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Grace would never stop being endlessly grateful to the Eridians for all they had done for him. Not only had they welcomed him, despite his alien nature (and frankly ghoulish one at that, considering how he looked when he arrived: half-dead, wounds reopening, teeth ready to fall out, skin barely covering the bones, raspy and bedridden), and not only had they dedicated entire teams to researching his needs and nursing him back to health, but they had also gone out of their way to make him feel comfortable, in every way they could.
Like now, for example, as Grace was finally transported to the bio-dome that would house him for his stay on Erid (the rest of his life, likely). A quaint little home (and oh, a house, not a shitty apartment or the cramped quarters of the vat, but a true home, built based upon his express preferences) on a hill by the beach. A beach, just for him - even if it was a little rockier (ha) than average, with wind and water and proper waves, which he had overheard had taken quite a bit of engineering to pull off.
But the Eridians had decided that they would provide only the best, for him. He hardly felt like he deserved it - yes, a place to stay with a breathable atmosphere, maybe, because he couldn’t go home (and wouldn’t really want to, anyways, not anytime soon when he’d already had his share of space travel, and especially not alone), but an entire vista built specifically to his preferences, in such an expansive section of land? It felt like too much, even for someone that they deemed the savior of their planet (and really, he insisted, Rocky had done most of the work, he had just been there to explain the science of it all). He’d had to talk them out of building a house of practically triple the size of the one he now had, since they had kept trying to insist on some grand, lavish space for him. He was almost tempted, after so long spent on the cramped space of the Hail Mary... but a larger house just meant more space to clean, and besides, it’s not like it needed to accommodate any other human guests. As long as it was comfortable, a small space would feel more like home than any mansion ever could.
In truth, though, Grace was restless. Not because he disliked the place - far from it - but because he had spent so long not being able to properly move around to his full extent. The Hail Mary was largely vertical and absolutely packed with things (they had wanted to take advantage of every small amount of space, after all - each piece of mass had to be heavily accounted for, so there was no room for any sort of open-floorplan), which left little room for pacing, or stretching out, or really... anything. And then after so long spent sick and frail, restricted to his bed and unable to move much anyways even if Rocky hadn’t been hounding him to rest... well, it was safe to say that Grace was practically bouncing off the walls as soon as he got his energy back.
Which brought Grace back to the present. Rocky and a dozen Eridian scientists at his side, others still watching from the other side of the thick xenonite barrier that comprised the walls of his biodome, as Grace was brought into his new home for the first time. Rocky in particular was excited about showing Grace his new house, gently urging him towards the beautiful little home that awaited him. And Grace wanted to explore it, he really did, he was sure it was absolutely wonderful inside...
But his eyes were fixed on the water lapping at the shore.
It started as a few hesitant steps at first, head turned towards the beach even as his body remained pointed at the house, his footsteps a confusing stumble towards his line of vision and not his body’s alignment. And then, as each step brought more confidence, he picked up speed.
By the time Rocky fully picked up on Grace’s abrupt turn in direction, Grace was already gone, breaking into a full sprint down the beach and (somehow) managing not to tumble facefirst down the rocks as he made his way down the hill. He heard the concerned trills calling after him, the hurried patter of footsteps as he no doubt gained an Eridian crowd on his heels, but Grace didn’t care.
When was the last time he had seen this much water in one place? When was the last time he had felt it? He had spent so long on that boat, in the middle of the ocean, but never touching it, never close enough to dip a toe in the crashing waves. There was no pool aboard - not even a proper bath, just a shower that he sometimes remembered to use. He’d been in a pool to test the EVA tools, but that wasn’t the same, either - he hadn’t felt any of the water then, thanks to the suit. And it hardly counted as any sort of regular swimming; he mostly just floated there while performing various tasks.
Grace was already shedding his jacket before his mind could catch up, his shoes kicked off behind him and landing carelessly somewhere that he’d have to find later. Grace didn’t care.
Rocky had almost caught up to him, by then, calling out with a mix of worry and excitement, unsure how he was supposed to react to Grace’s sudden flight - was Grace happy? Excited to be back on solid ground? Trying to escape, for some reason? Was he overwhelmed? Was this normal human behavior, or a result of being trapped in space for several years, or simply a quirk of Grace specifically?
He didn’t have time to get an answer, however - not even to ask any questions, actually - before Grace leapt forward and entirely threw himself into the water, landing with a large splash.
A loud, panicked trill was heard from the beach, where Rocky and the gaggle of scientists watched in growing horror.
Rocky, in his form-fitting xenonite suit, hurriedly scrambled into the water after him, terrified but forced to trust that the xenonite would keep any water from getting into his air. He could reach Grace, he had to, he couldn’t get Grace safe only to lose him immediately due to him sinking and drowning on his first day in a proper home.
Only, Rocky realized, as he scrambled along the seafloor... Grace wasn’t on the sand for him to grab. In fact, Grace wasn’t in Rocky’s range at all.
Grace was floating above him.
Grace laughed, legs fluttering wildly as he splashed and dove beneath the water, holding his breath as he swam fluidly through the sea that he had missed so much. He blinked blearily beneath the surface as he saw Rocky on the seafloor below (already hard enough to see without his glasses, but the water certainly didn’t help), waving at him cheerfully. Grace surfaced, laughing again as he gasped in a great big breath (and oh, how dearly he had missed that feeling, especially with fresh air instead of the stale, filtered air of the Hail Mary).
