe the guy just wanted to talk more behind Opal's back, who knows?

From then, Grace had the foolish hope that everything would be normal for the rest of the day.

Until his second visitor rolled around about an hour later, at least few minutes before his estimated lunch time.

Figuring they were getting it out of the way a little early— Hey, maybe they were less nervous about killing him now?— Grace turns to say hi and thank whoever it is for the food.

Only to see Rufaida enter completely empty-handed.

"Oh! Hey, what's up, Rufaida?"

Rocky repeats his doubtful noise even before Rufaida says anything. Grace has to agree.

"The ceiling." Rufaida says what should have been a terrible joke in the eridian equivalent of a grunt.

Oh no.

Hesitantly, Grace gives them a chuckle anyway. A for effort and all… Uh.

"Is everything alright, Rufaida?" He broaches as they step further into the room.

"Yes, yes. Everything fine." Rufaida insists, "Rufaida come to tell Grace that salt-mineral has been acquired and is being readied for meals." Oh, already? Grace anticipated that being a dinner 'side dish', so to speak… Man, his diet is sad.

Anyway, did they have it on hand? He wonders what eridians actually use salt for then. Probably for chemistry rather than flavoring.

"Medical Team and Head of Grace-Medical Team, Honored Doctor Ignaz, wanted to be sure that Savior Grace needed no special processing for the mineral." Rufaida asks, their voice flat but one of their legs furthest from him still taps against the ground. Oh! Makes sense.

"No, not really." Grace shrugs. "Depending on where you are on Earth, we might enrich it with iodine, but I'm not sure how feasible that is here. And it's not necessary for the whole electrolyte thing." Really, he's probably fine, even without salt. But hey, this gives him an excuse for adding some kind of taste to his next few meals.

"Rufaida make note of process for future then." Rufaida says briskly. "Will bring in salt for next meal hopefully. Maybe the one after." Oh, good! He's excited to eat a little bit of straight salt. (It really is that bleak.)

"Sounds great!" Grace cheers, flashing a smile at Rufaida, "Thank you so much!" His grin probably looks obnoxious as he adds, "Oh, hey. Spoke to Frank today."

And not even getting so much as a whistle in return. Huh… they normally jump for bait like that. They were the one to practically form their little gossip mongering trio, jumping at the chance to trash-talk their neighbor to him and Frank one morning while Grace was desperately waiting for his water to cool. This just seems out of character?

He knows they heard his statement, but they are preoccupied by walking to the side of the room and plucking the wax tablet off the wall.

Or at least he would assume that if they were a human, eridians are master multi-taskers though, so Grace instantly knows the obvious reason they don't acknowledge him and his hot goss. Why they seem so quiet and irritated.

In the span of a day, Rufaida has grown to despise his very being and curse his name.

(Or they're slightly miffed at him for something. You know how it is.)

"Rufaida?" He hesitantly asks as the doctor scribbles much more aggressively than Ignaz had. The tablet does not require that much pressure.

"Yes, question?"

"Um. Are you…" He's pretty sure asking if they're okay won't get anywhere.

So he sighs and heads to his utter doom (an awkward conversation), "Are you upset with me? Did I do something—"

Before he can even finish his sentence, Rufaida drops the etching pen onto the tablet and makes a noise like a operatic duck; beautiful musical notes overlaying silly honks, "What?! No, no, no, no!" They put the tablet down on the floor, which is very weird from a human perspective, but it frees more hands for Rufaida to gesture wildly, "Not upset at Savior Grace, of course not!"

Oh. That's a relief.

He doesn't want their time here to be a slog. Heck, he knows a few of the team members probably had to move to be closer to the hospital, "Are you sure? If something is wrong—"

"No, no, no. Savior Grace fine. Rufaida just comes to check on Grace, ask question, and—" they scoop back up the tablet in one hand, showing it off to him exaggeratedly, like they are worried he can't see it, "Pick up extra 🎶🎵!"

Well, that's a huge relief then!

"Apologies. Apologies. Need one from Grace-room. Cannot get into storage room right now." Oh no!

Just as Grace opens his mouth to ask what happened, Grace is cut off when Rufaida's claws grip the tablet way too hard. Probably ruining part of their own writing. They either don't notice or don't care as they say, "Too much in there. Too many in there. Why do they need all the storage room, question? I could not tell you!" Some of the careful simplification falls out of their song as they rock side to side, bunching their back legs up like they're going to spring on something, "Already have 🎶🎵🎶🎵🎵 Space outside. And even spare room! They should not have that! But no! Need more."

Rufaida straightens, buzzing like a furious beehive before adding, "Taking break room is not enough anymore."

"Oh wow—"

"Why do they need our break room!? I have no idea! They have not done any work!"

…

Ha, okay. He really should have known.

Even if Grace wasn't deeply aware of what this is about now, Adrian's ambiguous, possibly supportive hum and Rocky's suspicious silence confirms that the Great Schism grows ever wider.

Grace really wants to ask what the deal with the storage room is, but he's smart enough to not set Rufaida off on purpose and fan the flames.

Which works out, because a moment later they straighten again, standing up tall on three legs while pulling their tablet close to their carapace, "Apologies again. Great apologies, Savior Grace." they whistle, "Not appropriate behavior in your room. I will leave, go to check mineral status with Grace-nutrition team."

"No worries!" Grace says quickly, hoping they aren't worried about him feeling that uncomfortable after the outburst. He knows the uh, strain the teams are under. Mostly from each other, for some as-of-now unspecified reason. Grace gets it; he worked on the Petrova Task Force for two years. Trust him, he's seen workplace 'disputes' that are a thousand times worse than this. Besides, it's not like it's a secret or anything.

…Do the eridians think they have been keeping the Great Schism secret? Wow, he hopes not. Grace has been witness to multiple instances of hostility at this point, there's no hiding it.

Rufaida leaves quietly, giving Grace just enough time to give them a wave that they thankfully return this time while stepping over the xenonite line.

As the dust settles in their wake, Grace rests back against his bed and—

Aw, dang! He forgot to ask Rufaida about Opal! Well, maybe it wouldn't have been the best timing. Next visit though. Plus, Grace has got to know more about Frank's situation, mostly why they are being so cagey about it. Clearly not going to offer it up themself. Gotta go around them to get all the details.

Underhanded? Perhaps. But sometimes you have to do what you must. For entertainment. For gossip.

Grinning, he leans back into Rocky, earning himself a delighted whirring sound while he waits for the promised lunch.

The next time the airlock opens, Grace lazily looks up to greet whoever it is, and frankly isn't surprised anymore when no food materializes in their hands.

What he is shocked at is that he doesn't know the person.

Straightening up, he watches as the eridian skitters into the room, clumsily closing the airlock behind them, fiddling with the buttons until it works. Clearly new to the system, then.

When they come a little towards the bed—

Ah, wait, nevermind? They stop and stumble back a little. As if they were somehow surprised he was here.

