Archive of Our Own

“Set up the camera properly,” Rocky says to Grace for the fifth time since entering the room.

Grace waves a hand back at him from where he’s hunched over the tripod. “I know, I know,” he grumbles. He presses record, then steps back a little, staring at the camera. “That’s on, right?” He turns the little side screen around to get a look, then grins and fully backs away. He claps once. “Okay!”

“Is it recording now?” Rocky asks, then hums a flat note. He turns on his xenonite suit’s built-in translator, and asks again. “Camera is on, question?” Grace smiles at him and gives him a thumbs down. “Good good good!” Rocky scrambles over to stand in front of him and address the device himself. “Hello, Earth, eventual! I am Rocky!” he exclaims.

Grace lightly taps his leg with his socked foot. “They know that, bud,” he whispers. “They’ll remember who you are, it’s fine–”

“I accommodate for small human brains and bad memory.” Rocky stands up tall, like he’s proud of that thought. “And,” he continues, “need to distinguish between Rocky and new Eridian humans not see yet.”

Grace huffs, dragging a chair over and sitting down. “You both look very different, Rock,” he says. It’s a conversation he’s had with his friend many times, that human sight is not as atrocious as his own can be. “You’re not even the same shape–”

Rocky waves a hand dismissively. “Already did it. Continue.”

Grace rolls his eyes before looking at the camera. “So!” He clasps his hands together again, but is cut off before he can even start.

“No, I explain,” says the other Eridian in the room through its own translator, and Grace sighs. Its computerised voice is softer and a little higher than Rocky’s. It reminds him of something from Earth, but he’s not sure what. He looks over, smile wavering. “Grace is anxious, moderate-high heart rate. Grace will stutter and forget words. Will annoy humans watching. Will annoy me.”

Grace shifts a little in his seat and glances away. “Didn’t have to put it like that, dang…” he mumbles.

Rocky taps a spot on the ground in front of the camera, and the new Eridian steps forward to stand where he indicated. It’s a bright, shiny, sunflower yellow, with chunky legs positioned near the bottom of its carapace, and a chip near its vents. It’s not much taller than Rocky. Grace rolls to the side to try to stay in frame, but the attempt is in vain — the Eridian quickly leaves its Rocky-assigned spot and approaches the camera, the entire screen filling with darkening yellow with the proximity.

“HELLO,” it shouts, its translator somehow enunciating every syllable very slowly. Grace slaps his hands over his ears. God, he didn’t even know the translator could sound like that, especially not with a voice as soothing as the one it chose for itself. “MY NAME IS–” It starts to sing its name, but is interrupted by Rocky yanking on its arm and making it stumble back. It turns sharply to him and speaks low enough that the translator doesn’t pick up on it. Grace can barely understand it, despite his fluency in Eridian. It doesn’t sound happy.

Rocky taps the same spot on the floor he indicated to before. “You stand here,” he says firmly, “and speak normal volume. Camera can hear. You stand too close, no one watching understand what happening. Only see body, only hear rumble.”

The yellow Eridian stands still for a moment, before walking to where Rocky is. Grace watches them, unsure whether to laugh at how out of place his head doctor is in this scenario, or cringe at the lasting ringing in his sensitive human ears. “This is good, question?” it asks, now at a much more bearable volume.

Rocky does his little jazz hands. “Perfect!” he exclaims. “Now can explain proceedings!”

The other sways side to side for a moment before returning its attention to the camera. “Hello,” it says again. It tilts toward Grace and Rocky for approval, receiving a thumbs down from each before refocusing again. “My name is–” It positions its body to stand as tall as possible as it starts to sing. The arms facing the camera spread wide, then raise up, then spread out again. It lowers the front of its body close to the ground and hums, its two front arms pressed together to show its family crest and mating mark. Grace watches with rapt attention on the sidelines. Despite how many introductions he’s watched and been on the receiving end of, and how tedious he thought it was when he first met Rocky, he’s grown to take great interest in them, now that he can understand the notes. It isn’t just saying its name — it’s announcing its name, profession, the cluster it was born into, its mate, and its children. The yellow Eridian’s name ends in a series of thuds. 

