Grace Sciuridae

Grace Sciuridae is a shape shifting human/uryuom/squirrel/lespuko hybrid that was created through genetic engineering to kill the prophesied creature who would be known as Damien. She originally came to Tedd seeking temporary protection for herself and a way to deal with her "brothers" (of which Vladia, Vlad at the time, is the only genetic sibling), but remained in hiding from her old family with her new friends. In the Painted Black arc, she was forced to go back to her brothers and fight Damien, who killed himself at the end of their battle when he realized that he wasn't the god he'd thought himself to be. She has been in a relationship with Tedd since the Relations chapter of the original El Goonish Shive introductory story arc.

Because she spent most of her childhood either in a lab or held prisoner by Damien, she can be very naive. For instance, she used to have no idea why people can have such big problems with nudity, but a recent conversation with the (then male) Susan at the party educated her on this point. She also only recently found out about World War II. Grace had a disturbing childhood, being held captive by Damien and witnessing him committing heinous acts including murder. As a result, she was haunted by nightmares for a long time. After she killed Damien, she was for a time afraid of her own powers and refused to change shape, but her brothers managed to convince her otherwise, at which time she also managed to resolve the nightmares.

History

Early life

Grace was designed by Project Lycanthrope from an uryuom, a lespuko, a squirrel, and a naturally strong human male as a weapon to kill a coming prophesied master of fire, but Dr. Sciuridae replaced the human DNA with that of his dead daughter so he could be with her again. It was he that named her Grace and gave her her hair band. The latter of which aroused suspicion and caused him to be transferred away. Later when Damien came, she cowered in fear as he slaughtered the scientists and Grace's uryuom father.

Escape and Meeting Tedd

After reading about the first goo incident in the newspaper, Grace chose to run away from The Nest and see if Tedd could help her. After she escaped the Nest in her full squirrel form, she had nothing but her hair band and had to steal a trench coat. When she first saw Tedd, she asked for his help; when she mentioned she wasn't wearing anything beneath her coat, Tedd quickly let her in. After she was welcomed in the home, she was quickly discovered by Tedd’s father who was angry that Tedd let a strange girl into the house until he recognized her as Shade Tail. After that, he allowed her to stay in order to protect her and told Tedd not to tell anyone but Elliot and Sarah that she was there. When Tedd asked Grace why she was there, she was thankful that he called her Grace and asked her to get to know her as Grace before they dealt with her past as Shade Tail. While watching boring TV, Grace suggested they do something normal, Tedd pointed out that people sleeping together was normal, but Grace countered with the fact that that only applies when they are in a relationship instead of taking offence and hammering Tedd. The next day, Grace met Elliot who assumed she was a either a robot or that she had been kidnapped since, normally, no girl would hang out with Tedd. After going down to find Tedd, Grace was enamoured with the video game Black and White. After playing for a while, Tedd had to literally drag her away so Sarah could look her over before she could go buy clothes for her. After seeing that Grace had to resort to wearing Tedd's clothes, Sarah realized she really needed to take Grace along to the mall to get the clothes, so she gave her a disguise to avoid being recognized by her brothers.

At the mall, Grace was more interested in video games and was willing to spend the clothing money on them and just play them at Tedd's house naked if it came down to it. When Grace finally got to picking out clothes, she had difficulty finding clothes small and stretchy enough to cover her 160 pound body since she had to consider shape shifting. After they finished shopping, Sarah and Grace exited out the wrong side of the mall and had to cut through a unlit alleyway where they were attacked by a mugger, Sarah tried to just give him her purse but Grace managed to stop him by shape shifting into her half squirrel form and using her telekinesis to take away his knife, at which point he ran away. The strain of the telekinesis was too great for Grace and she collapsed, much to the shock and annoyance of Sarah who swore vengeance on Tedd. Once Grace was brought home, it was assumed the shape shifting was Tedd’s fault, but his father set the record straight by revealing to Tedd, Elliot and Sarah, part of Grace and her brother's history. When Grace woke up, she greeted Sarah and was worried that she had scared everyone away, but Sarah explained to her that they went to find more information. When Grace asked why Sarah wasn't afraid of her monster form, Sarah told her the she wasn't a monster and that she sort of knew what it was like, Grace asked her to elaborate but they were distracted by the guys coming back. When everyone was together, Grace was forced by Elliot to explain why she sought out Tedd. Grace explained that her brothers were very dangerous and had no choice in the matter as they were made and trained to be that way. Grace wanted to find a way to change them and herself into forms that were not dangerous. When Elliot wanted to know why she was almost naked when she meet Tedd, she explained that in order to escape she had to turn into her full squirrel form and that meant she could not take anything with her except her hairband. After Elliot apologized and left, Grace held Tedd back with her tail so he wouldn't leave her alone.