"Hello?" Grace says, keeping his voice soft and a little higher than normal. This eridian…

They're small. Definitely the smallest eridian he's met so far. And with how their legs are pulled to their sides in a stance like a frightened spider, they make themself look even smaller, their carapace looks to be around half of Rufaida's size. And they aren't very large themself!

When he speaks there is a chirping gasp, and they clearly force themself up to stand straight. Well, kinda. At least they aren't physically hiding behind a wall of limbs anymore.

"H—Hello! Hello Savior Grace, Savior Rocky! Honored Adrian!" They greet each person in turn, their voice getting slightly stronger as they go, the eridian dips their oval-shaped carapace to Grace briefly, and then unwinds their legs enough to stay standing while pressing the 'front' ones tight, singing their formal introduction with their clan marks showing.

He misses a few bits of information in their given name, but he does grasp that their clan name directly translates to something like 'echoes-from-a-deep-cave' which is really interesting. Rocky's clan name is much shorter, with no real meaning as far as Grace knows, so this is more akin to Adrian's. He should really ask about eridian naming conventions at some point.

The small eridian then gives another long name that Grace can't make heads or tails of, but Adrian seems to hum appreciatively about.

Their second name might have been lost on him entirely, but luckily they slide into their official titles and Grace immediately clocks that they are a new member of the Grace-Medical Team. Their title is definitely different from the others though… what is it? Argh, he's heard the word before— A lot actually! It's on the tip of his tongue…

When the eridian straightens up just a little, still having a quite a bit of that nervous spider curl, Grace smiles at them,

"Wow, it's really nice to meet you—!" he pauses, trying to think of a good English name for this person.

The eridian before him is kind of the opposite of Ignaz. The darkest color he's seen so far, a brown so deep he almost thought their carapace was black, with stripes of vibrant orange and muddy red. Like a tiger's eye crystal. Very pretty, actually.

As Grace almost calls them Tiger's Eye, or maybe just Tiger. Simple and effective. But he pauses, rethinking.

After the whole Taumoeba naming, Rocky goaded him into being a little more creative with his naming. If only by endlessly making fun of the name Taumoeba. (Hey, he thought it was fine! How does Mr. Trying to Name a Planet Middle-Rough-Texture think he's better than Grace anyway, hm?)

Anyway, Grace thinks he's been doing a decent job! Yeah, a few of the eridians he has admittedly just named after the stone they look like, but. Come on. Look at Opal. And that's kinda a human-ish name anyway. If he met someone on Earth with the name Opal he probably wouldn't have blinked. Other than that, he's stayed away from rock and stone names for the most part. Out of petty creativeness as well as politeness. And a slight fear of judgment.

Rocky still thinks he's named after the movie for a reason.

So Grace wracks his brain and comes up with a much more creative name for this new eridian than Tiger's Eye:

"Nice to meet you, Tigger!"

(Listen! He had like. Five seconds to decide!! Don't judge him!)

"Do you mind if I call you that?" Grace does his due diligence and checks with the new eridian, even though he highly doubts 'Tigger' means anything to them, it's not like the eridians have the Hundred-Acre Woods out here, but who knows, maybe they just won't like the sounds of the name. He wouldn't want to give his poor Grace-team eridians English names they despise.

For a second, Grace thinks he was right on the money and Tigger is suddenly furious, because they quake on their legs.

But then they spring up, throwing two hands in the air and jazz wildly, and Grace realizes it was from an attempt at keeping calm, "Yes, yes! Thank you much, Savior Grace! Tigger love their Grace-name!" Oh wow!

He's glad? None of the others have had so outward a reaction to the naming before. He wasn't sure if they just thought it was practical or what. Does… Does the crew call his words for them Grace-names?

Tigger drops their hands and still shakes, like they want to continue happy dancing, but have to focus up. They hum quietly, "Tigger is very, very, very happy to be here! And they know they are very lucky!" They sing a high-pitched note that's almost a squeak, "Lucky, to be here in Savior Grace-hospital as a student!"

Oh! That was it! He remembers now. The word from before is student. It's what Rocky always used when talking about Grace's days as a teacher. How did he forget that one?

But wow, that's so cool! So they're a medical student?

Grace wonders what eridian medical schools are even like. Heh, probably a lot of geology tests.

Rocky speaks up, "Why is medical student assigned to Grace and Grace-Hospital, question?" Uh, yeah, that too. It does seem a little odd, he's pretty sure the medical team was selected individually. Strange for them to poach a student for the team.

"Ah, yes— It come time for Tigger to request and select medical space to work in for experience," their voice is slow, and Grace is realizing that they are probably still training themself to not use any complicated eridian jargon for him. His heart warms at the whole medical-team's attempts at helping him and making sure he understands what is going on and the variety of ways they go about their goal. And also the ways they fail miserably at said goal, but oh well, "And uh." There is a deep, hesitating thrum from their carapace before Tigger quickly whistles, "Technically, there was no rule against requesting Grace-Hospital!"

Wha—

They Air Budded their residency?

Not able to hold back a barking laugh at the sheer gall, he regrets getting caught up in the euphoria of their announcement only a little when Tigger jumps in fright or concern. The hop large enough to match them to their namesake.

"O—Oh, but I take this— Tigger take this chance very, very very serious!" They whistle, sounding distressed, "Tigger knows this is incredible opportunity to learn, to help Savior Grace recover!" Aw. That's sweet.

"Not um. Not stunt or joke at all." Tigger's voice lowers solemnly. "Tigger take duty here serious. Want to help as much as they can."

They stand up straighter, and as if on a second thought, cock their carapace a little towards him, angled in his and Rocky's direction, "Tigger know Saviors must have heard this again again again, but… when star-killer infected star, so much became hard to imagine. Future seemed so… empty. "

All three eridians whistle sadly, and Grace wants to join them.

"All thoughts of later gone away. Tigger worry about the now, because that was all Tigger could do. Get through the now." Oh. Jeez, Grace understands that feeling.

"Tigger wondered what life would be like. How much would be left…" they pause, lingering on the thoughts of global destruction. Grace has faced that head-on. Has had to, for the last— God, few decades at this point? Technically speaking. Maybe the coma was a good break from existential dread, after all.

"But! Then!" They tentatively raise a hand and shake it again, slower, and almost shyly, "Saviors come from the silence! Bring with them cure!"

Tigger stands up tall for the first time, their body unfurling from the position they had come in the room and then tucked into, making themself look small. Revealing that the length of their legs are wildly disproportionate to their carapace. When they take a happy stance, they stand a bit taller than Rocky even, "Thank to Savior Rocky, thank to Savior Grace, Tigger can hear the future again!"

Oh wow. That'll do it.

For a flash, this young eridian is replaced by the students he had left behind. The image of Rehka, intelligent and bold, standing up and refusing to put her head in the sand about the upcoming danger. In the end, knocking him out of his own avoidance and complacency. The images of his entire class the last moment he saw them. Full of potential he was so, so scared would be cut short that he bolted, prepared to give up years to the taskforce to give them a fighting chance. Potential that might still have been lost.

But Grace did his best. And with Rocky, they saved what all could. And darn it, what they saved was wonderful!