It stands up straight, professional. “You call me ‘Pierce’,” it says. “Pierce use Eridian pronouns. Human pronouns overcomplicated.”

Grace holds up a finger. “That means it uses ‘it/its’,” he clarifies.

Pierce hums in confirmation. “I am health professional, head of Patient Saviour Grace medical team.” It stands even taller, legs almost pin straight. “Am expert in human biology. Learn much from Patient Saviour Grace and Saviour Rocky. I have more knowledge than both, but Saviour Grace Rocky have more experience.” It looks incredibly proud of itself. Grace can’t blame it, though. If he were an expert in an alien’s biology, he’d– oh, wait. Astrophage.

Pierce turns to Rocky. “Speak like this annoying,” it complains.

Grace laughs, and Rocky chitters his own giggles. “Yes,” Rocky agrees. “But need for human documentation. You say so. Rocky speak this way for years on Hail Mary ship before Grace learn Eridian.”

“Oh my ♩♬.” Pierce ignores the laughter in the background as it turns to the camera again. It waits for the noise to die down, tapping a claw on the ground impatiently.

“Sorry, sorry,” Grace says, waving his hands in front of him, unable to stop grinning. “Continue, Doc.”

“Yes,” Pierce says lowly. When Rocky’s giggling finally stops, it continues speaking. “Today, I perform procedure. Saviour Rocky is here for Patient Saviour Grace emotional support.”

“I’m not a patient this ti–” Grace tries to say before being cut off by Rocky’s low, monotone voice.

“What procedure, question?” he asks. “Not know of procedure.” He turns to Grace, who sighs, then smiles down at him.

“I told you, bud, I want earrings.” Grace points to his earlobes. “They go inside the soft parts of my ears here. It’s very common on Earth. I showed you pictures, remember?”

Rocky throws two of his hands up in the air. He’d normally have something to say about Grace implying he has a bad memory, but he’s surprisingly riled up about the rest of what he said. “Inside, question?!” Grace nods, and Rocky squeaks. “No! No inside! What wrong with outside hearing jewellery Adrian clutchmate make you, question?!”

Grace chuckles softly, his eyebrows furrowing a little. “I’ll still wear those,” he says placatingly. “Those go on the tops of my ears, over the cartilage.” He traces his fingers over the areas, and tries to gesture to how they sit on him, as if Rocky hasn’t seen him wear it before. “I want ones I can wear all the time, though, so my earlobes are a good place to start.” He taps his lobes again. “Very beginner friendly, very soft.”

Rocky tries to formulate a sentence, stopping and starting for a good ten seconds, before spitting out, “Start– Grace want more, question? ♫♩♩!”

“I’m an adult!” Grace defends, “I can do this if I want to, and I asked my doctor to do it! Someone I trust, someone I know you trust.” Humming comes from Pierce’s direction, but he doesn’t pay attention.

Rocky crosses his arms, one of many things he picked up from Grace and the many Earth movies he’d seen on the trip to Erid. He’s still talking like he did back then too. Grace supposes it’s hard to switch to regular speech when he knows the translator is on. “Grace harm self just for appearance! Not healthy!”

Grace throws his arms out to gesture at Rocky’s carapace. “You’ve got carvings all over you, how is this any–?!”

A loud stomp beside them makes them both jolt and turn, met with the flattest face of Pierce’s body. It turns its translator off. “Patient Saviour Grace, I am doing you a favour by giving you your permanent jewellery,” it says in a low hum. It tilts sharply toward Rocky. “Saviour Rocky, I was asked by Patient Saviour Grace for this specifically.” It punches the floor again, making both Grace and Rocky shudder. “If you are going to act like young pebbles, this will not happen. I am trying to document the first instance of human body modification, both for Eridian benefit and to send on the new beetle back to Earth that is in development. This is important to all of us.” It directs that last part to Rocky, who shrinks down slightly. “Behave, yes?” It stomps its foot twice to punctuate its question, harder than usual.

