Chapter Text
Rocky was going to be gone today— he'd told Simon ahead of time that he and Adrian would be away sleeping. It's not the first time it's happened, but today Simon is bored. It's incredibly quick work to tend to the greenhouse, and there's not much to do around his apartment yet. He's only been in it for about a week or two, so it's still bare. Grace gave him some decorations for the place (despite Simon's hesitation). There's not much to do in the kitchen-dining room, since all of the food comes in pouches. The bathroom is well-stocked, though, and he's been able to enjoy leisurely showers. He took Grace's suggestion of leaving conditioner in his hair for a few minutes— his hair has never been curlier or softer. Other than that, there's the bare sitting room with sparse decorations, and a bedroom that Simon spends most of his time in. (The first night on a soft surface was easily one of the best sleeps Simon's ever had.)
All that to say, Simon is in want of something to do. He's already exercised for the day, and his mind is too busy for him to just sit in the greenhouse all day. It's weird for him to want this, but he ends up seeking Grace out. They haven't spent any time without an Eridian with them. He's sure it'll be awkward, but… he's just so damn bored.
When Simon looks up at Grace's apartment, perched on a cliff next to a metal tree, the lights are all off. A quick trek up the stairs confirms that nobody's home. No big deal— Simon knows that Grace teaches classes several days out of the week. Maybe he can sit in on the class and see how Grace is as a teacher.
He takes his time on the walk to the other side of the beach. He hesitates to touch the water, worried that it'll be too hot and thick against his ankles. But he likes to watch it. The twisted red tree still looms on the horizon. It doesn't seem to be bothering the Eridian ground below it, and it's not bothered by the alien terrain. Grace admitted he kind of liked it, so they decided to keep it for the time being. As weird as it is, it's not hurting anyone.
Simon can hear Grace before he sees him. The classroom alcove is alive with noise and activity. There's human speech underlaid with Eridian song, weaving together in a rather pretty melody.
He hears Grace ask, "Who can tell me the speed of light?"
Grace calls out a name, and Simon can hear the returning tune. He left his translator at home, so he doesn't really understand what they're saying. He knows it's numbers, but they're singing too quick for him to confidently follow along.
"That's right!" Grace praises.
Simon finally gets close enough to peer into the classroom. Grace is sitting at the instrument in the center, playing along as he speaks. Some of the students are talking to him.
"That's a great question, Terra," Grace says. He speaks slowly with odd pauses to allow himself time to find the right keys. "Some of your minds work a lot like human minds. You don't remember everything right away. Lucky for you all, I'm an expert in teaching human minds. I ask some questions over and over to help you remember. Repetition is very helpful for human memories. I want you all to think back— is it easier to remember answers when I've asked a question a few times?"
There's a resounding answer, and Simon recognizes most of the chords as "Yes!"
"Exactly! So, that's why I go over material multiple times and repeat questions. That's how human children learn, too! Cool, huh?"
The students seem impressed. Simon thought Eridian memory was perfect, but it seems that these students are different. Regardless, they seem to enjoy Grace as a teacher. His skills must translate across species.
A sudden chord makes his ears perk up. Did one of them just say his name? There's a following cacophony of song, and he can see where several students move closer to the xenonite partition in the middle of the alcove. Grace turns his way.
"Oh! You're right, there's Simon!" he says with a blindingly bright grin.
Simon feels his face flush. He was hoping he'd be able to watch unnoticed. He steps a little closer when Grace waves him forward. His fingers start to nervously pick at the hem of his shirt.
Grace's hands remain off of the instrument as he speaks to Simon. "Hi! Did you want to say hello to everyone?"
"Um… I can, yeah," Simon says hesitantly. There's a lot of students on the other side of the partition.
"They won't bite, I promise," Grace smiles. He returns his attention to the instrument and students. "Everyone, this is Simon. He's the new human that's staying in the biodome. Say hello!"
The mass of Eridians repeat what must be "hello" in a jumbled, discordant uproar. It sounds a bit messy, if Simon were being honest.
"Oh, so close! Try again. Do you want a countdown, or figure it out yourselves?"
They must tell Grace that they want to try again on their own. He plucks out the keys for "hello," and waits for the students to organize themselves. It takes a third try before Simon can clearly make out the greeting.
"Excellent! Everyone worked great together!" Grace applauds. He turns to Simon. "Thanks for being patient. This group sometimes needs a few minutes to be in tune."