It's not until Tiger makes a short alarm noise that Grace realizes he's crying.

"Savior Grace okay, question!? I'll call the doctors—"

"Is fine, is fine!" Adrian whistles for him, leaning on the bed and pressing part of their carapace very gently against his shoulder, "Leaking only mean Grace overwhelmed with emotion." Thanks, Adrian.

(Man, he really wishes Rocky hadn't taught them to call it leaking though.)

Nipping that in the bud, he explains to the young student while wiping his eyes, "It's called crying. We do it as a chemical release. Helps us regulate emotions."

Tigger half-collapses in relief, whistling, "Oh! Okay! Good, good, good. Was worried Tigger messed up big." Jeez, Grace can't even imagine. Having to go to your brand new bosses and tell them that you really beefed it with the alien would be mortifying.

Then they straighten again, "Wanted to introduce Tigger to Savior Grace. So Savior Grace wouldn't be surprised!" Aw. That's sweet.

They tap their carapace with a hand, and— Woah, hey, wait?

Quickly, Grace does a double-count of their limbs and just barely prevents his jaw from dropping obnoxiously when he realizes why Tigger looks so much more like a spider; they have six limbs. A whole extra arm! He didn't know eridians could have more than five!

That's so cool! Wow, he wonders if that's common or not. All the rest of the team have five.

Wait, focus up, Grace!

Tapping once on their carapace, Tigger explains, "Job here is mostly to echo rest of medical team, so Savior Grace might hear Tigger a lot!" Grace smiles at the phrasing. To echo must mean the same thing as shadowing someone. That's so cute…

And makes sense. This is a learning experience for Tigger. It would be crazy for them to be in charge of anything for his care.

Rocky seems to agree, because he hums, sounding content with the idea, "Tigger should learn much from them… learn to be better though." Ha, there it is.

Tigger doesn't seem to think much of his backhanded comment, they jump a little on most of their limbs in a little dance, two sticking to the ground for stability as the other four tap around, "Yes! Will learn much! So happy again for opportunity— Oh!" They flash a second round of jazz hands, "Respected Opal told me to tell Savior Grace that 'lunch' is almost ready!" They sing the word he has translated for lunch almost hesitantly, as if it's unfamiliar… Oh, duh, it probably is. Rocky never ate more than one meal a day on Mary. Eridians seem to pack in the all the calories they can in a single meal. Efficient.

Plus, there is less gross gross gross eating.

None of the eridians have mentioned it, being just culturally sensitive enough to not insult the differences between their species, but Grace has to assume they think he's banana-nuts over his food schedule. Three meals a day and often more?! Crazy stuff.

Grace smiles, both at Tigger and at the thought of the eridians coping with such terrible table manners, "Sounds wonderful, thank you so much!" Tigger bounces joyfully.

Oh wait! Again!

Did they say Opal? Is that where they've been? Training Tigger? Grace is shocked that Opal didn't come in with their student then.

Before he can ask about the conspicuously absent member of the team, Tigger bows, singing as their carapace dips, "We bring in soon for Savior Grace. Oh! And the mineral requested has been added to the plan!" So he will have salt for lunch!

First time in weeks he's going to have anything but the tauomeba mush recipe the eridians cooked up, so Grace is ecstatic, honestly.

Jumping to their gangly legs, Tigger heads to the airlock, "Very very very wonderful to meet Savior Grace! Tigger check on Grace-Lunch!"

"Thank you!" Grace calls on their way out.

"Yes, thank you, Tigger." Adrian hums, the chord sounding fond of the new addition to the team already.

"Good to meet Tigger." Rocky adds. "Will keep 'eye' on Tigger."

All he gets is a note of confusion from the student (Grace assumes the phrase is confusing), a sigh from Adrian, and a gentle bonk to the carapace from Grace, but Rocky's steadfast will only makes him laugh in the face of their scolding.

Delightfully, their new crew member was the one to finally bring in his meal!

Very excited, they sing that Opal told them they could deliver it personally. Which still bothers Grace, but he figures the interrogation can wait until after lunch. If only to shield the eridians from dealing with him eating while talking. Well, to save Adrian and Tigger; Rocky has been inoculated since their first few days together on the Hail Mary. Probably had to get used to the sound of chewing quick. Or go mad, that was probably an option.

Hauling in a slightly larger tray than normal, Tigger places it at the end of the bed, next to Rocky and Adrian, who are both pressed up together to Grace's right, Rocky on the bed practically lounging near the top of their mate's carapace, "Here, Savior Grace!" They sing, pushing the tray across the mattress towards him… slowly for some reason.

Oh. Tigger is probably just scared to make contact. Gosh, they really do think he's made of glass!

Leaning forward from his spot propped up on Rocky's suit, Grace scoops up the tray with two hands, bracing for the additional weight.

Tigger practically leaps like a jumping spider, startled at the motion.

Trying not to embarrass the kid, Grace just smiles again, pulling the tray to his lap, "Thanks so much!" He says, excited to see what throwing salt on this mess will taste like—

When he sees. Something slightly inconsistent with his expectation of lunch.

Taumoeba mush? Check. Water, (ice cold, judging by the already developing condensation, thank god), check. And…

A rock. Just. A rock. Just about a pebble size. Large, but still one you can neatly fit into your palm without a struggle. Pale white, practically bleached. Which makes sense.

Because this is almost certainly halite. Pure halite. They…

Just gave him a chunk of halite.

Grace bends over the lunch tray, shaking while trying to hold back his laugh. He can't tell if it's coming from amusement or exasperation anymore, but oh wow— Maybe the medical team is playing a joke on him—

No wait. Oh gosh— This one is Grace's fault!

Ohhhh man, this one actually is on him, isn't it? At least partly. Rufaida asked! They asked him if he needed any special process and he said no! He just.

His idea of salt is it already in grains! Is that so weird?? Do eridians not store it like that? Why not?! No, wait— He has so many questions! They're so scared to touch him half the time but then hand him a rock to eat?? How is that logical!?

Do they… Do the doctors actually know he definitely shouldn't chomp on this? They can't expect him to eat it like a snake, just swallow a stone whole; Grace has explained chewing. This is also a lot of salt at once, for such a small meal. If anything, this is more of a salt lick, like you would give a horse or something. Or how deer will seek out bare rock if they need minerals. Did. Did they intentionally give him a salt lick?

"Is—Is savior Grace alright?" Tigger asks nervously, most of their legs curling again, with their front hands fidgeting, "Is something wrong with the lunch? I can take it back!" Oh no. They sound anxious. He would be too, it's their first day of their residency with an interstellar patient and something seems to be going wrong.

Should he… just. Lick this rock? Embrace the weird mammal he is just to avoid upsetting his new medical student?

No, that would be wild, right? No, he's not gonna do that. Probably.