Grace lowers his head, his hands clasped tight in his lap. “I’m sorry,” he says softly. “That was stupid, I’m sorry.” Rocky doesn’t say anything, but doesn’t argue further. He backs up slightly until he bumps into Grace’s knees. Grace isn’t sure if he’s looking for comfort or is trying to protect him from Pierce somehow. He places a hand on top of his suit and smiles down at Rocky when he pushes up into the touch.

“I’ll continue now, then,” Pierce says, tone completely professional again, like it hadn’t just scolded the saviours of two star systems for acting like kids. It approaches the camera once more, making sure to stand where it was earlier, and drags over a little table on wheels. From the table, it picks up something and holds it up to the camera. It flicks on its translator and turns its attention toward Grace. “Can camera see, question?”

Grace leans over Rocky, squinting at the little screen. He hums, then shakes his head. “No, uhm, move forward, about half the distance between you and the camera, and hold it up around the middle of your body, arm out straight,” he directs it. Pierce follows his instructions exactly, holding the item out to show the device. The image is now much clearer. Grace smiles. “There ya go,” he says, patting Rocky’s top. Rocky says still to let him lean on him, a familiar position for both of them. “Can you explain to the people watching at home what you’ve got?” he asks.

“Yes.” Pierce stands tall. “This is beginner jewellery. In sealed sterile package. Sterile important for new permanent jewellery.” It steps closer again, seemingly to give an even better view of the small earrings. The image of the package on screen blurs for a second before refocusing. They’re small, simple studs, made from a little red rock Grace found on the beach. He’d originally wanted one stud each to represent Rocky and Adrian — one that looked like tiger’s eye and one something akin to turquoise — but he worried it’d seem like he was trying to court them by wearing something on his body that looked like their carapaces or each other’s mating marks. He still has those rocks in his home, though, sitting on his bedside table. They were great finds. Instead, the red rock reminds him of the Petrova line that brought him to his family. He’s certain he's making this into something far too sentimental, making up meanings of rocks that might even not exist on Earth, but this is special. And they’re going to be in his ears until he gets the all clear from Doctor Pierce to wear anything cooler.

Pierce continues. “Jewellery made by Adrian family member, ♬♩♪♬♩,” it explains. “Pierce and ♬♩♪♬♩ learn about human jewellery. Posts of jewellery long for heal time, will be changed to short after heal some. Make material safe for human body also.” It lowers the little packet to the table. “Learn that healing jewellery must be long to accommodate swelling, then change to short to stop irritation while healing complete.”

It picks up another pair, these ones not in sterile packaging. Pierce holds them in one outstretched claw, showing off three tiny chains hanging from each hoop. Delicate stones hang from the chains, clicking together as they sway. “This pair for after heal complete,” it tells the camera. “Weight and shape bad for heal, but okay after.” It wiggles its claw, and the stones clack against each other. The sound causes Rocky to still. “Make much sound, like Eridian jewellery for celebration.”

Rocky slowly approaches, leaving Grace to sit up on his own, and stands completely still as he examines the earrings. Pierce wiggles its claw again, making the tiny stones jingle. Rocky chirps quietly, then again when Pierce repeats the motion a third time. He bounces in place. “Oh!” he exclaims, turning to Grace. “Rocky approve now, it okay! Grace can be stabbed.” Ignoring Grace’s sputtering behind him, Rocky carefully takes the earrings from Pierce and lightly shakes them himself. He chirps a giggle and bounces again. “Pretty pretty pretty!” he chants to himself.

Pierce ignores him, speaking to the camera again. “Saviour Rocky also here for procedure because surprise of Patient Saviour Grace getting stab for jewellery would be bad bad bad for Pierce hearing. Loud loud reprimand. Annoying.” It turns to Rocky, finally addressing him. “Put jewellery down. Need to prepare Patient Saviour Grace for procedure. No distraction while working or Saviour Rocky leave.” Rocky grumbles, putting the earrings back where they originally were. Pierce shoos him out of the way and pulls Grace’s chair close, situating the two of them right in the centre of the camera’s view. It reaches to the side of the chair and pulls a lever, lowering the seat enough for Grace’s face to be at the same level as its carapace.

Grace squirms a little in place. “Hello…” he says awkwardly.