"It's fine," Simon mutters shyly. He takes a half-step closer to the instrument. "Can I, uh…?"
It takes Grace a beat to light up. He scrambles out of the seat to give Simon room to access the keys. Simon gets close enough to reach out, still keeping some distance between him and Grace. One by one, he presses the keys to form the word, "Hello." The response is a chaotic discord that takes several moments to calm back down.
"I've never had people respond like that when I say hi," Simon jokes to Grace.
"They're very excited to meet you," Grace replies. It's so earnest that it pulls a tiny smile from Simon. Grace tries and fails to hide how happy that makes him, and turns back to his students. "Pop quiz! What is the formal name for our species?"
Simon is relieved when Grace takes the attention back to himself. The students answer a volley of questions, rarely needing corrections or prompting to get the right answers. Grace is thrilled each time they get one correct, offering effuse praise and compliments. No wonder the kids like him— he's a natural. Simon feels a little out of place, but it feels wrong to back out of the classroom now.
After the pop quiz is over, Grace opens up questions for him to answer. He tells Simon that he's more than welcome to answer, too, but keeps the pressure off. He translates each question as it comes in, having to remind the children several times that "I can only track one conversation at a time!" He answers each question with the same genuine glee and honesty, until one student catches him off guard.
"Oh! That's an excellent question, but it's not really my place to answer. Give me a second to see if Simon is comfortable answering," he says. Simon perks up. Grace drops his voice and asks, untranslated, "They asked about your arm. The one who did has a similar disability. I think they're interested."
It seems like an innocent question. Simon tries to find the student who asked and, sure enough, he can only see four arms sprouting out of their iridescent carapace. The fifth is barely more than a stub. Simon's right hand finds what remains of his left arm, lightly kneading the end of it. The scabs are starting to fall off, leaving a deep brown bark behind.
"Uh, sure. What was their question?"
"They asked if you were born like that," Grace translates. His fingers return to the keys, ready to encode Simon's answer into song.
"No. I was born with two arms," Simon answers, a little awkward and stilted. "I lost it in… a… an accident."
Grace dutifully translates for the students. When the chords are finished, three more students raise their hands with questions.
"Does it hurt?"
"Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes I can still feel my hand."
"How can you walk around with only three arms?"
Grace answers this one: "We have two limbs for mobility. We use those two limbs to balance and move around. Our top limbs— our arms— are more for grabbing and manipulating things."
"So… you can walk around okay?"
Simon chuckles. "Yeah, I can walk around okay. Climbing can be hard, though."
"Will it grow back?"
"No, I don't… think so..?" Simon answers slowly, giving Grace a side-long glance. The look on Grace's face tells him that he doesn't know, either. Chalk it up to a scientific mystery.
Grace does clarify, "Normally, human limbs don't grow back on their own. While our bones are constantly replenishing themselves, they can't grow that much."
The questions continue one after another, ranging from fairly bland to bizarre enough that Simon's not sure he heard the right question. He does his best to answer, but Grace often needs to explain the more scientific details.
About half an hour into the discussion, a little bell goes off from the whiteboard. Simon has no idea what it's for, but everyone else does. He hears a disappointed warble from the body of students.
"Oh, don't be like that! We had fun today," Grace says. "It's time for you all to go home. I'll see you next week!"
Simon waits as the students buzz around, clearly stalling their departures. Grace has a few conversations before he has to start shooing them out of the classroom. He's not upset by it, if his bright smile is anything to go by.
"Sorry about that," he laughs, running fingers through his hair. "They can get pretty excited about learning new things."
"I can see that," Simon says. "Are all your classes like that?"
"Excited to learn, yes!" Grace says, beaming. Simon can practically feel his pride for his students, even as he busies himself by cleaning the classroom up. "All of my students are so wonderful. I have three different classes, and all of them are so eager to learn."
Simon doesn't feel like talking, but he doesn't want to be left in awkward silence. So, he prompts, "What are each of the classes like?"
Thankfully, it sets Grace off into an excited tirade. He first talks about how the classes were set up, and how he could only manage one class while he recovered. It's been about an Earth year since then, though, so he's able to manage three classes! He's got a group of school-aged Eridian children, all at the top of their classes. Those students were elected by Eridian teachers to join Grace's class. The second group is open for all-ages, and works more like a seminar than a course. Grace talks about a smaller subject each course, and the "students" are drawn from a lottery. Some are children, some are curious adults, and some are professionals. The third class— the class Simon just met— is Grace's most recent addition. When he found out that some Eridian learning disabilities look a lot like how human's learn, he opened the class up.