Guess he can ask them to… bring him a salt grinder? Or send it back to the 'kitchen' for them to grind the mineral. They must have something like that, right? If they store salt in rock form, then surely. If eridians use the mineral like he suspects they do, there has to be a good way of chipping it off and measuring it. Clumps of halite would melt even in water, sure, but what if you only needed a little in the formula? Then you would have a tool on hand to grind some grains out. But what if they don't have it at the hospital? Does someone then have to go down to the store or something? Imagine making small talk with that cashier— 'Yeah, the alien I'm taking care of requested this mineral grinder. Yeah, I don't know why he didn't just lick it.'

"Is meal bad, Grace, question?" Adrian whistles, tapping their hand on the bed twice, each time getting a little closer to his leg in their concern.

"Yes, what wrong, question?" Rocky adds, unfurling his legs out from under him, tugging the tray and Grace's food a little closer without even asking to examine it. Rude.

As Rocky taps on it the metal, making a soft purring noise of concentration, Grace is struck by the perfect solution.

He didn't really need a grinder, he just needs this to be in smaller pieces! Bits that he doesn't need to lick like a deer or break his weakened teeth on.

Grace isn't sure what eridian carapaces are on the Mohs scale, but he's utterly certain that a little chunk of brittle halite can't stand up to them.

So before Rocky even finishes his examination (he would definitely get what the issue was eventually, right? Surely he would have figured it out), Grace reaches and grabs the little bowl with the piece of salt rock and gestures to it, "Hey bud, would you mind helping me out?"

When Rocky just repeats a curious sound, Grace quickly explains, "Ah— Humans kind of normally have this in way smaller pieces. At least nowadays— I would guess rock salt was probably still more useful when we needed it for large-scale preservation of— Anyway, not important!"

Adrian makes a slightly disappointed noise when he doesn't go into the history of salt of all things, so he makes a mental note to tell them about the strange amount humans adore the mineral later. (Maybe he should avoid mentioning the wars and stuff though.)

"Could you just uh— Chip off some bits for me?" He knows this is a little bit of a weird request, but he's certain eridians have to be strong enough for it to be an easy task. He's seen them lift some pretty heavy equipment. "Or just. Crush it a little smaller?"

"Oh. Yes." Rocky sings easily, reaching and plucking the mineral from Grace's offered hand, a whirr of amusement coming from his carapace, "Tell the team to make smaller for Grace next time, question?"

"Uh, yeah. Actually, I'll probably have to talk to them about—"

As Rocky crunches the mineral, there's a strange noise to Grace's left.

Glancing over, he sees that Tigger has stepped back slightly, standing in an odd position as they… hum. Somewhere low in their chords— Something oddly tension-filled. Distress? Or… No, maybe embarrassment? He's not actually sure he's heard this eridian noise before!

Rocky puts some of the salt over his food, "Just on top, question? Or on side, question?" Oh,

"Yeah, you can throw some on top— Thanks, Rock!" He's relieved to see that Rocky reasoned out the size that's about comfortable for him, breaking a few bits off at a time and using another hand to crush them even finer and sprinkle them over the mush. Grains just a little bigger than normal, but Grace is fine with that. He can ask the crew later about making sure they—

A shrill, piercing note shocks him.

Jumping out of his skin, heart suddenly racing, he sees Tigger halfway across the room, swaying on four legs, the other two held up in. Almost defensively?!

"Wha—! Are you—"

"So sorry!" They suddenly whistle, chords strained. "Um! I did not mean to— Great apologies, Savior Grace! Savior Rocky! Hon—Honored Adrian! I will leave— I will leave you alone and um. So sorry!" They suddenly bolt to the door. Opening the airlock and turning just long enough to show them their clan crest and do the quickest semi-formal goodbye Grace has seen any eridian use so far. Like they're trying to speed run the close of this social interaction.

They must be, because as soon as the door is open, they spring through it, and close it behind them equally quickly.

What on Erid?

"What just happened?" He asks Rocky. Who lets out a rippling tune and mimics a human shrug as he finishes up his favor of being Grace's temporary salt grinder, wiping a few more grains off his xenonite suit.

"Who knows? Only weirdos can join medical crew, apparently." He giggles at his own burn, and well. Grace wants to argue, but it is starting to become a pattern—

Without warning, Rocky leaps to his legs, dropping the rest of the rock salt directly into the mush with a gross squish sound and a muted clatter from the metal utensils.

Grace jumps again, watching his eerily-still friend.

Briefly, Rocky seems to mime looking at the bowl, and then his own claw.

The smallest whine comes from his carapace.

His heart drops, "Rocky?! Are you okay?"

Rocky doesn't answer Grace.

Instead, leaping to the ground and running around his mate, Rocky yells into empty air, "Wait! No! Student Tigger, it is not what it sounds like— Student Tigger, LISTEN!"

Bolting out the airlock as soon as it will let him, Rocky rushes out of view in seconds, slapping the wall controls in desperation to close it behind him loud enough that Grace nearly jumps a third time in, what, twenty seconds?

Why are these rocks trying to kill him today!?

At least Adrian is being normal—

A shill whine starts ringing from their chords as well. Oh no.

The whine disappears though, as Adrian give up on their fight against the obvious laugh echoing from their carapace. The almost rippling sound tripling in seconds.

Quickly, the eridian unravels into some of the loudest laughter he's heard from Adrian so far, and as beautiful as an eridian's musical amusement is, Grace would really like to know the joke.

"Adrian?! What's going on?"

For a moment, they don't answer, seemingly trying to get a hold on their giggles.

"Adrian?!" He says a little more desperately.

And then they reach out a hand, and in a gesture annoyingly familiar, pats his shoulder consolingly.

"Rocky is fine. Grace is fine. Everyone is fine." They say, finally calming their laughter.

…Until they add the second part: "Rocky did something very, very embarrassing. More embarrassing than coming on Grace."

"Onto." Grace quickly— So, so freaking quickly— corrects. "Coming onto Grace. Er, me— Wait!" He holds his hands up, trying to still his own racing words and catch up to Adrian's meaning.

When it hits Grace what just happened. Holy moly—

"The eating thing…" he whispers in abject horror. How the heck did he forget?!

This is one of the basic politeness rules he first learned about eridian culture! Food is a sensitive topic; to be handled delicately. Not. Whatever he just did.

What did he just do? No, more accurately, what did he just ask Rocky to do?!

(And why did he say yes?!)

Covering his face with a groan, he braves asking Adrian, "How bad is it."

"Will be fine."

Adriaaaaan!

Did he like… Oh jeez. He really isn't sure that humans have an equivalent for this? All he knows is that it was really, really bad. Enough to probably scare off Tigger forever.

Laughing and being a traitor once more, Adrian knocks their carapace very softly into his shoulder as Grace sinks further into his hands, willing himself to melt into a puddle.

Not being sympathetic to Grace's new phase transition, Adrian pulls the tray towards Grace, yanking it from where Rocky has inadvertently kicked it while rushing off to protect his reputation. They tug it to rest in front of him and sing, "Grace meal ready now, question? Grace should eat." Something to that effect. They used an eridian euphemism, but it means all the same.

Which is ridiculous, because they are completely ignoring the chaos that—

…you know what? He is pretty hungry.