During the events of the first relations storyline, Grace welcomed Tedd home with a squirrel girl tackle revealing that she remained in her squirrel girl form since she was still a little worried she might faint and Tedd liked her in her squirrel form. Grace then confirmed that she really liked Tedd. When she changed back, Grace asked how Tedd's day was. Once he revealed that Elliot was acting weird, knew the Sarah liked him, and was taking her to the martial arts class Grace realized that Elliot was going to break Sarah's heart. Later during the events of the second relations storyline, Tedd and Grace began experimenting on a way to stop her brothers if they were to attack. Grace suggested they use the Tedd’s TF gun to change her brothers into less threatening forms. In order to test the theory Grace insisted that Tedd blast her with the TF gun. When Tedd proved to be reluctant, she pressed the trigger and blasted herself, turning herself in to a catgirl, which did not please Tedd. Grace was pleased with her new form but Tedd said he was worried that their plan had worked and Grace wouldn't be able to change back. When Grace first tried to change back, she found that she couldn't and asked Tedd to change her back. Tedd refused and explained that Grace's powers had changed and she could still change into her original form if she focused hard enough. Grace tried this and discovered she could switch to any of her forms at will. This meant that, all their plan would do was give her brothers another dangerous form to use in combat. Tedd was about to give up but Grace asked him to blast her with the best form he had for combat. That way, she could fight if it came down to that; the form in question turned out to be the Jeremy form. Grace wanted to know what other forms Tedd had and checked the TF gun's programmed forms. She was confused by the male and female forms and Tedd claimed he didn't know where they came from. When Grace was blasted with the Jeremy form, Jeremy jumped up on her. After changing back, Grace insisted on changing her shirt right away, not caring that the camera was still recording and that people who viewed the recording would see her topless. For the rest of night, Grace and Tedd indulged in catnip. After that, Sarah came over and they showed and explained what they had been doing. Sarah asked why it was necessary to include Grace's toplessness, but Grace insisted that it was important to the plot. That night, Grace was plagued by terrible nightmares and woke up screaming. Tedd ran over to comfort her while forgetting his glasses and ended up sleeping in the same bed with her all night after Grace insisted. While Grace had Tedd in bed with her, she took the opportunity to have Tedd explain about his glasses and how he met Elliot. After sleeping together, they narrowly avoided getting caught by Mr.Verres.

Sister

After Tedd was turned into a girl while testing the TF Gun, Grace was disturbed while playing on the computer by female Tedd strip dancing on the computer screen. When Elliot was transformed, Grace began to research the means to make Elliot a man again. When Elliot came over to hear her latest plan, Grace was wearing Tedd's glasses which were set to the X-ray feature. After Grace annoyed Elliot, he pulled them off her and put them on Tedd. Unknown to him, they were still on the X-ray function and Tedd was forced to see female Elliot naked which made him blush. Grace then suggested that Tedd and Elliot use a magical jewel, which was in a low priority government building, to undo the V5 effects while Grace stayed behind. While she waited for their return, she got very bored and decided to change into her squirrel form, just for the fun of it, it was at this time that she discovered that her shape shifting now affected her mass, after getting on a weighing scale Grace found out that her squirrel form was 80 pounds, her human form was her regular, 120 pounds, her cat-girl form was 137 pounds and her Jeremy form was 200 pounds. As a result of her shape changing, she met Sensei Greg (who was guarding her) who thought she was in danger. Grace was initially scared and hid in her full squirrel form while Jeremy attacked Greg. After Greg deflected Jeremy, Grace turned into her squirrel form to defend him, but Greg explained he sensed great power and was just there to protect her. Grace didn't understand why Greg sensed power in her and why he told her to put a shirt on. After Greg fixed the door and camped out in front of the television, Grace went downstairs to use the computer, only to meet Beta Tedd who popped up on the screen intending to warn Tedd of Lord Tedd. Before Beta Tedd gave his warning, Beta Ellen, who was dating Beta Tedd, appeared beside Beta Tedd. Upon learning of their relationship, Grace fell out of her chair laughing. The next day, Grace waited for Tedd to get back home when she fell asleep and had another nightmare. After being awoken by Greg, she told him she tried to design a video game but an image on the computer frightened her. When Greg told her he didn't find it frightening, Grace saw that he was not looking at the picture and discovered a message from Tedd. The message told her about Ellen and asked her to pass the message to Sarah before morning.