"These students can still be in mainstream classes, but they struggle a lot. Most Eridian teachers don't really have the framework to know how to teach them," Grace explains. "They don't know how to learn something, they just know what questions to ask. Once they hear the answer, they remember it perfectly. So teaching students with memory impairments has been a chronic issue for the Eridian school systems."
"And the ones with physical disabilities?" Simon asks.
"Students with disabilities are often lumped together in the school system. I felt bad leaving them out, but most of them share the same disabilities." He goes on to explain how one type of disability often affects both memory or cognitive function and mobility.
"You sure know a lot about this stuff," Simon comments.
"Of course! I have to," Grace says. "One of my biggest frustrations with the American school system is how easy it was for disabled students to fall through the cracks. Even as an educator, it was so difficult to find continued education on how to meet those students' needs. Thankfully, the Eridians are better at taking care of their disabled population. It's not perfect, sure, but it's much better than back on Earth."
Simon lets that information flow over him. It makes sense now why Rocky was always so willing and insistent on providing Simon with accommodations. He was very intent on making sure everything in the apartment was easy to access and manipulate with one hand, even when Simon tried to wave him off. It's probably made adjusting to his new limitations so much easier, and he doesn't even realize it.
He's pulled out of his musings by a little song. He looks over to the little Eridian by the partition.
"Oh! Well, hello!" Grace coos. "I don't think we've met."
Grace goes to the instrument while Simon gets a better look. He's pleasantly surprised by the little red carapace. They chirp and flail their arms up in the air in a very familiar way.
"Hello again," Simon says. He walks the short distance to the partition, kneeling down. "Is this not one of your students?"
"No, they look a little too young. You see how their joints almost look padded? That sheds off as they get older."
Simon looks again. At the base of each arm is a mound of squishy-looking material. When the tiny red Eridian moves their limbs, it squishes against the flesh and softens their movements.
"Oh. I've seen them in the classroom before," Simon explains. He pushes his hand up to the wall. The little one immediately presses two claws on the other side. "Back when I first got here."
"Oh! This must be Louise's pebble. She brings them to work sometimes. I bet they were near the classroom when you walked by."
Simon smiles down at them. They sing a steady chord of notes up at him.
"What are they saying?"
"Mm… Nonsense, mostly. It's similar to baby babble."
Cute, Simon thinks.
"Do you know their name?" he asks.
"I know the chords for it, but I haven't assigned them a human name." Grace pauses before asking, "Do you want to name them?"
Simon looks over his shoulder. Grace is leaned against the instrument, smiling fondly at the two of them.
"Go on, it's okay. I've named so many already. I need a break."
Feeling put on the spot, Simon looks back down at the little one. They're not very big, with almost a heart-shaped carapace. Little glints of gold occasionally catch the light. A name comes to Simon just as they turn and start waving their hands in another direction. Simon watches as another, somehow smaller Eridian comes from the darkness. The newest pebble steadily makes their way up to the partition until they can stand side by side. This one is similar in shape, but has a white carapace with brilliant streaks of blue and red mica.
"I bet that's their sibling," Grace says. "Louise has two pebbles of similar ages."
Simon gazes down at the both of them. He's not sure how much siblings look alike, but he supposes they could be siblings. At least, as far as carapace shape goes. Where the red one is full of rambunctious energy, the white one is much more mellow. It chitters quietly at him, but seems content to just watch for now. And it's so goddamn tiny that Simon almost wants to cry over it.
"How about… Strawberry for this one," Simon says, pointing at the red one. "And, uh… fuck. I need to name this one, too?"
"If you want."
"Uh… Mellow?" Simon says with a shrug. "How's that for a name?"
Grace chuckles form behind him. "I named my best friend Rocky. I think Mellow is a fine name."
"Touché."
Grace places his hands over the keys. He speaks out loud as he greets the two pebbles and tells them what Simon's named them. Strawberry, as expected, erupts in a frenzy of energy. To Simon's surprise, Mellow hops and twists in excitement too (though it is much more muted than Strawberry).
He does flinch when Grace is suddenly right beside him.
"Sorry! Just— here, come see this."
Grace guides him a meter or so down the wall, where there's a decent sized square in the partition. It's made of a bunch of tiny lines. It moves easily under Grace's hand when he pushes against it.