"Thanks, Adrian." He says, plucking the cursed rock out of his mush and dropping the biggest remaining piece in its own bowl.

They sing another note and lift a hand to rest it quietly on Grace's shin as he grabs the bowl of mush and lifts the spoon Rocky made to his—

Oh wow. He really didn't learn his lesson at all, huh? "You can leave too, Adrian." He offers, lowering the dangerous utensil, "I know this isn't comfortable to hear."

Adrian pauses, as if thinking about it. Grace wouldn't be offended if they took him up on the offer.

But they mimic a head shake, rocking their whole body in a sway, "No. Adrian will stay. Has heard before. Not new." Ah. That's true. They've been here for quite a few of his meals now. He's… surprised they never left, actually? Guess they were following Rocky's lead and sticking around for the gross part.

"Yeah, but… if you ever want to, it's fine." He reminds them. Not that they need his permission.

"Yes. But Adrian want to stay." They pat his shin a few times, "Adrian stay. Grace eat!" Oh.

It's nice to know that Rocky isn't the only outlier eridian, that he's not unbearably gross to Adrian either. At least for now, while he's sitting in the hospital. Maybe they'll sing a different tune (literally!) when he's in better health and not on such a strict meal plan. But for now… he appreciates the company.

(A lot.)

When Rocky doesn't reappear within a few minutes of Grace finishing up lunch, he starts to get worried.

Adrian seems less worried at first, but Grace does notice them tapping expectantly in the direction of the airlock a few times. Fidgeting as he pushes the bowls away and they fall into easy conversation.

Until they sigh and say, "I am… going to go find Rocky. Bring them back." Ha. That would be good. Hopefully he's not still chasing that poor kid around.

Adrian scoops up the tray, "Will give to medical team. Adrian should relay the salt request for Grace, question?"

"Oh, sure. I'll… probably have to talk to them as well," Mostly because he has questions still. Like. Did you guys hand him a salt lick and think this is how humans normally consume salt or what?

With an agreeable hum, Adrian leaves.

Without them, the room feels quiet. Grace doesn't know if the peace is nice or not, but he should probably take advantage of it while it's here.

Something in him suspects he won't have it for long. Not today.

So, re-arranging his pillows and settling back down, Grace closes his eyes and rests, waiting for Adrian and Rocky to get back.

He wasn't too tired yet, having napped intermittently most of the morning, but he was pretty surprised that he had just barely fallen into a doze by the time the airlock opened again given how lethargic he's been the past few days.

Expecting a sulky, embarrassed Rocky to crawl on the bed and complain to Grace, he shifts enough to invite Rocky to lay beside him, moving around the blankets and then snuggling down into the pillow with a slow sigh and his eyes still closed, leaving the spot near his chest wide open for if Rocky wants to cuddle.

Which all somehow startles him, because there is a loud clang and an even louder curse.

Wait—That's not Rocky's voice?

"Come on, 🎶🎶🎵! Are you serious!?" One eridian voice hisses. Grace wakes up fully from his doze when he realizes it's entirely unfamiliar.

"What?!" A second voice responds, much louder and irritated, "It slipped out of my claw— It's not my fault! These suits are so unwieldy and—"

"Shhhhsh, shush, shush, shush!!" The first person cuts them off. Grace can hears them take a few scuttling steps towards the second person, and a small scrape of metal, like they picked up whatever their buddy dropped, "I… think Savior Grace is in sleep-cycle!" Ah. So definitely not one of the medical team.

Most of them seem to have memorized his resting heart rate by darn near first day. Any of them would be able to tell instantly that he's awake. Grace thinks Rocky must have taught them the trick as a diagnostic tool. He was pretty in and out of it for a little while, so it could have been helpful for them in knowing whether his vitals were going crazy when they couldn't exactly ask.

Given that, and the fact that they're bringing some metal in, Grace assumes they're part of the engineering team.

"Yeah? Exactly!" The one being scolded doesn't drop their voice at all. Completely unconcerned in a way that makes Grace want to grin.

"You shit-head! Savior Grace can wake up from sleep-cycle if we are too loud!"

"…No. That's fake. That's not real. You're lying to me." Ha!

Guess he should prove it to them. 'Wake up' and greet them, scaring them out of their—

"Totally real! I heard the doctors talking about it. Why do you think Opal of Savior Grace-medical team said they would crack open our carapaces if we bothered them?" WAIT, WHAT?!

Opal said that?! Okay, no, now Grace is with Engineer number 2. No way they aren't lying.

Quietly listening and staying still, keeping his breathing as even as possible with a giddy giggle bubbling in his chest, even though he's now pretty sure these eridians wouldn't even understand what his breathing is, Grace kinda— Definitely— starts eavesdropping.

(What else is he supposed to do? Not hear more about Opal going beast mode?)

"Whoa… amazing…" the second eridian finally lowers their voice. A little. "Should we leave? Come back later then?"

"No, no! Respected Engineer Ayrton said this project was top priority for Savior Grace themself! To be done as soon as possible!" Even with them trying to keep quiet, Grace hears the intensity in the song, "It was hard enough to get permission to go in! And now is perfect time!" Aw jeez. Did the doctors give them a hard time? Sure seems like it.

And to be fair, it is the perfect time! Did they literally wait until Adrian was out of the room to come in, or is that a happy coincidence?

"Right, yes. Counter point: I do not want to be violently attacked by the medical team if we screw this up." Well, that's a bit dramatic.

Maybe Opal warned them off of his room, but he can't imagine anyone on the medical team actually rasing a claw to someone!

"It's fine. Just be so quiet." He hears the two eridians skittering over to his right, metallic clicks against the floor a clue to them putting their supplies down, closer to his head than he thought they would go given their attempts at keeping him 'asleep'. Although, then again, he's not sure they understand what his head even is. Now that he's thinking of it, he's barely met any of the Grace-Engineering team.

Quickly, it becomes apparent that despite being a species that relies near entirely on sound to navigate their world, these two do not seem to understand the concept of keeping the darn volume down whatsoever.

Grinning under the covers, assuming they're too busy to pay attention, Grace listens to their cursing as they start the construction of Adrian's chair. Or bed-sofa thing. He never really was clear on what Ayrton had in mind. Sounds like they brought it in pieces to construct in the room, though.

"Where is the goddamn— Oh, never mind, found it."

There are a some exploratory tapping and an appreciative hum, "Damn. Respected Engineer Ayrton did not skimp out on the materials. Xenonite base and decorations for it." Decorations? Oh, that's really nice of them! He figured it would just be a plain chair. In fact, the only reason he was around eighty percent sure they wouldn't just go to Erid Ikea and pick something up is because the doctors might be hesitant about letting something potentially contaminated into the hospital space. And they would make fun of the engineers for being lazy. That too.

But he's happy Adrian is getting… a fancy sitting spot? Huh. Seems like a lot for such a simple request. Maybe they decided to go above and beyond because the alien was asking?

His only fear is that Rocky will now demand his own fancy sitting spot.

Presuming he's not content to cuddle with Adrian on theirs. Which seems improbable, but he might simply crave the prestige of a throne.