After saying crud multiple times in multiple ways and apologizing for swearing like a sailor, Grace convinced Greg to take her to Moperville North so she could talk to Sarah and stop Ellen. After getting to the school, Grace literally ran into Sarah who knocked her down. Grace told her that Ellen was not Elliot which disturbed Sarah. When they found the Omega Goo, Grace explained that it had been sent from another dimension to hunt down Tedd. She then explained to Sarah what had happened to Elliot and Tedd and that Ellen was not going to die in a month, but Grace could not figure out how to tell it to Ellen safely. After they decided to focus on defeating to goo, Grace explained that it was actually a demon nucleus the size of a marble that had covered itself with the goo as armour. After Nanase failed to stop the goo Grace used her telekinesis to stop its final attack. Grace could not decide which form to assume to battle the goo, and accidentally transformed into a legion form which incorporated all her forms known at the time. After seeing this the goo was defeated by Ellen.

Once the goo had been defeated, Elliot and Tedd turned up and Grace was so overcome with joy that she tackled him in her legion form. When Elliot explained how he got how he was, Grace was shocked to hear that Hedge was in town looking for her and was a little scared by the prospect. Mr. Verres then turned up and told Grace to put on a shirt even though she said she didn't mind not having one. After she did so, Grace tried to convince Mr. Verres not to lock up Ellen. Mr.Verres told her to button her shirt and that he wasn't going to lock up Ellen. Grace was then worried that she forgot to feed Jeremy but didn't button up her shirt since it had a zipper instead of buttons. Grace and Tedd went to get towels and when they got back they had switched shirts, which didn't make Mr. Verres happy. While waiting for Ellen to shower, Grace told everyone about the scary image on the computer screen. After seeing the image, Mr. Verres noticed a second person, who turned out to look a lot like Grace but was clearly male. When Mr. Verres said that "Grace didn't die in that dimension", Grace became frozen in shock. After recovering and going upstairs to meet with everyone, Mr. Verres told everyone that Tedd owned a machine that could test beams eliminating the need to test on people. When Tedd denied this, Grace said it was right nest to the washing machine. After Ellen had turned Tedd into a girl, Grace was excited and wanted to style his hair later. After everyone left, Tedd started to take off his clothes because they were too tight but Grace insisted that she takes off her clothes too.

New And Old Friends

A few days later, Grace went out for a walk in her newly created Claire clone form after remembering to bring a coat due to the nippy weather. She first stopped at a candy store and decided to walk in calmly just to get the essentials. However, when she got in she got so excited she ended up buying a large bag of candy and three lollipops. Her next stop was the Dunkel residence. When Ellen answered the door, she was reluctant to let Claire in but did it when Claire said she knew her. After getting inside, Grace explained that she couldn't show Ellen her true form until she got inside in case someone else found out who she was. After Grace returned to her human form, she offered Ellen a lollipop and explained that Tedd had been working on a form that would allow a form to look exactly the same regardless of who it was fired at. After she finished explaining the clone forms, Grace told Ellen that she had come over to invite Ellen to be her playmate. They then played some video games. When Grace realized Tedd would be home soon, Ellen came up with a plan to surprise Tedd by having him guess which of them was the real Grace after Ellen zapped herself into Grace's Claire form. When Tedd arrived, he quickly deduced who was who and Grace had a photo shoot with Ellen and Tedd.

During the events of Squirrel Diplomacy Grace used her ability to talk to squirrels to negotiate between the squirrels in the yard and Tedd. She managed to convince them to not eat the birdseed as long as the squirrels got separate food. When Tedd was attacked by the squirrels, Grace explained that the squirrels found the food to be an insult and wanted an apology in the form of a statue. When Tedd got them a statue, Grace said the squirrels found it too girly and now wanted a manly statue with shrubbery.

Night Out

Later, using the clone form technology, Grace and Tedd switched forms before Sarah and Elliot arrived took them to the movies. When Elliot and Sarah rang the doorbell, Grace wasn't worried about being in Tedd's form so she convinced Tedd to let them in. When they went downstairs, Grace blasted Tedd with the Claire form. When Tedd tried to convince her that they should be in their natural forms, Grace pointed out that since Tedd was now in the Claire form, he would get to indulge in the fun of being a girl in public without anyone knowing it. This proved that Grace knew Tedd better than he did. Grace gave Tedd a new outfit that Ellen got her at "the promiscuous maiden" shop and told him to remember to act like Grace. While they were driving to the movie theatre, Grace asked what movie they would be seeing, unknown to her Tedd was the one who picked the movie. Since Grace was in Tedd's form she had to pretend that she was so overcome by Grace's cuteness that she forgot what the movie was.