“Yes, hello.” Pierce reaches up with one claw to gently move Grace’s head side to side, examining his ears. Rocky approaches to take his glasses off his face before moving back to look at the earrings again. “Thank,” Pierce says absentmindedly. “No distract now.”

No one speaks or moves while Pierce moves about, quickly going between Grace and its little wheeled table. Grace vaguely recognises the instruments from piercing videos he watched before today to prepare him for what will happen in the next few minutes, all specially made for just this moment.

What a thought that is — all these tools, made by Eridians, to stab a human a couple times. Incredible.

Pierce expertly goes through the motions, narrating to the camera like it’s second nature. “Cleaning area.” It wipes the back and front of Grace’s ears with alcohol wipes donated by Armando. He suppresses a shudder, not expecting the cold. The wipes are tossed into a bin underneath the table. Pierce tilts toward the camera, waving an arm over the table’s contents. “All sterile, all safe for human touch,” it says, then tilts toward Grace. “But no touch. ‘Safe’ not mean ‘allow’, statement.”

Grace nods and gives a little salute, then immediately grimaces at himself. A salute?

Pierce is still for a few seconds, before resuming like that had never happened. Grace wishes it hadn’t happened. “Now must mark where jewellery go.” It puts on what look to be a pair of thin little claw extenders, like what Rocky uses when he’s working with small components. It flexes its claws, the extenders moving perfectly with them, then uses one to pick up a thin metal rod. It’s tapered at each end, but it isn’t sharp. “Humans use technique Eridians cannot use,” it explains. “But Eridians can see indent in skin.”

“What technique, question?” Rocky asks from near the camera.

Grace looks over, keeping his head as still as possible. “From what I’ve seen, piercers will use a skin-safe pen to colour the end of a toothpick, then make a tiny mark on the skin with that,” he explains, clutching his hands tighter to prevent himself from gesturing during this mini-lesson. “They’d be able to see the colour, but with Eridians not having eyes and all…”

Pierce hums in agreement. “Can hear indent,” it repeats. “Quiet now.” Grace shuts his mouth. Pierce holds one claw behind his earlobe and, after taking a moment to line the tool up correctly, gently pokes him. It takes the tool away to examine, then pokes him again, harder this time. Grace winces the slightest bit. It doesn’t hurt, but his ears are sensitive. Pierce steps back. “Look in reverse,” it says.

Grace looks around for his little mirror and grabs it, bringing it close to his face and tilting his head to get a good look. “Um… Oh.” His glasses are placed on his face before he can even ask for them. “Thank you, Rocky,” he mumbles, now paying attention to where he can finally see the little mark. It’s in the dead centre of his lobe. Once he gives his approval to Pierce, it repeats the process on the other ear, matching the marks up perfectly.

And now comes the scary part.

The clamps.

The needles.

Pierce turns away to prepare the terrifying torture instruments. Why did Grace ask for this again? “Hold claws,” it orders, waving one of its own at him and Rocky. “Keep heartrate down.” Don’t have to tell him twice. Grace quickly latches onto Rocky’s outstretched claw, and feels another hold his arm, then another rest against his bouncing leg, which slows at the touch. Grace takes a few deep breaths while Pierce gives the tools on the table an extra clean. Finally, it opens the packaging containing the earrings.

Grace dissociates, he thinks. He feels floaty, but not like he’ll pass out any time soon. It’s really hitting him now that he’s willingly allowing someone to approach him with not one, but two needles. And yeah, sure, it’s not nearly in the same way as the last time someone used a needle on him outside of a medical setting, but it’s similar enough that his brain tries its darnedest to check out.

“Grace.”

“Mm.”

“Time go, question?” Rocky asks him softly.

The stupid wording makes him crack a smile. “Mm. Time go.”

“I count down,” Pierce says. “Breath in at three, breath out at one. Understand, question?”

“Gotcha.” Grace adjusts his hold on Rocky’s claws. Rocky tightens his hold slightly in what Grace is choosing to believe is assurance that he’s okay. Because he is. This is a regular thing on Earth. People get their ears pierced all the time. People pierce their cartilage, their faces, their bodies. People stretch existing piercings, people get large gauge piercings with the biggest needles he’s ever seen in his life. This is easy.

“First complete.”

