Work Text:
I have no idea how much time had passed since I was freed from the quilt.
Rocky had made no more advances towards me, to which I'm thankful for because I am on the verge of losing it. Pretty sure he's still observing me.
“Grace not human, statement," Rocky chirps. His voice was weirdly more beautiful now.
“How, question,” tapping twice, thankfully limbs aching less now so I was able to experimentally move. “No breathe same air.”
“Grace is Eridian. Don't know how. We find out. ”Was that Adrian? Right, let's find out- Hold on a minute. Erdian? I knew I was different and had difficulty speaking but what.
I finally take a moment to take in everything. Everything feels wrong weird. Colours are gone and replaced with gray? Every movement I make provides visual feedback of my surroundings. Am I nestled in Adrian's limbs? Additionally Rocky doesn't have his suit on and is not currently catching fire!
I make note that I am sprayed out like a starfish on my quilt, tucked away in Adrian's limbs. A very flammable item that is very much not on fire.
Where am I? What happened? Hesitantly tapping a claw, I hear the room. It's not my room, this is not my house. Why am I not in my house? Is it because of my atmosphere? My very human atmosphere? A better question, does it happen to relate to the pain I feel? The very familiar burning sensation on the… top of my carapace? Ah. I was on fire but the quilt was not.
“Burned?”
“Grace new body not compatible with human atmosphere. Grace vents catch fire so we bring you home in compatible atmosphere,” Adrian replied.
I hummed back. Okay, that's a loaded statement. Let's unpack that. I know my partner's mates. Not only am I somehow Eridian suddenly incompatible with my original atmosphere but I am also actively in Adrian’s arms without a xenonite barrier between us. I’m not freaking out. It makes sense that I feel a burning sensation on top of my… carapace. I was quite literally on fire. At least I now know how Rocky felt when he went into my atmosphere during the whole fishing incident.
Okay I am freaking out. How could I not? How could this happen? There is genuinely no scientific reason for this to happen. It can’t even be a sudden mutation or evolution which still takes thousands of years! This happened over night! Did it? Or have I just been passed out for a few days? Besides in no living memory of human history or evidence that ever showed examples of a species practically copying another's entire evolution. I mean there's those who copy some traits of another to hide from predators or to lure prey. But none ever swap species!
I have five arms limbs, no flipping eyes. No matter how badly I want to say that I feel uncomfortable in such a drastically different body that is missing features I lived with for thirty plus years, I never felt more comfortable in my life — I don’t have the energy to work on right now. That's something I will have a breakdown in a few hours. Oh gosh i can’t even cry about it either.
I’m scared to move. I don’t even know how. I mean I know I can move a claw a little to mimic their tapping but that's it. How does one walk with five legs after living so long as a bipedal? How does one navigate the world blind with no definitive front or back?
“Where is here, question,” I double tap at the end.
“We bring Grace to Rockyadrian home,” Rocky trills out, accompanied by his jazz hands. An action I came to notice is a Rocky thing (others have a different action instead.)
“Your… home?”
“Yes! Grace can finally explore Rockyadrian's home!”
“After Grace recovers,” Adrian adds, the ever so sensible one. Voice chords sounded clearer as I was nestled in their ‘front’ limbs.
Cool. Alright. A proper house tour. Not a mini tour with a small scaled model that Rocky whipped up. I’ve never been able to before due to us never making a form hugging xenonite suit for me like Rocky was able to do for him and other Eridians. Besides I couldn't see a single thing in the realm outside of my lit up biodome. The same biodome that I can no longer live in. All the effort done by Adrian and the biodome team — heck all the teams who worked on keeping human me alive — is no longer needed. As far as i can tell. I felt guilty for accepting their overwhelming support and willingness to help make life comfortable for me on a planet that's not compatible with Earth life. But now I no longer can benefit from a majority of their efforts. Although it seems at some point Rocky figured out how Earth textiles works and had made a replica of my quilt that would not combust in his atmosphere. I’d cry if I could. Fudge it, I’ll ask him.
