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[Grace?] Rocky’s automated voice that translated for eridian called out.
Grace hummed at the call of his name, not looking up from the webpage he had been reading. With the long trip ahead of them to Erid, Grace had decided to kill some type acquainting himself with other fields of science outside of his doctorate. Right now, he was learning astrophysics but it was vastly different than his studies of molecular biology.
[Grace!] Rocky called again, stomping one of his multiple limbs on the floor of his ball.
“Yeah, buddy?” Grace asked. Again, he did not take his eyes off the computer. It really was convenient to have been sent with all of humanity knowledge and the complete internet on the trip. Grace had wondered before how bored he would have been during the trip to Rocky’s home.
[Time for Grace to eat.] Rocky said. If possible, the automated voice had a tone of annoyance to it.
“I’ll get to that in a bit,” Grace murmured, waving a hand like he physically making the concern go away. He was sitting in one of the chairs with his feet kicked up onto the desk, the laptop perched on his lap. His orange coveralls was unzipped and tied off at his middle with his ‘Ah! The Element of Surprise’ shirt on display.
[Grace say that 7,200 seconds ago and Grace still no eat.] Rocky protested. He rolled over and bumped his xenonite ball into Grace’s chair. [Grace eat now.]
“Give me a minute,” Grace pouted, reaching a hand out to push Rocky’s ball away. This was a common occurrence for Rocky trying to make Grace do something, by repeatedly bashing his ball against Grace’s legs or chair.
[No. No minute. Grace eat now.] Rocky insisted. He ignored Grace’s attempt to push him away and slammed his ball into the chair again. [Or Rocky get very angry at Grace. Statement.]
Sighing deeply, Grace knew that there was no arguing it. He closed the laptop and placed it on the desk, his feet dropping on the ground. “Fine, you win,” Grace chuckled and stood up, stretched his arms above his head and groaning at the small pop in the bottom of his back. “Happy?”
[Rocky happy Grace eat now. Happy happy happy.] Rocky preened, rolling his ball away with three of his legs. The two other two did jazz hands in the air.
“But then I’m going back to my research after I’m done,” Grace said, pointing a finger at his friend as he sauntered over to where he kept the food. With his trip going to be extremely lengthy, he had started the process to heavily ration his food to make it last longer.
Of course, Rocky had vetoed that immediately upon his research about the human body needing nutrients but gave in when Grace explained how he needed to make the food last if he was going to survive the trip. Rocky hadn’t liked the answer but had given in only under the condition that Grace ate when he was supposed to.
Like Grace, Rocky chose to pass time by looking things up on the laptop that Grace had given him. Most of it was spent learning human culture or human customs to better understand why Grace did the things he did. Many times, Grace would have to take a break from what he was doing to explain to Rocky whatever the eridian learned online more in depth which would evolve into discussions about other things.
Though, Grace didn’t seem to mind their talks. It was something that killed time as well as gave Grace time to be nostalgic for his past home. As much as Grace longed for the comforts of Earth, he did not regret turning around to save Rocky and take him back to Erid.
Except for the times that Rocky would find some…adult websites that Grace would have to quickly block like Rocky was a child and pointedly ignore some of Rocky’s more intimate questions about human reproductivity.
Grace yawned and pulled his glasses down to hang from his ears by his chin, rubbing at his face. He hadn’t noticed just how long exactly he had been on the laptop. It really hadn’t felt like two hours had passed since the last time Rocky tried to get him to eat. Then again, time often passed by in a blink for Grace when he was in researcher mode. Stratt often had to physically push away from his desk on the carrier when he would spend multiple days in a row without rest researching astrophage.
Rooting around in his food supply, Grace made a mental update to his food supply in his mind. Rocky, in his research, chose to look up how much a human should be eating and immediately got on Grace’s case for how much he wasn’t. Since then, Rocky took to being Grace’s personal alarm on when to eat and watching to make sure Grace was actually doing it.
You pretend to eat to spread the food out once and all of a sudden, a certain alien with near perfect memory doesn’t trust you to eat on your own anymore.