“What?” He reaches up to touch his ears, unsure of which one was even pierced, but yellow claws shove his hands away.

“No. Touch. Statement,” Pierce scolds him in a low hum. Grace quickly grabs onto Rocky again.

“I–” He sputters for a moment. “I didn’t even notice! What–” He laughs. “Which side did you even do– Oh.” His right ear burns, and he can feel the adrenaline in his body fading out. He cringes. “Oh, no, I feel it now. Woof.” He watches as Pierce prepares the second earring. “Oh Christmas Eve, that feels weird.”

Rocky tilts his carapace up toward him. “Describe, question?” he asks.

“Um. Very warm. Kinda stings. Uh, it’s very tender.” Rocky shudders at the last word. “It’s… not nearly as bad as I expected, though, so that’s reassuring.”

“Doing second now,” Pierce announces. “Quiet time.”

“Yep yep yep, quiet time,” Grace whispers.

“Quiet.”

“Yep.”

“Quiet,” Pierce says slowly, its translator’s voice dragging flatly.

“I am–!”

Pierce raises its hand, and Grace’s mouth snaps shut hard enough that he feels it in his teeth. Then he frowns. Dang Eridians, learning his teaching mannerisms. Dang him for falling for it! “Hand up, Patient Saviour Grace quiet,” it says firmly. “Want Earth and other Eridians to see acting like this, question?”

Grace shakes his head. Pierce hums and doesn’t say anything else. When Grace glances down at Rocky, he can tell he’s not happy with his doctor, despite how calm he’s trying to seem, which isn’t very much.

“Doing second now,” Pierce repeats. Grace doesn’t respond this time, just lets it move his head to the side as it lines up its clamp. The clamp squeezes shut on either side of his left earlobe. It aches a bit. He’s read people’s posts, saying they thought the clamp was the worst part. This is fine for him though, if not a little uncomfortable. It’ll be a walk in the park, if this is the worst of it. “Clamp on. Prepare needle.” Grace gives the tiniest ‘okay’ he can manage, just to show that he heard it.

Pierce brings the needle close, and he has to close his eyes. He’s much, much more alert for this one; he can’t watch, even if it’s not even in his peripheral vision. Oh, if only he could dissociate through this one too. His team’s mental health expert probably wouldn’t like that he thought that, nor would the one on the Vat.

“Three.”

He takes a slow, deep breath in.

“Two.”

He holds his breath. Pays attention to the texture of Rocky’s xenonite suit. The angles and rounded corners so he doesn’t get poked every time they hug.

Pierce hums a deep, calming note, one he feels in his bones. “One.”

As Grace breathes out, the needle glides through his ear. His eyes clench shut as tight as possible.

It stings. Oh lord does it sting, holy H-E-double-hockey-sticks. How did he not feel the other ear?! Goodness gracious, he’s almost feeling the need to actually swear. Those people who said the clamp hurts more are liars.

Pierce speaks quietly, its translator not picking up on its notes. “I’m putting the jewellery in now, then it will be done.”

“Mm…” Grace whimpers. He can’t even bring himself to be embarrassed about the sound, or the fact that it’s on camera and all of Earth will hear it one day.

He hears the transition piece connect to the back of the needle, then feels it slide forward through his ear. It feels wrong, but the pain is going away, thankfully. He hears the needle placed to the side, the jewellery slotted behind the transition piece, then–

That’s worse. That’s so much worse.

All the air is punched from his lungs, and he clings to Rocky’s hands and arms for dear life. It stings, it burns, he’s probably crumbling Rocky’s suit somehow with how tight of a hold he’s got on him. The pain travels down his jaw and into his neck. Oh God, his neck, the needle was so close to his neck, what if it got his neck, Carl–

Pierce says something, Rocky says something, but he doesn’t hear any of it. All he can feel is the throbbing pain in his ears, the heat emanating from them, the phantom sting in his neck, the… the pressure pushing into his chest.

Rocky.