“You make Grace quilt, question. Why?”
“Is Grace’s favourite, statement. Eridian Grace can’t wear fox clothing but can use quilt,” Rocky stated proudly, jutting his carapace upwards. “Original quilt would burn in Erid atmosphere so Rocky replicated one that does!”
I tap against the quilt. The feedback I get surprises me a bit, I didn't give the quilt much thought earlier. The quilt wasn’t ‘blank’ like the original quilt, for obvious reasons. Each patch and design was raised with different stitch patterns, easily readable for the typical Eridian without a screen reader. I can still ‘see’ the earthly designs. I trace a claw along the raised sections, milling over the result of a planet collaborating on something for their hail mary. Now their efforts are now seen by intelligent aliens on another planet sixteen lightyears away. Clawing at the quilt and holding a bundle of it. It felt… squishy. Could be soft but i no longer owned the correct senses to tell. The quilt was effectively squishy and plush to an Eridian.
“Thank you…” I trail off, keeping a weak but strong grip on the quilt.
“Anything for Grace,” trilled Rocky who had taken a loafed position in ‘front’ of me like a cat and outside Adrian's limbs that wrapped around me, not entering my personal bubble. If personal bubbles are a thing for Eridians given their whole… ecolocation thing.
“Is Grace okay? Question. How are you feeling?" That's an excellent question Adrian.
For starters, pain is everywhere which is nothing new but it is not the chronic pain I had grown used to so I'll consider this as an improvement. I am now no longer separated by some barrier and my gosh i am very touch-starved. I’ve forgotten how it felt to be held. To touch another living being. Back on Earth I was never one for physical touches. I mean, I made sure to give my students a high-five when one of them did something well but I never got physical with any fellow adults. The last memory I have of being touched by another was just before the launch of Hail Mary, when I was tackled to the ground, gloved hands roughly restraining me…
“You’re murdering me!”
But now, here I am tucked away in an alien species' limbs and feeling the most at peace. Honestly, that is a bit sad. It took me being forcibly sent to space, meeting an alien, saving the stars, traveling to another planet sixteen lightyears away and swapping species to get to that point.
“Pain. Not unusual for Grace,” I reply back after a while in a few chords. “Gracerocky finally touch.”
Happy chirps emit from Rocky. “Gracerocky touch!” he repeats, “Gracerocky touch question?”
“Yes yes yes.”
With my confirmation, Rocky clambered into Adrian's hold along with me. Both of us being similar sizes and being two thirds smaller than Adrian. Adrian was larger with unstunted growth unlike Rocky and me. I guess.
Rocky's flatter side of his carapace faced mine, four arms tucked under him like a cat with one close to me, waiting for me to reach out. The Eridian being the lovely gentlemanrock that he is, didn’t immediately touch me. To that I am grateful. I am honest to god, on the verge of shutting down — unsure how that’d be now being an Eridian but that's besides the point.
I moved a claw over to him and brushed against the mercury stained scars and dents that he gained on our adventure. Evidence of our journey. In turn, he moved his along mine. I am unsure what this new body kept from my old human one, if anything transferred over that is. I desperately hoped I had something that resembled the claw shaped scar I had from our first true contact. That was something to do later on.
A few trills escaped me as I soaked up the contact. It was a huge relief to finally touch him after all this time. It was comforting to be against Adrian. Warm and safe.
Eridians weren’t a species that cared for close physical contact like humans were. It was considered to be a little intimate having skin-to-skin contact — given that Eridians could ‘see’ into each other if close enough. However, Adrian and Rocky had been very willing to accommodate my human need for contact regardless of xenonite suits. Contact was contact. And despite this whole situation, they seem to be ever so willing to indulge with cuddle time. We deserved it after being separated by atmospheres.
“Love Rockyadrian, statement. Love love love.”
“Rockyadrian love love love Grace, statement.”