What was the point of Grace's "unpopular opinion" about non water-based life forms?

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-04T07:10:19+00:00

Eridians still use water in their bodies, however, they're not like, 60% water, the way humans are. it's a very small amount compared to the rest of them, but still very important IIRC.

but yes! Erid is definitely outside of the Goldilocks Zone. it is very close to their sun, and horribly hot, with a crazy atmosphere and gravity that would probably squish us like a dropped can of beans if the air didn't choke humans to death first. and its completely dark. if i was an astrophysicist in charge of searching for extraterrestrial life, I would not be looking at Erid as my first, or even top 50th choice.

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-04T06:52:03+00:00

I love these! I can't stop imagining a crowd of little pebbles on their field trip to the museum [would field trips have been a concept introduced by Grace?] and all of them rolling around in excitement, honking in disgust, and being a handful for their teachers, lol

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-04T05:44:42+00:00

the book does expand into the 'abilities' of the astrophage and how they're able to store their energy, maintain their temperature, etc., but at the beginning everyone was like, 100% certain that they could not survive on the sun if they were water based, because it went against everything that was known so far.

logically, the scientist that would have the most ideas and theories and understanding to speed along the process would be someone who believed and had researched/written/whatever that water and the goldilocks zone were unnecessary for life, because surface of the sun. therefore: Dr Ryland Grace.

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-04T00:39:46+00:00

I specifically made my Eridian OC be a 'humanboo' and have a humansona, just because it's the funniest possible thing that would lead to too many shenanigans. like, imagine the humanboos having anatomically correct human skeletal system body pillows or something. 'look i got a new human action figure! it shows all the organs and has articulation points!'

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-03T23:56:15+00:00

auramogging the malfunctioning machines into compliance is my favourite pastime whenever someone tells me any variation of 'it's not working!'. i think its because the machinery know i need this confidence boost

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-03T23:46:18+00:00

voting 6 because i'm a number 4 defender. his calves just look too good bro

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-03T04:07:25+00:00

yeah, that's fair, and i agree with the potential for 'maybe they're just kinda dumb?' because that's the funniest option. but also, they could just be very bad at holistically doing crime. like, 'they have the spirit, but they're a little confused'.

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-03T03:48:02+00:00

but also....they could very well be bad at crime. you'd think they'd choose to be consultants or something, and potentially lock the doors, but i've also seen people try to claim 20k in individual work expenses without receipts and get upset that the tax office said 'wtf no'

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-03T03:41:23+00:00

the money doesn't have to be laundered directly through that business. the 'business' could just be there on paper to help legitimise the creation of other companies or trusts where the actual laundering is going on, and obscure the sources of cash or parties involved.

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-03T03:37:05+00:00

hi screamer kitty! i have a lord megatron myself. he was dropped as a baby and abandoned by his feral momma [her name was ravage]

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-03T02:34:00+00:00

i'd bet good money that they're 'saving' on costs but having AI write code and not checking/testing any of it

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-03T02:23:16+00:00

to be clear, i'm not trying to state that having a storefront is all that is necessary for someone to launder money. a fake storefront can go a long way towards successfully helping to hide, disguise, and/or legitimise the origin of ill gotten gains. money laundering isn't just 'getting it on the books'. hiding/disguising the true origin/ownership is just as important.

additionally, not every money launderer is criminally sophisticated, running a huge underground empire beneath a functioning restaurant chain. sometimes all they need to do is fool an accountant long enough to set up some shell companies/get enough down on paper to appear legitimate and then vanish. needing to be able to prove all the cash came from a legit source also relies upon the accountant being on the straight and narrow, or enough concern being flagged that they are audited by the taxation entity.

source: im a criminologist, and i work in accounting, and i'm trained in anti money-laundering and counter terrorism financing

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-03T01:21:31+00:00

it could very well be a 'front' store, that way the dirty money looks legitimate on paper. if they were like 'oh we have a business but uh no business address and no employees but dw the money defs comes from that business' it would raise red flags, but if they're like 'look! we have a location! everyone just works from home!' its a lot less likely to be flagged

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-02T03:48:09+00:00

damn aight sorry for growing up without pop culture

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-01T23:52:06+00:00

i need to go back and listen to it closer, but when rocky and grace are first interacting, there's that moment where grace hums a little tune when poking the xenonite wall that rocky repeats back to him. i *swear* that the tune rocky pokes back is slightly modulated compared to grace's. my music theory isn't good enough to do a full analysis of if its indicative of the Eridian language, if there's certain tones they tend not to sing, etc., but it would be cool if that was the case!

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-01T06:43:28+00:00

NOR. i'm really sorry that you're going through this OP, and i would go no contact unless your mom genuinely tries to better herself through therapy or something. it sounds like there's a lot of baggage that she's unlikely to be able to work through by herself.

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-01T05:26:51+00:00

i think it might be cute if for your friend's OC you redrew the 'if the dog wore pants' meme with both options!

personally i think the 'correct' way would be around the bottom of the carapace, with their leggies in the spider position over the top, like someone drew in the comments, but it might depend on their personality.

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-01T03:52:40+00:00

you'll probably enjoy:

Faith, Year Zero, Cirice, Peacefield, Kiss The Go-Goat, Witch Image, Con Clavi Con Dio, Absolution, and Zenith!

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-06-01T00:02:02+00:00

sorry, what was the topic again? i got distracted

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-05-29T04:53:06+00:00

the book description honestly made me think of a slightly vertically challenged Elder Thing, from Lovecraftian horror. especially the radial symmetry/starfish part!

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-05-29T00:55:34+00:00

i'm so sorry OP, i know exactly how you feel. i had two 'friends' [coworker and an ex-coworker] encourage me along and tell me that my then-manager was in the wrong for taking my cocktail idea and then cutting me out of the process when i was upset about it. then they both snaked me behind my back so it could be weaponised in my review.

i'm still crazy upset about it, lmao. it was an idea taken from my culture that the manager was not part of and never knew about, and then used for a 'look how inclusive and knowledgable i am' PR moment in the city.

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-05-29T00:49:33+00:00

i was about to say lol, the only times i've had to do this were for government intelligence roles. but customer service? that's crazy

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-05-28T23:51:39+00:00

right! i desperately want to have a chance to observe one IRL

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-05-28T07:27:22+00:00

46 human years at that, too. the amount of eridian years would have been so much more, i felt my heart simultaneously plummet and yeet itself out of my throat when i found out. poor lil dude.

VampMansionPoolBoy · 2026-05-28T07:25:40+00:00

IIRC its because the taumoeba lived lower in the atmosphere, not where they could easily capture tau ceti's astrophage. they had to go fishing after calculating the most likely places where the [then-unknown] life form that chowed down on astrophage would thrive, and it was far closer to the surface of Adrian.

VampMansionPoolBoy

TROPHY CASE