When the gang arrived at the movie theatre, Grace had to go to the washroom. Tedd told her to change back while using the washroom and Grace didn't see why but agreed to do it. However since Tedd did this in Uryuomoco, Grace understood it, and there was no way Tedd knew of that Grace could have learned the language, it added more mystery to her character. While in the washroom, Grace met Tony. First, she confused him by admitting the she was with her boyfriend, then she freaked him out because she was in Tedd's form with its feminine appearance unhidden by glasses which unnerved Tony. After leaving the washroom, Grace told Tedd about meeting Tony and his obvious attraction to Tedd's form which severely shocked Tedd. While watching the movie, Grace spent most of her time staring lovingly into Tedd's eyes and wondering where they found a dragon to star in the movie. While Sarah and Tedd were in the ladies bathroom, Grace asked Elliot where they got the dragon for the movie, which Elliot thought was cute. When Grace got home, Grace asked Tedd if he enjoyed going out as Claire.

The Morning After

The morning after Night Out, Mr. Verres found Grace suffering from insomnia. She asked him why he let her stay at his house. He tried to avoid the question using a figure of speech but Grace didn't understand that so he told her about an informant from who he learnt about her and her brothers and whom he promised he would take of her and not reveal his identity. When Tedd woke up, he found Grace had snuck into his bed after her talk with Mr. Verres. When Tedd told Elliot about Grace's behavior he was sceptical that Tedd didn't notice until he woke up until Elliot found Grace had managed to cozy up to him and was sleeping there throughout their conversation. Just then the doorbell rang and since Grace couldn't be seen in her half squirrel form Tedd had Elliot carry her to the basement while he answered the door. Grace woke up by the time Elliot had reached the basement. She stated her preference to stay in the basement in her half squirrel form because it felt more natural to her. When Tedd came downstairs, he spotted Grace trying out legion forms. When she assumed a Tedd/Grace form, Tedd was rendered almost speechless. After suggesting that Tedd give William and Gillian's human forms big fluffy tails, she looked at pictures of them and was reminded of Mr. Guyur who taught her Uryuomoco. When Tedd and Grace came upstairs, Tedd introduced Grace as Claire and Will revealed his shyness at being naked. Grace offered to also be naked but Will said that would be more awkward. When Grace came back upstairs she complained about their opposition to casual nudity. Elliot tried to reason with her but forgot her lack of nudity taboo. In anger she took her shirt off. Mr. Verres came downstairs and learned from Grace that Will and Gill were there. He told them to tell Tedd he wouldn't be back for a while and told Grace not to worry but to stay indoors and away from windows. Elliot commented that despite his job description Mr. Verres is not that good at hiding things. In Tedd's room, Grace told Tedd about what his father said and Tedd said it couldn't be that bad or else he wouldn't have left. He said that there was nothing outside the ordinary to worry about, defining ordinary as events like what took place during Sister.

Painted Black

Grace was dreaming of when Damien killed everyone at Project Lycanthrope and thinking what would happen if he and worrying that they would get hurt. Tedd came to check if she was OK and she pounced on him. When Elliot was captured by Hedge, Sarah barged into her room demanding an answer, she found Grace naked and writing a letter. Grace explained that she was leaving so she wouldn't put anyone at risk. When Sarah asked why she was naked, thinking graphic adult thoughts, Grace explained that she wanted to return the clothes she was given. After Sarah told everyone what happened, Grace wanted to go alone, saying that she could save Elliot with stealth and Damien would only hit her if she was caught. Grace was later convinced to bring Ellen and Nanase along on the rescue mission to the nest. On the way Grace explained about each of her brothers' powers and weaknesses and said that she was fireproof. When they arrived in the area where the nest was, Grace used squirrels to lead herself and Nanase to the underground base. Shortly after entering, they found Vlad sleeping and Grace told them to run, but she was quickly knocked out and captured by Damien.

When she woke up, she was tied to a chair in front of Damien, alongside a man. Grace recognized him as the first scientist to call her Grace. When Damien told her they were going to wait for her friends, Grace said she didn't have friends, Damien pointed out Grace was wearing a Uryuom worker's uniform and she must have gotten it from someone she knew. It was at this time that Grace learned from Dr. Sciuridae that she became fully aware of her past. Dr. Sciuridae told her that she was aging at a slower rate, and that she would be turning 18 next Saturday. Grace then became aware that she was created from Dr. Sciuridae's daughter's DNA, a squirrel, a uryuom, and a lespuko, making her a Tulougol Seyunolu. After that, she found out that she was specifically designed to kill Damien. The revelation that she had failed at her purpose to oppose Damien weighed heavily on Grace's conscience as she, once again, remembered that she cowered when she could have stopped Damien. Later she was forced to watch her friends fight her brothers. When Elliot, Ellen, and Nanase were victorious, Damien announced that he had to deal with them personally and would kill them. After all the revelations, this was all Grace could take and her Lespuko side was fully awakened when she broke out of the chair and tackled Damien through a window. She dominated the resulting battle due to her flameproof fur, Lespuko claws (which slowed Damien's healing), and rage, and once Damien realized he was losing he retreated to the air, only for Grace to reveal she could fly. When Grace was about to strike again, she looked down at her claws and remembered what it looked like when Damien came to her with blood stained hands. Grace begged Damien to stop since she didn't want to kill him, but he attempted to take Grace out in a kamikaze attack, which was thwarted because she was protected by Nioi at the last moment.