[What Grace doing on portable Earth learning machine, question?] Rocky asked. Grace pulled out a packet of instant ramen that Mary took to reheating for him.
“Astrophysics,” Grace answered, popping open the packet and pouring it into a mug to help retain the heat. It had the added effect of warming up Grace’s hands since he found himself always to be somewhat cold on the ship. “Figured I would give it a try since we out in space and all that jazz.”
[Is 🎶🎵🎶 very difficult, question?] Rocky asked. Grace made a mental note to get Rocky to repeat his word for astrophysics later to add to the computer.
“It can be,” Grace answered. Taking a quick look around, he found his chopsticks on a nearby table and swiped them. “It’s quite different from molecular biology so I’m struggling a little bit. But I will learn it or my name isn’t Dr. Ryland Grace!” Grace said with a finger pointed in the air, chuckling after his declaration.
Rocky fidgeted in his spot, his two arms not supporting him lowering. [Hmmm, no understand word.]
“Which one?” Grace asked. He used his chopstick to stuff some ramen into his mouth as he walked over to a nearby chair, which happened to be right next to the computer that tracked all of the English-eridian words and that Grace had installed to Mary’s systems to work across the entire ship.
[Word before Grace name.]
“Doctor?” Grace asked.
[No. Rocky know that word.] Rocky answered, shaking his carapace like a human shaking his head. It was something that Rocky had picked up from Grace. [Is title to show education. Grace explained before.]
Grace furrowed his brow as he thought. There weren’t any other words in that sentence right before his name that Rocky should know by this point. With a start, Grace came to a possible word.
“Ryland?” Grace asked, tilting his head to the side.
[Yes!] Rocky answered. It was followed by the musical sounds that was most likely how it was translated to eridian. [Word before Grace name. What does word mean, question?]
“It’s my name,” Grace answered, raising an eye brow. Grace leaned over to place his mug full of ramen down and input the translation into the system.
[No, Grace say name is Grace.] Rocky protested, sounding annoyed. Grace really wondered how Rocky seemed to do that with the computer program as it was not something he had done himself.
“Grace is my last name,” Grace explained. He squatted down so that he was face level with Rocky in his ball. “On Earth, most humans have multiple names to differentiate from each other. Usually, a last name that belongs to their family to show relation and a first name to differentiate within the family. My full name is Ryland Grace.”
Rocky seemed to sputter in shock. [Why Grace tell Rocky wrong name?]
“It’s not wrong per say, Grace is still my name,” Grace explained. “I’m more used to going by it because on Earth, I mostly went by Dr. or Mr. Grace because of my professions. The only ones that called me by Ryland were my parents when they were still alive and my ex-girlfriend who’s now with Mark.”
[Rocky hate Mark.] Rocky said in an almost knee-jerk reaction. Grace chuckled at it as Rocky’s hatred continued even after never having met the guy.
Rocky hunched in on himself and if Grace didn’t know better, he could have sworn that Rocky was pouting. Grace leaned in close so his face wasn’t far from the xenonite barrier of Rocky’s ball. “You good, bud?” Grace asked.
[Rocky mad at Grace, statement.] Rocky said flatly, stomping a foot on the ground.
This time it was Grace’s turn to sputter. “You’re mad?”
[Yes. Rocky very mad at Grace. Grace no tell Rocky Grace real name is Ryland.] Rocky argued.
“Is it really that big of a deal?” Grace asked, his brows furrowing together.
[Rocky give Grace full name when first meet.] Rocky huffed, stomping his foot again. [Grace no do same for Rocky.]
“To be fair, I didn’t know that when I met you,” Grace countered, poking a finger against the xenonite. “I thought you just had a really long name.”
It was something the two of them had got to talking about one night when Rocky mentioned his name would be changing when they got to Erid. Apparently, the long-winded musical notes Rocky had given for his and Adrian’s names when Grace asked was their whole title. It told other eridians what family they hailed from along with their profession and any specialized training they had.
[Grace should have said name was Ryland Grace when meet Rocky.] Rocky continued to pout.