Grace latches onto him instantly, scrambling to wrap his shaking arms around his safe person. Two arms circle his waist, and a low, inaudible, rumbling hum starts against his sternum. He immediately turns to jelly, his forehead falling against the top of Rocky’s suit, his arms falling half-limp, only held up by Rocky’s own. One of his other arms pats Grace’s knee. He’s panting softly. His eyes and cheeks feel wet. His lip is quivering.

“Sorry,” he whispers, but it comes out more like a squeak. “I don’t– I don’t know what that–”

Rocky squeezes him tighter. “No, don’t apologise,” he says over his hum. His translator is off. “Nothing to apologise for.”

Grace slides out of his seat and onto the floor, not caring about the indignant sound that comes from the other side of the room. “I j– This was s’posed to be– be a fun, new thing…” He sniffles and hides his face further in Rocky’s carapace. “I didn’t think that– that the needles would get to me! It’s– It’s stupid!”

“Grace, no.” Rocky pushes him away slightly, enough so that Grace can see him properly, but it’s enough for his grip to tighten and his lip to tremble more, his vision blurring with more tears. “Not stupid, you know this.” He stomps the ground with one of his back legs to punctuate his point. “Here, you need a distraction.” He starts wiggling away. Grace’s knuckles blanch with how tight he’s holding on.

“No, Rock–” he tries to protest.

Rocky holds up a claw. “I will be back in two Erid seconds, okay?”

About… four and a half Earth seconds… Grace can wait four and a half seconds. He hesitates, then slowly lets go. He immediately misses the warmth of his best friend, his favourite person, but before he can even start counting down the seconds, it’s back. Rocky sits between his knees, not unlike a cat, and holds up the small mirror.

The first thing Grace notices is how much of a wreck he looks. His face is covered in pink splotches, his eyes are red, his hair is more of a mess than usual. But then he notices his ears, and he forgets about everything else as his eyes hone in on them. He turns his head this way and that, hardly blinking as he takes in the sight of his own reflection. His earlobes are already starting to swell and turn red, but he can tell that his piercings are perfectly symmetrical. The little red rocks shine beautifully, even in the clinical lighting of his medbay. He wants to reach up to touch them, to make sure the last fifteen minutes really did happen, but he doesn’t. He’d earn himself a scolding from Rocky, and a true berating from Pierce. Instead, he reaches up and wipes his eyes so he can see them better. Someone slips his glasses on, a little crookedly. He doesn’t know when they came off. He mumbles a small ‘thanks’ as he continues to admire his new additions.

He kind of loves them already. It feels like… like a way of reclaiming what he has left of himself, what survived the trip from Earth to Tau Ceti, then to Erid. He chose to do this for himself, and himself only. It doesn’t benefit anyone else. It’s just for him, to look and feel pretty. When was the last time he got to be truly selfish like this, outside of his own survival, on his own terms, without prompting? He doesn’t know. Earth, maybe. But even then, he doesn’t know when that would have been.

His reflection smiles a wobbly, genuine smile at him.

Pierce slowly approaches from the side. “I turned the camera off,” it says softly. “I think. Are you okay, Patient Saviour Grace?”

Grace nods slowly, then more confidently. “Yeah,” he says through a wet chuckle. “I– I feel so good right now.” And he does.

Pierce wiggles side to side. “Happy happy happy,” it chitters. Grace copies its wiggling by swaying side to side. Rocky does the same, matching his movements so he can keep staring into the mirror. Grace’s reflection looks happy. Happy happy happy.

He looks up at Pierce. “Have you finished cleaning everything?” he asks it.

It hums. “I have,” it replies. “I sterilised everything while Saviour Rocky was helping you down here.”

“Ah…” Grace cringes. “I’m–”

“Don’t,” Rocky interrupts.

Grace looks down at him, ducking under the mirror to see him. “I wasn’t gonna–”

“Yes you were. I could hear it coming. Adrian could hear it coming from our cave. Adrian the planet could–”

Pierce marches itself to the door and opens it. “Leave.” Rocky spreads his arms in a gesture that says ‘are you kidding me?’ and stammers. “I told you, I would kick you out if you continued this. Out.” It points out the door for emphasis. “Patient Saviour Grace will be out soon.”

Rocky doesn’t move, except to slowly press the mirror into Grace’s hands.