When Grace got back on the ground, she wondered why Dr. Sciuridae was injured until it was pointed out that you couldn't burst out of a chair without causing shrapnel. After Commander Jaguar's team came to get everyone home, Grace turned into her full human form, referred to Dr. Sciuridae as "grandpa" and told him to keep in touch. Grace told Hedge that she now hid her antennae because she wanted to be as human as possible. After Vladia appeared, Grace explained to Hedge that Ellen used her beam to change her. Jaguar then told Grace's brothers that they would need to be tested. Grace said she was never tested, but then remembered various incidents when Mr. Verres tested her without her knowing. Before they left, Grace gave her siblings a big hug, much to Vladia's annoyance. When she got home, Tedd rushed out to hug Grace with tears in his eyes. After everyone had gotten home, Mr. Verres chastised/praised Grace for her recklessness.

Grace fell asleep with Tedd on the couch. Grace dreamt of herself in her in her half-squirrel form without clothes sitting on a hill in a hilly landscape. As she was thinking The sky darkened and she turned around to face the horned skull which had frightened her in dreams before. This time, she stared it down and it crumbled to dust. Then amongst clouds she confronted a creature which appeared to be a lespuko which growled at her. She, however, hugged it and its expression changed to one of saddened calm, its horns morphed away. It disappeared, and Grace looked sadly at the empty landscape of her dream.

Party Preparations

The Painted Black incident deeply affected Grace, she did not enjoy the memories of her use of her lespuko from and considered herself unworthy of transforming and using the power. While lost in these thoughts she was tackle hugged by Ellen. Shortly afterwords, Mr. Verres came into the room and told her that if everything went well with his meeting, she would be able to go to Moperville South with Ellen. Mr. Verres suggested that since Grace’s 18th birthday was that Saturday she should have a party. Ellen told Grace her party's festivities should match the occasion and Grace decided that her party would consist of her close friends switching their genders for the night. Damien’s death weighed heavily on Grace, and she decided to reject her shapeshifting abilities and remain fully human. She remained depressed until Vladia rebuked her for feeling such guilt over a total monster like Damien.

Birthday Party

During Grace's party, she kissed female Tedd while Grace was in a male form. This greatly discomforted Tedd and he ran away. When she went to him, they had a talk about it and it was discovered the Grace’s sexual preferences were part heterosexual human and part uryuom. Therefore, she was not attracted to people in the same way as ordinary humans. Rather, her sexual preference was based on concepts and mental connections, meaning she is attracted primarily to Tedd, no matter what form or gender he is.

Going to school

With Damien gone and her brothers no longer chasing her, Grace was finally able to go to school, choosing to go to Moperville South, so she could be with Ellen. In order to explain her lack of social awareness, she told people that she was raised by an elderly lady and was sheltered most of her life. She was first quite nervous about meeting many new people and embarrassed about not understanding how to function in a school; however once it was explained to her she managed to become quite happy, and then she went to history class.

Once she read about World War 2, she was so overcome by emotion (due to the scope of the bloodshed, and her immediate realization that Damien shared some characteristics with Adolf Hitler) that she ran into the bathroom where she met Diane and cried with Rhoda. Once she had calmed down, she was taken into the principal office by Professor Raven, and almost put into a remedial class until she proved she could learn. It was also at this time Raven noticed something about her. What exactly is currently unknown and may be revealed at a later time but is likely her magical abilities. Her closeness with Ellen during school hours led students to believe the Ellen was a lesbian trying to trick the naive Grace. During the events of Sister 2, Grace was stuck in the classroom and was incapacitated by the sleep bomb, her inability to help her friends left her with guilt over not being able to help save Ellen from Abraham and over the realization that had she done so Nanase wouldn't necessarily have had to resort to a Guardian Angel spell and consequentially not have had experienced a magic burnout. That guilt may have made her determined not to let someone have a chance to harm her friends on her watch and led to her being more on edge than usual.