"This is so the students can let me feel things, or so I can let them feel things. Do you want to try?"
While Simon shuffles closer and gets comfortable, Strawberry beats him to the chase. They push two of their arms through the panel. It stretches almost like latex, allowing Strawberry to reach for Simon. When he raises his hand, they immediately grab onto two of his fingers. He can feel their tiny claws wrap around him. It's weird, but in the nicest of ways.
Strawberry spends time kneading the pads of his fingers while Mellow comes to stand beside them. They reach a hand through, next to their siblings, and press against the palm of Simon's hand. It tickles a bit, but he doesn't dare pull back. They both seem to get great joy about how squishy his hand is.
"It's weird, huh?" Grace asks with a grin. "Their hands being so small."
"Yeah," Simon agrees. It's easy to get lost in the sensation of being poked and prodded.
"Try sticking your hand through," Grace suggests.
It takes a bit to coax the two pebbles to back up. Simon is able to get his hand through, and Strawberry eagerly pushes against his hand like a cat. They take his fingers and press them right on top of their carapace before singing loudly. He can feel how the little parts on the top jump with each chord.
"Whoa."
Mellow doesn't approach his hand right away. Simon's not sure if it's because Strawberry is hogging all the space, so he overturns his palm. His fingers stretch out in a way that he hopes is non-threatening. Strawberry gets bored and goes to press along his pulse point at the inside of the wrist, while Mellow investigates his palm. Simon is sure to hold very, very still when Mellow starts to climb into his hand. Fuck— they're so little that they can sit in the center of his palm. Fuck that's so cute.
Simon glances at Grace to make sure he's not doing something egregious. What's the etiquette around holding a sentient alien species? Grace is still smiling at him, so he must not be committing a cultural taboo. It eases some of the tension in Simon's shoulders, but then he looks down and wants to bite something. He's never been around something so adorable before. Is this how it always is?
Mellow seems content to form a loaf in the middle of Simon's palm. They fit perfectly into the groove there. They're surprisingly dense, too. Strawberry, on the other hand, keeps trying to see how high up Simon's forearm they can reach. The flexible partition eventually reaches its stretching point, just before the tip of their claw reaches his inner elbow. They're practically hanging off of Simon's hand now, body weight held up by his arm.
"Are all Eridians this dense?" Simon asks.
"Oh, absolutely. Rocky weighs about 740 pounds, or about 336 kilograms."
That cannot be right. Simon gives Grace such an incredulous look that he laughs out loud.
"I'm serious! They've got a lot going on in their carapaces. Now do you understand why you throwing him off of you was such a big deal?"
Simon knows the body can do weird things, but that sounds insane. Surely he'd have broken a leg doing that, right? Especially with how fucked his entire body was when he first arrived. The Light must have been helping him out. A shudder wracks his body— at least that intervention didn't end horribly.
"Damn," he sighs. He focuses back on the little ones. "No wonder they're already this heavy."
"Yeah. Pebbles usually get too heavy for a human to comfortably lift when they're a little bigger than this." He prattles on about how the focus of weight on a single point can make something difficult to carry, theorizing that they'd be easier to carry if they were in a backpack or on a wooden plank. Simon tunes him out.
Mellow makes little relaxed chirps as they watch their sibling climb all over Simon's hand. Strawberry pushes their claws flat into his skin, mesmerized with his fingerprints. Simon chances a wiggle of his fingers, earning a delighted trill of laughter.
This carries on for a few minutes before a deeper voice comes from the hallway. Simon looks up to see Louise stride into the room. She's one of the few he can recognize by sight. He still hasn't taken up her offer on sitting down for "a talk" (he knows what therapy is), but they've been friendly. The pebbles chirrup a greeting and Strawberry zips away to begin climbing on their parent. Louise sings something.
"Louise says you're good with kids," Grace translates. "The pebbles like you."
"Really?" Simon asks, surprised despite the little one in his palm.
"Yeah. You're a natural."
Simon feels his cheeks flush again. He watches as Louise motions at Mellow, who buries deeper into Simon's palm. When they don't move, Simon helps Louise out by lowering his hand and nudging Mellow with a careful finger. They let out a huffy little noise before conceding, hopping out of Simon's hand. Both pebbles wave their arms and sing a tune.
"They're saying bye," Grace says. The chords sound different than when Rocky and Adrian say farewell. "Bye, guys! I'll see you later, Louise."
"Goodbye," Simon says with a little wave. He hopes he'll get to see them again.