"I know! They almost got a relief-sculpture panel to go on front of seat. Ocean waves or something. And weird, weird, squishy creatures swimming on them." Wow! Ayrton really does not skimp then, huh? A chair customized for their profession? That's so much! And he definitely didn't ask for that. Or even tell them about Adrian's work. Do they like. Know Adrian outside of the hospital? Or is the head engineer just that particular about their projects?

Picturing Ayrton's fancy outfit from today, it makes a little more sense. Maybe they are just more extravagant then he realized. Grace doesn't really know Ayrton that well to say for sure.

"Don't doubt they still will. But delay too long— Respected Ayrton ask for work to get done quick, quick."

"Right…" One whistles quietly, getting back to it.

For a minute, Grace assumes they actually are keeping quiet.

Until:

"So uh… what's the. Actual story?"

"What? Oh, this is for Honored Adrian—"

"No, no! I know that, obviously. I'm talking about the situation." Huh?

"Ohhhh. With the three of them?" The engineer says the word very coy. Very suggestively. So much that he gets a sinking feeling in his gut. And Grace can't tell if they made any gesture to him with his eyes closed, but he's not sure who else they could be referring to. Although it's weird phrasing…

"Yeah! What is going on?"

"Rumors all around Savior-Grace-Hospital." Number One says dismissively. "Hard to tell what is real at this point.

"No, but like— I've heard three different versions of this story!" Second cries. Far too loudly. Seriously, are they not ambush predators? Eridians have the ability to be quiet! Guess the norm of an eridian not being able to wake to literally anything still blinds them to how noisy they are being around the 'sleeping' human, "Is it true they were mated to their second partner before even asking their first?" What?!

Wait, okay, so no. It's not about him, Rocky, and Adrian— Thank god, imagine those rumors flying around—But then who the heck is it about?

Hold on…

"What? No! That would be insane! Surely not. You don't extend vows before asking your own mate!" Number One exclaims. "They must have delayed courtship."

"Not what I heard from Rufaida of the medical team…" Rufaida? Who could they have been talking about— OH!

This is about FRANK?!

Frank, You absolute dog! You better have delayed courtship! Gosh, no wonder their mating group is such a mess!

'No more details' indeed!

"But what about the mating mark?" WAIT, he gave his second mate a MATING MARK?

Oh, that rock is sooooooo screwed, huh?

Grace is obviously not super well-versed in eridian mating practices, but from from Rocky told him when describing his own family, Grace can tell you that courting someone without your current partners' approval is a huge issue. Polyamory might be more accepted on Erid than on Earth, but as far as Rocky described they don't really… do hinge relationships that often? You just kind of get absorbed into the 'mating group'. Whether there's two or ten eridians in the mating group, they all kind of are expected to be mates of one another. Or that's at least how Grace understood it.

Who knows, that could just be Rocky's experience. He has three parents who all love each other a lot, so maybe that's his frame of reference.

No matter what, he cannot believe Frank has this level of drama going on. Rufaida has been holding out!

"That doesn't count as mating mark, you idiot."

"What? Just because it's," the eridian sings mockingly, "Non-traditional, does not mean it does not count! How could the traditional—"

"Hush! It's rude to speculate!" Oh, is it now? Who is in here starting gossip in a literal hospital room, huh?

"I am just saying that— Wait, what are you doing?"

"Soldering the decor on. Obviously." Huh?

"Are you insane!? You can't use a xenonite-welder in here! This room is full of oxygen!" So they know what gas his room is filled with but they—

Wait, no, Number One is right. You can't solder in here!

"Relax. Very low intensity heat— I read through Ayrton and and Savior Rocky's notes." Oh, good. Rocky knows what he's doing in oxygen-rich environments. They aren't going to start a fire in here, at least.

…there still is a nagging issue with uh. Welding and soldering in his room. But surely they have a solution to this—

No. Who is he kidding? They definitely don't.

Finally breaking his cover, Grace moves the blankets off his face, his motion making one eridian stand tall and chirp.

Unfortunately Number Two cranks up the torch just as Grace turns and inhales a breath to ask them to please weld any metal outside his very airtight room.

Then he inhales what is probably, in reality, a very small amount of smoke.

Smoke that nevertheless, smells like an impossible metal searing his lungs.

Xenon doesn't naturally have any smell as a gas, but oh boy! Melting xenonite certainly must!

Whatever they are using is not nearly as clean as Rocky's tools. Whether that's the fuel of the torch itself or the reaction from this particular xenonite-alloy formula to major heat or what, Grace knows he hates it so much when it burrows into his nose and throat and stays there.

Even as he lunges up on the bed to cough the smoke out.

His sudden motion— Or his ugly hacking noise— makes both eridians screech in shock, Number One jumping back in fright.

The other dropping the tool right on the ground. Nevermind— That guy's new name is Butterfingers.

Because when Butterfingers drops the tool, it apparently doesn't have a safety button like Rocky's nifty soldering irons, and immediately it starts burning his darn floor.

Making the smell much, much worse.

To their credit, they snatch it up and turn it off within seconds, placing it on a little rack that he assumes is for the tool to cool down on, but the awful smell is still lingering.

As he coughs a few more times, the two eridians are scrambling to speak,

"APOLOGIES, APOLOGIES!!" Butterfingers yells.

"OH FUCK— Is Savior Grace okay, question?!" Number One follows up, stamping their limb on the ground before they even finish the sentence in their haste.

"I'm fine—" he croaks out. Mostly.

His throat itches and he clears it roughly. He really could use more water now.

"Oh, no, oh no!!" Butterfingers hisses to Number One, "Shit, are they okay?!"

"I don't know! I don't know anything about aliens—!"

"Really fine, guys. Thanks for the smoke inhalation. Very bracing!" Grace says, a little harsher than he means to be as he waves the air in front of his face to ward off the burning stink.

It's just been a day, okay?

Both of the eridians freeze.

"Wha—What did they say?"

"How am I supposed to know?!" Oh gosh— He's gotten really spoiled to eridian team members who mostly understand his English. Thank you to the medical team for studying. They must have gone through one heck of a language learning boot-camp.

This is going to a pain…

With effort, he manages to whistle a few words of eridian, "Grace okay." He thanks the universe that his own name is actually fairly easy to sing, he just had to practice getting the slide of the tune right, "Please no hot-work here, please." Grace hates the phrasing he cobbles together, but the word 'fire' is a little more complex and he isn't sure he can make it understandable.

Ugh, his throat hurts a little now.

Butterfingers freezes in place, their hands still raised from their panic.

But Number-One stumbles back slightly, in an fearful tone warbles, "Savior Grace… speaks eridian, question?" Did they. Not think he could understand them? Ha, that explains some of their behavior.

How did they think he spoke with Rocky? Well. Admittedly, it was a lot of puppet shows at first…

Nodding, he asserts, "Yes. Grace talk. " Very little, technically. Probably the majority of eridian vocabulary is nigh unpronounceable to his singular human vocal cords, but he and Rocky had years to experiment and find words that Grace can butcher into comprehension.