Spring Break

After the Moperville earthquake, Grace went with Susan and Sarah to investigate the disappearance of The Hammers. When Sarah was depressed that she did not have magic powers, Grace pointed out that she could still summon the Demonic Duck. After a succeeding at eating an entire pancake breakfast challenge meal that won her a spot on the wall of fame, the girls went to a hotel room and argued about who would get the bed until Grace pointed out she could just sleep on a pillow in squirrel form. After Susan told her story about France, Grace asked what weapons she could currently summon. Susan summoned the objects in turn until she came to the fairy doll Nanase made for her which came alive. Grace expressed incredulity that it could be Nanase with her magic back. When Susan called Nanase and discovered the truth about the fairy doll Grace expressed joy that Susan would put her emotions on display like that. When the girls arrived at the cave of the hammer, Grace was delayed by tripping on a water bottle and upon seeing Jerry, assumed her Omega form in preparation for battle but calmed down when Jerry did not want to fight. When Jerry was unable to give Sarah magic, Grace told her that Tedd could give her magic-like technology to make up for it. Jerry was surprised that Grace was so close to Mr. Verres and Mr. Raven and was shocked by the weirdness surrounding herself and her friends. Just before they left Grace accepted Jerry's offer to take the (now-inactive) artifact.

When the first fire summon attacked the comic store, Grace was at Tedd's house watching the news. Grace saw the incident and the report and when mild mannered Elliot arrived she wanted to hug and comfort him. When Tedd told Elliot he had to find a female form that Elliot liked, Grace suggested he pick one he can lust over. After the first fire summon attack Grace wondered how they would stop the summoner if the sleep spell didn't work. Grace was depressed because she was stuck between the mathematical proof that some people are better off dead and the feelings in her heart that told her that killing is wrong. Since she needed to protect people from bad people Grace decided to take Greg up on his offer to train her in martial arts. Right before the second attack of the fire summons Grace went to the martial arts dojo so Greg could train her. When the fire summons attacked Grace was grabbed from behind and held until she managed to slip out of the fire summons hold in her full squirrel form. She stayed at the dojo and fought alongside Greg. When she realized she had to knock out Dex but lacked the know how to do so, Greg quickly trained her to use the sleeper hold. After Dex was knocked out, Grace met Noah and revealed to him she was Shade Tail. Later, she got him to give her the pendant that Dex was wearing.

Relationship Problems

Grace has had problems with Tedd ever since Tedd became aware of magic and started to deeply study it. Every time Grace tried to talk to Tedd he went on about his discoveries in magic, and while she found that interesting she needed a break. Fearing that if she talked to Tedd about it she would discourage him, Grace went to Ellen for advice. Ellen told her she should take Tedd out on a date away from the basement and mad science. Grace decided to go on a dinner and bowling double date with Ellen and Nanase. After getting home from school Grace called out to Tedd, and when he did not respond she went down to the basement to talk with him. After Tedd informed her that he had made a spreadsheet with the estimated durations of supposedly month long transformations, Grace loudly proclaimed that they were going out. Grace told him that they were going on a double date with Nanase and Ellen on Friday, so she expected food, romance, bowling, and hugging. Tedd agreed which pleased Grace, and she then told him to show her his chart since his work is awesome and sexy.

At the start of the date, Grace waited upstairs rather than sitting downstairs with Tedd, so that the date could start as they were leaving the house. When Ellen and Nanase arrived at the door, Grace gave Ellen a hug hello much to the embarrassment of Nanase. When Tedd started to talk to Nanase about the possibility of having a lengthy discussion about hair and magic, Grace frowned at him until he remembered to postpone the conversation until after the double date was over. While driving to the date, Grace asked if she would need to use her transformation powers to increase her muscle mass so she could lift the bowling balls but was told the balls were differently weighted.

At the restaurant, Grace was surprised by the pictures hanging on the wall. She asked Nanase why she dated a jerk once and talked about her training with Greg. When they arrived at the bowling alley, Grace left with Nanase to check the arcade games. When they noticed Ellen and Tedd talking, they decided to check on the wait time. Then Grace hugged Ellen and Tedd and told them the wait would be half and hour. When Gerald came by to annoy the group, Tedd talked him down and Grace backed Tedd up, posturing herself threateningly. After Gerald left, Grace hugged Tedd and told him he need to be more of an assertive badass rather than a aggressive badass.

Saving the Boar

After the Boar attack on Rhoda and Catalina, Grace overheard Mr. Verres arguing with Raven about whether the boar should live or die. Deciding to side with Raven and save the boar, Grace left him a note revealing who she was and that she knew he was an elf. After Adrian found the note he dragged Grace into his classroom and demanded that she explain herself. After she explained how she found out and what she was Adrian told her to come to his house and tell no one. Once she arrived Adrian told her the he was willing to consider the possibility of her helping him. Grace showed Adrian her antenna which Adrian said only proved she was a part-uryuom seyunolu but not necessarily a furry seyunolu. Grace showed him her squirrel form but Adrian was confused and wasn't sure Grace was part squirrel. So Grace went behind the couch and turned into her full squirrel form. Adrian was convinced she was part squirrel but said that her form didn't prove she could handle dealing with a giant boar. Grace transformed back and said she could do more but forgot to go behind the couch again and accidentally let Adrian see her naked in her normal form. Grace apologized and Adrian hid his eyes. Grace turned into her omega form and told Adrian it was OK to look. Grace dramatically asked how he liked her now then apologized if her dramatic reveal was too scary. She got startled by a hissing noise but regained her composure after seeing that it was a cat with hedgehog spines like Jeremy. Grace talked to the hedgehog cat who Raven said was named Max and proved to Raven that she could talk to and calm an upset animal. After she convinced Raven to let her help him Grace told him that she didn't like that no one was considering options other then killing the boar. When she told Raven that she was Tedd's girlfriend he almost didn't let her come with him but she convinced him to let her help when she agreed to obey his orders while there.

