paper_starz
Recent bookmarks
-
Tags
Summary
Ryland looked down at his clipboard, where he had written a reasonable script, supplied earlier that day by Adrian. Unfortunately, the moment his eyes landed on the words, his brain supplied only terrible ways to say them.
He chose the worst one.
“I need flowers with prominent reproductive structures.”
The man went completely still.
Ryland could feel his soul attempting to leave his body.
“For a plant anatomy lab,” he added quickly. “For my students. Middle school students. Not–” He cut himself off, because there was simply no end to that sentence that would improve his situation. Instead, he just weakly smiled, and added “Science.”
-:-:-
Ryland Grace is brilliant with biology, awkward with adults, and far too invested in giving his students the lessons they deserve. Simon Fleischer is a guarded florist who trusts plants more than people and has no interest in being needed by anyone again. But when a forgotten school lab brings Ryland into Root & Thorn, their lives begin to tangle in quiet, unexpected ways – through flowers, roots, and the terrifying possibility of being cared for properly.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 83,490
- Chapters:
- 9/21
- Comments:
- 612
- Kudos:
- 1,088
- Bookmarks:
- 257
- Hits:
- 11,998
Bookmarked by paper_starz
25 Jun 2026
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
Read through Ch 9
Oh my goddddd, how does this fic have so many good quotes?? Who do I have to murder to get lines as good as these?
...Asked for something low-maintenance for the office and he told me “Nothing is low-maintenance if you ignore it.” Plant is still alive though. Five stars.
Competence was dangerous. Ryland had learned that about people. Competent people made him want to hand them things. Problems. Trust. The soft, ugly little truths he usually kept behind his teeth.
Competent people with strong arms, a nice face, and a working knowledge of plant anatomy were, frankly, a public safety hazard.And then there's the one I'm going to be bringing to my therapist later:
“Okay,” he said, because Adrian had once told him that arguing with kindness was not the same as accepting it. “Thank you.”
-
For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky by GhostOnTheMoon
Fandoms: Iron Lung (2026), Project Hail Mary (2026), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir
18 Jul 2026
Tags
Summary
Simon arrives on Erid with no memory. His wounds, his vessel, and his fear are his only clues to his past, and Grace his only shepherd.
Or
Simon experiences amnesia on Erid similar to the amnesia Grace experienced on The Hail Mary.
Bookmarked by paper_starz
05 Jul 2026
Bookmarker's Tags:
Bookmarker's Notes
Read through Ch 24
Quotes and stuff
“Simon, you were in a cult. If they had brainwashed you enough, broken you down enough, you might have done anything they said, regardless of how you felt about it. Nothing you did for them reflects who you really are.”
“How the fuck do you know that?!”
“Because I know you.”“You are a gardener, Simon. Not a butcher.”
-
aperture by birdbyrne (beezlebubz)
Fandoms: Iron Lung (2026), Iron Lung (Video Game), Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary (2026)
17 Jul 2026
Tags
Summary
Ryland doesn't know where he is, what he's doing, or why he's doing it. All he knows is that he's in a universe with no stars and that an organization called the COI found the Hail Mary spinning out into deep space. He knows that Rocky may be injured somewhere, and he knows that the man that currently lays in a hospital bed in front of him should be dead as dirt but has miraculously survived.
He knows he has been given an ultimatum. Find out what brought Simon back to life or never see Rocky again.
The task proves more complicated than he thought.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 45,679
- Chapters:
- 13/18
- Comments:
- 1,681
- Kudos:
- 4,065
- Bookmarks:
- 1,080
- Hits:
- 82,086
Bookmarked by paper_starz
24 May 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
Read through Ch 13
Random quotes I've enjoyed
I’m angry, now. Not at him. At Eden for conditioning such an optimistic soul into a killer, at the COI for beating him down until there was nothing left. Angry that he’s never known peace. Angry that a mind so smart was wasted, angry at how similar our stories are.
-
Tags
Summary
It is red. A bright, remarkable red. Ryland unbuckles himself, stepping around Rocky to press his hand to the window, and rubs at his eyes when his vision blurs. “Rocky.”
“Grace-friend sit down. Head leaking.”
“It’s got an ocean.”
-
An AU where Simon survives to be found by Grace, and accidentally brings something else with him.
-
Ones Who Listen to Starlight by ASCII
Fandoms: Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir, Iron Lung (2026), Project Hail Mary (2026), Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary - All Media Types, David Szymanski's Iron Lung - All Media Types
17 Jul 2026
Tags
Summary
It's their third trip out since they found the taumoeba.
The Hail Mary has been upgraded, and now runs with a crew of nine Eridians. Plus the human mascot, Grace.
It might be his last trip out, but Grace is making the best of it. He's just in the way at that point. His eyesight is no longer needed for the ship to run smoothly, and he could be teaching instead. He's enjoyed the trip. He really has.
But the last of the new beetles are off, headed to distant star systems. Grace was settled in at the viewport when they found an anomaly.
That's an odd astrophage signature.