"Ah— So, so sorry for disturbing you, Savior Grace! We were only working on—" as Number One starts to explain, they both freeze, crunching up into frightened spider poses.

It takes a second for Grace to understand why.

As a sharp pitched noise suddenly comes into existence with no warning, like the tuning of a radio, the frequency just suddenly registers to his ears painfully.

"Oh— Oh no." Number One says out loud.

Butterfingers stands first, "I'll go get the medical team!"

The frequency dips out of his hearing range again and Grace shakes his head, trying to dismiss the buzzing in his ears. He didn't even know there was an alarm in the room. Good to know it would wake him in case of an emergency, he guesses.

Which he assumes is what the alarm means, given the way there is suddenly a handful of eridians banging around outside his door. He sees their blurred forms through the xenonite airlock.

Despite Butterfingers' good instincts, they don't get anywhere near the door before the medical team is rushing in.

Opal is the first in the door, they whistle a gasp at the alarm, one of their last legs stepping over the xenonite thumping against it in alarm, almost tripping them before they straighten and survey the scene.

With as close to a growl as he's heard an eridian get, Opal points at the engineers in turn, "You two! Out!"

"Medical team! We were just—"

"OUT!"

"Yes! Okay!" Number One scurries around the doctors and leaves the room on order.

Butterfingers lingers slightly, "We—We were just soldering! We did not mean to—

"Soldering?!" Opal's voice ripples with shock.

"Soldering xenonite?!" Rufaida squeaks.

"In Savior Grace's—" Opal waves a claw in aggressive dismissal at them, cutting off whatever they were going to say.

Butterfingers gets the message and bounces.

Grace almost feels bad for them. Who are they to know how his lungs function?

(But honestly, that smell is pretty irritating. Hopefully they can finish the work outside.)

Apparently, Opal has a quick fix for that awful stench.

Because as soon as the Engineers are pushed out the door, somehow they are shoving a mask onto his face.

Grace flinches, jerking back in surprise, and Opal sings, "Apologies, Apologies! Is oxygen." Oxygen?

Oh wow—

"It is in no way, this bad." Grace states firmly, letting Opal place it on him regardless. You would think he has been sucking in asbestos, the way Opal readies an oxygen tank and with how Tigger stands tightly at the edge of the room, legs pulled so harshly against their body that most of their carapace has vanished behind trembling limbs.

"Smoke intake incredibly unhealthy for human 'lungs'. Should be avoided at all cost." It was only irritating because he got a lungful at the beginning! And really, all the coughing was because he already had a bit of a scratchy throat since the heatwave this morning. It's fine now. He can't imagine a chemical reaction being too bad; Xenon isn't even toxic to humans!

…although the burnt mixture does stink to high heaven, so maybe he'll keep the mask. Just for now.

Rufaida had run to his right side, examining the tools and materials the engineers left behind while being booted from the room. They tap around and sigh, lowering their carapace, like the lack of an active disaster drained all their panicked energy at once, "No open flame."

Opal warbles a note of relief.

…oh, yeah, that would have been pretty bad. Not that much in here would burn though, save his bed covers and the like. Could be important to think of for preparation though. Does he have another space to even go to, in the event of a failure for the room? A terrifying thought. Would they have to send him all the way back to Mary?

Dismissing thoughts of the worst for later, Grace shoots the team a smile behind the mask, "See? It's—" before he can get more than two words out, there's a rapid cascade of eridian footsteps. The tapping resembling a heavy hailstorm, ice chunks colliding with a rooftop. The sound of which is almost certainly coming from an eridian in full sprint.

"GRACE!" Rocky manages to crash through the door, getting through the airlock so quickly Grace would have sworn that the eridian phased through xenonite like a ghost.

Bounding across the room, he leaps up back on the bed. Scrambling for purchase as he claws his way over Grace's lap. Oh jeez, this is eerily similar too.

In a gesture that must have looked bad from the outside given Opal and Rufaida's horrified squeaks, but is actually very controlled and as always, incredibly careful,

Rocky grabs Grace's face in two hands to yell in it,

"WHAT HAPPEN, WHY GRACE DYING AGAIN, QUESTION?!" Oh dang. Here we go.

Loosening one hand, practically prying it off his cheek, Rocky brushes a claw over the surface of the mask, "Grace can breathe now, question?! Has enough oxygen, question? Grace is okay—"

Letting Rocky fiddle with the mask, holding it tighter and more securely against his face, Grace reaches a hand up to place on Rocky's smaller, xenonite-covered claw, "Always could, buddy. Opal is just being extra careful."

"Yes. Small amounts of smoke from xenonite soldering emitted in Grace-Room." Opal explains.

Rocky is listening, judging by the little hum he lets out, but doesn't respond as he keeps a protective claw over the mask and places another in Grace's hair.

A few feet away, a copper hand raises in the air as Rufaida speaks, "Should be negligible long-term effects on Savior-Grace! Very, very, very small amount." Thank you, Rufaida! Finally!

Mumbling around Rocky's claw and the plastic mask, Grace tries to set the record straight, "You guys know we humans do a lot of stuff around fire, right? Like. Recreationally." He imagines whatever smoke he happened to inhale pales in comparison to being in basically any suburb in the United States on the fourth of July. Heck, even normal cooking can produce more smoke than that! "Breathing a little smoke is an occupational hazard of being a human."

"Mm. Wrong." Rocky says, letting go of the mask to brush the hand down the side of his face, "Liar. Humans breathe too much smoke and die. Rocky knows. Get sick with smoke and chemicals. Can suffocate— Bad, bad for humans."

All the eridians honk, worried and suddenly extra alert.

Including Adrian, who rushes in a minute after their mate, looking as frazzled as an eridian gets, their claws picking at crystals on their carapace nervously as they walk in and join the room on that statement.

Rufaida's confident words seem to drain away in the aftermath. Grace would scold Rock, lay out all the reasons that is not in the realm of possibility at the moment,

but there's a tiny tremble in the claws holding him tight and Rocky's voice is too fast and tight for his comfort.

So Grace just raises his arms and pulls Rocky closer, encouraging the eridian to basically lay on his chest.

No much encouragement is needed. Rocky curls against him, kindly putting most of his weight on the mattress. A warm hand lands at the very bottom of Grace's sternum, pressing slightly down to feel lungs expanding evenly. His carapace presses into Grace's heartbeat.

"I'm okay, Rock. Seriously." The alarm must have scared the heck out of his friend.

Because it takes a long moment of Rocky listening to, feeling his internal processes running uninterrupted, for Rocky to buzz softly in agreement, "Okay. Grace okay."

Adrian joins their side, shuffling around the doctors to find the room.

"Grace okay." Rocky repeats quietly, before whistling in a much brighter pitch, "Never leaving Grace again. Keep almost dying on Rocky!" The eridian manages to make the tone a joke that time.

But there's still that uncomfortable trace of shaking in his body.