The next day, Grace went to Raven's house and Raven cast a disguise spell on her that made her look similar to Susan. When they arrived at the park, Grace learned Raven was tasting his way to the boar using his ears. When the boar appeared, Grace tried to talk to it but it charged when it learned of their intentions and Raven was forced to shoot it. Grace was sad that she couldn't save it so Raven took her out for ice cream.

Relationships

Tedd

Grace and Tedd have been dating since the start of the Relations storyline. Grace fell in love with him the first time they met and went to great lengths to keep him happy. Since her sexuality is a combination of heterosexuality and Uryuom, (through concepts and mental connections) she is attracted to Tedd regardless of whatever form he takes. Eventually Tedd began to focus more on his work with magic than his relationship with Grace. After going to Ellen for help, Grace decided that she and Tedd would go on a double date with Ellen and Nanase.

Sarah

Grace first met Sarah when Sarah came to Tedd's house to help Grace get some clothes. While at the mall Grace had Sarah do her best to keep Grace focused. When Grace told Sarah about her weight she was surprised by it. After shopping, Grace went with Sarah's suggestion that they cut through the dark alley where their voices could not be heard from the street. When they were mugged, Grace revealed half squirrel form to Sarah who was the first one of the main cast to see it.

Ellen

Grace and Ellen have been "playing" every weekend since Grace obtained her Claire form. In turn, they have become best friends and later ended up going to the same school. As a result of Grace's hugs, the students at their school assume that Ellen is a lesbian trying to trick Grace into doing risque things, so Grace is holding back on the physical contact.

Susan

Grace first met Susan at Moperville North during the second goo incident. During that meeting, Grace told Susan her name was Claire and how to defeat the goo monster. She also used telekinesis and turned into her first legion form in front of her which she took in stride. Grace next met Susan at Tedd's house during the Painted Black arc where she revealed her backstory. They next met during Grace's birthday party where Susan managed to successfully explain the reasoning behind the nudity taboo. Grace spent a significant amount of time with Susan during the Hammerchlorians arc in which they got to know each other more thoroughly.

Elliot

Grace first met Elliot when he came over to Tedd house and assumed she was a robot or had been kidnapped. After she got back from shopping with Sarah, Elliot demanded to know why Grace had a squirrel form since he could sense she was powerful. Grace has used Elliot as a pillow when she sleeps, Tedd is the only other character who has earned this right. Grace was one of the people who went to save Elliot from Damien. Grace considers Elliot to be cute and beefy.

Nanase

Grace first met Nanase when Grace saved her from the Omega Goo. During the events of Painted Black, Nanase and Grace were the first ones to enter the Nest. After Painted Black, Nanase and Grace began to hang out since they both had a lot on their minds namely their revelations of being lesbian and being created to kill Damien respectively.

Justin

Before she invited him to her birthday party, Grace had only met Justin during the second goo fight and while preparing for the rescue of Elliot during Painted Black. At the party Grace told Justin that his female from was probably attractive. Justin gave Grace catnip as a present.

Mr. Verres

Grace considers Mr. Verres to be like a father to her. When it was pointed out that she is his son's girlfriend, Grace said they're a weird family.

Jeremy

Grace is protective of Jeremy and does not let Tedd use the TF gun on him. While in her Jeremy form Grace acts motherly towards Jeremy and tells him not to pick fights.

Greg

Greg offered to teach Grace how to fight with her unique abilities, pointing out that if she did not learn how to subdue people without hurting them, the only option she would have would be to seriously injure her opponent. Grace was initially reluctant but later came to the realization that she needed to learn how to take down people who were not super powered without killing them. Greg has taught her how to use the sleeper hold. Grace describes the training as nice but Greg has not yet started on "changy" stuff yet. She thinks this is because he doesn't want her to claw people.

Noah

Grace goes to the same school as Noah and is in the same gym class along with Ellen. After the attack on the ASMA Dojo, Noah discovered that Grace is Shade Tail and therefore the one who defeated Damien.

Raven

Grace came to Mr. Raven offering her help in capturing the boar, revealing who she was and that she knew he was an elf. When she came to his house she proved she could shapeshift and convinced him to let her help him. In order to protect her he shot and killed the boar. Then, to cheer her up, he took her out for ice cream.