“Rocky, what are you doing down there? Did you want to go swimming too?” He asked, practicing the various strokes as he circled where he had seen his friend below the surface.
Rocky tumbled out of the water moments later, still cooing panickedly, although there was a hint of confusion in his voice that dampered the worry just a bit.
“How Grace floating, question? Why throw self in water the second Grace get here, question? Grace trying to kill self in front of Rocky, question?” He demanded frantically, hesitating at the edge of the water, only a few inches in.
“Oh, humans are incredibly buoyant. I mean, not if we’re dead, but since we’ve got so much air in us when we’re alive, we float right to the top! The more body fat you have, the better you float, too,” he explained happily, eager to share knowledge that he couldn’t believe hadn’t come up during their journey back to Erid. Although... he supposed it made sense that Eridians didn’t have much of a similar concept, they would simply sink like... well, sink like a rock. He imagined it must be quite cool, to be able to walk on the bottom of the ocean like that.
Though, hold on...
“If I expel all my air, I should sink. Watch!” He declared cheerfully, ducking beneath the water and quickly letting out as much of his breath as he could, careful not to let any water into his mouth or nose.
“GRACE!” Rocky shouted, throwing himself into the water once more as, sure enough, Grace began to sink.
With a few quick kicks he surfaced again, gasping for a moment to get the air circulating again. Then he just laughed, still fluttering in place as he treaded water, perfectly content with where he was.
“Some people are really good at holding their breath like that. They can do entire dances at the bottom of a pool by expelling all their air like that. Or weighing themselves down,” Grace mused, apparently oblivious to Rocky’s utter distress.
One of these days, Grace was going to give him the Eridian equivalent of an aneurysm.
“Hold... breath? Is not physical thing. Cannot hold it in hand. Grace dumb, question? Grace trying to hurt self?” Rocky demanded, chittering agitatedly at the edge of the water, the top of his carapace just barely peaking out from the waves. “When Grace not breathe, Grace die. Bad bad bad bad bad. Grace trying to die, question?”
Grace frowned, finally picking up on Rocky’s distress. The more worked up he got, the more likely he was to resort back to that simplistic, choppy speech - and the notes of his voice were quite frantic, too. On top of the quite obviously upset words, of course.
Oh. He had really failed to explain this beforehand, huh?
“Hold, like, holding the muscles in place. We can inhale or expel all of our air, and then clench our muscles to keep it in place for short periods of time. This also seals off our airways so that nothing else can get in or out, which allows us to safely submerge ourselves in water or prevent us from inhaling harmful chemicals. It’s perfectly safe. I’d pass out if I tried to hold my breath for too long, which would force me to start breathing again. But I also don’t plan to do that, because that... sucks,” he explained slowly, watching Rocky the whole time (ignoring the gathered scientists at the shore, for the time being, although they were undoubtedly taking notes on this). “Because of that, and the fact that we can float, humans like to move around in the water for fun. And I... haven’t gotten the chance to do this in... too too too long,” Grace added, beginning to move around again.
As he swam idle laps around imaginary points in the water, Grace could feel his muscles acclimating to the movement again almost immediately. It was like riding a bike - once you knew it, you never really forgot. And god, it felt good to properly swim again, no restrictions, no rules, nothing holding him back.
“Man, I should really introduce you guys to different water sports, huh? I wonder if it’d be possible to figure out water skiing, here,” he mused idly, mumbling mostly to himself now as he glanced around the expansive (although still limited - he could see the edges of the biodome not too far off) ocean. “Not that I’d be very good at it, probably. Most likely just end up falling on my face...” he muttered to himself, chuckling at the thought.
“Grace... safe, question? Grace promise?” Rocky asked hesitantly, dragging himself out of the water to begrudgingly watch as Grace swam.
Grace nodded enthusiastically.
“I promise, buddy. I’m safe, I’m happy, and I’m having fun,” he vowed earnestly. “I’m sorry for interrupting the house tour, I know you guys were really excited to show me all the work you’ve done. I just... I couldn’t resist the urge to go swimming again after...” he tried to remember how long it had been, before even meeting Stratt, since he had gone swimming... not to mention all the years since then... “...too long. Just... too long.”
Rocky sighed reluctantly, but settled down on the shore.
“Grace not need apologize for being happy. Rocky want Grace to enjoy all parts of biodome, not just house,” he said, quieter - though the water helped carry the sound all the way to where Grace was floating. “Grace apologize for scaring Rocky, though. Grace mean mean mean for not explaining first,” he added pointedly, and if he could, Grace was sure Rocky would be sticking his tongue out at him right now.
Grace laughed.
“Yeah, Rock, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to spook ya - I forgot we hadn’t covered this part of human activity yet. Guess we’re in for a few more lessons, huh?” he mused, grinning back at the shore.
Rocky did not seem pleased by this, even if he accepted it. The dedicated human-biologists, however, were eager and fascinated, clearly already making plans to ask him a thousand questions about this new revelation.
Grace’s grin must have been brighter than the sun as he continued to swim, uncaring that he was completely soaking his clothes and that he’d have to change later (hopefully before the house tour, honestly, but he’d suffer through it in wet clothes if he had to). Not only could he finally swim again, on a perfect beachfront property that he had all to himself, but he had a whole class of eager students ready to learn anything he could tell them about human recreation.
Much like Rocky, all Grace could think was “amaze amaze amaze”.