Hugging Rocky tighter with one arm, Grace impulsively goes against doctor's orders, sliding the mask off his face despite Rocky's immediate grumble, and the claw reaching toward his face.

Holding his breath to compromise with the anxious eridians, Grace quickly leans down and presses his lips against the xenonite barrier. In lieu of lecture or an apology that would make Rocky's fears too real, he sneaks a quick kiss as close to his carapace as Grace can get. As comforting as it is annoying, or so he hopes.

It seems to hit the mark, as he doesn't even hear Rocky utter one, 'Disgust' upon receiving a kiss from his gross human mouth. Just a little purring noise as Rocky presses a fraction of his weight into Grace.

Replacing the mask before the eridians really freak out, Grace sits with his arms full of a slowly-relaxing Rocky. Adrian beside them, an arm laid on Grace's back and another on their mate's carapace.

Who eventually calms, convinced that Grace actually is just fine and that everyone is overreacting, "Next person to fuck up Grace-room Rocky is beating-up." Rocky jokes.

All the doctors shuffle kind of nervously in place though…

"Mm, yeah?" Grace hums through the mask, stroking a hand down the xenonite suit, leaning slightly more on Adrian's arm as he looks down and grins at Rocky, "On whose authority, exactly?" That's assault, bud!

"Rocky own authority. Three strikes already." Harsh! The engineering team doesn't even get their own chances?

Laughing might be inappropriate given their audience, but Grace hopes it undercuts the threat for the medical team. Rocky doesn't mean it. Obviously.

(Aw, Tigger looks genuinely scared!)

Just to get the poor kid out of the room (And because he could really use the drink!), Grace turns his head to the small eridian still tucking themself low near the airlock, "Hey Tigger?" He says softly, smiling when they suddenly shoot to their long legs,

"Yes, Savior Grace?" They say quickly. Anxious, but more serious than he expected.

"Could you go and grab me some water, please?" Nodding to Opal, he adds, "If that's okay?" He probably doesn't need to be ordering around their student.

"Of course." Opal agrees with a ringing tone.

As if it's the most serious mission on Erid, Tigger stands proud, puffing out their metaphorical chest somehow, "Of course! Will bring it back as fast as Tigger can!" They shout, before rushing out the door and— Oh, dang, they really can move!

Following them at a much more reasonable pace, Rufaida sings, "I will inform Respected Doctor Ignaz that the emergency has been contained." Emergency… it was fine. He was always fine! There was never an emergency!

"I will stay in Grace-Room." Opal acknowledges Rufaida's words, "Observe Savior Grace. Just in case."

Ugh. He really is—!

"Yes, yes. Listen, make sure lungs do not start to struggle, struggle." Rocky hums, absentmindedly kneading one of his claws into Grace's shirt right next to his collarbone. His tone is forcefully neutral still, but it's obvious this one really worried him.

Aw, frick. At this point his teams are gonna end up traumatizing Rocky… Again.

He's going to have to bite the bullet, huh? They really gotta talk about this.

For now though, he returns Rocky's gesture, running his hand over the xenonite suit a few times. Rocky pushes up slightly, making more direct contact with his hand as it swipes over the top of his carapace again and again.

Lo and behold, Grace never starts spontaneously suffocating. His lungs work just fine fifteen minutes into their cuddle session then they had before this all happened.

The only difference the mask makes is disguising some of the awful aroma.

And nearly making Ayrton faint when they come running into the room.

"Savior Grace!" Their chords are strained as they enter the airlock. The outfit they had on before is missing half of the paired jewelry, the fabric sloppily tied over their carapace, as if they put it on only to run here. Maybe, because they sound horrified, "I am so, so sorry! I heard about what happened and—"

"Yes. Tell us about that." Opal shoots from where they had been observing him.

"I did not know— My team was supposed to do the soldering outside your room— I am terribly sorry that I did not make that clear enough— Are you alright!?"

"I'm fine." He's able to assure the head engineer.

Before Rocky points to the pile of debris, "What even is project that almost kill Grace, question?"

At the word kill, Ayrton warbles a distressed note.

But Adrian of all people doubles down harshly, "Yes. That does not sound like a fan." Gesturing with a jerking claw to the half-built base of their own chair.

Opal hums something scolding too, and the engineer winces, boxed in.

"It is uh…" They hold a front hand close to their carapace in a self-soothing motion. "A separate project."

"What separate project, question?" Rocky demands. "We did not discuss anything for Grace-room but fan."

Ayrton's voice just rings with a high-pitched note with no words left in the distress.

And Grace knows the surprise is ruined.

"It was a request from me." Grace volunteers, tapping his fingers on Rocky's suit.

"Oh, thank you." Ayrton whistles, half-collapsing their legs, grateful to not be answering pointed questions.

"It was supposed to be a surprise…" he glances, a little disappointed, at Adrian. He knows none of them are going to let this go now though, so might as well let the cat out of the bag. "I asked the engineering team to build a spot— like a chair or something—for Adrian to sit."

"For Adrian?" Rocky whistles.

Turning to the eridian in question, he gives them a sheepish smile, "You're always stuck just standing by the bed! Or sitting in positions that can't be comfortable long-term." Their body is not designed for human furniture at all.

Patting his bed with one hand, he continues, "I mean. You're certainly welcome to come up anytime! I just wanted to make sure you had a spot that fit you better. I… don't like the idea you have to be uncomfortable while visiting me."

"You. Ask for spot for… Adrian?" The eridian themself sings in surprise. They pause, chords still humming slightly.

"Grace asks team to make whole 🎵🎶 for Adrian?" They ask. He's not sure what that word means, but he can guess.

"Yeah! I thought it would make it a little nicer for you." He really appreciates Adrian visiting. Grace is sure it was simply for Rocky at first… but. They stay with him alone too.

Grace has been incredibly grateful to be able to call Adrian his friend.

They hum at another pitch, and in a pleased tone repeat, "You asked for spot for Adrian."

Rocky laughs, scooting a little up to place a claw on Grace's face again, "Grace very, very, very thoughtful! Very good." He pats his cheek proudly, delighted for anything that makes Adrian happy; the big sap.

"Yes. Thank, Grace." Adrian says softly, bowing slightly to be able to push their carapace into Grace's side. The top of their crystalline structure slotting over what little room Rocky left on the right side of his chest. "Adrian much appreciates." Their words vibrate into his chest as he grins.

Slinging one arm over each of them, Grace holds his friends close, murmuring, "Thanks for being here, you guys."

The other two eridians in the room are quiet for a long beat. Letting the three of them have their moment. Nice of them.

Especially when Engineer Ayrton speaks up, "I will work on project myself. Make sure to do outside the room and—"

Only to be cut off by Opal's sharp words, "Fix it properly this time, question?

Ah. Right. There's that bullet.

Ayrton whirrs an annoyed noise, and Grace can tell they're gearing up to return fire, but— No. Nope. Nuh-uh. Not happening.

Removing his arm from Adrian's carapace with a sigh and deep disappointment, Grace raises it in the air and declares with projected confidence something he is almost certain he doesn't actually have any authority for,

"Team meeting."