“Look, I’m sorry,” Grace apologized and patted the top of Rocky’s ball. “By the point we met, I didn’t have all my memories back yet and I didn’t have much of an attachment with Ryland. All of my stuff was labeled Grace so it’s what I went by even to myself.”
Rocky fidgeted the way he always did when Grace’s amnesia was brought up. It was apparently something that didn’t happen to eridians unless they underwent significant damage. Grace won’t forget having to try to talk down Rocky’s panic when he Grace finally told him about it near the start of their journey to Erid.
Tapping his claws together, Rocky leaned closed to Grace. [Does Grace want Rocky to call Grace Ryland, question?] Rocky asked.
Grace snorted and leaned back. “Up to you, Rock. Again, I don’t have much of an attachment to Ryland. You can keep calling me Grace all you want.”
Rocky nodded his carapace. [Rocky call Grace by Grace. No like Ryland.]
“What’s wrong with Ryland?” Grace laughed, leaning back on his heels. He didn’t feel offense about it, just curiosity.
[Grace is Grace. Rocky like Grace name.] Rocky said, bouncing on his three legs supporting him.
Grace laughed some more, feeling something warm in his chest. “Okay, buddy,” Grace said and stood up. “Honestly, I like Grace just fine on its own. I know eridians say your entire names but I wouldn’t want you calling me Ryland Grace every time you called for me.”
[What’s wrong with full name Ryland Grace, question?] Rocky asked, leaning up towards Grace.
“On Earth, if someone calls you by your full name, most of the time it means you did something wrong and are in trouble,” Grace chuckled.
[Ooooh, Rocky understand.] Rocky nodded. [Rocky saw on earth movies with Grace.]
“There you go, bud,” Grace grinned. He turned back around to grab his slightly-colder-than-before mug of ramen. “Alright, let me finish eating this and I can get back to learning astrophysics.”
[Hmmm, no. Grace go to bed after eating.] Rocky said. He snapped his claws in the air at Grace.
“I’m not even that tired,” Grace lied.
[Grace no sleep in 93,600 seconds. Time for Grace go sleep. Rocky watch.] Rocky said. The only reason Rocky didn’t bang his ball into Grace’s legs was because the human was still eating. He didn’t want to risk making Grace startle and drop some of his precious food supply.
“Okay, mom,” Grace said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
[Rocky no understand. Rocky not Grace paternal figure.] Rocky said, tilting his carapace.
“It’s a saying, Rocky,” Grace sighed. “It means you’re harping on me.”
[Ooooh, Rocky understand now.] Rocky nodded and bounced on his legs, two of his claws doing a thumbs-down. [Rocky be Grace mom to make Grace sleep and eat.]
“That’s not how it works,” Grace said in a long-suffering sigh.
Rocky just trilled happily.
BONUS SCENE:
[Grace, time go eat.] Rocky said, ramming his ball into Grace’s chair again.
“Give me a minute, Rock, I’ve almost got this concept,” Grace murmured, the laptop screen reflecting off his glasses. In a rare display, they were actually on his face like they were supposed to instead of hanging from one or both ears.
Rocky, who had been trying to get Grace to eat for the last three hours, was aggravated by the answer. Stomping two of his feet, Rocky rammed his ball into Grace’s chair again. [Ryland Grace, time go eat now! Statement!]
Grace was pulled out of his academic learning trance by the call of his full name. With eyebrows bouncing up, Grace looked down at Rocky. “What did you just call me?” Grace asked.
His friend stopped hitting his chair and angled his carapace up at Grace. Despite not having a face, Grace was sure Rocky looked all too pleased with himself. [Ryland Grace say full name Ryland Grace used when in trouble. Ryland Grace in trouble with Rocky for not eating when Rocky say so.]
Grace dropped his head back and groaned. He was regretting telling Rocky that little tidbit of information. Grace could see how the rest of his life would be going in that exact moment.
[Ryland Grace!]
“Alright, Alright, I’m going!” Grace huffed and made his way over to the pantry.
Rocky followed along behind Grace in his ball, whistling happily.