It’s a full minute of this faceless stare-off before Rocky finally relents and trudges out, grumbling to himself all the while. He sits directly outside the door, and Grace is almost sure he hears the door tap against his suit when it closes.

Pierce grabs a stone tablet from nearby, holding it with a back leg, then walks over to Grace. It reaches up with two claws, but doesn’t touch him. “May I observe my work?” it asks politely. Grace nods and leans forward, letting it cup his jaw and turn his head in different directions to hear his new jewellery. “I’m very pleased with the outcome,” it says, carapace swaying slightly with half-contained joy.

Grace smiles. “So am I,” he agrees. “I love them, thank you so much, Doc.”

Pierce bops in place for a second before remembering its professionalism and straightening up. “Are you feeling okay now, after leaking?” it asks.

Grace chuckles and hauls himself to his feet, brushing the non-existent dust from his pants. “Yeah, yeah I’m feeling a lot better,” he says. “The needles just got to me a bit, I’m okay now. I’ll be a lot more prepared for next time, I think.”

Pierce squeaks and wiggles excitedly. “‘Next time’?”

Grace nods quickly with a grin. “Next time!” Pierce literally jumps for joy. Grace has to steady himself on the chair behind him with how hard it lands on the ground. “Oh goodness.” He laughs nervously. It gets excited after any successful check up or procedure, but he’s never seen it do this before.

Once it’s calmed down a bit, Pierce returns to his side from where it drifted away in its little celebration. “I have post-procedure instructions!” it exclaims, holding up the tablet it grabbed after booting Rocky from the room. Though Grace is pretty good at reading Eridian language now, he’s still glad to have his doctor read everything slowly and clearly to him. They’re simple instructions too, thank goodness, and he now knows how ‘saline solution’ is written.

“I must return to my mate now,” it says after they’ve finished going through everything, grabbing the camera and tripod and handing them to Grace. He blinks, smiles sheepishly, and discreetly turns the camera off. He'll teach it how to start and stop recordings next time it wants to document something. It sways happily in front of him. “It will want to hear all about this! You can go back to Saviour Rocky now, I can still hear it sitting outside.”

Grace looks over at the door. Sure enough, Rocky’s shadow is still very visible under it. Part of the shadow moves, and Pierce waves at it.

“I’m bored!” Rocky complains, now that he knows he’s allowed to. “I know you’re finished, come out!” If Eridians had eyes, Grace thinks Pierce’s would have rolled so hard that they either fell out or got stuck inside its body. It approaches the door and opens it, and Grace follows. “Oh, finally!” Rocky stands, making a show of moving very slowly and stretching out his limbs. “I thought I would die of old age before you finished in there,” he says. Pierce stays completely still, watching him, unimpressed.

Grace raises an eyebrow, stepping out of the medbay. “Where’d you learn that one?”

“My portable Earth thinking machine, of course. I learned more Earth sayings. So many about food, ugh.”

“Ugh,” Pierce echoes. It shudders violently before firmly shutting the door and escaping toward the nearest exit.

Grace laughs and turns to gesture ‘goodbye’ in Pierce’s direction, rubbing his fist against his forearm. He hears distant, high pitched notes playing on its own arm as it copies his motion.

He’s on such a high now. He feels like he can do anything. Maybe when they return to the beach, he’ll run laps and flap his arms around just to get the energy out. He’d swim instead, but Pierce said absolutely not while his new piercings are healing, and that it would know if he did without its permission. He believes it wholeheartedly.

Once back in the main area of the biodome, Rocky abruptly stops and pulls Grace’s arm until he drops to his knees on the coarse sand, making him wince. “Let me hear your new jewellery!” Rocky says excitedly, standing up tall.

Grace leans down a little to reach “eye level”. Rocky hums softly and taps at his face to get a better picture of him. “Pretty pretty pretty,” he murmurs. “I like. What colour are they?”

“The–” He jerks his head back before Rocky can touch one of his earrings. “Hey, no touchy. The metal is silver, the rocks are red. I don’t know about silver, but red’s wavelength is about seven hundred nanometers.”

“Ohh, low rough! Like the Petrova line!”

Grace grins and holds his hands. “I thought the same thing!”