Abilities

Martial Arts

Grace has been taught to use the sleeper hold by Greg and can use it while in battle to knock out opponents without hurting them.

Telekinesis

Grace first used her telekinesis to disarm a mugger that was threatening her and Sarah. The resulting stress caused her to faint and Sarah was forced to carry her home. The next time Grace used it was to stop the Omega goo from killing Nanase and Ellen, this time she managed to stay conscious. Every time she flies is telekinesis also.

Transformation

Grace is extremely powerful, and at least some of her forms are fire resistant due to her being designed to kill Damien, but she is a pacifist, terrified of abusing her strength, and only uses her offensive capacity when her friends are in mortal peril. It appears that depending on her current transformation she goes through an abrupt change in weight, which did not occur until Tedd used the transformation gun on her, her power level also greatly fluctuates depending on her form. She is potentially the most powerful mortal character in the comic.

Birth forms

Grace^[8]
Squirrel (Shade Tail)^[9]
Squirrel (non-anthropomorphic)^[10]
Omega (Squirrel + Lespuko (angry))^[11]
Omega (Squirrel + Lespuko (calm))^[12]

Given forms

Cat^[13]
Jeremy^[14]
Claire (clone form)^[15]
Gillian Anderson (clone form)^[16]
Tedd (clone form)^[17]
Fox^[18]
Tedd (female)^[19]
Birthday Party (male)^[20]

Legion forms

SCJ (Squirrel + Cat + Jeremy)^[21]
Claire + Squirrel^[22]
TG (Tedd + Grace)^[23]
Grace + Squirrel^[24]
Full Human (Normal - antennae)^[25]

Zoolingualism

Like all part-animal seyunolu, Grace has the ability to communicate with animals. So far she has been seen speaking to squirrels,^[26] Jeremy^[27], Max,^[28] and the boar.

Alternates

General Shade Tail (Alpha Universe) - General Shade Tail is Lord Tedd's right-hand man, and may even be the driving force behind Lord Tedd's apparent corruption. He was created in exactly the same way Grace was except with the blood of a strong human male instead of a recently deceased girl.
Grace (Oblivious Wand-Waving) - Grace is the same as she normally is, though has a different boyfriend - Sarah. Also, she doesn't care about hiding her antennae, and it seems that being in her Half-Squirrel form is normal in the Oblivious Universe.
Grace (Goonmanji) - Grace is this reality was the same, but now inhabits Elliot's body.

Quotes

"You sound awfully annoyed for a guy with a furry fetish and a half-cat girlfriend."
—EGS Main Story Comic for 2002-05-09

"Ugh! What is so wrong with my body that everyone is so obsessed with covering it up?!"
—EGS Main Story Comic for 2002-07-19

"A lespuko? OK, great, that makes four parents, and I don't even know what one of them is!"
—EGS Main Story Comic for 2004-03-10

"I MADE SARAH THINK SEXY THOUGHTS ABOUT ME~!!!"
—EGS Main Story Comic for 2005-10-24

"And I'm happy if you are! INFINITE HAPPINESS LOOP!"
—EGS Main Story Comic for 2006-08-14

"DIE BY THE SHELLS OF YOUR FALLEN COMRADES, YOU @#$! TURTLES! - I'm actually okay with turtles, but these ones kidnap princesses. That's just wrong."
—EGS Main Story Comic for 2010-05-07

"Ellen, if anyone is really bad enough that we have to fight...I'll tear them to shreds. But ideally we'd, ya know, talk it over peacefully or something."
—EGS Main Story Comic for 2010-09-06

"I NEED ROMANCE."
—EGS Main Story Comic for 2011-08-05

Trivia

She really likes Toast^[29] and Coffee.^[30]
Grace was originally going to be a token female friend of Sarah's.^[31]
Grace has a teddy bear that appears in the main storyline, despite technically being a gift from EGS author Dan, the teddy bear is of a squirrel.^[32]
She recently received from Tedd a guinea pig, bat, and hedgehog plush dolls as a birthday present. (Each one representing one of her siblings.) Along with a massive pile of other gifts he purchased before finding a better one, this continued until Tedd exhausted his entire allowance.^[33]
While a pacifist by nature, Grace can get very... agitated... while playing video games.^[34]^[35]
Grace was born in her half squirrel form but remains human most of the time because she lives among them.^[36]
Grace has invented a sadness measurement using the Futurama episode "Jurassic Bark" as a baseline.^[37]
Creator Dan Shive has unabashedly established Grace as one of his favorite characters (if not his favorite character period), and in an early sketchbook actually wrote an apology letter to her for all of the terrible things that happened in her backstory.